Louise and I have been looking for a place to hit the water with our kayak for over a month. Last Saturday, when we were having our “garage sale” and showing our kayak, Jim and Carlotta Lindeman came by.
10 March ‘08 Monday Louise and I have been looking for a place to hit the water with our kayak for over a month. Last Saturday, when we were having our “garage sale” and showing our kayak, Jim and Carlotta Lindeman came by. Now Jim was giving some thought to purchasing another kayak so that when his twin brother comes down from Alaska, he would have a kayak for him and his wife to use. Jim and Carlotta have their own kayaks and asked if Louise and I would like to join them for a day trip to Tortilla Flats. They came by in the early morning, I tossed our kayak and accessories into their trunk, and we were off. Tortilla Flats is about 30 miles east of Phoenix or 70 miles northeast of Casa Grande. The weather couldn’t have been better. Tortilla Flats is a large water area with fingers that run off in all directions. With deep walls of solid rock, it was difficult to find a place for lunch. The flowers were covering the hills all around us and some of the rocks were actually a complimentary cream color…it was amazing. We were but just a few boaters on the water today. As we paddled from one “finger” to another we were most often by ourselves but with a couple of exceptions. One exception was two ski boats tied together and all aboard seemed to be having one heck of a good party. The other was a paddle-wheeled excursion boat, and that was filled with visitors to Tortilla Flats. Louise and I were excited to get back into our kayak again and it was a lot of fun paddling alongside of Jim and Carlotta for the day. Well, tomorrow morning we run to the airport and pickup Joelle (our youngest daughter) who will be spending a few days with us.
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_ 9 March ‘08 Sunday Well I thought we were going to Mt. Picacho yesterday, but with the garage sale, we had to pass and make it today. Fortunately for us, the re-enactment was still going on. The particular skirmish that we were going to observe was the Confederate victory at Glorieta (the Gettysburg of the West), New Mexico. _The story goes that after the Confederate victory at Valverde, the Texans had arrived at the mouth of Apache Canyon, just east of Santa Fe. They were looking to choke the access of the Santa Fe Trail to the Union. The Confederates had about a thousand men and 3 cannons while the Union _numbered about 850 men and 8 cannons. Well when the fight hit the fan, the Confederates had driven the Union way back and it looked like their back was broken. _It very well could have been but a small group of Union soldiers had slipped by the Confederates. What they found when they got around them was all of the stash the Confederates had left in hiding. Things like huge supplies of ammunition, all of their food (with the exception of that the soldiers were carrying into battle), their wagons and the remainder of their horses. _With a couple of well placed charges the whole stash was up in smoke. This spelled disaster to the Confeds who won the skirmish but lost the war… Well anyway, we arrived with our beach chairs in hand, water, a little snack, camera and lots of suntan lotion and found a location to set-up our “camp”. The re-enactment was held in the sage and cactus at the base of Mt. Picacho so that gave us the opportunity to find a place on the hill side and among the rock and brush to set our chairs. We also visited the encampments and visited with both the Confederates and the Union soldiers, and also found ourselves in line to get a glass of “root”beer and a bag of KETTLECORN??? We spoil ourselves sometimes… _8 March ‘08 Saturday Today started out with a neighborhood garage sale and I took advantage of this to market our kayaks. I must admit, we had great interest. I sure wish we would have had some water around us, it would have been great to do a little on water demo… As I see it, the closest water is 25 miles east of Tempe so this makes it a little difficult to get all interested parties there. Oh well, if they really like it like we have, they’ll contact me when they can. The rest of the afternoon we were touring the ruins of “Hohokam” Casa Grande. This is one of the largest “prehistoric” structures ever built in North America and its just 25 miles away. _The area was established by the Hohokam and used primarily as irrigation farming with a little trade tossed in. All this took place about 1350 C.E., and then without a trace, the ancient ones flat out disappeared a thousand years later. Actually “Hohokam” means “Those Who Are Gone”, which is pretty fitting if you ask me. There’s not much left of this great area but a few walls, that are thought to have been used as security walls, and the “Casa Grande” or great house. Back in the mid 1800’s, the early arriving tourists started taking too many souvenirs home, so fortunately President Benjamin Harrison stepped in and saved all that we are able to see and enjoy today. By setting aside one square mile of Arizona Territory surrounding the Ruins of Casa Grande, he established a national treasure and the first prehistoric and cultural reserve. _ 8 March ‘08 Friday There are a million and one trails around Arizona and yesterday Louise and I joined 11 others from our campground and headed out for a 6 mile hike. _It was another “Arizona Winter Day”, blue cloudless sky, and the temperature in the low 70’s. For most of us it was what you might call a “moderate” hike, but I’m sure we will feel some after affects tomorrow if we don’t take a couple of Tylenol at bed time. The desert is still very green and the spring flowers, well they are starting to show some early color. Even the cactus is a healthy green but no less dangerous to the touch. _We were all lucky with the cactus spines, but a few had found their way into some of the soles of the hiking boots. A couple of the hikers were on the watch for rattle snakes, but none were seen or heard. I was amazed at the amount of trash that was dumped…tires, beds, clothing, furniture, you name