March 8 through March 17, 2006 (WiFi Addendum at end)

Wednesday March 8:

We are up late and slow to start, but today is laundry day in Bullhead City, and we want to recycle our used motor oil while in town too.    We intend to go to Walmart for some supplies also.   We pass Sam's club here, and re-notice they have gas.  We pass the ARCO station that requires cash;  they are still $2.259/g.  AutoZone takes our oil with only our phone number in exchange.   Laundry is fast, at N35.12231, W114.58734, after squeezing into a forbidden parking space behind the building.  Internet was not reliable here, but we received email OK....could not send.  Sam's has gas for $2.279/g, and with our 1% cash back credit card they beat $2.259 cash; we FILL FULL.  We found time to stop at Davis Dam on the way home for pictures, as the day was unusually CLEAR.  

The bridge at left over this dam has been closed to through traffic since the New York twin tower attack.  It's a shame, as the lake view from the bridge is spectacular, but now only available to pedestrians.  We turned back, and arrived 'home' at 4:45.

Thursday March 9:

Today we showered before leaving Katherine landing, then dumped and filled water on the way out.  We stopped in the Kingman Flying J for propane (WHY do we stop here?  It is the WORST crowded zoo every time we stop). We then continued to the Surprise AZ Super Walmart. There is a lot of desert to pass through on this route.

The folks in Wikieup try to spice it up a bit.  :)  The Walmart in Surprise was more crowded than last time, but we managed to secure a spot in the far corner of the lot where security had asked us to go last time we stopped.  We were ready for this day to end...it seemed long and tiring.

Friday March 10:

Today we shopped Walmart…Claire's hip is doing MUCH better after my massages, and now it is the knee that bothers her most.  However, she still walks slowly and limps noticeably….but this stuff takes many weeks to work out….we'll get there!  We drove to Flying J in Phoenix to dump and fill fuel...it was cheaper here than at Sam's in Bullhead City where we last filled!  After showering and filling water we headed east on US60 toward Globe, where we would stay overnight at a Walmart in Claypool.  The wind was blowing strong, with dust becoming airborne and limiting visibility.

I can imagine this getting much worse...as bad as thick fog....if the wind really got strong.  We abandoned  thoughts of visiting campgrounds in Tonto National Forest when reports surfaced about the roads being unsuited to RVs....   The drive through Phoenix was busy and hectic, even in mid afternoon.  The traffic on I-10 was stopped for miles going west due to an accident...we were thankful to be going east.  US 60 east of Apache Junction became ever more hilly and difficult to drive in the wind, but there was not a lot of loose dust to blow in the rocky mountains, so we could see the beauty.

We were both happy to find the Walmart at the bottom of a valley in Claypool, which obviously (from the smell) had some copper processing going on, although the mines and mills appeared MUCH less active than in some former times. ...many appeared closed.  

This is an interesting place to see, but not one where I would want to stay a long time.  Claire went to bed with two aspirins for her headache....I listened to the NOAA weather radio and found that a winter snow warning was in effect for our area above 4000 feet tonight and all day tomorrow.  We are now at 3300'....the route to Safford on SR70 must be checked for elevation...if it is too high, we will spend tomorrow here!  We have full propane, full water, full gasoline....and no quiet hours on the generator.  We can have all the heat we want, and the cellphone is 5 bars digital too, with free weekend minutes coming up.  What better place to wait out cold rain or snow?  :-)

Saturday March 11:

It rained heavily during the night.  We were across the road from a high spoil bank from the mining operation, and I wondered how stable it was in heavy rain...could it slide toward us, as in mud slide?  

We have a lot of road to buffer any slide, so I'm not too worried....YET.  The forecast snow line is now below 2000 ft;   heavy wet  snow starts falling before noon, and continues the rest of the day Saturday.   

