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1 to 15 February 2023 16 to 28 February 2023

Friday, February 17, 2023.

We are on the road by 7 this morning. We are on our way to one of the Phœnix airports, the Sky Harbor International Airport.
The traffic was moving along pretty well.

Michele had to go to the # 4 terminal to catch her flight.

I left Michele at the airport and got right back on the road to get back to Ajo.
I made it back before noon.
I use Flight Aware to keep track of Michele's progress.
Some of the photos she sent me.

I had cocktail hour with Jannie and Jan.

While driving in town, I noticed a sign at the "American Citizens Social Club" that a Fish & Chips was on for $ 10 tonight.
I suggested to Jannie and Jan we should go there for supper.

What a different place it turned out to be, not bad.
You go through the bar to get to some kind of dining area.
But first, you need to be sponsored by a member, no problem, someone does.
Now if you want an alcoholic beverage, you need someone from the bar area to sponsor you. The local funeral director did!!!
The fish is very good.

Jannie and Jan saw some friends at the bar. We joined them for a beer.

Natasha has a new friend to play with.

Both of Michele's flights went without a problem. She is very happy to be there.

Saturday, February 18, 2023.

First of all, here is the proper abbreviation for side by side. It is SbS.
We are off for a ride. We are 4 SbS and one jeep. I am not riding with Jan as Jannie is also riding today.
I am with Cliff in his four doors SbS.

We are going to "Table Top Mountain".

I am riding on the SbS on the right.

The "Table Top" behind me.

This is looking north with the Table Top in the back. We cannot get closer because the trails are very bad.

When you turn around, this is where we came from.

We have a few rock hounds in our group. They are looking for geodes. Behind me is the small mountain with the possible geodes.
The mountain is to the east.

Now, this is the mountain to the west of us.

I found this saguaro beautiful in his ugliness. Birds have done this to the saguaro.

Can you see the face?

With all the rain we have been getting lately, the desert is starting to bloom.
It is a lot more colourful than the photos.

Every time we take a break, the rock hounds are out and looking for unusual rocks.

We drove about 101 kilometres.
We were gone for about six hours.

I do not know exactly why, but a couple in a MH is leaving tomorrow. They wanted to invite everyone in the park for burgers and the trimmings. I went.

Lots of food.

It was good, thanks!

Michele is at the soccer practice with Natasha.

Many of the SbS owners are talking about doing the "El Camino del Diablo" or "The Devil's Highway".
We would leave Monday and stay the night in Yuma. Come back the next day.
More to follow.

Sunday, February 19, 2023.

I received more photos from Michele.

They are out of order.

Oh, the faces she makes...

Meanwhile, in Ajo.
Happy hour.

It looks like the trip on the devil's highway will take place tomorrow.

Monday, February 20, 2023

Today and tomorrow, we will be on the El Camino del Diablo trail.

The trail goes through "Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument" and part of the "Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge".
We will also be inside the "Barry M. Goldwater Air Forces Range".

The sceneries are beautiful.

We stopped many times to enjoy the area and its rich history.

The larger part of the El Camino Del Diablo is a gravel road. It was improved during the construction of the wall between the USA and Mexico.

One of the many tombs we saw along the way.

The El Camino is easy to follow.

No services are available between Ajo and Yuma. We brought our food and water.

With all the rain we have been getting lately, the desert is blooming.

As we got closer to Yuma, we made a detour to the Fortuna Mine.

At one time, more than 100 people lived on this site.

This detour was a little more challenging.

After more than 10 hours on the road, we arrived at our hotel in Yuma.

In this photo, Ajo is on the right and Yuma is on the left.
We drove more than 222 kilometres.

We lost a lot of elevation today. On the left is Ajo. On the right is Yuma's elevation.

It was a very good day. We saw beautiful scenery and a lot of dust.

Tuesday, February 21, 2023.

We are back on the road by 7h45.

The SxS were filled, so were the extra reservoirs.

We started the day under a cloudy sky with light rain falling.

After about an hour, the sun came back.

Even if it is the same road back, it looks different.

We decided to do a small detour and visit "Christmas Pass".

Can you see the eyes and the mouth?

Here they are.

We had lunch at the pass.

Jan assuming his usual position...

We are on our way back to El Camino Del Diablo.

The Sonoran desert is one of the wettest deserts. Right now, it is coming to life.

Can you see the blue flag?
This indicates a water point for the illegal migrants coming through this area.

It was a 255 kilometres and 10h day.

On the left is the elevation of Yuma. On the right, you get it!

Back on Vancouver Island, Kristin was writing her tests to join the military.

