OUR LAST WEEK AT MESA REGAL IN ARIZONA

We began the week with our last time at Trinity Baptist in Mesa. Many of the people in our Sunday School class have returned to homes in the north. However, it was still a full class!! We had a visiting minister from a Baptist church in Tempe AZ preaching. He was very good and he told us up right front that he was not looking to change jobs! He knows that Trinity is still hunting for a senior pastor. The rest of the day was uneventful, but I sure enjoyed sitting out to read!!

On Monday we attended a 10 am Omelet Brunch at friends Pam and Eddy (from north Arkansas). They are also workampers and we met them January 2nd when we checked in at the office for our job assignments. It was their first day also. It was fun to meet their neighbors. One of them showed us a home made stick that he calls a wa-dinger. Gary will be making a couple to use with our grandson especially. It is for cooking a hollow shell from crescent rolls over an outdoor fire. They can be used for tacos, desserts and anything that your imagination can come up with.

They treated us to omelets made in baggies, dropped in boiling water to cook. They were made just to each individuals specifications and so simple. We will have to try this when back in Ohio!! Notice that some of us did find some shade!! The sun has been quite hot all week. Not that we are complaining though.

On Tuesday we were getting some things put away in preparation to leave on Sunday. In this process, Gary checked the tires on the motorhome to see how they were holding air since they are new and just installed a few weeks back. Oops!! Five were at 90 pounds pressure and one at 48!!! So he made an appointment for someone to come from Big O Tires to check it out and take care of the problem. Not only was he late arriving, but he did not have proper equipment to take the tire off!! We ended up packing things away quickly and pulling out to go over to their shop for the work. Seems there was a valve stem leaking. So after that fix we returned home knowing that we would have to keep watching it the rest of the week to make sure that we could still roll on Sunday. It does seem to be doing okay.

With nothing else to upset our day, we drove on out north of Scottsdale to McDowell Casino to fritter away the afternoon. It is relaxing and we are smart enough not to waste money. I ended up winning $36 on a machine poker and took the ticket to Gary to cash in. I was done, as must stop while ahead!! I had watched a woman win $500 on a machine next to where I played. But I am not dumb enough to think that it would happen on two consecutive machines. So like I said, I stopped while ahead and went to the cafe' to get a bite to eat and to read my book.

Wednesday was Gary's usual art class at Sunshine Acres in the afternoon, which was bitter sweet. He will miss the kids!! So he treated them to cookies and cupcakes and fruit punch. One of the young fellows wanted to know why he did not bring milk!! Guess he will know next time. Of course, the kids want him back next year.

Thursday was back to work for me and back to the adult pencil art class for Gary. Many of his students have left for homes in the north also. I had a busy day with much moving of files to new cabinets. They are glad to have it finished before Fran and I left for other locations.

On Friday our boss took us out to lunch in south Phoenix to a unique little "hole in the wall" called Lo-Lo's Chicken and Waffles. The cuisine was deep southern cooking and tasted yummy!! It was a long wait just to be seated and we were packed in like sardines!! But it was a fun time and a good time to get better acquainted.

Thursday evening was my usual Bingo night with the same group here in the resort, some workamper friends included. Since it was the last night of the season, the pots were progressively bigger with the last cover-all at $1000. Needless to say, I did not win anything. But it was fun as usual.

Saturday was our time to finish packing things away, do the laundry and go grocery shopping for veggies and such. I also scrubbed the soles of all of our shoes with tire cleaner. They were so black from the blacktop here in the park. We will be glad to leave that behind us!! We have worked hard to keep from getting our carpet dirty again, but I think that we will make it!! This afternoon we then went over to Bill and Jane's to play a card game. We always have so much fun with them while playing games. Their daughter, Lisa, was here from Florida for the week and we have tried to stay out of their way. It was nice to meet up with her again. It has been quite a few years.

