Warming up...

Good news! After dumping "never seen before at this time of year" snow (3" in Tucson, 3' in Flagstaff, knee deep on the top of mountains surrounding Apache Junction.. and deep enough to be staying for several days on the Flatiron here in the park) Mother Nature may be loosening her grip and allowing some warmth to seep in. The wind is still quite cool and the evenings chill very quickly.... BUT the sun is definitely shining and the day time highs are creeping up! Phew. Guess we'll hang in here and carry on with hiking, biking, touring, etc. We expect to be here until the 5th when we'll head to Sun City West to visit my aunt and uncle.

Sure hope things are well and warming up in your neck of the woods...🌞 TTFN. CJ

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Superstition Mountains - before and after (the storm)

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Snow on the Flatiron!

Woke up this morning.... to pouring rain, wind gusts that rock the trailer, a cabin temperature of 51 (34 outside) and snow on the Flatiron, a well known peak that the best hikers climb here at Lost Dutchman. We had our first campfire and hotdog roast last night, knowing the forecast was predicting rain overnight, today and tomorrow.... definitely days for exploration by truck :-). Stay warm everyone... CJ. (Photos by Kathy)
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Lost Dutchman...- 2

The last posting ended rather abruptly. The following was supposed to post after the photo. For reasons beyond my control, it did not. So hereafter is the last half. Thanks.
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>> I've been a little delinquent in my postings... so to catch you up... when last I wrote we had just left Picacho State Park, also beautiful! Since then we've had the pleasure of catching up with cruising friends Tom and Jeanne in an RV Park just outside Tucson (or Tuckson as our GPS calls it :-). We had a great visit with them and caught up on all kinds of things... maybe even told a few stories and relived some of our mutual memories of the trip sailing down the west coast of North America. We met in Monterey marina and have been good friends ever since. After our visit with them we moved on to Gilbert Ray County Park, a whole 2.8 miles away. There we endured freezing temps at night and very cold winds during the day... so you can see why we're so happy to be able to sit in warm sunshine for a change. OK, enough for now. We are well. And, we hope all of you are well too. Spring is coming sometime... wherever you are, so hang in there... TTFN. CJ
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Lost Dutchman...

> Good morning. I'm sitting in my chair, under a partially opened awning, in the sun, basking in the beauty of the Superstition Mountains, and watching beautiful birds taking turns on the seed sock I hung in a nearby tree just before dark yesterday. Oh yes, and I'm enjoying a cup of coffee and marvelling at this temporary morning lapse in cold and freezing temperatures :-) This is such a beautiful site I think I could sit here forever.
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> Yes, it appears our weather may finally start to warm up (next week) according to the weather forecasting gurus. Two more days of cold and rain and then things will, hopefully, dry up and warm up. Oh wow. Two brilliantly coloured red Cardinals just arrived. One of them is actually orange. Beautiful! There's also a pair of Gila Woodpeckers that are visiting and many more smaller birds.

> If you can see it in the photo, we've rigged up a contraption that includes a walking stick, Rosemary (the rosemary plant), Rosie (the Valentines Day rose), and a hummingbird feeder. Apparently it's working as we've had many visitors so far :-). We're just going to hang out today. Kathy's recovering from a cold and we're here for two weeks so don't feel rushed to accomplish much today. With luck we'll have a fire and a hotdog roast for dinner. 🌭🌭🌭
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> Anyway, suffice to say things are very nice here at Lost Dutchman State Park and we are so very lucky to not only be here but to also be in one of the best sites thanks to our friend Donna who kindly booked two last year.
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Picacho Peak Hike (2)

And a few more.
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Picacho Peak Hike (1)

As promised.... a few pics from the hike... including looking back down at the campsite and a Saguaro cactus with encircling arms....
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Picacho Peak State Park

Where oh where to begin? Perhaps with a 'shout out' to all of you suffering through an unexpected and extra-ordinary winter 'event'. We really do wish you luck, warmth, and an early spring. While there's absolutely no denying the cold is COLD ... it may be worth mentioning that southern Arizona is also very unusually cold. The lows at night are near or at freezing, and the daily highs have been in the mid '60's. OK enough said.

