Pictures don't come close to explain how bad the winds have been lately! 30 to 40 Miles per hour with gusts over 60! Looking at the weather map on TV at night this Colorado River Valley area definitely gets the worst of it each day and off course we're right there!
Everything is covered with fine dessert sand inside and out, I've pretty much given up dusting things off, not that I did much of that anyways lately.
We're rocking and rolling so much in the RV that it feels we're at sea sometimes, something that freaks out Sadie but lulls Merlin to sleep. It must be the same when we're traveling because that's all he does when we're on the road.......sleep.

...Oh Grand(ma)pa,..what big teeth you have...   !

 

Well, we're approaching the end of our stay here and so before we go James, as always, is doing a mad dash to accomplish everything he was supposed to do here at the campground.

One of those things, that really wasn't in his original scope of work but added on later, was improving the WiFi system.

As at a lot of other campgrounds it really mattered in which space you were to get some sort of a decent signal here and there were areas that basically didn't get any. You had to go to the rec room or the office.

James felt he could improve this significantly, got the go-ahead of the owners, and set out to costume-make a better system by adding 3 new routers.

 

                        Lots of measuring, drilling, cutting, gluing, clasping and muttering...........

...and spray painting...because you're either a perfectionist or not...

After putting everything together it (they) had to go up!

The ladder needed some 'dead-weight' at the bottom so he got several people to volunteer, amongst which was me, on whose head he than proceeded to drop his mobile phone .... ouch ...!
I came away with a cut inside my bottom lip (nice fat lip that was for a while), thank you very much ....!





Everybody has a fantastic reception now, 4 bars or more, so we have very happy costumers at the moment.
It is a pet peeve for a lot of people to be promised free WiFi and than not getting any reception and I can't blame them!


Other than windy it has also gotten much, much warmer lately. The temperatures have been hovering around 90 this last week and they're predicting triple digits by next week!
Time to get out of dodge!

The flowers love the heat.

Which we're going to do by Sunday if everything goes according to plan.
We both worked our last days for the campground last weekend so we're off (Yahoo!) and James has one more day at the golf course to finish tomorrow.
I've put together a tentative, very slow, route North, mostly depending on the weather.
We've been in contact with Steven from the West Yellowstone KOA who has informed us that although they've had a lot of late snow and they still have some snow flurries now and than it's also rapidly thawing everywhere. They expect us around the 7th of May so we'll take our time to get there.

We're working on our bucket list of things to do before we go. One of them involved going to the Spirit Mountain Casino and have their Fish & Chips and Fried Shrimp specials for $5!

 

 

 

I'm not doing so well with deep fried stuff but keep forgetting when I'm hungry so this was another "I can't believe I ate the whole thing" -thing!

When do I ever learn.... sigh..? 

 

Finally, we made it to Kingman last Wednesday!
Although the weather forecast talked about high winds and cooler temperatures we decided to go for it and we were glad we did because it turned out to be a beautiful day.
Blue skies, not a cloud to be seen, comfortable temperatures and only a little breezy now and than.
The first part of our ride took us via Oatman through the Black mountains and the Sitgreaves Pass on an old part of Route 66 with steep grades, very narrow, roughly surfaced  road, and sharp (hairpin) curves, all 122 of them!
Understandably, this part of the highway does not allow vehicles over 40 feet!


 


While the steep winding hills can be a bit scary, we were rewarded with some fantastic views.

The Sitgreaves Pass at 3550'

One mountain that stands out on the east site of the pass is Thimble Mountain. It is a butte that rises from the flat desert floor.
We pulled of the road at a very tiny parking area and enjoyed the beautiful view of the (Sacramento) valley while having a nice cup of coffee.
Ahhhh, the good life!


 

The rebuilt Cool Springs station on this site of the pass used to be a gas station but is now a gift shop offering Route 66 souvenirs and one of a kind Cool Springs memorabilia. It’s about the only sign of life along the drive.

