This was the quietest New Year's day we have had in our entire married life. The first time we had not partied with friends, and the first time we had been in bed at a respectable time. We celebrated new Year at Midnight GMT (4 PM here), and due to the wonders of television watched the rest of the world celebrating as they moved into the new Millennium. Phone calls to friends and relations brought us together, if only for a short time.
On our last day in California we completed 11.6 mile hike in the San Jacinto Mountains. We left the Desert floor (65F) and ascended in the first cable car up the mountain (35F). This was the longest and definitely most challenging hike we have done for years. During the night 4 - 5 inches of snow had fallen in the mountains (from below it looked like a light dusting with lots of bare patches!) which added a further degree of difficulty. We started in crisp sunshine, had wonderful views most of the way. The final two miles seemed the longest. It was getting dusk, a cold wind was blowing, and we were two very tired people who wondered if we had bitten off more than we could chew. The warmth of the aerial tramway station was quite welcome to thaw out some parts (we are not used to this cold weather). The walk is mainly in the San Jacinto State park but also enters the San Jacinto forest. There are many other trails in these mountains which would provide a welcome respite from summer temperatures in Palm Springs.
This State saw the influx of thousands prospectors in search of gold and silver in the 1880's. Chiricahua Apache leaders, Cochise then Geronimo, both lost their fight against the settlers/army and were put onto Reservations. The greed for Gold and silver also brought corruption and violence to the area. Many "baddies" visited Tombstone and the other mining towns, some lived to tell the tale, other were not so lucky and ended up in Boot Hill.
As we are following the sun during the winter months, we will only be visiting the southern section of Arizona at this time. We hope you will share more wonderful experiences with us.
Driving on straight desert highways can be quite tedious. But as this is still very new to us we try to make the journey as interesting as possible by looking for unusual things. Interstate 10 took us within four miles of Brenda our next stopping place. At Blyth on the Californian border we saw our first sheep for 8 months. They even had new lambs and other than the fact it was January and mostly desert we could have thought of Swaledale!. Now you may think, "why mention sheep!" Well, we have travelled through four States, covered thousands of miles since we left the Williamette valley in Oregon, and this is the first sheep we have seen any sheep. Hopefully we may even see fresh local lamb in the shops, instead of New Zealand frozen lamb.
The crossing into Arizona took place without any information and as the time zone changes to Mountain time, one hour ahead of California, we expected some indication but obviously this is something we were expected to know. After crossing into Arizona we encountered some road repairs which would have been rather boring but for this magic machine. This vehicular machine had a "paintbrush" on one side which was in the down position permanently painting the solid yellow line marking the edge of the road, and a "paintbrush" alternating between up and down painting the white dotted line in the middle of the road. The two guys with their paintbrushes and bars of Kit Kat would be redundant here (middle of the road, middle of the road!).
Daytime Temperature: 55 - 72 degrees
Nighttime Temperature: 30- 40 degrees
Rainfall: None
We are now deep into the Snowbird area. The age group of most sites we'll be staying on during the next few months will be over 55, and we all have one thing in common, RETIREMENT. Black Rock RV is one of those sites that people come back to year after year, some from as far afield as Canada. We found it to be very friendly, very spacious, a Cafe on site if we felt lazy, good Internet access, evening entertainment about three times a weeks, also lots of sporty things like shuffle board, pool, darts, even a pitch and putt if you don't mind getting sand in your eyes. We made a good choice.
Quartzsite - It's unique. The influx of people to a place with no main street, no public toilets, or municipal water system, could only happen in a country like this. The winter RV population of this desert town swells to1 million during January and February because of the gem and mineral shows in the area. We heard people saying that they come here year after year, and would go nowhere else. The annual camel racing took place the weekend we were there. It took a while to get the camels set up in their stalls and ready for the off. When they finally started it was obvious that their riders had no control over which way round the track they should go. We were not sure if it was the roar from the crowd that made them go round and round in circles before finally finishing, or if they had no idea about racing. It did make for an entertaining few minutes. Now on to the vendors. Well there are certainly a lot of them, and we would say that more that half of them (we're sorry to say), sold junk. They reckon you can buy anything here, and we believe it (we bought car fuses). There are several RV sites in and around Quartzsite as well as acres of desert (BLM Land) for dry camping (no water, no sewer, no electric). some of this is free and some costs a few dollars per month. The water truck comes along to fill your tanks up (pay for that) and the sewer truck comes along to empty your other tanks (pay for that) but some people just dig a hole in the desert and drop there sewer pipe in?.Quartzsite and the surrounding area has to be seen to be believed, we will never forget it.
