Visit to Hovenweep

This morning we decided to visit Hovenweep National Monument. It didn't look very far away from Cortez, Co. Needless to say 40 miles later we arrived at the park entrance. It was a nice drive in the back country. We didn't realize it would require a hike to see most of the ruins, so we didn't come prepared with hiking shoes, hats, sunscreen and water. Therefore, we just walked to the first lookout . The view was worth the journey. We could see some of the ruins.

You can go to http://www.jqjacobs.net/southwest/hovenweep.html to check out the ruins there. I didn't take any picures because I forgot my camera AGAIN! We got back to Cortez about 1:00 and had lunch. Since I was so tired after watching hurricane IKE envade Galveston most of the night, I tried to take a nap while Willard watched a football game on TV. I ended up reading. The weather is beautiful here this time of year. We turned off the air conditioner and opened the windows to let the cool gentle breeze flow through our motorhome. Life is good.

Stopped Off in Moab, UT

We stopped for a few days in Moab, UT. To get here we traveled through wind and rain, a real steering wheel gripper for a big rig driver. We arrived about 4:00 all safe and sound and glad to be off the road. As usual, in Utah the scenery out our front window is breathtaking. The weather is windy, sunny, and about 80 degrees.





It's interesting to note that this view of the La Sal Mountions to the east of Moab was in my car window each morning as I drove to work to Nucla, CO. When we lived in Redvale, CO about 30 years ago, we had a view of these beautiful mountains as the sunset embraced them each evening.

It's Good to Be On The Road Again

We left Blue Bucket August 23 headed northwest to Cheny, WA. That night we spent the night at Pendelton, OR, then on to Ponderosa Falls RV Park for a few days. Our destination for that week was to my brother's home in Missoula, MT. We parked in his driveway for a little over a week. It was a good visit: food, hot tub, food, shopping, yard sales, food, visiting, and just relaxing. The weather was cool nights and warm days. It began raining a few days before we left on Sept. 7. Last night we stayed over in Ft. Hall, ID. Now we are at Freightliner in Salt Lake City having our motorhome serviced (oil change, lubricate, change filters)before we head for Durango to a Roadrunner campout all next week. We entertain the group with our music on Sunday. We will meet Bill and Karen in the morning for breakfast before pulling out. It will be good to see them again.

Blue Bucket 2008

We arrived in Blue Bucket July 20. It is a LDMA gold prospecting camp in eastern Oregon. This camp happens to be on the Oregon Trail. It's hard to imagine that over 300,000 people stopped off here on their way to Williamette Valley to claim their homestead. I walk their trail through camp each evening. I am in awe of those pioneers who walked on the average of 15 miles a day. My walk is about one mile. It takes me about 25 minutes and I'm exausted.

As usual, we have met several special people here at Blue Buckt. I love collecting friends in our travels. We enjoy coming here each summer. Several of our Stanton friends are here this year too.

Willard relaxes in our "front yard."

Willard prospects for gold about two hours each morning. He finds a little gold each day. It does add up. He uses his dry-washer to seperate the gold from the dirt, afterwhich he pans the concentrates.

Our Cruise down the Inside Passage

We flew to Anchorage and then cruised down the Inside Passage. Brrrr....but oh what an experience. When we arrived in Anchorage, Beth's cousin met us at the airport. We arrived just in time to see some fireworks at 4th of July celebration. They graciously open their home to us for the night and took us to Whittier the next day, where we boarded the ship. We spent the rest of the day getting acquainted with the Sapphire Princess. It was overwhelming. Our "real" adventure began the following morning. During the next seven days, we saw icebergs, glaciers, Eagles and a black bear catching a salmon in a creek. We visited College Fjord, Glacier Bay, Skagway, Juneau, Ketchican, and Vancouver, Canada. At Juneau Willard and Joey went fishing while Beth and I just lounged around most of the day. When the guys returned we went shopping. For seven days we ate, shopped, attended lectures, ate, shopped, watched a movie, ate, shopped, and saw several variety shows and, of course, visited the land locked communities. Joey and Beth enjoyed the night life, while Willard and I retired to our room early, usually exhausted from the day's activities. However we did dance a few times and Willard sang at a Karoke Club one night. On July 11 (our 50th Wedding Anniversary) we visited with a group of guests that had been married 50 years and more. We were the younger of the group. Imagine that! It was interesting hearing their stories. We had a great time, but were glad to be back home. I just wonder what's awaiting us down the road.........
To view our pictures scroll down and click on Inside Passage Cruise Photos