Everyone on the street have either left for the season or are getting ready. It is getting very quiet around except for in the mornings when they think that they must honk a farewell to all of their friends at 6 am. We should do that tomorrow morning when we leave, but we are not going until probably 8 or 8:30 am as we are not going too far the first day. We will be playing tag with Bill and Jane for the first two and a half days. Then they will head northeast and we will go due east.

On the way back from the laundromat today, I just had to take a picture of this park model home. I really was too close to give it justice, but the flowers are so lovely!! Most of what you see, except for the flowers, is their Arizona room. I didn't bother checking the price as we are not in the market. Some are reasonable, and then some are not!! But there are many for sale. It seems there is always a turn over.

We hope that you had a great week. Ours has been very sunny and hot!! I love it, but Gary is already complaining about the heat!! Duh, I thought that is what we went south for!! He even picked me up after work on Friday so that I would not walk in the heat. . . .

Take care now!!

JOIN US FOR A WEEK IN ARIZONA !!

Reason to rejoice!! My oldest brother is back in Chicago where he will be near two of his children and three grandchildren. His son says that he is happy, and I am sure that is very much the case!! He has missed all of his grandchildren very much but was not close enough to any of them until recently when one was located close by with the Navy. Of course, one never knows how long that would last. So it is best that he is moved closer to his sons, in spite of the cold winters. This week has gone by very quickly!! On Tuesday we went to check out Cosco with our friends and then they left the area on Wednesday. Wednesday I went out with my scrapbooking friends to Filly's for lunch while Gary was to teach his junior high students art. However, his class was cancelled. Thursday we were back at work while we had someone come in and clean our carpet in the motorhome. Now the real chore is to keep it clean until we get out of Arizona since we think that the blacktop streets here in the park is the reason it was so dirty. You could not really see it on the floor, but our socks were always black!! Guess I will have to go and get new socks!! Then on Friday we left work early and had our last picnic provided by our Workamper Boss, Paul. It was great food and a fun time!! Of course, he wants us all back again next winter season, but by October or November, not January as we did this winter. . . Saturday rolled around all too soon!! Gary began the day out for breakfast, the last time at the Resort next door. And I did the laundry including all of the throw rugs. The trick is to keep it all clean until we get to our next location. After the work was finished, we went to an Art Show in Mountain Falls north of Mesa. It was not a very large show, but the scenery while getting there was great!! First when we came upon the housing developments going in to Mountain Falls, we noticed they had the most uniform lawns!! All stone as we had last seen in New Mexico. They sure look easy to maintain and no scraggy dry old "grass"!! That really is one of the few things that we do not like in Arizona, the shortage of real pretty soft green grass!! We then begin the descent into town. Notice the 10% grade!!.

Once we arrived at the Art Show and paid our admission, we spent some good time looking over all of the vendor's work. We are always intrigued!!

Tim, we took pictures of wood working for you to admire and get ideas from. If any of my audience remembers, he is the one who showed us some of his work back in September before we left Oregon. He made some awesome chairs from tree logs and I had pictures of them in my Blog.

Be sure to click on the pictures to get them full screen to see detail. I am sure that you will not be duplicating since each piece of wood is unique on it's own.

Then Gary had to take pictures in a booth where there were many bird call items for sale. His former boss used many such as these, so Gary even got his business card.

There was several booths of metal sculpting and bronze, as well. It was beautiful work.

We did not take pictures of the paintings, drawings and photography as those artists usually get a little testy when you try taking those pictures. Of course, I always figure if I do not have any artistic talent, I would hardly be of any threat to them.

Then we happened upon this booth of sculptures which were just awesome!!! I could have taken several of these home, if my pocketbook could have afforded them. The gal manning the booth was the daughter of the artist and is just a beginner herself. She gave us some insight on why sculptors do not like pictures being taken. It seems that people from China take digital pictures and then reproduce a likeness of the front and fill in the back of the sculpture. So many duplications end up on our market shelves in the good old USA. So we now understand their concern. She did let me take a picture when I told her that I would only be sharing it with friends back home.

