March 23 - 24, 2024 Travel to Yuma

March 23rd, 2024

After our final pack up and shut down, we handed in our lot papers and headed west to Yuma.

Cloudy, breezy day and saguaros in the distance:

Brittlebush blooming everywhere:

Starting the next crop:

And away we go - the desert is really green and lush:

We stopped in Dateland for lunch - a date shake - Yummy!  First one this season.

The scenery continues:

Heading up and over Telegraph Hill:

We landed on our lot and started unloading the RV and truck with items from our shed in Casa Grande.  Tomorrow we hope to organize it all - LOL!

We ended the day with a great steak dinner at the American Veterans and came home to the start of a sand storm.  Windy!

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled: 171 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Arizona: Montgomery Road; I-8; Araby Road; AZ-195; East County 14th Street:  South Avenue 4E; East County 17th Street; South Avenue 3 3/4 E 

March 24th, 2023

We started the day working on the shed: putting up shelves, figuring out what to store and organizing it.  Then reorganizing the truck for our upcoming trip.  Sheesh.  

In the middle of all of this, the wind really picked up and there was dust everywhere - Yikees.  It is still windy as I write this but at least we are back inside.

This afternoon, I headed to Artsy Fartsy to pick up my project - Glass and Resin.  It is just a beginning but I can see the possibilities.

We are not sure how long we will be in Yuma so stay tuned and enjoy today.

March 18 - 22, 2024 Casa Grande Part 3 and News

Well, we had a semi-boring week - LOL.

We did get our fuel filters changed at SpeedCo - a division of Love's.  On Wednesday, we were there when they opened at 7 AM and by 10 AM we were on our way back home.  They were great and it was a minimal charge.  Now, we did buy the filters from Amazon because we found out that the one filter is readily available but the other is not.  

The other days were doing the normal laundry, groceries, packing up (see below) and trip planning (see below).

Here is our news...

News Flash 1

In 2023, we started the year with our home and three lots in Co-ops (Florida, Casa Grande, AZ and Yuma, AZ) and said...we are lot poor.  We made the decision that in two years we would have our home and one lot.  In 2023, we sold the lot in Florida and I could not make up my mind on the AZ lots.  There were pros and cons on both.

In January, we got a new lot in Yuma with a great "shed" and it backed up to the storage area.  Not that we are happy on the storage area but there are possibilities.  Another plus is that the "shed" can have a his/her area plus storage so I can have my "space" to do crafts, and Andy can have his radio area as well as a work bench and storage above.

After being there and looking at the possibilities, we decided to give up our Casa Grande lot.  We are sad to leave this park because of the many memories but now we have one house in PA and one lot in Yuma.  So stay tuned for some of the things we want to do to make Yuma our home away from home.

We have not left for good.  It is still a great park to stay and we will be dropping by now and then.

News Flash 2

The picture tells it all.. (from our 2009 trip)!

(Yes! That is on the Alaskan Highway in April 2009.  There are no words to describe the beauty. And yes, I did take those pictures.)

Alaska, here we come!

We have decided to spend the summer in Alaska and then come back to Arizona in Fall of 2024.  In the spring of 2025, we will be in PA.  We have been in Alaska in 2007 and 2009 and it does call you back.  We felt the time is right so we are going for it! 

Right now we are still making our plans but tentatively...we hope to cross into Canada sometime early May and spend some time seeing the sights.  So sometime in June, we will  cross into Alaska.  Gosh, the only thing I can say is that we are blessed!  We are excited!!   

Tomorrow we are heading to Yuma so stay tuned and enjoy today.

March 16-17, 2024 Road Trip and Friends

On Saturday, March 16th, we decided we needed a break and a road trip.  So we started by checking out some Daysend sites and finding some other beautiful areas.

Love the building in the background and the saguaros in front:

"The saguaro is a columnar cactus that grows notable branches, usually referred to as arms. Over 50 arms may grow on one plant, with one specimen having 78 arms. Saguaros grow from 3–16 m (10–52 ft) tall, and up to 75 cm (30 in) in diameter. They are slow growing, but routinely live 150 to 200 years. They are the largest cactus in the United States.

The Saguaro is endemic to the Sonoran Desert and is found primarily in western Sonora in Mexico, and in southern and portions of western Arizona in the US. There are only 30 known wild saguaros found in southeastern California. Elevation is a limiting factor to its environment, as the saguaro is sensitive to extended frost or cold temperatures. No confirmed specimens of wild saguaros have been found anywhere in Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Utah, nor in the high deserts of northern Arizona. The northern limits of their range are the Hualapai Mountains in Arizona. They are the northernmost columnar cacti in the Americas."

This is West Pinal County Park.  There are about 24 campsites among the saguaros - Beautiful:

"Saguaros have a relatively long lifespan, often exceeding 150 years. They may grow their first side arm around 75–100 years of age, but some never grow any arms. Arms are developed to increase the plant's reproductive capacity, as more apices lead to more flowers and fruit. A saguaro can absorb and store considerable amounts of rainwater, visibly expanding in the process, while slowly using the stored water as needed. This characteristic enables the saguaro to survive during periods of drought. It is a keystone species, and provides food and habitat to a large number of species."

