Another summer has almost come and gone, with less than 3 weeks left
for us. Overall it’s been a good summer, once we got past the flooding,
snow and rain. It’s also been bittersweet, as we’ve given notice that
this is our last summer here, as Area Managers for AL&L. This is
our fourth year here and with three previous years at Ledgefork
Campground, two others at Meteor Crater and Maine
plus the Escapee Parks we workamped at, we’re ready for some free time
during the summer to travel. We look forward to more exploration of Oregon and Washington, new adventures in northern Montana and Canada, and attending Summer rallies. With all the family around, Evanston and Salt Lake City will always be on our map to visit on our travels.
As many of you know, we had a goal of hitting our 1,000th geocache by
our 10th anniversary of fulltime Rving on 9/ll. We hit and passed that
goal this month and currently have 1,026 finds. We know new geocaches
await us as we continue Rving.
Gary has had fun with the
Senior Center pool tournaments this summer, placing in almost all of
them. It’s the only time he has a chance to play, so he’s looking
forward to getting back to town and daily playing, and then to Casa Grande
with pool tables close by. He also continued playing golf on his old
league in Evanston, once a week. Currently they are in 1st place with 2
weeks to go.
I entered several quilts in the Uinta County Fair, held in Evanston, WY. I
was most pleased to win two Reserve Grand Champions and one Grand
Champion. I learned how to do redwork embroidery by hand last winter,
so was surprised when my redwork sampler quilt took an Overall Grand
Champion.
We enjoyed having Arizona
friends Julie and George come by to camp for a few days, as well as
local family and friends that took the time to camp with us this
summer. That’s always what we enjoy most and will most assuredly miss
the most too.
Please don’t mail anything to us in Evanston,
after the first of September. We’ll move into town in mid-September and
hope to be on the road around the 20th. When we leave here, we’ll
head for South Dakota to renew our driver’s licenses and visit the Badlands and Crazy Horse. Then we’ll work our way South through Colorado and New Mexico. We’re aiming to arrive back at our winter home at Rover’s Roost, in Casa Grande, AZ sometime in October.
Dancing through Summer,
Hugs, Katy, Gary, Rusty and Spicy
Monday, August 23, 2010
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Dancing Along the River
What a Spring we've had! Friends in Evanston
kept telling us they'd had more snow in May than they'd had all winter,
and that's not what we wanted to hear. We originally hoped to be in
the forest around May 10th and finally made it on May 26th, just before
Memorial Day, when we had more snpw and cold weather. It made it easy
to get away for the 5th, 8th, and high school graduations of Robert's
children. Cory, Robert's oldest, has since left for Korea,
where he'll spend the next seven months with his Mom's family attending
a University over there. What a great opportunity for him!
The week after Memorial Day, the temps soared up to the high 70's. I know our friends in Arizona will find it hard to believe that these temps were too hot, but it was certainly too fast! Saturday, June 5th, we moved four of our campers to higher areas, as their spots on the river went under water. On June 6th, the water was rising and around noon Gary moved ouir rig forward in our space about 40 feet, to avoid the lowest area. Between 7 & 8pm the river rose another foot and we decided we better get to high ground, while we could still drive our 5W out of there. Culverts were getting backed up and water was starting to wash out portions of the campground roads. We moved to one our group areas. It's about 15 feet higher and actually overlooks our regular site. The next day, our site was completely underwater, except for the area where we had put our supply tents. The forst service brought in help and sandbagged all along our
river.
We wound up closing 5 of the 6 campgrounds along the river. They stayed closed all that week, until crews could get in and repair sections of the roads the following Friday; They did a great job and we reopened all the campgrounds on the 11th, just in time for another weekend of snow. We stayed where we were until June 15th, when we moved back to our site. It sure was nice to get back to our water and sewer hookups again. We love being right on the river, as long as it stays in it's place. The other major problem this Spring has been trees, either being taken down, due to the bark beetle infestation, or falling down and being uprooted, due to the spring snows, excess rain, and decreasing windbreak. We've had two major campgrounds closed all spring We got our last hosts in last Friday to open one. The other one opens today. We have another remote campground that we took a host into on June 4th. On the 7th, a small bridge washed out leaving her stranded. The only way in was a very rough ATV road. Our district ranger took a radio, extra drinking water, a generator, and gas into her, as she elected to stay there during the two weeks it took to reopen the road into her campground. She had her 15 yr old son with her, so wasn't completely alone and day hikers came through as well. At this point all of our campgrounds are open and the weather is expected to be gorgeous this weekend. It's back up in the high 70's, and while we're keeping an eye on the river, the worst should be over and we're hoping the floods don't happen again. Thank goodness, we haven't had any major property damage and most importantly no loss of life or injuriesl As we've all heard on the news, many other places have been much worse.
Otherwise we're doing well. My ankle has healed well and while there's still some swelling, I'm no longer limping, unless I overdo it.
For the third year, we attended the National Fallen Firefighter's Memorial Golf Tournament in Utah, where Gary played with the Evanston Fire Department's team and I helped with the tournament and spoke briefly at the luncheon.
I haven't done much quilting, with moving our rig around, but have completed a couple small projects. We've seen family and are looking forward to several spending some time with us this summer. Gary's son was her with his family, including our miracle grandson, Bowdie, who was one year old on the 25th of June.
We're enjoying our Verizon wireless service, allowing us to get e-mail at our cell phone reception site, about 3 miles from here. We got a small netbook that is easier to handle in the truck, than our fullsize laptop. We've done a little more geocaching and are sitting at 979 caches. We should make Gary's goal of 1000 by September. For now summer is here, we haven't had snow for 2 weeks, the moose and deer (with fawns) are moving around, and life is good.
Dancing along (& away from), the river................
Hugs, Katy, Gary, Rusty, and Spicy
The week after Memorial Day, the temps soared up to the high 70's. I know our friends in Arizona will find it hard to believe that these temps were too hot, but it was certainly too fast! Saturday, June 5th, we moved four of our campers to higher areas, as their spots on the river went under water. On June 6th, the water was rising and around noon Gary moved ouir rig forward in our space about 40 feet, to avoid the lowest area. Between 7 & 8pm the river rose another foot and we decided we better get to high ground, while we could still drive our 5W out of there. Culverts were getting backed up and water was starting to wash out portions of the campground roads. We moved to one our group areas. It's about 15 feet higher and actually overlooks our regular site. The next day, our site was completely underwater, except for the area where we had put our supply tents. The forst service brought in help and sandbagged all along our
river.
