Stonehenge II

We took a drive out west of Kerrville to the town of Hunt. There in a farmer's field is a half-scale model of Stonehenge, the original being found on the Salisbury Plain in England. The signs say it is not a replica because it is not aligned with the sun and moon but it is interesting just the same. We walked around it and then walked on to the two Easter Island statues. These are also models of original stone heads that dot the island. Interesting why someone thought they wanted to do this in the middle of a field in Texas, but no less puzzling than carhenge, I guess.

On our way back, we saw this barbeque setup in a parking lot and just had to stop and snap a picture. I cannot imagine how much of party you would have to throw to warrant using the barbeque semi, but suffice to say it would have to be a big one. We thought it was ironic that Maalox was the advertising sponsor! Hah.

We arrived back at the camp amid a very blustering wind. We started to deploy the Datastorm and decided not to. The wind has died down considerably now, so we are back on line. The storms we were following are pretty much blown out of our way now, so we proceed onward tomorrow, to just east of Houston.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Texas Hill Country!

We arrived in Kerrville around 2:00 today. I did all the driving today from Ft. Stockton, about 5 hours in all. It was windy and we had drizzle a lot of the time. Didn't have a lot of sun in our eyes. We are here for 2 nights. The park we are in is a former COE park, former state park, and now goes by Kerrville-Schreiner Park. It is really quite nice. We are in a full hookup site with 50 amp, and the sites in this section are all pull-thru's. In fact, most of them in the park are. There is another part of the park across the highway and we went over there to explore. There were quite a few deer and I'm thinking there might be a lot of wildlife around here because it is quite rustic around the camp loops. Speaking of wildlife, we have seen very little this year. We were commenting the other day that we hadn't seen any javelinas this year. Today when we left the camp, about 5 miles down the road we saw two javelinas grazing by the side of the interstate. Pretty good size, too. On down the road a mile or two were two deer right on the side of the road.

We went out for a drive after setting up camp. Terry needed a tool he didn't have. We took the wrong road back and ended up in a subdivision where deer were grazing in every yard. That was quite a site. Some were laying down in the driveways of this subdivision! I guess you would say those are some pretty smart deer.

Our campsite is quite nice. There is a cabana over the picnic table and we have plenty of room for chairs and the dogs' pen. We are quite close to the Quadalupe River and we can get down to the river from here by walking. It looks to be nicely landscaped down there. We will explore that on our walk tomorrow. There are a lot of hiking trails in this park and across the road in the other section, so will probably take advantage of those.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Beautiful Sunset!

We found out this morning that the neighbors we met last night are Euchre players. Who woulda' thunk? When they found out we played, they asked, "Then WHY are you leaving." I said, "Well come with us." Hah. We spent the next 45 minutes talking while we were getting ready to go. We exchanged cards and promised if we were within spittin' distance anytime, we would get together for cards.

We left Deming, New Mexico, at 10 a.m. and drove to Ft. Stockton, with me doing the obligatory duty through El Paso. Not bad. Saw something you don't usually see on the road. We arrived at 4:30 (time change) just in time with this beautiful sunset. Leaving tomorrow for Kerrville.

Till next time. . .

Dale

THEY'RE STILL HERE!

AND, the birds have arrived.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Fun drive with NASCAR on I-10

We left Pima County Fairgrounds and the Irish Travellers this morning. We drove across I-10 to our eventual destination here at the Dreamcatcher Escapee Park in Deming, New Mexico.

All the way over here we were passing Nascar semi-trailers headed west obviously for the California race next weekend. I tried to get some pictures on the fly, but that is very difficult. I think I got one you could actually see.

So we are sitting here this evening in the motorhome and I hear a diesel pusher pull in. It was time to take the boyz out, so I got my coat on and got the dogs in their pens. Terry was out looking around and much to my surprise, what I thought was a diesel pusher, was actually a semi. Yep. Dreamcatcher Park is right next to the Holiday Inn and about 15-16 Nascar tractor trailers are all lined up there for the night. I took some pix. . . kind of hard to see in the dark. But I think they are clear enough!

Till next time. . .

