Geocaching In Unique Places

I know this is starting to get boring....but....we are still waiting for parts for our coach repairs.   Today marks our 14th day here and my patience is wearing thin.   We have been taking turns visiting our service advisor to get an update and today was my turn.   Ron kept a close watch from the car so he could come to her rescue in the event I would hurdle her desk and have my hands around her throat.   Fortunately it did not come to that but I was close when I was told that the board for our in-line surge protector was mailed but no one could tell us when, how or to whom????   Are American businesses customer service getting worse??? How is that possible?     Because the 3 of us were breathing down the parts customer service (there's that word again) rep. she got a little aggressive with the board manufacturer, who later called her back and told them they didn't like the tactics she used to get another board mailed that they now refused to provide the part.     So who losses in this scenario...US!    Well, that got straightened out and another part was mailed overnight today (supposedly) for installation on Monday.    We are keeping our fingers crossed because we need to leave Tuesday for Casa Grande.   That's cutting it close.

To occupy our time we have been geocaching the last couple of days.    Our ventures have taken us to places we would never have found otherwise.   We visited a Veterans Memorial dedicated to all Tucsonan's who have served but in particular to 12 men, from the same infantry battalion who lost their lives in the Korean War.

Our geocaching GPS took us to a new subdivision that backs up to the desert with a great view of the Catalina Mountains.  While we where there we looked at a couple of display homes to see what you can get for your money in this part of the country.   We weren't too impressed with the floor plans but liked the area.







Another cache took us to a sculpture on a very busy corner that we have passed a hundred times but never bothered to find out the history.  

It is an untitled angel  created by eight high school students under the direction of a local artist.   The students had to apply to participate and were paid for their work.  It is a torso of an angel rising from concrete slabs.  The angel holds a globe above it's head.    It was completed the summer after 911 and that is why is says "Together We Rise", it's rising above the rubble.

This was a multi cache located in this 4 acre natural & cultural resource park created  from a right-of-way when  the in I-10 and I-19 interchange was reconstructed and relocated.    The site includes an interpretation of a Hohokam village and history walk path that features resources as far back as 1600 BC, information about a historic children's home as well as  interpretive features identifying  more modern Native cultures such as the Pascua Yaqui community dating back to 1936.  

Re-created huge pottery from the Hohokam culture.

Some of the caches are large and easy to find.  

And some are micro magnetic containers.

We also celebrated St. Patty's day, even though neither of us are Irish, but we love corned beef, cabbage and of course green beer.

It is a beautiful sight when the temperature is in the low 80's and you can view snow capped mountains!!

Hope all is well!!

Did they say snow???

The temperature has been in the low 80's, clear, sunny with a nice breeze.   Well, as they say all good things must come to an end.   The prediction for Sunday is 50+ mph winds.   In a sticks & bricks structure that's not too exciting, but in an RV it can be!   And they are  also predicting snow the first part of the week.   Yes, I said snow.   We shall see.  

We thought we would get a head start on the snow, so we took a drive up Mount Lemmon,  part of the  Santa Catalina Mountain Range.  A visit to Mount Lemmon is a scenic hour-long drive from Tucson through a lush, forested area with an elevation of over  9000 ft.   It is known for skiing & hiking, with a few restaurant and shops.    We really enjoyed the drive and stopped to have lunch at  the Iron Door Restaurant.

As you begin your drive up the mountain you
see a  vast area of all saguaro cactus.

Once you reach 4,500 elevation the saguaros disappear
and there are acres of pine and conifers.

We see great beauty in piles of rocks!

Apparently he does too.   Braver than I am!   There are several
trails, but I didn't even tackle one, as I usually do.

And we found snow!

All in all it was a nice way to spend a day.

Hope all is well!

Cabin fever cured!

Well we are still at Lazydays....still waiting for parts.   We've been staying close to the coach in case they need us to move it or have any questions or concerns.   But we are getting cabin fever.   The campground is hosting a rally for Fleetwood owners and some of the vendors who attended the rally we did in Yuma are here.  I did take a couple of hours away from the coach to help a vendor demonstrate her  induction cooktop that she sells.   She demonstrates by making a beef stir fry and chocolate sauce over angel food cake.   I am her little helper who plates the food and hands it out to the audience.    She asked in Yuma if I would help when she found out we would be in Tucson this week.  I'm really good at eating food, so I thought I could handle handing out bowls, forks and napkins.