Ogden, UT

We have been parked at our son's home in Ogden for a little over a week. It's been a good visit. We have shopped, fished, shared our meals, and just enjoyed being with their family. Today I had my carpet cleaned. I try to have it done professionally once a year. On Friday we will fly to Anchorage then cruise back for 7 days to Vancouver. I'm looking forward to it. When we get back, we will have our yearly physicals then head for Oregon for the rest of the summer.

YouTube - Fifty Years and Counting

YouTube - Fifty Years and Counting

This is a vignette to help celebrate our 50th Wedding Anniversary. Hope you enjoy it.

We are staying at Western Horizon RV Park in Hurricane, UT. I just took this picture standing in our motorhome. It's breathtaking scenery around here. We lived in Cedar City, just about 45 minutes north of here for over 20 years. I have grown to love this area. My favorite thing to do in this park is to sit in the hot tub and take in the surroundings: mountains, quail, rabbits, birds and warm spa bubbles. Sometimes someone will join me and we will have a great conversation. I love this lifestyle.

We attended Trevor's baseball game the other night in Cedar City and they won. Trevor had two hits and both times they had their third out while he was on third. He was hoping to slide into home at least once while we were there, but that didn't happen. Afterwards we had a hamburger and shake with he and Dan. The rest of the kids went to Denver to visit their other grandparents. We had dinner with them all and celebrated McKinna's B-Day at Applebees Sunday night. Trevor spent two nights with us. We really enjoyed his stay. He is learning to play the guitar, so we played music much of the time. We went food sampling at Costcos on Monday and feasted on a big polish hot dog. We came back to the park and went for a swim and just hung around the pool for awhile. We wrote a letter to Jason before we had to take him back to Cedar City for baseball practice. I can't believe he's already 15 years old. He's a good kid.

We plan on being here another week then hitch-up and head for Ogden to see Joey, Beth and Melissa. On July 4th we are scheduled to fly to Anchorage and take the Inside Passage Cruise back to Vancouver, BC. We will catch a flight to Salt Lake. We didn't plan this trip until after we canceled the family reunion in Colorado, PROMISE!!!!

On The Road Again

We've been parked on our Lot #360 at North Ranch (Congress, AZ) for about a month. During that time, we met our wonderful neighbors, attended several social events at the park, built a retaining wall, started a desert garden, put in insulation and air conditioned our Studio, and put windows in The Workshop.

We had a photographer come out and take some 50th anniversary pictures in the Cactus Garden. Willard worked three jigsaw puzzles and I went line dancing and for long walks around the park. We played music with a group in Rick's garage and several afternoons a week Charlie came over and we jammed.

We've become close friends with Graceann and Charlie who has a lot across the street. They left the other day for Oregon to become camp hosts for the summer. I had several long visits with Julie and Bob, who are wonderful people. We found out we have been living near each other for years and didn't know it. They lived near Houston, in Colorado, just down the road from Loa, UT in Capitol Reef, not far from Cedar City at Bryce Canyon, and now in Congress. I find that very interesting. Betty lives across the street and is in her 90s. I just hope I'm as active at her age. She's a delight to talk to. Arlo and Polly just retired and moved onto their lot across the street. It will be great getting to know them this winter. We didn't see much of Mike while we were there this time. Paula was in Calif. helping her daughter, I believe. We haven't gotten to know John and Willa Mae very well, yet. They said they would keep an eye on our place for us.

We had dinner with Jeanie and Jon one evening. Sue and Larry, Don and Katy, Keith and Irene, and Mark were there. We had a wonderful time. I hope we don't lose contact with them after moving over to North Ranch. Don had by-pass surgery, but Katy is nursing him back to health. When he gets an okay from the doctor they will head for California. Jeanie and Jon are spending part of the summer in Nome, Alaska, and Mark has already gone back to Mich.