I wonder how old these saguaros are?

Check out the ribs:

Saguaros are a very slow growing cactus. A 10 year old plant might only be 1.5 inches tall. Saguaro can grow to be between 40-60 feet tall (12-18m). When rain is plentiful and the saguaro is fully hydrated it can weigh between 3200-4800 pounds.

Interesting formations:

Check out the baby arm on the top:

"Saguaros may take between 20 and 50 years to reach a height of 1 m (3 ft 3 in). Individual stomatal guard cells and medulla cells can live and function for as long as 150 years, possibly the longest living of all cells, except possibly nerve cells in some tortoises.

Inside the saguaro, many "ribs" of wood form something like a skeleton, with the individual ribs being as long as the cactus itself and up to a few centimeters in diameter. The rib wood itself is also relatively dense, with dry ribs having a solid density around 430 kg/m³ (27 lb/cu ft), which made the ribs useful to indigenous peoples as a building material. While the ribs of dead plants are not protected by the Arizona native plant law, the Arizona Department of Agriculture has released a memo discussing when written permission is needed before harvesting them because of the importance of the decomposition of cactus remains in maintaining desert soil fertility.

The composition of the ribs is similar to that of hardwoods."

More information on Saguaros can be found here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguaro

https://www.desertmuseum.org/kids/oz/long-fact-sheets/Saguaro%20Cactus.php

https://www.nps.gov/sagu/learn/nature/saguaro.htm

Now.. if you read any of the above, I have to tell you the bad news.  Those western shows that were portrayed to be in Texas and northern Arizona and had Saguaros in the scenery...,well, that is false.  They do not grow there.  (Yep, I kept looking for them when we first came out west..  LOL!)

We continued our journey, checked out a few more places and ended up in the Casa Grande Mountain Park.

Another beautiful place with lots of Saguaros:

Looks like they are waving:

WOW!

This building was on a rocky road beyond the parking lot.  Not sure what it was.  There was an amphitheater to the right of this building but sadly it is in disrepair.

Couple houses on the hill with very steep driveways.  Glad it does not snow here.

The views must be incredible.

This was once the vault toilets.  Sad.

Another beautiful park.

We decided then to go to the county fair for lunch.  Of course, we had to see the animals.

CAMELS!!

He was yodeling loudly:

He just wanted to be petted - AWWWW!

What a cutie!

Baby goats - My cat is bigger than this little one.

She was the star of the barn - loves her little goats.

We walked around for a bit, had something to eat and then headed home.  What a great day!

On Sunday, March 17th, we met our friends, Larry and Cheryl, for lunch and then stopped by their place.  It was good to see them and get caught up.  Sadly I did not take a picture..

We will be here until Saturday so stay tuned and enjoy today.

March 5 - 15, 2024 Our Time in Casa Grande - Part 1

After hooking up and saying our "see you laters" to Sue,  we made our way south and east.

Spring in the desert:

Past the farm fields:

Past the solar farms:

Past the desert flowers:

To our lot in Casa Grande SKP Park:

Where we will be for the next few weeks.  After settling in, we joined a few of our neighbors at Barro's Pizza for a great time.

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled: 80 Miles

Arizona:  Painted Rock Dam Road; I-8; Montgomery Road

On Friday, March 8th, Andy dropped me off in Chandler and I spent a wonderful weekend with my cousin.  A little background:  Kris and I had no contact growing up and we got together about 10 years ago.  Whenever I traveled this way, we tried to get together for lunch.  So last fall we talked about me staying with her for a few days and I am so glad we made plans.   Have to say, it was a great girl's weekend talking and laughing and getting to know one another.  (Thank you Kris.) Hope to do it again in the fall.

Saturday, March 9th was the Tempe Festival for the Arts.  It is a 3 day affair in Tempe every fall and spring and it is huge.  So Kris and I spent a few hours amazed at the creativity of the artists.  WOW!  Last spring, I bought a pair of earrings from Paula Chang and loved them.  So I contacted her and she was a vendor again this year.  What a wonderful woman!  Very creative.   

Sunday, March 10th, our weekend ended.  Kris brought me back to Casa Grande.  Andy cooked us supper and we said our "see you laters" until the fall.

Kris and I in our backyard:

On Tuesday, March 12th, we took the RV to Southwest RV in Glendale for service: oil, oil filter, and fuel filter change.  They were able to do an oil and oil filter change but not the fuel filter.  Our RV has two fuel filters: One is readily available, the other is not (we did not know that).  So we have ordered the fuel filters and will be having them changed next week near Arizona City.

Those are the highlights of Part 1.  In between the highlights was laundry, shopping, cleaning, cooking, cleaning out our sheds, repairing stuff, visiting, hanging out, etc.  The normal stuff - LOL!

Thanks for coming along and enjoy today.