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Monday, April 10, 2017

The Green Green Grass Of Home Spring 2017

All packed up and ready to go and the goodbyes have been done as well.
A few tears were shed by me as we say goodbye to our great friends that were still in the park.
Mark and Martha live at the park full time, so they will be there during the heat of the summer.

Wayne, Karen, Joann and Ernie left this morning....so you see the park is getting pretty empty!




Jerry and Konni will leave sometime in June I believe.
Bonnie and Randy will leave in May.




Big Bertha and the Taj-Mah-Hauler are ready to make the trip to Oklahoma.
I am driving the newly acquired Jeep that I fondly named Lil Bit.
I am going to change the name to "Bandit" as Jerry made a comment that it looks just like their dog Bandit.

I have to agree with him as Bandit the dog is black and white and so is the Jeep.
So from this day forward the Jeep previously known as Lil Bit will be known as Bandit.
So it is written, and so it shall be.











My view was the same for the next few days.
Always looking at Taj's back end.




I enjoyed seeing the fields of wild flowers around Deming New Mexico.
Other than that, it was a quiet ride with lots of miles to travel.













We stayed our first night on the road in Las Cruces N.M. at the Hacienda RV Resort.
Our friends Jeff and Stella had recommended the place so we decided to try it.

We got there around 4pm, and I have to say it was great timing, as we noticed after we had parked that there were quite a few people pulling in for the night.
The Resort was very nice and well maintained.
Most all of the spots were pull through and that made it nice for us to get our rig in and out easily.
There was a very nice dog run for the furry friends in our lives.
Bronco has no idea she is a dog, so she really could care less if there is an area for her to run or not!
We saw a few people out walking in the evening and other than that the place was very quiet.





My view the next day was the same as the yesterday...Taj's behind  :)
Our destination will be Tucumcari N.M. today.

Yesterday and today makes us one hour closer to Oklahoma since we entered another time zone....specifically Central Standard Time.
This crazy time change is interesting to keep up with.
You see, Arizona doesn't do the daylight saving time thing.....so in the Fall we are 2 hours different than Central Daylight time, and then in the Spring we are 1 hour different.
The one hour isn't bad to deal with, but the 2 really messes with me...LOL










We make a pit stop around 11:30am, and I had to take a close up of the beautiful yellow flowers that I had been seeing.
I don't know why we didn't get something to eat during this stop, but we didn't....we just got back in the vehicles and drove.
Thank goodness for mixed nuts and my green tea!!!!!











We roll into Tucumcari N.M. around 4pm.
Trying something different this time we go to an old RV park known as Cactus RV Park.
It gets mixed reviews on a lot of sites, but we weren't impressed with the KOA that we stayed at the last time we were out this way.






The Cactus RV Park has seen better days, but hey, its is on Rt. 66.
The lady was very nice that checked us in, and she even escorted us to our site.
The site was very very long.....long enough for Big Bertha, Taj, and Bandit to fit in and even room to spare...LOL
The grounds were quite clean and nothing fancy by any means.
It was a place to stop and spend the night...it works for us!

















I noticed that someone had posted a picture of the Cactus RV Park on a Facebook group that I belong to.
Realizing we have people in the park that are in this group was pretty cool.
I tried to comment to the lady and she said her phone was going dead and she would get with me a little later.
I was excited to meet up with her.










But first FOOD!
We know this area fairly well as we have ridden here on the bike several times on our way to Santa Fe...and Del's Restaurant was just down the street, so dinner was not hard to figure out.

I was starving and the chicken fried steak sounded so good.
I hadn't had one in quite some time.
The salad bar was wonderful and the food was good as well.
Enjoyed the meal very much:)







As we walked back towards the trailer we strolled by the trailer of the lady I was trying to meet up with.
They weren't there so we just went on back to our trailer.




Later in the evening I hear someone outside the trailer saying "hello"...it was the person that I was wanting to meet.
Beverly Kees and her husband were making their way back North.
Enjoyed talking with them and knowing we actually met someone from the site we follow.
Little things like this just make a trip even more special.












We are packed up and out of the park before 9am.
Our last leg of the trip was fairly quiet.
We did know we were back in Texas and Oklahoma because the wind really ramped up and made me grip the steering wheel a little tighter.

I picked up a little more speed and passed the Taj-mah-hauler around Clinton, Oklahoma.
I told Chuck I would see him at the house.
My plans are to have to gates opened so he can pull the trailer on into the yard.
The plan worked and we officially were "home"....safe and sound.  :)





Now comes the fun stuff...Cleaning out the trailer and putting all the stuff away.
This was done in a fairly timely manner, and we had the trailer back into the barn within a day.

Our trip was complete and I have heard from several of our other friends from Arizona that they are either still at the park or have made it to their destination.













Bonnie and Randy were on their way to their summer destination and we get a message that they are not having a good trip so far.
Seems they had to be towed into Benson Arizona with a cracked radiator.
Geraldine the giraffe documented the even for them.
Sorry to hear of their misfortune.
Hopefully they have been able to get the repairs done to their truck and are on their way.


Martha has informed us that the temperature has gotten to 106 already but as she puts it "it isn't that bad".
Sounds pretty hot to me, but you know the saying...."It's a dry heat."  :)

The Spring weather has been fairly calm for the middle section of Oklahoma.
We have had a few storm warnings, but all in all it has been calm.

