Tubac & Manuel's

All of us have some quirks and things about us that we can't explain.  Gerry and I like to keep track of when our odometer changes every 1,000 miles and especially for milestones.  I haven't bored you lately with this quirk, but feel obligated to report that our Saturn Vue has turned over 116,000 miles and is still running great.  Other than hail damage two years in a row it still looks good.

Gerry wanted a new pot to plant her Christmas cactus in since the old one was too small and tipped over very easily.  We took advantage of that need and drove down to Tubac to pick out a nice one.  There are a number of shops down there that have nice ceramic things and we like one that is off the main road.  They have a very nice selection and reasonable prices for a tourist area.  She found just what she was looking for and was on her way into the shop to pay for it when I captured the picture below.

Gerry checking out the wares.

Not sure what you would do with this one.

Fear the terps.  (U of MD mascot)

$30 for a  huge ristras

It is a beautiful drive down there through the desert and then onto Old Nogales highway.  Along the way you pass through very large pecan orchards and they are starting to loose their leaves for the winter.  The Walden family purchased 7,000 acres of land along the Santa Cruz river in 1948 and farmed cotton on the land.  In 1965 they planted pecan trees and are now one of the largest pecan producers in the U.S.  They are the principal suppliers of pecan to Europe along with sales throughout the world.

Green Valley pecan orchards on Old Nogales Highway

 The Santa Rita mountains are east of Tubac and are very rugged and steep ranges.  The sun was shining on the mountains in the late afternoon and highlighted the peaks.  

Santa Rita mountains.

 We had a difficult time on the way back trying to decide where to stop for dinner.  The three candidates were:  Village Inn (free pie Wednesday), Argenziano's (great Italian meals) and Manuel's in Green Valley.  Manuel's is an upscale Mexican restaurant with great authentic  Mexican food.  We've stopped there many times in the past and would put them just behind Guadalajara as one of our favorite Mexican restaurants in the Tucson area.  We both enjoyed our meals very much and they had cold Dos XX and margaritas to top the meal off.

When we turned on to Sahuarita road off of Old Nogales highway and drove a mile or so we could see the traffic light at Houghton rd and Sahuarita from about 8 miles away.  You truly can see forever out here in the desert.

We got home in time to watch a couple tv programs and see the Univ of Illinois beat Georgia Tech in basketball.  Each year they have the teams from the ACC and Big Ten play each other over 2 consecutive nights.  The games resulted in 6 wins for each conference with my Univ of MD team winning also.  Win win for me.  I hope this is going to be a good year for both Illinois and Maryland.

I was Crowned today

Last September when we were in Illinois a filling fell out of my tooth.  It was a large filling and I was fortunate to have a local dentist put a temporary filling in it for me.  I didn't have time to wait for a crown and the filling held up very well.   I didn't have any problems with the tooth since then.

Earlier this month I broke a different tooth and I went to the 2 hr crown installation dentist.  When he put a crown on my broken tooth, he said I would need the temporary filling repaired.  Today was the day to have a crown put onto the tooth.  Once again, I went through the 2hr job and walked out of there with a new crown but a lot poorer.  I do prefer doing it this way rather than waiting 3-4 weeks for the crown to be made and then installed.  One less time for them to give me the novacane shots.  

The nurse asked if I could give the dentist my xrays from my other dentist(s).  Since we have a dentist in Tucson (2); Albuquerque; Norman, OK; Litchfield, IL; Waynesboro, PA; and Hagerstown, MD, I explained it would be difficult to accumulate all the xrays.  She had a very perplexed look on her face and I explained we were fulltime RVers and moved around a lot.  She had this "trailer trash" look on her face and asked for payment up front.  Just kidding, but she was quite surprised and would have been even more surprised to hear we had another dentist for the 6 years we lived in Costa Rica.

We have a new neighbor two sites down from us and it looks like they may be here for a while.  We haven't talked to them yet, but will welcome them to the neighborhood in the morning.  It was sort of nice having the campsites around us vacant and we should have had a wine and cheese party and invited everyone to the party since we had so much open space.

