How About Some Pictures!

Plans Change

We are now in Snowbird RV Park in Fort Mohave, Arizona on the south end of Bullhead City. This wasn't our original plan but... plans change. Last Sunday when I wrote, we were in Apache Junction and just had a wonderful dinner with friends, Mike and Jackie. On Monday we had dinner with more friends, Wes and Carol. Wes was my boss when I worked in construction during college oh so many years ago. In fact, Wes was one of the prime movers in me getting to college at all. We had not seen him for at least 25 years -- maybe longer. So it was fun to visit for a few hours and we look forward to more visiting next year.

Instead of leaving that area the next day as we originally planned, we decided to stay longer and see the area around the Superstition Mountains. So we hooked up the Alpenlite Palace and moved 5 miles out to Lost Dutchman State Park right at the base of the mountains. Beautiful! We drove up to Tortilla Flats -- a gorgeous drive up the Apache Trail (now highway 88). I bought Joyce lunch in the Superstition Saloon (don't tell the superintendent!). Actually it is more restaurant than saloon but they do have a bar and if you choose to sit at that location the bar stools are saddles. Funky, huh? The walls are plastered the one dollar bills that people have left along with their name or business card. The next day we hiked a trail to see the poppies in bloom. We were 7 to 14 days too early to really see the desert in its finest blooming glory.

Wednesday came and we headed to Prescott to see Marilyn and her family. She and the kids attended Allen Creek while we were there. Actually she started attending two Sundays after we did. So we had dinner with them both Wednesday and Thursday evenings. When I say "them," I mean Marilyn, Joy, Nelson, and Marilyn's mother Polly. The rest of the family is married and still living in Grants Pass. It was fun to visit for awhile. We were close to them when they went through some hard times.

On Friday... instead of going southwest to Quartzsite and then north to Lake Havasu City we changed plans again and left early in the morning for Williams so we could take the train into Grand Canyon National Park. Yes! train ride. This was a special treat for us and it was a fabulous day. We left the campground at 7:20 (I'm sure everyone was glad when I got that diesel out of there) so we would have plenty of time. We did. We had time to look around the gift shop, drink a cuppa coffee, and watch a wild west shootout. These Arizonans like there shootouts! When we got to the park we only had 3 1/2 hours before the train headed back so we took a bus tour which enabled us to see more than if we were walking. After the tour we took our box lunch (which they gave (?!?!?) us) and walked to the rim of the canyon to eat in full view of God's wondrous splendor. The weather was beautiful -- about 55 to 60 degrees and sunny. Now the nights... that was different. It had been dropping to about 15 to 20 degrees at night. So we didn't stay in Williams. When the train got in we fired up the F250 and headed for warmer climes. Which was Blake Ranch RV Park, 12 miles east of Kingman. We got in there at 8:00 which is a lot later than we usually stop but this was an exception.

Now, I have a question for you who know about these things. I wasn't really worried about the interior of the RV freezing because I can use an electric heater to keep the inside warm. But the RV is not arctic equipped and I worry about the drain lines freezing. My question... will they? How cold does it have to get? The gray water drain (that's the sink and shower for you who need to know) is a 1 1/2 inch plastic pipe about 18 inches long. The black water drain (toilet!) is a 3 inch pipe about 18 inches long. I'm not really worried about the storage tanks freezing overnight but if the drain pipes are full of the color appropriate "stuff," what does it take for them to freeze? That why we didn't stay in Williams -- or even in the Grand Canyon RV Park. In Prescott, it was supposed to get really cold so I left the drains open the first night but since we were leaving early the next morning I didn't want to deal with a frozen drain hose. What I did was invest in a gallon of RV antifreeze and dumped it in the tanks. Did I need to? I await your sage advise.

It is beautifully warm here in Bullhead City -- but also a little windy this weekend. We attended church at the Nazarene just down the road then went to Laughlin. If you are not looking at a map, Bullhead City, AZ and Laughlin, NV are just across the Colorado River from each other. Since Laughlin is in Nevada, it is a casino town -- Bullhead City is the bedroom community. I took Joyce to a couple of the casinos just to look around... and to eat brunch (good prices). I'm really corrupting her -- first a saloon, then a gambling hall. Oh, my! Our next stop will be Las Vegas. I think.

