The Christmas Issue

First off, let me wish you all the best of this holiday season. Here is our Christmas tree, standing in front of our trailer. Of course, it is night and all that shows are the lights on the spiral tree, but that is enough. I woke up in the middle of the night thinking that I needed to take a picture of our tree for the blog. Good thing no one was out at 4:00 AM, had I been seen, the neighbors would have had me put away and I would be in a rubber room right now.




So, anything new you ask? Why yes there is I reply. This is Sharon, selling jewelry at the La Paz County Park swap meet. Now whose table is that on the right side of the picture you ask? Why that is mine I reply. Yep, I figure if I have to go to the shows I might as well have something to sell. So, I am now in the sterling silver jewelry business...


We made our last ATV trail ride two or three weeks ago. What with jewelry shows and the cold rainy weather (yea, I know, what's up with rain, it's the desert) we haven't ridden much. Anyway, we took off from alongside the Colorado River just above the Parker Dam. That is California on the other side of the water. Looks just like Arizona doesn't it!


We are headed for the "Eye of the Needle". We did run in to the occasional rough spot, but everyone lent a helping hand (except me, somebody has to take the pictures).







We climbed up to the "Eye", from where we had a panoramic view of the surrounding area. Well, we had half a panoramic and then we crawled though the eye to get the other half. You'll just have to take my word, I already have my quota of pictures for this issue.




And then we climbed back down. Notice that long shadow in the picture. That is me, I have grown a little and am now over 12 feet tall. Well, just look at the length of that shadow, you know I am telling you the truth.

Parker Thanksgiving Regatta

The Blue Water Casino in Parker, Arizonia hosted this boat race. Although the casino hasn't always been the host the race has been put on for the last 62 years. The race was a two day event, but I only went for the second day, when the hottest boats ran off for their prize money.

The race course was oval, and as I recall, a little over one mile. So I could easily see the boats going this way...

...and then that way.

One class, the cracker boxes, takes two to race. The class has been around for a long time and the second person used to be the engineer. Although the engineer no longer has any job to do, the racing class has retained them as tradition.

These cracker boxes look good on shore and in the water (above and below is same boat).

A few racers ran the course standing up (sometimes not for long).

This sign, next to the starters tower, I found most interesting...

...which made this driver even more interesting...

...and she wasn't the only female driver. There were several lady riders in the two classes of jet skis (stand-up and seated).

Riding Around Brenda

We've been here in Brenda, Arizona for 10 days now and it is time to share a few of the sights.

Went out on the ATV's with the "boys". They failed to tell me we were going to visit a hot overnight spot in the desert.

The place was well landscaped and spacious, with plenty of parking.

The B&B was already occupied, so we looked around a bit and then we hit the trail again.

On another trip we took the wives along. We didn't stop at the B&B, well you know how women are about B&B's, they would have had us making reservations.

The area we are in is mountainous, not what I think of when I think desert.

These teddy bear cholla cactus are prevalent but not popular. Their little babies fall to the ground and then the wind moves them around, including onto the ATV trails. Then we pick them up in our tires and it takes pliers to get them off. I haven't bumped into one yet, but I am told the experience is one to be avoided.

Can you see the wild life in this picture. I'll help you out, there is an eagle, an eagle chick, a bear, and a quail. Oh, I should also tell you it takes a little imagination since all the animals are rock shapes. Can't see them? Well maybe you have to get jarred on the trail for two hours to help spur your imagination (or make you delusional).

I don't want to forget to show the occasional living desert animal. This little hummer has been coming to visit us during happy hour each evening. That's right, they have happy hour on the desert too! We attempt to get happy for at least one hour each day. For some reason it usually ends up being more than an hour and includes a certain amount of stumbling when we get up to go home. Not to worry, we only have to stumble as far as to where we parked our ATV's, then we can drive the rest of the way.

Back in Brenda, Arizona

We are back in Brenda, Arizona, after an 1,850 mile drive. We left Indianapolis around noon on Friday, November 14th and arrived in our RV park around 6:30 PM on Sunday.

Although I didn't take the next two pictures, I present them to you as representative of some of the latest changes to the Indianapolis skyline. This first picture is from inside the new Lucas Stadium which just opened. It is the home of the Colts NFL football team. The roof rolls back to provide an open air venue for a football game (it isn't going to be open often with the weather in Indiana).


The is a shot of the new Indianapolis International Airport Terminal (aka Wier Cook International). The terminal opened to travelers on November 12.


This one I did take as we passed through Albuquerque, New Mexico. Albuquerque is famous for its balloon festival in the Spring. However, it is a popular ballooning area year round. As we were on I-40 going through town we began seeing balloons on the horizon. Once I finally got off the highway, most were out of range. However, this one balloon had lagged behind just so I could get a picture of a hot air balloon over the city.

Mallow Run Winery

This is going to be a short one. We finally finished all the important tasks at the new condo in Indy, so we have now been trying to get with friends and family before we leave to go back out to Arizona. So, in that effort we took a trip with friends to a winery just South of Indianapolis.

This is the tasting house, shop, and restaurant.

Here goes the tasting, always a great way to find a wine for lunch (if you can find it before you have tasted tooooo many).

Now for lunch on the winery grounds, and that bottle we picked.

Of course what's a vineyard without rows and rows of grape arbors! That it for this blog, the next will probably be after we get back to Arizona.

Back Home Again In Indiana

Some of you undoubtedly recall the title of this blog as words from an old song by Hoagie Carmichael (I think he wrote it). So even though it is true and I am home again, the words were stolen. Will I go away to the “big house” for plagiarism?