Lake Havasu - Our journey took us up the side of the mighty Colorado River, across the Parker Dam, (which is 87 feet above and over 230 feet below the river making it the deepest in the world), before arriving at Lake Havasu City- This area became famous in 1968 when Robert McCulloch, (a good Scottish name), bought London Bridge. It was dismantled stone by stone then shipped and reconstructed in its original form over a man-made inlet on the Colorado River. They have made a very good job of the attraction and are still adding other features. We wandered through the streets of London Village, called into an English style pub where we had fish`'n' chips/steak pie, washed down with a microbrew, walked across the bridge, and then took a boat tour on Lake Havasu which is really an extremely wide stretch of Big Red (Colorado River).
Kofa Mountains Wildlife Refuge - Situated 20 miles south of Quartzsite this is another set of mountains which ascend right out of the desert floor. Our reason for visiting was yet another Palm canyon. This one was rather different from those visited in California in that the Palms were scattered around the walls of the canyon (made them difficult to spot) with no obvious source of water. Rock scrambling skills were needed to visit the far end of the canyon on this thoroughly enjoyable 5 mile round trip.
BLM (Bureau of Land Management) Land - The area around Quartzsite & Brenda is mainly government land which allows free access. We enjoyed a short hike on BLM land adjacent to our RV sit, and were intrigued by grunting noises from the brush. Since the animal responsible seemed to be of a significant size we were not intrigued enough to hang around (wild boar?). Discovered later it was probably range cattle but they ain't too friendly it seems.
Daytime Temperature: 65 - 83 degrees
Nighttime Temperature: 45- 55 degrees
Rainfall: None
Apache Junction is about 25 miles east of Phoenix city centre but is part of the urban sprawl of Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa, Apache Junction. We could have stayed in any of those but who can resist that name? We were lodging with the oldies again who were very friendly and welcomed someone new to talk too.
We will be returning to this area in March, as we getting some warranty repairs done to the RV while we are in Illinois Curling, and will visit more places then.
Apache Trail - This 46 mile road parallels the ancient route of the Apaches through the canyons of the Salt River with its desert scenery. It is the most scenic and imaginative road we have driven so far. It starts with wonderful views of the most filmed and famous Superstition Mountains. All early cowboy pictures had at least one shot of these mountains somewhere in the film. Goldfield Ghost Town just 3.5 miles into the trail, has been reconstructed to match it's original look. Mine tours, gold panning, specialty shops, and a saloon with horses tethered outside, while their owners swill back beer before the hot and dusty trail home across the desert, all adds to the authenticity. A railroad circles the town, and a well versed driver tells about the many hi-yield gold, silver and copper mines that made this area one of the richest in the days of the gold rush. A few mines have been re-opened and are producing a small amount of gold about 3/4 of an ounce per ton. In its heyday the main mine here produced ounces per ton . Tortilla Flat is another quaint place to stop, browse, have a steak or some ribs from the BBQ complete with live Country music, before tackling the last 25 miles of gravel road. Don't turn round, views from now on will blow your mind. Canyon Lake, Apache Lake, deep colourful canyons. Roosevelt Dam, at the head of Apache Lake, built in 1911 is the lifeline to the Phoenix area. Our return journey was completed on normal roads with good mountain views, and a wonderful sunset.
A day Out in the Phoenix Area - We had both wanted to see a live basketball game, and during our stay in the Phoenix area, our team the Portland Trail Blazers, (next NBA champions?), were playing here so we booked seats.
Leaving in the morning we had plenty of time for Linda to spend some of her hard earned pension at a large shopping Mall in Scottsdale.
