Green2GoRV - Our Travel Journal

St. George and the Mormons

Monday, June 13, 2011

From Encore Park, St. George, Ut

As in most of Utah, the Mormon religion is very prevalent here... some say about 80% of the population.  In 1861 the Mormon Prophet, Brigham Young, sent 300 families from the Salt Lake area for the purpose of establishing cotton farming.  Mr Young concluded that with the beginning of the Civil War cotton would become very hard to get and he wanted his folks to have access to their own supply of cotton for weaving and making cloth.  The area is very hilly and mountainous, but with lots of valleys with fertile soil.  And water was available from the Virgin River.

Very little timber was available for building homes, so the early settlers mostly lived in tents and started planting cotton.  Because there was very little money and no way to earn any, the Church started construction of a Tabernacle almost immediately, to provide jobs.  Workers, all Mormon, were paid in scripts which could be spent at the Church store.

The tabernacle took 13 years to complete, but served as a house of worship and a community gathering place.  It was built of stone, hand chipped into bricks of varying surface.

 
 Stl George Tabernacle

A few years after starting the tabernacle he also determined that a Temple should be built in St. George, the third temple for the Mormon faith.  The Temple is considered a most sacred place and only the worthy are allowed to enter.  Here marriages are sealed forever and commandments are delivered to the Saints (members).

 
The St. George Temple

There is a very interesting Visitor's Center on the grounds of the Temple and we enjoyed a very detail presentation of information about the church.

We also visited the winter home of Brigham Young.  The winters in the area are much milder than Salt Lake City, so Brigham Young would spend his winters here.

 
Part of the presentation of the house, was an individual speaking to us as Brigham Young.

The house was beautifully maintained and was furnished with many of his personal furnishing.

 
The Brigham Young Home.. 

 
The Dining Room (original china)...

More Later.....

 

Zion Nat'l Park - Part 2

Sunday, June 12, 2011

From Encore Park, St. George, UT

After visiting part of the park with Bob and Molly, Donna and I went back to view the part that can only be visited by Shuttle Bus.  (Bob and Molly did that part before we arrived).

We arrived fairly early and the weather was clear, cool, and crisp.  After parking at the visitor's center, we boarded the Shuttle Bus and headed 'up-canyon' for the various stops along the way.  The shuttles run about every 10 to 15 minutes, making it very easy to get off and back on a later shuttle.

 
Donna in her new hat, waiting on the shuttle... 

 
The Virgin River through the Canyon...

 

 
Canyon Walls...

 
More Canyon Walls...

 
Weeping Rocks with lots of fern... 

 
The Lodge...

The huge lawn is surronded by the orange barrier because the grounds were recently re-planted and the park is protecting the grass while it gets established. 

 
The Lodge Interior... 

We must say that Zion is a beautiful, un-spoiled place, and well worth the two days we spent visiting.  Crowds were light, there was never a long wait for the shuttle, and the park personnel kept things running very smoothly.

On the up-canyon ride in the shuttle, there was a recorded message for each section pointing out highlights and points of interest. 

There are lots of trails throughout the park, with varying degrees of length and difficulty.  In other words... something for everyone.

More about the St. George area in my next blog.

 

A Visit to Zion National Park

Friday, June 10, 2011

From Encore Park, near St. George, Ut

Zion NP is quite a large park, with lots to see.  Since Bob and Molly had already done the part that is limited to the Shuttle, we all got together to view the other part of the park.  We drove to the park, first stopping at the Visitor's Center for our stamp in our Passport Book.

 
Entering the visitors center

Since we entered the park from the west on Highway 9, the goal was to travel to the east and exiting the park on that side.

 
Awesome Views 

 
Fascinating Colors and Formations 

 
Looks like a natural amphi-theater 

 
Checkerboard Mountain

We drove on further east to Mt Carmel and then up Highway 89 to a little town called Orderville, which when established was a commune type settlement, where everyone shared in all the production and met and ate in a community dining hall.  This experiment for the Morman was eventually unsuccessful and disbanded.

Returning to Mt. Carmel at the intersection of 89 & 9 we had lunch at a great restaurant where all the breads are "Ho-Made".  They cater to the Bus Tours and serve several buses every day.  Quite an operation.

As we re-entered the park, we just naturally had to have the obligatory picture with the sign, to prove we were actually there.

 

Donna and I

 
Bob and Molly 

The next day Donna and I went back to tour the canyon on the Shuttle Bus up Virgin River.  I will post that as soon as possible.

Until Later...

Riding The Dunes

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

From Encore Park, St. George, Ut

We arrived at the Encore park shortly before noon on Wednesday the 1st of June.  As soon as we got parked and hooked up to utilities, Bob and Molly were picking us up and headed into St. George for lunch at Chuck-A-Rama.  This is a 'Super-Buffet' catering to not only the locals, but the tourist, including the bus tours. 

They had a great salad bar, a good selection of main dishes, and an 'out-of-sight' dessert selection, most of which were as least sampled at our table.  We sure hoped this was not a precursor to our eating habits for the next two weeks. 

We hung close to the park for a couple days, usually going out for a late breakfast as Dorthalee's, a great little home cooking, down home type cafe.

On Friday, we drove into Hurricane, a neat little town close by, and rented Razr's for a 3 hour guided trip into the mountains and sand dunes.

 
Lined up for departure... 

Bob & Molly followed our guide as we followed them.

 
and away we go...

It was still fairly cool when we left, but as time went by it got much warmer and more comfortable.  Our first stop was about 15 miles into the mountains, on top of a mesa overlooking a huge valley leading into St. George.  We are standing next to a cliff, with the valley about 3000 feet below.  What a view !!

 
Don't look back !!

Our next stop was at the top of the sand mountain, about 2000 feet above a lake at the bottom of the dunes.  We had a great time, hauling butt down the mountain, cutting dido's in the sand, and running in circles on the side of the dunes.  Donna even managed to almost turn us over as we went around the side of one dune, started bogging down and losing traction.

 
On top of the dunes...

On Saturday night, the park has a little country and western music show, featuring Nickle, an employee at the park.  She is quite an accomplished singer whom we have become quite well acquainted with, since she is usually in the community room sewing when we have been playing cards.

 
A great little show...

