FARWELL ARIZONA 12/20/2012

                                             Arizona Sunset

                                             View of Lake Havasu from our campsite

We've spent a wonderful 3 months here at Bill Williams River National Wildlife Refuge. The time has just flown by.  Water activities is the flavor of the day here.  Fishing, boating, kayaking it was a pleasure watching it all.  We'll be leaving here Thursday on to spent Christmas with family and work our way on to St Helena (Napa Valley) to volunteer at Bales Grist Mill State Park. We'll be there January to May 2013

PARKER DAM 10-13-2012

                                              View from Parker Dam - It's the Arizona side

                                             California Aquaduct

The weather has cooled down some and we decided Saturday to take a drive across Parker Dam. I guess we knew this but didn't think anything of it. California is on the other side of the dam.  We drove around a little over there.  It's quite remote.  We did pass a pumping station...it pumps water from the California  Aquaduct to southern California.  We were driving towards Black Meadow Landing 10 miles from the border but the road got very rough and narrow so we decided to turn around and come back.  We did run across a family of wild burrows, they were walking down the middle of the road.  That was exciting.  These burrows are decendents of burrows that were left by prospectors from the old days. They look pretty hardy and seem to be friendly enough.  They're quite common in the desert areas around here.

BILL WILLIAMS RIVER NWR, Parker, AZ 9.21.2012

We left Spearfish, SD on Tuesday, Sept 16, 2012 and arrived in Parker, AZ Friday, Sept 21, 2012.

Along the way we stopped at Brush, CO city park campground...very nice (free) our 2nd night we stopped at Santa Fe, NM and our third night we stopped at Canyon RV Park in Williams, AZ. It had alot of train stuff.   After leaving Santa Fe while we were traveling through Albuquerque we encountered a vehicle fire along I-25. It was so close to the traffic I was able to get some fairly good photos.  The thing that surprised me was that they never stopped traffic.  The vehicle could have blown up. The fire was in the rear of what looked like to me to be a SUV.   All went well for us, although, we didn't think much of Hwy 71 in southern Colorado.  We won't ever go that way again.  

We arrived at our winter home in Parker about noon.  It managed to reach 112 degrees that day.  Quite a change from Spearfish really nice fall weather.  I'm sure we'll appreciate this warmer weather this winter.  It's not likely to snow here.  London Bridge is just 20 miles down the road and I'm sure we'll make a visit there during our stay here.  Looks like we have lots of shopping options, plus movie theaters and shopping malls.  Our spot is right on Lake Havasu and our view is fabulous.  I think once it cools down a little we're going to like it here.   We're here until just before Christmas. Then on to California.

DC BOOTH FISH HATCHERY, Good bye 2012

We've had such a wonderful time here at DC Booth Fish Hatchery in Spearfish, SD. The facility was awesome and the people we worked with were great!!  Hopefully we'll be able to return here one of these days.

Here are photos of this great place.

KOOL DEADWOOD NITES 2012

Deadwood held their annual car show this weekend....Kool Deadwood Nites.  We went over Saturday morning hoping to avoid some of the crowd.  Oh my gosh.....we barely found a place to park.  All the parking lots close by where full.  We ended up parking at a city lot by the Post Office...about 4 or 5 blocks from Main Street.  We walked from one end of Deadwood to the other. There were classic cars everywhere.  Dale even found his old Roadrunner.  Well almost his was a 69 and Blue. This one was a 68 and olive green.  We spent about 4 hours walking and looking...heck we even saw Elvis...hehe. 

BLACK HILLS TRAIN RIDE via 1880 Train

We took the 1880 Train ride from Hill City to Keystone.  What a gorgeous ride.  The scenery was very pretty.  We saw some deer along the way.  We happen to schedule our ride on the day they were having their 55 Anniversary party.  So free cake and punch and live music prior to our ride.  It was alot of fun and I definately recommend it to anyone that likes trains.  We also visited the Days of 76 Museum in Deadwood.  It's a brand new museum only open a few months.  It houses some GREAT stuff including a large assortment of horse drawn equipment. Buggies, stage coaches, fire equipment.  We had a great day!!