I've been writing some, but haven't been contributing to my critique groups lately. I just hope they don't kick me out of the group. I learn so much from them. I got another rejection letter the other day. My child. lit. teacher says she got about 70 rejection letters before anyone bought her work. Now she's written several children's books and had them all published. I guess I'm just going to have to toughen up, if I hope to have any of my children's stories rescued from the slush pile. The critique groups keep me inspired. I'm hoping the writing group is active at North Ranch this winter.

Jane invited me to a drawing class in Wickenburg. I'll probably become a member when we return in November. I really enjoyed it. I got to be a model for about 20 minutes while the group sketched me. Then we all got to sketch two other people. I think I'll learn a lot working with such talent. Most of them oil paint too. I'm looking forward to the classes they offer.

I've been doing some genealogy on the Raines line. I'm corresponding with several others that are working on the same line. I think we've discovered a little hanky-panky going on several generations back. One of the researchers had his DNA analyzed and it seems our gggrandfather was the next door neighbor. Now, we need to see if we can discover the rest of the story. It may be innocent enough, but it does flood my mind with "what-ifs."

I couldn't believe how cool it was in Arizona during May this year. We turned on our air-conditioner only twice and had the little heater on the next morning (54 degrees). We will definitely be spending more time at North Ranch in the Spring. It's beautiful with all the cacti blooming along with the wonderful weather.

We decided to hitch-up and head North and discovered one of our new tires losing air pressure, so we packed up and took our rig into Big O Tires in Wickenburg to do some troubleshooting. They are the ones who put the 6 new tires on our rig in March. After they found the problem, we went back to North Ranch to get our Tacoma. There we caught up with Don and Penny for a short visit. They will be spending the summer at an archaeological dig near Sedona, AZ. It was so good to see them again.

Now, I'm sitting at the Oasis RV Park in Mesquite, NV. We left North Ranch #360 yesterday about noon. Tomorrow we will be in Hurricane, UT parked for awhile before moving on up to Ogden. We are planning on stopping off in Mt. Pleasant to visit with Dixie and Ken first. We need to be in Ogden by the first of July for we are scheduled to fly up to Anchorage, AK and cruise down the Inside Passage to Vancouver, BC the first part of July. I would have never believed we would be spending our 50th Wedding Anniversary on an Alaskan Cruise ship. Because of such high fuel prices we cancelled our reunion and wedding celebration in Colorado. It would cost just too much for the kids and grandkids to miss work and travel that far. I know they would beg, borrow, or go into debt to get there, and I just couldn't live with that. So we decided to just go to them and celebrate all summer long. We'll celebrate in June with Dan and family, Joey and family in July and Robbie and family in October. We will try to have our reunion during a better economic climate.

Our health is good, we look forward to tomorrow, and we are enjoying our lifestyle. What else could we ask for? All is well.

Can it Really be May Already?

What a whirlwind of a life. I can hardly get my breath. I'm going to reach deep down into my memory in order to bring this blog up to date.

After leaving Johnson City, TX we moved over to Montgomery, TX near Lake Conroe to attend an Alfa Roadrunner's Pre-Rally. It was a full week of meeting new friends with the same kind of motorhome and that live in them fulltime as we do. There were about 40 rigs. We had a wonderful time. We ate many of our meals together, had a social hour each afternoon, visited, and shared ideas. One day we went over to our nephew, Randy, and Lisa's house in the Woodlands. We got there early in the morning and had a chance to visit briefly with the girls and Lisa before they were off to school and to work. Willard and Randy headed for the golf course. I dog-sat until Willard's brother, Harrel, and Barbara came over. We had a nice visit until the golfers returned with a wonderful BBQ lunch, We visited some and said good-bye. We had to get back to the RV park for dinner. One day we rode to Clear Lake on a tour bus. Willard toured the Johnson Space Center, while I visited with my sister.

Then the Alfa National Rally began. About 140 more Alfas move into the RV park. There were workshops to learn about our motorhomes, more delicious food, great entertainment, social hour each afternoon, a pet show, and more visiting with our new RV friends. Willard golfed in a Scramble and his team won first place. They were awarded trophies at the closing ceremony. We will definately attend the next rally. On Wednesday we said our good-byes and headed for Junction, TX,which is on the other side of Austin, just before a storm moved into the Montgomery area.

