Thursday, December 1/2011

Headed out

I - 17 S AZ

1st Cactus

Our destination-Vulture Peak

OMG, it is the first of December!!  Time has certainly passed quickly.  I will be needing to decorate the "armed" trees for Christmas and will be getting ready to do the "trash can turkey" for our Christmas meal.  Where has the time gone!!
We will be in Wickenburg today so the final destination is within our reach and it will be awesome not to have to always be "on the move".  I can finally get all my chairs and tables out and settle in at one spot,  I can get the bird feeders out and start my daily routine with coffee and watch the antics of the desert birds.  I so enjoyed their silliness last year and spent at least an hour a day watching them.
It started to rain this morning and John did not want to get caught on this dirt road we are parked on so quickly got out of bed and moved the bus to a large open area just beside the highway.  We had coffee and waited to see if the rain was going to pass and since it looked like it was going to be an all day affair, got dressed and headed down the road.  Perhaps it won't be raining in Wickenburg.  I sure hope not as geting down Vulture Peak Road might prove rather interesting!!
As we got closer to Wickenburg, the rain stopped and the sun came out and we noted that there probably was very little rain at all in this area all summer as many of the wash looked as if they had not been "running" for a while.
We decided to try getting into the site where Ben had been camped last year.  It is a bit further down the road but also sits a bit higher up so phone service may not be an issue for Keith.  As we came around the curve in the road, "Van Man" was back in the same site he was in last year!!  Both John and I got a kick out of that!!  It is a good thing that we are going to be camping a bit further down as he is sitting where Keith and Charlotte were camped last year.
We settled into the campsite (we are the only ones here) then sat and enjoyed the view of the many saguaro cactus in the site as well as up on the hills surrounding the site.  Life is good!!
Since Keith and Charlotte had not arrived, we decided to go see if our favorite gold miner was around so headed to Trueman's mine.  He was there getting ready for the rains that are supposed to be coming.  He looked good but said that he had a lousy summer which included a triple bypass surgery on June 15 and was actually only now getting back into gear (after the surgery) and starting to mine again.  We chatted with Trueman for at least an hour and a half and while we were there, the birds were flying around the watering hole and stopping to drink for all their heart's content.  Trueman says that he often has several deer come into the site to drink as well.  It is quite a popular place for the four legged creatures and the feathered ones as well!  Cowboy and Hogan ran around like long lost friends so that was entertaining to watch too.  I had forgotten about the fighter jets that often passed over this area on their training missions and was reminded of this when a couple of them flew over while we were talking to Trueman.  It feels good to be back in our winter "home".
When we got back to the bus, Keith and Charlotte had arrived and we spent the rest of the evening sitting around the "campfire in a can" in the trailer (it was still a bit windy out and getting chilly) chatting and catching up on their adventures throughout the summer.  I had roasted a chicken today in the slow cooker as we were driving here so threw some potatoes onto the bbq and we all had supper.  It was good!!  It was soon time for bed as tomorrow will be busy as we continue to set up camp.