Week ending Mar 1, 2017 Vicksburg

Friday morning, we woke to a low of 36F outside and about 45F in the trailer.  We turned the generator on to run the furnace to warm up, and Joan cooked baking powder biscuits to add oven heat.   Mid-morning we decided to walk up toward True Blue Mine, a route we had taken last spring, to see how far up the road we could drive the truck to cut off some distance to Calcite Mine, which is further into the hills.  We did find a spot that is about 2 mi (direct line) toward the mine, so will save just about half the distance to the mine. We actually got further up the wash than we did last year, to a mine we hadn't seen then.
  

True Blue Mine

 

Near the trailer

Saturday, it was cool.  Joan cooked cinnamon buns to warm up the trailer. We did a little walk towards where we parked here last spring to see if we could get better than 2g internet there, but no change.   

Sunday morning was warmer, but we needed to check e-mail and weather, so  we drove into Quartzite for breakfast and wi-fi, checking the t-mobile signal along the way, and the reception for KBUX radio in Quartzite, a nice station that we listen when we are in the area, but haven't been able to pick up here, even in the truck.   No 4g until we got almost to Quartzite.   Turns out we had written down the wrong setting for KBUX.    After checking everything, we drove toward Bouse, and had 4G to the pass over the hills, but only 2G down into Bouse.    

On the edge of Bouse

Along the way south of Bouse to the trailer, we started getting interference on KBUX.    We drove to Salome to check out Centennial Park, a county RV park.  Good 4G t-mobile reception there, so we would have internet access again.   Back at the trailer, we could get KBUX okay in the truck, but can't pick it up on either our portable radio or the DVD/radio receiver in the trailer.     

Monday was overcast, but we got in a 3.5 mi walk.  Turns out it was  good part of a 5 mi walk we did here last spring, but our trailer is parked that much closer to the good walking areas this year. 

Mine Shaft

 

In the afternoon, there was light rain from early afternoon until evening.  Then overnight, it poured until 5AM. 

On Tuesday morning the wash behind us was damp, but there was no running water. 

Water drops on the branches in the desert

There was sitting water in several places on the road we are next to.   Bad news: this is the only way out, good news: we knew it was shallow enough to drive through, as the ridges graded along the road are pretty much the same height.

Our exit road

We drove into Quartzite to pick up some ladder rung ends, then headed to Blythe, just across the border in California, to do a bit of shopping. 


Wednesday, we decided to see if we could go to the True Blue mine around the east side of the hill, instead of the west route we took earlier.  After missing the first turn to the road that heads in that general direction, we got to the point on the road that was the start-off point to head off-road around the hill, more or less following a large wash.   Fortune had it it that there is an ATV trail that follows the route we wanted.  It we headed up over the shoulder between a couple of hills, then worked down to another wash that looked like it went in the right direction.  We followed this wash until we saw another mine site up the hill a bit.  After taking a few pictures, we followed the ATV trail until we got into the wash to True Blue Mine.  Only 4.5 miles going this way.   Then we returned to the trailer on the same road we had taken both ways to True Blue before.  Total trip 7 miles in just over 4 hours. 

Layering of the hills

 

 Another dig site

 
Thursday morning, since we needed to empty our tanks and get internet to post the blog, we moved to Centennial Park near Salome, about 16 miles away.   The internet is here, and there is power. However, there is a warning that the water in the park is not fit for domestic use, as there is 'agricultural' run-off contamination.  There is drinkable water in the washrooms as they have a small reverse osmosis system to clean some water.   We arrived before 10 AM.  The office is in the golf course pro-shop attached to the park.  A scramble tournament was starting at 10 so they were busy.  So we went to the sewer dump, and by the time we were done, the golfers were all out on the course.