We decided to go to Bracketville, TX where we discovered and stayed at Fort Clark. The fort was established in 1852 to protect frontier settlers from Indians and bandits. Virtually all U.S. Cavalry units and many Infantry lived, trained, or visited at Fort Clark while patrolling West Texas and the Mexico border. During WWII German prisoners were housed there too. It is now owned by a homeowners association. They are restoring many of the common buildings and homes. There is a golf course, a motel and an RV park. It was such an intersting place that we just happened on. to

We visited Alamo Village just out side of Bracketville. It seems that John Wayne built the movie sets for his movie The Alamo. Over the years they have filmed over 50 movies and documentaries there. We went into the Cantina for lunch and Willard was invited to play and sing several of his songs. He was accompanied by a great piano player who is on their staff. Great food and wonderful entertainment.

The next day we went back to Van Horn, TX where we spent the night before moving on to The Dream Catcher RV park in Demming, NM. While in Demming we went to City of Rocks. It was so interesting seeing what weathering from wind and water can do. It is a great picnic and camping area.

The next day we returned to North Ranch and our new RV lot. We have now completed about half of the retaining wall and started organizing the scattered rocks. We stopped working this weekend and attended Yarnell Days. Yarnell is about 10 miles north of here. They had a parade, venders, music, and food. We met several of our Stanton friends, as we roamed main street. It was good to see them. Today we went to a Jam Session over at Rick's house at North Ranch. It was so much fun. Then after supper we went to the ice-cream social in the club house. While we were sitting outside on our patio just enjoying the cool evening some neighbors came over to introduce themselves. We had a nice visit. Now we are back in the rig...Willard watching TV and, of course, I'm at the computer.

Tomorrow I have to get up early and meet with the Beautification committee to do some gardening. I want to learn all I can about the plants in this area. Then line dancing is at 9:00. We need to go to Prescott on Tuesday for more retaining wall blocks then back by 1:00 so I can go to an Art Workshop in Wickenburg with Jane. I scheduled a perm on Wed. Life is full and good here at North Ranch.

Performing at Miller Creek RV Resort

The flyer the RV park produced and handed out before we arrived.

(Photos by Andy)

After supper, we went outside to work on some songs to play at the next performance. Andy is parked across from us. He saw us outside and came over to introduce himself and tell us that he enjoyed our music last night. He took some pictures of us and wanted to know if we would like copies. Those are the pictures you see above. I love this lifestyle. You meet so many nice people.

Yes, last night we entertained in the Miller Creek RV Resort. There were quite a few people there and they seemed to like our music. Robbie and Haunie came over from Cedar Park to watch us perform. I was really nervous, hoping we wouldn't embarrass them. They said they enjoyed listening it. We had a nice visit with them until about 11:00 pm.

Today we went to Fredericksburg to visit the National Museum of the Pacific War. It was really interesting. I learned a lot about World War II. I didn't take any pictures, so you might want to go to http://www.nimitz-museum.org/ to get an idea as to what the museum is all about. On the way back to the RV park, we stopped at Wildflower Farms. It was really crowded. I always enjoy stopping by there when we are in the area. http://www.wildseedfarms.com/market_main_page.htm. Then we had ice-cream and peach cobbler at a little shop on the way back to Johnson City. It was really good. And the owner was so nice. We must stop there again. Another great day in Texas Hill Country.

Hamilton Pool

We went to Hamilton Pool, a place where we took our boys when they were young. They had so much fun crawling over the rocks and wading in the pool. I forgot my camera, so you have to go to the sites below to see what we saw. The hike down to the pool was a little challenging, but the walk back up to the parking lot was even more. It is free to the elderly probably because they figure we can't make the trip. It brought back lots of fond memories. It did make me feel my age when I realized we were the oldest people there. The water was 61 degrees, so we didn't even wade in the water. Most were only displaying their sun tanned bodies. And when the boys couldn't take it any longer they took a cold dip in the pool (if you know what I mean). We are now back home resting up for our performance tonight.

http://www.austinrealestateguy.com/Hamilton_Pool_Photos/page_1738210.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCAt0KQfEmA

The Texas Hill Country

(Photo by William Manning)
We finally made it to the Texas Hill Country. Last night we stayed at an RV park in Junction, TX. I had no Verizon service on my computer. I could hardly stand not being able to get on-line. I actually went to bed early. Another Alfa parked next to us. It was driven by a very nice couple (Bill and Dianne) from Roswell, NM. They are headed for the Alfa Rally, too. I think they are going to put us to work when we get there. I think it will be great to be so involved in a rally.

