"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood... And sorry I could not travel both. I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference." --Robert Frost

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Deserts and Lakes

Surprise, AZ
Moochdocking


We have been out of touch for a couple months as we were so busy helping take care of family and getting warranty work done on the 5er (more on that in a later post), that I just could not catch up.  Now that it's May and we're back in California where we started, I'm working on it!

We were staying at Steve's Dad's place in Surprise, AZ, just NW of Phoenix for the month.  While we were there we needed to have the warranty work done on our rig before the 1 year mark (yes, it's almost a year!) and we took a couple of trips with some really good friends of ours.

It turned out to be a real eye opener as his dad and stepmom are both in the mid 80s and he has Alzheimers and other health issues and she is his round the clock caretaker.  Well she had gotten a very bad virus just as we got back from our first trip and I assumed that roll as Bunny could not get out of bed and was very ill.  I have added checking blood and giving insulin shots to my resume.  His dad takes mountains of pills and we had quite the struggle getting the correct ones doled out at the correct times.  That's 8 times a day.  And since he's also diabetic, he must eat at certain times.  This made for a very stressful and busy month.  Later in the month she caught the same bug and I once again took over.  I certainly don't mind and we were thankful to have been there when needed, but it sure became obvious some changes needed to be made so that some others could take over if needed.  We developed a type of back-up plan with lists of medications, when taken, etc.  Names of doctors, family and so on.

 
On our first mini-trip out we went in search of gold.  Yes, there is gold in them thar hills.  Did we hit the motherlode?  Well, let's say Steve won't be quitting his day job any time soon!  We enjoyed 4- wheeling around the numerous dirt roads with cactus everywhere and long abandoned cabins.
 
 
 
 

  
Doug & Dotty!!
 
Spring is here big time and besides the allergies that took us by surprise were the beautiful flowers.  Everywhere!
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ocotillo starting to bloom.  One of my favorites. 

  

In 1863, the same year that Henry Wickenburg discovered the Vulture mine, Pauline Weaver, a famous western prospector and scout, led a group of people organized by Abraham Harlow Peeples from Yuma into central Arizona Territory.
One night they killed three antelope beside a creek under the rocky hilltop. When some of the party searched for gold by the creek, a man named Alvaro clambered to the top of the hill and found gold nuggets. The creek was named Antelope Creek, the canyon on the east side of the hill became Weaver Gulch, and  the top of the hill that contained the ore became Rich Hill.
Three cities surrounded Rich Hill: Stanton, Weaver and Octave. Weaver was a colorful city named after Pauline Weaver who found rich gold ore on Rich Hill.
When the gold ore was depleted, the popular community of Weaver became a dangerous place and made the town of Stanton appear to be a nice place. Weaver became a hide out for thugs, con-men, deadbeats and killers. Some of them were hired by Charles Stanton in his fight for power.
Weaver's post office was established May 26, 1899 and was discontinued April 19, 1900 because it was also moved to nearby Octave. After 30 years with non law the gangs were definitely haunted out and Weaver became ghost town.  -- (taken from the apcrp.org website)



More and more rattlesnakes enjoying the sun besides us.

 
Those that know me know I don't care diddly about snakes.  But heaven forbid a bee or wasp buzzes anywhere near me and I'll be gone faster than you can blink.  This wonderful weather brought swarms of bees to this area.  Two went by right over our heads that day.  Swarms, not two individual bees!  Very loud and scary!  I know that sound and I didn't wait around to see where they were.  I ran straight for the truck both times so of course I didn't get any pictures.  YUCK!

Another day we went to a beautiful little lake called Goldwater near Prescott and had a great time kayaking.





Spring blossoms.

 
It was much nicer to share our surroundings with the ducks instead of the bees.
 

We also drove up to Gerome and did some geocacheing.
What a great trip!

8 comments:

  1. There you are :-) The water is beautiful, how nice to have so many "locals" to share it with. Nice that you could be there at a time when the folks most needed your help. It does really shine a light on the job it is to be a full time caregiver, really 24/7. Welcome back to CA. I'm looking forward to seeing how your warranty work went....ours is very slow :-(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm still trying to catch up, sheesh. Definitely caregiver is exhausting. Glad you're on your way to new things!

      Delete
  2. Wow, Debbie...you two were thrown right into the fire with Steve's parents. My definition of a caregiver is an angel on earth. Bless your heart for taking care of them.

    Jim

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We were glad we were there. It would've been very troublesome without family or others around to help them out. We're trying to line up some services to help out.

      Delete
  3. That looks like an interesting area with a ton of history. I would love to explore those hills and find my own nuggets!

    That is a tough deal with Steve's dad, I hate to see anyone go through that. They are lucky that the two of you are so mobile and were able to help out.

    Hope all is well in CA!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We are enjoying ourselves here, but no rest for the weary! Trying to see family, attend graduations and weddings/holidays etc. Phew! It's going fast! Steve makes sure to stop by 2 or 3 times a year to help out his Dad. His mind is still quite sharp, but his body won't cooperate :-( He's handling things a little better. For a while his pride would not let him accept the help nor the embarrassing parts of his disease.

      Delete
  4. Your scenery is so much better than ours here in Illinois. I know you're back in CA by now. Great photos and I'm looking forward to hearing about the rig warranty work. How is that roof doing? Can't seem to keep caught up on everyone and everything. Keep having fun and be safe. When are you headed to Glacier? Wish we could be there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Weather has been fantastic until this week. A little heat wave of upper 90s :-( The roof is great. I'm trying to get that post together very soon. I'm having a hard time keeping up too! We'll be in Glacier end of Aug.

      Delete

I’d love to hear from you! It’s more fun when you leave a comment!