Travel Day to Bill Williams River National Wildlife Refuge

August 30, 2010, Parker, Az
Yesterday was very windy and we were under a "wind advisory" as I made preparations to depart The Canyon Motel and RV Park in Williams AZ. I aired up all the tires on my truck and the fifth wheel. I then installed the transmitters on the valve stems of the trailer for the TST Tire Pressure and Temperature Monitoring System. However, I discovered the right front tire transmitter wasn't providing data so I replaced it with one of my two spares. They are supposed to last for 5 years, and I've had the system just over a year! While airing the tires I noticed a large piece of wire or perhaps a large staple stuck in the tread of the right rear tire on the fifth wheel trailer. I pulled it out and checked with soap and bubbles for a leak but didn't find one...whew!

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We were hitched and ready to go about 9:45 and said goodbyes to our neighbors, Dave and Judy. We hope to see them again down the road as they don't live too far from our destination: Lake Havasu/ Parker, Az. It was very cool this morning with a low in the 40's but it quickly warmed up. We still had a pretty stiff wind out of the Southwest which stayed with us along the 200 mile route. However, we made pretty good time on I-40 arriving in Kingman, AZ in time for a quick lunch.

Two hours later, I was turning onto a dirt road, Planet Ranch Road. I had followed the directions from the link on the website for Bill Williams River National Wildlife Refuge which lead me to this dirt road which parallels Bill Williams River on the National Wildlife Refuge property.

This road sure looked rough! I sent Joyce ahead in the jeep to find the visitor center as I creeped along with the rig. I got just over a half mile up the road before Joyce radioed back that she was turning around as the road was getting worse. This couldn't be the right road! I stopped the rig here and backed up in 4wd low and with Joyce's help found a slightly wider spot to slowly jack-knife the rig to get it turned around while avoiding dropping it over the cliff! I took these pictures the day after as I didn't have enough composure to take the pictures at the time!

We finally got turned around and headed back towards Hwy. 95.  Unfortunately I didn't have the phone number to the refuge handy because if I did I could have avoided this near disaster. I dug my laptop out of the rig and found the phone number. I called and learned that the visitor center and our destination were actually about a half mile down the highway to the left in this picture on Lake Havasu.

Minutes later we arrived and were greeted by some of the staff that we would be working with. They helped to get us parked and then allowed us to get set up ...which took me all evening. It was about 95 degrees when we arrived.  Again, I failed to take pictures till the next morning. A nice plus is the sunscreen drapes that block the afternoon sun as well as the sunscreen roof. As you can see I have the covers on the Jeep and our truck.

We have neighbors that we have yet to meet. They are here till the end of September until another couple arrives.

Our covered table at the front of our rig has a great view of the lake and a campfire site.

View of the visitor center across the parking lot.

And finally a picture taken the evening we arrived just after sunset over Lake Havasu.

Tomorrow we need to get up early and meet our new boss for a run down on some of our duties. I'm sure it will be a warm day!

Preparations to Move to Our Volunteer Job

August 28, 2010. Williams AZ

The last few days have been spent primarily hanging out at the RV park. We’ve both been doing some bike riding in and around the town of Williams.  The weather has been very mild with occasional afternoon showers although it rained last night.

I mentioned in one of my previous posts that we accepted a volunteer position for at least part of the fall and winter. I occasionally check the website Volunteer.Gov which is where I had found this position.

We will be working at Bill Williams River National Wildlife Refuge which is on the western border of Arizona. It’s about 23 miles south of Lake Havasu City. We were looking for something out west that would be warm for the winter. I think this will fit the bill.

It’s my understanding that our jobs will be doing general maintenance and upkeep of the day use facilities and visitor center working a schedule of 3 days on and 3 days off with another couple. In exchange we will be provided with a covered RV site with full hook-ups. We accepted the position back in June and were invited to start right away. However, we declined noting the temperatures were well over 110 degrees. We told the refuge we would be there by the first of October and possibly earlier.

Well we decided to go early..about a month early and plan to be there Monday. It’s still hot at the refuge, but the month of September should bring a cooling trend. We’ve been getting a little bored hanging out in Williams so we decided to volunteer early. We plan to stay till the first of January.

Today we took a ride in the truck to Flagstaff for an early dinner and to fill up on diesel to include filling my two 5 gallon containers. At $2.95 a gallon I figured it was worth it to purchase the extra ten gallons. Diesel in Williams is $3.19 and $3.59 at the interstate exits...literally highway robbery! 

Tomorrow I’ll check the air in the tires on our Carriage fifth wheel and air up the rear duals in my truck along with a host of other chores in preparation for departure Monday. I just hope the weather cooperates as it’s raining as I’m writing this.

So I’ll report back soon and provide all the details once we arrive at the refuge.

Exploring the area, biking and window tint for the Jeep

August 23, 2010.

The fields are awash in a sea of yellow and green. Nearly every empty field in The Williams, Flagstaff area is full of sunflowers. Apparently this year they are more abundant than usual as are the flies and mosquitos! It doesn't help that we are less than a mile from the well used rodeo grounds. We purchased a smelly fly trap that we set at the edge of our site adjacent to a vacant site to catch flies. We've also hung fly paper. I keep our large outdoor fan going when we sit outside to blow away the critters. I always assumed there were less bugs out west than in Florida...I'm beginning to doubt it!

The other day we loaded up Maggie and Rico in the Jeep and took a ride off road in and around the Kaibab National Forest. 

One stop along the way was Kaibab Lake which is surrounded on one side by the Forest Service campground. It's a paved campground but there are no hook-ups...and it was full!

Rico pondering his next move!

While driving around closer to Williams and headed towards Cataract Lake, we came across this old railroad overpass. The road wasn't posted regarding the overpass height however on the opposite side scrawled on the wall it indicated the height was 13ft 3inches.

Out by Cataract Lake we found another much smaller Forest Service campground. Again no hook-ups. The area around there has many small ponds and lakes.

An old abandoned Ranch.

  

We continued exploring down some of the forest roads before heading back home. Out on some of the forest roads we found folks camping in dispersed areas. I should note that in the designated campgrounds that I mentioned above, the camping fees were $18 a day plus $9 for an additional vehicle. Rather expensive for no hook-ups! 

I've been doing some biking in the mornings in and around Williams. It seems that downtown Williams is always alive with tourists. A couple days ago we drove into Flagstaff or "Flag" as it's known locally, to get the passenger and driver side windows of the Jeep tinted. 

Not much else happening..so till next time, we'll keep you posted!