Horseshoe Cafe & Friends

One of the benefits of following blogs other than viewing great pictures and different places is to get to know people through their blogs.  In many cases you actually get to meet the blogger and see them in person.  Jerry & Suzy are bloggers who belong to the latter case.  We met them for a short time a couple months ago and had a short chat and agreed to meet for lunch or dinner sometime later.

Today was the later day as we met them in Benson, AZ at the Horseshoe Cafe for a late lunch.  It is much easier to talk between the lunch and dinner hour and not feel like you are taking the table out of circulation.  The Cafe is on the main street of Benson and was very easy to find.  We actually ate there a couple years ago on one of our geocaching expeditions. 

We all got settled in and began a "chin wag" and the conversation flowed easily as if we've know them for a number of years.  In a way we do, since I've followed their blog for the last couple of years.  You learn a lot about a person from their blog and I knew they were our kind of people.   We had a nice meal and then went to their place in the Escapee Park nearby for a short visit.  They have a very nice setup and we got to see the famous grandfather's clock they carried with them in their motorhome for a couple of months.  It's amazing that they had room in the mh for that thing.  I don't feel so bad about carrying all of Gerry's craft "stuff" now.

All too quickly the visit came to an end and we had to get back on the road to Tucson, but I am sure our paths will cross once again before we head back East.  Jerry & Suzy have plans to visit the East Coast in the next couple years and Washington, DC is in their plans.  Our cabin isn't too far from DC and maybe we can show them some sites that tourists don't normally get to see.  Thanks guys for the nice time and visit.

To cap off a great day we had a beautiful sunset to view as we got back to the park.  We did stop by the DQ to take advantage of their March special on Blizzards and that delayed us enough to capture the sunset photo.    

Snowbirds in flight

It's beginning to look a little sparse around here lately.  Many of the snowbirds have left and a large number of the rest will be leaving at the end of the month.  The monthly activity calendar is filled through the 31st and then that is it.  No activities are scheduled for April since there will be so few people here other than the ones who live here all year long.

We were scheduled to leave on April 9th, but doctor appointments will delay our departure to the end of April.  We don't have any plans for the trip back east so it won't be a problem unless it gets hot out here.  A couple years ago we left around May 1 and it was getting hot by then.  That time we made the mistake of going to Lake Havasu and then Las Vegas and their 107+ temps.  

The temperatures out here have been warmer than usual so the snakes and other creepy crawler are active again.  That limits where we are willing to go geocaching, so we will be looking for more urban caches, rather than out in the desert.  

Most of the other bloggers who I follow on the internet have left their roosts or are preparing to do so.  Gloria & Doug look like they will be among the last to leave among their friends.  Carolyn & Mann are already back home and enjoying cutting grass and cleaning up the yard.  UGH!  Sharon & Al are still ranch sitting until the first of April and then they will make the long trek back to Illinois.  Ron & Dee are hanging around a little longer this year and then will make a beeline back to their home.  Sherwin & Linda left over a week ago and should be back in Maine by now.  

We have tentative plans to leave here and take I-10 back across TX, LA, MS, AL, FL, GA, SC, NC, VA and on to Maryland.  The nice thing is that we don't have a fixed schedule and can take our time.  It is easier to avoid the tornadoes along the route home.  That is, assuming we don't get caught out in the middle of nowhere like we did last year in West Texas.  I don't want a repeat of that experience this year.

It was an interesting weekend of college basketball and just about every team I was interested in winning wound up loosing.  The University of Maryland women's team did win and had to come back from a huge deficit to do so.  Maryland is now in the final 8 of the women's tournament and face an uphill challenge.  Baylor Univ has a 6' 8" center who dunked the ball twice this past weekend.  Whew!  She looked pretty good and moves really well.  I might even watch them play the next game to see how she does.

Time to hit the hay and get this published.  Have fun out there.

Back to earth

Gerry and I have been laying low these past couple days trying to recover from all the activity the past week.  The old bodies can only take so much before signs of wear begin to appear.

The weather has been fantastic lately with high temps during the day and cool nights.  Perfect sleeping weather and that has been our favorite activity since we returned.

