To The White Tank Mountains...

 

Not to be confused with the White Mountains, which are a much larger mountain range in eastern Arizona.  Today, we went to the White Tank Mountains Regional Park, in the far western valley.  If you are thinking, "Hey, didn't you two circumnavigate the White Tanks a time or two on your scoots?", you have a good memory.  And even though it has nothing to do with music, you get 10 bonus points.

We were looking for someplace to go, with a plan of using the new Sony camera and the DJI Action 4 for video, along with the two DJI Mic2 wireless microphones.  This is another experiment... one that resulted in a LOT of video to wade through, and the discovery that the new Sony camera is not as well suited to video in the van as the DJI Action 4 is.  Hand-holding the Sony, there is a lot of shaky footage... not a failure if we learn from it (and we did).  Plus, we got the opportunity to explore a Maricopa County Regional Park that I've been wanting to check out.

Leaving from home, I was driving while Joan was getting video of the view out the front of the van...

 That image was taken the DJI Action 4 clipped to the driver's side sun visor.  It's a wide angle view, so it works pretty well.

We took the Loop 202 to I-10 to the Loop 303, then west to the park.  Once into the park, we drove around a bit to look things over; it is a fairly narrow 2-lane road through the park.  Rugged terrain.  There are 3 campgrounds: one is a group tenting area, another for trailers less than 16' long, tents, and no hook-ups; there are showers and decent bathrooms.  The one that I liked best is their "family" campground - it can accommodate almost any size RV (depending on the site) and has power (30 and 50 amp) connections and water; there is a dump station campers can use near the entrance to this loop.

We swapped drivers for a while...

 We stopped for some snacks and to stretch our legs...

There is a $7 per vehicle entrance fee, which we paid when first getting there.  It does not include camping (and we weren't going to camp today), but gives you access to all the trails in the park; we plan to come back another time and do some of those trails.

We decided to stop at the Visitors Center on our way out to check on an annual pass...

The Visitors Center in very nice; connected to a large library.  We looked around the Visitors Center...

 

Then visited with a lady at the desk there.  We get a senior discount on the annual pass, plus, she deducted the $7 we paid today... such a deal...

 

The pass is good for a year at any of the 12 Regional Parks in Maricopa County; this will give up places to go, 'cause the price is right!

Back to the Loop 303 and onto I-10, where we pulled off on Litchfield Road for a late lunch.  Then back down I-10 to a Pilot Travel Center, where we filled up the gas tank for $2.75 per gallon (with our Flying J/Pilot Good Sam card.  We are all about the discounts today.

A beautiful day here in the desert: it got to 81º for a high today (yes, another record); and 135 days since any measurable precipitation.  It was interesting to see how much the area along Loop 303 has grown: scads of housing developments as we went north, and a bunch of huge warehouses and fulfillment centers (Amazon, UPS, FedEx, Boeing, etc, etc) in the miles north of I-10 along the Loop.  We have stayed in this area quite a few times when we'd bring the 5th wheel, then the motorhome, to spend a couple months here in the winter.  It used to be farms (cotton and dairy), different nurseries (plants, flowers, palm trees), and a lot of mostly barren desert... and now looks like this massive development has always been here.

I'll sort through all the video we shot today to see if there is anything to add to the post.

We added this front plate to the van yesterday (Arizona doesn't issue front license plates)...

Vanlife...

 

Well, an afternoon out in the van.  We took the van for an errand, then out to lunch in the Goodyear area.  No particular place we wanted to go besides that - we decided to head toward the town of Maricopa,  which is south of the Estrella Mountains.  Yeah, the opposite direction.  It's OK, I was just looking for some driving time.

You go through a portion of the Gila River Reservation on the way there.  I would say it is the boonies...

"Watch for wild horses"... we aren't in the big city any more.  It was a pleasant drive and a beautiful day...

Sunny, mid-70s... not bad for early January.  It has been years since we've been through the city of Maricopa - a LOT has changed in that time: nice housing developments abound.  Plenty of new looking retail and eateries.  To be fair, you can plan on nearly an hour drive to get to Phoenix (Gilbert, Chandler), so it is a bit "out there."  No doubt, some people picked it as a place to live for that reason.  The developer who built our house has projects in Maricopa, and the prices are lower there, compared to homes they are (or have been) building in Laveen, Litchfield Park, or the Verrado areas.  Location.

Nice day to be out and about.

Happy New Year!

 

It was a long night.  Well, the night was the same number of hours, but the fireworks went on and on.  It started at dark - most of what we could tell was the firecracker type, not as much of the aerial display.  And it seemed that the intensity would build as it got towards the top of each hour.  There was a lull after 10:00 pm, then it built again just before 11:00... as though those setting off the fireworks were thinking: "It's midnight somewhere!" 

I went out a couple times.  The house at the top of the west end of South Mountain set off some aerial displays... followed by a fire in the brush.  Then, they would put out that fire... and set off another aerial display... followed by another fire in the brush.  As dry as it has been here, that is a high level of stupid.  But, they seemed prepared to douse their own-set fires.

Around our neighborhood, it was mostly loud retorts.  Answered by a neighbor's even louder response.  The noise went on until around 2:00 am.  It may have gone on longer than that, but I put in sleep earbuds.

I don't know how the animals at Steph and Dan's house fared, but Murphy sat up when the noise first started, we spoke to him in a soothing voice, and he laid back down.  He was a bit confused that his people stayed up until midnight, but didn't seem overly concerned about the noise outside.

This was the view this morning off towards the southeast, looking at South Mountain...

Mostly cloudy, with a smoky haze in the valleys.  We may need a nap.  Steph came by to tell us she was making a breakfast casserole and asked if we'd like some.  She is also making a ham for later... starting the year off as a little homemaker.

I took Murph out in the courtyard.  I asked him, "Can we keep it in our yard this morning?"

"Sure thing..." then he ran around to Steph and Dan's yard.  I herded him back.  Rinse and repeat.  Yes, I know: it is a game with him.  The boy loves to run; more so than any other cats we've had in the family.  He gets a look of glee on his face when he is running.  So, I follow behind him, at a much slower pace.  No, he is not "running loose" - he is contained in our yards by the block wall all around.  It's a safe environment for him to be off-leash.

I'm feeling the need to be "off-leash" more in this new year.