Christmas in the bed of a pickup

Which is, in essence, where we live--in a camper not much larger than the bed of our Ford F-250.

We had a tree:

Courtesy of Goodwill.  Even had a gift under it!

We decorated the "house" (pickup bed) with lights:

Also courtesy of Goodwill.

We watched Christmas movies:

Had a wonderful Christmas dinner prepared by Vicky, with input from Dan (consisting of "smells great!  Keep up the good work!").   Turkey, potatoes, green beans, homemade cranberry sauce.  Yum!

And GIFTS!!!!!  Or, rather, A gift.  When you live in a pickup bed there isn't a lot of room to (1) hide gifts or (2) carry them after giving them.  So we decided that this year we'd just set aside some funds to do some special things together, to be determined.

But one gift we got for each other was a birdfeeder that we could carry along with us.  We spent extra for some Nyjer seed. 

And the birds have stormed the thing.  I have to fill it 2-3 times a day which, if you are familiar with Nyjer, is expensive.  So now are we not only feeding birds on Whidbey Island but in Arizona as well.  But they are so fun to watch. 

 

What a nice gift to each other.  We are really enjoying it.  It will be interesting to see the different types of birds we attract at the different places we stay.

And, finally, although we didn't have Reindeer visiting our pickup bed, we did have the next best thing:  a Coyote:

 

Merry Christmas to all!

Hiking for rich people

We are at McDowell Regional Park, another of the many regional parks in Maricopa County. These parks are the most impressive of any county parks we have ever heard of. There are several of them, all within driving distance of Phoenix. They offer outdoor recreation opportunities for every interest. Usery Mountain, for example, has an archery range and a shooting range. McDowell Park has a competitive mountain bike course, plus many opportunities for mountain biking on the relatively flat desert trails. These parks are magnificent.

We have a great spot in the campground.

We took an 8 mile hike the first day here. It was a nice, fairly flat desert hike. Had to step aside on several occasions for mountain bikes whizzing by.

For our second day here we did something a little.....different. I guess I should explain.

All of my life, at least since I was about 12 years old anyway, I have been a Denver Broncos fan. So I meet this woman named Vicky, and she's like, perfect. Not only are her three favorite activities mine also (dancing, hiking, biking), but she loves birds, gardens, family, etc. And our, for wont of a better term, rhythms, are in synch. Everything is easy peasy.

But to be a Denver Broncos fan too? Well, that would be asking too much of the hiking/biking/dancing gods.

But picking up on my excitement about them, now it has turned into one of those situations where you have to be careful what you wish for. In the middle of the night, if she thinks I am awake, I might hear: "now who is number 52?"

She has memorized the entire roster.

And she is devouring the game, learning all of the nuances of offenses, defenses, drafting, player selection, and so on.

So of course we have signed up for NFL Rewind, and can watch the Broncos games the next day after they are played. Little did I know I would be married to a woman who would fist pump when Manning throws a touchdown to Decker. Or who yells at a 10 inch IPad screen when Chris Harris is running an interception back for a touchdown: "GO! GO! GO!".

Since today is Monday, our first order of business, then, was to drive to where we could catch a signal and watch the Broncos-Ravens game on our NFL Rewind. We found a city park in Scottsdale that fit the bill.

They won!

While at the city park we noticed a truck with the winner of the "name the business" contest:

After the game we had planned to drive to a trailhead we found on our map of McDowell park. The trail head was not in the park, actually, but the trail itself went into the park. Unusual in our experience.

We drove to the trailhead which was in Fountain Hills. We have never seen a trail head quite like it. Usually, if anything, there is a only parking lot, sometimes (if you are lucky) a pit toilet with (if you are lucky) toilet paper).

Well, this trail head had bathrooms with flush toilets and scented hand soap.





Looks just like the pit toilets we are used to, huh?

Then, to get to the beginning of the trail you have to walk 1/2 mile through a ritzy gated subdivision. To keep the rif raf off of their "lawns," one is provided a "trail" to the actual hike. I kid you not, you are to follow a sidewalk with little feathers embossed on them!

The signs marking the trail head weren't of the usual brown, rusting tin ones that might only have a number on them. Instead, they were engraved in sandstone. There must have been half a dozen of them.

