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1 to 15 February 2017 16 to 29 February 2017

Wednesday February 1, 2017

Michele went out to shop both thrift shops in town. She came back with a few clothing items.
While she was gone, I re-glued the face-plate of the stove.

With Super Bowl coming up on Sunday, we went to Parker to buy some frozen chicken wing for the game.

Thursday February 2, 2017

I am out on the bike again this morning.
I am looking at the north side of Quartzsite with the man street in the center.

And the south side of town.

We decided to finish the series of caches we started a few days ago.
For the first few caches we could still drive the car.

When the road got to bad, we left the car next to an old open mine pit.

Some pretty barrel cactus.

As we look for the next caches, we get closer and closer to the mountains.

Can you see the jeep going up the mountain?

If you ever wonder what a dead cactus looks like, here is one. The cache was inside the cactus.

The last cache was in the little shack. Montreal is only 3347 miles from here.

This series had 56 caches and we found them all.

When we got back home, we sat outside with a cold drink. Who do we see coming? Jannie and Jan! they are camping just up the street from us and came for a visit on their bikes. We did some more talking...

When Jannie and Jan left, Michele cooked us some stuffed peppers and they were good!

We had a good day and to top it off, our friends a close by. We invited them to watch the Super Bowl game with us on Sunday.

Friday February 3, 2017

A quiet day at home. We did go to town at the information center to get some literature about Phoenix as it is our next stop.

Saturday February 4, 2017

Our neighbors and friends, Trish and Brian, have invited us to go with them at the "Nellie E Saloon" or better known as the "The Desert Bar".
We are on our way to Parker and the bar is a little north of the town.

Shortly after Parker we left US-95 and took Cienega Spring Road for the next 5 miles of gravel.
The scenery is beautiful. Since I was not driving, I could look everywhere...

Do you want dust? We have a lot here!

The road is not too bad, a car can make is easily, well maybe not a corvette!

We can barely see the bar in the distance.

Customers???

Eventually, Ken, the owner wants to built a replica of a village here. He now has the church and it is made of metal.

Here we are in front of the bridge to the bar.
Myself, Michele, Trich and Brian.

A view of the lower bar from the bridge.

Brian and Trich are having the 1/2 pound burger for lunch...

It is a big job to get all that food in.

Michele and I decided to share a Patti Melt and fries.

After this meal, we were "full".

Another view of the lower bar area.

The upper bar.

The main bar with a band playing.

Brian and I climbed the small mountain next to the bar for a photo of the whole area.
We have estimated that there are about 150 vehicles in the parking lot. The parking lot is not full because of the big race taking place in Parker right now.

A little hard to see, but this cactus is made with horse shoes and it even has nails to simulate the needles .

After a few beers and our belly still full, we headed back home. The view was spectacular.

As we approached Parker, we saw this little palm oasis. It is cute.

A big thank you Brian and Trish for inviting us to this bar in the middle of nowhere. We really love the place.
Next time we are in the area, we will come back.

Sunday February 5, 2017

Super Bowl Sunday!
We have invited Jannie and Jan to watch the game with us.

I have to say, we did more talking then watching...
The New England Patriots won the game 34 to 28.

We sure had a good time today.

Monday February 6, 2015

This is a quiet Monday for us.
Just before diner, Jannie and Jan came over and suggested that we should go for diner at the Fish & Chip place near both our RV Park.

The Fish & Chips were excellent and the portion size were huge.
We had a good time and forgot to take photos!

Tuesday February 7, 2017

This little rabbit came for a visit while I was having breakfast.

Jannie and Jan are leaving us today. We stopped by to say goodbye and hope to see them soon...

Drive safe my friends.

Wednesday February 8, 2017

Today is the day before we leave. We are slowly putting our MH in "travel mode".
The windows and windshield really needed to be washed after being under the sunshade for a month.

We have a nice sunset for our last night in Quartzsite.

We are about 95% ready for our departure tomorrow morning.

