Our Travel Plans Have Changed Already

We packed up and left Arrey on Wednesday, and stopped at the Garfield Garage.  Our friend Ron checked everything out on the RV before we got on the road.  As planned we stopped at the Lordsburg KOA for one night.  We went to dinner at Kranberry's Chatterbox Restaurant.  They seated us in a different room so I had to take some new pictures.  I'm sure they will call these pieces "mining equipment" but we think differently.

 We figure these are for 
extracting baby teeth.  The one on the right is for pulling bigger teeth.

 
 This must be for drilling out cavities.
The tool on the right was used for "anesthesia"  Just kidding about these pictures.

As always before, the dinner we had was excellent, and for dessert, we shared a "Gold Miner's Delight".  It was a nice brownie with ice cream and toppings (hot fudge AND caramel) and whipped cream, chopped nuts and a cherry on top.  WOW!!!

Thursday we packed up and moved on to this RV Park, Valley Vista, in  Benson, AZ.  Before getting here, I called ahead to Silent Valley.  We were planning on arriving there on May 22nd.  However, we were told that it is already quite full, and if we couldn't get there before THIS Friday, we probably wouldn't be able to get a site until AFTER the Memorial day weekend.  We knew that if not there, we probably wouldn't be able to get into ANY park in the area before the holiday weekend. We debated what our choices might be.  After much consideration, we decided to extend our stay here at Valley Vista from two days to seven days.  We will then go to the Elks Lodge in Casa Grande for two or three days.  After that, we hope we can stay one night at an RV Park in Buckeye, AZ.  Our last night on the road will be May 27th in Blythe, CA.  Hopefully, by the 28th enough people will have left Silent Valley so we can get in there.  Had we thought ahead about how crowded it can get up at Silent Valley, we would have just stayed at home in Arrey until May 21st, before starting the trip back to California.  Oh well.  

We have a very lovely, and large, 50 amp site here. 

This is our source of shade and a beautiful cactus garden.  The weather has been mild, and the nights are cool so it has been nice for sleeping. 
On the right is a picture of the office/clubhouse here in the park.

Yesterday we had to go to Wal-Mart to get replacement filters for our Zero water pitchers, and saw this car.
We aren't sure what it is, but it is rather unique, so I took the picture.

Speaking of pictures, I re-took the ones I meant to include in the last blog, but couldn't find them last week.  I believe I told you that Mary is already fixing up her site that she will be returning to next March.

here is her trailer, and her van can be seen behind it.
She has a huge tree that provides plenty of shade.

On the right is her "flower garden" and a bird bath.  The flowers are NOT live!  I don't think you can see them, but there are solar lights along the edge of her garden. 

This picture shows the front of our motorhome in the site we were in this year.  You can see how close our neighbor was to our site.  Our neighbor Burt was a very pleasant person, and his dog Sammy, was very delightful.  We had no objection to them, but we hoped to have more space when we come back next year to stay.  Sadly, it never occurred to me to include a picture of the site we were able to get for our permanent site.  Each time we have been here, we have been right in front, along side of the road.  It isn't terribly noisy there, but it will be even quieter in the area in the back.  I wrote last time about the storage shed we were thinking of buying from Janice when we come back.

This is called 6 feet by 12 feet, but that is the outside measurement, and the low side is not tall enough for Jim to stand up in.  We decided to get a barn instead.  Our choice with be 8 feet by 12 feet with a higher roof.

Ours will be stained with a driftwood gray urethane finish, white trim and a beautiful blue roof.  It will have one window on the side, unless we decide to have two windows.  We also chose to have the radiant heat barrier in the roof.  That's supposed to keep the inside about 30 degrees cooler.  

We plan to buy a bigger refrigerator to put in the barn.  We hope to have one with about 4.6  cu.ft. capacity.  We also want to use the barn to store things when we don't need them.  We want to get an outdoor grill, and a propane oven to use outside.  I'm also hoping to have a small garden when we get back home.  I want to get a wagon and have a planter box in it.  That way, I can pull it out into the sun when the plants need sunshine, and then into the shade later.  Our home site will have 50 amps of electric service, and is a nice wide site.  There is some shade on both sides, so we hope it will be very pleasant back there.  On one side our neighbor is a guy named Charlie, who is very friendly.  He has a garden much larger than what I hope to have.  If I need help starting my garden, he will probably help me out.  The neighbor on our other side apparently works long hours some place, so we have not met him yet, but I'm sure we'll get along nicely.

This is a recent picture of my brother Tony's beloved dog Woody.  He turned 13 years old a couple weeks ago.  He can't hear, and his sight isn't good, but he is still a wonderful member of the family.  He lives in Oceanside on a sailboat with Tony.  I think Woody looks great for his age!

 I wanted to include this picture of our grandson Larz who lives in Bloomfield,, NY and his baby sister Willow.  This was taken and sent to us on Easter Sunday.  On the right is another picture of Larz.  He was in the Special Olympics and placed 5th in the 100m dash.  We are so proud of him.  

