How About a "Cactus Queen?"

We woke up to sunshine this morning -- it was really a nice day -- I even had my sweater off this evening for a while. I went to a good seminar this morning on Digital Scrapbooking. The gal who taught it was really sharp. I got some great ideas about how to handle pictures and what could be done with them. I bought her scrapbooking software package, BUT I am not going to install it until I get a new computer!

Forry and I both went to a session on RV Solar Shades. Tha's something we've been looking at for a long time, but were hesitent both about putting snaps through the coach skin and about having to climb up on a ladder every time to put them on. We've ended up getting ones that go on the inside of the windows, fastened with suction cups ("American made"). We got one large one for the front windshield and ones for each of the windows on the pilot and co-pilot side.

This afternoon I played hookie during the first seminar session as there wasn't anything scheduled that interested me. It was time anyway for some "me" time and I actually got some hand-sewing done on a baby gift I am working on.

I joined Forry later for a session on Unknown and Known Attractions in Southern Arizona. We got a quite of bit of information about some of the Indian sites that I would like to see while we are still in the area.

I had volunteered to help with tonight's Pizza Party so had to run help set up enough tables and chairs for the 312 people who had bought tickets. We had choices of pepperoni, sausage, or cheese pizza for everyone. They could each have two slices to start with and then when everyone had one run through, we opened up the line for seconds, and thirds, and...

After the pizza event, the competition for th

e Cactus Queen began. There were six contestants for the title, each one a bit more outrageous than the next:

Some of the "ladies" were quite hilarious, they had long stockings, garters and lacey red lingerie! After each was introduced and had a few words to say, the winner was decided by audeience vote.

I don't know when I have laughed so hard. The fellow with the red gloves was really funny -- he's got quite a beard and he didn't seem very happy about having been coaxed into the contest.

This is my FAVORITE picture of all -- that's the Cactus Queen winner posing with Forry!

Oh My, So Many Toys...!

It rained hard again last night! You can see the mud puddles in front of Auntie Violet. Tom and Juni's rig is the brown and gold one behind her. We had just gotten to bed when the rain started --it is really loud on the roof of the coach.

Today the sun was out most of the day, but it was COLD! I don't think it got above 50 degrees all day. The Gypsy Rally is at the Pinal County Fairgrounds with typical older fair buildings, quonset huts with cement floors and no heat. I got pretty chilled this morning sitting in sessions, then ran into a woman in the restroom that said she was sure glad she had put on her long johns! So you know what I did when we got back to the coach for lunch...

We went to four seminars today. We both went to a session this morning on the RVing Genealogist. We keep thinking that one of these days we've got to spend some serious time at that. Then went to a seminar on the Pressure Pro tire monitoring system. Forry has been eyeing that system that has monitors that screw onto each tire valve stem. The system that came with the coach has the kind that mount on the inside rim of the tire so that you have to remove the tires to install them. We've been trying to find matching sensors for the toad, but haven't been able to find anyone who carries them. Supposedly Les Schwab handles them, but we've not been successful in the hunt.

Forry took off to a different seminar (Nick Russell's Meandering Down the Highway) after lunch while I went to a Women's Viewpoint Seminar and Roundtable. That one got to be rather funny as women started talking about their "hints" for living in a confined space with someone 7/24. Just before it started there were several large BOOMS that startled everyone -- a transformer had blown out. So of course there was no power for anyone's presentations. But, it was amazing how quickly crews were out and had it replaced.

We both went to the last seminar on geocaching. That's something we would like to try. We bought a handheld Garmin GPS several months ago, but haven't tried it yet. The couple that were presenting the seminar have offered one-on-one help to get started and I think we'll take them up on it.

There are quite a few vendors here -- several with products we have been needing. There's a new supplemental braking system for the toad that eliminates the heavy awkward "box" that we put in front of the driver's seat when we're towing. Then there are the people selling shades for the front windows and the tire monitoring people and the people selling signs and name tags, the book store, a lady selling bags, people selling little compressors, stuff to clean the rigs, etc.

