Scenes from Tuson to San Antonio

We went to several other places as we told in our last posting but we thought these pictures were things folks would like to see. The history of the Alamo is awesome and every one should go to San Antonio if they get a chance.

We moved to a Thousand Trails resort called Medina Lake where we saw several hundred deer, too many for the resources available to them. The lake was way low because of an on going drought. That is where we were staying when we went to San Antonio.

We are at Colorado River Resort now, another Thousand Trails Resort. It is very nice here and also a lot of deer although not as many as at Medina Lake. We have met some wonderful new friends here at Colorado River, Jan & Bob Collier. They taught us some new games. We will move Wednesday, February 18th to Lake Conroe near Conroe, TX. We will post some from there.

While I was posting this some old friends we met in 2007 in California, Jerry & Janice Shafer pulled in. They will leave the day after we do.

Enjoy these pictures we offer for your viewing pleasure.

Mission Conception' in San Antonio

The Alamo in San Antonio

Mission San Jose' in San Antonio

Can you find the Sea Captain's image in the rock?

Sights to see in Chiricahua National Monument

Resting from a hike in Sabina Canyon!!!

Catching up on our travels

We have not posted any thing on our blog since November 26, 2008 just before Thanksgiving, so here goes catch-up.

We did hear from Teddy and found out that his mom passed away Thanksgiving morning. He was hurting quite a lot and we talked awhile about her and how he was doing. We decided to go down to spend a little time with him, Maria, and the children. We stayed in the Thousand Trails park just south of San Diego until after Christmas. We had Christmas diner with Teddy and his family and visited several times.

We Moved to a campground just out of Yuma, AZ and stayed three days to get some prescriptions filled then moved on to St. David, AZ. We stayed in that area for a little over three weeks at two different campgrounds. While we were there we revisited some of the places we visited last year and some places that we had never been before. We didn't get lost in Cochise Stronghold this time but we did hike a little over a mile into the mountains, round trip almost three miles. It was just as awesome as last year. We also went to the Chiricahua Mountains which were beautiful and also stopped at Ft. Bowie, an historic landmark of the Cochise conflict times. We went back to Bisbee, AZ and Douglas, AZ, a town right on the Mexico border. We went o a small western town called Gammon's Gulch where movies are made sometimes. The owners dad was a friend of several western stars of the past.
We went back to Tombstone, AZ and over to Tucson and the Sabina Canyon. Rode all the way to the back on the trolley and hiked all the way back out to the first stop which is about two miles I think. When we left Sabina Canyon we stoped at Trail Dust Town but the Pinnacle Stake House wasn't open yet and we couldn't wait till that late so we just looked around at all the history displays.

We started our eight hundred mile move to South Texas January twenty-first stopping at Little Vineyard campground in Deming, NM over night then Van Horn, TX, then our final over night stop was just out of Izonia, TX at Circle Bar Resort. It is in the Woodall directory and surprisingly was only $18.

We arrived here at Medina Lakes Thousand Trails Park January twenty-third and will be here until February tenth. We have really enjoyed the weather here and the park is full of deer. Several bucks, does, and yearlings. They are all very small compared to Tennessee white tail deer, although they are also white tail. We have made two trips to San Antonia,TX to see the Alamo and the missions that were built back in the seventh century. The history of all those missions is awesome and to see the Alamo and to actually see and hear about the history that Tennessee shares with Texas by the way , was fantastic. We went to an area of San Antonia called The River Walk. You can stroll along the river which originates from some springs. There are hotels and side-walk calf' along the walk and we ate at one that served Mexican food.

We have some pictures and I will post them later when we decide which ones to post.

PS
Since the Titans didn't make it through the play-offs and the two teams that did are also my favorite ( I have been a Steelers fan since Terry Bradshaw ) ( since loving the Arizona desert southwest we both like the Cardinals ) we will relax tonight and watch the super bowl. Since Arizona hasn't even been in the play-offs in sixty years I will be for them

Best Wishes for Thanksgiving

This is a beautiful sunset at our campsite at Apache Junction, AZ



This is Palm Springs, CA. viewed from the top of Mt. San Jacinto where we went up in the tram.



This is a sunset at our campsite at Palm Springs Resort in Palm Desert, CA.



A Joshaua Tree in Joshaua Tree National Park.