Our good and dear friends Almita and Rueben went to the 50th birthday party of their daughter.  She wanted a 70's theme, so they were all supposed to dress in 70's clothes.  Almita is in the picture on the left, wearing green leg warmers.  Rueben is in the picture to the right.  He is wearing the bucket hat and gray tee shirt.  They are really nice people and such good sports about things people ask of them.  I'm sure it was a great party.

I can't help but remember that life is short and should be savored.  None of us know how much time we have left, so we should make the most of each day we have.  This is a beautiful day and we are grateful for it.  Don't dwell on the past; look forward to each day ahead of you and thank God for all of your blessings.  Along with gratitude for your blessings, please remember those who are sick, alone, homeless and suffering, and pray for them.  Maybe you can even reach out to help someone less fortunate than yourself.  

Have a great weekend and a wonderful life.  We are very excited about getting back to our family and friends in California.  And please remember to honor the veterans on Memorial Day, and all year long.

God bless you and have a grand weekend.  💖😊

We'll be on the Road Again Next Week

This is our last full week here in Arrey.  I am looking forward to seeing friends and family when we get back to California, but my heart is heavy over leaving here.  If not for several issues to be taken care of back in California, we would stay here now.  Since we have known that we will come back to stay next year, this has seemed more like home than even before.  We have selected the site we will have as our permanent site, and begun planning what we will do with it when we come back.  Janice is now selling storage sheds, and small barns and other structures.  Some are even big enough that they could become a tiny house, with the right modifications.  We do NOT want to make one into a tiny house, but we felt certain that we would want at least her mini-shed for storage on our site.  But when we went inside it, we discovered it wasn't tall enough for Jim to stand up except on the "high side".  Instead of the 6' by 12' mini-shed, we decided to get the 8' by 12' storage barn.  That will give us a little more space AND will give Jim more hear room.  I took pictures, but now I can't figure out what became of them.  Oh well.  Our barn will have driftwood gray outside walls, a dark blue roof and one window.  We opted for the radiant heat barrier that will keep it about 30 degrees cooler inside.  We needed that because we are going to get a bigger refrigerator/freezer that will be kept inside the barn.  Well, I guess that's enough about all of that.  Back to this year now.

Last weekend Mary and I went to the TorC Fiesta and we really enjoyed the parade.  We watched it from the parking lot of my favorite place in TorC, the AB Drive-in.  Pastor Ric and Mary were across the street at the First Baptist Church.  The parade began with all the local fire trucks.

There were trucks from all the local departments, including our own truck.

Smokey the Bear rode by on a Forest Service truck too.   Then came the Fiesta Queen and her court.

After these lovely young ladies came the Hatch, New Mexico Red Chili Queen.  
Everybody was having a wonderful time despite the heat that day, except maybe this poor dog.  Besides the heat, many of the fire trucks sounded sirens and honked horns.  This poor little guy tried to hide under his owner's truck.  
But he did come out when it was less noisy to visit with Mary and me.

There were several equestrian teams too.  

 

There were floats with musicians
and dancers on
 them too.

 The Republican Party was present, but I didn't see the Democrats represented.

This truck lifted open, 
and then lifted out a wheel chair.  It was pretty amazing!




Many interesting people walked by, or rode horses, near the end of the parade.

After the parade was over, Mary and I had lunch in the AB Drive-in.  I, of course had the Philly Cheese Steak sandwich, since there is no place else that makes  it as good as they do.  Then we went over to the Ralph Edwards Park for the arts and crafts sales, plus much more.  We both bought beautiful straw hats.  No pictures of them yet, but later maybe.  We were over-heated and tired by the time we got home.  Jim looked after our furry kids so we could have a girl's day out.  It was a lot of fun, but we both needed to rest after we got back home.  

On Monday we got a new neighbor named Burt and his furry child named Sammy.  They travel extensively in a pop-up trailer.

On the left is his trailer when it is down.  Being low profile means it is easier to tow.  On the right is his trailer raised up to camp inside.

And here is his sweet dog Sammy.  Millie has enjoyed having a friendly dog next door.
We are going to play Mexican Train with Mary this afternoon.  Tomorrow we are going to a dinner in town put on by our church to benefit the Open Arms Pregnancy center.  Sunday, after church, Ric and Mary are coming over for dinner.  We will be busy packing up to travel on Monday and Tuesday.  Wednesday we will stop at the Garfield Garage to have Ron Garay check our fluids and tire pressure before we head out for Lordsburg.  Ron, pictured on the right, is a great mechanic and did a lot of work for us this year. He is honest, hard-working and reasonable for prices.  If you need service and are in the area, we fully recommend calling him.

I need to close now.  We will be praying for safe travels in the week ahead.  We expect to get to Silent Valley by May 22nd.  Bye for now.  More pictures next time.