We Take a Ride in the Desert

Gina and I decided we would spend the day four wheeling since Nancy said Gina could use her four wheeler. She really enjoyed four wheeling with the girls Tuesday. Plus it would allow both of us to ride by our self’s instead of together. We set out first on our way to Inspiration Point. The view there is so relaxing. I believe I could spend hours just looking out.

A View of Round Mountain from Inspiration Point

From there we just started riding. Stopping occasionally to look for that special rock. In Gina’s mind all rocks are special. It’s kind of funny. She’ll ask me, “What do you think about this one”? My reply is always, “it’s a rock”. She doesn’t think my reply is very funny. However, she still laughs. We are having so much fun out here. We both had a great surprise today. Gina spotted a big lizard and stopped so I had to turn around and come back. I couldn’t believe what she spotted. Here are two pictures of our great find. We didn't know what it was until we got online. It's called a Banded Gila Monster.

Close up of the Banded Gila Monster


This girl was about 14 inches long

Now, just to let you know how rare this is. Here’s a little information about them. They spend their whole life in the ground except for about three weeks a year. They can store enough food in their tail to survive for a whole year. They are the only venomous lizard in the United States. They are generally not a threat to humans since they move so slowly. Also, it’s against the law to harass or threaten them. From what I can tell it’s against the law to do anything to them other than take a picture of them.

From there we kept on riding taking in all the scenery. Here are some pictures from our ride including Gina having fun.

The clouds creating a beautiful landscape


Couldn't pass up this windmill without taking a picture


Doesn't she look good??


View of Vulture Peak overlooking Wickenberg, AZ on the left


Gina coming down a hill of about 40 degrees


I believe after this hill Gina can go up or down any hill

Finally around three o’clock we decided to start heading back home. I must admit that I missed a turn and almost got lost. As a man I will never admit that I was lost just turned around since we did make it home. Gina wasn’t too happy about that since she was tired, cold and it misted on us a little. After we got home Gina let me know that was just a little too much. We both had a great time out in the desert.


Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.

Gina and the Girls go Four Wheeling

If you have been keeping up with Mike & Pat's blog then you know that Gina went with Pat and Dale to Prescott on Monday to do a little more shopping for their new home. When they arrived Pat’s Honda was packed full. They all had a lot of fun and I enjoyed being home alone relaxing. I spent Tuesday online trying to catch up on all the blogs our friends write. I want to thank Mike for keeping all of our friends up to date about what we have been up to. As you all know we have not really had internet service for the past five weeks. Gina and I really appreciate Mike & Pat keeping everyone updated about us. So if you haven’t checked out their blog I highly encourage you to check it out.

Tuesday evening it was decided that the girls would go four wheeling on Wednesday. Gina was extremely nervous about this since she doesn’t like going up and down the hills. However, Pat convinced her she would do just fine. It would be Nancy, Bonnie, Gina and Pat riding and seeing the desert for the day.

Gina getting instructions from Nancy


Mike giving instructions to Bonnie


Gina is ready to ride

Gina rode a smaller four wheeler today instead of Mike’s four wheel drive 500 which should make it easier for her.

Nancy leading the pack


Here's Bonnie followed by Gina and Pat heading out into the desert


Pat taking up the rear

Nancy was the tour guide since she knows the desert out here like the back of her hand. She was taking it slow so Gina could get used to riding. They stopped after a little while and Gina told Nancy she could speed up and that she was ready to go up and down some hills.

They all stop for a break


Nancy, Gina and Pat. Look at that smile on Gina's face


Gina thanking Nancy for a wonderful day

They all had a great time and the weather was beautiful. I almost forgot they saw another rattle snake which scared Gina again. There are just too many of those around here to do any walking out in the desert. So I guess we'll just keep four wheeling out there.

The desert out here is huge

I want to include a picture I took the other day. I just thought this guy was so cute.

A Horned Lizard

Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.

We Have Internet Service

Hallelujah!!!! We finally have internet service. We are the new owners of a Verizon aircard. This goes along with our Sprint aircard and ATT phones. So, hopefully wherever we travel we should have coverage and keep up with posting our blog. (Gina says, I have no more excuses why I cannot post the blog)

We are still here at North Ranch in Arizona. We’re having so much fun with Mike and Pat. We decided to take a little trip in the truck to Yuma, Arizona. Our son, Thomas is stationed there for approximately a month while he attends a school. We also want to go across the border into Mexico. On Wednesday we drove 200 miles south. Now we have been hearing about Algodones, which is a Mexican border town for about two years. Now this is funny. I have always heard that you go to Yuma and go across the border. Well, it’s not quite that simple since I started heading south of Yuma and didn’t find it. I stopped a Border patrol agent and asked for directions. He kind of laughed at me. He told us that we had to go back to Yuma and then into California about 5 miles and then go south. I should have asked for directions but I am a man who never gets lost??? We decided instead to go see Thomas and go into Mexico on Thursday. We picked up Thomas from the Marine Corps base and did a little shopping at the commissary before we took him out to eat at Outback. After we dropped him off we headed toward Love’s truck stop. We decided to just stay there since we only had the truck and we just needed somewhere to sleep and to take a shower. Here are a few pictures from our trip.

Thought this was a pretty neat backdrop for a picture


Gina and Thomas


Thomas cuttin up with his Mom

We drove back to North Ranch on Friday and surprised Mike and Pat with a few house-warming gifts. Saturday found Gina helping Mike & Pat out in their yard while I spent over four hours on the phone with Verizon trying to get my new aircard to work. It was finally decided that the aircard was corrupted by my Sprint software and that the aircard would need to be replaced. Here's a couple of pictures of the yard work.

Mike, Gina and Pat working hard


Here's Mike being the King of the Garbage can

We are enjoying our time here with Mike & Pat. I enjoy the conversations with Mike. Gina loves helping Pat with decorating her new home. It also allows her time to play with rocks, which by the way she loves rocks. (I know she loves rocks since I have over two thousand pounds of rocks in my truck).

Since everyone loves pictures here are a some more.

Another Rattle snake sunbathing. We have now seen six of them


One sheep out of a herd we came across in the desert


To say I was shocked when I saw this turtle is an understatement
I had no idea that there were turtles in the desert


A Jack Rabbit, Look at those legs and ears


Now this is a Road Runner, This is for Janna and Ellie since they corrrected me about a picture I posted before that I thought was a Road Runner was actually a quail.


As you can see Gina is liking this Four Wheeling thing

Now that we have good internet service we should be back to regularly updating our blog.


Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.