I have been WAY busy with my son Michael here visiting. Just didn't have time to write. So, you get pictures and captions. Dan and I drove to Phoenix to pick him up on 2/6. Its been busy for me ever since. Doing normal everyday things, like walking Bella and cooking, then doing stuff with Michael. We've been doing some quad riding, crystal hunting and geocaching. And just hanging out around home. I think hes having a great time.
Here is Grant and Ken working in the kitchen at the QIA Rock and Gem show.
Diane was out on the floor wiping tables, taking care of people, and doing other stuff.
Here is Irene behind the food counter taking orders.
Michael on the quad. We had walked around the area looking at some of the vendors.
Here are a some pictures I took when Michael and I went out on a quad ride to look for crystals.
The crystal hunter, Michael.
We stopped by the Deere Run B&B. It is a bunch of stuff out in the desert that people have brought here. I don't know what used to be here on the cement slab. Maybe a mine at one time. Anyway, there is lots of stuff to look at. People have bbq's out here. My friend Kathy and I have a geocache near by.
Michael standing at the top of the quad trail. It doesn't look steep, but it is. We had a nice ride home from the top of this trail.
Michael wanted to explore a couple of mines on the way back to our rig. There are lots of abandon mines out here in the desert.
We had a visitor. Apparently this sidewinder rattlesnake decided it was warm enough to come out from it's sleeping place. Dan removed it from our area.
On this day Michael and I went for a quad ride with friends Jerome and Sonja. We drove by A/B/D companies where General Patton's troops did desert training. Not sure what happened to C company. A/B/D are all laid out with rock and you can see where old walkways are and imagine where all the tents were set up. You can see all the old tank tracks looking out across the desert. History, history, history.
Michael and Sonja out looking at where some of the troops set up.
Michael taking a picture where "B" company was.
We were all cruising along pretty good, on our way from A/B/D company to an old stage coach stop from a very long time ago. We never made it to the stage coach stop. The back left shock on our quad broke. Put us out of commission. And we happened to break down where there wasn't any cell phone service. Jerome and Michael drove back from where we had been until they got cell service. Dan and Ken came to rescue us. They came out on quads. They seen how bad it was and had to go back to our rig and get our truck. First they had to take the 5th wheel hitch out of the bed of the truck so it took them awhile to get back to us. While we waited for them, Michael climbed to the top of one of the hills and built a rock cairn. ("A cairn is, in essence, an intentionally-laid pile of rocks"). A nice tall one. Then we all went looking for pretty rocks.
I was out looking at rocks and this stupid cholla cactus attached itself to my boot. Michael and Sonja also had little "pals" attach themselves to body parts. They were stuck on Sonja's foot and Michael ended up with them on his boots and hand. Ouch, ouch, ouch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The only way you unattach a stupid cholla is to get out the leatherman and pull them out. They frickin hurt if they get on your skin. Michael sure flinched when I pulled them out of his hand. When he comes to visit again I know he'll stay clear of the chollas.
Dan and Ken checking out the damage. This is a sad picture. :-(
Michael, Sonja, and Jerome out rock hunting. Look at all the stupid cholla cactus along the hill.
Me and Michael. It was a VERY cold and windy day. Even though it was cold and the quad broke down, we had a great time.
Loading our broken quad into the truck.
Jerome and Sonja heading back home. It was gonna storm and they had a long ride to beat the rain.
This was the last ride we took on a quad. We borrowed a quad from our neighbor Jim. We drove out to the tiny sand dunes. This is another place where General Patton's troops did desert training.
Michael is out looking for bullets and clips left behind from the troop's desert training.You can still find this stuff laying around after rain and wind storms.
The group we rode with are all sitting up on top of the little sand dunes.
Oops. "I stepped in a critter hole". There are LOTS of critter holes.
Michael left today, 2/13, and headed back to Tallahassee, Florida. I know he had a good time being here. I know that I sure liked having him here for awhile. It had been over 3 years since I'd seen my oldest son. Hoping it won't be another 3 years.
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