The Heat is On...

This is the end of Christmas week and the New Year is just around the corner.  In my last blog I mentioned a trashcan turkey - I have added a couple of pictures to show exactly what happened.

On Boxing Day, instead of shopping, we attended a fish fry.  A friend of ours was a commercial fisherman from Washington state.  Since he is still recovering from a recent stroke, his son (also a commercial fisherman) had a fish fry - yum, what a feast.  We had shrimp, cod, tuna, salmon prepared in various ways.  The black cod tips were, by far, my favourite.  On the way home we stopped at a grocery store, and at home, we almost had a disaster.  When we opened the back door of the Jeep, my bottle of coffee liquer fell out onto a concrete driveway.  With lightning speed, we picked up the bottle and fortunately, only the top broke off so a simple filtering job saved the liquid.

On Wednesday, we left Yuma and went to Borrego Springs, CA.  There was a 4x4 rally in progress so we quickly joined in on several back-country trips.  And the temperatures are finally warm - this is what we have been waiting for.




On one trip, we visited a cemetary that was next to a regional park.  In the park is an old stagecoach stop on the Butterfield trail.  In the picture you will see a gravesite - on it is a white veil.  The story goes that a lady who was on the stagecoach became very ill, so was left at the stop, and subsequently died.  When they opened her trunk they found a wedding dress and a veil.  She was dressed in her wedding dress to be buried but her veil was put on top the gravesite.  In all the years, the veil has remained on the grave in various locations, has never yellowed nor deteriorated.

Today we went, and came back, across country to the town of Julian, a historic gold mining town. There are numerous little shops, and restaurants - the town being famous for apple pie.  We did see someone leading a llama into town - a most unusual sight I thought.



It was oooh, so close!





Merry Christmas!!

Here it is Christmas Day and I would like to send Season's Greetings to everyone and the best in the New Year.


It's been a great Christmas with friends, but a sad Christmas without the kids.  I guess that is what one can expect when they choose to spend the holidays in the sun and sand of the desert.  We made a trashcan turkey, which was absolutely delicious, in addition to a great variety of other dishes.  There were eight of us around our table in the motorhome, we were cosy, but when we're hungry, who cares!!  For those of you that wonder "what is a trashcan turkey" - google it as it is a great way to cook a big bird.

This past week we have been in a friend's lot in Yuma.  And as I have previously described our saga with trying to set up the satellitee dish - well this week we won the battle.  At least until we move and get to go through it all again.  It certainly keeps from things becoming boring.  That will happen later on this coming week as we head over towards Borrego Springs, CA for the next month.

Yuma, AZ

Well, it's been 10 days since I have given an update of our comings and goings. I guess that means one of two things - either, we've been terribly busy and time has been short, or our activities have been so boring that they would be of little interest to anyone. I'll let you decide!!

As I last posted, you could see that we won the TV war, although only for a short time. We moved last Sunday into a friend's lot in Yuma and once again, the war is on. We will, however, be persistent.

Last Thursday we celebrated Gerry's and his cousin's, Myrna, birthdays. It was a small, but great gathering of a few friends. Then on Friday, we celebrated again, but this time it was just us, and Jim and Myrna.

Tamale selections

On Saturday, we attended a tamale festival with Jim and Myrna. There were 40 booths selling various tamales, entertainment, and 25,000 people. Now I had never had tamales so it was an interesting experience - some were quite tasty, and some, well let's just say they were less tasty. In the end, we found we had purchased far too many tickets so we bought enough tamales to take home and freeze and have several meals at a later date.

On Sunday, we moved into Yuma into a friend's lot and will be here until after Christmas. Gerry has spent the past few days waxing, and waxing, and waxing the motorhome. His mission is to try and get rid of a blotchy appearance, and with each coat of wax, he is slowly succeeding. Each day he waxes until his shoulders tell him "stop" but hopefully, it will be mission accomplished before the winter is over.

Tonight, we went out dining and then toured some of the city to view the Christmas lights. There were some lovely displays - one street that the "Night before Christmas" theme. And of course our dining out was great fun - Taco Tuesday at Del Taco. Where else could you get supper for $4.00??

