All in all the weather here at Snowbird West near Salome this past month has been sunny and warm – cold at night – and it has just been a fun month of doing very little.
We’ve continued to enjoy time with friends and around campfires, although some nights I just liked staying in, all snuggled up.
The projects at the RV park have continued: I helped (very little) Sondi and Patsi re-vamp the shuffle board court. Mostly we just walked around camp and admired the hard work others were putting into their lots.
Many of the people staying here have decided to go for long-term leases, which means they can make improvements, have sheds on the property, and keep extra vehicles parked here all year. Although the park is only open from October through April, the yearly lease rate makes it an attractive option for those who would like property to park stuff on. It would have made great sense to us as well if we hadn’t just bought the Oregon property.
But that didn’t stop us from looking at local properties. We even found a place to buy – but we didn’t! We did discuss the pros and cons of having a winter home base here in Arizona, as we have off and on since we hit the road. But it’s not in our immediate future.
In addition to walking around camp and gabbing with whoever was out, we took the bikes out as well, exploring some nearby homesteads that appeared to be abandoned.
One day we took a drive into Wickenburg. A scenic drive took us by the Vulture City Ghost Town, but we saved that adventure for another time.
In town we checked out the Desert Caballeros Western Museum, which we were happy to see was open for business. It was a very nice museum with artwork and sculptures upstairs and some pioneer days room re-creations downstairs.
Our tickets also gave us access to a Navajo rug display a block away, so of course we checked those out. (Click here for our lesson in Navajo rug weaving video – or click here for the blog)
Wickenburg was charming town and after a delicious lunch we drove back home by way of Congress to check out the Escapees Park there.
Another day we took a four-wheelin’ trip up the Harquahala Mountain Byway to what used to be an observatory. Now the summit is used for modern microwave facilities to direct water through the Central Arizona Project canals.
It was a long, windy and rocky way up but there were great views of the valleys below that showed what an agricultural area is hidden there. (On the right below you can see how long and windy the trail is.)
That was a fun but costly adventure – because we broke a strut on the way down.
Ugh – another repair trip. Tom had tried having it repaired in Salome, but the guys there wouldn’t touch it and said it was lucky we were still able to drive! So we had to go into Buckwheat to get it fixed. We started out extra early because we knew we’d have to drive SO slowly. And on the way in, right before we got there, our fuel injector went out! Luckily the shop was able to fix both things in the same day. Another hit to the pocketbook, and we’re reliving the RVing phrase “it’s always something”.
Now we are moving on to Quartzsite to camp with different friends and attend the annual Big Tent event there. I was just getting in the groove of hanging out with everyone when it was time to leave. Saying goodbye to our dear friends left us a little sad to be moving on.
Although it’s pretty nice to be traveling again!
Happy Travels,
Peace & Love, Joy
Rightlaners 