Seeing Friend in Phoenix, and on to Sharp Creek NF Campground ... in the RAIN!!!

 

 

We ALWAYS enjoy our nearly yearly visit to Phoenix to see Laurie.  Marcia has known Laurie since Laurie was around 12, and she is...NOPE, not going to give it away!  She treated us to Lunch today, after we all had a good visit at her house.  Until next time dear friend...

After a fill up of gas at Walmart, off we traveled through Fountain Hills and up the Beeline Highway to Payson.  In Payson we decided to travel east on Highway 260 to Sharp Creek NF Campground.

I love traveling a new highway in the mountains, and was very glad to see TREES once we started east toward the campground.

Prior to Payson, the clouds made for some interesting pictures as sun hit some of the hills, and lack of sun covers up the rest.

There was little traffic, and the climb to 5,000 feet was smooth.

We come around a corner and see this Wall of Rain ahead...with a faint sign of a Rainbow.

And after many attempts, we (Marcia) gets this shot which, if you look close, is a double rainbow.  Rain came and went, as did the rainbow(s). 

I did not get any pics of the campground, but let's just say it is the typical National Forest Campground.  However...when you do the self pay, it is on a machine which takes credit and debit cards.  That was slick!  Later, a camp host came by and collected their half of the receipt, and placed a Reserved Sign in front of the camping spot.  Like other NF Campgrounds, there are no services outside of the outhouse and some water spouts.  Verizon Internet is excellent.  Generators need to be off by 10 pm, which is an hour from now, so I have to wrap this up.

 

 

Vado, New Mexico -- 1,200 Miles Done, 1,700 To Go

Before I get into the last two days of travel, here are a few pictures taken with the camera which I previously failed to share.

Mom sitting at the Thanksgiving Dinner table having her dessert.  She ate SO MUCH!

My wonderful sisters putting the food away after Turkey Dinner.

Headed to Arizona from Needles

The Colorado River and Arizona boarder

Coming into Kingman Arizona

Turned onto Arizona 93, headed to Phoenix

The other three picture above show various desert plants.  The desert is much more green this year than in the past.  That recaps our travel through Monday.

Monday afternoon we met Laurie, a longtime friend, at Cracker Barrel in Phoenix.  Her mother Joyce, one of Marcia's best friends, passed a few years ago.  The picture above was from our last meeting with her in April...neither of us thought about taking pictures Monday night.  After our dinner and visit, we decided to travel on to the Cracker Barrel in Casa Grande, getting us a good head start on Tuesday's travel, and keep us away from the morning rush hour.  

It was a nice quiet night at the Cracker Barrel...one of the quietest Cracker Barrel nights we have ever had.  Got up at the crack of dawn and got on the road.  

Picacho Peak caught Marcia's eye from a distance.  A state park resides there, and back in April 15, 1862, a battle of the Civil War took place here.  As we got closer, the sun was shinning bright upon the mountain...but I kind of like the distant, dawn pictures better.

The boulders in this area reminded me of Alabama Hills in California

There are dozens and dozens of these mountain monuments in Southeastern Arizona.

One of the boarder checkpoints.  I noticed the 'eastbound' camera array had shrunk to one.

Here is the famous Road Runner just west of Las Cruces

Organ Mountains Desert Peaks National Monument overlooking Las Cruces

We made it to the Western Skys RV Park around 2:30 pm.  It was a long 350+ miles and very uneventful.  Stopped for a quick snooze and break for about 30 minutes close to the Arizona and New Mexico border.  There were a number of police cars, and we saw at least four vehicles pulled over which had an officer up at their door.

This is our second time at Western Skys RV Park, the first was this past April on our way out west.  It is pretty quiet, a bit older of a park, and the staff are very friendly.  For $20 Passport America rate, it is hard to beat...however if the weather was warmer, we would have stayed at the Road Runner Rest Area for free, which includes 24 hour guard service.

