spring Ontario style

The snow is almost all gone from the ditches and these are the few flowers blooming in my garden. Can a real spring be far behind? I am putting out the humming bird feeder and the bird bath just to encourage it along and make me feel it really is going to turn warm . Also a couple of lawn chairs. ( I really have high hopes here) Keep you informed.....

Facts the travel mags. don't tell you...

Driving 3,500.Kilometers in 4 days by yourself is tiring.
Driving through 3 time zones is even more tiring.
All the best campsites appear at 10 in the morning or 2 in the afternoon. after 2 , there are no more camping areas...
2 in the afternoon is too early to stop, if you want to make it home in 4 days.
Everyone in the motel rooms next to you, get up and shower at 4 in the morning.
There are no Tim Horton coffee shops in America.
Americans do not know how to make decent coffee.
Leaving Arizona in 90 degree weather and arriving in Ontario to see snow on the ground 4 days later is rather a shock to the system.
Travel tends to make this driver very grumpy. But I am sure with enough coffee and sleep she will recover.
Happy Easter to all.

This and that

Tomorrow I leave the desert and Jacquie for the drive home to Ontario, Canada. A neighbour hosted an appreciation party from the community, for Jacquie last afternoon and evening. People came early and left late. Guess that means everyone had a good time. Lynne presented Jacquie with this blanket she made for her. It's white with red maple leafs , quilted in white thread with lots of images of the desert ( cactus, cowboy boots, etc. Names of animals in Jacquie's life, past and present, and info about Jacquie. The picture doesn't do it justice of course. Needless to say Jacquie was surprised and pleased. Jacquie is sitting in the left hand side of the picture wearing a "tiara" ( princess of Cascabel for the evening!!!!) She will be sad to leave this friendly community when the time comes.
I will miss all the great people I have met here as well.


Cactus bloooming in the desert

one of the donkeys giving me the evil eye. He likes to eat the vehicle windshield wipers if he gets a chance.

walk to the mailbox

Its just a short walk down the steep laneway, through the gate , along the side road, to the mail box.

First , have to wait for the traffic to passThen get Kam , the dog, to come along for the walk, He likes to stick his nose in all the interesting holes along the way. Hopefully all are empty( no hibernating snakes, packrats, baby bunnies, or any creepy crawly things that bite.)
I stop and admire the many wild flowers managing to survive along side the laneway.
Mail delivery every other day. No horses, donkeys, trucks or cars on the Cascabel road.
See more wild flowers on the way back
Faithful Kam waits for me as I slowly walk (climb)back up the steep laneway.

Phoenix

Spent last weekend in Phoenix. The state park was full at noon so went to a very noisy K.O.A. campground . It was clean and people were friendly. Sat. I toured Taliesin West , in Scottsdale . The winter campus of the late architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Was an interesting 2 hour tour. Beautiful site , but I forgot to take my camera, so no pictures.

The next day I was up bright and early to try and get a campsite at the Lost Dutchman State Park. My site under the superstition Mountains in the Sonoran Desert. Those jumping Cholla cactus seem to follow me everywhere... Was a much nicer campsite . Met the same young couple here that where at the K.O. A. asked me to there site for a drink. Hey, I had to be friendly didn't I? nice wine. Supposed to be a fabled lost gold mine somewhere in this park , hence the name , "lost dutchman". Lots of hiking trails, and the wild flowers were everywhere. Was very hot , so I got out my lawn chair and read a book in the shade of the cactuses , a hummingbird kept buzzing around me. Thought my colourful hat was a flower, I guess.Monday, I stopped at Biosphere 2 which is north of Tucson and had a tour of the large sealed glass building that was the home for two years ,of 10 people who took part in a self sustanabilty experiment. Again it was very hot outside and really hot and humid under all the glass . It wasn't a real success. I sure wouldn't want to live in those units. I won't be signing up for the moon habitat living.

Drove the 30 miles of dirt road to Jacquie's , as came in the back way from Tucson. The donkeys met me in the laneway.

Hiking in the high desert.

Last Saturday, my daughter led a teaching tour to an archeology site near Pomerene, on the San Pedro River. We drove part way through a ranchers' fields, over a few dry washes,until we came to a large wash that we couldn't navigate the truck over. We left the truck there but the others were travelling in this:::: So they could cross the boulder strewn wash and the next mile to the site. The person in the back is sitting on a lawn chair ,that she assured me was bungycorded to the floor. Still didn't look too safe to me but guess it beats walking through the prickly cactus fields. We walked a mile from there to the site and two miles back as we got a little lost . It was in the 80's.