On our trip to Las Vegas we ran into a couple geocaching their way from Florida to Nevada.  There is a group of caches (1700) in a 80 mile stretch of road north of Las Vegas called the E.T for Extra Terrestial.  For those cachers looking to build up their finds it is great and it takes two days to find all the caches.  Two busy days.  Then there are 800 caches on a stretch of highway from Barstow to Needles, CA.  It takes a day to complete this set of caches if you really work at it.  The two are sort of meccas for those seeking total number of caches, but they tend to get boring and too much like work for me.  Maybe that is why I have less than 1100 caches to my credit, but many of those were very interesting and entertaining.

Ron K came by the last couple days and we worked on his computer and mapping out directions for a trip he is planning this spring.  He bought the 2011 MS Streets & Trips mapping program and installed it on his computer.  The are a set of map overlays that have 220 Points of Interests (POI) from state parks, Walmarts, FlyingJ, Loves, Pilot gas station and a ton of other interesting places.  The lastest POIs are from 2011 and we had to download them and install them on his PC.  He is up and running now and shouldn't get lost or run out of fuel.

 

Oatman Burros & Needles, CA

We got up early today so we could get on the road back to Tucson and pick up a few geocaches in Needles, CA. We stopped at a Carl's Jr to get a cup of coffee and two breakfast burritos. The coffee was super hot and burritos warm, but they hit the spot.

We left Laughlin and crossed over the Colorado river bridge into Bullhead City, AZ and I thought we'd be out of there in a couple minutes. I don't know how long it took, but we drove for miles with gas stations, stores, bars, tattoo parlors, Family Dollar store ( yeah, our two grandsons work for the them in the corporate office. Buy Family Dollar stuff and help them!), and many other shops.

We drove for quite a while and we noticed the sign for Oatman, AZ and I made a hard left turn and pointed the car to Oatman. I have read about the Oatman wild burros for a long time and the uniqueness of the town so we made the 15 mile drive there. The road was good ( not great ) and we made it there in no time. I expected to see 3-4 burros and was shocked to see more than 20 of them out begging in the middle of the highway. There were people feeding them all over the place and some were just standing there waiting to be fed. What a sight to see.

One burro decided to see what Gerry had to feed it and stuck his head in the window on the passenger side of the car. He did this slowly and when no food was forthcoming backed up and just looked at Gerry. Since these are wild burros, you never know what they may do or how they handle rejection. No problem with this one though.  Gerry breathed a sigh of relief.

It looks like they never throw away anything in the town since there were cars, a/c, old fire engines, signs, wrecked race cars all over the place. Somehow, it didn't look out of place in Oatman. The mines opened in 1906 and they took out 18 million ounces of gold right up through the 1930s and closed the mines in 1942 since they didn't contribute to the war effort. Most of the buildings looked like they were built in 1906 and are still standing. There are a few newer homes, but for the most part the buildings looked quite old.

Oatman is on Old Rt 66 and there are plenty of signs out attesting to that fact. Gerry and I lived only a few miles from RT 66 in Illinois and never thought much about it. Now there are tourists from Europe coming over and traveling the “Mother Road” just to say they did it. I am sure they all will remember Oatman over most other towns on the route. 

While Gerry was taking the sign photograph I took one of some stacked stones along the side of the highway.  It is common to see stacked stones out here in the Southwest for a variety of reasons from marking trails, roads and just stacks for the fun of it.  There were around 100 or more stacked stones in this area from 3ft high to 6 inches high.  

Needles, CA was the next stop on the trip and we drove down the twisty narrow RT 66 to get there. Needles stands out because the gasoline prices there are 70-90 cents higher than in Arizona just a few mile away. One station had regular unleaded for $4.99 and another had it for $4.79. We filled up in Bullhead City for $3.79/gallon and later in Avondale, AZ for the same price.

Needles was founded as a railway town and still serves as a transportation hub for that part of California. There was a nice RV park on the river and Gerry checked into the cost by the month. $325/month plus electricity. It was full of Canadians and the activities consisted of golf and playing poker. We picked up a few caches in town and headed east on I-40 for Arizona. The Colorado River goes through Needles and there is a wildlife preserve a few miles east of town. Gerry got a nice picture of the Colorado as it flowed along the AZ/CA border.

