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Rained most of the night and into the morning. Kinda spoiled our day--good day to head home!!

Light rain kept Arizona temps cool. And drive most scenic.

First sighting of Saguaro Cactus--getting closer to Tucson.

And then Kitt Peak. Not long now!!

Oh then, unpacking, laundry, RV maintaince, . . .good to be home!

Woods Canyon Lake

Getting close to end of our summer. Moved down the road to the campground at Woods Canyon Lake, on the Mogollon Rim "up the road" from Payson, Az. We did a day trip to this lake a few weeks ago, this time we plan to stay a while.  Had to stop at one of the many stunning overlooks from The Rim!

Had fun fishing. We are not fans of cleaning fish so we always "catch and release.". But this time we decided to keep it. Went immediately back to camp, turned on the grill, clumsily cleaned the fish and cooked it for breakfast! Freshest grilled rainbow trout--was delicious.

More exploring

Exploring Sipe Wildlife Area near Springerville. Great discovery. Grasslands, volcanic vents, really nice and informative visitor center, birding hotspot, (hummingbirds migrating thru right now put on quite a show).

Hiked to ruins of an ancient puebloan communal site.

Pottery shards found here that date back to 13th century!

Back to Pinetop and the captive Balde Eagle at the nature center.

Lucked out with mostly clear night sky for eclipse of moon. 

Our view was up through the forest canope which made it really mysterious. 

Another morning hike on the Springs Trail on the edge of town. Then to infamous Darby's for last chance for their locally famous breakfast! 

More pics from White Mountains

Morning hike along Fools Hollow Lake. Unfortunately there isn't much of a lake left. It's pretty much dried up with the continued drought. That valley/meadow ahead was filled with water once! There has been rain of late, but not nearly enough to bring local lakes back to normal.

Out to Woods Canyon Lake to try some fishing. Still no luck but was perfect day on the lake to watch Osprey fishing--they were quite successful!

And to just enjoy the forest. This mushroom looks like a plastic toy --its too perfect and colorful. But it is real, and definitely not edible.

A view from the top of Mogollon Rim. From mountains and forest down to desert floor.

short trip home

Two day trip back to Tucson. Will had a couple of follow up doctor appts.  Checked the house, (all good) cleaned up back yard just a bit, trips to doctors, and slept in own bed for couple of nights.

  And found this guy hanging out in our yard!!  Seems he has decided to roost in our back yard days that we are gone. So good, he's surely keeping rodent population in check!!

  Will's NAION staying stable, that is best we can hope for, possibly scheduling Cataract surgery soon as possible to give him best chance at keeping his vision as strong as possible.  And visit with Arthritis doctor to talk about recurring hip pain. Scheduled an MRI to see what's going on. All good

 Left Tucson in 103 degree temps!! Closer to Pinetop we began chasing rain clouds. We managed to beat the storm and got settled back in RV before sky opened up for a real summer thunder storm!! Good timing, I'd say but rained really hard and well into night!!

This week

Hiked somewhere most every day.

Thompson Trail near Great a favorite

The bit of rain in last weeks has brought the late summer wildflowers out!

We went back to White Mountain Nature Center to see the bird show again. Close up of how they train them. This is Breeze, the Blade Eagle.

And a Eurasian Owl

Same spot--pictures taken 10 minutes apart as sunset deepened.

There was a Quilt show in town. Quite amazing. Will was even impressed.

Back into RV

All set up again.  This time in an RV Park in Pinetop, Az.  It's at the edge of town actually on the Apache Indian Reservation.  

Where we are occasionally visited by the heard of wild horses.

Once we unloaded the car, put everything away, cleaned the car, did some laundry, got acquainted with the neighborhood, and reflect on what an amazing month long adventure road trip we just finished.  Then went out and did the craziest, most spontaneous, thing ever-- we traded cars!!

Now, not like we haven't been talking about it, thinking about trading. Will has been thinking a lot about what he wanted next, doing searches on internet, reading reviews and looking. What we were looking for is a car with newest  safety features--and there are some pretty impressive features available.

Just thought we'd stop at dealership to see what's available--just looking--no intention to actually buy anything.

It was meant to be, because Will found a 2024 ( not new) Toyota RAV4 with extremely low milage equipped with just the extra features he wanted. 

So there you have it!! Made a deal.

transferring personal stuff from old car to new and we were good to go!