Sunday ,it was again in the 80's and Jacquie led a group of 8 to another site . This time we could drive all the way again through rancher's fields. ( a lot of gates to open and close) Over the San Pedro dry river bed to the base of a high cliff. Imagine, carrying water and food up this steep cliff. Life must of been very hard then.

I am standing on the top of the cliff looking down and across to another cliff. It is a long way down to the river valley . Here we are measuring distances between the stone house walls on the site. Part of the "site stewart " program. I just wandered around looking for pottery sherds, that I had to replace in the same spot. It's very strange touching something that another person made and used, possibly a thousand years ago.

Today, Sat. we went to another site with another group of interested locals. Seen some agriculture fields made up of piles of stones. Supposedely the stone piles protected the agave cactus roots from wild animals rooting them up and collected the dew and rain water. Then we walked to the 2 villages on this site. The walk was treacherous because we had to walk through a "Cholla forest" to get there. The Cholla cactus are know as the "jumping cholla" for a very good reason. Come within two feet of them and somehow they manage to stab you., We all picked big spines out of our shoes, jeans and shirts during and after the hike.

Crossing the wild poppie covered desert to the Cholla 's

A close up of the mean cactus.

After all this strenuous hiking and cactus spine removal, we had a wonderful potluck lunch at the home of one of the hikers. Great day... except for those darn chollas.

California Trip

Marissa , part of the reason for my trip to California. She looks like a sweet little 10 year old. Don't let the smile fool you.. She is a card shark and a no holds barred Monopoly player.
Back to the trip. Left Cascabel around 9 am. Friday 27th. We headed north, 30 bumpy miles on the dirt road to San Manuel. Thank goodness for a paved road the rest of the way to Oracle, passed the Biosphere, joining the I 10 north of Tucson. Thought we would bypass all the construction and detours in and around Tucson. Not sure if we saved any time but we sure took the more scenic route. We changed onto I 8 at Casa Grande and followed that Highway

to Yuma. Desert all the way and temp in the high 70's. Transfered camping equipment into Paul's car and went off to a well deserved lunch at the Olive Garden around 2.

I left Jacquie shopping until Paul got off work and I headed north. Lots of R.V. sites in Yuma but lots of campers scattered around everywhere in the desert. Looked pretty hot out there to me, but the price is right... I. 8 highway runs parellel to the Mexican border, so of course the border patrol has a checkpoint. Traffic stopped back a couple of miles. On each side where large sand dunes. Gave me something to look at as I inched along.

Drove alongside a lake named Salton Sea. Lots of agriculter in this area. Almost got sprayed by a crop duster plane that was flying back and forth over the highway, at one point it flew so low over the highway that it went under the power lines . Passed Palm Springs and a few Malls and Casino's. I didn't stop, honest. It was starting to get dark so stopped for the night in Beaument.

Left early the next morning as was a little worried about the drive through San Bernardino. A really busy highway that winds up through a mountain pass. A pretty drive but unfortunately had to keep my eyes on the road. Boy , drivers are nuts in Cal. Had arranged to meet Paula and Jim at a mall in Lancaster. I was 2 hours early, and that was a good thing as it took me almost that long to find the mall. Turns out it really is in Palmdale. I know that area very well now... Spent the rest of the day following them around while they got there grocerys , etc.

Sunday was hot, had a lovely day with the family and of course played Skip Boo with Marissa and lost. Thought I would be sneaky and give her a new game she wouldn't know (but I would) I won the first game of Rummy Cube but that was all.... Then it was on to Monopoly . I was bankrupt in no time.

Left for Yuma Monday morning . This time came home a little different way from Cal City. Passed Edwards Air Base , through another desert area with lots of cactus and no passing areas. The drive down to San Bernardino was a bit scary, Seems like mileswinding down hill at 45 mph but only me and a few trucks were doing that. I stayed in the truck lane all the way down. Car drivers are nuts... Had planned on shopping in Palm Springs but after that drive just wanted to get back to some small highways with saner drivers.

Joined up with Paul and Jacquie later that day, (they never did camp )and we had an early supper in Yuma and Jacquie and I headed towards Phoenix. Arrived at Pauls sister's place about 9 that night.

Next day ,Tues, we drove the hour to a Phoenix hotel that Jacquie had a few meetings to attend.

I went to one session and decided it was boring , so sat out by the pool and read. We left there in time to hit the rush hour traffic. Stopped for food half way to Tucson and walked out of the restaurant after waiting for a waiter for a long time. ( (((D0 we sound grumpy and tired ))) got a sub instead and hit the road again. Decided to drive through Tucson, detours and all and head for Benson. That way we would only have 10 miles of dirt road to deal with on the way home.

Well , in the few days we were away,the road went from bad to downright undrivable. Top speed was 5 m.p.h. Everything shook. We were glad to get home...