RonHardestyPhotos

We’ve been in Sedona, AZ. now for a few months (a long story… Planned was to be here only 60 days or so). Anyway, we wondered why the town wasn’t at its height in tourists. Its the Monsoon Rains!

On the other side of the road, where it evens out, is the height at which my trailer sits.

This was sandy, dry, arrid before the rain this afternoon. This part of AZ. hadn’t seen rain in months. This happened in a couple of hours and OH! MY! the lightning and thunder!

Living in Sedona, AZ is a wonderful experience. On Sunday evening (07/15) I could see by the clouds that we were going to have a “busy” night with lightning and thunder.

Days before this the weather reports stated that we were in the “Monsoon” season. I had never heard of such a thing in the U.S.

Anyway, we had quite a night. A number of us had gathered at the “airport” in Sedona. Its on a mountain and you can see forever, as the saying goes. This is just one of the images I was lucky enough to capture. I’ll be putting together a “slideshow” to show this collection. Its really amazing!

On Monday at noon west coast time maybe you could spend a moment for someone else and send a prayer. You see, I’m going to have neck surgery. The will be installing a Spinal Cord Stimulator. This is just to “test” weather the Spinal Cord Stimulator will actually work for me (they don’t work for some people).

The Spinal Cord Stimulator will come from “Advanced Bionics“. You can see an interesting video at that link.

Talk to you after the “Procedure”

After my Route 66 Project, I ended that trip in Mesa, AZ. I’ve been here since the beginning of December. I’ve wondered when the 100 degree days would begin. Weather has been quite nice. Even, the upper 80 and 90 degree days weren’t all that bad.

So, with these days, I remember when I lived near Sacramento, CA.

I hope your summer is going to be good!

Happy Mother’s Day!

You may not know this but, I’m living at a RV Park in Mesa, AZ. It’s called Arizona Maverik. My first “permanent ” RV Park. I’ll be leaving in the next month to 6 weeks or so, destination unknown. I know it’ll be north of here. Way north of here. The 110 to 120 degree days here aren’t really for me.

I’ll try to photograph what I can here before leaving. Anyway…

Tonight, we were having a “Residents Appreciation Picnic”. Just before the picnic was to start we could see a dust storm coming from the east. Just as sudden as we could see the dust storm headed our way, it turned and headed north before getting to us. The dust just hung in the air all night.

As the sun was setting, it gave us quite a show. Heavy clouds of an impending rain storm brought out some very dynamic images and some very pretty colors. This is one of those images.

Is It the start of “spring” or is it just me?

I’ve been here since the beginning of December of ‘06. Doesn’t that just sound like something your grandmother or grandfather would have said? Why, back in ‘06 we went to school in snow up to our waists, 6 miles away… We had no buses! But, ‘ol Porky Pine Fred had a 24″ Schwinn bicycle that he used to ride… He wasn’t quiet right, ya’ know. Why today, we would say that he was a couple of French fries short of a Happy Meal!

Anyway, here in Mesa, AZ… We Got No Snow!
But the birds are out… At the Maverik RV Park, we have a small bird sanctuary. Doves, Woodpeckers, Quail, Wren’s etc. The one I’m waiting for is the Humming Bird. Other places I’ve seen some mundane Hummingbirds. Here, they’re just some really cool colors… I’ve been patient now for about 20 hours. and the ones I have seen are always blocked by the feeders!

For now, this picture will have to do!

Just another Route 66 publication to let you know about:

Newspaper known as: Route66Pulse

Send an e-mail and buy a subscription!

A Magazine about Route 66
Route 66 Magazine

As today is Christmas Eve, Santa arrives tonight and I didn’t have a Christmas tree for my travel trailer, I was wondering what a Christmas tree in Arizona might look like.

So, I took a little ride east of Mesa, AZ. to go look for a Christmas tree, just like I would have if I were living back in the great state of Washington. Washington has a lot of trees (like you would probably expect). So I drove and drove and here is all I could find:

It was about 6′ tall using the Chevy Chase, Christmas Vacation movie method of measuring. It was a little full (it filled the travel trailer) as I put it up.So, I hope you realize that most of the story above was all tongue in cheek. I did go a little east to do some exploring and I did snap this image today.

All this is to say, MERRY CHRISTMAS! and HAPPY HOLIDAYS regardless of your religon.