After leaving Bullhead City, with no fire agate (sad face) we traveled to one of our favorite areas of Arizona. We spent the entire winter in this area 2 years ago and loved every minute of our stay.
New areas that need explored always draw us away from our campsite. Since having spent so much time here before, John was content to stay at camp and work on his rocks while I studied.
(Above left: Petrified wood from Montana, Right: Lapis from Afghanistan)
John draws lots of attention from other campers when he cuts and polishes rocks; it is a bit noisy. Several neighbors came over to investigate, and ended up purchasing some pieces.
We also visited a winery that allowed John to setup a stand and sell his creations. He made out pretty good for his first commercial adventure.
Hanging at camp also afforded us the opportunity to see the javelina group that roams the campground. A javelina is not a type of pig, despite the similar look, and cannot breed with pigs or wild hogs. They are members of the peccary family, basically a group of hoofed animals originating from South America.
The hot tub was leaking and had been shut down until it could be repaired. The campground does heat the pool, so we instead went swimming one afternoon. Though the nights are in the 40s, the days are in the 70s and 80s with skin-burning sun. We met, OK John met, Dan and Jill at the pool and they invited us over for cocktails. It was the start of a great friendship.
Over the next week we were introduced to many more great people, 2 from our own backyard. Tyler and Mike were from Bloomsburg and Shamokin respectively. SMALL WORLD! Ty and Mike enjoy off-roading and rockhounding so we took a day and went exploring.
It was great to have a scout on an ATV to go ahead and check certain spots to make sure the Jeep would make the trip. Some of the spots were pretty narrow, but we managed to squeak by with minimal “Arizona Pinstriping” on the Jeep.
Being that the Jeep is our only vehicle and not just a play toy, John likes to be as careful as he can when it comes to possible “body / under carriage” damage.
Why is it that the obstacle always looks worse in person than it does in my pictures?
There were some amazing views too!
The Rubi looks good up here!
We were sad to leave our new friends, but meeting wonderful people and experiencing different parts of the country is why we enjoy this life-style. The great thing is you never say good-bye, you are sure to run into each other again somewhere down the road.
