Wed. January 1st - Sat. May 2nd
I went to Art in the Park in January where they had a couple of these neat, old VW camper buses on display.
I listened to the music, bought a children's book and headed back to camp.
Wednesday, January 14th, we went to the theater in old downtown Yuma to see the Sons of the Pioneers.
They were very good. Their lead singer is Dusty, son of Roy Rogers. I think he is 73 years old, looking fine, tall and lean, but bald when his hat comes off.
They also have a small art gallery and a gift shop at the theater.
Sunday, February 2nd, we had a little excitement in our campground, just about 20 yards kitty corner from us. We had just gotten in bed about 9:30 when we heard some yelling. I thought somebody's dog had gotten loose and they were chasing it. As I was getting up to look out the window, I heard, "Drop the knife! Drop the knife! Bam, Bam, Bam! Shots fired! Shots fired!" I got to the window just in time to see a police officer bent down next to a guy who was sitting on the ground with his back against a palm tree. The officer was yelling "Stay with me! Stay with me!" I think he was gone before the ambulance arrived. It was a domestic abuse that someone had called in. We saw the lady a day or two after and her face was all black and blue.
I think the hot, dry weather has been a little hard on this guy and his pets. He has been sitting next to this camper near us all winter, with changing accessories for every holiday, Christmas, Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's.
Our friends Rick and Donna and brother Nick arrived on Sunday, March 1st, for a visit. Donna collects rocks in the desert and makes these very cool home decor items. Julie and Steve arrived on Wednesday, so we all shared meals, drinks and reminisces about the times we worked, biked, camped and partied together. Fun times! Glad they could come!
One day we went into the open-air flea market. These recycled tires caught my eye. Pet beds, planters, armadillo and hanging parrots.
Also, chair and coffee table, about $150.00 for the chair.
Another day we went down to Mexico and did a little shopping. Rick got a pair of glasses and we went to the party patio for shrimp tacos and margaritas and to listen to the music. This little guy was over a foot long and wondering around as the waiters fed him lettuce, cucumbers, etc.
Beavertail Prickly Pear Cactus in bloom as we were out hiking.
Desert Sunflower, aka Desert Gold. The desert flowers were really starting to bloom. We had about 5" of rain this winter, which is 2" over the average annual rainfall.
View looking back toward our campground at Yuma Lakes in upper right corner. We went to about 25 movies from December 1st to mid-March when the movie theater shut down for the Covid-19 virus. Most of them were quite good. JoJo Rabbit was John's favorite and mine was The Full Measure.
Walmart, as the corona virus scare took hold down here in Yuma around mid-March. This is one of the produce aisles.
Freezer section with just a couple boxes of corn dogs left.
Meat counter.
No eggs.
A few boxes of pasta.
Canned goods.
A couple views back at our campground.
Walking Patrick and Boots with Julie.
Sunday, March 22nd, we moved a little north to Bullhead City, Arizona, just across the Colorado River from Laughlin, Nevada.
Close-up of the Brittlebush next to our camper.
I had a plane ticket to go up and see the grandkids for two weeks on Wednesday, March 25th. We debated right up until the last day whether I should go or not, due to the virus, but finally decided to go. There wasn't much to worry about, as the planes and airports were nearly empty. This is a picture of the dozen or so baggage carousels at Las Vegas totally empty and not being used at all. On my flight back from Montana to Salt Lake City, the flight attendant got on the speaker to give her usual shpeel and she said, "Welcome aboard Tarra and Jack." We were the only two passengers, plus two flight attendants and I assume pilot and co-pilot, making a total of six on board. Salt Lake to Vegas we had 11 passengers, including 3 pilots hitching a ride to get back to where they needed to be, and one flight attendant.
Picture of Benny communing with the neighbor's horses.
I was so busy these two weeks, this was the only time I remembered to take a picture. I flew home on April 8th and we just hunkered down in Bullhead City, learning how to cook again, since we have a bad habit of going out to eat way too often.
Night time view of one of the campground sculptures.
Night view of Laughlin across the river from us.
Pictures of flowers as I hiked around our campground.
