We Moved and The Last of the Pictures From Our Ride to King Valley Road

Friday, March 10, 2023

On Thursday we moved back to a spot just off of Ogilby Road where we had been parked in February.  Sadly our neighborhood is short one rig this time.

When we turned off of Ogilby Road after a short distance I could
see a white dot and when I zoomed in I could see it was the Igloo.

No, we are not parked that close to the Cargo Muchacho Mountains but I do like that when I zoomed in from this angle it looked like the Igloo was parked with them towering over it.

Stepping out of the Stinger "B" this morning to take a picture of the sunrise I was pleasantly surprised at the temperature. After taking the picture I asked Tom for my shawl and sat down to enjoy the morning. Deb decided to join me with her coffee and a few minutes later Tom joined us carrying two mugs of coffee. 

The sun came up and pretty quickly slipped behind the clouds.

This guy went by several times this morning.
As we drove out to Ogilby Road a little later we saw it landing.

We sat out chatting until we noticed it was 9 o'clock and since the plan was to leave for the Arizona Market Place by 10 it was time to go in and get ready.

After Tom and I left a few dollars behind at the Market Place this morning we headed over to the UPS Store so I could return a few thing I had ordered that did not work out. We were stopped at a light and just as we started to turn we noticed the bird below.  I had never seen a bird with such a long bill before which is why even though it is a blurry distorted picture it is shared here. Between the Jeep moving and extensive cropping this was the best I could do.

I believe, after doing some checking, this is a 
Long-billed Curlew.

We made one more stop at Walmart for a few things then headed home. A little later we sat out and Deb joined us for a short Happy Hour. 

If you have read this blog for any length of time you know I share a lot of cloud pictures, The collage below are of some I liked this evening.

The other two people at Happy Hour could not see it. I think
it is totally clear the top picture is a blue angel flying by.

The sun set behind the clouds tonight but its light 

as it left did give produce some pretty color.

I took this then headed inside for the night.

It was a good day!

Tuesday, February 28, 2023 
Kofa National Wildlife Refuge 

All of this wilderness is located in Arizona and is managed by the Fish and Wildlife Service. The Kofa Wilderness is bordered on the south by the Castle Dome Mountains and the western end of the Tank Mountains are in the southeast of the wildlife refuge. The New Water Wilderness in the New Water Mountains ends the extension of the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge to the north. The La Posa Plain is a wide, generally flat plain in western Arizona near the Colorado River and is on the west and northwest border of the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge. The plain lies to the east of the Colorado River Indian Reservation and east of the Dome Rock and Trigo Mountains.

The Kofa Refuge and Wilderness is open to visitation year-round, 24 hours a day. There are no entrance fees and visitors are free to camp wherever they choose, keeping in mind the vehicle restrictions. The vast majority of the public comes to the Kofa Wilderness between October and March when 'winter visitors' flock to southern Arizona. These 'snowbirds' as they are also called, tend to remain on or close to the designated roads. Thus, intrepid hikers can still find vast areas of the Refuge to themselves. The Refuge is virtually devoid of human activity during the hot summer months. (from the internet)

 

As I mentioned in my last post, posted on March 7th, Riley and I turned back at the first Horse Tank and I had wished I could have gone forward but if I had I would have missed the wonderful time chatting with Riley. Looking back as I write this I am glad I forgot the hiking pole. We spent our time looking at the mountains in front of us and found many interesting faces among the rocks. We also could see other things and if you enlarge the pictures you might see things we never did.  It is all about looking with "open eyes". 

One of our favorite finds.

I even remembered to take a picture of  
Riley and I.

Do you see a turtle?

Deb and Tom catching up to us after their hike.

Heading back to King Valley Road

Baby Ocotillos

The shadows on the mountains

are beautiful and ever changing.

Could that be a very large Owl peeking at us?

When I saw this hill it was completely black. By the time I got
my camera focused the black shadow was almost gone. 

King Valley Road

Tom turned the Little Black Limo right to go further down King Valley Road but we did not travel that far. Checking the map it looked like a road we had been on in the past from the other end. On that ride we encountered a steep wash we could not get through. It was getting late, the road was bumpy, and we did not want to travel several more miles only to turn around and back track. So after talking about it we all agreed the best idea was to turn around.

The last picture of the day.

