Week Ending Jan 8, 2015 Daggett to Mohave Valley

Friday was moving day. The temperature has been below freezing the past few nights so we figure its time to head for warmer climates. Our stop for the next couple of nights is Desert Springs RV Park at Daggett. It is nice to be back in the desert with mountains and cacti.  The days are warm and sunny, but the weatherman is still promising freezing temperatures overnight.

First thing Saturday morning we headed for Calico Ghost Town. It was a mining town.  When the silver and gold petered out they started mining Boron, more commonly known as Borax used to wash clothes. We enjoyed wandering through the town, enjoying the views of the valley from the hills the town was built on.

We came back to the trailer for lunch, had a Skype visit with John's parents and then headed back out on a scenic drive through Mule Canyon. What a drive. It would have been impossible if we didn't have a 4 wheel drive high clearance truck.  The colours in the rocks reminded us of rainbow colours we saw in Death Valley at an area called 'Artists' Palette'. 

By the time we returned to the trailer the sun had warmed the trailer up to almost 80 degrees F. We really knew we were in the desert as the temperature goes from below freezing overnight to hot by mid-afternoon.

Sunday morning we headed to Arizona. We woke up early and so were on the road before 8:00. Our coffee break spot was at Ludlow, one of the many Route 66 towns. We took our time, enjoying the scenery, finding all sorts of places that we have made mental notes to come back to for further exploration. Just after lunch we arrived at Moon River RV Park in Mohave Valley, AZ. The lady at the front desk sent us off to our site, telling us to get set up, make sure we can get a satellite signal before we pay for a week.  If we can't get a signal she would let us stay only for 1 night. They are very accommodating here.  We got set up, John set the satellite down, and boom a signal before he even tried to line it up, some days the stars (or satellites) just align in our favour. We were able to watch the World Junior Hockey semi-finals.|

Monday, after a grocery run, we headed up to Oatman, AZ.  Our RV park is on Boundary Cone Road, which is named after a hill on the road toward Oatman.

Oatman started life over 100 years ago as a mining tent camp, and quickly became a flourishing gold-mining center. In 1915, two miners struck a $10 million gold find, and within a year, the town's population grew to more than 3,500. As with all gold booms within a few years the gold ran out and the town almost became a ghost town. With the creation of Route 66 Oatman was revived as a tourist town, known for its burros. The "Wild" Burro's are the descendants of burros brought to the area by the miners in the late 1800s; when the miners no longer needed them, they were turned loose. Each morning the burro's come into town looking for food. They wander the streets and greet the tourists.  Burro pellets and carrots are for sale at many of the shops.  The burros will eat all day if you feed them.  They even have signs telling people not to feed them on the boardwalks, so they don't go into the shops.  Shortly before sunset they wander back to the hills for the night.

On our way  back to the trailer we scoped out some areas for hiking for later in the week. We got back to the trailer in time to watch the Canadian Junior hockey team win the gold medal.   We also saw what happens if you lock your keys inside a motorhome.  One of our neighbours had to climb in his bedroom window.  Our 5th wheel can not be locked without a key, so we should not have that problem.

Tuesday dawned warm and of course sunny.  We headed out to look for the Tri-State visitor information  which is marked on our California Atlas.  Just up the road is a point on the Colorado River where California and Nevada meet on one side of the river, with Arizona on the other side.   Either the map is wrong, or we can't follow a map, because there was no evidence of a visitor center.  We then stopped at Walmart vision center to get Joan's glasses fixed.  We eventually found a book store to buy a backroads atlas of Arizona. These atlases are very useful, pointing out all sorts of places, some historic and some just plain interesting.   By then it was lunch time, so we stopped at the Firehouse Coffee Roaster which turned out to be a great little coffee shop.  It was obviously owned by firemen as there were many t-shirts and badges from many fire departments adorning the walls. As well as many from all accross the USA we found some from various cities in Ontario, one from Moose Jaw and Yellowknife. We are sure there are many more, but we didn't want to lean over other patons tables to read them. We got back to the trailer mid-afternoon, the outside temperature was a great 24 C and almost 30 C in the trailer. How nice to have the door open in early January. Finally we have found shorts weather.

Wednesday was a perfect summer day. We went west of Mohave Valley to a recreation area below Davis Dam on the Colorado River that forms Lake Mohave. We were looking for a trail head for Grapevine Canyon.  When we didn't see any evidence of  the trailhead, we decided to walked along on the river trail towards Laughlin.  According to our truck, the temperature was again 24C, so we didn't need jackets.  The river seems to be a winter home for many ducks and of course the spillway is a habitat for cormorants. We watched the ducks float down the river and then fly back upriver to the spillway area and then float back down in the current.  On our way back to the RV, we stopped at the Bullhead Visitor Center to find that they did have information for locating our hike.  

Thursday morning was an early day.  John had to have the truck into the GM dealers by 8:00 A.M. for servicing. Joan stayed at the trailer and cleaned.  Today was predicted to be a cloudy day with showers, so a good day to take care of necessities.