Casa Grande AZ Thursday & Friday

Thursday was a R&R day. My excitement was building a ramp for our sewer hose out of a 10' gutter and 1/2" PVC pipe. Friday we went to Wickenburg (2+ hours north west) and met Todd Kostinko and Margaret and Jean. Margaret & Jean had flown into Laughlin NV a few days to break the casinos and Todd lives in AZ so we all got together.....one of us did a successful rain dance. I'll blame Todd as he has the most local experience. It rained all afternoon and Todd said they have had lots of rain this winter so the desert flowers should bloom very well. We met at the visitors center, Wickenburg is a touristy place. After a casual lunch at the Mine Shaft (so so food at best) and a short walk in the rain, which it did all day, we went through the Desert Calalleros Western Museum for an hour or two. Jean met a local cowboy who was just trying to stay dry and introduced Judy and Margaret to her new friend. The three of them also tried to pick up GI Joe. Todd wasn't sure about hanging around with all the senior citizens and was thinking about hopping on Trigger and getting out of Dodge City.

Casa Grande AZ Tuesday & Wednesday

Tuesday was a work around home day after a visit to the dentist, I broke a tooth so it's time for another cap. Judy cleaned the trailer inside and I did the truck inside plus 2 or 3 modifications in the trailer. Today we went to Tuscon (66 miles south) and stopped at a HUGE RV dealer called Beaudry RV then went exploring. We had a real good lunch at Tiny's Saloon, the Texas Toothpicks were good, in fact we are going to mail one to Don. We then went through the Saguaro National Park, Picture Rocks, & Tuscon State Park.

The Saguaro cacti are very tall, you can just see the baby (2 or 3 years old) growing under a bush in one pic. These things can grow 40 feet tall and live up to 200 years. They don't sprout "arms" until they are 75 years old. The pic of the white fuzzy bush is called a Teddy Bear.

Casa Grande AZ

After messing around the campsite this morning we went to town so Judy could go to Curves, I read the paper. We made a couple stops and returned to the CG and spent 2 hours washing the truck's exterior. It was REAL dirty from last weeks rains and the muddy fairground. Tomorrow we'll do the inside. Supper was a good crockpot stew and salad. Weather was high 60s and mostly sunny. In the pics our rig has the US flag flying, click on the pics to enlarge.

Casa Grande AZ

Judy wanted to go to the Cowboy Church this morning at the Indian Pow Wow and rodeo so we tried. It was to be held at the rodeo arena but we couldn't find the service and even asked a few people there. We came back to the CG and attended the worship service at the CG which was nice. After that Judy did the laundry while I watched the Daytona 500. After the race we walked around the CG before supper and calling it a day. That's all folks!

Casa Grande AZ

This afternoon I learned how General George Custer must have felt. We went to an Indian Pow Wow to watch some dancing and listen to some singing and music. We were outnumbered, fortunatly there was no battle. We shared a fried bread and a fried bread cheeseburger, not bad, although I doubt Indians had the cheeseburger variety.

Casa Grande AZ

Well, a long hard day of travel, 11 miles. We did have fun breaking camp and hooking up due to the water and mud pools all over, especially in front of our trailer due to the overnight rains. Judy tied some plastic bags over my shoes so they would stay dry and keep the mud off while hooking up. I don't think the truck has been this dirty since the salt when we left MI last February. At least our new location for a month is on pea stones so we won't have the mud puddle problems if it should rain anymore. This site is in the desert so there's lots of sand to blow if....when....the winds kick up. We understand that it's rained twice within a month so they are expecting nice desert flowers and cactus blooms in a month. After setting up camp we went to China Buffet for lunch/supper (won't return but the soup and salad bar was good) them Walmart for a few groceries and a repacement water filter as ours died after 9 months. We did pay for a lifetime membership to Escapees this morning, so sorry kids.....there goes another chunk or your inheratence! I wish spell checker was up and running!

Casa Grande AZ Wednesday & Thursday

One of the seminars, not too popular!

Vender row

Relaxing at the rally

The rally is winding down fast. We have attended Pepper spray training, RV tech tips for women, The frugal RVer, Pros & con of extended warranties & service contracts, and Campground & RV park discounts/memberships. We helped with the pizza party Wednesday night and stayed for the Cactus Queen contest, a dozen guys dressed in drag, very entertaining. No, I did participate, once was enough for me. We just were not inspired enough to attend RV insurance, High speed internet for RVers, or Alaska RVing today. We did go to Casa Grande for lunch with John & Judy, our rally neighbors from MI and new friends, for Valentines lunch at a real good resturant. It was booked so we drove down I 10 and checked out the CG we are moving to tomorrow. AZ has no grass and when the wind blows so does lots of AZ property (dust and desert stuff). When we got back to the resturant they were ready for us, great timing!