Josephina Javelina

I really have not had anything to post, our life is dull and boring.  Unless you want to see pictures of me doing laundry, grocery shopping and walking dogs..there is not much new.  It is hard to believe we will be here for a week already.

The weather is better today, lows are still below freezing, and highs in the 60's, but there was no wind today, and plenty of sunshine.  It really cools off as soon as the sun goes down.   I never get tired of watching the changing colors as the sunlight and shadows play across the hills, highlighting the cactus and rocks. We seem to walk farther everyday, the dogs seem to remember their dessert path.  Tonight, we had a coyote run across the trail right in front of us.

I did find out we can not download books onto our kindles without a wireless connection.  Amazon suggested we go to a wifi hot spot like McDonalds or Starbucks, or the regional library about 2 mles from us. Thank heaven we downloaded quite a few before we left home. I'll continue to work on this problem.

Now the rest of the story..Josephina Javelina.........definately NOT the 3 little pigs !!
(This is actually the name of a childs book that I fell in love with our first winter down here.)
 I was taking Mya out last night before bed, and from around the back of the motorhome, came a good size Javelina, Huffing and puffing at me..(they do not like dogs) It scared the ---- out of me !!!!  I threw Mya in the house, and Wally and I pulled out flashlights to watch.  There were 6-8 of them, the internet said adults weigh between 35 - 60 #, so they are not to be fooled with.  There were babies as well, so the momma's were not very nice. It has been so terribly dry here, they are eating the cactus which store water in the stems, and anything else they can find. If you have never seen one, do a search on Javelina, the AZGFD.org website has a great video of them feeding in the desert. From now on when I go out at night, Wally will be going with me.

                          Can you see the toothmarks where they are eating the cactus ??

The Misadventures of Wally & Sue on the way to AZ.......

We finally made it to Arizona, with only a few minor experiences, though they seemed major at the time !!

Left Minnesota Tuesday AM, drove as far as Lincoln NE, where we parked in the Walmart parking lot..what a mistake. It was so noisy no one could sleep, so we got up at 4:00am and hit the road again.
After a 14 hr drive, we stopped at a campground in Tucumcari New Mexico. We found out we had no water coming into the M/H, ..the relief valve on the water heater was out, and the water line in the bathroom was frozen.  After several hours of work, finally had water again and could actually use the bathroom.

Thursday, we left Tucumcari and headed south towards Las Cruces NM, as there was a severe storm front coming through the mountains with extremely high winds, and a storm alert for Flagstaff with snow. We also ran into high winds coming across New Mexico, which proceded to try and tear the awning off the motor home, we had 6 feet of canvas blowing over the roof, kind of like a sail. Nothing like standing along the road in 60MPH wind trying to fix it.  Thankfully, there was a little town about 3 miles down the road, where we could pull behind some buildings and get some shelter from the wind to do a repair job. The blowing dust also made it hard to see the road at times.

Friday, we did the final 400 miles into AZ. We drove through heavy rain by Tucson, but made it into Pioneer Park by 4:30pm.  Got everything set up, and just collapsed...... Spent all of Saturday just unpacking and putting stuff away.

We are in lot 152, on the opposite side of the park from where we used to live. There is a wash behind us, lots of quail and birds.  Just had a hummingbird at the feeder, and our old neighbor Pete Jensen stopped for a good visit. It dropped to 39 last night, high for today is in the upper 50's with sunshine and light wind, much better than the 14" of snow in Flagstaff, and the 24" in Show Low.  I can see snow on the upper peaks from where we are parked.

I'll try and get some pictures, and hopefully my next blog will be more interesting.

The backyard

My favorite co-pilots !!!

Home is where you park it

Home Again, Finally !!!!!!

Finally made it home, Saturday PM...long drive, but sooooooo good to be home again.   River is rising, but after the news about sand bagging..everything here is good.

