Monday, Feb. 13

We got back in the Ham from our morning hike, here at White Tank, just as the first rain of the day started. A weather front was moving through Phoenix today, so the rain kept us inside all day. At sunset, the skies were clearing, but another storm was on its way this evening. During The Rookie, the storm hit. The crazy storms we’ve experienced in the past must have been to condition us for this one. The heavy rain on the roof, like before, drowned out the TV sound. I put in my noise-canceling earbuds and continued watching. Flashes of lightning and crashes of thunder kept distracting Lois and Carol on their tablets, and me watching my show. To add to the excitement, the wind started blowing and the Ham was getting bumped and bounced around in every direction. I was focused on the end of The Rookie until Carol threw an orange at me. When I took out my earbuds, the noise level was out of control. There was now a hail storm going on outside and the winds had increased. Carol wanted me to go outside and check on things, but I wasn’t going out there to get pelted to death. We nervously waited until the rain, lightning, thunder, and hail subsided. When I took the dogs out at bedtime, I found piles of hail beside the Ham. Carol still doesn’t like a snowball down her shirt.

Tuesday, Feb. 14 – Valentine’s Day

We found this cactus hugging another cactus. I guess they celebrate Valentine’s Day too.

Between meals, the dogs like to join us in the dining booth. When they stretch out, I often find myself being pushed out of the booth. That’s when I unfold my zero-gravity lounge chair and relax. I got pushed out again, set up my chair, then went to change my clothes.  While I was gone, Christy had moved into my chair and was already sound asleep.

Wednesday & Thursday, Feb. 15 &16.

The constant conversation with people here in Arizona is about the cold and wet winter here. Every day this week I’ve wanted to do an afternoon activity, but it just hasn’t been warm enough. Maybe tomorrow.

Friday, Feb. 17

Tired of waiting and needing to burn some energy. I biked to an easy hiking trail with a waterfall and petroglyphs. The first part of the trail was a wide concrete handicap sidewalk that took me to the opening of a canyon. As I started the hike, I stopped a young boy from throwing rocks at a very old saguaro cactus as his parents stood by, oblivious to his actions.

The sidewalk turns into a dirt trail that took me past an area of petroglyphs. I proceeded further into a canyon, then rock-hopped over a pool, and climbed some boulders before finally viewing the waterfall. It was actually more of a trickle, but it was still an impressive rock formation.

Click on this link to view more pictures. https://photos.app.goo.gl/sh5sQMWvi1LheR2h9

Saturday, Feb. 18

Today, was maybe the best weather day of our trip. We had made plans for Lois’ Phoenix relatives to come to join us at our site and enjoy the sunshine and scenery. They brought lunch and we sat for hours sharing stories. Our guests were Lois’ niece, Barbara, her daughter, Tammy, and Tammy’s granddaughter, Rory.

Sunday, Feb. 19

We started in the direction of Tombstone, AZ to meet up with Brett and Nadia on Monday. Before getting there, we had to make many supply stops and spend the night at Little Anthony’s Diner again. This time we came for Tucson’s award-winning pizza.