Roper Lake State Park, Safford AZ

I know I need to catch you up on the past 14 days......... but I just wanted to share where we are now! Chuck and I have found a favorite new campground and we found it by accident! After driving 2 hours on graded dirt roads headed out of Young AZ, roads that were more like washboard than graded with hairpin turns and mostly downhill. Several hours after finding paved road again, Chuck was ready for a campground!

We are both sick with cold/flu and have been since Lake Casita CA where we left 8 days ago. I just looked on the Atlas map of Arizona and found Roper Lake State Park, just south of Safford AZ. It was about an hour away. We didn't have high hopes for this park after passing the "seen better days" neighborhood homes on the road here. At the front gate was a guy with a great big smile and welcome attitude. The camping fee is only $16 a night for water and electric! The best perk of all is the hot springs that flow into a rock lined hot tub at a perfect 97 degrees! To 2 sick campers.... this sounded great! We paid for one night and drove on in to find a spot! WOW! This park is beautiful! The campsites are well spaced with plenty of room and none of that "parking lot" feel that you get at some campgrounds.

The lake is an amazing blue color, nothing like I have ever seen anywhere else! The lake is full of ducks that Chuck says are Greebs. This morning, while walking the dogs, a group of gambrel quail paraded across the campground. Grin! The lake is stocked with trout from Nov. to March, there are trails everywhere and mountain view on 2 sides of us! We paid for 3 more nights! We love it here! We are applying for positions here as workampers! It feels like we have found our second home! Enjoy the photos!

Good Bye Bonkers :-(

I hate to say it, I hate to even think it! But last Sunday, Oct. 25th, Bonkers left us! Stupid human error! Not even her fault! Chuck has some friends that were at the Casita rally in Lake Casitas, CA. Jim and Carol have a cat named Jerry that has been camping with them since he was a kitten. He even rides around in his own stroller greeting everyone. Chuck and I wanted to introduce Bonkers to Jerry and his family. We put her harness and leash on, Chuck carried her holding her in his arms. Amazingly.... the first few minutes went ok. Something happened to spook Bonkers. because all at once she went ballistic and in 10 seconds flat, or less, she was out of Chuck's arms and out of her harness and running in long leaps and bounds down the dry creekbed! It was all over before anybody could react! I immediately went down the edge of the creekbed calling for her........... no response. Just before dark, I went again calling her and she meowed back, but she was too spooked to come out of hiding. the man at the end of the wash, saw her Sunday night and Monday night... so Tuesday Chuck went into Ventura and bought a hav -a-heart trap at Harbor Freight. We had had her carrier set up at where she was last seen on Sunday and Monday nights and all the food was eaten....... but once we set the trap up she was never seen again nor was her food touched. The parks rangers said there are a lot of coyotes there and for her to last 2 nights was amazing. We donated the trap to the park. I am so mad at myself! If I had just kept her in the trailer instead of wanting to show her off...... she would still be with us.

Needless to say, I am behind on this blog. There is a lot to show and tell you of what we have seen and done while in CA. We are now in Barstow at a KOA. Chuck took me to the ghost town of Calico, and it was soooo cool! I took lots of pictures so I will share later. We are on our way home now, with several more adventures and discoveries awaiting us. I will try to get caught up asap. Needless to say, preoccupation with Bonkers has been the main focus. It was so hard to leave yesterday........ but I really think it was no good waiting longer, I think she is gone. But I guess being a meal for a hungry coyote is better than being run over on a roadside. She was loved for 4 years and she will be with us always in our memories.