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Out on the Quads Hello all,
Well we survived Independence Day - we didn't get chased out of town. We thought about putting up our Union Jack, but we realised that might be asking for trouble! We do have one now on the front of the car, as you will see from the attached picture, but that is about as far as we will go!
So what have we been up to recently? Well, nothing terribly exciting since our last visitor left. The temp has gone right up now and we are definitely in the heat of summer - yesterday was the hottest day of the year so far - 116f/47c - and we have been consistently over 110f/43c for the last 2 weeks - but the exciting weather news is that today we have some clouds!! Honestly we are not feeling the heat too much - it is, as they say, a dry heat - and believe it or not 116f with 10%!h(MISSING)umidity is much more bearable than 90f/32c and 60%!h(MISSING)umidity which we regularly got in Bristol in the summer. You just don't go out and try to do too much in the day, and everywhere is air-conditioned. We'd
much rather put up with this and enjoy the other 9 months of perfect weather than sit through the rain and grey of Bristol most of the year!
So onto the 4th July celebrations! As Independence day fell on a Wednesday this year, a lot of people were celebrating it the weekend before. So last weekend some American friends of ours - Gina and Dave - invited us 'up north' to their mountain home - a lot of people here have one house down here in the valley and another up in the mountains to the north-east of Phoenix. It provides some relief from the heat, as in 2/3 hours you can be up at 6,500 feet where the temps are about 20f/11c cooler during the day and much cooler at night, so alot of people go out of town at the weekend for some heat relief!
We drove up to Dave & Gina's cabin in a small town called Overgaard on Saturday morning, it was about a 2.5 hr drive, but very picturesque as you head up from the valley into the mountains and pine forests. It is a total change in landscape and environment, a landscape
that many people (who don't live here) would never associate with Arizona. There cabin (really a house!) is on about 2 acres of land and is really beautiful - a veranda wraps around 3 sides of the house - a great place to relax and escape the city - you can see why people go there.
We drove into the town just seconds before the police closed the road for the 4th July parade that was happening that morning. As we drove down this road, the sides were lined with 1000's of people waiting for the parade to start behind us - I was wondering why we were getting funny looks from all these people staring at us, when I realised that all they were sat there waiting for a parade to celebrate the release of their country from the oppression of the Brits 231 years ago, and here we were driving down the road with a Union Jack flag number plate on the front of the car! The Redcoats are coming! The Redcoats are coming! I'm surprised we didn't get beer cans thrown at us!
Immediately south of Heber and Overgaard is the Mogollon Rim, a steep
escarpment that ranges from 1,000 to 2,000 feet from the base to the highest plateau. The Rim divides the northern plateau region of the State from the lower central and southern areas and is partly responsible for the change in temperature. The Rim offers exceptional views and is a great place for trails and hiking.
It's also a great place to go quad biking! Dave & Gina have a few toys - a couple of quad bikes and a 4 wheel off-roader called a Rhino - they took us out a few times around the neighbourhood and then out on some dusty trails - really great fun to head off out into the country with a trail of dust behind you and at some point, stop and crack open a beer and enjoy the view! As we were out there, I couldn't help thinking how much my brother Rich would enjoy this! Not quite a jet ski, but the next best thing I'd imagine eh Rich!!? I've put up a short video clip, but it is pretty low-res so the quality isn't great, but you'll see Gina & Ginnie zooming past in the Rhino and me on a Polaris
Quad...
The next day, we left Gina and Dave and headed on east to a town called Show Low - so named as the land was won in a game of cards between 2 ranchers, where the winner 'showed a low card' to win the bet! A little more interesting a name than Bradley Stoke!
Al & Sheila (Dave's uncle and aunt) have a cabin up here where they spend the summers to get out of the valley heat. It was nice to see them as we hadnt caught up with them in a couple of months since they came up here. They showed us around the area and we had a nice dinner with them, even giving up their bed for us despite our protests whilst they slept in the lounge! The mountains up here are beautiful - pine and juniper trees everywhere and the air is really fresh. Whilst it was still hot during the day - about 95f/35c - it cools off nicely at night and you can sleep with windows open which was a refreshing change after the last month or so! It's nice to be out in the forest - Ginnie really enjoyed
watching the birds and squirrels play outside - they even have one squirrel who comes up onto the deck - totally fearless - around your feet looking for nuts! It would be nice to get a place up here somewhere at some point - but I guess we need our own place in the valley first! We'd also need to buy a couple of Quad bikes!!
Monday morning we headed back down to the valley through the Salt River canyon, which is quite a dramatic drive back towards Phoenix. It's very easy when you live in a place like this to take the scenery for granted - Majectic views and big sky country are so common that often you don't realise how beautiful it is. I guess it's the same anywhere - a little like the rolling green hills of England or the stunning mountain views of Ginnies home in Argentina - you have to take it all in.
Wednesday was July 4th - Independence Day - so to demonstrate our unity we made some last minute arrangements to get together with our British friends - Guy & Victoria - at their place. Hang out
by the pool, grill some burgers, play some games... Joined briefly by some american friends - John and Christy - we had a great day.
Sitting out on the patio (in the shade) or in the pool in 116f/47c drinking beer and wine is probably not the most sensible thing to do, but hey we're British right! And besides, it was the american guests who suffered the most! I think a bad mix of sunshine & wine! At least it wasn't Ginnie! Truly British, we rounded off the night with a game of Trivial Pursuit that ended when Guy basically fell asleep! Well it was a school night after all and some people do have to work!! But you can see from the photos that we had a good time!
So now it's back to normal - trying to get some work in and pay the bills...
Watch this space for an update later in the month - Ginnie is off to Cabo, Mexico for 5 days to visit her cousin from Argentina who is on holiday there with her daughter! She's really excited to see them, as it will be the first time in about 6
years that she has seen them, so I'm sure she will post some pics when she gets back!
Hope all is well with you wherever you are in the world!
Speak soon
Love
D&G
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Wayne
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Looking Good
After the summer we're having I'm only a little bit jealous ! Glad to see you both enjoying yourself - no doubt that you have done the right thing - you need to get some $$ saved for housewarming in Brisbane next year !