January 23, 2016 to February 14, 2016 Yuma and Casa Grande Arizona

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On January 23, we said our “see you laters” and headed back to our lot in Yuma.  Shelly and Bill were at the park and we were able to spend some time with them over the next few days before they journeyed south to Mexico.

We did have a busy week here.

On Tuesday, 26th,  we did the Yuma Proving Grounds at Ease Tour.  We had wanted to do the “Behind the Big Guns” Tour but it was booked for the season. So this tour was added and we were able to get 2 seats.  The difference between this tour and the Behind the Big Guns Tour is that we stay on the bus for most of the tour.   So we were not able to see the test sites but that was okay…

So what is the Yuma Proving Grounds?

It is a United States Army facility and one of the largest military installations in the world.  The proving ground conducts tests on nearly every weapon system in the ground combat arsenal. Munitions and artillery systems are tested here in an area almost completely removed from urban encroachment and noise concerns.

The key word here is testing.  As our tour guide told us, what they do here is have the soldiers play with the equipment.  Anything can look good on paper but in the field, does it work, does it need improvement or changes?  It is better to find out here than in the deserts of Afghanistan or whenever it is needed.

There is some great info here:

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

https://www.yuma.army.mil/

We spent some time at the museum/visitor center then had lunch at the restaurant on base.  Both the restaurant and museum are open to the public (ID’s needed to get on base) and we hope to go back and spend some time at the museum.

A great day!

On Thursday, 28th, we (Andy, me, Bill, and Shelly) went to the Yuma Historic Theater to hear/see “The Piano Man” – a great tribute to Billy Joel and Elton John.  I had read about it in the paper in early January and made reservations.  Shelly and Bill were able to get seats near us – it was a wonderful tribute. 

I also found out that the theater has about 2 or more shows a month so we hope to get to a few of them.  (I think I may need to go to the Yuma Visitor Center and find out what is in town if we intend to spend our winters here.)

Not the best picture but this is the show:

We also got our movie fix in – on Wednesday, 27th, we saw “The Revenant” (pretty gruesome) and on Monday, 1st, we saw “Star Wars” (loved it!).  In December, Andy and I got Harkins T-Shirts and Cups which entitles us to a free medium popcorn and a medium soda for $1.50 – not bad.

I also went to beading at Della’s – always good to see the ladies.  And Shelly and I were able to get away two separate days for shopping and hanging out.  Wonderful.

We said our “see you laters” to Bill and Shelly and hopefully we will see them when they are back in the states in the spring.

On Sunday, 31st, we had a horrible wind and dust storm.  If you look between these RV’s, you can see how foggy looking it is – that is dust.  Yuck!  We put on the air cleaner and air conditioner but I could still taste the dust….

We were supposed to go to Casa Grande on Monday, 1st, but decided to stay another day because of the wind.  We are glad we did.

On Tuesday, 2nd, we woke to beautiful blue skies and no wind so away we went. 

The desert is really green!:

We arrived a little after lunch and set up.

We are here mainly for Andy’s VA appointments.  As of now (2/14), we will be here thru the 24th, subject to change.

And we have been busy here too.

On the 3rd, I met up with Sue (who is in Benson) in Tucson and we spent the day at the To Bead True Blue - part of the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show.  Over the years, I have heard about the show but always wanted to go so… after talking with Sue we decided to meet and explore.  To Bead True Blue was at the Doubletree Reid Park and had over 800 vendors.  Overwhelming!  And we had a ball!  We were able to see some of the new items that are available and so many beads, so many shapes, so many colors – OH MY!!!  (I was good – )  We met Geri and Judee for lunch.  Then Sue and I ended the day at “The Little Bead Show” where we met up with Cathie and Melanie.

In front is Cathy and Geri, in back is me, Judee, and Sue:

In the middle is Melanie who has a booth at the show:

What a great time.  Sue and I did learn that next year we need to come with a list of what we need because it is overwhelming and if we can, stay a few days – .

On Thursday, 4th, we had dinner with Larry and Cheryl; Friday, 5th, Jan and Ken had us over for dinner; Saturday, 6th, we had dinner with Katy and Gary.  I just love the smaller get together!

We also went to the local Escapee luncheon on Tuesday, 9th and I spent the day with my cousin Kris in Tempe on Wednesday, 10th. 

Then everything stopped.  Andy came down with a bad cold and I followed right behind.  So as I write this we are on the upswing.  In other words, not as sick but energy levels are low.  So hopefully we will continue to get stronger.

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Stats for the last two travel days:

01-23-16  Quartzsite to Yuma

Miles Traveled: 99 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Arizona:  Plomosa Road; SR-95; Araby Acres Road US-195; E. County 14th Street; S. Avenue 4E; East County 17th Street

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02-02-16  Yuma to Casa Grande

Miles Traveled: 171 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Arizona: East County 17th Street;S. Avenue 4E; E. County 14th Street; US-195; I-8; South Montgomery Road

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Hopefully I will not be so lax – I know, you have probably heard that before…  But I am trying –

Happy Valentines Day

 

April 14, 2013 – White Sands National Monument

The winds were slight this morning when we headed off to the White Sands National Monument.

First some background:

The dunes are located in the Tularosa Basin.  The gypsum that forms the white sand was deposited at the bottom of a shallow sea covering this area 250 million years ago.  Eventually turned into stone, these gypsum-bearing marine deposits were uplifted into a giant dome 70 million years ago when the Rocky Mountains formed.  Ten million years ago the center of this dome started to collapse, creating the Tularosa Basin.  The remaining sides of the original dome form the San Andres and Sacramento mountain ranges that now ring the Tularosa Basin.

