Arizona 2/28 - 3/6

 2/28 - Eleanor and I went to Agua Caliente for a mellow dog walk before the rain started.  

Agave plant?

200+ yo Mesquite tree

More snow in the mountains

Another Jumping Cholla on Miss Zoe.  She didn't seem too bothered by it even though it looked like it was pulling at her skin.  I didn't have anything to take it off, so she had it there for a while until I got the genius idea to use the leash to scoop it off and it worked.

After our walk we went and picked up Pure Poke again!  YUM!  And then had a mellow afternoon - I even took a nap!  Emma came for leftovers of the prime rib dinner.  Another YUM!  

2/29 - Sadly it was time to move on and leave Eleanor.  😕 I had a great time and am so glad that I visited.  Eleanor is so generous and I really hope we didn't over stay our welcome!  Though I would have been happy staying in the van while visiting, it really was nice to be in the house and have easy access to everything a house offers!  I'm going to get spoiled as I imagine that when in Phoenix, I'll be staying in a house again.

While packing, Zoe decided to lie in front of the neighbor's door...  She's so funny how she moves around in the sun, like one spot of sun is better than the next.  I'd understand it if she found softer ground, but that's not usually the case.

I ran some errands on my way to my BW stay tonight and then took Zoe for a short walk.  Due to the sun, Zoe was happy to get in the van after the walk as she got a bit hot.  I have an evaporation vest I just got for her and haven't had a chance to use it, but hopefully it will help her.  This walk was short enough and it wasn't too hot.  I'm sure I'll have plenty of opportunity to test it out in the next couple of months.  

A lupine! 

Fish hook barrel cactus

View from my van at BW overnight spot

3/1 - Went for a walk in a flat area, which is what works for Zoe.  She had on her evaporation vest and I really think it helped.  I think she felt a bit awkward at first wearing this wet and heavy vest, but I think she tolerate the heat much better than without.  

Welcoming committee on our morning walk.  It's been so long since I've been around horses.  I miss Kane!

Thankfully I am not the one who made this mess

Zoe sporting her new evaporation cooling vest - it definitely seems to help

Love this shot!

On my way to Casa Grande, I went to a Blue Beacon Truck Wash in Eloy, AZ.  I didn't know what this would look like and when I showed up, I drove in and found quite a line of RVs and Semis.  Once I drove in, I was stuck.  No changing my mind and there was no way out other than driving through.  I was there for about 1.5 hours!  I saw a guy go up to a truck in the other lane and ask what kind of service he wanted.  No one came up to me before I drove into the bay.  I rolled down my window to try to talk to the guys about what service I wanted, but they just kept spraying the van and telling me to close my window.  I didn't really have much choice so I closed my window and they cleaned my van.  Then I was shooed out and someone came to my window and I told them what happened and that I had wanted an under carriage wash (since I had been through salted roads) and I didn't know if they did it or not.  So, I had to wait for the next truck to come out so I could back in and get the under carriage done.  Grrr.  Thankfully I was not on a schedule!  At least I was happy with the end result.

Neon Sign park in Casa Grande

I was planning to stay at a Cracker Barrel in the Casa Grande area, just to do it for the first time, but then I found that a person in a Facebook group was in the area, so I stayed in her driveway.  We hung out in the evening and she showed me her bus that she is converting herself.  Serenity is a super cool lady who knows what she wants and what her boundaries are.  I was very impressed by her and enjoyed the company and meeting her kid, Mars.  

3/2 - The next morning we chatted on the porch before she headed off to her Uber job and me to meet Sunny at Casa Grande National Monument.

Zoe clearly stressed out as we hung out at Serenity's house

Woke to this Saguaro outside my window and the birds nesting in the holes

Me and Sunny - the Vermont hippies in our tie-dyes!  Zoe doesn't look too impressed.

If you zoom in you can see a Great Horned Owl in the rafters.

After hanging out with Sunny at Casa Grande National Monument and having lunch in Coolidge at the Patio Grille, I headed to Phoenix to visit Jack and Kathy.  We enjoyed wine and cheese on the tennis court watching the east view of the sunset on Camelback mountain.

Mom, there is a tennis ball in the area.  Can you help, please?

