Munday's the Arizona Roadrunners

"Quartzsite" is the 'big deal' in January for most all rv'er's! Again we joined the throng of people who chose to camp out in the desert. Had a little circle of rv's with friends, Singer's, Fischer's, brother John and our Roadrunner! Only stayed a week out in Scadden Wash but took in all the doing's over at the big tent, main event and even took a day to run down to Algadones, Mexico so Cyndy could get new glasses. Had fun at the campfire and other friends dropped by for a little visit too. A little on the cool side at night but fairly nice during the day! Poor Jim was enjoying 'happy' hour until the chair gave out on him!

Took John for a drive ALL around the Salton Sea! Goodness it was a lonnng day! Toured "the slabs" and then stopped for a walk through the Sonny Bono Wildlife Refuge. We always enjoy stopping there to see all the water birds. The farmers actually plant a few fields just for the birds so they will stay out of their fields... good strategy. Haven't been here for a few years and noticed how much of the shore line is growing. It is no secret they are losing water here. Between the farmers and then the housing boom it has really impacted the water level here. Wouldn't be so bad if they had input of more water but there isn't source to restore any of the water...A neat place to visit.

It is hard to be in this area and not visit Joshua Tree. It is a great place with so many wonderful trails and little campgrounds with unusual cactus you just don't see everywhere. This time of year it is a little early for the plant life to bloom but no question it will with all the water they had this past winter. We did take a little stroll through the cholla garden and up through Jumbo rocks...

Made it to Palm Springs Thousand Trail park and the lovely tall date palms. Each day we hear of such terrible weather across the country and it's hard to imagine when it is so nice down here. Unseasonably high temps which is great now but with the way the weather trends it could be leave this area hurting later on in the year! For now we are enjoying it very much. Playing pickle ball and getting little "to do" things done in the coach. Want to get them done before heading out to Quartzsite.

Heading west from Quartzsite we went straight into the fairgrounds in Indio for the annual FMCA western rally. The weather was so nice and warm! Wow! What a difference... We were out in the north forty again (which is fine with us - a good excuse to get more exercise)! The various chapters put on a wonderful parade. They really out did themselves with their costumes and antics! A heck of a lot of fun. The rally was not quite the turn out we have seen in previous years but still good and a lot of fun. Evening entertainment was great. Enjoyed it all immensely especially seeing good friends Dean and Laurie Singer and new friends Tracy and Jim Tull besides others...

All too soon we were on the road again and stopped in Quartzsite, AZ to visit with our old boating friends the Thompson's. Dick and Dona and their brother Slim are always good to us! We stayed with them 1 night and they led us to a different establishment for supper! A very good supper it was too. Had a wonderful meal and then a nice warm campfire back home. The next morning they arose much earlier than us...and fixed us a wonderful meal of hotcakes and ham! Too good to us.. Enjoyed our time very much.

After leaving Verde, we headed south to a little warmer country in Apache Junction! Stayed at Countryside RV for a few days. Not enough time to do much but did get over to the Mesa swap meet one day. This woodpecker and house finch seemed to make this hummingbird feeder their own? Always love to see the birds and their antics! Countryside is a nice park and maybe some day we'll spend more than a night or two there? Had to keep moving.. Left there and stopped at Freightliner for major service for the coach and took that time to stop by and visit Jean and Bob Strode in Sun City. Always love seeing them. They always treat us so good and always have wonderful stories to tell!

Time sure flies when you are having fun... All too soon it was time to leave Verde where we had stayed for the last 3 months. Dave and Lovey stopped by to say good-bye. It was so great getting to know so many wonderful people! They have a great team up there in Cottonwood and we had a wonderful time. We did join in on the cribbage on Tuesday afternoons and the card bingo on Wednesday nights. A heck of a lot of fun with everyone...