Once again the temps were in the low 80s and it was beautiful outside with a nice breeze.  Too bad most of it was wasted in the dentist office.  Wednesday is forecasted to be more or less the same and we hope to get out on a mid week excursion.  Bisbee looks like a likely candidate for the trip.  Stay tuned for a trip report.

We hope you all had a nice day and didn't have a dentist appointment.      

Happy Hour

We have been using the rear of the Saturn as a storage box since we left the cabin in September.  I finally got around to clearing out a bin in the basement and moved most of the things there.  The hitch is bulky and takes up a lot of space so I stored it under the rear of the motor home.  We brought a few items from the interior of the motor home and stored them in the bin also.

While we were finishing up the transfer of items Steve & Judy went by riding their bikes.  They stopped to chat and we sat out in the sun for a while and it finally got too hot and uncomfortable to sit there.  We moved around to the shady side of the unit and started an early happy hour with them.  They were parked close to us last year and we enjoyed the unplanned get togethers so this was a nice visit from them.

Sunset photo through the windshield

They visited until sunset and then headed back to their 5th wheel for dinner.  Judy put a roast in the slow cooker and it was just about ready to eat.  We went inside and heated up some leftover spaghetti, French onion soup and a salad.  We do love our French onion soup.  I like spaghetti the 2nd time around better than the first time.

That was our day, how was yours?   

Leftovers & Shots

There was so much food leftover after the Thanksgiving dinner that we took some turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and corn pudding back to the motor home for later.  We decided to heat it up this evening and have it for dinner.  It was just as good this time around as the first time and we managed to add some extras to the meal to fill it out.  

Friday we were running late and picked up a prepared chicken at Fry's grocery store along with a couple sides.  We couldn't finish the chicken so we had it for lunch today.  I really enjoy cold chicken and talked Gerry out of heating it for the meal.  Yumm Good!

We had an interesting time last evening at Costco.  No, not dinner.  We decided to get our Flu shots while we were there and the lady behind the counter said it would only take a few minutes.  Well, that estimate was way off base.   The clerk had trouble entering our medicare information and kept pushing buttons and starting over and over.  Finally after 45 minutes or so I decided that was enough and we walked out of there without our flu shots.

Walgreens was our destination today to get the flu shots and it went very smoothly and we walked out of there after about 15 minutes, good to go for another year.  Just don't poke us in our left arm.

It's been very warm around here since we arrived the first of November.  It's actually been much warmer than usual in Tucson and we really enjoy the nice weather.  I'm not sure what it will do to the water table and plants in the area.  Oh well, it is a desert.

I've gotten some emails asking if I was OK since I haven't blogged for a few days.  I am doing fine, but not doing a lot worth blogging about.  Living fulltime in a motorhome can be the same as living in a house with days that nothing much interesting happens.  I have the choice of boring you even more than I do without anything to blog about or just not writing the blog on those days.  I choose to do the latter.

I did have to air up the bike tires and the air pump wasn't working at the work shed and I had to get Dan to turn on the pump.  While we were waiting for the tank to fill up, he asked about blogging and I told him some of what I know about it.  I'm afraid he may be asking me to teach blogging to those at the campground who want to learn about it.  Oh!  Oh!   
 
Now it is late in the evening and we will be finishing off some pumpkin pie and a sinfully rich Pecan pie.  Thankfully there isn't a lot of Pecan pie left, so it won't have so many calories.
    

That was quick

We had our annual Thanksgiving dinner at CCRV today and the attendance this year was less than last year.  I think since it was earlier this year many of those who arrive around the end of November waited at home and will be in later.

It was interesting that so much preparation went into the dinner with all the shopping and work involved and the dinner lasted such a short time.  We started the meal around 2PM and by 4PM the hall was almost empty of the diners.  Many people ate quickly and then left to go back to their units.  As usual, Gerry and I were among the last to leave the hall.

It was an excellent dinner and we managed to get more than our fill of turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing, and all the sides.  The dessert table was overflowing and the sides were plentiful.  Nobody went hungry and the talk and chatter was non stop.  We sat with the Rons & Dees.  Yes, two sets of friends with the same first names.  

Some pictures from the day are below.

