Lake Havasu, AZ

Jill, Dan & kids only stayed one night with us at Lake Havasu. It was a nice RV Park. The members stayed across the street with the really nice swimming pool and nicer spots.

The Coast-to-Coast people (that is us) stayed on the other side with the smaller pool and RV sites, but we could swim where we wanted to and we all co-mingled for the activities.

We ate breakfast one morning at the club house and one evening we played bingo (we didn't win anything). Everyone was really friendly.

Lake Havasu is a really pretty lake. We went fishing one morning. They say they catch a lot of fish out of it, but we didn't have any luck. I keep forgetting to take the camera with me. I will try to do better.

We rode a ferry boat across to the California side to a casino on an Indian reservation (the lake is made by the Colorado River, which is the boarder between Arizona and California). It took about 20 minutes. We walked around, waded in the water a little, and then took the ferry back.

London Bridge was brought from England by the Mr. McCullough of chainsaw fame, and rebuilt at Lake Havasu City. It crosses a channel of the Colorado River. We crossed it over to an Island where there was a bike path. As we were riding our bike, one of the tires split most of the bands holding it together. Thank goodness we were able to finish our ride and get back to the pickup before it went flat. We ended up putting two new tires on the bike. We left Lake Havasu and headed to Yuma.

March (4)

March 31, 2007

Jill and Dan & kids, Boe & Kamber, and Wesley, Ryan’s son, got at our campground at 4:00 a.m. We threw the kids and Jill on the floor and Dan on the couch and everyone slept in until 8:30. It was really good to see them. They just stayed until the afternoon. Dan slept because he had driven all night. The kids played and we took them swimming in the pool, although it was not very warm and the wind was blowing. They went on to Travis’s and we met them on Monday in Wikieup.









We went with Bob and Lolita to the casinos to eat a couple of times during the week and we took a boat ride where we learned all about the history of the Colorado River and about the casinos in Laughlin, which is on the Nevada side of the river from Bull Head City. Terry and Bob both lost their three quarters in the slot machines and that satisfied their gambling urges. We listened to the free entertainment in one of the casinos a couple of nights.


















Some other campers told us about some Indian petroglyphs just outside of Laughlin. It was a little bit of a walk to see them, but they were really good. There was a very knowledgeable lady there taking pictures and she told us all about them. She told us about some really good ones on the way to our campground in Flaming Gorge in Utah that we are planning on going to in May.

































We had a good time in Bullhead City. After going to Church on Sunday, we left the next morning to go back to Wikieup to spend the rest of the week there with Jill and Dan and the kids.

The boys spent a lot of time lizard hunting. They got to be pretty good at catching them. Jill decided that all lizards would be much happier staying in the desert rather than being in a cage in Idaho.

We spent time going for walks. One of the favorite pastimes on these walks was throwing rocks at the teddy bear cholla cactus. The balls on them fall off and in a year or two there is a forest of chollas. There is evidence from this concept proven by the Howard kids over the years all along the roads.

I was so excited to have Jill and Kamber there to help me finish my project of the Levi quilt. In fact, everyone got involved in the tying of the quilt before it was finished.

We spent some time riding Grandpa’s little red motorcycle. Everyone got a ride.

We had fun playing in the Big Sandy River. We found a place just down from where we turn onto our road. It wasn’t very deep, but it was a totally sandy bottom. There isn’t always water running in the Big Sandy, but we were luck that there was some this year. We had to wait until Friday, the last day the kids were there, for it to be warm enough to play in the water.

We did a lot of lying around and had a restful time with the kids. Dan did help Terry fix a broken wire on the fence around the house. It made a big enough space that a wild burro or a calf could have gotten in and maybe caused some damage. It was good to leave with it fixed.





















The kids learned about taking their shoes off before coming into the house. I really hurt to step on a cactus sticker in your bare feet. We had quite a collection of shoes on the doorstep. Everyone had a pair of walking shoes and a pair of “outhouse” shoes we wore if we were just visiting the outhouse and then coming back into the house.












Friends from home, Russ and Louise Manwaring surprised us and stopped and stayed a night with us. They were traveling during Spring Break (Louise teaches school). It was so good to see someone from home. Russ is a birder and it is always interesting to go on walks with him in the desert because he teaches us so much.



The kids helped us close up “The Little House in the Desert” and we left on Friday to go to a campground at Lake Havasu. We hope everything is okay until be get back after Thanksgiving this fall.

Lake Havasu is a beautiful lake. We got to go swimming with the kids a couple of times before they left Saturday night to go home.











