We left the Cottonwood Camp site, better described as an overpriced gravel pit with Utilities and headed for the Valley of Fire State Park. ( Vof F ). We have heard great things about the V of F , especially the scenery so we were anxious to spend a couple of days in the area but we had no idea the scenery would be so spectacular.
Since we were coming from the south we could enter Lake Mead National park and pay the 10.00 daily fee ,then follow the Lake for 50 miles to reach V of F State park. The other option was to drive thru Las Vegas and fight the holiday traffic and then enter from I-15 which would add another hour to the trip to save 10.00.
After driving along Lake Meade we finally reached V of F and the camping is " first come :first served" bases and the Full Hookups area was full; this caused some concern but we proceded another mile or so to the "No Hookup" sites and we found a vacant site that we could barely "fit in". Our neighbours were from BC and they ( 2 couples) were on their way home from spending 5 months in MX so we had a few Cool Ones and swapped MX stories. This camp site is located right in the middle of V of fire called Rim rock Canyon.
Now for the V of Fire: This State park covers a very large mountain area ( albeit not very high ) but they are all a rich red colour. The entire area is very interesting and a scenic geological marvel amd is definitely a must see. If you are visiting Las Vegas you must, plan a day trip to V of F, rent a car, take this 50 mile drive to the park. There are no hotels or resturaunts in the park so you must take a cooler with water, a cool one and a sandwich because it will take you all day to see the beauty. There is a 10.00 entery fee ( self register ) to enter the park. If you are interested I suggest you goggle it for your own interest.
While talking to other tourist we were advised of a free " Boondocking " area on Lake Meade so we drove about 10 miles away to check out the area and there were a few campers on the lake. We spotted a couple from BC to stopped for a chat and I think they stop here every year on their way home. While driving around this area I decide to give the " Ford " a shot at a small gravel hill using the 4 Wheel drive on the Fly. Half way up the hill I got stopped out so i back down and got stuck because the 4 wheel drive did not connect. After a lecture from Carroll I recalled that Ford also had manual locks on the front wheels so I locked them in and out she comes. the problem was solved and the lecture wasn't necessary. Tomorrow we move to Mesquite, NV
Friday, 6 April 2012
Thursday, 5 April 2012
2 April Truck repairs
The oil leak was too much to " live with " so first thing this morning we headed for the Ford dealer. After explaning my problems , the service sales pers said he would have his Mechanic look at the problem to tell me if I could get home without the repairs but he could not possibly take another customer until Wedesday. I gave him the typical " song and dance " about being stranded and that i had to get home for medical reasons. His mechanic took my truck in and advised me that the oil leak was an "O" ring on the oil temp sending unit and it had to be replaced. So for 538.00 he replaced the "O" ring which too about 2 hours to get at it and also installed a new water reservoir as the original one had deteroated and would not hold water. I was on the road in 3 hours.
We then went back to Sedona to finish the touring we started yesterday; as Carroll said we have now "Been there... Done that"
I forgot to mention that Carroll spotted a Casino on our way to Sedona so we went in for lunch and the "one arm bandit " stole two buck off her.
We then went back to Sedona to finish the touring we started yesterday; as Carroll said we have now "Been there... Done that"
I forgot to mention that Carroll spotted a Casino on our way to Sedona so we went in for lunch and the "one arm bandit " stole two buck off her.
Monday, 2 April 2012
1 April Sedona, AZ
I checked the patch job on the water reservoir in the truck and the leak was very slow or maybe solved so we set off the Sedona some 15 miles away. Sedona is situated in a unique Geological area 50 miles south of Flagstaff, AZ and the land formation are rugged but beautiful and mesmerizing. You can not help but to continually snapping photos.The earth is rich red soil hence it is called Red Rock Canyon. Sedona is definitely a tourist paradise as they have a smorgasboard of things to do. It seems to be a "Hikers " paradise because every parking area at the hiking spots were full even thought it cost 5.00 per car,per day to hike. Besides hiking, there is camping , fishing, trolley tours, jeep tours and a host of store willing to take your money.
Thirty- eight miles north towards Flagstaff over a very narrow, winding mountain road is the location of a Lookout Point. Just as you leave Sedona a large sign reads" No Vehicle alloed over 50 ft long ", so i would not be allowed to tow my 5 th wheel on this road as i am over the limit. The Lookout area is large enough to provide an area for the Navajoe Indains to sell their Jewery and other artifacts. The Navajoe's have 25 booths and only they are allowed to sell items in this area and all items are authentic and are made only by the Navajoe's. This area is located at 6500 ft and it was freezing cold and windy so we did not spend too much time " window shopping ". The prices were to high for Carroll to purchase anything.
Just before i left the area i decide to check my water leak and low and behold there was oil dripping on the ground. At first it appeared as if the oil came from the front differenial but I have never used the 4 wheel drive since last winter so that did not seem possible. Therfore i crawled under the truck and I could see that it was engine oil and it was coming fromm the rear of the engine. Now I'm thinking, what the hell else can go wrong. Since it was a slow leak we drove home and i decided to visit the Ford dealer in the morning, hoping that the problem was minor.
Thirty- eight miles north towards Flagstaff over a very narrow, winding mountain road is the location of a Lookout Point. Just as you leave Sedona a large sign reads" No Vehicle alloed over 50 ft long ", so i would not be allowed to tow my 5 th wheel on this road as i am over the limit. The Lookout area is large enough to provide an area for the Navajoe Indains to sell their Jewery and other artifacts. The Navajoe's have 25 booths and only they are allowed to sell items in this area and all items are authentic and are made only by the Navajoe's. This area is located at 6500 ft and it was freezing cold and windy so we did not spend too much time " window shopping ". The prices were to high for Carroll to purchase anything.
Just before i left the area i decide to check my water leak and low and behold there was oil dripping on the ground. At first it appeared as if the oil came from the front differenial but I have never used the 4 wheel drive since last winter so that did not seem possible. Therfore i crawled under the truck and I could see that it was engine oil and it was coming fromm the rear of the engine. Now I'm thinking, what the hell else can go wrong. Since it was a slow leak we drove home and i decided to visit the Ford dealer in the morning, hoping that the problem was minor.
Sunday, 1 April 2012
31 March Touring Cottonwood and Jerome
Temp 4C @7AM
This morning I tried to analyis why my truck overheated on the mountains but return to normal once we reached the apex. My mechanical thinking said to check the water level in the radiator reservoir. Low and behold it was empty but since I have never seen any water under truck I figure it was down a pint or so. I was shocked when it took a gallon before it was full to the Min level. I ran the engine for about 5 min and everything seem normal so we decided to tour the town of Old Cottonwood. Cottonwood has an old town which has the 100 year old facade while the new town is contemporary and has the latest stores like Wal-mart and Home Depot. After walking around the Old Town for a couple of hours we return to the truck and noticed a pool of water on the ground under the truck. After inspecting the problem area it seemed like the leak was from the hose attached to the bottom of the resovoir. The leak was a very slow drip but this was because the pressure had dropped in the reservoir. Since there was some water in the reservior I determined it was not urgent so we venture to another small mining town some 12 miles away.
The town is called Jerome and it is located about 4500 ft high in the mountains. It was the first copper mine in Az, founded in the late 1800's. Of course the mine is now a Museum/ Tourist trap but the town attracts thousands of visitors every year. There was so many tourists , we could not find a parking space even thought we circled the town twice. It is the tourisum that keeps this town alive but good for them. On the way out of town we stopped to snap a picture of the Copper Mountain and Carroll said Hi to this gentleman taking some pics. During the conversation he said he was from Woodstock and went to school with Carroll's brother Lyle. Small world: Eh.
We returned home in the late afternoon so I could do a further check on the water leak on the Truck . Besides we had a reservation for a Cowboy Dinner and Music at 6:30 with cocktails ( actually a beer ) from 5:30 to 6:00.
Back to the truck; upon further inspection i found that the reservior had a 2 inch crack right on the botton and it was dripping on the hose which i thought was leaking. So I used the oldest but best repair method known to man. SEALS-ALL. I carry two tubes in my tool box because it will seal every crack except the "Crack of your Ass and the Crack of Dawn ", so it sealed the leak as I knew it would. After fixing the leak we proceed to the Cowboy Dinner at the " Blazing M Ranch". The dinner was served cowboy style, ( buffett style ) but it included ribs, chicken, beans, baked potatoes, cole slaw and also second helping were served followed by desert, which i did not need as my pants are getting tighter by the day. The music was ; lets just say "cowboy". I'm not really in to Yod ooly ( however you spell it.
This morning I tried to analyis why my truck overheated on the mountains but return to normal once we reached the apex. My mechanical thinking said to check the water level in the radiator reservoir. Low and behold it was empty but since I have never seen any water under truck I figure it was down a pint or so. I was shocked when it took a gallon before it was full to the Min level. I ran the engine for about 5 min and everything seem normal so we decided to tour the town of Old Cottonwood. Cottonwood has an old town which has the 100 year old facade while the new town is contemporary and has the latest stores like Wal-mart and Home Depot. After walking around the Old Town for a couple of hours we return to the truck and noticed a pool of water on the ground under the truck. After inspecting the problem area it seemed like the leak was from the hose attached to the bottom of the resovoir. The leak was a very slow drip but this was because the pressure had dropped in the reservoir. Since there was some water in the reservior I determined it was not urgent so we venture to another small mining town some 12 miles away.
The town is called Jerome and it is located about 4500 ft high in the mountains. It was the first copper mine in Az, founded in the late 1800's. Of course the mine is now a Museum/ Tourist trap but the town attracts thousands of visitors every year. There was so many tourists , we could not find a parking space even thought we circled the town twice. It is the tourisum that keeps this town alive but good for them. On the way out of town we stopped to snap a picture of the Copper Mountain and Carroll said Hi to this gentleman taking some pics. During the conversation he said he was from Woodstock and went to school with Carroll's brother Lyle. Small world: Eh.
We returned home in the late afternoon so I could do a further check on the water leak on the Truck . Besides we had a reservation for a Cowboy Dinner and Music at 6:30 with cocktails ( actually a beer ) from 5:30 to 6:00.
Back to the truck; upon further inspection i found that the reservior had a 2 inch crack right on the botton and it was dripping on the hose which i thought was leaking. So I used the oldest but best repair method known to man. SEALS-ALL. I carry two tubes in my tool box because it will seal every crack except the "Crack of your Ass and the Crack of Dawn ", so it sealed the leak as I knew it would. After fixing the leak we proceed to the Cowboy Dinner at the " Blazing M Ranch". The dinner was served cowboy style, ( buffett style ) but it included ribs, chicken, beans, baked potatoes, cole slaw and also second helping were served followed by desert, which i did not need as my pants are getting tighter by the day. The music was ; lets just say "cowboy". I'm not really in to Yod ooly ( however you spell it.
30 March Heading North
Temp 10 C at 6 PM. Price of Diesel fuel 4.21/ gal.
We left the camp site 9:30 and by checking the route we would have a 5 hour lesiure trip to Sedona ( actually Cottonwood near Sedona)assume there was nothing along the way that would bite my ass. First we had to do a brake check on the trailer as we had purchased a new brake actuator and it can only be adjusted with the trailer connected and the brakes have been applied to warm them. So we choice a street with very limited traffic so we could adjust the brakes. The new brake system has a digital indicator and it was not reading with the proper power application and I could not seem to correct it, so we called the 1-800 help line. While talking to the Techy and doing some checks the actuator corrected itself so I told the Techy i would continue and adjust my brakes and if I had any further problem back. The brakes worked great so we preceeded.