We made a beeline for Tucson since it was getting late and we had a long drive ahead of us. We spent a few minutes in Havasu City, but it looked like all the spring breakers were still in bed or had gone back home. We stopped at the Kofa Cafe just off of I-40 near Bouse, AZ and had a nice meal and then kept on trucking until we got back to Tucson after 10pm. We were in bed shortly after that and were trying to get some energy back in these old bodies.

It was a great trip and we enjoyed seeing Erin and her family, loved Las Vegas and had a good time in Laughlin on the way back.

Solar Farm & Laughlin NV

Our short visit to Las Vegas came to an end and Gerry went down to the cashier to cash in her winnings. We had a great time here and are wanting to make plans to come back for a couple weeks in the motorhome this fall or next spring if we come out west in the fall. There is always something going on in this town and you can keep busy seeing shows, gambling or just sightseeing around the place. We have the added advantage of geocaching and that has taken us to some out of the way places in Las Vegas.

When we finally hit the road for Laughlin, NV we came upon police cars in the median strip of the highway for miles. They were spaced about a half mile apart and had their lights flashing. At first we thought they were speed traps, but they were so obvious and not stopping anyone so that wasn't it. When we turned down Rt 95 and saw even more police cars, trucks, etc we knew something was up. They were blocking the side roads all along the highway and also driving in the desert about ¼ mile off the highway. It finally dawned on Gerry that Obama was coming to town to give a political speech at a solar panel farm on the outskirts of Boulder, NV. The only time I ever saw so many police cars lining the road was in Abidjan when the president of the Ivory Coast was moving around.

We drove by the solar panel arrays a few minutes later and made it past the site. The people coming into Boulder from the south weren't so lucky. They had the two lanes blocked and people were standing outside their cars, trucks, etc milling about wondering what was going on. They were backed up for over a mile and the line was growing rapidly. I wonder how many votes he was going to get from this group of people.

Rt 95 is a nice 4 lane divided highway south of Boulder down to I-40 just west of Needles, CA. The speed limit is 75mph all the way until you get to the little burg of Searchlight, NV where the road goes through the center of town and is down to 25mph. A first I wondered why they didn't bypass the town like they do everywhere else and then it dawned on me that Sen Harry Bird lives in this town. They didn't want the road to bypass the few stores there and have the town die like many others in the same situation. It's nice to have a powerful Senator from your home town and all the things he can do for you.

A few miles north of Searchlight we stopped to pick up a geocache at an old abandoned gold mine.  It was a relatively easy find but the mine shaft had fence wire around it to keep people from falling into the shaft.  It was at a steep angle and there was a tipple with narrow gauge rail lines running down in the shaft.  I am sure glad that I didn't have to go down that hole in the ground every day to make a living.

We continued on our way to Laughlin, NV and stopped at the Tropicana Hotel there to check on getting a room. They quoted a price of $37/night and Gerry managed to get them down to $29/night. It was a huge hotel and they must have had a lot of empty rooms to fill and were willing to deal with her. The rooms looked a little worn and frazzled, but overall it was a decent place to spend a night. No frills, small tv, internet was extra and a spartan room. 

We unloaded our bags and headed down to the Players Club to get our cards and then gambled for an hour or so. We were ahead and then decided it was time for dinner at their buffet. With the Players card we got the meal cheaper and paid $9 for a very nice buffet. It was amazing that the food there was better than the Mandalay Bay hotel in Vegas, but that was the case.  Gerry gambled some more after dinner and I went to the room to watch some basketball games. Win win for both of us.

Laughlin has about 15 casino/hotels along the Colorado River on the Nevada side and is a nice little town. Most of the hotel/casinos are very nice and upscale and rival some of the 2^nd level hotels in Las Vegas.