Well, stay tuned. We have found some warm. Maybe we'll stay here! Who knows?

(PS: my blogger spell checker doesn't work sometimes so if you see any errors just call them typos -- they couldn't be because of my spelling ability!)

Tombstone and Beyond

Excuse me pard'ner while I park this rig over here someplace. Then we can sit a spell and catch up on all the goin's on around here. Yes sirree, I'm lookin forward to that.

We have traveled a lot miles, seen a lot things, but are only 100 miles closer to home than we were this time last week. We made a big wide easterly loop and are now in Apache Junction. But first things first.

In last week's blog I forget to mention a project that took the better part of three days -- a storage shed. Joyce P wanted a storage place for outdoor things like patio chairs, planting pots, etc. So here it is. This was her plan; I just built it for her. It is about 7 feet long, 30 inches deep, and 4 1/2 feet high. Jim will paint it the same color as the house. It is mostly screwed together and was fun to build. (Notice I said, "screwed together" not "screwed UP).

Tuesday we left for Tombstone. This town is famous for Wyatt Earp, Johnny Ringo, the Clantons, and the "Gunfight at the OK Corral." We saw it all happen. We were there. A ring side seat. And it didn't happen in the OK Corral. It happened in the street a couple doors down. But "Gunfight Next Door To Fly's Photography Studio" just doesn't have the same ring to it. Pictured here is the gunfight taking place. Just think! History comes to your computer!

Tombstone is a fun little town. It has dirt streets, board sidewalks, no motorized traffic on the 4 blocks of main street (Allen Street), and all kinds of period shops, saloons, restaurants, and museums. We stayed in Wells Fargo RV Park right in town. It was not fancy; simply a spot on gravel with hookups but it was within easy walking distance of town which made it fun. We watched a couple of the shootout reenactments, toured an old silver mine, visited Boothill, and really enjoyed the place. One day we made a loop going through some old ghost towns (which were more like remains of decaying adobe buildings -- but fun to see), down to Douglas on the Mexico boarder, up to Bisbee, then back to Tombstone. We were going to cross the boarder to Agua Prieta but changed our minds when we learned there was very little convenient shopping. We hadn't intended to do much in Bisbee but rather go back later, but when the shopping fell through we got to spend more time there. We did not do the Queen Mine Tour; maybe some other time.

Let me tell you about a weird thing that happened. Maybe "tragic" is a better word. About 5:00 we went back to the pickup to leave Bisbee. It was parked up in a cul-de-sac kind of parking area. We decided to sit there and eat some sandwiches we had brought; the weather was warm so the windows were down. Parked right next to us was an older model compact car and a motorcycle. As we were eating, two ladies and a man came out of a tavern. One of the ladies was obviously drunk. She had the car keys and wanted to drive. The man was trying to talk her out of it and have her ride on the motorcycle with him. But he didn't try very hard. As she was getting in the car I asked him if he was really going to let her drive. He said, "That's what she wants to do" -- as if she was capable of making a decision. I told him he was nuts for letting her drive. She started the car, backed out and hit the retaining wall, managed to put it in gear and drove off. Now understand -- the main street of Bisbee is really, really, really narrow. Two RVs would have trouble passing each other. Well, I let her get a good head start and then left. About three blocks up the street she had plowed into a pole. There were people there to help her so we didn't stop but I wanted to go back and chew out that guy for letting her drive.

We stayed in Tombstone for four nights then left for Safford. Our intent was to find some of the hot tubs the area is known for but as it turned out, one was 35 miles from town, another was about the same distance in the opposite direction, another was commercialized and expensive, and we simply missed another one. So we went to the museum instead!