Our next hurdle was going thru Tucson as the traffic seemed to be always heavy even with 5 lanes. I always try for the 3 rd or middle lane so i don't get caught in the Exit Only lane. The Americans are no different than Canadians when it comes to merging... Well, we got thru Tucson and were motoring along at 105 KPH ( 65 MPH ) musing about stopping in Casa Grande for lunch when all of a sudden there was a loud explosion. Now, I'm no rocket Scientist but I do know the sound of a tire exploding so i immediately pulled over to the shoulder. Luckily, if you consider a blown tire luck, we just passed an on ramp from an exit so there was lots of room to pull over and a very wide shoulder. Normally, a blown tire causes untold damage to the undercarriage but we probably hit a bolt or a small piece of metal that puncture the tire letting the air escape without the tire flying apart. The only damage was the fender skirt which can be replaced for 150.00. One week ago another RV blew a tire and it caused 1500.00 damage so we felt a little fortunate. Since I did not feel like changing a tire and that we were only 20 miles from Casa Grande, we called our Good Sam Roadside Assistance . The tow Truck arrived in about 1/2 an hour. I now required a new tire so I ask the Tow Truck driver and he advise me to go to Discount Tire in Casa Grande so I did. While the tireman and i were checking the tires for size and type we noticed that another tire had some small cracks. I ask the tireman for the price to replace the "blown tire " so after punching about 100 keys on his computer he said 164.00 bottom line. Since I figured that this tire would cost at least 225.00 in Med Hat, I ask if he better the price if I took 2 tires. So again he punch the computer another 100 times and said the best i can do is 264.00 for two. I was a little shocked so I said is this the bottom line; no extra for taxes, environment, valve stem or balancing. he said ;bottom line and I'll have you on the road in an hour and 15 mins. I said .. itis a deal, get at it. After leaving the tire shop we stopped at the Cracker Barrel for a late lunch.
Back on the road again, we headed for Phoenix, 1/2 an hour away, as the only way to Sedona is thru Phoenix. The population of Phoenix is somewhere between 3 and 4 million and most of them were on I-10 ahead of me so we were bumper to bumper until we reached I-17 north. After about 1/2 an hour we were ready for a "Pit Stop" so we took an Off ramp with the thought that we would get the ON ramp at the top of the overpass. Well, this has to be the only off ramp in the USA that does not have an On ramp. There was one other road but it had a sign that said " City of Phoenix Landfill " but we did not have a choice so we followed it for about a mile. This road lead to another road that said " private road , authorized users only". i stopped an looked at Carroll and said Now what. She said I'm authorizing to use it. So we turned on the GPS to see if we could find our way and after several lefts and rights, winding our way thru a subdivsion we finally reached I-17. Now we are really running late so Carroll called the Camp site to advise them and they gave us our site number and the directions . Now we were clear sailing and hoped to be at our camp site by 5:30 and be set up so we could make supper and have a beer.
However, we still had some Bad Luck that we had not used yet!!!! As we were climbing a mountain ( 4400 ft ) the engine temp guage started to climb very quickly so i immediately racked my brain for a possible cause and i could only think of a blown head gasket. However once I reached the top the guage quickly returned to normal, so then I'm thinking and hoping it could be a faulty guage. This happened again at the next mountain but returned to normal once we reached the top. I determined it was not that serious so we carried on.
We finally arrived at the camp site and we were surprised to find that it is an overpriced gravel pit with power, water and sewer, but acceptable under the circumstances. There is also 2 other Albertans in the park. So we setup the camper including the satellite because there hockey to watch, and I decided to deal with the Truck problems tommorrow.
We left the camp site 9:30 and by checking the route we would have a 5 hour lesiure trip to Sedona ( actually Cottonwood near Sedona)assume there was nothing along the way that would bite my ass. First we had to do a brake check on the trailer as we had purchased a new brake actuator and it can only be adjusted with the trailer connected and the brakes have been applied to warm them. So we choice a street with very limited traffic so we could adjust the brakes. The new brake system has a digital indicator and it was not reading with the proper power application and I could not seem to correct it, so we called the 1-800 help line. While talking to the Techy and doing some checks the actuator corrected itself so I told the Techy i would continue and adjust my brakes and if I had any further problem back. The brakes worked great so we preceeded.
Our next hurdle was going thru Tucson as the traffic seemed to be always heavy even with 5 lanes. I always try for the 3 rd or middle lane so i don't get caught in the Exit Only lane. The Americans are no different than Canadians when it comes to merging... Well, we got thru Tucson and were motoring along at 105 KPH ( 65 MPH ) musing about stopping in Casa Grande for lunch when all of a sudden there was a loud explosion. Now, I'm no rocket Scientist but I do know the sound of a tire exploding so i immediately pulled over to the shoulder. Luckily, if you consider a blown tire luck, we just passed an on ramp from an exit so there was lots of room to pull over and a very wide shoulder. Normally, a blown tire causes untold damage to the undercarriage but we probably hit a bolt or a small piece of metal that puncture the tire letting the air escape without the tire flying apart. The only damage was the fender skirt which can be replaced for 150.00. One week ago another RV blew a tire and it caused 1500.00 damage so we felt a little fortunate. Since I did not feel like changing a tire and that we were only 20 miles from Casa Grande, we called our Good Sam Roadside Assistance . The tow Truck arrived in about 1/2 an hour. I now required a new tire so I ask the Tow Truck driver and he advise me to go to Discount Tire in Casa Grande so I did. While the tireman and i were checking the tires for size and type we noticed that another tire had some small cracks. I ask the tireman for the price to replace the "blown tire " so after punching about 100 keys on his computer he said 164.00 bottom line. Since I figured that this tire would cost at least 225.00 in Med Hat, I ask if he better the price if I took 2 tires. So again he punch the computer another 100 times and said the best i can do is 264.00 for two. I was a little shocked so I said is this the bottom line; no extra for taxes, environment, valve stem or balancing. he said ;bottom line and I'll have you on the road in an hour and 15 mins. I said .. itis a deal, get at it. After leaving the tire shop we stopped at the Cracker Barrel for a late lunch.
Back on the road again, we headed for Phoenix, 1/2 an hour away, as the only way to Sedona is thru Phoenix. The population of Phoenix is somewhere between 3 and 4 million and most of them were on I-10 ahead of me so we were bumper to bumper until we reached I-17 north. After about 1/2 an hour we were ready for a "Pit Stop" so we took an Off ramp with the thought that we would get the ON ramp at the top of the overpass. Well, this has to be the only off ramp in the USA that does not have an On ramp. There was one other road but it had a sign that said " City of Phoenix Landfill " but we did not have a choice so we followed it for about a mile. This road lead to another road that said " private road , authorized users only". i stopped an looked at Carroll and said Now what. She said I'm authorizing to use it. So we turned on the GPS to see if we could find our way and after several lefts and rights, winding our way thru a subdivsion we finally reached I-17. Now we are really running late so Carroll called the Camp site to advise them and they gave us our site number and the directions . Now we were clear sailing and hoped to be at our camp site by 5:30 and be set up so we could make supper and have a beer.
However, we still had some Bad Luck that we had not used yet!!!! As we were climbing a mountain ( 4400 ft ) the engine temp guage started to climb very quickly so i immediately racked my brain for a possible cause and i could only think of a blown head gasket. However once I reached the top the guage quickly returned to normal, so then I'm thinking and hoping it could be a faulty guage. This happened again at the next mountain but returned to normal once we reached the top. I determined it was not that serious so we carried on.
We finally arrived at the camp site and we were surprised to find that it is an overpriced gravel pit with power, water and sewer, but acceptable under the circumstances. There is also 2 other Albertans in the park. So we setup the camper including the satellite because there hockey to watch, and I decided to deal with the Truck problems tommorrow.
Saturday, 31 March 2012
29 March. Packing up
Since we are leaving tomorrow, today is the day we put things away that we will not require such as the extra chairs, Bar-B-Q and the second TV. For some reason the storage area seems to shrink after we take everything out but by packing and repacking the orginal space re-appears. Then the wind started to blow in gusts so that reminded me to roll up the awning before it ended up in some other State.
We then went to Safeway to pick up a few groceries so we wiould not have to shop on our trip north. Also, we have enough Safeway points to get 10 cents off per gal of diesel and I needed to fill up before leaving. Furthermore, Safeway fuel is the least expenive in this area. The down side is that I'm not the only one that knows that, hence the line up exceeded my patience level so i left. Since the Safeway fuel station is open 24 hrs I decided to return after the Seniors have gone to bed.
We had arranged to have supper with Bob and Karen since they too are heading back to Alberta on Saturday. After supper we returned to B and K's house for a desert and to watch the remaing period of hockey.
We then went to Safeway to pick up a few groceries so we wiould not have to shop on our trip north. Also, we have enough Safeway points to get 10 cents off per gal of diesel and I needed to fill up before leaving. Furthermore, Safeway fuel is the least expenive in this area. The down side is that I'm not the only one that knows that, hence the line up exceeded my patience level so i left. Since the Safeway fuel station is open 24 hrs I decided to return after the Seniors have gone to bed.
We had arranged to have supper with Bob and Karen since they too are heading back to Alberta on Saturday. After supper we returned to B and K's house for a desert and to watch the remaing period of hockey.
Friday, 30 March 2012
28 March Wedesday
Today is Farmers market day in Green Valley and of course this is a weekly event. However, farmers market is totally the wrong name for it... it is nothing more that a Flea market , albeit a dam good one. I'm sure there was at least 200 booths and we ( mostly Carroll ) checked our every item. I was surprised with some of the booths as one had danish bakery, another had special lasagne booth; there was a fruit and vegetable store on the same parking lot but that was all that was related to a Farmers market. I even talked to one guy who was selling a Catus tree called the Saguara... that is the huge one with several arms ( probably called branches but I have never herd anyone call them branches ). O K, so that took 2 hours out of our life. Then I went to the gas station to get the 30 lb ( 7 gal) propane bottle filled. I should have ask the price.. it was 4.75 a gal. In Apache Junction it was 3.00 a gal and i assume the price would have been close to that or I never would have filled the bottle.
Wed night is Potluck night and we always attend, if for know other reason to meet people. Carroll checked the list to see what was needed and determined it was potatoes so she did Scalloped potatoes.We did met some new ( to us ) folks but as usually they were friendly and informative.
Wed night is Potluck night and we always attend, if for know other reason to meet people. Carroll checked the list to see what was needed and determined it was potatoes so she did Scalloped potatoes.We did met some new ( to us ) folks but as usually they were friendly and informative.
Thursday, 29 March 2012
27 March Copper Mine Tour
The temperature at 6 AM was 7 C. Did i mention that we are in Arizona. By 8 AM the dress is Short and Tee shirt so ir warms up quickly. Today and every Tuesday morning is "Sticky Buns " for breakfast at a cost of $2.00. Forget the diet; these are a must buy. However, as i said last week, why some people get up early to bake these Buns and have them ready by 8 AM is beyond me.
