Archive for April 2013
Rules of the Road
Greetings dear family and friends! (This was written last night, but Internet wouldn’t let me send it.)
In a moment, I will tell you about today’s “theme title”, but first a bit of travel update…
This past week has gone by very quickly. After our extremely windy Monday in Show Low, we located a better site out of the wind and deeper into the woods for Monday night. On Tuesday, we awoke to 4 inches of snow and more falling. I was going to title this episode “Show Low Snow” as a sequel to the last blog note, but I figured, Show Low had already had enough “press coverage” for this year. The roads remained fairly clear but the weather deteriorated until after Payson (7700 ft. Elev.) when we began the drop down to Phoenix. (I joked in the last blog about Winslow, AZ, but perhaps I should have waited. The highway there had to be closed because of winds on Monday.)
Phoenix was cooler than normal for the first day, but warmed up for our poolside time on Tuesday at the gated community of Pueblo El Mirage where our cousins have a unit on one of the golf tee-offs. It was great to have our annual family visit in Phoenix with Judds and Hendersons.
On Thursday we departed from “Desert Aire RV”, a gravelly place to park, with a “character” caretaker – “RC”, trucks backing up in the morning (“beep, beep, beep”), and several passing night trains that blow the whistle 5 times – a confirmed count! The advantage is that it is quite close to our cousins’ place. RC wasn’t around when we left, so I hope that my cousins will claim the key deposit.
We headed northwest up the “Joshua Tree Highway” to Kingman, and then on to Boulder City, NV just across the new bridge at the Hoover Dam. We stopped for a short ogle of the dam, and then motored on to Pahrump to the newly named “Golden Pahrump Lakeside RV” (used to be “Terrible’s Lakeside”). ‘Tis a lovely spot, but I guarantee that a gambling addiction for a non-smoker could be cured here, otherwise, you have to hold your breath until the one-armed bandit stops dinging your winnings!
On Friday we did a leisurely loop through Death Valley, while once again being totally amazed at the pioneering types who crossed through here, or worked the mines. The highway through Stovepipe took us over the pass to Panamint Valley, and then another pass led to the beautiful Owens River Valley that has Hwy 395 running through it. We stopped briefly in Bishop, then camped at Brown’s Millpond RV park. It is rustic, with chickens and wild jackrabbits, (no ground squirrels this year), but the sites are decent, and back onto a grassy area with a creek.
Saturday found us climbing past Mono Lake and then down again to Carson City and Reno, which we bypassed, but paused for lunch on the north side of town. In search of a new route, as always, I opted for a continuation of 395 up through Alturas, and Tulelake to Klamath Falls, OR. En route we passed a herd of wild burros, and a white pelican! After a very cold night (-6C) at a KOA we followed 97 out of town. This passes Upper Klamath Lake where we saw hundreds of ground squirrels on the shoulders of the road, and crowds of eagles and hawks! At Chemult, we turned west and crossed on 58 to Eugene. After a stop at Fabric Depot in Portland, we finally parked at Columbia Riverfront RV in Woodlands, WA. Tomorrow, if the weather clears a bit, we may take a run up to see Mt. St. Helen, otherwise, we will head for the Lindsay Hotel in Walnut Grove.
Now, as to “rules”…it seems that rules determine all of our behaviours. I just finished a book called “The God Equation” – about Einstein’s equation that describes the rules of the behaviour of the universe! The math was way over my head, but I got it…there is a rule that describes how we behave molecularly, and gravitationally in the totality of the known universe. Wow! BUT, did you know that there are also rules for behaviour in the Truck House??? Einstein didn’t know this, and I didn’t either, but I have discovered over the years that THERE ARE!!! There is a rule for where and when you can wear shoes, there is one for closing cupboard doors, there is one for turning off the water pump, etc. etc. – all for 12 square feet of living space! And get this…I didn’t make up any of the rules! I asked the Quilter…”Who gets to make up the rules?” (Apparently that was a stupid question! Equally apparent is that I don’t!!!) A follow-up question, also inane, was, “Who gets to change the rules? (Same response + “You’re stupid!”) It is a very good thing that I love the rule maker!
And, much love and best wishes to you all! See you soon!
Tony, the Rule Follower, and Sandy, the Rule Maker.
