Where to Next?

Regular readers long ago figured out that the blog tends to trail real time by weeks. Sometimes, I'll have several already written & scheduled for future publication. Other times, it's just a title and some notes.

This one sat in the Blogger editor for weeks with the title and some cryptic notes, "Working our way north - jasper - Vancouver Island."

We had plans to depart May 15th, wander our way north, cross paths with our son & his family in Jasper for Memorial Day weekend, and then head for Vancouver Island for a few weeks. Key word is "had."

Instead, we're still at home, traveling twice a week to Physical Therapy appointments for BJ. Her back is slowly getting better, but we're not committing to thousands of miles of travel this summer.

I'm hoping that we'll get out together for some short trips later in the summer.

Meanwhile, we've invested in something that BJ's wanted for years.  We're both really impressed with how well this ILIFE V3s Robotic Vacuum does. I finally gave up trying to get a good picture of it in action and decided to use this fuzzy one instead.

Looks like I'll be spending some time creating more 'interesting' caches in the shop this summer.

Paradise!

With the Scamp outfitted with new tires and the wheel bearings freshly packed, it seemed only appropriate that I should give it a short road test before we head out on our summer travels. While BJ continued working on the amazing scrapbook she's building about our cruise, I headed for the pine trees of Prescott.

I'd done some research on Campendium and decided that a spot on Senator Highway would be my first choice. There are several designated boondocking spots along the 'highway.' I picked #3 and made myself to home, in a spot with good solar and not a lot of  'highway' (a gravel road here) visibility. It didn't take long to get settled into this spot at about 6300' elevation with temps about 20 degrees below Phoenix.

Once camp was set, I headed for the little town of Yarnell to pay a visit to the State's newest park, "Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial State Park."

Nineteen hotshots died here in a wild fire nearly five years ago.

Like a lot of other places, it's been years since I last visited Prescott. I really enjoyed some of the statuary around the courthouse

and in other locations around town.

One of the days I was there I teamed up with a couple friends to do some geocaching. We were rather amazed to see the size of some of the caches we located.

The next day I headed to Jerome, a community perched on the side of a mountain. Once a mining town (copper, silver, gold), then a ghost town, Jerome is now an artist's community and a town where parking downtown is nearly impossible. For me, the best part about Jerome is the rust that remains.

From Jerome, I continued to Clarksdale and on to Cottonwood where I made the best discovery of the trip!

I was rolling slowly through downtown Cottonwood, looking for a place to eat lunch when I spotted a bunch of cars parked outside an old service station. Bing's Burger Station had just opened a couple weeks previous.

One of the walls inside was covered with license plates.

The counter looked like it was straight out of the 1950's.

Apparently they use Sinclair Opaline motor oil for their fries.

Without a doubt, one of the top five hamburgers I've ever had! It was outstanding! Clearly the best cache I found on this trip!

Powerful Scamp

After I did the battery upgrade, I decided to update my 12 volt outlet that I'd installed years ago next to the street side dinette seat. I was impressed with the units that Jeff selected for his rig, and decided to follow suit. I removed my Blue Sea outlet and replaced it with a Cllena combo unit. The street side installation was quick and easy since I'd run in a new circuit when I installed the Blue Sea outlet that I was able to leverage.

The curb side install was more work but I didn't get a picture while I have everything opened up. Ended up with both seat tops off so I could run a new circuit from the power panel across the back of the trailer. It was actually amazingly easy to fish the wires through the chase that conceals the pex water lines.

The new circuit supports the outlet that I installed on the curb-side of the dinette, midway between the water pump switch and the wall.

It's going to be nice to have power on both sides of the dinette and to have USB sources as well as the classic 12 volt cigarette lighter style.