YAHOO!!! ON THE ROAD AGAIN

After a rather dull couple of months at Hidden Valley Ranch in Deming, we left for Arizona and better weather just before the temps plummeted.  The day after we left, temp at night hit 14 degrees at the ranch.

I pull the flatbed trailer with the two side-by-sides while Mike pulls the travel trailer with his truck.  The past two years, we have gone from Deming to Buckeye, AZ, in one shot.  (There is a Walmart in Buckeye which is RV’er friendly.)  This year we decided it’s just too far for me to drive so we stopped at a park in Casa Grande, AZ, for an overnight before going the last 150 miles to Hope, AZ.

Hope, AZ, is a tiny place at the junction of two highways.  There is a gas station/minimart (closed) on one corner.  The RV park and a church are across the street.  We got into the park early afternoon and were getting set up when a guy two sites down walked over.  He had seen the flatbed with the side-by-sides and came over to see if we would like to ride the next day with him and his wife. Mike (another Mike) and his wife Colleen are from Montana. This is their third year here and he knows all the trails.  Like most of the BLM land we've explored, this area has no trail markers; you really need to go out with someone who knows the area until you get a good idea of where everything is.  

We took off following Mike and Colleen and he led us to what is called a Whoop-Ti-Do, a trail which winds in and out of a series of washes.  Fun riding.  Then the trail started up and up and up.  We topped out at a point on a ridge where we could see miles in all directions.  (This is an old mining area so there are lots of trails, much like we have in Deming.)

RV'ers can be quirky, especially when they are bored.  As we dropped down off the ridge and started across the flat, Mike (our guide) said he would take us to some interesting sights.  I believe he said there is a retired engineer in the park who likes to build things in the desert when he runs out of other things to do.  

He built this nice bird bath.  Note the polished stones around the rim.  Mr. Engineer's wife is a rockhound and the park has a lapidary shop.

Someone has to keep putting water in it as there isn't enough rain to keep it filled.  And then....TA DA...THE PYRAMID.

Montana Mike at The Pyramid.

Can you imagine the utter bafflement of some future archeologist who stumbles across this and tries to figure out who built it and why?

Just down the trail from these historic markers are three decorated trees:  The BRA Tree, The HAT Tree, and The STUFFED TOY Tree.  (Did I mention that bored RV'ers find odd things to do?)  I missed getting a photo of the Hat Tree but I did get the other two.  

Obviously there is no grocery store in Hope.  The nearest Walmart is at Parker, AZ, some 50 miles from Hope.  There are dozens of RV parks in Parker or across the river in CA and shopping at Walmart is an exercise in patience.  

At 60 miles from Hope is Wickenburg,Arizona, a charming Old West town, with a Safeway and a couple of very good restaurants, gas stations, hardware stores, etc.  So we went to Wickenburg.

When Wickenburg was an Old West town, they didn't have a real jail.  Local lawbreakers were chained to the Jail Tree.  The photo below is what the Jail Tree looks like today.

The area around Hope has a number of citrus farms.  The park has planted citrus trees, oranges, grapefruits, lemons, at various places along the rows of sites.  At the end of our site is this lemon tree with wonderful fruit.  I fixed shrimp one night and used the lemons from this tree.

Mike and Colleen invited us to ride again with them.  This time there were several other rigs and Mike took us a different way, across the highway to the north.  Great trails.  

We started out with four or five rigs and along the way picked up two or three more.

The Two Mikes discuss the route.

At strategic spots, we stopped to admire various points of interest.  

Petroglyphs

Being a law-breaker in this part of the world was a bad idea.  Our next-to-last stop on this ride was Jail House Rock.  There was a quarry here once upon a time.  The cave under this gigantic rock served as the overnight accommodations for the chain gangs who worked the quarry.  

Colleen and Mike N.

The Two Mikes enter Jail House Rock.

There were petroglyphs here as well, high up on the rocks; and then there are modern "petroglyphs".  (Who are these idiots who spray paint everything?)

A day or two later, Mike and Colleen took us out again, this time on a scenic route to the old Vicksburg Mine.  At the first stop, (Mike and Colleen said it was an old stage stop; Mike N. and I thought it looked too modern, that it was an old mining office or saloon or a bordello for the miners.)  Montana Mike got too close to a teddy bear cholla with painful consequences.  These cacti are armed with long, barbed spines and the joints of the plant break off with barely a touch.  Once the spines go in, you have a hard time getting them back out.

Montana Mike cutting the spines from the cactus joint.

 After Mike got the spines cut away from the cactus joint, he had to pull out the spines with needle nose pliers.  Ouch.

Stage coach stop?  Mining Office?  Saloon? Cathouse?

One of several mines within 100 yards of each other.

It seems that most of the mines are vertical shafts.  This is one of the few we've seen which goes horizontally into the mountainside.

There are quite a few empty spaces in the park as most snowbirds wait until after Christmas to leave the cold and frozen north.  The people behind us are from Kansas, somewhere north of Salina and they have decorated their space for the holidays.

I will probably not post again until after the holidays.  So to you all, the merriest of Christmases!