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On Saturday, the drive to Roper Lake (near Safford, AZ) featured a beautiful one hour drive north from Wilcox through high rolling desert with wild flowers just beginning – the bloom is a bit later than two years ago when we drove through here.

There was lots of room for us at Roper Lake State Park, and we settled into two spots with ramadas over picnic tables – a welcome shade from the direct sun! Since we were planning on two full days of boating and fishing, we immediately off-loaded the kayaks and put them on the golf carts to wheel them down to the lake. We hadn’t noticed when we came in but the lake was very different from when we were here two years ago: the reed beds are much reduced in area, the bird population is way lower, and the water level is down between 1 to 2 metes resulting in an ugly alkali mucky “beach” that we had to wheel the kayaks through to get to the water’s edge. The water has a very shallow entry also, so Sandy got in and I pushed her as far as I could before I almost lost a sandal in the gumbo. She had to push with her paddle the rest of the way to where she could float. I also struggled to get to floating, and then had to dangle my feet in the water to lose the muck before I brought my feet into the kayak.

We paddled around the perimeter of the small man-made lake, but it didn’t feel as “alive” as we had remembered. Sandy soon had had enough, and headed back so that Mike and I could use the kayaks for some fishing late in the afternoon and evening. Mike also lost a shoe (and recovered) in the muck getting onto the shore later, and the fishing efforts were in vain – well, Mike actually had a couple of strikes. I had baseball’s “three strikes”! At dusk, the clouds of bugs got in our ears, eyes, and noses. So, overall, the whole project was quite unpleasant! However, later, coyotes serenaded us in the night, and the star viewing was excellent!

April Fools Day came early in Truck House. On Saturday night while the coyotes sang, we decided that my Happy Helium Birthday Balloon had been hanging around long enough. Sandy asked if helium really changed someone’s voice, so I cut a tiny hole in the balloon, breathed in deeply, and joined the coyote chorus by singing her a couple of lines from “I’m forever blowing bubbles.” – Alvin and the Chipmunk style. She laughed so hard, she almost fell off the bunk.

On Sunday, we awoke to the chore of cleaning the dried muck off of our kayaks, but we decided to postpone that in favour of a 28 km return ride into Safford. The temperatures were beautiful in the morning, and the streets on Palm Sunday were pretty quiet so it was a great ride.

The plan in the afternoon was for more fishing, so we returned to Roper Lake – to find our kayaks completely clean – thanks to the efforts of Mike and Marlene. Given the struggles with the shore muck we abandoned ideas of further boating. Good plan! For later, the wind kept getting stronger (as forecast), and about 2:30 in the afternoon, all of a sudden we saw a cloud of black smoke quickly growing upwind from us. Within minutes, we could see flames leaping above the level of the dike road that runs around Roper Lake, so we jumped on our bikes to see what was going on. Apparently, a “controlled burn” had become NOT, and the fire had jumped boundaries of safety and was racing through scrub desert brushes – towards Roper Lake! We watched from the safety of the dike road until the fire jumped a road just parallel to us about a quarter mile away, then we decided that, for security sake, we should maybe consider packing up our stuff. The wind didn’t really seem to be pushing it towards us, but we didn’t want to be caught short. So, we loaded up the kayaks and bikes, and got ready to leave within a few minutes of warning.  Meanwhile, the fire jumped the dike road, and began burning some of the dry reeds along the shoreline. Finally, a pumper truck showed up, and managed to control the fire from spreading along the shoreline. A wind shift also turned the fire so that it was able to be controlled – as originally planned! We aborted our plan to camp in WalMart’s parking lot that night.

“Controlled burn” at Roper Lake

Monday’s drive into Phoenix was pleasant but surprisingly cold as temperatures on the high road through San Carlos Reservation dipped to 11 C. By the time we got to Phoenix (isn’t that a line in a song by Glen Campbell?) we were able to be back into shorts for our evening with the Hendersons at their golf mobile home park in El Mirage.

Tuesday was lounging at poolside at Hendersons, followed by a dinner with the younger generation Judd family. And we capped the day off with watching the Canucks beat Anaheim in a shoot-out! Perfect day – and a very Happy 93^rd Birthday to my mother in Langford!

Wednesday is another travel day, though we decided to keep it short – to Lake Havasu City via Wickenburg. A site at the State Park was almost not available as the Easter Weekend is almost upon us, and there is a Spring Break for some college crowd. However, the “overflow” parking is beautiful, and in some shade. Lucky for that, as the temps today reached into the low 90’s – and humid with high overcast.

Thursday April 5^th. This is our last day in Arizona as tomorrow we begin our trek north, and Mike and Marlene head west to Bakersfield. We are planning on being back in Walnut Grove on Monday night or Tuesday, however, the quilt shop in Portland still beckons one of us. (I have spent my allowance at Cabela’s! BUT…my birthday present awaits me at the Outlet Store in Winterburn in Oregon!) Today is again overcast and humid, and the forecast is for high winds later. So…we are sending out our last AZ Road Note from McDonald’s WiFi by the London Bridge! I will try to find at least one more connection before we find our Grand Family in Walnut Grove. Until then… Much love to all, and be safe!

Tony, the Quill, and Sandy, the Quilter