Massive Rattlesnake!!

May 13, 2026 / Ed Armstrong

As I was riding my bike today on the Hawknest Trail at Brown’s Ranch, I encountered this massive diamondback rattlesnake!! This guy was at least 5 feet long and his width at the widest point was quite a bit wider than my mountain bike tires!! He must eat javelina for breakfast to grow to be so large!! He covered the whole trail and there was no room to go around him. He seemed quite content to enjoy laying in the sun. After taking his photo with my cellular phone, I started tossing rocks around him to get him to move off the trail. He did not seem to care or react. Another mountain biker came from the other direction and we both started tossing rocks to get him to move. He was simply not interested! Finally, the other biker found a branch and started moving it on the ground and walked toward the snake. The snake did not like that and slowly moved off the trail. He never made a rattling sound despite all his rattles. Also, he never coiled up in striking position. He was a slowpoke moving off the trail. Once he moved off the trail we could continue riding our bikes. I peddled as hard as I could to go quickly by the snake because he was only a few feet off the trail. He just watched us ride down the trail and was not aggressive toward us. I am just glad that I saw him in time and could easily stop before getting too close!!

Baby Gila Monster!!

May 4, 2026 / Ed Armstrong

Kenny Chesney and Megan Moroney Concert!!

July 26, 2024 / Ed Armstrong

I was excited to see Kenny Chesney in concert. I have heard his music for years, but never seen him in person. However, I was a bit unsure about an outdoor concert in Phoenix in July!!

This is an outdoor venue with most seating in the open. It was a nice layout, but the weather was hot. It was 112 degrees when I first arrived at my seat.

Megan Moroney started playing first. I knew her name, but could not have said what her songs were. I was quite impressed with her talent. Many people wanted to buy merchandise with Megan’s name on it!

Megan is very talented and I thoroughly enjoyed her singing!!

Her singing is wonderful and she related well with the audience!!

Her sparkly guitar was fun to watch glitter with the lights!!

As soon as Megan finished singing a huge monsoon storm moved in with lightning, wind, and later rain. Everyone was hoping the storm would quickly blow through and the concert could keep going. However, sadly, after waiting 2 hours, the concert was cancelled.

Here I am waiting the the concert to resume. There were 20,000 people in attendance and everyone was patiently waiting to see Kenny Chesney. It is sort of funny because I brought this umbrella for shade from the sun (in addition to my big hat) and I ended up using it when it started pouring rain. Incidentally, I bought this umbrella years ago in Scotland. It is similar to the Armstrong plaid and it has sentimental value to me.

The concert was rescheduled for the following night and I think almost all 20,000 people returned to see Kenny Chesney play and sing. It was a great concert. He is very high energy and kept everyone in the audience engaged with him.

The bass guitar player was a woman from Austin, Texas. She was extremely talented!!

I really enjoyed seeing Kenny in person!!

They played one hit song after another!!

The drummer is from South Africa and I loved watching him play!!

After his last song, the band kept playing and Kenny signed items from the fans. I was sad when it ended. Two hours went by very quickly.

It was fun to watch the band play as Kenny was signing items from the audience. This is a very talented group of people!!

Who, who is there?

May 20, 2024 / Ed Armstrong

This amazing owl has decided to live near our backyard in Anthem. This photo of him is on our back wall enjoying the shade of our next door neighbor’s tree. I love his huge yellow eyes!

Quartzsite is Fun in January!!

January 18, 2024 / Ed Armstrong

We climbed Q Mountain and had a great view of Quartzsite, Arizona and the surrounding area.

There was a rugged trail we climbed up to reach the top of the “mountain.”

From the top of Q Mountain, we could see the group of motorhomes attending the Winnebago View/Navion rally. It was very fun!!

Circled is red in the lower left corner is our motorhome. People park all over the flat ground. The fire ring is in the center of the photo and we gather there for a campfire each evening. Different rally sessions are also held in that general area. We are simply living in the desert of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land for $40 for two weeks. There are no RV connections such as water and electricity (called boondocking or dry camping). We are simply enjoying living in self-contained motorhomes in the “middle of nowhere,” just south of Intersate-10 near the Arizona – California border.

The large white tent on the left hand side of the photo is where the RV show will be held. It opens tomorrow and runs for just over a week. We are walking distance from the large tent.

The roads in the desert a great for walking or riding mountain bikes. The terrain can be rough and steep at times!!

All kinds of all-terrain vehicles and jeeps drive in the desert all around Quartzsite!!

There is not much vegetation around Quartzsite, but the desert is beautiful in January!!

Here is an old mine overlooking Quartzsite. Someone in our group thought it was an old silver mine.

Arizona Spring Football Game!!

April 12, 2022 / Ed Armstrong

It was great having my photo taken in front of the famous “Zona Zoo!!” This is the student section on the west side of Arizona Stadium. This sign did not exist the last time I was at the stadium.

I had a wonderful time visiting Tucson to attend the University of Arizona spring football game! It was a beautiful day and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting an old friend Bill at the stadium. It has probably been at least a decade since I have been at Arizona stadium. It was filled with memories for me. While waiting for the game to start, I remembered major wins as well as heart-breaking losses while in that stadium. It was great to visit again!

It was fun to attend the spring game. The music was pounding loudly in the stadium!

Some of the cheerleaders were gracious and allowed me to take their picture. It was fun to see all the excitement and pageantry of college football!

Being inside Arizona Stadium again brought back so many special memories!!

