Big City Livin'

It seems to take a long time in our circuit to mosey over to Phoenix where I get to catch up with my friend Ruth and restock at the stores, but we finally made it. We use her house as a shipping address, and it was like Christmas when we got there! All kinds of packages awaited us along with a sweet card from the grandkids. Anticipating our arrival, we ordered several things from Amazon to restock and replace.

We spent several days in Casa Grande at RoVers Roost SKP park and while there I drove up to Phoenix for the day to go shopping with Ruth when she was off work. It was a great day and I was able to find all I needed including 3 pairs of shoes! I had saved my sandal shopping for Phoenix and was rewarded by finding more than anticipated. It's not my favorite thing to shop for, but made fun by sharing it with a friend.

Butterfly Guy with several at once!

We were able to park in front of her house for just over a week. She went around asking the neighbors nearby if it was a problem, and unanimously they welcomed us! I enjoyed her large and lovely kitchen, catching up on some baking and other kitchen activities as well as being 'camp cook' for the week. She appreciated having home cooked meals after a long day at work. We took advantage of her loaded lemon tree as well as her electric citrus juicer--such a great thing! We started 3 batches of limoncello and used the juice to make lemon ice cubes to have on hand.

Ruth, wearing hers on her sleeve

On her days off we were able to go see some of the sights with her and Tim, her boyfriend. The nighttime Canal walk was lovely with all kinds of light displays and people strolling in the warm evening air. Another delightful place we went was the Butterfly Wonderland, A Rainforest Experience. It was an amazing time, wandering around looking at all the butterflies and having them land on us! Jerry was especially interesting to him.

Linda and Jerry sitting with butterlies adorning them.

Tim sporting a forehead decoration!

Ruth, Tim and Jerry busy capturing more pictures of butterflies

Ajo, Arizona. Where?

The little town of Ajo has some really beautiful buildings. One can see the impact of artistic people in paintings on the buildings as well as architecture in the plaza buildings. This small town hosts a Fiddlers competition each year and well as a number of other community activities. Although we arrived after the Fiddling Contest was over (won by a 16 year old girl) I did get in on a wire-wrapping class which was great fun. We also enjoyed the Farmer's Market on Saturday and dinner out on Valentine's day at Marcella's.

This little town is a jumping off point for traveling into Mexico as well as Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. We stayed north of the border, but did do a 21 mile drive around Organ Pipe Cactus NM which was quite beautiful. We were glad we had our truck, although it is a road that can be done in a car with enough clearance. Pretty rough in places, but worth it to see this amazing place.

Organ Pipe Cactus like to grow in sparse vegetation. This is the only place north of the border where they grow.

Amazing hills full of all kinds of color and quite dramatic.

We were parked with the Boondockers BOF, a subgroup of the Escapees RV Club at the Roping Arena outside of Ajo. We enjoy spending time with the group. Talks by the fire at night, Happy Hour at 3pm, doing crafts with the ladies, going for walks. We seldom make it to the campfire at 7 am for the Cowboy Coffee. Too early!

Onward to Yuma

  
18 days at Boomerville in Quartzsite, and we were ready to move on and dump tanks! We left on Sunday before the rain hit since we didn't want to get stuck way out there with full/empty tanks and have to wait for the water to go down. Halfway to Yuma I decided we were crazy to be driving on such a windy day! Driving mostly with side wind was nerve wracking, but since I was following a rig taller than ours, that was a comfort since he didn't get pushed off the road! Part of the journey was driving into the wind and it felt like it was heavy going. Jerry was driving the truck and following me. As we approached Yuma, it looked like there was a brownish cloud hanging over it, so I wasn't sure what we were getting into. Yikes! So much dust in the air. At home in Washington, that cloud would have meant rain. We found a place to hunker down at the BLM land near the VFW on Hwy 95 just outside of Yuma. It was comforting to be in the midst of so many rigs and it rained much less there than the reports of Quartzsite, so maybe it wasn't so crazy! The next day was still windy, but less so.
  We moved to Kofa SKP park and stayed there for 9 days. It was time to catch up on laundry, grocery shopping and pool time for Jerry. We met many great people there and had a relaxing time. We got in on the Renter's Appreciation Dinner which is a yearly thing, and Jerry wants to make sure we return for that next year! I had twisted my hair up after my shower earlier in the day to create some curl since I left curling irons at home, and decided that it looked good enough to leave up for the dinner. However, when I took it down, I had a mass of crazy, curly hair that was hard to contain! I'm thinking it's time for a haircut--if I ever slow down long enough to find a place to do this.
 We also got in on a craft fair, line dancing and church, among other activities at the Kofa park. We also went into Yuma to check out the Old Town area which was interesting. Lots of small shops, and we got in on the tail end of the Farmer's Market.