Monday May 26, '14

I had almost 18 hours at home before we headed out on Thursday May 22 for our Memorial Day camping trip.  Just enough time to get a good night's sleep, clean out the refrigerator, and wash a couple of loads of clothes in Shelley and brother Dave's washing machine.  I was waiting for the second load to finish its final spin when the machine started smoking and smelling like burning rubber.  I swore to David that my clothes weren't THAT dirty.  Don't think he believed me.

We are up on the banks of the Skagit River in Rockport WA, a little town on Highway 20--what most Washingtonians call the"North Cascade Highway."  This highway crosses the Cascade Mountains closest to the Canadian border of any of Washington's passes and is the most scenic, with the central peaks rocky and rugged.

We older folks arrived Thursday afternoon (five RVs of us) and the younger folks arrived Friday afternoon or Saturday morning.  All told, a group of about 35 or 40 campers, with day visitors adding to the fun.  The weather has given us a bit of everything except ice and snow. Sun, wind, rain, drizzle, grey clouds, white clouds, and lots of fog on the mountain tops.

I think of this as Howard Miller's Main Street.  It comes down the hill
to the three main circles of camping sites.

This time of year the park and the river are both amazingly green.  I think I am especially paying attention to the green having just spent those weeks in the desert.

I took this picture in the rain.  You see the gray reflected from the sky and
a bit of mist along the far side of the Skagit River.

The campground was full to capacity Friday (except for the tent sites).  Some people packed up and left early Sunday morning--it hadn't even started raining yet that day!  Actually, Saturday was sunny and fairly warm most of the day.

Brother Dave and nephew Tim--our two chief BBQers
may be discussing pulled pork.

We had great weather for campfire sitting by us experienced campers and assorted game playing by the grandkids.  Some of the intrepid antique shoppers checked out an estate sale in Concrete (nearby town) and came home with treasures.  Various campers' had friends come up for the day on Saturday or Sunday.

Some of us followed the trail down-river through the meadows and berry patches that are on park land.

Sunday, unlike Saturday, was not a sunny day.  We may have had a peek at the sun, but I can't remember for sure.  But we got together for breakfasts of biscuits and gravy or belgian waffles and hash browns.  A tough choice to make, and I'm not sure some campers didn't try both!

You can see the clouds sitting on the ridge.

Even Chuck and Patty's flamingos were pretty unhappy!

We all cooked for Sunday night's potluck.  Wonderful food--pulled pork sandwiches, beans and other side dishes, potato and every other kind of salad.  As usual, about twice as much food as we could eat.  We topped that off with home-made ice cream with hot chocolate sauce a couple of hours later.

The playground is bordered by brilliant azaleas.

This is monday, and five of us "experienced campers" have refused to go home, so we have three RVs hanging out here in our circle, when we had ten RVs this morning.   No kids remain anywhere--the playground is empty!  And even we will hit the road tomorrow.

I'm not sure where my next trip will be, but I plan to do a lot of trekking this summer.  Most of the trips will be fairly short, but I'll keep posting as I go, so check in every week or so for more news and pictures.

Monday May 19, '14

Tonight I'm in Sutherlin Oregon, just north of Roseburg.  I spent the last couple of nights at Rancheria RV Park, about 20 minutes from Mt. Lassen National Park.  It turns out that Lassen usually opens by the 4th of July.  But this year, with little snow, they are opening for Memorial Day.  I had a good time tucked into my RV park, nestled in next to Lake Katherine (a very small lake).

First, I'm including a couple of pictures I took the evening I spent at Meadowcliff RV on the east side of the Sierra chain.  I meant to take better pictures in the morning, but i got involved talking to the family from Eugene in the campsite next to me, and forgot!  So you get the dim evening pictures instead.  It really wasn't evening--barely 5:30--but the park is in the shadow of the Sierra.

Looking east, the range of mountains beyond the Sierra are still in the sun.

Looking west.  The two tiny trees beyond the metal fence are about 35 feet tall.

