Day One Done

Yesterday was the first day of Brenda's Scrambler (Calmare) Therapy and although it wasn't the instant relief she was hoping for today she says it is better than it was so maybe after a few more sessions next week, she will be good to go as far as the nerve pain is concerned.

Probably part of the issue with the slow start yesterday was the fact that after the treatment we hit an RV spot to pick up a new water pump, ours is on it's last legs and will need a replacement. Then we slipped into Costco in Mesa to pick up a few of life's necessities, before stopping at Basha's in Gold Canyon for some other groceries and the Shell for a little propane to keep Dogpound Anywhere nice and warm during the cool spell we are having right now.

Other than that excitement we have been just chilling here at Picket Post enjoying the every changing scenery and muttering about the cool weather.

Boxing Day, the 26th for our American readers, Max and took a little walkabout up and down some of the surrounding hills and tried to find some different scenery to capture.

Picket Post Mountain and the Saguaro's

Our friends heading out for a ride

Beware of the cuddly cactus or jumping cholla

Picket Post Mountain in the background

The picture above is almost the same as the picture below with a little bit of flash and definition added. No Photoshop though.

Max added in of course

And of course my walkabout partner, enjoying his freedom.

"c'mon let's go"

Tonight we headed into Superior to Hermanos for some Mexican food, it was as good as I remember it and the waitress was delightful. We came away with some homemade tortilla's and a whole Lemon Meringue Pie as well. Score

Where Have We Been

Well we pulled out of our last spot a couple weeks ago and headed back to our old stomping grounds around Maricopa. We spent a night at Gila Bend filling what needed filling and emptying what needed emptying and then invaded a friends yard in Thunderbird Farms.

Brenda had an appointment with her Doc back north of the Medicine Line so I fired up the old Buick and dropped her at Sky Harbor and she was off with Westjet for the northern ranges. Once she was on her way to pups and I were on our own for almost a week so we spent a little time wandering the desert, hitting the mill down the road to restock our firewood supply and of course a visit to Costco to pick up a few necessities.

After a couple of day of moochdocking at Lorrie and Trish's place it was time to hit the road. I headed to an old favourite spot east of Gold Canyon near Picket Post mountain. I can sit and watch this mountain all day as it is constantly changing throughout the day.

Picket Post Mountain

We didn't spend the whole week watching the mountain though, we did take a spin down the Ray Road and back around through Christmas, Az to Globe. Lots of cool scenery on that scenic highway.

Queen Creek Bridge

Cool Cactus

 The moon was hanging in the sky most afternoons and I tried to capture it without a lot of success.

Daytime Moon 

And of course it is Arizona so there were pretty nice sunsets

Brenda came back a week or so ago and then she had some Calmare treatments for her CRPS scheduled for this week, so each day we ran into Gilbert and got that out of the way. To bad this treatment is not available back home as it seems to deal with her nerve pain quite well.

We did get to watch the full moon rising, It was a combination of a Blue Moon, a Super Moon, and the next morning was a full lunar eclipse so it ended with a Blood Moon. January's moon is called a Wolf Moon and February is a Snow Moon so I guess this must be a Snow Wolf Moon. Not much snow around here but I still remember what it looks like.

Blood Moon

This morning we hooked the truck up and wandered our way down through Florence, Coolidge, Casa Grande and here we are back in Gila Bend catching up on laundry and tank management before wandering a little farther west to see some friends from back in Canada.

First Time but not the Last Time this Season

Brenda made it safe and sound down to Dogpound South and we spent the week just loafing around enjoying the great weather and catching up with our neighbours down here.

Yesterday I loaded Blue and headed out to a favourite trail over near Superior. We re-discovered this trail last year when we were riding near Picket Post mountain and figured there must be some way to circumnavigate it. Oh yah, Blue and I did pass right by Retired Rod's place over there in Mesa but thought maybe his neighbours wouldn't appreciate an organic fertilizer delivery on a nice Friday afternoon.

The whole gang, Suzi, K, Julie, Blue, Teresa, and Janet with Ted on the camera

 Hard to believe but this was, K, who has shown us most of our Arizona trails, first time around the mountain. It is a great ride and passes some pretty nice scenery along the way. Most of the horses there had a lot more riding than ol' Blue but he made out pretty well. A little sweated up but still stepping along at the end of the 11 or so miles. He'll get his trail legs back pretty quick down here after a pretty soft summer.

Good to be back on the trails down here in Arizona

Always nice to ride a trail with a little water down here in the desert

Looks like the fall colours will be along eventually but not in full glory for a week or two.

And these saguaro's have made it in the blog before and hopefully will again

I am hoping to get this blog a little more current than in the past few months but it will probably be more focussed on trail riding than RV'ing although we still do a lot of boondocking as we follow the trails around Arizona and back home in Canada.

Picket Post Mountain

Last weekend I loaded up Blue and headed out east of Apache Junction to the Picket Post Trailhead where a group of friends who are members of the Copper State Trail Riders were gathering for a couple of days of riding through some beautiful country. Of course as I have said many times we are not really a riding club but an eating club that happens to ride between meals. Brenda didn’t make the trip with us as Willow is still a little lame so Friday night I snuck up on ‘K’ and Teresa’s camp in the dark and helped myself to some green chili chili and some green chili cornbread that Linda brought along. Our good friend Dave Schmidt always says “It’s a damn poor bush ape who can’t feed himself”, I think Dave meant cooking for himself but I have found inviting myself to dinner with others works just as well, and the food tastes better. While we sat around the campfire after the meal the full moon was rising over the ridge to the east.

The next morning while I was cooking breakfast there was a full eclipse of the moon also but it didn’t photograph so well.

Saturday morning we headed off on the Picket Post trail, and Suzi, our leader, had found a great ride and even managed to make it into a loop so that for the most part we didn’t have to re-ride any portion, although on this ride that would have been no sacrifice as it was beautiful both coming and going.

Picket Post Trail VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

There was a lot of gradual climbing on the way out from camp so the turn around point was high on the mountain SW of Superior, Arizona at a point where you could over look Superior and a little farther along see the whole Valley of the Sun.

The Valley of the Sun and its 3 million odd residents are behind me as I took this picture but the haze kind of made the photo useless.

Sunday we headed out on a ride going the other direction from camp along part of the Arizona Trail. Within a mile or two we had to cross through some concrete culverts underneath Highway 60 and then it was off into the desert.

Picket Post Day 2 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Another great ride in the opposite direction of Saturdays adventure and seeing new country with every stride.

Yesterdays view point in the picture above was directly under the ‘t’ in Yesterday to give a little perspective of the amount of country we were covering. In total the two days of riding covered about 33 miles so old Blue was pretty happy to hop back in the trailer Sunday night and head back into the Valley for a week of leisure and loafing.

Here is a map with our two days of riding on it for those who are curious.

This week we have Ray and Paul working around Dogpound South on an irrigation project so it is a world of trenches here. Almost anywhere you go you have to hop a trench to get there. But when it is finished it will be nice as we will be able to supply the horses with fresh water and plant a bunch more trees without having to run hoses every which way around the place. That will make Brenda a happy camper.

Dogpound South Irrigation Infrastructure Project VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Along with the irrigation project we have been visiting with our friends and doing a little looking around for a new project to undertake, hint below, details to follow next week.

This weekend we are headed for the Constellation campground across from the Wickenburg Rodeo grounds to join another group that we ride with for a day in the desert up that way.