I will report next on our trips to Zion National Park, a beautiful park just about 40 miles east of where we are staying.

 

Out of Las Vegas

Saturday, June 4, 2011

From Encore Park, Hurricane, UT

We arrived in Las Vegas last Sunday, after about a 300 mile drive from Yuma.  The first night and the next day were quite chilly, although we saw no rain.  We stayed at the Sam's Town RV park, right next to the Sam's Town casino. Fairly nice park with level sites, but quite narrow.  No trees where we were so no problem with the Datastorm or Satellite TV.

We checked out Sam's Town hotel and casino for a couple of hours Sunday night, after we drove downtown and checked out Binions.  Neither of us had much luck at either place, good or bad. 

On Monday we headed out to Hoover Dam, ignoring the fact that it was Memorial Day.  Well, that sure was the wrong thing to do. Traffic was backed up 7 or 8 miles to get to the dam, so we turned around and headed back to Las Vegas.

We drove down the strip, totally amazed at all the new hotels and casinos.  It had probably been at least 10 years since we were in town, and there has been major changes.  For the good, I suppose.

We decided to give our luck a try at the Excalibur, a place we stayed at when we brought Scott to Vegas for his 21st birthday.  It was virtually the same, but we had been lucky 20 or so years ago.  Again, not much luck, good or bad.

After playing awhile there we walked over skyway to the New York, New York and then across the bridge to MGM, just looking around. 

Tuesday, we decided it might be a good day to go to the dam, so off we went.  Absolutely no traffic back up, and we got parked in their parking garage quickly.  A short elevator ride to the ground floor and then a short walk to the visitor center. 

We had a great view of both the dam and the new bridge from the visitor center overlook.

 
 A view of the new bridge, but obscured by the power lines a bit.

 

 
This view of the dam is looking almost straight down from the observation deck.

After leaving the dam we drove back into Boulder City, and found a quaint little restaurant downtown and had a great hamburger.

 
The Coffee Cup Cafe

Back in Vegas we kinda hung around for a while, then decided to go try out the Rio Casino.  The Rio is famous for it's huge poker tournaments in its 100,000 square feet convention center.

Here we finally had a little good luck.  Donna got up pretty good, several hundred dollars, and I hit a straight flush at the 3 card poker table, which covered my previous losses, and managed to quit just about dead even for the trip.  I think Donna was pretty much dead even for the trip.

On Wednesday morning we left Vegas for the 140 mile drive to Hurricane, UT to meet up again with Bob and Molly at an Encore park there.  We saw some great scenery along the way including the Virgin River Canyon.

 
Typical view of the interestate through the canyon.

More on our stay in Hurricane later. (We sure ain't missed no meals)

 

Hanging Around Yuma

Saturday, May 28, 2011

From Our Lot, Yuma, Az

Before I get in to talking about Yuma, I need to talk about an event at the Cottonwood Thousand Trails park.  It seems that once a year a big sheep ranch in Casa Grande, somewhat south of Phoenix, has a 'sheep drive' to take their sheep to pastures near Flagstaff.  Now that is over 200 miles, and takes the crew about 6 weeks to make the trip.

As it turns out their route takes them right through the park, down a canyon and draw to the river where they cross.  There were over 1200 sheep, only three shepherds, 2 Border Collies, walking with the sheep, and 5 mules carrying supplies for the shepherds.

 
The mules are on their own and usually travel ahead of the sheep.

 

The sheep came down the draw, crossed the road, and then down an embankment to the river bottom, where they stopped for lunch for the shepherds and to allow the sheep and mules to graze.

I have had a lot of requests for pictures of Molly's and Donna's tatoo, so here it is.  I know, the tatoos are rather small, but ok for the first time.  I think they are comtemplating another one at some point.

 
 The Tatooed ankles

We are staying at our lot in the Foothills just east of Yuma.  Yup, it is pretty hot here (low 90's), but with no humidity it is really quite bearable. 

 

Our lot

One night we went to dinner at Julieanna's Patio.  We have intended to try this place when we were here in February, but just never made it.  It is really a unique place with both inside and patio dining.  We chose to eat inside, but had a window table looking out over the patio.

They have several parrots in residence.

 

And a Peacock.. 

 
 

And even a little yard art..

 
 

Moving On Tomorrow

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

From Thousand Trails Preserve, Cottonwood, AZ

Well, we will be pulling up stakes in the morning and heading over to Yuma.  We have had a great time with some great friends here in Cottonwood.  We just might have eaten a little too often and a little too much, but hey, we have to keep our strength up.

We tried the La Fonda restaurant, as recommended by Nick Russell, and were not a bit disappointed.  Food was great, and the service matched it.

And on one night we really splurged and went to 'Storyteller's' and had some great steaks, with Donna having Rack of Lamb.  We all did hang around a bit and fed a few machines, but I don't think anyone did much good.

However...  Donna and I went back to the casino on Saturday night, while there was a Styx concert going on, and I sat down to play 3-card poker, only my second time to play.  Well, I guess the stars were all aligned right because 2 hours later I had turned $100 into $1140 for a profit of $1040.  Just was my turn, I guess.

 
Donna, Molly, and Bob all on their new bikes.

 
 We drove out to the V Bar V ranch, now a national monument area of petroglyphs

 
 

The drive from the V Bar B to Sedona produced some great vistas of the Red Rock Formations around Sedona.

 

 

Well, that pretty much wraps up our 9 days here in the Verde Valley of Arizona, a great time spent with some super folks.  We will look forward to hooking up with them again on down the road.

Bob & Molly will depart tomorrow to spend some time in southwestern Utah, while we will head over to Yuma, Az to spend a few days at our lot there and check out the weather for Late May.  We expect its gonna be rather HOT!  We will see....

Oops.. forgot to download the pictures of the Tattooed Ladies... will catch it next time.

see ya later...

Tattoos for Donna & Molly

Thursday, May 19, 2011

From Thousand Trails Preserve, Cottonwood, AZ

Last Sunday was our day to 'get out of Albuquerque, and head over to Cottonwood, AZ, to spend a few days in that area.  The drive would be about 400 miles, with almost all of it on either I-40 or I-17.  We were planning on making the drive in one day, but we could not get into the park until Monday.

