PHEEBS & I JEEP OUR WAY THROUGH THE DESERT SOUTH-EAST OF WICKENBURG AZ.

VULTURE PEAK LOOMS OVER WICKENBURG’S EASTERN LIMITS

After a long dull Sunday sitting around the house Pheebs & I were definitely needing to get out & dust up the Jeep’s tires.  Having no idea where to go we just ambled out the gate & turned right.  Needed gas so that led us over to the gas station & from there we continued on to Wickenburg.  I was needing some Cran-Raspberry juice, cinnamon, & a 9 volt battery anyway so we headed for Safeway.

WIDE ANGLE VIEW OF WICKENBURG ARIZONA LOOKING WEST

After waiting forever in the ‘Express Line’ with my 5 items behind somebody with about 105 items I was feeling the need for a good old McDonald’s coffee so upon leaving Safeway we headed on down to Wickenburg’s south end & while at McDonald’s picked up a couple Burritos to go.  Just south of McDonalds on Constellation Road is Wickenburg’s Rodeo Grounds with an RV dry camping area right across the road.  We drove into the camping area & ate us up our Burritos while taking in a nice view of Wickenburg below.  Only half a dozen RV’s in the Park.  Kelly & I had driven through here a couple winters ago & had noticed some sites are large enough for big rigs.  I think there might be a water spigot somewhere as well as garbage bin but no electric or water at the sites.  It was way too early to head home so we rolled out & headed southeast on Constellation Road again.  We were needing to get us in some relaxing desert time.

ACROSS THE ROAD FROM WICKENBURG’S CONSTELLATION RODEO GROUNDS IS THIS ENTRANCE WAY TO THE DRY CAMPING RV GROUNDS

THINK THERE IS ABOUT 40 SITES HERE WITH SOME OF THEM LIKE THIS ONE LARGE ENOUGH FOR BIG RIGS

THE SITE WE STOPPED AT HAD NICE VIEW OVERLOOKING THE TOWN OF WICKENBURG

A FEW RV’S CAN BE SEEN SCATTERED ABOUT THE ‘HILLY’ CAMPGROUND

VULTURE PEAK IN THE BACKGROUND

A RANCHER’S SIGN NEAR THE PARK

Constellation Road was familiar to me as we had followed fellow RV’ers Jim & Bev a couple times in their beefy big black Jeep a couple years ago out this way on a couple great desert Jeep tours with one of them leading to Castle Hot Springs on January 21rst 2014.  (Peter & Leslie will remember that trip)  Our Jeep Trip To Castle Hot Springs  This morning Pheebs & I angled left onto Blue Tank Road heading off out into the desert to who knows where…….if anywhere at all.  These old original desert mining roads just seem to amble aimlessly for miles & miles.  I did notice the road we were on was unusually wide & well maintained & fresh grader tracks suggested it had recently been graded.  How wonderfully nice to poke along again about 10 or 15 mph without encountering a single vehicle.  Highway 89 between Congress & Wickenburg is just a drag strip for the locals & highway 93 which 89 joins into is nothing more than a high speed race track between Phoenix & Las Vegas with Wickenburg being an annoying slow down for the high rollers.  And we had just come that way this morning so I really appreciated the change of pace when we finally reached Constellation Road .  You might be interested in what I really had to say about that hustle bustle traffic on January 2nd of 2014 after a stint on highway 93.  The last 3 paragraphs in my post that day sum up my conclusions on Brainless Drivers!!!!  Anyway, back to some much needed quiet serenity in the desert………………..

SO NICE TO SEE ‘BLUE TANK ROAD’ IN SUCH GREAT SHAPE

A COWBOY FENCE

Puttering our way along Blue Tank Road we gained enough altitude to see Teddy Bear Cholla plants along the road.  Not a good area for a stop with a doggy along.  Those Cholla cacti are just about the worst kind of cactus for any human or animal to ever encounter.  Their barbs inflict intense pain & as pretty as they are they are to be avoided at all costs.