We have two long days in front of us, and then we are going to take a break.  Wednesday is a 400+ trip from Vado to Sonora Texas.  On Thursday we need to get through San Antonio and Houston...a little under 400 miles but passing through 2 major size cities.  If we get to San Antonio after 9 am but before 10 am, then we should be able to get through Houston before the night rush hour.  

Before I close I want to provide an update on mom.  She was released from the hospital on Monday.  She has about a week of an antibiotic, which is an addition to the antibiotics she got while in the hospital. The delirium is gone, but the memories of what "she saw" are firmly embedded into her mind.

Dinner with Laurie, Quiet Do Nothing Day

You ever have one of those feelings like, "I should be doing something...but what I am doing is just sitting back doing nothing?"  That describes Thursday.  Other than taking Indy out for a few breaks, pretty much did nothing until we left to meet Laurie at Texas Roadhouse.

Laurie and Marcia after dinner

Leaving Indy alone is always a concern.  If I leave her treats, she does not eat them until we get home.  I don't have cameras in the motorhome, so what I have to say is just a "most likely" scenario.  

We are leaving, I have the TV turned up a bit and on FidoTV.  The AC is on, and AC fan is on constant low, so if it gets down to 74, the fan will still run.  I hear Indy doing a small wimper...I leave a window shade open next to my computer chair.  I go to that window and see her looking out.  We drive off.  More about this after dinner....

Laurie pulled up in her Mazda MX-5 (I think that is what it is) just before we do (she texted me a picture of her in the car).  We are all about 10 minutes early...which is typical with each of us.  Two hours later we are saying good bye.  It was a nice dinner, very nice company, and always too short of a visit.

It takes us 25 minutes to get back to the motorhome.  Indy has been alone for 3 hours and 15 minutes.  She is ALWAYS so happy to have us home, and I got her outside before Marcia got into the motorhome.  I sit out with her for a bit, but she won't do her business...she wants to lick my face, and then she wants inside.  Inside she jumps up on Marcia and then goes back and forth between the two of us.  I give her about 2 ounces of my steak that I brought back, and she gobbles it up.  Then I give her the bone (I had the Ribeye Steak with Bone-in).  At first she sets it in her bed, then comes over to us again.  I change my clothes, and take her out where she does do her business...and then she wants right back in.  She goes to her bed, where she left her bone, and for the next two hours the bone stripped clean.  I got her to bring it over to me after the first hour, and although she growled at the idea, I needed to cut off a small bone end that is barely attached...then I give her the big bone again.

As for what she did while we were gone...  The cover over the window of the driver door has this 'cave' which just fits her little head and neck as she looked out that window.  Marcia's window is the same.  My computer chair, which has a cover over it, now has the cover all bunched up on the seat, as she certainly put her paws up on the back to look out the window.  I am sure she went from window to window to window.  Eventually, she probably fell asleep.  Hard to say if she even watched the TV at all.  Now, she is crashed with a full tummy, tired from the anxiety of being alone, and tired from gnawing on that bone for two hours.  When I took it away from her I praised her at how well she did with it, and tossed it in the trash. 

While out with I caught this nice sunset with my cell phone. The cactus and bush was pretty much in the middle of the sunset, so I took a picture to the left of the cactus, and another to the right.  2 minutes later it was all gone...

Three Hour Cracker Barrel Visit, then off to Benson

 

We got up at 7 am, got everything ready, and we were at Cracker Barrel at 8:45 am to meet our friend Laurie.  Laurie's mom and Marcia were very, very good friends for nearly 50 years...so Marcia and Laurie have known each other for just about 50 years now too.  We spent 90+ minutes inside Cracker Barrel, then we moved into the Motorhome.  At 11:30, we had to get on the road so we could get to Benson by 3 pm...we made it at 3:05.  It will be 27 degrees tonight, and is already at down to 42 degrees at 6 pm.  BURRRRRRrrrrrrrr....

As we left the park we saw some of the many Wild Burros that are in and around Lake Pleasant.  This is the first time we have seen them, and with no one behind us except a Park Ranger, we were able to enjoy a short view of the Burros.  Cute little things.

