Ann's Travelogues - DEATH VALLEY AND BEYOND 2016-17

OCTOBER 2016 - ... 2017

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TRAVELOGUE # 9 - Back in AZ for the Holidays: Benson, Wellton, Yuma

Thursday December 22, 2016 - January 10, 2017

Published February 17, 2017

After enjoying the wonders of New Mexico, I headed back into Arizona to join Myrna at an Escapees RV Park in Benson AZ. It's near Tucson and we planned to celebrate Christmas with her brother Paul there. She prepared a full dinner and we drove to Tucson on Christmas Day to celebrate with him. We also ended up spending a number of afternoons with Birdie Norvell (LOWs member) who has a house in Benson. This park has a lot of semi-permanent residents who spend at least half of their time here and it has a well developed social schedule. One really fun thing we did was join the Jeep crew and went driving over some raw mountain roads with 9 other intrepid Jeeps. We headed south to the town of Patagonia, visited a hummingbird sanctuary, and had breakfast. On the way back, we stopped again at Patagonia, this time the pub! Fascinating! I want a Jeep - because there are so many times when I have to pass up back roads because I can't take my RV there! Of course, I can't get a Jeep unless I get a different RV - mine can't tow anything! The park is surrounded by open desert on all sides so there were lots of trails Sunna and I could follow where she could run free. We took numerous walks each day!

After leaving Benson, I stopped at the Arizona Sonoran Desert Living Museum. It was a fascinating place, with a lot of live animals, kind of a zoo and a museum all in one. The place was packed, because it was in the week between Christmas and New Year's - clearly a very kid-friendly place. I met Myrna in Gila Bend and we spent the night at a truck stop, then continued on to Wellton, about 30 miles east of Yuma where Richard Gibbs (a NW LOWS member) spends the winter. I tried to find a cheap RV park that had wi-fi, and when that wasn't successful, I joined Myrna boon-docking in the open desert on state land. Richard came by and hung out several times as well as taking us into Yuma for several get togethers with LOWS folks - including 7:30am breakfast on New Year's Day! There are a LOT of folks from the NW in Yuma, and there was something going on almost every day. On the 2nd of January, I headed into an RV park in Yuma so I could do year end and other computer stuff, laundry, etc., etc. Turns out to be the same park I had stayed at several years ago. It's right on the Colorado River with a big county park in one direction, and open farmland and BLM land in the other direction. Again, a great place for Sunna to run! I stayed there a week. At the end of my stay in Yuma, I did some local sight seeing (Gateway Park and the Ocean to Ocean Highway Bridge, the Yuma Territorial Prison) before heading north to Mittry Lake and Martinez Lake, on the way to Quartzsite.

View to the east from Benson. It seems weird to have so much snow, while the daytime temps are warm.

Christmas in a tiny RV - a few simple decorations to be " in the mood".

Above: Sunna with her Christmas bone - she unwrapped it herseslf!

Sunna and I hiked up to the top of the hill behind the park - the cactus and star are lit up at night.

Doesn't she look regal?

The ubiquitous Raven...

View from the top - above, you can see the whole park. Below, that's Myrna's rig with the turquoise band with the red jeep next to it. Mine is hidden off to the left on the upper level.

Again, looking down on the community center building.

Above, I saw this rock formation in many of the RV lots - it's an "in" thing I guess. Below, some of the open desert around the park. This is a "wash" - where water flows when there are flash floods. It rains infrequently and the rain floods over the surface. The land is covered with these washes - it makes you appreciate the awesome power of water - and the fact that after a rain you DON'T want to be here!

And of course, the sunsets.

Here we are starting out on our Jeep adventure. There were a few places where the snow was thick - and we were right on the edge of the road. Yikes!

Above - our leader. Below, we went one by one down the steepest grade.

Now it's our turn! Our leader was watching and directing us over the larger rocks.

The picture below is fuzzy because we never stopped moving! Sunna was freaking out in the back seat so I was trying to keep her in the back and take pictures!!

Taking a break after everyone made it down.

These 2 photos are my favorites: Above: the car going down the road ahead of us. Below: how steep was it really?

Above: Sunna in a wash - very common in the southwest. Shows where the water flows when it rains. Below, another raven.

The picture above needs an explantion: A new friend Dave Anderson, one of the Escapees Solos, was driving down the freeway just east of Tucson, when the jeep he was towing caught on fire! They couldn't unhook it because of the heat, so the jeep and the motorhome were both totaled! Firefighters put it out, but traffic was stopped for hours (because of propane tanks in addition to the fire). The jeep and the back half of the motorhome were gutted, and he was able to salvage only a few things. He wasn't hurt, and I have been amazed at how cheerful he's been about it all!

The Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum. Fascinating place!

This underground exhibit showed cavern formations, as well as fossil bones...

And wonderful mineral samples...

Above, mountain lion. Below - cactus wren on a cactus.

Above - a whole lot of frogs. Below, unknown bird.

Above, smallest owl. Sorry about the fuzzy photo. Below, bob cat.

Above, desert fox. Below, wonderful pics from their cactus garden.

Above and below: hummingbirds in a special display.

Above: mountains in the mist on New Year's morning, heading into Yuma for breakfast.

Above and Below: Sunset in Wellton

Gathering around Myrna's portable fireplace. Happy New Year!

Hidden Cove - RV park on the Colorado River.

In nearby park.

Above and below: beautiful blooming bush.

Honey Mesquite

Smoke Tree

Leatherleaf Acacia

Palo Brea

Ema's Ebony Bush.

Guamuchii (?)

Blue Palo Verde

Mormon Battalion Monument

In the nearby farmland and BLM lands

Above and below: sunset from the BLM/VFW parking

OCEAN TO OCEAN HIGHWAY - first bridge over the Colorado River
Above: from below, with train going by. Below: good view of bridge (hard to read the words).