Our Arizona Snow birding is over for this season.
Now lets get on with Summer.








Monday, April 3, 2017

Now Its Time To Say Goodbye To Arizona April 2017

It is about time for us to make our way back to Oklahoma.
Yes, we have a lot to do to get everything ready for our departure of our spot in the Sonoran Desert.
All those pretty little things that are on our lot now need to be put away.
The lovely patio furniture, the hummingbird feeders (4) the wonderful pieces of Talavera pottery we have purchased.
My beautiful little flowers that have been so much fun to grow now need to be dug up and disposed of.
Sad isn't it!
But we knew this day would come, and we are ready to make it happen.

The storage building has been cleaned out and the stuff that is going back with us is now getting packed into the back of the Taj-Mah-Hauler.

We came in October with a motorcycle and a golf cart.
Chuck decided to sell the golf cart so we wouldn't have to haul it back.
Our good friends Danny and Linda bought it.
We now have more room to take the extra 7, oops, make it 6 tires back with us. (I say 6 because Ernie needed a spare tire, so we gave him our old spare)
You see, Chuck wasn't happy with the tires we purchased in haste last season due to our China Bomb tires....so he got new hydraulic brakes and new tires for Taj...
We will be able to stop on a dime, and our tires are now able to handle about any weight that we throw back there comfortably.

The process of getting everything put away and packed away was not that hard.
We just want to make sure that the tires ride home and don't go bouncing all over the toy box area.

Along with the packing, we had several "goodbye" evenings.
Our friends Don and Donna were one of the first to leave.
Donna has a lot of traveling to do in the next few months before she makes it back to Colorado.
When she does make it there, she and Don will be getting ready to go on a Alaskan Cruise.


Before Donna left, I asked her to pick a little critter from a cardboard box that I had.
You see, I ordered some little critters on Amazon, and my intent is to have each of our friends take one with them this Summer and keep us informed of their travels.
All the girls were willing to go along with my crazy scheme.


Lori and John had left earlier in the month and I had her draw out of the box....she got a little bear. We have yet to hear what she and John named her little guy or gal..

Donna ended up with a zebra.
She named her Luci.

Bev our next door neighbor was next and she got a penguin she named Petey.

The next lucky person to draw from the box was JoAnn.
She got Rooster Cogburn.

Karen got a monkey and they named him Buddy.

Martha got a fawn, and they named her Fern.

I finally had Chuck draw from the box for us, and we got Billy the Bison.

Konnie and Jerry got a blue pig they named Pigella.




Bonnie and Randy got Geraldine the giraffe and I will tell you she has be
en a little hard to house break.LOL....











As soon as we get back in the fall, Glenda and Steve will have to draw from my little box of animals and get their little furry friend.

You can see this group is easily amused by my crazy antics.
It really has been fun to see what they are doing as they make their way back to their summer homes.
Fern is residing in Florence as Martha and Mark full time at Florence Gardens.



Our great friends Linda and Danny will not be residing at the park next year but we decided they were our honorary couple that had to be part of this group.
Linda got the Cobra and she named him Striker.







One of our final get togethers we decided to go over to Don and Donna's and then Ken and Bev's and look like we were having a party on their lots.
You see, if you aren't there, we will make you feel like you are.
We miss them already!





















There were lots of laughs from everyone as we posted pictures on our Facebook page for the missing couple to see.
















We even got in a game of Yahtzee before we left.
Randy had make some really nice large wooden dice for us to throw, and it was an absolute blast....even though I had no idea what I was doing.












It looks like everyone has made it to their destination without too much troubles....well, except for Ken & Bev.
Seems the underbelly of their trailer has ripped off due to wind catching it in the right place.
They were able to use zip ties to secure it well enough to get them safely to their destination.
Looks like they will be going to Camping World to get a repair done.








We met our friends Lesa and Larry one last time before we left.
We ate Mexican food and drank margaritas at Macayo's.
Their glasses are so cute, and if you bring them back for a refill they are less expensive.
Its a win win situation I think!!!!!







Along with all the fun around the park, we make a final trip to Tucson to see our wonderful friends Cindy and Terry.

Our trip to Tucson was detoured to a Discount Tire, as we had a slow leak in that darn right tire on the Jeep.
Yes, the same tire that we replaced about 3-4 weeks ago.
As soon as the tech came out, he said, "well, here's the problem"....and showed us a nail that was in the tire.
Geeze, give us a break.....this is just crazy.
Within an hour, they had us on our way.

Due to the time crunch we weren't able to get all the fun things we wanted to get done this season with Cindy and Terry, but we so look forward to more adventures with them in the Fall.
I know that one of the trips is going to be to a cavern!!!!!










I think I might even have them talked into coming and staying at the Rancho Sonora Motel that is next door to us, and then we can make our way to the Monastery and Cindy and I have to explore the Mesa Market Place....now the boys....well, they can figure out something to do I am sure!






I know this summer will fly by and we will all start our way back to Arizona for the winter before we know it.
Can't wait to see what adventures await us.








Our beautiful lot looks sooo empty.


Safe travels and good health to all our friends, and we will see you soon.
Love to all.