Road trip....Jerome, Arizona

On one of our days off, we hopped on the bike and took off for Jerome. Jerome is a mining town in the mountains north off Congress.  To get there we had to climb up the mountain to Prescott, then on up from there to the town. Lots and lots of curves. There were a lot of 15 mile per hour switch backs between Prescott and Jerome.

Not really sure if Louise is tilting the camera or I am leaning the bike that much.

(Actual curve--I made sure I wasn't tilting the camera!)

The scenic views came one after the other.

 Top of the mountain before entering Prescott is 6100' of elevation

See the road we are heading for?

The great views keep coming 

And the curves  That's Cottonwood straight ahead--the yellowish blur between sky and rocks.

  Jerome is a town in the Black Hills of Yavapai County in the  Arizona. Founded in the late 19th century on Cleopatra Hill overlooking the Verde Valley, it is more than 5,000 feet (1,500 m) above sea level. It is about 100 miles (160 km) north of Phoenix along State Route 89A between Sedona and Prescott. Supported in its heyday by rich copper mines, it was home to more than 10,000 people in the 1920s. As of the 2010 census, its population was 444.

The town is built on the side of the mountain. There are 4 levels of streets with sharp switch backs to get from one level to the next. The town is now restaurants, bars and gift shops.  We walked around the town for a while before deciding it time to hit the road. Gift shops just aren't our thing. We did find a friendly guy at a sweet's shop who found us an ice cold diet Pepsi for $1.25 and a yummy chocolate/chocolate truffle for $1.75.  We decided that the Pepsi was definitely worth it but the truffle, though really good, was not.  The ride to Jerome was what we were after anyway. The weather was great and the ride there was even better. 

Ore sorter used in one of the mines  When the copper played out (15 lbs for every person in the US is a lot of copper!) the town reinvented itself into an artists' colony and purveyor of eclectlic merchandise.

After a stop at McDonald's for lunch in Cottonwood, we headed for home. We took a different way home 2 reasons. We wanted to see where the Thousand Trails RV Park was located, we plan to stay there on our way to Utah, and I wanted to stop at the Harley dealer in Anthem, Az. The weather got real HOT when we got off the mountain and hit the desert floor. We arrived home safe and sound, but a little warm.

On Sunday we headed up Yarnell hill to visit the Shrine of St. Joseph Stages of the Cross. We visit this shrine every year we are here. It is a very moving place. 

After leaving the shrine, it was on to Peoples Valley to try out the pizza place that we were told had the best pizza around here. It was Louise's birthday and she had a hankerin' for pizza. This is a little, 5 or 6 tables, diner with a brick pizza oven. The pizza was very good but I would not rate it as one on our favorites in the country. We will try a couple of others in the area before we deem it the best in the area.

 My selfie reflected in the back of Duane's helmet.

In spite of the warm afternoon, we really enjoyed our trip to Jerome on the bike.  The weather for my birthday was perfect.  

More adventures as we get em'

Duane and Louise

We have arrived in Congress, Az.

I know it's a long time since I have posted anything to the blog. We finally got the rv back the first of March. After picking up the rv we headed to the rv park around the corner from Jeremy's where the things that we took out of the trailer during the repair process was stored. We moved everything back into the rv and took off for Arizona. We spent the weekend in Deming, NM visiting friends there before moving on. WE arrived in Congress a few days before the wood carving workshop was to begin. I talked to the manager of the park and he said we could wait till after wood carving week to start our workcamping job.  This is one of the reasons that we like working for the Escapees RV Club. The managers are very accommodating and very nice to work for. They will go out of their way to help you and make your stay a pleasure. 

March 22 was the start of carving week. When I found out that Bill Strickler was teaching a class on carving a Cardinal, I had to sign up. Bill is one of the best bird carvers in the country. I took a class form Bill 3 years ago and really enjoyed it. The other thing is, my Mother's favorite bird was the Cardinal. In honor of my Mother I decided to carve the bird. I had thought I was going to work on my cotton wood bark carving but couldn't resist the bird. I am sorry I didn't think to pictures of the carving procedure, it would have been a lot more impressive. After five days of carving, we started the paint job on the sixth day. Bill is known for is painting of the birds he carves.   He took us through the steps of how to blend one color into the next and how to highlight the feathers and other detail. I am very happy with the end result. Mom would have loved it!!

