Odds and Ends and A Sad Story

Odds and Ends

We are still at RoVer's Roost, in Casa Grande.  Even though we are anxious to get out into the desert we've needed to stay here to wait for Dr. appointments for mom.  She is fine but since we're not in Calif. we needed to choose a centrally located city to find a Dr. and Casa Grande is it for us.

We've had all that nasty Texas dirt washer off the rv it wasn't cheap but we also had the oxidation buffed off too so it looks all better now.  Ready for another year on the road.

Another thing we are doing while here it to join the Elks Lodge.  The Elks have lodges all over and most of them allow rv parking for free or for a nominal fee to members and the lodge in Gila Bend, AZ courts full time rvers.  So we are doing that while here.  While traveling up and down through California there are long stretches or areas where there isn't any place to stop for the night or if there is it is very expensive.  And having the ability to park at an Elks lodge would help us tremendously. Sometimes we need a safe place to park for one night while traveling through an area, this would be better than parking in a Walmart parking lot, which a lot of rvers do, but not us.

A Sad Story

We have spent some of our time here exploring this area of AZ.  We've seen some interesting things. Unfortunately you don't get to see them.  It isn't that I didn't take pictures of them with my iPhone.  It's because I dropped my phone in the sink, full of water.  Oh no.  I had a feeling that something like that was going to happen.  I had just gotten a pedicure and while there I had a feeling that I might drop my phone in the water so I was being very careful.  But when I got home I put my purse on the kitchen counter and the phone quietly slipped out of my purse into the sink.  I grabbed it out but too late.  I got back into the car and drove to the AT&T store in town.  A note here:  This is the third iPhone I've had and when you buy a phone one of the questions they ask is "Do you want insurance?", and I always say no, but for some reason with this one I said yes.  So I have replacement insurance with a not so small deductible, but that's 1/4 the cost of a new phone.  It took the replacement phone 24 hours to get to me, they ship it to you not a new one from the store.  I didn't think that was too bad.  I'm back up and running, except it had been a while since I'd backed that phone up to the cloud so I lost a bunch of pictures.  My bad.  Live and learn.  So the picture today has nothing to do with the post, just one random picture I had.

Wow 17% grade, glad we were in the car.  

Outside of Willits, CA there's a 19% grade, 

you don't see many of these.

By for now.

Evie and Joy

Giants in the Desert, Casa Grande, AZ

When I last talked to you I said that Bette and I were going down to Mexico, about an hour away, for lunch.  We did that, and had lunch at The Pink Store and I managed to get out of there without spending any money except for lunch.  It was a good day.  Had cheap fun.  I didn't take any pictures while there.  Before getting to the border area I turned off my phone so as not to get any international roaming charges, I should have only put it into Airplane mode, that way I could have used the camera.  Oh well.

The Pink Store photo taken from internet.

We only spent two nights at Rockhound State Park as it was very windy both nights and I don't like wind in the desert.  Breezes are good but 30mph wind isn't fun.  We are now in Casa Grande, AZ.  Back to our favorite area with Saguaro Cactus.

Growth chart. 

This Saguaro is over 200 years old. 

 In another picture later in this blog you can see

 that it has a brace on it.  Saguaros have a shallow root system.  

The plus side to that is that they are easy to transplant, the 

downside is that they blow over in rain and windy conditions.

It's been a wet year.  Look how fat it is.  

When it's been dry the fin like sections are very skinny.

Not all cactus have spines. 

Ok now for something a little different.  For the San Francisco Giant fans out there, in 1959 the Giants starter building a spring training facility in Casa Grande.  It is still here and being used by the local area as a sports facility.  But there are still sign of the Giants here.  The Giants moved to Scottsdale in the 1970's where they still hold spring training.  Here (it seems that this link isn't working for readers with iPads and maybe tablets as well, sorry) is a link to a book about the history of the Giants, the Casa Grande facilities is mentioned on page 58.

The top of The Francisco Casa Grande can bee seen in the background.

Click here and here to read about The Francisco Casa Grande.  

Also on the first web site is a link to the 2016 Cactus League spring training schedule.

Storm clouds brewing.

You see some interesting things at the grocery store.  Here is

Dragon Fruit.

Kiwano Melon

By for now.

Evie and Joy

More Views From Oliver Lee SP, New Mexico

Yesterday we talked about staying here at Oliver Lee for 3 more nights.  I woke up friday morning itching to go so we left this morning around 9am and drove to Rockhound State Park, outside of Deming NM.  The pictures in this post are the last of Oliver Lee.

It's so beautiful here.  The desert is a patchwork of greens.

Ocotillo with leaves at sunset.

Close up of Ocotillo.

Ocotillo plants are interesting.  Most of the time they look like dead sticks.  Then when it rains they quickly produce these small leaves that remain on the plant for weeks.

Here is a Western Diamondback Rattler sunbathing outside the restroom.

Look, I can go around corners.

Soon after taking these snake pictures the park rangers came and scooped him up to relocate him away from the camping area.

We are now at Rockhound SP and we no sooner got parked and set up when there was a knock on our hood.  I looked out to see it was Bette, who we became friends with up at Eagle's Nest Lake SP this summer.  Bette is about my age and drives a 26' class c.  She has been living on the road since 2002. Tomorrow she and I will take the Honda and drive down to Puerto Palomas, Chihuahua, Mexico.  We will have lunch and do some shopping.  I will tell you all about it next time.  Mom will stay home and take care of things while we're gone.

See you in a few days.

Evie and Joy

This Will Be Home For a Few Days

After spending two nights at the Alamogordo KOA we moved 12 miles down the road to Oliver Lee State Park.  That sound you just heard was me taking a deep soothing breath.  It is so peaceful here and we haven't had peaceful for almost 3 weeks.  We will stay here for several days then move over to Elephant Butte State park.

Look how green everything is.

That's the campground up the road to the left.

View from bedroom window.

I'll be back in a few days.

Evie and Joy