Blog less day....

Low energy day....did do a walk, which really always makes me feel better. It is amazing how much improved I feel walking in a week or two since we stopped traveling between here and Tucson. It was a windy day which is often typical here on Ogilbie Road but still warm.

We have the RV filled on all surfaces with our hobbies today....Bob is tying flies, I have my journal and paints out. By afternoon I am not feeling inspired enough to do much else but doodling so I brought out my felting supplies. I am going to try to do a desert landscape. I have all the wool in all the colours I love about the desert...

First draft....so many layers to add...I haven't done a felting picture since the Yukon...I'm kind of excited to be doing something else besides my journaling...

Here's tonight's sunset picture taken from my easy chair as it is too windy to sit outside.

There's always more than one way to skin a sunset cat, lol....

 

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Ogilbie Road

In camp day. Walked, puttered, showered....ho hum!! One highlight was email from Lynn. Flights are booked and confirmations received. We fly from Comox on May 16 to Frankfurt Germany and then to Genoa, Italy. End destination, Rapallo on the Italian Riviera for 6 days before we go to Bellagio on Lake Como for a week. Had a FaceTime with Lynn this afternoon celebrating her new connectivity. Still not a Facebook convertee? But baby steps:)

Today we had discussions about heading home early. They were short lived when we compared the weather at home and the warm desert air and beautiful sunrises and sunsets that we are enjoying here. Each evening I say "how many sunset pictures can a person take" ....answer is ....each one makes you smile and appreciate the beginning and the end of another beautiful day...so I guess you just keep recording them as you experience them....

This morning....

Tonight.....

And everything in between was good too.

 

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Monday Cleaning, Tuesday Shopping

Our days are lengthening...the short, dark days of winter are over and my hibernating needs are mostly done. I know this because I am waking earlier in the mornings. We are in the western most part of the mountain time zone so are having later light in the evenings but still dark mornings.
We are watching the weather network and continuing to thank our foresight to leave the Gulf Coast when we did. It has been an usually cold winter along the Coastal Gulf from Brownsville all the way to Florida and another cold front is now moving across.
Bob has been reading statistics to me about the Yuma area. Population normally about 100,000 then add about 85000 snowbirds every winter. Arizona has the lowest number, per capita, of smokers in the country at 16%, with Yuma at a record low of 10%.
The Yuma Proving Grounds between Yuma and Quartzsite is the largest weapons testing center in the country, covering an area much the same size as Rhode Island. Every weapon in use by the US is tested at this sight. There are over 10000 military personnel stationed in and around the Yuma area.
During Arizona's Centennial year the city of Yuma was so confident about the "number of days of sunshine" statistic, that it offered free meals to everyone on a day that had no sunshine. Not sure how the meal delivery system would have been provided, but none the less the message regarding sunshine was apparently proven as there were 365 days of sunshine in 2012, therefore no meals were needed:)

Bob has our morning brew ready no matter what time we wake up. I usually stay in bed long enough for him to have free range in the kitchen. Then the smell of the beans brewing draws me out. Now that we are back in the desert it is especially enjoyable to watch the day begin, as there is nothing and no one between us and the mountains as the sun rises above them.

Did several chores in town culminating with lunch at our favourite Mexican restaurant, Mi Rancho. We have gone here for years because we both enjoy our best choices for tamales for me and chili rellenos for Bob.
This is a two day blog. Wednesday is a similar morning. I have an agenda planned. No work other than daily maintenance. I want to make Valentines cards for the girls. I have a supply of stickers and will use my Tombow pens.
Sherry has sent me an article this morning on journaling to read with my coffee. She is an hour ahead of us in Melaque so is having her coffee earlier, and her morning news is waiting for me.
If is a wonderful exchange we share between our different journeys.
So, I have gone for my walk, met a lovely RV'ing couple from Fairbanks, Alaska. We stood on the road talking for over 1/2 an hour exchanging information about places we stay, experiences and opinions regarding our boon docking lifestyle.
This afternoon I made up Valentines cards for all my girls, a post card for Jassy, as I think she is passed the sticker stage, lol. Prepared my cheque to send to Lynn for my airfare to Italy and set all these things down in my journal. Somedays I get such a feeling of accomplishment. Today I walked, I painted, I did my paperwork, I even set up my Turbotax forms with a 15% discount for when we get home.

