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.

A Couple Quiet Days.

The last couple of days have been pretty quiet.

Monday, we didn't do much more than hang around the RV and read.

Tuesday, we went to pick up some chocolate wine that a friend 'Nonda' had bought for us in Phoenix.

We stopped by Jo Ann and Dave's for a short visit.
On the way home we stopped at the post office to stop the forwarding of our mail. Once that takes affect we can head north. The Palo Verde's are starting to have an affect on me but it isn't to bad yet so we will be leaving soon.

We invited Patti's friend Donna for a jeep ride on Wednesday so when we got home I took the storage box's out of the jeep so I could install the back seat. Boy, there isn't much room left in the back of the jeep with the seat installed.

Okay that's about it for now.

A Ride Around the North Plomosa Mountains.

I haven't taken a ride to the North Plomosa Mountains yet this season so I figured it was time to do that.

We met Jo Ann and Dave at the fire station and headed for Plomosa Road. We drove east out Plomosa Road.

When we got to the Quartzsite Arrow we turned left. Here, we aired down the tires then followed the wide gravel road for about 1/2 mile.

We turned onto a narrow trail that goes through the sand dunes.

Right away we started seeing cacti blooming. There were a lot of Ocotillo's blooming all along the trail.

We continued along over several dunes.

We passed this ancient Ironwood caraus.

Eventually we were through the dunes, where we saw some Hedgehog Cactus in bloom.

Here is a close up.

Further along we saw some Staghorn Cholla's.

Another close up.

We continued around the west side of the Four Peaks.

We found a couple Teddy Bear Cholla's that were starting to bloom.

We wandered around in the area for a while enjoying the scenery.

We came around to the east side of the Four Peaks.

We stopped at "The Big Hole". This is one of the scariest of the vertical shafts in the area. It is about 150 feet deep and is one of the only ones that hasn't been fenced off.

We left the hole and headed for a wash that we usually travel in to get into this area. I was looking for a shady spot for lunch.

We spotted our first blooming Beaver Tail Cactus.

 Eventually we found a spot for lunch.

After lunch we continued south in the wash. We usually take this wash in the opposite direction.
There are a couple of minor challenges in the wash just a couple of rocks to get over.

Here, Dave had a little trouble with this one. He got hung up on the rock in the lower right of this picture.

Once we got him backed off the rock,



and lined up properly,

he made it through just fine.

The next obstacle was no problem.

After leaving the wash we saw some more Beavertails in bloom.

Here is another close up.

We got home around 2:30. I took a nap and at 5:00 we met Jo Ann and Dave at the Mountain Quail for supper.
The special was Pot Roast; one of my favorites.

Patti got some nice pictures of the sun set when we got home from supper.

Okay, that was our Sunday. Another nice ride in the desert.

Laundry, House Work and a Sunset

Not Much Happening on Saturday.

Patti did laundry and I did house work.

I did get a couple picture of the sunset.

Okay, that's it for Saturday.

Taxes, Washing the Jeep, Shopping and Lunch in Blythe and a Hair Cut..

Taxes.

We had an 11:00 appointment to get our taxes done in Blythe, CA.
We were a little early so we sat around in the office for a little while. Eventually we got the taxes done. We actually came out better this year than in the past.

Wash the Jeep.

After the taxes were done we went to one of the coin op car washes in town and washed the jeep. I even washed the engine.

Shopping.

We needed a few items at the grocery store so we went to Albertsons.

Lunch.

We went to the A&R Bakery and Deli to have lunch. Patti had a chicken sandwich, I had the turkey.
We both agreed that our sandwiches were excellent.

A Hair Cut.

On the way home we stopped to see Debbie and get our hair cut. I get a hair cut every six months whether I need it or not. Debbie cuts my hair when we get to Quartzsite in the fall and again before we leave in the spring.

Okay that was our Friday. 

Looking for Flowers in The Kofa

Heading For the Kofa.

We went to Jo Ann and Dave's to meet them for our ride to the Kofa Wild Life Refuge. When we got there they were ready to go so we headed out.
We drove south on 95 and it looked like it was going to be a good flower day by the Brittle Bushes blooming along the highway.

Into the Kofa.

We turned east off the highway near milepost 92 on the TMS&T Road.
Lots of greasewood blooming.

About 2 miles down the road we turned south at intersection 24 and followed that trail toward the hills.

A Few Cactus Blossoms.

There weren't very many cactus's blooming yet but there were lots of bud's on them just about to open up.

Here is one example; a Hedgehog just about ready to open.

We scan the desert looking for cactus's blooming.



A little ways along that road we found the first cactus in bloom ; a Beaver Tail.

We only found two beaver tails on this trip.

There were a lot of Ocotillo's in bloom.

Here is a close up of the Ocotillo flower.

 Next we came across a couple Staghorn Cholla flowers starting to open up.

Here is another one.

We found a couple of Hedgehog cactus who's flowers were just starting to open. These are one of my favorite cactus flowers.

Here is one more.

Every now and then we look up and are delighted by the views.

Natures landscaping.

Some places look like the plantings were planned. The yellow flowers are Brittle Bush.

Here are Brittle Bush scattered across the hillside.

I don't know what these orange flowers are but they are very common in the desert. It is hard to find them in large enough group's to get a good picture of them.

Here are some blue flowers.

A few Poppies.

A Square Arch.

We noticed this arch, high on a ridge.

Ironwood Trees.

The Ironwood Trees are starting to get their leaves.

This one was sticking out into the trail.

De La Osa Well.

We followed the trail to its end at De La Osa well.

This well is to provide water to the wildlife in the desert. The pipe fence around the well is to keep out wild burro's.

Wildlife.

Speaking of wild life, we didn't see much but Patti got this picture of one of her favorite models, a small dragon. This guy looks like it might be a small Desert Iguana.

Lunch in the Shade.

After taking a break at the well, we headed back down the trail to the narrow canyon.

Here we found a shady spot to have lunch.

After lunch we headed back down the trail. We took a different way back to TMS&T Road but didn't see any more cactus's blooming. I guess we were a little early. Hopefully the next trip we will see more flowers.

It was a fun ride again.