The morning I left Meadowcliff I backtracked into the little town of Walker to visit the Out West Gallery.  I had stopped there about 20 years ago and bought an 8 by 10 foot handwoven Zapotec rug that I still love even if it is not on my floor.  The shop has a new owner, but still has beautiful one-of-a-kind items.  (Susan and Rick--I think that you have shopped here too?)  I came away with three amazing Zuni fetishes.  One is a mare and foal for Paula Isakson, and one is a dinosaur to keep my stegosaurus company.  The other one is a cat with an inlaid silver collar and pendant.  Well, I resisted the jewelry!

I did get gas for Myrtle in Carson City, which now seems to be a suburb of Reno.  I paid $3.97, which was pretty consistently the going rate.  Part of highway 395 is a brand new 6 lane freeway through the southern part of Reno--it threw my new GPS into a brain-freeze.  Poor thing kept trying to figure out what road I was on until it finally gave up!  It sure was happy when I ended up back on the older part of 395.

Coming up over the range of mountains was interesting. (Are they Sierra or Cascade in here?)  I have driven this road several times (all long ago!) so I was surprised at how aware I was of the change in vegetation.  The ponderosa forest is made up of enormous trees compared to the ponderosas I had seen farther south (and at much higher elevations).  The meadows looked like they had been lake beds not too many decades ago.

Rancheria RV Park, where I stayed, had meadows in among the ponderosas, but it also had a little lake.  Myrtle cuddled up along the shore and Livy and I had a flock of interesting ducks for full-time entertainment.

Myrtle is camping in this row along the lake. Sorry about the tipsy shot!

I felt very at-home here.  The park was the closest to a camp ground of any non-federal or state campground I've stayed at. (They did have a store and restaurant, however, so not really roughing it.)

Our flock of seven ducks are an odd mix.

In our flock of ducks, we had a male and a female mallard, four ducks that looked to be all black, including bills and feet, and one combo-duck that was unique!  They seemed very relaxed but if any threat appeared they calmly and quickly made for the cattails in the water.  They thought Livy was okay up to a certain point.  The  six or seven year old boy camped across the road was apparently a well recognized threat--he didn't even have to get all the way across the road before they were gone!

I haven't a clue what kind of ducks these are.  There are some
mallard genes in there, but the rest?

Livy and I met another solo woman RVer walking her cat on a leash yesterday evening.  He was a sweet Maine Coon cat and Livy was very rude.  She hissed and swore and called him names.  I finally had to put her in Myrtle.   I enjoyed talking with the woman, who has been RVing full time for years.  She is from Wisconsin, but her RV is licensed in South Dakota for tax purposes.  A lot of "fulltimers" pick the state to license their RV for tax reasons.

This morning as we were leaving, we actually had a couple drops of rain.  The forecasters were talking about a possibility of a shower, but it sounded like thunder and lightning were going to be part of the package.  Not good news in such dry country.

Definitely on the "visit again" list.

So . . . tonight in Oregon.  Tomorrow night in Vancouver Washington, and in Trilogy (Redmond Washington) Wednesday afternoon for a birthday get-together.  Home by Wednesday evening!  Just in time for laundry before Friday's trip to Howard Miller Steelhead Park on the Skagit River.

Friday May 16, '14

I woke up in Bishop kind of late--about 7:30.  So by the time I showered (with the pump doing it's job nicely), had breakfast, washed dishes, emptied black and gray water tanks, loaded up equipment, and did my preflight checks it was 9 am and getting warm.  I headed up 395 (and I do mean UP in elevation, from about 4000' to above 7000') to Mammoth and saw a "closed" sign on the Devil's Postpile signpost (the Postpile is some really amazing columnar basalt in the middle of the Sierra granite).  So I stopped at Mammoth's great visitor center and started asking questions about what in the eastern Sierra region was open, what was closed, and why.  The "Why" turned out to be snow in every case but one (one of the lakes is closed because of high CO2 emissions from volcanic vents).  So, no visit to Red's Meadow where Marge and Pop and I stayed in the greatest A frame cabin.  No visit to the Postpile.  I could drive by Toulomne Meadows because the road is plowed, but there would be no stopping.  None of the places I was thinking about camping were open yet.  Very strange going from too late in the season to too early!