Our contribution to the feast

A nice table decoration.

Ron, Larry & Ron

Table decorations

   Gerry helped clean up after the dinner and I chatted with Steve, Judy and Paul while she dried dishes and such.  I kept my eye on the TV set and saw that the Redskins were beating up on the Cowboys in the football game.  The Cowboys made an attempt to get back in the game and closed to 7 points at the end.  Sometimes running out the clock can work against you and that seemed to be the case today.  In any case, a win is a win no matter by how many points you win.

 Steve and Judy stopped by the motorhome to see what it looked like and we had a very nice visit with them.  Later Ron & Dee C came by after the end of the football game and joined the 4 of us for a visit.  Some adult beverages were enjoyed by some and we had a steady stream of jokes and conversation until late in the evening.  

We had a number of phone calls today from our children and friends.  It's always nice to talk to them on holidays and remember good times from the past.  We didn't have an opportunity to call our good friend Judy R to wish her a happy birthday.  We didn't forget it, though and hope she enjoyed the double celebration today.  We have a lot to be thankful for our family and good friends.

It was a long day but we enjoyed the company and had a great time.  Now it is time to put this blog to bed for the night and catch up on some much needed sleep.   

Twas the day before Thanksgiving

Gerry went up to the activity hall this morning a little before 10am to help peel and cut up potatoes for the Thanksgiving feast on Thursday.  When she got there the volunteers had almost finished the job and there wasn't a lot for her to do.  The signup sheet clearly stated 10am, but like everything else around here most people show up a lot earlier.  The dinner tomorrow starts at 2pm, but most people will be there up to an hour earlier so they can get seats next to friends.

We had some shopping to do for Thanksgiving and stopped by Fry's, Safeway and Costco, along with Kohl's.  I took advantage of all the stops except for Costco to guard the car and make phone calls to my brother and a couple friends.  They all will be busy on Thanksgiving day with their families and it would be difficult to chat with them with all their company.

Ron & Dee K came over to check out the Allegro Bus and Dee is ready to buy one.  She was surprised how much room there is in the coach as a result of the 4 slides.  We invited them to join us for a piece of Pecan Pie, but Dee had just arrived at the park and was anxious to see her mother who also lives at the park.  

Last night there was a beautiful sunset and we managed to add to our sunset pictures.  They do have some great sunsets out here if it is a somewhat cloudy day.  Check it out.

  
I just finished watching the Univ of Illinois beat Butler in the championship basketball game at the Maui tournament.  It looks like they may have an outstanding team this year and I hope that the new coach keeps them at the top of their game all season.  I follow the Univ of Maryland where I graduated and Illinois since I grew up there.  It would be great seeing them in the NCAA final against each other.  Long way to go before that will happen, but I can dream, can't I?

Gerry and I wish all our friends and family a very Happy Thanksgiving.  Count your blessing on this special day.

  

Pizza & Birthday

A long, long time ago a little baby came into this world and he was named Ronald.  Today was the day he again celebrated his birthday after all these long years have passed by.

Happy Birthday Ron

Dave, the pizza guy came to CCRV with his all you can eat pizza.  I can't figure out how he can make any money with all these senior citizens chowing down.  A bargain and cheap food is the only thing they like better than free.  There was a much larger turnout for the pizza party than I expected.  I suppose many people have already arrived in anticipation of a great Thanksgiving dinner here at the park.

Every year Dave asks if anyone has broken the record for how many pieces of pizza anyone has eaten.  Then he says the record is 15 for a woman and 18 for a man.  The kicker is that they are both retired Canadians.  This always draws a lot of laughs and chuckles even though everyone knows the punch line.  

Since we've been here, the weather has been great and they are calling for more warm weather for the next week or so.  I wish it would stay like this all winter, but know that isn't going to happen.  We'll enjoy it while we have it, though.

   

Feeling under the weather

I woke up today feeling a little under the weather and it lasted through the day.  Nothing serious, just lethargic and I didn't feel like doing anything.  Thank God there were a few football games on to fill in some of the time.

