Monday, April 14th

Back on the road after a day of rest. Starting at mile marker 138 on Highway 73, we walked on to Vicksburg and Hope. At Hope, we came to Highway 60 that will take us all the way through Arizona to New Mexico. We crossed the Central Arizona Canal, that provides water for irrigation in this part of Arizona. Clear, cool and blue water here in the middle of the desert. It was uphill out of Hope with the Harcuvar Mountains on our left and the Harquahala Mountains on our right. These mountains are very rugged with little vegetation on them except an occasional cactus. Speaking of cacti, we are entering the area where Saguaro and Ocotillo cacti are present. We had not seen this type before. Saguaro cactus are those big cactus that you see in postcards. While walking, we found an old road that must have been Highway 60 years ago. We had it all to ourselves and as John put it, we took, the road less traveled. We came upon the town of Harcuvar, that is if you could call it a town. This is snowbirder country. During January, February, March and some of April the RV parks around here are full of people escaping the cold weather up north. But come warm weather, the snowbirders are gone and these small towns dry up until the next snowbirder season. We stopped at a closed RV park and waited for Ruth and Carol. They came within just a few minutes. We had walked 17.3 miles. I found a table knife, a utility knife, a tennis ball and .16 cents. Stay tuned .....