So . . . I went grocery shopping at Von's in Mammoth for fresh fruit, veggies,  milk--all of the non-Kmart stuff.  Had lunch, did not buy gas.  Three stations all had regular 87 octane priced at $4.64.  I paid $3.59 in Kingman AZ two days ago, and had half a tank left--about 250 miles worth of gas remaining.  I checked gas prices at Lee Vining (at Mono Lake where the highway across the top of Yosemite runs into 395).  Their gas was $4.79.  Bridgeport, the next little town north, was $5.09!  Obviously I didn't recognize a good deal when I saw it at Mammoth.  I'm waiting for Reno suburbs, about 25 miles away.

With so many places closed, I ended up having a great time at Mono Lake.  I first went to a site on the south coast of the lake.  The last mile or so of the 5 mile road in was gravel, but in pretty good shape.  I took it nice and slow after Livy's carsickness over yesterday's roller coaster of a road.

I stopped in the middle of the road!  You can see the nearby tufa deposits and the volcanic dome islands
 out in the lake.

The islands you see in the lake are the result of volcanic activity.  The white island is lake bed that was pushed up by a lava dome, and the black island is a dome that formed above the lake bed.

The water in Mono Lake is 10% salt (the Pacific is about 3.5%).  It is a sister of Salt Lake, formed in the same way, in the same Basin and Range region--Mono is on the far west side and Salt Lake is on the far east side of the geologic region.

They had some great explanatory plaques.

Basically, the fresh water that comes into the lake arrives underground.  As it filters up into the lake water the calcium in the fresh water bonds with the CO2 in the lake to make rock called tufa.  The tufa rocks formed in lines along the flow of the fresh-water underground streams.

The mile long loop trail takes you through the formations
that are now landlocked down to the lake.

The stuff is amazing to look at--full of little holes that fresh water must have kept open while the formations were growing.  Now those holes have all kinds of bugs living in them.

From the colors you can tell other minerals beside calcium
were carried into the lake too.

I made it a bit farther down the trail and found the plaque talking about the state's decision in 1994 to control the amounts of fresh water that used to flow into the lake that were being rerouted for human use. I was here during the fall of 1994, while the heated debate was going on.

This plaque stands at the 1964's lake edge.  It is now about 1/4 mile from the lake.

For all of the debate, this environment is critical to migrating birds and supplies a unique living space that is matched only by Salt Lake.  The brine shrimp alone are fantastic!

Whatever you think about water wars, it is an amazing place.

I also spent time in the visitor's center.  They had some good displays about the lake.  In addition, they had some very interesting displays on the native Americans who lived in this area.  I did buy one book:  The West Without Water.  What Past Floods, Droughts, and Other Climatic Clues Tell Us About Tomorrow.  Can't wait to read it!

I'm in a beautiful place tonight--Meadowcliff Resort near the town of Walker (and not far from the Nevada border at Reno).  I'll post the pictures tomorrow when I have some morning sun pictures to go with the evening sun pictures.

I'm planning to make it to Mt Lassen tomorrow.  Wish me luck on snow levels!

Thursday May 15, '14

I did get up early today--but not so much-- only 6:15.  I stuck my head under a shower of cool water, dressed, ate some peaches (canned), disconnected the water and electricity, packed everything into the storage bin, ran all my pre-flight checks, and decided to see if the GPS had a better route to Bishop than I had picked out.  It said its route would take 5.5 hours so I decided to trust it--it had been doing a good job of finding shortcuts I hadn't noticed.  I figured my route would take closer to eight hours.  We left Needles at 6:45 and headed NW on US 95.

We were in Nevada in very short order.  Wonderful ridges of rocks that looked like someone had gone at them with my Kitchenaid Mixer.  Strata going up, down, and scrambling around.  Three cheers for plate tectonics!   At one point I was driving through what I thought a sign said was Henderson.  But it was a big city that just kept going on and on.  Eventually I decided that it must be Las Vegas and was glad I had missed most of rush hour.

Back out into the desert, still on 95.  As we were going by the east side of Death Valley I saw a sign for the Alien Center.  Then a sign that said only "Brothel."