Thursday February 9, 2017

We started the day with free coffee and donut at the club house. This also gave us a chance to say goodbye to say friends we made here.

Michele playing with shadows!

Almost ready and then with the car hooked up to the MH, we are ready to roll.

On our way out of the park.

We do not have a big traveling day. We just have a little over two hour of driving to get to our new home.
The desert scenery is beautiful as we drive towards Phoenix. We found a RV Park near Phoenix that takes Passport America, we booked a week with full hook-ups for only $172.50.

After we got over a mountain pass, we were driving on flat land with no winds, great traveling weather.

Our RV Park is in Glendale, it is a suburb of Phoenix.
Our park is on Myrtle Street.

Our new home for the next week.

We will have photos of our site in the next few days.
After we were set-up, we left for the information center in Glendale.
Why does it seem so hard to get information at an information center? It is like pulling teeth. They just want to give you brochures and magazines and not give you a "sells pitch" about where they live!
Back home, we spent the rest of the day looking over the information we got about the greater Phoenix.

Friday February 10, 2017

We will be visiting the Mystery Castle near Phoenix this morning.

On our way to the castle, we saw a Roadrunner.
Michele is moving in slowly to take a photo.

Here he is!

No, I am not waiting to go to the bathroom, I was just looking or some shade.

It is not a castle like we would think, it is more like a big home with 18 rooms.

We can see the downtown Phoenix from the castle.

Why build a castle here?

I suggest you check out this web site, they can tell the story better than me.
Mystery Castle.

The castle was built with material found, donated or purchased at a low price.

On our way to the guided tour of the castle.

We really had to take our time and look closely at everything or we would miss some funny or intriguing things.
Like the round window made from Boyce's old car.

Just look at the flower pot sticking his tongue out!

You can see a lot of those saying throughout the castle.

It is good to see historical place like this castle being protected.

Teepee dog house!

A well that is not a well, but a chimney for the bar under us.

The room for the caretaker.

Those fireplace were used for cooking until electricity came to the castle in 1992.

Another view of Phoenix.

Ca you see the embedded snake in the floor?

The main living area/living room. The painting on the left is of Mary Lou and way in the back is the painting of her father and builder, Boyce.

The indoor kitchen. Mary Lou lived here until she passed away in 2010.

The main bedroom. Notice the headboard? It is shaped like an oncoming locomotive

Michele in the mirror and notice again the shape of the dresser, a locomotive coming at you!

There is a little bit of everything in the castle, from the homemade rifle to the two silver revolver in a stand looking like a wolf!

Just about every room in the castle has some rocks painted like a cat or a rabbit.

Mary Lou used old pair of jeans to make cushions.

Here is a photo and painting of Mary Lou.

In another bedroom, you can see a cactus in the floor.

Now looking at the base of the cactus, there is a "hide bed" under the floor.
Notice the rails to guide the wheels when you pull the bed from under the floor

One of the many fires places in the castle. It even has a tractor's seat stuck in the cement so you can warm yourself by the fire.

Now the bar! The bar itself is made from half a horse-drawn cart. The shotgun bed is for when you had to much too drink.

It is kind of hard to see, but this is a wooden man hung from the ceiling. The sign beside it says; "From beer to eternity".

I can only imagine the value of the reward sign for the famous Mexican bandit, Poncho Villa.

The castle even has a small chapel. For many years, wedding were celebrated in this chapel.

Why shoes in the chapel?
Mary Lou wrote this poem and placed it in the chapel. The rest is history as they say!

You can see a trap door under the crocodile. When Boyce died, he left the castle to his wife and daughter, but one small clause in his will stipulated that they had to live in the castle for over two years before the attorney would give them the key to open the trap door. After they had lived in the castle for two years, mother and daughter got the key to open the trap door. Not knowing what they would find in the basement, they were surprised to find photos of Boyce covering the 15 years he built the castle. They also found a fair amount of money, were did he get that since he never worked at a paying job? Also, they found some gold that Boyce had mined from the mountain nearby.