Each evening after supper there is a gathering of everyone for door prize drawings -- some of which are pretty nice. We did win a year's subscription to the Gypsy Journal Newspaper -- which we already subscribe to... (I guess they'll extend our subsription for a year.)

Now what did we do today?

It's pretty bad when you sit down to write and have to really think about what it was you did today!

The Western Gypsy Rally didn't officially start until orientation today at 2:30, so we were pretty lazy this morning. We were in touch with Tom and Juni off and on as they didn't leave Mesa until this morning. They are also not early birds, so they didn't arrive here until 2 PM. We had thought they wouldn't be able to park anywhere near us, but just about one o'clock the fellow in the RV next to us took off to park somewhere else (there have been occasional openings as the gourd people leave). Forry moved the toad into the open spot and then talked to the parking crew who were very nice and said they would watch for Tom and put him there when he arrived (even though Forry told them Tom had a Monaco instead of a Newmar).

We hustled over to the main building with them and then discovered they didn't have enough chairs. Forry went back to the coach to get ours while Tom scrounged some hot dogs from a vendor as they hadn't had breakfast, let alone lunch.

We sat through the orientation and then a panel of "experts" responding to audience queries about various RV issues. They got into a long discussion about weighing rigs -- how the total weight wasn't really valid, that you had to weigh each wheel individually, then if you had a fifth wheel or a trailer, you had to worry about hitch weight as well. It got to be almost funny listening to them!

The four of us decided to go out for an early dinner as we needed to be back by 7 for the door prize drawings. But we went to a place called Mimi's and were so busy talking that the next thing we knew it was 7:30! We did have a very nice dinner -- and we were back in time for the 50-50 drawing which we didn't win.

It's been a cold, blustery day. The wind whips up the dust and it really isn't very nice outside at all. At least it didn't rain any more today. Tomorrow we'll have to get up a bit earlier as the first classes start at 9.

Lightning & Thunder & RAIN!

We had just gotten home from our walk last night when it started to rain. The TV weatherman had been predicting rain for the past few days, but we hadn't seen any. It made up for its procrastination in arriving last night. Then this morning as we were beginning to get ready to leave it really let loose. Lightening flashes and booms of thunder that sounded like they were right on top of us. Rain was running down the middle of the streets 2-3 inches deep. (Now we know why all the roads in the park are sloped to the center.)

We were a little nervous about leaving in the storm (checkout time is 11 AM) so called Security and asked if it would be all right to wait until the storm cells passed. They said no one was scheduled into our slot, so it would be fine to wait a few hours if necessary. But by 12:30 the rain had stopped, we were seeing some blue sky and the water in the streets was gone.

Since Camper World was closed last night, Forry decided to drive Auntie Violet over there while I followed in the Jeep. We'd hook up the toad (towed vehicle) in their parking lot. I took the picture of this really neat saquero that was alongside the road on the way over. While the RV sales part of Camper World was open, the store was not. BUT, they said the store on 17th was open. We hitched up the toad, then headed to that store. It WAS open, but they didn't have the next size up of tire covers! They offered to order a set for us, but at that point we decided to let it go....

We headed down the highway to Casa Grande to the Pinal County Fair Grounds where the Gypsy Journal Rally is being held. We went through Chandler and actually saw a bit of farm ground on the way here. (Though most of it has signs about the new subdivisions of new housing "coming soon.") We recognised cotton fields by the telltale white stuff left behind, but that's all we could identify.

We had a few sprinkles of rain as we were driving, but could see storm clouds all around us. When we got to the fairgrounds, you could tell that they had gotten a deluge as well. The parking crew had us in a holding area for a while until some of the rigs who were here for a "Gourd Show" left. But, the whole center of the parking area is a boggy mess. They are hoping for some warm wind during the night to dry it out for rigs (including our friends Tom and Junie) who are coming in for the rally opening tomorrow afternoon.

We only have 15 amp hookups (the usual is 30-50 amps) which are strung on a temporary pole in the middle of the parking area. Two rigs are supposed to hook up on each side of the line... They are also planning to string hoses for water tomorrow as well.

