Prescott and the Central Highlands of Arizona

We left Yuma along I-8 after finally finding a tire facility that had a compressor large enough to air-up our tires. These tires at 110psi require more of a compressor than is normally found at fueling stations, and the inside dually rear tires require more "personal contortions" than can be made at a truck stop. Anyway we dawdled a bit and made it to Gila Bend, rested fueled up and weighed in on the truck scale...always a moment of truth as it had been 2 years since our last encounter with a truck scale. We weren't disappointed much by the fact that we hadn't lost much weight and still tipped in at a little over 27,000 pounds, and still under our GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating).

(From Left, Donna Ellis, Ms. Nancy, and Lori Nash preping the evening meal)

Spent a few days with friends in Scottsdale, a couple of hours up the road from Gila Bend. Mike and Lori are former fulltimers and may be again someday. They've both just retired in the past several months so it's great to see them catching up on household projects and making plans. We also enjoyed visit with other friends Al and Donna, also former RVers. Dinners, restaurants, a birthday party, bookstores and thrift stores and wonderful bike rides along the famous Scottsdale GreenWay urban park system filled our time nicely. Weather was great as temps in high 70s. Enjoyed seeing the rebirth of farmers markets in the greater Phoenix area. It was great to see they're even growing food in some urban and suburban farmsteads, in addition to the over 50 golf courses and countless yards landscaped straight out of the midwest designs and irrigated with scarce Colorado River water.

We moved up to Lynx Lake, in the Bradshaw mountains about 8 miles from downtown Prescott and took up residence...one of our favorite spots. We camp hosted here back in 2001 for the summer season and have always enjoyed the mountain breezes through the Ponderosa Pines, Junipers and Oaks. There is a 60 acre lake about 1/2 mile from our camp site. It always reminded us of our home back at Big Pond, Pa tucked in amongst the White Pines and Oaks. We're operating here off our solar electric battery system. We'll stay through Easter when we'll begin heading back west to California. Meanwhile, we'll visit with friends at the Highlands Center and others in town. We'll do a visit to our optometrist and Tom will do his not so regular medical visits, blood work etc. And did we mention walks in the woods? A great place with trails everywhere. But we're taking it slowly as we've been at near sea level for months, and the change in conditioning required here at 5600 feet ASL can leave you gasping a bit. Also, as signs of the times, Tom came across this sign while on a trail nearby...
So until another day...we hope you're enjoying life and springtime wherever you be. Happy trails, tom and nancy

Olgivy Road, Yuma Area

Well, we've moved along and find ourselves in a BLM (Bureau of Land Management) area about 10 miles west of Yuma off I-8...quite a change from Tecopa over 350miles to the north. Our trip took us south across the Mojave Preserve and through the historic railroad town of Amboy complete with its cinder cone crater and straddling US Rt 66, the Mother Road of America. We found a nice spot to spend the night along the road and enjoyed spring wildflowers the next morning on a walkabout of the area. Later we drove through town and spotted the "shoe tree" next but didn't find any explanations from some folks we met in Amboy. Probably somebody had an extra pair and decided to leave a legacy...and so did many others! One of those many surprises and curiousities we've found along the road these many years.

Later that day we passed through Blythe and took the back road south along CA 78 to Olgivy Road/CA 34. It was a narrow rolling road with no shoulders and a bicycle tour group heading north. Felt badly for them because the traffic was pretty heavy, with a lot of trucks and RVs. Sure they were looking forward to a quiet and scenic ride, but that certainly didn't appear to be the case Tuesday.

Here we've come to make our annual dental visit in Algodones, BC, Mexico a few miles to the east and south of here. We've been making our annual trek here since 1995 and have had the same dentist almost since then.Yuma is the winter lettuce and greens capital of the country with many growers and packers taking advantage of the milennia of flooding from the Colorado River. It's a large winter gathering destination point for Snowbirds and RVers from all over the US and Canada. It's also home of the Yuma Proving Grounds where the US Army has a large R&D facility and the MarineCorps has a very active airbase. For us it's been a great winter climate, lots of public (BLM) land and plenty to do, or not, and a close proximity to Mexico.