So, about halfway between Winslow and Flagstaff, we decided to stop over at the Meteor Crater attraction at their RV Park.  The crater is about 6 miles off the interstate, but the park is just as you exit the interstate.  Although, there were few people in the park, it was a very nice park.  The crater was formed when a meteor hit about 500 years ago.

 

When we arrived at the Thousand Trails on Monday, our reserved site was still not available, so we were placed in another site, which actually turned out to be a better site.

 As soon as we were set up, we took off for a quick lunch with Bob and Molly, shown below listening intently to some story Donna is telling.

 

One day, Donna and I decided to drive over to Jerome and Prescott.  We have been to Jerome before, but never Prescott.  Jerome is an old mining town tucked into the side of a mountain, about 10 miles from Cottonwood.  It is now a tourist attraction with several really high end shops in which to spend some large money.

 

From Jerome, it was about 30 miles on over the mountain to Prescott, with about 12 miles of that going up and down the mountain.  Allegedly there are 158 curves in the 12 miles drive.

Prescott is a beautiful little city with a great downtown and courthouse square.  By the time we got there, it had started to rain, and was actually quite cold also.   We did a little driving around the downtown and some of the neighborhoods, before headed back to Cottonwood.

 
This picture is a little 'skewed' since I took it out the window of the truck.

 
One of the very nice homes near downtown.

We have been going over to the park community room at night and playing a little 'Hand and Foot'.  As you might expect, in the 7 games we have played so far, Bob and I have won 6.  The only one Molly and Donna won, they beat us by only 10 points.  Oh well, such is life in the slow lane.

Well I guess that is all I have to report at this time...  

Oh, I almost forgot about the Tattoos... But, since I am already over 400 words in this blog, I will just tell you about those next time..

Yall be good!!

 

Must See - Albuquerque

Sunday, May 15, 2011

From Turquoise RV, Cedar Crest, NM

We are leaving Albuquerque today, headed on further west to Cottonwood, AZ, where we will spend a few days with our friends, Bob and Molly.  But first I wanted to talk a little about a couple of things in Albuquerque that are a 'Must See' as far as we are concerned.

First is 'Old Town Albuquerque'.  We went there a couple of time, having lunch while there on one occasion.  The area surrounds a really nice plaza with an old church on one side, and shops and restaurants on the other three sides and a block or so down the side streets.

 

 
The Church

I really failed to take many photos in Old Town, but it is definitely a place to go.

The other 'Must See' is the Indian Cultural Museum, a beautiful facility operated by the Tribal Council of the 19 Pueblos (tribes) in and around Albuquerque.

There are a lot of exhibits and various artwork as well as an excellent museum showing artifacts from the various pueblos.  We were not allow to photograph any of the museum area.

We timed our visit so that we would  be present for a Dance Demonstration by one of the pueblos.

The first was the 'Dance of the Buffalo"

 
 

The second dance was the 'Dance of the Eagle'

 

There were a number of vendors there from various tribes selling their hand-made items at fairly reasonable prices.  In fact, Donna bought an ankle bracelet made with silver and various stones.

Next post will be from the Thousand Trails Preserve in Cottonwood, AZ.

 

Hanging Out In Albuquerque

Friday, May 6, 2011

From Turqouise RV, Cedar Crest, NM

We are in a park about 10 miles east of Albuquerque, not far off of I-40.  The drive from Santa Fe was only about  50 miles along a scenic route, and was without incident (we thought).  But, as I returned from checking in to help Donna finish un-hooking the truck, we discovered a major failure of the tow bar.

One of the brackets that is between the frame and the tow-bar had actually snapped in two.  Fortunately, there is a safety chained that kept everything pretty much in place and there was no damage to the truck, the motorhome or the remainder of the tow bar.

We have ordered a complete new set of frame brackets, which should arrive on Monday, the 9th, and will be installed on Tuesday, the 10th.

Monday night Mac and Netters were in the same park overnight, headed east so we had a chance to have dinner with them.

 

Mac and Netters left the next day and we started seeing a few sights in and around Albuquerque.  At one point we visited the Albuquerque Aquarium and Gardens, which were quite nice.

 

 

Although not the largest aquarium we have been in, this one was quite well done and fairly extensive.

 
Regardless of the low lighting, I was able to get the photo with the camera set at 6400 ISO, and a wide aperture.

  

This beautiful turtle was about 2 feet long and over a foot wide.

Over the last several days we have also visited a couple of casinos.  I even won a couple of hundred on a visit to the Sandia Casino in the north part of Albuquerque.  Donna has won some and lost some, and so far is about even during our stay here.

 
The Hard Rock Casino is located about 15 miles south just off I-25.  The Isleta Pueblo (tribe) 'owns' the casino and benefits from the profits.

All of the casinos in the area are owned by the various pueblos, and is a big financial benefit to each tribe.

Late one afternoon we visited the Sandia Aerial Tramway, although we were not interested in taking the trip to the top at that time.

 

 

Santa Fe - Wind, Rain, and Snow

Sunday, May 2, 2011

From Turquoise Trail RV,  Cedar Crest, NM

Yes, I am way behind on my blog.  So I will try to do a little catching up. It seemed like the entire week in Santa Fe we had to endure very windy conditions and even some very cold evenings and nights, with snow flurries.

One day we took a drive up the 'High Road' on the way to Taos.  On the way we visited the Santuario de Chamayo chapel, which was quite interesting.

 

While in Taos we visited the town Plaza, browsing through many shops featuring Indian jewelry, artifacts, art, and sculptures.

 

We also had lunch at the Alley Cafe where Donna had their Blue Cheese / Onion Ring Burger.. it was HUGE !!

 

Another day we visited the town of Los Alamos, where in the 1940's the Atomic Bomb was invented.

We visited the museum, where a mock-up of the two bombs that were dropped on Japam were on display.  Shown below is Fat Boy.

 

 One night we had dinner with our RV friends, Paul and Mary, whom we have been acquainted with through our blogs, but just now met them in person.

 

 

We had a great dinner at The Blue Corn Grill and Brewery, and really enjoyed getting to know them better.

After leaving Santa Fe on Monday, the 2nd of May, we plan to spend 5 or so days in Albuquerque.

