Colorado River water

On one of our 4 wheeler adventures we followed a gravel road along a canal.  I took a picture of where two canals come together.  The top picture has a palm tree on the waters edge.  You can see how the truck is covered with brown palm fronds.  This makes an excellent habitat for bats, rats and other critters to live especially along the water.  People don't realize what desert dwelling creatures will use for shelter.  The one canal is taking water east of Yuma and the one going to right is going to the fields of Yuma and also to the water treatment plant to supply the area with drinking water.  People will also try fishing from the banks along these canals.  They catch catfish that have followed the current from the Colorado River into these canals.

All the talk of walls to protect the border don't mention the other deterrents in the Yuma area.  Some of these canals also go along the border.    A few weeks ago an illegal drowned in one trying to swim across the canal.  What they don't realize is how strong the current is running just underneath the water.  The other problem is the walls of most of the canals are concrete and steep so once in its hard to get back out.   The news reported that they identified the deceased as an illegal who had been deported several times and had been convicted of several crimes. 

Road to Big Eye Mine

We took the 4wheeler out to the Kofa Wildlife Refuge.  We have always wanted to go to the old Big Eye mine on the refuge but the road is terrible.  You need a major 4 wheel drive vehicle.  The road was a challenge even with the 4wheeler.   We got within 2 miles or so of the mine but had to turn around because we didn't want to be out there after dark.   It was a beautiful ride with lots of beautiful scenery.   Once you get way back in there it is very peaceful, no people noise at all.  Not sure if we will go back there again because even the road to get out to where we can take the 4wheeler off the trailer is very rough. 

We are enjoying the local Xmas lights.  A lot of people decorate so it makes it very Christmassy even if there are palm trees and no snow.  Hard to believe Xmas is right around the corner.

More Desert 4Wheeling

After the Thanksgiving holiday weekend we went out on the Barry Goldwater Range again.  We seemed to have the whole thing to ourselves.  Everyone must have worn themselves out over the holiday.  So we went almost as far south as you can go and then thought we would see if we could start over the pass through the mountains.   We didn't get far because the road was made up of the finest most powdery sand and our tires wanted to sink.  We were out there by ourselves so we turned around not wanting to risk getting stuck. 

We stopped along the way and enjoyed these rock formations.  Also the ocotillo (the bush in the bottom picture) were in bloom.  They get green leaves on the branches and pretty reddish orange flowers on top of the branches.  They brighten up the desert.  The wind kicked up and we started to eat dust so we headed back.  Jim spent the next two days cleaning up the 4 wheeler.  He hates to see it covered in dust. 

Fortuna Mine

We took another ride out in the Barry Goldwater Military Range.  This time we went to the Fortuna Mine(top picture).  The mine was very successful pulling out tons of gold until the vein ran out.  The story goes that some ranchers were out looking for some cattle that wandered off.  It got late so they made a campfire and spent the night.  In the morning they noticed that gold had melted out of the rocks they used to build their campfire.  They went up a dry wash to find the source and found a large quartz vein with gold in it.  The vein was worked for many years until it ran out.  There are many other holes and shafts in the area such as the one in the bottom picture.  These other holes were attempts to find the original vein.  The miners were never satisfied that they had found all of the gold. 

I found a job in the area at the local CVS pharmacy.  It should be a fun place to work and the hours and pay are good.  Its only ten minutes away and I can get there without dealing with much traffic.  Traffic is the only bad thing down here in Yuma.  Everyone comes for the nice winter weather and the roads get very busy.  I'm sure that bigger cities like Phoenix and Tuscon deal with a lot worse but its always hard to get use to traffic after a summer of being out in the middle of nowhere. 

Barry Goldwater Range 4 wheeling

We got our range passes so we could 4 wheel out on the Barry Goldwater Military Range.  Certain parts of the range are open to the public but you need a permit.  The permits are free and you can get them on line.  We traveled from where we live right on to the range.  It is less than half a mile from us.  We traveled south about an hour and half so we got pretty close to the Mexican border.  Its very safe since its on military land.  There are always jets flying overhead and rangers on the ground patrolling.  I took a picture of the tire drags they use.  They drag the road so they can easily see footprints.