'Since this part of Route 66 was all but abandoned when bypassed by a new straighter alignment of Route 66 through Yucca, Arizona, that did away with the need to traverse the steep mountain grades of Sitgreaves Pass (Interstate-40 follows this newer alignment of Route 66 across the desert today), it also meant the end for the Station.
The final blow to Cool Springs came a few years later. In the mid-sixties, a fire burned it to the ground.' 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since 'our' part of the valley doesn't have any cacti I was surprised by all the flowering Prickly Pear over here. I totally forgot about it being the flowering season in most other areas!

Off course the one on the right is not a cactus but pretty too (if the pic wasn't so blurry) , it's Apricot Mallow.

 

  

 

After another 20 miles or so we arrived in Kingman, Arizona, often called "The Heart of Historic Route 66."

It lies in the middle of the longest uninterrupted stretch of Route 66 and 'Mother Road'- nostalgia is showcased in its art deco roadside motels and eateries, neon signs, Route 66 Museum and the community's love of classic automobiles.

We didn't feel like going through a museum but were quite hungry so we opted for lunch, and going back in time, in 'Mr. D'z'!

 

 

This Route 66 diner is an old fashioned diner, serving traditional diner fare, and is best known for its homemade root beer and pizza.

The diner is loaded with Route 66 memorabilia and gained a lot of additional fame when it was visited by TV talk-show host Oprah Winfrey and friend Gayle King during a road trip. She liked the root beer so much that she donated bottles of it to her studio audience.

 

 

  

 

We had a root beer float (delicious) and opted for the all day breakfast items of biscuits and gravy (excellent) and chicken steak and eggs (yumm).

Driving (steeply) down from Kingman (3,333 feet) to the Colorado river at Laughlin (535')

After a little shopping side trip to Walmart in Bullhead City we made it back just in time for Happy Hour and desert.
( I know, strange combination, but I'd made these great strawberry oatmeal bars and we just had to test them)
The picture looks a little fuzzy but they were sooo good!

 

 

 

Oh jeez mom,... not the garland...... 

 

Happy Birthday, dear Sadie, .......happy Birthday...to you.....!

(very hard to take a picture of a black dog face, I had to lighten it up in Picasa which makes her look rather brown. She is, in fact, still glossy black))

 

This Monday was a happy day as we celebrated Sadie's 14th Birthday and were visited by our best friends (and camp-host mentors during our first 'gig' in 2010) Joe and Deanne!

They workamped in Yuma during the winter and are on their way 'up' to Spokane for their summer job.

The day had been a warm one but it cooled off to just the perfect temperature for a great BBQ!

 

Everybody looking for a shady spot....

                                 

Joe and Deanna brought some delicious steaks and I'd made James mom's famous 'overnight salad' and an apple pie for desert. 

Boy, was it all good! 

 

 

We had a great time sharing stories about our winter adventures and since they stayed overnight in a site across from us we continued our conversation the next morning over our 'traditional' coffee break together! (See December 2010)

It's impossible not to have a great time with these wonderful people and it's always very hard to say goodbye again.......!


                                 

Miss you already guys!

 

We might see them again this summer though since they are going to workamp for 2 months in  Missoula, Montana after the job in Spokane!

 

Finally we have some nice flowers going in the front yard. It looks so much better with a little color:

 

                                  

Caesalpinia gilliesii or Desert Bird of Paradise on the left and Oleander on the right.

Pretty, but both very poisonous!

 

 

The bougainvillea totally froze, all old canes died, but it's coming back vigorously with new shoots all the way from the roots....

And this is all of a sudden growing in the fields while I wasn't watching for a few seconds ..... I'm pretty sure it's cotton again!

Since insects don't scare me much I took a very close 'up' of this guy, almost picked him up to relocate him to a sunnier spot, only to find out later that he's actually pretty nasty if you make him mad!

 

 

It's a Lytta magister (also known as the desert blister beetle or master blister beetle). 