They did help me celebrate my birthday that day. We had birthday cake with candles that I needed help from everyone to blow out!











Jill and I got our hair cut that day













and then Terry gave me a birthday gift of coloring my hair. He helped me pick out a nice light brown color on the hair swatch, but I turned out to be a red-head! Oh well, I guess it will grow out and I can cut it and try again.


Now comes the two months of harassment until Terry catches up with me in age!

March (3)

March 22, 2007




It was very warm in Wikieup last Friday and Saturday. Our thermometer hit 100 degrees both days.













One day we were sitting in the livingroom trying to keep cool and we saw this big lizard come up onto the front step. This is the largest lizard we had seen. Of course, he didn’t hold still long enough for a good picture. His body was about ten inches long and then his tail was as long as his body. He looked like a small Gila Monster. Instead of scurrying off, he stood on his legs and ran off!


On Sunday we went to Church for the last time at the Wikieup Branch. That day there were only fourteen people there. Terry and I gave the prayers in Sacrament Meeting. Terry then blessed the Sacrament and also passed it. We will miss them until we get back in December.

Monday morning we met up with Terry’s sister and husband, Lolita and Bob Wright, and went to Bullhead City. We have enjoyed being with them. We walked along the Water Walk across the River at Laughlin, had steak and shrimp dinner, and listened to a free Karaoke program. Some of the singers were really good, but some were really bad! We went on a boat ride and learned all about the history of Bullhead City, the Colorado River, and the building of the casinos in Laughlin. We have sat in the hot tub, shopped, ate a lot of food, and played a lot of pinochle.

One day we went to Oatman where the burros roam the streets and they have a gun shootout at least once a day. Afterwards they asked for donations—at gunpoint! It was a lot of fun.










Jill and Dan and the kids will be here tomorrow for part of the day before they head to Travis’ in Payson. We will meet up with them on Monday in Wikieup. Grandma and Grandpa are pretty anxious to see those grandkids, and of course Jill and Dan also!

March (2)

March 14

On Friday, March 9, we hung the gate! After two years of “discussion” with BLM and ADOT, we are finally able to use the old road again. The State even let us borrow a drill for the holes. Unless you have driven the two mile road through Sycamore Wash, you wouldn’t know how nice it is.


We are having a war with the bees. In the past, they have built their hives in the old washhouse and in the little trailer and camper that was by it, but have not bothered much at the house. Now they are invading us. We are working at getting rid of them before our grandkids get her in a week and a half. They are big yellow bees and they look like they could take a hunk out of you if they bit you.

On Monday we drove to Alamo Lake. It is about 80 miles from Wikieup, all dirt road. We ended up on the backside of the lake, across from the State Park and the developed area. The road ended there and didn’t go around the lake. Terry fished for the first time with his new pole from the Bus Garage gang and his Arizona fishing license. He got a couple of good bites, but no fish. I went for a walk and met up with some wild burros. It is a good thing I scared them more than they scared me. Terry was sitting there fishing and watching it happen. Of course, I didn’t have my camera with me.

In this picture, I am just holding Terry’s pole while he went to get our picnic lunch (I don’t have a fishing license.)

I have been busy working on my Levi quilt. I hope to finish sewing it together today and then, with Jill’s help the end of the month, maybe I can get it tied and finished.

We are planning on going to Bullhead City and meet up with Terry’s sister and brother-in-law, Bob and Lolita, at one of our campgrounds for a week. Terry had to get the Condo all washed up. I told him that we were going to have to change a little when we get around people again. I am going to have to comb my hair more often, Terry will have to shave more often and quit running outside to the outhouse in his underwear, and we will not be able to wear the same pair of jeans for four days in a row.

March (1)

March 8, 2007

We left Payson on March 2 with mixed feelings. We enjoyed being with our grandsons and will miss them for a while, but we were anxious to get back to Wikieup, especially because ADOT had our road access permit ready. We stopped in Kingman and picked it up. Finally, after two years, they finally gave us permission to open up the old road with a swinging gate. The gate had to be put in to ADOT specs, which was more than we wanted to do. It is only a year permit, to be extended if the new road is not ready to use. They let us unwire the fence on Saturday to get the Condo in and then not use it until the gate is done. Hurrah!!!





My mom’s brother (and my uncle, although we are close to the same age) and his wife, Terry and Nancy Imlay, came to visit us. They got here on Monday, just in time to give us some expertise advice and good help in getting our gate started. We spent all day Tuesday in Kingman getting parts and pieces and then worked them hard on Wednesday morning.