TEDDY BEAR CHOLLA DOESN’T GROW ON THE VALLEY FLOOR BUT JUST AN ALTITUDE GAIN OF A COUPLE HUNDRED FEET & THERE IT IS

THIS CHOLLA (PRONOUNCED CHOI-A) IS ONE BAD HOMBRE

LOOKS SO SOFT & CUDDLY YET CAN INFLICT SOOOOOO MUCH PAIN….I KNOW BECAUSE I’VE TANGLED WITH IT:((

HEADING DOWN INTO THE LARGE HASSAYAMPA RIVER DRY WASH

Having no idea where this road led I figured we’d drive for a few miles then turn round & head back the way we came.  That is until I noticed we seemed to be slowly angling our way back in the direction of Wickenburg & sure enough I eventually began to see distant buildings on the horizon so we decided to stick with Blue Tank Road to see where it would bring us out.   The road finally led us down into a river wash & we followed that north until I spotted a stop sign ahead.  Not often you see a stop sign in a dry river bed.  Knowing Wickenburg was to our left somewhere we turned onto a road heading west & before long we reached highway ??  The road we had been on was Rincon Road & I again thought of Jim & Bev a couple winters ago doing some ranch sitting very close to where we drove today.  Here’s a link to the day we took Aunt Jean out to meet Jim & Bev at the ranch actor Val Kilmer’s Mother once owned……

ALWAYS NICE FOR WE NORTHERNERS TO SEE SOFT GREEN GRASS

AND THERE’S EVEN A DOGGY IN THIS PHOTO & I’M GUESSING IT JUST WANTS TO STOP & GO OVER THERE FOR A PEE ON THE GRASS:))

I JUST SO MUCH LOVE THE SPANISH FLAVORED ARCHITECTURE IN THE SOUTHWEST

Reaching the highway 93 racetrack we turned right with pedal to the metal to try & keep up with all the crazy nutbars on the road.  Twenty minutes later we were back in Congress.  It was 11:30 a.m. Arizona time.  Think we might as well get a couple racing stripes painted on Libby just to fit her in with all the speedsters on the road these days.  It was highway 93 that last winter spurred me write this post…………

THIS ‘FOR SALE’ PLACE ON RINCON ROAD HAD A NICE ENTRANCEWAY MAKING ME WONDER WHAT THE HIDDEN HOUSE LOOKED LIKE IF THE GATE LOOKED THIS NICE

I’M THINKING THIS ENTRANCEWAY PROBABLY COST MORE THAN OUR HOUSE DID

A few reader questions to answer tonight……GYPSY asked, “Do any of them (cactus) send up additional shoots and multiply?……..Yes, all of the cacti I am planting will send up shoots & multiply.   How do you keep from getting pricked by all those thorns”……….. In one word I can answer that question, ‘experience.’  I have learned the hard way not to randomly pick up things off the ground without gloves.  I don’t get nearly as many stickers now as I did the first year here.  I use my 5 pronged pitch fort to move most things like tree cuttings & branches & I never trim anything without a good set of heavy duty gloves on.  I’ve learned to handle cacti by their roots & not their pods.  Have also learned that even if one cannot visibly see the stickers on a cactus it does not meat the cactus is devoid of stickers.  Some cacti’s stickers are like fine hairs & if you pick that pod up with no gloves you may not feel anything right away but just wait a few minutes & ‘yeouch.’  Those can be the worst because one cannot see the fine hair like barbs to pull them out.  Also after being around cactus for awhile both the mind & body just simply becomes aware of the danger & consciously or subconsciously keeps one out of harm’s way.  Like ‘look before you step & look before you reach.  And never back up unless you look first to what you might be backing up into….

I LIKE THESE ‘DESERT BROOM’ PLANTS BUT THEY CAN BE AWFULLY MESSY WHEN ALL THAT WHITE FLUFFY STUFF STARTS BLOWING AROUND

Sylvia asked, “Al, how long do sit waiting for the birds to pose for your great pictures”?…………….Well that kind of depends on the bird’s themselves.  I’ve learned there are times of the day when they seem to swarm the feeder.  Early morning & evening are two of them.  Also depends whether there is birdseed in the feeder.  We have a large number of birds in our back yard at times & they have a tendency to swarm the feeder.  It’s nothing to have 30 or 40 birds at a time coming & going & it only takes a few minutes to crack off dozens of photos.  Our feeder hangs from a Mesquite tree branch on the right side of the tree & I have determined the bird’s habits coming & going to the feeder from the tree branches mainly to the left.  I pre-focus an area from the feeder itself to about 3 feet left of it.  I try to photo the birds entering or leaving this zone.  Some times I do not even see the birds I photograph until I bring the photo up in my photo editor & what an unexpected surprise that often is for me.  It’s another reason I enjoy the whole photo editing process so much.