We have had Bbq'd ribs and a spinach salad and I am sitting outside enjoying the setting sun. It is still so comfortably warm and another peaceful evening. There is no moon until it appears as a crescent just before dawn. It is so dark here right now. There is absolutely no peripheral light from cities to dim the stars and not a sound in the night. I love the desert....

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Monday, chore day??

What is it about Mondays? Is it old tapes in the brain from growing up that Monday was wash day...we seem to follow pretty close to that routine. Today we did all the windows, tracks and screens. It was somewhat overcast earlier so a good time to see if we leave any streaks. "Talking" or IM'ing with Sherry this morning brings home that we do work a lot harder on our 'vacation' than they do in Melaque. She pointed out that they only have to do the dishes...the maids take care of the rest :(...I'm,happy for her, Bahahaaa.
We can't do a trip like this without having to do some maintainenance on our 'home'. I think all our big chores are now done and we should be OK until we get back to Union Bay.
No painting today. I need too much quiet time to sort through my thoughts and decide what inspires me at each moment. I did do a lot of blog reading of all the new contacts we have been provided by joining the Sketchbook Skool with Danny Gregory, who is to my mind my best art journaler and my initial inspiration to start this sketching/painting journey. I am so excited to follow their new online venture which will lead right into our trip to Italy with Jane Lafazio who will be one of the six instructors in Skools' first semester. Serendipitous connections bring us together with people from all over the world who are art/sketcher journalers also.
Dinner is finished ...another of our tender rib-eye steaks. The sun has set as I sit outside listening to the mourning doves settle in for the night. Night three here and I have yet to hear any coyotes, probably my favourite night time sound, along with the distant chugs of the trains passing, not loud enough to be disturbing just another gentle sound of the night.

This regular evening scene tells so much of why the Arizona flag looks like it does and where the colours come from ..Night all:)

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Camp Day

For the first time this winter I have on my Meindel, oh so soft hiking boots for my first real desert walk. With walking stick in hand I begin what I hope to be a morning routine from now until we turn north. I need to get my walking legs tuned up for all the cobblestone streets in Italy. I don't want to be left behind .....

We had a quiet Sunday afternoon. I tried to capture some of the sights from the past couple of days for my journal. And also experimented with my watercolour pencils doing my first double page sketch of our camp vista.

We will have another day in camp tomorrow before we venture in to Yuma to re-supply. As we have not been here for most of the winter we don't know how much rainfall there has been. It feels warmer than it should be for this time of the year and looks drier than in the past. It will be interesting to see if the desert plants will have had enough moisture to put on the show we saw here last year. We were told by an Arizona Desert Museum employee that southern Arizona is in it's 15th year of what they describe as drought conditions. In the years we have been coming down here we have only seen maybe three years of abundant spring blooms. Despite all these dry conditions it still amazes me to see the extent of colour the desert provides when you take the time to look around.

As we finish dinner a brilliant sunset salutes us, peeking out between the desert floor and a cloud bank. Another good day in the desert is over. We will enjoy a dark, quiet moonless night.

 

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To Yuma

We have decided to move on to the Yuma area. As much as I love the bird life here I feel closed in by the washes and creosote bushes. Each year feels different. Our needs change and the places we enjoy change also.

As we travelled the highway from Tucson to Why through the Tohono O'odham nation lands, we are aware of the amount of road side crosses. It is a straight line highway and for every mile there seems to be a cross representing a roadside death. As we head north to Gila Bend this morning from Why the crosses are still numerous. We have to ask why ....is it the isolation of the roads? Why so many markers and so many deaths...