We wound up closing 5 of the 6 campgrounds along the river. They stayed closed all that week, until crews could get in and repair sections of the roads the following Friday; They did a great job and we reopened all the campgrounds on the 11th, just in time for another weekend of snow. We stayed where we were until June 15th, when we moved back to our site. It sure was nice to get back to our water and sewer hookups again. We love being right on the river, as long as it stays in it's place. The other major problem this Spring has been trees, either being taken down, due to the bark beetle infestation, or falling down and being uprooted, due to the spring snows, excess rain, and decreasing windbreak. We've had two major campgrounds closed all spring We got our last hosts in last Friday to open one. The other one opens today. We have another remote campground that we took a host into on June 4th. On the 7th, a small bridge washed out leaving her stranded. The only way in was a very rough ATV road. Our district ranger took a radio, extra drinking water, a generator, and gas into her, as she elected to stay there during the two weeks it took to reopen the road into her campground. She had her 15 yr old son with her, so wasn't completely alone and day hikers came through as well. At this point all of our campgrounds are open and the weather is expected to be gorgeous this weekend. It's back up in the high 70's, and while we're keeping an eye on the river, the worst should be over and we're hoping the floods don't happen again. Thank goodness, we haven't had any major property damage and most importantly no loss of life or injuriesl As we've all heard on the news, many other places have been much worse.
Otherwise we're doing well. My ankle has healed well and while there's still some swelling, I'm no longer limping, unless I overdo it.
For the third year, we attended the National Fallen Firefighter's Memorial Golf Tournament in Utah, where Gary played with the Evanston Fire Department's team and I helped with the tournament and spoke briefly at the luncheon.
I haven't done much quilting, with moving our rig around, but have completed a couple small projects. We've seen family and are looking forward to several spending some time with us this summer. Gary's son was her with his family, including our miracle grandson, Bowdie, who was one year old on the 25th of June.
We're enjoying our Verizon wireless service, allowing us to get e-mail at our cell phone reception site, about 3 miles from here. We got a small netbook that is easier to handle in the truck, than our fullsize laptop. We've done a little more geocaching and are sitting at 979 caches. We should make Gary's goal of 1000 by September. For now summer is here, we haven't had snow for 2 weeks, the moose and deer (with fawns) are moving around, and life is good.
Dancing along (& away from), the river................
Hugs, Katy, Gary, Rusty, and Spicy
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Wyoming Snows 2010
We left Casa Grande on Gary’s birthday, April 25th for a week of travel on our way to Wyoming. We started out at Navajo National Monument
and hiked to viewpoints for the Batatakin Indian Ruins. The ancient
cliff dwellings are always impressive. Next we went to Monument Valley,
where we stayed in their primitive campground with views of the
mittens, seen in many of the old westerns. By then I was craving a
Navajo Taco, having spent a couple days on their reservation., and we
had wonderful ones from their hotel dining room.
From there we went to Natural Bridges. We stayed in their overflow area for larger trailers and enjoyed the loop drive to see bridges. We has a VERY windy down day, just relaxing. Then we were off to Goblin Valley State Park in Utah. We spent 3 great days with Pam and Jim, Gary’s sister and brother-in-law. We drove to Green River, Utah for dinner and caching. The Crystal Geyser geocache took us to the largest cold water geyser in N. America. It was created through a drilling accident in the 1930’s. We weren’t lucky enough to see an eruption, since they vary from 8-22 hours apart, but it was still impressive.
We spent our last night in Utah in the AL&L Office driveway., in Orem, UT. The next day we got the company truck and one 4-wheeler, which I drove on to Evanston, while Gary towed our rig. We stayed with Riki’s family for the next week. Although tired, we had to turn around and attend all day classes on water sampling and civil rights, as well as pick up 2 more 4-wheelers the next day. We were ready to relax by the time that was over. The lot where we usually parked has been sold, so we searched through our in town friends and were able to park our 5th wheel and open the slides by Smith’s Auto Body. Martin even offered us electricity, which has been great. It was nice staying at Riki’s, but it’s always nice to get back into our home.
We're still in Evanston, WY, waiting for the snow to melt, to get into our campground. They had over 30 inches in the mountains last weekend and another 6+ inches this week. We only had a couple inches here in town and it's all melted. The good part is the waiting gives us time to get my ankle taken care of before we get too busy.
I finally saw an orthopedist about my ankle that has been sore and swelling off and on for several months. As I feared, it’s osteoarthritis, with added stress from a 25 yr. old fracture. The degeneration is pretty complete between the bones, with little cartilage left. There was also a large bone spur on the front of the ankle. I had arthroscopic surgery on the 14th, to remove the bone spur and clean up any other jagged edges. This should relieve some of the pain and hopefully buy some time. Fusion or a total ankle replacement are probably in the future. Total ankles haven’t been as successful as hips and knees, but are improving all the time. It certainly wasn’t what I wanted to hear, but I’m sure we’ll adapt. It’s a good thing we hiked the Grand Canyon last fall.
Cory (Robert's oldest son) graduates this year. We were able to attend the high school awards assembly. Cory got awards for architecture, computer programming and will wear a special honor cord for the National Forensic League (Debate), with his cap and gown. He’s leaving for S. Korea the middle of June, to stay with Anna’s sister. He’ll go to school for 6 months there, studying the language and culture. Keegan, Riki's oldest boy, is only a sophomore, but earned top honors for the math department, out of the entire school. He was also honored by the University of Wyoming, as one of the top 100 sophomores in the state and will attend a three week summer institute program at the University of Wyoming campus, in Laramie.
Last Saturday we went to Salt Lake to see our little Bowdie, born 6/25/09, at 1 pound, 1 ounce, 12 inches. He’s over 13 pounds now and doing great! We were finally able to hold him and passed him back and forth to enjoy his smiles. Their family plans on camping with us this summer, & it will be fun to have them all there.
As I mentioned in the last travelog, our cell service ranges from patchy to nonexistent at our campground, but we do check our phones every day or so, so call and leave a message if you’re in our area. We’ll be at Stillwater campground on Utah State Hiway 150, between Kamas Utah and Evanston, WY. We’d love to have you stop by and spend some time with us.
Dancing (& dodging snowflakes) toward summer……………………………….
