WHAT IF WE RUN OUT OF DREAMS

It has been slow in coming but coming it is & I didn’t have to wear a jacket on our desert walk this morning.  Temperatures are slowly rising & the ice wasn’t as thick on the water bucket this morning.

PHEEBS & I STARTLED A RED TAIL HAWK & BY THE LOOKS OF THE SECOND PHOTO IT WAS SURE GIVING US SOME BEAK AS IT FLEW AWAY

 

After parking the Jeep Pheebs & I stretched out our desert walk a little farther this morning sticking to the hard packed sandy road.  At one point I noticed 5 surrounding mountain ranges were all visible.  Ahead of me & closest were the Date Creek Mountains with the higher Weaver Mountains behind them & off to my right.  To the East were the Wickenburg Mountains & due south was the Vulture Range.  Looking to the west I saw the highest mountain range in southwestern Arizona.  Harquahala Mountain peaks at 5,681 feet.  Here’s a link to the day we Jeeped ourselves all the way to the top of Harquahala Mountain a few years ago.  It was quite a ride & a nail biter to boot…….Our Toughest Jeep Challenge Yet.

VULTURE MOUNTAINS ON THE HORIZON

LOOKING TOWARDS THE SOUTHEAST END OF THE WEAVER MOUNTAINS

DATE CREEK MOUNTAINS THROUGH THE PALO VERDE TREES

SPOTTED THIS COWGIRL IN CONGRESS TODAY

We have company arriving Wednesday & staying with us for 3 days.  Fellow RV Bloggers even.  Can you guess who is traveling in our area at the moment & who they might be.  Tune in tomorrow:))

No Cowboys in the desert this morning but we did have F-16 fighter jets overhead twisting & turning in mock combat under a clear blue sky.  Finally managed to get a few photos of one F-16 firing off flares as the second F-16 closed on him.  These photos are for you Joe.

  

I have been finding myself in reflective moods as of late & while walking this morning it occurred to me I seem to be out of dreams.  Remember how as a kid we always seemed to have many dreams of doing & seeing things.  A typical dream for many was a trip to Disneyworld.  Many dreams as a teenager as well with one of the biggies being a driver’s license & a first car.  There were dreams of marriage, kids, & owning a home.  Dream jobs were sought after as were dream vacations.  Always in our lives we had our dreams.  It was that one constant that we realistically or unrealistically looked forward to.  Some of those dreams came true & some didn’t.  But always in the face of sometimes impossible odds we always had our dreams.  Retirement was & is a big dream for most & what to do after retirement could easily lead to another set of dreams.  RVing became a dream for me as far back as the mid 80’s & despite the unrealistic goal at the time I always had it in my mind that someday, yes someday I could maybe travel & explore the wild & wooly ways of the American Southwest.

WATER HAS A WAY OF CARVING IT’S WAY ACROSS THE DESERT FLOOR

That dream quickly picked up momentum after meeting Kelly in the summer of 1993 & with her like minded dream combined with mine we were able to finally make our RV dream come true.  We are in our 10th Snow Bird year now with no regrets & as I reflect back on those 10 years I am so glad we were able to spend those 10 years the way we have.  Being realists we know our best RVing days are behind us.  Nothing to do with positive or negative thinking & everything to do with accepting the realities of life.  We are both aware of mental & physical changes as we move forward with our Senior lives.  Was it Bob Dylan who once wrote in a song, ‘the times they are a changin.’  And so they are and so they are………

Walking this morning with Pheebs a sobering thought occurred to me in the form of a question.  What is our next big dream??  I couldn’t think of one & maybe for the first time in my life I have been caught without a dream.  We can see the sun beginning to set on our RV lifestyle.  No idea when, maybe a year, maybe three, don’t know.  Do know though that everyone’s RV days will end & it’s just a question of time for each & every one of us as to when that day will come.  Again the questions come back, what is our next dream and really, do we have any dreams left??  It’s a serious question & as I walked quietly across the desert floor I couldn’t come up with an answer……or a next dream.