Ron K had asked about helping him transfer some old files from an 8-10 year old computer running under Windows 98.  Wow, that brought back some old memories.  I haven't worked with Win 98 for a long time and had to refresh my memory a number of times.  We kept running into a catch-22 situation transferring the files.  It is a desktop without a monitor so we used his tv as a monitor.  Then the flashdrive wasn't recognized by the system and also the external Belkin modem was too new for the system.  The system wouldn't recognize a blank CD so that didn't work either.  Hummm, now I will have to think about this further.  I have an older external disk drive and that may work, so I will check it out soon.

Judy and Steve arrived at the park today and I chatted with Steve a few minutes while he was de-winterizing their 5th wheel.  They had to winterize in MN before they left and waited until they got here and were out of freezing temps to finalize the job.  Welcome back Judy & Steve.  I am sure there will be a trip to the Guadalajara Cafe for happy hour soon.  

Now to get to bed early so I feel human again on Monday.   Good night all.

Pool Party & Campsite

We are settled into CCRV and have a site in the last row facing west toward Tucson and the mountains in the background.  One of the neighbors has bird feed out and we have a flock of quails in front of the motorhome, plus a number of other birds that I don't know the name.  One bird was on the windshield eating dead insects and then went over to the mirror to admire himself.   I think they may be entertaining to say the least.  The picture below is for you, Linda.

They had a pool party today to welcome back the campers coming in for the winter.  As it turned out, it was a very cloudy day with very little sunshine, but the food and company were great.  They had hotdogs, beans and all the fixings for a nice lunch.  We got there early and got a seat by the edge of the pool and commenced to start conversations with old friends.

Ron, Ron and I almost solved all the problems of the world and then ran out of time before we could finalize everything.  Maybe next time we will have enough time to solve all the problems.  

 Gerry and Susan talked about crafting the whole time from what I could hear and then Dee came over and chatted with them for a while.  Everyone else left and they were putting the chairs away along with all the food and drinks.  I think we overstayed our welcome, but there was only one small girl in the pool, so I don't think it was problem.

I have heard of snail mail before but we witnessed it first hand the last couple weeks.  We had our mail forwarded from Sioux Falls, SD and it finally arrived today after 11 days in transit.  The mail was postmarked November 6th and arrived on November 17.  I hope this is a glitch on the Post Office that won't happen again.  We've had good luck with quick mail service out here and hope they get back on track.  They were talking about closing down a mail processing center here in Tucson and if so, that may be the problem.  I hope not.


There were some interesting college football scores today with many of them looking like basketball scores rather than football.   I guess they have changed the rules so much that offense has the upper hand now in the game.  It is more interesting than watching 7-3 games and 20 or more punts for field position.  Just my opinion. 
 

Move to Adventure Bound

We moved to Cactus Country RV resort today and will be here for the next 5 months.   All signed, sealed and paid for via American Express.   We like that they take American Express since we get a refund from them and it gives us a months float to pay for it.  Nice.

It wasn't a long drive today since we were only 3 miles from here.  The Pima County Fairgrounds is on the other side of I-10 and is now full of dog owners and their yapping dogs.  We didn't notice them until this morning when it seems that 30-40 of them appeared in the campground overnight.  The motor home is pretty well insulated and they weren't a problem, but I don't think it would be much fun to be around that many dogs all the time.   The dog show this weekend has brought them in for the show.  I wish them well

Cousin Sharon and Al got their truck back today after having a repair made to the door.  It seems that a large gust of wind caught the door as Sharon was opening it and bent it.  It almost pulled her out of the truck and only Al grabbing her kept her from flying out the door.  All's well that ends well.

We are set up in the rear of the campground this time and will be that much closer to the railroad track about a mile away.  I don't hear that well so it will be fine for me, but Gerry with her great hearing may be in a little trouble.  We do have a great view out to the west and should have some great sunset shots while we are here.  More to follow on this.

Since we had such a long drive and the difficulty of setting up the motorhome at the campsite, we decided to eat out this evening.  One of my favorite local restaurants is Montgomery's in Vail.  It is basically a bar with good food and a great happy hour.  Where else can you get a pint of Shocktop beer for $2.00 during happy hour?  We ordered some chicken wings as an appetizer and they were spicy but not so spicy as to be a problem.  The place was jumping but we got a seat right away and that was a bonus.  We managed to fill ourselves up to the point where we couldn't finish the meals.  It was nice to go back there and enjoy the food, drink and atmosphere.

