Why - Why Not?

This week we are at Why, Arizona - a small community thirty miles north of the Mexican border.  Once again, we are on BLM land which simply means that it is owned by the government and folks are allowed to camp for free, which of course, is our style.  It isn't very crowded this time of year but I understand that it gets considerably more busy over the winter.

It was a week of doing a few chores, going on the occasional drive, and a whole lot of relaxation.  Half of the motorhome got waxes (have to wait until we turn around so the sun is on the other side) and I got half the inside cleaned (don't have to wait until the sun is on the other side).

We do go for our daily walks and particularly enjoy the flowers that are everywhere as a result of some rains a while back.  Mostly they are yellow - all the mesquite bushes are in full bloom as I had not seen before, and the ground is covered with clumps of pretty little yellow flowers.

  And we came across what we think is a small tarantula

plus a small area of some unusual caterpillars.  According to Google, they eventually become a tiger moth.

As we usual do in the desert, I hung a couple of hummingbird feeders.  While I haven't seen a lot of them, one of the feeders seemed to empty fairly quickly.  Well I did finally catch the "hummingbird" which actually was a Gila woodpecker - the rascal.

The other unusual bird is the Phainopepla which I had not seen before but other than the colour, it looks similar to cardinal but smaller.  It was difficult to get a good photo as they seem to be very skittish.

We went for a couple of drives - one to Organ Pipe National Monument.  There is a primitive campground in Alamo Canyon so we went to have a look at it.  We came across a rescue station, something that could easily save a life, but we have not  seen anything like that before.

This area is very beautiful with the heavy stands of cactus - mostly saguaro

As most of you have heard, the U.S. military have been installing concertina wire along the Mexican border.  We have seen military vehicles with spools of the wire heading south; however in the past couple of days, there have been a number of military vehicles heading north hauling heavy equipment.  We have not, and likely won't, take a drive to see what was built.

Until next week, I hope everyone have a terrific week!!

The Week at Tucson

After a couple of cool, windy days, we decided to head out so some lower elevation in hopes of finding some warmer weather. One morning when we got up, the temperature was -2.8C – a bit cooler than we wanted.  Unfortunately, it took a day or two to get some warmer weather – not because of the change in altitude, but the cold snap had to pass.

We went into Tucson – a lovely drive – and our first stop was at the county park to dump, and fill with water and propane.  There was a nasty, cold wind that went right through you.  On the up side, the staff at the county park were super friendly and helpful so the cold aside, the atmosphere was great.

We decided to park at a relatively new casino that allows RV’s to park for an unlimited length of time unless there was event at the conference centre – then you were asked to leave.  We did give our donation so parking was definitely not free!!

It was a great sunny day so we decided to take a drive up Mount Lemmon.  Mount Lemmon is in the Coronado National Forest and goes up to over 9,000 feet.  We went up to the top of the ski hill which is about 8,500 feet.  Because of the change in elevation, we went through various kinds of vegetation – from cactus to deciduous trees, to conifers.  What a drive with some incredible views.  The distance is about 25 miles, but the average speed is only 30-35 mph because of the tight turns.  There were an unbelievable number of cyclists going up this road.  I say unbelievable because I can’t imagine cycling up that road.  Following are some of the scenery along the way.

A Mullien Plant

We think this is a black-tailed deer.  It was a grey colour

Look as these strange pods

The next day we took a drive through Tucson Mountain Park where there are some historic structures at Gates Pass.  Here were a group of university students on a field trip for an ecology class.  They were examining the effects that a trail has on the growth and density of plants.  The first thing Gerry noticed was that the tape measure they were using was metric.

Today was moving day as we drove down to Why, AZ which is a small town just 30 miles north of the Mexican border.  We have stayed here before and quite like it – generally it is a nice, quiet place to stay.  When we arrived just after lunch there was no one right where we parked.  In fact the closest RV to us was about a quarter of a mile from us.  By supper time, four more RV’s pulled in and they all parked within 200 feet of us.  I guess they all recognized us as “Friendly Canadians”.