Well it has been way too long since we posted any thing on our blog. I guess we just got lazy or something. We haven't had any real interesting pictures to post and we haven't seen very many new things. We went back to Tequlia Flats one day while we were in Apache Junction. We moved west to Palm Desert Ca. and was there for three weeks. While we were there we went to a desert museum, road on the Aerial Tram, and visited a Botanical Garden. The Aerial Tram went from the Palm Springs Ca. desert floor which is about 800 ft above sea level to about 11,000 feet above sea level. The tram is the second highest in the world and the floor rotates so everyone gets to see every direction. The mountain that the tram goes up is called Mt. San Jacinto and has a California State Park on top. You leave a hot desert climate and go up to an alpine forest with temps around 40 to 50 degrees.
We moved to Wilderness Lakes Resort just out of Menifee, Ca. We will be here about seventeen days and then if I do not hear from Teddy we will go back to Palm Springs Resort in Palm Desert, Ca.
We will have a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow with new folks we have met. It will not be like being with family though. That is the worst thing abut traveling, we never get to spend time with our kids, grand kids, and great grand kids. Having Thanksgiving dinner together with family is special and we miss that. We miss watching Colten, our newest grand son and all of our great grand children grow and learn to talk, walk, laugh, and play.
We wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving and wish we were there to spend time together, but we are enjoying our travels.

More Verde Valley

Another view of Tuzigoot from Dead Horse State Park across Verde River from Tuzigoot


This picture shows the cliff dwelling built by the Sinagua Indians about 1125 to 1450. There are several areas around the Arizona and surrounding states where there are Indian ruins. At this site there are two living areas like this but the other one was destroyed by fire gutting the dwelling and it was never built back. The Sinaguian Indians mysteriously disappeared from this area around 1450. They also left Tuzigoot about the same time.



This is a hot air balloon that went over our canpground several times the three weeks we were there. You could ride in it for a fee but we never did, I don't know why not, it really looked like fun.


This is a picture of our camper and truck at our campsite at Verde Valley Thousand Trails campground. You can see some hills in the background. A very pleasant campground and all three of us really enjoyed it.


This is a picture of Helen and me "Standing on the corner of Winslow Arizona" a monument to the song and the original Route 66





It has been too long I know since we posted anything so I will try to catch you up on our adventures. We will have been here in Verde Valley thirty-eight day when we move this coming Thursday, October 16. We have stayed at three campgrounds in the Verde Valley area which are from eight to twenty miles apart.They are in Cornville, AZ, Cottonwood, AZ, and Camp Verde, AZ. There has been much to see and do and we have really enjoyed it here. This has been the longest that we have stayed in any area since we started full-timing in August of 2007. It is beginning to kind of feel like home it is so peaceful and pleasant here.
Some places we have seen since our last post are Montezuma Castle, Montezuma Well, Dead Horse State Park, Out of Africa Park and Zoo, and a trip to Winslow, AZ to visit Helen's nephew and his family. While we were there we went to the monument to Route 66 "Standing on the Corner of Winslow, AZ". We also went to a state park that was a army fort when this area was just being settled.
We also took another six mile hike back West Oak Creek Trail. What a pleasant canyon. If I had to pick a place on this earth to live out the rest of my days this would be the place if not too many other people came there and if I could get Helen to live in a tent with no electricity. We crossed West Fork Oak Creek twenty-six times on the six mile round trip. There are high colorful cliffs, so high you had to look strait up to see the top. Lots of huge Ponderosa pine, Sycamore trees,Cottonwood, and oak. Some one maybe a hundred years or more ago homesteaded the canyon and had an apple orchard and
chisled a food storage place right into the solid rock cliff. After they abandoned the homestead someone built a lodge there and several famous people stayed there one of which was Zane Gray. I can't really put into descriptive word just how beautiful this canyon is. I hope some day you can see it for yourselves.

Verde Valley Area

This is a picture of Bradley's Wife Janice and his children. Kelly, Jonathan, Cipriano, and Amanda at Jonathan and Cipriano's football game. Bradley is Helen's nephew, Sylvia's son.


This is a picture of the Sedona area taken from a distance. You can see the town and the mountains in the distance toward Oak Creek Canyon.


This is a picture of Helen standing by a huge Ponderosa Pine on the west fork oak creek trail.


This is a red bluff wall somewhere along the West Fork Trail.


This is Michael wading in West Fork Oak Creek along the trail.


This is an ancient indian village abandoned about 1450. The name of the village is Tuzigoot.