We arrived at the arena in time to have a meal in the arena restaurant but that was reservations only and we didn't have one. The doorman gave us three different directions each with a few good eating places nearby. Fortunately for us we chose to suss out Alice Cooper's Town Sports Bar/Restaurant What a lucky choice! Excellent Western style food (basically BBQ),Steaks, Ribs, Chops, Fish, Burgers and the largest Hot Dog in the WORLD? - a two FootLong, very thick served in a huge French Stick with a choice of fillings and sauces. To make it complete for Linda they also served a choice of their own draft Microbrews and all the ones we tested were very good. The Bar/restaurant is situated less than 5 minutes walk from the arena where the Phoenix Suns (Basketball) and Phoenix Coyotes (Ice Hockey) play home games. On game nights the atmosphere is terrific especially to old retired people like us. Lots of people who can't afford or can't get tickets gather here to watch the game on the gigantic television screen in the outside courtyard. Inside 10 or more giant screen televisions show various live Basketball or Ice Hockey games. At the entrance to the arena various entertainments are taking place, Pop Group, Face Painting, games for the kids, free draw for Phoenix Suns tickets etc. Our best entertainment was the many people keeping warm under umbrella heaters. It was about 70 degrees and we felt comfortable in our shorts. Well it is winter, and the locals get 100 +degrees in the summer. The game was started by Glen Campbell and his daughter singing the National Anthem. The tickets are not cheap - we paid $55 a seat (34 Pounds) which is probably why we left a lot of people at Alice Cooper's Town. The rival supporters are not segregated and the Beer Vendors circulate among the crowd during the game (Budweiser & Coors YUCK!) The Trail Blazers triumphed 105 - 83 over the Phoenix Suns despite having both our star forward and our coach sent off for abusing the referee (this turned the game for us). A perfect end to another perfect day.
Daytime Temperature: 65 - 80 degrees
Nighttime Temperature: 35- 55 degrees
Rainfall: None
Complete Lunar Eclipse: 20th January - a clear night
Sierra Vista is 70 miles from Tucson, 17 miles from Tombstone, 35 miles from Bisbee and 18 miles from the Mexican border. The main road from the border to Interstate 10 has a roadblock where everyone must stop. A Bus with barred windows is parked alongside to accommodate any "illegals" detected. Each time we passed through the bus had occupants. The border patrols in Arizona caught 1500 "illegals' in the first three weeks in January. Some people reckon the detection rate is 1 in 4 which would mean 4500 got through? The other problem associated with the border is drug smuggling. An Airship type balloon filled with "spy camera type equipment" is raised to a height above 10,000 feet and provides a birds eye view of the whole border area. The balloon is serviced from Fort Huachuca which is historically famous because it was the home of the "Buffalo Soldiers" the first all Negro regiment of the US Army drafted in to subdue the Apache.
Linda has been suffering some dizzy turns so it's off to the doctor for her. It seems she has a viral infection of the inner ear and the only cure is time! This will curtail our hiking activity as we can never tell when the next dizzy spell will occur, but now we are retired we have all the time in the world.
Daytime Temperature: 60 - 70 degrees
Nighttime Temperature: 25- 40 degrees
Rainfall: None
Willcox is only 80 miles from Sierra Vista heading towards New Mexico. The main attractions in the area are Cochise's Stronghold (where Cochise is buried) and the Chiricahua Mountains which includes the Chiricahua National Monument. There are also some wildlife refuges in the area which are good for migratory birds.
Sunday January 30th is Superbowl! This is similar to the Cup Final but being the USA has even more hype in the media. We are joining in the with the spirit of our hosts, we are having a BBQ in the afternoon before settling down to watch the game kickoff 4.30 PM. Wullie being a Miami Dolphin and Linda a Green Bay Packer (at least Miami made the playoffs) we need to pick a team to support. Wullie being an expert has chosen the Tennessee Titans and Linda not knowing anything picks the ST Louis Rams. (History will record that the Rams won much more easily than the score suggests). Our activities in the Willcox area will be recorded in our February report, thats if Wullie ever gets out of his huff over the Rams easy! easy! easy! win.
Miles travelled this month: 1,945
Accumulative miles: 18,649
Interesting Hyperlinks:
Palm Springs Tramway
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