Dave and Sandy On The Road: DRIVE BACK TO PHOENIX AND TIME WITH FRIENDS.

2-27-15 through 3-11-15

When we left Lone Pine we stopped for breakfast at the…..

before we left town heading back to Phoenix, AZ. It’s located one block south and a half block west of the stop light, next to the laundry. The paintings on the walls depict rock formations in the area that resemble something.

This was our last look at the Sierra Nevada’s.

The yellow colors are starting to come out in full bloom.

We crossed the Colorado River at Needles, CA heading to Kingman, AZ where we spent the night.

With this sign we were guessing that Andy was from the Kingman Area. Turns out he was born in Flagstaff but moved to Kingman when he was a year old.

The next day it threatened to rain the whole way back to Phoenix, but all we got were mostly sprinkles.

Some pictures on Hwy 93 from Kingman to Wickenburg, AZ.

There is a 20 mile stretch that is just filled with Joshua trees that were in various stages of bloom. The flowers are the light yellow, ice-cream shaped cones. (Now, why would I think of an ice cream cone when looking at that shape?)

Ron and Jane had us over for Ron’s famous beef stew. Afterwards we played a round of a card game called 7s. I just happened to win, but they kept talking about the way I kept score.

On Wednesday our friends, Gil and Nancy, from Las Vegas came to Cave Creek today to stay and visit with Ron, Jane and us for a few days. It was nice of them to take time and drive down. Later in the afternoon Gil, Nancy, Ron and Jane came over and we all had supper at our RV. Forgot to get a picture of the six of us.

Sandy took a real nice picture of the view behind our campsite.

Friday the 6th was a busy day for us Gil, Nancy and their dog, Elvis, joined Sandy and I on a 2 mile hike at the Spur Cross Ranch Conservation area. The story behind this park is that the land was going to be sold and developed as a golf course community but people got the state, Maricopa County and the city of Cave Creek to pool their funds and buy the property. It turned out that they were still short of funds, so the people of Cave Creek voted to have their taxes raised to get the rest of the money to buy this property. We thank them all for their foresightedness in preserving the Spur Cross Ranch.

Here are Elvis, Gil, Nancy and Sandy as we start our walk.

Cave Creek even had some water from the recent rain we had.

Here we are taking a photo opp. I call them rest breaks.

Nancy inspecting some of the plants along the trail.

There are several HUGE Saguaro Cactus in one area on the Metate Trail.

One of the large ones had recently fallen over since we were here two years ago. It was blocking the path so they had to cut sections out to clear the trail. In this cross section you will notice a ring of what looks like rods. These are actually fiber rods that make up the skeleton.

Here come Nancy and Sandy strolling up the trail.

Gil, Nancy and Elvis at the Solar Oasis rest area.

This is an interesting story. Now all, well almost all, dog owners think they have the smartest dogs on earth. I will have to admit Elvis is right up there at the top. As we were crossing this bridge, Elvis stopped and would not continue in spite of some coaxing. If you look closely you will see two metal straps holding the boards together and they are forming an “X “. Now everyone knows that an X means do not cross or enter. So Gil had to pick Elvis up, set him on the other side so he could continue.

There were a few Mexican Poppies and Marigolds in bloom along the trail.

Later that afternoon Ron and Jane had invited a few people over who own Lazy Dazes for a steak dinner with all the fixings.

A few of us were outside visiting while Ron, on the far left, was busy grilling. Deb and Karl (who bought our 2011 Lazy Daze) joined Dan and I.

At the dinner table are Gil, Nancy, me, Ron, Jane, Karl, Deb, Dan and Paula.

The site that we have been at for the last week and a half is one of our favorites, not only for the views but also the filtered shade we get from what we think is an Ironwood tree behind us. Although we do have to move the chairs occasionally, we don’t have to put up our little tent shelter for shade at this site.

Here are a few of the balloons that have been launching down the road from us.

On Tuesday the 10th, Bob and Twilla, former neighbors of ours back home, invited us over to their new place in Sun City Grand. We had a great lunch at one of the golf course restaurants and spent most of the afternoon visiting. It was nice to see them again and catch up on what’s happening in their lives and to see their new home.