This morning we attended the Safford United Methodist Church, hooked up and left for Apache Junction. I'm not sure about this RV park we are in. It is supposed to be this big, fancy dancy place but they have trouble getting things right. They messed up our reservation and had a hard time even finding a spot for us. It is a back in site designed for placing a park model (no angle to the back in -- and we are surrounded by park models), they didn't tell me I had to get real close to the concrete patio pad so I just parked it -- too far away. After I'm all hooked up, the neighbor comes home and tells I have to move over so he can park his car. So I move over 3 feet. Then to top that, they didn't give us a code for the gate (didn't tell us we needed one) and we were locked out when we got home tonight. Fortunately a guy pulled in behind me who had the right numbers. The name is Countryside. I don't recommend it.

I mentioned coming home tonight. We had dinner with Mike and Jackie. She is the daughter of a lady who attended our Grants Pass church. If you have been following the blog faithfully (!!!??) you remember the two ladies who died within minutes of each other last November. Jackie's mom was one of those ladies. We met Jackie years ago when she came to visit her mom and have enjoyed her friendship over the years. Tomorrow we are to have dinner with another friend. More about that next week.

I'll try to add some pictures here. They are a lot easier to put in at the bottom of the page.

Main street Tombstone. The stagecoach is for tours of town.

Boothill Cemetery. It is all sanitized with gravel walkways, metal grave markers, and piles of stone to mark the graves. Coming from town, it's not on a hill either. Coming from out in the valley it is up, but not from town. Sure blew my conception of BootHILL. In the background you can see the valley and the new homes going in. The Tombstone area is growing!

Well, pard'ner, gotta be moseyin' along. Let me fetch my buggy, hitch up ole Lightin', and off we go. Catch up to me if you can.

Tucson, Scene 4

This will be my last blog from Tucson -- at least for this year. I thought about calling it simply, "Hot." It was. That wasn't the case all week because we had some rather chilly days but yesterday and today it really felt like Arizona. We went to church at The Road. Yes, that's the name of the church. It's a Christian and Missionary Alliance Church -- Joyce wanted to touch her roots. The church was planted about 4 years ago and is slowly growing. After a quick lunch at Carl's Jr. we went to the Tucson rodeo. That's where it was hot -- probably about 85 where we were sitting. But it was great. Great weather, great rodeo, great time. Today was also hot -- or at least warm. Very nice.

Did you see the eclipse of the moon Wednesday night? Wasn't it fun? We saw most of it. Joyce P. has an 8 inch telescope so it was really neat looking at it. Only one problem. Clouds! Yes clouds in Arizona. I told them I could do this in Oregon. So when the eclipse was full, we couldn't see it. But we did get to see part of it. This picture is when it is almost full. The other is a picture of Saturn taken a few days before. Can you see the rings? Both of these were taken by just putting my camera lens on the telescope lens -- not very scientific but it worked. The Saturn picture is a little blurry.

On Friday, Jim and went to the Pima Air and Space Museum. I'm not all that excited about seeing a bunch of old planes but this place was good. They have a B-29 which flew in WWII. A guy who actually flew in that plane was there to tell us some war stories about it. Pretty neat! Do you know the SR-71 Blackbird which flies at over 2,000 miles an hour at 80,000 feet actually expands 6 inches because of the heat buildup? I didn't. It's one of those planes with a long fuselage in front of the wings so it looks like a goose flying. It was used as a spy plane.

Tomorrow we leave Jim's and Joyce's and head down Tombstone way. Maybe get into a shootout at the OK Corral. Here is a picture of where we have been for the past 24 days. To the left of this picture they have a beautiful view of the Catalina Mountains. So this is our world. It is marvelous. How's yours?

Tucson, Scene 3

It is Sunday evening at Mumau's Alpenlite Abode. All is quiet and cool with promises of a nice warm week. We had snow Friday but it was only a few minutes of great big flakes and didn't stick. The Catalina Mountians just to the east of us have snow on the tops. It did rain most of the day so Joyce and I went into town to see how Tucsonians handle the rain. Answer: the same as every where else. We stopped to eat lunch at a neat little sandwich shop next to the University of Arizona campus. It's called the "Which Wich." You place your order by marking what you want on a small paper bag. There are about 10 varieties such as turkey, traditional, grinder, and so on. Pick the bag you want -- then mark the particular kind of sandwich, kind of bread, cheese, and condiments. Take it to the counter, pay your money and in a few minutes your sandwich is in the bag ready for you. But I digress. We saw people braving the weather in rubber boots and flipflops, in heavey coats and tee shirts, with hats, umbrellas, and bare headed.

