Friday, October 16th

We are now in Benson, AZ, but I would like to report on the last few days.  As I mentioned in my last post, Pastor Ric and Wonderful Wendy came over on Tuesday and we played Mexican Train before we had a delicious dinner of roast pork with roasted potatoes and carrots and apple sauce.  Wendy made a delightful peach-upside-down cake, since Jim doesn't like pineapples.  It was great.  On Wednesday Ric & Wendy drove up at 10:30 am to ask us if we wanted to take the RV to T or C for an oil change that day.  Willie ran to the door to greet them, and apparently twisted his ankle or leg.  Shortly after they left, he began limping and whimpering.  At first we assumed he must have stepped on a burr that Jim might have brought in, but we didn't find one.  I gave him a baby aspirin and when they came back at 11:30 to pick us up, he was eager to go, but still uncomfortable.  Jim lifted him into the back of the car, and we drove to T or C to have lunch at the A&B Drive-in.  This place makes the BEST Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich I've gotten in any of the 41 states we've been in, and again it was a total winner!!!!  After that Ric drove us to the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge.  We saw this picture in the visitor's center.  The second picture is Wendy looking at a diorama. 

After the visitor's center, Ric drove us through the refuge to try to see some birds.  Because of the extreme drought, we didn't see as many as folks usually see, but it was still very beautiful there.  We did see quite a few geese, and one majestic crane! 




Ric spotted three white cranes behind a lot of shrubbery and trees, but I was not able to get a good picture of them.  There was an interesting debate about what was a bush and what was a tree.  Wendy said a tree has to be over 30' ......she has rules!!!
Last but not least, we saw a dead rattle snake in the road.  I'll never get any closer than this to one of those critters.

 It was a great day, and Millie loved riding around with the window open (only going about 10mph) and seeing everything outside.  When we got home, both dogs fell alseep almost immediately!  LOL.  I had prepared a meatloaf and mashed potatoes for dinner, so all I had to do was put them in the oven for an hour and we had a nice dinner again.  In the morning we got all packed up and left Arrey to drive to Lorsdburg, NM.  We love the sites in Hatch, NM. 




I can't believe it, but I am falling in love with the desert!   It is so beautiful, and the colors change with the seasons.  As I have said many times before, God is an awesome artist!

We spent the night in the sorriest KOA we've ever seen.  There wasn't really anything BAD about it, just nothing good to talk about.  We got up this morning, and our Tire Minder that we bought at one of the rallies we attending this spring alerted us that the rear tire on the passenger side of the car was down a little.  Jim put air in the tire and we hooked it up and began our travels for today.  We got almost to Willcox, AZ when the alarm on the Tire Minder went off again saying we had a leak in the same tire.  Jim decided to take the very next exit to check it out.  We couldn't find the leak, but we were blessed to find that there was a place at that exit called Dick's Auto Service.  He removed the tire to find the leak, and sadly, it was a small gash in the sidewall.  He said he could TRY to patch it, but Jim knew that was not a good idea.  He replaced the tire for us......then we got the much needed oil change on the RV done.  I want to give them a 5 star rating as the service was excellent, and the price was very, very reasonable.  We would recommend them to anyone needing automotive, or RV repairs when in this area.  Also we found them pleasant and efficient at their work.  All Good!  The only bad part was, that I probably should have had them do an oil change on the car too, but we wanted to get back on the road, so we didn't.  I really feel blessed that God let us know the tire was getting low before we got out in the middle of nowhere, and Jim would have had to change the tire in the heat. 
Now we are at the Red Barn Campground for two nights.  We will see if we can get the oil changed on the car somewhere here in Benson tomorrow, before we go to visit my son on Sunday.  Stay well, and keep the rubber side down as you enjoy this beautiful country.  God Bless America. 
After I closed this post and had dinner, we took the dogs out for a walk, around 6:30 pm.  About 20 minutes later it began to rain.....very heavily, with much thunder and lightning.  Willie was terrified so he hid under the bed, and Millie sat by me on the couch.  It knocked out TV reception, so we relaxed and chatted awhile, then read for the rest of the evening.  It let up enough to take the dogs out again around 10:45 pm, and then the TV worked so we watched the 11 pm news before going to bed.  About 2:45 am we were awakened by the renewal of the storm for about 2 more hours.  Finally it let up around 5 am.  Also, we were closer than we thought to the I-10 freeway, which is noisy all night long, AND a train went by about every hour.  Obviously we didn't get a lot of sleep, so we will take it easy today.  I did two loads of laundry, and will probably finish my book today.  That concludes this entry.