 

While we were at the dump station so that I could clear our tanks, Marcia got a picture of this Cactus Wren on top of a Saguaro.  We love Lake Pleasant, and we are so happy we were able to get in without a reservation this time.  For $32 per night, there isn't a better deal in Phoenix for a quality place to plug in your motorhome.

Yesterday when we traveled to Phoenix from Barstow, the snow on the mountains and hills along the Mojave Desert made the trip just that much easier to take.  The white gave such character to the normally brown, dull mountains.

 

 It was a joy to finally leave California by crossing over the Colorado River into Arizona...

It had been 4 months since we were in Oregon...and much too much has happened since then.  Dad, after 91 years, is now with our Lord and Savior...and Skruffy, after 10 years and 2 months of being my best little buddy, and Marcia's best little buddy for nearly 9 years, is sitting on dad's lap, barking directions to anyone and everyone within hearing distance (which is a huge area with her loud mouth...which I still don't know where she got that loud mouth from...)  Both are gone, but not forgotten, and we look forward to the day that we have a huge reunion in the hereafter.  

I figure two more COLD nights, then we will be past San Antonio, and into warmer night air.

Laurie, Laurie, Laurie

At Roadrunner Campground, Lake Pleasant, Phoenix AZ

This is WHY we came to Phoenix…no, not the dog, but Laurie.  Marcia has known Laurie since she was an early teenager.  Her mom Joyce, a good friend of Marcia’s, passed away a few years ago, but we still love coming through Phoenix to see Laurie.  This time, we got to meet her “Best Bud”, Gary..no, not the dog, her good friend who works for the Post Office.  Recently retired from Home Depot, Laurie is enjoying retired life.  She is an avid follower of our blog, and says, “You get a bit wordy now and then Dave”.  Well, my intention was to just post pictures after this point, but with what happened today, I just can’t end without some words…probably many words.

At 1:00 pm we left the motorhome to go to Laurie’s house.  As we got close to the park gate (entrance/exit) there is a long line of cars, much like you see above.  There is a helicopter flying over just past the entrance.  A lady is going from car to car saying that they have closed the park due to a lost diver in the lake….but Marcia and I did not buy that.  I called the park’s number, but being a Sunday, all I can get is the reservation person…who did not know anything.  We of course called Laurie to tell her we would be late, and we waited.  Suddenly a police car comes shooting by, headed for the entrance gate…followed by two more about a minute later.  Hmmmm, how did they get into the park, they came from the campground area?  There must be another entrance/exit which is normally closed off.  Another ten minutes and they start to turn everyone around, and finally, around 2, we are out of the park using a back entrance/exit.  Called Laurie and decided to meet at the restaurant we were going to, and we pulled in there before 3.  Found this article from ABC15 which explains it all.  About 5:30 we depart the restaurant, and as we get close to our exit there is an Interstate Information sign which says the road we need to get back to the park is closed at marker 19.  Hmmmm…how are we going to feed the dogs if they don’t let us back into the park?  Fortunately for us, the suicidal man with a gun gave up, they opened the road just after 6, so by the time we got to the Lake’s entrance road, it was all cleared up.

  

With that ordeal over (the getting back into the park, not the dinner with Laurie which was a pleasure….as was the dinner last night with Laurie and Gary), I saw what looked to be a promising sunset…so I went out to capture some pics.

I quickly took the car from the campground, to a couple of day-use areas before the campground, and then up to the Discovery Center area just past the campground.  Such a pretty sunset…what a way to end our trip to Phoenix.

See you on our way back to Florida Laurie…we sure do love you.  Very glad to finally meet Gary, what a nice guy!

Note: We have changed our plans and have decided NOT to go to Yuma for glasses in Mexico.  Monday we head to Prescott to visit Roger, who started at the Library the same day I did back in January 1991.  Today, Roger is the Director of the Prescott Public Library.  From there, we will make our way up to Sacramento, planning to be there on Thursday, Friday at the latest.