Dancing in the White Mountains of Arizona

         While we always enjoy the Roost, we may have stayed a little long as we got into some triple digit days.  Although those who brave the REAL summer heat kept assuring us this wasn’t bad, “Wait until it’s 120.”  It was plenty warm for us.  Gary did get to finish his pool league.  In his last 3 pool tournaments, he finished 2nd, 1st, and 2nd.           We left Casa Grande on June 1st, heading up into the White Mountains on top of the Mogollion rim.  This is a dramatic 200 mile long uplift that splits Arizona into two separate regions from the mountains of the north to the basins and deserts of the rest of the state.  The low and mid 80’s felt wonderful and night time temps of high 40’s to 50’s  were great. 
         We were going to stay at the Elk’s in Show Low, but found they no longer allow boondocking, so we sent to Scott’s Reservoir, in Pinetop-Lakeside  for  five days.  It was a great spot and free too.  We found it through the Escapee Day’s End listings.  There were two wildfires concerning to us while we were there and we checked with the ranger station a few times, giving them our phone number in case we needed to evacuate.  One was about an hour east of us and the other about two hours west of us.  We could see the smoke rising from the one to the east each day and with strong winds, it was always a concern.

        There is an interesting story as to how Show Low got it’s name.  Two fellows had bought a 100,000 acre ranch together.  After a while it became obvious the ranch could not support two families so they decided to play a game of cards to determine who would get the ranch.  In 1885, they played 7-up all night, with one fellow only needing 1 point to win.  He was sitting with a 3 and told the other fellow to “show low” to win.  He turned up the deuce of clubs and won the ranch.  The main street thru town  is called “Deuce of Clubs” and the town is called “Show Low” today.  Of course there’s a geocache here at this statue telling the history.  

        We drove down to Fort Apache, where Gary could visit scenes from old Western movies.  The Fort was interesting with their museum and the old houses.  The Army Post was established in 1870 and active until 1922.  Since then it has been home to Theodore Roosevelt  Indian Boarding School.  We then drove 4 miles west to Kinishba Indian Ruins.  This site is a National Historic Landmark that was rescued and rebuilt in the 1930’s and has now fallen into ruins again.  It contains the remains of a village built and occupied by ancestors of  the Hopi and Zuni people from 1200 to 1400 AD.  The village was made up of two main room blocks, one of which stood three stories tall.  Kinishba remains a sacred site for Apache and Pueblo people today.

         We were enjoying the area so much, we moved into a Forest Service campground , Lakeside, for a few more days.  Pinetop-Lakeside is located in the largest contiguous stand of Ponderosa Pine in the world, at an elevation of 7,200 feet.  There are over 50  natural lakes and reservoirs.  After a week here, the Wallow fire was about 40 miles east of us and still 0% contained. It is fast growing toward being the largest in AZ history.  Evacuees from the fire area  are coming to centers set up at the schools here and we have several displaced campground hosts and some evacuees at this park. Smoke continues to rise to the east of us.

         One of the best ways to explore a new area is through Geocaching and Show Low and Pinetop-Lakeside were no exception.  We found 25 caches while there, including 7 in a city park series that took us to all the city parks.  One of the parks held their Fallen Firefighter’s Memorial, Show Low having also lost a firefighter in 2005.  Another geocache took us past the Senior Center and Gary found their pool schedule, so he could go play one day.  We drove past the Bison Golf  Club looking for a geocache, so of course Gary stopped and set up a golf date.  It was a good course and he was happy to shoot a 76.   
         We visited with friends from the Roost, Frank and Suzanne, that have a summer place here and went to Show Low Days with them.  Around 2002, I met a really neat gal online through the Escapees Handcrafters Bof.  Although we had never met, we kept in touch through emails every since.  Joyce and her husband, Don, have a summer trailer in Show Low and invited us for lunch one afternoon.  It was great getting to meet them and we chatted pretty steadily for several hours. 
         In my earlier blogs, I forgot to mention my acquiring a Nook Color a couple months ago.  I love it and it’s great to be able to check library books out from the Greater Phoenix Digital library while traveling and a lot easier than carrying a lot of books.  I’ve also downloaded several free books and subscribed to a couple magazines.  They also have apps now and I’ve downloaded a few games.  (Beware anyone considering Angry Birds - it’s addicting!!!)   There are others that will be good, but I need to wait until I can trade my Verizon USB Air for a 5spot or mifi card.  Then I’ll have the wifi that they require to run. 
         Next we’ll be dancing toward Canyon de Chelly in the northeastern corner of Arizona………….…
Hugs, Katy, Gary, Rusty and Spicy too!