Leaving Pine

This poor creature is lying near the side of the road. I wonder what happened? And I wonder if it’s an elk, or a cow. Hard to tell since his head is missing! I think from the size of the ribcage, it’s a cow.

I guess I’ll be leaving here tomorrow or the next day. Rain is in the forecast, and I met my camping neighbor today who said if it rains here, it becomes one big quagmire. I don’t think I can stand going through THAT again.  Plus my friend Donna from Cottonwood is coming to visit this weekend, and it’d be nice if she could  actually get her camper in.  I found a site at Flowing Well, several miles closer to Payson, where I camped for a while last year. It’s a big gravel parking lot with trails going down to the E. Verde River (which actually flows all year long!) There’s also a nice vault toilet there, and with the gravel, there shouldn’t be any mud.

I thought about going to the Clints Well Campground but instead of rain, they are supposed to get 1-3″ of snow on Thursday! And lows in the high 20’s. So maybe I’ll look at that again in a week or so.  I was surprised that all the little forest roads that lead to the beautiful free campsites were gated shut. I guess they still have a lot of snow up there at 8500′.

I went out today to pick up an Amazon package that was sent to General Delivery at the Happy Jack post office. I wasn’t sure where it was so followed my GPS directions…..sigh….which took  me 20 miles too far, and ended in the middle of nothing in the national forest! Isn’t it funny that when the GPS says “You have reached your destination”, you can’t believe there’s nothing there. I drove up an additional 1/2 mile before I decided she was wrong. So that 40 miles of wasted gas cost added another $5 to the cost of my vitamins.  I called the post office and the lady was very nice; gave me directions and said she closed at 1:00 but she’d wait for me. I got my packages and admired her bunch of shih-tzus including two adorable puppies and 4 or 5 adults. I told her I had a cousin; a Havanese and she said “Same thing, only from Cuba”.  Well, not really, LOL! Havs don’t have those smashed faces; they have real actual noses. But I didn’t disagree with her.

She told me that the Happy Jack Post Office is the smallest in the whole United States! I believe it…it’s in about a 10×16 metal storage building!

Thank you so much for remembering to use my Amazon Associates link when you order goodies! Even small orders help with # of items sold, and that’s what the percentage is based on, along with total dollars spent of course. I REALLY appreciate you! Here’s the link:  https://www.amazon.com/?tag=litbitliv01-20     There’s also a link at top right, called “BUY IT AT AMAZON” in blue letters.