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.

Camp Verde AZ

Finally made it to Camp Verde, we held over in Goodyear while the snow and storms went through over the weekend. We ended up unhooking the jeep, and I drove it through the mountains to get here.   My internet connection is very poor, not enough power to download pictures, may have to walk up to the office to do that. There is still snow up here, roads were clear, but it is laying along the side of the road and on the mountain tops. Cool, but sunny. We are staying at the Distant Drums campground, nice cement spots, beautiful scenery. We can take a free shuttle from here to the casino, about 2 miles away.  We are on the Yavapi Apache indian reservation, nice thing...no state or city tax here. Took the shuttle to the casino tonight, Tuesday is prime rib night, everything was very good, a very nice buffet, ate too much again !!!!

Yuma Arizona

We are getting ready to leave this part of Arizona and start heading north and east. Our rent is up on the 26th, so will be moving on to another spot, gradually working our way towards home, but everything will depend on the weather to the north., we are under a winter storm watch right now, snow to the north, but just some rain here, very windy, the dirt is blowing until we can't see the mountains behind us.
 They have been cutting and baling hay across the street, and are flooding the field at night. It seems funny to see tractors and hay bales, they have been starting to harvest cabbage and carrots also. We will be seeing John & Joan and Randy & June this next week before we leave here.
Yuma is as far south and west as we will go this year. Located on the Colorado river, it is the crossing point into California.  On the way, we passed fields of date trees and a town named "Dateland", that sold date shakes..yuk !!!

The Territorial Prison was built in 1875, and when it was full, housed 400 prisioners, including women. It was closed in 1909, because it was overcrowded, but the space was later used by the Yuma High School, who to this day are known as the "Criminals".  Imagine going to school in a prison !!







  The guard tower was built on top of the water tank

The walls were 8 feet thick, and everything was built by the prisoners.  There were only 2 men that escaped and were never found.

Wickenburg Gold Rush Days

Wickenburg really comes to life during Gold Rush Days...we have been here the last two winters, but never during one of the town celebrations...thousands of people, lot of arts and crafts..classic car show & temps hitting 80* with plenty of sunshine.
Wickenburg itself is basically a gold mine town..Gold was descovered by Henry Wickenburg in 1863.They claim that the rock he picked up to throw at his mule was gold. He named the mine "Vulture" and it
 yielded more than $200 million in gold.  The gold rush that started after his discovery basically started the town.

Still standing in the center of town is the 200 year old mesquite "jail tree".  Lawmen chained their prisoners to this tree, which served as the town jail..everyone was so busy prospecting for gold, they didn't take the time to build a jail. From 1863 - 1890 outlaws were chained to this tree...escapees were unknown.

Classic Car show..lots to look at..

This was one of my favorites..can you see the foot hanging out of the door ??

Gila Bend and the Painted Rock Petroglyph site

We decided to drive west today, about 75 miles, to Gila Bend.  I had read about the Painted Rock Petroglyph site, but reading about it and seeing it were two different things. I was not prepared for the Hundreds of figures carved in the rocks. I had packed my hiking boots, not sure how far we would have to walk in, and was surprised to find it quite close to the parking area.  This is BLM land, they will also let you drive in and dry camp for $8.00 a night. We will have to keep this place in mind for another time.

Hundreds of figures stand out against the dark basalt boulders, there are animals and humans, sun and moon, and many geometric figures, but no one really knows what these figures mean or why the ancient indians took the time to make them.

I was in total awe !!











We came past a dairy while out there, nicknamed it the "Nowhere Dairy.".on a road that comes from nowhere, goes nowhere, and is in the middle of nowhere.

Thousands of holstein cows, the milking parlor was huge, what we could see of it, too bad we could not get closer.  The open sheds have hundreds of fans blowing down on the cows to try and keep them cool when it hits 114*

Stack after stack of hay bales, they look brown, but where they have been unloading from the pile, it is a beautiful green.  We saw acre after acre of irrigated alfalfa fields, tractors in the field, grain bins with elevators and harvestor silos.  I have never thought of this part of Arizona as farming country.