With no outlet to the sea, water flowing into the Tularosa Basin sinks into the ground or pools up in low spots. One of the basin’s lowest points is the large playa, Lake Lucero.  This dry lake bed occasionally fills with water that then evaporates and deposits dissolved gypsum on the surface.  More gypsum deposition occurred in the last Ice Age when larger Lake Otero covered much of the basin.  The eroding mountains have now filled the Tularosa Basin 2000 feet deep with sediments, including the gypsum that forms its white sands (WOW!)

The common mineral gypsum, hydrous calcium sulfate, is rarely found as sand because it is soluble in water.  Rain and snow in the mountains dissove gypsum from the rocks and carry it into the Basin where it is trapped.  As it drys, it forms as selenite crystals.  Freezing and thawing and wetting and drying eventually break down the crystals as sand-size particles light enough to be moved by the wind.

The white sands dune field is an active dune field. The dunes move from west to east as much as thirty feet per year.  A few plants have adapted to avoid burial by moving sand.  The soap tree yucca elongates its stem to keep its leaves above the sand , growing upward a foot per year.  Some plants anchor parts of a dune with their roots and keep growing on a sand pedestal even after the dune moves on.

Yes, I copied most of that but I still have pictures.

We started our tour at the visitor center where we watched a movie on the creation of the dunes, toured the little museum, and spoke with the ranger about the dunes drive and the trails.  He did recommend that if the wind picks up, we do not take the trails.  So off we went.

 

The wind has started to pick up – notice the sand in the road way:

This is a sand pedestal.  This plant’s roots anchored in the sand.  This is what is left after the sands/dunes move on.

 

This was the first area for the boardwalk trail.  Winds were really picking up (notice the road covered) so we decided not to do any of the trails. 

Looks like snow, doesn’t it:

People were sledding down the dunes:

 

White out – Yikees:

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Almost looks like a glacier:

This is one of the soap tree yuccas.  Their stalk can go to over thirty feet down in the sand.  When the sand moves on, the stalk can no longer support the yucca so it collapses on itself.

A whale – :-)):

With the wind, the dunes seemed unreal.  If the wind dies down before we leave the area, we may try to get back.  If not, we will try again another time.  We did find out that they do tours to Lake Lucero once a month.  That is where some of the crystal beds are located and some of those crystals are up to three feet long.  So next time we will try to visit when they have the tour.

The wind continued to blow and lots of dust covered everything.  Here is some comparison shots:

Yesterday:

Today – notice the background:

Yesterday:

Today:

WOW!.  We did find out that April is New Mexico’s WINDY month.  We will put that in our memory banks for next time.

Since we had most of the afternoon free and could not do much outside, we decided to go to the movies.  We saw “Olympus Has Fallen”.   Great movie and worth seeing.

Until tomorrow – enjoy today.

Life is about using all the crayons in the box!

November 19 - 20, 2012 Travel to Tennessee

Today we left our cozy spot at Delaware Seashore State Park and headed south thru the DelMarVa Peninsula (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia):

Maryland:

 

 

Lots of chicken farms and chicken plants on the eastern shores of Virginia:

 

Yep, did you see those shore birds on the top of that tank at the Perdue facility?  Hmmmmm….are you thinking what I am – LOL???

Isn’t this an incredible house – their backyard is the Chesapeake Bay – WOW!:

Over the Chesapeake:

Under the Chesapeake:

 

The waves were really choppy and high – there was actually a small craft warning for this area of the Bay when we went over.  That is Virginia Beach in the background:

 

  We continued west thru Virginia:

COTTON – we are in the south now – :-))):

Monday was a long travel day for us – but what a beautiful sunset in North Carolina:

Our initial plans were to stay at a Moose Lodge – turns out that we arrived and found a “For Sale” sign on the property.  I called the number and no answer so we moved on.  The Wal-Mart in Winston-Salem said “NO” to overnights, even though they are listed in a few places as an overnight.  At that point, it is 7 PM, we are tired and we start to call places.  The manager at the Wal-Mart in Mocksville told us to “Come on in, we would love to have you stay” – so that is where we stayed (and spent some money in his store too).  We are thinking now that when we do long days, to call ahead to the places we may stay – just in case.

Tuesday morning, we were on our way towards Tennessee thru the mountains of western North Carolina:

 

Into Tennessee:

  

We made our way to Heiskill, Tennessee – north of Knoxville, where we are staying at an Escapee Rainbow Park for a few days.  It is always good to stay at a SKP Park over a holiday – :-).   Once we settled in and did a few things, we went to Happy Hour and met a few people in the park.  Afterwards we went into Knoxville for supper and to see the movie Lincoln.  Great movie!

I will leave you with one more from the road picture:

 

 

 

Stats:

11/19/12

Miles Traveled: 454 miles

Routes Traveled:

Delaware: SR-1; SR-54; SR-387

Maryland: SR-367; US-113; US-13

Virginia: US-13; Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel; US-13; I-64; I-264; US-58; I-85

North Carolina: I-85; I-40; US-601 – Stopped at Mocksville, NC  -  Wal-Mart

11/20/12

Miles Traveled: 244 Miles

North Carolina: US-601; I-40

Tennessee: I-40; I-640; I-75; SR-170

ENJOY TODAY!