Santa Fe - Downtown

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

From Santa Fe Skies RV, Santa Fe, NM

We decided to visit the Downtown / Plaza area of Santa Fe today.  We were fortunate to quickly find a parking space between the Plaza and the Cathedral.

 
The Cathedral

On side of the Plaza is occupied by a government building, where the covered sidewalk is used by the Native Americans to display their wares.  The other 3 sides are all commercial, and they are not allowed there.

 
 

 
A display of jewelry

We also visited quite a few art galleries, viewing some really fantastic talent.

We then visited the Loreta Chapel, famous for the spiral staircase to the choir loft that appears to have no visible support.

 

 
The Loretto Chapel Staircase.

Wind, Rain, Sleet, and Snow

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

From Santa Fe Skies RV, Santa Fe, NM

We hung around the coach until about 10, then decided to do a little exploring.  We wanted to look for a book or two, so the first stop was Borders.  Quite cold this morning, in the low 40's, but we could handle that.  We figured it would warm up later, so after leaving Borders, we drove to the plaza, a 400 years old area of Old Santa Fe.

As we drove around looking for a parking spot, we began to get a little light rain that shortly turned to sleet, and before long there were even a few large flakes of snow.

So we abandoned the Plaza visit.  We thought there might be a Trader Joe's in Santa Fe, and sure enough the GPS found it.  Now that is a very interesting place, much smaller than we anticipated, but quite a selection of foods.  We bought a few thing just to try.  Then we found the wine selection.  They had the famous 'Two Buck Chuck'.. which is actually Charles Shaw Winery and it is $2.99 a bottle.

By this time it was after noon, so we decided to return to the coach for soup and salad.  By the time we got back home, the snow and sleet was disipating, but the wind was picking up.

Wind was a steady 30 to 40 mph, with gusts to 50 or 60 mph.  Quite bad.  With the coach a rocking a rolling we decided to bring the slides in to protect the slide 'toppers' from the wind.  Some friends recently had extensive damage to their 'toppers' from a high wind.

We later drove just north of town to a small casino.  We were not impressed with the selection of slots or table, so we left after about 30 minutes.

Back in Santa Fe we found a little Mexican Diner in a shopping center.  It was so new, they only had a temporty sign.  But the food was excellent, different from TexMex, and quite tasty.

The wind blew all night, up until about 3am. 

Guess we will see what tomorrow brings.

Travel to El Paso & Santa Fe

Monday, April 25, 2011

From Santa Fe Skies RV Park, Santa Fe, NM

We left Ozona Sunday morning with me doing the driving for about the first 120 miles or so, and Donna driving the remainder of the way to the Cummins dealership.  We hooked up to the complimentary power (50amp), and got settled in to wait for their opening up Monday morning.

We decided to find a Wal-Mart Supercenter and following our GPS directions.  However, it was not a Super Center but a Wal-Mart Neighborhood Grocery.  Since groceries was what we came for, we just did our shopping there.

This morning we were in the shop by 8am and they started working on the slide hydrallic pump motor installation.  The Foretravel Factory Parts folks had done an excellent job of getting the part to them before our arrival.

We were done with the work by about 9:30 and were hooked up and ready to roll by 10am.  We are currently at Santa Fe Skies RV Park just outside Santa Fe where we plan to spend about a week.

We have quite a bit of housekeeping to do, now that we are set up, but we did take a few minutes to stop by and visit with Paul & Mary.  We have been acquainted through Facebook for some time, but just now getting acquainted face to face.

When we arrived the temp was about 65, and the wind was howling up a storm.  As I finish writing this the wind has subsided substantually, and the temp in now in the mid-50's.  Low tonight expected to be 32*.  Oops !!

We are really looking forward to our week in Santa Fe.

 

Pecos River Ranch

Saturday, April 23, 2011

From Ozona, Tx    

We left Buckhorn Friday morning for the 135 mile trip to Ozona, arriving about 10:00 and getting checked in at the Economy Lodge RV Park.  It's not the greatest park, but adequate, except for only 30 amp service.

About noon, after a burger at the DQ, we headed out to the ranch where Scott and Austin are spending a few days with some of Scott's associates that own the 5000 acre ranch.

Our instructions from Scott were to drive the 22 miles to exit 343, then south about 10 miles on Tx 290 to CR 411 and he would meet us at the turn-off.  When we got there he was not there, so we eased on down the road to meet him.

Suddenly, we spotted a Razor flying toward us.  Austin was driving, one of the group's wife was riding shotgun, and Scott was in the rear cargo bed, holding on for dear life.  (For those not acquaited with the Razor, it is an ATV with an enclosed cab, steering wheel, shoulder harness, etc). 

We visited a few minutes, then Austin escorted us back to the ranch house, about 7 or 8 miles down the county road.  Some of the folks we already knew, and we quickly met the rest.  Donna brought a Strawberry Cake, which made for a great get aquainted item, as we all gathered around the kitchen table getting to know each other.

After a bit more visiting, Scott and Austin took us over to  the bunk house where they are staying along with two other guys. 

 

We took our pickup with 4 wheel drive so we could drive on up to the top of the mountain for a view back down to ranch headquarters.

 

Back at headquarters, Austin decided he needed to take his Nonna on a ride in the Razor.   So off they went.

 

Of course, he also took Kpoppa for a ride, too.

A view of the Pecos River located at the rear of the property,

 

One of the owners, Lloyd and Tina are shown below.  Great folks.

 

We hung around until mid-afternoon, then decided to head back to town, take a couple of quick naps and just hang around. 

On Sunday, we did a little exploring.  We intended to go to the local museum, but it was closed because of Easter.

Late Saturday, we drove back out to the ranch, and had a great visit with everyone, particularily since it was a lot cooler today, and little humidity.

We leave in the morning for El Paso and the Cummins dealer to try to get the slide problem fixed.

 

Mechanical Issues

Thursday, April 21, 2011

From Buckhorn Lake RV Resort, Kerrville.

We had planned to extend our stay here another night, but when checking with the office we found that our space was reserved for tonight, and was reserved as a 'buddy site' to the folks next to us, so they couldn't just relocate the folks with the reservation.  Family was coming in.  So we would either have to move or leave by noon.

We went ahead and enjoyed a nice breakfast at Cracker Barrel, discussed our options, and just decided to go ahead and move on to Ozona.  And that's when the trouble started.