Until next time - we wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. May each of you that read this blog have a joyous Christmas and may the holidays be filled with good cheer and good health!!

Pinal County Park - part 2

The past couple of days have been rather quiet, and will likely become a somewhat boring read. We did a bit more geocaching - some we found, some we didn't. I guess we're not really die-hard geocachers but rather use it as a means of recreation while getting some exercise.

I did manage to spend a good part of one day sewing. I am working on making a couple of quilts so was able to sew a fair number of blocks. Now the sewing machine is away for a few days.

I also did a bit of baking - made scuffles. The problem is that they don't last very well so may have to make another batch before Christmas.

Today we drove to Yuma and finally - the weather we have been waiting for. It was warm, sunny, and no wind. I finally was able to put on a pair of shorts. I look forward to this for several months.

And finally, today we won the TV war. We set up the dish - again, and we got a picture, and it stayed. This is the first time in almost a month we have been successful in setting up the satellite dish. Now I would call that persistent, and patient!!!!

Pinal County Park - part 1

After arriving on Saturday in the midst of a rain and hail storm, we got set up and settled.  Sure glad that we are warm and dry and cozy.Sunday was a wonderfully sunny day so we decided to go off into the mountains and do a little geo-caching - something we haven't done for several years.  There are many geo-caches around here so it was easy to find some that were fairly close.  Of course we couldn't, or wouldn't go too far as we were just waiting for the low fuel light to come on - yes, we needed fuel.

On Tuesday, it was cool and cloudy once again so we decided it would be a good day to go into Casa Grande shopping.  It seemed we didn't buy a lot of things - at least not at any one place.  The only thing was we hit a lot of places.  Sadly, we got tired so likely missed some bargains along the way.
On Wednesday morning we received an email from a fellow - we had found his cache the day before.  He came over, we had a bit of a visit and off we went in search of several more caches.  We found four today, went back into the mountains, and the scenery is far more than one can see from the road.  It is such a surprise to go back behind one mountain and come across such views.  I have included a couple of photos to hopefully give some idea of what we saw.

While the photos show beautiful blue skies, the nights have been cool.  Yesterday when I checked the temperatures, they were just below freezing.  Checked the temperatures here and guess what, they were just below freezing.  Something is wrong with this picture.  Fortunately, the days warm up somewhat because the sun is shining and gives some warmth - we look forward for this cold front to pass!!

Pyramid House

Apache Junction, AZ

On Wednesday, November 30, we left Safford and drove over to Apache Junction, AZ.  What an incredible trip - the scenery was marvelous.  In Apache Junction, we spent a couple of days at a friend's place.  We had planned on going off-roading, but something happened to the Arizona sunshine --- cloudy, cool, and even a bit of rain.  Since the visibility in the mountains would be limited, and it wouldn't be fun to be outside, we had a change of plans.

On Thursday, we toured Queen Creek Olive Mill where they grow olives, and produce extra virgin olive oil (yes, it means that the olives are well-behaved!!).  It was very interesting to see how this process works.  On Friday, it was cloudy and cool again so we went to the Mesa swap meet.  We didn't get much, but a swap meet is a swap meet is a flea market.  There really is any big differences with any of them.

Today, we made the big trip to Pinal County park (just 20 miles or so out of Casa Grande).  We arrived in time to have a rain shower with some hail.  It is still heavy cloud, with the odd shower.  Hopefully, tomorrow we will get some sunshine although the plan is to do some shopping, but if the sun is shinging, plans may change.

Safford, AZ

We arrived here on Sunday from Las Cruces, NM - such a big drive it was - we left at noon and arrived here about 3 and stopped for lunch on the way.  That is unheard of for our travel habits.

On Monday we drove around town (population about 9,000), had lunch, and did a bit of shopping.  There is an Ace Hardware that could put Home Depot to shame for the variety of hardware items they carried.  It consisted of several buildings with entries from one into the other - it was huge.  We then drove out to Discovery Park which is part of Eastern Arizona college.  Everything was locked and it looked like no one has been around for quite a while.  Later when talking to one of the locals, it had closed several years ago, but they have a caretaker to look after it.  Too bad as it looked like it could be rather interesting.

