Days in Casa Grande

Val Vista RV Park

Val Vista Blvd.
Casa Grande, AZ
Full hookups, cement patio, paved roads, $400/month plus electricity

 

Time flies; our two months here at Val Vista has come to an end already!

We definitely stayed busy as is apparent since we didn’t send out a blog last month – having too much fun in the sun, no time to even think about it!

Pa and Ma enjoying the sun

So let’s try to list some of the activities that kept us busy.  First and foremost was the company we had – how great to have friends that want to come and visit.  Donna and some of the gals from Desert Trails came up for a Gourd Festival so Marcia and I met them and we were amazed at what crafty people do with dried gourds.

 Also coming to visit were Bill and Marilyn, Loretta and Ron, Charlotte and Victor, & Martha and Jerry all from the Tucson area, plus our long-time friends from Ohio, the Palmers, came and stayed with us for about 6 days.

We also did some visiting with friends here in Casa Grande – Peter and Patty, who live here now, & Carol and Pat (who also stay at Desert Trails for few months each season).  And we took a day for a last visit with the Nelsons in Ajo.  We will miss visiting them there each year because they sold their beloved “Winter Residence” and will now remain home in the Olympia area.

 We visited with grandson Austin in Avondale several times, which was our primary reason to be here. We hope he enjoyed that as much as we did.

Some of the places we visited included the Shamrock Dairy Farm, Boyce Thompson Arboretum (we really enjoyed this place and went back three times), toured the new Mormon Temple in Gilbert prior to its dedication, and hiked a great park near here that we didn’t get to see nearly often enough, plus other drives around the area just to explore.  We even went to a ‘Friends of the Library’ “Old Time Radio Show” to try out one of the local offerings. Then there was the Farmer’s Market – not too big, but great locally made bread!

 

Hummingbird nest built on a pinecone

There was a great list of activities here at the park if we left time for anything – some of those  included: playing cards (of course), music night, bingo (we even won a few times), entertainment evenings, genealogy, WII bowling, and Fire in the Desert (barbeque dinner).  And don’t forget the ice cream social/root beer floats every couple of weeks.  Sandy was even included in a Red Hat luncheon at our neighbors (which was a treat because all my Red Hat outfits are in Lacey), and we had met lots of people at a social hour at their place earlier on.

Added to all this we again found and worked at the local food bank supported by the Nazarene church.  This was much different than the one in Tucson as it was only one week per month but we worked three to four hours filling 425 to 450 basket  to be distributed the next day.  And we REALLY worked; no down time/potty breaks to speak of the whole morning. 

 All in all you can see we stayed busy in our new park.  It’s been fun and we have learned many new things to look for when “shopping” for a long term place to stay (like do they have fire coverage and Medical aid / 911 service?). 

 

So now we are off for a week in Desert Hot Springs and then we’ll head for home.

Moving On

The Nelsons

Ajo, AZ
Full hookups, full activities! Zero dollars!!

Val Vista RV Park

Val Vista Blvd.
Casa Grande, AZ
Full hookups, cement patio, paved roads, $400/month plus electricity

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We left Desert Trails RV Park (and all our friendsL) after the Monday Morning Meeting (Erich just had to have one last donut!) on the 20^th of January.  Let me just say that packing up was not easy – we knew we would be needing/wanting many of the things that we normally leave behind such as the freezer and the large board we use as a table in the front of the rig, but somehow we made it all fit and were off for a short visit in Ajo with the Nelsons.

 We visited with them for three days – playing cards, a little shopping, a little Jeeping in the desert, and mostly just enjoying our visit.  Erich did help out a little by cutting back some of the plants in their yard until I yelled STOP!  GET BACK!! just before he stepped on a diamondback rattlesnake.  Thankfully it was a cool morning and the snake was still sluggish. However, that put a little extra excitement in our day!