Wednesday afternoon, we cleaned up and headed to Laughlin, Nevada. Both Terry and Nancy had a bit of luck at the slot machines and at the roulette table. At least they didn’t loose anything. I think we gave them good luck looking over their shoulders. We enjoyed some free music and dancing (at least watching the dancing), enjoyed walking along the waterway, and had a good dinner.





It was fun having Terry and Nancy here. They were our first official visitors. They were good sports about using the outhouse, playing games in the evening with a dim light to save electricity, and putting up with some of my cooking. We made plans with them to come back next year.








The desert is beginning to turn a little green with the bit of rain we have had. Some of Mom’s cacti are beginning to bloom. The Joshua trees have beautiful blooms on them. The peas are doing well. I hope they have real peas on them before we leave in three weeks. I have to keep a screen on them because the little ground squirrels love to eat the tender green plants.

February (4)

February 28, 2007

I really cannot believe it is the end of February. We have spent all week here in Payson babysitting Travis’ four boys (ages 1½ to 11). It snowed most of one day, but nothing stayed on the ground in the valley. It kind of feels like we are back in Idaho after being in Wikieup the last six weeks.

It has been fun with the boys. I think they have taken their turns thinking I am a mean grandma, making them go to bed on time (most of the time), saying no to some of their requests, and not always feeding them their favorite foods. But we have had fun going to ball games and practices, going to kindermusic (with Josh the 1 ½ year old), going to a book fair, taking them to school, picking them up from school, going to Church, eating pizza out, watching movies, playing games, reading books, and just getting to know each other better. It has brought back a lot of memories of raising our four little boys (along with the two tail-end girls.) We can certainly see why we have our children when we are young.

I hope Shannon finds things in order when they get back. The pantry and fridge are empty, the boys’ drawers may have the wrong clothes in them, the towels are probably all folded wrong, and Grandpa has taught Josh a few new words and told the boys a few new tales, but it has been fun staying in their beautiful new home and being Grandma and Grandpa. Travis and Shannon arrive in Phoenix Airport early Friday morning and we will probably leave by noon to get back to Wikieup before dark. We will miss those boys, but we are anxious to see how things are at our little winter home.

February (3)

February 21, 2007

On Wednesday we finished hauling some more rock. We have a little place fixed for a picnic table in the back, so we are anxious to get one.

On Thursday, Dutch still wasn’t feeling well, so Terry took him into Kingman to see the Doctor. They left at 9:30 in the morning and didn’t get home until 6:30 in the evening. This is the first time Terry and I have been apart this many hours since we retired! And also, this is the first time I have been alone at Nettie’s Place. I went around and locked all of the doors, but then I got brave enough to go outside, but only unlocking one door. After a while, I settled down and made some bread. The first time in a long time that I have made bread without my Bosch! While it was rising, I went to town to send Travis’s work, a major accomplishment driving that road! I even went to the log furniture people in Wikieup and bought our picnic table. We had talked about doing it that day, so I just did it. I mentioned that there was one warped board on the top, so he took $50 off of the price. It had been their demo table for quite a while and needed re-stained and he wanted to get a new demo out front. Good deal for us!

When I got back home, I checked all of the rooms, looked under the beds and behind the doors. Everything was okay. I really was glad to see the guys get back.

On Saturday, we worked around the house and put stain and sealant on the swing and our new picnic table. Then we went to the Gemkana in Wikieup. It was the second one they had, but this one had more events. It is mostly events for kids on their horses, but a few adults compete. It was really hot on Saturday, in the mid-high 80’s.









We had a potluck at Church and after we got home it rained the rest of the day. Everyone around here is praying for rain so their range cattle will have something to eat. I guess there has been quite a drought. A half hour after it rains, you can hardly tell that it has evened rained. The water really soaks into the ground fast. If it rains too hard for too long, though, the water starts running everywhere. I guess there can be quite the flash floods during some rainy seasons.

Mom had this old station wagon that she had sold to my Cousin who owns 5 acres of land just down from us. I think it sat out by my Mom’s place for the last ten years. It only had three tires, which were all rotten, no motor, and most of the other parts and pieces were piled inside the car. It was a great place for packrats. On Monday, Terry found an old tire in our junk pile, which actually held air. I had to get in and help steer the car it as he dragged it with the pickup for about a quarter mile to my Cousin’s place. I left the door open and told him I was going to bail out if I saw any critters poke their heads out of the nests inside the car. I think it was quite a site with the tires flopping, the driveline dragging, and someone squealing the whole way!