Dale

Ok, Ok, Ok. . . Here it is . . . THE ANSWER TO THE HORNS OVER ARIZONA!!!!!

The picture is of an indoor skydiving arena. There are several around the country and they are all different. I have actually "flown" in the one at Pigeon Forge, but it looks nothing like this one. http://www.skyventureaz.com/

Look at the pictures of the construction as it is quite amazing. I tried looking it up on Google earth and couldn't find it, but what I did find was the early construction of it. Guess they haven't updated in quite a while.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Pima County Fairgrounds Tucson, Arizona

Tucson, my favorite town. We are just here enroute to the east. Will leave Monday or Tuesday.

When we were getting things ready to go at Casa Grande, we found our water pump had sprung a leak. It was leaking at the motor end all the way down where the brushes are. Terry says this is really unusual, but it was still working. The problem was that it was leaking, whether we were using the pump or hooked directly to water. So we had to be careful because if it went out completely, we would not be able to use any water. This is one reason we came to Tucson. We knew we would be able to get a pump at Camping World, so after we set up camp, that is where we went.

We plan to relax tomorrow and watch the Daytona 500 also. I also need some down time so I can get our taxes ready to go and we have some other paperwork to do.

The Pima County Fairgrounds are on the far east side of the city, but I-10 is only a mile up the road and there is easy access to anything here. We have been here before. We have a full hook-up site, but since there is a horse venue going on, we are really crammed in here. We cannot put our awning out and we have to squeeze the dog pen alongside the coach, but it is do-able. The campground host has told us that this horse show is a big event and we can get in free. They said there is a lot of big talent with a grand prize of $25,000. We may go over and see some of it if we have time.

I have a trivia question for you. On the way down here from Casa Granda, there is a small airport and on the grounds of the airport is a very odd structure. Do any of you know what this is? It's a little blurry, but I was a good half-mile away and I enlarged it so you could see the structure clearly. I'm not sure I know the answer, but someone did tell me something that could be the answer.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Gypsy Journal Rally, Case Grande, Arizona

I’m sorry you’ve had to wait so long for an update. We have been busy. Last Monday we left Mesa and traveled 75 miles down the road to Casa Grande, more specifically the Pinal County Fairgrounds, site of the Gypsy Journal Rally. Nick and Terry Russell, who write the Gypsy Journal newspaper, sponsored this event.

I love rallies. . . like-minded people all meeting together and visiting and attending workshops/seminars all devoted to helping us live better on the road. We met new people and renewed old friendships. A lot of the members of the Class of 2005 were in attendance, so we got to see them all again.

I must say, though, I only made it to breakfast (donuts and coffee) once. Getting up and being there at 7 a.m. was too much like having a JOB! Who needs that? So I skipped that, fixed my own, and attended other sessions as I wished.

The most fun we had was watching the movie "RV" together in the big hall. All of us RV'ers together watching this movie. We laughed so hard. We had seen it before, but there is something about watching that movie with other people who identify so much with the little things only RV'ers would find funny. It was such a great time.

On one trip to Coolidge, Arizona, to get our mail, we toured the Casa Grande Ruins. These dwellings of Indians were inhabited around 1300 and were gone by the time the first Spanish arrived. It is a rather large area, with only a few remaining ruins, but the park service has built borders to identify where structures were. In addition, there were some mounds and a “ball field” that have survived unmolested for these centuries.

We were joined at the rally by our friend, Dave and his dogs, Max and Jazzbo. Dave lost his wife last year, so we were glad to see him out. We certainly enjoyed Max’s frisbee catching. Max is a border collie extraordinaire. He is amazing. It seems he understands everything Dave tells him. He gets his own toys out of the motorhome and knows the difference between his ball and his frisbee. He never tires of frisbee catching and his concentration is amazing. . . course border collies are known for this. Jazzbo, Dave’s other dog, is an elderly gentleman who loves to be loved and stands attentively while Max runs after his toys. Jazzbo used to enjoy his ball, but arthritis is bothering him, but like our Neal, he doesn’t complain. . . just moves slowly. He is a sweetie.

