Finishing up in Arizona

Monday we arrived at Kartchner Caverns State Park south of Benson AZ, after our 11 days in Phoenix it was nice to get back to a state park with lots of room. We rode the bikes down to the visitor center, there they have a great display and movie about the discovery of the cave and lots of info on caverns. We made reservations for the two tours they offer, one tour is not available all year long. They give the Throne Room back to the bats when they come here in mid April. The caverns weren't discovered until 1974 and didn't open to the public till the late 90's, so unlike many caves where the formations have been damaged this one is in pristine shape. They have gone to great lengths to preserve the cavern using a variety of methods, air locks to prevent the humidity levels from changing, no wild cave tours, every night they hose down the pathway and they even have a mister as you enter the caverns to try and keep skin and other human particles on the humans.

 Tuesday we took a ride to Tombstone, don't know what we were expecting but for us it was just a tad too commercialized, we spent an hour walking the streets and getting hawked at by all of the folks dressed up, from the different gun fighters to the tours they all were trying to get folks to part with their $$'s and come see their show or ride their stage coaches or trolleys. I know some folks have really enjoyed it but it just wasn't our cup of tea, so after an hour we headed home. Since it was the nicest of the days so we would be there we took a hike along the Foothills trail, a nice 3 mile hike gave us some wonderful views of the Dragoon Mountains and the valley below.

 

Wednesday we took a tour of the Big Room, no pictures since they don't allow cameras, while we've seen nicer caves (in our opinion) the one really noticeable thing about these caves is the lack of damage to the formations by humans. The Big Room is only open part of the year due to the bats taking it back, this is the first cave that we've seen do this, what a great concept after all the bats were there long before humans were. Wednesday the weather started turning cooler and the winds really kicked up so the afternoon was spent at home getting some of the everyday chores done.

Baby mule deer who visited us between rain showers

 Thursday we toured the Throne Room, again no pictures but another enjoyable cave to visit. This cave had the biggest column (when a stalactite meet a stalagmite it forms a column) we'd ever seen. The afternoon turned rainy and cold (40's) so I got started on the Christmas cards and our Christmas letter. I'm having a difficult time remembering it's almost Christmas, no decorations out and the warmer temps are throwing my internal clock off.




Today we left AZ and headed east on I-10, we are just over the Texas border in a park behind the local Camping World. It's got inexpensive laundry so getting that done, the location is great and we've made reservations for tomorrow night 250 miles down the road. We will be in Texas for more than 2 months, the longest I've stayed in the state since I moved north in 1971, hopefully this cold front won't affect us too much.

We really enjoyed our 3 weeks in Arizona and look forward to coming back another year, still so much to see and do there. We will be on the move for the next few days, heading slowly to the Gulf Coast, our reservations start on 12/16 so we have 10 days or so to get there, we do have a few ideas on things to do along the way, if the weather cooperates.

Until next time...

Forgot what day it was

So yes I forgot yesterday was Wednesday, must be a side affect of this lifestyle. I can't even blame it on being busy, we didn't do much yesterday.

Hope you had a good Hump Day!!

Until next time...

Family Time

 Today is our last day in Phoenix, we have enjoyed spending time with our son and getting to know his wife, what a wonderful couple they make.We spent Thanksgiving day at their home, Laura had to work a 12 hour shift at Starbucks so it was up to David to get dinner ready. We arrived around 2pm at David's request just in case he needed help with anything, we all know his friend Jim's cooking skills or lack thereof. He had things under control, our help was needed when he had to go pick up Laura, all that was required of us what putting things in the oven and keeping an eye on them.

 By the time they got back the bacon wrapped stuffed with blue cheese dates were ready and the sweet potato casserole and green bean casserole would be ready right on time. Everything turned out great, it was such a treat not being responsible for the whole meal, David now has a new appreciation for all of the holiday dinners he enjoyed growing up.

 After dinner we taught Laura how to play Mexican train, a game that has been played in our house for years. We finished the evening off with a pecan and pumpkin pie which were my first attempt at pies in the rv, should have left them in the oven a bit longer but the homemade whipped cream made up for any deficiencies. We have so much to be thankful for, wonderful sons who have found great partners, the ability to live this great lifestyle, good friends all over the country and so much more.

David & Jim-best friends since 1997

Friday we did a little exploring of some of the areas rv parks, out of the six we looked at only one intrigued us. Most of the ones we saw were made up largely of park model homes with tight sites, the only one that intrigued us was Deserts Edge "The Purple Park" which is small and family owned. A few of the folks here at Destiny Phoenix have stayed at Deserts Edge and had great things to say about it, they come here now for the nearness to friends. We maybe coming back here next winter, David and Laura are having their wedding ceremony here in October so we might be making another cross country trip again next year.