We're taking advantage of the same income disparity which draws so many Mexican nationals here for work. It's quite surprising and sobering to see the many greybeards and snowbirds treking across the border for the relatively "low cost" dentists, optometrists and prescription drug pharmacies. Dental costs are roughly a third or less for standard procedures in the US, and many of the dentists are trained in the US. Quite a national statement to realize so many visitors are retirees without insurance taking advantage of this disparity to buy name brand & generic prescription drugs as well as getting new dentures, implants and all types of dental care. We try to point this ironic disparity to fellow bordercrossers while waiting in line often for over 1 1/2 hours to walk back through the border. Few seem to appreciate this irony. Fewer still have an appreciation of the efforts taken by many Mexicans to make the difficult journey to cross the border without documents looking for a job. Lately we have begun seeing Mixtec Indian women selling chiclets trinkets and when possible begging on the street. They are always surprised when we talk with them and tell them we know of their village. They are always pleasantly surprised and even proud of their homeland in Oaxaca over 2500 miles to the south. They remain very secretive of their circumstances as they are trying to eke out a living on the margin...but it appears a better opportunity here than in the hills of Huahuapan de Leon, Oaxaca.

That's it for today. We'll soon be heading east towards Phoenix-Scottsdale to visit friends and continue our annual medical visits. Hope this finds you well and keep in touch...tom and nancy

Spring time departure

It's official...spring and our departure from Tecopa. It has been windy with near white-out conditions on Sunday due to the akili dust and near 5omph gusts! We're also finally back traveling. Our first day out we went 120 miles to Amboy, CA and old Rt 66. It was tough leaving as we'd met some wonderful people, had a great work experience at the Hot Springs and enjoyed much of the natural history of the area.

Tom made another camping visit to Death Valley...this time to the west side of the valley into the Panamint mountains near Telescope Peak, the highest in Death Valley at over 11ooo feet. The car camping experience is still a bit rough, but improving. Only problem is to remember everything and not worry about the hard rear floor of the car. Just add more padding next time!Seems my back and hips don't enjoy the sleeping arrangements. There was lots of walking and photo shooting and the weather was great.


More recently Ms. Nancy enjoyed her trip to Las Vegas with a wonderful meal at an East Indian lunch buffet. Later it was a trip to her favorite, the Barnes & Noble for an afternoon of tea and magazines. Tom enjoyed this as much with his favorite coffee. Finally a stop for some fresh produce, groceries and Trader Joes and then the 80mile ride home and a soak in the hot baths before bed. Can't beat it as a trip to the big city, even if it is Las Vegas.

We're now heading on to Yuma, AZ area and the annual dental visit via the scenic route across the Mojave Preserve, 29 Palms area and then along the west side of the Colorado River down to Winterhaven, CA just west of Yuma.

March comes roaring in

Tecopa continues to enjoy southerly winds bringing clouds and some warmth. Spring is definitely here and even some disparate wildflowers have been observed nearby.

Death Valley National Park is relatively close so we've made a few forays there to observe the bones of the planet and "long time"...the geology of periodic ocean, lakes, layering, uplifts and faults over millions and millions of years. It is a really humbling experience. Here's one of Ms. Nancy at Badwater, 232 feet below sea level and the lowest point in continental US.


Tom has been rediscovering car camping with a recent trek to Death Valley with Priscilla Prius, queen of the desert. He recently took off for Death Valley again and ended up driving all the way over the Panamint mountains on the west side of valley. Here the Panamint range is to the east near sunset at Panamint Springs.

The little Prius is proving to be quite a comfortable ride and a geat sleeping berth. More to follow as he's hoping to venture out again in a few weeks.

The time is running on our stay here and we're looking to leave around the 22nd of March for Arizona. Hope to make it to Las Vegas at least once more. Happy trails...

The redwing blackbirds are here!

Spring sounds are everywhere, and temps are daily in the 70s+. Today its windy with scattered rainshowers. The redwing blackbirds and doves provide daytime sounds, and the peepers in the nearby "lakes" provide the night time chorus.