We ended the last night by a large group of us going to Cold Stone Creamery and getting ice cream. The business had included in our rally packet a "buy one, get one free" coupon and we weren't going to let it go to waste. We had a bit of a wait, but we all got our ice cream. The kids working at the creamery sang and goofed off a bit while making our sundaes. They were really sweet and seemed to be having a lot of fun all the time they were working hard.

The weather at the rally was atypical again for this time of year. We had blowing sand one day, a freak windstorm another night, rain, cold, and heat. That about sums it up. Whew. The best weather was today when we left.

Oh almost forgot. Last year we had a Datastorm installed at Escapade, but it was never configured correctly and we have had more and more trouble with it. Just so happens that Bill Adams, Datastorm guru, was at our rally. He came over and worked on our system and I am happy to say we haven’t locked up once since then. Everything is working well and we are grateful he had time to help us! It is working like it's supposed to now.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Great Friends, great times!

Just finished having supper with Jeff and Sue. We first met them at the Escapade in Van Wert, Ohio, last fall. We have kept up email correspondence but just now connected again. We ate at "Souper Salad" which was really good. We enjoy that. I can really pig out and eat very few calories.
I am amazed at the amount of new construction there is around here. Everywhere new shopping centers are being built. Anything that is already built doesn't look older than 5 years or so. There are 20 WalMarts in Mesa alone. Wow. New roads pop up all the time that are not on the GPS. Kind of makes it hard to go anywhere. Usually you can plug in the address, but the roads are too new to show up. It's not hard getting around, because the roads are all laid out in a grid. New limited access highways make it easy to get around the city. It is really spread out.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Mesa and Phoenix

Yesterday was a shopping day. Didn’t buy much, but we checked out the local places. We went to IKEA which is always a treat. Being full-timers, however, they have nothing there that would even fit into our lifestyle anymore. We did do some looking around, but that was it. Then it was onward to Arizona Mills. This is a mall that has a lot of outlets. We have been in other “Mills” before and this has to be one of the biggest. It was a nice, long walk around the entire complex which is shape like a big rectangle. I did find some shoes, but mostly we just got our exercise.

We have finally gotten nice weather. It fact, the sun gets downright hot during the afternoon. It starts off cool, in the 50’s, then starts warming up. We start off the day in shorts and that’s pretty much where we stay until the sun goes down. It gets cool fairly quickly and in the evening when we take the dogs out, we usually have to have a light jacket or sweatshirt.

Yesterday we ate at “Souper Salad” which is a different type of restaurant. It is just a large salad bar. There are some prepared salads and then the standard “build your own.” There are also homemade soups, a pasta bar and baked potato bar as well.

We went to the Mesa Marketplace this morning. It is like the Arizona marketplace in Yuma only much larger. Just a large flea market, but lots of stuff to look at. I found a few things I had been looking for, but again didn’t buy too much. It certainly makes a difference when you have to stick to the rule, “Something in. . . something out.” I got a duster for the high stuff in the motorhome so I don’t have to drag a stool around anymore. And I found a hairbrush. Something happened to my other one. Now how can you lose something in the motorhome. . . like a hairbrush? I think it had something to do with Terry, but I can’t be sure. At any rate, it is not in its “place.”

Wednesday we went to the Heard Museum. Phoenix is famous for this museum which is a collection of Native American memorabilia. I wouldn’t say the museum was a disappointment, but it isn’t what I expected. It is a display/collection of primarily one family. . . the Heard family. They were among the earliest and most prominent families in the Phoenix area and their home outgrew their collection, so they made a museum to house it all. There is a lot of jewelry and it is labeled as to the origin, etc. Lots of Kachina dolls, etc. My favorite parts of the museum were the ones which dealt with the Indian tribes of Arizona, their origins, what they were known for, etc. There was also a part devoted to the Indian boarding schools. During the 1800’s, Indian children were removed from their homes and taken away (many times across the country) to boarding schools in an attempt to assimilate them into the “white” culture. I found these parts of the museum to be the most interesting, but I felt they were much too small, so I will do some research on my own. It at least sparked my interest.

Last evening we got a call from Jeff and Sue, some friends we met at Escapade. They are passing through the area and we are going to meet them for supper tonight at “Souper Salad.” It will be fun to see them again.