I couldn't bypass the aliens, so I pulled into the parking lot for the combination Alien\Area 51 store, Rocket Bill's restaurant, the Bunny Ranch, and a gas station.  All bases covered.  I figured I'd find some great alien Christmas stocking stuffers, but no such luck.  Here again, the tourist season is over!  I did get gas though.

I continued north to take Nevada 266 west toward Big Pine, a little south of Bishop on 395, the route that goes along the east side of the Sierra Nevada Range.  So far the roads had been great, and I was right on the predicted schedule.  Then we hit the California border, the road became California 168, and the road went to . . . hmmmm . . . heck.   No warning signs that you were on some devil's idea of a great rollercoaster ride.  The road became very narrow with extremely tight curves, up and down grades of 9%, and rock outcroppings that hung out into the roadway.  At one point the road went through a canyon with less than one lane's width.  And the canyon had curves so that you couldn't see oncoming traffic.  I just got a sign that said "One lane"  and then another that said "Yield to oncoming."  Right.

I averaged about 12 miles an hour through all of that fun stuff.  But I made it through, and was coming down unto the valley floor when a FedEx semi went by in the other direction.  The driver gave me a big grin and an energetic wave--and I'm thinking "you are a raving idiot!"

I got to Bishop 3 pm, it was 90 degrees, and I decided the heck with finding a good National Forest campground.  So I am at Highland RV Park just north of Bishop, right off 395.  This is the most expensive campground of the trip--$36.00, but last night was free on Coast to Coast points I had built up.  So it all comes out in the wash.

Myrtle is doing a weird thing, though.  I had filled the fresh water tank this morning expecting to be camping without  power or water.  When I attached to the water here and turned it on, water started flowing out of the cap on the fresh water holding tank.  The two systems must be connected somehow.  I read the book on the water pump and didn't find an explanation.  So I've turned off city water and am using what is in my onboard tank.  Another mystery.

I'm not sure where I'll be stopping tomorrow.  I want to spend some time at Mammoth, just to see how things have changed in the 20 years since I saw all of the active volcanic spots.  Maybe go up to Toulumne Meadows, or Mono Lake--not enough time, too many great places!  I'll let you all know tomorrow!

Wednesday May 14, '14

I am back in Needles, California tonight.  The Colorado River is beautiful right outside my window, but it is quarter of 8 and 96 degrees.  I thought I'd tough it out just to celebrate the last really hot day but Liv and I just sat there and stared at each other--me sweating and her with her ears bright pink trying to get rid of heat.  So by 6:30 or so I put the fan on so I would move enough to do something about dinner.  At least the sun is gone, if not the heat.  I think we are going to get up very early and leave here by 6 or 6:30 to get out of the desert before it hits 100 degrees tomorrow.  I plan on taking highway 395 north up along the east side of the Sierra Nevada.  I haven't been along that route in years.


Now, to continue with the last of the catch-up news . . .

On Sunday evening (May 12) I felt that my ankle was completely healed.  Livy and I took a last walk around and I took a few pictures at Quail Ridge RV Park.  Cochise County has several ranges of mountains in it. and the first picture is of the range to the west of the RV park.  That soft look is usual for late in the day because wind stirs up enough dust through the day that the hard edges of the rocky terrain disappear.

The park has several hundred spaces for RVs, and is very crowded winter and spring.  By April, however, almost everyone has left.  The area is high enough that it never gets as hot as Phoenix or Tucson, but even the holdouts that were still there in May told me they were leaving in another week.

Quail Ridge RV sites are all gravel, but some trees and bushes are here and there.

These little birds and the desert cottontails were great entertainment for Livy and me.

Note the MIA/POW flag flying at the park's community center.

Monday morning I headed north to Highway 10, then west to South Tucson, in Pima County.  I caught a little local road, highway 86, west toward the town of Why to go south to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.  I have camped at Organ Pipe four times over the last 25 years and have travelled this road each time.  But the last time was more that 15 years ago and times have greatly changed the atmosphere and the area.

Highway 86 was in somewhat worse shape even though the numbers of people living along it had greatly increased.  The middle section of the length of the road goes through the Tohono O'Ohdam nation, and even there I saw many more homes, new schools, and businesses.