Today we just stayed around the motorhome and did some clean-up.  I cut out all my quilt batting for quilts I have been trying to work on since last winter, as well as some more flannel.  I am almost all done cutting so let the sewing begin!!

Tomorrow we are off to Apache Junction for a couple of days.  Another big day - 150 miles.   Will update you on our fun in our new spot.

End of the Trails in New Mexico

Today was our last day of the rally and off-roading in New Mexico!  Yesterday we had a great drive around the Dona Ana mountains.  Last night we went out to a Mexican restaurant for supper.  Choice number 1 had an hour and a half wait, so we went to choice number 2.  As it turned out, Choice number 1 is the choice of tourists but number 2 is the choice of locals, and I know why - the food was fabulous. 

Today, we went on the "Skyline" trip and had a chance drive to the top of a mountain.  We didn't take the drive right to the top, especially after we saw one of the drivers take a wrong line and his two front wheels went up as the back went down - yikes!!!  All was well as he made it up, and down, safe and sound.  Actually after watching the 5 out of 20 Jeeps go up, I think we would have done fine.  I don't know if the trip the day before had any bearing on it.  There was a space between two rocks up a mountain and a very steep decline - Gerry wanted to go, I didn't.  Of course after some discussion (and I do mean discussion), we went up and over.  Actually it wasn't all that bad in the end.

Now it's time to move on and we will start heading west.  I think we will go towards Apache Junction and spend a few days up there.

Happy Thanksgiving - American Style

Today is the United States Thanksgiving - it's a holiday for almost everyone so we didn't run any trails today.  It would have been a great day to go shopping but all the Black Friday deals don't start until 10 tonight, or midnight, or 4 a.m. or some other time that I wasn't willing to go out at.  A couple of stores were open today though - K-Mart, Walgreen's, as well as the grocery stores so did roam around a bit.

I tried to get the TV signal again and get the dish working but to no avail.  For the life of me, I can not get a signal and have no idea what the problem is.  I will try another day because it will not get the better of me (I hope).

Tonight we went to a Thanksgiving dinner - turkey, stuffing, ham, mashed potatoes with the rest being pot luck.  There was an amazing amount of food so we both got quite stuffed.  Now it's time to let that turkey do it's work as we think of nighty-night time.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

The Day Before U.S. Thanksgiving

Today we woke up to absolutely beautiful skies - bright blue and not a cloud.  We were off onto a trail this morning that was a great run.  The trail wasn't difficult but enough rock and twists and turns to keep everyone alert, but not so much that it became hard work.  Various comments were made throughout the day to "watch for snakes" whenever we went off the road for a pit stop.  Of course these comments were taken pretty lightly because we have always been told that they don't come out until the overnight temperatures stay above 60 F (16C).  Well, so much for that theory as on the drive home, there was a rattler crossing the road.  He wasn't too big but about 18 inches.  I will be on the lookout now for sure.

We came home to find that we have no water.  After a bit of checking, it turns out that the water regulator we have isn't working.  Off to Wal-Mart to get a new one, but they don't have any.  I guess with will see what is open to tomorrow to try and pick one up.

I hope that anyone who is reading this blog will make the odd comment, to let us know if we should change anything.

See you tomorrow!!

Past Three Days

Kilbourne Hole - created by a maar (a
type of volcano action)

 The past three days have passed so quickly that I haven't even had a chance to put down a few words.  Actually, maybe a bit of laziness played a part in this.

On Sunday, we did absolutely nothing.  In fact, we didn't even try and get a signal on the TV.  But a couple of things were accomplished: 1) we found the TV remote, and 2) we found a thermometer that Taryn said she lost a year and a half ago, and we said that it wasn't in the motorhome.

Yesterday we went out into some back country and up into some mountains.  The scenery was very pretty.  We had a couple of rainstorms and it was amazing how green the desert became after the rain.  There was a thunder shower in the morning and and thunder and hail storm in the afternoon with a lovely rainbow.  Whenever we had to do something, the rain stopped, and the sun shone - during lunch, pit stops, and so on.

