Chapter 45--Day 2

Amado, Arizona
De Anza RV Resort

Breakfast started at 8 am this morning.  I was surprised how many were already in the dining room when we got there.  
Our breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes, juice and coffee.  Once again we had large portions.  They really know how to do things right here.  

You can definitely pick out the ones who hadn't had their coffee.  

We stayed and visited for a while and then Jim Dixon said they were going to drive over to the store and he'd be right over to help me with my project. 

When we were at the Montana Owners Club Rally in Nebraska we were shown how to install the water softener permanently so that you did not have to move it in and out of the basement.  I explained to Jim how I thought it would work.  Jim drilled the holes for the water lines.   Bill took some unflattering photos of me helping with the project. For those of you who I've caught before in some not so flattering photos I hope I've evened the score by posting this shot of myself. 

  

Jim and I had it almost finished when Vern came over to help.  It all worked with no leaks except for one time the water was suppose to be off and it was on.  Thanks, Jim,  that was fun and we finished just in time for our copper mine tour.  

Since Arizona is known as the copper state and supplies 65% of all copper supplied in the US, I thought it would be fun to check out the copper mine.  Sandie  made reservations for the 12:30 tour at Asarco Mineral Discovery Center.   

I was impressed when we arrived at the open pit copper mine tour.  The grounds were beautiful.  

Here's a photo of a crescent saguaro cactus.  Karen and John educated us on how rare they are.  

Here's Sandie, Jim, Karen, John and I (Bill's taking the photo).

Sandie took this photo.

The grounds had historic equipment displayed.

The gift shop had some beautiful unique items.  None of the Chinese junk souvenirs.  

It was like walking through the craft shops in Tubac but with much better prices.  

There were so many facts and figures I couldn't remember all but I'm sure Sandie will have them on her blog.  She's much better at giving all the details than I am.  Her blog is: wherearethedixonstoday.blogspot.com.

One figure I do remember is that one of the teeth in the photo above costs $350.00 to replace.  They also said that the electric bill for one month is 1.6 million dollars. 

 That isn't a new hair style, but it was very windy here. 

This was a huge tire and I believe that Ed Long, our tour guide, said it costs $55,000 per tire to replace one.  This was made by Michelin in the USA.

Our tour guide, Ed Long, was very informative, entertaining and fun.  

We were allowed to take some copper rocks which contain silver and gold.  

This machinery is run by computers.

 Bill wasn't excited about touring the copper mine, but he said he really enjoyed it.  One thing we learned was that the mine had cattle and wild horses running free on the mine acreage.  

Bill got a new belt buckle and I came back with some new earrings from the gift shop.

We arrived back and were late for social hour.  At social hour Joe Knox invited everyone to describe interesting places we've toured that weren't the usual national parks.  Social hour was followed by a chili dinner and side dishes provided by the attendees.  

Turtle Safely........

Chapter 45--Day 1

Amado, Arizona
De Anza RV Resort

It wasn't cold when we got up this morning.  I turned the fireplace on for a little bit and it wasn't long before the AC was coming on.  

Bill and I went on our morning walk and before we got too far someone was shouting at us.  As we got closer, I realized it was Harold Bliss.  We haven't seen Harold and his wife, Marcia, since last spring.  Their dog, Misty, was a young pup the last time we saw them in Parker.  

Since we are on a corner site, people seem to gather here.  There were a bunch of us sitting outside when Jim and Sandie Dixon arrived.  We all took our chairs down to watch Jim park.

Even though it was a blind side back in, Jim put it right in with no difficulty. 

Jim and Sandie got set up and came down to visit with us for a few minutes before they went to tour the Titan Missile Museum.  Sandie said she had a call from a neighbor who was concerned because there was a huge accident on I 10 from a dust storm and wanted to make sure they were OK. 

 Pretty soon Joe Knox knocked at the door and came in to visit for a while.  Sherry and Dave came down to say they were going to the Copper Mine tour.  We decided to do it on another day.  We've been here 3 years in a row so we weren't in a hurry to do anything today.  It was nice watching our friends pull in and also nice that their arrivals were spaced apart.  

Ed and Alice Allard arrived safely and said they didn't come down the freeway.  They visited for awhile and then Joyce and Hank Whitney stopped by.  John and Karen Knoll walked over and pretty soon there was a large group gathered.  It was time for Happy Hour which was held in the clubhouse due to the high winds.

