Just One More Day on the Road to California

It has been an amazing trip, and we have met many wonderful people, and had many exciting experiences.  However, it will be great to get back to California for the summer, and autumn. I'd like to say again a big thank you to  Big Al, Manny, Larry and Sal for the work they did on our car and our RV.  Also huge thank you's to Ric and to Janice for all they did for us.  Hugs to all the wonderful people we met in New Mexico, and along the way.  I was sorry we didn't get to say good bye to our neighbor Verne who left the same day we did, and to Guy Lewis, the near-sighted photographer.  I don't know if I remembered to say that Guy donated a new American flag to the campground since the one that was up was  in really poor shape.  He IS a good Guy!

In Lordsburg, we visited Kranberry's Family Restaurant.  It was really nice.  
 I was amazed to find that this little local restaurant served the very best Sweet & Sour stir fried chicken I have ever had!  Jim had a French Dip that he enjoyed very much.  He also had a dessert called Gold Miner's delight that was terrific.  It was a brownie topped with vanilla ice cream, and hot fudge topping.  He said it would have been better with chocolate ice cream, but it was still pretty good.  The price was very reasonable, and we had plenty to eat.  If you are traveling through the southwest part of New Mexico, we suggest having a lunch or dinner at Kranberry's. 
The next day we drove to Benson, AZ where we stayed two nights at Valley Vista RV Park.  It is an Encore Resort but we used our RPI membership to get a discounted rate for our site.  The next day Jim spotted a family of birds with over a dozen babies.  I grabbed my camera but wasn't fast enough to capture a picture of the babies scurrying along the stone wall to where the water was.  However, I did get a picture of the daddy bird.

Isn't he gorgeous?  We looked him up in our Birds of North America book and we thought he was a Gambel's Quail.  I sent the picture to our friend Almita to see if we were right, and much to my surprise, she said we were.   

Every time we drive across southern Arizona on I-10 we see this billboard.  We have actually stopped there twice, and we still can't remember just what the "THING" is.....must not have impressed us that much.

 As one would expect, southern Arizona is very hot this time of year, so we didn't go anywhere this time.  Actually, we hope to spend a week there next spring, when we head back to Arrey, NM as there are a number of historic places we want to see............starting with the Cochise Stronghold.  

 Ric suggested we go there, and
 we will, just not this trip.
After that we were going to spend a couple days at the Elks in Casa Grande.  However, because of the heat, we decided to go to the Elks in Tempe, where we would have FULL hook ups.  It was a beautiful lodge with very friendly members.  There was also a lovely, well-shaded park in back of the lodge.  It would have been great to stay there a little longer, again, next time we will, but this time, we wanted to get through Quartzsite before it gets TOO hot.  The prediction on the Weather Channel had said only 88 for today.  They must  have lied because our outdoor thermometer is reading 98!  Still, that is less than the 108 and higher forecast for this weekend and beyond. 

In Arizona they have beautifully painted underpasses along the freeway.
I had to include a few pictures for those of you who live in places where they don't do this.  

 The desert in Arizona is also beautiful, but I do believe New Mexico has more spectacular desert scenery.




The sights are very interesting, including

these peaks near Picacho.

We made a quick comfort stop here, but we didn't go inside the souvenir store this time.

We also saw an army convoy yesterday.  I was surprised that there were so many vehicles.....about twenty I would say.

I always enjoy the view when we are approaching Quartzsite.  We saw this car speeding to town.  It passed us so quickly that I really don't know just what kind of car it was.

Here's another picture taken on the road to Q.  We came into town and saw something we almost never see.......

 I don't remember the last time I saw Main Street without a lot of cars.

The RV parks are almost completely empty.  Here at Desert Gardens there are no more than about 5 RVs in the portion that is for "short stays".  There is a section that is for full time residents here but there aren't too many of them either.

Silly Al's Pizza usually doesn't have ANY parking spaces open, but today there weren't any cars there.  It was almost like visiting a Ghost Town coming here in June!   




Tomorrow I hope we can get on the road by 7:30 am again so we can get up to Silent Valley before 11 am.  As I said in the beginning of this blog, all of the trip has been great, but it will be nice to get back up in the mountains where it is cooler.  We are looking forward to being able to put the awning out and relax outside.  I'm hoping our friends, Donna & Bill, will be up at Silent Valley while we are there.  We haven't seen them since July 4th last year, and it will be nice to see them again! 
I can't tell you how wonderful it is to be able to travel and meet new people and visit new places.  This is a really amazing and beautiful country, filled with terrific people.  One should always be looking for the opportunities of life.  Today is a gift, and tomorrow is not guaranteed, so we need to make the most of each day.  Please recognize the chance for adventures and take advantage of the them.  The car and the RV are both running wonderfully and all is well with us.  The work we had done was well worth the cost.  The EZ connector cord for the towing lights holds so tightly Jim can hardly take it off when we get to where we are going!  It was a great investment!  Life is good and God is GREAT!  Count your blessings everyone, and enjoy all that you have.  Please don't ever waste a single moment thinking about others who may have more than you do.  In the first place, you can't know what problems they may have.  And secondly, you HAVE everything you really need.  God knows what you need and He will provide for you.  Savor what you have and be grateful for each day.