Bog Springs Campground Madera Canyon

Usually don't pay to stay, but still waiting on a few necessary item's in the mail, and the valley below is beginning to heat up. Decided it was time for a short excursion into the hills.

Bog springs campground is located 13 miles southeast of Green Valley,AZ in Madera Canyon. Cost is $10 a night. Each site has garbage, water, bear box, and picnic table. Vehicles over 22' are not recommended, but saw some larger rigs up there. Pets are welcome as long as there leashed, and there is a ton of hiking trails. Verizon switched from 3g to 4g. Sites are limited around 12 I believe, so weekends can fill up quickly. Here's a few more pics...

Paved roads to every site.

My view

Hiking trail

Overall was a good stay. I'll be back on that occasional winter day when temps heat up. Thanks for visiting. Good Day!

Dirty Drawers

4 years 1 month, and 28 days of living in the Arizona dust, and the kitchen/family room/bathroom/bedroom drawers had developed a layer on them that even the toughest arsenal of cleaners could not remove. No need for pictures. Time for a remodel, so after about a 2 second decision of whether to build, or buy new ones I was off to wal-mart 10 minutes, and $11.88 later I had purchased my new cabinets even got black this time. After another 10 arduous  minutes the removal, install, and transfer of previous items was complete. 

New cabinets

Also added 2 more batteries for a total of 4, which should get me thru the cloudiest days of monsoon season.

And to top it off. No pun intended. I installed a flow-rite battery filler, which makes topping off all 4 of the batteries breeze especially in such confined areas.

Hiding out at the folks for the weekend as temps in Tucson are reaching the upper 80's, no complaints as I am well aware what the rest of the country is still experiencing. Waiting on a few more nomadic tools to be delivered before my summer adventure starts. Thanks for visiting. Good Day!

Update: Was just informed of the passing Of Leonard Knight R.I.P. For those who don't know his work he spent a majority life building Salvation Mountain.

Memory foam

Already 3 1/2 a months in Tucson, which as far to long for any nomad to linger in one spot, but the downtime, and living free rent has allowed me to save a few bucks, and let me work on my list of much needed upgrades. Well worth the wait in my opinion. More solar, more batteries, and finally getting rid of all those lil green cylinders.

Solar's been been working great haven't had to use the generator since the install back in November. Until maybe today, when the weather went from sunny, and 80 to cloudy, and 60, but ill take it over the so called polar vortex that looms over the rest of the country.

 After sleeping on a popped air mattress, or basically a piece of plywood  for over a year. Finally decided to pull the trigger, and purchased me a queen size 3 inch memory foam mattress topper. Some may think queen size is a bit overkill, but hey it fits!

Candy concurs memory foam kicks the heck out off a plywood any day of the week. That's it for now. Thanks for visiting! Good Day!

Little green cylinders

When I moved into the Turtle almost four years ago I didn't even own a heater. Moving from the frozen tundra of Minnesota I was able to handle any weather the great state of Arizona could throw at me, but let's face it the glory days of sitting around all winter with my doors wide open have definitively come to end, and as much as I hate to admit it I have officially become a Arizonan. Perhaps I've wizened up, or maybe just become a sissy, but whatever the case I now require heater.

So I recently reached a point where I was using up to 5-6 green cylinders a week, and at a average of 3.25 per piece, or $13 a gallon, it definitely starts to add up. Not to mention all the room they take up. My choices were either to buy a bigger tank, which I have no room for, or to figure out how to get the big bomb looking thing (propane tank) mounted under The Turtle fully operational.

I choose the latter, and am please to report after a few trips to the hardware store, 25 feet of hose, seven fittings, about 5 hours of elbow grease running the new line, and cutting out the old junk. The tank is now up and running, and my heating costs have gone down over 75% a huge savings in the life of any nomad.

Cost of hose: $40

Cost of fittings:$30

Watching the boob tube in my shorts, and a T-shirt on the coldest desert nights: Priceless

Another addition to my never ending compilation of Road Runner Pics. Right outside the Turtle. Thanks for visiting. Good Day!

Josephine Saddle Madera Canyon

Mount Wrightson

Candy' stitches are out, and I am back at the Del Sol. Trying to save a few greenbacks for future upgrades to make "The Turtle" even more luxurious, so I will post as I complete them.

Stepping on the scale after the holidays gave me the motivation to take a jaunt into the mountains, also an opportune time to try out my new hiking shoes. Destination Josephine saddle at Madera Canyon.

 There is two trails leading to the saddle, the old baldy trail, which is 2.2 miles, and the super trail which is 3.7 miles. Old baldy is significantly steeper then the supertrail, the elevation at the parking lot is around 5200 ft, and the saddle is 7080', so if your heading out this time of year check the weather, and bring a jacket you will see some of the white stuff.

 Madera canyon is located about 15 miles east of Green Valley, Az, which is south of Tucson. Here's a few more pics of the hike.

Looking out from Old Baldy trail

Switchbacks far below

White stuff trails can be a bit slick!

Mount Wrightson made it to the top once before, but not gonna happen on this hike.

Stay warm out there folks! Even Candy was surprised to find ice in her water dish this morning.

On a side note fellow blogger Wandrin Lloyd after 13 years on the road has decided to sell his rig, and trailer for more info CLICK HERE

Thanks for visiting! Good day!

A year in Pictures

Happy New Years!

Picacho, AZ

A year in pictures inside

Casino Camping Maricopa, Az

Pass into Yuma

Colorado River Yuma,AZ

Man living in a house of Sticks Yuma Az

Attended the Rubber tramp Rendevous

Quartszite,Az

Imperial Sand Dunes California

Salvation Mountain

Made it to the Slabs

Salton Sea

 Bombay beach

 Tucson Hikes

Seven Falls hike

Wasson Peak

Off for the summer Boondocking in Payson

Winter storm Forest Lakes AZ

Bought some acreage Northern Az

Los Burros Elk

Crazy Cowz near Big Lake Az

Drunkmunks!

New boondocking sites above 9000ft

Run in with the Sheepherder

Rim country

Back to Tucson Casino's

Upgraded the solar, and battery system.

That about sums it! For the full years adventure click here. Thanks for visiting! 

Good Day!

Ruptured Tumor

Recovering at the folks and still a bit drugged

Been a month since my last post. Have been enjoying my time at the Casino's here in Tucson. Up until about a week ago, when I awoke in the middle of the night, and discovered that the tumor's on Candy's leg had ruptured I wont go into the gory details, but it wasn't a very pretty site.

Six weeks prior I had brought her to the vet, and they had told me just to let it go for now. She's approaching her 15th year they didn't wanna do a surgery, this late in the game unless it was necessary. Well now it had become necessary, so after a long surgery (4th on that leg). I am happy to report the old fart is doing good, and every once in awhile still even gets a bit rambunctious.

Moving on my winter plans mainly involve hanging around the Tucson area. Spending time with the family, paying off recently acquired vet bills, and " The Turtle" will be getting a few more upgrades. So stay tuned, and a Happy belated Christmas to all. Thanks for stopping by! Good Day!