Wednesday 31 January 2018

Blogger Friends come to Visit

Elaine and Grace are set to head home tomorrow morning, so we had to do whatever was left on our list today.  First order of business was to get up at 5 am to see the Blood Red Blue Eclipse of the Moon.  My picture is not the greatest so if you want a quality one, you will have to go somewhere else to see it. 


It was a beautiful morning so almost everyone came to watch it.  We had our coffee happy hour really early today.  We stayed up until the sun made the sky bright enough that the moon disappeared.  Then a few of us went back to bed.

Tuesday 30 January 2018

A walk in the Desert

We started off our day with a nice walk through the desert and up on to a nice hill overlooking the area.  Today is supposed to be a gorgeous day again, and there is no sign of anything else in the future.  We are so happy we finally found some warmth.

Monday 29 January 2018

Grace and I spend the day together.

Spent some time on the mountain with Grace today.  The girls all went shopping and left us boys to work on our respective honey-do lists.  Of course my main objective was to get Grace through the day without any major injuries.  She was so good for Grampa and loves to play in the dirt so she was a pleasure to look after.

Sunday 28 January 2018

Flea Market Day

Elaine sells lots of stuff in craft sales back home so we thought today would be a great day to show her a good old southern Arizona Flea Market.  The Mesa Swap meet was on, so we headed over there.  This is one of the largest swap meets I have ever been to and has everything but the kitchen sink.  I shouldn't speak too soon because I'm sure someone sells one of those too!  It was quite busy as usual.

Saturday 27 January 2018

Phoenix Balloon Festival

Our spot near Superstition Mountain cries out for someone to explore it on foot.  I am trying to walk about 15000 steps a day, so this is a wonderful place to do it.  You can head off in any direction here and see something different every day.  Elaine and I walked today and found a lot of holes that had been dug by a machine.  Apparently people still dream of finding the mother load out here in the desert, but we have never found evidence of a successful mine here.

Friday 26 January 2018

Bloggerfest is Tomorrow!!

It is now official that Sue and I will not be attending this years Bloggerfest.  We have enjoyed it the last two years and recommend that anyone who writes or reads RV Blogs or Blogs in general, to stop by this interesting venue on Saturday January 27th to meet all sorts of people who have an interest in Blogging.  Because we were given the opportunity to visit with our grand daughter in Phoenix we must stay and visit with her although it was a hard decision not to jump in the Jeep and go down to Quartzsite for the event.  I'm sure that Shadowmoss (Pauline) of the blog In the Shadows and George of Our Awesome Travels will make sure that the event is a great one.  Thanks for stepping up Pauline!!  It sounds like there will be a great group of people there to visit with.


We do hope to be in Quartzsite the second week of February and if any of our blogger friends are still hanging around those parts, we would love to see you.

Thursday 25 January 2018

Old Friends Re-united.

This morning was as beautiful as an Arizona morning could be.  Because of the Superstition mountain, it gets daylight here at the normal time, but we don't see the sun come over the mountain until well after 8 am.  When it does, its warm sunbeams are delicious.  Because Ed and Lessie washed and waxed the bird on their trip here, it shone in the sun.


The sun came beaming in the Ponderosa and everyone was ready for a new day of fun.  We don't have anything planned today except the arrival of a couple more friends to share the mountain with us.

Wednesday 24 January 2018

Here they come!!!

This was the big day that our granddaughter and her gramma Elaine arrive from Manitoba to spend a week with us.  We always look forward to a visit from home in the middle of the winter.  Sheri and Donovan and Dani were trying to plan to meet us this winter in Florida but that plan didn't work out. so when Elaine said she was going to come see us for a week with Grace, we were happy to have them.  We met them at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport at 1:45 pm after they had traveled from Winnipeg Manitoba to Vancouver BC and then to here.  They left the hotel in Winnipeg at 3 am to be on time for their flight, and Grace had not slept since then.  What a little trooper.  Gramma Sue was at the gate waiting for them to arrive.