We are now in a nice little RV park just south of Johnson City, Miller Creek RV Park. http://www.millercreekrvresort.com/
It feels " good to be back home again." This the perfect time of the year in this area because the wild flowers are in bloom. I have always loved the Bluebonnets, Indian Paint Brushes and Buttercups nestled amonst the Oak trees. And the weather is wonderful. We had a misty rain and a little wind this morning, but the rest of the day was beautiful.

Robbie and Haunani came over and we went to Blanco for supper. We had a great visit. It's such a good feeling to be friends with your children. Palani says he'll try to visit tomorrow on his day off. I hope he makes it. Can't wait to see him.

Tomorrow morning we plan on setting up our sound equipment in the club house. We entertain after Potluck. Our biggest problem is deciding what to play in our given hour. We can play over 50 songs. But, that's too many to play in one performance. I just hope we bring a little joy as we play. Guess we'll soon find out.

Travel Day - Van Horn, TX

We arrived in Van Horn, TX about noon. The weather is great! As you can see in the picture this RV park is not crowded. A couple from Ontario, Canada just parked beside us. I think they are on their way home. Willard is watching TV and, of course, I'm on the computer. We plan on practicing our music this afternoon, then make some hamburgers. After a good night's sleep we will leave early in the morning for Junction. We usually travel only about 200 - 250 miles a day and park by noon. It was a beautiful sunrise this morning as we left Deming, NM about 7:15.

Site Seeing Day in New Mexico

Today we visited Rockhound State Park. Willard found some nice rock specimans to display on our Lot 360 at North Ranch. This would be a great place to return for some rock hounding. There are several nice campsites and you can take what you find in the park. We also visited Columbus, NM again. There we visited Pancho Villa State Park and several museums. In 1916 guerrillas of the Mexican Revolution attacked the border town. I wanted to do some research about a brave woman in the town during invasion. It might develop into a picture book. Who knows.

This is the picture of the depot museum near the border. We did not go into Mexico because Willard's passport hasn't arrived, yet. Maybe next time we venture into the area. Last year we had a wonderful lunch at the Pink House in Palomas, Mexico. This year we ate a delicious lunch at the Patio Cafe in Columbus. I highly recommend both cafes.

Travel Day

We left Western Horizon RV Resort in St. David bright and early this morning. Even though it was 50 files farther, we decided to take the scenic tour around through Bisbee and Douglas instead of the freeway because of all the trucks. BIG mistake! We spent an extra hour looking at Yucca plants and bare mountains (see above). It has it's beauty, but enough was enough! Plus the road wasn't in the best condition. We made it into Demming, NM about 2:30 this afternoon. We are spending two nights here at the Escapees Dream Catcher RV Park. At 4:00 at all Escapees parks there is a social hour. So we went down to the club house and met some nice people, discussed alternative fuel and the like. It was good to be off the road because the wind picked up about the time we arrived. After the social hour we went shopping for a few items at WalMart, then back home for supper and evening activities (supper, TV, computer, planning, relaxing, etc).

A Quiet Day in Camp

We stayed in the campgrounds today. I washed clothes and tidied up the rig. We played music this morning in the rig and this afternoon we played outside. One woman came over and thanked us. Another lady from New York came over and we talked for quite some time. Earlier we walked up the hill to visit Mac and Marsha. The have to leave earlier than planned. In the middle of the afternoon we sat and watched the fish and ducks in the little creek that runs into the ponds. We ended it by watching TV after attending an ice-cream social in the Activity Center. It was a lazy day. We need those kinds of days from time to time.

