Spring Starts in February

As the season unravels, our spirits get restless again and we long for the solitude and connection with the desert. Then again, we need to clean out and up and re-energize with a visit to a park.
So after we left Ogilby Road (California) we ended up back in Casa Grande (Arizona) at Rovers Roost - the Escapees Park. I like Casa Grande and I like this park. It is not the newest or the fanciest park but it is warm and inviting.
I like Casa Grande much better than Yuma, too. Did I ever mention the bumper sticker I saw in Yuma that said, “If this is Snowbird season, why can’t we shoot them?” And this is the way Yuma feels to me. So, given a choice, I would choose Casa Grande even as a city, it feels more congenial.
Having said that, we stayed our week and headed off to the desert south of Why, Arizona (about 10 miles south of Ajo and about the same distance north of the Organ Pipe Cactus National Park).
It was then that I realized that spring had started!
The yellow flowers are erupting out of the brittle bush and tiny purple-flowered mats scatter the landscape. We followed the narrow Indian Road 15 from Casa Grande to Why. It runs through the Tohono O’Odham land that is covered with a unique profusion of cacti: Suarago; Prickly Pear; Cholla (No photos – was too narrow to pull over!).
Why, Why?
Why, AZ is a tiny little community at the junction of hwy 85 that leads to Mexico and hwy 86 that goes off to Tucson. It hosts the Why-Not store and service station, two RV parks Coyote West and Coyote East; a very active Senior Center and a large flock of snowbirds. There is a Casino and another RV park further down the road towards Tucson.
The settlement was named Why to qualify for a Post Office. They needed to have three letters in the name so chose ‘Y’ to coincide with the junction in the road.
The third day we were there, we went to a Flea Market/Craft show at the Senior Center and then to a great burger place in Ajo with Chuck & Sheila - our friends from Wetaskiwin.
Gunsight, the BLM where we stay, is two miles south of Why . As with most BLM lands, it is totally undeveloped except for the trails created by the campers. if you don't get back to your site in the daylight, it could take you days to find your place again!
The first site we found turned out to be a bit of a dud - not what we liked. We toured around and found another spot much more to our liking on a different Wash (a wash is a dry riverbed). After just a few hour the hummingbirds were already coming to visit . . . that’s better!
This is why we like Why!
We were parked overlooking the wash. we spotted the occasional rabbit and watch the squirrels and birds play and dart in and out of the bushes. I sit at the table with the feeder just outside on the window. We scattered birdseed and put out water in a spot that I can watch everything right from there.
Sure, it’s a hummingbird feeder and the hummers found it quickly but this year, we had so many unique and extraordinary visitors.


The Verdins and the Orioles found the feeder


But the Finches and the Gila Woodpeckers preferred the oranges that hung in the nearby mesquite tree.


The Thrashers and Towhees are species we have never seen here before and so were pleasantly surprised.

Green Tailed Towhee


Spotted Towhee


Curved Bill Thrasher

I must say that if it weren’t for our birder friends, Judy and Terry, who pulled in a few days after we arrived, we probably would have had no idea what we were looking at.
We have seen the Cardinals before but it was a delight to have them visitor again.



A less welcome visitor was the rattlesnake. He slowly slithered over the sand without even startling the birds or the Squirrel around him.




Coyote Melons

Have you ever heard of Coyote Melons? They are in abundance this year. They initially look like tiny round watermelons and then turn yellow and look like yellow tennis balls.
The Coyote Melon is native to Southwest United States and Northwest Mexico but are relatively uncommon. They grow in hot, arid regions with low rainfall in soil that is loose, gravelly, and well drained. The vines sprawl out and orange-yellow curling trumpet flowers grow out green striped fruit.
We were told they were poisonous to us but it turns out that the pulp is the “bitterest substances known to mankind.  For all this, Indians did roast and eat the highly nutritional oily seeds after carefully cleaning them of pulp.  The Indians attribute coyote, “the trickster”, with giving these melons a bitter flavour while providing edible seeds.”
http://www.mojavedesertlandtrust.org/coyotemelon.php

Other BLOGS

2001 to 2005

Island Winter-wintering on Vancouver Island

Wildflowers

January is Almost Over Already

Here it is, a new year and life just goes on. I was looking back at some of the old BLOGS and we do tend to hit this point of inertia every year at this time. And this year – I just wasn’t feeling up to anything.