Mexican Poppy
Blue Phacelia
Desert Chickory or Tackstem?
Sand Verbena along hiking trail from our campground.
At the end of the hiking trail I get nice views of Laughlin casinos across the Colorado River.
Also, a nice view of the public access park on the river, and the highway in the background to Las Vegas.
Back at our campground.
Desert Lupine and Brittlebush
Sunday, April 12th, we had another gusher of rain and some hail, a half inch or more in very short time.
It was like a gushing river down the streets of our campground.
Wednesday we took a drive up old Route 66 to Kingman and Oatman.
It's a really winding mountainous road, but totally worth it.
Thanks to about twice the average rainfall this winter, the flowers are gloriously beautiful.
The 2,400-mile Route 66 winds from Chicago to L.A.
Mohave Aster
Brittlebush and Paperdaisy
The hillsides and canyons are covered in beautiful colors.
Desert Lupine
Apricot Mallow or Desert Mallow
Oatman, "the ghost town that refuses to die!" is usually a very busy little tourist town. The elevation is 2,700 feet. It was founded about 1908. It boomed from the 1910's to the 1920's and as many as 8,000 people lived here. The area mines produced over 1.8 million ounces of gold (over $7 million), but by the mid-1930's the boom was over. The town of Gold Road was started in 1906 about 2 miles from Oatman. Traces of gold were first found here in the 1860's. Jose Jerez hit "pay dirt" here in 1900 when he was grub staked $16.00 by a store owner in Kingman. It assayed at 40 ounces to the ton of ore and he was ecstatic. That just sounds like a lot of hard work to me, but a California group bought the claim for $50,000 in 1901. They soon sold their rights for $225,000. Soon 180 miners were bringing up hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of ore.
WWI was partially funded by the gold that came out of the Black Mountains here in Mohave County, Arizona. About 1942 the last remaining mines were closed as non-essential to the WWII effort. The miners were needed to mine copper. The town of Gold Road was razed in 1949 to save taxes. In 1990 the Gold Road Mine was reopened. Gold prices went down in 1999 and the mine closed again. In 2010 it was reopened again and is still active.
The burros were brought here by the early prospectors to work inside the mines hauling rock and ore. Outside they hauled water and supplies. The burros can smell water 20 miles away. They carry their babies for 11 months. As the mines closed they were released into the surrounding hills. The shops here sell carrots and other stuff to feed the burros, but signs warn that these descendants are wild and will bite and kick. They are protected by Federal Laws. Down by Parker they have roundups and adopt them out for $500 each in an effort to control their population, as they can become quite a nuisance in campgrounds and other areas, begging for food and digging in dumpsters making a big mess,. But they are a big attraction here in Oatman.
Oatman usually gets about 500,000 visitors a year. There were a few people here on their ATVs and motorcycles, but for the most part, it was pretty quiet. They have all the usual tourist shops, candy, jewelry, t-shirt, and several restaurants. Most everything was closed and no shoot out re-enactments going on.
Desert Lupine and Desert Lily. This is the first and only desert lily I have ever seen.
The next Wednesday, April 22nd, we joined family and friends on Zoom to be part of our latest grandson's official adoption. Yeah!
One day in mid-April we had driven down by the city park and public access area to the river. There was maybe three or four boats on the river and a dozen or so people sunning themselves along the beach. The last weekend in April, 25th and 26th, they showed pictures on the news of the mobbed beaches here and at Havasu City.
Cars pulling boats were backed up on the highways trying to get into the beaches. They were coming from all over, including several different states. There are no businesses open here, except grocery stores and drive through restaurants. The beaches were packed with people and scads of boats and jet skis were roaring up and down the river. So much for social distancing. I wonder if they wear masks when they are sunbathing. Hmmm. Well, it has been over 100 degrees here all week, breaking all kinds of records for April. I suppose people couldn't wait to get into that cold Colorado River. We are leaving Saturday, May 2nd. We are heading to Montana, can't take this hot weather and can't wait to see all those kiddos!
Everybody please do your best to stay safe!
Tarra
