Angel Wings

Today's version of "It's a Wonderful Life"...

Cherry Creek

Cherry Creek to Young starts out as a maintained dirt road...

Then slowly turns into a unmaintained, rough shelf road that winds its way up through the mountains...

It has a little bit of everything including some challenging washouts...

Arizonian Christmas Parade

Here are some highlights of the annual Arizonian Christmas parade...

Santa's elves making hot chocolate before the parade

Santa and his helpers

Mr. & Mrs. Claus leading the parade in their golf cart sleigh

Even the Grinch made an appearance

 

Mall Rated Jeep

Anyone can own a "Trail Rated" Jeep, but only a special few own a "Mall Rated" Jeep...

Devil's Canyon

Group ride to Devil's Canyon east of Superior, Arizona...

Click on photos to enlarge

Weird Age

The Fort

I joined five other Jeep owners here in the park for a drive to what everyone calls "The Fort" in the mountains north of Globe, Arizona. Although no one in the group knew the exact history of the site, the consensus was it probably was not an army fort but an early native or settler dwelling. Today, only a partial stone wall exists...

It was a long day of off-roading that had us airing up at sunset and me not getting home till 8:00 p.m. My neighbors are so used to seeing me turn-in early that I got a text from Keith during dinner wanting to know if I was okay and did I need bail money. 

Thanksgiving Dinner

My neighbors invited me over for Thanksgiving dinner. Between the delicious home cooking and pleasant company, it was a great way to celebrate Thanksgiving.

This is only a portion of what was being served. I could have made a meal out of the desserts alone.

Jayco Seneca Sold

Over the last year I have become increasingly disenchanted with RVing. The difficulty in finding available campsites along with significant increases in the cost of fuel, campsites, maintenance and insurance are some of the reasons for selling the Jayco. All in all, it simply is not as much fun as when I started out ten years ago. I am not sure what my future travel plans will be, but I figure I can stay in a lot of motels and Airbnbs by selling the RV and eliminating the cost of owning/maintaining a large motorhome.

Queen Valley Lunch

Keith took Terry, Gail and me to Queen Valley in his Kawasaki SxS...

Where we enjoyed lunch outside in ideal weather...

Misplaced Priorities

5 Deadly Terms Used By A Woman

Big Horn Sheep

Although Ken and Faye (the party animals from Colorado) have traveled extensively, they had never been in the desert, so we followed Ralph and Jerry in the RZR to Box Canyon in my Jeep. On the way out of the canyon, we came across one of the largest herds of Big Horn Sheep I have seen. There are people in the park, who have lived here for years, that have never seen Big Horns in the wild and Ken and Faye got to see them their first time out. With that kind of luck, I think I should take them to one of the local casinos. Photos are courtesy of Ralph as I misplaced/lost my small camera.

Click on photos to enlarge

Here are the real desert animals

Real Reason For Border Crisis

Nighttime Visitor

Something has been pooping all over my carport and moving my mouse traps without tripping them. In order to identify the culprit, I setup my trail cam and here is what I captured...

Pests

The monsoon rains this summer have caused all kinds of critters to emerge from the desert. Normally, there are very few insects here, but we are currently being plagued by everything from small "no-see-ums" to millions of moths...

Two days after I had the Jeep washed
(click on photos to enlarge)

I have even trapped three mice in the last month...

First mouse I have seen with a hairy tail
After looking at some Internet photos, I now believe this may be a pack rat

Preventive Medicine

Heading Home

I am cutting my summer trip short and heading back to the Arizonian tomorrow. I have not had any success in getting a contractor to come out to give me an estimate for repairs and I want to make sure that section of the roof where water could enter is patched before another storm arrives.

Update (8/22/2021): Arrived home safe and sound. No damage inside park model. 😀

Update (8/30/2021): Finally found a contractor to repair the carport awning. He indicated it might be a couple of weeks before he could get the needed materials due to the widespread wind damage in the area. 😟

Update (9/8/2021): It has been a frustrating process, but the carport awning has been repaired. 😀😁😂😃

More Storm Damage

I received a text message this morning informing me that a severe storm had swept through the Arizonian last night doing extensive damage to the park and my carport...