Michael and I have thoroughly enjoyed our time here in the Verde Vally area. There are so many things to see and do, and the weather is perfect. Thus far we have toured Sedona with it's beautiful red rocks, driven the Red Rock Loop Road, visited Red rock State park, Jerome State Park, The Chapel of the Holy Cross, rode the Verde Valley Train, went to Tuzigoot National Monument (Ancient Pueblo Ruins built by the Sinagua Indians) and hiked several trails. There are several more things we plan on seeing before we leave the valley.
We have also gotten to visit with my nephew Bradley Childers and his family. Bradley and his wife Janice have four lovely children, Kelly, Jonathan, Cipriano, and Amanda. They live in Winslow,AZ. which is about 120 miles from our resort, so we split the difference and met them in Flagstaff 9/14 for lunch, and then on Saturday 9/20 we went back to Flagstaff to watch Jonathan and Cipriona play Football. It was such fun watching the little guys run and tackle. Amanda was fun to watch on the sidelines also.
Check out the link to Thousand Trails Verde Valley Campground. It has some other links to several attractions around this area.
This one picture is of Helen standing against a Pondarosa Pine on a trail along West Fork Oak Creek on one of our four mile hikes.

South Rim of the Grand Canyon

We moved to Williams, AZ Thursday, September 4 to see all the sights around there which definitely included The South Rim. Helen and I were in Williams in 1985 as part of a fifteen day vacation when I worked at Armstrong Ceiling. We had stayed at a KOA campground then named Circle Pines KOA. We didn't stay there this time but we went out to see if we remembered much. I guess either our memory is very bad or things really changed in twenty-three years. We also had visited the South Rim in 1985 and that place has changed also. We stayed at a campground named Grand Canyon Railway RV Park. We arrived at our campground Thursday and kind of just drove around Williams and got reacquainted with the town. Helen also lived here for a while before we were married. Friday we went to the South Rim and drove along the Scenic Auto Route to Desert Vista and stopped at several overlooks along the way. The actual Grand Canyon looked about the same as in 1985 but after all the places we have seen on our travels we weren't as awed as in 1985.
The North Rim is just as awesome, even more so in some ways. Saturday we took the train to the Grand Canyon. That is a very nice ride that any one should take if they have the opportunity. It is a sixty-five mile train ride and is very relaxing and nice. We spent three and a half hours hiking the Canyon rim on the same trail that we were on in 1985 which is the most awesome view at the canyon. Check out the link to all the National Parks and find the Grand Canyon. You will see some awesome pictures there that other people have posted on that site. We caught the train and headed back to Williams. Along the way the train was robbed by some cowboys on horses. They boarded the train and everyone had a fun time. It was all part of the show of course.
Sunday I ask Helen if she wanted to go for a ride and check out Bill Williams mountain she said yes of course but looking back I'll bet she wouldn't be so anxious. We drove as far up the mountain as we dared until the narrow gravel road got too steep. We turned around at a view point called Finger Rock which was about 9,500 feet above sea level. Then we went on toward Jerome,AZ which was supposed to be mostly on paved roads but as it turned out about 30 miles of it was on gravel mountain narrow roads. Very scary!!!! Sometimes I wonder how I get us into such messes and why Helen would ever trust me again. But she always does. I guess she loves me and knows that I love her more than anything and would never cause her harm deliberately. After we got to Jerome we found a paved road, Hwy. 89A which is a scenic road through Oak Creek Canyon. I was going to move to this campground on this road but changed my mind. The road is very beautiful but there is one seven mile stretch where the elevation changes 3000 feet.
Very steep and very sharp switch-backs. Vehicles over 50 feet long are not allowed on the hill.
We moved Monday to this very beautiful and peaceful campground in Cornville, AZ. We will be here ten days but in this general area for six weeks. This is a very scenic area and we will have some pictures. Jerome, Cottonwood, Sedona, and this whole Verde Valley is a great place to spend some time.
We are all doing fine and Silly is back to his ornery self. There are some cats around this campground so I will watch out for him, don't want the same thing to happen again. Helen really enjoys this life style and so do I. We miss Lascassas, Open Bible, and all our friends and family and look forward to being back in March of 2009.

New look to our blog.

Helen and I would like to thank Patrice for the new look to our blog. She has really brought excitement into our blog that was missing. Our blog now looks like that of someone who is traveling and enjoying life on the road. Again thanks Patrice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!