Tuesday 23 January 2018

Home for a while

We were up early this morning so we could head for Apache Junction and start to get the Ponderosa cleaned up for Graces arrival tomorrow.  Now I know all you guys will say, how long could that take.  Well I am writing this at 10:30 pm and we are still not ready.  Its just something males will never understand.  By the time we woke, Pat and Harold had already taken their trailer to Arizona Spring to get the broken springs fixed.  We are leaving them behind to catch up to us at a later date.  Ed and Lessie are with us but they went into Casa Grande to get the Bird and car washed and waxed while we headed straight to our favourite spot.

Monday 22 January 2018

Bonfire with friends

Still cool in Arizona today.  Other than a couple hours this afternoon, there was a cool breeze blowing.  I still had to wear my sweater all day.  I keep looking at the forecast and it seems like the nice weather keeps moving one day farther away.   It finally looks like we may catch up to it in Phoenix starting tomorrow.  I can't wait.

Sunday 21 January 2018

A Gunfight in the Desert

We awoke again today to the sound of the Sandhill Cranes heading out to feed.  They sure make a racket.  We are heading down the road again today with the intention of visiting the historic town of Tombstone AZ and then on to Casino Del Sol in Tucson AZ.


We decided not to take Highway #80, but rather to follow Davis Road to where it intersects with #80, just south of Tombstone.  It is a paved road with a few Cattle guards across the road but is in good shape and we just meandered along at about 45 mph.  It is really pretty ranch country the whole way.

Saturday 20 January 2018

The Bisbee Breakfast Club

The wildlife area we spent the night in is renown for its Sandhill Cranes.  Part of the experience is seeing them all take to the air to go off to the corn fields to feed for the day.  So I peered out the bedroom window about 5:30 am and saw some cars starting to gather in the parking lot in the pitch black dark.  I went back to sleep until about 6:30 when it started to get noisy with the birds starting to leave.


Friday 19 January 2018

Thousands of Sandhill Cranes


We were on the road by 9 am this morning because we have not yet become accustomed to the time change to Mountain.  Our bodies still thought it was 10 am so no one was complaining.  First thing we did this morning while leaving was to get lost.  Bad timing on some lights spread us out and when you are depending on following the leader (us) and we get the green lights and everyone behind us gets yellow, you are not ready to start to navigate yourself, so by the time you try to get your bearings, you have blown by the turn you were supposed to make and find yourself in foreign territory without a plan.  As it turned out everyone ended up in the right place in the end and off we went on today's adventure.

Thursday 18 January 2018

We are back!!!!!

Its been over a week since we have posted a blog.  The main reason for not posting is that our internet service has been next to non-existent, so the downloading of pictures was not going to happen.  I tried a few times but after striking out, I closed the computer and went about my business.  Pat and Harold have arrived and have joined our convoy.  The Ponderosa, Roundtuit, and the Hitchhiker are quite a site going down the road. 

Now that I am back in the land of Wifi, I will start with today's post and try to update the rest of the days in between as best I can.  So here goes.

Thursday 11 January 2018

Back to the Beach

We decided that the weather was going to break for a little bit back at South Padre Island so we will head up there again to give P&H a chance to sit by the ocean.  Our travels today will be like this.


We all lined up and "The Bird" serenaded us out of the campground.  Each bird built has a built in loudspeaker on which they can play a variety of different clips from songs.  It is unique to this type of motor home, and we are always honored when they play it for us.

Wednesday 10 January 2018

Happy Birthday Pat!!

Happy Birthday Pat!!  Today is Pats birthday so we started the day with morning coffee Happy Hour.  The Birthday was prepared and we chatted for a couple hours.


Tuesday 9 January 2018

Pat and Harold arrive

Our friends Pat and Harold will be arriving today and that will make our caravan to Arizona complete. They left Canada 4 days ago and are looking forward to some time in warmer weather.  It looks like today will be in the mid 70's which will be perfect for their welcome party.  They won't be arriving until around 3 pm so we had some time to do some stuff before they get here.  First thing was to take Charlie for a long walk down by the State park and follow the trails back up to Ponderosa.  It is a nice quiet area to walk, but we were hoping to see some wild life but we didn't.

Monday 8 January 2018

Battery Service day

You will be happy to know that I am feeling so much better today.  I know everyone was thinking they would have to put up we me whining on here for a week or so but I will spare you that.

