Saturday, November 26, 2016

Thursday, November 24/2016

It is the USA Thanksgiving Day today so greeting go out to all our American friends.  Hope you enjoy your turkey and are surrounded by lots of family and friends.
Today, there are three football games to watch.  Apparently is is quite a big deal down here with Thanksgiving and all.
The football pool is still in full swing and by the end of today's games, I was leading so I am hoping that Sunday is a good day for my pics and I will be able to pocket a whopping $20.00!!  Woo Hoo!!
I will keep my fingers and maybe my toes crossed too!!
For the most part, it was a quiet day although there were several quads and side by sides zipping up and down the road.
The cats spent the day inside lounging on the couch and then headed outside for their evening adventures.
John got the bbq started and then started the campfire in a can so that we could sit around it while supper cooked.  It is rib night tonight and I did up some of my special potatoes with carrots, onion and celery up to go with them.   Mmmmm......things are going to be delicious again tonight.

Wednesday, November 23/2016

Headed out
We left our campsite bound further South.  John has done some research (as usual) and has a place all picked out for our stop tonight.  He says there is boondocking and quadding to be had around Lake Havasu City so that is where he is planning on stopping for a few days.  I am sure there are all sorts of trails to be discovered!!
We headed out and the traffic was a bit more abundant as it is the USA Thanksgiving holiday tomorrow and there are a lot of folks trying to get home for the holiday.
We usually don't like to travel when there is an increase in the volume of traffic but we certainly did not want to stay in the wind and cooler temperatures around Chloride.  We needed to be further south to hit the warmer weather.


Getting closer to stopping for a few days

Sailboat on Lake Havasu

More incredible scenery and warmer weather
We arrived at the GPS coordinates that John had for the boondocking area and we turned into the site. Well, I have seen plenty of  camping areas but I was not feeling "the love" for  this place.  It was not too far out of the city and there seemed to be a lot of trails around but there were a lot of campers out in the area and everyone seemed to be "crammed " together.  This was definitely not where we wanted or needed to camp!!   If I am going to be boondocking, then I want to be at least a block and preferably two blocks away from my neighbour!!
Well, we had a few more spots to check out so we got back on the highway and continued on only to find the other spots equally undesirable!!
Well, we were now not too far from Parker, Arizona and knew of an ideal place to camp.  One that had plenty of open space which lends itself to plenty of room between campers.
We headed down Shea Road and found a suitable spot for a few days.  We have camped here before and it is usually pretty damn good.  And.... there is a Walmart in Parker......BONUS!!


Our spot for a few days
We settled in, the cats recovered from their harrowing trip down the road and were soon out discovering this new campsite.  Some idiot in another campsite must have brought some tanorite so decided to set that stuff off and scared the crap out of me and the cats!!  Well they were flying and I wanted to go hide in the trailer!!  Man, that stuff really has a powerful sound when it goes off.  To add insult to injury they started target shooting as well so we simply hoped that this bit of nonsense was not going to be an issue.  They must have used all their bullets up as it was pretty darn quiet about an hour after we arrived,
John got a fire started and we sat around it enjoying the sounds of the night.  The cats creeped back into the campsite and they too enjoyed the quiet of the evening.
Supper was shish kabob and BBQ cabbage.  It was delicious, as usual.     Life is Good!!



Tuesday, November 22/2016

Headed out
It is a travel day today and we are headed further South.  Eventually, we will get to Wickenburg and I will once again be reunited with my bathtub!!
We stopped in Overton, Nevada for a few supplies  and John spotted an old car in the grocery store parking lot.  Of course we had to take a picture of it for the blog just to show some appreciation for the guy who took the time to restore it.


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Our travels today took us through Lake Mead Recreation Area.  It is a beautiful drive through Lake Mead Park and one that I would recommend to anyone who comes this way.  There is a nominal fee for driving through the Park and I think it is $10.00 but the kiosk is often not open so the ride has been free for us the last few times we have been this way.  This particular route also leads one right past the Valley of Fire State Park and I would highly recommend this drive as well.  It too is beautiful in a breathtaking way.


miles and miles of desert.


It is a harsh, unforgiving land if one is not careful


The beautiful Lake Mead.   The blue color is incredible and
unforgettable.