Everyone introduced themselves and it was nice to see we had some new people.  It was a little strange having the chairs in rows for Happy Hour but they were set up that way for the movie "The Long Long Trailer" which would follow dinner.  

Dinner was very nice.  The RV park made the lasagna dinner.  It must have been three inches high and covered the plate and also included a small salad bar.  They had coffee and iced tea to drink and a brownie for dessert.  Sherry and Dave volunteered to serve.  The restaurant isn't officially open so that is why the chapter had to have a volunteer to serve. 

Look at the size of the portions.

Left to right:  Karen and John Knoll, Jeanne Schmidt, Gerri and John Beckman, Nick Schmidt, Jim and Sandie Dixon and Me. 

Breakfast will be served in the clubhouse at 8 am.  FOOD, FOOD, FOOD!

Isn't that what Escapees can do best?  

Turtle Safely...........

Amado

Amado, Arizona
De Anza RV Resort #50

It's been a busy week since we returned to our home.  My 93 year old father had a doctor appointment in Tucson at the VA.  By the time we brought Dad back he was exhausted. Bill and I also had our annual body check up and Bill had a check up at his cardiologist.  Since we were taking care of our bodies, we also got our flu shots.  

Tires were rotated on the truck and an oil change was completed.  Bill washed and waxed the truck and it was back to looking good again.  He really takes a lot of pride in seeing it shining.  

We pulled out of Casa Grande around 8 am Sunday and arrived in Amado before the park opened.  We waited around for the office to open at its scheduled hour of 10 but no one showed up.  A quick call to the posted contact phone number and we found out our site number was 50.  It is a blind side back in with a light pole on one side and a high concrete slab on the other.  The curb is high and we also had a corner site.  Bill did a great job of threading the needle and put it in perfectly the first time without having to move forward at all.  Why is it when there is no one watching, you can back in perfectly but if there are a lot of people watching you it's not as smooth. 

After unhitching, and did I mention how much quicker it is with the level ups, we left for the Pima County Fairgrounds.  As we were passing the airport exit, Bill remembered he left his money on the bed, so we turned around and started over again.  Since we were meeting Don and Sharon Del Rosario for dinner, we decided to stop at Costco first and then go to the fairgrounds.  The show was a dud, a lot of flea market junk.  

Bill and I suggested the Vail Steakhouse as it is right off I 10.  They are RV friendly and have a huge parking lot you are welcome to stay overnight.  

 We've been there before and had great food, however, it wasn't great this time.

Don and Sharon Del Rosario and Jan and Bill 

 Seeing Don and Sharon again made up for the so so food. 

By the time we got back to Amado it was dark.  It made for a very long day.

We did absolutely nothing today.  As we were walking around we saw Doug and Sheila Sage.  It was good catching up with them.  

John and Karen Knoll pulled in a little later.  They came over and we sat outside and talked like it had been a long time since we've seen them but it's only been a week.  Karen told us about a little grill in Tubac and asked us if we wanted to go.  

Before we could leave, people started stopping by.  The next thing we knew there were 12 people sitting outside.  It was dark when they all went back to their rigs.  

John drove and as we were a mile or two away, Karen asked if he remembered his insulin.  We turned around and came back for it.  It sure made us feel better since we'd done that the day before. 

I'm sorry I didn't think to take pictures.  John had a chicken pot pie that was as big as the plate.  Bill had a pot roast dinner, Karen had artichoke chicken and I ordered a taco salad.  There were a lot of options for dressing and the waitress brought me a jalapeno blue cheese one that had a bite to it.  It was delicious on the salad.  A nice evening with excellent food and service.

Tomorrow the rally starts.

Turtle Safely......

   

   

Sticks and Bricks for a week

Casa Grande, Arizona

The breakfast sponsored by the Dreamcatchers RV Park was very good.  You had your choice of how you wanted your eggs cooked, what kind of sausage, potatoes, juice and toast.  Thank you John and Karen for buying our breakfast. 

We said good bye to old friends and some new friends we met.  It was a nice way to end our summer adventures.  

We left about 9 am and I told Bill I'd drive to Texas Canyon. There wasn't much wind considering what we had coming across Texas.  Traffic was very light across New Mexico.  A Carriage fifth wheel passed me and cut in so quickly I had to hit the brakes to keep from hitting him.  I don't know if he forgot he had a trailer behind him or what his excuse was.  