But the biggest change in both Cochise and Pima counties is the feeling of being in the middle of a theatre of war.  The Border Patrol is everywhere.  In both counties I encountered roadblocks on all of the local highways heading away from the border.  The roadblocks start with speed reduction signs about half a mile out, and you are down to 15 mph by the time you are in sight of the roadblock.  They have a gigantic canvas sunshade arching across the lanes and rumble strips to slow you to a crawl.  The officers are wearing bulletproof vests and carrying military arms.  They ask where you have been, who is with you, and take a close look.

I got a very personal experience with the level of concern when I pulled over to the side of highway 86 to read an historical marker.  I pulled back onto the road and in about 30 seconds realized that I was being followed by a border patrol vehicle blinking red and blue lights at me.  The two men split and walked up on the driver and passenger sides of Myrtle to ask why I'd stopped, who I was, where I was going, and explained that in a stop as short as I had made a transfer of contrabrand drugs or people could be made.  I invited them in to check, which they did, and we talked about the Arizona border.  I was interested in Organ Pipe Cactus NM and whether it was safe.  They patrol the park and the campground, particularly at night, and said that it should be safe for me.

I was amazed at how few people were in the campground--I had only been there in winter and spring.  This is "dry summer" on the border and visitors are few and far between.  I camped in the first row of campsites, within spitting distance of the rangers house, on the advice of the visitor center volunteers who convinced me I would be safe.  There were a number of RVs near me--we all met while we were out walking after dinner.  I especially enjoyed the german family who were missing their cats and thought Livy was very bold.  They got a kick out of her hunting lizards instead of mice, once they understood what she was trying to do.

The Sonoran Desert is an amazing place, and this national monument is a biome preserve.  It is the northern limit of the organ pipe cactus and several other unique species, and the effect of climate change is being studied carefully here.  Since the 1980s the average temperature has increased two degrees and drought conditions are adding to the stress.  (I did drive through an amazing valley full of Joshua trees in northern Arizona the next morning.  It looked far healthier that Joshua Tree National Park.)

I took some pictures on our evening walk, then took more on an early walk the next morning.

I snuggled Myrtle's door right up against an
Organ Pipe Cactus for extra security.

yep

Here's the outside view in the morning sun.  The bush next to my Organ Pipe
is an Ocotillo.  They are extremely prickly, and look dead until it rains.
Then they leaf out in a matter of hours.

Cholla (choi-ya) are cactus that grow in segments.  Sometimes they are called "jumping cactus" because the segments attach so easily to anything that brushes against them, and then easily separate to be carried away.  The spines are very painful and difficult to remove.  Teddybear cholla are very cute--they have chubbier segments but the same blond spines as the chainfruit below.

Chainfruit Cholla.  The hanging chains are fruit that ripen over years,  The oldest burst open when it rains so that birds will spread the seeds.

The cholla below, also chainfruit, looks like it became too top heavy and snapped off at its base.

The cholla is gradually dying, with the base and the youngest growth going first.

You can see the skeleton of the cactus where the outer shin has broken down,

I included that last picture for those who've seen the piece of cactus skeleton I have in my living room.  It reminds me of how complex these plants really are.


This is a reminder of similar plants I've shot in Walnut Canyon and other places.  In Organ Pipe Cactus NM they are much larger, but blossoms are behind in development.

I did see some beginning to bloom at a lower
elevation in the monument.

Finally, there are flowers in the Sonoran Desert.  They bloom in March, though with the drought the flowers are not so able to bloom.

Some of this is Brittlebush--I'm just not sure which!

I spent last night at Blake Ranch RV Park and Horse Motel outside of Kingman Arizona, up off of I-40 (the modern version of Route 66).  I spent the morning in Kingman--Myrtle got a bath at the Blue Beacon truckwash.  It was just as much fun as the first time!  I also spent some time at KMart doing some grocery and housekeeping shopping.  I still need to find some fresh fruit and veggies though.

My aim tomorrow is to get far enough into the mountains that we don't have to worry about triple digit heat.  Wish us luck!