 On the 23^rd we arrived in Casa Grande at the park we plan to stay in for the next month or two.  Getting here we discovered they had filled the spot we had reserved so we spent some time looking for a new site.  In many ways it’s just fine and Sandy is getting all her flowers, the fountain, and bird feeders set up.  Overall the park seems very nice and the people have been friendly.  Setting up the first afternoon had to wait a little while as it was root beer float time around the swimming pool when we arrived; a great way to start!  Since then we have had company from Desert Trails come up to visit us, attended Friday night entertainment (a very good quartet called the Blackstone Brothers), attended Monday morning meeting (we learned the same sorts of things about the park as we did at Desert Trails but they are more concise about it here and the meeting is over by 9:30). This evening we experienced music night – a lot like a jam session but more practiced and planned with lots of audience participation.  This is also when they invite new arrivals to stand up and introduce themselves, then acknowledge birthdays, and anniversaries. The MC also asked if there were any divorces this week, which got a big laugh! Ain’t old people weird?

 

 Tuesday we went back to Tucson for the last day of the church food bank (we helped out each week), and to celebrate Weldon’s 104^th birthday!  WOW.  He has been working at the food bank for thirty years.  That’s dedication.

 

Overall then, you can see that we are settling in and finding things to do.  Sandy even found a place nearby and had her nails done, and has an appointment with the hairdresser right here on site so she should be “beautiful” again soon! Erich is happyJ.

Considering that we have not been here a week yet, we feel we are doing well and look forward to more new adventures.

 

Our new site

 

 

Mid-winter Update

Desert Trails RV Park

Tucson, AZ
Full hookups, full activities

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The holiday season has passed and we hope you are all well and surviving the weather – wherever you are!  What a winter this has been!  We feel that although we have had colder temperatures here other years, this year the temperatures are a bit cooler than average and stay cooler for longer periods of time.  With that said, it has still been a good winter so far with warm afternoons and sunny, blue skies!

Just stopping by to say HI - see my smiling face?

It is hard to believe we have been in the park two months already staying busy all the time, enjoying our work at the church food bank, visiting friends in the area, and revisiting some of our favorite places. 

 It is even harder to believe that we have been coming to this park for 7 years now!  So, we have decided that it is time for a change.  Wow, what a hard decision that was to make.  We have chosen to move to a park in Casa Grande. This means we will be closer to our grandson Austin who is going to school near Phoenix in Avondale, which will allow us to get in some visits with him, and also with other friends in that vicinity.  Plus, Sandy is hoping for some new birding sights! (Whod’a thunk it?) Leaving Casa Grande toward the end of March, we plan to visit the Desert Hot Springs area for a week or so before heading toward home and our summer of camp hosting.

I'm running hard to keep up with these guys
(Use your imagination)

 At present we are scheduled to host in parks four months of our five month summer.  Right now Sandy says we are not looking to fill that last month, but this too may change.

 

Some of my favorite shots this month:

Red tailed Hawk
(Taken right behind our RV)
 

Great Horned Owl

Cinnamon Teal

Look forward to hearing from us soon as we update you on our new location and what is happening in our lives.

End of this trip

Colorado Landing RV, Inc.

La Grande, TX
$24  Full hookups, pull thru
This park was nice enough to “turn their back” and let Erich change the oil in the RV.

Sea Wind RV Resort on the Bay

Riviera, TX
$31.50  Full hookups; pull thru

Topic Winds RV Resort (Encore)

Harlingen, TX
About $20/night as this was a passport America park
Full hookups, back in
 Birding Festival

Choke Canyon State Park

Callium, TX
$32 (park fee added to camping fee)
W/E hookups, back ins

Garner State Park

Concan, TX
$40  Full hookups, pull thru
The site was $30 but then each ‘foreign” person going into the park had to pay $5 more.  Decided no more Texas state parks.  Too expensive.

Circle Bar RV Park

Ozona, TX
 $30
Full hookups, pull thru
This is definitely an overnight truck stop while traveling.  The restaurant gave 15% discount so we had dinner – Erich had a chicken fried steak that would have fed both of us!   Good.

