Something New and a Couple Old Things - AZ

Surprise, Arizona
Happy Trails Resort

(a reminder this blog is from 2019)

                             

It was Steve's birthday (starting a NEW decade!) and he really wanted to go to one of those Hibachi style restaurants where they cook in front of a table of several people.

We shared a table at the Sakura Sushi Teppan with another couple that was celebrating a birthday too.  Turns out, her and Steve had the same birthday.

Birthday Girl was on the right and visiting from New York.

We ordered a birthday desert for us and them.  It was a nice dinner.

And now for some OLD. We don't usually get much time out while we're in Surprise so this time we decided to check out some different locations in the Phoenix area.

We have never visited the Vulture City Mine which is only a half hour or so away so we decided to take a drive.

It was $10 admission to get in and walk around the grounds.  The Vulture mine began in 1863 when Henry Wickenburg, a prospector from California's gold rush,  discovered a quartz outcropping containing gold. The mine was named Vulture City. The town had a population of several thousand with a brothel, mess hall, and post office. 

Old Wells Fargo Bank

The Brothel

Many of the buildings have been rebuilt.

The Hanging Tree

The bullion was kept below ground in this hole.

                         

Hurley wasn't afraid of any of the supposed ghosts that hang around.  He sure loved the green grass.

My Grampa used to own a Flying Ace Gas Station.

It was hot but we really enjoyed the mine and the stories the staff told us.  They have done a great job with the grounds. 

After the mine tour we drove down the road to the Verde Flat Cemetery.  There are several unmarked graves.

This is the only marked grave in the cemetery.  The Boy Scouts have placed white crosses on the other graves.  There are also many unmarked graves.  Valencia died of Diptheria.

On the way back we came upon this sharp right turn.  Think they have enough signs?  

We also stopped at this memorial sign we spotted on the way in.

Then out of the corner of my eye there was this creation just off the side of the road in the middle of the desert.  Funny, but creepy too!

We also took a stroll through Wickenburg.  While we pass through it constantly, we've never really walked through town. We window shopped and had a great lunch.  Too bad none of the museums were open.  We'll have to stop by again.

Some little sculptures around town.

Henry Wickenburg, founder of the Vulture Mine and the town of Wickenburg.

On the way out we spotted this fancy aluminum looking Tesla.  Interesting.

Meeting Up with Friends, Getting the Rig Weighed and a Surprise Repair NV/AZ

Boulder City, NV
Elks Lodge
--------------------
Congress, AZ
Boondocking

A short drive and we arrived at the Elks Lodge in Boulder City, NV.  This has to be one of our favorites.  It's in town nowhere near train tracks or freeways.  Right behind the building but set back and very campground-like.  Beautiful landscape and nice pavement with W/E.  We were just here to overnight on our way in to Arizona.  

Our main reason to stop here was to finally meet Pam and John of Oh, The Places They Go!.  They have been RVing for years and are the hikers I'd like to be.  They are always hiking someplace great!  We met at a nearby Mexican restaurant after they showed us around the cute town of Boulder City.

We enjoyed the views of the river and colorful mountains on our way to Arizona.

While having lunch in Kingman, we decided to get the rig washed since it was right next door.  Poor thing was so filthy after all the boondocking we had done.  We usually wash and wax it ourselves but one or twice a year it's nice to have Blue Beacon do all the work!

With a crew washing both sides it gets done so quick!  We just have to dry it off and we're on our way.

It was a 4 hour drive to our friends new place in Prescott Valley.  We met Skip and Tammy in Colorado and have stayed in touch since.  They're both retired fire fighters from the area and decided to move back to be closer to family.

They took us out across the valley from them in their ATV and they showed us some old abandoned homesteads and ovens.

Not sure the history on these ovens.  I'll have to look more into it.

The Prickly Pear Cactus were ripe so we collected a few to be used for later.

They also took us to an old spring that is still running.

We wandered around several old home sites.  We found many old objects left behind and admired them but left them where they were.

An old brick.

Not much left of this old place.

View looking back towards Prescott Valley.

Me, Steve, Tammy and Skip.

We hiked around some and also found a geocache while we were out here.

We got back in time for Skip's famous BBQ while Hurley played with their new puppy, Sadie.  She was 6 months old but slightly bigger than Hurley.  He's good with puppies but not too sure what to make of one bigger than him.  She was very energetic and Hurley is less enthusiastic in his old age.

"Please let me in!  I don't want to play anymore!"

While Skip was BBQing I carefully cleaned, skinned, smashed and juiced the Prickly Pears we collected.  And voila! We had some tasty margaritas!

Cheers to a beautiful sunset!

We thanked our friends for the FHUs at their place and the wonderful time together the past couple of days then moved on to Congress where we'd be getting our rig weighed.

We had an appointment to get the truck and trailer officially weighed at the Escapees Park in Congress.  We're not members but they will weigh you for $40.  We boondocked a mile away on some BLM land near the area of Ghost Town an Cemetery Roads.  It's a nice area and not as spooky as it sounds.  Even though the Old Congress Cemetery is right there.  Cool cemetery.  The location of our spot was 34.1920 -112.8490 near the back.

It was getting dark pretty quickly so I didn't get too many pictures.

We had a nice large area but it was a bit uneven so we had to unhitch.  We also drove in very slow as we didn't want to get all dusted up after our nice wash job.

The next morning we got up early and headed to our appointment.  This is the third time we have been officially weighed since we went on the road.  We have been about 300lbs over the first two times and this time it was nice to see that we got down to only 100lbs over.  We might be able to whittle that down a bit more, but not too sure.  Everything else was reported great as well so we were off to Surprise where we spend most of October at Steve's stepmom's.

As soon as we set up we noticed something looked off.  A quick look and Steve saw that a bolt had worked loose on one of the hangers.  It had bent it pretty good. 

We had an RV Tech come out and weld a new hanger and put in a new wet bolt.  I like repairs when they are simple and rather cheap. About $350.

All is well again!

Next up some new sights in the Phoenix area.