Tuesday, March 19/2013

Today we are off into the desert for a much needed trail ride.  Ray left early to meet the "old guys" for his quad trip.
Before leaving, we had to make a quick trip into town to pick up some wood for the new walls on the shed and also to hit Safeway for some groceries and beer!! We got to Safeway and made our purchases.  We got into line to pay and it was Cubby (one of the many cashiers) at the till.  Of course he is always a laugh and a half.  When we got to the till and were exchanging playful banter back and forth he ended the conversation with "Well, Mrs Steele, you can just take your bags and get the hell out of here and do your next shopping at Circle K"!!  I laughed so hard but demanded to speak to the manager (who was bagging our groceries at the time!!)  The manager of course told Cubby that I was one of his most favourite customers and I could shop there anytime!!  Poor Kay, the girl who likes to be in and out of a store in 30 seconds with no hassles or anything else is certainly getting her share of adventure when she shops with me!!
Our next stop was the lumber yard for some wood siding and some metal for the roof.  With that safely tied into the back of the truck we headed home where John was busy getting the jeep ready for the ride.
In no time at all, the wood was unloaded and we were heading to the trails.  Hogan was in the back with Kay and more than happy to be with us for today's adventure.
We stopped by Truman's mine but he was not around so headed over to the "old house" where we discovered that Truman had been over there with his dozer and had gathered what remained of the house into one big pile.  Such a sad ending to what was once a beautiful stone house.
We continued on through one trail after another.  There are a million trails out in that area of the desert and each one takes you to a different place.  We basically meandered around in the desert kind of heading towards the Whitman/Morristown area.
We came across several abandoned homes and actually stopped at one to "check it out".  It was pretty rough (vandals have smashed every window in the place) but I bet in its heyday it was incredible to see.  The extent of the landscaping alone was phenomenal and it was rather sad to see it sit in such disrepair. Someone, at sometime, loved this place.
We accessed the Hassayampa River after the house and headed back towards home.  Wow, the river bed was awesome but one could see where the water has cut huge furrows into the bed.  Man, it must have been fierce at one time.  There were tall cliffs along the banks in a few area and one in particular had a large nest of bees living in one of the many divets in the wall.  You could see the huge honeycomb from where we stopped.  It was awesome.   There was lots of evidence of bats living along the many crevasses in the walls as well.  Wow, it truly was awesome to see.
We eventually made it back to Wickenburg and Kay decided to take us through the Aztec RV park to exit the river bed.  As we entered the park, we saw Tom sitting outside so stopped at the office for a refreshment with him.  Pat came out to join us and we spent a good hour with them.
While we were there, a mountain biker dude stopped for the night as the Aztec is one of the few places that has actual grass for the bikers to pitch their tents on.  Apparently it is documented in one of the many biking magazines.   His name was Ian and he was from Scotland.  Of course with his heavy brogue he was a bit hard to understand.  His stutter did not help either but we managed!!   He was ready for a beer when he arrived and after a quick shower, sat at the table with us for another.  He had biked from Quartsite today.  A distance of 85 miles!!  Wow.
We arrived back at the park shortly after that to find Ray already home.  He had quite the adventure as well today.  Apparently one of the fellows he was riding with (84 years old) tipped his quad and injured himself badly.  Ray ended up giving up his seat in the side by side to him as he was unable to drive his machine back.  They called someone from his park to come with their car and pick him up on the highway at Morristown. After straightening his handle bars, Ray was able to ride the quad back to their park.  The old fellow refused to go to the hospital for treatment.  On the way into their park, the Sheriff followed them in as the old fellow did not have a license plate on his quad.  Ray explained that the quad belonged to the old fellow who had a bad accident and he was only bringing it back into town for him. Ray also mentioned that the fellow was refusing to go to the hospital.  On hearing this, the Sheriff radioed for an ambulance and the old fellow was examined and taken to the hospital here in Wickenburg and later helicoptered into a hospital in Phoenix.  He was still in the hospital a few days later with fractured ribs and lacerations and despite a huge bump on his head ... no head injury.  He was a lucky man but at 84, it is rather hard to bounce back from a wreck like that.  Hopefully he recovers well.
,John started a campfire and we sat around it for a while.  The evening was warm and it was awesome just sitting and chatting about the day's adventures.  Hogan was exhausted and slept rather soundly on the bench by the fire.  I think he was snoring!!
All in all, it was a great day.  One full of fun and adventure and ending with a nice campfire and one of Kay's "white sauce" pizzas - complete with chicken, artichokes and spinach.  We ate healthy tonight before crashing into our beds!!

One of today's many trails

Looks like the horns of a bull

Hassayampa River bed

Cliffs along the bed

Kay and Hogan

John and Hogan

Where the bees were - honeycomb in sight

Awesome

Hogan ready to head out

Two of America's finest.  They are always doing
maneuvers above the desert floor.

More cliffs along the river bed.

Flat, easy terrain.

The cottonwoods are just getting their leaves.

So many different colours in the rock.

Looking down into the Hassayampa River bed from a short
trail that runs along side it.

Heading back down onto the river bed

More coloured rock

some rough spots

Saguaro on the hills

Tonight's sunset at the park

Javalina have arrived for their treats.