Hot Hot and Hotter

Yep, it is HOT!  Triple digits, records broken and 4% humidity - why? - we are here!  It will be a shock from this to the Oregon coast - damp and cold.  In the mornings the heat comes on since it gets down to 50 at night.  We get out early and enjoy our coffee, walks and bike rides and then again after sunset.  By Saturday it will be in the low 80's and then right back to triple digits!

For those of you in parts of the country where you did not see the recent eclipse, here are some pictures from where we were.  We were just a little far south to get the ring of fire, but it was still impressive.

They are getting the fires under control, but depending on the wind we get a lot of smoke - another reason we stay inside.  Yesterday afternoon it was a haze over us of smoke.

We had a fun day yesterday with our friends Paul and Sue and a delicious lunch at their house.  They were our tailgunners on some of our caravans that we did so we had a great time talking about that and just catching up from several years of not seeing each other. They had done a caravan to the Maritime Provinces and have traveled in New England plus some other places that we haven't seen yet.  We have lots of information and great notes from Sue for our trip next summer!  Thanks you guys for everything.

That's it from the HOT southwest!

Last Two Weeks

We left Casa Grande May 3 and moved three hours north to Verde Valley AZ at a higher altitude and 10 degree cooler temps during the day and really cool at night.  It is high desert and we have the winds to prove that.  Today we are getting the smoke smell from the wild fire that is closest to us.  There are several burning right now in Arizona.  We are scheduled to be here until the end of the month unless we are forced out by the fires.

We went horseback riding for 1 1/2 hours in a state park here.  It was just us and the guide.  We had a great time and could even walk the next day!  Beautiful high desert scenery and a few creeks to cross. Even the horses were not your typical trail horses with one speed until they see the barn.  These actually had several speeds depending on the terrain and could have cared less about the barn.  They really wanted to stay out so they could eat the mesquite which they apparently love, but are not supposed to have too much.  They were really quick though at sneaking a bite along the trail. Yes, Sarah, Dad really does get on a horse and here is the picture to prove it!

Today, we had the sheep run through the park.  They run them through a wash in the middle of the park, but unfortunately they did it before sunrise and no one knew about it.  They were resting them by the river until after lunch, so we walked down to the river to see them.  These come from southern Arizona and go up to Williams AZ.  There were 5 pack donkeys to carry the gear. Here are two of them grazing.

There were 5 herding dogs to do all the work and all of them were very soundly sleeping when we were there.  And there are 3 Latino gentlemen that spoke a little English and they walk the whole way!  This is hundreds of miles that they travel in very hot and dry conditions.  And then of course there were the sheep and lots of them.  They were going to cross the river after lunch and head further north.  This is an annual event. That is one of two black sheep in the herd and this was just one small part of the herd.

We had a great Mexican dinner with our friends Paul and Sue that live in the area.  We are meeting them again tonight for BBQ.  There is always food involved when friends meet on the road!

We don't have much else planned for our time here.  Just relax, walk and ride bikes!