Forry has the generator running right now which should probably charge the house batteries enough to get us through the night.

Waiting in line...

We were up fairly early this morning as we wanted to get to the post office before it closed at noon (turns out it was actually open until 2...). I had a bit of shopping yet to do to get the grandkids' Valentine packages ready to go. We made a couple of stops, then Forry discovered he had left his wallet at home. So, back to the RV park. It actually was a good thing as it was a whole lot easier to wrap stuff on the table than in the car.

Back to the post office to pick up Flat Rate boxes, pack up the stuff and then wait in line. It took 35 minutes to get to the counter and the line was still all the way out the door when we left. The line on the left in the picture is the line for people to get passports -- they cut that one off at 12:30. The poor lady at the back of the line had to hold a card saying that no one else could get in line.

From the post office we went to Camper World to get wheel covers for Auntie Violet. We've been debating for a while about getting them and finally decided to go ahead and do it -- especially if we are going to be spending time in the southwest. We measured the tire width before we left and got the size that fit bus tires.

When we got back to to the RV Park we went to the laundry and washed the heavy stuff I don't like to do in the coach: the sheets, rugs and towels. Like all of the "upper-end" parks, this one will not allow you to hang clothes outside. But, outside of the laundry, they have a very nice walled-in (out-of-sight) courtyard with clotheslines! I wish I had known that sooner. I'd have gone over earlier in the day and hung things outside, just for the smell alone!

When I had finished, Forry had read the fine print on the box and looked at Auntie Violet's tires again. He realized that although the width was right, the number on the tires was larger. We headed back over to Camper World to exchange them for the next larger size, but they were already closed.

On the way back, we stopped at Waldo's BBQ. One of the other RVers had mentioned it -- and were we ever glad. Their special tonight was dinner for two for $29.95. It had a 1/2 rack of barbequed ribs for each of us plus four sides (sweet potato fries, country beans, coleslaw and fried corn on the cob), iced tea and cornbread. Then little four inch skillets of peach or apple cobbler. Forry managed to eat all of his, but I brought half of my ribs home for lunch tomorrow -- and I'm not sharing with him!

When we got back to the coach, we decided we had better walk some of that food off, so hiked to the end of the park and back (12 blocks).

Brrr...

You cannot imagine the smell of these orange (grapefruit?) blossoms.

There is a tree like this in front of every site. Some of them are really loaded with grapefruit. These pictures are from our walk this afternoon.

We're definitally getting a change in the weather. It's supposed to rain tomorrow, but the temperature is already starting to drop. It's already 62 degrees, which is about a ten degree change from last evening.

This evening we had a potluck across the street with the friends we came here to meet. Tom and Junie also invited the friends who had come down with them along with the people from the motorhome next door. Later Tom's son, Tommy, and his girlfriend Tiffany came and joined us for a little while. We had quite a feast. I fixed baked brie with apples and also made a fruit salad. I had strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, papaya, grapefruit, a pear and melon that I fixed with a honey and lime juice dressing. Junie had made green chile stew and hamburger enchiladas and Carol brought a tossed green salad and some great dip. A couple of nights ago we sat out and talked with Tom and Junie until almost eleven o'clock, but tonight it got so chilly we ended up inside by ten PM!

Forry went with Tom and John this afternoon when they went to register for the wood-turners conference that they will be attending the next couple of days. He came home quite impressed by some of the pieces on display -- and about all the neat tools the vendors had!

Fresh Fruit & Dinosauers

On Wednesday we took a hint from Nick Russell and went to see the Natural History Museum here in Mesa. It is loaded with dinosauers -- starting with metal sculptures outside and lots of bones on the inside. They also have a diorama-like display of what dinosauers may have looked like in their natural setting milleniums ago.

It would have been a great place to take the grandkids -- they would not only have liked the dinos, but the "poop" display would be a great hit. They have quite a "investigation" area set up that challenges kids to figure out "who left it?" Plus the display that shows the relative size of various deposits -- like the one from a whale on the upper right!

After three hours or so at the museum we stopped on the way home at the market across the street from the RV park.