We pass through Ajo on our way north, a quaint town with a Hispanic feel to it, but basically an old copper mine town. The tailings piles show themselves miles ahead of our arrival. Somewhat colourful reminders of a a copper industry that no longer exists.

We do our sani dump and take on water in Gila Bend and turn west towards Yuma. It is a 100 plus miles to go along Interstate 8. We pass through the snowbird suburbs of Dateland, Foothills, Yuma and straight out into California to Ogilbie Road where we settle in our most favourite camp sight.

We have passed through Border patrol and Agricultural road blocks. Border patrol has 3 people checking you out. While one officer is asking you questions another with a dog is walking around your rig checking you out.

We remember we have a couple of limes in the fridge, so before we cross the agricultural check station we turf them out the window....they were old anyway. We arrive at the BLM camp sight to find our best spot taken.....after some exploring we have found a better spot...quiet with my favourite view of the Cargos Muchachos mountains....

We have travelled 11500 miles since leaving home mid August. We feel we have arrived at our second home in the warmth of the Arizona/California desert, safe and sound. We now can sit here and relax for a few weeks before we turn north for home.

 

 

 

 

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Desert Camping at its Finest

After ten days of parking lot camping at the Casino del Sol we are where we are the happiest. Coyote Wash BLM is one of our favourite camp sights. Right now it is very quiet. There are only seven campers, including us in an area that could have as many as 80 - 100 rigs.

Our closest neighbours in the distance....I don't think we are antisocial but it is nice to have the peace and quiet without having to listen to your neighbours conversations.

This is the 10 day period when so many rv'ers are in Quartzsite for the annual RV show. After next weekend anywhere from one to two hundred thousand snowbirds will spread out from Quartzsite heading in all directions.

We had a relaxing day. It was a little overcast but still pleasantly warm. I walked, watched the birds, and did a little catching up with my journal painting. It is always amusing to listen to the locals describe us, "as being from colder climates" because we find it warm enough to be wearing shorts while they are in long pants and jackets.

The groundskeepers at the casino even wore scarves wrapped around their faces as they start their day as dawn breaks.

A few catch up pictures from our days in Tucson. And a final evening sky as we finish cooking our dinner.

The desert always provides the most beautiful skies no matter what kind of weather we have. The highway going south to the border is quiet at night as the border is closed from midnight til 6:00am. The sign at the camp entrance says... "be aware that this is an area of drug smuggling and illegal alien traffic". We have never seen any evidence of either. We can see the border patrol road block lights about 5 miles in the distance. The only evidence of traffic we see is the patties left by the cattle that roam through this area during the night.

I

 

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Arizona Sonora Desert Museum

This is a beautiful desert park "museum ". We arrived early, shortly after it opened, to walk the distance to see the wild bird free flight demonstration at 10:00am. We were entertained by Mexican ravens, a horned owl, a Harris Hawk and a red tailed hawk.

The wonderful part of this outdoor museum is that all the activities and demonstrations are provided by "Docents", extensively trained volunteers. We met several as we wandered along the pathways between the different venues. They wander around being available for information and direction. This lady is a retired school teacher and decided she would like, one, to learn more about the place in which she lives and also to give back and share her teaching skills.

The museum provides 'docent' training for a period of 15 weeks. After that your time is totally volunteered. There are over 500 'docent' volunteers that make your visit a truly wonderful experience

For the rest of the day we wandered the museum grounds. It is hard to describe this place when it is called a museum. It is a spectacular outdoor presentation of all that is wonderful about the desert. We spent 5 hours enjoying the variety of cactus, desert animals and bird life.

How is that for a spectacularly unique cactus.

We returned back to the Casino camp feeling like we had had a wonderful day and went in for our last buffet dinner. We overheard a table close to us talking about Comox!!. As we were leaving I had to ask and we were so pleasantly welcomed by two couples, Lynn and Gerry Gagne, a retired Campbell River forest service worker from Blackcreek and Murielle and Erik, expatriates who now live full time in Tucson. How cool is that, my two best friends for all my life are Lynn and Muriel. These ladies may be my doppelgänger best friends. Serendipitous meetings:)

We had a horrendous "ugly generator" night that definitely made our decision to move on a necessity for us this morning.