I wish I had green grass and sunshine, but I will take this any day..........Many thanks to Trish and Andy for keeping the driveway open, checking the house and taking care of the mail. I couldn't do it without them !!!
I can't wait to see everyone again...I am SO HAPPY to be home again !!!

Kinsley Kansas

HAPPY "ST PATRICKS DAY" BIRTHDAY SANDY !!!!

Yesterday we drove as far as Tucumcari , New Mexico. Some of the scenery coming out of New Mexico was beautiful .

 We spent the night in a small RV park on Historic Route 66. Back in the 20's, Route 66 was the only east/west road that stretched from Chicago IL to Los Angeles Ca, a total of 2448 miles. I still remember my folks driving this road on our way west, that was back in the 50's. I'm sure everyone has heard of "Get your kicks on Route 66". Unfortunately, with the new freeways, all of the towns are suffering from lack of tourist trade. We did find a fantastic little restaurant, they had the BEST green chili chicken taco soup I have ever tasted. Wish I could have bought a gallon of it.  I sent the restaurant an email, asking if they would share their recipe.
Today, all we did was drive...long, long miles, through the rest of New Mexico, Texas, the panhandle of Oklahoma and almost 1/2 way across Kansas. There was nothing to take pictures of...the land is flat, there were some feedlots with lots of cattle close to Dalton TX , but that was the most interesting thing we saw all day.
Tonight, we are in the little town of Kinsley, KS...From what I have seen, it is about the size of Lester Prairie or less, (maybe closer to the size of Biscay) Camp ground only has 29 spaces, the Internet works !!  But, the TV only has 1 channel. Temp was close to 80* when we got here, but windy,  they are saying 20 degrees colder for the weekend.
Tomorrow, we will try and make it as far as Lincoln, Nebraska, which isn't far from Omaha and Council Bluffs on the Iowa border, so we are getting closer every day.

Humphreys Peak

We left Camp Verde AZ this morning, starting the long journey home. There is still snow at higher elevtions, we ended up unhooking the jeep and drove seperately to get through the pass. 7000 feet and 7% grade. The highway patrol came up behind us while re-hooking the jeep to the motorhome, he didn't like where we had stopped !!!! He was nice enough, just gave us a warning.
I wanted to stop in Winslow AZ, "Standing on a corner in Winslow AZ"  byThe Eagles "Taking it Easy"... for everyone too young to remember..go to you tube !!
We lost an hour today while crossing into New Mexico, we are now on daylight savings time, once we cross out of New Mexico, we will be in central time zone again...so there goes another hour.
We are spending the night in a Walmart parkling lot in Gallup, New Mexico..we quit early today, everyone is tired. Tomorrow on to Tucumcari  NM, or farther..just depends on which road we take, and how far we want to drive...we are not in a hurry, but still are anxious to be home.

Finally, pictures !!

I have been having trouble connecting to my blog, and inserting pictures.  The signal strength we have at our site is extremely low.  Today, laundry day..so will try and get something done on the computer at the same time.

 This is Distant Drums RV park..we are in the middle of the picture, at the end of the street. With the mountains around us, you can see why I have trouble connecting. 

We drove into Sedona yesterday, beautiful drive with great views.














Jerome, the mile high copper mining town, went from boom to bust..from over 15,000 in the 20's to 50 people in the 50's..Jerome became the largest ghost town in America. Today, it has become a tourist attraction, full of shops in the old buildings. It is gradually sliding off the side of the mountain, parts of it has collapsed and have slid 225 feet downhill. They told us it is still moving at the rate of an inch every 5 years.

My favorite..a bordello and pizzarea

Montezuma Castle, Well and Tuzigoot

We have been trying to visit the 3 national parks that are close by..
Montezuma's Castle.... It's not a castle, and it wasn't built by Montezuma, it is actually a Sinagua five story 20 room dwelling built into the cliff, 100 feet above the valley, and could only be accessed by ladder. Just imagine trying to carry fire wood, water and food up and down, guess you didn't have to worry about unexpected company or salesmen.