Our neighbors at the park had told us about it -- it's quite a place! Iceburg lettuce was 3 heads for a dollar and blueberries were 49 cents a carton (versus the $4+ I had paid at the grocery). They had two varieties of avocados, half a dozen kinds of oranges and just about every other fruit and vegetable. They do a landslide business -- there were four check-out stands and they each had a line of people ten deep behind them.

Thursday I spent most of the day fighting with the new computer -- hours and hours on the phone with tech support. I ended up having to completely reformat and reinstall everything. It's still acting squirrely...

Mesa's Regal RV Resort

This morning we were up early to go to a "Washington" coffee. A lady in a golf cart stopped by yesterday and invited us to join the group of folks from Washington State who meet for coffee one morning a month. There were perhaps a dozen people there. (Sure couldn't tell they were from the land of Starbucks by the quality of the coffee though.) They were busily planning for a "Washington Dinner" later in the month. I inferred from their discussion that there must be about 50 Washingtonians living in the park, most of which are here for the entire winter. Marian, the lady with the golf cart, drives around the park every day looking for Washington license plates.

Auntie Violet is parked on the corner of 6th and St. Luke Street. The picture on the top is taken looking down St. Luke Street. You can see the grapefruit trees (with the white-washed trunks) in front of every site. There are quite a few sites scattered around for RVs, but the majority of the resort is full of park models. These are units limited to 400 square feet (so that they can still be licensed as RVs). Many of them have a second unit attached doubling their footage. You can see one which is directly behind Auntie Violet.

I spent a bit of this afternoon paying bills. We really don't have very many and it works really neat to pay them over the internet. But, I have discovered that the back-up that the tech got off of my crashed computer does not include my financial files -- they're all gibberish. Thank goodness I had printed a copy of last year's stuff as I was getting our income tax stuff ready last month!

Busy Day!

Started off this morning getting up at 6:30 for a conference call at 7 AM--except that I mis-calculated the time zone and the call wasn't until 8 AM! Did get me started early on the day though. After an hour and a half' of other discussions, the Search Committee decided that we were going to need to meet for a conference call every two weeks until we get a new Executive Director hired.

While I was on the conference call, I got an email from Jerry Klassen, Disaster Response Coordinator for Mennonite Disaster Service. wanting to know if we could be available for a phone call later in the afternoon. Turns out he would like us to plan on being in Dulzura, California in time for a big community meeting on February 20th. He's going to be there as well as all of the Local Arrangement Committee and project sponsors and thought it would be a good thing if we could be there to meet everyone. The Project Directors that we will be replacing will be leaving on February 27th, earlier than we had thought. We had planned on arriving about the 25th in order to have a week of transition time before we take over as Directors. So it actually looks like arriving earlier will be a good idea all around.

Next week we are going to attend the Western Gypsy Journal Gathering in Casa Grande, Arizona. The rally will be over on the 13th, we'll probably start heading for Dulzura then...

This afternoon we went over to the office to register. Security checked us in yesterday when we arrived, but the lady that was in the office was just leaving. She asked us to wait until Monday to check in and pay -- and to make it late in the day as she knew Monday was going to be a zoo. We used our Passport America Club membership to pay for seven days -- nice as it gave us half off the regular rate.

The pictures of the sunset are ones Forry took tonight as we were eating dinner. The one on the top is the view from out of Auntie Violet's front window. The one on the left is what you see out the door. I was intrigued by the palm trees outlined against the sky.

Super Bowl Blues

Well, except for the way it ended, it was a good game...

It was sort of fun being here in Arizona and watching all of the excitement. I think there was a tent with Cardinal regalia on every street corner. And of course, lots of stories on TV about counterfeit merchandise.

We drove over to Mesa Regal RV Resort this morning from Sun City. It is just one town and city after another. If it was not for the exit signs, there is no way you would know you were in a different city. A lot like going down the I5 corridor in Washington State.

I washed a couple of loads of clothes, Forry vacuumed and I mopped, I made crab cakes for dinner along with a big salad. Other than all that, it was pretty quiet day.