Today was warm and sunny again as it should be around here.  This morning I did my monthly service on the house batteries.  My batteries are set up to equalize once every 30 days and when they do, the controller boosts the charge to them to about 15.3 volts for about 2 hours.  This will result in a certain amount of boiling in the batteries.  Nothing wrong with the boiling except it makes a mess of the top of the batteries and inside the compartment.  I like to wash it all off and check the connections and refill all the batteries with distilled water.  Normally the 4 - 6 volt batteries will take about 16 ozs. of water total to top them up.  Because this happens every month, it is important to top them up before they equalize the second time which could result in the batteries being critically low on acid.

Sunday 7 January 2018

It's THE CRUD!!!

Back a while ago while we were at Magnolia Beach, our good friends Tom and Norma questioned whether or not we have ever been exposed to THE CRUD!!!  We laughed and brushed it off as a bad Texas joke.  Well guess what??   We both have the CRUD!!! Susan has had it for a few days, and I am at the start of it.  The Urban Dictionary describes "THE CRUD" as:  When you turn into a walking snot ball you have "The Crud" You cough up mucus and your nose runs constantly therefore the use of the word "crud".  It's the coughing, sneezing, wheezing, throat hurting, head ready to blow up, chilled, high temperature, TEXAS CRUD.  It too shall pass!!!!


Now I am not complaining really but rather writing what Susan told me it was like.  I on the other hand am waaaay sicker than she was, so this post will be short.

Saturday 6 January 2018

Learning Spanish

Today was laundry day and I know that that is a boring subject and no one wants to hear about it BUT...... this may be the laundry day that will help us in our quest to learn enough of the Spanish language to get by in a tough spot.  We found this Laundromat (lavandería) in Roma which is just down the road from us.  Now because all of this area is only a mile or two from the Rio Grande River, Spanish is definitely the first language.

Friday 5 January 2018

A Unique Shower experience

First order of business around our camps is the morning happy hour.  We find that not only are they enjoyable, but also very productive.  This is where the days plans are made and we decide who might be responsible for what.  Today's big plan was a move.  When we pulled in here everyone was sick and we just sort of plunked ourselves down where ever it was handiest.  We decided that we need to spread out a bit so we moved the Ponderosa to the other side of the little courtyard we have here.  It is all of 50 feet from where we were, but it gives us a whole new perspective.

We then made a new fire pit and moved all of our outside furniture to the new spot.  Part of  the reason for the move was that we got word this morning that our friends Pat and Harold (who will be known from now on as P&H) crossed the Canada/US border this morning and are heading south as fast as they can pedal and we will have to make room for them.  They may be here on Monday, but I'm guessing Tuesday will be more like it.

Thursday 4 January 2018

We have found a great campsite

Both Sue and I were sick today so we did very little except sit in the Ponderosa and sleep.  I fixed the front door lock that was sticky and Sue took down all the Christmas decorations.  Once again the sun was shining and the temperatures were getting back up to normal for this time of year.


We did manage to sit outside in our chairs for a little while today enjoying the sunshine.  I took a walk out back of the Ponderosa in the afternoon to see if I could find the dump station everyone said is here.  I spotted a water tap there.  It is funny because although the park is pretty well neglected, the water system has been preserved.  Every water spigot is working.

Wednesday 3 January 2018

Its the Sun!!!

This morning we were treated to a sight we have not seen since before Christmas.   The sun!!!  You can see by the picture that the wet has not had time to be consumed by the sun, but its amazing how that orange ball changes a persons whole outlook on life.

Tuesday 2 January 2018

A Hike in Falcon State Park

The temperature dipped to 0C or freezing last night but we were cozy in the Ponderosa.  When I rolled over in bed and looked out the window I was tempted to stay there all day.

Monday 1 January 2018

Moving away from the wind.

Its 2018!!!!  And it doesn't feel one bit different than 2017!!!!  And I don't have a hangover because I was in bed before 10:00 pm last night.  Oh dear, am I getting that old and boring.  I remember going out for New Years in Phoenix not that long ago with a couple who were 95 years old and they were cutting up a rug so I guess it has nothing to do with age!!!  Just lazy I guess.  Maybe next year we will have to find a party.

Susan is one of the few left that actually makes New Years resolutions and I'm not sure I'm thrilled with this years.  Lots of luck dear. LOL