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.  💖😊