It was two full and busy days, but so cool to do and to see.
I loved doing the El Camino Del Diablo.
We got back home just as the forecast called for 90 km/h wind overnight.

Wednesday, February 22, 2023.

WOW. It was not a good night of sleep for me. The wind was hitting the side of the MH. I rocked and rolled all night.
I even closed the three slides before bedtime. They stayed closed until this afternoon. We also had heavy rain in the morning. It is unusual at this time of year. We even lost power for a few hours.

More photos from Comox.
These are the photos from Michele for the last two days.
They are in no particular order.

The winds finally died down later in the evening.

Thursday, February 23, 2023.

When it was not raining, we talked about going for a SxS ride today.
It will be on with only two SxS. Jan and me with Cliff and Elaine.

Jan took us behind Ajo and in the arroyos (Dry Wash).

We saw many organ pipe cactus.

We came across many old mines.

It does not look real.

This is one big organ pipe cactus.

A teddy-bear cholla with flowers.

This is what we did today. A big 43 kilometres in a little over three hours.
We saw beautiful country.

More photos from Comox.
Jeremy is cutting Styrofoam to make an RC airplane.

And one Natasha, who seems very tired.

Friday, February 24, 2023.

It was a relaxing day at home.
We decided to go back to the American Citizens Social Club with a few other campers from the park.

What is that? Chicken Fried Steak with mashed potatoes and corn.
Since we are in the States, we had more than enough food.
It was $10 for the food and $9.65 for three beers. A good deal.

Our group. Where is Jannie?

Here she is!

We often see a flag half USA and half Canada. We had never seen a flag half USA and half Mexico.

From Comox, Jeremy made the first flight of his new RC airplane.

Natasha is practicing her winking.

Saturday, February 25, 2023.

Today, Kristin and Jeremy are going on their honeymoon to Hawaii.

This was Comox this morning.

Natasha went to her soccer practice with grand-maman.

She loves making a snowman and playing in the snow.

By supper time, the snow was gone.

We are going for another SxS ride today. Jan is the lead again.
Our first stop is at the water spring. Some people in the group had never been here.

We see tons of those little yellow flowers.

For our next stop, Jan took us to a plateau with a very nice view of the desert below and Ajo in the distance.

I am riding with Cliff and Elaine. The SxS is the one on the left.

Our next stop was at another water pond for the cattle.

We did another 119 km in about 7 hours today.

Another good day with good people.

Sunday, February 26, 2023.

We had more high winds last night. It was not fun. We even had a big rainstorm in the morning.
I am having a day at home. I even video with Benoit for more than an hour.
I like our coffee and video talk.
Tuesday, I will be going back to Western Sands in Yuma.

From Comox, Michele and Natasha in action.
They had snow overnight.

Natasha loves eating.

Doing some exercises.

And lunch.

Doing silly stuff with grand-maman.

And more food for supper. She is not starving.

She even gets to play, in the dark, with glowsticks, in her bathtub. Life is good!

Meanwhile in Hawaii.
The view Jeremy and Kristin have from the hotel.

Monday, February 27, 2023

This is my last day here in Ajo.
What do you do on your last day? You go for one more ride in the desert.
We are riding with more SxS from the park. A few of those riders are not fast, I mean really slow...
It is not that we usually go really fast, but you can move along when the trail is good.

Elaine and Jannie are looking for rocks.

We are parked outside a place that is like a bowl.

This is the bowl I am talking about.

Not far from there, Jan took us to a large flat rock with round indentations. This was done by the natives who lived here hundreds of years ago.
They created those round depressions with other rocks. They use them to mill the food they collected. Basically, they are made into flour.

Cliff, Elaine, Jannie, Jan and I left the group. We took another trail to go to the corral near Coffee Pot Mountain.

Next, Jan took us to a water hole for games in the area.

This was built in 1961. Where is the water coming from?

The lay of the land is sloped. A large area is covered with sheet metal. The water from the dew, rain, etc, drains along the sheet metal into an underground reservoir.

A view towards the end of the valley.

We drove 95 kilometres today.

Meanwhile, in Hawaii.

This is the view from their room.

They went swimming with sea turtles.

Natasha and grand-maman are really busy.

I will be leaving this RV Park tomorrow.

Tuesday, February 28, 2023.

I spent the early part of the morning getting things ready for travel.
It is about 10h30 when I leave Ajo behind me. I am heading west to Yuma.

I arrived at Western Sands RV Park around 2pm. I got the same site, 135.
Once the setup is completed, I visited my friends and told stories from my time in the metropolis of Ajo.

More photos from Hawaii. Jeremy and Kristin hiked up this mountain.

Grand-maman and Natasha are having a good time in Comox.

Until next time.

Life is good...