We're Off To See The Burros

 Oatman, AZ   High 103   Low in Kingman 78

In case you need a break along this desert highway, one has been provided. 

 

 

Oatman is located on old Route 66 and is a typical tourist spot except for one major difference.The burros.

Oatman was named for Olive Oatman, a young girl traveling west with a group of Latter Day Saints to establish a Mormon colony in California. Along the way, in 1850, she was kidnapped by the Yavapai tribe and held captive for five years. In 1855 she was set free near Oatman, AZ.

In 1863 gold was struck in Oatman and the town took off. The boom lasted until 1941 when the United States entered World War II and ordered all Oatman miners to stop mining for gold and to instead excavate minerals for use in World War II.

When the miners left Oatman they turned their burros loose and their descendants are alive and well in the hills around Oatman.

 Leaving Kingman and driving south on Old Rte 66 you cross the Sacramento Valley before reaching Cool Springs at the foot of the Black Mountains. 

 

Cool Springs was an important stop for travelers on Rte 66 for gas, oil, water and other necessities. Before it was an oasis for automobiles Ned Beale and his camel brigade stopped in 1850 for water. For a fascinating read on the history of Cool Springs, check out https://www.route66coolspringsaz.com/history.htm 

When we stopped at Cool Springs this pick up pulled in beside us. How fun would it be to drive Rte 66 in your 1957 Chevy Truck or on your 1957 Cushman Eagle motor scooter.

 

Check out the old and the new Chevy trucks in the above picture.

Leaving Cool Springs you begin your trip up to Sitgreaves Pass. This road is not for the faint of heart. It is a very narrow winding steep climb up to Sitegreaves Pass. Your driver is not going to be able to enjoy the scenery.

Coming down the road from the pass we were stopped by the town's greeter. He (maybe she) just had to check us out and see if we had food to pay the toll.

 He wasn't happy with us since we had no food for him but he let us pass eventually. You used to be able to feed the burros carrots (we did that when we were here in 2011) but because the burros were becoming so aggressive, Wildlife Management has requested that you only feed them burro biscuits (alfalfa) that you can buy in Oatman. Like other wild animals, burros should never be fed human food.

Then we arrived in a madhouse. Oatman was packed with people. Absolutely no parking spaces anywhere, people walking in the streets, only three burros to be seen. As fun as it might have been to wander in a store or two, we just don't do hoards of people. So I took a picture of a burro and main street as we inched our way through.

 We reached the other side of Oatman and found a spot to stop to eat the lunch we had brought with us. Sitting there we saw a road runner. Didn't see Wiley Coyote though.

Leaving Oatman we decided to go back a different route and headed to Bullhead City. We didn't get far before we saw several more burros. There were many more burros out of town then in town which was nice for us.

These guys got a little pushy. But that's okay cause they were sooo cute. 

Saw this rock formation on our drive home. Remind you of anyone?

We accomplished our goal of seeing the burros. Time to head home and relax for a couple of hours.

 

Our Adventures Begin

 Kingman, AZ   High 92  Low 67

Jo's comment reminded me that I really should explain why we decided to head back to Montana instead of going to Northern Arizona for the summer. There are a couple of reasons.

One of the major reasons is the drought in Arizona. The lakes are really low and that does not make for very good fishing. I sure hope we have a decent monsoon season this year. The other reason is that Jim is feeling really good and wants to do some exploring as well as walleye fishing in Montana. His favorite thing to do. So we are headed north. 

We left Apache Junction on Wednesday and headed for Kingman, AZ. Everything was going great until we were about two miles from the rest area we like to stop at. It's just south of Wickenburg. Jim started to act a little disoriented and I knew right away it was probably his blood sugar dropping. He was able to get us to the rest area and parked. Got some orange juice and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and his blood sugar count went from 48!! to 145. The people who monitor his glucose machine immediately got in touch with him but he told them he wasn't alone and was getting some carbs into his body. It was also hard to find a place to park in the rest area because there were several police cars there and they had a whole area completely taped off. Nobody knew for sure what was going on but we all assumed it was probably somebody who had overdosed. 

Jim took a nap and then we made it to Kingman. We're in the Zuni Village RV Park. When we made our reservations here, they were a Passport America Park. When we checked in the woman told Jim that the day before, the owners informed her that they would no longer accept PA. (Passport America PA is an RV Club that campground owners can join and offer campers spaces for 50% off.) Since there are so many RVs on the road now due to COVID, I'm sure they do not have any problem filling the park with full paying campers. From a business point of view it makes no sense to belong to PA. However, the woman in the office told the owners that we were coming in and had made reservations several weeks ago and they told her to honor our reservation but we were the last ones.
 