 

Casa Grande

Casa Grande is the centre of a strong unique agricultural area. At various times of the year you can see fields of cotton growing and huge feeder lots and dairies. After the cotton is harvested and transported to the nearby mills, which is another fascinating process, some of the cotton fields are seeded with alfalfa. After the alfalfa is cut, sheep are brought in to graze. They move from field to field daily fenced in only by portable electric wire.

  The Auza and Manterola families have historically trailed their sheep from the winter range in Casa Grande to the summer pastures in the north. Today, they truck the sheep from Casa Grande to Cordes Junction, and then trail the sheep north. Trailing the sheep is good for the health of the sheep and improves lambing in November.

Sheep Herding in Arizona http://arizonaexperience.org/people/sheep-herding-arizona

Using the Sun
Many of the structures built to protect the cattle are covered with solar panels; parking lots in and around town are covered with solar panels and even the Frito-Lay factory has solar panel fields that power their facilities.

Back to the Desert
Mid-January, we left Casa Grande to join Chuck and Sheila (our friends from Wetaskiwin) on the desert in California (Ogilby Road), just west of Yuma and a few miles north of Mexico.

We have a number of visiting hummingbirds and had a horned toad come to visit the other day.

 
Beautiful weather and we so enjoy their company - Sheila and I cook together and we all usually play cards or just sit around solving the world’s problems in the evening.
We’ve been down to Algodones, Mexico a couple of times. We both got new glasses (Fred's glasses were $39 and mine were $159); had our feed of fish and shrimp taco; and had a nice visit with the fellow who owns the taco restaurant. We have been going there for so long, that we have visited him through the marriage of two children and the birth of his second grandchild (the day before we arrived). 
Algodones seems to be getting more sophisticated  - more big stores and fancy places with huge signs but the venders and hawkers are still out in hordes and the children run rampant.

 


The prices have gone up this year but our friend told us that they are paying higher taxes, too.

Chuck did get his shoes shined.

There didn't seem to be as many people and we didn't even have much of a wait at the border crossing.
We have visited a few of the Mexican Flea Markets in Calexico and Yuma.
 We toured around the Sand Dunes

These are called Sand Rails and can cost way up into the tens-of-thousands of $s.
People come from all over the continent to race through the Dunes here. We did meet some folks from Edmonton who come down every year.

Fascinating!

Other BLOGS                                                                   2001 to 2005;                                                 Island Winter-wintering on Vancouver Island; Wildflowers

December Photos

First off, we want to wish you all good health and happiness for 2014!

Here are the links to the other blogs we have on-line  enjoy!

• 2001 to 2005
• Island Winter-wintering on Vancouver Island
• Wildflowers
  

No doubt you picked up that it was a rather frantic trip down with little motivation to stop and take pictures but here is what we got. I really have no idea where we were – somewhere between the Canadian border and Salt Lake City.

The poor little Tracker got a little salt-stained

But it was beautiful, wasn’t it?

And then there are our favourite companions – we have identified five that come to visit – ranging from Anna to Black Chin hummingbirds – we enjoy their company so much.

 

It’s almost like coming home

Hummingbird feeder is out – we have been visited by a couple Anna’s taking on nutrition – we must be at the Escapees Park near Casa Grande where we love to spend Christmas and New Years - - Season’s Greetings everyone!
The trip down was horrendous! We left in the cold and snow and it followed us all the way to Nevada!
Our first night was in Dillion, MT - had to plug in - it was -29C and bloody cold and snowy!
The next night was in Lehi, Utah - just south of Salt Lake City - it was warming up just enough to muck up all the roads and make it dirty, splashy and somewhat slippery.  We found a wonderful Thai restaurant there and enjoyed that.
My favourite canyon road (Virgin River Canyon) - the road between St. George, Utah and Mesquite, NE was closed because of the snow and bad weather. 
We made it to Laughlin the next night and managed to score a $20.00 room at the River Palms Hotel/Casino. I scored about $40.00 profit and we spent the evening with Chuck and Sheila - the folks from Wetaskiwin.
We picked up the Motor Home the next morning and to our delight, everything was just fine.
Oh, it's so good to be back in the MH - I really do hate Motel/Hotel travelling!
We went down to Quartzsite and spend time with Chuck and Sheila again, out on the desert - that was good! We do so enjoy their company and playing card with them. And Sheila and I enjoy being able to cook together – we’re good at it!
I thought we were going down to Yuma but Fred decided we should come directly to Casa Grande so we could get a good RV site and be off the road for the holidays. 
Snowbird country seems very quiet! It is surprising how uncrowded it is! It seems people are either not coming down or they are coming south a lot later.
Like everywhere else, the prices have  gone up but we can still handle it!
So we're settled for a month - it is surprising how many people we know here - nice! Aw-w-w it’s almost like coming home.
I managed to spend Christmas nursing a horrible cold but everyone made sure Fred brought me a feed from the Christmas Dinner. I don`t think he`s going to escape the malady but at least I know what he`s going through.