...."The “blister” in the name refers to the beetle’s ability to pop a blood vessel in the joint of a leg, which causes the insect’s yellowish blood to ooze out. The beetles do this only when they are upset. For example, when held firmly by a (dumb) person (Ha!)
The 'blood' is not only bad smelling, it’s downright dangerous, capable of causing skin to blister painfully "....

Right. Not smart. (Me)




 

 

                                    Saltcedar, Tamarix ramosissima
                                                                          

I had to look real hard this time in this rather ugly desert that's surrounding us but I found it .....SPRING has sprung....again!



          Velvet Mesquite (Prosopis velutina)

 ?

 

Quite a lot of the 'snowbirds' are starting to leave us, slowly moving back to their summer places, mostly somewhere in Canada.          
                  

So instead of a full-on potluck we decided to go for a cocktail hour with appetizers this month since there's only such a small crowd  of us.

 

      

'Only some appetizers', ....yeah.... right.... there was still plenty of course!

Puh, I don't know what you're talking about....

We had some famous visitors from blog-land staying a couple of days at the campground this week. I don't know if you ever read the blog but this is the Scholl Bus of the Scholl family.
I never met anybody before that I've read the blog of, it was so cool to say hello and tell them that I'd been following theirs! Sometimes I feel a little lonely out there! (It doesn't help that mine is private, I know)
But maybe I've seen or met more people who blog but just don't follow, or recognize, them?
Their bus is hard to miss of course.

One of our guests had a little bit of a too good of a time at the Spirit Mountain casino and drove into the wall at the campgrounds entrance!
It was quite a crash but fortunately he was unhurt himself. His car fared a little less good and the wall got the worst of it as you can see.
It was quite the 'talk of the town' for a while. Nothing ever happens here.....

 

 

 

Having Iced coffee at Sharron and Merv's site

 

Wow, did it get hot this week! Temperatures of 92F(31C) to 95F(33C) !

…de mussen vallen van het dak! This Dutch saying literally translates to it’s so hot, the sparrows are falling off the roof.

I had to look this up (of course) and found out that this saying has actually nothing to do with sparrows falling off a roof but dates back to times when lots of the farm roofs, for insulation purposes, where covered with moss (mos). During very hot and dry weather the moss would crack and parts of it would fall down.
When the moss wasn't used anymore, the saying became misunderstood and the 'mossen' changed into 'mussen' meaning 'sparrows', somehow making more sense to fall of the roof when it would be hot enough. Not that it would ever be that hot in Holland!

Merlin found a cool(er) spot in the basement

 

It got warm enough to turn on the air conditioning (my limit inside is 86F), mainly for the dog (right), who has a thing lately that she only seems to want to be inside the RV for some odd reason?
I sure like to be able to cool down the bedroom for the night too tough and I'm also happy our electricity is free!!

My tomatoes are much happier these days and are coloring quickly now. They taste so much better than the ones from the store!

 

 

Since James has been promoted to greens superintendent he now has his own office :

                                                                 And a big workshop....

                                                              

So know we have free golfing at the Los Lagos golf course which is a step up from the Lake Dessert one. The grass, aka, the greens, are definitely much greener over here and the warmer weather has brought out the flowers (African daisies)!

We're golfing in the late afternoon again, around 5pm, when it starts to cool down a bit and are just making it through 9 holes before it gets to dark to see where you're going.
It reminds us of Lake Arrowhead where we used to do the same thing almost every day when we were members of the Country Club up there.
You usually have the course to yourselves and the evenings are so beautiful and quiet.
  
I've started a new knitting project for which I'm using the very first yarn I ever spun. I just liked to have it hanging around as a colourful 'hank' and proudly looked at it as my first spinning achievement but I finally decided to make something useful of it.





So guess what I'm knitting in this heat? Gloves! Off course, why not?
And yes, that's pretty crazy, I guess, but at least they're fingerless ones :)!

The warm weather has brought the farmer out on the fields again. Who knows what he's doing, just plowing away...

 


He has help from this little yellow airplane that makes long passes over the fields. I can't SEE that he's spraying but I'm pretty sure he is.

 

  

 

I don't think I want to know what it is.................