Valley Vista, Benson AZ 3/02/10 - 3/16/10

We left David's house and went back to a park, Valley Vista, about five miles from the one we were at before we went to David's. Russ and Louise were still at St. David's so we got with them and went back to Sierra Vista to the Swap Meet on Saturday.


I had been looking for some way to store our shoes. When we saw these racks that were made to hang on a pegboard, I thought we might be able to use them. So, we bought three (one for Terry and two for me). We bolted them onto the sides and the end of the bed frame and. . .


. . . here we have shoe racks. They work really great. Now we don't have any excuse to have shoes scattered all over the Condo. I will admit that I still have a couple of pairs in the closet that wouldn't fit in my share of the racks!

We had gone a couple of weeks before on the hike to see the Council Rocks where Cochise was supposed to have been, but he spent most of his time hiding out on the other side of the Lagoon Mountains. So, one day we decided to go exploring that area.

We ended up at the campground there there were some really nice trails. One was a quarter-mile nature tail where they gave the names of some of the plants and trees in the area. They had benches "strategically located so you can set and feel the spirit of Cochise." So, Terry is sitting taking in the spirit!

This is the view Terry was looking at while sitting on the bench. Can't you just imagine Cochise and his men hidden in the rocks waiting for a white man to come along?


We saw a new kind of tree we hadn't know about. (Actually, Russ had pointed one out on one of our hikes a couple of weeks ago.) It is an Alligator Juniper. You can see why it is named that by the bark.


We took off on the Cochise Trail and followed it a ways. We had to forge several streams, but there were some nice stepping stones across them. We didn't get wet, but I did let out a couple of squeals while crossing.


Some of these rock formations went straight up and sure would have been good hiding places to ambush someone.


There were not only streams to ford on the trails, there were several pretty good sized creeks that ran across the road. A couple were pretty deep, but had good solid rock beds so we didn't have any trouble crossing. I think Terry was kind of hoping for an excuse to use his 4-wheel drive. This is our first 4-wheel drive vehicle and he kind of likes a reason to use it sometimes.

We had visitors while we were at Valley Vista. Our son Ryan and wife Lori celebrated their anniversary by spending a couple of days in Tombstone, so we had their three kids.

The first day the weather was nice enough to be outside. I had picked up some new puzzles at a yard sale so Wesley and Riley had to try them out.

Chaz is playing with a canvas town that I made our boys when they were about Chaz's age. That is one of the first things Chaz always wants to play with. We have a little bag of cars that fit each of the different places on the town--fire truck, school bus, tow truck, police car, etc.

We took the kids to the city park and showed them how to "spider swing." Later, Wes and Chaz were laying in the swings and winding them up and spinning. They ended up conking heads and Chaz got a big bruise on his cheek and the next day he had a black eye! That's always nice to explain to Mom and Dad when they get home!

I had also found a Mancala game at a swap meet and the kids had fun playing it. Even Chaz was able to beat Grandpa!

Bedtime always brings lots of beds on the floor and a movie to watch. We usually have popcorn, but this time, Grandpa surprised the kids with Cracker Jacks.

The next day was a little cooler, but after Church, the kids had fun playing in the wash that goes through the park. We followed it up to the local cemetery. When Ryan and Lori got back, they told them that they had gone on a walk and saw a lot of dead bodies!

The kids weren't ready to go home, but we told them we could do it again soon. They posed with us wearing Tombstone cowboy hats their folks brought back to them, and walking sticks they had found on our adventurous walk.

Well, after a month in the same area, we will next be heading next up to Casa Grande, just southwest of Phoenix. We will meet up with Russ and Louise again, for the last time of the season. The weather is supposed to get a little warmer, hopefully stay in the high 70's to low 80's. Gosh, what a great life we live!

St. David & Bro David, 2/16/10 - 3/2/10

We went south, looking for warmer weather, but didn't really find it. The weather this year has been unusually cold in Arizona, with lots of rain. But, when RVing is your lifestyle, it doesn't really matter that much. If we were just on vacation, we would begrudge a rainy day, but now it is just a good excuse to stay inside and curl up in front of the fireplace (yup, we have a fireplace) with a good book!St. David is located next to the Dragoon Mountain Range. It is very rocky and is where the Indian Chief Cochise had his band of outlaw Indians and they held off all of the white men. We went on a hike to the Council Rock. As you can see, we climbed high enough to get into snow!

The rock formations were really something. I really don't know what keeps them piled high, as hard as the wind blows sometimes.

This is the sign in front of the Council Rocks, if you are interested, you can read it from this picture.

Terry is looking at some pictographs left by the Indians on the Council Rocks.