Other BLOGS

2001 to 2005

Island Winter-wintering on Vancouver Island

Wildflowers

Okay – Now What!!

The now what turned out to be visits to Nevada (Mesquite, Laughlin, and Avi) and Arizona (Bullhead City and Fort Mojave) before we headed back home.
We were surprised how hot it was! Another Passport America discount RV Park in Fort Mojave offered the cooling vibes of the air conditioner. It was 90 F when we left Bullhead City.
Strange Trip Home: Never can we say our trips home are without incident!
First – it is so-o-o strange to stay in Motels or Hotels! And expensive! Holy Cow!
Then - Snow, you say, in September?
A Progression of Our Trip
We started to see snow

And more snow

And cars off the road



Slow Down, Fred!
I never realized how different everything looks this time of year!
The blazing red Burning Bush

The outstanding Montana skies

And then there are the views from our front window!!
The Sunsets!

The Changing Colour of the Leaves!

Life is Tough!!

(We got home October 5th and after the first snowfall looked at each other and said. “What are we doing here?”

We took out the calendar, called the Travel Medical Insurance people and set up the date-to-leave sooner rather than later).

The Old is New Again

September 20 to 24

Zion . . . Lake Mead . . . we are drawn to both places and managed to visit on this trip as well.

Zion is my favourite American National Park and the Lake Mead area is always a place we like to stop on our way home in the Spring. BUT we have never been to either place in the early fall of the year.

There is always something new and wondrous at Zion. I feel like I belong here! I’m nestled in the canyon surrounded by these magnificent protective pillars . . . it feels so safe!

As usual we jumped on the shuttle to tour around the park.

Again we managed to travel with a driver who loved the park and loved to tell us about all the different sights.

We saw wild-flowers we had never seen before and learned about them:

View Full Album

The Angel’s Trumpet was growing everywhere along the roadside . . . we had never seen them before and asked the driver. She told us that they are a poisonous plant called Angel’s Trumpets or Devil’s Trumpets. And it appears they have hallucinatory qualities as well. According to the U.S. Forest Service Botany Program, they are also called Jimsonweed, Thornapple, Moonflower, and Sacred Daturas (Datura spp.) and have hallucinogenic properties. The Tohono O’odham shamans of south-central Arizona and northern Sonora, Mexico perform a song-poem ritual

“Pima Jimsonweed Song”

“At the time of the White Dawn;
At the time of the White Dawn,
I arose and went away.
At Blue Nightfall I went away.
I ate the thornapple leaves
And the leaves made me dizzy.
I drank thornapple flowers
And the drink made me stagger…”

It illustrates the great significance and nature of Datura plants in the oral and sacred traditions of many native cultures. Archaeological evidence shows that Datura has been in use for at least 3,000 years.

The climber scaling the wall

The Temples and Towers

Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam

Lake Mead is part of the Colorado River system and was formed by the Hoover Dam. When it is full (which hasn’t happened since 1983) Lake Mead is huge . . . about 112 miles long with 550 miles of shore-line and over 500 feet at its greatest depth  . . . but droughts  have changed these dimensions.

The staff at The Flaming Gorge told us that while the level of the Flaming Gorge River has fallen 100 feet, Lake Mead has fallen at least 146 feet.  

The Bridge across the Hoover Dame is finally completed.

No, no, you can't jump across there!

 Okay – now what!!