Saturday we headed to the farmers market in Goodyear, small but found a few things we couldn't do with out. On our way home we had to stop at a grocery store. There we saw a Christmas tree lot getting set up, we talked with the gentleman who was getting things set up. He is a full timer and has been doing this for 10 years, another idea to generate income next winter.
 

Saturday ended with our last visit with David & Laura, they both work Sunday so this was our goodbye visit. After a wonderful couple of hours of eating and talking it was time for goodbyes and tears afterwards. 

We enjoyed our time here and have met lots of friendly folks here at Destiny, after looking at the other parks we might just consider staying here again. We've taken advantage on a number of evenings of the hot tub, we've ridden along the canal for miles and overall it has been a great experience. Tomorrow we head to Kartchner Caverns State Park for four nights, the weather is suppose to get cold the scarf and hat Laura knit for me may just come in handy. Friday we will start driving to southern TX we hope to revisit Caverns of Sonora and take a quick visit into San Antonio to see the riverwalk decorated for the holidays.

Until next time...

Catching Up

Last Thursday late morning we regrettably left Justin's Diamond J RV Park in Tucson,  we made a number of new friends and thouroughly enjoyed our time there and there are still numerous things we want to do there. We had fantastic neighbors whom we hope to see again one day, they were gracious in sharing their beloved Dover, whom once harnessed is Ellie's therapy dog off harness though he is a beloved part of their family who bonded with Dave. Don't know who was sadder when we left Dave or Dover, thank you Ellie and Lin for your wonderful company, see you next time we are in town. Lin is an avid rose gardener, by the time we left he had given Dave a mint plant to enhance the Snapple tea Dave drinks everyday.

Ellie, Lin & Dover

Another uneventful 2.5 hour ride and we were at Phoenix Destiny Resort, while it is a nice place and convenient to our son's home I'm not sure about the resort part. There are asphalt roads, pull throughs and back in sites, the sites are a bit close than we would like and have pea gravel instead of grass, there is a concrete slab outside the door with a picnic table and grill for barbecuing, with the weather changing for the worse we haven't checked out the pool or hot tub. It will do for our stay here since our focus is really on family time rather than where we are living.

Thursday evening David and Laura came over for dinner, Dave had set out the frozen catfish from Elephant Butte Lake that he had been saving for the occasion. David was anxious for us to meet Laura and to see our new home. What a wonderful young lady he has married and we wish them all the best, I've never seen David looks as happy and good as he does now, marriage to Laura obviously is agreeing with him.

Friday and Saturday were rainy days here in Phoenix so we spent them helping the kids, David had purchased a refrigerator from a friend and took advantage of having access to a truck to move it home.

Sunday we got the opportunity to tour David's work facility, he works at Atlas Material Testing Solutions where he is a solar engineer. The company tests the effects of solar for numerous companies, we saw solar panels, cars, car parts, windows, roofing material and more being subjected to the effect of sun. Some experiments are done in real time and some are subjected to accelerated time, very cool stuff and we were glad to get a look at what David has been up to for the last few years. They don't allow photos but what a cool place it was

Monday was grocery shopping and oil change day for our Honda Ridgeline, there was a blood drive sponsored by the park which Dave participated in. We spent time walking the resort and talking with lots of folks, one thing about this place is the very friendly people we've met. We ended our day with dinner with the kids but for the most part we were homebodies.

Tuesday both kids had to work so we headed for the Superstition Mountains, we stopped at Lost Dutchman State Park for a hike and a look around.

 Afterwards we headed down the Apache Trail, we had lunch in Tortilla Flats and then decided to continue on the Apache Trail, we knew it would be a long ride on the dirt road but were willing to venture on, we did fine until we heard about the landslide blocking the road further on down. What a gorgeous ride it was.

While in Tortilla Flats we ran into a few couples we've been conversing with here at the park, then we ran into them at one of the viewing areas along the road. So nice to actually run into people we know, that isn't happening much these days.














The one thing I have missed from the house is our hot tub so we ended Tuesday with a soak in the hot tub where we talked with some more friendly folks. What a great lifestyle we've stumbled into. For the first time in many years we will not be making Thanksgiving dinner, we are headed to our son's home for dinner. Our contribution will be a pecan pie, pumpkin pie and the stuffing recipe what a treat this will be. Tonight though we've been invited over for a pulled pork dinner, our son's best friend from VT arrived on Tuesday, it will seem almost like old times.

Until next time...

It's Wednesday

We've been enjoying our last day here at Justin's Diamond J RV Park, visiting with the folks we've gotten to know and walking in the desert. We have thoroughly enjoyed staying here and hope to come back someday in the not too distant future.

Hope everyone had a Happy Hump Day

On to Phoenix tomorrow, can't wait to see our son David and to meet our new daughter in law Laura.