Donna brought in the bedroom slide with no problem, then as she brought in the front slide, it stopped about half way. Uh Oh... now what?  Most of you know just how mechanically inclined I am, so I did what anyone in my situation would do.  I called Foretravel Factory Tech Support.

Mark walked me through a few steps to try to determine what was the problem.  My volt meter would not show any voltage where there should be, but I had no confidence in my meter.  After doing a little jumping between power post, we basicly decided it was the HWH hydralic pump motor. 

Mark at Foretravel, explained how we could adjust some screws on some gadgets on the pump, and manually push in the slide, if we could find about 6 strong men to help.

In the meantime, Donna located a local RV tech to come check it out.  Before he got here, I borrowed a volt meter from a neighbor and found the voltage was all ok.  Proved it was the pump motor.  And I trashed my meter.

The RV tech guy showed up, took the motor apart, found it appeared it had over heated, tried to repair it, but it didn't work still.

While the local guy was working on it, Mike Grimes, Foretravel Parts manager called at the request of Mark the Tech Guy.  He said they had a motor in stock and could overnight it to me today.  I told him to stand-by, I would call him back.

Meantime, the local guy could not get a pump shipped in tomorrow.  Since we are going through El Paso in a few days, I called the Cummins place in El Paso, got an appointment for Monday, and Foretravel will ship the pump directly to Cummins.

The Foretravel folks went way above and beyond to get us back on the road, and I can't thank then enough.

So for the next few days, we will live with the slides in.  Actually, that won't be a big problem except getting in the bed on one side.  Guess we will work it out. -:)

 

 

Back to Fredericksburg

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

From Buckhorn Lake Resort, Kerrville, Tx

We headed back to Fredericksburg this morning for no other reason but to have lunch at Altdorf's Biergarten, the one that was closed yesterday. And it was well worth the trip.  Much better selections and the lunch came with 3 sides rather than one side yesterday, plus a bowl of soup rather that a cup.

 
 Donna's plate.

Last night Donna did a little research trying to find a friend of ours that we rode Harleys with back 8-10 years ago.  She actually found his address for his home, so while in town we went to his house.  No one was at home.  He used to be in sales and traveled quite a bit, so we left a card.  Hopefully, we will hear from him.

Before leaving town we stopped at Opa's Smoked Meats but only got a little corned beef and some Bavarian Mustard.

 

We got back to the coach about 1:30 and relaxed for a while.

Then about 5:30 we wondered over to the outdoor kitchen area in the park where our friend, Paul Tinkle, was getting a new Foretravel set up for viewing during the Free Ice Cream Social hosted by Foretravel, scheduled for 6:30.

 

Paul Tinkle, Foretravel Sales 

 
 

By 6:30 a large crowd of maybe a hundred folks had gathered, looking at the coach and enjoying the ice cream. 

 
Paul handing a couple of brochures to a lady. 

 

Out and About

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

From Buckhorn Lake Resort, Kerrville, Tx

We decided this morning to drive over to Frederickburg, one of our favortie Texas towns.  Leaving the coach about 9:30 we got into Frederickburg about 10 and parked on the main street with all the shops.

Visited a few shops, Donna bought a couple of items, and we strolled up one side and down the other and back to the truck.

By the time we finished our little stroll, it was time to head to our favorite German Restaurant - Altdorf's Biergarten.  Oops.. Closed on Tuesday.

 

I thought I remembered a German restaurant west on US 290 near the edge of town.  So we headed that way, and sure enough we found it, Friedhelm's.

 

We both had the Jager Schnitzel, which was quite good, but not sure it was as good as Altdorf's.  And we think the portions were smaller and a little more expensive. Guess we will have to go back to Altdorf's tomorrow. -:)

The place was really large with several dining rooms and a great bar area, but there were hardly any customers.

 
The Bar Area 

After lunch we drove over to Sisterdale, a tiny little town between Comfort and Fredericksburg and Boerne.  Our favorite winery is located in this little town with a population of 25.

 

We were down to our last bottle of their Sister Creek Chardonnay, so we bought a case of the 2009 crop.

 
 Donna paying for the case of wine.

While there we were priviledged to watch them bottling wine.  A lot of small wineries in Texas cannot afford the expensive bottling equipment, so they hire a mobile bottling facility (the only one in Texas)  to come to their winery and do custom bottling.  The rig is owned by a family that also has a winery, and today and tomorrow they plan to bottle over 2000 cases for Sister Creek Winery.

 
The cases to the right contain empty bottles which are placed on a conveyor, go through the filling, corking, labeling, and come back out the back of the trailer, where they are put back in the case, sealed, and loaded on pallets.

 

Here the bottles are being filled.

Avoiding the interstate, we took the back roads to Comfort and then into Kerrville and back to Buckhorn.

Headed West !!

Monday, April 18, 2011

From Buckhorn RV Resort, Kerrville, Tx

We left home this morning about 8 and arrived at Buckhorn about 3:30 this afternoon.  Rather than travel though Bryan, Austin, and Frederickburg, we decided to go through Houston and San Antonio.  Probably quite a few miles further, but according to our GPS, only about 10 minutes longer.  Well worth the time, since its freeway almost the entire trip.

I spend a good bit of the time texting with the office trying to solve a Mal-Ware problem on one of the computers.  Finally had the office call a local guys to bring some clean-up software.  Not sure yet if cleaned up or not.

Temps here in Kerrville are in the low 90's.  And DRY.. No rain in this area.  We are probably too late for the Bluebonnets, even if there were any in this drought.

Donna did most of the driving today, since I was dealing with the office.  Actually she prefers to do most of the driving.  And she is good at it.  She says it keeps her from getting bored..

Between Houston and San Antonio we stopped at a Travel Center called Buck-ee's, not you normal convenience store.  No truckers are allowed, only cars and RV's, with lots of parking.  They have a complete Deli, Bakery, convenience items, drinks and of course a lot of Texas type items for sale.  We didn't check out the rest rooms, but have been told there are 40 stalls in the ladies room and it's as nice as any facility in a Las Vegas casino.

After getting settled in and relaxing a bit, we drove into town to get a few groceries at the big HEB here.  This is a huge store with a fantastic selection.  Now we just have to decide what to have for dinner tonite.