We've just spent two days at Picacho State Park. Not only is it a beautiful park with good sized sites and lots of space between... it is also the home of some pretty amazing hikes. Kathy and our friend Donna tackled one of those hikes and photos from that will follow in another posting. For now, I just wanted to show you our site and tell you a bit about this place.

Picacho Peak is the location of the most-western (geographically speaking) conflict of the US Civil War. The Battle of Picacho Pass pitted groups of the Union and Confederate armies against each other as they tried one side, then the other, to gain control of the pass. You'll see the breadth of the territory they were trying to claim in some of Kathy's photos that follow.

As for our site... it's beautiful and quite private. All is going well on our little vacation... a few domestic glitches, like a fridge that won't turn off and freezes everything. We had to throw out two full loads of frozen food (that shouldn't have been) before we started monitoring the inside temp and turning it off and on accordingly to keep the frozen part frozen and the other part... not so much. And fancy Ricky (the truck) couldn't understand why all his tires were suddenly lower in psi than they should be... (cuz it has been freezing over night??) and started flashing messages to me on the instrument panel about adding air...and wouldn't stop until we got to our first gas station and did so. By the time we got there, the tires had warmed up and were almost up to pressure :-)

So... know we are fine and enjoy some photos... the first is, of course, our lovely site with Picacho Peak in the background. The second is Kathy and our adventuring friend, Donna, resting up and discussing a vigorous hike up the peak planned for day two.

Sure hope you're all doing well.... all the best from cool Arizona....

Boondocking at Imperial Dam Proving Grounds...

What is boondocking? You may well ask. I've had a few enquiries...and didn't really know myself until recently... like three days ago when we arrived to visit our friends. Basically, it's stopping in the middle of nowhere, parking on the flattest piece of sand or rock you can find, wiggling your RV around so the refrigerator side is away from the blazing hot afternoon sun, making up the beds with enough blankets to stave off the rather cold nights (no power for heaters for many of us), making sure your water tank is full and your 'other' tanks are empty (no water taps or black and grey water dumps out here), having your battery(s) all charged up and a system worked out to keep them charged (like solar panels or a generator), saying goodbye to the internet and wifi (unless you've stopped somewhere close enough to civilization to have same), and not being able to put out your awning for shade because of the strong and erratic winds what swoop through at their pleasure.

Having said that, the art of boondocking has become quite sophisticated. As you drive through the deserts of California and Arizona you will see, not far off the roads, clumps of RVs gathered together in various sorts of chaotic parking plans. Let's call those villages of boondockers. Many of the villages have organized collective services in one way or another. As well, folks wanting to stay in the BLM (Bureau of Lands Management) lands have (after purchasing a permit for not very much) the use of a dump station, water station, and garbage dumpster.... very civilized. With these services available many RVers spend their entire winter... boondocking and love it.

Our friends are boondockers and have pretty much perfected it. Theirs is the nicest set up we've seen and includes places to escape from the wind on both sides of their RV, a lovely desert garden and bird feeding station, games adapted from the refined table versions and reproduced in desert-appropriate materials and size. They are also crafters who make beautiful art from natural materials they collect along their way. Theirs is not a way of life for everyone but they have created, adapted, and are living the life with aplomb. The picture below (or above... I never know where they'll pop up when I hit 'send') was taken of the four of us outside a very comfortable desert bar where we headed for lunch whilst out touring the area (and finding some wifi).

We have had a good time visiting and learning about boondocking; even set up one of our portable solar panels. The other photo will give you an idea of our view and location. The stars at night are brilliant and while it looks rather desolate there is lots of wildlife. Doves, red-winged blackbirds, several varieties of finches, and hummingbirds visit the feeders regularly. Wild burros (one with a baby) clip clop by our camper at night while they graze and, although we haven't heard them, there are coyotes around as well.

It's Tuesday morning and time to move on. We head in to Yuma today to visit friends from home who winter over there. They are the folks who were kind enough to care for Lucy while we drove down to the boat each winter. This year they get us too :-) but we won't stay for the whole winter... just a few days. It will be great to see them...

Time to start packing up for the move. Hope this day is a good one for each of you. Adios for now. CJ