Until next time...

Playing tourist in Tuscon

We arrived at Justin's Diamond J RV Park on Thursday after an uneventful ride, always a good thing. We opted for a premium site that backs onto the desert, for $18/night with Passport America it's a great deal and a nice park, the sites have no picnic tables or fire rings and there are no restrooms or showers so you have to be self contained. There are trails in the desert right behind us, which we've been enjoying, there are a few park models and some very nice folks here. There a number of folks who make this their winter home, there's even another couple from Vermont here.

We've met a gentleman named Howard who has been coming here for a very long time, he actually established the trails in the area. Howard is 86 years old, been retired for over 30 years has had 5 motor homes and is recently married, his first wife of 66 years passed away from cancer a number of years ago. Howard's goal is to be the last WWII vet alive, he and his first wife traveled the country and he has been published in FMCA magazine and enjoys photography. Dave has joined him in the evening to photograph the beautiful sunsets we have had. He gave up driving a motor home a few years back and purchased a park model here, he spits his time between here and Portland ME. I sure hope when we're 86 we are in half the shape he is.

We've been doing a lot of tourist stuff here so instead of writing about them all I'll include links to the various places we've visited. All have been interesting and we are glad to have had the time to visit them, by the time we leave here on Thursday we will not have completed our list of places to visit, guess we'll just have to stop again when we're in the area.

The first place we visited was the Titan Missile Museum where I got to be the one who turned the key, not a responsibility I would ever have wanted in real life. The basic philosophy was mutual destruction, glad it worked.

Our next stop that day was Mission San Xavier del Bac a beautiful church dating from the late 1700's which still holds regular services.

Sunday we headed into to Tuscon to the farmers market lots of vendors selling lots of fresh produce, organic meats, baked goods and artisan wares. We were pegged for tourist by some of the vendors since Dave was there in a tank top which the locals gave up wearing a few months ago. Forgot the camera but it was quite busy and well worth going to, the first farmers market that amounted to anything that we've found so far, one vendor did say Phoenix will have some great markets too.

After the farmers market we headed to Biosphere 2 of which we have seen specials about on tv, an interesting place to say the least. Very interesting place and maybe someday the information learned here will help us colonize another planet.

Monday was another beautiful day and we had more places to explore so we headed to Colossal Cave we always enjoy visiting caves. While this one is a dormant (formations are not growing) cave the forming of it through sulfuric acid was not something we had seen before. If you are going to see lots of crystal formations this is not the cave for you, for us though it was interesting and we're glad we took the time to see it.

For our afternoons entertainment we headed to the Pima Air & Space Museum where they have over 250 aircraft on display. We didn't have time for their boneyard tour but did spend a few hours wandering around the aircraft they had on display.

There are still lots of things we want to see in the area and we have a few more days to do that but we for sure won't finish our list.

We spent a number of frustrating hours trying to get our new dish receiver set up. After countless futile attempts we called Dish and were told if we didn't have a house we would have to take it back to Camping World to get the program to load. Seems with this model (VP211z) you can't do the set up from an rv, and this is an updated model of the one we previously bought. We did finally get the program loaded at Camping World and the local store here learned this too. Last night for the first time since leaving VT I enjoyed a few hours of tv time that I wanted to watch, life is good. :)

We've also enjoyed numerous beautiful sunsets and walks in the desert, we were in Tucson a few years back and visited Saguaro National Park and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum so don't know if we'll get back to those this time.

full moon setting

Until next time...

Last day in Deming NM

 For our last day in New Mexico we decided to see what Deming had to offer, we stopped at the visitor center to get some ideas. After a nice chat with the volunteer there we took her suggestion and headed to the Deming Mimbres Museum and what a treat that turned out to be. The museum is in the old Armory building built in 1916 and purchased by the historical society in 1977.

The museum has an all volunteer staff and everything in it has been donated, they get no funding from the state and they operate on a donation basis. One of the volunteers was from New Hampshire and had family in VT, we visited with her a bit, as we were getting started on our self guided tour we overheard the next couple coming in saying they were from VT too. Well of course we had to say hi to them also, it's not often we see other folks from our home state. The museum has an eclectic collection of things from Native American pottery and artifacts, a Doll Room, the Cowboy Exhibit, a Harvey House exhibit, the Gem & Mineral Room, Military Room, Antique Autos and much more. If you are ever in Deming stop by the museum, there is something for everyone.

Don't think it'll pull the 5th wheel

 Glad I don't have to cook like this






After an enjoyable 3 hours perusing the museum we our tummies were rumbling, we asked for recommendations to a Mexican restaurant.  Irmas did not disappoint and if we were here longer we would be back, easily one of the best Mexican restaurants we've been to in a very long time.

Fat Boys Fajitas

Beef Chimichanga

    












Until next time...