P.s. I have had some trouble including pictures, so I will add them in from home where the Internet and software are more reliable.
P.p.s. We have successfully navigated Washington State’s I-5 traffic, and are safely “home” with our Walnut Grove family. Back to the Island on Thursday.
Show Low Blow
Hello dear family and friends!
Show Low! (That’s the answer to your question, “Where have you been?” Well, it is just the latest answer if you were wondering.) The more complete answer includes Organ Pipe Cactus National Park, Patagonia Lake, Roosevelt Lake State Park, and, most recently, Fool’s Hollow Recreation Area State Park near Show Low. We are told by Ranger Jim that the town got its name from a poker game that was for the land around here. The game was “Show your low card.” Apparently a deuce of clubs won, and that is the name of Main Street in town.
Not too far from here is the city of Winslow, Arizona, made famous in the Eagles’ tune, ‘Take It Easy’. One thing is for sure…the area is not noted for “wind slow”, nor for “winds low”! The winds this morning are raising whitecaps on our little lake (perhaps 50 m across where we are camped), and a forecast this morning suggested that nothing will get better for 48 hours with high winds “reaching 50 mph, with possible rain, mixed with snow”. We have been here since Saturday afternoon, and have paid until tomorrow, but today, we have totally packed up and will go into Show Low to paint the town – grey, of course, being seniors!
The day we left Yuma, temperatures, as always since we came down here, were predicted to be in the low 90’s (30+C). There was a bit of trepidation, as our plan was to travel to Organ Pipe Cactus National Park, a desert park just south of Ajo on the Mexican border. However, the campsite had lots of room, and we enjoyed the beautiful desert scenery and fauna. The next day we drove around the 21 mile loop through the eastern portion of the park. The ruggedness was spectacular, but the going was slow on the rough road.
We carried on to Patagonia Lake in the afternoon on Tuesday, and arrived to find our favourite campsite available. Our plan is to be in Phoenix on Tuesday, April 9, so we decided to split our week of “lake” camping between Patagonia, and Roosevelt Lake which we have not seen. (A camper at Organ Pipe had suggested that Show Low had great lakeside camping, but it was a bit off our planned travel route.)
Murky waters at Patagonia Lake spelled out poor fishing, so plans shifted a touch…three nights at Patagonia Lake, and 4 at Roosevelt Lake. So, after some bird-watching, and kayaking, we headed north to Roosevelt Lake on Thursday to try to beat the weekend rush from Phoenix on Friday.
Our first approach took us to “Bermuda Beach” where it was totally “dry camping” – no facilities or services – camping in the dirt amid other people’s leavings, and a fish carcass in the water. “Yuck!” was our unanimous reaction, so we headed up to the more appropriate camping sites with facilities – a little further from the lake shores. After a false start or two, we found two lovely sites side by side with no one between us and the lake in the distance. Trails led down to the shore, so shore fishing was a possibility. And it was hot, so we were happy to have shady ramadas at our sites. Looked good for the 3 days that we paid for!
On Saturday, with no fish, our bike routes limited, and very warm temperatures, we decided to blow off this site, and try the suggestion of “Fools Hollow Lake at Show Low”, about 2 hours northeast of where we were. (We had paid for 3 nights, but since each night was only $6 we didn’t mind the cost of abandonment.)
The highway on Saturday through the Salt Canyon (Hwy 60) was gorgeous, and we climbed to an elevation of 6300 feet. The registration at Fool’s Hollow provided us with the only two shore accessible sites, and we settled in to our warm, sunny sites with a cooling wind, and great beauty in a Ponderosa pine-juniper forest. Ranger Jim warned us that the area was still subject to lower night-time temperatures, and that snow had appeared as late as May 24.
On Sunday, we paddled the length of the lake, tried for fish and eventually settled back at our camp with our books. This morning, Monday, we awoke to a shaking Truck House, and howling winds. The radio tell us that winds are in the vicinity of 75 kmh. Temperatures “show low” so we packed up our rigs, and headed into the town of the same name for Macdonald food and wifi. We will returning to our $30 sites tonight, and then head for Phoenix for 3 days before pointing the rigs north.
Much love and best wishes to all!
Tony, the Tilleyman, and Sandy, the Quiltless
roadquill1 