This room is the reason for the name. The story goes that when Cochise was in this area of the Dragoon Mountains, he held council meetings with his people in this large room under the pile of rocks.

Terry is taking a rest from hiking.

We weren't sure how these holes in the rock were made or what they were used for, but they looked "Indian-made" and we were sure they served some useful purpose.

We hiked with our friends from Emmett, Russ and Louise, who were at the park with us. After the hike we had a tailgate picnic and ate our lunch. Afterwards, Russ took us across the top of the mountains on a dirt road that ended up being pretty primitive, but we got through.

When we go to the St. David area, we always like to go impose on my brother, David and park in his driveway for a few days. David had a Chevy Camero car that he got the year after graduating from high school. He was always going to restore it, but never got around to it. Well, this past year he sold it and bought this little 6-passenger Ranger. He is having a lot of fun with it and is planning to take it to his cabin in Pinetop, up in northern Arizona.

He took us for a ride in it up over the mountains. We didn't get too far because the road was closed, probably due to the bad weather and wind they have had. He says this this is a really pretty waterfall when the water is running, but there was no water running that day.

Where David lives is really close to the Mexican boarder and they have a lot of problems with illegal aliens coming across the boarder. Fort Hachucha has this huge blimp with cameras in it to watch the boarder. It is usually in the sky right above my brother's house. They have to bring it down when there is bad weather. Because of a bad storm just before we got there, they had it on the ground.

We got to get fairly close to it. It is usually tethered to a looong cable. They are always having to patch bullet holes in it.

Each year we go to David's, we usually have a project for him to help us with. One year it was a closet door. Last year it was a trailer hitch. This year it was our fireplace. Because it runs on 110 electricity, when it quit on us Terry didn't have any tools to check it with. Since David is an electrical engineer, we figured he would be the guy to see! He checked it and couldn't find anything wrong so we put it back together, pushed two buttons, and it worked! David said that we are just too old to remember that we had to push "two" buttons instead of one! Well, a few days later it quit again for a day or two and then it started working again. We were sure glad because now we can tell him we are not senile quite yet!

Golden Sun, Apache Junction AZ, Idaho Falls-Emily's Baptism, Valentine's Day 01/26/10 - 02/16/10

Wow, what a crazy three weeks we have had here at Golden Sun in Apache Junction, AZ. Bob and Lolita were with us for the first two weeks. We made a trip to Payson (about 70 miles) where our boys, Travis and Ryan, live. We went on a Sunday and attended their Church Stake Conference. They fed us a great steak dinner afterwards.

The park has scheduled hikes each Wednesday and and Friday. I went on one (Terry had a bum knee so he didn't go.) It was only a 3 1/2 mile hike, but it was all uphill for almost two miles. Of course, then it was all downhill on the way back. It had been a while since I had been on a hike like that.

Here is part of the hiking group. It still amazes me what good shape some of these "old" people are in. I had a hard time keeping up with some of them!

The scenery was just awesome. There were a lot of cactus and in this spot it looked like someone just dumped a big load of rocks in the middle of the hill.

We hiked about 540 feet up. Looking down at this bridge is where one side of the freeway crosses over the other side and everyone drives on the wrong side of the road for a ways. This is the road that takes you to Payson where Travis and Ryan live. I can't believe we walked that far!

There were so many saguaro cactus. This one was just kind of on the hill by itself and is near to perfectly shaped.

Friends of ours and Bob and Lolita, from Emmett, Ken and Sandy, were also at the park for part of the time. We played shuffleboard one day and Bob and Lolita were the grand champions. We had fun sharing meals and playing cards with them.

The first week we were at the Golden Sun, we rented a car and drove the 900 miles to Idaho Falls for our granddaughter's baptism. Here is Shay and Emily just before she was baptized. Shay did a great job and then confirmed her a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and gave her a really nice blessing. We are proud of both of them.

We stayed at Shay's house and had such a nice time. After the baptism on Saturday, we went back there to change and eat lunch with everyone (over 30 people were at their house.) When we came up from the basement where we changed our clothes, all of our kids and grandkids were wearing these fun t-shirts. They had our engagement picture on them with either "Mom and Dad" or Grandma Susie & Grandpa Howie" above the picture and "40 years ago" below it. We were married on Valentine's Day, 40 years ago!! It was so fun and we were soooo surprised!

Thanks, Shay, Sarah, and Jill!

We spent the night on our way to Idaho Falls with my Aunt and Uncle, Terry and Nancy, who live near Ogden. Then on the way back to Apache Junction, we spent the night with my good friend Ruth who lives in St. George. They both treated us to good food, good beds, and great company. Thanks so much to them.