Again, a harsh unforgiving land

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Once through the park, we accessed highway 93 south and headed towards Chloride. Arizona.  We are planning on staying in an area we have stayed in previously.  It really is nothing to write home about but it is plenty good enough for one night.
The wind has come up and it is going to be a bit cooler for the night.  We are definitely not in Nevada anymore and the wind  always seems to blow in this area!!
The cats have been troopers and have settled into the camping routine.  Once again I am floored by their "camping" habits.  They are usually not impressed with the drive but once we have settled for the night, they start their adventures and are kept busy for a few hours checking all sorts of things out!  They usually do not stray too far from the campsite and they usually come "home" when Kay whistles for them!!  So far, all is good with them!!
Supper was cooked inside as the wind was just too much to have to deal with.  So, I put my culinary skills to the test and cooked for the troops today.  Pork chops, mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy would have to do for tonight!!  Mmmm......Life is Good!!

Us headed down the road

Monday, November 21/2016

Our trail for today
Into the sand dunes
The Logandale Trail system is based around one main loop.  There are several and I mean several spur trails off the main loop and this is what actually makes up the 200 miles that the system boasts.  Most of these trails are considered "green" trails but there are some definite challenges in some of the spur trails.
Today we found the sand dunes and I truly was captivated by them.  The color alone was something to behold.  The beautiful red color complimented the surrounding sandstone mountains.  We were surrounded by sand and mountains as the sand gave way to the towering cliffs.  It was almost claustrophobic as we wound our way through the dunes on our quest to find the petroglyphs.
Being that it had rained last night the sand was "wet" and the dust factor was negligible and for that, both Kay and I were thankful.


Beautiful, red sand
We met a few other off road enthusiasts in the dunes and that was surprising since we had passed several RVs camped further up the road from where we were camped.  It was good though as there was minimal traffic to have to deal with.  We almost felt like the dunes were ours to discover.



The Easter Egg....not sure why this is named the Easter egg
because it sure didn't resemble any Easter egg I ever saw!!



incredible views

Lots of sand and rock

Several arches in and amongst the sandstone


incredible colors


Our destination
The petroglyphs were found and we took the time to appreciate them.  I don't think I will ever get tired of viewing them and believe me..... we have seen plenty!!.  I simply love the lore and so appreciate that we are blessed to see evidence of long gone civilizations.  One can not help but wonder "what do you suppose this means?"  Each petroglyph tells a story.

The Petroglyphs
Of course there is "etiquette" when it comes to petroglyph and not everyone observes the rules.  No one is to ever touch the etchings as the oils from our hands could very well cause deterioration of the petroglyph.  There is to be no tracing of casting of the etchings either.  They are to be simply looked at and honored.  Of course there are the usual disrespectful people out there who insist on carving their names amongst the etchings and that is truly sad and infuriating.  Who does that??  Apparently "Rowley" thought that it was cool thing to do as that name was scrawled on the wall amongst the etchings.  I'm thinking Rowley should have his ass kicked!!
I am the official photographer for this blog (lol) and I took pictures of all the etchings.  At least "Rowley" can't desecrate the site from this blog!!






The quads at the site of the petroglyphs
We continued along the loop after finding the peyroglyphs and ran into one of the many tour groups from the area.  They take lots of people out so that they too can enjoy the scenery and take in all that Mother Nature can offer.  They are cautious people and employ the companies to bring them back safely....most unlike us who head out and seek adventure on our own.  We have certainly ended up in some peculiar places courtesy of a crazy GPS reading and John's nose!!  And there was one time when we actually failed to get home one night.....but that is a whole other story!!
I must say though, the trail was really poorly marked.  For the amount of traffic that I have seen over the past few days, there seems to be a lot of interest in the trails.  The trail markings were sparse and not very informative.
Of course there were a ton of "No Motor Vehicles" posted along the trail but they seem to be mostly ignored as the evidence of traffic in these areas was quite evident.  Again I wonder, in this day and age when the BLM and the environmentalists and tree huggers want to shut down many of these areas to motorized vehicles.  that people just cannot heed the signs.  It is maddening as this area is really quite unique and is really a jewel in the middle of this Nevada desert.  This ecosystem does not lend itself to regeneration all that easily so any tracks made where they do not belong take years to regenerate. "Rowley" strikes again!!


One of the local tour companies




The face in the rocks
The sandstone, being such a soft "rock" is plagued by erosion and a lot of that is from wind and rain.  Of course with this comes the incredible shapes and one of my favourite things to do is find "faces" in the rocks.  I wasn't disappointed today as I managed to find a few.

Another great ride
We found our way home early and enjoyed an awesome fire while John cooked supper.  We are headed out tomorrow heading Southward.  Not sure where we will land but more adventure awaits, I am sure.   Life is Good