Well, we managed to find our way to the actual trail, which ended up being a nice little 5 mile hike.

There were no little feathers on the trail, though, so we didn't know how we were expected to find our way. And we were a bit worried about bears because we had used the scented hand soap.

Roosevelt Lake. Tonto National Forest. 12-12-12

Tonight we are staying at Indian Point campground at Roosevelt Lake.

It is quite different from where we have been the past five days.  It is huge!

We are the only people here. Yeah! It is basically a huge gravel lot with a single pit toilet bathroom. During the summer it may get a lot of visitors because there is a boat ramp nearby. But at this time of the year the lake is severely depleted of water, and so our "lakeside" campsite is really not one. Suits us perfectly, though.

We have been slowly getting back into hiking, after taking a few days to rest my hip. Yesterday we walked 8 miles from our campsite to the Tonto National Monument in order to view the ruins there. An easy walk because it was on a road, although 8 miles is kind of a long way I guess.

We had planned to walk up to the ruins, until we were informed we would have to pay. Our Golden Age Pass would have gotten us in for free, but as I explained to the person working there, it was back at our campsite, needing to be there because that was the rule. Well, it can't be in two places at the same time, so we decided to skip the ruins.

The hip did ok so today we decided to a mild desert hike. It didn't have a lot of elevation gain (1200 feet) and wasn't overly long (7 miles). For a good part of it we were above a trailer park, so we thought about calling it the Trailer Park Trail.

The trail ended at the Roosevelt Bridge, which meant the last two miles back to our camper were on the highway.

Tomorrow we are returning to Mesa for one night. We feel we are done with this area for this year. It wouldn't be a place we would be all that eager to return to, probably. Tonight we are going to a dance. I won't Polka though.

A view of the lake from where we stayed the past five days.

Tight squeeze

Well I'm bummed. My left leg/hip has flared up again. It's a problem I have had off and on for about five years. My guess is that I torqued the band running on the outside of my leg our first night back in Mesa when we danced. I shouldn't do fast spins on that leg. I get injured doing the polka? How embarrassing.

It was a little better yesterday morning so I thought we could do a relatively flat hike we found in our hiking brochures. To get to the trail head we had to drive up a forest service road by Workman Creek. We had driven up there previously when we were looking for camping spots. According to our map of the Tonka National Forest (I keep doing this--I mean the Tonto National Forest), there were three camping areas. However, it turned out that the first two we got to had loud signs saying "No Camping."

The third area was open, but as was the case in other areas around here that we explored, there was not room to maneuver our camper, even though we are pretty danged small as campers go. We eventually went on to Rose Creek Campground, and we were very happy there.

Nobody else was at this campground, which is not an unfamiliar experience for us. We like that. We like being all by ourselves, with the quiet. If you haven't done it, you should try it. Nobody within miles of you, deep in the forest, snug in your camper, coyotes howling at night. Wow.

Even though we were quite content where we were, we had some discussions about whether we should have just parked and camped at one of these first two areas up the Workman Creek road. We thought the forest service wouldn't hassle us since nobody (and I mean NOBODY) else was around.

Well, when we took this Workman Creek road to our hike a couple of days later we had a rude awakening, and a reason to think about following the rules even if you didn't understand them at first.

The reason the first two areas were not open for camping is that you might get radiation poisoning and grow a third ear, or vote Republican, or something equally awful. We are glad we obeyed the rules.

So we traveled up this road to the trail head for our hike today. We ran into a bridge that we knew was there, because we had seen signs earlier indicating that the load limit was 20 tons. Well, we were only at 5 tons, so we weren't too worried.

Until we got to it. Too tight. Too narrow. Too scary. (To really see our predicament remember to double click on these, and other photos--the photos really come alive if you do this.)




We still had a couple of miles until the trail head, and the road was getting worse (more big rocks, more need for 4 wheel drive, more need for high clearance, narrower, steeper drop offs), so we both, almost simultaneously, invoked the safety rule (something we have devised--if either of us does not feel a situation is safe, then that person can invoke the safety rule and we leave. It is not open for discussion or negotiation.)

