Blog Archives

Beauty Past and Present...

2/22/2015

( Writing this on Sunday, February 22 from King Valley Road. We are off US-95 between Quartzsite and Yuma in Arizona. )

Happy 20th Birthday
to our oldest grandson,
Garrett !!!
✰✰✰✰✰

We pulled out of our Michigan driveway on May 15, 2014. In the last nine months we have traveled 28,000 miles.
There are not enough words to describe how exciting it has been for us.
First camping through Canada and Alaska; then Montana, Idaho and Nevada state and national parks. Exploring the fantastic national parks in Utah; then finding the variety of campgrounds available in New Mexico; and now experiencing the beautiful winter weather of Arizona and California.
And along the way, we have met so many wonderful people, both locals and fellow travelers from every walk of life.
The best part for us has been the chance to be together without those pesky things called jobs that take up so much time.

Enough of the mushy stuff, February 17 was David's birthday and we celebrated it by having lunch in Yuma.
Of course, we also did some errands in town since it's a 25 mile drive from our campsite.

Driving south into Yuma, one of the things we see is the radar blimp in the sky.

Along the US border from Texas to California the Border Patrol has blimps to detect movement along the desert border areas.

We have seen these blimps from different places where we have camped over the last three months. Near Deming, New Mexico, we were able to drive to one of the fenced locations and look at all the equipment on the ground where it was tethered; very interesting.

Us again at the Golden Corral
restaurant on the 17th.

After lunch, we shopped at Walmart and found all these flowering shrubs planted around their parking lot. Never know where you will find beauty!

I started this post with our beautiful grandson,
then with the beauty of 'living our dream' ,
and then the unexpected beauty of parking lots.

Now I would like to share the beauty that is my sister, Marie.

This month marked one year since she lost the battle with cancer. Her daughter received a letter from the Science Cares Organization, which Marie had made arrangements with before her death to donate her body to science. I would like to share this letter with everyone in remembrance of her lifelong way of always caring for others. ( Her nick name at work was "mother Marie" )

Michael and Marie....1958

1972

2004

2013

January 2014

Marie Theresa Kochan Macy DeMeyer
September 2, 1956 - February 4, 2014

Miss You Sis

Lazy Days on King Valley Road....

2/19/2015

( Writing this on February 19, near Yuma, Arizona. )

From February 9th through the 16th, we stayed around camp; reading, walking, cooking and watching sunsets. It is so quiet here. A couple of 4-wheelers go past in the morning and then before dark a couple of 4-wheelers come back out.
Of course I have no trouble finding things to photograph.

We picked this spot to camp because the mountains matched our Aliner.

Even the ground is fun to take pictures of, though I don't put them in the blog very often.

On this night, the sky was changing so quickly,
I couldn't help snapping tons of pictures. Hope this gives you an idea of what it was like.

One of the walks on a nice sunny day took us by some very nice cactus.

This guy has been hanging around to many seniors, he's going gray on top !

We will finish this post with another night of sunset pictures.

One night it is oranges and blues, and the next night pinks and purples. Never boring!

Thank you for tuning in to our little adventures.
Love and miss you all, Barb and Dave

Cactus Babies....

2/17/2015

( Writing this on February 17, David's Birthday, from King Valley Road near Yuma Arizona. )

Enjoyed lunch in the city for his birthday.

Last week on the 8th, we explored yet another road into KOFA. The MST&T Road (I have no idea what that stands for) is a fairly rough road going into the refuge but there are some pretty great spots here and there to camp on. We drove a half hour and picked several that would suit our needs.
The different cactus species on this road covered much more of the ground than in the area where we are camped. It is prettier on this road but it's a long way in on some rocky stretches with a trailer behind you.
At the end of the road we got out and walked for awhile and noticed the cactus babies in all the rocks and crevices.

It sure is tempting to drive in here to camp with this view.

The Teddybear Chola are covered with fruit. The fruit as well as small pieces of the branches fall off and take root. I lightly touched the fruit and it didn't move, it was firmly rooted in the rock.