After 110 miles from west Tucson through the Tohono O'Odham nation lands we are now settled in the BLM camp just south of Why on the the highway to Organ Pipe National Monument and the border crossing at Lukeville/Sonoyta. The quiet is deafining....our favourite birds are scouting out our suet feeders, seed balls and hummer feeders. Tomorrow morning the word will be out and they will all be here to entertain us. We hope to enjoy the peace, long walks and quiet afternoons with the rabbits, coyotes and bird life for at least a week or two ..

 

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A Quiet Day

I did my morning walk, we had a visit with our neighbours who divide their time between BC, where she is from and Europe(Belgium) where he is from. We are watching the Super Bowl conference playoffs. It is a lazy Sunday afternoon. It is Martin Luther King holiday so a good weekend to stay off the highways. Our drive yesterday through the Tucson Mountain Gate Pass was busy, busy...now we know why ....it is a long weekend for many people.

Catching up some journal pages........

Ignore my backwards N...artistic licence, lol, I have tried to do a cover page of all the states we have travelled through.

The Rvs come and go...our newest neighbour for tonight. An old, maybe new? Prevost pulling a Gazebo? We don't know, but importantly they are quiet:)

Broncos beat New England, now will Seattle overcome San Francisco? The evening will tell....

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Old Tucson finally

For years I have wanted to visit Old Tucson, the film set for over 100 western movies and TV series, such as Gunsmoke, Bonanza and even some episodes of Little House on the Prairie. We went in at 10:00 and followed a walking tour guide as we strolled through "town".

Stage coach driver working for the Butterfield Stage Coach Express from Kansas City to San Francisco.

I am enchanted to be here. I grew up with Roy Rogers every Friday night at 5:30. I have been a 'duster' fan all my life. We watched a saloon can-can show, a gunfight on Main Street over gambling, and took a train ride around the sight. As the day progressed it got busier and again we are glad we start these excursions early.

Anyone recognize the old mission from the "Three Amigos", lol....
As we watched the gunfight between the crooked gambler and the Irish Greenhorn I watched the crowd of kids that were here on a school outing. Despite the fact that the shootout was a violent act, it was neat to watch their faces and their awe at what they were watching. I saw many, many shoot outs as a child and I don't feel I have been compromised in any way.

I still watch shows depicting the history of the west. My latest favourite is Hell On wheels...about the expansion of the railroad across the west. I hope they continue with the saga. It was a very good series.

Today we had a breakfast buffet, drove the Gates Road through the Tucson Mountain pass and home to spend a quiet afternoon catching up on my blog. Not an easy task when you let it get away on you for three days.
My favourite journal entry from Sherry's pictures of Melaque. Love the Day of the Dead Lady. Sometimes my blog isn't always about me but about those that influence my life. A hug and best wishes for a speedy recovery Warren...thinking about you:)

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Sightseeing around Tucson

My blank blog page has been staring at me for 3 days now but I just haven't been able to get started. We have been farely busy doing "stuff". Life in a Casino parking lot can be full of drama. It is an ever changing landscape of RVs, and their owners, that all have different concepts of what being a good neighbour is all about. The three most common offences are noisy generators, noisy dogs (and owners that don't clean up after them) and infringement of personal space.

We have come close to leaving twice for a combination of all three of the above but luckily most people don't run generators past dinner time and everyone moves on sooner of later. One couple from Minnesota thought it was OK to park just off the front of our RV while we were out. One look told us they didn't have solar panels. As is so often the case the bigger the rig the cheaper the generator and they always set it up at the back of their own rig so they aren't disturbed by the racket. About 15 feet from our bedroom end. After a somewhat heated discussion he agreed to shut it off but then it will have to come on again at 9:00am for the coffee pot!!

