Wow! I have not blogged for a long time! Working full-time and trying to get into some sort of exercise routine have filled my days. Learning a new job is always stressful and taxing so I have had little energy when I get home. We have had trouble with the wifi at our KOA in Kingman so I am in the community room with better connection. And we bought a newer RV. Excuses, excuses...

We have been exploring the Kingman, AZ, area in our 6 weeks here and learned early on that it is 10 to 15 degrees warmer if we go 40 minutes west to Bullhead City on the Colorado River. Cross the river and we are in Laughlin, NV, which is known as "Little Las Vegas", where we found our RV. We have checked out some of the casinos but that gets old. We went farther down the Colorado to Parker, AZ, for Christmas and it was 20 degrees warmer than Kingman, 70s! We crossed over to CA and found "wild" burros begging along the state highway on that side of the river.

We had 5" of snow on New Years Eve which is unusual here. It stayed for almost a week, in the shady spots, which is also unusual. It was in the 20s 4 nights (40s in the daytime) so the park water lines froze each night. Luckily we are next to the bath house which had water, and hot water. Our new RV is better insulated and we got it just in time for the cold weather. But we still go through propane pretty fast when it is that cold. We also have a small electric space heater which keeps us warm down to about 40, which is normal for winter here. The dogs enjoyed the snow at the local dog park!

More later...

Mary

More photos at https://goo.gl/photos/P3Zh7yKjnH9NCE6c7

Our New Fox

If you know our dogs, you know that they are fox colored and many people say they look like foxes.

In our search for a better insulated RV (so we can travel more places) we happened onto exactly what we need AND it has pictures of foxes on it! 2012 Fox Mountain by Northwoods, who also make the Arctic Fox, the original 4-season RV. It is the same floor plan as our current Cougar so it will be very similar, but it is much lighter. We got a great trade-in deal so will be making the swap as soon as I can get a half day off work.

Look out world, here we come!

Sunrise, Sunset

I had heard that Arizona has beautiful sunsets and I have to agree. Most evenings there are no clouds so it is just the glow of the sky. But on partly cloudy days the sunrises and sunsets are amazing! Right now the days are just the right length for us to catch both when we normally walk the dogs. 

Went out this morning to have breakfast at a cafe and thanks to the clouds there was a beautiful sunrise. I took several pictures with my iPad and Google put 2 of them together for me!

It's amazing how the colors change from one minute to the next.

A week ago I took some pictures of the sunset, from the truck, which don't really show the colors I was seeing. I should get out my real camera and give it a try. Now where did I pack it...

Apache Trail

I have not researched the Apache Trail but I know from our drive through part of it, they were brave! AZ Hwy 88 runs from Roosevelt Lake to Apache Junction through a steep canyon in the Superstition Mountains. The sign telling us part of it was not paved didn't appear until we were already a few miles into it and really too narrow to turn the truck around. Many miles were unpaved and some was single lane but all was hairpin turns! It was quite an adventure! We hit pavement again just before Tortilla Flat which had the first signs of civilization, a quaint saloon. From there it was an easy drive to Apache Junction.

Ruins

We have been exploring the area around Casa Grande starting with the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument east of town. This "Great House" is the largest known structure built by the ancient natives of the Sonoran Desert. The 4 walls face the compass points, there is a hole in the upper wall that aligns with the setting sun at the summer solstice and other holes that align with the sun and moon at specific times. Our own North American Stonehenge! In order to preserve the clay walls from further decay, a protective roof was built over it. This great house was near the center of a walled village and there is no explanation for it's abandonment.

Then we drove through mountains and desert to the northeast to Tonto National Monument near Roosevelt Lake on the Salt River. Tonto contains several cliff dwelling sites, we visited the Lower Cliff Dwelling which was only a one mile hike/climb. The Salado People built these dwellings over 700 years ago. Earlier they had farmed the Salt River Valley. It has been determined that flooding occurred in this valley followed by severe drought in the 1300s. The current theory is that the Salado People headed to the hills at that point. By 1450 they gave up this way of life and migrated to many locations becoming some of the current tribes of the area.

ChromeBook vs ATT

I wanted to test the suggestion from Google that I was having problems with my internet connection because I was using ATT Hotspot wifi on my new ChromeBook. So here I am at McDonalds testing this theory. I have completed some other tasks without problems so this is sort of a test blog. Too bad I don't have more pictures. We are in Casa Grande, AZ, between Phoenix and Tucson. It is a little dusty here, the park is in sort of an industrial area, the land is flat and without real cactus like around Tucson but of course landscaping inside the park includes all sorts of non-native plants. We saw cotton being picked, a few irrigated fields of alfalfa and many huge feed lots in the surrounding area. Our current RV park is:

http://www.sundance1rv.com/

Most of the park is permanent "park models" which are like
small mobile homes but are technically RVs. There are spots
for "overnighters" like us. We have a large lot on the end
with our own saguaro and palms. Most of the residents
spend the whole winter here. Lots of activities and social
events every day. We decided to stay at least 10 days.

Up close and personal!

More Desert (sorta like more dessert)

After troubleshooting on my new ChromeBook and calling Google (very good and quick tech support) I was told that my connectivity issues are due to incompatibility between this "laptop" (Best Buy says it is not a laptop because it is only used for internet) and our also new ATT Wifi Hotspot. Go figure! Enough grumbling, I am way behind on posting pictures! So I will try this on our 8 year old MacBook. 

Back to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum/Zoo...

Agave

Saguaro with woodpecker holes

Organ Pipe Cactus

Teddy Bear Cholla

Barrel Cactus

Cholla