Donna's Very First Jeep Ride

Getting Started.

We picked Donna up at her place around 9:30 and headed out Boyer Gap Road toward the Marble Quarry.

A major Rock Hound.

Dona is a major rock hound so I told her that she could bring two buckets with her for rocks.

A Side Trail.

As we got near the Quarry I noticed a narrow side trail to our right so I turned the jeep onto it.
This is the first time Donna has ever been in a jeep. When I turned onto the trail she got a little nervous.
"You can't possibly drive up there," she said.
"Sure we can" I replied, as we slowly climbed up the steep hill on the narrow track.
By the time we got to the top she was pretty impressed.

There was a lot of Quartz and other interesting rocks up here so she forgot about the (to her) frightening climb and got totally involved in picking up rocks.

We stayed here until she had one of the buckets filled. I said that we should go a little further and see what else we could find so we got back in the jeep and headed for the main trail.

A Wash With Cliffs.

As we drove along we came to a large wash with some high cliffs on one side so I pulled into the wash and made our way toward the cliffs.

We stopped here and got out the second bucket.

Looking for Ironwood.

As Donna and Patti collected rocks I wandered down the wash checking out the old Ironwood trees.

I am looking for some small pieces that I would like to try carving. So far I haven't found any small pieces that aren't all cracked or just rotten. I will have to bring a saw down next season so I can cut some of the thicker pieces into small lengths. Maybe that way I can get past the rot and checking and have some solid wood to work with.

All the Rocks We Can Carry. 

When I got back to the jeep the ladies had filled Donna's bucket and had another small pile of larger stones set aside.
We loaded the bucket and loose rocks in the jeep.
I told Donna that that was all the rocks we could carry.

Driving Around.

We left the wash and drove around in the desert for a while enjoying the scenery and wild flowers.
We took a couple of side trails that were pretty rough.
Not ever having been on a jeep ride, Donna was pretty impressed where we could go. The trails that we were on weren't real bad but we got to a place where one trail became more challenging than what I like to do when we are alone. There wasn't enough room to turn around so I had to back up for about fifty yards to a wider spot.
We took a couple more dead end trails and then headed for home.

When we got back to Donna's house, she was very grateful for the ride and said that she had no idea that one could actually drive around on those skinny trails in the desert.

Anniversary Supper.

Yesterday was the thirty-second anniversary of Patti and my first date.
We decided to go to a steakhouse just east of Parker. We invited Jo Ann and Dave to come with us.
Around 3:30 Jo and Dave showed up at our place in their pickup and we headed for Stokes Steak House.

The meal was good; Patti had a shrimp fettuccini, Jo Ann had coconut shrimp, Dave had a rib eye steak and I had lamb sirloin. We all enjoyed our food except Jo Ann said that her shrimp was over cooked.

Okay, that was our Wednesday.