In the afternoon we decided to visit the ARSCA, which is a working Copper Mine, and took the 1 1/2 hour tour. The tour guide was a retired miner so you know we got more information then we could ever remember. But he was great. After the intro, we loaded on a Bus and went to the Open Pit Mine where they were working, loading the trucks. Then we went into the operation building to see how they separate the Copper from the Ore. I was amazed at the size of the Trucks as they carried 320 ton of material from the Pit to the crusher. The loading shovel is run by Electricity and it drags a huge cable around as it loads the Truck. this certainly amazed me. Also interesting is that they have enough Silver in the ore, which they separate out and they get enough money from the silver to pay the "huge " power bill. Copper is marketed at 3.80 a lb and this mine can produce copper for 1.75 a lb so there is good money in copper. This is a Mexican owned and operated company.
After the tour we returned home and since it was extremely hot by now we took in the pool to get some pool time and catch some rays.
I spent the evening watch 3 hockey game.
Did you hear about the little boy in Toronto who was always being beaten by his family so he took them to court. The judge said he could select someone else to raise him and he chose the Toronto Maple leafs. He said he would be safe there because the don't beat anyone.
In the afternoon we decided to visit the ARSCA, which is a working Copper Mine, and took the 1 1/2 hour tour. The tour guide was a retired miner so you know we got more information then we could ever remember. But he was great. After the intro, we loaded on a Bus and went to the Open Pit Mine where they were working, loading the trucks. Then we went into the operation building to see how they separate the Copper from the Ore. I was amazed at the size of the Trucks as they carried 320 ton of material from the Pit to the crusher. The loading shovel is run by Electricity and it drags a huge cable around as it loads the Truck. this certainly amazed me. Also interesting is that they have enough Silver in the ore, which they separate out and they get enough money from the silver to pay the "huge " power bill. Copper is marketed at 3.80 a lb and this mine can produce copper for 1.75 a lb so there is good money in copper. This is a Mexican owned and operated company.
After the tour we returned home and since it was extremely hot by now we took in the pool to get some pool time and catch some rays.
I spent the evening watch 3 hockey game.
Did you hear about the little boy in Toronto who was always being beaten by his family so he took them to court. The judge said he could select someone else to raise him and he chose the Toronto Maple leafs. He said he would be safe there because the don't beat anyone.
Wednesday, 28 March 2012
26 MARCH Momday Titan II Missile Museum
Today we visited the Titan II missile site which is now a Museum. This is the only Titan II missile left over from the Cold War. Please bear with me while i provide a little history so hopefully the Titan II makes some sense.
After WWII the Americans and the Russians did not trust each other and each assumed, with reason , that each would try to "wipe out" the other. The USA was sure that Russia was building a hydrogen Bomb and had the rocket Engineering knowledge and ability to deliver it anywhere in North American they chose. So the USA had to built a missile that could annilate any city in Russia by traveling 6000 miles with a Warhead. Hence the game of who had the "biggest and best toy" would win. Therefore the USA built 54 Titan II missiles and installed in several location around the USA.
You probably remember the Cuba Crisis, around July in 1962 ( I join the Air Force in 1962 )when the USA determined that Kurschev had installed missiles in Cuba and Kenndy gave him 48 hours to dismantle the Missle or USA would attack.
Finally, after years of a " Cold War" between Russia and the USA , they agreed,in 1987 that this was no way to fight a war so they both agreed to destroy all Missiles including the Titan II Missile sites which they did. However, the USA was allowed to keep this one for a Museum and of course it does not have a " War Head ". These Missile sites were built in 36 Months and took 5000 men working 24 hours. They were allowed to stand down for Christmas day the 1st year but not the 2 nd year. This was an obvious race to get them built first. The Titan II warhead was 10 Megatons or put another way was 100 times more destructive then the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.
All that to say, that we toured the Misslie site,including the Silo which hid the Rocket and the Command launch Centre. The missle was completely underground and would have been launched in situ ( meaning it was not raised above ground ). The Command Centre ( also underground )was only 50 feet away but it would not feel any vibrations when the rocket was fired. The construction was unbelievable. This was one of the best tours we have been on and the cost of 8.50 was cheap.
After the Titan II tour we drove to Campers World in Tucson to get a trailer Brake actuator that appiles the the electric brakes on the traler when I apply the truck brakes. The one we had was getting too hard to adjust so after 13 years we figured it probably did not owe us anything.
After supper we dropped in on Karen and Bob to see if they required us to take anything home for them as they mentioned they could be overloaded. So far, they think they can get it all in the car but will check with us on Thursday.
After WWII the Americans and the Russians did not trust each other and each assumed, with reason , that each would try to "wipe out" the other. The USA was sure that Russia was building a hydrogen Bomb and had the rocket Engineering knowledge and ability to deliver it anywhere in North American they chose. So the USA had to built a missile that could annilate any city in Russia by traveling 6000 miles with a Warhead. Hence the game of who had the "biggest and best toy" would win. Therefore the USA built 54 Titan II missiles and installed in several location around the USA.
You probably remember the Cuba Crisis, around July in 1962 ( I join the Air Force in 1962 )when the USA determined that Kurschev had installed missiles in Cuba and Kenndy gave him 48 hours to dismantle the Missle or USA would attack.
Finally, after years of a " Cold War" between Russia and the USA , they agreed,in 1987 that this was no way to fight a war so they both agreed to destroy all Missiles including the Titan II Missile sites which they did. However, the USA was allowed to keep this one for a Museum and of course it does not have a " War Head ". These Missile sites were built in 36 Months and took 5000 men working 24 hours. They were allowed to stand down for Christmas day the 1st year but not the 2 nd year. This was an obvious race to get them built first. The Titan II warhead was 10 Megatons or put another way was 100 times more destructive then the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.
All that to say, that we toured the Misslie site,including the Silo which hid the Rocket and the Command launch Centre. The missle was completely underground and would have been launched in situ ( meaning it was not raised above ground ). The Command Centre ( also underground )was only 50 feet away but it would not feel any vibrations when the rocket was fired. The construction was unbelievable. This was one of the best tours we have been on and the cost of 8.50 was cheap.
After the Titan II tour we drove to Campers World in Tucson to get a trailer Brake actuator that appiles the the electric brakes on the traler when I apply the truck brakes. The one we had was getting too hard to adjust so after 13 years we figured it probably did not owe us anything.
After supper we dropped in on Karen and Bob to see if they required us to take anything home for them as they mentioned they could be overloaded. So far, they think they can get it all in the car but will check with us on Thursday.
Tuesday, 27 March 2012
25 MARCH Sunday
Today we arranged to have Breakkfast with our friends ( Bob and Karen ) from Med Hat and another couple from Med Hat dropped in so the 6 of us spent about an hour and a half swapping stories while having breakfast. We are all leaving for home this week so they other two couples were talking about having enough room in their car for all their "stuff " and that it would take a few days to get organizedand packed. Then Bob ask me how long it took us to " Pack Up" and I said about 20 minutes; just a few min to close the slides and about 15 mins to hook up. He just shook his head.
After breakfast we decided to tour a small tourist town of Tubuc, about 20 miles away. This town is an Artsy/ Fartsy town with many many store selling Mexican pottery, real expensive pottery, high end Quilts ( I call $1500.00 Quilts as high end ) very expensive but hand made ladies clothes, Jewelry , Art and most anything else a tourist with money could want.
After 2 hours of looking at things we could never afford we decide to take a 2 hour Scenic drive thru the Desert and Mountains. Believe it or not the desert, althought seeming ugly, is actually very Scenic with many different specis of catus which are in various stages of flowering.
After a while we came upon a Border patrol check point which did not surprise me as we were very close to MX. With my " CANADA " licence plate on the front, they just waved me thru. Then I noticed we were actually going north and I knew we would have to find a road going west to get back home. So I told the " navagater" to plug in the GPS and get me heading towards home. She typed in " Diamond Desert Casino" which is 5 miles from home and apparently they were the only words she could spell. I guess "Green Valley Resort" was too hard to spell. Long story , short; we dropped into the casino long enough for Carroll to drop $20.00 and then we dropped another 20.00 for the Buffett supper.
We arrived home just in time to see the last end of the World Curling and we were happy that Switzerland won. It was now time to hit the Hot tub and swap stories with whoever else was soaking their old muscles. Amazing to us is that not many seniors use the Hot tub at night.
After breakfast we decided to tour a small tourist town of Tubuc, about 20 miles away. This town is an Artsy/ Fartsy town with many many store selling Mexican pottery, real expensive pottery, high end Quilts ( I call $1500.00 Quilts as high end ) very expensive but hand made ladies clothes, Jewelry , Art and most anything else a tourist with money could want.
After 2 hours of looking at things we could never afford we decide to take a 2 hour Scenic drive thru the Desert and Mountains. Believe it or not the desert, althought seeming ugly, is actually very Scenic with many different specis of catus which are in various stages of flowering.
After a while we came upon a Border patrol check point which did not surprise me as we were very close to MX. With my " CANADA " licence plate on the front, they just waved me thru. Then I noticed we were actually going north and I knew we would have to find a road going west to get back home. So I told the " navagater" to plug in the GPS and get me heading towards home. She typed in " Diamond Desert Casino" which is 5 miles from home and apparently they were the only words she could spell. I guess "Green Valley Resort" was too hard to spell. Long story , short; we dropped into the casino long enough for Carroll to drop $20.00 and then we dropped another 20.00 for the Buffett supper.
We arrived home just in time to see the last end of the World Curling and we were happy that Switzerland won. It was now time to hit the Hot tub and swap stories with whoever else was soaking their old muscles. Amazing to us is that not many seniors use the Hot tub at night.
24 MARCH
Today was a beautiful, sunny day ; just the type of day to laze around the pool and catch some rays which has been sparse this year. But first we had to watch the curling, especially Team Canada , in hopes that they could at least win the Bronze. After Team Canada lost to the Koreans in the playoff, we decide to "drown " our disappointment by going to the he Pool. Obvious, the Americans in the pool don't know or care about curling so we did not have to discuss the game.
Tonight was also Kareoke Night for those "Wanna Be " singer or should I say that "time has pass them by". We invited our friends, Bob and Karen over to the Kareoke and it was not too bad. It was a two beer Performance and it did help to kill an hour and a half. One lady was an excellent singer ( An American ) who sang the first half of the song in French and the last part in English without the monitor so it was not her first time signing that song. I would suggest that Elvis keep his day job for awhile yet.ha ha
About the only thing I can say is that we killed another day.
Tonight was also Kareoke Night for those "Wanna Be " singer or should I say that "time has pass them by". We invited our friends, Bob and Karen over to the Kareoke and it was not too bad. It was a two beer Performance and it did help to kill an hour and a half. One lady was an excellent singer ( An American ) who sang the first half of the song in French and the last part in English without the monitor so it was not her first time signing that song. I would suggest that Elvis keep his day job for awhile yet.ha ha
About the only thing I can say is that we killed another day.
Sunday, 25 March 2012
23 MAR
This RV park has a Computer club, so to speak but it is mostly a small group who meet to help us "computer Illiterate" people to solve our problem . I went to the meeting to get help to "organize " the thousands of pictures I took while in ZA. There were 3 guys at the meeting that were very knowledgable and one other lady who had a question about her pictures. Her problem was solved quite quickly so she left and now the 3 guys all wanted to help me.
