Give it a Day and Things Will Change

Knowing that changes were comin' we walked a couple miles down the "trail" yesterday mid day.

From a nice sunny camp... Yesterday...

*Looking toward Jerome (just above the truck) from camp*

We walked down this road that passes the camp headed for the river... and sees little traffic this time of year... (nothing passed us either way going or coming)

*Access road to the Verde River below our boondock camp*

 Before this came in during the night...

 The same view from camp but standing behind the rig between squalls...

*You Can't even see the mountains let alone Jerome*

Nope... can't even see the mountains this morning...

It's about a mile to the Verde River from camp. The difficulty for lazy folks is that it's all down hill. Easy going down... doubles the distance coming back up! :)

It flattens out near the bottom...

... and allows for a pleasant stroll in the winter sunshine. The sort of quiet walk that lets your head slow down and the knots unwind... The sort of walk that's good for your mind... not just your body.

Once you're in the bottom, if you look back to the east a ways there's a hill that sticks up... Up on top, if you look real close you can see the posts of a new vineyard that's being built... Alcantara I think is the name of the place...

It'll be easy to find... just go down the Thousand Trails road east of Cottonwood and follow the signs. There's supposed to be... or going to be a "Tasting Room" there... hmmmm.... guess maybe I should do more of those Brewery tours and get in on some Beer Tastings! ;)

Down along the Verde River in late winter... even if the trees aren't leafed out... it's a quiet and nice place. The spring run off is already filling the streams coming off the high country of the Mogollon Rim to the north.

*Late winter along the Verde River in Arizona*

Lily had a bit of excitement the day before this walk... Heidi took the dogs for a walk while I was riding to Jerome...

They were right about here... or at least Lily was

Heidi was walking farther on, just the other side of that lil' tree up the bank ~ when she heard a PLUNCK! When she looked back; "Where's Lily?"... and then she saw her floating down the river...

In the flat it don't look to be flowin' hard does it? Looks can be deceiving.

She brought up 75' or so down stream against the bank in that lil' eddy on the right side just before a lengthy section of choked down pretty quick water. It's maybe three or four feet deep in that hole...

A lil' bit of a close call. Apparently she leaned over the bank to catch a drink... her back end let go and kerplunk! in she went. Trouble is THAT dog don't care for the water and has NEVER gone swimming. The most she'd ever done was wade ankle deep. ;) got herself a bit of a swimmin' lesson at 14 years old!

As quiet as this stream might look now... if you look around the evidence is pretty plain that she ain't always... quiet...

If you look at the trash hangin' in the trees in the picture of the spot Lily got back to the bank... and the following pics...

... You can see the high water marks of the gully washers and major winter run offs... Now THAT would NOT be a good time to swim in this lil' bit of Arizona riparian paradise! :)

... and is why it's a poor idea in this desert country to set your camp in river bottoms, gully country or narrow drainages... a cloud burst miles away will send your camp downstream in a most uncomfortable way. ;)

That's ok. I'm not much into swimmin' anyhoo... and we still had to have the ambition to climb back up out of the river bottom to get back to camp!

*River bottom trail along the Verde River*

Today and tomorrow, according to the weather man will be a pair of days, tailor made for staying inside, in camp... writing... Unless you're one of those rare souls who giggles and dances in the rain...

Me? Not so much... Many thanks for the invite... but I'll stay dry and close to the coffee pot.

Well...except for... during yesteday's chore run to be ready for the couple days of stormy weather ahead... somebody forgot to take the gas can for the generator...

I expect I'll need to run ol' squeal and belch a time or two since it's chilly and overcast... and between the heater keepin' us comfortable and the clouds keeping the Solar Panels from doin' much... We'll need a lil' electrical assistance... So... I'll have to carefully wade out through the Arizona mud to get a tank full...

Tap Tap Tappin' the keyboard with Arizona Rain on the Roof
Brian