Terry is doing better. He came down with a really nasty cold and has been fighting it for about a week. I believe he has turned the corner and is starting to feel better. He had been sleeping on the couch because he was up and down so much during the night. Then Neal had a seizure and we traded placed because he didn’t want to mess with him in the middle of the night. Everyone is doing better now and sleeping in their own beds.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Onward!!!!!!!!!!

We broke camp at North Ranch yesterday, Monday, and drove through Phoenix to get to Mesa and Valle del Oro. Actually, Terry came up with a pretty good route around the worst parts of Phoenix and we didn't hit a lot of traffic until we got on 60. That traffic was probably due to some lane closures, but we arrived easily enough. We have a nice site, not terribly large, but we are backed up against the outside 5' concrete wall, so it is quite private and great for the dogs.

We didn't do much yesterday after we set up except to enjoy the warm weather. It got up to about 83° which was just wonderful. We sat out and enjoyed the sunshine and made friends with the neighbor. This is an extremely large park with over 1700 sites, but as with a lot of parks out here, it is fast becoming a park model park. I wonder if eventually there will be no place to park our RV's. . .?

Today we went out east to the Apache Trail. We stopped at the Superstition Mountain Museum and then toured the few buildings that are left from "Apache Land." It was a movie set where a lot of westerns were shot and a few movies, including, "Charro" with Elvis. Years ago the movie set burned and the owners rebuilt it. Then in 2004 it burned again, restaurant to blame, and the owners said they were not going to rebuild it. Two buildings survived and were moved to the museum site. The two buildings were the barn from "The Rifleman" and the chapel from "Charro." The museum is quite interesting, telling the manner in which the mountains were formed and a bit about the history of gold mining in the area.

We left the museum and continued on the Apache Trail to Tortilla Flats. This is just a restaurant/shop and the last stop probably on the way to Roosevelt Lake. Shortly after you get to Tortilla Flats, the road turns to gravel and goes 30+ miles. We stopped at the restaurant and had supper. Nothing extraordinary. Was expecting really great food and it was just mediocre. Interesting atmosphere, however.

The drive there and back, however, is nothing short of spectacular. It is the typical mountain road, with dozens of switchbacks and cliffs and nail-biting turns--about 17 miles of this. We did come upon Canyon Lake, a lake up in the mountains. There are about 3 lakes on this particular stretch. The lake was just gorgeous and certainly not overused. There are 2 campgrounds up in the mountains, but Terry says Phaeton Place will not be making the journey up there. I don't believe it would be a difficult trip, but at 40', it would be a little challenging at times.

While we have been driving in desert and mountains, every area is completely different, with different rocks, strata, vegetation, etc. I never get tired of looking at beautiful scenery. I will be added pictures later. I have to charge the camera back up first.

Till next time. . .

Dale

In Search of Ghosts. . .

Today we traveled northeast of Congress to a "ghostown" by the name of Stanton. This town was built in the 1800's in response to gold prospectors setting up camp in the area. The town is out in the desert with a 6 mile "primitive" road going to it. You cannot see any of the town until you are right at the entrance to the area. There was a stage stop, a hotel, and an opera house. The remarkable thing about it is that it is still a haven for modern day gold prospectors and enthusiasts. The Lost Dutchman Mining Association is involved in the maintaining of this town and the owners and the residents alike are committed to keeping it alive and preserving the town as it was during its heyday. The buildings are being restored and are used by the campers. There are about 200 campsites, mostly full hookups (surprise) and the hotel doubles as an activity center with rooms for puzzles, pool, poker, storage and a kitchen. The opera house is being restored and it will be the location of the Friday night potluck, which have temporarily been moved outdoors due to the renovations. The stage stop is the current office. There are some other buildings, one of which houses a jail and will eventually become a museum. Other buildings include what appear to be residences and those also will be restored. It is really quite a "jewel" as the old ghost towns go, because it is painstakingly being returned to its original configuration. We were taken on a tour by Jean and Willard, members of our Fulltiming Graduating Class of 2005. Willard is quite the prospector and showed us how he uses the equipment to pan for gold. Jean is an artist who is always learning something new. . . jewelry making or strumming the bass guitar to accompany Willard. It was great of them to show us around and we enjoyed Willard's history of the town and particularly of the colorful man from which the town takes it's name.