I have my pics on two programs: " My Pictures" and on "Picasa". What I ask of them was to show me how to pick out about 100 pics from the 1000 or so I had in " My Pitures " progam and put them in a folder so I could tranfer them to a disk. Then i wanted to know how to do the same with the 1000 pics i have in "Picasa". So one guy worked with me on "My Pictures ". He was very methodical and had me practice and then make some notes which I truly required. The other two guys worked on the Picasa program and in all fairness, they do not use Picasa so they had to "Hunt " for the easiest method so they could simplify it for me. These guys were great and I'm sure they love the challange. I was invited to return next Friday but we are leaving so I hope they can find another challange.
Tonight was a windup night as people are starting to head home so the had a "Talent Night" better known as "No talent" but it was a fun evening to see people had the nerve to get on the stage and perform. We were a little late and when we got there the place was full and all the chairs were taken so I had to go to the RV and get our own chairs. It just proves that Seniors will attend anything that's Free.
I have my pics on two programs: " My Pictures" and on "Picasa". What I ask of them was to show me how to pick out about 100 pics from the 1000 or so I had in " My Pitures " progam and put them in a folder so I could tranfer them to a disk. Then i wanted to know how to do the same with the 1000 pics i have in "Picasa". So one guy worked with me on "My Pictures ". He was very methodical and had me practice and then make some notes which I truly required. The other two guys worked on the Picasa program and in all fairness, they do not use Picasa so they had to "Hunt " for the easiest method so they could simplify it for me. These guys were great and I'm sure they love the challange. I was invited to return next Friday but we are leaving so I hope they can find another challange.
Tonight was a windup night as people are starting to head home so the had a "Talent Night" better known as "No talent" but it was a fun evening to see people had the nerve to get on the stage and perform. We were a little late and when we got there the place was full and all the chairs were taken so I had to go to the RV and get our own chairs. It just proves that Seniors will attend anything that's Free.
Friday, 23 March 2012
22 March
As i mentioned a few days ago, we heard a Growling from the brakes. I assumed that my front brakes were the probable cause since hauling a 5th wheel seems to wear out the front brakes first.About 100,000 Km ago i did have the front brakes pads replaced so i would not be surprised if they needed to be replaced again. The closes Brake company ( like Midas ) was in Tucson some 30 miles away, so off we go see what the damages would be. The first Brake company I chose said he would be 1 1/2 before he could look at them but I felt he was being generous with his timing since all 10 bays were full and he had 8 work orders complete with the Keys sitting on the counter so I opted to find another garage. Next on my list was Midas. They were busy but i laid the "tourist" story on him and that I could not wait too long. So he said he would have a man on it in less than 1/2 an hour which he did. Once they had the brakes exposed it was not a pretty picture. The rear brakes were actually the problem, as they so rusted that they would not release when the brakes were released , hence the growling. Therefore both rear systems had to be replaced. The front rotors were turned the last I replaced the pads and they were close to the safe limit. All that to say that i had to replace all 4 brakes system at a cost of 1500.00
Carroll and i went to the Olive garden for lunch and then to the Tucson Mall to kill 3 hours until the truck was repaired.So that is how we spent Thursday.
Carroll and i went to the Olive garden for lunch and then to the Tucson Mall to kill 3 hours until the truck was repaired.So that is how we spent Thursday.
19 th MAR to 21 MAR
19th Mar.... When i got up at 6 AM the temp was 5C. Where the hell is that gobal Warming; certainly not in AZ. The up side is that as soon as the Sun comes up the temp goes up to 25 C or above. Our friend Bob was in his year end ball tournment starting at 10 AM so we drop in to watch the games and by noon it was so warm we had to remove our jackets. The afternoon was spent watch the Ladies curling and soaking up the sun between games. Otherwise a lazy day. We also heard a "growl " coming from the truck brakes so now that will have to be checked sometime this week.
20th Mar.... Today is " Sticky Bun Breakfast" day at our park. A few of our Park residence get out of bed in the early hours of the morning to bake a few hundred Sticking Buns for sale with the morning Coffee. I am amazed that Seniors are that ambistion to do this every Tuesday but be that as it may , the Buns were great. We were advised that the doors opened at 8 AM but you better be in lined up by 7:45, which I did and the line-up was building by then.
We invited Karen and Bob Charette over for Happy Hour and Supper, at which time we had a beer and swapped stories about our travels. This is the first time they had a chance to ask us about our trip to South Africa and of course they look at our pictures. The Charettes are amazed ( along with many others )that we went to and traveled for 3 months in ZA without a well layout plan.
The Charettes are renting a home in Green Valley so they only have the American TV so we turned on the curling so both of us could watch it.
21 March... Temp was 3C at 6 AM. Between the two curling games we did some grocery shopping as the park was hosting a Potluck Supper and Carroll decided on a cassrole dish for which we needed the ingredients. Since one of the other food groups was on sale, I picked up another dozen Beer to get me thru to the time we are leaving Green Valley. I knew, from experience that the peole attending the Potluck would be reserving their table before the doors opened so i went to the hall around 5 PM and i seen the most of the tables were reserved but there were some openings. As it turned out the the lady responsible for some of the night entertainment was in the hall and she invited us to sit with them as there was room for 2 more so I gladly accepted. Two of the couples were farmers , one of the couples were from Iowa and the other couple was from Illinois.
After the supper the Farm Manager from the Green Valley Pecan farm gave us a speech on the history of the family that owns the 7000 acre farm and some history of the area. It was most interesting because the Grandparents were actually Cotton Farmers but switch to Pecans shortly after WWII. I described the farming aspect in my earlier Blog so i won't go into that but it seems the Peanuts are very profitable. Apparently Pecans are most productive at an altitude between 3000 and 4000 ft and green valley is 4000 ft. So the next time you hear some say " that only cost peanuts" just think of the Multi Millionaire Green Valley Pecan family farmers.
20th Mar.... Today is " Sticky Bun Breakfast" day at our park. A few of our Park residence get out of bed in the early hours of the morning to bake a few hundred Sticking Buns for sale with the morning Coffee. I am amazed that Seniors are that ambistion to do this every Tuesday but be that as it may , the Buns were great. We were advised that the doors opened at 8 AM but you better be in lined up by 7:45, which I did and the line-up was building by then.
We invited Karen and Bob Charette over for Happy Hour and Supper, at which time we had a beer and swapped stories about our travels. This is the first time they had a chance to ask us about our trip to South Africa and of course they look at our pictures. The Charettes are amazed ( along with many others )that we went to and traveled for 3 months in ZA without a well layout plan.
The Charettes are renting a home in Green Valley so they only have the American TV so we turned on the curling so both of us could watch it.
21 March... Temp was 3C at 6 AM. Between the two curling games we did some grocery shopping as the park was hosting a Potluck Supper and Carroll decided on a cassrole dish for which we needed the ingredients. Since one of the other food groups was on sale, I picked up another dozen Beer to get me thru to the time we are leaving Green Valley. I knew, from experience that the peole attending the Potluck would be reserving their table before the doors opened so i went to the hall around 5 PM and i seen the most of the tables were reserved but there were some openings. As it turned out the the lady responsible for some of the night entertainment was in the hall and she invited us to sit with them as there was room for 2 more so I gladly accepted. Two of the couples were farmers , one of the couples were from Iowa and the other couple was from Illinois.
After the supper the Farm Manager from the Green Valley Pecan farm gave us a speech on the history of the family that owns the 7000 acre farm and some history of the area. It was most interesting because the Grandparents were actually Cotton Farmers but switch to Pecans shortly after WWII. I described the farming aspect in my earlier Blog so i won't go into that but it seems the Peanuts are very profitable. Apparently Pecans are most productive at an altitude between 3000 and 4000 ft and green valley is 4000 ft. So the next time you hear some say " that only cost peanuts" just think of the Multi Millionaire Green Valley Pecan family farmers.
Thursday, 22 March 2012
18 th MAR
Tempature at 7 AM was 7 C and the wind and rain continued all night and for most of the day. The wind was so strong it drove the rain thru a gasket on one of our slides which I did not notice until the morning, hence a small leak occured but it did not do any damage as it dripped on a chair. By now the Satellite dish was vibrating so fast it could not hold the signal. So I had to bear the wind and rain and relocate the satellite around the trailer out of the wind. Luckily, I found the signal; actually I found enough of a signal ( 36 percent ) to watch curling and hockey, a better signal can wait until the wind and rain subsides.
After stopping the water leak we decided to go out for Breakfast so we called Bob and Karen to join us, which then did.
Since the weather was miserable, we spent the rest of the day inside watching the curling and a few hockey games. Incidentally, we have two TVs so there is never a problem about who gets the "Remote".ha ha.
After stopping the water leak we decided to go out for Breakfast so we called Bob and Karen to join us, which then did.
Since the weather was miserable, we spent the rest of the day inside watching the curling and a few hockey games. Incidentally, we have two TVs so there is never a problem about who gets the "Remote".ha ha.
17 Mar.... St. Paddy's Day
Being of Irish heritage of course we had to wear Green for the Day.
It was not a nice day , weather wise, as a cold front was moving in and the forecast was for wind driven rain. The wind did pick up and was so strong that it blew my satellite over, by pulling a 1 foot tie down stake right out of the ground. I could have; in fact I should have moved the satellite but one never likes to move the satellite once it is set up for fear that you can not find the signal again. I told myself ,if the wind did not die down by morning i would move the Satellite. Since there was no sign of rain I had hoped the storm was over.
We were invited for supper, to our friends winter home a few miles away. Bob and Karen Charette ( another Irish name ) spend the winter down in Green Valley as it is great for golfing ( a sport they both live for ) and Bob plays ball twice a week. We also met another couple at their house whom were from Med Hat . Karen served a great supper and Bob serves a mean Beer.
By the time we left the Charettes at 10 PM the wind had picked up and it was dam cold. We later found out the Tucson; some 30 miles away, actually got a little snow, hence the reason for the cool tempature. Althought it did not rain on Sat evening it sure looked like it was coming. And it Did !!!!!
It was not a nice day , weather wise, as a cold front was moving in and the forecast was for wind driven rain. The wind did pick up and was so strong that it blew my satellite over, by pulling a 1 foot tie down stake right out of the ground. I could have; in fact I should have moved the satellite but one never likes to move the satellite once it is set up for fear that you can not find the signal again. I told myself ,if the wind did not die down by morning i would move the Satellite. Since there was no sign of rain I had hoped the storm was over.
We were invited for supper, to our friends winter home a few miles away. Bob and Karen Charette ( another Irish name ) spend the winter down in Green Valley as it is great for golfing ( a sport they both live for ) and Bob plays ball twice a week. We also met another couple at their house whom were from Med Hat . Karen served a great supper and Bob serves a mean Beer.
By the time we left the Charettes at 10 PM the wind had picked up and it was dam cold. We later found out the Tucson; some 30 miles away, actually got a little snow, hence the reason for the cool tempature. Althought it did not rain on Sat evening it sure looked like it was coming. And it Did !!!!!
Wednesday, 21 March 2012
16 MAR.. to Green Valley
16 MAR We left Weavers Needle around 10 AM and headed for Green Valley. This was a 3 hour drive which took us thru several small town until we reached Tucson. At this point we had to take I-10 for a few miles until we reached hwy 19 which headed south to Mexico. Thiry miles out of Tucson we reached Green Valley and our trusty GPS took us right to the RV park. the park has 300 very nice sites, which is small by most standards but the people are real friendly. While I was setting up I seen 3 guys looking at my truck which was parked in another driveway so it was out of my way. I told them I would move it shortly and they said it was OK, as we were just looking at your licence plate; so where are you from. When I said, AB , Canada, they said we love you guys coming here for the winter because these RV camps could not not survive without you. This RV park has all the facilities with more than enough activities. They even have a computer course which I will attend on Friday.
