GETTING INTO GEAR and FOR SALE!

Our neighbour Carol found this Giant Water Bug in her carport the other day so we sent one of the local dogs over to check it out 

Things are starting to happen here after a period of not too much doing.  Aileen attended the monthly park board meeting Tuesday to support her request for one of the swimming pools to have the temperature lowered to swimming temperature as the current temperatures at all the pools are too  warm for her MS.   Her efforts were in vain even though there was a fair bit of support via a petition.

I’ve been ATV riding several times and there has been some frustration with some other riders not following proper protocol.  When it is dusty, we have fairly large gaps between riders to let the dust settle.  Because of that, when we come to a trail junction, each rider must wait until the one behind has seen which direction to turn.  This is usually more of a problem with large groups but the other day with only eleven riders we had a problem twice in about two miles.  The first time it took quite some time but we did find each other.  The second time, the leader noticed he only had two riders with him fairly soon and was able to come back to find the rest of us.  In the second instance there was a multitude of choices in which trail to take.    There were close to thirty riders lined up at yesterday’s gathering so Jim and I said we were going off on our own.  We quickly departed before anyone else decided to come along and we had a good ride.  Since we had determined earlier we were going in a small group so Jim could do a little gold panning, I took my good camera, several lenses and tripod.  While the idea of riding by oneself is very intriguing, it is just not really wise.  There was the case of the guy who rolled his machine a while back and my old friend Ken and I were able to rescue him. It could have been a real problem since he was totally trapped underneath his ATV and could only get out with our help.  At the monthly ATV potluck, that chap expressed his gratitude several times to me.  He was so lucky that his only injury was a broken collar bone.   His wife is still very angry at him for being so foolish by riding too fast for conditions – period.   I heard of another resident in this park who rolled his machine on top of himself and it was several hours before someone found him and was able to get him out.

Jim had a flu bug or something for several days and I had a sinus issue then a sore back so we finally got together the other night for Mexican Train.  Jim won followed by Jacquie, Aileen and me.  You’d think as score keeper I’d be able to have a better showing!   We will get more games in the next couple weeks as we are heading to Quartzsite on Tuesday for a week or two with Jacquie and Jim and will meet their son’s in laws, Maurice and Diane, there.   

I have been polishing the motor home using a product called Protect All and it is so easy to use.  Well, with my sore back maybe not that easy, but you just rub it on and rub it off  with a micro fiber cloth.  It does an excellent job of cleaning and the surface doesn’t have to be totally clean.  I wipe the worst of the dust off with a soft cloth then apply the Protect All.  It goes fast but there is a lot of surface on the motor home.  Of course, I’m just getting it all nice and clean to go sit in the dusty desert for two weeks!

Aileen and I decided to put our property in the park on the market, so we did the deed today using an agent here in the park. For those of you who thought you’d come visit us some day, it’s probably too late.   We plan to go back to our original plan of exploring more of the southwest.  We will boondock more and try to plan some RV park stays periodically for a week or maybe as long as a month so we can thoroughly explore different areas.   With having our current set up, we seem to pretty much stay just in this area as it is easier than moving everything back into the motor home for a little trip, then back into the park model on our return.

We took a drive over to Casa Grande today after signing the real estate listing as I was craving a buffet fix at the Golden Corral.  By being very careful, Aileen was able to find enough gluten free food.  Looking for a light supper tonight, Aileen made us eggs benny and were they ever good.  She’d bought some gluten free hamburger buns made by Kinnickinick out of Edmonton, AB and I remarked they would make really good eggs benny buns.  She went online for a recipe and minutes later the most excellent benny’s were served.

Along the Gila River near South Butte

Me, photo by Jim

And Jim coming down the rock ledge; it was more exciting going back up!

In Donnelly Wash near South Butte are these beautiful rock formations

There's just the one area, no others like it anywhere close that I'm aware of

A cactus garden in the wild.  There are ocotillo (the tall thin stalks), cholla, saguaro and a barrel cactus.

This is last season's fruit on a fish hook barrel cactus.  Note the curved spines