Saturday, January 28/2012

I was up real early today - before 6 a.m.  What is with that!!  I was going to just lie in bed until the sun came up but instead, the text message chimes came over the phone so of course I had to get up to see who would be texting me at 6 in the morning (7 at home).  I thought it would be my sister but it turned out to be our oldest son Jace, telling me to get my old retired ass out of bed.  I text him back to say it was only 6 a.m. here and he said "my bad"!!  Ya, well, I was already awake!!
The sun is not scheduled to come over the hill for another hour and a half so I was "in the dark" for a while.   It is a good thing we now have all that reserved power in the batteries so sitting here with the lights and the Internet on is not a problem.  I did need a bit of heat though so had to start the heater and man, it was kicking out some good heat.
The sun finally rose above the hill at 7:35 so now the bus is flooded with light and the birds are oh so busy at the feeder.  There is lots of chirping going on again today.  There is no clouds in the sky at present so it should be a warm one today.
We are supposed to be going quadding today with some friends we play shuffleboard with.  They said they might drop by and pick us up so, that should prove to be fun.  If not, sitting in the sun working on my tan also works for me!!  I did pack the quad yesterday so we are pretty much ready to go if they do show up.

The Apple Dumpling Gang!!

Heading out towards Vulture Peak

Spring is coming to the desert - an ocotillo starting to leaf out.
Behind each of these little leaves, is a very sharp thorn!!

A view of the back side of Vulture Peak.  The trail to the top is on
the other side.

Lunch stop

At the old house

Ray's gun - just in case!!

Ray - one of the shuffleboard gang

John on Wickenburg Mountain

Tonight's moon

The yard lights in the palo verde tree

a real fire - no "campfire in a can" tonight!!

Keith and Charlotte went into town yesterday for water so they have a barrel full for us to transfer into the bus. Oh I love that we don't have to move this beast very often for anything anymore.  The 45 gallon barrel of theirs is a wonderful tool for the dry camper and once again, I say a silent thank you to Trueman who gave us the barrel last year.  John then gave it to Keith and Charlotte as they needed it far more than we did and it has worked out well for both of us.
The quadders arrived to pick us up and to our surprise they numbered 10. There were 9 side x sides and 2 quads on the trail.  We headed out towards Vulture Peak and let me tell you, it was pretty slow going.  With 10 other quads and most of them side by sides and most of the drivers the average age of 68, it was SLOW going.  It was a bit dusty too.  We stopped for "lunch" about an hour after John and I joined the group and all the "old folks" got out their hotdogs or sandwiches or whatever and chowed down.  John and I had just eaten prior to leaving so it was a refreshment stop for us.
Many of the group wanted to stop at the old house so we headed over there and once again we were amazed at the amount of destruction that has occurred.  While there, I found a few geodes - a type of rock  that forms and once broken open, is supposed to reveal crystal formations inside.  I will break a few open and see just what the inside reveals. I will also leave some intact for Charley back home.  Last year he showed an intrest in rocks so I will give some to him to break open.  Who knows, maybe I am feeding a budding geologist!!
The group decided to start heading back towards the Hassayampa and Wickenburg where they all lived - either in homes or in their RVs.  John decided to take a short cut and while doing so, we broke a strap on one of the bags and lost it so had to turn around and retrieve it.  In doing so, we lost the group and did not meet with them again until the Hassayampa!!  We actually beat them to the river!!
We sat around there for a bit, had a refreshment then everyone stated heading home.  After one final beer with Ray, we too started to backtrack home stopping on Wickenburg Mountain for a beer.  Being so high up, we texted Jace and mentioned that we were enjoying some refreshments on the mountain in 70 degree temperatures!!  He text us back "poor you"!!
We were soon back at camp and John started an actual fire!!  No "campfire in a can" for us tonight!!
The coyotes were yapping but they seemed quite a ways away although Hogan was "on guard" the whole night.
Steak and baked potato for supper then John had to download all today's pics for the blog.  All in all, it was a good day. I fear I am going to be a bit stiff and sore though in the morning so I had better take a few advil