Thursday, November 19/2015 - Saturday, November 21/2015

The rest of this week was spent getting settled back into the trailer.  The weather has been awesome and at one point I mentioned to John that is was "hot" out and his response was...."don't even start that shit"!!  I had to giggle after complaining about it being so chilly in Utah but hey, I was starting to sweat!!
The camper got cleaned out, the clothes hauled in and the bbq set up.  The trees were trimmed and it didn't take too long before the mesquite tree reminded me that it was pure evil.  I now have a lovely scratch on my arm!!  I am sure it was just welcoming me back!!   Man, I can't wait until that evil cactus that grows in front of the trailer gives me a "hello" as well!!
John stepped on a thorn and so he too had a good old Arizona welcome!!  Hogan has been pretty careful so far but I am sure his time will come too!!  He is enjoying his time by the fire and took to his bench and blanket like it was "old hat"!!
The laundry got done and so did the house cleaning so now, we are ready to sit, relax and enjoy our winter.
Kay is supposed to arrive next week so then we will all be where we are supposed to be!!

New sign

Wednesday, November 18/2015

Well, we were both up early to find ourselves still stuck in the mud.  There was no overnight miracle and the tow truck has been called.   Thank Heavens for Good Sam Roadside Assistance cause I sure don't want to know what a tow truck would cost for coming to save us from the evil clutches of Mother Nature!!
We called Good Sam at 7:30 and the truck arrived at 9:10.  The ground was still frozen so after some winching and some repositioning, we were out of the mud and almost on our way.  We had a chatty tow truck operator and thankfully he was quite familiar with the area as he was a hunter so when he got the call, knew exactly where we were.  It took him about and hour and 15 to get us out but a lot of that time was him chatting with us!!
Once out, we parked down near the entrance to the camping area, showered and cleaned up all the mud and headed off, down the highway.
We will be in Wickenburg later today and actually, we are getting a head start on the time as we usually are not on the

Getting hooked up

We were out in no time

Hooking back up to the trailer

Heading out

Getting back into the cactus

First fire in AZ

First dead scorpion!

 road this early!!
We stopped at Chilleen's on 17 for a late lunch.  Now Chilleen's was featured on that TV show Bar Rescue and it was awesome.  It boasts award winning BBQ and both John and I had the smoked bbq beef brisket and it was simply mouthwatering.  As we waited for the meal to come, we read up on the whole Bar Rescue experience and that was quite interesting.  Apparently the bar (formerly Kid Chilleens) had applied 2 years prior to the show before actually being accepted for filming.  They said that the "rescue" did not cost them anything except their pride as they had to totally expose themselves on national TV.  Today, the bar continues to be a success and they have nothing but the highest of praise for John Taffer and his crew.
We arrived in Wickenburg shortly there after and it was awesome.  Ray was available to welcome us back and we quickly got some of the jobs done so that we could just sit and relax for the evening.
The side by side was unloaded and the trailer parked and John got the camper parked and the satellite system up and operating with the TV in the house working as well.
I checked out all the flowers that Kay and I planted in the Spring and they are all doing very well. Ray has tended them well throughout the summer.  The bougainvillea has climbed the mesquite tree and is at least 20 feet in the air.  It is beautiful!!
We chatted with Ray for a bit then, he had to scoot off to a meeting in town.  Hogan checked out the yard and the "north" 40 and once that was done, settled on the step where he usually laid.
John got a fire going and we sat around it for the rest of the evening.  Ray joined us again once his meeting was done and it was awesome to hear all his news.  He had a good summer but there was so much unsettled weather.  He said it was something to see at times.
We had an awesome fire and it was a great way to start our Arizona winter although we did have to deal with one HUGE black spider today and a scorpion!!  Good Grief, let the fun begin!!
Tomorrow the temperature is going to be in the high 60s so that will be great.
There is a lot to do tomorrow with the usual "settling in" that is required but we have no real time limit as to when everything has to be done so,  do a little every day and things will get done.
Life is Good!!

Tuesday, November 17/2015

The wind blew all night and it is perhaps a good thing that John put the satellite dish down before he went to sleep as the camper was rocking and rolling all night with the strong gusts that came through the valley.  Yikers, I even wondered if we were going to be swept over the edge of the lookout we we camped on!!
We travelled into Arizona today and after stopping to fuel up in Flagstaff (only a bit of snow on the ground here) we headed to tonight's camping spot on Willard Springs Road.  Now, we have a bit of a history with this area as we have managed to get stuck twice here but have also managed to get ourselves unstuck as well
Well, tonight was not the case.... we attempted to turn around just off the road and managed to get the truck stuck!!  Wow, I can not believe that this is happening for the third time!!  Yes, really...... good old number three!!  Well we worked and worked and finally had to admit defeat!!  We were stuck up to our asses and needed a tow truck,
It was late so decided we would sit for the night and call the truck in the morning.  At least it was not cold out and maybe, just maybe, the ground would freeze hard enough so that we could perhaps just drive on out.
Hey, we don't call this blog John and Marie's ADVENTURES for nothing!!   Jesus, this kind of adventure I can surely do without.
Stuck.....in the mud....in Arizona.   Life is good......right!!