GROANER’S CORNER:(( An evil Atheist explorer in the deepest Amazon suddenly finds himself surrounded by a bloodthirsty group of natives. Upon surveying the situation, he says quietly to himself "Oh God, I'm screwed!!!!!."
There is a ray of light from heaven and a voice booms out: "No, you are NOT screwed. Pick up that stone at your feet and bash in the head of the chief standing in front of you."
So the explorer picks up the stone and proceeds to bash the living heck out of the chief.  As he stands above the lifeless body, breathing heavily and surrounded by 100 natives with a look of shock on their faces, Gods voice booms out again: "Okay ..... NOW you're screwed."

PHEEBS & I SLIP OUT TO SAY GOOD-BYE TO A FEW FAVORITE DESERT SPOTS THIS MORNING

PHEEBS & I SITTING ON AUNT JEAN’S DESERT ROCK THIS MORNING

Our morning dawned cold enough for us to dress warmly & I figured it would be a good opportunity for Pheebs & I to head out into the desert behind our house for a Jeep ride, a walk & some rock scrambling.  With recent hot weather I was leery of Rattlesnakes so figured this mornings colder air would be a good time to drive out through Rattler territory to Indian Rock.

I CALL THIS CLUSTER OF ROCKS & BOULDERS ‘AUNT JEAN’S ROCK SCRAMBLE’ & THAT’S YOUR ROCK AT THE FAR RIGHT JEAN WHERE I TOOK THE PHOTO OF PHEEBS & I THIS MORNING:))

JUST THE NICEST JUMBLE OF BOULDERS

MOUNTAIN DOG

There is a chance when we leave here in a few weeks we may not be back to this area again so I wanted to slip out to a few places in the nearby desert that have given us so many great memories over these past 4 winters.

Our first stop was a jumble of rocks & boulders where we took some great photos of Aunt Jean a few years ago when she flew out from Florida to visit us here in Congress.  It’s a favorite spot of mine now & I sat on the same large boulder where I took pictures of Jean, Kelly, & Pheebs.  A gentle Northwest breeze ruffled my hat as I sat peering for miles across the greening desert to a range of distant but memorably familiar mountain ranges.  Aside from a cactus wren singing somewhere behind us the only sound I could hear in this morning’s silent desert air was a cool wind playing though the open mesh of my favorite Breezer Hat.

THESE NON-SLIPPERY BOULDERS ARE NICE FOR CLIMBING AROUND ON

FAIREY DUSTER FLOWERS GATHER ROUND A BEAVER TAIL CACTUS

Turning my head to the far left I could see Yavapai Counties Date Creek & Weaver Mountains making their way around from the Northeast to meet the Wickenburg Mountains in the Southeast.   A flat wide valley to the south traveled west before climbing into the Vulture Mountain Range dominated by Vulture Peak.  So many pleasant memories in all of these places. 

DATE CREEK MOUNTAINS IN THE FOREGROUND WITH THE WEAVERS IN THE BACKGROUND & THAT IS THE ROCK YOU WERE SITTING ON JEAN

WICKENBURG MOUNTAINS ON THE THIN HAZY HORIZON

VULTURE MOUNTAINS EDGING ACROSS THE SOUTHERN HORIZON

VULTURE PEAK IN THE DISTANCE

My eyes continued westward across the hazy horizon dotted with smaller mountains until I next saw Harquahala Mountain looming low in the west.  Still more memories there as my gaze continued to the Harcuvar range partially hidden by the southern edge of the Date Creek Mountains which silently marched their way around behind me.  So many memories as I sat there thinking back to the day when Aunt Jean climbed up to where I was sitting & looked out at the same scenery I was seeing this morning.

HARQUAHALA LOOMS LOW ON THE HORIZON WHILE PHEEBS SCRATCHES AROUND IN THE FOREGROUND

SOUTHERN EDGE OF THE DATE CREEK MOUNTAINS SLIDE DOWN ONTO THE DESERT FLOOR

EVEN THE SHADOW COWBOY MANAGED A SELFIE THIS MORNING

Back into the Jeep we made our way along the winding Jeep road through & around the Mesquites & Palo Verde trees picking us up a few more desert pin stripes along the way .