I took a beading class at our last park and made bracelets for each of the granddaughters. It is so much fun. I didn't get pictures of their bracelets, but this is a picture of several of the ankle bracelets that I have made for myself. I did some of the same things for their bracelets. I think I would kind of like to get into this beading. It is really a fun activity. I told Terry I would teach him to do it!! He really needs a hobby!

This past weekend Ryan and Lori came down with their kids and Nic (Travis's son) and spent Saturday with us. We had a really full, fun day. After a breakfast of waffles and strawberries, we went to the Swap Meet, then to the movies, and then to Costco for a hot dog lunch. After dropping Lori off to go to the theater with Travis's wife, Shannon, we came home and went swimming at the park and had pizza for dinner. I am sure the kids slept all the way home. We wore them out, and Ryan said he would stop for a Mountain Dew to keep him awake while he drove home. It's great to be near enough to kid's families to get to spend time with them.

We tried to sign up for the Valentine's dinner dance at the park (which happens to also be our wedding anniversary,) it was all sold out. So, without Terry knowing about it, I booked us on a dinner cruise on the Dolly Steamboat at Canyon Lake. After Church on Sunday, I told Terry I would like to go for a ride. Even though he was in the middle of the Daytona 500 race, he agreed to go. I guided him up the mountain road and then convinced him that I was lost and told him to pull into the marina so I could find a map.

Well, he didn't have it figured out until we pulled into the parking lot and he saw the steamboat. We had a great meal and a fun ride.

We saw mountain sheep, although they were all up high and could only see their silhouette. We could even see some lambs right up on top jumping and playing. I hoped that their parents were watching them closely. They were a long ways up. We also saw a bald eagle and several other birds.

I had talked Terry into wearing our t-shirts that Jill and Sarah had made for us. We got smiles and "Happy Anniversary" from the boat Captain and the other people on the boat. It turned out to be a really fun Valentine's Day and 40th wedding anniversary.

Colorado River Oasis, Ehrenberg AZ 01/12/10 - 01/26/10

Note: Sorry, I have gotten really behind on my posting!!! I have put 4 new postings (from Christmas until now) on at the same time to catch up the last couple of months! Hope none of you get too bored reading it all. I will try to keep up a little better!

Colorado River Oasis is an RV park in Ehrenberg, AZ, along the Colorado River, which separates Arizona and California.

When we cross the river into Blythe, CA, to shop or go to Church, we gain an hour. But, when we go back home, we loose an hour! It gets kind of hard to keep the time straight!

It is different being in a park with gravel, cement, and electricity again, after being in Wikieup for two months. Terry's sister, Lolita, and husband, Bob, were already in the park and we were able to park right next to them. Uncles John and Gary (they are our age) came for a couple of days and were in a KOA park just across the river. We also got to see several people who were staying in near-by parks who were from Emmett. So, we did a lot of visiting the two weeks we were here.

The hardest part is being so close to your neighbors! It is sometimes literally wall-to-wall RVs in some of the parks. It is a good thing we like people. If you didn't, you certainly would not like this kind of lifestyle. One thing about it, if you don't like your neighbor, you just move in a couple of weeks! It is pretty easy to meet new people and some of them actually become good friends.

The Colorado River was pretty low when we were here. The main river is on the other side of this island that is formed by a tributary along the park.

They even have a boat ramp in the park. It would be fun to some day bring our pontoon boat with us and take it out in the Colorado and do some fishing.

One of the big reasons we like to come to this area in January is the HUGE flea market that is held in Quartzsite, AZ, which is about 15 miles from the park we stay in. There are acres and acres of vendors and then the RV vendors have a big sale in this huge tent. All of this draws thousands of RVers every year. There is everything imaginable for sale.

Most of the RVers boondock out in the desert. Most places don't cost anything to stay there, but there are no hookups. There is a water truck and a honey wagon for sewer dumping that comes around for a charge, and lots of people using generators. If Ron and Alice, Terry's brother and wife, would have stayed out, we were going to join the boondockers this year. But, we decided we didn't want to do that by ourselves. Maybe another time.

It is hard to imagine how many RVs are parked in the desert. You just have to see it to know what I am talking about!
There was a bad storm while we were at Ehrenberg. There were 80 mph winds and lots of power poles and trees were blown over. A tornado touched down about five miles from us! Who would have thought there would be a tornado in Arizona! Some of the parks in the area had all of the people leave their RVs and go into the clubhouse, but ours didn't. We didn't hear of any RVs that were damaged too badly in the storm, but the Condo was sure shaking!

I just love seeing the orange trees. They seem to be everywhere. A lot of people have them in their yards. I imagine the people in this area would be just as fascinated with an apple tree in our yard in Idaho.