When I put this in writing it almost sounds funny but it really can spoil your stay. By early afternoon you can watch the new arrivals pulling in hoping they park on top of somebody else.

Thursday morning we went to A National Historic Landmark, Mission San Xavier del Bac. It was founded in 1692 by Fr. Kino, a Jesuit pioneer and explorer. Today's Franciscan church was built between 1783 and 1797. It is widely considered to be America's finest surviving example of Spanish Colonial architecture. It is still a working church and school for kindergarten to grade 8.

When we were there 5 years ago it was under renovations with scaffolding covering much of one side. Today all but the right tower has been fully restored and it stands in brilliant white with the dark blue desert sky as a backdrop. Everyone asks if the missing dome on the east tower will be replaced when renovations are completed. Apparently there never was a dome on the east tower. It is thought it remained incomplete because the taxation system of the time could not be implemented until the structure was completed. So, no dome, no taxes paid....too bad we couldn't do that with our property taxes of today.

The Tohono O'Odham natives operate a gift shop on the grounds and also make Indian fry bread for hungry "pilgrims" like us. Yummm....hot with honey and sprinkled with icing sugar. Yes Marilyn, my friend up in cold South Dakota, we did have fry bread:) As usual I am drawn to the jewelry. The first person we came across was himself, an engaging jewel of the desert. Joe Begay, Navajo, a quick witted, somewhat comedic silversmith, actor and singer. He showed us his album of film credits going back over 50 years. He had to go to acting school to learn how to "play" an Indian, even a Mexican....he was in many old westerns that I know I've seen over the years.

I bought copper earrings depicting 'the Man in the Maze' which represents the many turns and changes of a person's life, progressing deeper and deeper into the pattern, acquiring knowledge, strength and understanding until it reaches the dark Center where it reflects back on all the wisdom it has gained and in harmony with the world accepts death.

We have had this same symbol in the RV for the past 5 years. Today we have added more story to the legend.

 

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Tucson, Arizona

We are settled in the Casino Del Sol parking lot. It may seem like a strange place to be camping but they allow camping for free for an unlimited time, unless they have a major event in their outdoor concert arena. It is an RV constantly evolving community, from B Vans to semis. Everyone is looking for a place to camp for the night.

There is a population of travelling RVers that don't want to stay in regulated RV parks. Casino del Sol provides a wonderful place to stay with the option to eat buffets, gamble on the slots and even play bingo. Our neighbours from Abottsford told us they have won almost $1000 playing bingo, maybe beginners luck, as they have never played bingo before, Lol

We have spent a couple of days unwinding but also doing the maintenance chores to restore our rig to its clean state after the long trip from Rockport. I have been able to do a little sketching/painting in the mornings.

Bob and I are both enjoying being back in Arizona. The weather is wonderful; cool nights and warm, sunny, dry days. I keep in touch daily with Sherry, who is in Melaque now, and we exchange our journal paintings. We inspire each other and it is a special way of seeing how we each are evolving in our journalling styles.

Now that we, and our rig, are clean, we will take a few days off and tomorrow plan to revisit the San Xavier Mission. When we were last here almost 5 years ago it was under exterior renovations. It is a beautiful Spanish Mission and we look forward to seeing it in its restored condition.

We have had two Casino buffet dinners and tonight we ate at "home" ...it's a toss up which one I enjoy more:) ....buffets, we over-eat, but also get a lot of choices. The salad bar is a treat as we don't carry all the vegetables and greens to make great salads. Balance is good....the days seem to be getting noticeably longer. I'm not sure if it is because the days are warmer and we tend to leave the door open longer than we did in Rockport or the winter in the south is acually behind us. Whichever it is I am happy for the warmth and dry weather,

This is a rather disjointed post.....unfortunately my thoughts don't always flow smoothly and today I'm feeling unsettled, both in my sketching and my blogging....tomorrow is another day and new experiences and inspiration are just around the corner.

 

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