Our tour guide was very good. He knew all about the castle and the life of those who lived there. The tour lasted for over an hour and half. We are on our way out of the castle ground.

For lunch, we treated ourselves with a pizza from Little Ceasar and we even stopped in a local park to eat lunch.

We are on our way to the State Capitol of Arizona.
But, on our way there, we saw this RV Salvage place

We had to stop and have a look. From the burnt-out MH to the RV accident, all the parts that can be salvaged from the RV are removed and sold at half price of less.

We are coming up to the State Capitol.

Here it is! After many years, it became too small for all the employee, so they built new offices and turn the Capitol to its original state and became a museum.

With its central rotunda, you can see from the main floor to the fourth floor.
Here is the dome above the rotunda.

We can see all four level of the Capitol.

The chandelier on the second floor.

The Great Seal of Arizona. The motto of Arizona is 'Ditat Deus" or "God Enriches".

They have many exhibits in the Capitol and one of them is about the ship USS Arizona which was sunk during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The Arizona Flag made out of Lego blocks.
Some more crazy faces.

It is thicker than I expected and yes, they are real Lego.

Another exhibit is about Arizona becoming a part of the United States.
We can see what part of the United States used to belong to Mexico

I never knew about this Gratitude train!
A very interesting story.
Here are two websites that can add more info on this train..
Merci train.
The Gratitude Train.

Michele with a pioneer.

I am on the accused box being questioned on a crime I did not commit!
The judge is giving me a hard time, but I did not go to jail.

The legislature.

The office of the first elected governor of Arizona.
On the left is a photo of the office in 1912 and on the right, a replica of the same office.
This office was used until 1974.

What a beautiful radiator.

We enjoy visiting State Capitol in the states we visit, but this one was not as grandiose as the one we have seen in other states.
Still a good visit.

They also have many commemorative monument around the Capitol. This is the first time we have seen one for canine.

We sure had a busy day today.

Saturday February 11, 2017

We are on our way to the east side of town to a huge flea market. It is about one hour away from our RV Park.
What a nice freeway, 5 lanes wide plus one for vehicle with 2 or more passengers. Wow!

This place is well organized.

It is huge! But it is not our type of flea market. Only new stuff and more of the same in each row. We like flea market with new and old stuff for sale.

On our way back home, we noticed those weird looking street lamps!

We have lunch at Arby's.

We did stop at a few Thrift Shops on the way home.
A nice looking foot bridge across the freeway.

A day not as busy as yesterday, but still busy.

Sunday February 12, 2017

A day off, we just did some grocery shopping.

A word about our RV Park.
It is a mobile home park with 10 RV sites. We have the privilege of having a neighbor with 3 dogs. The 3 dogs bark their little head off all day long. The worst part is that the owner is sitting outside, next to them and does not say anything to the (insert 4 letter work here) dogs!!! We made him understand that his dogs were annoying and now he stops them, sometime. We have to be careful, Americans have guns and they are not shy to use them. I am only half kidding!!!

Monday February 13, 2015

Tonight we are going to a Basketball game of the NBA in Phoenix.
The Phoenix's Suns are playing against the New Orleans Pelicans.
The Suns are in the last position at 15 and the Pelicans are at 11th place.

The Suns star players...

It is a big place.

Michele found the tickets on the Groupon website. We only paid $28 for both tickets.
They are getting ready for the national anthem.

When they introduced the Suns players, they have flames going up.

The Americains not only have cheerleaders for football, but for hockey and basketball too.

During the commercial breaks, they throw t-shirts in the crowd. Everybody screams like crazy.

By the 3rd quarter, the Suns lead with 58 to 53.

Between quarters, they have some entertainment, this time it is a group of young dancers.

The Suns uniforms are gray and the Pelicans are red.

At the last break between the quarters, they play a game where two team dressed has hamburger buns must make the fastest hamburger with the hamburger paddy, a slice of tomato, some cheese, lettuce, onions and a pickle. On the right you can see the hamburger buns and on the floor the ingredients.