Las Vegas Strip & Pawn Shop Stars

We decided to spend some time on the Strip today and check out the sights.  We were here two years ago and they have built a ton of new buildings since then.  The new City Center was just taking shape in 2010 and now it looks completed.  There is another huge block or two long casinos going up on the strip near the Wynn casinos.  It is hard to imagine that they all can survive and make a profit.  

Gucci on the strip

In the midst of all these buildings are upscale places like Prado, Gucci, Louie Vutton and others.  We saw more than one luxury car including a brand new Ferrari that was cruising down the strip.  I wonder why you would buy a Ferrari to just drive from traffic light to traffic light.  Maybe they take it out on the road after hours.

We drove by the sign boneyard and were surprised how small it was and how close to downtown.  I always figured it would be out in the desert somewhere and there would be thousands of signs.  Not so, they are crammed into a small space and it was hard to see all of them.  They are working on the street near the area so that made it even harder to see them.  There is a small park next to the boneyard that was open, but we didn't see much parking in the area.  The area was the scene of a geocache and I had to pick out a favorite sign to complete the find.  The Golden Nugget was my choice.

We stopped at the Pawn Shop Stars shop on Las Vegas Blvd and Gerry wanted to go in and see what it looked like.  The stars weren't there, but the place was full of tourists and about 50 clerks selling t-shirts and the tourist junk.  The shop is in a seedy area of Las Vegas near the downtown section. 

We ran into a famous person on the strip out near the Welcome to Las Vegas sign.  He was there posing with the tourists and making a ton of money doing so.  He even had his signature pink Cadillac car parked in the area.  He has lost some weight since we last saw him in the 1970s.  Wow!  It is amazing how he hasn't aged after all those years.


Gerry saw a sign for all the girls out there and managed to get a good shot of it as we drove by.  Feast your eyes on this all you ladies.  There was another sign advertising an Australian group but she couldn't get a clear shot of that one.  I thought the car parked in front of the sign looked great.

We managed to get some shots of two of the older casinos left on the strip.  The Sahara casino closed down a year or so ago and they have taken down part of it, but the bulk of the old building is still there.

As the night wore on we drove the strip a couple times after dark and enjoyed the drive.  There was some traffic, but nothing that terrible.  Circus Circus used to be a top casino but has fallen in stature after all the new casinos were built.  They still have a ton of light bulbs in the entrance of the casino and it looked good after dark.

  We have eaten numerous dinners at the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino over the years and enjoyed them very much.  They were always one of the more expensive buffets but the food was always great.  Well, that ended with this trip to the buffet.  The price this time has gone up to $30/person and was one of the worst buffets we have eaten.  What a disappointment to the both of us.  Later on in the evening my stomach was acting up and bothered me most of the night.  Yuk.

We did manage to leave with a net gain of $50 in gambling money and Gerry played for hours.  She had a ball and is already talking about coming back for a week.  Time to start saving our pennies for the next trip.

Sam's Town

We are staying at the Eastside Cannery hotel for a few days and our room overlooks Sam's Town RV park and the casino.  We always stay at Sam's Town RV when we have the motorhome with us, but since we are only going to be here for a few days, we came up in the car.

Sam's Town RV park & Casino

We got a great rate for the hotel room, but they want $6.00 for room service coffee and $12.99/day for internet service.  Ouch!  Monday is half price day for food for 55+ patrons with the club card.  We meet the criteria for 1/2 price and had a late breakfast here.  In order to get the 1/2 price you have to get a voucher at the Player's Club  center which was at the other end of the casino.  We had to make two trips to the center to get the voucher and spent 1/2 hour or more doing so.  It seems the hotel gives a great room rate and then tries to recover the reduction with prices such as above.  I guess it is the nature of the business environment now.

Gerry and I spent some time gambling this morning and I was up $19 and Gerry was losing.  I finally got tired of the games and gave her my winnings and came back to the room.  She will be down there turning that hand crank for a while.  No problem, I am happy to take it easy and catch up on some much needed rest.

It sounds like we dodged the bullet getting out of Tucson when we did.  Cousin Al & Sharon said they had 70mph winds, rain and snow near Willcox, AZ and Ron K. said they got buckets of rain yesterday and snow this morning.  Crazy weather patterns out here in the Southwest.  It is nice here in Las Vegas and a little cooler than usual.  Maybe we will get out of the hotel today, but I am not sure.

