Moved again

After a nice stay and visit in Benson, we headed to Congress, AZ and the North Ranch SKP Park. This is the park that we will be working in starting the middle of this month. This is a really nice park with a lot to do in the area and at the park. Sorry I have fallen down in the picture department, guess I just got lazy about that. We arrived here on Tuesday of last week. As soon as we got settled I got on the bike (motorcycle) and headed out for a ride. Louise stayed at the trailer so I headed north on 89 to the hill. I had never riden in the mountains, so I wanted to ride that road by myself first. I rode up the mountian going around a lot of tight 20 mph curves, to first flat area then turned around and rode back down. I was a little nervous but made it just fine. I will wait 'til it warms a bit before Louise and take the ride to Prescott at the top of the mountain. Since arriving here we have taken a ride every day but one.

Sunday, we took the truck to Apache Junction for a visit with friends John and Thelma whom we met in Deming. After chatting and catching up, Thelma drove us up in the Superstition Mountains to Tortilla Flat, an old mining town with a really nice cafe and a couple of gift shops. It is a very popular spot for locals and bikers. The ride up the mountian is very curvy and scenery is beautiful. We had good lunch and a lot of good conversation, then headed back to their rv, then home.
Yesterday, we rode to Tonapah, AZ. for lunch. The ride took us down Vulture Mine Rd. through the low mountians. Lots of long sweeping curves and rolling hills. We were the only ones on the road for the most part. I think we may have had 4 cars pass us going the other direction. What a great, peaceful ride of 110 miles round trip. We rested a bit after our ride, then it was off to the pickleball court for our first lesson in the game. There is a guy here in the park that REALLY likes his job of teaching people to play the game. He is very animated in his method of teaching and very good at it. We had the court for a hour and I think we learned a lot about game. For those who have never heard of Pickleball, it is played a little like tennis and a little like ping pong. It is played on a small court like tennis, uses large paddles, like ping pong, and a softball size wiffle ball. The game is played in a lot of rv parks around the country. Some rvers only stay in parks with pickleball courts. This is the first park we have stayed in that has a court so we had to give it a try. It is great exercise and a lot of fun. We will get another lesson on Monday. We shall see how much we play after that.
Today we are going ride the bike to a living history museum about 50 miles away. I will try to take some pictures to dress up this blog.
That's it for now
Duane and Louise

Made it to Arizona!

On Tuesday Dec. 26th we said good-by to Ohio and trucked on south. With son Duane Jr. helping with the driving, we made it back to Van Alstyne by 11pm. Next day we picked up our house and headed west. We stopped at Santos and Pecos (TX) overnight, and stayed at Deming, NM for 5 days resting from driving and visiting with the friends we made there this past summer. On our entire 5000 mile journey from Deming through Texas and Louisiana, to Ohio and back to Deming, we had no problems, no accidents, and only a few hours of rain. Pretty good, we thought. Friends said that on the way to Congress, AZ (our next work camping job), we needed to stop and see The Thing!


So we did. It only cost a dollar apiece and was worth the stop and the price. Anyone traveling on I10 just west of Wilcox, AZ should take the time to see it.


After enjoying this stop and a brief lunch, we motored to Benson and set up for three days in the SKP co-op park at Saguaro. We arrived in time for social hour. After saying hello to friends and fellow class of '06ers Diane and Dave Jones we chatted for a liesurely hour and a half. The four of us continued our visit at a local resturaunt, before heading home for our "Gibbs fix." (NCIS viewers will understand).


This morning at 10am we joined the bikers club for a day ride. Most people had other things to do, so only Don and Sue Gilbert showed up. The four of us enjoyed a ride to Bisbee for coffee and hot chocolate, then to Douglas for lunch at the Hotel Gadsden. This building is a national historic site. After lunch we roamed around the hotel. Below we are posing in the beautiful double stairway. Louise is pointing to a chip in the marble. Supposedly the damage was done when Pancho Villa rode his horse into the hotel and up the steps! On either side of the mural are beautiful stained glass windows depicting the desert the width of the wall.

Between these steps and the front desk, there is this skylight.

View of the lobby from the top of the steps.

Closer view of the mountain lion at the top of the steps.

After viewing numerous pictures portraying the history of the hotel, we saddled up and took back roads home to Benson, arriving in time for social hour. We traveled 175 miles, the most that Louise had ridden to this point. Our friends the Jones' weren't at social hour so we decided to stretch our legs for a bit before heading back to the clubhouse for movie night. We hadn't seen The Help at the theater, so now was our chance.

Time to go!

Louise and Duane