Till next time. . .

Dale

A Little R & R

Last evening we went to the chili supper here at North Ranch. We walked down with our neighbors, full-timers also. In fact, there are a lot of full-timers here. The supper was quite good and afterward, they had entertainment. Mike Dunn, an Arizona native (5th generation) recites "Cowboy Poetry." He certainly looks the part and it was quite enjoyable. I guess you would call it prose, very lengthy poetry and he would explain what the verse was about to get your mind set for the poetry. It was unusual and something different for us. Very good. I guess in Wickenburg, near here, there is a bar/saloon where they have a "gathering" of cowboy poets and they perform periodically.

There is a cactus garden here in the park and two very old saguaro. One is circa 1600 and the other circa 1860. "Methusala," the oldest is thought to be one of the oldest saguaro. The picture I have was taken with the sun in the wrong place, so I will have to take another, but I wanted to post it. Birds have drilled out homes in the cactus and they are constantly flying around it and chirping. The garden is quite unique and very well done. . . more than I had expected for the park here. It is truly a labor of love to see all the varieties planted and identified.

Today we went to Ghost Town Road in Congress and drove out in the desert to the 1800's Pioneer Cemetery. It is the only remnant left of the original gold mining town which once stood here. It is not really kept up, but it is basically undisturbed.

Afterwards we drove up the mountains to Yarnell, only 9 miles away, but what a drive! It is a divided road, so you have no opposing traffic, which is good, because it is a mountain road in the worst sense of the word. Not bad in the Sport Trac, but I wouldn't want to be in a big vehicle. They don't advise RV's on it for sure. At the top in the town of Yarnell is a Shrine to St. Joseph. We did finally find it and it was quite interesting. While we were there, we noticed snow. We were at almost a mile in elevation and had not seen any snow going up the mountain, but that is because we were looking on the hillside the sun was hitting. On the way back, we could see quite a bit of snow.

In this town was a local restaurant known as "Buford Buzzard's BBQ." Hey, with a name like that, we just had to try it. They were smoking the meats outside using mesquite and it just melted in your mouth. I tried the sampler plate and brought enough home for lunch tomorrow.

Coming down I couldn't get any good pictures because the sun was in our eyes and we really had to concentrate on the road. We will go back later in the week and go on in to Prescott. I'm sure it will be colder there with the elevation, but we will just make a short visit out of it. The frog picture is a rock painted to look like a frog. It is the advertisement for the Frog Rock Cafe at the base of the mountain.

Till next time. . .

Dale

North Ranch, Congress, AZ

We spent the last two nights in Laughlin, Nevada. Suffice to say the casino gods were not smiling upon us. We never lose much, and we almost always win back, but not this time. We left without making the rounds to all the casinos. We were parked at the Riverside Casino RV Park and it was sufficient, but you were packed in like sardines. No room for awnings, back to back hookups. Some of the other levels had larger sites and if we ever go back, we will request one of those sites.

Yesterday we traveled up the mountains to a little town called Oatman. It was renamed Oatman after two white girls who were captured by a band of Apache Indians. They were later traded to the Mohave and the youngest died in captivity. The oldest, Olive, survived and was traded to whites 5 years after her ordeal started. It is quite a remarkable story of courage and faith of these two young girls. The town is set up in the mountains and was actually a mining town with a still active gold mine nearby. The buildings, which all house artsy style merchandise, are old and it is easy to imagine it back in its heyday. The hotel where Carol Lombard and Clark Gable spent their honeymoon is here and it is said they returned often and Clark would play cards with the miners.

I forgot to mention the burros. We saw the first ones on the road right outside of Bullhead City on our way up the mountain. That was 13 miles from the town. They were on the side of the road scratching each other. We stopped along with other cars, and they made their way from car to car. It is illegal to feed them on roadside. Once we got to Oatman, there are about a dozen that roam freely through the streets. You can buy carrots to feed the adults, but the babies are supposed to only drink their mother's milk. It is illegal to harrass, harm or distress them, but you can take their pictures. The shopowners have names for all of them and see to it that they all get fed properly.