 

It has been very strange to travel without at least one dog with us. No stopping for them to get out or for feeding or giving them water. No listening to Skittlez whine and carry on about being in the truck. No worrying about leaving them in the Bungalow or the temperature. It's been very lonely and yet much easier in some ways. We are adjusting.

April Showers - I Don't Think So

 AJ, AZ    High 97  Lows in the 60s

Spring ????? hit with a vengeance as far as temperatures go. Easter Sunday we reached 97 degrees. I am NOT ready for 100 degree days yet.  It cooled back down in the middle of the month. On the 26th it was only in the 50s when we got up and only warmed up to 69. By this Saturday - May 1 - we should see our first 100 degree day. Temps are all over the place.  We had a couple of brief showers. We need all the rain we can get. The desert is so very dry.

An April sunrise

 

Easter was another quiet day for us. As are most of our days. A special day to thank our Heavenly Father for giving us the gift of His son and eternal life.

April 5th we received more news to be grateful for. It was time for Jim's six month visit with his oncologist, Dr. Gordon. For those of you who may not know, back in 2012 Jim was diagnosed with lung cancer. The surgeon removed his lower left lobe and he did not have to have chemo or radiation. A couple of years ago a nodule appeared in his right lung and the doc has been keeping an eye on it. For the last two years there has been no change in the nodule or anywhere else in his lungs. We will see the doctor again in six months and then hopefully we can go to yearly visits. The only bad news is that we are losing Dr. Gordon. He has been selected as the Head of Honor Health Research for cancer, covid, and cardiology. We are really excited for him. His partner will be our new oncologist.

Dr. Gordon also made the statement that he did not expect Jim to ever have any more lung cancer. What better news could we get.

(I started this post the beginning of April)  Skitz is having breathing problems. Dogs are supposed to breath about 28 to 30 times per minutes. She is taking double that amount of breaths.  Her appetite is good - some days better than others. 

I think she looks so uncomfortable, but this is how she usually sleeps.

We had x-rays taken and they found that her heart was so enlarged it was pushing on her sternum and her diaphragm leaving her lungs no where to expand so she couldn't take a deep breath. We had to make the hardest decision ever.

 

As most of you already know, we lost our Skitz on April  16. We are slowly adjusting to life without a dog. It is very sad and lonely but we will not be getting another dog. At our age, taking care of each other is about all we can handle. And the heartache of losing another dog is more than we can endure. This will be the first time in almost 33 years that we have not had a dog.

Our next door neighbor, that is just here temporarily, made the mistake of asking me how I was doing the day we came home without Skitz. I burst into tears and explained why. They had to say goodbye to their 18 year old shih tzu a week and a half earlier. They were very kind and a little later she brought me some beautiful flowers to let us know they were thinking of us. Nice people. They still have two rescue shih tzus but both of them are getting older.

 Jim decided to get out of the house and went to a car show which was being held outdoors here in Apache Junction. There weren't very many cars but he enjoyed getting out. He wore his mask and stayed socially distanced.

He didn't realize he had taken this picture. 😃

 The Cars

 We finally went out to eat. For the first time in over a year. We went to Los Gringos Locos here in AJ with friends Paul and Paula. We sat out on their patio and had a wonderful time. Arizona has opened up and I will admit that seeing the servers without masks made me nervous. Wonder if going inside a restaurant to eat will ever be a comfortable experience for me.

We are planning to head out on May 12 for our summer travels. We will wander around until we get to Canyon Ferry MT for the months of July and August so Jim can do some fishing. 

We've been getting necessary work done on the truck and the Bungalow. Roof of the Bungalow needed new coating - check. Wheel bearings on the Bungalow needed to be greased - check - but - they showed Jim that we needed new tires. So new shoes on the Bungalow - check. 

 Our truck has been getting louder so Jim took it to a muffler shop and we needed two new mufflers - check.  The only thing left is having the transmission serviced on Monday.  

The Bungalow needs to be cleaned and packed and Jim needs to replace a dump valve and replace the anode rod. Then we will be ready to go. I will definitely be doing more blogging once we get on the road.

Skittlez

 AJ, AZ

March 30, 2004 to April 16, 2021

No words can express the depth of our heartache.

March - Leprechauns, Pots of Gold and Twins

 AJ, AZ   Highs in the 90s and lows in the 50s

WE HAVE BABIES!!!

