March 19, 20

Sorry - I really wanted to post something yesterday, but we were in the bottom of a canyon and had no reception whatsoever. So I'll catch up today.

The night was cold and very, very, very windy. The sleepnumber bed had an issue as well. So we didn't sleep too well and got up early, stiff and grumpy. So off for a short walk to get the stiffness out and to see the desert wake up. That little bird that was singing its little heart out, we looked it up in the big bird book and it turned out to be a cactus wren. Of course. After a hearty breakfast we went along on an early ranger walk between various cacti and other desert plants, and next we checked out the rock formations that the campground is named for: the rock wall is so full of holes it looks like swiss cheese. Apparently remnants of a volcanic eruption thousands of years ago.

Then we went back to the RV for some hot tea. Clouds were coming in fast and there's rain in the forecast. So we packed up for the next leg of the journey. It was a bit of a puzzle to get out of the campsite with our extra-long rig, but Opa managed.

Back on rte 40 and on to Needles and then Kingman, AZ, where it was finally not cold anymore. We changed to rte 93 (AZ) to head south towards rte 10 and Tucson. The landscape, still desertt, but with the tall sprig plants. They were bare when we came through Arizona in early January, but now they have small green leaves all over the sprigs, and some bloom with bright red spikes at their ends. Many small flowers along the road. We're in the sonora desert now, and the landscape looks sandier, the plants are further apart; but some are taller, almost tree-sized. Lots of saguaros, yuccas, and pancake cacti. These should not be confused with prickly pears, said the ranger, you can tell the difference by, I forget already. The pads are very round though. They're cute.

In between the sparse vegetation we saw a family of longhorn cattle and a single pinto horse, otherwise nothing but turkey vultures and what we now know to be ravens, not extra large crows.

We stopped at the Burro Creek BLM Rec site campground in the town of Wikieup. The campground is down in the canyon,  via a pretty steep barely paved road. Again very beautiful, and very different.

We're in the Mountain Time Zone now, lost another hour! Opa Henk fixed the sleepnumber bed and we're off to dreamland early.