I am watching ESPN talk show hosts running on and on about Peyton Manning signing with the Denver Broncos.  It is amazing how much time is given to this subject by all the talking heads.  Peyton had a few neck injuries the past couple years and may only last one play if he is hit in the neck again.  How would you like to be the owner who signed him for $95 million and see him go down after one play?  Then again, if he stays healthy and can play up to his previous years, he could lead them to the Superbowl.  Roll the dice they say. 

Gerry made the local tv in our hotel room.  She is famous. 

 

Rain, Snow & Wind in Arizona

We got up early today to have breakfast with Erin & family before we all left Tempe, AZ.  Gerry had bought a few trinkets to give to the kids to help entertain them on the long drive back to Utah.  Caden wound up with a plastic tic-tac-toe game that he didn't have the faintest idea what it was.  Not surprising since he is only 4, but he is a very smart child.  I showed him how to play and he beat me.  Humm!

We bid them a fond farewell and were scheduled to meet them in Las Vegas for dinner.  The elements had something else in mind for us and the meeting never took place.  They were going to visit with a friend of Erin's and then hit the road.  We left on time and had an interesting time on the road.  Once we got past Wickenburg, AZ the weather started to change a little.  The wind picked up and it began to rain and then turned to snow.  We noticed an abnormal amount of traffic heading south on RT 93 and were wondering why.  Then it dawned on us that there was a problem on I-40.  Yep, it was closed down from east of Kingman to Holbrook, AZ.  That's well over 140 miles of Interstate highway closed due to the snow and wind.

We were making good time and by chance called Erin & Herbert to see how far they were behind us.  They had decided to take I-17 to Flagstaff and then I-40 west.  Oh Oh!!  We told them to stop at the soonest time and check if the road was open.  It wasn't and they had to turn around and head back toward Phoenix in order to cut across country and pick up Rt 93.  Two roads they tried were turnbacks due to the snow and whiteouts.   The last we heard they were thinking about staying in the Phoenix area and trying again in the morning.  We just want them to be safe!

We continued on and when we got to I-40, it was fine for a couple miles and then the snow started.  Blowing snow.  It wasn't too bad and we continued on to Kingman.  What a difference when we got there.  There was a mini blizzard going on and the snow was falling about an inch in 30 minutes.  The roads were quickly covered and it got a little hairy for a while.  I stopped for fuel at the FlyingJ and it was really coming down then.

FlyingJ exit area

FlyingJ - cheapest fuel around

 We decided to keep on driving and once we got about 15 miles north of Kingman the sun came out and it was a beautiful day.  We made really good time since I was driving 75mph and people were whizzing by me running interference from the cops.  Bearbait!  Love it.  We stopped and I got a nice shot of the Colorado river from up high.  

Colorado River

We drove over the new bridge by Hoover Dam and were very disappointed since you couldn't see over the sides.  It looks like just another part of the highway.  We plan on stopping on the way back and getting some photos from beneath the bridge.

We are settled into the hotel and are getting ready for bed.  This has been a very tiring last couple of days. 

Good night.

Arizona Karate Tournament

Today was the big day for Christopher and his competing in the Karate tournament here in Tempe, AZ.  He had to be there by 8:00 AM to check in and get his name tag.  We arrived about 9:30 AM and took our seats in the grandstand of a Middle school gym.  Tight fit for an old man like me.

They usually get the younger children out of there first, but this time they were near the end of the competition.  That coupled with the large number of participants made for a long day.  We did learn about the scoring for the competition and some of the rules.  That came in handy trying to understand who won and why.

There are three parts to the competition:  Kata, Kumate (fighting) and Weapons.  Christopher didn't participate in the Weapons part but did in the other two.  He placed second in the Kata and got a medal for that.  They mistakenly gave him first and he told the judges that he came in second, not first.  They reviewed the scores and he was right and they moved him down to second.  Sounds to me like he has learned the sportsmanship part of the competition very well.  He had two very proud parents there to congratulate him. 

