Been a long time since we 'talked'. Lots have happened in terms of Dave's treatment. As you all know, COVID is still going on, thank goodness that both Dave and I have been able to dodge coming down with the virus, so far. We both got vaccinated and boosted and we have our second booster shot scheduled to get done. Don't want to take any chances.
Dave's radiation treatment has just ended, after surgery in 2021 he had a long recoup to do. And physical therapy. Radiation for 9 weeks (5 days a week for 9 weeks) and now we are waiting for that follow up to see how he's doing. To say that he's a trooper is an understatement.
2021 was a bust in terms of doing any trips. And we are almost 5 months done with 2022 and nothing. His energy is coming back so we decided to take a quick one day trip San Carlos Lake which is in the north east quadrant of Arizona. About a 2 hour drive to get there, we had a picnic lunch and folding chairs ready to sit and enjoy the lake. Pretty drive through small towns and past copper mines, heading north on State Route 77 into Globe. We saw the charred roadside where wildfires swept thru last summer. From Globe we headed east on the Old Western Highway, State Route 70, and we entered the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation. Traveled past 2 Apache Casinos, one outside of Winkleman and the other near Peridot. Found the exit for San Carlos Reservoir and headed south on Indian Route 3.
Yikes! No water. Level is so low that the Coolidge Dam is bone dry. Dead fish lined the edge of the dam, just disgusting smell. My first thought - this is effects of climate change and no rain for the past 3 months. Yes, that's true but now I realize that on top of the extreme dry weather, the reservoir was drained to help with the largest wildfire going on - the Hermit/Calf Canyon fire. As of today the fire is 40% contained, and over 315,000 acres wide. Equivalent of 475 square miles. And learned that Eagles Nest Lake where we camped in Angel Fire, New Mexico has also been drained.
Normally the San Carlos Reservoir has 158 miles of shoreline but we saw maybe 5 miles of it? the rest was just mud flats, and dead fish. Can't describe the smell, horrendous!
So, needless to say we did not eat our lunch there. As we continued the drive around the water we came across some wild horses, of course they look very healthy! And saw the charred remains of last summer's San Carlos fire. Look like it traveled along the valley - for many miles!
So what are our plans now that Dave's treatment is done? We thought hard about getting another smaller RV but have decided to not do that and look into airBnB stays. We are eyeing one in the mountain town of Greer, Arizona, which is much higher in elevation and cooler. Up in the White Mountains. Maybe in July or August we will head there for a week. In the meantime, we get Dave more energized, get some appointments completed, do some more remodeling of the house (a never ending concept), and then make our reservations for a mountain get-away.
While we sit and get things done around the house, we have front row seats to the abundant wild life. Bobcats, coyotes, hawks, javelinas, owls, so many different birds, and first time ever - the Gila monster!