Tuesday May 13, '14

I'm still in catch-up mode.  A week ago yesterday (Monday May 5) I woke up for the first time at Quail Ridge RV Park in Cochise County, near Fort Huachuca (wa-CHU-ka) and Huachuca City.  I started out early, driving through Huachuca to Sierra Vista, which is a larger town.  I wanted to get Myrtle's oil changed but had no luck cruising the "truckish" part of town (don't ask me what that is--truck diesel stations. . . ).  So I stopped at an O'Reilly's Auto Parts shop and asked if they knew of a place that could do an oil change for a rig 11 feet high and 24 feet long.  They called places they thought would be able to take Myrtle and finally got a "Yes" from a Big O Tire place.

I drove through town to Big O, and the team there v-e-r-r-r-y carefully eased Myrtle into their garage--one guy driving, one guy up a ladder watching Myrtle's air conditioner on her roof AND the entryway to the garage, and one guy on the ground watching the mirrors.  Myrtle has now had her first oil change!  Brand new synthetic oil seems to keep her happy, so I'm happy too.

I took a round-about road to Bisbee, so that I could see some of Cochise county on the way to the town I've been wanting to see for years--home of Sheriff Joanna Bradley.  My first big stop was to see the Lavender Pit.  I always thought the pit got its name from the color of the rock.  It is actually named for the copper mining company executive who came up with and executed the idea behind this mine.

As you can see, it would be a stretch to call any of this lavender.

It is hard to envision the size of the pit.  Here you can see some very large commercial buildings about 1/3 of the way around the rim from where I am standing.

I could not get the entire pit in one frame, so you are seeing part of the pit that was not in the first picture.

Even the roadway around the pit was originally part of the mine, I think.  I turned around 180 degrees in the viewing area between the pit and the road, and the view across the road looked like a continuation of the same pit.

The roadside is terraced back so that building a road would not explain the amount of material removed.

I didn't get pictures of any of the mountains of slag all around the borders of Bisbee.  I could not find space to get off the road, but I was dumbfounded at the massive amounts of material.  Something I saw or heard suggested that they are starting to spread soil on some of it so that the land can be reclaimed.  Lessons learned from coal mines in the south, maybe.

I decided to spend my time in the Old Town part of Bisbee (modern Bisbee is made up of several very small old mining towns).   I parked in a big dusty gravel lot for RVs at the base of all of the roads that go up different canyons.

This picture looks across Main Street below the beginning of the crazy canyons.

The picture below is from about the same place, looking a bit to the left of the first picture.  The town looks like a picturesque western town, doesn't it?

You can't see it, but there is an important street behind the newer brick building.

The Copper Queen is the best place to stay in Bisbee in J. A. Jance's books.  And I did fall a bit in love--it is so beautifully maintained.  The hotel sits up behind that newer brick building on it's own little "road."

Can't you imagine having a drink or a meal sitting on one of those verandas?

This is the road to the front of the Copper Queen.  Maybe 13 feet wide.

The road just didn't look nearly as nice as I imagined!  But the far side of the hotel might actually let you climb down into Brewery Gulch, as happened in one mystery.  And no, darn it, I didn't think to get pictures of Brewery Gulch.

I walked around talking to people wherever I could.  I asked a couple of motorcycle riders if they were from the area, and if they could recommend someplace to eat lunch.  They debated, then sent me a ways up Main Street (which has its own canyon).  This is the place they sent me to, and I had a great lunch!  And there were more bikers--fancy Harley's are very popular all over Arizona.

The Savory Spot made outstanding potato salad!

I have to show you the Savory Spot's "up hill" neighbors.  These homes with hundreds of steps up to the front yard play a part in a lot of Jance's Bisbee stories.

Groceries, kids, furniture, appliances . . . Not my choice of houses.  And look how the hill is held up!

Stepping to the other side of Main Street, I got a picture that would give a better over-all idea of what one of the canyons looks like.

This is still the Savory Spot and its neighbors.

As I headed back down Main Street I wanted to give you an idea of what that one canyon's street looks like.

Bisbee's tourism season is over for now.