Christopher in red belt.

Christopher in red belt.

Christopher showing off medal and his form.

 We were seated near the middle of the gym and the black belt contestants were doing their thing in front of us most of the day.  There were a number of division by skill, age, etc and also a number of women contestants.  They didn't seem to have near the skill of the men, but did put on an interesting show.  A number of the men were very good and clearly better than others.  Two especially were obviously very good.

Men's black belt competition

By the time Christopher finished his competition it was way past lunch and everyone was famished.  We went over to Chevy's Mexican restaurant and managed to stuff ourselves and put an end  to the hunger pains.  Since it was so late we planned on skipping dinner, but Herbert did go out for Chinese food to tide us over.

We plan on leaving here in the morning and make our way to Las Vegas, NV for a few days.  They are calling for 60mph wind gusts and snow somewhere along the way there.  I am hoping they are wrong and we have a nice, clear day for travel.

I did get a chance to watch some basketball games on Friday and Saturday and got to see some teams play for the first time.  No big upsets on Saturday like Friday, but still some very good games.  
 

Tommy Lasorda & Antars Sports Bistro

We are in Tempe, AZ for a Karate tournament this weekend.  Gerry's grandnephew is participating in a tournament on Saturday and since they made the long drive from their home in Park City, Utah, we decided to meet them halfway.  Not exactly halfway, but close enough.

The team members and their parents all went to dinner at Antar's Sports Bistro near the Arizona State University campus.  I was a little surprised by the choice since the children ranged in age from 4-14, but it worked out fine.  They put us in the back section and we had it all to ourselves for most of the time.  They did serve some big meals there and this steak salad took first place honors.  More than enough for two people & they ordered a pizza, also.  The pizza went into a box and was taken back to the hotel.

The owner stopped by and welcomed us to his place.  He was very friendly and talked to us for a while.  Then he said we could stay for the private party for the former manager of the LA Dodgers, Tommy Lasorda and 30 of the present day Dodger players that were due to arrive at 6:30.  We left around 8:00 pm and no Lasorda.  He must have been held up at another function so we didn't get to see him.  It was a charity affair to raise money for a boys/girls club and they had a silent auction of sports memorobelia and the starting price was higher than I was willing to pay.  They were also raffling off a chance to sit with Lasorda at the head table for $30/chance. 

I managed to watch two basketball games on 2 of the 48 HD TVs they had all over the place.  Oooopppsss, what happened to Duke & Missouri??  I know a certain lady in Tucson that must be crying in her beer.  Of course, I've been crying in my beer.  Neither Maryland, Illinois nor Arizona got into the NCAA tournament.  Now I will have to root for North Carolina State and St. Louis University.  Go Wolfpack and Billikens!

Erin brought Christopher to the dinner and had an enjoyable meal.  The children sat at one table and the adults at another.  That worked out fine for all of us.   You can tell by her smile that she was happy with the arrangement.  

The restaurant was quite large and had indoor and outdoor seating.  Actually, the outdoor section had a roof over it and was in a breezeway.  There were tvs there also and the place was full.  The area around there had numerous restaurants and bars and was a "happening place" as the younger set likes to say.  It was very nice to see everyone out having a great time in the super weather we are having now.

Ear, Nose & Throat day

Gerry had an appointment with the ENT Dr. here in Tucson.  She has a long standing ear problem and has to have it checked every 6 months.  All was well with the checkup today and she is good to go for the next 6 months.

On the way to the Dr. I was driving in the inside lane of a three lane road and a woman decided to switch lanes.  The front of her car was next to my door and she just pulled over and almost ran into me.  I hit the horn hard and she didn't even flinch in her desire to occupy the same space as us.  I had to hit the brakes hard to avoid having her broadside me.  Blowing the horn loud and long didn't phase this nut.  She just waved to me and continued on her way.  It wasn't possible that she didn't see me and she wanted that space.  Now I understand how road rage comes about on the highway.

We stopped by the French Pastry bakery on the way home from the appointment and picked up some bread and goodies for breakfast in the morning.  Ron & Dee put us on to this place and it has destroyed our attempts at a diet.  