Worry not - we are careful

This week will likely be spent doing some clean up and maybe work on a few projects.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a great week!!

And to end - an Arizona Sunset.  Remember, if you would like to see any of these photos, full size, just click on them!!

Southern Arizona

This past week was spent at Empire Ranch – a working cattle ranch that also allows camping.  It is rather high altitude so the nights are quite cold but the days have been warm and sunny.  Much of it is grassland surrounded by mountains and many come to ride their horses.  The countryside is one where a number of western movies have been made.

There two other couples camping here with us so it has been a perfect time to get in lots of visiting which has been great.  What a great place to stay – visiting with friends, lovely days, peace and quiet like very few places – almost perfect.  The only downfall has been the lack of cell service.  It is amazing how dependent we have become to be constantly linked to the outside world.   There is also some wildlife to be seen.  Thanks to our group photographer,  Myrna, I am able to share some of her photos as well as ours.

Since it was fairly warm when we arrived, there were several sightings of snakes, including rattlesnakes.  This was a baby rattler which  lost a war with a vehicle.

 An antelope herd was in the area among the cattle

Of course, the coyote.

Got this stickbug climbing on the wheel - looking to hitch a ride?

The black tailed prairie dog had been pretty well eliminated from this area.  However, they were introduced by creating underground tunnels using drainage pipe.  These dogs were kept in cages for a couple of weeks and soon created their own tunnels.  They have certainly reproduced as there are burrows everywhere.

We took a little drive to a small town – Patagonia.  What a lovely little town with a number of craft shops.  We had lunch, walked around, and came home.

The past couple of nights were cold (-2.8C Sunday night) and today, while it is 16C, there is an incredibly cold wind.  I know - don't complain, there is no snow!!!  This week we will be heading out – stop by next week to see where our next address is.  Until then, have a great week!!

Down to New Mexico and Into Arizona

What great weather!!  I understand this is in sharp contrast of what is happening back home.  This past week was spent in New Mexico and Arizona.  We stayed at a state park, La Conchas, in New Mexico, which is just outside Roswell, NM.  This great park overlooked a lake where deer came by to graze nearby.

Some of you may know of, or remember,  when an alien vehicle crashed at a location near Roswell.  As a result, there is the International UFO Museum which we went through.  It is reported that there was a huge cover-up of the crash with many reports later on about what various people actually saw and were told.  It was a great display and one could believe or not!!

From  there it was to Bottomless Lake state park near Deming, NM which in an area of numerous smaller lakes that were created from sinkholes.  The scenery was incredible when the sun shone on the banks.

Chili Peppers 

On our way into Arizona we saw numerous signs advertising “The Thing”.  What is “The Thing” – no one seemed to know.  Well there is only one way to find out  in we went.  Another interesting story about how aliens have been around since the beginning of time.  It told the story of how they controlled the dinosaurs, and how the two factions of aliens (good and the evil) have been influential in the various wars through history – from ancient times up to world war II.  Many instances throughout history were explained by What If……. The aliens had control.  We ended up seeing “The Thing”.

The THING

From there, we stopped at Kartchner Caverns  state park where everyone took a tour of the caverns.  I say everyone but actually it should be almost everyone – I stayed back as I had no interest in a tour of the underground caves!!

On the road again to Empire Ranch where we will spend a few days.  Empire Ranch is still a working ranch; however, it is also similar to a recreation area.  Today, when we came in, we discovered they were having Cowboy Days so we went.  It was rather interesting to see different historical re-enactments.  They had a cannon and shot it several times.  They also had a demonstration of a cavalry and some of their techniques.  One of the demonstrations was the cavalry displaying some of the skills such as shooting and picking of rings with a lance.  One of the riders shot, the horse jumped, and off she went.  Fortunately, she was not  hurt other than perhaps a bruised ego.  Throughout the grounds there were various demonstrations, story telling, and vendors.

Back to the campsite to watch some football, before and after supper as it is another day of CFL marathon.  Thanks for stopping by - I hope everyone has a great week.