This is a new Ocotillo, the rocks are between 2 to 4 inches.

Different baby, Barrel Cacti.

Don't worry, we were very careful where we put our feet and we didn't stay long in this area. We don't know if we will move here but it was well worth exploring.

Back-Country Adventure...

2/16/2015

( Writing this from Kings Valley Road in Arizona on February 16. )

On Saturday, February 7, Shorty and Hazie in their jeep and us in our Ridgeline went to Castle Dome Road, the next road south of us that goes through the KOFA Wildlife Refuge.

A short way in Castle Dome Road, we take the turn for Castle Dome Mine Road. On the map,this one lane trail, fifteen miles long, will curve through the mountains and bring us out on to King Valley Road, east of where we are camped. This fifteen mile long road took us three hours to drive. Lots of fun and beautiful, we loved it!!!

One minute the rocks are red...

..and then they are black lava rocks...

...or big jagged boulders.

When the road widens, we pull over to take pictures and search the mountains with binoculars for Desert Big Horn Sheep. They are very hard to see since their coloring blends in with the rocks.

Can you imagine the forces it took to form the patterns in this mountain?

The different minerals give this mountain it's beauty.

We love the desert mountains because they show their rocks and colors without being covered with a forest of trees.

At one of our stops we meet a couple from Canada, Mel and Wendy, and they join our adventure.

The road gets rougher as we near the pass.

Not much clearance here.

On the other side of the pass the ground levels out and we have beautiful mountain views.

Hazie lets Muffy out for a little exercise.

Back on King Valley Road, nice to be on graded road again.

At our campers, Mel and Wendy stop for awhile and we talk and have some lunch. They are grain farmers in the Canadian Providence of Manitoba and come to the south whenever they can in the winter. Very nice people and it was great to share the day with them.

We walk home and relax with our books until dinner time.

As the sun gets low it lights up the mountain peak behind us.

What a pretty view while I cook dinner.

New Camp, KOFA Wildlife Refuge...

2/6/2015

( Writing this on February 6, from King Valley Road, thirty miles south of Quartzsite, Arizona, off US-95. )

It is a beautiful morning as we pull away from Ferguson Lake. The 'ghost' mountains make an interesting picture.

Looks like they are heading in for a day of fun as we leave.

One Ocotillo is in bloom on Ferguson Lake Road.

After setting up the campsite, we eat sandwiches and head up to Palm Canyon Trail in Shorty and Hazie's jeep.

The hiking trail is a half-mile up.

At the top of the trail we find the palms.

Oh, I meant these palms!

Hazie and David.

Thought to be the only native palm trees in Arizona.

Looking down at the jeep, parked at the trailhead.

After dinner we sit outside and wait for the sunset.

Can you believe the bands of colors?!!!

Good night all, have a great weekend! XOXO

Just Taking It Easy....

2/4/2015

( Writing this on Wednesday, February 4, from Ferguson Lake Road in California. )

Tuesday was another day hanging at home; reading, doing chores and taking a walk.
Today, we drove to KOFA, off of AZ-95, a highway between Yuma in the south and Quartzsite in the north. The refuge is nearly three-quarters of a million acres of desert and mountains. Four of the dirt roads entering the area have BLM land with dispersed camping available. Then, when you enter the refuge, you are allowed to camp only within 100 feet off the sides of the road and the length of stay there is fourteen days in a 12 month period.
The BLM is fourteen days in a 28 day period. You just have to watch the signs, the rangers do patrol all these areas and the fine is $150.00 .

Tuesday, doing chores.

Then, Furby climbed up to say hi to the Hooligans!

David washed the Aliner with the rinse water from our outside shower. Don't worry, our closest neighbor is five miles away. We have to conserve water when we're out in the boondocks.

Furby wanted to show the Hooligans the pretty lake by our camp. We would have to have a boat if we wanted to get to the little town across the lake. We are in California and they are in Arizona and in-between is the Colorado River and Ferguson Lake.

Tuesday evening we have our pink and blue sky.

