- photo by Martin Lynn

This is the end of Waterspot1.

It's the end of a long chapter for us.  I have raked up my last pinecone. We were lucky to have had this unique experience, and will treasure our happy memories. 

Wild burros at Lake Pleasant.​

An interesting stop and we were glad to revisit this place, which is almost a ghost town.  We got back on the road to our next stop, which is Caliente, Nevada.

From 2004, on the deck stairs.

- photo by Jeff Grubb

Built in 1872, it was a grand building for its day but only ended up costing one million because of corruption and poor management. The bonds to build it were were reissued multiple times instead and being paid and the town finally paid the debt in 1938, two years after the building was condemned.  It is open as a museum now and is well worth a visit.

This was set up to be a picture of  the city skyline but being a speeding Toyota shot, I ended up with a picture of somebody's white Chevy truck.

There were more scattered among the rocks that were hard to see because bushes had  grown and obscured them.  No one does anything to maintain this "attraction" or the road. And we were absolutely in prime rattlesnake territory.  I took a handful of photos, got back in the car and we crawled back out of that place. The difficult trip to get there and the terror of getting a flat tire out in nowhere definitely diminished the fun in seeing the murals.

- Saguaro Lake by Roger Naylor

We started getting rid of  all our equipment. The jeep CJ5  was the first to go. We had many good times exploring the nearby Prescott National forest with its old mines and beautiful scenery, but we hadn't used it for years. It was one of our best adventures.

The directions said specifically "any type vehicle can travel the road." This is a falsehood.  The Artist Roy Purcell who went on to have an illustrious career in the art world painted the murals on big boulders in 1966 with vibrant colors, and called it "The Journey: Images from and Inward Search for Self."  The site is in the Cerbat Mountains . We somehow finally arrived.

We stopped in Centralia WA to see Bruce's lovely sister Helaine.  This sadly turned out to be our last visit with her since she passed away in March at age 88.  Bruce is the youngest of a very big family, and Helaine was his last living sibling. We had a happy time with her that day and laughed about many things.  It is a sweet memory we'll always hold dear. We're sorry she is gone.

The remote location gave us welcome quiet and serenity that we loved. And we enjoyed our spectacular views of Horse Mountain and the Bradshaws from our deck.

Pendelton, Oregon.  Home of the Pendelton Woolen Mills and the famous plaid shirts. We have been blessed with great weather, too.

This project was supposed to take  two weeks but ended up lasting over 3 months, so we were in a construction zone for a long time. We had trouble getting materials, an additional worker, and other stuff. And just like us, Jerry is 25 years older.

And here's some Arizona wildlife.  Amazingly, these are Pelicans at Alamo Lake.  They come here in the winter months. 

Here is Ely in 1906.

- Photo by Harry Shipler from Wikipedia.

On the porch,  one of our first years at the Rancho.

Waterspot1

We also spent quite a bit of time here at a specialty contact lens doctor in Scottsdale, where Bruce was fitted with new Scelera lenses that may work better for his kind of vision problems.

After more than 10 years of trying I finally got a clear shot of the historic headquarters building at what is now Joint Base Lewis-McCord outside of Tacoma. And on a sunny day!  It is now a museum.

This is the site of the Tenneessee mine, the largest producer of silver and gold in the area which had 72 mines in its heyday. Only 300 people live in Chloride today.

Outside of Jackpot, Nevada on the state line we stop at one of our favorite rest areas on the Salmon Run River. We are usually the only ones here, and it's our lunch stop. 

​ 

And a final look at the Rancho -

A fellow traveler we met leaving the Jailhouse the next morning.  We don't know where he was headed.

The next morning we set off for Portland and the Columbia River Gorge.

Here's the view from under the big top!

We always enjoyed going to a different climate zone, and snow was pretty exciting, since we don't see that in Phoenix. 

A construction fence surrounded the whole place, which is a work in progress, so we couldn't get in but we were very happy to see it was being restored.

It had 18 rooms and served guests three meals a day.  Efforts continue to save the old hotel but it is in such a remote place and in bad shape, who knows.

John Day Dam.

There is a Pendleton shop here where we shop for Bruce and he usually gets one of their fine plaid shirts.

Winter in Arizona

Lastly, I happened upon this mural on a side street by the Thunderbird campus where I worked for 17 years.  I didn't know it was there, but it's  to commemorate the WWII pilot training base that was originally on this site before the school moved in after the war.  It's a Stearman airplane  which was what pilots were trained to fly. We've seen these at the Heritage Flight Museum in Anacortes. 

And the Wee White dog touring Scotland only made a few appearances. Such a cutie! 

Go to Waterspot2 to continue.

 So we were delighted to see the Hammond Orchard had oranges, tangerines and lemons. Not the bounty we are used to but not bad for the extreme weather.

And a couple hours later we were home! 

Bruce and I celebrated our 36th anniversary in November.

We had a water leak in December. This is more serious than you would think since getting plumber to our off-the-grid estate was a major challenge. After many calls we reached Rick the Plumber in Wickenburg who sent two guys out the same day and fixed the problem. It was a miracle!

