Bear sighting on the way to Quartzsite

Well, yes, I did see a bear last night - this is a grizzly - the first one I've seen since I've been full-timing.  Thankfully he is in a display at Cabela's in Glendale, AZ.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.  I doubt I'll ever see a real bear in the wild, so this will have to do for me.  He is beautiful, isn't he?

Grizzly Bear at Cabela's in Glendale, AZ

I left Bluewater Lake State Park on Friday morning and headed to Sunset Crater National Monument.  I was planning to boondock at the disbursed camping area in the national forest across the freeway, but it wasn't all that great.  I got there early and waited for Hazel and Cari to follow in the afternoon.  When they got there with their Class A rigs towing their cars, it was decided this wasn't a good place to camp for the night. There weren't any good sites for them, only some uneven pull-outs along the road that I could fit in, but didn't like much.

I did go in further on the right side of the "T" at the end of the road toward the Meadow, but saw nothing I wanted. I ended up having to make a U turn in the middle of the "Road not for autos" road leading to the Meadow - I don't know what Class A's do on that road, but I was happy to get turned around and out of there. And it would have been nice if that "Road not for autos" sign was at the beginning of the road, not down the road right before it deteriorated badly.

I did find something interesting right behind where I parked and waited for Hazel and Cari, though.  As I walked around the rig looking for rocks in the way, I saw this right near the rig:

I don't know what animal these bones came from, but it  must have been pretty big.  Being the neat-nick that I am, I re-arranged them on a large rock to see them better.  It looked like two jaw bones, two rib bones and four vertebrae and two additional disks. Maybe from a large buck? Do they have moose up there?

We all decided to head on down the road to one of the Walmarts in Flagstaff - I called them and was told no parking is allowed by the city, but Walmart doesn't mid over-nighters, so we were welcome to come down and take our chances.  When we got there, other rigs were already parked there and we joined them.  No knocks on the door in the middle of the night, so we all had a good night's sleep.

The next morning, Saturday, Hazel and Cari drove over to the Sunset Crater National Monument, while I drove down the road to Camp Verde.  We decided we'd stay at Cliff Castle Casino overnight, and since I had already checked out the Visitor's Center for Sunset Crater and wasn't interested in more sightseeing, I wanted to get on the road.

Camp Verde was having their Jackpot Ranch Verde Valley Annual Fall Festival and I wanted to walk around and see what they had there.  I wanted to get there early so I could leave Katie in The Palms and be back before it got too hot for her.  There was a shuttle from the parking lot of the Casino, so that was the plan.  Unfortunately they were having a shuttle problem, so one of the volunteers offered me a ride to the festival, where he was going to see what was going on with the shuttle people.  This is his truck, it was in beautiful condition:

This is the back window, showing his jewelry business info in Camp Verde.  He and his wife used to travel in an RV, selling their jewelry at shows, but now are settled in Camp Verde in a storefront. 

Hazel has been talking to a Greyhound Rescue group and was pretty much decided that she was going to adopt one of the male dogs, which is why we were in Camp Verde.  I checked him out when I was at the festival where the group had an area set up for adoptions - he's a beautiful dog, very quiet and calm.  He has some physical damage from racing and being in a cage, but even I could see his beautiful lines.  When he is healed, he will be a wonderful pet for Hazel.  I don't want to say more, but you can check out Hazel's blog and find out what happened that afternoon and on Sunday when we all went to the vet in Flagstaff for a final check.  If the vet released him, the dog would be available for adoption and a new owner could take him home.  I haven't seen a post yet from Hazel about the new dog, but you can check here today or tomorrow to find out more.

While I was at the Festival I had my flu shot from the Walgreen's booth, and also bought a big bar-b-qued hamburger and a baseball cap with a Roadrunner embroidered on it.  I enjoyed walking around the beautiful grounds of the ranch, and then I took the shuttle back to The Palms feeling like I had accomplished something.

After the vet appointment on Sunday afternoon, we all drove back to Cliff Castle Casino.  Hazel and Cari are traveling to Quartzsite, AZ today, but I had a 10:00 appointment at D & R's Family RV in Glendale, AZ to have some things fixed on The Palms, so Katie and I hopped in the rig and got on the road, heading to Glendale.  We arrived at 6 PM Sunday evening and got settled in the parking lot of Cabela's, which is just down the road from the shop.

And here we are - I called and was told parking is okay in one section of the parking lot, despite the No Parking signs.  We were the only rig here overnight, and it was very quiet.

If there is a spot of sunshine, Katie will find it:

Katie loves a spot of sunshine.

I'm finishing this up at Ron's D &R's Family RV in Glendale, where Ron is doing some updates for me. My furnace has been giving me some trouble. It would turn on, blow cold air for around 10 seconds and then turn off.  Ron checked it out, and the problem is a bad limit switch.  He's ordering one that will be here tomorrow morning, and that should take care of the furnace issue.  He also put in a new turn off valve with some copper tubing on the line to the catalytic propane heater. He installed it in the back of the fridge area, so it will be easy for me to reach when I want to turn the propane to the heater on or off.  I will be able to do that without turning the propane to the fridge on and off.  He also grounded the solar installation's inverter while I was here, so I should be good to go as soon as he installs the furnace limit switch tomorrow.

I'm staying overnight in his shop yard, where he has some other folks staying, also.  I wanted to be in an area where I can see the last presidential debate tonight, and the antenna TV reception here is really good here, so I'll be able to watch TV tonight.

Then, on to Quartzsite tomorrow!

Have a great Monday evening, everyone!  :)