So long Needles!

A month passes so quickly when your having fun! Yesterday we hit the road for Cave Creek Arizona. I'm not going to lie… I had a tearful moment! We met so many awesome people…. So many genuinely  friendly, generous, welcoming, amazing people!! We just wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you, and hopefully we will see you again soon!

To Linda, Jim and the handsome Dude (sporting his turtle neck!). Thanks for being such amazing neighbours!! Thank you Linda for the cookies, the cabbage dish.. Haluska? The crochet lesson, the bingo day! I could go on and on!! Ok, I will! Thanks for letting us hang on your couch and watch T.V when we couldn't get any channels! Thanks to Jim and all his helpful RV advice! The GPS! The ladder loan, the movies, the last minute trailer hitch pin as we were about to drive away…. and most importantly the bug extermination! By the way… another one of those crickets hitched a ride with us to Cave Creek!! Thanks guys! We will miss you!

Thank you Mary and Wally, the grandparents of the park!! You were the first people to greet us when we parked the T@b. Always a wave and hello! Mary, we will miss your Sunday morning breakfasts and Tuesday night tacos! Thanks Wally for your endless cheer and never ending interest in our travels! To both of you, thank you for our final "Happy Hour", the "Happy Trails" cake and other goodies! When we mentioned a toaster oven would be a great addition to our travels, you ran across the street to grab one from your storage! Amazing!! We are currently warming up chicken pot pies!! No curry and rice! Yaaaaaaa!

To our good buddy and aspiring photographer, Jack! On our first day he came over to check out the T@b and took our picture. The next morning we woke up to our photo tucked under the BBQ! Thanks again for the great day out in the desert! What a blast we had on the ATV's!!! Thanks for your endless road trip ideas! I'm sorry we couldn't have seen them all! The Petroglyphs were something we wouldn't  have found without you! Last but definitely not least, our backs, hips and shoulders thank you for the memory foam mattress topper!

There are so many others, we could go on and on!! A final so long to fellow Canadians, Tracy and Carol! It was great to meet you! Enjoy the rest of your time in the sunshine!!

Also, thank you to locals, Mike & Nancy, the ageless couple! 4 kids! Who knew!!

Thanks to fellow ATVer's Earl (far right), and Dave (far left)! Graham had a hoot zipping through the desert with you! Two outdoor enthusiasts, who are hard working and always ready to help! Who brings a welding machine on an RV trip? Well a guy named Earl from Alaska does! LOL!

Shake, Rattle and Roll!!

Here we thought today was going to be a quiet one! We spent the afternoon cleaning up the trailer getting prepared for our departure to Cave Creek State Park in Arizona this Saturday. We took a break from the cleaning and took Mango for a walk. On the way back we noticed a small crowd of fellow campers and staff waving us over. As we approached we could hear the rattle….. This is what we saw!!!

Dave our fellow camper and ATV companion found this Diamond Back Rattler under his trailer! They should be hibernating by now, but apparently there are a few still slithering around looking for warm spots! Jose and his co-worker (not sure of his name. The guy with the beard. Graham and I have been calling him Mr. Bee Gee. You can see the resemblance). Anyways they shot him with a b.b. gun, then chopped his head off with a pair of garden shears. Gross. You can see it's still moves long after it's head is gone! Crazy!!!! They skinned it shortly after, and planned on cooking it up for dinner on the bbq. Tastes like chicken they say. We'll stick to eating the real thing thank you!

Christmas Tree Pass

On the recommendation of our friend Minnesota Jack. We headed over to Nevada yesterday to check out some petroglyphs in Grape Vine Canyon. We were not disappointed! The mountain area itself, "Spirit Mountain", is something to see all on it's own. The rock formations are beautiful and don't seem to match the other surrounding desert vistas. Rocks are smooth and round. They appear to have a different colour and consistency from the other rocks in the area. Some are piled on top of each other, as if someone purposely placed them there, like haphazard Inuksuks.  

After a short walk from the parking lot… and truth be known, thanks to the two couples that showed up shortly after us in the picture above… We changed paths and found the petroglyphs. The canyon features over 700 of these markings that date back to between 1100 and 1900 AD. Both the meaning and the creators are unknown! The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. It was amazing to have this spot all to ourselves!