This is my condo in Indianapolis. Even though I have owned it since it was new in 2000, my mother had been the only resident. With her death in June, I now have a place in Indiana. With the housing market as it is, it is unrealistic to put it up for sale. So, Sharon and I have been remodeling with the intent of spending a little time here, in the spring and the fall.

The condo sits amoungst the Villas of Bridgefield Lakes. There are no bridges and no fields (although I think I do remember corn fields once covered this area). However, I believe it may have been named because of the retention ponds within its boundaries. I guess with a little poetic license, even artificial lakes count when you are trying to come up with an appealing name for potential buyers.

This is Harry the blue heron, he is a regular resident and fishes the ponds. He seems to do alright, so I was thinking that next Spring I'll bring my fishing gear back with me and help him out.


As I write we have been at remodeling for 23 days. But we have taken a couple of days off. We took a hike in Eagle Creek Park, which is one of the largest municipal parks in the US with 3,900 acres of land area and 1,900 acres of lakes.

Our hike ended at the edge of Eagle Creek Reservoir, where we got a great view of some of the fall colors along the lake’s shore line.







The reservoir and the park are both about 3 minutes from the condo. The reservoir is a popular sailing spot. This shot is at Rick’s Boatyard Café and Marina looking northwesterly. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera with me when I was there on a sunny day with a dozen or more sail boats out and about. You all get the dingy day with boats and people all in hiding.

I also played golf at nearby Saddle Brook, a nice course laid out through a couple of housing additions. I played really badly and lost enough balls so that whoever finds them will be able to start a used golf ball store. By the way, I don't know these guys, I just took their pictures to see if I could rattle them and make them foul up their tee shots.

We also took off a day and went to a winery with friends, but I’ll leave that for a future blog.

End of Another Summer

For most folks the four seasons start and end based on a specific date. Since we started traveling there are only two seasons, summer and winter. Summer starts whenever we begin the trek to this year's summer "place" and ends when winter starts, that is when we pack up and leave the summer place heading the for the "winter place". Well, summer is over. We have packed up and moved on.

So, goodbye Montrose, Colorado, you are loosing your warmth. The urge to follow the sun has hit and we are movin' on to Arizona.

We lucked out and as we passed by Ridgeway we were treated to a hot air balloon. What a deal and it happened in the first 30 minutes of the trip.






As we drove along highway 145 (aka the San Juan Skyway), and climbed toward Lizard Head Pass, we began to see the signs of approaching winter. See the dusting of snow on the high mountains.



And the Aspen are just starting to change. Probably 7 to 14 days and the colors will be at their peak in most spots.









Wow, we sure were lucky to run into this common summer sight so late in the season. Yes, it is a road crew scurrying to lay some asphalt before it gets too cold. It is also nearly their last chance to hold up traffic.......

And looky here. We made it to Brenda, Arizona. All set up on our site and enjoying the 108 degrees (by my thermometer). The A/C in our trailer hasn't shut off for over 3 hours now.



Maybe we left the cooler climes a bit too early. But our departure from the Colorado mountains this summer was determined more by a planned trip back to Indiana than by the actual end of the nice weather in Colorado. So, even if it is hot here now, we'll only be here for a few days. Indiana, watch out, we'll be on our way soon. We'll get back to this "hot" spot by mid-November.

Marysvalle, Utah

Here we all stand, way above Marysvalle, Utah and its several hundreds of miles of mining and logging roads with many ATV only trails branching off.

We found many old mines and long ago retired equipment. We even came across a few active mines. Not sure what they mine today, but I'm betting precious metals still ranks high.

Ooopps,here we all standing around again. Probably trying to figure out just where we are and how to get to where we want to be. But it could have been a potty break...

Look, we weren't the only wild turkeys in the area. We came across deer and mountain goats as well. The mountain goats were so far away that my picutes are blurry, so I am not going to share them with you. Although I never saw any, there are elk also. Marysvalle, when not hosting ATVers, is a hunting mecca.

On one ride we came across what I expect was a summer cottage for the high meadows grazing area of a cattle ranch. It was a very scenic setting and probably at about 10,000 feet elevation (nice and cool in the summer).

And here you see us chasing each other down a mountain road. One might even suspect that this curving old logging road was fun, and it was.

Of course we are equal opportunity trail riders, so Jake rode along with us. He wasn't a very good driver, but he sure let us know when cows were in the way (arf, arf).

Marysvalle was really a great area in which to ride. There are trails going in every direction and you could ride to a half dozen little towns in the area. There are trails for all levels of skill, from dirt roads to steep and treacherous. We often road above 10,000 feet and our longest single day ride was 93 miles. There are special allowances for ATV's on the city streets and on most of the county roads, so we could ride our ATV's right out of our campground to almost anywhere within a hundred miles, and never had to take the truck.

It was a good week!

Crawling Lower Cactus

Okay, this is way cool (sorry to dip into my 60's jargon, but today was "way cool"). We rode our ATV's out into treacherous terrain so we could watch some off-road enthusiasts (or to some they might be nut cases) take multi-tens-of-thousand dollar toys and punish them by driving them in the rocks (really big rocks).

These guys drive jeep like vehicles over extreme ground. Some started out as jeeps others are custom built and referred to as crawlers, buggies, or other names I didn't catch.

All these pictures were taken in a stretch of Lower Cactus that was less than 100 yards long. It was the only spot where we could get our ATV's close enough to their trail so that we could hike in to watch. Remember, I got an ATV so I could ride to remote places, NOT hike.

Enjoy the pictures and thanks to these guys for taking their expensive toys and leaving scrappings off them on the trail, all for us to marvel at.

























Well, to me this was an amazing day. The stretch of trail on which we observed was no where near the toughest they did. I tried to follow them up to the entry into Upper Cactus and decided to turn back before I either flipped my ATV or scrapped the bottom off it.