Hugs, Katy, Gary, Rusty and Spicy
From there we went to Natural Bridges. We stayed in their overflow area for larger trailers and enjoyed the loop drive to see bridges. We has a VERY windy down day, just relaxing. Then we were off to Goblin Valley State Park in Utah. We spent 3 great days with Pam and Jim, Gary’s sister and brother-in-law. We drove to Green River, Utah for dinner and caching. The Crystal Geyser geocache took us to the largest cold water geyser in N. America. It was created through a drilling accident in the 1930’s. We weren’t lucky enough to see an eruption, since they vary from 8-22 hours apart, but it was still impressive.
We spent our last night in Utah in the AL&L Office driveway., in Orem, UT. The next day we got the company truck and one 4-wheeler, which I drove on to Evanston, while Gary towed our rig. We stayed with Riki’s family for the next week. Although tired, we had to turn around and attend all day classes on water sampling and civil rights, as well as pick up 2 more 4-wheelers the next day. We were ready to relax by the time that was over. The lot where we usually parked has been sold, so we searched through our in town friends and were able to park our 5th wheel and open the slides by Smith’s Auto Body. Martin even offered us electricity, which has been great. It was nice staying at Riki’s, but it’s always nice to get back into our home.
We're still in Evanston, WY, waiting for the snow to melt, to get into our campground. They had over 30 inches in the mountains last weekend and another 6+ inches this week. We only had a couple inches here in town and it's all melted. The good part is the waiting gives us time to get my ankle taken care of before we get too busy.
I finally saw an orthopedist about my ankle that has been sore and swelling off and on for several months. As I feared, it’s osteoarthritis, with added stress from a 25 yr. old fracture. The degeneration is pretty complete between the bones, with little cartilage left. There was also a large bone spur on the front of the ankle. I had arthroscopic surgery on the 14th, to remove the bone spur and clean up any other jagged edges. This should relieve some of the pain and hopefully buy some time. Fusion or a total ankle replacement are probably in the future. Total ankles haven’t been as successful as hips and knees, but are improving all the time. It certainly wasn’t what I wanted to hear, but I’m sure we’ll adapt. It’s a good thing we hiked the Grand Canyon last fall.
Cory (Robert's oldest son) graduates this year. We were able to attend the high school awards assembly. Cory got awards for architecture, computer programming and will wear a special honor cord for the National Forensic League (Debate), with his cap and gown. He’s leaving for S. Korea the middle of June, to stay with Anna’s sister. He’ll go to school for 6 months there, studying the language and culture. Keegan, Riki's oldest boy, is only a sophomore, but earned top honors for the math department, out of the entire school. He was also honored by the University of Wyoming, as one of the top 100 sophomores in the state and will attend a three week summer institute program at the University of Wyoming campus, in Laramie.
Last Saturday we went to Salt Lake to see our little Bowdie, born 6/25/09, at 1 pound, 1 ounce, 12 inches. He’s over 13 pounds now and doing great! We were finally able to hold him and passed him back and forth to enjoy his smiles. Their family plans on camping with us this summer, & it will be fun to have them all there.
As I mentioned in the last travelog, our cell service ranges from patchy to nonexistent at our campground, but we do check our phones every day or so, so call and leave a message if you’re in our area. We’ll be at Stillwater campground on Utah State Hiway 150, between Kamas Utah and Evanston, WY. We’d love to have you stop by and spend some time with us.
Dancing (& dodging snowflakes) toward summer……………………………….
Hugs, Katy, Gary, Rusty and Spicy
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Time to Dance North Again - 2010
The semi-annual migration of the Snowbirds heading North is in full
swing and we'll be joining soon. We're staying here a little longer
his year. We decided that there wasn't any reason to head North early
just to sit through the April snow storms. Instead, we've opted to
enjoy one of the nicest times of the year in Arizona. Our weather has
been in the 70's most of the time, with a few 80's thrown in, when we've
needed to run the air conditioner. The prickly pair, cholla, and
hedgehog cacti are all covered with buds. Hopefully they'll start
blooming while we're still here. It should be quite a sight with the
wet spring we've had. Our "backyard" (aka desert over the 3 1/2 foot
wall behind our rig) was covered with purple flowers a couple weeks
ago. It was so green, it looked like it needed to be mowed. That's
changing as it warms up.
It's been a fun Winter. Gary has enjoyed not working and got used to it real fast. He played a lot of billiards, between the clubhouse here, the Senior Center in town, the league he was on, and local tournaments. After placing 3rd, 3 times, he was tickled to win one of the local tournaments Easter week. Of course he's played golf, but not as much with the course across the road from us being closed this winter. We've heard it may be in escrow, so hopes are high it will reopen next year.
I've been very busy with quilting. I enjoyed 3 days at Quilt Camp, just north of Tuscon, on the way to Mt. Lemon. Landscapes were a new experience for me and after taking a challenging workshop with thread painting and bobbin work, I completed three of them. I also did a totem pole that was very different from anything I'd done before. I joined the ladies here at the park in a few beading projects and made a couple new bracelets that were fun. I also learned redwork embroidery this winter. There's always so much too do and despite not working, it seems there's never enough time. The park started a book club this winter. We were a little late in the year getting it off the ground, but are looking forward to next year.
We also enjoyed our geocaching experiences and are now up to 944 caches found. We may hit that 1,000 mark by September after all. We really enjoyed the Geocaching BOF rally in Quartzsite and met a lot of new cachers. Five couples from our park also attended a fun caching event in Florence.
Dancing also played more of a role in this winter's activities. We enjoyed some good bands and fun dances at a local RV park, about 10 miles from us. We plan on continuing that next year and hope to get more couples from our park involved.
Healthwise, we're doing good. I had a brief scare, with 3 skin biopsies, but other than keeping an eye on one of them, everything was good. Gary started out with a hearing test at a local health fair, that turned into a three week period of ear drops (which really hampered his hearing), until they got everything cleaned out. Other than a slight loss of hearing, we already were aware of, he's doing fine.
Our last couple weeks were sure different plan we planned on, when a good friend of Gary's had a cardiac cath and then bypass surgery. Unfortunately, his wife has severe MS, so between driving and being there to assist her, while he couldn't do any lifting, driving, etc., we spent most of the time at their house in Casa Grande. We were glad to be able to help, but having left most of our packing and organizing for the last couple weeks, we had to take turns getting things ready with someone staying at their house. It made for some interesting days and nights.
