Return to Winter

These are the scenes that greeted us when we arrived back in West Yellowstone. A little more snow than some years and a little less than others. It should all be gone by the end of the month and we should have a nice cool summer.

The Community Center

Don't think they have to worry about anybody parking here right away.

Our home for the next 5 months.

We are not alone.

A view of the storage building at one of the stores we work in. It will be a while before we get in here.

Don't think we'll be using the back entrance of the store for a while.

Historic Railroad Trail

Before leaving the Hoover Dam area, we walked the Historic Railroad Trail. It has 5 tunnels, the longest being over 300 feet. It was a windy day, but warm enough. We only saw one other couple on the trail, besides the few families we saw near the trail head. It was very apparent that they were not planning on going the whole distance. The purpose for this railroad was for the construction of the dam. It's amazing that it only took them 5 months to build back in 1930. The last train went through in 1961 and the tracks were dismantled after that.

You can see the second tunnel through the first.

Lake Mead as seen from the trail.

They have shored up some of the entrances with additional wooden supports.

Each tunnel was different.

You can see the trail and the entrance to the fifth tunnel, the longest one. At the top right hand corner, next to the power poles, there is an overlook. The next two pictures were taken from there a couple of days before.

Fourth tunnel.

Third tunnel.

Hoover Dam and Bypass Bridge

A couple of days ago we spent the morning visiting Hoover Dam and the new Mike O'Callaghan - Pat Tillman Memorial bypass bridge. We walked all the way across the bridge from Nevada to Arizona and back. We had driven across a couple of days earlier with the rig, but you can't see the dam from the driving lanes. Later we parked in the visitor center parking garage and walked on the dam from one state to the other and back again.

Looking down at the dam from the bridge.

Hoover Dam nestled between the steep walls of the Black Canyon.

Lake Mead behind the dam.

The parking garage for the visitor's center. Notice how they built it to fit around the rock and power line towers.

What a beautiful day, blue sky and blue water.

Looking down the sidewalk to the Nevada side from the apex.

Plaque embedded in the sidewalk in the center.

Looking at the Arizona side. The walkway starts on the Nevada side and dead ends on the Arizona side. Most people only walk out a short distance, enough to see the dam and turn around. We enjoyed walking all the way to the end.

View from one side of the bridge to the other.

Now we are walking across the dam looking up at the bridge.

It's a long, long way down. If you can see those two white specs in the middle towards the top of the picture, they are actually trucks for the people working down there.

The Mike O'Callaghan - Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge.

Our Last Days near Wickenburg

Here are a few more pictures from our stay near Wickenburg. It's such a nice, quiet place with town only 5 miles away. We hope to come back again.

The full moon rising.

Vulture Peak. There is a hike that goes up to the saddle which we will do next time. There was a concern of rattlesnakes this late in the spring.

Looking back toward Tom and Dayle's and our rig from our morning walk.

The church we attended in town. Notice the cactus growing out of the side of the front palm tree.

Close up of cactus-palm.

Social hour in the shade of our rig.

Monster Visits Our Camp

A few days ago, this Gila Monster paid us a visit. (Gila is pronounced with an 'h' sound not a 'g' sound.) They are venomous lizards native to this area. Fortunately they don't move very fast. We watched it for a while as it walked over to a cactus where it stopped to rest in the shade. It was 1 1/2 to 2 feet in length. These colorful creatures eat mostly bird and reptile eggs and spend 80 percent of their time underground. They only feed about 5 to 10 times per year, but can eat up to 1/3 of their body weight at one feeding.

Beautiful but we kept our distance just the same.

They have an acute sense of smell. Look closely to see his tongue.

Desert Caballeros Ride

Monday, April 11, we had the pleasure of attending the opening ceremonies for the 65th annual Desert Caballeros Ride. There were nearly 200 horsemen of all ages who will experience the 5 day ride. They range from local seasoned riders to ones that leave their office jobs all over the country, just to take part in this event. The ride starts and ends on the streets of Wickenburg. As they set out for the ride we overheard a young man say "Here I go with my 200 grandfathers".