KOA

Van Horn, TX
$34.20 (veteran’s discount)
The place we usually stay has closed.  So while filling up with gas it was recommended that we stay here.  Easy on/off freeway and back away enough to not hear the traffic noise.
Also had a little café that wasn’t bad for the price.

Little Vineyard

Deming, NM
$26.33 GS  Full hookups, pull thru, 50 amp
Stay closer to the front of the park to avoid traffic noise from freeway.

Lifestyle RV Park

Wilcox, AZ
$29.50  Full hookups; pull thru – indoor pool; restaurant on site
 We forgot how close the trains are and how often they run!

Kartchner Caverns State Park

Benson, AZ
$25  E/W, dump station
Stayed here two days so we could get up and get into the Tucson Camping World for our 10:30 appointment Wednesday.
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 After leaving Sandy’s brother Ken’s house, we went up and around Houston (went through there once and swore, “Never again!”), then traveled down to Harlingen, TX for the birding festival, and to meet friends from Omaha.  Between the festival tours and the birding we did on our own, Sandy added 25 new birds to her life list making a grand total so far of 35 new birds this trip.  One of the most amazing sightings was of the Amazon kingfisher which is not from this area.

Tricolored Heron

Fulvous Whistling Duck

Black crested Titmouse

Green Jay
Just to show a few

After the festival was over, we three couples continued on to Choke Canyon.  From there we split up and Erich and I headed west on our own – just too tired to continue down to Big Bend, plus Erich was getting a cold and didn’t want to be around the others.  Of course being the nice guy that he is, he quickly passed it on to Sandy.

Garner State Park

We meandered our way across west Texas using I-10, trying to call Camping World to set up an appointment to have the torn bedroom slide awning replaced and the slide checked because of the leak we had in the Beaumont downpour.  Verizon doesn’t work everywhere!  It was a frustrating couple of days but finally we got a time set up and then had to kill time by slowing down.  Definitely did not want to get to Desert Trails and then have to move to Camping World for just one day.  So we spent a couple of extra days in the eastern part of AZ doing some –what else- birding!  The weather was perfect, and the surrounding mountains were spectacular. Thank goodness for all of Erich’s patience. 

After a whole day at Camping World we arrived at Desert Trails, our winter destination, to a beautiful evening’s sunset!  It did feel good to get “home.”   The next few days were setting up and settling in for the duration and then we found that the Thanksgiving festivities quickly followed. Hooray for potlucks!! And now as we get ready for the Christmas season and all the lights and decorations … not to mention – cards….,

well, time is going by faster than ever!

'Til we meet again, stay happy and healthy.  God Bless.

Finishing October

River View RV Park

Vidalia, LA

Full hook ups, pull thru, $241.35 for 8 nights; WIFI

   This is a spendy park for us but location is everything I guess.  We have a view of the Mississippi River from where we are parked and can sit and watch the barges go by.  Also we are right across the river from Natchez, MS.

 

Coushatta Casino and RV Resort

Kinder, LA

Full hookups, pull thru, $20 for 2 nights GS + coupon; WIFI

   We were lucky enough to spot the 2 for 1 coupon in the Trailer Life magazine so enjoyed a couple of days here just relaxing and doing a few odd chores.  Apart from the Casino there is really nothing to do around here but the park is a real 10.

 

Ken’s house

Beaumont, TX

Electricity - $0  another great brother

Guess we’re a little behind on our blog!  We have finished the bird festival in Harlingen, TX and are on way to Tucson – but let’s back up and fill in some of the other things that we did.

 We spent a week in the Vidalia/Natchez area doing a little relaxing and a lot of sightseeing.

 We arrived on Sunday late afternoon, just in time to see the end of the hot air balloon festival flights; made for a very nice time walking the river front and watching those many colored globes in the sky.

 Monday was a day of relaxing and getting some chores done – a necessary thing, even in an RV.   Tuesday we visited the Bayou Cocodrie wildlife refuge and the Frogmore Cotton Plantation, a place still in business (with all the latest technology) today.  And since it’s the season we were able to see the cotton gin at work.