 

 

We Did WHAT ???

Saturday, February 19, 2011

From Yuma, AZ

We woke this morning to a little thunder, a little rain, and a little hail.  With a break in the weather, we spent about 2 hours at breakfast with Bob & Molly.  Over the last few weeks, we have managed to have breakfast with them several times, keeping caught up on all the happenings.

Since today was our last chance, we spent nearly two hours at Daybreakers, eating a great breakfast and doing a lot of talking about Yuma.  They have been here once before about 2-3 years ago, and like us.. really love this winter weather.

We left Lufkin headed to the desert in Arizona, but with no plans to go to Yuma.  After hearing so many good things we decided to spend a week or so here.  Well that week or so has turned into almost a month, and we have loved every minute of it.  Yuma is not a big city, small enough to get around, but large enough to have a lot to offer.

We have found the farming activities to be very interesting, and have really enjoyed watching the process in the fields.  Yesterday, we took a drive to the east of Yuma and came upon about a 100 field hands hoeing a field of plants.  We think it was either cauliflower or broccoli.

 
Hoeing the rows.

 

 
Another field of the same, but more mature.

Okay, so what does the title mean, you are wondering,  Well....  it seems that we really like it here... and..... We Bought A Lot !!  

Crazy, Huh?  Well, not so much.  The Foothills area is filled with RV lots where folks park their RV, have a little casita or maybe a house and spend the winter months here in this really mild climate.

A new subdivision opened over a year ago, has had really slow sales, so the price of the lots has been greatly reduced.  Although the developer's prices are firm, we found a very large lot owned by the fence contractor that was a really good deal.

 
The entrance to the subdivision.

 
A view of our lot.

Our lot is 80 feet wide and 110 feet deep, one of the largest in the subdivision.  An owner is allowed to park two RV's with a casita, or one RV if there is a house on the lot.

 
This is a casita under construction in the sub-division.  A casita is usually 400 to 500 or so square feet and contains a bathroom, kitchen, a gathering room.  No sleeping quarters are allowed in a casita.

Obviously we have no plans to build a house, but we will probably build a very small casita in the next year or two.  We hope to be able to spend several months (winter) a year in Yuma.  Guess we will see how that goes.

We will leave here tomorrow, headed back to East Texas, with a stop in Waco on the way.  Our grandson is competing in a state archery tournament next week, and we want to be there to see him complete.  Good luck to the St. Cyprian's Archery Team.

More later...

Still in Yuma

Friday, February 18, 2011

From Yuma, AZ

We are still enjoying our stay in Yuma, Az.  The weather has been just about perfect.  Highs in the low 70's with lows around 50 or so. 

On Valentines Day we had a great get-together at some friends for a really nice Valentine dinner.

 
 A great layout of some really good food.

 

The ladies: Standing (l-r) Molly, Donna, Arlene, Seated (l-r) Lynette and Karen

 
The guys: Standing: Me and Donnie.  Seated: Bob, Greg (Mac) and Kevin

We have attended several Happy Hour get-togethers this week, hosted by various friends or friends of friends.  One was hosted by Bob & Phyllis, from Washington.

 
A part of the 25 or so folks at the Happy Hour.

One afternoon Bob & Molly and Harold & Tommie Sue hosted a great Happy Hour.  We actually met a little earlier than normal since several folks (Molly?) wanted to be done in time to watch Survivor.

Bob cooked some fantastic wings. (note only a few left on the huge tray that had been piled real high.

 
Lots of great food including a fantastic soup from Tommie Sue.

 
A few of the folks...

 
A few of the guys..

One of the benefits of being in Yuma, besides the weather, is the beautiful sunsets that seem to just appear almost every day.  A couple of examples follow:

 

 

Just a couple of more reasons there are so many RVer's that spend their winters here in Yuma.

 More Later...

More About Yuma

Sunday, February 13, 2011

From Yuma, AZ

We are still hanging around Yuma, and loving it.  The weather here is just perfect.  In fact, Yuma weather is great for most of the year.  There are 339 days of sunshine during a year, and only 3 inches of rain.  Humidity is almost non-existent.  Now the summer months can be brutal with the heat, over 100 degrees mostly, but with the low humidity, folks say it is not unbearable.

The winter months bring literally thousands and thousands of part-time residents to Yuma and the Foothills to the east of Yuma.  Many are from Washington, Oregon, and the Western provinces of Canada.

One day last week Donna and I, along with Bob & Molly, drove over to Los Algodones, just across the border into Mexico.  A large parking lot on ths US side is operated by an Indian Tribe.  It is then just a short walk across the border to the heart of the shopping district.

 
Donna checking out some of the merchandise.

 

One of the vendors is attempting to talk Donna into buying one of his purses.  Almost all of the vendors were dressed very nicely, spoke excellent English, and were not REAL pushy.  They were however highly negotiatable, and I mean highly.

Most of the stores and dentist offices had 'hawkers' on the sidewalk trying to get you into their store or office.  There are over 100 dentists in the small little town,  Some of these guys were even dressed in slacks with white shirt and tie. 

Bob and Molly visited a dentist for a cleaning and were very pleased, and it cost only $40, compared to over $100 in the states.

 Not your typical Texas Border Town.  And, as opposed to Texas Border towns, there were NO kids begging on the street.  Only well dressed vendors.

Donna and I stopped in this little plaza for coffee and a coke, and enjoyed the scenery.  There were very clean restrooms available there, although they asked for a 50 cent tip.

 
A beautiful private plaza.

At the end of the plaza was a beauty / barber shop, with about 25 folks in line waiting for the $4 haircuts for men and $6 haircuts for women.

On night our group met in Old Town Yuma to go to D' Boyz Italian restaurant.  Great sevice and great food at very reasonable prices.

 
A great evening with some great friends. 

Been Two Weeks.... Way Far Behind

Thursday, February 10, 2011

From Yuma, Az

As I said the last time I posted, after the funeral for my mother, we would finish up some of her affairs and return to Yuma on Saturday, the 29th.  Again Mac and Lynette picked us up at the airport and back to our motorhome.

Since returning we have been real active with our game playing with the whole crowd.   By the way, the core group we are hanging around with are Kevin & Arlene, Mac and Lynette, Donnie and Karen, and Bob and Molly.  Others that we know here have been around some, also. 