Leaving Oatman, we traveled toward Kingman on the mountain road, aka Route 66. It is quite the mountain road with plenty of switchbacks and scenery which is quite splendid and breathtaking.

Today we broke camp and drove to Kingman to the Flying J for a fill up of diesel ($2.389) and propane ($1.799). We waited to hookup the toad, as we had a 12-mile 6% grade to climb and Terry was worried about it. He needn't have been, as Phaeton Place performed flawlessly and made it up the grade without any problems. We then drove on highway 93 south out of Kingman through the Joshua Tree area. I remember seeing these trees when our family drove this route from Phoenix to Las Vegas during my high school years. The trees are quite different and this is one of the few places where they grow.

We arrived around 3 p.m. at North Ranch, the Escapees Park in Congress, Arizona. It is a nice park, well appointed and for once we have a decent site large enough for the dogs' ex-pen and our truck. People were outside and ready to talk with their new neighbors. It is a friendly park. We signed up for the chili supper tomorrow night. I don't care for any chili but my own, but this is more about meeting people and making friends. I doubt I will starve.

Neal had a bad gran mal seizure tonight. The poor little guy just does not deserve this on top of his mobility problems. After he regained his composure, I gave him 3 doses of honey to stave off the cluster seizures and before long he went outside to take care of business. With this routine, within 2 hours, he is usually back to normal. He is now fast asleep in his bed, and I hope we are in for a quiet night.

We are going to stay here for about a week or so before heading to Phoenix.

I still haven't gotten the problem worked out with blogger, IE6 and the runtime error, so I downloaded Firefox and am running that. I will add some pictures back tomorrow, so check back then!

Till next time. . .

Dale

Quartzsite to Lake Havasu City, Arizona

We drove up through Parker, Arizona, on our way to Lake Havasu City. It is a very scenic drive with a lot of hills/mountains and it follows the Colorado River. We saw several campgrounds but continued on our way to our destination. I took a lot of pictures of the scenery coming up US95.

North of Parker is the Parker Dam, but trucks and motorhomes cannot cross it and we didn’t want to anyway. Once we got to Lake Havasu City, we took the London Bridge across to the island and checked out a couple campgrounds. I should mention that it was raining and it was very windy and cold out on the island. One campground wanted $35 a night for water and electric (we passed) and another had full hookups, but the cost was $48 a night for a postage stamp lot with no place to park the toad. So we continued on and found a new park by the name of Havasu RV Resort. It is very nice, $31 a night and very well appointed amenities.

Saturday we went sightseeing and spent a lot of time around the London Bridge, checking out the shops and enjoying the view of the bridge from both sides of the canal. The London Bridge was purchased from England, disassembled and brought here and reconstructed like a big jigsaw puzzle over dry land. Once it was rebuilt, the channel was dug out underneath it and the former peninsula became the island. The bridge is very impressive and pock marks from German shells which hit it during WWII are still visible. Afterwards, we drove through the state park and drove around the island. The area is very beautiful and when you are out on the island you can look back and see the city. It really looks a lot larger than it is, but then it is located between the lake and the mountains. We drove into the hills a little and looked through the subdivisions. We stopped and went through an open house just to see what the place was like. It had an RV port with it and it was really quite nice. It was a beautiful day for a drive, in the 60’s and really sunny. Today, however, is sunny, windy and in the 50’s, so we went out for dinner and bought a few groceries and then came back home. Tomorrow we leave here and head up toward Bullhead City and Laughlin.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Problems with Blogger

Friends,

I am experiencing a run-time error with blogger and cannot view it on my computer. Since the problem started after my last post, I went back and deleted the post in an effort to stop the problem. That has not seemed to work. I did save the post and will put it back up later.

I am able to go in on blogger.com and sign in and post new topics and edit old ones. I just cannot view them. Anyone else running blogger having problems? Just wondering.

Thanks!

Till next time. . .

Dale