MISSING ARIZONA WEATHER

And where have all the nice wildflowers gone?    We left Wells, Nevada yesterday morning in a shower and it wasn't long before it was pure snow.  At least the road stayed bare and we were able to keep going.  We ran out of the weather just before Jackpot, Nevada.  However, when we got onto I-84 heading west from Twin Falls, Idaho all the way to Mountain Home, Idaho, we fought horrible headwinds.  It was good that we had decided to make it a short day with the way the wind was.
Heading west from there this morning the winds were minimal.  We were happy to get over the Blue Mountains on dry roads this afternoon.  We are spending tonight at the Wild Horse Casino RV Park near Pendleton, Oregon.  No, we aren't visiting the casino as we don't do that stuff.   Tomorrow's plan is to move on to Soap Lake, Washington then on to Penticton, BC the next day.

Aileen took these snowy photos north of Wells

These two Killdeer were on the frosty lawn beside our motor home this morning in Mountain Home

This one had just finished a big worm for breakfast

FROM HOT SPRING/SUMMERLIKE WEATHER BACK TO WINTER

We had a great time boondocking at Bouse Friday night, especially after a week of cheek to jowl parking at Escapade.  The flowers were starting to bloom in profusion so I was out with my camera several times.  I have posted a few below, some of which I have identified, or think I have, with the names listed below.  No name, no idea.
We moved up to Alamo, Nevada yesterday and it was much cooler.  In fact, it was quite frosty this morning.  We had a fairly good drive through Lake Havasu, except for all the stop lights, some of which are poorly timed.  It was a long quiet drive up through Searchlight then busy through Las Vegas.  It was nice to get off I-15 north of Las Vegas and onto 93 which is a much quieter road.
We dropped quite a bit in temperature today given that we got up over 7300 feet near Ely and are now at a little over 5600 feet at Wells.  We had some cross wind today and tomorrow it sounds like we will have some nasty headwinds to fight our way through.  Keeping our mileage down, we plan to go to Mountain Home, Idaho tomorrow then Pendleton, Oregon the next day and Soap Lake, Washington the last day before crossing the border at Oroville on Thursday.  We are planning to spend a few days in Penticton before moving up to Salmon Arm.

Desert Star

Purple Mat

This plant seems to go by Scorpion Weed, Distant Phacelia, Wild Heliotrope or Blue Phacelia

Not sure what plant this is but the structure from last year's growth was interesting

Purple Mat

Notice how his feet are clasping the plant stalk

Purple Mat and Desert Star

Purple Mat taken in the evening shade

Purple Mat in the morning sun

Desert Chicory

Turkey Vulture

Classic Buzzard pose

Turkey Vulture flasher

All those black spots are Turkey Vultures

Spotted in Alamo, NV this morning

Looks to be having fun

The next three are on our drive from Alamo to Wells, NV

NORTHWARD BOUND - DARN

Well, that was a busy week.  We joined 916 other RVs and three tents at the Pima County Fairgrounds on the east side of Tucson, AZ Saturday to Friday.  We took in a few presentations but found that after RVing for so many years that most of them were a bit redundant for us.   We met a lot of people who had been to Vancouver Island and many more intending to visit.  Just two people who I spoke with said they would never go to the Island because of the ferry cost.
We had many conversations with very friendly people and we were surprised at how many are full timing and how long some of them have been.  We were on the road just before 8 am this morning and are boondocking a couple miles from Bouse, AZ tonight after travelling 441 kms (276 miles).  It has been a gorgeous day and the ground is carpeted with many different types of flowers here.  I was out with my camera before and after supper.
The weather is looking a bit iffy on our projected route north through Nevada, Idaho and Oregon.  I wasn't able to bring up any highway webcams last night with the poor internet our Verizon air card was giving us.   We seem to have a much stronger signal here, or at least, less people on it.  I will try later to see if I can check out the route and projected weather.

The ROW is an area of tables with each one representing a chapter or group within Escapees

Hugs are an integral part of Escapees

More of the ROW, this is Eastern Canada's chapter

Aileen and I shared the table duty for the four days and four hours each day

My turn

Paul Evert's RV had a large display of new and used RVs and they made several sales, but not to us

Escapade was held at the Pima County Fairgrounds which were pretty in their own right

There were nice sized dog runs with separate enclosures for large and small dogs

Over near the dry camping area, there was this large mass of tumbleweeds piled up against the fence

Several evenings we had large gatherings for music and entertainment.  Bruce in yellow, Pam, Al and Laurie are from our chapter

The attendance over the week was 2652 but not all came out to the evening presentations

This particular night we were entertained by Woodie and the Longboards from California.  They are rated as the #1 Beach Boys tribute band.  They also did some Eagles tunes but they were much better covering the Beach Boys.

These two images show part of the vendors display area

Campers on the left and background and display RVs on the right.  Yes, that is rainwater on the pavement as we had some wind and rain to start the day.

Display RVs on the left

Willie, Waylon and Mitzy getting ready for the pet parade

Pet parade

Inside a couple of the new RVs on display

Our group went out for supper at the Brushfire BBQ Co in Tucson last night.  The food was pretty good and reasonable priced.

Nobody went home hungry!