Back to Wickenburg

We’re baaack! There were really high winds predicted for Kingman and a huge surrounding area today, plus a very cold snap starting tomorrow, so we packed up on short notice and moved back to the Box Wash (at the Vulture Peak Trailhead), about 6 miles S. of Wickenburg. They’re having some wind here too, but only 15-20 mph, not the 25-30 mph predicted for Kingman!  And the nights here will be going down to the low 40’s, not mid-30’s.  We scored a really nice big campsite about 1/3 mile from Vulture Mine Road this time. Last time we were very close to the road, in a big gravel parking lot. Our new site has quite a bit of Teddy Bear Cholla though, and Roxie has already gotten a little clump of it in her leg hair, just from walking in the parking area! I caught her trying to pull it out with her teeth….no no no! She would NOT want cholla spines stuck in her mouth!  Deb came to our rescue with the needle-nose pliers while I held onto her leg and head so it wouldn’t get embedded. I learned that last time we were here that you can’t just pull them off with bare hands, as they leave little teeny microscopic hairs in fingers.  I guess I should start carrying the pliers while we walk.

I’m  very surprised to get a decent wifi signal occasionally here, especially since we are about 1/3 mile from the road! It comes and goes but I’m grateful to get anything at all. I couldn’t get anything when we were parked near the road last time.

We met up with our new friend Cheryl yesterday afternoon and had a chat-session. She is just up the road a little ways; I can see her van from here.

I don’t think we have any plans except I’m kinda hoping to experience some more of that good pie from Nana’s Sandwich Shop.  Deb’s friend Bernii is held up in Tucson waiting on a new windshield for her RoadTrek, and will be joining us here on Wednesday or Thursday, and by Saturday it’s going to be getting hot again here so we’ll probably leave for cooler climes.

Here’s my new view out the door. I am right next to a small palo verde tree that really doesn’t throw much shade at all. The bark is really VERY green! I had to look up “palo”. Palo Verde means “green stick” in Spanish, which certainly is appropriate! 

There are quite a few saquaro cacti here; I really love them. Those fuzzy cacti in the foreground are the Teddy Bear Cholla. Hey that’s a lot better than being around the Jumping Cholla, which can throw their spines at you if you get too close!

The desert is starting to really blossom. This is an Ocotillo tree, naked except for the strange blooms.

The creosote bushes are nearly done blooming, and where there was a bloom, now there are the cutest little tiny round balls of seed fuzz, like dandelions but tiny, only about 1/4″ in diameter.