Green Valley which is an area not a city. It is not an Incorporated town or city; it has not area council, hence it does not pass By-Law; it is governed by the County.
The area is noted for growing Peacan Nuts as the Green valley Pecan Co. produces 368 million pounds of Pecan nuts every year from there 7000 acres farms. They ship 30% to Europe, and rest are sold in the USA, mostly to Costco under the Kirkland name.
For a little insight into the Peacan nut; the trees grow to about 30 feet high and they prune 25 percent of the trees each year to keep them at their maximun production. The trees, which were planted in 1965 but can live for a thousand years, are planted in precise rows 20 ft apart with 60 feet between the rows for ease of harvesting them. The harvesting is done in 3 phases: a machines shakes the Peacans from the trees: the Pecans are swepted into a windrow: and the windrow are picked up with a harvester. Pecans take alot of water and these farms have 34 deep wells , 1000 ft deep with a 20 inch casing. They have to irrigate about 12 or 13 times a year and most farms are " Flood " irrigated.
The other large employer is Freeport MacMoran Mining company, and these huge open mines are viewed for miles. We intend to take a tour of the mines so they will be more to come on this subject.
Green Valley which is an area not a city. It is not an Incorporated town or city; it has not area council, hence it does not pass By-Law; it is governed by the County.
The area is noted for growing Peacan Nuts as the Green valley Pecan Co. produces 368 million pounds of Pecan nuts every year from there 7000 acres farms. They ship 30% to Europe, and rest are sold in the USA, mostly to Costco under the Kirkland name.
For a little insight into the Peacan nut; the trees grow to about 30 feet high and they prune 25 percent of the trees each year to keep them at their maximun production. The trees, which were planted in 1965 but can live for a thousand years, are planted in precise rows 20 ft apart with 60 feet between the rows for ease of harvesting them. The harvesting is done in 3 phases: a machines shakes the Peacans from the trees: the Pecans are swepted into a windrow: and the windrow are picked up with a harvester. Pecans take alot of water and these farms have 34 deep wells , 1000 ft deep with a 20 inch casing. They have to irrigate about 12 or 13 times a year and most farms are " Flood " irrigated.
The other large employer is Freeport MacMoran Mining company, and these huge open mines are viewed for miles. We intend to take a tour of the mines so they will be more to come on this subject.
Monday, 19 March 2012
13 Mar to 15 mar
13 MAR We got an email from our friends , Trevor and Carol from Kelona, BC a few days ago to say they were in Casa Grande ( a hour from Apache Junction )visiting with friends from Calgary, on their return trip home from Mexico where they spent the winter. We have not seen Trevor and Carol for about 2 years ( boy, how time flies )so we insisted that they bring their friends ( Darlene and Eugene )to out RV site for a " Burger and Beer " on the 13 th. Low and behold when they arrived we realized that we knew Darlene and Eugene as we had met them at a Bar-B-Q in Black Diamond in July. "What a small world we live in". Anyhow we had a great visit with our friends and hope that we meet again before 2 years passes.
14 MAR I needed a haircut since my last haircut was in MX in late Jan so we decided to seek a barber shop that we had seen while driving down Apache Drive in Mesa. It was a one man shop but he was not " The Wealthy Barbar " , however he was so full of B. S. his eyes were Brown. He was actually quite funny: as soon as I sat in the chair, he said " who the cut your hair the last time", I said you did and then i started to laugh, so he knew I was joking. I must say , he did tell me alot of funny story about things that happen in his shop as he comes from a family of Barbers and seemed to be proud of the trade.
After my hair cut, we went to an Olive farm some 20 miles away. We intended to take the Tour and then to have lunch at their very excellent restaurant. Little did we know that half of the Snowbirds from Mesa and Apache Junction got there ahead of us and the tour was sold out for the next hour. Therfore we decided that the Tour wasn't all that important to us, so we settled for an excellent lunch of soup and sandwich with names i can't pronounce or spell.
After lunch we decided to tour the area as it seemed to be a brand area with about 6 different subdivisions. If there is a recession in the USA it sure did not reach this area as there must have been about 5000 new unscale homes and a brand new High School that would make ours in Alberta look like a Pig Pen. The school had a paved parking lot about the size of the one in Wal-mart, along with several base ball and soft ball diamonds, a football stadium, and Tennis courts. Recession be dam?????
15 MAR Well, we are leaving Weavers Needle tomorrow so there is always lots to do to get ready as we will want to hit the road by 10 AM. The first painful job was to fill the truck with fuel and disel is 4.09 a gallon and this F350 doesn't stop drinking until the meter gets to $100.00.
I don't know why, but there never seems to be enough room to repack everything as the storage area seems to shrink or we gain more junk while the RV sits in the camp ground. With alot of preceverance I finally got everthing packed except the satellite as it does not get packed until after the markets open the next day. The weather is real nice so tomorrow should be a got travel day.
14 MAR I needed a haircut since my last haircut was in MX in late Jan so we decided to seek a barber shop that we had seen while driving down Apache Drive in Mesa. It was a one man shop but he was not " The Wealthy Barbar " , however he was so full of B. S. his eyes were Brown. He was actually quite funny: as soon as I sat in the chair, he said " who the cut your hair the last time", I said you did and then i started to laugh, so he knew I was joking. I must say , he did tell me alot of funny story about things that happen in his shop as he comes from a family of Barbers and seemed to be proud of the trade.
After my hair cut, we went to an Olive farm some 20 miles away. We intended to take the Tour and then to have lunch at their very excellent restaurant. Little did we know that half of the Snowbirds from Mesa and Apache Junction got there ahead of us and the tour was sold out for the next hour. Therfore we decided that the Tour wasn't all that important to us, so we settled for an excellent lunch of soup and sandwich with names i can't pronounce or spell.
After lunch we decided to tour the area as it seemed to be a brand area with about 6 different subdivisions. If there is a recession in the USA it sure did not reach this area as there must have been about 5000 new unscale homes and a brand new High School that would make ours in Alberta look like a Pig Pen. The school had a paved parking lot about the size of the one in Wal-mart, along with several base ball and soft ball diamonds, a football stadium, and Tennis courts. Recession be dam?????
15 MAR Well, we are leaving Weavers Needle tomorrow so there is always lots to do to get ready as we will want to hit the road by 10 AM. The first painful job was to fill the truck with fuel and disel is 4.09 a gallon and this F350 doesn't stop drinking until the meter gets to $100.00.
I don't know why, but there never seems to be enough room to repack everything as the storage area seems to shrink or we gain more junk while the RV sits in the camp ground. With alot of preceverance I finally got everthing packed except the satellite as it does not get packed until after the markets open the next day. The weather is real nice so tomorrow should be a got travel day.
Saturday, 17 March 2012
10 mar to 12 Mar--- Apache Junction
Well, this Blog seems to be getting the "short shift" lately, with all the curling and hockey on TV; friends to visit and other things to do or places to see. On Saturday morning we decided to take in the pancake breakfast at the park, mainly to meet some people because as you know Pancakes are Pancakes. This breakfast was quite organized and it came with 2 pancakes, 2 sauage, coffee and juice. You paid your 3.00 at the door and handed in your plates and they give you a number. When your number is called, you held up your hand and someone delivers the breakfast to your table. As it turns out, we were the last ones to go for breakfast which means we were last to be served. However, there was lots of food and they where forcing us to take extra food.
After breakfast we were back to the TV to watch the Brier. To be truthful, if Alberta was not in all the games I might have found something eles to do but we were pulling for the Koe team so we endured.
On Sunday, 11 mar, we were back to the TV for both the Bronze medal game and the gold medal game. After the last game we went to see Rusty and Laura ( from St. Thomas ) to play cards and to say goodbye as their kids where coming on Tuesday so we would not see them again.... this year.
On Monday, 12 March we decide to check out the local hangout called the Old Mining restaurant where it has a cowboy/mining town motif. We were met at the door by a guy dress as Jessie James ( I think ) who had a great rapor with the crowd. He shook my hand and thanked me for coming because until I came he said he was the ugliest guy in the place. I guess he was a comedian in his other life.
This restaurant is family style as 12 to 14 people sit at each table, made for good conversations. They had the old style place setting with tin ( Probably stainless steel ) plates, cups and glasses. The menu was set but it included , all you can eat, ribs, ham,chicken, potatoes ,cole slaw,bread and beans. The beer was extra but only cost 3.00. After the meal, the entertainment was what seemed to be four beaded Hillbillies from the backwoods of Tennasee, called the McNasty Brothers. However they were excellent muscians and quite comical as they kept us laughing for an hour or so. Althought they are now retired from their "real job" they were all professionals in their field. It always amazes me how working , professionals people can find the time to learn a musical instrutment but I guess it is just a hobby to them. to bad i coudn't add some pics.
After breakfast we were back to the TV to watch the Brier. To be truthful, if Alberta was not in all the games I might have found something eles to do but we were pulling for the Koe team so we endured.
On Sunday, 11 mar, we were back to the TV for both the Bronze medal game and the gold medal game. After the last game we went to see Rusty and Laura ( from St. Thomas ) to play cards and to say goodbye as their kids where coming on Tuesday so we would not see them again.... this year.
On Monday, 12 March we decide to check out the local hangout called the Old Mining restaurant where it has a cowboy/mining town motif. We were met at the door by a guy dress as Jessie James ( I think ) who had a great rapor with the crowd. He shook my hand and thanked me for coming because until I came he said he was the ugliest guy in the place. I guess he was a comedian in his other life.
This restaurant is family style as 12 to 14 people sit at each table, made for good conversations. They had the old style place setting with tin ( Probably stainless steel ) plates, cups and glasses. The menu was set but it included , all you can eat, ribs, ham,chicken, potatoes ,cole slaw,bread and beans. The beer was extra but only cost 3.00. After the meal, the entertainment was what seemed to be four beaded Hillbillies from the backwoods of Tennasee, called the McNasty Brothers. However they were excellent muscians and quite comical as they kept us laughing for an hour or so. Althought they are now retired from their "real job" they were all professionals in their field. It always amazes me how working , professionals people can find the time to learn a musical instrutment but I guess it is just a hobby to them. to bad i coudn't add some pics.
Saturday, 10 March 2012
Since 24 th Feb to 9 th Mar
I have been somewhat tardy with my Blog but after 3 months in ZA it hard to compare Apache Junction with the Elephants, Tigers and the swimming in the Indian Ocean. We did watch the Ladies curling with AB winning and now we are watching the Men's curling so that chews up alot of our time. However we have done a little entertaining or gone to some entertainment so to speak.
We had ex-military friends from Comox, BC ,the Carlyles' ,over for dinner one night so we got to swap a few stories. The next day we decided to do some touring around the area as there is lots to see such as an old Gold mine Town. They did mine a few million ounces of gold from this area around the late 1800's. They eventually dug down so deep they hit an underground river which flooded all the mines so that ended the gold mining. Now they just "Mine" the tourists pockets but it was interesting.