Bisbee is a big draw for tourists based on the town's history, the fact that it has a large artist's community, and of course us crazy Sheriff Joanna Bradley fans.  I met people who had grown up in town and stayed, people who'd grown up, left, and come back, and people who'd come and stayed.  Now the weather is what they call "dry summer"  and the tourists are mostly gone.  This season is followed by "summer monsoon" and then the usual fall, winter, and spring.

I got back to Myrtle in her big dusty parking area and made a very nasty mistake.  I had put the awning (yes, the "new" new awning) out just a couple of feet to give the fridge side of the rig some shade.  I hopped in the driver's door thinking about more pictures and where to go next.  I did not walk around Myrtle before getting in to do that "preflight check."  The awning didn't show in the mirrors or the back up camera as I left the parking area.  I was going around the traffic circle to take hiway 80 north and something banged on Myrtle's passenger side.  I was trying to think of what I might have left loose when it hit me--the awning!

I was beginning to panic because I was coming up on a tunnel 500 yards or so ahead when I finally found a big enough space to get safely 5 feet or so off the side of the road.  I called my manufacturer's roadside assistance and they found someone to come to take this new awning off.  The told me I would have help in about 45 minutes.  About an hour later Angel, the super-capable technician from the towing service called to say he was on his way.

Angel arrived with a van full of equipment and a very clear knowledge of how to take Myrtle's awning off, piece by piece, in the right order so that nothing fell or did any more damage.  Angel's wife, on an afternoon off from managing four boys ages six years to not quite two months, kept me sane and gave a hand to Angel when needed.  Angel told me that he thought that the awning was repairable, so we loaded the pieces into Myrtle.  The awning roll itself was the most fun--it came in through the passenger side window with the passenger seat tipped all of the way back--and it now occupies a good share of the walk space in Myrtle.  I eventually moved the parts of the arms that raise and lower the awning up onto the bunk above the cab so that there is a bit of space to walk.

And in the midst of all of this I stepped down out of Myrtle, wearing sandals, and managed to turn my ankle on a big loose rock.  I pretty much ignored it, but by the time I was driving back to the Quail Ridge RV Park it was swollen and I was hurting.

So now you know how I came to spend 10 days in Cochise County instead of five.  And why I didn't see most of the things I planned to see.  Tomorrow I'll upload some pictures of Quail Run and tell you what I've been doing the last couple of days.  And I'll talk about what it is like to be a tourist in the middle of a war zone, because that is what is happening in southern Arizona.

Sunday May 11, ‘14

I’m back on line, and have a lot of pictures to share that are all a week or more old.   I’m in sunny southeast Arizona, near Fort Huachuca in Cochise County.  This is home to J. A. Jance’s Sheriff Joanna Brady.  Bisbee, Sierra Vista, Douglas, Benson—all of those places that you’ve envisioned if you love those mysteries.

Let’s go back to Friday, May 2^nd.  I checked out of the Meteor Crater campground and took a run up to Meteor Crater itself with the Nikon in working order.  The reason this impact site is so important is that, in this dry desert climate, very little erosion has taken place since the impact.  A great deal of our understanding of meteor impacts comes from the studies done here.

  I followed the pathway down to the viewing platform below the visitor's center on the crater rim to get some pictures.

The area in the middle was mined for meteor pieces, with no luck.

The meteor came in from the east and blew the rock layers up and out when it hit.  This is one of the clues to the fact that it isn’t a volcano—the layers around the crater are upside down—the oldest layers are on top.

You can see the white layer above the red.

The red layer shows up all over this part of Arizona—Flagstaff on down through the Sedona canyons.  

In some areas it forms big wind sculpted boulders.  

The layer is buried under landslides in parts of the crater wall, but you can follow it all of the way around.

Across the crater the red layer is less obvious.

I took a shot looking up at the visitor’s center.  You can see how well-designed it is to fit into the rim of the crater while providing a great view from it’s windows.

The trail around the rim takes off from the center in both directions.

 I still haven't added in the pictures I took on that guided walk Monday April 28th.  You may have to see my computer or phone when I'm home to see them!

