Yachties find a home in the desert

Our last morning on the Colorado River (at least for now) was a cold one as we woke up to frost on the ground and the bikes. We broke camp and headed into the nearby town for breky and a bit of warmth. Then if was off for the final push to visit Pat and Cheryl and Harper Lee. Our friends from Kamloops were once again taking in these two homeless vagabonds, giving us a warm place to stay, and treating us royally with good food, beer, and tours of the area.

Their place north of Phoenix is in the heart of the Sonora Desert. They’re house features a huge windowed wall that looks out onto their yard containing cacti of all sorts. Prickly pear, agave, hedgehog, velvet mesquite, and of course the massive Saguaro.

Two things you learn very quickly in this desert. One is how stunning, amazing and other-worldly it all is.  The other is that everything wants to kill you; the animals like the spiders, snakes and scorpions , but even all the lovely looking plants. Everything has huge spines and hooks and barbs. If you ever tripped and fell into a bush they’d be pulling spines from your body for weeks.

We spent a few days with Cheryl and Pat and their little cutie dog Harper Lee . We got the grand tour of the area, including a day trip up into the foothills to an old ghost town of Cleator. According to Wiki, Cleator was originally called Turkey Creek, and was established as a small gold mining town. It was renamed Cleator in 1925 after James P. Cleator took over the place.

Today there is little more than a bar up in Cleator, but what a bar! It’s even home to the Cleator Yacht Club, complete with boats and docks and surfboards.

We finally said a temporary goodbye to Harper and her keepers and hopped a flight back to Alberta to spend the holidays with family. We’ll be back in Arizona early in the new year to carry on our journey. There are more friends to visit, and plenty of places yet to see. But until then it’s back to the wintery north for a couple of weeks of festivities and family.