Heading out

Going through Mexican Hat, Utah

San Juan River

Oops!

We will get out tomorrow!

Monday, November 16/2015

We are moving today and that puts us further south so slowly, we are making our way to Arizona.
There is supposed to be some nasty weather coming our way but right now is is calm, clear and fairly warm so perhaps we will miss the forecasted nastiness!!

Trying to snow this morning

Heading out

95 east Utah

Blizzard!

Out of the snow and heading into our spot for the night

Our spot

View from our window

Before we left the site, the snow started falling.  Geez, I was hoping we were not going to have to deal with that today.  So much for that!!
As we climbed out of the wash, the snow got heavier and heavier and before too long it was remaining on the road.  Yikes.....I really  had hoped to avoid this nonsense!!
We travelled the 14 miles to the 191 highway and headed further south.  As we travelled, the snow stopped and we had wet roads but no snow!!  Once again, life is good!!
We stopped at Comb Ridge Road thinking that we would do this ATV Trail but once John saw the trail head, knew we had done this particular trail before.  So...we continued on and instead chose to stop in The Valley of the Gods for the night.  It was a lovely as ever but there was a nasty chilly wind blowing so it was inside the camper for us and I allowed John to kick my ass in several games of cribbage.  I did however manage to skunk him once so all was not lost!!

Sunday, November 15/2015

It is Arch Canyon Trail day today!!  The frost was on the pumpkin this morning so we will not be heading out too terribly early.  Gosh, you would have to be in your snowmobile suit to ride the canyon this early!!
We accessed the trail head and headed into the canyon.  Since the upper portion of the canyon is designated a critical habitat for the Mexican Spotted Owl, it is closed to motorized vehicles but if you are a hiking enthusiast or horseman, you can continue further up the canyon.  Today, it will be an 8 mile trek into the canyon and 8 miles back out.  The canyon boasts a perennial stream that meanders through the varied terrain and the trail crosses it many, many times.  It was clear that in the early Spring, this "stream" must become a raging torrent of water as there was plenty of evidence of tree litter clinging to the lower branches of the cottonwood trees.  Some of that litter was probably 20 feet in the air!!
The trail was mostly sand with a few areas of loose rock and a few areas of sliprock.  It wound its way through the canyon in amongst cottonwood and juniper with an abundance of scotch pine when we hit the forest boundary.  It was a very pleasant trip and I was even lucky enough to spot some ancient Anasazi Ruins way up on the face of the sandstone cliffs.  It was such a delight to see!!
The trail ended for motorized vehicles at a rather quaint little camping spot amongst the huge pine trees and gave a good view of the mighty Arch for which I am sure the canyon was named after.  All in all, it was a most enjoyable trip all the way in and back out to the trailhead.
It was 3:30 by the time we were done with the Arch Canyon Trail so we thought we would try finding the Hotel Rock Trail
This is a short but steep and rough climb up the mesa from which Arch canyon was created.  Only 3 miles long, it challenges one every inch of the way.  Surprisingly, the side by side took to the climb incredibly well.  John was very pleased with the way the machine performed.
The trail took us from the canyon floor and led to an immediate climb up the face of the mesa on slickrock.  The trail was usually pretty easy to see from all the scrapes and tire marks on the rock from previous vehicles but there were a few times that it was the rock cairns that kept us on track.  It was an incredible journey up the face of this mesa but well worth it to finally reach the top and see Hotel Rock again - another Anasazi Ruin site.
It took us an hour to climb the three miles and it was getting late so we quickly took a few pictures of the ruins then headed back down the trail.  We had 3 miles of rock crawling to do to get back down to the canyon floor!
Forty five minutes later, we were safely back to the canyon floor and on our way back to camp. What an incredible trail!!
We arrived back at camp just as the last of the Sunday football games was starting so quickly got settled in and watched that while John got supper started!!
Today's ride was by far the best ride to date as far as I am concerned.  John says that every day out on the trail is a good day and I must agree but somedays are just better than others!!   Life is good!!

Start of Arch Canyon trail

Nice reflection

Spotted some ruins

The Arch at the end of the trail

Headed back out

The start of Hotel Rock trail

It's a long climb to the top of the Mesa

Hotel Rock