This meant backing up and turning around. Had to be real careful, but we successfully negotiated this tight mountain road. We are a great team--Vicky gives good directions, and I go verrrrrrry slowly and carefully. One mistake and I and the rig would have been at the bottom of a ravine, and that would have ruined both of our days.













We are realizing that as good as our pickup is, we probably should have spent the extra (lots extra) bucks for a one-ton four wheel drive vehicle. It is something we need to consider given the places we like to go.

Of course, they are expensive as all get out, which is why we never considered one in the first place. Life decisions.

We thought that we would hike today and spend another night at our secluded campground, but since that plan went awry we decided to drive on to Roosevelt Lake, which was going to be our destination the following day.
What a beautiful drive! Double click these photos for a treat!

















And about 35 miles after leaving the forest wilderness here we are in a totally different place. Roosevelt lake has over 800 camping sites. 800!


In the summer it has to be like a small city, and an unpleasant one at that. This is the only place we have been that allows generators to be used all of the time. Can you imagine? In the summer, hundreds of generators humming along churning out fumes and noise? It would be like sleeping at a huge truck stop where dozens of truck engines are spewing out fumes. Right now it is bad enough with only about 10% of the sites filled. We long for our forest campground.

But we are here for now, resting my leg. We might not hike for a few days to allow it to heal. It is driving us crazy, but it is the wise thing to do.

Sometimes wisdom sucks, however.

Cienega Trail, Sierra Ancho Wilderness, Tonto National Forest

Today's hike was 5.6 miles with 1150 elevation gain. We probably could have gone farther under most circumstances, but my hip is, once again, bothering me (an old issue), and I have a blister because of new shoes. Woe is me.

The hike was on an old road that seems to have serviced some old uranium mines. It was verrrry steep at first, but then leveled out to provide some wonderful views of the Sierra Ancho Wilderness.

We came across several old uranium mines. Hope we don't start growing new ears or anything because we got so close to them.

They looked like something from an old western movie.

Vicky finds all of the dirt roads in Arizona

Today was an adventure in driving.

Vicky has done hours of research on places to camp and hike. She does this when I drive, and when I am making myself upset by reading about the fiscal cliff.

Want a cliff to really worry about? Drive on the winding mountain dirt roads that Vicky finds for us to travel on.

Today there were about 35 miles of these.

Tonight we are staying at Rose Creek Campground in the Tonto National Forest. Along the way we stopped at two ranger stations for information on campgrounds and hikes. Whether we get useful information at these stations is usually a hit or miss proposition. We got tons of maps and so on today from the Pleasant Valley Ranger Station in Young, AZ. The best descriptions of any place we have visited. Kudos to them.

We wanted a campsite with a pit toilet. Seems like a low bar, huh? There are several nice places to camp around here if we had a shovel, if you get my drift. But we don't.

So we need a pit toilet. One with toilet paper would be nice, too.

Rose Creek Campground must not be a hot destination spot this time of year. We are the only people here. Shortly after we arrived, however, we heard the retort of a gun, so know we are not alone. That's comforting.

Earlier in the day, at a different ranger station, I noticed something on the counter called a Tonto National Forest Upgrade Pass. "Upgrade?" Does this mean we get to go into campgrounds before other people and get the best sites?

No. It means we have to pay more in the Tonto National Forest for access to things that you don't have to pay extra for in other national forest we have visited. So even though we have a Golden Age Pass (we, but probably not you, ha ha, are at a "golden" age), we still have to pay daily usage fees at some places in the Tonto National Forest.

Ah. But which places you are undoubtedly asking yourself. Well, the kind folks at the Tonto National Forest who brought you more fees also conveniently bring you a SIX PAGE description of the pass, and where it applies or does not. It was so confusing that we'd decided what the hell and spent $15 for a one-year one just so Mr.Tonto wouldn't fine us if we happened to find ourselves somewhere on that six pages where it says we have to have it.

So here we are tonight in a totally empty campground in the Tonto National Forest, one with no running water or trash receptacles (but with a pit toilet which we have decided we are too afraid to even look at tonight so will wait until tomorrow so we can see if we even have to), and we have no idea if we need this frickin' "Upgrade" thingy. It is sitting in the car somewhere.