We had to get away for a little while so we took a trip to Bisbee, AZ.  Bisbee was founded by Lt. Anthony Rucker in 1877.  Rucker while  looking for Apaches in the Mule Mountains and Jack Dunn, a tracker with the group noticed the mineralization of the area.   Thus the start of this mining town, incorporated in 1902 heading towards a whopping population of 22,800 and becoming the county seat in 1929.    Mining ceased in the mid 1970's  and today the population is 5,300 but is a bustling tourist destination.   It is located in southeast Arizona, 8 miles from the border and 90 miles from Tucson.  It is known for it's unique architecture, nationally acclaimed art scene, an underground mine tour and Smithsonian affiliated museum.

The scenery driving to Bisbee is enjoyable in itself. 

The road to Bisbee.

T

Main Street, at the foot of the Mule Mountains.

Houses built on the side of the mountain.

Structure on left is one of the original mining buildings.

This is a private residence.   A very artsy community. 

A barber shop on the outskirts of town.   I've never seen
a shop this small....had to stop and take a picture.  Notice
the crates holding up the air conditioner!

This is an actual church with services on Sunday morning
and Wednesday evenings.   There motto is "An old West setting
with an exciting new vision".   Whatever that means!  The
Pastor is David Bales and the sign says "Come as you are...
Doubters welcome!   Imagine it would be interesting to attend
a service.

Goofy Ron at the Bisbee Grille where we stopped for lunch.
I'm always telling him he closes his eyes when his picture is
taken....so this is what I got.   Lunch was good and since they didn't
have his Budweiser, he tried one of their local brews....Daves Electric Beer.


We had a good time touring Bisbee and curing our cabin fever.

Hope all is well!!

P.S.  All comments are welcomed....we enjoy reading them.

Repairs..Rally...& Ruins

We are back at Lazydays  (Tucson)  after spending 2 weeks in Yuma. Our main purpose in Yuma was to attend our first Gypsy Journal Rally, but since we had never visited we thought we would go in a week early and do some sightseeing. We stayed at the Cocopah RV Resort on the outskirts of town. A nice park, catering to the 6 month snowbird residents. It has everything you could want including an 18 hole golf course.

We found the visitors center and asked my 3 main questions: After leaving Yuma and telling people we were just there and they ask did you visit____________?; did you eat at _______________? did you shop at_________?

Her responses were: Mexico & the Yuma Territorial Prison National Park;   Lutes Casino & order their special ; Yuma Palms Mall.

Well, since I can't get Ron within miles of the border of Mexico, we took an afternoon and visited the territorial prison. We had visited Alcatraz and although the Yuma prison is smaller it still holds quite a bit of history for this area. It sits on a bluff overlooking the Colorado River and was home to 3,069 prisoners from 1876 to 1909. It is now a historic state park housing a nice museum and offering guided tours through the ruins.

Cell area.

Prisoner #1396 profile.

The museum had several pictures and profiles of some of
the more infamous prisoners.

The stone outlines are ruins of some of the original
prison buildings.

The "Dark Cell" (solitary confinement).   They slept on the floor,
on this iron grid,  sometimes 6 to this tiny area.  
Would make me a law abiding citizen!!

We never did get to Lutes Casino in downtown old Yuma, originally built as a general store with a hotel located on the second floor and gambling in the basement. Their special is a hamburger with a hot dog on top??? Guess it's perfect for the person who can't decide if they want a hamburger or hot dog.

We put it on our list for the next time we visit Yuma. There's more to see in that area but we were just getting over our "Arizona clung" and needed to rest up for the rally. By the time the rally started I was about 95% well and Ron 80%.

The rally organizers (Nick & Terry Russell) have been full timing for over 13 years and we first met them when they were instructors at the Life on Wheels Conference we attended in 2008. They put on a great rally with over 140 rigs in attendance. The rally consists of seminars with topics from water filters and batteries, to RV travelogues about Newfoundland & Alaska, to how to Geocache, buy insurance, clean with microfiber and much more. They also threw in fun entertainment like door prizes, a pizza party and a concert by David Bradley...nationally acclaimed yodeler who has performed with the Sons of the Pioneers and at the Country Tonite Theatre in Branson.

 One evening they presented their annual Cactus Queen Beauty Contest.

Yes..those are men, believe it or not. And very good sports. And NO I couldn't get Ron to volunteer.
What a party poop.



 But the best part of the rally was seeing RV friends Ray & Cathy and Bob and Sandra. We were able to spend several evenings between our coaches sharing appetizers, going out to dinner and getting updated since our last visits. We are now hooked and are already trying to plan our schedule to attend the next rally in September.

We are not sure how long we will be here.  The parts for the jack & slide have come in and been installed.  But when we arrived we couldn't get any electric to the coach, only to find out our transfer switch has a fried relay and a new box has to be located and  hopefully sent over night.   We don't have to be anywhere until the 27th for a rally in Casa Grande, AZ.    We are also waiting for our front panel light switches, but if they don't come in soon, we will probably cancel the order...we can do without for now.

Hope all is well!