And here is the casino! 

There is assorted old stuff to see.

We were shocked to drive through miles for fire-blackened hillsides. In July the Durkee Fire burned here and consumed over 270,000 acres. It even crossed the Interstate that we were on. This was the second largest fire in the country in 2024.

The Southwest Diner down the street has expanded into a more spacious area and added to its menu. Nothing stays the same. We always have a good meal here and we can walk there from the motel and that hasn't changed.

Some local photographers have better luck. This was taken in April 2025 from the Washington side.

-photo by David Leahy

Same place, 2024. 

While we cope with climate change by escaping the hot hot summers, the  weather continues to evolve without us. There was almost no rain over the summer, and we went for 156 days without rain in 2025, a record even for this dry place.  It was over 100 for a month when we came home in October, which also isn't normal.

Even with all this going on, some winter puzzles were done!

Idaho has an 80 MPH speed limit on the Interstate and allows the trucks to pull three trailers, so this stretch of the road can be a challenge.

​I took over driving in Bliss, Idaho and took us the rest of the way home.

We stopped in the historic mining town of Pioche in 2016 and toured the famous million dollar Lincoln County Court House. But we stopped this year too, not knowing when we might be this way again.

Cemetery in downtown Ely.

So in not very long, our big garage was empty.

2023.

And pass cattle ranches.

These are wild horses at Lake Pleasant. It is so unusual I wonder if the colors have been changed.

-photo by Debbie Ashley

All of the statutes and legal cases are online now, so I doubt anyone uses this kind of law library anymore. So it is definitely historic even these volumes are not from a past century. 

Here is where I go to yoga once a week when we are in town.  This is actually in Glendale, the city next to Phoenix but close to home for me.

Anacortes to Phoenix, September 2024 and Winter in Arizona

We spent many Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays here, enjoying the fireplace. There were lots of wood-cutting expeditions as well. 

Quite nice from afar, but close up was a different story. Lots of peeling paint and lack of maintenance. At the Boxcar Museum they told us they had a grant to restore it, and it is happening! 

The Maryhill museum  on the Washington side above the gorge.

I still follow some favorite things on the internet. Only two owls showed up this year. The first one by Malcolm Fisher is just a great shot. The other one is so weird I think it must be an AI effort.  Sad to say that is showing up a lot in photography.  Not sure owls do this!

Old cemetery in downtown Ely.

Caliente Train station, 2022. 

We made our way down I-5 toward Seattle. Being a Sunday the traffic was bad enough but actually slightly less hideous than usual.

The highway heading out of town was pretty full of bikers as well.  I only went to this event downtown once, and it is quite a spectacle.  This shot doesn't begin to do it justice. 

The native hedgehog cactus bloomed for us almost every year. I put these in pots up on the porch and deck since the javelinas eat them.

The Dalles Dam on the Columbia.

We returned to the Rancho, our home in Yavapai County near Prescott, to find all was well. It always lifts our hearts to come  back here.  We had our annual invasion of Box Elder beetles, a swarm of biblical proportions this year, and our friends at Shooter's Pest Control came and took care of it.  

Here is also where we start to see the giant trucks full of onions! 

We loaded the RAV and left Anacortes on September 21 for a five-day drive back to Phoenix.  We had another great summer but it was time to return to the desert for the winter months.

Next door is the sadly dilapidated MountainView Hotel, a once grand place built in 1895 that is probably now too far gone to save.

We also found a great plumber just a couple blocks away from us. A family business, they came several times to replace faucets and our old hot water heater for reasonable prices. How rare is that? 

Exploring in the Prescott National Forest. 2013

We have been through Caliente many times, and visited the historic Union Pacific train station which is the centerpiece of the town. It had fallen into disrepair and badly needed some paint and restoration. And what a surprise- it got a new coat of paint and is a different color this year!

November 3 we got a light dusting of snow, which turned out to be the only snow we got all winter; that season also brought us no rain. We didn't need this after a dry summer.

After such a long, hot summer we didn't think our fruit trees would produce anything. 

We found some shade for the RAV to wait.

There is a lot of this in Seattle. We never understand why the city doesn't clean up this ugly stuff. 

Antelope in Arizona    

Same place, 2024.

We stop here for lunch and an expensive tank of gas. I think this is the winner for the highest price of the trip.

This old gas station remains but there isn't much else to see in Chloride. We were relived to get back to the highway.

He also sold our kawaski mule and delivered it to a buyer in Phoenix.  That turned out to be a hot item getting many calls and was sold in a couple days.  The mule was my rock hunting buddy and the two of us spent a lot of time cruising around  country roads. The log splitter, here behind it, went to a new home as did our Honda generator and the chain saws.

Our solar arrays and the whole system, which Bruce planned and installed himself, back when we were young and strong! No utility bills but upgrades are costly. 

Our final adventure of this trip was a stop in Chloride, Arizona, just outside of Kingman.  Home to the now-extinct Tennessee Silver mine and  some "famous murals." I read about these as one of the top "interesting"  things to see in Arizona. Why haven't we been there? It was along the way, and I was driving, so we took a short detour.