Next time we will try to get all the way down to the wall/fence at the border and take some pictures.  I'm glad all the craziness is happening over along the California/Mexico border.  We are happy to be in "fortress" Yuma.  We did have an earthquake here today Monday the 19th.  It registered a 4.8.  We didn't feel it where we were standing but most people did. 

New Rhino Lining RV Roof

We had the roof of our RV replaced including the roofing on our slidouts.  Our old roof -top photo- was rubber and badly spotted.  When we washed it there was so much oxidation that it would just run white down the sides of the RV.  Our rig is now ten years old.  We could have had it recoated but that wouldn't last for more than a few years and wouldn't do anything to strengthen it.  Now with the new roof it is much stronger.  It's basically the same thing they use to coat the beds of trucks.  So now we don't have to worry about hail damage or a tree limb tearing it or the caulking around the edge of the roof coming up and water getting in and causing damage.  The new roof has a lifetime guarantee and the warranty is good nationwide.  We have been researching this for a while and when someone finally opened up a franchise here in Yuma we were ready to get it done.

They had to take everything off of the roof so they could spray around the openings of all the vents, air conditioner, etc.  They also replace all the plywood because they can't get all the sticky off of the old plywood so that it is clean enough for the spray on lining to adhere properly.  We were surprised and pleased to see they had cleaned all the vents and covers before they put them back on so it looks like we have brand new vents.   We also had them spray the the refrigerator vent cover and the air conditioner shroud.  This will keep them from disentergrating from the sun eating them.  This brand of RV roof spray on lining is a pretty silvery color.    Other brands that we have seen are a sparkly white.  We are very happy with our new roof.

Our Temporary Home

We are in Yuma and have moved into a rental park model while we have a new roof put on our RV.  It's something we have wanted to have done for a while and found a place in Yuma that does the job.  We are having the rubber roof removed and a spray on rhino liner type roof applied to it.  Its the same thing they use to spray in the bed of trucks to make it durable and resistant to scratches.  We have worried about  our roof getting holes from hail and tree limbs.  Now we won't have to worry because it's guaranteed for life. 

The people we rent our RV lot from here in Yuma also have park models that they were renting.  They are letting us stay in one while our roof gets replaced.  Its very nice but not a lot bigger than our RV.  The only thing that makes it bigger is the huge covered deck.  There is also a large adobe shed behind it with a washer and dryer and additional bathroom.  They are in the process of selling this lot with both park models for $120,000 and they are promoting it as a rental property.   The rental season down here is from November til March.  The rest of the year it's too hot.

Our First 4 wheel adventure

We got to Quartzsite and finally got to start using our 4wheeler.   The first time we tried it we took it on the roads in town and then out to the gold claims.  We quickly decided we didn't like riding on the roads and will stick to offroading.  We now put the 4wheeler on the trailer and trailer it out to the part of the desert we want to explore.   It rides very smoothly and it has a windshield so we don't eat bugs while riding. 

We've been discovering old mines that have been covered over like the one in the top photo or they have barb wire around them.  It is illegal to go into an old mine in Arizona but people tend to ignore the law.  The thought of snakes and other critters keeps us out.  The little brown marker in the bottom photo is a "road" marker.  Just a track in the desert and we have been having fun following these kind of "roads". 

More Colorado

We left Santa Rosa, New Mexico and headed south.  We had planned to go west on I40 across New Mexico and northern Arizona but the weather turned to rain so south we went.  We stopped in Elephant Butte, NM and visited friends and got our tires fixed again.  The valve stem extenders for checking the tire pressures were bad and they had removed them in Santa Rosa but wouldn't put new ones on the tires.  The tire guy there doesn't like them however it is too difficult to check pressures without them so we had new ones installed.  We down to I-10 and headed west into Arizona.  We stayed in Benson and then shot through Tuscon on a Saturday morning.  Tuscon is getting to be very busy with lots of road construction so its nice to get through early on a weekend.  Next stop was Gila Bend, AZ.  A very small town on the southwest side of Phoenix but they have a very nice campground.  We then headed up to Quartzsite, AZ to spend the rest of October.                     