 Wednesday we walked and toured the town of Natchez seeing many of the mansions and lovely churches of the area, taking a carriage ride, and having a lovely lunch at the Cotton Alley Café.

 Thursday was St. Catherine Creek wildlife refuge, a fun place to look for birds especially of the water variety and even sight an alligator or two.

 Friday and Saturday we toured some of the antebellum homes in the area; lovely old homes full of delightful furnishings and much history.

 Sunday was pretty cool so after church and a quick walk around town we went back to clean up and do some shopping before leaving the following morning.

 After our week of culture we headed southwest to Beaumont, TX to visit Sandy’s brother Ken and his wife Sue.  Now Sandy has seen all of her siblings this year.  While at their house it rained – not just a little but about eight inches in what was probably less than eight hours!  What a flood – and we had to wait for the water to go down a little before we could get back up into the RV to get the camera! The street was a river.

 

 The bottom step into the rig was still under water when Erich got the camera, but it was already going down before we got many pictures.  We were very lucky the “basement” storage bins didn’t flood!

 And, so ended the month of October – a busy and rather fast paced time.  See you again in November with news of the birding festival.

 

Next "adventure"

Cathead Creek Ranch and RV Park

Darien, GA

Full hookups; pull thru; laundry; $25 GS

   We stayed here for two nights just looking around town and relaxing since the wildlife refuge was closed

 

Laura S. Walker State Park

Waycross, GA

e/w; pull through; $21.60 plus $5 day pass

   This is a very nice park; large spaces and beautiful lake BUT the ants are uncontrollable.  We were still trying to get rid of them two days after leaving!

 

Shallow Creek RV Park

Ashford, AL

Full hook ups; back in; $22

   This turned out to be an adequate park for what we needed but it’s more permanents or long term workers and we never saw anyone in charge to ask questions about times or services.

 

Maynor Creek Water Park

Waynesboro, MS

Full hook ups, back in; $19.79 senior discount

   Nothing in this park is very level and lots of large holes in the roads to bounce over!

 

 

Leaving Charleston and the “big city feeling” we continued south for a bit longer, again traveling on the Interstate – I 95 this time – until we reached Darien, GA.  The park we stayed at was about three miles off the road making for a quiet place to lay back and relax.  Unfortunately our “wonderful” government closed the Wildlife Refuge so Sandy had to be content birding around the park.

Continuing on our way the next day we finally picked up the back roads that we like so much better and began heading west.  Yea!  We decided to stop at the Laura Walker State Park because the long extra drive into Okefenokee National Park wouldn’t be as interesting since the National Park was closed! (Sandy’s really getting tired of this).  We were informed the private park was still open and would give us a taste (you should pardon the expression) of the swamp and between their boat ride and the train ride around the area I think we got an idea of what the swamp is like.  But the ants we picked up at the state park (not by choice!) turned a good time into a downer.

Now that's a reflection!

So, on across Georgia and into Alabama, continuing on US 84 which has been a very good road to travel, into Ashford where Erich will tell you the story of the day:

Live Oak Tree (notice Erich at the side)

THE CARE AND FEEDING OF A TOAD,

                  or THE CAR TOWED BEHIND AN RV to the uninitiated.

 We are in Alabama today (10-18-2013), and are spending an extra day in Ashford, and then Dothan getting our Toad towed (on a flatbed) to the GM dealer because the front end was falling off. We knew something was amiss because the towing hitch was tilted way down and bumps would cause the brackets to bottom out. I don’t know what I’m referring to here, but there is a “sub-assembly” or “cradle” which supports the radiator, etc. and the towing hitch is bolted to that sub-assembly which is in turn bolted to the car’s frame. Two long bolts toward the back were loose and the two front bolts were missing, causing the tilt. Not knowing this and assuming the hitch was loose or bent, we had un-hooked and driven the car sixteen miles or so to the Camping World store so they could “fix our bent hitch.” It was an absolute stroke of good fortune that Sandy found a Camping World store in the next town west of our RV Park at just the right time.

