Tucson 2

 Time to relax.  Take it easy.  We’ve been on the go since we left home. We really didn’t do much today. Walk Skye and read.  Didn’t even take any pictures until sunset.  Maybe tomorrow. It’s very windy lol I’m and occasionally it rained a little bit.  

Tucson

 While it started out as a fairly sunny morning it is now a chilly 45 with a lot of wind and frequent rain.  I probably should not call this a lot of wind, this west can be pretty windy.  

I went out shopping while Carlene did laundry.  I had to get a new propane/CO detector.  Ours expired 2 nights ago.  Also ran around looking for a proper replacement for that blown tail light.  Found a possibility online but nothing to buy today.  And checked out a gun shop while I was out.

Back at camp we walked around a few times with Skye.  There had been an RV show here and many campers are still on site, but closed up this afternoon.  Other than seeing a price tag that’s no different than just wandering the campground.

Just one photo today.  That’s a look south towards the ranch.  It looks really cold and wet down there.

Back to Tucson, Pima County Fairgrounds

 It was a bit cold and rainy last night.  A harbinger of the forecast for tomorrow.  But today was nice, sunny, and warm.  Kind of hated to leave the ranch.

Here in Tucson it’s the first 75 degree weather we’ve seen in some time.  Even if it’s cooler and wetter tomorrow it’s 1000’ lower than the ranch, which should make it nicer.  We’ll see.  We put in for 3 nights here.

Got in before 1 and got settled.  Went out for some groceries and took Skye for a long walk around the fairgrounds.  They’re setting up for some Jurassic fest.  Looks like there was a horse event this weekend too.  Some of the horse people had a huge screen TV on top of a trailer, must have been one of the monitors they use at music events.  At least 15’ across, with the main PA for a sound system.  Super Bowl of course!  But there wasn’t a big crowd tailgating.  I listened to the second half on the radio.  Pretty good 4th quarter!

The last 2 photos from the ranch

Camp, from the opposite side

Empire 11

 Cloudy today, we even felt a few rain drops on our hike. And I hear some more on the roof now as I write this. 

First we went to Greaterville. It looked good on the map. There is an old cemetery there, but all else is behind gates marked “Private no trespassing”. Even the cemetery!  Don’t really know the story behind that. 

Then up the road to hike a bit more of the AZ Trail.  Nice scenery. Met a horseback rider who had come 10 miles and was about to turn around. Coming back we met a guy on a bicycle who is from Conway NH and now lives in Sierra Vista.  

The cemetery. 

Another corner, more care

Can you spot the horse and rider?

Sunset

Empire 10

 Kind of windy this morning. Around 20 mph, but also right around freezing temp.  So the water didn’t freeze last night. 

Went on a couple hikes for a 5 mile total. The first one was from the end of a camping area 6 miles north of us.  It’s a bigger camp area with 8 sites on a road that’s maybe a half mile long. So well spread out, and today there were a couple open sites.  There were none a couple days ago when we came exploring.  So we hiked the road from the last camp out to a water hole.  It turned out to be a lot shorter than expected. So after that we went a bit further up the road to another side road with a few camp sites and walked from a gate out to a place near the dry creek bed and back.  

Skye was off leash for both and had a great time.  I believe she got another mouse during that hike.  She is apparently a good hunter in the tall grass.  

Time is winding down here.  We probably have water for the whole 14 day allowed time but Monday looks unfriendly.  Some rain and snow and a high of 40!  We think we’ll leave Sunday!  Probably back to Tucson to refresh the water tanks and do a couple things we didn’t get around to before. Then on to somewhere. 

At this remote camp someone had spent some time building a fancy fire place

A wellhead.  It used to be a windmill operation. Many of these have been converted to solar. The panels are on the right but blend in to the background. 

Carlene and Skye going out

One of the old windmills

Empire 9

 Another cold night and frozen pipes.  No damage, just no water.  I still have a jug from home, 4 gallons that I keep in the shower. 

Went up a road we have not traveled before.  Found Kentucky Camp on the AZ Trail. It’s an old historic gold mining camp in the process of rebuilding and restoring.  Then we hiked a few miles of the trail.  We made a loop of it   Going out the old trail and back on the new trail.  They are just the opposite of us   We go to great lengths to take a trail off the road, they took the trail off the grasslands and onto the road   

Returned by way of the feed store.  Got some dog biscuits and propane.  We were met at the door by the official greeters, two black labs.  

Sunrise this morning

Kentucky Camp:

Empire 8

 Never left the ranch today.  It was 17 degrees this morning and the water was frozen.  Must have been quite cold all night. We have had 17 here other years but not had the water freeze. Once the sun came up it warmed quickly and thawed out mid morning without any harm. 

After a quiet morning in camp we explored north of camp. Went up to the ranch site and toured that for a while.  Did some hawk watching going up and back.  Checked out some other potential camping sites. 

There won’t be any of the better photos tonight. They are stuck in the camera, no battery left in the laptop to move them to online storage and the camera can’t talk to devices (phone/tablet), only computers (desktop/laptop). I know there is a way, but I don’t know what it is and don’t have the adapter anyway.

Skye found a really good scent and went to digging!

She found a big mouse!  Did NOT want to give it up, she chewed on it for a while but did not seem too impressed with it.  She finally traded it for a piece of chicken.

The wildlife pictures are photos of photos, so they have some distortion.  

It’s the only way I could get them out of the camera tonight!

Saw 3 deer, once on the way north and again on return.  They hadn’t gone 200 yards.

This is the Empire Ranch house, built in many phases over 140 years.

Where can I get a shower curtain like this?

This is a working ranch and the cattle have the run of the land