When I pulled into Texas Canyon for a potty break, I was enjoying the drive and I told Bill I'd drive the rest of the way.  

He was find with that, but he got a little quiet while I was driving through Tucson with the traffic and construction.  

John and Bill did some tweaking on the hitch before we left, and the rig handled so much better.  Remember the trip across Texas in the winds and we only got 11.8 mpg?
Well I hope you can read the miles per gallon I got today.

17.2 MPG--Not bad at all!

It's going to be a busy week.  We are taking my Dad to the VA in Tucson  and we have doctor appointments a few days later.  Bill wants to get an oil change on the truck before we leave for the Chapter 45 rally.  

Since Bill was the co-pilot today he didn't take any other photos. 

Turtle Safely.........   

Still no clue.....

Deming, New Mexico
Dreamcatchers #45

Summer is finally coming to an end.  Today was the last day of the Chapter 21 Escapees Rally.  But what an ending we had.  We've had so much fun while we've been here.

The morning temperatures were 38 degrees when we woke up, but we wore shorts to the "hugs 'n mugs" because we knew it wouldn't take long to heat up.  The annual chapter meeting took place at 10 am.  When we left the clubhouse there wasn't a cloud in the sky and had warmed up nicely.  

Ron Hopf was the official fly assassin.

 The last door prize drawing was also held.

We were surprised how quickly the morning flew by and before we knew it it was time to leave for Mexico.  I was surprised how many of the attendees haven't been to the Pink Store before today.  Don said we had 28 people for dinner at the Pink Store.  

There was a lot of confusion at the Pink Store because the former president made the arrangements for the dinner but Don Damkaer resigned as president for medical reasons and Don Del Rosario is now the acting president.  When we arrived they had all the tables set up for our group.  There was a buffet set up with lids on the food.  The Pink Store owner, Yvonne, wasn't there and the employees only knew that a "Don" had ordered the menu. 

This should have been a clue!

Everyone had a free drink card and they weren't shy on adding the tequila to the margaritas.  

They had someone playing a American music on a keyboard- jingle bells.  Should have been a clue....

I thought it was a little strange that they didn't have chips and salsa on the table.  Should have been a clue....

They came by and had a little pitcher that they said was gravy.  Still no clue.....

There was a little dish that they gave everyone with some candy corn.  Still no clue.......

Bill went out in the courtyard to take this photo of Pancho Villa and "Black Jack" Pershing. This is a statue of them meeting that never happened.

Then the buffet was ready.  As they uncovered the food  there was mashed potatoes, zucchini, turkey, ham and cranberries.  I really thought we crossed the border into Palomas, Mexico.  Everyone was expecting to go to Mexico for a real authentic Mexican food.  In the past when we've been here with the chapter, everyone ordered off the menu.  We were told that the buffet would be $15.00 which included 3 drinks, food and dessert.  

Everyone went through the buffet and when the staff realized we were surprised by the "Thanksgiving Dinner" that they had spent so much time in planning for us they came up with an alternative for us.  They came out with platters of tacos, enchiladas and Chile relinnos for everyone.  They had cheesecake or pumpkin pie for dessert.  I'm not sure how the desserts went with the 3 margaritas but they also brought out kahula and cream drinks for everyone.  

By now they have called in a small Mexican band to play for us instead of the keyboard player.  It's the first time we've ever had a Mexican meal and a Thanksgiving Dinner at the same time.  The service was excellent and I felt sorry for the staff who was trying so hard to please us.  By the time the meal was over, everyone was laughing and having a great time.  I told Sharon that no one would ever forget this meal.  No one could complain because the staff did everything they could to please us.  It wasn't their fault about the mix up with the menu.  

Bill, Karen, John and I were the last ones of the group to leave the store.  As I turned around to say something to John I noticed four cop cars, lights flashing, guns drawn right next to the store.  I turned around and walked very very fast to the border.  

That's the border, from the seat of the truck where we were parked on the American side.  It's a good feeling when you cross back and you know you are on American soil.

There is so much history in the town of Columbus, New Mexico, where they were invaded by Pancho Villa.  It was the first time aircraft was used in a war.  We've explored the great museums in this town on previous visits. 

It will always be a good time that we will remember.  What a great way to end our last day until we return to our sticks and bricks for a week.  We shall return next year, this has been a great time.  

Turtle Safely........