In early evening, electric power in town went out, taking all local radio stations and the NOAA weather transmitter too.  We do not miss the electricity much, with our generator, other than not being able to buy anything in town, but we DO miss the weather radio station and the local broadcast radio station with highway closing info.... a weather radio station without backup power is really not the greatest in a weather emergency like this is becoming ....  :-(  Before the power went out, we heard on the radio that US 60 to Phoenix (where we had come from) and Show Low was closed....we're stuck here until this storm blows itself out, and melting starts.  We had things to do; I spent much of the time getting our webpage updated and uploaded....the cellphones continued to work. We listened to the CB for a while, but there was little traffic moving...and no trucks who would be using the CB went past.  I guess the road closing is really being observed.

Sunday March 12:

The storm pretty much blew over during the night, and temperatures rose above freezing.  The AZ road condition phone number I had gotten from a local radio station before they went off the air due to the power outage said US70 to Safford was clear at noon Sunday.. . after I was finally able to get through to it.  I scraped 5 inches of heavy WET snow off the roof of the RV with our windshield squeegee, to get the extra weight off the roof before we moved..

The other RVs who have sought shelter here seemed to be in no hurry to move...but I kept thinking of that hot spring waiting down the road.  :)   There was water under the roof vent hatches that dripped in when we opened them...it must have wicked up under the drip edge.  At least we could now open them with the weight of the snow gone from the covers.  A few Walmart employees gathered in the lot chatting, but said the store would remain closed until power returned.  Some confirmed that US 70 was open to Safford.  :)  We soon started out, finding the roadsides covered with snow at first, but rapidly melting.

 The snow covered mountains were certainly beautiful!  The drive to Hot Wells Dunes was uneventful and fast, and as altitude fell, snow disappeared.   Near the end we did run into an unusual obstacle in the road....

This area does have open range, so I guess they figger they have as much right to be here as we do.....  The town of Safford and Hot Wells Dunes had no snow at all, just a brief rain shower;  those steamy tubs were GREAT after the cold snowy time!!  :-))

Monday March 13:

Not much to do at Hot wells Dunes but soak and hike.  Claire can't hike now.....  :-(

So we soak!  :-)  But we start working on her problem in the hot tubs, with massage on the sore hip muscles.  It appears to be helping!  :-))))

Tuesday March 14:

Today I cleaned the generator air pre-cleaner.  It was overdue and DIRTY.  The paper filter seemed OK, so no damage was done. However, the generator is located near the rear tire, and I noticed a thorny dead branch sticking to the tread of the rear tire.  It must have been picked up on the last tire rotation as we stopped, or the thorn holding it would have broken freeing the branch.  I tried to pull it off, but broke a fully imbedded thorn off in the tire tread..... this is NOT good!  I could not budge it by hand, not enough left sticking out to grip...so went for the pliers.  It came out easily, but was frightfully long to be fully stuck in our tire....

The thorn is to the left of the pliers in the above photo.  This would cause a certain flat as it worked deeper into the tire if I had not discovered it so soon....it is 1/2 inch long!   Needless to say, a full 6 tire inspection was made immediately, and all the thorny brush limbs in our track were removed.  There is danger in the desert other than snakes!

Wednesday March 15:

We're about waterlogged by now, and after a morning soak decide to push on to Show Low for the night, and then go through Petrified Forest National Park before continuing east on I-40.  The route took us back through Globe, near Claypool before turning north.  I did not do much research on US 60 north of Globe...it was a nice looking red road on the map, a US highway...what could be the concern?  Oh well, yes there WAS Salt River Canyon showing on the map...ho hum, so what?  Bear Mountain at 6424 feet?  Oh, well....  That is what happens after 4 days of hot tub soaking...don't really care if I DO die....  :-))  I must have been watching this Mexican trinket on the dashboard too much...

We went into this day's run FAT DUMB and HAPPY.....  US 60 north of Globe turns out to be a curvy mostly high mountain road ...and snow is piled up on the side of the road....

