Saturday, December 10/2011

The new computer is up and running and today is the first day that I am doing the blogs with it.  Just imagine, all the keys work with this one and it hasn't shut itself off once!!  It has almost taken the fun out of this blog!!  It was always Marie against the computer and now with this new one, some of the anticipation as to will I or will I not get the blog finished, is gone.  Oh well, I guess this is progress!!
I was up early enough to enjoy the Christmas lights this morning as the sun had not come over the hill yet.  Of the two trees that I decorated, the one that sits at the back of the bus is by far the prettiest although John said last night that the big palo verde reminds him of the "flight of the bumble bee" and he likes that one best.  Charlotte says that the lights look like they are floating in the air at night and now that she said that, I think I like the Palo Verde better cause they do look like they are just hanging in the air!!

Wickenburg

John and Keith surveying the landscape

acres and acres of rock, saguaro and cholla

Hummingbird nest

cactus growing out of the rock

Winding our way through the canyon

sun going down

Sunset, Time to head home

The hummingbird was up early too.  The sun had just barely risen over the hill when he was ready to start drinking from the feeder.  It wasn't long before Mr. Woodpecker was there as well.
Keith and Charlotte walked by the bus on their way "up the hill" to see what they could see and Hogan decided to walk with them today.   Off the three of them went and returned about two hours later.  Charlotte said that they had to stop a few times to take thorns out of Hogan's feet (thank heavens I gave them the pinchers) but they all managed well.
When they got back John decided that the four of us should take a cruise out into the desert and maybe we will be able to find that cave that we came across two years ago.  Keith would really like that!!
With the jeep packed and ready (I now often think of Gilligan and his three hour cruise at this point), we headed out.   Hogan was staying home and I think after his walk, he was rather content to do just that although he did have a look of disbelief when we called him into the bus!!
We travelled through some incredible terrain with the best being through some pretty tight washes where the rock formations were carved by years of water erosion.  We did a few steep climbs on some loose shale but the jeep managed well.  We passed through acres and acres of Saguaro and Teddy Bear Cholla and vowed that we had to come back as there were several "good" ones available for making crafts with.   John volunteered to be the driver on these cholla hunting missions!!  Keith and Charlotte have ones that they put solar lights inside of and they look lovely so I am on a mission to have them show me how they did it and will take some back home for a summer project.
We eventually found the Hassayampas River and Morristown and found the trail that would lead us back home.  It has been two years since we rode this trail and although one knows the direction back to camp, the challenge is to find the trail that will actually get you there and not into some dead end wash.   We saw the sun set and moon rise and the need for headlights became apparent.   The jeep had been running well all day but it too must have been getting tired because it decided that it no longer wanted to provide us with head lights!!  (A three hour cruise!!  Shut up Gilligan!!)  Something in the dimmer switch John said.  This was not much of a worry because we do have those big Light Force lights on the jeep and they provided lumination  when we needed it!!  Now we still had to find the proper trails and with the help of Keith's phone and the GPS we were able to make it back onto Vulture Peak Road and back to the camp.  We were out for five hours and were glad to be home.
John built a fire and we all sat around it for a while then Keith and Charlotte went home and John cooked our supper.  All in all, another good day!!