We were in that part of town to tour the Arizona Historical Museum and the Arizona State Museum. We only saw part of the latter because we spent so much time in the former. But we'll get it another time -- maybe next year. We're thinking of coming back but more about that another time.

The explanation for this picture is that we went to Tubac this week. It is an old historic town which they have turned into a tourist trap -- err, I mean an eclectic artist community selling lots of expensive stuff and a little affordable stuff -- paintings, jewlerey, pottery, basketry, and so on. It is the site of one of the first forts (presidios) in the area. We toured the remains of the original presidio and part of that area is an old school. So scholarly Joyce sat for a quick lesson in posing for the camera.

The other big thing we did this week was go to Biosphere 2. If you can remember back to the early 1990s, there was this big thing about building a self contained, sustainable colony. The result was a huge structure (actually a series of structures) made of glass and steel -- kind of like a giant hot house. They locked 4 men and 4 women inside for two years. They had lots of problems but they made it. A second group of 8 only made 6 months before outside circumstances (politics and money!) halted that effort. The place has been sold a few times but right now the University of Arizona owns it and are conducting plant-life experiements there. It is open to the public for tours so we went. It was really interesting because I remember the news media telling about these people -- they call them biospherians. Oh, we also had a two-for-one coupon. If you ever come to Tucson, be sure to buy the Tucson Passport -- only $15 and if you go to only a couple places you have your money back. I digress again. This obviously is Joyce with part of the biospere in the background. Why Joyce all the time? Because I'm taking the pictures and the ones she takes have too many pixals to work well in this blog.

Today I went to Casas Church with Jim. Joyce P is having some high blood pressure problems so Joyce M stayed home with her. It is a good church even if it is Baptist! They have a great mission mind-set. So we get set for the week ahead. God will be present. Will he not?

Tucson, Scene 2

Yes, indeed! The snow has passed, the rain is gone, the sun is out, and it is warm. Warm! Like short sleeve shirt warm. But that won't last. After all it is still winter at 2700 feet elevation. We had a great week getting acquainted with Tucson. Two biggy things were on our agenda plus a lot of little things.


One of the biggys was goint up to Kit Peak. This is a mountain top with 26 telescopes on it ranging in size from quite small to 4 meters across. My cousin Jim's wife is a docent there so we got a private tour on Tuesday. Her name is Joyce so I'll refer to her as Joyce P. to minimize the confusion between she and Joyce M. We didn't get to actually look through any of the telescopes because that is a special thing that requires lots of advance planning and money-- and darkness. But we were able to see inside some of them. Many of the telescopes are owned by universities around the country and some by private companies. There was snow on the ground as you can see by this picture. The elevation is almost 7,000 feet. Here you can see 3 of the 26 telescopes. The center one is for looking at the sun and the sloping side is for the light beam to travel way down into the ground, then back up about half way, then straight down to where it is viewed in the control room. The "donut" that Joyce and I are standing in front of in this next picture is a dummy lens made of concrete. It is about a foot thick and is 4 meters across. While they were setting up the telescope, adjusting everything, and making sure it would all work, this was used instead of the real glass lens. If something went wrong this was cheaper to replace! After it's career as a "dummy lens" it was set up for people to see how big the real lens is. It was Joyce P's idea to have an artist paint the scenes on it so... I don't know, so it would look nicer, I guess.