On the way home, we stopped for lunch at the famous Gila Bend landmark, the Space Age Outer Limits Restaurant..You'll know it by the 28 foot wide flying saucer on the roof.

Even the dishes had flying saucers on them..the food was "Out of this World". this must have been one of the sites of the famous "Extraterrestial Sightings" Now go back and look at the pictures of the petroglyphs again..see anything ??

Goodyear City Market and Ballpark

HAPPY 90TH BIRTHDAY DAD !!!

Super Bowl Sunday...time to catch up on all of the stuff I should do..(I only watch the commercials)

We have had a week of "not so good" weather..(nothing compared to the rest of the country, but we are in Arizona..the "Valley of the Sun").  We spent 2 days inside (except for dog outside time) with COLD&WIND..water froze up 2 nights in a row, even though Wally had the pipes insulated and a rug over all..had the slides both pulled in because of high wind.  You have not lived until you have the 4 of us (Moko & Mya included) claustrophobic from being stuck inside, but we had plenty of good books to read.  Thankfully, the weather has cleared, the temp is coming up, and the sun is out again.
There was a Goodyear City Market on Saturday, so we drove over, it was only a few miles from us. I had hoped we could find some fresh veggies, but it is the wrong season for local produce..There was not a lot there, but we did buy a bottle of "Lil Sassy's Salsa (Sassy says it all) Pineapple Margarita...The person who sold it said it was really good on baked chicken besides chips, I will let you know once we try it out.

The market was held in the field right next to the Goodyear Ball Park, which is the home of the "Cactus League"  This is the spring training field and ball diamond for the Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds.. Spring training starts 02/13 and the first game will be 02/25..

This 60 foot sculpture is in front of the ballpark enterance, surrounded by gardens and water falls.
the height of 60 feet equals the distance between home plate and the pitcher's  mound..

Quartzsite AZ, and the week in review

Bernie and Marsha camped next to us at Cotton Lane on Saturday the 22nd, had a good time just sitting out in the sun, and having supper together. Sunday morning they packed up and moved on to Quartzsite AZ.








I have wanted to see Quartzsite for years..this is a town out in the middle of nowhere. this is a TDS TELECOM site that I took calls for while working in Winsted  while I worked for TDS (telephone data systems). Population goes from 3,000 to well over 1 million over winer, I would like access to their main frame, just to see what it looks like compaired to Winsted's..don't think I could understand the modern technology anymore !!

Main problems with Quartzsite:
TOO many RV's..
TOO many people
2 Stop lights in town
Thousands of people and cars
RV's parked for miles out of town in the dessert
Think of the MN State Fair X 100

This is NOT for me !!!

Today, Tuesday, they have the water shut off for line repair right next to us...how many men (I'm counting 5 or 6) does it take to fix a water leak ??? Believe me, this would never work in Minnesota..think Wally & Mick at Codger's Cove.
Wally is helping Randy fix some auto problem today, hope he brings home left-overs..June and I had girls day out last Tuesday..now it is their turn.
Weather is great..70 today, cooling off into the 40's overnight.







Ghost Towns and Gold Mines

Road trip time with Bernie and Marsha......picked them up this moring in Mesa. They knew of a ghost town out of Apache Juction, right at the foothills of the Superstition mountain..home of the famous "Lost Dutchman" mine, about which much has been written.

Goldfield was a town back in 1892 when they discovered millions of tons of gold ore. At one time the town had 5,000 people with 50 working mines in the district.

The buildings you see today are all re-creations, supposedly built on the original foundations. After 5 years, the ore vein was played out, and everyone left.  5 years later, with new technology, the town again had a boom time, but that did not last long either. It was fun just to walk around through the buildings and learn some local history.  stopped for lunch at the saloon !!







All right...let me OUT !!!







Too much Arizona sun!! must have been before sunscreen was invented.









One of the most beautiful and tallest  cactus I have ever seen !!





Superstition Mountain

 We also drove over to a campground right at the base of the mountain...talk about a beautiful back yard !!!