Tomorrow we hike.

Road Trip 2.1 begins

Coyotes howl throughout the night.  If you have not heard a pack howl, you are missing something.  They are like a choir, singing in many different voices.  At one time it seemed they were right under our camper.  This morning, we saw one run through our campsite.

We are back in Mesa, at Usery Mountain Regional Park, in our favorite spot, number 20, getting ready to head out in a couple of days once again to unknown parts.

In the past three months we have driven from Whidbey Island to Utah, then to Colorado, to New Mexico, and to Arizona.  We have taken four shuttle buses, rented one car, taken five airline flights, stored our camper twice, driven to and from (or had ourselves driven to and from) airports four times.  We have also been in Oregon, Idaho, and Georgia.  We have stayed in nine campgrounds.

We spent November back on Whidbey Island, visiting with family.  We had hoped to see some friends, and more family, but the time and situations didn't allow. We also had a lot of business to take care of (roof, eye appointments, doctor appointments, bills, etc.). 


And we missed Jack.

We spent a lot of time with grandchildren.  We had hoped to see more of them, but it didn't work out.

We got to spend a couple of days with Ian and Adam.

 Ian and I built a couple of model airplanes:

They love Vicky's granola on yogurt. So do I.

Vicky and Adam built a puzzle.

We had Stella and Marina out three times.  Here is Marina helping me build a Lego house.  She's good at it.




Then for an early Christmas we had them out for a shopping trip to get boots, and then to a dinner.  They dressed up and were so cute:

 Here they are showing me their new boots.

The girls dancing for us:

Vicky made a great Thanksgiving meal for Jessica, Jules, and the boys.

Our trip back to Mesa began with an early morning at the bus stop.  We were carrying a LOT of stuff.  Heavy stuff.  We had taken things home we found we wouldn't use, but then brought back a lot of things we needed.  There was a net gain of 20 pounds or so.  After catching the bus, we caught the shuttle at Naomi's, which took us to the airport.  We flew to Denver, rented a car, and drove to Fort Collins to see my mother, sister, brother-in-law, and niece.

We had a nice visit.  We went to Colorado State University to the Statistics Department to see the Statistics Lab that is named for my father.  Here we are in front of the plaque.

We also celebrated my mother's 90th birthday, which was three weeks earlier.  She had a party at that time too.  Vicky made her a red velvet cake.  Yum.



We got to see my mother singing in the church choir, and Vicky helped her pick out dresses.  I went along with them, and had a grand time giving thumbs up or down to the dresses she tried on.

The other place we visited was "Club Tico" which is a building at City Park where teens went for dances Friday and Saturday nights when I was in high school.  It is where my high school band ("The Pryde") played.  We couldn't get in, but it was clear that the place had been restored.  I hadn't been there for almost 50 years.  Next time I hope to find someone who will let us in and see the restoration.  From photos we have, it looks like a good one.  That pleases me.





We drove our rental car back to Denver and caught a flight to Mesa.  Took another shuttle to the storage area where our camper was, and drove it to Usery Mountain.  Took us a couple of days to get everything squared away, food purchased, etc.  I've also been slowed up by a cold I've had for the past two weeks, or we would have done a short hike yesterday.  Instead, we decided to take our 21-mile loop bike ride today.

That went well--a blown tire.  Not a flat tire, a blown one.  I put in another tube, and it blew again in 10 feet.



 So we decided Vicky should ride the 9 miles back to the campground to get the pickup, and I would start walking.  Within a few minutes, two great guys stopped by and gave me a ride--Thanks Eric and Nate.  There wasn't much room in the small SUV for me, but I made do.  Can you believe that Nate actually offered to ride back there instead of me and let me ride in the front seat, but I wouldn't hear of it. 

Maybe this will go viral like the policeman who gave the homeless man boots.  Hope so.






Tomorrow we are going to re-do the hike we did in October, 7.5 miles. And then, of all things, see Jules!  He is in Phoenix for a day for work, so we will get to see him for a brief visit.  How sweet is that!


Our time in Fort Collins included a visit to a Doc in the Box because we both had infections.   Matching coats and masks.