When we originally left Quartzsite, we left Bob & Molly and a bunch of other folks still boondocking in the desert.  So we were really glad to see them when they arrived on Sunday after we got back on Saturday night.

We have done quite a bit of sight-seeing around Yuma...

 
The Yuma Territorial Prison

 

 
A Vendor Fair in Old Downtown Yuma

 
Harvesting Celery

 

Trimming, bagging, boxing the celery for shipment to the Distributors

 
A field of cabbage ready for harvest.

Donna and I have been to a local casino a few times.  Donna's luck seems to be holding as she pocketed $240 the first time and $700 the second.  We will see if her luck continues to hold.

There has been a lot more happening, and I will try to get an update done before the week-end is over.

More Later...

The Funeral

Thursday, January 27, 2011

From Lufkin, Texas

As most of you may know from my Facebook post, my Mother passed away Tuesday morning.  We are at this time preparing to go to the funeral services.

After settling a few affairs on Friday, we will return to Yuma late Saturday, arriving in Yuma (and our motorhome) about 10:20pm.  We are really looking forward to spending some time with our RV friends already in Yuma.

A great big Thank You to Mac and Lynette for taking us to the airport Monday afternoon and watching our motorhome in our absence.  You guys are great!!

More later....

Way Far Behind Again

Saturday, January 22, 2011

From The Desert, 5 miles south of Quartzsite

As usual I have let time get away from me, and been very lax on posting a blog.  In fact our son and daughter-in-law in Houston just called and chastised me for being so lax.  They enjoy traveling with us vicariously.

So where was I...  On Monday, Donna and I drove out to where the Boomers are located to try and find our friends Cindy and Ken.  Only about 20 rigs there, we found their rig, but they were gone.  Boomers are an Escapee Chapter for folks born 1946 to 1964.  We saw them at the Tent Show today, and they said over 80 rigs are there now.

Tuesday morning, Donna and I were up early and about 8:30 I started cooking my famous Migas for everyone in our group.  Donna took a picture of me slaving over a hot 'plow disk wok' as Molly and Jerry Lea are discussing whether they think I really know what I am doing.

 

That afternoon we rode with Bob and Molly to visit a couple of other chapters that are boondocking north of Quartzsite.  The first was Chapter 34, where we we just in time to hear the Mayor of Quartzsite make a presentation to the large group.

 

We didn't know but the Chapter was having a pot luck dinner and insisted we join in.  I think Bob and Molly were quite pleased since they totally cleaned their plates.

 

We also stopped by to see Art Fennel at another group, and visited a bit.  Art is in charge of Security at the Escapades and was with us at Betty's in Abbyville recently.

Wednesday was the first of two days that our group will be hosting an Escapee Happy Hour for all Escapees in the area.  And as expected about 300-400 showed up.  Donna actually climbed up on our motorhome to take this picture. 

 
 

Several other friends also showed up.

 
On either side of Bob are Brenda and J.B. who are from British Columbia.  We met them a couple years ago in Fredericksburg.  To Molly's left is Mike and Jana from Montana, whom we just met for the first time, but have followed their blog for some time.

Several couples that we will be visiting in Yuma next week also drove over for the day.

 
Kevin and Arlene

I failed to get pictures of Mac & Lynette and Donnie and Karen.

We were rewared Wednesday night with a beautiful moon rising over our campfire.   Bob and Donna with the moon behind them and the fire in front.

 

Thursday was another Happy Hour for the Escapees, but much smaller group of maybe 100 - 150.

Friday most of us broke camp and moved to an area about 5 miles south of the main area, and about a mile off the pavement.  Only 5 rigs here so far, but more are expected later.

Saturday morning we headed to the Main Tent for the first day of the RV Show.  Although lots of temporary lots around town are selling RV's, the Big Tent is for vendors with RV related products, or maybe just something to sell to whatever 'suckas' might show up.

I didn't want to lug my big camera around so I took the little Sony Cyber Shot.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take any pictures.  We were really lucky to snag a spot to park where a pick-up and small trailer had just pulled out of two spaces.  We grabbed them both, called Bob and Molly who were only 100 yds away, and saved the second for them.  You guys owe us, you know that.. -:)

We are back at camp, its about 5pm and guess we will see what gets cooked up for tonight.

More Later...  (but not too much later, I hope) 

(A couple of hours later) ---  Actually J.B. and Brenda are from Alberta... sorry for my mistake.

  

Boondocking in the Arizona Desert

Sunday, January 16, 2011

From Quartzsite, AZ

We left Benson SKP Park about 8:45 Saturday morning for the 315 mile drive to Quartzsite following Bob & Molly.  We will be parking in the desert with a group of Escapees that will be hosting a huge Happy Hour on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon. 

As we got to the west side of Phoenix, Bob  & Molly peeled off at a Wal-Mart for a little re-stocking of their pantry, so we continued about 50 miles on down I-10 to a rest area to wait on them.

We arrived in Quartzsite shortly after 3pm, found the location that we will be parking while we are here.  About 10 rigs are already here, and about 10 more are expected, to help with the Happy Hour.

Everyone gathered up about 4 to visit a while, then someone suggested we order a bunch of the $1.00 Taco's from one of the Vendor Stands.  So someone took orders from everybody, and a couple of the guys took off to pick them up.  Great Tacos, too.

Bit first a quick explanation of Boondocking for our non-rv-ing readers.  Boondocking is spending time in your coach or other type RV in area with no hook-ups.. no electricity, no water, no sewer, no WiFi, no nothing..

In order to sustain a boondocking experience for very long, you must be prepared.  Now Donna and I have spent 1 night occassionally in a Rest Area or even a Wal-Mart parking lot. But we are about to spend about 10 days here in Quartzsite boondocking.

We have fresh water storage of over 100 gallons and two waste water tanks  for the gray and black water.  We have 3 large batteries to store power and  an inverter to convert the battery power to electricity for the appliances.  We have a generator to also generate electricity and at the same time charge the batteries.  Some of the other folks here also have solar panels to help charge the batteries.

We met some folks nearby, but not with our group, from College Station, Tx and they invited us to join them at their campfire.  Since they also have a Foretravel indentical to ours we had a lot to talk about.