Miss Abby

Elsie sharing her bed with Zoe

I'm so glad we're friends now!

The Queen and her sentries

3/3 - We took a lovely morning walk around the base of Camelback mountain and enjoyed looking at all the amazing homes here.  I am noticing that Zoe really slows down when we walk up hill.  I don't recall noticing it on uphill trails, but maybe she's better when off leash?  I wonder if her hind end is getting weak.  She still seems to jump up really easily.  I do think I'm going to have to start leaving her in the van while I do some more hiking...  😢

View from Jack and Kathy's cul de sac

What's in there???

This driveway looked way more steep in person

building right into the rock

The top house is built like a castle

Cool pencil plant

Later in the day, I took Jack and Kathy's Prius to the Desert Botanical Gardens and left Zoe behind at the house with Jack and Kathy.  The gardens were beautiful and very cool, but wish they were a bit more in bloom and some hummingbirds.  I didn't see one here.  😕

Glass

Those are some serious spikes!

These are NASTY despite the name!

Organ pipe cactus

What's left from a cut saguaro

A large Suguaro can store up to 6 tons of water!!!

parting shot with late afternoon sun

When I got home, there were several people chatting with Jack and Kathy in the driveway.  Apparently, these kinds souls saw Zoe running alongside a Prius in the cul de sac and figured she belonged to the van in the driveway.  And I guess after realizing I wasn't in the Prius, came right over to the van and sat down.  There is work being done to the property, so I guess a gate must have been left open.  Thank goodness she didn't go searching for me!

3/4 - Zoe and I went for a walk at Hole in the Rock.  I was surprised by how many people were there during the week.  I guess it's a big attraction - cool and with little effort.  

After our outing, I decided I really need to think about taxes.  It's so easy while on the road to forget about such things!  So, I spent a good couple of hours working on that.  I'll come back to it later as I'm going to have to pay...

3/5 - Time to bring my van in for an oil change and to fix the rattle that has been intermittently driving me crazy.  When I went to drop it off, Kate, my concierge 😎, told me that they are REALLY comfortable with the 15,000 mile oil change interval.  I only have 9000 on the van and when she said it would cost $375, I decided to wait for the recommended mileage.  She was aware of the wind noise problem, so we didn't go for a test drive.  Apparently, the tech reproduced it on the highway (I doubt it), and then added insulation or something and tested it again without the noise.  I haven't driven it at highway speeds or in wind to be able to say if it is fixed or not.  

While waiting for the van, we went to Jack and Kathy's other home in the desert.  WOW!  They offered for me to stay here as long as I want, but I decided against it as I'm kinda ready to move along.  Also, not sure what I would do here and I couldn't take the van here and it's hard to leave my home behind.  The bottom of the driveway has some low hanging branches and the driveway is narrow and steep with a very sharp curve.  I'm sure I could do the driveway other than the branches.  

We went for a walk in the wash below the house.  This was good as it kept us away from the cactus and we were able to see if there were any snakes around.  She wore her evaporation vest and did really well.  When we got back to the house, Zoe got a nasty piece of cactus on her.  It was part on the vest and part in the sensitive area in front of her right hind leg.  She was quite unhappy about it and did not want me to mess with it.  I kept telling her that she has to trust me!  After using pliers and breaking the thing apart (not good), I had to pull out a lot of individual barbed needles.  The two times before everything came out at once and there were not as many needles on the cactus as this one.  I think if this happens again, I will try the leash loop method I used last time.  Not sure it would have worked this time though.  Later she was lying on the floor and I realized she had a bunch of needles in her paws, though she had been walking around without showing signs of pain.  She had a tennis ball in her mouth at this time and really did not want me messing with her.  I even got a few lip twitches...  😕

resting after the walk and stress of cactus removal!

Destressing destroying a tennis ball

3/6 - Yesterday when we were at the other house, I started with a few sneezes and running nose and figured it was allergies to the different plants, but unfortunately, it didn't go away and I felt pretty crappy today and thus didn't do much.  I took a covid test and thankfully it was negative.  Really don't want to pass that onto Jack and Kathy as they have family coming in on Saturday.  I hope they don't get whatever I have, regardless of what it is.  I can't imagine it is allergies, but I don't know.