April 21, 2012 – Travel to Cornville

Since today was to reach 100 degrees, we wanted to be on the road early and up over the hill before it got too hot.  So after getting propane and double checking the shed and lot (we summerized yesterday), off we went.

Side note – What does summerizing mean or what do you do?  Since the temperature can reach well over 100 in our shed and it is wood inside, we had to leave a number of containers full of water so the wood does not dry out.  And also since we have wood, we needed to spray for termites.  So we will find out next season if we did everything right – :-))

We made it thru Phoenix (me, of course, on edge) and then we started our climb.  Wait until you see this scenery! First we went thru forests of saguaros:

 

 

And we climbed:

 

 

Near the top – no more saguaros – some trees and grasses:

Beautiful horses – not sure if they were wild:

What goes up must come down (well, only a little way down) – trees!:

WOW!:

The red mountains near Sedona up ahead:

Cool Pic:

We arrived at Page Springs Resort in Cornville where we will be for the next week.  When we joined Colorado River Adventures, we also got an RPI membership.  This is our first RPI park – close quarters – :-(((  but “cheap” and we will use it as a base to explore.

After supper, it had cooled down quite a bit so we took a walk around the park:

Water and trees – how I have missed them – :-))).

Our internet is very weak so I am not sure when I will be posting – I may purchase a day or so of Wi-Fi.

Stay tuned for our next adventure and enjoy each day.

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled: 168 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Arizona: Montgomery Road; SR 84; Thornton Road; Cottonwood Lane; SR 93; I-10; I-17; SR-260; SR-89A; Page Springs Road

April 2-20, 2012 Casa Grande, Part 2

I probably should have renamed this blog – April 17, 2012 – Hall of Flame

When Bruce suggested we do this, I thought it sounded cool but this museum was amazing!  The Hall of Flame Museum and the National Firefighting Hall of Heroes has over 90 fully restored pieces of fire apparatus dating from 1725 to 1969.  The Hall of Flame also sponsors the National Firefighting Hall of Heroes, which honors firefighters who have died in the line of duty or who have been decorated for heroism.  The Hall also includes a gallery dedicated to the history of wildland firefighting in the US.

More info is here:

www.hallofflame.org

www.roadsideamerica.com/story/15085

The Museum has four large rooms – one contains non motorized fire apparatus – wow – some of these are beautiful!

 

  

The motorized buildings:

 

 

There were so many fire trucks and all were in really fine condition – show quality – WOW!

And us playing around on the one fire truck we were allowed:

In each of the rooms/buildings, there was more information on the walls or small rooms off the big rooms.

This wall mural was in one of the buildings:

Patches from all over the country:

 

There was a book organized by state and then alphabetically by town/city.  We looked for Pottsville or Minersville but there was none.  I may have to do something about that when I get home.  We did find Schuylkill Haven – a town about 6 miles from us.

In another area, this was a control center from Phoenix and they actually had real time scanners going so we could listen:

This was in another area on equipment – another item from Schuylkill Haven:

There was a huge area which honored all the firefighters who died in the line of duty – with a special section on 9/11 – very sobering.  And there was this flag – if you look close there are all the names of those who died on 9/11.

 

I have done some research and this flag can be purchased at  http://biellc.stores.yahoo.net/index.html

The gallery on forest fire fighting was very interesting.  Lots of information on previous forest fires and dedications and stories of those who died.

We spent a few hours at the Museum and I highly recommend it.  We enjoyed a great lunch at Crackers before we parted.  What a wonderful day!

The weatherman has said that the temperatures on 4/21 will be record breaking – Time to move on and start our summer travels.   Stay tuned – we hope to be playing tourist again and visiting places we never been – :-)

April 2 – 20, 2012 Casa Grande Part 1

Hard to believe it has been almost three weeks since I updated and we have been busy.   It seems like every time we come back to Casa Grande, we end up “nesting” and doing things to the motorhome.   So what did we do this time…

I pulled out my sewing machine and spent about a week making a bra/bug catcher for the motorhome.  Check it out – I was able to get matching screen material.  Looks like we are camouflaging it – :-)))

I also made the mirror covers.  Every morning we put up a table outside, put the sewing machine on it and away we went.  Doing something that big required help in guiding and Pam and Andy were my helpers over that week.  We will see how it holds up.

I also made a cover for the TV when we travel.  The one we did have was the original cover – the one that covers the TV in the box.  Anyway, our little Bella ripped it to shreds – :-(((.  So the new one has extra padding and the material is stronger – don’t think she will be able to tear this one.   Lots of mending was next on the sewing list :-)).

So what else..well, I deep cleaned the inside – that hasn’t been done since last summer.   Oh my, lots of dust everywhere!  I also went thru all our “stuff” and reorganized, decluttered, etc.   So now we have more room – for more “stuff” – LOL!!

Andy cleaned and waxed the outside of the motorhome and also reorganized the bays.  Since we have the lot and a storage shed there are some things we were able to leave here.  He also started setting up our sheds.

 

The best part of the past three weeks was reconnecting with old friends and meeting new ones.  

Another new lot holder is Pam and Ross who we met in Quartzsite in January 09 and who we have not seen since then.  So it was great to see them again and get to know them better.  Bruce and Bunny came thru one night on their way back to Benson.  We met them in January 09 and they adopted us.  We were so green about the southwest and they helped us thru it with desert camping and Quartzsite.  We saw them in Quartzsite this year and it is always good to see them again.   Jan and Ken bought a home in Arizona City last year and we had a chance to see it – Beautiful.  Plus we had a chance meeting at the Moose the last week before we all took off for the summer:

Here we are at the Moose – Jan, Pam, me, Ross, Andy, Ken:

Our friends Bruce and Sue were heading east and had a problem with their rig.  So they were towed to Goodyear and had to wait for a part.  They came to see us one day and last Tuesday was Bruce’s birthday, so we met them at the Hall of Flame and then had a great lunch at Crackers afterwards.  It was good to see them again and hopefully they can continue their trip east soon.

Here we are at Crackers:

And we have been getting to know our neighbors in the park better – what wonderful folks.  Can’t wait to get more involved next season.

We are so blessed!

 

So let’s talk about the weather – it was beautiful and now starting to get a little too hot for us.   But one of the best things with staying this late is the wonderful flowers on the cacti (and others)

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

And a special treat – the saguaros are starting to bloom:

 

WOW!  Seeing them in bloom was on my bucket list – so exciting!

So in Part 2 of Casa Grande I will cover the Hall of Flame – check it out!