Fortunately it's only wet on the roadway... but after dark it will freeze here!   There are steep switchbacks down into the bottom of Salt River Canyon, in 2nd gear at 5000 RPM, with brakes needed to keep the rpm from going higher,  and back up the other side...in first gear at 3000 RPM and 25 miles per hour...

This is a beautiful drive  ...really GRAND from the hindsight of a survivor.  :-)  Would I have planned it knowing?  Not sure, especially with the snow....and there is snow piled HIGH in the Show Low Walmart parking lot when we arrive too, and parking spaces we could use were scarce.

 We got into a tight parking spot, with our usual ground guide for such situations from the non driver, and prepared dinner.  After dinner we needed to shop, and I noticed the sign hidden by snowbanks…"No overnight parking or camping".  :-(  We decided to ask, even though we did not have much alternative in mind as dusk was falling fast, and with it the temperature....maybe if we BEG?  :-)  The Customer Service Manager called the manager who said  "How many nights?".  When we replied "one", he said "sure"...  :-))  This is a high cost area....we declined to buy gas here at $2.49 ....we don't need it THAT bad.  It does appear to be a mountain resort area that is expanding rapidly, and isolated also.  Folks must drive a LONG way for any alternative, and transportation costs into town must be higher also.  

Thursday March 16:

This morning the water melted from snow is frozen on the parking lot.  I look out to see my vision of RV hell….snow piled high and ice on the roadway.  Claire mentions that last Saturday was worse….and I agree, as this sunshine warming us through the windows takes a lot of the devil out of this place.  But last Saturday HERE at 6540 feet, when they got nearly 40 inches...YIKES.  No thanks!  By 9AM we expect the ice will be melted most places and we will head for Petrified forest, then Gallop NM for overnight.  This time we will park closer to the Walmart store than our last time in Gallop to avoid panhandlers.  Petrified Forest was nice, snow in spots was pretty, it is high desert but the dry washes are NOT dry!  We'd seen this park before, but the road through the park was on the way, and with the Golden Age pass it's free, so why not.  One loop was reported closed, but we'd both had enough walking by that time, so we did not even try to go there.  We looked for fuel near the NM border, expecting low prices on the AZ side, but everything was $2.50 or higher...UNTIL the very edge of AZ a truck stop had gas for $2.39.  We can get it in Albuquerque for $2.35....but need more fuel to get there comfortably.  We took 16 gallons.  We arrived at Gallup by 3:30 PM, and I thought it might be better to go the extra hour to Grants to avoid the pan handlers we'd experienced in Gallop 4 years ago....funny how bad memories stick!  :-(  We had not planned for Grants, so were uncertain which exit to use...but billboards helped, and we chose the right place first try, and Walmart was visible from the exit.  We did not recall it as a super from former visits, but it was in the same spot.....and there were RVs here!  We're home!  We had no NOAA weather radio service here, but local radio stations carried enough weather info to warn us that the same winter storm that threatened further west was a factor here too for the weekend, and it was going to be COLD....under freezing, maybe mid 20's, with a chance of snow, especially in the mountains.  We have friends in the Albuquerque/Santa Fe area, but it does not look like this is the time to stop....after checking out the jewelry here, we need to get ourselves and this RV further SOUTH!  Claire finishes her leg exercises and massage, and I turn in.  It is warm now, but will be freezing by morning here at 6400 feet elevation.  I'm starting to notice the dryness and unease I associate with high altitude, and force myself to drink plenty of water several times in the night.  Claire is up in the night reading, unable to sleep

Friday March 17:

Left Grants early, intending to spend as much time in Albuquerque as possible before the storm hit.   We stopped at Flying J for gasoline (until we saw the price had jumped 10 cents in 2 days), showers, water , dump and propane.  We found two fire engines with lights flashing surrounding an RV with its bay doors open in the RV parking area.  We parked in the restaurant parking area, and I asked what had happened.  I was told the RV had started smoking and a passing driver had used his fire extinguisher under the RV to put out an electrical fire until the fire dept had arrived, with their HazMat team due to the propane on the RV and the fuel in the Flying J station.  There was no restriction on fueling at the gas station while we were there, but the fire was out by that time.  The RV was new, only a couple thousand miles on it....scary!  We showered, put on water at the gas island, dumped, and prepared to wait a LONG time for propane as the RVs were lined up into the street.....then I checked the propane, and found (rather unbelievably) that we really did not need it, even with all the heat we'd been running...OK!  Outta here!  We found on street parking near Skip Maizells jewelry store on Central Ave, and I fed the two parking meters while Claire walked the two blocks and shopped for an hour.  I was lucky enough to find internet here also, and could pay the home town taxes on line while I waited.  When Claire returned we drove to Sam's on Eubank Blvd, filled fuel, shopped (bought some canned green chilies to take home) and then parked overnight behind the Walmart, where a sign said parking is limited to 24 hours....THAT IS NICE!  :-)  The weather forecast is still saying snow in the mountains north and west, but is not really certain what will happen in the city.....I think we've about used up our weather luck, however, and we'd better beat feet outta here to the south tomorrow while we can!

PLANS:  That's it for this edition...and probably for this trip, folks!  It's January 13, 2007 now, and sorry this part's been so VERY delayed.  We have lots more photos, but it's almost a year since we've done the traveling, and even with the daily log, memories do fade.....and we have the whole fall 2006 trip from home to Florida to cover too. The next page will give an idea why this was delayed... and perhaps why we had a bit less enthusiasm for our usual outdoor activities and this RV Adventures webpage this past year.  Here's a hint; Claire has a brand new shiny metal hip, which she needed badly, the operation on December 19, 2006 went exceedingly well, and we're at home in MA recovering with physical therapy.  We're eagerly anticipating more RVing, hiking and biking that we can both participate in fully, while the RV sits out most of the winter of 2006-2007 in a Florida storage area.  If you want the gory details on our chosen fix for her osteoarthritic hip problem, a newly FDA approved surgical hip resurfacing procedure, check out the next page, "Claire's Birmingham Hip Resurfacing".  We'll leave most of the gore to the referenced video links, we promise!  :-)  Until we're back in action.... ENJOY!  ........... Barrie & Claire

WiFi ADDENDUM:  We've had considerable interest in our use of a donated satellite antenna dish to improve the performance of our Hawking HWU54D USB WiFi adapter.  This adapter as purchased plugs into the computer USB port, and comes with a 6 dBi gain attached antenna with 90 degree beamwidth; it works out MUCH better than any internal WiFi adapter in a computer, and with a USB extender cable can be used up to 16 feet from the computer, further with an active repeater extender cable.  It is powered from the computer USB port, so all you do is unplug the connector to remove your connection, replug it to reconnect which takes maybe 30 seconds.  Under many situations it works perfectly, but at extreme range or in the presence of lots of nearby strong interfering signals, such as found on a Walmart parking lot, it doesn't work reliably.  More gain, and ESPECIALLY more directivity, to put interferers in a low gain sector of the antenna, would be helpful.  Hence we began our experiment with a discarded satellite TV dish generously donated to our cause by friends.  The Hawking was attached to the dish feed horn with rubber bands, facing into the reflecting surface.  The dish was suspended upside down with a rope over a hook mounted on the wall above the drivers or passengers seat (obviously this antenna is useful only when parked anyway).

Aiming is accomplished by moving the dish and leaning it against the seat, window, or anything else to support it while the rope is moved over the hook to achieve the desired angle with some semblance of stability given by friction of the dish against its rest surface.  Sometimes an extra turn of rope around the hook helps.  It's not terribly precise, but we try to connect, then use the signal quality indicator in the Hawking software to peak for best results.  It allows connection from many Walmart lots, where we never had success without it.    It also extends line of sight range considerably....we've seen at least 1/2 mile over water, maybe more.....but of course range goes way down with rain or snow falling, or in fog.  Hope this helps someone.... Barrie