March 20 to April 7, 2016

We left Gilbert Ray County Park and drove a total of 27 minutes to our next spot on Saturday 19th. We had to leave GRCP because they have a 7 day stay limit. It is a park we will stay at again when in Tucson. Our next stay was at Justin Diamond J RV Park. Diamond J caters to snowbirds. This is a nice park but not what we prefer to stay at but it was close to Tucson and we had things we wanted to do in the Area.

On Sunday we went to Desert Museum. If you are in Tucson you should spend at least half a day to explore this outdoor museum. Being an “Easterner” there are a bunch of things to learn. Our first stop was watching the Raptor Free Flight. Here we saw three different birds that call this area their home and learned about them. See pictures below.

The museum has several different walking trails taking you through different habitats of AZ with its plant and animal life. See below for pictures.

We also went to a demonstration on reptiles – note the distance I sat from the reptiles.  One was on the Gila monster and the other was a rattlesnake.  Pictures did not turn out that well so only have one below.

 

Then while Vicki was at work during the week I took on some trails close to the park.

 

We also went out to eat with Cori and Greg at a small Mexican restaurant. Good food shared with good friends. We had a great time.  Unfortunately no pictures.

Then on March 26^th we packed up and moved 60 minutes north on I10 to Picacho Peak State Park. The park was busy this weekend due to Easter and folks were out camping for a long weekend. During the week it was very quiet. This is a nice park with nice hiking trails but you could hear I10 and trains most of the time. Only electric at the site with a water and dump station in the park so for a weeks’ time we can live off our tanks. We just needed to be disciplined on our water use. Sunday we took some hikes around the park and on Easter Monday we visited Casa Grande. See pictures below.

 

 

Again during the week Vicki worked and I did my camp chores and took some hikes.

On Tuesday we met up with two other full time couples at a Tucson Brewery. Again a great time. Typical good bar food with many great beers to choose from.

On Saturday we moved to City of Rocks State Campground north of Deming, NM. This was a 6 hour / 250 mile trip. I have read other blogs and understood NM State Parks are great. We have friends that have stayed at City of Rocks and they recommended it to us.   I agree City of Rocks is a great campground. No hook ups but water available and with our solar set up we run our generator for about an hour at night and all is good. There is a private camp ground less than 2 miles away so we can dump our waste on the way out of the area.   New Mexico has a great deal with their parks. For $225 per year one can stay at any of their primitive sites. Meaning no water or electric at site. If there is water or electric available it is $4 per night. $8 for both electric and water. We need to look into this for the future. But there was a problem………….

We had to onboard water at the water station and the pressure is not that great. Took about 30 minute to take on 50 gallons of water. Then we drove about a mile to our site. BUT there was a young couple starting to set up their tent on the site we reserved. I parked and spoke to them telling them we reserved this site. The problem was the ranger did not mark the site as reserved and they thought it was opened. We pulled up our reservation and I went over to show it to him but he was not interested. Hmmmm…. Well I called the City of Rocks phone number but had to leave a message.   I kept calling and after 45 minutes, with the couple continuing to setup, I decided to walk down to the office and see if I could find someone. I found a camp host. We drove back and showed him our reservation and he the approached the couple but they wanted a ranger. After waiting another 30+ minutes the ranger finally showed up. I am sure he was busy but by this time it was getting old. He admitted he marked the wrong camp site and the coupled had to move. Well there went 2+ hours of our lives we can’t afford. Well we setup and got a little to eat and went to bed. But it was worth it, see the pictures below.

On Sunday we went to Deming and did two wine tastings. Very nice wineries and one is part of Harvest Host so in the future we might stay a night in our travels. For those that are wondering what Harvest Host is it is an association of winery, farms etc. that have on site camping for a night that is free and all they ask is you patronize their business. We also did our food shopping at Wal-Mart.

Monday Vicki started back to work and I did some camp chores one of which was to do a truck cleaning. After 3 months in the desert and our two furry freeloaders it was dirty inside and out. Well I discovered we had a stone chip on our windshield. So Tuesday I went to Silver City to get the windshield repaired.

On the way back I took a different route back to the City of Rocks. I went through a small Bataan Death March Memorial. New Mexico had an Army unit that was captured in the Philippines and where on the Death March.

I also drove by an open pit copper mine. Man is it big. Here are a few pictures.

Wednesday night we went to Deming for supper.  On the way out onto the main road I took a picture of all the different brands in the area.

We went to Adobe Deli which is about 5 miles east of Deming.  I was not sure if we should go in by the looks of the place.  It looked pretty rough.  But this was an example of don’t judge the book by its cover.  Very unusual place but great service and food.  Go hungry and you will still have food to take home.  I was again not doing my job of taking pictures.  Had all sorts of animal mounts from all over the world along with many antique tools on the walls.  Only took one picture but it will give you a sense of this place.

Well that brings us up to date. Saturday we plan to drive back to AZ and stay in the Cottonwood area. On our way we hope to stay Saturday at a winery in Willcox, AZ that is part of Harvest Host.

 

Given this weekend’s big sports event I thought this might be interesting:

In 1923, Who Was?

1. President of the largest steel company? 2. President of the largest gas company? 3. President of the New York stock Exchange? 4. Greatest wheat speculator? 5. President of the Bank of International Settlement? 6. Great Bear of Wall Street?

These men were considered some of the world’s most successful of their days.. Now, 80+ years later do you know what ultimately became of them?

The Answers:

1. The president of the largest steel company. Charles Schwab,

died a pauper.

2. The president of the largest gas company, Edward Hopson,

went insane.

3. The president of the NYSE, Richard Whitney,

was released from prison to die at home.

4. The greatest wheat speculator, Arthur Cooger,

died abroad, penniless.

5. The president of the Bank of International Settlement,

shot himself.

6 The Great Bear of Wall Street, Cosabee Livermore,

also committed suicide

 

However, in that same year, 1923, the PGA Champion and the winner of the most important golf tournament, the US Open, was

Gene Sarazen.

What became of him?

He played golf until he was 92, died in 1999 at the age of 95. He was financially secure at the time of his death.

 

The Moral:

Screw work. Play golf.

I have to Concur!