The Carnival Leaves Town & Grazing

The last week and a half the carnival was at the Pima County Fair and going full blast.  We noticed the increased traffic and can see the lights from the RV park.  A few times we thought about going over there, but it was very hot during the day time and that deterred us from traipsing all over the fair grounds.

It was a very large carnival with some huge rides and many food, drink, music, etc places there.  Since we don't really enjoy riding on the different rides, it would have been a waste for us.   The bands performing were more attuned to a younger generation and that was fine with us.  Almost all of the snowbirds have left, so the Tommy Dorsey's band wouldn't have been well received.

Today it was possible to drive all around the fair grounds as long as we avoided the trucks, wires and people taking down the rides.  It was interesting seeing how hard these people have to work to tear down the carnival and now they will drive to a county fair in California and put it all back together again.  They will be on the road all over the Southwest until the Maricopa County Fair later in October.   Tough job.

I took a number of pictures of the carnival being dismantled and have included some below.  Warning, if you don't like carnival pictures, don't go any further.

Merry Go Around with Lions & Tigers

Ticket booths

Cotton Candy stand in operation

Tilt A Whirl

How would you like to take this apart?

Dodge 'em cars

They grow large lemons out here.

1920s milk truck still running.

  Sorry for so many pictures, but they speak for themselves.

They have fire alerts out here and with high temps in the forecast, it will only get worse for the area.  It was 97 degrees here today and a slight breeze that made it fairly comfortable.  Of course, it helped that we were in an air conditioned motor home.

Two more nights here and then we will be on the road.  Our first stop will be Las Cruces, NM for a few days and then head out for Arlington, TX to visit with Judy & Herb.  We don't have a set travel plan after that and will drift around and do some sightseeing along the way.  That is, if it isn't too hot in West Texas and we don't get caught in some bad weather.  This time of the year it's important to keep an eye on the weather forecasts.

Gerry, Ron K and I went grazing today at Costco and enjoyed the freebies samples.  They had a number of stands open and for a change there were some tasty items there.  We even bought a package of one of them.  Ron sprung for lunch and bought a couple hot dogs for us.  Gerry and I finished one off and Ron had 1/2 of his.  Costco has a special of a foot long hot dog and a large coke for $1.50 for the combo.

We were shopping for food items that we were going to take with us on our trip back east.  Gerry doesn't mind cooking, but when we are on the road it is nice to have easy to prepare meals available at the end of a long drive.  

That was our exciting day, how was yours?  

  

Passport Application

We started working on renewing our passports a year or so ago.  We picked up the forms, stored them in a place we could remember and then put it off.  We finally decided to get serious about the renewal and downloaded the forms and got all the documents we needed for the renewal.

So it was off to the Post Office to finalize getting the passports.  We called a couple days ago and the person on the phone said to just come in and they would process the forms.  When we got there today they said we had to make an appointment.  WHAT!  I told the lady behind the counter that we had been told we didn't need an appointment and that is why we came to that post office.  After a little whining on my part she agreed to help us.  We had all the forms filled out, all needed documents and presented them to her.  A few minutes and $$$$ later we turned it all over to the clerk and we should have new passports in 3 weeks.  Great.

A quick trip to Michaels craft store for Gerry to pick up some much needed supplies and then we headed back to the park.  We did buy some gas at Costco for $3.43/gallon which was cheaper than the $3.59/gallon at the local Fry's grocery store.  I know it is much more expensive in other states, so I am not complaining too much.

We went for coffee and donuts at the clubhouse this morning and bought chances on the lucky buck drawing.  No luck there, someone else won it.  There are a number of people heading back to the cold and gloomy weather up north.  My only question is:  WHY?  The weather around here has been great and only will get better in the next two months.  To each his own.  I wish them well.

Lazy Days, Passports & Farewell

Gerry and I let our passports expire and now are in the process of getting them renewed.  The Dept of State (DOS) finally have automated the process to a certain extent.  We were able to go online and fill in the form and print out a completed application.  My handwriting is so bad that I know the application would have been thrown out.  When I was in the Foreign Service, my official passports were free and they would process my personal passport in an expedited manner.  Now, it is up to us to do all the work.  

We went to Costco to get our passport photos and also to buy a large pizza for dinner.  The lady at the photo counter was sitting around without anything to do and welcomed a chance to get up and take our photos.  She was very friendly and had a great sense of humor, which isn't always the case with the photo processors.  I think that is the first time I have ever been in Costco where the processing dept was at a standstill.  

We stopped by Lazy Days rv center to see what stock they had in a motorhome that we would be interested in.  They have changed the entry process there and you now have to park in a area near the MHs and then walk through the dealership in order to gain access to the units.  There is a very pretty curving rock wall that keeps you from driving into the area.

I noticed a salesman sitting in his golf cart behind the building and stopped and asked him in they had a unit meeting our specs.  When the answer was affirmative he directed me to drive down the road a little farther and enter the back of the lot and park.  We didn't find anything that we were interested in, but did meet a nice salesman.  He was the only salesman out there, plus two customers (tire kickers) and that was all.  Keep in mind that this was a Saturday afternoon about 3pm.  The rapid rise in fuel costs must have a very negative effect on sales.   At least in Costco they sell other goods and are doing well.

Back to Costco, we shopped and picked up some needed items and then ordered the large combo pizza.  When they say large, they mean the old large style, not like Pizza hut where the large is really a medium.  We headed over to the Pima County Fairground campground to share the pizza with cousin Sharon and Al.  We all stuffed ourselves and there is still enough pizza leftover for a large lunch today.  

Sharon and Al are leaving Sunday to ranch sit for a month and are excited to have the opportunity to do so.  The ranch is out in the middle of nowhere and I would go out of my mind sitting there for a month, but they are better suited to the task.  Sharon is an avid reader and Al likes to putt around keeping busy.  It will be interesting to see how they like the job and if they extend.  They have basically a full hookup site provided and have to feed two sheep and two goats twice a day, plus keep them in water.  Tough job.  It was sad to see them leave, but I know we will be seeing them at the ranch in March, so that will be nice.


The weather lately has been fantastic with sunny days, cool evening and no rain.  I guess that is it's a desert.