it and it was “DUMPED”. It is pretty sad that those people will go out of their way to take their trash to the desert instead of to the dump… Who knows, it could be that the Goodwill would have taken some of it but no, the dumb bastards have to take it out into the desert and create another “landfill” of shit!!! OK, I’m upset…but it is a shame and an embarrassment that someone who lives in this country would do this to “Their own neighborhood”. Louise and I purchased some good walking/hiking sticks last December at the Palm Desert market and this was the first time we had used them to hike in the hills. I must say, they really worked as advertized. I/we will most definitely use them more and more as we go out walking the streets or hiking the hills/mountains. One of the beautiful sites that we came upon was Mt. Picacho. _We are going to take the day this Sunday, and head up there. They are having a Civil War re-enactment of The Battle of Picacho Pass and we thought it would be interesting to attend...we’ll write more on that later. _ 5 March ‘08 Wednesday Our campground in Casa Grande the Western Horizon Resort and let me tell you, they constantly have something going on. As I was going to the rec room to pick up a freshly made muffin, I walked pass Greg and Doretta Oaklief. They were just about ready to make their presentation on 4 wheeling the Pinal County Box Canyon and I had to listen to what they had to say. Louise and I have had the Suzuki out in the mud before but if we were to go with Greg and Doretta this morning it would give us some time going over some “moderate rock and water” obstacles while trying to get further over the pass and into the canyon. Louise was in her exercise class while I was sitting through Greg’s lecture but I made the big decision that we were “in” for an afternoon of 4 wheel’ in. I through a quick lunch together, grabbed my camera and waited to tell Lou what our plans were for the day… She was as excited as I was to join in. _At 11am, Gary and Mary-Ann Tennent of “BC”, Greg and Doretta, and Louise and I headed out. The box canyon was about 40 miles northeast of Casa Grande. On the way we passed through Coolidge and then Florence. I’ll write more on Coolidge in the next couple of days but in regards to Florence…it is one of the oldest towns in Arizona and has the oldest courthouse in the state. A little note about the clock tower, they ran out of money when it came time to purchase the clock so they just painted the time of completion at the location where the clock would fit…11:40am is still painted up there and the plans are to just leave well enough alone. Another interesting note on Florence, they have 5 different jail/prisons here in this little town. The state penitentiary, a Home-land Security Prison, the city jail, 3 private jails that they contract to bring in inmates from outside of the state, and a juvenile facility...tough place but their economy is growing leaps and bounds !!! _ Now a little about our drive through the canyon. The pavement continued for another 5 or so miles and then we made our turn off to the right…all dirt, rock, and water for the next 4 plus hours. There were times when the dirt was just about as smooth as the pavements we have traveled in California but that soon was exchanged for challenging rocks of all size and a little flowing water down the drying streams. _The scenery was excellent. Cactus of all type and size, lots of new spring flowers, and of course the mountains…it was “excellent”. _ 3 March ‘08 Monday Coffee is brewing, Louise is in the shower, and I’ve just got to get something written this morning. We left Pomona on Saturday morning after getting in line with the coach for our scheduled weighing. It is very important to have the coach weighed at each wheel so that we have a good idea as to how much weight is at the corners…too much weight and it puts a heck of a strain on that tire or tires and it also lets us know if we are carrying a heavier overall cargo as well. Our report card showed us that we passed with flying colors…we were under our maximum gross weight by quite a lot and our balance was within 5lbs. from the left to the right side…we got high praise. Unfortunately this kind of weighing isn’t available just everywhere, so we jumped at the chance when we found it available at the rally. Well now we are on our way to Casa Grande, Arizona for a couple of weeks. We pulled onto Hwy 10 and headed east as far as Ehrenburg, Arizona, which gave us a run of about 200 miles and a familiar campground to stay at for a couple of days. In 1965, Louise and I moved into a new house in Alderwood Manor, which is a suburb of Seattle, and met another couple that had just moved into their new home as well…that was Karl and Nicki Ostrom. In 1969 Louise and I left the neighborhood as I was transferred to Portland, Oregon and unfortunately we had only seen Karl and Nicki once since and that was in 1986. Well we remedied that by finding out that they had a winter home in Lake Havasu, Arizona and try as we could, we finally got together Saturday. We met in Parker and enjoyed a lunch together and exchanged a lot of our past experiences since we last saw each other, family, and old memories of the neighborhood…it was great to see them again. Yesterday was our checkout day, but the winds came ripping across the desert and we opted to stay one more day to let them blow themselves out. This morning the sun is again with us, the temp is going to be in the low to mid 70’s, and “we’re ready”…Casa Grande, here we come. _ 30 January '08 Wednesday Louise left me yesterday and didn't look back...until she ran out of money at the casino and caught the bus back. She joined a group from the campground and took a bus tour to the Viejas Casino which is located about 35 miles east of San Diego. She had a good time but next time she would rather come back with a jackpot or two in her purse. I stayed back to work on the trim around the floor. The only thing left now is the stairway and I hope to have that finished tomorrow (Thursday). This morning we met again with Mark and Susan and spent most of the afternoon at a couple of museums