The Kofa Mountains are beautiful and their beauty can be seen in every direction. Tom and Deb took a hike to see more of the tanks and from what they said had a good time. I know Riley and I had fun chatting while looking for faces and shapes on the mountain side. Some she saw and I did not, some I saw and she did not, and some we both saw. Driving back into Quartzsite we stopped to see our stranded friend and invited Doug to join us for a late lunch. It truly was a good day spent with special friends.

We are glad you stopped by!

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

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.

Checking out Quartzsite (Chris's Visit...Day Four) King Valley Road (Chis's Visit...Day Five) Another Catch Up

(Clicking on the pictures will open them larger in a new window.)

Sunday, February 24, 2019

Today Chris and I did some shopping our first stop Gem World. She was looking to pick up some geodes and other rocks and I knew this would be a good place to start. Plus, they have a nice variety of other things that are fun to look at. We, also, visited another rock shop further down the street and then went over to Kuhen St. and checked out some of the vendors still around. Then with our purchases complete for the day we headed back to the Stinger "B" to pick Tom up and head over for 4 o'clock Mass at Queen of Peace Catholic Mission.

After Mass we headed over past Scaddan Wash BLM and down Mitchell Mine Road. Chris had been asking about seeing some Saguaros up close plus other cacti and we knew of a good spot down that road. Plus, there is the constant hunt for interesting rocks. We have a bag in the Stinger "B" we will be delivering when we get home.

Tom took this picture of Chris and I.
I am pretty sure she is looking for rocks.

Our "selfie" with the Saguaro.

Saguaros

Staghorn Cholla

Barrel Cactus

Teddy Bear Cholla

Even up close the Teddy Bear Cholla looks soft.

Saguaro and Ocotillo

After collecting pictures and rocks we headed over for a ride by Dome Rock BLM. Tom wanted to show her the area over there including the mine.

The sun was slipping behind the mountains just as we turned on the road.

There are some nice views to be seen

of the mountains in the distance

and all the RV's still parked in the LaPosa LTVA's

It was an enjoyable day just hanging out, chatting and spending time together. As the darkness descended on the Sonoran Desert we made our way back to the Shady Lane RV Park.


Monday, February 25, 2019

Today was Chris's last day here. One of things we wanted to do was take a short ride in to the Kofa Wildlife Refuge. We have taken this ride back to the Horse Tanks before so we knew it would be a nice one but not be a long one. It was a warm day and we did want to spend a little time sitting outside enjoying the sunshine.

The Road we took today.
Our destination, the horse tanks. 

Ocotillos

Teddy Bear Chollas

Hedgehog Cactus

Staghorn Cholla

Views walking back to the Horse Tanks

Is that a face ion the side of the mountain?

Some purple wildflowers.

Tom moving quickly down the path up ahead of us.

Then we spotted the water.

I believe this area is part of the Castle Dome Mountains.

The area though rugged is beautiful.
One lone Saguaro up above.

According to the map there are several more tanks in the area.
Chris and I opted to stop here. Tom went on to the next one.

Tom said this one looked deeper.

Some small yellow wildflowers.
Unfortunately we did not see many wildflowers on our walk today.

Zoomed in on one the lone Saguaro pictured above.

I believe this is a type of Prickly Pear Cactus.

We can see the Jeep up the small incline.
The walk back to the first Horse Tank was fairly short. It is the path
over lose rocks which can be fun, though, it really was an easy walk.

There was a pretty ocotillo just up the hill from where we parked.

This is were I left this year's Valentine Roses from Tom.
I always hate to put them in the garbage.

Turning back onto King Valley Road.

On our way back to the Stinger "B" the picture by the sign.

Our last Happy Hour and it was warm enough to sit outside.
We are so glad she came for a visit.
Cheers to many more in the future.

We ended  Chris's visit with what turned out to be a nice ride into the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge. On the way back to the Shady Lane RV Park we took a quick ride into LaPosa South to show her where we parked in January with friends. Then a quick ride around we ended up crossing one corner of the Magic Circle, we wanted her to have the full tour. It was nice that at least for her last evening with us it was warm enough to sit out for awhile. We enjoyed her visit and hope she can say the same.
(Note: I try to get the names of the Cactus correct but I am never sure I have, if not sorry about that.)

Glad you stopped by for a visit. Hope you enjoyed the pictures.

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