Moved to Goldfield Arizona

The weather was a little cool up in the mountains so we moved to Apache Junction were the weather is a little warmer. The weather is changing for the better and getting warmer today.

Last day at Sophies Flat

Last Trail ride at Sophies Flat

Free WiFi at MacDonalds in Wickenburg the decor is even western style 

Sleepy Kitties 

Duma and Darrell having a little snuggle

Heading into Apache Junction the clouds were just lifting

A rainbow appear just as we got to Goldfield

Clouds almost gone 

Ron and Darrell with there new trucks at our camp site at Goldfield

Ron's new licence plate LOL

Wickenburg - Gold Rush days

We made it to Wickenburg just as the Gold rush days were about to begin. Thank god there was lots of room still up at Sophie's flat.

Directions to Sophie's Flat:  In Wickenburg turn right on El Recreo Dr. just west of the Tastee Freeze, go north to Constellation Rd. and continue on Constellation Rd. past the rodeo grounds. At the end of the pavement go 1 mile to the Y in the road. Go left on Blue Tank Wash Road and follow this road about 1.5 miles to the large flat fenced area that's the Sophies Flat trail head. GPS coordinates are: N 34.00.385, W 112.41.705   

left Ely Nevada at 530am and headed through Nevada towards Vegas 

By noon we were in Arizona heading to Wickenburg 

This is Sophie's Flat Staging area 

Our big rigs 

First Trail ride in Arizona 

riding back to camp

Unloading "Smarty"

Add caption

Above are a group of riders that we hooked up with from the US and Canada through "Facebook"

We headed into town to see the parade that I was told have over 2000 horses in it. 

Then back to camp for a Pot luck with our new riding friends 

The end to a prefect day

We made it to Ely Nevada

Well we are making great time in our new rig. We left yesterday morning and had a 830 appointment with the Vet at the Sumas crossing.

Leaving the farm for one last time. 

Road conditions have been great

Sunset on our first day. We pulled into the rest area just past Hermiston where they have corrals for our horses

 Look at the "Snake River" in Twin falls Idaho

We made it all the way to Ely Nevada where we are staying at the Pine Country fairgrounds for $10 per horse
Should hit Wickenburg AZ by tonight. 

On are way

Just stopped in North Bend for coffee and gas. Hope to make it close to Oregon tonight

Heading South in less then a week

Follow us on Facebook

Feb 4th update- We are not leaving now until the 5th. Last week just hours before we were ready to leave we got a offer on our farm with quick possession dates. In one week we have packed all our earthly belongings into a 20ft Container and our 4 horse stock trailer to store until we get home from Arizona and start our hunt for a new farm up in the interior. 

So keep your eyes on the blog starting tomorrow. The journey begins!

The trailer is mostly packed ready to go. Heading to the federal Vet today to have horse papers signed. Then off to our family Vet to have health papers signed on our exotic cat.

Our new Truck took some time to get ready but Ron has been working hard to get everything done in time. Tuesday is Ron last day of work after 28 years with the "Vancouver Fire department" he will head into Vancouver first thing Tuesday morning and hand in all his firefighting gear say his good byes and head home to leave.  "Retirement" and yes I am only a few months younger then Ron so I will be doing the same in July until then it is a Take a Break and my 6 weeks vacation all rolled in to one big holiday. :)

Here is what the trailer will look like heading down the road. We will be taking a different Smart car though Ron's Smart car will stay home and we will take my little red one.

Getting ready to go South

Less then 20 days to count down until we leave. 

Ron has been busy working to get the truck and trailer ready to go South. He has the backup camera installed, tie downs on the flat deck installed and has tested it with one of our smart cars. Horse's blood has been pulled for their coggins test. Will get Health papers down the week before we leave.

Ramps for the smart car can go on either side to drive on then drive off. 

Only thing different will be the red smart car will be going with us not the blue one. 

It will be nice to have a second bedroom incase we get visitors.


Big question is can we fit in or out of our driveway LOL 

Heading South for the Winter

GETTING NEW TRUCK READY TO HEAD SOUTH IN 2013

Ron has been very busy getting our new truck ready for the trip South. We hope to post some new places on our trip South this year. I would like to do some riding in South Nevada it looks beautiful in the Red Rock area.


About our new truck. As most of you know that followed our Arizona Trip 2012 we have a pretty big horse trailer. 40' long with a 16' living area and a 12' slide-out. Ron would limit what I could put into the trailer as we were at maximum weight. So we sold the Dodge that I loved and I could drive LOL and bought a Western Star Semi. Here is a picture of what it looked like when we got it.

Ron with his new big truck. 

The Truck went into a shop and was single axle and we had them add a deck (this is before shot).

The truck was in the shop for a few weeks getting everything done. For Ron for Christmas I had new decals put on the truck that matched our horse trailer. Ron also got ramps for the smart car and added metal rings on the deck to hold smarty in place on our drive South. Ron also got a backup camera for christmas from my son and I also got him a small touch screen Pioneer DVD RDS AV receiver. He can have up to 4 camera's so we can also watch the horses, see the trailer well backing up and hook up the trailer. It has bluetooth, HD radio, USB high current, ipod, iphone control direct, and navigation ready.  We are set :)

New touch screen DVD

Here is a picture the first time we hooked up the trailer. See the new deck and see only one axle now.
The smart car will fit right behind the truck.

I don't think I will have to worry about weight anymore. I can feel a new set of pots and pans in my future and yes some cast iron fry pans LOL.

New decals

Ron welding the new water tanks these will go right under the new air-ride hitch we had built shown below. It can hold 250 gallons of water.




We hope to leave on January 30th 2013. Ron is retiring from the Vancouver Fire Department after serving 28 years on the 29th of January. I am taking all my holidays then 2 months leave to go south. Once home I will only work 8 more weeks before I too can retire.

This is going to be a great year. Make sure you follow our trips we should have more then normal now that we are retiring.
Visit our web site to see great places all over North America to camp with your horses.
http://www.campingandhorses.com
ALSO VISIT OUR FACEBOOK PAGE