We have finally gotten our 4 wheeler out in the desert and it rides very nice.  We have been checking out lots of trails and going places we've always wanted to see but couldn't get to with our truck.

Poudre Canyon

We spent time in Fort Collins, Colorado.  We like to go through Denver on a Sunday morning when traffic is lighter so we had time to kill in Fort Collins.  We took a drive up through Poudre Canyon.  It is a beautiful drive with the road following along the river.  The road is winding and gains elevation.  There are places to pull over and many people were fishing in the river.  We were lucky enough to see Bighorn Sheep up on the canyon walls.  We followed the road as far as Poudre Falls.  We then turned around and headed back down the canyon with a stop for lunch at a small resort that had a very nice restaurant. 

We thought going through Denver on a Sunday morning would make travel easier but there was still a lot of traffic.  We spent a night in an Rv park south of Pueblo and the next day we went to New Mexico over Raton Pass.  We got to Santa Rosa, New Mexico and Jim checked our truck tires and found we had almost no air in one of the inside dual wheels.  We took the truck to a big rig tire shop and they found that the tire valve extension was leaking and removed it.  We haven't had any more tire issues which is a good thing since the roads we have been on have been very bumpy and rutted.  It is time to spend money on road infrastructure.  The freeways and highways we have traveled have been in pretty bad shape making driving a challenge and taking the fun out of travel.

Terry Redlin Museum

After leaving Wadena, MN we got back on highway 210 and followed it the rest of the way across western Minnesota and into South Dakota where it dumped into interstate 29.  We stayed at a nice little campground in a cute little town called Summit.  We got stuck there an extra day because of high winds.  We made the best of it by taking the day and driving down to Watertown to the Redlin Art Museum.  The building and the grounds are impressive for being in a small town in South Dakota.   Redlin's paintings are known for showing cabin life and old homesteads with an interesting use of light.  Kind of like Thomas Kincade paintings use light.   The museum has three floors filled with paintings and two gift stores.   He passed away in 2016 after a battle with Alzhiemers.  They were displaying the last painting he was working on which he left not quite finished.   The museum is free and is well worth a stop if you are on I-29. 

We spent a few days in Mitchell, SD so I could get my routine medical care done.  The clinic is right next to Cabela's so that was convenient for both of us.  We found a tiny little hole in the wall place to have a bite to eat.  It was scary looking on the outside but it had gotten good reviews so we thought we would chance it.   It was clean and brightly painted on the inside and the burgers, fries, malts and onion rings were great.  Its nice to find a place that serves good food at a good price and is just a nice little family business. 

We are now in the Black Hills getting ready to leave and head to Wyoming and then down to Colorado.

On the road again

We said our goodbyes to Whiteface Reservoir and hit the road and are making our way slowly back to Yuma, AZ.  Our first stop for the night was a city campground in Wadena, MN.  I took a picture of our rig all hooked up with our new 4 wheeler - no more boat.  We are about six feet or so shorter now so it's a little easier traveling.  We are still longer than even a huge forty foot 5th wheel -- the longest they make- so we still have to use truck stops for fuel and stay in campgrounds with nice long pull-through sites. 

This is our first experience towing a small trailer.  We towed the 4wheeler around hitched to the truck and didn't seem to have any problems.  We hooked it up to the back of the 5th wheel and it looked good.  Well as soon as we hit bumpy road (most roads are bumpy) we noticed the trailer was rocking side to side like it wanted to flip.  We had to pull over and it looked like the 4 wheeler wanted to move back on the trailer just enough to put it off balance.  We stopped at a truck stop and bought more straps and added straps back to front.  We had it strapped rock solid side to side but that hadn't been enough so now it rides much better.

We are now in South Dakota not sure how long it depends on weather.

Beaver Breakfast

We have a family of beavers that live right across the lake from the campground.  For a few weeks they were swimming over to the campground and taking down some poplar trees.  They are building a new house in the bay directly across the lake from where we are camped.  It is amazing to watch them take down a tree, drag it to the water and swim away with it.  They also dine on the leaves and bark instead of dragging it away.  We have a fishing deck that is very popular and you could watch the beaver right from the deck.  They did not care if they had an audience. 