Then we went hunting for the Weaver's Needle. We orginally thought Weavers needle had something to do with weaving or making blankets but we were informed that it was a Rock formation in Superstition Mountain ( that is another story ). We did find the monument for Weavers Needle and used all the imagination to actually see it as a needle. But we did read the plaque to find out it was named after a lady named Pauline Weaver, so I'll sleep better now that I know that.
We also took in a 50's/ 60's dance with some friends and of course we had an Elvis Band . I was actually amazed at the people who managed to find clothes from the 50's and even more so that they could clothes that actually fit.
One evening we took in the Dutton Family show which is a "Branson Show" during the summer but they have a winter home in Mesa so they built a theatre here so they could get all the Snowbirds who are too cheap to go to Branson.
On Friday we decided to drive the "Original Apache Trail" which is a 100 Mile circle trip thru the mountains. This trip takes a whole day but the scenery is gorgerous. However, this trip has 22 miles of gravel/dirt road, at 20 MPH, which winds thru the mountains and at times is one lane wide, enough for 1 vehicle only. Besides Carroll screaming " Don't get over; Don't get over" it was a very nice trip. I tried to tell her that i have never driven over a cliff since we have been married ( 48 yrs ) so there is nothing to worry about. Cose calls don't count. ha ha.
Last night we went to a Pizza Joint with friends called the Organ Pipe and it is unbelieveable. This place has seating for 500 People and i think there was 550 people in the place. Also, they have an Organist who plays continously and he will play any request that you give him. Every 20 mins the Organ drops into the stage so the organist can take a 5 min break. They ask how many Cdns where in attendance, which usually is the majourity, and then they play our National Anthem followed by the Americam anthem.
We are leaving Apache Junction on thurs and going to Green Valley, just below Tucson as we have some friends from Home who spend the winter golfing in the area. We will probably stay there for 2 weeks and then take our time heading home. cheers. T and C
We had ex-military friends from Comox, BC ,the Carlyles' ,over for dinner one night so we got to swap a few stories. The next day we decided to do some touring around the area as there is lots to see such as an old Gold mine Town. They did mine a few million ounces of gold from this area around the late 1800's. They eventually dug down so deep they hit an underground river which flooded all the mines so that ended the gold mining. Now they just "Mine" the tourists pockets but it was interesting.
Then we went hunting for the Weaver's Needle. We orginally thought Weavers needle had something to do with weaving or making blankets but we were informed that it was a Rock formation in Superstition Mountain ( that is another story ). We did find the monument for Weavers Needle and used all the imagination to actually see it as a needle. But we did read the plaque to find out it was named after a lady named Pauline Weaver, so I'll sleep better now that I know that.
We also took in a 50's/ 60's dance with some friends and of course we had an Elvis Band . I was actually amazed at the people who managed to find clothes from the 50's and even more so that they could clothes that actually fit.
One evening we took in the Dutton Family show which is a "Branson Show" during the summer but they have a winter home in Mesa so they built a theatre here so they could get all the Snowbirds who are too cheap to go to Branson.
On Friday we decided to drive the "Original Apache Trail" which is a 100 Mile circle trip thru the mountains. This trip takes a whole day but the scenery is gorgerous. However, this trip has 22 miles of gravel/dirt road, at 20 MPH, which winds thru the mountains and at times is one lane wide, enough for 1 vehicle only. Besides Carroll screaming " Don't get over; Don't get over" it was a very nice trip. I tried to tell her that i have never driven over a cliff since we have been married ( 48 yrs ) so there is nothing to worry about. Cose calls don't count. ha ha.
Last night we went to a Pizza Joint with friends called the Organ Pipe and it is unbelieveable. This place has seating for 500 People and i think there was 550 people in the place. Also, they have an Organist who plays continously and he will play any request that you give him. Every 20 mins the Organ drops into the stage so the organist can take a 5 min break. They ask how many Cdns where in attendance, which usually is the majourity, and then they play our National Anthem followed by the Americam anthem.
We are leaving Apache Junction on thurs and going to Green Valley, just below Tucson as we have some friends from Home who spend the winter golfing in the area. We will probably stay there for 2 weeks and then take our time heading home. cheers. T and C
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
24 Feb Happy Hour with Friends
The weather has been great lately as the temp during the day has reach the mid 30's C even thought it does cool down at night but you must remember, this is a desert and that is how the weather works in a desert.
We went shopping this morning but forgot it was "Apache Junction Daze" and got caught in the parade route. We should have known better because we were told about the traffic but I just forgot. However, after driving in south africa cities, this is a piece of cake. After picking up a few groceries we headed home to get out of the malaze and decided to hit the pool to relax for a couple of hours.
Today we invited friends Em and Kandy Davies and Stan and Helen Aberlye, from Med Hat, over for Happy Hour and enjoyed there company. Since we left home in Oct and have only seen them for a few mins since we arr in Apache Junction, we had lots of " local gossip " to catch up on. Also the ladies curling was on TV so we had to move inside to watch the Alberta Team beat Manitoba. Not only do we all like curling, we also think we need to call the shots for the skip. Anyhow, the Alberta Team will represent Canada at the Worlds and that is the main point.
We went shopping this morning but forgot it was "Apache Junction Daze" and got caught in the parade route. We should have known better because we were told about the traffic but I just forgot. However, after driving in south africa cities, this is a piece of cake. After picking up a few groceries we headed home to get out of the malaze and decided to hit the pool to relax for a couple of hours.
Today we invited friends Em and Kandy Davies and Stan and Helen Aberlye, from Med Hat, over for Happy Hour and enjoyed there company. Since we left home in Oct and have only seen them for a few mins since we arr in Apache Junction, we had lots of " local gossip " to catch up on. Also the ladies curling was on TV so we had to move inside to watch the Alberta Team beat Manitoba. Not only do we all like curling, we also think we need to call the shots for the skip. Anyhow, the Alberta Team will represent Canada at the Worlds and that is the main point.
Sunday, 26 February 2012
21 Feb to 23 Feb
Most of these days were spent watching the curling. Between games we did some shopping, getting some propane, hitting the pool. Some of our American neighbours said that they did not see us outside later. We mentioned that we were watching curling. And you can guess what they said. " What the hell is curling ".
So there goes 3 more days in sunny Arizona.
So there goes 3 more days in sunny Arizona.
20 Feb lazy day
As i have mentioned previous, many people from Medicine Hat winter in this area.
as it turns out,there are enough players in one particular RV park to form an all Medicine Hat Team and they play in a Monday morning league. Since I have played with some and against most of them, we ventured to their park to watch 2 games. Besides, we were waiting on the ladies curling to start so we needed to kill some time. ha ha.
In the afternoon we dropped in to visit our friends from ST. Thomas, ON and stayed to play a few rounds of cards which killed the Afternoon. So that's how you get thru Lazy Day in Arizona
as it turns out,there are enough players in one particular RV park to form an all Medicine Hat Team and they play in a Monday morning league. Since I have played with some and against most of them, we ventured to their park to watch 2 games. Besides, we were waiting on the ladies curling to start so we needed to kill some time. ha ha.
In the afternoon we dropped in to visit our friends from ST. Thomas, ON and stayed to play a few rounds of cards which killed the Afternoon. So that's how you get thru Lazy Day in Arizona
19 Feb Sunday Filly's Cowboy Bar
Two of our friends from Med Hat, whom have a winter home in Mesa ask us to join them for lunch at Filly's which is a "Real Authentic Cowboy " Bar and Grill, which is located, in the country side , about 2 miles from our park. Now, I have been to " The Ranchman" Bar in Calgary and it is no doubt a Western " Cowboy" bar where blue jeans, cowboy boots and Stetsons are the dress of the day. But it does not carry a candle to Filly's because this will take you back at least 50 years.
Filly's is so popular with all the " snowbirds" you have to be there by noon in order to get a table even though the Western band does not start until 1 PM. The band is outdoors and so is most of the seating/tables, however, you can bring your own chairs and sit on the lawn. Even thought they have sufficent waitress, they have a " walk up bar window " for those who can not wait for a beer and they also have a separate " animal style drinking trow " full of beer and ice for those too thirsty to wait for a waitress.
I took a visual count of those seated and it was around 250 but there was at least 100 people standing. I doubt there is a Fire code since it is outdoors. Because it is so crowded, the waitresses are not shy about telling you to get out of their way when coming thru with food and Beer.
Filly's also has real cowboys/cowgirls in attendance and this day there where 17 or 18 of them that rode up on horseback as Filly's has a hitching rail right outside the outdoor bar. The cowboys and cowgirls were dressed with chaps,spurs and worn out stetson's and one guy even had a pistol/gun even thought the sign read " No Weapons " allowed. I assume it was for show only.
We stayed for about 3 hours to swap stories with our friends, had lunch, did a little dancing , and mostly watched the people, especially the cowboys. One of the cowgirls was dressed as Annie Oakly but i did not have the nerve to take a picture. Did I mention that they serve Beer. Filly's was a great experience and we will definitely return for a second helping of fun as it was a good way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
Filly's is so popular with all the " snowbirds" you have to be there by noon in order to get a table even though the Western band does not start until 1 PM. The band is outdoors and so is most of the seating/tables, however, you can bring your own chairs and sit on the lawn. Even thought they have sufficent waitress, they have a " walk up bar window " for those who can not wait for a beer and they also have a separate " animal style drinking trow " full of beer and ice for those too thirsty to wait for a waitress.
I took a visual count of those seated and it was around 250 but there was at least 100 people standing. I doubt there is a Fire code since it is outdoors. Because it is so crowded, the waitresses are not shy about telling you to get out of their way when coming thru with food and Beer.
Filly's also has real cowboys/cowgirls in attendance and this day there where 17 or 18 of them that rode up on horseback as Filly's has a hitching rail right outside the outdoor bar. The cowboys and cowgirls were dressed with chaps,spurs and worn out stetson's and one guy even had a pistol/gun even thought the sign read " No Weapons " allowed. I assume it was for show only.
We stayed for about 3 hours to swap stories with our friends, had lunch, did a little dancing , and mostly watched the people, especially the cowboys. One of the cowgirls was dressed as Annie Oakly but i did not have the nerve to take a picture. Did I mention that they serve Beer. Filly's was a great experience and we will definitely return for a second helping of fun as it was a good way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
Friday, 24 February 2012
18 th Feb Saturday
Several of my friends from Med Hat were playing in a ball tournament at Monte Vista RV park at 9 AM so we ventured over to watch them. As it turns out the ladies went shopping for few hours. When i got to the ball field I not only met my friends from Med Hat but there were several American players that I have play with over the years. I played with 2 of the American in Mesquite , NV about 8 years ago so it makes you realize just how fast the time flies. As a point of interest, each team had 6 Canadians so you can imagine just how many Cdns are spending the winter in this area.
After the tournament we visited with Lynn and Margret Ann, for an hour or so as they are returning home on shortly because Lynn is feeling " under the weather " and does not want to get sick or worse, hospitalized here. Also, they have sold their Condo in Med Hat and are moving in May to BC and of course have some things to get ready for the move.
Also, the Scotties ( Ladies Curling ) was started so we wanted to see the action. Additonally, we always carry to two TV's because I switch from Curling to Hockey and that drives Carroll nuts. so you can say: we have a His and Her TV.