We'll be leaving here on Sunday, April 25th and heading toward Monument Valley for a couple days. Then we'll meet Gary's sister, Pam and her husband Jim, for a few days at Goblin Valley, UT. This is always a fun spot, with lots to see and do. We plan on going through Orem, UT on May 3rd to pick up our company truck and supplies, and then on to Evanston, WY. If the weather allows, we'll be out to the forest the next week to start cleaning up. Forest crews have removed more trees, so we understand there's a lot to do.
We'll be at Stillwater Campground, site #4 again, located on Hiway 150, between Kamas Ut, and Evanston, WY, between mile markers 45 & 46. A reminder that we don't get good cell phone reception there, but do check our messages almost daily. Please leave a message if you're coming in our direction, so we can make sure to be there. (At least 1-2 times a week, we're gone for the day.) The easiest way to get to us is to take I-80 to Evanston, WY and then Hiway 150 32 miles south from there. The road "over the top" from Kamas, UT usually opens up around mid-June. Our campgrounds do not have hook ups, so arrive with full water tanks and empty holding tanks. There is a dump station nearby and once the water is on, you can refill your tanks. Prices in our campground this year will be $16.00/night, half price with a Senior Access Pass. We love to have friends drop by, so let us know if you're in our area.
Please don't mail anything to us at our Casa Grande address after April 15th. Please use our daughter's address from now until the 1st of September, (401 Twin Ridge Ave. Evanston, WY 82930) Of course our S. Dakota address always works, but only gets forwarded to us once a month.
Dancing north with the snowbirds............................
Hugs, Katy Gary, Rusty, and Spicy
It's been a fun Winter. Gary has enjoyed not working and got used to it real fast. He played a lot of billiards, between the clubhouse here, the Senior Center in town, the league he was on, and local tournaments. After placing 3rd, 3 times, he was tickled to win one of the local tournaments Easter week. Of course he's played golf, but not as much with the course across the road from us being closed this winter. We've heard it may be in escrow, so hopes are high it will reopen next year.
I've been very busy with quilting. I enjoyed 3 days at Quilt Camp, just north of Tuscon, on the way to Mt. Lemon. Landscapes were a new experience for me and after taking a challenging workshop with thread painting and bobbin work, I completed three of them. I also did a totem pole that was very different from anything I'd done before. I joined the ladies here at the park in a few beading projects and made a couple new bracelets that were fun. I also learned redwork embroidery this winter. There's always so much too do and despite not working, it seems there's never enough time. The park started a book club this winter. We were a little late in the year getting it off the ground, but are looking forward to next year.
We also enjoyed our geocaching experiences and are now up to 944 caches found. We may hit that 1,000 mark by September after all. We really enjoyed the Geocaching BOF rally in Quartzsite and met a lot of new cachers. Five couples from our park also attended a fun caching event in Florence.
Dancing also played more of a role in this winter's activities. We enjoyed some good bands and fun dances at a local RV park, about 10 miles from us. We plan on continuing that next year and hope to get more couples from our park involved.
Healthwise, we're doing good. I had a brief scare, with 3 skin biopsies, but other than keeping an eye on one of them, everything was good. Gary started out with a hearing test at a local health fair, that turned into a three week period of ear drops (which really hampered his hearing), until they got everything cleaned out. Other than a slight loss of hearing, we already were aware of, he's doing fine.
Our last couple weeks were sure different plan we planned on, when a good friend of Gary's had a cardiac cath and then bypass surgery. Unfortunately, his wife has severe MS, so between driving and being there to assist her, while he couldn't do any lifting, driving, etc., we spent most of the time at their house in Casa Grande. We were glad to be able to help, but having left most of our packing and organizing for the last couple weeks, we had to take turns getting things ready with someone staying at their house. It made for some interesting days and nights.
We'll be leaving here on Sunday, April 25th and heading toward Monument Valley for a couple days. Then we'll meet Gary's sister, Pam and her husband Jim, for a few days at Goblin Valley, UT. This is always a fun spot, with lots to see and do. We plan on going through Orem, UT on May 3rd to pick up our company truck and supplies, and then on to Evanston, WY. If the weather allows, we'll be out to the forest the next week to start cleaning up. Forest crews have removed more trees, so we understand there's a lot to do.
We'll be at Stillwater Campground, site #4 again, located on Hiway 150, between Kamas Ut, and Evanston, WY, between mile markers 45 & 46. A reminder that we don't get good cell phone reception there, but do check our messages almost daily. Please leave a message if you're coming in our direction, so we can make sure to be there. (At least 1-2 times a week, we're gone for the day.) The easiest way to get to us is to take I-80 to Evanston, WY and then Hiway 150 32 miles south from there. The road "over the top" from Kamas, UT usually opens up around mid-June. Our campgrounds do not have hook ups, so arrive with full water tanks and empty holding tanks. There is a dump station nearby and once the water is on, you can refill your tanks. Prices in our campground this year will be $16.00/night, half price with a Senior Access Pass. We love to have friends drop by, so let us know if you're in our area.
Please don't mail anything to us at our Casa Grande address after April 15th. Please use our daughter's address from now until the 1st of September, (401 Twin Ridge Ave. Evanston, WY 82930) Of course our S. Dakota address always works, but only gets forwarded to us once a month.
Dancing north with the snowbirds............................
Hugs, Katy Gary, Rusty, and Spicy
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Merry Christmas and Happy 2010
Happy Holidays to all our friends and family! I hope yours is as nice
as ours will be. We've had a great start to our Christmas Season. Casa Grande
has an Electric Light Parade every year to kick off the season. Our
park entered this year for the first time. There were 81 entries all
together and they estimate over 33,000 lined the streets. Gary's truck
was the float, with our theme, "Christmas at the Coop" (Co-Op). We had
the truck decked out with lights and two people dressed up as Mrs. Claus
and a Rooster, sitting on the tool box. They'd built a coop on the
back and we had a Motor Home (about 2 ft x 1/2 ft on the top). We had
about a dozen other Skp's dressed as Chicken walking along side the
truck and the music was, of course, the Chicken Dance. As we went by
the announcer's stand, she said that this is what your grandparents do
when they leave town! People loved it and we won 2nd place for the most
amusing entry!!! Over
20 people were involved one way or another and we all had a great time doing it.
My Quilt Guild celebrated Christmas at the Holiday Inn. We had a super speaker that day from Ladyhawk designs and then an Alpaca Rancher joined us for lunch to share new products they're making for quilters. Kokopelli's where I'm still working one day a week, had our holiday party last week. Sandy fixed a turkey, dressing, and gravy, while the rest of us chipped in with pot luck sides and desserts. There were 11 of us all together. It was a fun and festive evening. I chaired the SKP Christmas Party Sat night here at the park. We had a committee with 8 others to help, and had about 100 attend. There will also be a Christmas Eve party and Christmas Dinner with the group.
