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!

Casa Grande, AZ Monday & Tuesday

We have been chatting with fellow RVers and attending some of the rally's seminars. Judy and/or I have attended the opening ceremonies, personal safety for RVers, caring for you RVs exterior, highway history & back road mystery, RVing the heartland of America and every RVer needs a blog. We are learning about nearby CGs where we could spend a couple weeks or month and also good routes into CA to avoid some mountains but mostly LA when we head to Vacaville for the Beans & Beer Rally in April and visit with Clayton and Scott and his family.

Casa Grande, AZ

Today was shorter than yesterday, 2 hours and 118 miles on the expressway, most of which was going slowly downhill. We pulled into the Pinal County Fairground a little after noon and set up home. There are 240 RVs expected and we think 200 of them arrived today. RV rallies are always very cozy and this one is no different. As long as we don't get a hard rain or high winds all will be well. Lots of dirt and cactus here, not sure the area knows what grass is. We spent the evening walking around (it was 81 when we arrived) in the cool air and chatted with several people, fellow Escapees and HitchHiker owners. Before we left Benson this morning Judy got a pic of a road runner who went streaking through out campsite.

Benson, AZ

Short day, 3 hours and we decided to stop early as the weather was nice and we only have 100 miles to go tomorrow for the rally in Casa Grande. After we checked in and set up we went to Tombstone, 25 miles south. Kind of disappointing due to all the commercialization. We visited the Tombstone court house (a state park) which was interesting. There's a lot more history here than Wyatt Earp and friends shootout at the OK Corral. The OK Corral is privatly owned so we decided we didn't need to go inside. On the way out of town we stopped at Boot Hill Cemetery.

Deming, NM

Last day in Deming. After Judy returned from Curves we headed out to Columbus NM, 34 miles south. This was the small border town (still is, 1500 people) that Poncho Villa raided with 500 Mexicans in 1916. He killed 7 soldiers and 10 civilians. He lost over 90 and was persued by General Pershing into Mexico for almost a year but wasn't captured. Pershing had to return for WW I. We visited two museums before crossing into Polomos Mexico for lunch. As best I could tell I had a lime burrito. This was a very small place compared to the Mexican city we visited while in the RGV. One lane crossing, no Federales, no charge to cross or reenter oe park, one decent restuarant and store. There were just a few Americans, looked like retirees from RVs out to lunch. The state park in Columbus had a sizable CG. After we reentered the US we stopped at the duty free store, bought 2 liters of rum (1 bottle each) for $15.50, returned to Mexico, turned around and crossed back into the US of A with our purchase. After we were home the German slave driver made me wash the truck before dark.