I have filed an insurance claim and am currently waiting on the adjuster to get back to me. In the interim, I am trying to arrange for someone in the park to clear away the loose debris to prevent further damage (another storm is expected tonight) and to see if there was any damage to the park model itself.

Keith, whose carport was damaged back in July, called to say he lost some more panels. He also indicated there has been so much storm damage in the Phoenix area this summer that it could be quite a while before we can get someone out for repairs.

Update (8/18/2021): Mike was able to remove the loose aluminum panels that could further damage the park model. He sent me some photos and this one concerns me most as it appears water could enter the home if they have another severe storm with heavy rain and wind...

Click on photo to enlarge

I am currently waiting for three contractors to return my calls so that I can get an estimate and a date for them to begin work. The good news is I have spoken with the adjuster and she has already cut a check for the repairs.

Rimrocker Trail

The Rimrocker Trail connects a bunch of individual roads to make one continuous 160 mile trail from Montrose to Moab. We drove as far as where it intersects Highway 141 before heading back to the campground. Click on photos to enlarge.

I would have done this trail but I did not have a bucket

Old mine on the side of a cliff

Imagine commuting to work here every day

Overview of the canyon with the Hanging Flume

Woods Lake

We took a Jeep caravan to Woods Lake, a picturesque mountain lake west of Telluride...

Smoky Mountains

No, I am not writing about the Smoky Mountains in western North Carolina, but the mountains here in the Montrose/Ouray area. Yesterday and today, smoke from the wildfires has blanketed the sky. Normally, you can see the San Juan Mountains about 30 miles from the park, but now I can just barely see the outline of mountains only a couple of miles away...

Click on image to enlarge

Flamingo Swingers

Last night at dinner with friends, I learned that a flamingo outside a RV is a sign that the occupants are "swingers". Well, I have always known that my neighbors were "party animals" but this came as a bit of a surprise...

Ugly Side of RVing

Sunny sent me some photos from friends who experienced an engine fire that totaled their motorhome. Fortunately, no one was hurt and they were able to save the motorcycles they were towing.

Yankee Boy Basin

Some of Ken's friends wanted to drive up to Yankee Boy Basin, a very scenic trail in the San Juan Mountains south of Ouray, Colorado, so we loaded up the Jeeps and headed to the mountains...

Tailings from an old mine

White water from all the rain

Getting ready for lunch with a view

I won't say Dave is cheap but occasionally, he lifts one or more tires off the ground just to save the tread...

Centennial RV Park

My site at the Centennial RV Park opened up yesterday so I moved from another park about two miles away into a space between Ken & Faye and Dave & Bev. The mature shade trees and lush green grass make it a great place to camp...

"Happy Camper"

For the first six months of this year I did not see any significant rain in southern Arizona. For last two weeks it has rained at least part of every day in New Mexico and Colorado. Unfortunately, some of the areas where wildfires destroyed the ground cover this summer are now experiencing severe flooding. The good news is some parts of the southwest are beginning to recover from what has been described as an "exceptional drought".

Grand Mesa, CO

Ken, Faye, Dave, Bev and I drove up over Grand Mesa (the world’s largest flat-top mountain with over 300 lakes sprawled across 500 square miles) to have lunch at the Wagon Wheel...

Great food with great friends

It has been a while since I have seen temperatures this low

Ice Maker Repair

A couple days ago, the plastic tube that supplies water to the Norcold ice maker developed a pinhole leak. I tried covering it with electrical tape to no avail. Fortunately, there was a valve that allowed me to turn off the water so I could continue to use the refrigerator.

Today, I took the tube to a RV dealer and was told it would take 2-3 weeks for the parts and the shipping cost alone would be $23.50. Much to my surprise and delight, I was able to find everything I needed to fix the problem at the local Ace Hardware for $1.12. Once I had the right parts, the repair was quick and easy. I am now back to making ice just in case I need to rehydrate with a little Wild Turkey American Honey Bourbon.