We are packing up and hitting the road this week.  Headed to South Dakota to take care of our mail since we had to change addresses from Madison to Sioux Falls.  We will probably go south down the east side of Colorado and enjoy some fall color.  We will be pulling our side by side 4 wheeler for the first time behind the fifth wheel instead of the boat.  We won't be quite the train we have been with the boat but we will still be pretty long.  A new adventure!

The "Root Beer Lady"

The Dorothy Molder museum in Ely is worth seeing.  Dorothy was the last person living in the Boundary Waters.  They let her stay until she died even though the Boundary Waters was a designated wilderness where no people or cabins were supposed to remain.  She became known as the Root beer lady because she made homemade root beer and sold it to the canoeists.  Thousands of people stopped to see her during the summer months. 

They moved all of her cabins and personal belongings to a museum site in Ely.  There was a very old tiny cabin and a summer cabin and a winter cabin.  You can walk through them and see all of the stuff she had obtained over the years.  It would have been difficult to get everything to her cabin because it all had to be portaged in to where she lived. 

They still make and sell her root beer and you can buy it at the museum.  We bought a six pack -- the money goes to the museum -- it was very good. 

International Wolf Center

We took a drive up to Ely, MN and stopped in at the wolf center.  You get to see the wolves through big windows overlooking their outside penned area.  They have four adult wolves that roam the grounds and a few more that are in a separate area.  The ones that are seperated from the pack are in "retirement".  Normally when wolves get old they are no longer welcome in the pack so to keep them safe they put them in a separate area.  They get fed once a week -- a deer or something equally big that they feed off of for the week.  They do get some sort of "snack during the week.  You can pay extra to watch them "feed".

Our boss was coming back to the campground and stopped in the road because a big "dog" was standing in the middle of the road.  It looked just like her German shepherd.  She thought someone lost their dog.  Just as she was getting ready to open her door and call it.  The rest of the pack -- 6 more wolves-- came out of the forest to follow their leader across the road.  They say that one of the biggest wolf packs in the state is in the area by our campground. 

Beaver Action

We had a family of beavers working hard.  They took down a poplar tree that landed in the middle of one of the hiking trails.  Jim sawed it up and threw the branches in the water.  The next morning (about 4am) we went out to see if they had come back for their tree.  Sure enough all six of them were feasting on the leaves and bark of the tree branches.  All they left behind were smooth shiny sticks when they were finished.  So Jim sawed up the trunk of the tree and threw that in the water.  The next morning that was gone.  Not sure if they ate the whole thing or carried off to store it for later.  The Forest Service doesn't like the beavers taking down live trees along the shore of the campground so we have kept quiet about it.  Its too much fun watching them, listening to them chew on wood and swim away with their meal. 

Its been a little hazy here with smoke from the fires in Canada drifting down.  Last summer we ate smoke for awhile in Idaho from all the fires out west.  Seems like we can't get away from fire and smoke in late summer.

Biwabik

Biwabik is a cute little Iron Range town.  They have this nice town square park with a moose statue which is a little different from most town squares but this is moose country.  It is good to see this town surviving through the mining crisis that hit the area until China stepped in and bought most of the mines.    Now a new mining effort is trying to get going to go after precious minerals -not taconite.  Its controversial because its so close to the Boundary Waters but with proper regulation it should be ok.  The Iron Range needs the jobs -- tourism isn't enough for most of these little towns.

We were hit with a notice that our mail service was closing.  The owner of the service gave all of us (3000 customers) four days notice.  Of course your residency depends on this address.  We will still be South Dakotan's with our new address in Sioux Falls but our insurance premiums went up -- health insurance skyrocketed --even though we only "moved" 30 miles.  Now we will have to get new drivers licenses and new licenses for our vehicles because in South Dakota your license shows what county you live in and we are changing counties.  UGH!