By noon on Friday May 2^nd I headed west toward Flagstaff to visit Walnut Canyon National Monument.  This is a canyon where a large settlement of Anasazi built homes, storage and social gathering places into the canyon walls.  It is at 6,000 to 7,000 feet in elevation, while Meteor Crater is about 5,600 feet.  The difference means that the vegetation is arid forest rather than open grasslands.

This is the view from the visitor's center on the canyon rim.

The path to see the ruins takes you down into the canyon, and you begin to get an idea of what it must have been like to trek up to the mesa to tend your crops and to collect water, or to climb down to the bottom of the canyon to collect water.

I climbed well down into the canyon to see the floor.

The amazing thing is to walk down the paths and stairs (hundreds of them) and look at the canyon walls as you descend.  You don't see where anyone could have lived.  But when you simply stand and look at an area of canyon wall you suddenly begin to see constructed walls in many places.

There are walled living spaces in this picture.

The walls are a bit easier to spot in this canyon wall.

Now you can see one set of walls.  There are others in this picture too!

More walls for living spaces.

One of the reasons I particularly like Walnut Canyon is the fact that the trail down leads you to rooms that you can walk into at your own pace to sit and meditate at your leisure.  On this visit, however, the Park Service was repairing and rebuilding parts of the trail and I did not get into any of the rooms. 

I couldn't resist taking flower pictures.  The plants are amazing--they find the most difficult places to dig their roots in and thrive.

Just a dry crack in the wall.

Just about to bloom!

The picture below is my favorite plant.  The blossom is bigger than the rest of the plant!

Just hanging around.

From the canyon walkway it was time to face the climb back up.  It was in the mid-80s with a breeze, but I took my time because of the elevation.  I was going up while a group of Japanese tourists were coming down and resting on the way.  We had some delightful conversations with some English and lots of gestures and laughing  You can see why everyone takes their time!

The visitor's center is out of view at the top.

From Walnut Canyon I headed south and reached my RV park outside of Sedona before dark.  I should mention that dark comes earlier than in the northwest--you can clearly see the difference as we move into summer.

In the morning I drove south toward Phoenix and highway I-10 through some beautiful country.  It was Saturday (May 3rd) so the traffic around Phoenix wasn't too bad.  I stopped about half way between Phoenix and Tucson at Casa Grande National Monument, another kind of old ruin.  This was a settlement of multi-storied buildings in the middle of the valley where the Sinaguan people farmed and lived.  As the climate became drier they built irrigation channels that extend for miles into mountainous country.  This is at a lower elevation, so the temperatures were in the high 80s.

This is one of the unprotected buildings. 

As you can see, the desert wind and the small amount of rain that does fall has pretty well destroyed most of the settlement.  But concerned citizens in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s built a cover over the central building so that there is much more left standing.  Some of you have seen the pencil drawing in my kitchen.

I'm standing in the patio at the visitor's center.

The walls partially stand, and you can see three floors of rooms.

The construction material used to build the walls is simply dried mud, sand, and gravel.  They ceilings were logs and brush, with the upper floor surfaces being a layer of dried mud.  Like ancient buildings all over the world, the walls at the base were very wide (about 4 feet) to support the upper floors.

A spider is taking advantage of the erosion of the wall.

Adult Male Great Horned Owl

There is a Great Horned Owl pair who have been nesting in the protected ruin for several years.  This year they had three owlets--the usual is one or two.  The owlets were just beginning to try their wings the day I visited.  One fell and died while I was there.  A park naturalist and a volunteer were keeping watch on the family.  The parents moved the babies to an inside room so that they couldn't be seen and then kept watch over the dying owlet from the rafters.  I was only able to get a picture of dad.

I again could not resist taking pictures of the vegetation.  The variety of types of plants amazes me.

The visitor center's courtyard.

I wish I knew what these are called.

Any guesses?

And then there are the cacti--I love them because they seem so alien and other-worldly!

Other plants serve as nurses for young cacti.

Must be a prickly pear relative?

This is the real prickly pear!

This one makes me think of the Organ Pipe Cactus.

Saguaros have a tough life.


  

He is part of the reason why.  Gina, do you recognize him?

Despite drought and infestation, they are blooming!

Pretty crazy topknots!

Even the little arms are blooming.