Went to Tombstone Today

We went to Tombstone today to have lunch and to just goof around. We ate a wonderful lunch at the Chrystal Palace. It once belonged to Wyatt Earp. The waiter said it had the original ceiling, wall paper, floor, and bar. They have entertainment each Friday night. We might go back and have dinner and stay for the entertainment. I think it's a band. However, we don't plan far ahead...that's two days away. We might get hitch-up itch and leave here to see what's up the road. I can be ready to move in 30 minutes. Or we might stay until Monday. This afternoon we practiced our music, then cooked hamburgers outside and ate at the picnic table. The weather is perfect. To our surprise a delightful couple came by that we met in Soap Lake, Washington last summer. We invited them in and talked until 9:30. How time flew by. We missed a soak in the Hot Tub, but I'd rather nurture a friendship any day. After talking to them, we decided to purchase an Extended Warrenty. All of our warrenties are up on this rig this year. It will give us peace of mind. Wonder what tomorrow will bring? Hmmm.........

Tucson Botanical Gardens

We visited the botanical garden in Tucson today. The thing we liked best was the Iris Garden.

I also liked Herb Garden. We were really interested in the Xeriscape Garden where we had a chance to see plants we might like on our lot at North Ranch. I did learn that all the plants we decide to use in our landscape need special care for a season. Guess we won't do any landscaping until fall or winter, since that's when we plan on being there for a long period of time. Willard is getting interested in wood carving so we a stopped by a Wood Craft store on the way home to pick up a few items. When we returned home, I fixed supper and then we went to relax in the hot tub.

Back at St. David, AZ

Willard fishing for perch, bass, and crape.
We always enjoy the ducks here.

We arrived at the Western Horizon park in St. David, AZ about 2:00 yesterday afternoon. It was good to be back. We have been coming here at this time of the year for the past 5 or 6 years. As you can see, Willard is headed for one of his favorite fishing holes. He can fish here without a license, since the ponds are on private property. Last night we went to the Hot Tub to relax before hitting the sack. We missed the ice-cream social. This morning we got our mail. Alternative Resources forwards our mail wherever we land long enough for it to catch us. Then we have it forwarded to our next destination. It's a little pricey, but worth it. We are having trouble with our King Dome after coming down the Stanton road. I think something jarred loose. Willard took off the dome and checked for loose wires, etc. but found nothing unusual. We have a call into King Dome to do some trouble shooting. Just waiting for a call. We miss our Direct TV shows. Thank goodness we have cable here in the park. This is a rest day. Tomorrow we will go to Church and perhaps back to camp for a camp Easter Dinner. But then we may decide to go siteseeing.

New Tires in Wickenburg

We left North Ranch about 9:30 to wait for our new tires at Big O Tires in Wickenburg. We purchased 6 new Toyo tires. I like to think of it as putting new roof on the house. That's about how much it costs. They had no means to balance the tires, so we had to stay overnight in Wickenburg Tires so that they could balance them the next morning. We were headed for St. David, AZ to the Western Horizon park by 8:30.

Our Move to North Ranch

Well, we moved over to our lot at North Ranch early Friday morning (I think it was Friday). Anyway so far we have attended an Ice Cream Social, visited a Woodcarving class, and began getting acquainted with neighbors. Monday I went to Surprise, AZ with my Stanton Cruise buddies to shop and have lunch. I really like getting away with the girls. Willard stayed home and worked his crossword puzzle and did some work on the patio. Today Bill and Karen and two of their friends came over for supper. I guess you could say we are in the process of saying good-by to our Stanton friends. We have such mixed feelings. We're excited about getting back on the road, yet we know we will miss everyone. Here are some pictures I took this afternoon. I thought you might be interested in our new "home."


This is just an example of the sunsets around here. They are truly breathtaking.

This is a little park across the street.

Below is a picture of our motorhome parked on our lot. As you can see, there is a lot of work to be done.

This is one of our neighbor's lots. I like the oleanders.

This is the back yard of one of the lots. I like the trees and privacy fence. There are about 400 lots here at North Ranch. Some are big lots with nice homes and some are small lots (like ours). There is also and RV Park here where you rent a spot by the day. We have a Club House and Activities Center. Activities are line dancing, various interest groups: woodcarving, beading, quilting, writing, gold prospecting, book club, Tai Chi, rubber stamping, ham radio, painting, and crafts. There are also classes dealing with the computer, all kinds of card games, and a weekly jam session. There is a social hour each afternoon, and Ice Cream Socials, Sunday Breakfast, and Pot Luck dinners. If you are bored around here it's your own fault. After we are here for awhile and develop friendships we will have a much needed support group. Of course, we will keep in touch with our dear friends at Stanton. Most of them go back home during the spring and summer. However, some take to the road as we usually do.