here in Yuma. The first was the the old Fort Yuma and then we went across the tracks to the old Arizona Territorial Prison. Both of them were very interesting and a real asset to this area. _ 28 January '08 Monday It's been a little while since we've taken the day and went out into the desert and took a hike. Louise and I joined up with Mark and Susan and drove out to the Imperial National Wildlife Refuge and hiked the Painted Desert Trail. Our drive took us right through the middle of the Yuma Proving Grounds (just about ALL of the military weapons are tested here) and past the beautiful Martinez Lake. _As we passed the lake we were immediately met with the "stickiest and slickest" red mud I've ever been in. It was like driving on snow and ice only it didn't melt off of the car. OK, getting back to our hike... We walked through rocky washes and over variegated mesas that were left behind by volcanic action many, many years ago. We were also on the outlook for the desert critters (the rattlers aren't out yet) such as the mountain/desert goats, wild donkeys, coyotes, and lizzards. Unfortunately all we saw were a couple of lizzards. We did have a good time, a good hike, and good food (packed by Louise and carried by me). _With all the recent rain we've had the desert showed a lot of green and will soon show a lot of flowers as well. Arriving back in Yuma the first stop was diffenately the car wash...unfortunately the $10 wash was worth only a buck. Most of the mud was still attached to the bottom of the car and the rest of the car was so grimmy looking that we headed over to Mark and Susans place to "re-do" the whole thing. Hell, I don't think the car wash machine could have possibly gotten that red "mud ???" off. _Even after the second and third wash of the day it is going to have to be done again tomorrow. _ 27 January '08 Sunday We've got rain... It started last night just before bed time and at 2 in the afternoon it hasn't stopped. I've been watching the LA TV Network and seeing all the flooding, slides, and snow that they are receiving. I ask myself, "is that really "The Sunny California" that we've always known to be the sun tan capital???? I know, it's the Global Warming. Louise is helping that cause right now, she is roasting a turkey for our dinner tonight...mmmm good !!! _Well the new floor is in and I've just about finished with setting the trim work as well. Unfortunately I had to "purchase" another tool to set the finish pieces. I bought a new nailer. I had to buy this compressed air nailer so that the nails would penentrate the new flooring and/or the walls. I tried to use a standard hammer and finish nail but I just couldn't get it to hit pay dirt and hold...Oh well, I've always wanted a "nailer"... The people at Home Depot and Lowes are getting to know us on a first name basis because of all the visits we've made to their establishments. Yesterday we met with Louise's brother and his wife (Mark and Susan) and attended the annual "Lettice Festival". It turned out to be pretty much the standard street market with the addition of "The Largest Salad Bar" in the world. I don't know about the "Largest", but it was about 20 feet long and in the middle of the street. We lasted about 2 hours and then the snarling of our tummy's got to us and we had to find the local "Hot Wing Bar"...nothing better than a nice sunny day, hot wings, a cold beer, and eating out on the sidewalk... _ 19 January '08 Saturday It's been a couple of weeks since I've been here and let me tell you, it hasn't been because I've been doing nothing. After leaving the "Full-Timers" group in the desert we drove back to Ehrenburg to plug-in, dump our tanks, and take on fresh water before heading back to Yuma and our campground at Pilot Knob. Our plans are to have the floors taken up and replaced with "Purgo" type hardwood floors. We will be here for a month so that should give us plenty of time to get it done. We got a call from Bonnie and Doug and found out that they were stopped by heavy snow in Medford Oregon while on their way down to Cabo San Jose. Two days later we again got a call from them and they wanted to meet us in Brawley Calfornia (just 24 miles north of El Centro) for dinner. Brawley is about an hours drive from Yuma so we drove over to see them before they crossed the border into Mexico. Two days after that we got a call from Ralph and Susan Keith (a couple we first met in Cos, Turkey when we were camping there). _They live just outside of Calgary and were on their way down to Cabo San Lucas for 3 months. Again we drove up to El Centro and met with another couple heading across the border. It had been at least 3 years since we traveled with them and it was really good to see them again. It was tough letting them head off to Cabo and not tag along... Well back at "camp" I finally decided to take on the flooring project and do it myself. Day 1,2,3, and 4 were taken up with pulling up the old carpet and the hard surface. What I thought would be a moderately easy job turned out to be a huge challenge...it turnsout that the total flooring is laid before any walls or cabinets are installed in the coach. There-fore I had to chisel all the hard surface material out of every corner, around all the cabinets, shower, and doorways. Of course not only was it tough to chisel those areas I also had to do the same with the floor that was glued down. _Well today is day 5 and I have now laid, glued and screwed the sub-floor and started to lay the new flooring. We have chosen a hardwood oak flooring (Purgo) to cover from the bedroom to the very front of the coach...no more wall to wall carpeting in the living area for us... Another couple of days and I will be done. Louise keeps telling me it would have been much cheaper and quicker if we had "hired" it done....Ya, you think so ???? Oh yes, I forgot, I also refinished the kitchen cabinet doors too...I've been a little busy doing all this but not to busy to pass a few gatherings at one or two of the local "watering" establishments with Mark and Susan or at a few of the neighboring RV's when invited. |
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