One of our goals this winter was to go dancing more often. We were going to try a bar in Coolidge, about 30 miles from here, but instead we were at a Senior Center Dance and invited to a dance at one of the larger RV parks here in Casa Grande. They have dances every Friday night that are open to the public. There's a live band (usually country, but also some old style rock from the 50's and 60's), and a great dance floor, about 75 by 100 feet, with tables around it and a stage for the band. Last Fri night there were about 120 people there with about half dancing at any one time. There's lots of room and probably about 75% of the people actually know how to two step and waltz. (There's not a lot of swing and line dancing centers around the electric slide.) It costs $6 in advance or $7 per person at the door. Everybody brings their own drinks and they have water and huge bowls of chips. No smoking and no drunks, although alcohol
is allowed. They start at 7 and go till 10. (Some of the oldsters have to get home and to bed early you know). The only thing missing is all our dancing friends from Evanston!!!
Our families are all doing well. The newest member, Bowdie, hit the scale yesterday at 8 pounds 15 ounces and will be 6 months old on Christmas Day. He's still on oxygen and a heart monitor, but getting along nicely and his family is loving having him at home!
We got our Christmas present today, when Social Security deposited my first check in our bank account!!!!! This was also my last day at Kokopelli's. We are both officially unemployed, except for four months next summer, when we manage our campgrounds again.
May you too be in the best time of your life, when your family become friends and your friends become family.
Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous 2010!!!
20 people were involved one way or another and we all had a great time doing it.
My Quilt Guild celebrated Christmas at the Holiday Inn. We had a super speaker that day from Ladyhawk designs and then an Alpaca Rancher joined us for lunch to share new products they're making for quilters. Kokopelli's where I'm still working one day a week, had our holiday party last week. Sandy fixed a turkey, dressing, and gravy, while the rest of us chipped in with pot luck sides and desserts. There were 11 of us all together. It was a fun and festive evening. I chaired the SKP Christmas Party Sat night here at the park. We had a committee with 8 others to help, and had about 100 attend. There will also be a Christmas Eve party and Christmas Dinner with the group.
One of our goals this winter was to go dancing more often. We were going to try a bar in Coolidge, about 30 miles from here, but instead we were at a Senior Center Dance and invited to a dance at one of the larger RV parks here in Casa Grande. They have dances every Friday night that are open to the public. There's a live band (usually country, but also some old style rock from the 50's and 60's), and a great dance floor, about 75 by 100 feet, with tables around it and a stage for the band. Last Fri night there were about 120 people there with about half dancing at any one time. There's lots of room and probably about 75% of the people actually know how to two step and waltz. (There's not a lot of swing and line dancing centers around the electric slide.) It costs $6 in advance or $7 per person at the door. Everybody brings their own drinks and they have water and huge bowls of chips. No smoking and no drunks, although alcohol
is allowed. They start at 7 and go till 10. (Some of the oldsters have to get home and to bed early you know). The only thing missing is all our dancing friends from Evanston!!!
Our families are all doing well. The newest member, Bowdie, hit the scale yesterday at 8 pounds 15 ounces and will be 6 months old on Christmas Day. He's still on oxygen and a heart monitor, but getting along nicely and his family is loving having him at home!
We got our Christmas present today, when Social Security deposited my first check in our bank account!!!!! This was also my last day at Kokopelli's. We are both officially unemployed, except for four months next summer, when we manage our campgrounds again.
May you too be in the best time of your life, when your family become friends and your friends become family.
Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous 2010!!!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Fall 2009 Happenings with the Smiths
Thanksgiving starts with something very special for us. Our youngest
grandson, Bowdie Smith, born June 25th, at 1 lb 1 oz went home with his
very excited parents on Nov 12th!!!!! He weighs an even 7 pounds and
is doing well. He went home on oxygen and with heart and breathing
monitors that he’ll have for the next few months at least. Their little
family is homebound with orders not to take him out in any crowds or
around young children, but that’s OK, they’re just thrilled to be at
home, after 4 ½ months of daily hospital visits.
We’ve gotten into the swing of our winter routine. I’m only working one day a week this year, and loving the extra time. My quilt classes have restarted and we’re working on interesting projects. There are also some exciting workshops coming up to look forward to. Gary is enjoying being a man of leisure and pleased to be unemployed for the winter. He’s not too leisure though, between billiards and golf. He even went bowling for the first time in 9 ½ years, with a group from our park. His pool league and twice monthly Sunday tournaments have restarted as well. He usually golfs twice a week with friends and with the park.
Gary and I celebrated by 62nd birthday by spending the day at one of my favorite places, the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum in Tucson. Then we went to Saguaro National Park and got my Senior Access, (Golden Age), Pass. My first socal security check is scheduled to be direct deposited on December 23rd. That will be exciting!!!
We’ve also been doing more dancing, both with the Senior Center and at another RV park in Casa Grande. A local husband and wife singing duo invited friends over to a house party where we heard an amazing country singer named Tom Hiatt. He writes his own music and reminded both of us of Chris LeDoux in voice and style.
Our park decided to participate in the Casa Grande Electric Light parade to be held on Dec. 5th, so we’ve been busy getting ready for that. The theme is “Christmas at the Coop,” a play on words for our Co-Op. Gary’s truck is the float and a coop has been designed for it. Mrs. Claus and a rooster will ride on the float, while chickens will walk, cluck and dance along side. The music is “The Chicken Dance, ” of course. It’s been a lot of fun.
This morning a group of us went to the Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Farm. We’ve been there before, but never taken the Monster Truck Ride and Tour. It was a blast. We learned a lot about the ostriches and more about the desert and Picacho Peak. We also took a wild ride over hills and bumps in the truck and finished it off by fishing for Ostrich. We held a pole with a chain at the end and a large screw. You stab half an orange through the peel with the screw and extend it out on a platform for the ostriches. They grab it off the chain, swallow it whole, on then you can watch it move down their throat. The feathers at the base of their long neck, flutter up as it goes by. After that we fed the ostriches, deer, goats burros, and then the colorful Lorikeets.