Here is a picture of a really nice Joshua tree in Mom’s cactus garden. I think we will take a couple of the “babies” around the bottom and replant them in the back yard.

This saguaro cactus is on Dutch’s property just across the road from us. It is the place where everyone gets their picture taken. So if you ever visit us in Wikieup, plan on getting your picture taken there.

We spent yesterday in Bullhead City. Terry is looking for a 410/22 over and under rifle and someone told him there may be one in a gun shop there. There wasn’t any. Besides that, we found out that no licensed gun dealer can sell a gun to anyone from Idaho (what’s with this?). They would have to sell it to a dealer in Idaho and then Terry could buy it from the Idaho dealer. We spent some time walking along the Colorado River and we drove through an RV Park that we are going to in March with Terry’s sister and brother-in-law.

We are still waiting for the permit to come back for ADOT to open our road. If we don’t get it tomorrow, my aunt and uncle will have a little more exciting drive coming to see us by way of the Sycamore Wash Road. The more we drive on it, the rougher it gets. We are busy today getting things ready so we can leave tomorrow for a week at Travis’s in Payson. We are babysitting their four boys while they go to Hawaii!!

February (2)

February 14, 2007
We have been married for 37 years today! What a great time to be in Wikieup! The weather has cooled down a bit the last few days, to the 60’s. After today, it is supposed to start warming up some. The hummingbirds left for a while, but they are back. One is very territorial and chases the other one off. He even came at me when I touched the feeder. So Terry had this great idea to fool him with a plastic bird. He fluttered around him for a minute, but then just ignored him.

Last weekend we went with Dutch to a gun show in Kingman. Terry is looking for a 410/22 over and under (if you know what that is). He found one, but it had a broken stock so he didn’t get it. He is still looking.

We play games several times a week with Dutch, in the evenings. We play Dominoes and Sequence. Terry usually wins. It sure is nice to have time too do things like that—feels like we are on a loooong vacation!

My pansies are really doing good, except for one the packrat pulled up and took it to his nest. They sit right where the water runs off of the roof when it rains, so even when I don’t get them watered enough, they get the rain water (I really do not do well with flowers). The peas are coming up in one pot. A little ground squirrel ate all of the seeds in the other two pots. Terry wanted to shoot him, but he had already done the deed, so why shoot him now? We couldn’t figure out what was getting into them until one day we saw him.
ADOT finally said we could have access to our old road. They are having us fill out the application as the owner of the permit. That way we bypass BLM, but it also puts all of the liability on our shoulders if the gate is left open and cows get out on the State Highway. I sent the application yesterday. They need to sign it and send it back to us and then I think we can put in a gate. We plan on putting a BIG lock on it, so if anyone is planning to drop in and see us, let us know ahead of time so we can come and unlock the gate for you. We can hardly believe that this two-year battle for the access is finally ending.







We found some little pebbles left years ago by the well drillers and have done a little “landscaping” around Mom’s house. If nothing else, it will keep some of the sand and stickers from getting into the house. It will also be a good place for the grandkids to play and throw lots of rocks, so Terry says!

February (1)

February 7, 2006
It rained last Tuesday, for the first time. It rained all night and we could hear the roof leaking into the attic. Nothing ever came through into the house. I guess it is time to climb up and do some patching! It rained off and on the next day, but it didn’t keep us inside much. We are still trying to clean up around the place. We would like to get some RV sites set up for our 5th Wheel and for company to come. There will be water and sewer (or dumping) there, but no electricity. We will have to use generators.




We went to Travis’s in Payson on Friday for the weekend. We go over some high mountains on the way. We were at over 7,000 feet. There was a lot of snow. Travis and family are doing good. Travis performed a minor surgery on his dad and took a “knot” (really it was a small cyst) off of his head close to the left temple. Terry said Dr. Howard smiled the whole time he was cutting on him! The fours boys are lots of fun. Payson is a pretty town.


We got back to Wikieup to find all well, except Dutch has come down with a case of Shingles. He has been pretty sick but is on the mend.


We are still going back and forth with BLM and ADOT about the access to the old road. I’m not sure it will happen this year, but we haven’t given up yet. It has been cloudy yesterday and today, but still around 70 degrees.





We rode the motorcycle to town yesterday for the first time. It is pretty scary out there on the divided highway going 35 mph with these big trucks passing us at 65 mph. We do have out nifty new helmets, but I think we would need more than that to help us! I think we will stick to the desert roads!

Maybe we will ride up to Turtle Mountain sometime.