Got up early this morning anticipating our drive over toward Tucson, AZ. When I checked the weather out that way the forecast was for winds 20-30 MPH and gusts as high as 45-50 MPH with blowing dust. Well, that ain’t so good. So we’re going to hang out here at Fort Bliss for at least one more day.
March 7, 2017
We had some high winds all of Monday night and when I got up it was still blowing hard with some very high gusts. When I looked at the wether for places along I-10 in New Mexico and into Arizona the winds didn’t look too much better. We then made the decision to stay here one more night.
I’m sure most of you know that Joyce has been doing a lot of walking along with a lot of her friends. The first thing she does every morning is get her phone fired up and look to see how much her friends have walked. Her goal is to get at least 10,000 steps everyday and so far she has done darned good at it.
So yesterday since the winds were blowing quite hard she wanted to go up to a mall north of here so that she could walk without being blown halfway to Mexico. Heck, I even got in a few steps myself but mostly I sat on a time-out bench watching the world go by.
After hanging in that mall for awhile we then drove up to the outlet mall where she could do some more walking. On the way into there I saw a Discount Tire store so while Joyce walked, i.e. shopping, I had the tires on the car rotated. We bought those tires in Georgia last year and there is already significant wear on them. But not only do we drive the car a lot, it is also towed behind our motorhome as well. I’m going to do some calculating today just to see how many miles are actually on the tires.
It looks like mother nature is going to give us a break today so we’re going to head out of El Paso today.
March 8, 2017
Finally got out of El Paso yesterday morning about 9:30, jumped on TX 54 north and then took the TX 375 Loop out to I-20. This route bypasses all of the construction and crazy drivers on I-10 in the city. After getting on I-10 it was pretty much clear sailing.
While traveling we were passed by a brand new Newmar King Air and a beautiful Marathon coach. On the back of the that one there was a logo with the name Petty painted in the middle. We speculated where they were going and if the belonged to Richard Petty Motorsports. Joyce checked the internet to see if there is a NASCAR race coming up in Las Vegas this coming weekend and sure enough there is one.
Later on we pulled into a parking area to take a potty break and those two rigs were there. Of course you know I had to get out and check these guys out. Yep, they work for Richard petty Motorsports and were ferrying the coaches from Atlanta to Las Vegas. i mentioned to one of the guys that we’ve been by the factory where Marathon’s are built in Coburg, OR and he said, “Y’all should stop in and get you one”. Yeah right. The really funny thing was the other guy was on the phone with the home base for Petty telling them that two windows on the Newmar had shattered while driving down the road. Yep, even one of the most expensive RV’s in the country will have problems.
We had planned to spend the night in Bowie, AZ but when we found out that we’d have to drive 25 miles to Willcox to do any shopping or for restaurants we decided to head there instead. The Elks Lodge has 26 RV sites and we were pretty sure we could snag one since it was very early in the afternoon. The lodge doesn’t open until 4 PM so we couldn’t call but what the heck, we’ll give it a shot.
Well, that didn’t work out so good. Not only we’re all of the parking sites full there were several folks dry camping as well and with not much room for anymore rigs. So we called the Fort Willcox RV Park who had spaces available and with our Passport America rate it is only $23 with tax for a great 50 amp full hookup site.
We made a run to the local Safeway to get some provisions and then had some great Mexican food at La Unica Tortilleria y Tacqueria in downtown. Excellent food and great service.
So……we have got the Jello bowl out and stirred it up a tad. We have decided to not visit Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ, Las Vegas and Pahrump, NV on this trip. Our good friends Ed and Cindy Kopic have purchased an RV lot in Florence, AZ so we’re going to to head over that way to see them and check out the area. Then we’ll go on up to Tempe to visit my brother Mark and his wife.
Our good friends Keith and Joann Taylor have invited us up to their place in Golden Valley, AZ. We have been promising them for a long time that we’d get up there someday for a visit so that someday has arrived.
Mark and Ronna are going to Fresno to visit Mom on the 17th so we thought it would be nice for us to be there as well. So I called the Elks in Fresno and they said we could come in a few days earlier than we had planned.
March 10, 2017
We left Willcox around 10 AM and after a quick stop at the Wally-World in Benson we arrived at the Rancho Sonora Inn and RV Park near Florence, AZ. around 2:30 PM. Instead of running all the way up to near Casa Grande and then taking AZ 387 over to Florence and the south on AZ 79 to the park, we decided to take the scenic route. Well, that didn’t work out so good.
After getting off in Tucson we got on AZ 77 and for miles it was stop and go with a lot of stop lights and more traffic than we like to deal with. That all smoothed out when we got to AZ 79 but you can be sure we won’t do that one again.
On the way up we ran into a huge swarm of bees that peppered the front of our rig. So after getting set up in our site we had to clean off the front which took a while. After taking care of that chore we drove just down the road to visit our good friends Ed and Cindy Kopic who we worked with Sunflower RV Resort in Surprise, AZ. a couple of years ago.
Ed and Cindy have bought a RV pad in the Desert Gardens RV Park that they are in the process of improving to make it their own and plan on putting a park model house on the site someday in the future. The sites in this park are huge and there are a lot of amenities for their use.
Ed had smoked ribs in his new Traeger Grill that were delicious. We spent the evening just sitting around talking and enjoying each other’s company. Joyce and Cindy did go for a soak in the park’s hot tub.
Yesterday we went back over to Ed and Cindy’s then drove into Coolidge for lunch. Next on the agenda was to go to the Coolidge-Florence Elks Lodge so that Ed could have his initial interview to join the lodge. For a really small lodge they have a lot of activities and serve dinners three nights a week.
After making a stop at Wally-Mart we went back to their park and grilled some steaks.
Today Joyce and I are heading up to the Tempe Elks Lodge to spend some time with my brother Mark and his wife Ronna.
March 14, 2017
Before we left Florence I called the Elks Lodge in Tempe to make sure there were some sites available and was told they had several open. That was good news so we packed up and left Florence about 9:30.
When we arrived at the lodge at 11AM we got the last site available. This is a very active lodge and the RV parking is full most of the time during this time of year. The lodge offers 26 full-hookup back in sites that are all very well maintained for $25 a night and in this area of Arizona that is really cheap.
Mark and Ronna came over after they got off work and we spent sometime visiting then had some supper in the lodge’s dinning room.
On Saturday we drove out to Mark and Ronna’s home in Laveen and after we got some laundry started we drove around looking at model homes in the area. Laveen is fast growing area south east of Phoenix near Goodyear and most of the builders are catering to the first-time home buyers.
When we got up and moving on Sunday Joyce noticed a crack in the passenger windshield. We have no idea what caused it but it’s something we will need to have fixed while we are in Oregon.
The lodge was having their annual chili cook off so Mark and Ronna came over for that. We tasted some outstanding chili and I even talked one gentleman to let me take some of his green chili home. That stuff was the best I have ever eaten.
Abby & Skyler
That’s enough for now.
Barry & Joyce
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