After the tournament we visited with Lynn and Margret Ann, for an hour or so as they are returning home on shortly because Lynn is feeling " under the weather " and does not want to get sick or worse, hospitalized here. Also, they have sold their Condo in Med Hat and are moving in May to BC and of course have some things to get ready for the move.
Also, the Scotties ( Ladies Curling ) was started so we wanted to see the action. Additonally, we always carry to two TV's because I switch from Curling to Hockey and that drives Carroll nuts. so you can say: we have a His and Her TV.
17 th Feb Friday
Today was a slow day and we are invited out for supper by some friends ( Lynn and Margrat Ann) from Med Hat who are in a different park. Actually, the trailer did not feel level on one side so rather than connect up and move it to put it on my " Leveling Boards" I decided to jack up the axles and slip the boards under the tires. This project took about an hour and when you don't have much to do , it really does matter how you take to do it.
You may have heard the story about the Wife of a retired guy who ask him what he intended to do today; he said he was going to do Nothing; she said you did that yesterday; he said, I know but I didn't finish it. Well, that'a about how i felt.
Around 4 PM we ventured to our friends for supper and there was 2 other couples of which one was another friend from Med Hat. The other couple where Canadians , retired farmer and teacher who travel exclusive and had recently been to South Africa, so naturally we swapped stories.
Lynn advised me that there was a ball tournament in his park the next day and that a few Med Hat players were in the tournament so i decided attend that tournament. After a great supper and some refreshment we called it a day
You may have heard the story about the Wife of a retired guy who ask him what he intended to do today; he said he was going to do Nothing; she said you did that yesterday; he said, I know but I didn't finish it. Well, that'a about how i felt.
Around 4 PM we ventured to our friends for supper and there was 2 other couples of which one was another friend from Med Hat. The other couple where Canadians , retired farmer and teacher who travel exclusive and had recently been to South Africa, so naturally we swapped stories.
Lynn advised me that there was a ball tournament in his park the next day and that a few Med Hat players were in the tournament so i decided attend that tournament. After a great supper and some refreshment we called it a day
Thursday, 23 February 2012
16 Feb Apache Junction
Today was a "Get Organised Day " since we are new to this area of the country. Our friends gave us the "Lay of the Land", but mostly where to shop and the locations of the several other RV Parks where many of our friends are spending the winter. The first thing was to do some grocery shopping and in AZ, a company called "Fry's " is the competition for Wal-Mart and Safeways for groceries. Since the prices are competitive , we shop there because they have a "rewards " card that give 10 cents off a gallon of gas if you spend 100.00 and their diesel is at least 5 cents cheaper than any other gas station. Incidentally , diesel cost 3.75 / gal and gas is around 3.45/gal. The state Sales Tax is 10%.
We had intended to visit the AZ Tourisum today to get some tips on the " Must See " in the area but we ran out of time. There are quite a few areas to visit, such as the Roosevelt Dam, Superstition Mountain, and Tortilla ( pronounced Tor tea a ) Flats, which is an authentic old stagecoach stop , now better known as a must see, Tourist Trap. Somedays they have a bar room fight which spreads out to the street and ends up being a gun fight. They also have a Swap Meet in Apache Junction; which we call a Flea market, and it is so huge you need 2 or 3 days just to walk the entire area. If they don't sell it, then you don't need it. We have scheduled the Swap Meet for Sunday.
I should mention that we are also watching the Ladies curling if and when we can squeeze it into our schedule. The park also has a Jam Session at the Park Hall once a week at 7 PM but we did not get there until 7 PM and it was full, with a sign on the door saying to come back at half time. I guess the "Jammers" are real good or the people in the park stuck for some entertainment.
We had intended to visit the AZ Tourisum today to get some tips on the " Must See " in the area but we ran out of time. There are quite a few areas to visit, such as the Roosevelt Dam, Superstition Mountain, and Tortilla ( pronounced Tor tea a ) Flats, which is an authentic old stagecoach stop , now better known as a must see, Tourist Trap. Somedays they have a bar room fight which spreads out to the street and ends up being a gun fight. They also have a Swap Meet in Apache Junction; which we call a Flea market, and it is so huge you need 2 or 3 days just to walk the entire area. If they don't sell it, then you don't need it. We have scheduled the Swap Meet for Sunday.
I should mention that we are also watching the Ladies curling if and when we can squeeze it into our schedule. The park also has a Jam Session at the Park Hall once a week at 7 PM but we did not get there until 7 PM and it was full, with a sign on the door saying to come back at half time. I guess the "Jammers" are real good or the people in the park stuck for some entertainment.
Monday, 20 February 2012
15 Feb Yuma to Apache Junction
On 15 Feb we left Yuma and headed for Apache Junction which is about a 4 1/2 hour drive so we expected to arrive in the early afternoon. However, when we reached Casa Grande it was lunch time so we decided to stop for lunch at Cracker Barrel, which is a favorite of ours.
Apache Junction is east of the Phoenix/Mesa area and is a desert community nestled in the shawdow of Superstition Mountain. It has a year round population of 42,000 and a seasonal ( Oct to april )population of 35,000, mainly snowbirds like ourselves. Apache Junction is spread out with several huge shopping Malls but it does not have a downtown area,so to speak.
Our RV park is called " Weavers Needle ". I assumed it was so named because the ladies did a lot of quiltting . But I was advised that there is a landmark that, with a bit of imaginations, looks like a Weavers Needle. I'll take their word for it because I'm not all that interested in finding a " Needle in the Mountains ".
We pulled into the RV park and were allotted a space. Most parks , including this one has a spotter to help with parking as most spaces are back in. " Cliff " the spotter insisted that he show me the space first, so away we go in his golf cart to check the Space. I did not like the space as it was not level so I selected another one. After we got back in Carroll noted that a Palm Tree was so close to our awning that we would not be able to open it. So, Cliff and I got in his golf cart again and went looking for another space which would accommodate our trailer. I stepped off the length of the next space to make sure we would fit before I backed in . Finally we got set up and we will call this home for the next month.
Then we called our friends from Med Hat who are parked nearby and they dropped over to say hello and have a friendly drink.
Apache Junction is east of the Phoenix/Mesa area and is a desert community nestled in the shawdow of Superstition Mountain. It has a year round population of 42,000 and a seasonal ( Oct to april )population of 35,000, mainly snowbirds like ourselves. Apache Junction is spread out with several huge shopping Malls but it does not have a downtown area,so to speak.
Our RV park is called " Weavers Needle ". I assumed it was so named because the ladies did a lot of quiltting . But I was advised that there is a landmark that, with a bit of imaginations, looks like a Weavers Needle. I'll take their word for it because I'm not all that interested in finding a " Needle in the Mountains ".
We pulled into the RV park and were allotted a space. Most parks , including this one has a spotter to help with parking as most spaces are back in. " Cliff " the spotter insisted that he show me the space first, so away we go in his golf cart to check the Space. I did not like the space as it was not level so I selected another one. After we got back in Carroll noted that a Palm Tree was so close to our awning that we would not be able to open it. So, Cliff and I got in his golf cart again and went looking for another space which would accommodate our trailer. I stepped off the length of the next space to make sure we would fit before I backed in . Finally we got set up and we will call this home for the next month.
Then we called our friends from Med Hat who are parked nearby and they dropped over to say hello and have a friendly drink.
1 Feb to 14 Feb Yuma, AZ
This Blog will cover the 2 weeks we spent in Yuma, AZ. A place we have been to many times, usually to visit friends as we would find it boring if it were not for the many friends that are here. We parked at the Bonita, Mesa Resort (the word resort is overused but mainly so they can charge more ) because 3 of our friends are there: Ziglos from Yorkton, SK: Malach, a Lake in SK that I can't spell and Mathisons from BC. Friends in other Yuma parks are Moe and Gail Bakens from Childs lake, MB; Ken and Carol Jangula from Med Hat, who I play ball with and a long lost friend, Jim and Marion Mclelland, from Belmont. I don't think I have seen Jimmy for about 40 years and it was very enjoyable to see him and Marion again. It made be remmeber how long ago I left home to join the RCAF.
Well, what else did we do in Yuma; First we had to visit the Dentist in Mexico as I broke a tooth while South Africa but it was not hurting so i could wait until I got to MX. The tooth was beyond a Filling or Crown so I had to have a Root Canal followed by a Crown which took 3 appointments and cost 490.00. MX is only 8 miles from Yuma.
There are three large Flea markets in Yuma so we spent an afternoon checking out each markets place and purchased a few things that I could probably " live without " but considered a necessity. We also attended a few parties with our friends and even attended the 100 th anniversay party for Arizona in downtown Yuma.
Yuma has very fertile soil so they grow a lot of vegetables in this area but as you would probably guess the vegetables are picked/packed by Mexico farm workers. The farmers actually have a bus that goes to St. Luis , MX, about 20 miles away to pick up the workers each day.
They also had an RCAF reunion scheduled in yuma while I was there but I forgot to get a ticket so I am somewhat disappointed that I let it slip away. It would have been nice to swap lies with some old comrades.
For Valentines Day supper , we went for Chinese Food and had to wait about 15 or 20 mins for a table. I had to snicker because I don't remmeber every waiting for a table at a Chinese restarunt. On the 15 th feb we left yuma and headed for Apache Junction.
Well, what else did we do in Yuma; First we had to visit the Dentist in Mexico as I broke a tooth while South Africa but it was not hurting so i could wait until I got to MX. The tooth was beyond a Filling or Crown so I had to have a Root Canal followed by a Crown which took 3 appointments and cost 490.00. MX is only 8 miles from Yuma.
There are three large Flea markets in Yuma so we spent an afternoon checking out each markets place and purchased a few things that I could probably " live without " but considered a necessity. We also attended a few parties with our friends and even attended the 100 th anniversay party for Arizona in downtown Yuma.
Yuma has very fertile soil so they grow a lot of vegetables in this area but as you would probably guess the vegetables are picked/packed by Mexico farm workers. The farmers actually have a bus that goes to St. Luis , MX, about 20 miles away to pick up the workers each day.
They also had an RCAF reunion scheduled in yuma while I was there but I forgot to get a ticket so I am somewhat disappointed that I let it slip away. It would have been nice to swap lies with some old comrades.
For Valentines Day supper , we went for Chinese Food and had to wait about 15 or 20 mins for a table. I had to snicker because I don't remmeber every waiting for a table at a Chinese restarunt. On the 15 th feb we left yuma and headed for Apache Junction.
Thursday, 16 February 2012
29 th Jan to 31 Jan. Quartzsite, AZ
The next three days were spent in Quartzsite but spending most of our time at the Flea market. However, this is no ordinary Flea Market and you can not see it all in less than 3 days. You can buy anything you need for an RV or to operate your RV . Mostly , you but things you do not nec need but since it is the latest gadget, then you must have it. There is alway a large white Tent the size of a football field that is sells anything and everything. They sell Power Wheel chairs; Food Choppers; Generators; Health Insurance; Satellite Dishes; ( including Shaw Direct ) and anything you could possibly need for your RV. Outside on the grounds, there are at least 6 companies selling RVs with over 500 vehicle on the lot. The rest of the outdoor area has about 100 more booth selling fast food, tools and you probably won't believe this but they sell Rocks ; Oh excuse me; they are now called "Gem stone". There are actually truck loads of rocks for sale. I met one guy who is called "Doctor Fossil" and he told me that all he does for a living is hunt for Gem stones and sells them at the flea markets.