Sunday

I was up early this morning to try and catch the first rays of sunlight coming over the mountains behind us.  I even got a few pictures of the sunrise.

 
The sunrise at Quartzsite

Later we drove over to some of the vendor areas, and checked out a few of the hundreds of vendors.

 
One of the larger vendors.

Before returning to our coaches, we drove a few miles south of town, and off into the desert, where we found Howie and Nora, two good friends that we last saw in Rockport last March. It is always so great to re-new our friendships.

I will end today's blog with picture a our view late this afternoon as the sun set over the mountains to our west. 

 

 

The Breakfast Club

Thursday, January 13, 2011

From Benson, AZ

A group of us left Benson this morning about 9:30 for the hour drive to Bisbee, down near the Mexican Border.  Our primary destination was a cafe in old Bensen called the Breakfast Club, located in a couple of old merchantile stores.

After a brief wait, all 12 of us were seated in the second dining room.

 

The group waiting on food.

After breakfast, Bob & Molly and Donna & I drove over to the newer part of Bisbee to walk the streets and see a few sights.

We toured Bisbee Mining Museum. 

 

Bisbee is home to a former massive Tin Mine.  There were several diorama such as the following.

 

After visiting the museum, we strolled up and down the main street and browsed a few shops, where we also ran into the rest of our group, also doing a little shopping, as shown below.

 

The Bag Girls..

We will spend Friday getting groceries, doing laundry, and just general duties preparing for our trip to Quartzite on Saturday morning.  There is also a grilled chicken dinner tomorrow at 5:30, which we all will attend.

 More from Quartzite on Saturday... 

Tragedy in Tucson

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

From Benson, AZ

Donna & I decided to drive over to Tucson today for lunch and to just see a few sights there.  We had a brochure about the 4th Ave area and decided to check out the area of shops and restaurants.

The area is a conglomeration of shops and unique restaurants, most of them hippies / gypsy / rainbow type.  We had picked an Italian restaurant as our destination and found it quite easily thanks to our GPS.

The restaurant was very nice, had been in business since the 30's in the same location, was family owned and operated.  We both had their lunch portion of lasagna, which was more than enough. 

After the great lunch we decided to check out the downtown area, which is very modern and quite busy.  Remembering the shooting that had occured a few days earlier we decided to see if we could find the hospital where the memorials were on the lawn.

Again with the help of the GPS, we located it quite easily, and luckily, in spite of the crowds, we found a parking space very close to the area.  Of course there were a lot of TV satellite trucks and lots of sophisticated equipment and lots of TV personnel there.

 
One of many satellite transmission trucks. 

 

 
Being interviewed by TV personality

 
Thousands of memorials

 
A moment of reflection 

The scene was quite moving with all the folks reflecting on the incident.  I know the politics surrounding this event have been totally off the scale in terms of accusations. 

But, without comment on my part, I will just leave it to my readers to reach their own conclusions....

More later.....

Land Of Standing Up Rocks

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

From Benson, AZ

Some time around mid-morning we picked up Bob and Molly to go do a little exploring.  After consulting the area map, we decided to travel east of Benson, headed for the Chiricahua National Monument.  This entailed a drive back east on I-10, where we first stopped at the rest area in Texas Canyon.

This is an unusual rock formation formed by a volcanic eruption many years ago, I think.

 
The rocks as seen right from the Rest Area. 

From there we turned south at Willcox for the 40 mile or so drive to Chiricahua National Monument.  I am not sure just what we were expecting, since we only knew it was a National Monument from seeing it on the map.

We drove basically through what is called high mountain desert, with nothing but sage brush and a few signs for ranches, though we saw very few cattle.

We first stopped at the Visitors Center to get a feeling for what we were about to see.  The center is quite small compared to others, but was very nice, well staffed, and had an abundance of information.

From the Visitors Center we took the Massai Point road, heading to the top of the mountain.

 

The awesome beauty of these rock formations were quite inspiring.

 

Bob took my camera to take mine and Donna's picture, only to realize that Donna was about to start a snowball fight. 

 

Of course, retaliation was in order.

 
 

By the time we finished visting the park, it was way past lunch time, so we continued the loop circling back to the RV Park, expected to find a place to eat in one the little settlements we would pass through.

Finally, we located a little cafe, that was closing in 5 minutes, but the nice folks were willing to serve these 4 starving souls.

We made it back to the RV Park, met up later for our card game, which the guys won 2-1.

More later...

 

 

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Arrived at Saguaro SKP Park

Monday, January 10, 2011  

From Saguaro SKP Park, Benson, AZ

After our over-night stay at the Arizona Welcome Center, we took our time in getting on the move this morning, since we only had about 80 miles to drive to our destination.

Hitting the Super Slab a little after 8, we expected to arrive at the park about 10.  On the way we passed through Texas Canyon, an area of very beautiful and unusual rock formation.  There is a rest area there where we had spent the night in back in 2007, when we took Austin to California for a couple of weeks.

We arrived at Saguaro just as planned.  Bob & Molly, who have been here a few days, called as we pulled in, saying they had a few errands and would be back soon.

After checking in, we were guided to our site by one of the resident volunteers.  This park is an 'Escapee Associated' park with the sites being owned by individual members.  Some lots are offered for rent in the owner's absence.

After getting set up and starting a quick tour of the park, Bob and Molly called that they were back and headed our way.  So great to see these great friends again.

 

Our site at the park.

After about an hour of visiting, we decided we would get back together at 2pm for a trip to Tombstone, located about 20 miles south of here. 

Arriving in Tombstone we had a couple of hours to browse some of the shops before meeting some other friends of Bob and Molly, Gene & Cheri for an early dinner at Big Nose Kate's Saloon.

 
We even had time for a very informative tour of Tombstone in this stage coach.

The food at Kate's was really good with a couple of shared appetizers and every one getting one of their famous pizza's.

One of the waitresses even visited with us, posing for pictures while sitting on my and Bob's lap.  Mary was a great sport.

 
Bob and Mary

 
Myself and Mary

After saying goodnight to Gene and Cheri (sorry, I forgot to get their picture), we headed back to the park and dropped Bob & Molly off at their rig.

No big plans for tomorrow, but I expect there may be a game of Hand and Foot somewhere in the future.

More later...