I harvested seeds from native wildflowers in the area to plant around the house, and a wet winter often brought us a beautiful colorful spring bloom of penstemmons, desert marigolds, four o'clocks and wild daisies.

Then we had a roof leak, our second in two years.  The maintenance problems were things Bruce has been able to handle until now, but were bigger worries when we had to hire help  - and they kept piling up. And Bruce was still not driving.  Very sadly we decided it was time to let go and we put the Rancho up for sale. We had this property for 30 years and the house for 25. It has been a huge and happy part of our lives for a long time. 

The lovely Blue Mountains of Oregon.  That is the Grand Ronde River we follow.

Us in 2000, the year we built the house.

And it gave tourists an opportunity to goof around. 

Just past downtown we caught a view of Mount Rainier with some lenticular clouds, and the Seattle light rail that stretches all across the city now. And of course  the traffic! 

The upstairs courtroom is furnished with manikins in historic attire. At first glance it seemed quite real! 

Where there are giant power lines running from the dams that generate hydroelectric power

Caliente is another oasis in the desert which has a lovely green city park where we stop for lunch in their shady picnic area.

The end result was $$$ but looked great and was a lot sturdier. The new version is brown instead of gray.

And in 2011, the year we bought the tractor.

We follow many long trains out of town.

It was a place where we could see a lot of wildlife from our house.  

Whoever built this town was an artist and the tops of the  downtown buildings feature great architectural decorations.  The main street is lined with these handsome older brick buildings.  This little town has a lot of charm.

We crept slowly along. At least they did have signs to show we were on the right way, horrible as it was. This was just not a good idea! 

My blue glass, copper pots, aladdin lamps and antique coffee pots went off to new homes. I was glad to have friends to take some of my favorite things.

We have a "no old guys on ladders" rule so we found this great window washing service! As a bonus he gave me a lesson is using a squeegee the right way to avoid streaks and I was able to do all the windows at the rancho myself with excellent results! 

Our deck, at age 25, had some wood rot and sagging places so we hired Jerry, who did the original construction of the house, to rebuild it. 

This turned out to be a less than great idea and I was mistakenly carried away by the spirit of adventure. Described as a "short drive out of town," we ended up on what was a very, very bad, rutted dirt road that really needed a 4WD vehicle and not a RAV.  And there was nowhere to turn around.  Who hyped this as a tourist destination??

Bruce also had his own Ham Shack with his radios up there and he spent time talking to the world.  We will leave that and his big ham antenna. This photo is from 2014.

The Columbia River is huge. It is always easier to get a shot heading west though instead of east, which is where we going today.

The chef in his kitchen, from 2010. 

Our next stop was Boulder City, on the other side of Las Vegas, and the El Rancho Boulder Motel where we stay.

The Snake River runs 1000 miles from the Yellowstone country to the Columbia River. It's been a historic passageway since the days of fur traders and wagon trains, but is now lined with irrigated farms. We see a farmer working on his John Deere on the other side.

As a good omen for the Rancho, one of our last nights there a bright  double rainbow appeared and lasted for quite awhile. It made a full arch that we could see from the deck.  These are pretty rare in such a dry place. I hope it means all will be well. 

And 2024. 

And of course the giant windmills lining the highway. 

My massive and legendary rock collection from my 25 year hobby will remain, along with my agave gardens and catcus collection. 

We did though get to check out the very official government weather station that was on site.

On to Idaho...where we stop at a lovely rest area at the state line, overlooking the Snake River,

- photo by Mark Gardner, Tucson Mountain Park

Spring 2025, and the cottonwoods are green again.

Leaving Ely on Route 93, headed to Pioche.  No traffic! 

Here it is in 2022, the last time we were here.

From here we drive to Ely, Nevada and the Jailhouse Motel and Casino, where we are assigned to Cell 136.

As luck would have it this was the day of the famous annual Oyster Run, when thousands of motorcycles and their riders fill the street of Anacortes. These two were cruising around town before the big event.

The John Deere tractor which Bruce used to grade the roads and handle all kinds of jobs went next; it was another thing that brought Bruce especially a lot of joy, which we called "playing in the dirt." We were lucky our local realtor loves selling and is very good at it - he took care of finding a buyer for it at a great price and getting it off the property with his big truck and trailer.

It just isn't a real road trip without the orange cones. 

Our neighbor Bob's painting of Martin Mountain, a local landmark.

Historic Baker City on the Oregon Trail is our night two stop. The Geiser Grand Hotel (where we don't stay)  is one of the biggest buildings in town.  Built in 1889 it is named for a prominent local family and has an atrium with a stained glass ceiling and lovely woodwork.

It was such a contrast when we drove this way last year and were amazed to find all the hills covered with bright blooming yellow flowers, a first for us in our many years taking this route. This year it was all black, another first.  A wet summer and dry summer contrast. 

A last look at the river outside of Boardman, Oregon.

For such a dry year, we had a beautiful fall up there with the bright yellow Cottonwoods along the Hassayampa River.