It was fun to watch some of the new recruits as well as many of the established players. Coaches for the game were famous players when I had season tickets for UA football. Now, the football team hopefully will be able to win some games! They have only won one game in the past two seasons, so hopefully the team will improve their win-loss record. Is it too much to ask to have enough wins to go to a bowl game?? We will see.

After the game, I drove the motorhome to South Tucson and enjoyed some wonderful Mexican food!! I think Tucson has some of the best Mexican food anywhere in the nation!

After eating dinner, I drove to Catalina, Arizona for some boondocking camping. After getting organized, I opened the motorhome door and was greeted with a spectacular Tucson sunset! Truly beautiful!!

This was a wonderful day!! It was great to visit Tucson, I had a wonderful time at Arizona Stadium, I enjoyed seeing the football team, I enjoyed talking with my friend Bill, the Mexican food was fantastic, and the sunset was awesome. (Now, hopefully, we will win some football games!!)

I think it is important to be grateful for special times and to savor days like today!

Quartzsite, Arizona Stars!

January 21, 2022 / Ed Armstrong

This is our motorhome in the foreground with the gorgeous stars shining brightly over the rural desert skies! Awesome!

I went to a RV rally in Quartzsite, Arizona and had a wonderful time. There was a photographer that held a workshop that showed us how to photograph stars. Being in the desert south of Quartzsite there are no major cities nearby and it was beautiful to see so many stars. These were my favorite photos.

The stars are so bright above the isolated desert!

I love the flexibility of RV travel that allows the possibility to enjoy such simple and majestic scenes!

McDowell Mountain Regional Park!

February 11, 2021 / Ed Armstrong

This is a beautiful Maricopa County park that is fantastic for mountain biking, hiking, and riding horses!

I took our motorhome and headed to northeast Scottsdale to the McDowell Mountain Regional Park. It was only 90 minutes away from our house, but it was wonderful to enjoy the campground and ride my mountain bike on trails all around the area.

I love riding on trails on a beautiful day!

My first day I rode through the campground, went to the visitor center, and then rode one of the easier loops as suggested by the visitor center. The next day, I rode 15.3 mile Pemberton loop trail. This started with a long uphill route and then a mostly downhill rocky path back down to the visitor center.

At the top of the hill on the Pemberton trail is a fun place to rest and repair your bike, if needed.

I met several people on the trails. Mountain biking couples quite a bit older than myself, a photographer hiking that found deer on the trail and a couple of groups of ladies riding horses. I have learned to be extra cautious around horses on the trail. Mountain bikes can scare them and riders do not want you too close coming up behind the horses. Caution is especially warranted on narrow trails. So, I hung back on the trail to allow the horses time to find a place to get off the trail and allow me to pass.

The weather was in the 70s, so everyone was smiling and enjoying being outside on a sunny winter day in the desert.

The campground was quite spacious and each site had electricity and water. The quiet was wonderful!!

This is my second trip in the motorhome to mountain bike in a new location. I have really enjoyed this trip and need to plan another new location soon.

Lower Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend!!

March 13, 2020March 13, 2020 / Ed Armstrong

Horseshoe Bend was beautiful to see as the sun was setting with storm clouds in the distance!

I had a wonderful trip to Page, Arizona with my friends Dan and Rebecca and their son Jonathan. We first stopped by Horseshoe Bend to see it before the sun went down. The following morning we visited Horseshoe Bend again to see if we could find better light for photos.

The following morning, there was beautiful sun peeking through the clouds to highlight the rock formation!

It was very nice to enjoy such wonderful scenery!

I especially enjoyed seeing Lower Antelope Canyon! I had tried to see it last spring but ran into mechanical problems and could not make my reservation. It was especially rewarding to see such interesting rock formations and see how the light highlighted the shape and surface of the sandstone.

Our tour guide took this photo of me with my cell phone. It was spectacular to see such beautiful rock formations!

See the rock formation of the woman with her hair blowing behind her? I think this was my favorite rock formation!

I was so amazed to see the formations where the running water has created such beautiful formations!

It was very inspiring to walk through so many beautiful and unique rock formations.

See the seahorse? Our tour guide showed me this as we were near the exit of Lower Antelope Canyon.

We walked along the pathway at the bottom of this photo and simply stared at the gorgeous rock formations all around us!

I could not get enough of seeing all the unusual rock formations!

I loved all the shapes and colors in the rock formations throughout Lower Antelope Canyon!

Our tour guide had fun with my cell phone with this photo!

Water is certainly a powerful force!!

The rocks here remind me of waves, but it is hard rock!

I just had to stare at the curves and shapes in the rock walls!

I say hooray for being able to visit Lower Antelope Canyon!!

The seem to be no end to the amazing rock formations!!

Rugged and spectacular! Truly a marvel of God’s creativity!!

I marveled over and over while walking on the trail at the bottom at the huge rock formations all around me!!

I look forward to visiting other slot canyons in the future!!

Zoo Lights!

January 3, 2020January 3, 2020 / Ed Armstrong

The lights at the Phoenix Zoo were beautiful for Christmas!!

I had a wonderful time seeing the Zoo Lights at the Phoenix Zoo. Everything was decorated for the Christmas season. It was great to walk through the zoo and see so many wonderful decorations!

This amazing lion was eating my hand!!

The scenes were amazing!

I loved all the creativity in designs!

The colors were fun!

Friends and family had a wonderful time seeing all the beautiful lights!