Blue Sky and Sunshine and A Ride Down King Valley Road

Saturday, March 4, 2023

This morning was a little warmer so we decided to sit out for awhile with our coffee. Deb and Riley joined us then the wind picked up and Riley decided to head inside before her sinuses started to bother her. The wind picks up quickly out here; one second it is as calm as can be and the next it is gusting. It was not to long after that we all headed in as that wind, also, brought a chill to the air. 

We decided to drive over to Parker for 5 o'clock mass at Sacred Heart Catholic Church this evening.  After Mass we made a quick stop at Walmart to pick up a few groceries. Then we decided to try the El Sarape Mexican Restaurant in Parker for dinner. Not bad food and the service was decent we would stop again if we were in Parker and hungry. What it was not was a restaurant that we would say lets go to Parker for dinner at El Sarape's. 

Bottom Picture: Last week we turned the corner and most 
of the mountains were hidden in dust.
Top Picture: This week we could clearly see the mountains ahead.

This will be our last time attending Mass here for this adventure.
The bottom left was the sky as we walked out of Walmart.

We were home with our groceries around 9 o'clock and after putting them away the rest of the night was spent relaxing. It was just another day living our lives and enjoying the journey we are on.

Friday, March 3, 2023

Somedays go by and if I do not have any pictures it is hard to remember what we did. I know we sat out for a little while but otherwise I am not sure what we did until later in the day. At around 3:45PM Riley, Tom, and I joined Deb in the Dogsled and she drove us over to LaPosa South LTVA for Happy Hour at Cheryl and Dave's. It was nice to sit out in the sun and just chat for a couple of hours. This may be the last time we will see some of these guys for this adventure so we were glad for the invite. Plus, we had another opportunity for hugs all around before parting ways. 

Starting on the left: Cheryl, Bill, Riley, Deb, Patsy, Tom, and Dave

The sun had already slipped behind the Dome Rock Mountains
when we got home. I aimed the camera on my phone to where
the sun sets and it picked up a little light and some pretty colors.

It was a good day. 

Thursday, March 2, 2023

Today started slowly and that was pretty much how the whole day went.  Tom and I did drive into Quartzsite after lunch to run a few errands and stopped at La Posa South to fill our water bladder. We were back home in time for Happy Hour and that was pretty much our day. 

Sunset

Some color over the mountains to the Northwest.

We decided to test our Solar System to see if the adjustment the tech made helped. We never ran the generator today and watched a movie this evening. When we went to bed the batteries were at 12.4 and they held at that overnight. So it does seem to be doing better and we are happy with how everything is running at this point.

Tuesday, February 28, 2023 (Ride Down King Valley Road)

Today, Deb and Riley joined us for a ride in the "Little Black Limo"  to the King Valley Road. Our destination were the Horse Tanks off of this road on a 4 wheel drive recommended road. I took the pictures below after we turned off of King Valley Road. This area is part of the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge.

Kofa National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1939 for the protection of desert bighorn sheep and other native wildlife following a 1936 campaign by the Arizona Boy Scouts. 

Originally designated Kofa Game Range, the refuge was managed jointly by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management for decades. In 1976, control of the refuge was awarded to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and it was renamed Kofa National Wildlife Refuge.  The refuge's name was derived from an acronym for one of the area’s most notable mines, the King of Arizona gold mine. 

The Wilderness Act of 1964 created the National Wilderness Preservation System "in order to assure that an increasing population, accompanied by expanding settlement and growing mechanization, does not occupy and modify all areas in the United States, and its possession, leaving no lands designated for preservation and protection in their natural condition..."

Congress designated 547,719 acres or over 80 percent of Kofa National Wildlife Refuge as wilderness through the 1990 Arizona Desert Wilderness Act. Along with the Kofa Wilderness, the New Water Mountains Wilderness was designated at the same time on 24,600 acres on the north boundary of the Kofa Wilderness.

Kofa National Wildlife Refuge is part of the Southwest Arizona National Wildlife Refuge Complex. The refuge complex consists of Cibola, Imperial, and Kofa National Wildlife Refuges.(https://www.fws.gov/refuge/kofa)

There are a lot of Teddy Bear cholla in this area.

If you are interested in the information above clicking on 
the picture will open it larger.

At this point we started a short hike to the Horse Tanks. There will be more pictures in the next couple of blogs. 

After our ride we decided to head into Quartzsite to try out the pizza at the Outback on Main Street. First we stopped to check on Doug, who at that point was still parked at Dave's Diesel, to see how he was doing and if he had decided on what he was going to do next. We also stopped to invite him to come and join us for pizza. The Outback is a serve your self type of place. You order in one area then walk to another area where there is a bar and tables to sit and eat at either inside or outside. Outside was covered.   From the signs it sounds like they do have live music on certain days.  The pizza was quite good and we all agreed we would go back again. After hugs all around we all headed home.

It was a wonderful day. The ride and hike provided some beautiful views of the Kofa Mountains and we found what we think is a good pizza place. The best part we spent time with friends.

We are glad you stopped by!

If you have time to leave a comment we would enjoy hearing from you.