Yes, I know, it wasn't an exciting day for us, but it is nice to be back at CCRV and settled in for the next 5 months.  

That was our day, how was yours? 

 

Free Lunch today

Ron K, Gerry and I all had a free lunch today.  It was a moving buffet in that we had to move from station to station in order to receive our food.  It started off with Naked Juice in two different flavors, berry and a puke green colored flavor.  The latter was actually the tastier of the two.

We then moved on to mashed potatoes and turkey gravy.  It was very tasty and we both agreed it was very good and worth trying again.  

Shrimp tempura popped up on the menu and when I went to get our shrimp a woman jumped in front of me and took Gerry's piece of shrimp.  I told her if she was more polite, she could have had the piece without cutting in front of me.  Then she tried to make light of it and I told her I would have expected more from someone her age.  Thankfully, I was larger than she and avoided a fist fight.

Pork tamales and quesadillas and taquitos were next on the food agenda.  I am not a tamale fan, but these were pretty good and I ate my portion quickly.  I didn't have to fight for my portion this time so that was a good thing.

The garlic bread was great and worth having a second helping.  It was buttered on both sides and melted in your mouth.   The French onion soup was delicious and really hit the spot.  Two days in a row having French onion soup made for a great time.

The spiral ham and scalloped potatoes were very tasty, however the potatoes were a little cold, but warm enough to still enjoy.  

We finished off the meal with a very nice garden salad.  It could have used a little more salad dressing, but was ok other than that.  

Ron K was bouncing around trying this and that also and enjoyed his lunch.  I think he liked it enough and will be back there once again in the near future. 

The best part was that it was all free and everything tasted great.  Where was the super place? Well it was Costco and their free samples.  We had so much food that we didn't eat lunch at all other than the samples.  

The temperature was around 83 degrees today for a high with bright sunny skies.   That is why we love it out here so much in the winter -  warm days and cool nights. 

Life is good.         

Coyote Classic Dog Show

Things are a buzz around here the last couple days with new units coming in and setting up.  When we returned last night there was a 45 ft coach sitting next to us along with a huge SUV.  I chatted with the owner of the unit this morning and he is here for the horse show.  He and his wife are vendors and sell clothes for the riders in the horse show and he sells cowboy hats.  This may be my chance to pick up a nice cowboy hat.

There are also a number of vendors here setting up for the dog show this weekend.  Many RVs have metal cages outside with 3-4 dogs in them.  One sheltie dog was jumping straight up in the air and could have jumped out of the cage if it jumped at an angle.  We had a beautiful sheltie dog named Whiskey and it was a very affectionate dog, but was a little short on the smarts.  He would run around on his chain and actually wear out the chain about every three months.  Even when the chain broke, he would continue to circle as if the chain was holding him back.

Cassie & Whiskey Rex 1977

A number of years ago we started naming all our pets after booze and our children have picked up on it also.  It's a tradition in the family.

 I was looking for some scrap lumber today and stopped by a couple home building sites in the area.  A few years ago we needed some wood for leveling blocks and there were a number of homes being built in the area and it wasn't a problem finding scrap wood.  It was a little more difficult this time since the building industry has slowed down a lot.  A construction foreman said they were building about 50 homes a month now and had a much smaller workforce, but things were picking up.  

BTW:  I did manage to find a couple boards that will fill my needs this time.  Now I just have to cut them to the proper length.  The campsite is on a little slope and I prefer to use the boards to level the MH and then use the jacks to provide stability.  Works for me.

I wanted to check out a building site for a new Walmart going up down the road, but they had a security fence and it looked like they were locked up tighter than a drum.  They were also beyond using lumber for framing or anything like that, so I guess it was just as well I couldn't get in there.

Other than the exciting events above, it was a typical nice sunny and warm day in Tucson.  Cool nights for sleeping and nice days for getting outside.  Love it!