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........