Surrounded by flowers

We have a flower garden on our campsite leftover from last years hosts.  The poppies have been beautiful and new flowers bloom all the time.  I don't know the names of most of whats come up.  They even had garlic planted.  It shoots up very tall and I guess you dig the bulb up to enjoy it.  I don't want to disturb it so it can come up next year.  There are wildflowers in bloom all over the place with all the rain we've gotten.  Spending time in the west in the summer by this time of year everything is brown so its nice to enjoy green even in late July. 

The mosquitoes have been ferocious along with every kind of fly.  Bug spray is our top seller in the little store we have.  I want to go pick raspberries -- there is a field of them and they taste great but unless there is a nice breeze you get eaten alive trying to pick them.  I learned about another edible berry here.  It is a type of service berry.  Here they call them June berries.  They are good but have a large seed.  We haven't seen any blueberries or blackberries.  You would think we would see bear activity around with all the berries but we haven't had any bear sightings. 

Our New Toy

We sold our boat and bought this Polaris Ranger.  The boat sold in one day.  I have to say Craig's List worked very well for us.  We got texts from guys that were interested in it almost as soon as it was posted online.  We pretty much got our asking price.  We had the boat priced according to the high retail blue book value so that folks would be able to get a loan for it.  That worked out very well with an overwhelming amount of interest from all over the area up here.  We sold it to a nice young family that plan to use it on Lake Vermillion.  They got a good boat and a good deal and we were happy to sell it to a nice family that will take care of it. 

We now have a 4x4 that we can take on roads and trails that we couldn't explore with a big dually truck.  We can't use it in the campground we are in now but that's ok.  The trails around here are very muddy and more for mudding then going for a nice slow ride.  We hope to use it on our way south maybe in the South Dakota.  We  can't wait to use it in Arizona to look for gold.  We are looking for places to go out west next summer where we can use it.  We are giving up walleye fishing and starting a new adventure going gold prospecting.

Another trip up the north shore of Lake Superior.  We went as far north as Grand Marais.  We drove through the campground.  It hasn't been improved -- maybe some taller trees now but that's about it.  The shopping is about the same -- very touristy but the donuts at the "world famous" donut shop are still very good.   It was only in the 50's and windy so we didn't stick around long.  We ate at Cascade restaurant on the shore.  The food is good and the view is nice but the service was a little slow.  We stopped at Cutface Creek rest area and walked the beach in the picture.  Its a great place to rockhound and you might find a Lake Superior agate. 

Well I'm getting ready to change our blog.  We no longer have the boat to tow behind our 5th wheel.  Soon we will have a side by side Polaris ranger and trailer to drag around behind us.   We will be looking for places to gold prospect instead of fishing for walleyes.   We will find out if we should have stuck with fishing. 

Gooseberry Falls

We have been having fun driving around the area on our days off.  Its only an hour to the north shore of Lake Superior from camp.  We checked out Gooseberry Falls which was running good from all the recent rain.  We haven't been on the north shore in at least twenty years.  It was nice to see that it is still a beautiful drive and you can enjoy some of the scenery for free at the rest areas along the highway.  We were disappointed at the campground in Gooseberry.  We didn't stay there just drove through to see some of the campsites.  The loop we drove had dirt for campsites and gravel road to get to them which was muddy from all the rain.  Maybe its nicer once it dries out and maybe they are going to tar the camp roads but I'm not sure it will be better any time soon. 

It is much busier at our campground now with summer in full swing.   People come in to the first come first serve sites at 8:00am although official check in time isn't until 2:00pm.  They don't seem to want to leave by the 1:00 checkout time if the weather is nice.  It makes it difficult to mow and clean sites when they are continually occupied from one minute to the next.  We just do the best we can. 

We Sold Our Boat

We have been thinking about selling the boat and thought while we were up in the heart of good fishing this would be the place to sell it.  We did some very minor repairs and then put it on Craigs list for the Duluth/Superior area listing.  We really thought it would take most of the summer to sell it but were we surprised.  We got immediate responses and one guy came out the same day it listed with money in his pocket but the offer was a little low.  By the next morning we had several very interested buyers. We sold it to a nice young couple with a cute little family.  They offered almost our full asking price which was great so we took it.  We had at least a dozen inquiries and several good offers but we went with the highest.  I had to text everyone that wanted to come see it and let them know it was sold.  One guy was very bummed because he was at the bank getting money when I told him it already sold.