Other than the above it was a quiet day here at the park.

Target shooting in the desert

As many of you are aware, guns are a way of life out here in Arizona.  They take their right to bear arms very seriously and let you know about it in the drop of a hat.  I also believe that the right to bear arms is guaranteed under the Constitution and fully support the fight to keep that right.  Enough about politics, but I needed an introduction into my afternoon.

Ron K and I went target shooting in the desert today and had a great time.  There are numerous gun clubs, public shooting ranges and desert shooting areas.  One such area is a few miles from the RV park and Ron wanted to know how to find the place.  We each took a pistol and headed out in the desert to the shooting place.  It is in an ADOT pond that has long since dried up and provides an embankment to shoot into.  It is also on BLM land and perfectly legal to shoot there.

Ron K setting up targets

 When we pulled up to the shooting area there was another person getting ready for some shooting.  He brought trash bags full of cans, plastic bottles and other targets to shoot at.  He also didn't like to be out in the sunshine that much and brought along a beach umbrella to sit under while shooting.  Smart man.

There were literally thousands of spent shells littering the ground at the shooting site.  Everything from .22, .25, 30-30, .226, shotgun shells and everything in between was laying all over the place.  As bad as it looked, it was much cleaner than the last time I was there.  Evidently a group of shooters clean the area fairly often and it didn't look as bad as it sounds. 

Shotgun shells piled up

 We were out shooting for an hour or so and decided it was time for lunch.  Also, the 80+ temp contributed to our leaving the area.  We decided to stop by Montgomery's in Vail, AZ for lunch and enjoyed a nice meal.  Then it was back to the RV park to rest up for the next adventure.

Quilting & Daylight Savings Time

This past weekend most of the nation went on daylight savings time.  Arizona is the only state that does not go on savings time.  Now that doesn't sound like much, but if you get a call from back East at 9am their time, it is 6am out here.  You would be surprised how many calls we get at 6am in the morning.  Oh, the pain.

Gerry is a member of the CCRV Sewing/Quilting club here at the park and they meet every Tuesday at 10am and do their thing.  With some members leaving for colder climates, it was time to get a group picture of the ladies.  We arrived just as they were assembling for a photo and I managed to get one of the group with my camera. 

Gerry is on the far left in blue

They donate quilts to the Linus project and sell chances on a very nice quilt to raise money to buy the materials in the quilts.  This year they have 4 quilts as prizes and the largest quilt is a beautiful green one fit for a bedspread. 

 One of the ladies has a new machine that machine embroideries designs on the the quilts.  She is showing off a pretty quilt with butterflies on the quilt.

Tonight was pizza night at CCRV and around 80 people showed up for dinner.  The pizza guy brings in oven and semi prepared pizzas and bakes them 6 at a time.  It is amazing how fast 6 pizzas can disappear when the hungry crowd shows up.  Gerry and I joined in the festivities and managed to stuff ourselves with pizza.  Now we are paying for it.  Oh, my aching stomach.  I have to get away from these all you can eat pizza parties or learn some self control.  The latter is doubtful since I have learned my lesson after all these years.

Sunizona and the Ranch

Gerry and I visited with Sharon & Al at the ranch where they are staying now and keeping an eye on the place.  They signed on for a month and love it up there.  They have their 5th wheel situated so the can see the Chiricahua Mountains in the distance.  It snowed up there a couple days ago and the mountains are snow capped.

The ranch is near Sunizona, AZ and is somewhat isolated with the nearest large store 45 miles away.  There is a combination gas station, grocery, garage, video, and saddlery store about 7 miles away.  Of course whatever you purchase there has a high price tag, but it is cheaper to buy the few things you need there rather than making the longer drives.  

Does anyone have any idea what this is?  If you lived on a farm, you should know what they are.

We ran across this wooden Indian on the way back from the visit to the ranch.  I thought it was interesting in that the usual wooden Indian is a man, while this one is a woman.  

By the time we got home the moon was peaking over the mountains and was beautiful.  It is hard to get a nice picture of the moon with our cameras, but this one turned out pretty nice.