Martha and I spent Jan 1-4 visiting with her sister's family, her dad and local friends as well.
Martha's sister, Laura, Husband Andy and son Greg all flew back to Michigan on Wednesday. Martha and I hung out at her dad's place, just relaxing really, getting some chores done while there.
Saturday, Jan 5
We got the URRV ready to roll in the morning, filled up with water from Martha's dad's home and left soon afterwards. We found a spot, enroute to the next campsite, to dump tanks, gas up both in terms of gasoline and propane.
Logistically, it then made more sense for Martha to catch a Lyft ride from that spot to the airport instead of the original plan to get her there via the URRV or even Scarlett.
I proceeded on towards the Cottonwood Canyon Road Dispersed Camping area just north of Florence. It's AZ State Trust land but I had a permit from their website. Got set up at one spot that didn't work out due to way too many noisy ATVs and dirt bikes there for the weekend.
So I broke camp, went perhaps another mile east away from Highway 79 and found me a nice spot, all to myself.
There were still occasional ATVs and trucks driving by but I was further away from the dirt road that was Cottonwood Canyon road.
Clouds, as you can see above, prevented any kind of sunset and it rained regularly through the night and on to the morning, Sunday.
Sunday Jan 6:
Woke to leaden gray skies, pretty much like being inside a snow globe filled with clouds. Spent the morning reading books, working on household chores within the URRV waiting for the day's forecasted high temperature of 51 degrees Fahrenheit to be reached.
By mid-afternoon, it was finally as warm as it was going to get, I saw sunlight breaking through the thick clouds to the east and headed that way after exploring a bit further west on Cottonwood Canyon Road. There's federal BLM land to the east, by the way, but I didn't think to check cell signal.
I got back onto Highway 79 and headed south to Florence. The dirt road to the highway wasn't too bad, a bit muddy but I could have driven the URRV out if I had wanted to.
Florence, is akin to the Florence in Colorado in that both towns seem to host several prisons, detention centers and the like. A rather strange coincidence I thought.
I toured their "historic district" but found it wanting in terms of picture subjects, had to be satisfied with a picture of their admin center (probably the original county courthouse).
Florence, AZ
After gassing up Scarlett, I spotted a historical marker on the way out of town and stopped to read it. It informed me the nearby hill was Poston's Butte. Apparently considered the Father of Arizona: Charles D. Poston, who lobbied President Abraham Lincoln to create the Territory of Arizona is buried up on top of the butte under a pyramid. More info here:
LINK
A rainbow framed Poston's Butte but I was unable to
capture both ends of the arc.
I then found the trailhead parking area for the trail up the butte to the pyramid itself. Huffing and puffing my way up, I soon had a pretty nice view of the surrounding countryside and of course of the pyramid itself.
Once back down, I saw Scarlett's reflection on a puddle of water from the recent rains and posed her accordingly.
Riding back to camp, the road remains a bit muddy but trafficable. I expect to stay another day so the road should get drier by the time I decide to move on. The clouds were finally clearing off to the west and while not great, at least I could see the sun again in the later afternoon:
Clouds moved in though and prevent any real show by the setting sun, but a long exposure shot should give you an idea:
Tomorrow, Miami.