We think we had it priced right at the highest retail price in the NADA listing.  It was in excellent condition and loaded with extras.   What we were hearing was it was hard to find a boat like ours in good shape.  Now we are thinking about getting a side by side 4 wheeler  that we can use in the desert and mountains. 

Foggy

After a very busy Memorial weekend we enjoyed our days off by taking a drive.  We had hoped to go fishing but the weather turned ugly.   So we decided to do some exploring of the area.  We went up to Virginia to do laundry, shopping and went out for lunch.  It was amazing to see that highway 53 had been redone and was all finished.  They had to move the road so they could mine under the old road.  It was only two years ago that they were going to start and now it is completely done and beautiful. 

We also went for a drive to Two Harbors on the shore of Lake Superior.  We are only about an hour a way from there and the road is very good all the way.  We got to Two Harbors and went to see the lighthouse.  Of course as soon as we got there the fog started to roll in so my pictures are very good.  I also took a picture of Lake Superior where you could see the line of heavy fog coming in to shore.  We didn't want to drive in pea soup fog so we got the heck out of there.  We hope to fish on our next days off.

On the Lake

We finally got out on the water and did a little fishing.  Mainly we were giving the boat a shake down cruise.  After the boat traveled 4,000 miles and hadn't been used for two years the motor started right up.  The only issue we have is we lost a little plastic tube for the live well so until we get another one we can't use the livewell to keep fish alive.  I guess we will have to be quick and catch fish and get them to shore and filleted before they get stiff. 

We didn't get very far out on the water because we didn't have much gas.  We don't like to tow the boat with a lot of fuel on board because it adds a lot of weight.  We did get to see the campground from the water and we saw one cabin and one old beaver house.  The lake is shaped like a big H and we are in the upper right of the H and we have only seen a small part of the upper right part so far.  It is a very popular fishing lake and the boat launch is jammed on the weekends.  People can camp on the islands and leave their vehicles and boat trailers at the launch.  There really isn't enough parking for either boat trailers or vehicles.

Fishing Opener on Whiteface

The campground was pretty much full this past weekend for fishing opener.  If your lucky enough to have a campsite on the water than you can have your boat on shore by your site.  The fishing was a little slow but most people caught something.  One guy showed us a picture on his phone of a 10lb walleye that he caught and released.  Jim is ready to go out and try to catch it himself and get pictures.  That size fish usually isn't the best eating so pictures are good.  The DNR law enforcement guy was on the lake.  He came to the office for some coffee at the end of his shift and said he was surprised at how many people were fishing without a license.  He wrote out quite a few tickets. 

I was going to take pictures of the sunset on the lake when I spotted something swimming in the water toward me.   Here it was a beaver.  I watched and saw another one coming toward the first one.  I followed them along the shore hoping to get a picture when they came out of the water.  I got back to a little cove and there was a third beaver.  They didn't get out of the water but continued down the shore looking for tasty trees. 

Ice Out

It was nice to see the ice melt away quickly once we got settled in for the summer.  The breeze coming off of the ice was cold and we have become winter wimps.  Opening of fishing is this coming weekend and we should be fairly busy.  Now its a matter of the lake level coming up.  Whiteface is a reservoir and Minnesota Power raises and lowers the water level to meet their needs for power.  We helped put the docks in but at the moment only small boats will be able to launch. 

We have been working hard to get all the campsites cleaned up -- leaves blown and firepits cleaned and trees trimmed.  The campsites have paved parking for vehicles and RV's and some have electricity.  Water is available at the water pumps around the campground and there are pit toilets but no showers.   They allow some people to camp for the season and some sites can be rented for a month at a time.  Otherwise you are allowed to stay up to two weeks.  You have to reserve sites through the rec.gov website.  We don't take reservations at the campground so there is no phone to answer which is nice.