November 20 2014 Long Trip on Apache Trail AZ 88

We headed out bright and early at 9am.  Bertha II directed us to Krispie Kreme.  My favorite doughnut.  Took my own coffee and stopped for a glass of McDonald's ice tea.  Thank goodness because it was a long trip on a road (if that is what you want to call it?).

Our first stop was at Goldfield.  A ghost mining town.

Goldfield AZ

Goldfield AZ

We then took to the road and checked out the Lost Dutchman State Park.  Electrical Sights for $30 per night.  I'm just fine in our senior park.

Spotted a little spot of water in the horizon.  Road is still paved at this time.

AZ 88

 On down the road to this little settlement.  Gary tells me this trail was an old stagecoach route.

Tortilla Flats AZ

 Back on the road.  Dessert and clear blue skies and weather in the 60s.  We are gradually heading up into the mountains.

AZ 88

 From here on the road was rough and SLOW.  Curve after curve and washboard dirt surface.  Glad we saw it but don't care to shake down it again.  At one point we went three miles in twenty minutes.  Couldn't go fast or the truck's back end would slide to one side or the other.

Apache Trail AZ 88
(Dirt Road)

 Gary wanted me take a picture of the Organ Cactus.  They got their names from the appearance of an organ.  (Gary doesn't like it when my old mind goes dirty, but if you notice the two cactus to the left.  I called them the Male Organ Cactus.  Some even had warts.  Can you see him frown?  How unlady like for me to even think of such.)

Organ Cactus

 We passed two man-made lakes.

Fort Apache Lake

 On down the road.

Dam of Roosevelt Lake
(Third Largest Man-made Lake in Az)
(Powell and Mead rank ahead)

 Oh boy was I ready to see pavement.  This is a picture of the arch of the bridge goes west.

Bridge over Roosevelt Lake

Isn't it gorgeous?

You can tell by the calcium deposits along the shoulders that the water is down about six feet.  When the Four Queens went on a dinner cruise on Lake Mead, the water level was about that low too.  Hope we can get a few extra rains to raise the level to normal.  

We went west on AZ 188 and came back down on AZ 87.  The drive was great and AZ 87 was four lane.  At one point the left lane went under a bridge and came out on the right side of us,  We thought we were in England.

Bertha II froze up on us.  I had to figure out how to reset the new Rand McNally 7735 LM.  So far our old gps outshines it.  The screen is washed out and you cannot see it.  The seven inch screen and mounting is large and we can't find a good spot for it.  It has froze up on us two times.  I contacted the company and need to call them this morning to talk to text support.  I ordered a sun screen and sun film for it.  The sun is bright down here.

We have added a movie day to our schedule.  We went to see Dumb and Dumber II.  What can I say?  The popcorn and pop was good.

Happy Trails until the next sightseeing day.