Casa Grande AZ

We had planned on going to the Civil War reenactment at Picacho Peak were the furthest west battle was held killing 5 soldiers. The battle was after the war ended, communications out here was slooow. There were MANY vehicles lined up to enter so we kept going and wound up back at the ostrich ranch. We took the monster bus ride through the ranch and sonora desert and went fishing in the AZ desert with orange slices and had a bite every time but couldn't land any.

Casa Grande AZ

Tuesday Judy got a hair cut, Wednesday we went to Chandler for lunch with another HitchHiker Forum couple, Stacy & Sharon, so we have more RV friends. Thursday we repaired Judy's bike as it wasn't shifting properly then rode the bikes on the desert trails and walked under the expressway and wandered in the desert at the bottom of the mountains. Today, Friday, we spent a few hours at the Cactus Fly-In, http://www.cactusflyin.org/, at the Casa Grande airport. We weren't sure we wanted to spend $20 to get in but we were glad we did. There were about 100 warbirds, experimental, classic, antique & historic planes which flew in. I was impressed on how SMALL the traditional planes are, maybe it's just I'm so BIG? The planes were coming and going all morning and afternoon. One was in the Egyptian Air Force (second pic) and one biplane was stolen, crashed and rebuilt. We then went to the Pinal County Fairgrounds were there's a Good Sam rally going on so I could scheduled our rig to be weighted Sunday morning.

Haleigh.....is it hard being in middle school? Hannah, you are right, this is a fun adventure! Wes, I hear you are growing fast & behaving....GREAT!

Casa Grande AZ

This morning and afternoon we visited the Sonora Desert Museum outside Tucson. We spent an hour watching and listening about ravens, hawks and owls. There was a raven, hawk, barn owl and great horned owl flying around us and chowing down on rodent meat feed to them by the trainers. We then explored the cactus garden, hummingbirds, large cats and otters. If you look real close at the top right picture you'll see I have captured on film, after trying for 22 years, the elusive french fry devouring cactus, I think the catsup was key to getting this photo. Returning home we drove through the mountains and desert on an unpaved road. It wasn't dirt or gravel, it was stone. Very uneven and BUMPY. Not even Michigan has a road that bad. We returned about 3pm and I crashed in the Lazy Boy.

Casa Grande AZ

Today was one of exploration and looking for signs that the desert wildflowers are starting to bloom. We took the back roads to Picacho Peak and after checking out this well know landmark used for for centuries for navigation we stopped at Rooster Cogburn's Ostrich Ranch. An ostrich egg weighs 3 1/2 pounds and is equivalent to 24 chicken eggs. Judy got an ostrich duster and Devyn will soon receive an egg which will made 8 very fluffy omlets and a good show and tell at school. We then took more back roads, dirt, to visit Tom Mix wash (named after him when he died there) and the monument where he died in 1940. I know Don will know who Tom Mix is, probably Jean and Margaret too. Judy and I wondered about why he was in the desert and why he had an accident so we planned to Google him. We then went to Florence AZ and stopped for 1 1/2 hours at a great county museum. There we learned Tom Mix had 5 wives, the last from Florence AZ. When he drove through a road blockade, the bridge over a wash (dry stream bed) had been destroyed due to a flash flood, his 1938 Cord convertable flipped over and a metal suitcase hit him in the back of his head. At the museum we saw Apache buckskin playing cards; the story and stuff from the 1888 gun fight between a Florence sheriff and his deputy (who was killed); pictures and the nooses that hung 28 criminals hung at the Florence state penetentary (one noose hung 4 Chinese guys convicted of the same murder); the gallows trap door; the chairs and door from the gas chamber (the gas chamber replaced the gallows after the only woman hung in AZ had her head pulled off when she was hung); info on the suit case murderess; another murderess and lots of other interesting stuff. It's amazing what you can discover in small town free museums. There was lots on local cowboys and ranch life. Judy and I like them much more that large "professional" museums. From there we stopped and a nice Italian resturant and had.....pizza.