And I just remembered another question from Kate near Langton Ontario last week wondering how to get in touch with us.  Our Gmail address is in the right hand column just above ‘Popular Posts’.

GROANER’S CORNER:(( As we waited for a bus in the frosty weather, the woman next to me mentioned that she makes a lot of mistakes when texting in the cold.  I nodded knowingly. “It’s the early signs of typothermia.”

- Electricity is really just organized lightning.

- It’s been raining so much in Los Angeles that the Chia Pet I threw in the garbage is now blocking my entire driveway.

- Concerned about what will happen to cities if the polar ice caps melt? Don’t be. New names have already been chosen.

Atlantis City, New Jersey

Pariscope, France

Sail ‘Em, Massachusetts

Floodelphia, Pennsylvania

Helsunki, Finland

GUESS IT WAS SUNDAY

THIS PRETTY MUCH SUMS UP OUR DAY

NEAR MID-AIR COLLISION

SNEAKING UNDER THE FENCE

 

I like it when a blog title on our sidebar leaps off the screen & absolutely grabs me.  And it happened today.  Having been a daily Blogger for a bunch of years now I find anytime I see ‘blog or blogging’ mentioned as a topic I am immediately interested.  Blogging is a integral part of my life & I write about that sometimes but rarely do I ever talk to anyone about it.  It’s not something most people including good friends are interested in so I try not to bring it up.  Imagine my surprise & delight today while perusing titles in my sidebar when one of those titles leaped right out at me.  Again, it was fellow friend & RV Blogger Nina doing the writing & she totally nailed her post to the wall with, The Darker Side Of Blogging?  Many times over the years I have written my thoughts about this very same subject but Nina does it so much better than I with this post.  She’s right on the money with everything she says.  Well done Nina & thanks for grabbing my attention on a dull Sunday with a post that genuinely spiked my interest.  I like when that happens…….:))

 

If any of you Southern folks have not seen the prettier side of Winter I suggest you slip on up to Ontario’s Beaver Valley & have a look at the Furry Gnome’s winter wonderland backyard….Seasons In The Valley.

GROANER’S CORNER:((

Q: How many journalists does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: Three. One to report it as an inspired government program to bring light to the people, one to report it as a diabolical government plot to deprive the poor of darkness, and one to win a Pulitzer prize for reporting the Electric Company hired a light bulb assassin to break the bulb in the first place.

AS OF THIS DAY I HAVE BEEN ON THIS PLANET 25,977 DAYS & NO IT IS NOT MY BIRTHDAY

A CRESTED SAGUARO RE-VISITED TODAY

A touch cooler this morning which for me & made our desert walk nicer than the hotter walk a couple days ago.  Pheebs did give chase to a bunny but that is about all the wildlife we saw. Followed us a dry-wash for a bit just soaking up the still desert air.  Returning to the Jeep we made our way along a dusty road to the gate & headed out of the desert & back into Congress.

OUR DESERT WALK FOLLOWED THESE ATV TRACKS IN A SANDY WASH FOR AWHILE

CHRISTMAS CACTUS IN THE DESERT

Unlike our Bayfield area with with it’s many multiple country roads leading every which a-way it’s a bit of a challenge here around Congress deciding where to go.  Your either on a highway, a street, or a bouncing desert road.  No Tim Hortons muffin & coffee drive-thrus & no McDonalds.  We did head out highway 89 towards the Yarnell Hill but deaked left on what I knew would probably be a terrible wash-boardy road.  And I was right.  The road was as bad if not worse than the last time we drove on it a couple years ago all the way to a town called Hillside.  We only went half a mile this morning before turning around & heading back into Congress.

LIBBY CAN BARELY BE SEEN TO THE RIGHT BETWEEN 2 SAGUAROS

Turned right on highway 71 & just on the other side of the railroad tracks we headed back into the desert on what I knew was going to be a very challenging Jeep road for Libby.  We had come through this section of desert with the Wrangler a couple winters ago after finding a Crested Saguaro out there.  Figured on looking for that same Saguaro again if Libby could handle the rough & tumble trail.  Good thing Pheebs & I were by ourselves or Kelly would have made me turn around & go back.