Saturday we took my uncle Ken to the Arizona Desert Museum. We had a lot of fun walking the paths looking at desert flora and fauna. We ate lunch there, watched the birds, prairie dogs, wolves, and big horn sheep. And I should add, etc., etc. My uncle Ken is my mom's little brother. Here he is with Joyce. He was a Free Methodist minister -- for many years in "interracial" evangelism in Louisiana, Texas, and Virginia. Interracial evangelism is what they called ministry to the black population back in the 40s and 50s. Then he served as a pastor in South Dakota and Oregon. After his wife died he moved to Tucson to be near his son and grandkids. We had lunch with him at the retirement home he is living in. You actually order off a menu like in a restaurant. Some items are the same each day, some are new. We had a choice of about eight entree items plus a soup, salad bar, dessert, and drink. Really, really nice living conditions. The Lord is blessing him for his years of faithful ministry. He is 92 years young and followed Joyce and I around like a kid. If only I can do this well.


Today we took Ken and went to the Tucson Free Methodist Church. Only it isn't in Tucson anymore. They relocated to Vail -- out in the desert. In fact their name is Footprints in the Desert. Too far to travel on a regular basis. After church we stopped at Colossal Cave for lunch (Mexican food on the patio) and a look at the museum and gift shop. Joyce and Ken didn't want to tour the cave but they let me go while they waited. It was "okay" -- not spectacular but some interesting things to see. We managed to make a full day of it.


So my world continues to be Tucson and it's neighbors. What size is your world? Take care and take notes.

Tucson, Scene 1

We now sit at my cousin's house on the northwest side of Tucson. Actually he doesn't live IN Tucson but that's his address. This is Jim and Joyce Park I speak of. He is my uncle Ken's son. Not only are we sitting here at his house, we are sitting here in the snow. Yes, snow! Well, not very much of it but enough to definately call it snow. Rather slushy and mostly gone by now. The hills across the little valley are covered. The storm will be gone by tomorrow and the weather guy says it will be 71 degrees by next weekend. Hope so.

We arrived in Desert Hot Springs a couple weeks ago in a strong wind and left a week ago in a strong wind. It sort of blew us in and blew us out. We traveled down the east side of the Salton Sea to an RV place called the Fountain of Youth. That would have been the place to hang out all winter and get youthful again but we looked around and the people didn't look very youthful so figured it didn't work very well. They had a few nice hot tubs and pools and we did our best to make use of them. They have an interesting system -- no reservations. You either get there early in the snowbird year or you wait in the overflow camping until a vacancy comes up. Every afternoon at 2:00 they have vacancy call in front of the office. We knew we weren't going to stay that long so we didn't bother but were told it could take 4 or 5 days to get a spot with hookups. We worked our way down to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in the very south of Arizona -- south of Ajo. It was fantastic. They have a big campground with level concrete pads right in the middle of all the cactus. There were no hookup but we only paid $6. One time we paid $45 for a place that wasn't even close to being that nice (except it had hookups).

We drove a 21 mile loop road that show-cased the most beautiful scenery with jillions of different cactus. Organ pipe cactus is 4 to 8 feet tall and grows in a bunch from the base. It is mainly in Mexico and this is the only place where it grows in the US. If we had known it would be so much fun we would have planned to stay longer. But had plans to be at Jim and Joyce's by early Saturday afternoon. One of their granddaughters was celebrating her birthday at a steak house called Pinnacle Peak. It is in a small western-themed "town" (off one of the main streets in Tucson) with street entertainment going on in the evening. It was fun and the food was good. And the sherrif caught the bad guys.

Jim and Joyce attend Casas Adobes Baptist Church so we went with them Sunday. It is large but they are attracted to it because it has a very active missions program. Jim and Joyce were Wycliff Bible Translaters in Surinam South America and are still working for Wycliff in the US. One of the ministries they have is serving lunch after church so we stayed for the meal. For $7.50 for the two of us, Joyce and I had a great meal of more than we really needed. I'm sure it is a lot of work to pull this off every Sunday but it is also the food venue for the school Casas sponsors.

So we are here in Tucson for awhile, come rain or snow or sleet or gloom of night. Unless there is too much snow!!! Our house has wheels you know! This where our world is expanding to. How about yours? Maybe it is the pastor in me but I notice churches everywhere we go. While we were driving through all those cactus in Organ Pipe I noticed there is even a church in the desert. Check out the next blog.

The Church in the Desert

It's amazing what one can find in the desert! Even a church. Have a look.