The scenery from the end of the street that was blocked off for the show was beautiful as well.

I could not resist sharing it, after cutting the traffic from the bottom of the photo.

We stopped back at home after all of the running, where I washed my hair and prepared to join our Ohio friends from here in the Resort to go to Organ Stop for pizza. We always enjoy the organ music and Bill and Jane were taking along there daughter, Lisa, who is here visiting.

So you can see we filled our day and week to the brim!! We even stopped at a store on the way home.

Take care now and we will let you know if our last week here at Mesa Regal is as busy.

JEROME ARIZONA

Our friends from Oregon, Tim and Judy, spent more than a week here in our park. It was a pleasure for us to be able to spend so much time with them while there were having repairs made to their truck before moving on. I sure wouldn't wish those repairs on my worst enemy, however, we were glad that we could assist them in any little way. We pray that the rest of their trip is all pleasure for them!! Continue to count your blessings, Tim!! We spent a day going to Jerome Arizona with the intentions of seeing Sedona also. But Jerome is as far as we got. That will leave us something to do the next time we get together, and we look forward to that!! Jerome is a small town built into the side of a mountain after a copper mine was started in the area. And I do mean literally into the side of the mountain. The streets switch back and forth with very little extra room to spare. It is said that one of the buildings actually slid down a street level. Now the town is being slowly restored and turned into an arts and crafts galleries and stores. We looked at the buildings which had very little left of them, to the new galleries that were fully restored. There were some that were very much the old time period with the doors facing one street and the windows in the back looking out over the street below and the valley where the mine was. There was much to look at that was quite interesting. We could have spent a lot more time here actually!! But all good things come to an end. We then stopped at Hacienda Restaurant on the way back to Mesa for a good Mexican lunch!! We then took Tim to check on the truck and followed that with a stop at K-Mart for their weekly Classic Car Show. Gary made good use of the new camera there.

Tim and Judy were then able to be on their way to a new RV Park farther south and Gary planned on his art class with the junior highers at Sunshine Acres, but the school had other things going on as Gary found when he got out there.

I had gone with the scrapbooking girls out to lunch at Filly's and for a very nice visit. It is a chance to let down our hair and get to know each other better. And we were not disappointed in the food!! Some of the girls have returned to their homes in the north, so we missed them. But we were glad to have this one last time for a good visit.

There have been weekly music programs here in the park also. One was The 8-Track band who played many songs from the 60's through 80's. This was followed by an ice cream social which was only lightly attended because of our heavy rains that we had been experiencing. Thus we had good seats!!

Weather here is now improving during the days with temperatures in the seventies and the rain is gone on. So we are happy and enjoying every minute of it.

Take care now!!

And to our family back home, you have been in our prayers, as well as your extended family. We pray for comfort during this time of loss for you all. We love you and miss you!!

GOLDFIELD MINING GHOST TOWN IN EASTERN ARIZONA

After our friends from Boring Oregon, Tim and Judy arrived from Tuscon, we decided a day of sightseeing was in order. We drove out north east of Apache Junction AZ to a small ghost mining town, Goldfield, and began with a train ride around the camp. We could see the mule train path that went back into the hills to the mines. The museum had many relics of the day. Leaving the museum we wandered on up the street taking in much more,

including the inside of the Saloon, after listening to a singer/yodeler on the back deck. The Saloon had many more relics as well as boots left over the years for display. We noticed a pair of boots left by someone from Stow, Ohio and many with soles worn through!!

After leaving the town, we drove on east for a few more miles, enjoying the scenery including the natural auto dump and Apache Lake. Tim and Judy enjoyed the scenery, as we always do also. This is awesome country!!

We would settle in this part of the country in a minute, but it is too far away from family.

While we make many friends that fills in the time, we do miss what is going on back home.

We will also have some more excursions out with our visitors, so check back in with us.