THESE HARD & SOFT PACKED SANDY ROADS CRISS CROSS THE SOUTH-WEST DESERTS FOR THOUSANDS OF MILES IN ALL DIRECTIONS

A GIANT DESERT CACTUS LIZARD TRYS TO GRAB US AS WE GO BY

Minutes later we were at Indian Rock & out of the Jeep for a walk through an area we have walked a dozen times before.  Over the years we’ve brought friends here to stroll through the large boulders with us.  Leslie & Peter, Jean & Skip, Suzie & George come to mind. 

LIBBY IS DWARFED BY INDIAN ROCK

MORTEROS (INDIAN GRINDING HOLES)

I’VE OFTEN WONDERED IF THIS BIG BOULDER KNOWN AS INDIAN ROCK TUMBLED ALL THE WAY DOWN FROM THE MOUNTAIN ABOVE

All the time in the back of my mind this morning I felt this could very well be the last time for me driving these Jeep roads & walking the desert floor through the cactus & boulders.  I often feel that way about places where I have enjoyed creating so many favorite memories.  I will remember our times here in this area with the same kind of love I remember our ranch sitting days in the Bisbee, Elfrida, Douglas, Tombstone, & Sierra Vista area.

SPRING TIME AT INDIAN ROCK

SPLIT ROCK

ONE OF MY FAVORITE WALKING AREAS JUST SOUTH OF INDIAN ROCK

IT SURE IS THE PREDOMINENT ROCK IN THE AREA

Pheebs & I were back home shortly after 10 & that pretty much wrapped up my day.  I’ll sure be glad to get the big wheels rolling soon & see some new scenery rolling by the Big EEE’s windows again.

NICE TO SEE OCCOTILLO’S IN BLOOM AGAIN

I smelled the rain even before I knew it was raining.  Around 3 this afternoon winds suddenly picked up & our earlier clear skies darkened.  Sitting in my recliner looking out our front window I could see the sun shining in our yard & then with a particularly strong wind gust I smelled it raining.  Rain in the desert has a very distinct aroma to it as falling rain drops mix with dry desert dust.  Hard to describe the smell except to say it smells like wet dirt which of course it is.  Rain only lasted a few minutes but our slowly diminishing winds continued on into early evening.

SURE GOING TO MISS THIS BEAUTIFUL AREA

GROANER’S CORNER:(( A man from Texas, driving a Volkswagen Beetle, pulls up next to a guy in a Rolls Royce with Nevada plates at a stop sign. Their windows are open and he yells at the guy in the Rolls, "Hey, you got a telephone in that Rolls?" The guy in the Rolls says, "Yes, of course I do." "I got one too... see?" the Texan says.  "Uh, huh, yes, that's very nice."  "You got a fax machine?" asks the Texan.  "Why, actually, yes, I do."  "I do too! See? It's right here!" brags the Texan.  The light is just about to turn green and the guy in the Volkswagen says, "So, do you have a double bed in back there?"  The guy in the Rolls replies, "NO! Do you?"  "Yep, got my double bed right in back here, see?" the Texan replies.  The light turns and the man in the Volkswagen takes off.  Well, the guy in the Rolls is not about to be one-upped, so he immediately goes to a customizing shop and orders them to put a double bed in back of his car.  About two weeks later, the job is finally done. He picks up his car and drives all over town looking for the Volkswagen beetle with the Texas plates. Finally, he finds it parked alongside the road, so he pulls his Rolls up next to it.  The windows on the Volkswagen are all fogged up and he feels somewhat awkward about it, but he gets out of his newly modified Rolls and taps on the foggy window of the Volkswagen. The man in the Volkswagen finally opens the window a crack and peeks out.  The guy in the Rolls says, "Hey, remember me?"  "Yeah, yeah, I remember you," replies the Texan. "What's up?"  "Check this out... I got a double bed installed in my Rolls." The Texan exclaims, "WHAT!! YOU GOT ME OUT OF THE SHOWER JUST TO TELL ME THAT?!’!!!"