One half of the hamburger bun must lay-down and the other most place the ingredients one of the bun...

The team that completes the hamburger the first wins!

A little over 8 minutes left in the last quarter and the Suns still leads.

Both teams are about the same strength and it makes for a close game.

With only 18 seconds left to play, the Pelicans win the game with only one point lead.

Our seats were in the "nose bleed" or if you prefer, way at the top in a corner. The view was not too bad at all. We really enjoyed our evening. If we can find more tickets at a good price, we would watch another game.

Tuesday February 14, 2017

We have a big day ahead of us. We will be driving the "Apache Trail". This drive will take us through the Superstition Mountains.

The Apache Trail goes through the Tonto National Forest.
A little hard to read, but hey, I do my best...

Why did they build this road?
Here is the answer from Wikipedia.
"The Apache Trail in Arizona was a stagecoach trail that ran through the Superstition Mountains. It was named the Apache Trail after the Apache Indians who originally used this trail to move through the Superstition Mountains.
You will see plenty of nice scenery photos.

Canyon Lake is our first stop. What a nice view.

It is very hard to drive and look at the scenery at the same time...

Tortilla Flat, population 6. It is the last surviving stagecoach stop along the Apache Trail.
The smoke you see is from the kitchen, they use firewood for cooking.

A cute place to stop and visit. My new friend!

An old friend?
One of the boutique has the ceiling and even the heating/cooling ducts covered with one dollars bills.

The view across the Tortilla Flats. It looks like a horse saddle.

The creek is not overflowing. They just do not put culvert under the road, so the creek has to flow over the road.

About five miles after Tortilla Flats we leave the pavement behind.
We had heard that the road was so bad that you were better to rent a car than use your own. I did some research and the latest review said the road was pretty good. We decided to go ahead with our own car.

Just before the Fish Creek Hill we made a stop at the lookout point.

Here are many photos together to give you a panoramic view of Fish Creek Hill.
On the right you can see the road, but where does it go?
In the valley going away from us.

More canyons.

We are surprised at the green we see in the desert.
It is spring here and we had rain over the last couple a weeks, this is why it is so green now.

I do not know if you noticed the big rock in the middle of the panoramic photo, but here it is.

More scenery.

The road is pretty good, we are not driving very fast as we want to look at everything.
What a view!

This is where we were from.

We almost overdose on beautiful scenery.

The majority of lakes in Arizona are made from rivers being dammed, just like this one, Apache Lake.

What? 100 m.p.h.!

The road is good, but narrow in some places, we even have to move to the shoulder to let other cars go by at times.

We made it to the end of the Apache Trail and the Theodore Roosevelt Dam.

Originally standing at 280 feet, it was built between 1903 and 1911.
In 1989, the dam was increased in height by another 77 feet to a total of 357 feet tall.

On the other side of the dam, you have the Inspiration Point overlook.
We have a look at the Theodore Roosevelt lake created by the dam and the bridge going over it.

If you look closely, you can see the old dam and the 77 feet added later.

I always wanted to see a Cliff Dwelling.
Here is my chance, we are driving by one today.

As we come to the parking area, we can see the cliff dwelling way up there.

Even if it looks big, it is not that big of a place. It was hard to give a good impression of the dwelling and none of my photos were good to represent that. Still, here is a view of a "kitchen". You can still see the smoked wall from cooking after 3 centuries!

The gentleman talking about the cliff dwelling was just phenomenal!
He knew everything about the native who lived here, about the area, the culture from than to today, the fauna and flora.
I had a great time with him.
A view from the dwelling down on the valley floor where they cultivated vegetables.

We are now making our way back home.

We even drove in Miami!

We got home just as the sun was going to bed.

What a great day.

Wednesday February 15, 2017

We are getting the MH in "traveling mode".
Michele did go for more groceries at Walmart and found this large, five cheese pizza for only $3.36!
Guess what we are having for diner tonight?

We are very happy to leave this RV Park tomorrow morning, we cannot stand the little barking dogs anymore!!!

Until next time.

Life is good...