Snow in Arizona

18 January 10 - 25 January 10

Spent one afternoon going into old train cars in a railroad museum. Miriam was in her utopia for the afternoon. Not a lot of steam engines, but did get to go thru one of the four remaining of eight owned by Santa Fe RR. They allowed us thru because they were in it doing restoration work. These cars were used by Division Superintendants. They could sleep eight plus a porter and chef. They always had the Super, his secretary and a porter, but if they had more than that a chef was required, also. Otherwise the porter doubled as the chef.

The RV is fixed, or so we thought. They installed the jack and we used them in Mesa the last couple of days. Everything worked right when we left Mesa for Benson on Wed., but we were in the middle of nowhere when the 'jacks down' light came on and it started beeping like mad. We made it to the side of the road and I checked everything and one jack was down about an inch. No place to get under the RV on an interstate highway so we started down the road in full beep mode. I took the next exit and crawled under the back and took out the plug and pushed up the jack. Not a pretty picture, but it was up. In the pushing up it squirts oil back out the plug hole and I wore it straight in the chest. After changing clothes again, third time in the day at that point, we made it to Benson, AZ in the early afternoon.

The last two days in Mesa were spent looking to do something non time consuming while they worked on the RV and getting everything in order for moving. We did buy a box of oranges - $10.50 out of the field. Just like home we also froze ten bags of broccoli as we are finally all out of the vegetables from our garden.

We have seen Tombstone, AZ and the museum at Fort Huachuca – just so you do not sound like an outsider – that is pronounced 'wa-chu-ka'. No I am not that smart – I was stationed with a person who had been stationed there and I had the opportunity to show my ignorance a long time ago. Test question – “Who knows why one regiment stationed there in the early 1880s were called 'Buffalo Soldiers?” NO GOOGLEING - Answer in 30 days – unless someone emails me the answer first then I will share the name and give credit... The day at Tombstone was cold and windy, so we didn't get to see all the tourist traps but spent a couple of hours in the museum. History is interesting when you can see what you have only read about. You can get a wagon wheel for $175 in the antique store – if you want all the spokes in it they start at $350.

It snowed here almost down to the valley floor. We were going to a canyon to walk so I had the opportunity to practice my driving in the snow for this year. Lots of rain on Fri. night – my how the draws can fill with water in a hurry.

So far we plan on going to a lake and see if we can find any different birds the first of the week.

Pictures:
Railroad Business Car – flat area on left holds typewriter
Type E8 Diesel
Tombstone Jail – the panels mad a 16 x 16 cell – the room had eight cells
1880s Courtroom
Stagecoach – leaving after the holdup

11 January 10 - 17 January 10

We have seen Red Rock State Park, Casa Grande, Toozigot and Montezuma National Monuments this week. The names are weird but the explanation makes them seem logical. Toozigot means crooked river. Montezuma was named after the explorer, thinking he had made it this far and was a place he had discovered. Beautiful places to visit and the engineering in them is amazing. We have now seen Red Rock named places in Colorado and Arizona – I vote for Colorado as far as the scenery goes.

The patch work of lumps you see in the building way up are individual globs of clay that was put in to create the wall. The theory is they used ladders to get it up the side of the hill. All of the Indian ruins we have seen have been built on hills. In talking to a Park Ranger – he said “ That was not done as a means of defense, but for the ability to see someone or something – deer, coon, and other destructive animals, in their fields. The fields had to sustain them from season to season.”

The car travel has been beautiful though. The overpasses and even along the roadway has been a joy to look at as you go. When you are within 25 – 30 miles of Phoenix all the overpasses have differing themes on them. You will see cactus, palms, Gila monsters, or just the swirls you see in the desert southwest. Almost everything is the 'red dirt' reddish-brown color in multiple hues with green mixed in now and then. You could make a documentary on road design that would take 2 – 3 hours to watch, but as you travel along it makes the trip more enjoyable.