Pecan trees along the road

Today we had a late start so it was a nice leisurely morning.  We took a drive out to Kilbourne Hole  which is known as a Maar — a pit or depression caused by a volcanic explosion with little material emitted except volcanic gas.  We got to drive right down to the bottom which was really neat.  Tonight we had a catered Mexican supper.  The food was very good although some of it was a bit on the hot side.

It was another great day and tomorrow we're off for another adventure. 



A Short Drive

Today we had a short drive into Las Cruces, NM to join a 4x4 rally.  We met up with a couple of friends that we hadn't seen for quite some time and had a nice, short visit.  We went for a couple of mile walk into a historic district although it seemed that all the shops were about the same - full of gift jewelery; but it was a nice walk.  We tried (notice I said tried) to set up the satellite dish so we could watch the football games tomorrow but no luck.  Both of us carefully checked, and re-checked the settings but to no avail.  Guess we will have to give it another try tomorrow.  If we don't get it, I will try and get the games streamed live on the computer - wish us luck. It's been a quiet day but that was nice.

Around Alamogordo

Today we decided do a bit of touring.  First thing we went to Cloudcroft.  There was no special reason other than it was up in the mountains and we thought it might be a pretty trip.  And that it was.  The road is fairly slow as it rises over 4,000 feet in 16 miles so it is fairly windy.  

Then we came back to the motorhome and packed a lunch to go out to tour White Sands National Monument. It is quite a site.  The dunes are made of very fine particles of gypsum so when walking on them, it is almost like walking on packed powder.  As we drove through the dunes, it was really hard to not have the feeling of driving in snow (other than the temperatures of course).   Many young folks were out on either magic carpets or flying saucers and sliding down the slopes.  They had a great picnic area where we had our lunch.  We took a couple of hikes - not too long as the trails are really hard to walk on as it's like walking in really soft sand.  It was much easier when we could get off the beaten path as the surface was really quite hard - much like hard drifted snow.  Even though we were next to a very large Air Base and Missile Range, we never saw any planes flying around - had expected to see a few of them.

What a great day - didn't have to hit the road as we a staying in Alamogordo for a couple of days.  After another trip into Walmart, we drove over to an auto glass business to get the chip fixed in our windshield.  As luck would have it, it was right next door to a thrift shop and of course I felt obligated to help out a charity.  Then off to our campground.  Once we got settled in, had lunch, we went over to do some wine tasting and to tour a pistachio farm.  The tour was great and very informative.   No wonder they are so expensive, the processing is so labour intensive.  We got a big surprise - who would have thought that Gerry would have to wear a hair net - anywhere.  Guess that is the rule - a hair net is required for everyone!!!!



November 14, 2011
We were able to get off to an early start considering that the RV storage does not open until 8:30.  We quickly packed and headed out by 9:30.  The border crossing was very easy - other than we misread the signs and got into the wrong lane.  That resulted in about a half-hour delay - not too serious at all.  We had some wind most of the day but it was mostly at the back corner so not very troublesome.  We stopped at a little campground in Strasburg, ND only to find that it was closed.  Across the street was a parking area next to some ball diamonds.  We thought that we would definitely be out of the way there - a great spot and real quiet.

November 15, 2011
We had a good rest but when Gerry asked if I was sleeping at 4:30 a.m., I never should have answered.  Sure enough we were on the road by 4:45 a.m.  There was a skiff of snow throughout the night but that caused no problems.  A couple of hours later, we were having breakfast in Pierre, SD.  Again, a good day for driving, other than some wind but again, it was from the back but the temperatures were pleasant.  Today we were into South Dakota before breakfast, had lunch in Nebraska, and supper in Kansas.  We spent the night at the local Wal-mart in Garden City, KS.  It didn't even freeze last night.

November 16, 2011
Day three and we are finally able to slow down the pace.  We are in Alamogordo, NM, again at the local Wal-Mart.  Tomorrow we will go off to find a campground for a couple of days and find somewhere to get a windshield fixed.  We got a rock in the windshield today - that was after a new one this past summer, and the summer before.