Quick Trip Back to CA before Leaving AZ - Barn Demo!

Surprise, Arizona

Happy Trails RV Park

 

 

Before we head back to California to help my brother out with dismantling and cleaning up the mess from a large oak tree falling on his barn, we had a few more things to do in Surprise.  First off was meeting up with Curt and Glenda for dinner and a little geocaching.   This will be the last visit with them this year unless we cross paths later in California.

 

  

The next day there was some new geo-art placed in the desert just a few miles from where we were staying.  It was layed out in the shape of a cross (if viewed from the air) over a few miles. We had started it but wanted to get the rest of the caches before we leave for the season.  It was a warm and breezy day and we enjoyed the exercise and the surroundings.

  

Hurley thought it was hot though and cooled off in every puddle we came across.

On the way back he couldn't wait to get into the big one!

 

Then we finished up some rig maintenance, including replacing the anode in the hot water heater.  The new one is one the left, the old on the right.  We would be staying at my Mom's while in CA, so we locked up the rig and left it behind.  Much better gas mileage without pulling it along.

It was a long drive but we made it to Barstow for the night.  We were up early then arrived at my brothers to survey the damage.

 

It was nice to see everything starting to green up and flowers pop up.

 

I had to say hello to Blue and Baily.

Love those blue eyes!

 The pond was filling up nicely.

 Here's Steve moving :-) what's left of one of the main trunks that fell onto the barn and flattened it!

 And here's another part of the trunk that went the other way.  Luckily it just pushed the chicken coop off its foundation and didn't hurt anything else.

 

 This is a picture of where the truck split, falling opposite directions due to a bad windy snow storm.  Once it fell you could see that it was dying from the inside out.

My brother left Arizona a month ago to start the assessment, insurance and clean up.  I was surprised how much they got done.  There was only the skeleton of one end of the barn left up. 

 

Even so, it looked like a bomb went off and there were piles of items destroyed in the barn, wood that needed cutting, dump runs, etc.  We had some items in the barn also and luckily they were mostly unharmed.

 Piles and piles of wood that needed cutting, splitting, raking and burning.

I got quite the workout moving and stacking logs. 

One of the items we had in the barn was the original gas stove that was in our grandmas house.  Surprisingly it didn't get crushed but it did get dented in a few places.  Unfortunately with it sitting in the rain and snow for a month it was rusted badly and pretty much ruined.  We all had such good memories of this stove.  It also had a wood burning section.

  

   

I'm pretty handy with a crow bar.  After dismantling, everything had to be sorted and stacked.  You see the really sad part, besides loosing the barn and its contents, was that it was built in the 1800s and had historical significance to the area.  On the plus side, the old barn wood and tin was worth quite a bit.

 

We struggled with the weather as it rained half the time we were there to help.  I wish we could've done more.

 

Once the rest of the barn was down and we had all the usable wood and tin piled up, it was time to burn the rest.  Cut, stack, rake, burn.  Oh boy my back was killing me by the end of the week.  Luckily I was able to baby my shoulder somewhat and it didn't cause me much of a problem.

Before we head back to Arizona we were able to visit with most of the kids and my parents.  My Dad continues to do very well.  Of course the kids love to tease me how tiny I am compared to them.

Kaylee and Shane

We also visited with my sister and some friends at our favorite Mexican place.

Me, Kris, Doug, Deanna and Steve

 It was a beautiful end to the day.

 Last up was a dinner with Rick & Angie and Mike & Rose for Rick's birthday.  Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the rest of us.  We went to a Brazilian place and ate ourselves silly.

Happy Birthday Rick!

This picture somehow got mixed up with the rest.  This was in Quartzsite.

Diane, Glenda, Cori, Curt, Greg, Steve, Me and Steve.  Guy and Sue are somewhere in there too.

 

It was an absolutely exhausting week and time to get back to Arizona as we would be heading towards Utah in a couple of days.

We decided to go through Laughlin and Kingman at the end of January to get back for a change of scenery from I10.

We also drove through the now deserted town of Nothing, AZ.  It was established in 1977.  At its height, Nothing had a population of 4. It had a gas station and small store.  It has tried to be revitalized a couple of times but is once again abandoned.

As you drive down 93 towards Wickenburg, you pass an area full of boulders.  This one looked like Snoopy.  There are also tons of Joshua Trees here.

Fourteen hours later, we arrive back in Surprise.  Very tired, but happy to help out my brother.

 

Some last minute washing and waxing and we'll be back on the road, continuing north.

Snow on the Superstitions & Another Surprise!!

Apache Junction, AZ
Lost Dutchman State Park


What a difference a couple of days make.  The first half of our week here was cool, but sunny.  A few days later the temps dipped, the wind picked up and the snow started to fall.

 And fall.

 And fall.

 

 The clouds completely covered the mountains and it continued to snow through the next day.

 

  What to do when the weather turns bad?  Gather up our nearby RV friends for dinner!

Curt & Glenda and Guy & Sue had been in Gold Canyon already and Dale and Ruth had arrived just a couple of days before we headed out, so we all decided to go out for pizza.  Well, with the cold weather, everyone else had that idea too.  Rosita's was packed so Curt suggested we go to Los Gringos Locos.  Since it was National Margarita Day we thought that was a perfect choice. We all had a great time.  We were having so much we were asked to keep it down.  Nice to see you all before we head out.

  

 

The weather was nice on our last day, Sunday, so Steve was able to make it out for a hike.  Curt chose Massacre Falls Trail off First Water area.  Many trails go off in different directions from here.

Again, since it was a sunny day after a lot of very low snow, everyone and their uncle was out hiking or just coming out to take pictures of the snow.  It was magnificent!  Above is the Four Peaks Range covered in white. 

Our plan was to hike back to the Massacre Falls that were actually running with all the recent rain and snow.

 Glenda, Curt, Moi and Steve

This is the view around the corner from Lost Dutchman with what we dubbed, Little Weaver's Peak in the foreground.

 It was just incredibly green out here.  There was so much grass that it looked like it needed mowing.

 Thatsa bigga meata balla!

After 5 miles we still had a mile or so to go and it was getting late and we were getting hungry, so we headed back.

 Loved these pillars at the top of the ridge.

 One more view of The Four Peaks in the distance.

 Put 'em up or I'll blow your head off!  Oops, too late.

 Anyone drop a pacifier?

 It was a great 5+ mile hike and we decided to head out for dinner, then came back to our place to play cards.  Great time with you Curt and Glenda.  We'll see you later in the year we hope!

 

Our oldest son, Ryan, and his Fiancé, Diana, were in Phoenix for a couple of days for a wedding and it just happened to be while we were in Apache Junction so we drove up to Surprise to join them and Steve's Step-Mom for lunch before they had to fly out.  They will be getting married in August of this year.  Our first wedding!

 

Ryan, Steve, Bunny, Diana and Me. 

 Poppies, Poppies everywhere!

 It was a nice to see them again.  On our drive back to Apache Junction it was very strange to come upon this interchange to I-10 and not have another car in site.

 

And one more surprise...

 Our third son, Brennan asked his girlfriend, Alex to marry him while they were down in the Philippines visiting her family.

 She said YES!  They are planning to get married in 2020.  That's 2 out of 4 kids so far :-)

 Congratulations Brennan and Alex!!

We are very excited!

 

 We hate to say goodbye to the Superstitions.  It went way too fast.