THIS WAS ONE OF THE EASIER ROUGH & TUMBLE CHALLENGES FOR LIBBY THIS MORNING

THIS IS A 300mm TELEPHOTO SHOT FROM THE CRESTED SAGUARO SITE & OUR HOUSE IS UNSEEN JUST ACROSS THE ROAD FROM THAT HOUSE TOP RIGHT

THIS CRESTED SAGUARO ABOVE IS HARD TO FIND UNLESS YOU SEE IT FROM THE RIGHT ANGLE BELOW

Libby did just fine as we eeeked & squeaked our way carefully through the wash-outs & drop-offs.  Not once did she balk at the terrain & her 4-wheel drive never faltered.  This Liberator seems to be every bit as good as our Wrangler was at handling the desert roughness.

HOUSES ALONG GHOST TOWN ROAD CAN BE SEEN IN THE BACKGROUND & I FIGURE IT’S ABOUT A MILE OR MILE & HALF AS THE CROW FLIES STRAIGHT ACROSS THERE TO OUR HOUSE

YEP, IT’S A SELFIE ALRIGHT:))

Had I not known exactly where the Crested Saguaro was I would probably not have seen it.  Luckily Kelly spotted it 2 winters ago by accident as we were making our way along the desert road from a different direction.  Pheebs & stopped here for a leg stretch & some photos.

CRESTED SAGUAROS ARE AMAZING IN THEIR COMPLEX PATTERNS

THANKS FOR REMINDING ME OF THIS CRESTED SAGUARO BEV WAY OUT THERE IN THAT IDAHO PLACE

Crested Saguaros are always amazing to see & I don’t think it’s really known why they mutate themselves the way they do.  They definitely are a rarity & it’s always nice to find one.

We continued following the rough road north winding our way through the Creosote bushes.  I knew we had already made our way through the roughest section & the further we went the slightly better the trail became.  Soon we were into familiar territory as we entered an area at the end of Ghost Town Road where RV’ers come to boondock.  Only saw 2 rigs tucked in amongst the Mesquite trees & shrubs.  This is the area where the original old mining town of Congress once stood.  Two Pioneer cemeteries can be found as well as shards of pottery, broken glass & pieces of metal here & there where once a bustling little town had once stood.  Minutes later Pheebs & were back in our driveway.

Spent my Saturday afternoon much like my Friday afternoon just sitting on the front porch reading.  Am thoroughly enjoying my latest read as the author struggles with his life following his return from Viet Nam. 

CONGRESS LIBRARY ABOVE & MEDICAL CENTER BESIDE IT BELOW

CONGRESS FIRE DEPARTMENT

And a correction to my Saturday post.  When talking of Winkler Manitoba I wrongly stated it was mainly Amish folks who worked in the Triple E (Leisure Travel Vans) plant.  That should have read Mennonite folks.  I do sometimes get the 2 mixed up.  In our Bayfield area we have many Mennonite people but also some of the old order Amish people as well.  Here is a link explaining the difference….. What Is The Difference Between Amish & Mennonites.  Thanks to Jake in our Shout Box for pointing this out to me & I do believe this is the same fellow & his wife Anne who bought us breakfast at McDonald’s in Winkler.   That was the same day we did the Leisure Van Plant Tour.

A COUPLE CHURCHES IN CONGRESS

Here’s 2 interesting links for we older folks.  Ever wonder how many days, weeks, or months you have been on this Planet?  Check out this site & it will tell you….YOUR AGE IN DAYS.  And how would you like to have access to a 39 year old 45 RPM record collection featuring the top 10 hits for each month of those 39 years.  Well here it is……THE TOP 10 ARCHIVE.  Thanks to Bayfield neighbors Don & Bruce for these:))

THE ORIGINAL CONGRESS TOWN & MINE SITE AT THE END OF GHOST TOWN ROAD (CIRCA 1914)

GROANER’S CORNER:((  A family of three tomatoes were walking downtown one day when the little baby tomato started lagging behind. The big father tomato walks back to the baby tomato, stomps on her, squashing her into a red paste, and says, "Ketchup!"

Did You Know: 

-The snack bar next door to an atom smasher was called "The Fission Chips."
- On April Fools Day, a mother put a fire cracker under the pancakes. She blew her stack.
- A couple of kids tried using pickles for a Ping-Pong game. They had the Volley Of The Dills.
- A friend got some vinegar in his ear, now he suffers from pickled hearing.
- Overweight is something that just sort of snacks up on you.
- Sign in restaurant window: "Eat now - Pay waiter."
- I thought you were trying to get into shape?
I am. The shape I've selected is a triangle.