Once again the post office has changed the zip code here, so it is now 85193 instead of 85293. For those who need the entire address, it is:
3241 S. Montgomery Road
Casa Grande, AZ 85193
You can tell we have much to be thankful for this year and we wish all of you the best through out the holiday season. Have a great Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year! May you have a healthy and prosperous 2010.
Busily dancing in AZ........................... Hugs, Katy, Gary, Rusty, and Spicy
We’ve gotten into the swing of our winter routine. I’m only working one day a week this year, and loving the extra time. My quilt classes have restarted and we’re working on interesting projects. There are also some exciting workshops coming up to look forward to. Gary is enjoying being a man of leisure and pleased to be unemployed for the winter. He’s not too leisure though, between billiards and golf. He even went bowling for the first time in 9 ½ years, with a group from our park. His pool league and twice monthly Sunday tournaments have restarted as well. He usually golfs twice a week with friends and with the park.
Gary and I celebrated by 62nd birthday by spending the day at one of my favorite places, the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum in Tucson. Then we went to Saguaro National Park and got my Senior Access, (Golden Age), Pass. My first socal security check is scheduled to be direct deposited on December 23rd. That will be exciting!!!
We’ve also been doing more dancing, both with the Senior Center and at another RV park in Casa Grande. A local husband and wife singing duo invited friends over to a house party where we heard an amazing country singer named Tom Hiatt. He writes his own music and reminded both of us of Chris LeDoux in voice and style.
Our park decided to participate in the Casa Grande Electric Light parade to be held on Dec. 5th, so we’ve been busy getting ready for that. The theme is “Christmas at the Coop,” a play on words for our Co-Op. Gary’s truck is the float and a coop has been designed for it. Mrs. Claus and a rooster will ride on the float, while chickens will walk, cluck and dance along side. The music is “The Chicken Dance, ” of course. It’s been a lot of fun.
This morning a group of us went to the Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Farm. We’ve been there before, but never taken the Monster Truck Ride and Tour. It was a blast. We learned a lot about the ostriches and more about the desert and Picacho Peak. We also took a wild ride over hills and bumps in the truck and finished it off by fishing for Ostrich. We held a pole with a chain at the end and a large screw. You stab half an orange through the peel with the screw and extend it out on a platform for the ostriches. They grab it off the chain, swallow it whole, on then you can watch it move down their throat. The feathers at the base of their long neck, flutter up as it goes by. After that we fed the ostriches, deer, goats burros, and then the colorful Lorikeets.
Once again the post office has changed the zip code here, so it is now 85193 instead of 85293. For those who need the entire address, it is:
3241 S. Montgomery Road
Casa Grande, AZ 85193
You can tell we have much to be thankful for this year and we wish all of you the best through out the holiday season. Have a great Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year! May you have a healthy and prosperous 2010.
Busily dancing in AZ........................... Hugs, Katy, Gary, Rusty, and Spicy
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Grand Canyon Adventure 2009
Most of you know my girlfriend Kay and I hiked the Grand Canyon
from rim to rim last year. We hiked down the North Kaibab trail, spent
2 nights in the dorms at Phantom Ranch, and hiked up the Bright Angel
Trail, spending an unscheduled night at Indian Gardens, when Kay got sick. This year the husbands and Kay’s brother wanted to hike with us, so we hiked from the South Rim
(no one to drive the rigs from north to south). Also, the south rim
has a kennel for our dogs. We got to the East section of the Grand
Canyon and stayed at Desert Watchtower Campground for two nights. Since
we were limited to 7 days at the main campground, this gave us a chance
to explore the east section more thoroughly. We revisited all the east view points, along with the Tusayan museum and ruins. The Canyon is splendid & always different from each of its many viewpoints.
On Sep 26, we moved over to Mather Campground by the main section of the South Rim and Grand Canyon Village. We checked out the kennels and did the preliminary paperwork, stopped by the Backcountry Information Office to check the latest weather reports, and visited the rim for ice cream at Bright Angel Lodge, while looking over where we were headed. On the 27th we delivered the dogs to their doggie hotel for the next four nights and met our friends at Bright Angel Lodge to go over our plans and pick up radios for communication with them. We also confirmed our reservations for meals at Phantom Ranch, while at the bottom of the canyon.
Finally Sep. 28th was here! I was excited and awake at about 2:30am and by 3:30am checked with Gary who was also awake. We had been going to take the 6am Hiker’s shuttle and decided to move it up to the 5am shuttle. Temps were predicted to be hot, so we decided an early start would serve us well. Boy, were we right about that. We drove over to the parking area at 4:30am and by the time the bus picked us up, there were about 40 hikers there. We were bused directly to the South Kaibab trailhead, where we used the restrooms one last time, put our backpacks on, and rechecked our supply of water. I carried 3 liters and Gary had 3 ½ liters of water. There is no additional water available on this trail until the river, so we had to make sure we had an adequate supply for the duration of hike, considering the hot temps. Since we were camping this time, that also meant we had to pack our tent, mats, sleeping covers, clothes, water, food (except for
the two purchased dinners) etc. in our backpacks. We weighed our packs before leaving and found Gary’s weighed about 30 pounds and mine about 24 pounds.
The S. Kaibab trail is 6.3 miles to the river and another ½ mile to the Bright Angel Campground, where we were staying two nights. Don’t let the short distance fool you, it’s a vertical descent from 7,200 ft to 2,400 ft at the Kaibab Suspension Bridge. We can both verify that going down almost 5,000 feet in that distance is very hard on all parts of the legs - ankles, calves, knees, and thighs!!! The upside is that for most of the hike, it follows a ridge line, so that you’re out in the open and have fantastic views of the canyon all the way down. While it was cool when we started, with jackets, gloves, pants, etc., by the time we got to Cedar Ridge, 1 ½ miles down we had our jackets off and the lower sections of our pants came off soon after. At what’s called the tip-off ( 4.6 miles down), you can see the Colorado River 1,500 feet below you along with the bridge. They continue to remain in sight most of the way. We could also see
several rafts at the boat beach. While we had been told to expect no shade on this route, there were actually shady spots intermittently the last mile down. Believe me, they were welcome and we took advantage of all of them for short rests!!! Another plus this year, is they’ve diverted all mule traffic to the Bright Angel Trail, while refurbishing the S. Kaibab trail, so we didn’t have any mules to contend with on our way down. While we probably won’t ever hike that route again, we were both glad we had taken it this time, as we’d heard so many wonderful things about it. They were all true!!!