Busy, busy and already it's a New Year! Hopefully it will be one of peace & prosperity for all! We all joined into the festivities at the Lodge at Thousand Trails in Verde Valley and had a fun, fun time. They really know how to put on a show! They began by serving appetizers at 5pm... then dinner. This was sit down dinner with white table cloths.. very, very nice and lots and lots of party favors! We had a great time and after supper the band started up. They were a 3 piece band that have performed many times for this park. A lot of dancing and have to say, one one person left early.... closed out the old year with New York and when the ball dropped we all called it a night... a little early but what the heck... the lodge was trashed or appeared to be but the crew jumped up and attacked it and you'd never know the next morning anything had ever happened. Have to say they put on an excellent dinner of stuffed cornish game hens with rice and shrimp and served more food

Could not leave the area without taking John with us to Sedona. If you are ever in Arizona, Sedona is a "must see"! Love that place... never did get to do all the hiking we planned or discussed! Guess we'll just have to go back! Chose a picture perfect day and our 1st stop was on the hill overlooking the town next to the airport on top of the mesa. It gives a great view and it's a fairly easy walk to top of hill. From here we took him to old town and even went to lunch over looking Oak Creek which runs through town. Then over to the Chapel in the rock and out the other end... long day but just lovely.

Chose a picture perfect day to visit the Montezuma Castle and Well in Camp Verde. It was cold but clear and sunny. This "castle" is really a cliff dwellers home that was left on the side of this canyon. They think this dwelling may have been related to Montezuma (an Indian from Mexico)... Anyway, it is a short walk and interesting to see these cliff dwellers homes from the past... How would you like to climb up here after hauling your water from the river down below? Amazing really how they must have lived. The well is about 5 miles from this dwelling. It is pretty walk too and interesting. They belived at one time this area was farmed although there is no evidence of it now.

Our very dear friend Mary Lou invited us over for Christmas dinner. We were joined by her neighbors Lola and Basil... A wonderful meal and good friendship.. you can't ask for more that that at the holidays. The weather was perfect until the ride home and then the wind kicked up and left a few tumbleweeds on the freeway (haven't seen many of those in a long time)...

The coach was decked out in it's holiday wear as we were... It was cold in Cottonwood, down to low 20's at night but nothing like the rest of the country was experiencing this year! Enjoyed being amongst friends for the holidays and having some family too. Brother John was next door and cousins Dave and Lovey in the same park.

This was one fun guy set off by himself. Apparently he was in an "Aggressive" mood and not very nice to the females he was after. ha! So, being a naughty boy they had him set off by himself in a separate area. We came up to fence and were warned he would eat cameras, earrings, whatever he could get a hold of and after having him attack my camera I backed off... fun though.. He is quite an amazing bird and we did see the females out and about later... This Out of Africa place was a lot of fun but but then the weather was cool so the animals were out and about too.

Our good fortune brought us 1/2 off price tickets to the Out of Africa wild kingdom in Cottonwood. What a great deal! We watched bengal tigers jump into the swimming pool which was a heck of lot of fun to watch and then went on our safari ride where we fed the giraffe and zebras as they approached our bus. Very cool. This place only takes in animals no longer wanted at zoos or from whereever but they do not go to Africa for them. They all seemed very healthy and well cared for so that enhanced our visit .

Here is Joyce, Dave and John and not sure why Early is not in picture but you can be sure he was on trail - probably already around the corner! There are such a wonderful variety of plants here! People generally think of the desert as all cactus and yucky crawly things but there is so much more to appreciate!

Dear old friends from Washington were down in Phoenix area for holidays so we all took a walk through the beautiful Desert Botainical Garden! The garden itself was lovely with a grand assortment of very healthy looking cactus as well as other desert plants. The hummingbirds were out which is always delightful to see. This year the great glass artist Chilhuly has planted many pieces of his art work amongst the plants which made the experience so much more fun! Joyce and Dave had a great time as we too enjoyed all the various exhibits. So colorful on a rather grey day.. we did not get rained on, but the sky was a dull grey and looked as though we would get hit... So thankful we were able to see this wonderful art exhibit and the desert garden to boot!