What a nice way to end a relaxing day.

This morning , we see this little guy walking by our camper. We don't know what it's called but it is pretty.

It is about an inch long and has six legs.

We head out past my favorite rock, to visit Shorty and Hazie and see what spot is available near them in KOFA or the BLM nearby.

This is where they were camped Sunday; so they could be close to Yuma to get RV parts on Monday. It cost $10. a night here. A lot of people like this kind of camping, but it's not our cup of tea or theirs. We have to drive through all the campers to get to Ferguson Lake, which is free and private but our friend's big RV can't do the narrow road that we are on, so we will all move on to something differant.

This is their BLM site near KOFA; you can see why they wanted to move. You can see two campers from this site if you walk a ways from their camper. This is a no fee area.

They have their chairs set up on the back side of the RV, facing the wash and the mountain.

This Saguaro has two new arms budding out. I took this picture while sitting at the RV.

Hazie and I took a short walk up the wash to take pictures.

A nice Rabbit Ear Cactus.

The sun was lighting up this Chola, growing in the middle of a Creosol Bush.

Some serious thorns here.

We had to dodge these everywhere. The desert is not for sissies.

The skeletal remains of a Saguaro...

...right near a beautiful, healthy one.

Back near Ferguson Lake, the late afternoon sun colors the landscape.

Our fourteen days are not up here but we want to spend time with Shorty and Hazie before they have to get back to Sunsites, AZ. So tomorrow we will go into Yuma to replenish our water supply and do some other errands. Friday we will move to KOFA and explore the desert with them for the few more days they're here.

A Shopping Day and a Day with Friends....

2/2/2015

( Writing this from Ferguson Lake Road on February 2.)

Saturday, January 31, we head into Yuma to do errands and grocery shop. Sunday,
February 1, we drive to the main, long-term camping area on Senator Wash Road to visit friends and see their new motorhome. We met Shorty and Hazie at Great Basin National Park in Nevada in the middle of September 2014. We caught up with them here at Senator Wash and we all plan to move to the KOFA Wilderness Area later this week to explore the old mines and mountain trails. It is only about one hundred miles from here.

When we left Sat. morning, we stopped at the hilltop by our camp to take pictures. The sun was shining bright and the hills were so colorful. Ferguson Lake is an estuary of the Colorado River. The only way to the lake is on Ferguson Lake Road or by water.

I zoomed in on the little white dot in the middle of the hills before you get to the lake. Hope you can make out part of our Aliner with the solar panel showing.

The hilltop view looking east.

Down at the main camping area, nine miles from us, we stopped to take his picture on the roadside. As soon as I lowered the window to take the shot, he walked right up to the truck. I had to shoot fast before he got his head in the window. Makes us think he's use to getting food from a vehicle, which is something you are defiantly not supposed to do.

While in Yuma, we stopped by Mittry Lake to visit Mike and saw this Pelican hunting for food above the lake.

After the errands were finished and a delicious lunch of fish tacos had been consumed, we make it back to camp in time for the sunset. We parked at our hilltop to wait for the setting sun and are treated with a light show in the south over the lake.

As the sun goes lower behind the western mountains, the colors in the south, turn everything from orange to blue.

In the west, the sunset is lighting up the thick clouds.

As the minutes go by the pink stands out more and more.

Sunday we see Shorty and Hazie in their beautiful motorhome.

Their dog, Muffy, doesn't care who throws the ball!

After getting back to camp and eating lunch,...

The soil around us is full of clay and limestone...

...we take a hike around the area of our campsite.

...and it holds the rocks together to form the hills.

The sun is starting to set as we walk back to the camper.

There are only a few wispy clouds on Sunday night.

It may not be as dramatic...

... but it is still beautiful.

Monday, we stayed home and cooked a chicken and mushroom stew in the slow cooker. I paid bills on line and David hiked in the hills for awhile. I just happened to see him coming down from his hike and snapped this.

There were not any clouds for a sunset, but the full moon looked nice.

Good night all,
love you,
miss you! Barb and Dave