We arrived at the campground about 1pm, totally exhausted, but also feeling good we had made it down. The heat was overwhelming, and we found out it was 104 degrees at Phantom Ranch that day. We chose our campsite, based on the first one we came to with shade. It felt so gooooood to take our packs off for a couple days. Gary checked out Bright Angel Creek and within 15 minutes, while he soaked his feet, I was laying down in the creek. I had felt the heat more than Gary and while I thought I was drinking enough, had drank about 1 liter less than Gary. As a result I was feeling a little dizzy and nauseated when we arrived. The creek was cold and cooled my core temperature down quickly. It felt amazingly refreshing. We set up our tent, mats, etc. and laid down for a short and warm nap. We left the rainfly off our tent while at Phantom and enjoyed the few breezes that came through, as well as being able to see the stars through the netting at
the
top. A great sight in the middle of the night.
Our friends arrived later that afternoon, having left about an hour later and hiked down the longer Bright Angel Trail. There were more visits to the creek and feet soaking all around. It's funny to watch the hikers hobble around at Phantom Ranch, as many had sore legs like us. It's nice to have that extra day to rest up before starting out.
Gary and I had hiker’s stew dinners reserved at Phantom Ranch he first night and headed over about 6pm. Dinners at Phantom Ranch are all reserved and served family style. You’re assigned a table when you come in by the single server and there are 46 persons at each meal. Steak is served at 5pm and stew at 6:30pm each night. Along with that is a huge bowl of fresh salad with all sorts of fresh vegies, artichokes, pickles, etc. The stew was plentiful and all you could eat. There was fresh cornbread and huge pieces of chocolate cake for dessert. Ice tea, water, and coffee were the beverages included and you could purchase beer and wine.
The air conditioned dining hall reopens from 8-10pm as a beer hall for all to enjoy and is also open from 8am to 4pm as a canteen. Everything that is served and sold at Phantom Ranch has to be brought down by mule and all trash is taken our the same way. The employees at Phantom work 10 days on and four days off. They must hike out and back in, if they leave the canyon during their days off.
The next morning, I hiked alone to “the Box.” This is a 3 ½ mile stretch of canyon at the bottom of the N. Kaibab trail. It’s narrow walls go upwards of 1,000 feet, as the trail goes along Bright Angel Creek. There are several bridges going back and forth over the creek. This is the section that Kay and I did after dark last year when we went rim to rim, so I hadn’t seen it in the daylight. It was beautiful to see and hard to believe we had done this in the dark. I only went a couple miles up and turned back. I met the others at the dining hall and enjoyed some air conditioning. The high was only 101 degrees that day. We enjoyed a relaxing day, with time in the creek and exploring the bottom of the canyon. We all went to a ranger program at 4pm, for a program about the history of the river and various explorers. A fantastic steak dinner at 5pm followed, with huge New York strip steaks, baked potatoes, vegies, biscuits, fresh
salad and the same wonderful chocolate cake for desert. Nighttime comes early when it gets dark, as we were starting our hike out early the next morning. Sleeping was a little more difficult as it was still very warm.
Gary and I got up about 5am and were hiking by 5:45am. We crossed the silver bridge and headed for Bright Angel Trail. We hiked 4.8 miles and arrived at Indian Gardens in early afternoon. While our legs were still sore when we left in the morning, after our uphill hike the kinks seemed to be worked out and they felt much better. Our friends left and arrived about an hour after us. We set up camp there, had lunch, and enjoyed some cooler temperatures. Late afternoon Buzz (Kay’s brother) and I hiked the three miles round trip to Plateau Point. It’s a very beautiful panoramic spot overlooking the Colorado River, from about 1,000 feet up. What a weather change, as it dipped to about 40 degrees that night. We slept in our clothes, had the rainfly on the tent to help keep heat in, and shared the single blanket we had brought. Since we were awake, we headed out early again and started the last of the climb out. While we hiked about 4.8
miles each of the 2 days we hiked out, we only climbed 1,300 feet the first day, leaving 3,100 feet to climb UP the second day. It is also a beautiful trail with magnificent scenery all the way. We arrived on the rim at 11am and after a picture taken of our exhausted, but victorious smiles, we left to pick up the doggies. Needless to say, they were thrilled to see us and we all headed back to our wonderful home at the campground. We enjoyed wonderful hot showers and an equally wonderful bed as we relaxed that afternoon and evening, very tired, but also feeling good about our accomplishment. The next day we went back to the rim for ice cream, souvenirs and mainly to gaze below again, to where we had been. It was a wonderful time and as Gary has reminded me a ONCE in a lifetime experience. The last morning there, I went out to witness a very beautiful sunrise at the rim. It's always different as the light changes, so it never gets old.
We followed our trip with a visit with friends in Kingman, a stop at a SKP park near Wickenberg, and a projected return to our winter home at RoVer’s Roost in Casa Grande, AZ. Our winter address will be 3241 S. Montgomery Road, Casa Grande, AZ 85293, until about mid-March. If you’re within a hundred miles or so, let us know and we can get together.
Dancing from the Canyon........................ Hugs, Katy Gary, Rust and Spicy
On Sep 26, we moved over to Mather Campground by the main section of the South Rim and Grand Canyon Village. We checked out the kennels and did the preliminary paperwork, stopped by the Backcountry Information Office to check the latest weather reports, and visited the rim for ice cream at Bright Angel Lodge, while looking over where we were headed. On the 27th we delivered the dogs to their doggie hotel for the next four nights and met our friends at Bright Angel Lodge to go over our plans and pick up radios for communication with them. We also confirmed our reservations for meals at Phantom Ranch, while at the bottom of the canyon.
Finally Sep. 28th was here! I was excited and awake at about 2:30am and by 3:30am checked with Gary who was also awake. We had been going to take the 6am Hiker’s shuttle and decided to move it up to the 5am shuttle. Temps were predicted to be hot, so we decided an early start would serve us well. Boy, were we right about that. We drove over to the parking area at 4:30am and by the time the bus picked us up, there were about 40 hikers there. We were bused directly to the South Kaibab trailhead, where we used the restrooms one last time, put our backpacks on, and rechecked our supply of water. I carried 3 liters and Gary had 3 ½ liters of water. There is no additional water available on this trail until the river, so we had to make sure we had an adequate supply for the duration of hike, considering the hot temps. Since we were camping this time, that also meant we had to pack our tent, mats, sleeping covers, clothes, water, food (except for
the two purchased dinners) etc. in our backpacks. We weighed our packs before leaving and found Gary’s weighed about 30 pounds and mine about 24 pounds.