The dove eggs hatched and we have two little ones. Our twins that we've named Mike and Ike. Have no idea how to tell male or female. Can't even figure it out with Mom and Dad. We are having so much fun watching the developments in the nest.

Jim got too close taking this picture and Mama fluffed right up warning him to stay away.

The other little one is underneath Mom or Dad.

The Twins - Mike and Ike

 

 It doesn't take long for Mom and Dad to throw them out of the nest. As soon as they are able to eat by themselves, it is time for them to move on. Out of the nest.

 

The little ones did stay around for a couple of days but not in the nest. We would see the on the ground quite often and then they were gone.

I got these eggs for Jim since they seemed so appropriate.

March 1 - I got my second covid shot. The nurse who gave me the shot needs to go back to shot school. It hurt when she put the shot in, the injection site bled, and I ended up with a bruise. Other than that the arm was sore but not bad. However, Monday night I had the mother of all headaches. I have migraines and this was definitely not a migraine. A totally different type of headache where I felt like my head was going to explode. Tylenol helped and by Tuesday night the headache was gone. Really glad that both of us have now had our two shots.

For the first time in forever and ever we had some company. Jeri and Terry stopped by after they got their second shot. We sat outside socially distanced and had a wonderful visit. Felt almost normal. 

March 11 was a sad day. One year ago Rocky Joe crossed the Rainbow 🌈 Bridge and left our broken hearts behind. We miss him.

 

St. Patrick's Day was spent like most our days. But we did decorate a little bit out front.

March 30 - This was a big day for us. Skittlez celebrated her 17th birthday. We have had her since she was two months old. She's always been a strange little dog so she fits into our family quite well. She does have several health issues and we aren't sure how much longer she will be with us so we treasure every moment we have. She got to share some ice cream with Dad but no cake.

 

Spring has arrived here in the valley and it feels like summer. Our temperatures have been hovering close to 100. April could be a very warm month. 

February 2021 - The Month of Love

 AJ, AZ   Very warm highs in the 80s and lows in the 40s

Weather here in AJ has been beautiful this month. While most of the rest of the country is experiencing below zero temperatures, blizzards, massive amounts of snow, no electricity, no heat, no water, tornadoes and earthquakes - we are truly enjoying our warm sunny weather. However, there will come a time when those warm sunny days get up above 100 and it won't be quite to wonderful.

Night after night we are treated to incredible sunsets to enjoy.

Jim and I watched the Super Bowl in our own home. We were both really torn about who we wanted to win. Jim really likes Patrick Mahomes but Tom Brady is such a legend. It was kind of neat to see the "old" guy win again.

I got my first shot this month. Paula drove me over to the stadium in Glendale while Jim dogsat Skittlez and Callie. The only reaction I had was a sore arm for a day. Hope the second shot on March 1 goes that good. Jim got his second shot and really didn't have much of a reaction. A sore arm and a little tired. I was so happy when they stuck that needle in his arm I cried.

Love Day arrived without a lot of fanfare this year. We did celebrate with a ribeye and crab cakes from Seafood Market and Restaurant. It was so good. Jim let me have a couple of bites of his steak and it didn't cause a flair up of gout which was extra special.

Jim won't be going fishing for a few weeks yet. A pair of doves decided to build a nest on his boat. He took the nest down but the next day they had kind of rebuilt it and laid an egg. Well, we are not going to disturb babies but were worried that the egg might roll off the boat. Jim built a retaining wall to protect the egg. Both Mom and Dad left the nest for a few minutes and Jim got a look in the nest. Now we have two eggs. Hopefully they will both hatch. 

Update - we still don't know if there are babies or not but our hopes are fading.

Skittlez has had a few bad days. We did take her to the vet and they wanted to do a thousand dollars worth of tests to tell us what is wrong with her. But because of her age and heart there isn't anything they can do. So we brought her home and she rebounded and is back to doing what she does best. Eating and sleeping. Her back legs are really getting worse so we carry her back and forth to her pee pads as much as we can. She is not in any pain except her arthritis and she is on gabapentin for that. We are just spending as much time with her as she has left and letting her know how much she is loved.

 Our son Todd is really into racing remote control cars. He drove over 500 miles in -32 degree weather to raced in Jamestown, ND. I try to remember that I would have done something like that when I was his age but not anymore. I don't understand the differences in the classes but he took a third and a first place. Now he needs a trophy case. He had a great time and returned home to his very understanding wife safely.

When I think about looking, we also have some pretty sunrises but not as colorful as our sunsets.

The rest of the month has been like the last year has been. Absolutely nothing to blog about.