Cotton and Mining

 

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Arizona is known for the four c's, copper, cactus, copper and cotton.  I was surprised about the cattle and cotton but when it gets too hot in the summer they raise cotton instead of lettuce in the southern part of the state.  Here in Yuma there is a cotton gin.  The area around these mounds of cotton looks like it snowed with the ground covered  in white.   They gin the cotton and bale it and probably ship it to China. like everything else these days.  

The top picture is the entrance to a mine up by Quartzsite.  We aren't sure what kind of mine it was either copper, gold or silver.  There were warning sings not to enter the area.  There were all kinds of hazards listed but the scary one was hazardous gasses.  You don't want to get close to that because you would be dead before you realize there is a problem with the air.  

Quartzsite Sights

 We are in Quartzsite and we were digging for gold until the rain came.  It poured and even hailed but the hail was clear not the usual white stuff that looks like snow.   So the dirt is too wet to run through our drywasher.  We have been doing some metal detecting but no luck there unless lead is worth something.  

We have been doing some trail riding for something to do.  I thought the turtle in the picture was a big rock in the road and drove over it.  Luckily I didn't hurt it.  We decided to move it off the road so the next person didn't hit it.  Its tricky moving desert tortoises because they have a water bladder that they store water in and that's how they survive in the desert.  If they are threatened they will dump their water which they might not be able to replace fast enough so they could die.  I moved the turtle off the road holding it very close to the ground.  The turtle made it without losing its water.  We're not sure where it wanted to go but hopefully its on its way.  

We also stopped to look at this medicine wheel that a group had made out in the middle of the desert.  It's just rocks piled into the shape of a spoked wheel.  It was well done and had some pretty quartz rock in the middle.

 

Grand Canyon Railroad

When we were in Williams we stayed at the Grand Canyon Railway RV Park.  It's part of a big complex including a hotel and restaurant as well as the RV park.  The park is very nice with paved streets and long pull through, level, paved sites.  We were tired of our gravel, muddy clay site that we had for the summer.   If you stay here you get a discount to ride the train to the south rim of the Grand Canyon.  It is a very popular ride and seems to have lots of riders everyday not just weekends.  Some people had luggage being stowed on the train we figure they take the train and spend the night at a hotel at the Grand Canyon and then come back the next day.  You leave Williams around 9-9:30 and come back around 6pm so its a long day.  Everyone packs a backpack and we also saw coolers being loaded so they must have a picnic while there. 

Its fun to see the train unload and all the families with small children having to carry them back to the RV park.  The kids get pretty worn out from the long day .  Although the adults look pretty worn out as well.  We haven't taken the train but if we were asked to go with friends we probably would give it a try.  The pictures are of the old steam engine train.  They run a regular diesel locomotive and passenger cars nowadays but on holidays they do still have the steam engine going. 
 

Petrified Wood in Holbrook, Arizona

Wow it is nice to have good internet.  It was hit or miss at the campground this summer and even my phone hotspot didn't work well.  This made it hard to do the blog so I am very behind.   We left Clay Springs and spent our first night in Holbrook just ninety miles or so from our summer campground.  We like to make a short trip the first day.  We never know if we are going to have trouble getting the rig ready to tow after sitting all summer.  The campground has a lot of clay and our rig sunk a bit when the monsoons came.  So we weren't sure how much work it was going to be to get the truck hooked up to it.  Luckily we didn't have any trouble so we ended up getting to Holbrook before 10 in the morning.  They didn't mind the early check in and it was nice to relax the rest of the day after the challenge of getting on the road again.  

Holbrook is the closest town to the Petrified Forest National Park.  They have several petrified trees at the campground that are very beautiful.  It amazes me how much it looks like someone sawed them into pieces but they broke naturally that way.    We left the next day and went to Williams which is the closest town to the Grand Canyon.  The battery light came on denoting a problem with the charging system in the truck.  There was a mobile repair guy that came and put in a new alternator and at least the batteries are charging but there is still a problem because the battery light won't go out.  We called our diesel guy in Yuma and he said the truck was driveable and to bring it to him when we get back to Yuma.  We are looking forward to being able to sell the truck for something newer when there are more trucks on the market.  We are now in Kingman and will be in Quartzsite by the end of the month.

 

Pretty Bugs

These mountains contain some weird bugs along with some familiar ones.  The top picture has a red and black striped beetle kind of bug.  It has these weird little wings up by his head.  I'm still waiting to hear from a friend what kind of bug it is.  The other bug which is bright green is a praying mantis.  The ones I'm used to seeing are kind of brown.    This year there are a few mosquitoes around with some biting flies.  Many more bugs this year than last.

We are getting spoiled being here close to farms that sell farm fresh eggs.  The yolks are a very rich yellow color and taste amazing.  The little store by us sells fabulous bacon and steak.  So we treat our selves once in awhile to the meat.   The owner of the park has a ranch and raises lots of vegetables as well as cattle.   He even gave us a small elk roast from an elk that the owners wife shot last fall.  It was very tasty cooked on the grill.

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The One and Only Mattress House

Clay Springs, the little town we are staying in for the summer, has some unique features.  One of them being this house made out of mattresses.  The design is kind of like an igloo.  It is not lived in but the guy building and rebuilding this mattress house lives in a house on the property.  He starts to getting it looking pretty good and then the monsoons come.  I don't have a picture of it after the rains but it has pretty much come down.  We just aren't sure why he continues to rebuild it.  This is at least the second year in a row for this project.  Hope he isn't trying to make it into a rental -- renters beware.

We are trying to get out in the forest as much as we can but it gest really muddy after a good rain.  You don't know until you get out there if the roads will be passable or not.  The rain here is very spotty.  It could be a deluge in one spot and fifty feet away no rain at all.   We can have mud and dust both on our 4wheeler after a ride.  

 

Elk

 If you click on the pictures they will be larger.  We have been searching for elk every time we go out in the 4wheeler.  We finally have been having some luck seeing them.  The first herd we saw crossing the road had made a lot of noise while doing it.  The elk moms have to call to their babies to get them to keep moving.  They don't bugle like bull elk but you can tell the call from the females is coming from an elk.  We have to be on our way out to the forest by 5am so that we end up down where we see the elk in time.  I'm glad we only go out every other day so I get to sleep in some days.

We have also been seeing cotton tail and black tail rabbits, Abert squirrels, turkeys with chicks, coyotes, mule deer, the elk and of course the wild horses.  One of the other guys in the park goes out in the forest and puts on at least 50 miles each time.  He has seen big herds of elk and some groups of deer with huge racks (antlers) hanging out together.  Another guy that was going out with his granddaughter saw two bears.  We would love to see a bear again.  We will keep trying.