On Saturday we took a road trip to Roosevelt Dam, yes I know our parents used those words in reverse order, but this is the 'Rough Rider' not the other one. Miriam was the 'Activity Director' for the day. We passed a lodge – call that tourist trap – and the sign said: “ 22 miles of dirt road. She said to turn around, but I wanted to do one of those old logging road type trips and continued on the way. It was a beautiful drive – all I heard were ohs and ahs, but my sightseeing was limited to straight sections – very limited. We stopped about half way and spent 30 minutes looking around and eating lunch. While we were stopped 5 cars/pickups past as well as 5 motorcycles. A much traveled road. We did see another roadrunner, but again no Wiley. Miriam said we heard them on 82 so no need to see one here. Her days as Activity Director are going to be limited, but we both have had a good laugh about what shows on a map.

Monday we have to take the RV in for some work installing parts that were on back-order when we left Ohio. This is why we have stayed this long in one area. It will be good to travel again – not in the car.

Pictures:
Dirt road on way to Roosevelt Dam – lake on right
Montezuma Castle – closer up of the work to build
Montezuma Castle – yes it is that high up
Red Rock – Apache ceremonial lodge – we tried to walk up
Casa Grande Ruins – the roof is protection from the elements

3 January 10 - 10 January 10

One thing I saw in CA I forgot to mention – cameras on stop lights. They have found this new revenue stream that doesn't cost much. The ticket is mailed to you with a bill for $590. One town issued over 25,000 tickets in one month. No new taxes in that town.

Sunday afternoon in Tulare was spent looking at things growing. In one 4.5 mile stretch we saw over fourteen dairies each with over a 1000 cows milked at each one. Can you imagine the cheese they make. Kraft has a cheddar cheese plant in town along with another small coop producer.

It was a short trip from Tulare to Indio CA, but the first 80 miles had fog with visibility of less than a quarter mile most of the time. Anybody that has driven in CA tulle fog would understand what I'm talking about. Once we arrived at the peak of the mountains the sun was shining and the pace picked up. It was a five hour trip made longer by the fog. We will only be in Indio two nights before we go to Mesa AZ.

We did get down to Salton Sea and saw what grows in the desert if you give it enough water. The sea looked like it was dead. Dead fish on the beach and the beach was a really small shell – no sand. The day we left we saw what we thought was a Roadrunner – we couldn't find Wiley to ask him for sure. No pictures.

Arrived in Mesa where we are in a gated community – only old folks. Do you like your neighbors – we have them way to close. I had a garden bigger than what we have for motor home and car. The trip was desert – can you say Mojave. I told Pastor I saw the piece of property he needed – 210 acres DIRT CHEAP.

On our first day here it was replenish time. Look out Walmart. The we mode a trip about 60 – 70 miles from town that was supposed to have a number of birds. What a disappointment but as you will see in the pictures it was also a delight to watch Grey Foxes around the picnic table. We visited old Indian ruins that had some interesting history. Pre WWII the water table in that area of the desert was at 15' while mass production farming has lowered it to over 150'. What are we doing to God's land?

Pictures are:
Dairy in Tulare
Shells that are beach
Broccoli
Grey Fox
Mesa sunset

28 December 09 – 3 January 10

Finished the week with family and friends. Hated to go, but there will always be another day.

Thursday was moving day with about a five hour drive thru the central part of California. An uneventful trip, but the scenery was green. Years ago the area we went thru was known as the bread-basket of America. Oh how times have changed now that everything vegative comes from out of the country.

We had a couple of days to do site seeing. We went to Sequoia National Forest, thanks Larry for the info, and didn't have to wait to long to get thru the gate. Passes are great. We could only go about ten miles up as we did not have chains. A lot of pretty scenery with snow all around.

This will be late in getting posted as they want $5.00 a day to connect to the internet and I do not see the value. What is four days without any one giving you the best they can offer whether you want it or not.

We hope all had the start of a great New Year in our Lord.

Pictures are:
How they did spraying years ago
Cherry orchard
Sequoia – Hospital Rock(the colors are in the rock)
Sequoia – mountains
Sequoia – can you say – grows anywhere