Hard at work

The finished bird

After carving the bird I had to figure out a way to display it. Bill gave me a piece of mesquite wood. I had a base in my stash. I decided to try a technique I had seen on a carving  web site to make the base look better. The process I used was spread a product called Mod Podge over the base. I sifted sand from the desert to get the fines. After covering the base with the Mod Podge, I sprinkled the sand over it and patted it down onto the  goo. When it was all set up I sprayed it with 6 coats of sealer. I was very pleased with the in results. 

We stared work Tuesday here in the park. Louise is learning the new computer system that was installed in the office since we left. On days that we don't work, I go to the Pickleball court at 7:30 am and play till about 9:30. There are 7 or 8 players so you play a game and set out a game. I am already starting to lose a little weight...YEA At 4:00pm Louise and I go to the court to play with another group. The afternoon group  plays more for fun and exercise. The morning group is a play for blood group and Louise does not like to play at that time. We plan on doing a lot of motorcycling while are here. We haven't been out much on the bike yet because of carving week. We plan on going to the Phoenix Bike Fest on Sunday. Next we we plan on riding to Jerome, a little town in the mountains. Looking forward to making a lot of trips on the bike.

Louise has been working on her next quilt. She sewed together all of her scrap strips of fabric--1 1/2 in to 4 in wide and whatever length--to make this piece which will be the top.  The finished product may surprise you.

We will try to post more often in the future. I kind of got out of the habit during all the down time we had while the rv was being repaired.  Once we get back on the road with the bike we will have something to blog about. 

You can leave a commit if you wish. I would like to know if anyone is reading this, so feel free to leave a commit here or on facebook.

Til next time

Duane and Louise

Wild life and geocashing

In the last  blog I promised to take you geocaching, so here we go.  For those of you who don't know what that is, geocachiing is using a handheld GPS unit or your smart phone to find something someone has hidden using GPS coordinates.  The coordinates, a general description of the location and some cryptic clues can be found online at www.geocaching.com.  The caches can be very tiny, just big enough to hold a thin strip of paper to sign to large ammo cans filled with trinkets, writing utensils, action figures, jewelry or anything else anyone wants to swap.  Some caches have trackable items to see how far things travel.  Some have specific instructions for a particular.item.  Once we picked up a Canadian beaver Mountie stuffed animal and took its picture in front of several police stations before depositing it a couple of states away for someone else to further its travels  These caches all have logs to sign with your caching name which you also use to register your finds online.  Some caches are visual such as a sign, a certain landmark, a particular man made structure.  These don't have a log to sign, but usually require a picture to register.  Some of the caches are easy to find, while others are so diabolically clever that to find them it takes a seasoned cacher or a newbie with a lot of luck.  Sometimes the caches have been found by muggles (non cachers) and destroyed, stolen or otherwise messed with so that they can't be found.  We have a few DNF's (did not find) but we have managed to find 289 caches.  The whole point of this relatively cheap hobby is to get you and your family/friends outside to visit places you ordinarily wouldn't go.  The caches are never in National parks or sites.  They are often in state or city parks or privately owned businesses or property, but the hider asks permission of the owners before hiding the cache.  Below are some we have found around Oyster Creek.

Yes, you are looking at the caches.

No caches here at the Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge, about five miles from Jesse's house.  Established in 1966, this 44,000 acre expance of marshes, sloughs, ponds, prairies and forests protects critical castal wetlands for migratory birds and other wildlife and offers exceptional wildlife watching.  

Another day's caches

Push on the button where the bird would go into the house and it pops out. The back screws off to revel a strip of paper to sign.

