Jim to the rescue-May 31, 2013

Last night just before we left for a walk, an old camper van pulled into the area and parked just up the road from our spot. This morning the van was sitting in the middle of the dirt road and the driver was standing out beside the van with gas can in hand, looking like he was trying to decide what to do.  We saw him head toward us and Jim went out and spoke with him.  His old van apparently does not have a working gas gauge and he had miscalculated his mileage and found himself out of gas.  Jim and I went out and helped him push his van to the side of the road. After getting him situated off the road, Jim took him into Ash Fork to get some gas.  When they got back Jim and I watched him head back out to the highway and make a left turn.  Jim was surprised to see him turn to the left toward Prescott because he had only bought $2.00 worth of gas and Prescott is about fifty miles from here.  I imagine someone else will have to come to his rescue down the road a ways.

After doing our neighborly duty we took a ride into Williams, Arizona to check out some more Forest Service areas that have free camping. Talk about a tourist trap, Williams should be at the top of the list, they are situated at the start of one of the few roads that take you up into the Grand Canyon.  Their diesel prices are sky high at $4.49 a gallon. So far we have been paying around $3.85 per gallon.  I am thinking we will not be filling our tank until we reach Flagstaff.

Sheep, Sheep, and more Sheep-May 30, 2013

This morning we were awakened by bleating sheep.  Jim looked out the window and could see them (a couple of hundred at least) coming toward us. Where ever they are headed we seem to be parked right in their path.  This could be interesting.  Well, we were indeed in their path but our presence hardly gave them pause.  The first to arrive wasn’t a sheep at all, but a pale yellow dog who came right up close to check us out. 

 

 

He must have decided we weren’t a threat because after sniffing around a bit he ran back to the sheep and minutes later we had a huge parade of sheep passing.

 

Zoe was perched on the back of the couch when they got close she jumped up growled a couple of times and high tailed it for under the couch.  I get the impression she doesn’t like sheep any better then she likes dogs.

After the sheep parade we decided to take a cruise into Ash Fork to check out their museum.   The museum had a miniature train set up with model buildings of Ash Fork in the days when it was a much busier and larger town.  Ash Fork was a main stop on the railway back in the day. Today the only indication of what the town once was is the smoke stack from a once grand hotel and boarded up, dilapidated buildings that once housed the many businesses.  Ash Fork today still lays claim to being the Flagstone Capitol of the U.S.

 

 

 

 

We did some more rock hunting in the afternoon, but didn’t stay out for long as the temperature is running pretty close to 90 degrees.

 

Forest Road # 35-May 29, 2013

Well we arrived and found a spot that is actually pretty level, so we put the slides out and have a big house for the next few days.

 

 We plan to drive into Ash Fork to check out their museum and do some exploration of the area in the jeep.

Their main display was this miniature train and a model of the Escalante Hotel. The hotel was built in Ash Fork by the Sante Fe Railroad.  The train set up made us think of cousin Gary, who is a model train enthusiast.

We went for a ride in the jeep on out Forest Road 35.  We didn’t see anything very interesting just a lot of open land with scrub brush, some short trees and one lone coyote.  The land is very rocky and dry. 

 

 After lunch we went for a walk and found a dry creek bed. We wandered along it looking for interesting rocks.

 

 

We have very limited internet access here, it seems to come and go. I was hoping for better access, so I could finish loading my pre written blogs.  Oh well, just have to work with what we have.  Surprisingly we put up the antenna and we are able to pick up three stations.  We get to watch the news tonight.  We have been listening to the weather on our little hand held radios. (Thanks Dad!)

Ash Fork Arizona-May 28, 2013

We spent last night parked in a pullout just out of Ash Fork on Hwy 89.  The wind had been steadily increasing since about noon so I am feeling really happy to be off the road and parked.  We didn’t travel a great distance today, but wanted to stop here as there is supposed to be a good boondocking location just a couple of miles down the road and off onto a Forest Service road.  We decided to wait on that location until morning which will allow us more time to explore and choose the best spot.

During the late afternoon we watched all the prairie dogs in the field next to us. They were so cute and most of them had their little babies out with them.  I tried several times to get a picture, but the only thing I succeeded in doing was scaring them back into their holes. Not long after we got parked a herd of cattle came racing past us, they must have been on their way to dinner.  Then just as the sun was setting they came racing back.

Our camera isn’t the best but if you look closely you can just make out the line of cattle.

 

 

 

Not the most colorful sunset, but pretty all the same.

 

Up and out early to beat the heat May 27, 2013

We were up early and out the door for our hike before the heat of the day hit.  We started out on the back side of the rock.  Jim says I am supposed to be calling “the rock” a monolith …. So, we started our hike on the back side of the monolith. We had run into a couple yesterday that told us the hiking trail to the left was much prettier than the trail to the right. So, as advised we kept to the left. While the scenery along the trail is interesting we decided neither of us would call it pretty. The rock formations are out of the ordinary and some even fascinating.

 

 The cactus may have been pretty earlier in the year, but unfortunately most of them have already lost their flowers and those with flowers remaining are looking pretty close to dead.  I am amazed at the lack of bugs here.  We have seen very few flies, I heard one bee, and we have seen a handful of crickets. I have to wonder what all these lizards are doing for food.

 

Nook to the rescue- June 1and 2nd 2013

Today I am going to post from my nook. I think my computer is in need of some attention. In fact I believe it might have a bug. It won't turn on correctly,doesn't do what it's supposed to do and then it won't turn off. Ugh!!
Yesterday we drove the MH into AshFork and went to Hilltop Texaco and RV Park. It was a great day of doing nothing except lounging around watching the car race on TV with the air conditioner on high. What a relaxing day.

We also got to enjoy a pretty sunset at the end of the day.

 As I'm sitting here typing and hitting the delete button every few strokes on this tiny little nook I am wondering if they make a key board for nooks. Guess I will have to check and see. Right now I can't even continue to add my older post because I am unable to open word documents on the computer. We drove the MH back out to Forest Rd 35 then hopped in the jeep and took a ride over to Chino Valley for a few groceries. They have a population of about 10,000 but only have one grocery store. At least they had bread. I tried to buy some bread in Ash Fork this morning but none of the little gas station stores had any. Oh well, it gave us the opportunity to see another town. Ash Fork looks like it is better off economicaly then Ash Fork. It is also a bit greener there.

Monolith Garden Trail-May 26, 2013

Yesterday we didn’t do any actual hiking. We just sort of wandered around the area to check things out.  Today we plan to climb up the rock pictured below in hopes of a better look around.  There are supposed to be three or four trails around here that all tie into together.

 

We made it to the top with no problem, but I was a little nervous on the way down.  I hate heights!  After making it down we took a walk around to the backside and discovered a birds nest high up in one of the notches of the rocks and Jim got a picture of a really strange plant.

  All in all we didn’t spend too much time outside. Tomorrow we plan to get an earlier start. By about noon it’s getting to hot for us Oregonians.

For the remainder of the day Jim worked on downloading and fine tuning the pictures we have taken so far and I worked on catching up on our journal.  I also finally got around to starting a blog and even began posting the journal and pictures.

 

 

Looks like we will have some company tonight, a couple arrived about an hour ago in their 5^th wheel and now I see them moving their rig further back from the highway.  During the day we can hear the highway traffic but our first night here once I fell asleep it didn’t bother me a bit.