Around CA , a trip to Bouse AZ, old mine & Long Beach

Bouse was an old military camp and they have a small museum in the desert.

A natural arch in the desert near the old mine.
An old furnace at the mine.
Old wooden bridge on a road no longer used.
Over view of part of the old mine.
These seagulls were waiting for a chance at lunch. Coming in for a landing.
This guy was getting his lobster traps ready and the seagulls were lined up for a free lunch.
Sunrise in Bouse-our friend had to get up really early to get this shot.
Sunset from Parker back to Bouse AZ.
a yard in Bouse AZ. on a day trip to see some friends.


The road into the campground are of Prado after the heavy rains. We were told that we may have to evacuate due to the floods. Fortunately that did not happen.
This walkway is actually right off the road. All this water was from the rains. This area is seen below after the water all wet away.

Here you can see the walkway with no flood waters.
A little too much rain and a missed parking area leaves this guy "stuck in the mud." He left it there and opened the slides, went to sleep and had it pulled out in the morning. That is making the most of a bad situation.

Sooooooo - no deliveries happening today.

The mountains as seen from Prado park.
This is a cat the owner shaved like a lion - and it has the face to go with it.
Beautiful mountains seen across the strawberry fields.
Sunset at Prado Park.
Water drops on a fir tree formed after a cool evening.

Dickens Festival in Riverside Ca

We attended the Dickens Festival in Riverside and following are some photos from the era and characters from some of his books.



This lady was teaching us to spin yarn from wool


This is Scrooge from The Christmas Story

finish of 2009 trip back home

The map of the 2009 year by coach. There were many areas around the parks that we investigated in the truck.

Christmas and a smaller tree at the girls on a desk due to a new puppy and the need for her to play with dangling things.

Lauren caught in a rare moment she was not trying to hide from the camera. She is a lovely young woman.
The new puppy Sammie and her Santa hat.

A trip to Palomar Observatory with some friends gave some great views and the only way to see snow.
We stopped at a little store that had ice freezing of the downspout.

One of our many drives through some really pretty mountains.

Arizona and Nevada caverns, Rte 66 and area

Sunset over the Bullhead / Laughlin area. Note the reflection of the Colorado River in the lower left of the photo.
Historic Route 66 was an interesting road to travel-narrow but a lot of neat things to see.
an old gas station along Rte 66 it is set up inside as it would have been in the 60's
Warren and Mari are thinking of getting a new vehicle to tow behind their coach-not sure it should be this one, though they do look like proud owners.
Warren and Mari at the top of the stairs with a three toed sloth in the rear in the caverns tour. it is 65 degrees year round and very pleasant in the cave.

crystals in the cave-while pretty if water hits them they will dissolve so they are of no value except where they lay.due to the dry air in the cave and lack of any moisture this bobcat became mummified when it fell into the cave from the original opening in approx 1850

our guide said these bones are from the last tour guides-he said they were not very good. our guide was very knowledgeable so I guess he took it to heart and studied the info for the tour.
part of the caverns tour-looking back through the cave.

This is some neat painted rocks off the road in Chloride-the road is not the best and the last 10th of a mile was hiked as it was to rough for the truck. To many large rocks sticking out of the roadbed.



the oldest and longest running post office in AZ the 1860 historic mining town

The town of Chloride AZ is old and interesting-following are some photos of yard art seen in various yards. Almost everyone had some stuff like this.


an old mine in the mountains outside Oatman AZ-it was quite deep.
Warren and Friend in Oatman.
an old building that was part of the old mine.
an old station along the way on Rte 66 near Oatman
Oatman has a burro population that sort of controls the town. If they are in the road you have to wait for them. You can feed them and of coarse they follow you if you do feed them.

Sunset over the Bullhead mountain area.
need to let the dogs out-build your own camper dog door and ramp-this was for a couple of small poodles.
interesting bike -this is for you Lee-I think you need to build your own & here is the example. What do you think?

Boulder Dam area and new bridge-road way photos- the river
arch for the new bridge and the roadway coming in from either side in process of being built-seen from the old bridge area
across the mountain area near boulder-very pretty area
close up of the bridge arch- you can see the overhead lift and the buckets that they transport equipment and people to the job (look to the left of the arch)
Sunrise over Bullhead city and the Colorado River