The nice man behind the desk came out to “look at the patient”. After noticing the loose radiator and shaking the sub assembly the service writer looked at us like we were crazy and called the hitch expert/mechanic who wiggled the front end also, then looked at us like we were crazy. Well, who’s to know?? We had been towing the car since 2003! It has worked just fine, thank you very much!! - - - We were told not to go near the car and make a call for the tow truck.

The whole thing, including the two new bolts, was $94.00 and took the GM dealership a little over two hours (mostly waiting for the bolts which evidently didn’t count as labor). They were very nice to us, and tried not to look at us as if we were crazy, but emphatically stated that if the sub-assembly had failed while being towed behind the RV the Saturn would have been history. And, if it had failed while we were driving the car to Dothan at 55/60 miles per hour, we may very well have crashed and burned. So, there are Angels here and there? At times?? Aren’t there???

All’s well that ends well, I suppose. Today we counted our blessings once again, as we agreed to have those four bolts checked yearly!!

 We finished crossing Alabama but couldn’t find the campground we had wanted to stay at (where do they hide?), so continued on into Mississippi where we found a Water Park. (a park on a water-way, run by the state, but not a state park that is on the water… go figure).  Originally built to Army Corps of Engineers standards, it was peaceful and relaxing in the area although it was the weekend and there were lots of families with small children in the next section of the park.  Tomorrow we shall again wander a little further west…

Lovey "Dovey" Black Vultures

Time for the wedding

Salt Fork State Park

Cambridge, OH

E/back in; $26

   From entrance to campground is 2 miles!

 

Rippling Waters Church of God campground

Sissonville, WV

Full hookups; pull thru; $26.50

    The road in was narrow, winding and hilly!

 

Utt’s Campground

Fancy Gap, VA

Full hookups, pull thru; $28

   Nice place but a steep hill to climb into campground!

 

Little Cedar Creek Campground

Ridgeway, SC

Full hookups, pull thru; $30

   Easy to get to and fine road!!

 

Oak Plantation RV Park

Charleston, SC

Full hookups, pull thru; $35.80 GS

    This was a great location for the things we did while here and also near the wedding

 

 

 After leaving our old home grounds around Ohio, we headed south for the wedding of Sandy’s niece.  But first we stopped at Salt Fork State Park.  Let’s not say this is a large park but from the entrance to the campground area was 2 miles!  And that’s just the first of several camping areas.

Juvenile Red tailed Hawk

 Getting to the Rippling Water Campground was an experience – the road was narrow, winding, hilly, and three miles long.  Meeting someone driving out would have ruined our day! But we had a relaxing afternoon and evening, if somewhat hot, and enjoyed the peace and quiet of the area.

 West Virginia is lots of rolling, mountainous hills, seeming to climb higher all the time.  And the trees were starting to turn colors so the ride was always changing and drawing your attention from one sight to the next.

 Virginia was interesting as we crossed the state line and seemed to immediately go though one of the longest tunnels we’ve ever seen.  We came upon another tunnel a little farther into the state, just a bit shorter.  And their southern accent is becoming very noticeable. J The campground was very friendly and a lovely spot to stop but what a hill to climb, especially since we walked down it to a grocery and had to climb back up!

 North Carolina was foggy as we started our drive for the day and we really descended from almost 3,000 feet back to just about sea level before stopping for the night in South Carolina.  Timing and location made it a straight shot through with no stop in North Carolina, but we enjoyed the drive.

Anhinga

 Once into South Carolina we decided to take the back roads, at least for a little while and get off I-77.  But too soon we were back on I-26 driving into Charleston and through the rain!  Driving into a new city in the pouring rain, on the freeways, in the beginning of rush hour, is just not our favorite thing to do!  But do it, we did. 

Angel Tree - one of our many stops in Charleston

White Ibis
 

 Visiting the town of Charleston, and some of its surrounding islands (but then it’s ALL islands), and being with family we hadn’t seen in ages, made the trip worthwhile. We came close to visiting Savannah, but decided one big touristy town was enough. Maybe next

time?

Dan, Amanda, Matt, Chris, Danny
The Big Day