Empire Ranch

 A bright sunny warm day to move again.  This time it was a short 40 mile drive south to the Empire Ranch in Las Cienegas National Conservation Area.  More BLM land with AZ State land adjacent.  We are parked here for a week before going to EOT next (more on that later).

Before we left the fairgrounds our neighbor came over to say goodby to Skye!  Crystal just had to; she had seen Skye a few times but hadn’t had much real contact.  Her black pants had real contact now!  We talked for quite a while, learning a lot about her and her family, husband & 2 kids, a small ranch near the Colorado Springs couple we talked with last night on the other side of us.  They’re trying to decide whether to buy land down here in AZ or Hawaii.  There’s quite a choice.

We got down here and fund our favorite spot was occupied and there were two rigs in our next fav spots.  But it turned out that one couple in a big Class A towing a Jeep had just arrived and was actually in the “road” choosing their camp site.  Will and Linda are full timers, he used to be a cowboy and then got into roping.  The other camper are friends of theirs, retired NY farmers.  Might be an interesting week as we get to know more.

After getting all set up, I mean more than we did before, generator, Starlink, extra solar panels for the cloudy days forecast.  So then we took a hike up the wash and back down the road.  A couple miles and Skye found her favorite water hole.  A well fed water hole for the cattle but this one is not all muck.  It has some algae but is clear water.

We have been in touch with friends from Richmond who are at a state park near here and some old cowboy friends I haven’t seen in a few years who live about an hour away.

This Javelina crossed the road in front of us

Our front yard view

Quite the wall in the wash

Skye got her wish to be a dirty dog again

Muddy paws from the water hole

Black streak on her back from crawling underneath the camper

Her second visit to the water hole 

Last year Skye found several deer legs

So here we go again!

Some things that didn’t get included yesterday:

Early this morning, about 4:20 AM

Coyote song!

Fish hook barrel cactus

Just a sprout, a young Cholla

Fairy Duster

Tucson 2

 It was a good day for cleaning  up our acts.  Get showers, wash the clothes.  Wash the dog.  Yup, Skye says she had a bad day, lots of abuse.  You guys who said “stop spoiling her” got their day.  We took her to the beauty shop, PetSmart, for a bath.  She is now pretty, clean, and sweet smelling.  She is not happy about that at all.  She is looking forward to visiting the cows at Empire Ranch.

While she was getting spiffy we took a drive around the loop at Saguaro National Park.  We get in there for something on most of our visits here.  It is such a special place.  While there we met a couple from Hartland VT.  They had flown over for a week’s vacation and were enjoying the amazing Saguaro forest.

Back at camp we had a long chat with the campers next door.  They’re from Colorado Springs and have been coming here about as long as we have.  They were saying how they used to have several friends to do this with but most of them had quit long term camping.  They all used to go to Quartzite, a very large BLM area in west AZ.  We have driven through the area and were not interested.  Maybe with a group.  

Today’s photos are all from the park  

Tucson

 It was a pretty interesting morning as we left our boondock site in Safford.  It seems like Safford didn’t want us to leave!  I had been looking at the way they graded the road at our site when they did the paving project.  I knew there was a chance that the trailer would drag as we came off the higher ground down into the ditch and back up onto the pavement.  I hoped it would be OK, but had doubts.  It turned out to be very well “grounded” doubts!  

We dug in the hitch Jack, I hadn’t anticipated that.  Back up.  Dig a trench for that and the rear jacks and try again. The ground was very solid from driving on it.  Got into the road but the rear jacks didn’t clear the ground. Back up.  I tried to remove the jacks, only 3 screws in each. But it’s frozen.

Carlene notices where someone else went out on another spot that was still soft ground.  We looked at that and I got out the shovels.  I come prepared.  Dug out that spot and gave it a try.  The rear jacks still hit ground so we dug some more and finally got out!  All that time only 2 vehicles came by.

After that going to Tucson was a breeze.  Got a campsite at the Pima County Fairgrounds with full hookups.  Water tank refilled for Empire Ranch.  Went shopping, got the gas pistons for the bed, if you recall that topic.  O’Reilly had them.  And some groceries.

After 9 days in remote country wi heard one coyote call  tonight at the edge of Tucson I hear a whole pack of coyotes outside the fairgrounds fence.  Twice.

Skye has an appointment at the doggie beauty shop tomorrow morning.

Digging out

Our favorite rest area, Texas Canyon, near Benson, AZ

Just a hint of what they do to overpasses out here

In camp.

“What’s next?”

Safford 10, Gila River

 We couldn’t decide what to do early this morning so we stayed in camp doing misc stuff.  After lunch we headed up into the Gila River Riparian Basin.  It’s a big scenic area preserving the Gila and surrounding areas.  Skye got her feet wet in the Gila and at our next stop we found a pond in the Bonita Creek where she got the full swim she’s been wanting.

A couple more sightseeing stops and we came back to camp.  Time for the Super Bowl!

I was going to set up the Starlink for the laptop to watch the game.  Seems like a lot of setup, with a generator to power it.  I’m listening on Sirius radio.  Trying to watch on the phone would be ridiculous.  What ball?  I could barely see the players!  I’m out of high speed connectivity for the hotspot to the tablet.

And now that the game is over I’m just as glad that I didn’t bother.  And I enjoyed the music of the half time show.  Not my typical genre but I do enjoy variety on occasion.

Not a good day for sports.  First Lindsey crashes and then the Patriots crash.  😩

The Gila River

More Coati info

The river actually flows behind this big slab of rock

A big green hayfield

The Happy meter