The S. Kaibab trail is 6.3 miles to the river and another ½ mile to the Bright Angel Campground, where we were staying two nights. Don’t let the short distance fool you, it’s a vertical descent from 7,200 ft to 2,400 ft at the Kaibab Suspension Bridge. We can both verify that going down almost 5,000 feet in that distance is very hard on all parts of the legs - ankles, calves, knees, and thighs!!! The upside is that for most of the hike, it follows a ridge line, so that you’re out in the open and have fantastic views of the canyon all the way down. While it was cool when we started, with jackets, gloves, pants, etc., by the time we got to Cedar Ridge, 1 ½ miles down we had our jackets off and the lower sections of our pants came off soon after. At what’s called the tip-off ( 4.6 miles down), you can see the Colorado River 1,500 feet below you along with the bridge. They continue to remain in sight most of the way. We could also see
several rafts at the boat beach. While we had been told to expect no shade on this route, there were actually shady spots intermittently the last mile down. Believe me, they were welcome and we took advantage of all of them for short rests!!! Another plus this year, is they’ve diverted all mule traffic to the Bright Angel Trail, while refurbishing the S. Kaibab trail, so we didn’t have any mules to contend with on our way down. While we probably won’t ever hike that route again, we were both glad we had taken it this time, as we’d heard so many wonderful things about it. They were all true!!!
We arrived at the campground about 1pm, totally exhausted, but also feeling good we had made it down. The heat was overwhelming, and we found out it was 104 degrees at Phantom Ranch that day. We chose our campsite, based on the first one we came to with shade. It felt so gooooood to take our packs off for a couple days. Gary checked out Bright Angel Creek and within 15 minutes, while he soaked his feet, I was laying down in the creek. I had felt the heat more than Gary and while I thought I was drinking enough, had drank about 1 liter less than Gary. As a result I was feeling a little dizzy and nauseated when we arrived. The creek was cold and cooled my core temperature down quickly. It felt amazingly refreshing. We set up our tent, mats, etc. and laid down for a short and warm nap. We left the rainfly off our tent while at Phantom and enjoyed the few breezes that came through, as well as being able to see the stars through the netting at
the
top. A great sight in the middle of the night.
Our friends arrived later that afternoon, having left about an hour later and hiked down the longer Bright Angel Trail. There were more visits to the creek and feet soaking all around. It's funny to watch the hikers hobble around at Phantom Ranch, as many had sore legs like us. It's nice to have that extra day to rest up before starting out.
Gary and I had hiker’s stew dinners reserved at Phantom Ranch he first night and headed over about 6pm. Dinners at Phantom Ranch are all reserved and served family style. You’re assigned a table when you come in by the single server and there are 46 persons at each meal. Steak is served at 5pm and stew at 6:30pm each night. Along with that is a huge bowl of fresh salad with all sorts of fresh vegies, artichokes, pickles, etc. The stew was plentiful and all you could eat. There was fresh cornbread and huge pieces of chocolate cake for dessert. Ice tea, water, and coffee were the beverages included and you could purchase beer and wine.
The air conditioned dining hall reopens from 8-10pm as a beer hall for all to enjoy and is also open from 8am to 4pm as a canteen. Everything that is served and sold at Phantom Ranch has to be brought down by mule and all trash is taken our the same way. The employees at Phantom work 10 days on and four days off. They must hike out and back in, if they leave the canyon during their days off.
The next morning, I hiked alone to “the Box.” This is a 3 ½ mile stretch of canyon at the bottom of the N. Kaibab trail. It’s narrow walls go upwards of 1,000 feet, as the trail goes along Bright Angel Creek. There are several bridges going back and forth over the creek. This is the section that Kay and I did after dark last year when we went rim to rim, so I hadn’t seen it in the daylight. It was beautiful to see and hard to believe we had done this in the dark. I only went a couple miles up and turned back. I met the others at the dining hall and enjoyed some air conditioning. The high was only 101 degrees that day. We enjoyed a relaxing day, with time in the creek and exploring the bottom of the canyon. We all went to a ranger program at 4pm, for a program about the history of the river and various explorers. A fantastic steak dinner at 5pm followed, with huge New York strip steaks, baked potatoes, vegies, biscuits, fresh
salad and the same wonderful chocolate cake for desert. Nighttime comes early when it gets dark, as we were starting our hike out early the next morning. Sleeping was a little more difficult as it was still very warm.
Gary and I got up about 5am and were hiking by 5:45am. We crossed the silver bridge and headed for Bright Angel Trail. We hiked 4.8 miles and arrived at Indian Gardens in early afternoon. While our legs were still sore when we left in the morning, after our uphill hike the kinks seemed to be worked out and they felt much better. Our friends left and arrived about an hour after us. We set up camp there, had lunch, and enjoyed some cooler temperatures. Late afternoon Buzz (Kay’s brother) and I hiked the three miles round trip to Plateau Point. It’s a very beautiful panoramic spot overlooking the Colorado River, from about 1,000 feet up. What a weather change, as it dipped to about 40 degrees that night. We slept in our clothes, had the rainfly on the tent to help keep heat in, and shared the single blanket we had brought. Since we were awake, we headed out early again and started the last of the climb out. While we hiked about 4.8
miles each of the 2 days we hiked out, we only climbed 1,300 feet the first day, leaving 3,100 feet to climb UP the second day. It is also a beautiful trail with magnificent scenery all the way. We arrived on the rim at 11am and after a picture taken of our exhausted, but victorious smiles, we left to pick up the doggies. Needless to say, they were thrilled to see us and we all headed back to our wonderful home at the campground. We enjoyed wonderful hot showers and an equally wonderful bed as we relaxed that afternoon and evening, very tired, but also feeling good about our accomplishment. The next day we went back to the rim for ice cream, souvenirs and mainly to gaze below again, to where we had been. It was a wonderful time and as Gary has reminded me a ONCE in a lifetime experience. The last morning there, I went out to witness a very beautiful sunrise at the rim. It's always different as the light changes, so it never gets old.
We followed our trip with a visit with friends in Kingman, a stop at a SKP park near Wickenberg, and a projected return to our winter home at RoVer’s Roost in Casa Grande, AZ. Our winter address will be 3241 S. Montgomery Road, Casa Grande, AZ 85293, until about mid-March. If you’re within a hundred miles or so, let us know and we can get together.
Dancing from the Canyon........................ Hugs, Katy Gary, Rust and Spicy
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