You might want to check out our other web page. It has two of the songs Willard has written and some information about what we are doing with our music. Go to: http://www.myspace.com/wearecarefreeandcountry

"Isn't It Funny How Time Slips Away"

Millie, Carol, Alice and I went on a Cruise to Catalina Is and Ensenada, MX. We had so much fun. Carol drove us to Long Beach for 4 days of Fun in the Sun. But, it really wasn't that sunny. I'm looking forward to another Cruise. What can I say...I'm hooked.

Stanton Camp helped Ben celebrate his 92ed birthday. He has lived in camp for over 30 years. Because of Ben we have beautiful trees, plants, and organized rock gardens. We helped entertain at his party along with Ken, Dixie, Delana, Hollywood, Don, and Millie. Gifts were given and cake and ice cream served. Ben will tell us the rest of his story at his 95th birthday party.

Joy-el and I decided to teach line dancing on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. This is a picture of our group. I am so proud of them. They learned 9 beginner dances in a relatively short time. I'm going to miss this group. Some have already left camp.

On Valentine's Day we had a wonderful dance in the Opera House. Willard and Don were the DJs. They played requested 50's music. About 40 attended. I danced till I almost dropped. Oh what fun we all had. Thanks to Millie and Dixie for making it so special.

We have participated in quite a few jam sessions here at camp. Lately we have been playing on the Opera House porch along with Millie, George, Ken, Don, and Hollywood. We've even had a small audience most of the time.

We bought a small lot at North Ranch last week. If Willard can get to his gold claims on his ATV from North Ranch, we will probably stay on our lot next winter. We need to do some landscaping before we take off for the summer. But first we go to St. David, AZ to soak in the hot tub, fish, and golf for a few weeks. Then we will head for Montgomery, TX for an Alfa Rally. After the rally we will head back to North Ranch for about a month to build a retaining wall, and do some landscaping on our lot. North Ranch is an Escapees Park located just south of Congress, AZ. We love it in this area during the winter, but we want to be more free to travel in the winter if we wish. Stanton does not give us that option because the rules state that you lose your site if you move your rig or leave for an extended amount of time. North Ranch is only about 10 miles from Stanton, so we can visit our wonderful friends that live here during the winters.


We went to the big yard sale at North Ranch and Willard bought another guitar. It is a 1962 Gibson. Now we have 2 bass guitars, 3 guitars, a clarinet, fiddle, pickin' stick, and key board, three amps, mikes, etc. Unbelievable! But, we do love to play our music. It soothes our soul.



We are beginning to prepare to travel. I can't wait to see what happens next.


We went to dinner and to see Rex Allen Jr. at the Wickenburg Entertainment Center the other night with Bill and Karen. They gave us the tickets as a Christmas gift. It was a great performance. Thanks again Bill and Karen.




Red Hat activities: We had a caravan of 20 Red Hatters join the North Ranch Red Hatters in Surprise, AZ for lunch and shopping in early January. Then we had two Scrapbooking and Craft parties in the Opera House in camp. In February our outing was lunch at Golden Corral in Surprise, AZ. Some went to the big Flea Market, some went to Wal-Mart, and some went back to camp. Today we prepared and served the Wickenburg Museum Ghost Town Tour group. Eighteen group members toured our little ghost town and devoured our lunch menu of Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Potato Salad, Cold Slaw, Baked Beans, Veg plate, and Carrot Cake.



Tomorrow we are having a weiner roast behind our rig after Bingo. Millie's granddaughter is coming to visit and we are going to celebrate her arrival. We tend to find any excuse to have a party.



I finished this 30"x40" oil painting, finally. It's hanging over the "bar" in the Opera House. Some wanted a nude, but I have no training in painting people, so I just covered up the parts I thought I'd have trouble with. The nude painting that was there earlier was returned to its owner. Someone asked if I could paint a picture to replace the nude and I said I'd try. This is the result of my efforts.