Took a trip recently to China Ranch, a date farm about 5 miles from our hot springs home. This is an oasis located along a tributary wash of the Amargosa River.



It was first settled by a Chinese immigrant near the turn of the last century. That immigrant "disappeared" mysteriously and a series of Anglo ranchers have been the owners ever since. Gypsum and talc were mined nearby for many years. But access to bountiful springwater nearby apparently sparked an interest in developing the oasis into a working date ranch. I've developed an apetite for this extremely sweet fruit. This is also a great place for hikes into the badlands (as seen behind the date palms in this picture) or along the Amargosa River and the old trainbed of the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad. Tom especially looks forward to the "date shakes" after a good walk...sort of the prize for looking at all the scenery and actually getting exercise in the process. (BTW, the cloths seen in the picture at left are protecting the date fruit from the birds...they like the sweets, too!)

All else is well with us. We'll look to be here another 6 weeks so hopefully will have more to share. Nancy continues to enjoy the daily baths. Tom does too:)
Happy trails

It feels like spring, and it's just Tom's birthday

Well it's now official that Tom has begun the last year of the 6th decade, and so far so good. (Not so for Penn State at the Rose Bowl, and that's too bad after a great season) The day was spent in subdued reflection with the high point a great brunch at the Crowbar Cafe in scenic nearby Shoshone, a wholly-owned private town. The evening was spent greeting patrons at the hot springs and later cleaning the pools.

This town was founded to service the Tonapah & Tidewater RR in 1909. There is the Charles Brown General Store (and gas station), the Amargosa River Conservancy office (a "river" runs through here and Tecopa ending in Badwater Lake at 232 below sea level in Death Valley), the Shoshone Museum (home of a composite mastadon skeleton), a post office, motel, land development office, clinic and a French restaurant. Not bad for the middle of the highway and halfway to Death Valley (from Baker, CA that is).

Nearby are some cave dwellings from earlier inhabitants and likely prospectors and railroad workers. These dwellings were carved into the mud hills on the outskirts of town.





The view here is along the well-maintained Hwy 127 between Tecopa and Shoshone. The Lake Tecopa Yacht Club does a wonderful job keeping the roadside free of litter. This whole region was lakebottom real estate millions of years ago and the mudhills and mineral rings around the area are testament to that time long ago.

Weather has been incredibly sunny and balmy with temps in the 70's and almost no wind. The smells are of spring. (It was in the 80's earlier in the week in SanBernardino with wildflowers blooming along some of the roadways!) All else is well here as we look forward to January 20, 2009 and the Inauguration. Be well and keep in touch...

Happy New Year 2009

All's well in our world here at the hot springs! We had a busy 2 weeks with lots of bathers from LA and LasVegas, many from Korea, where public baths are a tradition, and lots of campers on the way to or from Death Valley. Definitely looking forward to a bit of quiet that should come in the new year.


Father Christmas, as he's known in these parts, made a guest appearance along with Father Time at the annual Community Center Christmas party. The Center is pretty much the "center" of life in Tecopa and this whole area. It's located inside the RV park owned by Inyo County and operated by California Land Management (who Tom works for). The party brought together children from nearly 25 miles away along with RVing "snowbirds" far away from their families and homes in Washington, Oregon and even Alberta. Everybody had a good time. There is a post office two miles away, a library open a couple of days a week and a "Bistro" opened on weekends and special occasions. It's also where we had our new year's eve meal. Something to be said for walking to the restaurant, then returning home and bed by 11pm...I guess new year isn't what it used to be.

After watching the weather for the rest of the country, I realized how
much I missed the snow, but not enough to drive far to see it or touch it. After all, here the ground is white, like snow, year around. However, it's not very tasty or wet. In fact it's pretty salty stuff...alkali in fact. It's in the water and dries and wicks up through the ground. This area was formally a rich mining area for gypsum, talc and borax, along with gold and silver.




And for the real snow, you have to drive a ways into the mountains. Here the view is to the east towards LasVegas 80 miles away. This was about as close as the snow got this year (so far) Today temperatures are in the high 50's. Should be a great day for the Rose Bowl and Penn State!

Happy trails in 2009!