 The cache was in the whole in the tree. It was a locked box with combination lock. There was a key with it. You had to figure out how the key opened the box.  There were numbers all around the box. After messing with different combination, we discovered that the key stuck to some of the numbers. AH HA we used the magnetic numbers and the box opened.

 The pier has a bunch of pvc pipe fishing pole holders attached to it. One of the holders had a plug on the bottom of it. We unscrewed the plug and a bottle with the cap glued to plug was inside holding the sign up sheet.

This was the hard one. The clue mentioned a bolt. We looked and looked at all the poles,the bench and the lights in the area, no luck. I was walking around this pole and noticed the bolt and nut but no bolt head on the other side. The nut was a magnet with the bolt screwed into it. When you unscrewed it, the bolt was hollow with the signup sheet in it. Finds like this makes it challenging and fun.

Stay tuned for more fun in south Texas!

Louise and Duane

Fun and Games

Everybody knows that part of the fun of rving is learning new things.  One of our new lessons came from sons Jeremy and Jesse--how to make venison sausage.  First you get some venison and chunk it up.  Then you get some fresh port and chunk it up too.  Seems the venison is too lean and needs pork fat to help it along.  You mix the two together in a big cooler, then mix up a bunch of spices like salt, black and red peppers, fajita seasoning, garlic, vinegar, jalapenos, --whatever floats your boat.  Mix the spices into the meat chunks, then  put them through the meat grinder.

  

Jeremy and Duane grinding away!

Jeremy and daughter Allie doing their spice thing

Now you decide if you want sausage links or bulk sausage.  The boys like both we made both.

Jesse loading casings onto the grinder.

One person feeds the meat into the grinder while the other catches the finished links.

What a pile of sausage!  Cut the long links into the length of your choice.

The last step is to package for the freezer.  I made small mounds, Jeremy wrapped in plastic wrap, Jesse wrapped in freezer wrap.  Duane cut his finger pretty badly early on so he took pictures and cut tape.  Allie mixed spices and marked the contents on each package.  Brother Luke carried meat from the cooler to the grinder and helped mix spices.  Jeremy's wife Jennifer helped clean the kitchen and keep dishes done.

Sausage making is fun work, but sometimes you need a break.  Here Allie and Luke are are tasting the vinegar.

Always time fora game or two

After our visit with Jeremy's family, Jesse, Duane and I headed back to Oyster Creek for more adventures.  Geocaching comes to mind!

Louise and Duane

Chillin' at Oyster Creek

Not much doing while we continue to wait for our parts to arrive and work to begin on our house.  We pass the time pleasantly, though, keeping busy with whatever pops up to entertain us.  We are welcome and comfortable in son Jesse's house in Oyster Creek, TX,  southeast of Houston.  The weather has been chilly, wet, and overcast but has been behaving for the past couple of days.  We walk every morning.  Duane keeps up with our friends on Facebook and has been watching the Olympics.  We like the snowboarding, the new ski event with all the tricks, and the pairs skating.  I have been making quilts I didn't get done for Christmas, playing word games and reading.  I didn't have space in our little room but Jesse has a nice enclosed porch room that is perfect for my work space.  Jesse works a lot and is pursuing another degree but we manage to have time together.   

Jesse's 'back yard'  canals that lead into Oyster Creek which goes into the Gulf

Front of the house  very typical building style

Nice workspace

Studying and puzzling

Time to jump the Mexican Train

When Jesse isn't working or studying he does some upgrading on his house.  Here he removed a door and window between the porch room and the main living area.  We were able to help him finish the framing.

We always have time to meet friends in the area.  Our friends Paul and Marsha Weaver are staying in Houston for a while.  They had never been in this area so they decided to meet us here.  We enjoyed lunch at The Purple Cow, a friendly little place in the small community of Surfside Beach.  The weather was too raw for touring so we skipped the walk down the pier and opted for a driving tour of old downtown Freeport.  You can follow the Weavers by clicking on their name.

One cold day, to get out of the house, we drove to Houston for the big RV show  I got a good  (if a little foggy) shot of the Houston skyline.  

Next up, the joys of making sausage!  

Louise and Duane