I won't bore you with anymore Quartzsite stories but if you are every in southwest AZ during the first two weeks of Jan then you must visit Quartzsite. I believe there is no place on earth like Quartzsite.
There are literary 1000's of RVers camped in the dessert, with NO services and some of the Motorhome are worth in excess of $300,000.00 I can't imagine why they camp here for months.
After three days boondocking in the dessert, which incidentally is our limit, we headed for Yuma ,AZ on 1 Feb.
I won't bore you with anymore Quartzsite stories but if you are every in southwest AZ during the first two weeks of Jan then you must visit Quartzsite. I believe there is no place on earth like Quartzsite.
There are literary 1000's of RVers camped in the dessert, with NO services and some of the Motorhome are worth in excess of $300,000.00 I can't imagine why they camp here for months.
After three days boondocking in the dessert, which incidentally is our limit, we headed for Yuma ,AZ on 1 Feb.
Monday, 13 February 2012
28 th Jan Quartzsite , here we come
Our plan to stop in Quartzsite, AZ was twofold. First, our friends the Carlyles where Boondocking there for a week so we would be able to have a 3 day visit and the second reason was that we had our ONT friends ( Mary and Evan ) with us and we really wanted them to see "The World Famous" Quartzsite. The trip from Laughlin to Quartzsite is a 4 hour drive thru a few small cities, which incidentally are also RV havens for some folks, mainly those interested in Golf. We first had to navagate thru the city of Needles, Ca. It is a very small city but you have to make at least 1/2 dozen left and right turns in order to get to I-40. We did have the GPS on but Carroll kept doubting it and she kept saying, " I don't remmeber going this way before". Since I have driven or I should say, negotioated this city many time before, so I ignored Carroll's complaints and just kept going. I will admit I seldom ignore Carroll's direction because she is the navigater.. period, but i do know how to get thru Needles.
As we drove thru the next city of Lake Havasu, Mary and Evan took note of this area because they were told by a few friends that they should stay here for a holiday and they did return after they left us.
Another city that was of interest to Mary and Evan , was Parker , AZ. It is right on the east side of the Colorada River with several RV resorts and many golf courses. The opposite side of the river is California and it too has golf courses and RV resorts.
We arrived in Quartzsite in the early afternoon and dropped Mary and Evan at a campsite because they were not prepared to Boondock. Then we had to find our friends who were parked somewhere in 500 acre dessert along with 1000's of other Boondockers. However, we had specific direction so it would be a piece of cake.
Here are the directions: Once you reach Quartzsite, turn left at the Stop sign, drive to the Tee junction, turn right and go over the overpass and keep going to another Tee junctions; there is a small church on your left; turn left and follow the winding paved road, about 2 KM until you see a sign on your right that says " Scaddan" ; turn right into the dessert and sign in at the "Camp Host ". At this point the Camp host fills out a card which allows you to stay free of charge for 2 weeks. From here it gets tricky because you are now in a dessert among a "Sea of Motor homes and 5 th wheels.
The directions are to follow the trail and worm you way between a green and a brown Motorhome, continue on the trail and go thru the WASH ( that is dessert talk for a dry creek or ditch ) and you will see a yellow cowboy boot hanging from a tree, continue along the trail until you see another boot hanging from a catus, continue along the trail another 500 M and our friends are parked on the right. Even though we know their 5 th wheel we could not find it so we were total lost... we think. After driving in circles for about 10 mins hoping to see our friends we finally stopped and decided to phone them.
No dam wonder we could not find them because they had just left with their trailer to dump and to reload with water at the local Dump station some 5 KM away. So we waited for them to return so we could park near them, to what would be our dessert home for the next 3 days.
This was enough travelling for today so we did a quick "Setup" including the Satellite. It was now Happy Hour so we got together with our friends and met two more couples that they were with them. After Happy Hour Carroll and I headed for the local "Eatery " for a Chicken and Ribs supper for 9.99. This resturaunt is not fancy but it serves excellent food at a great price and the seating is family style, which means grab a seat where you can find one. The resturaunt is always full.
first,
As we drove thru the next city of Lake Havasu, Mary and Evan took note of this area because they were told by a few friends that they should stay here for a holiday and they did return after they left us.
Another city that was of interest to Mary and Evan , was Parker , AZ. It is right on the east side of the Colorada River with several RV resorts and many golf courses. The opposite side of the river is California and it too has golf courses and RV resorts.
We arrived in Quartzsite in the early afternoon and dropped Mary and Evan at a campsite because they were not prepared to Boondock. Then we had to find our friends who were parked somewhere in 500 acre dessert along with 1000's of other Boondockers. However, we had specific direction so it would be a piece of cake.
Here are the directions: Once you reach Quartzsite, turn left at the Stop sign, drive to the Tee junction, turn right and go over the overpass and keep going to another Tee junctions; there is a small church on your left; turn left and follow the winding paved road, about 2 KM until you see a sign on your right that says " Scaddan" ; turn right into the dessert and sign in at the "Camp Host ". At this point the Camp host fills out a card which allows you to stay free of charge for 2 weeks. From here it gets tricky because you are now in a dessert among a "Sea of Motor homes and 5 th wheels.
The directions are to follow the trail and worm you way between a green and a brown Motorhome, continue on the trail and go thru the WASH ( that is dessert talk for a dry creek or ditch ) and you will see a yellow cowboy boot hanging from a tree, continue along the trail until you see another boot hanging from a catus, continue along the trail another 500 M and our friends are parked on the right. Even though we know their 5 th wheel we could not find it so we were total lost... we think. After driving in circles for about 10 mins hoping to see our friends we finally stopped and decided to phone them.
No dam wonder we could not find them because they had just left with their trailer to dump and to reload with water at the local Dump station some 5 KM away. So we waited for them to return so we could park near them, to what would be our dessert home for the next 3 days.
This was enough travelling for today so we did a quick "Setup" including the Satellite. It was now Happy Hour so we got together with our friends and met two more couples that they were with them. After Happy Hour Carroll and I headed for the local "Eatery " for a Chicken and Ribs supper for 9.99. This resturaunt is not fancy but it serves excellent food at a great price and the seating is family style, which means grab a seat where you can find one. The resturaunt is always full.
first,
Thursday, 9 February 2012
27 th Jan off to Laughlin and Quartzsite
We left Mesquite, NV at 8:30 AM with Mary and Evan in tow. We advise them that getting thru Las Vegas was our first hurdle and to stay close once we entered the city as there was a tricky sweeping turn to get from I-15 to Hwy 515. Although I have traveled this route many , many times I still got in the wrong lane but i did a quick manevure , which incidentally, probably got me off a local residence christmas card list, and got on the right lane to get on to hwy 515. Our friends had time to get into the right lane and we were now on our way to Laughlin, NV where we would spend the night.
The trip from Las Vegas ( better known as Loss Wages ) to Laughlin is about a 1 1/2 hour drive. Hwy 515 out of Vegas ( actually Henderson ) goes to Boulder city and to the majestic Hoover Dam and then onward to Kingman AZ and eventually to Laughlin. Or you can turn off to Hwy 95 which goes to Laughlin. We always take 95, probably out of habit. This highway was upgraded from a well used 2 lane hwy to a 4 lane road shortly after 9/11 as the other road crossed the Hoover dam and the Homeland security stopped all RV and Commerical traffic from crossing the Dam hence this hwy was the only way to get from Vegas to Phoenix. As a point of interest, the US Gov't recently ( about 2 years ago ) constructed a new bridge across but away from the Hoover dam site, so traffic can now get to Kingman and Phoenix without going around thru Laughlin. This new bridge is well worth a stop as it is huge.
When we arrived in Laughlin we stopped at the parking lot of the Tropicana hotel and casino, which we had done many times in the past and it was always free. However, we were surprized at first to see such few " Boondockers" because it is normally 90 % full. And secondly, the reason became quite obvious when we found out there was a 7.00 per overnight charge to park in their lot. Seniors ( us included ) are attracted by the word free. Mary and Evan agreed to Boondock with us even thought they were not fully prepared, nor had they Boondock before. Anyway, we spent the afternoon and evening in Laughlin ( Carroll donated another 20.00 )and we agreed to depart for Quartzsite, AZ around 9 AM. Out of curiousity, Carroll and I checked out several other Casinos to see if they charged to park overnight and all but one Casino ( there about a dozen in Laughlin ) was charging 7.00 per night. Most of the casinos were "dead " compared to other years , so I'm sure the overnight charge was the reason. Did mention that Seniors are attracted by the word " Free ".
The trip from Las Vegas ( better known as Loss Wages ) to Laughlin is about a 1 1/2 hour drive. Hwy 515 out of Vegas ( actually Henderson ) goes to Boulder city and to the majestic Hoover Dam and then onward to Kingman AZ and eventually to Laughlin. Or you can turn off to Hwy 95 which goes to Laughlin. We always take 95, probably out of habit. This highway was upgraded from a well used 2 lane hwy to a 4 lane road shortly after 9/11 as the other road crossed the Hoover dam and the Homeland security stopped all RV and Commerical traffic from crossing the Dam hence this hwy was the only way to get from Vegas to Phoenix. As a point of interest, the US Gov't recently ( about 2 years ago ) constructed a new bridge across but away from the Hoover dam site, so traffic can now get to Kingman and Phoenix without going around thru Laughlin. This new bridge is well worth a stop as it is huge.
When we arrived in Laughlin we stopped at the parking lot of the Tropicana hotel and casino, which we had done many times in the past and it was always free. However, we were surprized at first to see such few " Boondockers" because it is normally 90 % full. And secondly, the reason became quite obvious when we found out there was a 7.00 per overnight charge to park in their lot. Seniors ( us included ) are attracted by the word free. Mary and Evan agreed to Boondock with us even thought they were not fully prepared, nor had they Boondock before. Anyway, we spent the afternoon and evening in Laughlin ( Carroll donated another 20.00 )and we agreed to depart for Quartzsite, AZ around 9 AM. Out of curiousity, Carroll and I checked out several other Casinos to see if they charged to park overnight and all but one Casino ( there about a dozen in Laughlin ) was charging 7.00 per night. Most of the casinos were "dead " compared to other years , so I'm sure the overnight charge was the reason. Did mention that Seniors are attracted by the word " Free ".
24 th Jan Heading South
We arrived home on the 17 th Jan but it had taken us the biggest part of a month to find the time to start the Blog again, so here goes.
We spent a week at Todd's place in Okotoks getting re-organized and re-aquainted with our family and a few friends. Clark's family was in Calgary on the weekend as Morgan and Paige had a Dancing Fesh, so we were able to watch the girls dance and have supper with the family. We also managed to get some time with Connor as he opted to go swimming, with his cousins rather than being bored watching his sister dance.
On the 24 th Jan we departed Todd's place around 6:30 AM with a target of reaching Idaho Falls by night fall. Since we left the trailer in Mesquite, NV in Oct when i was in St. Geo, UT playing ball, we made good time without the trailer and managed to get to Idaho Falls with mainly clear roads. We had about 30 KM of snow covered roads going thru the Manida Pass but other than that it was clear roads all the way.
I did make a pit stop at the Cdn Duty Free to pick up a couple of cheap ( less expensive ) bottles of RYE. So we stayed at the Comfort Inn , in Idaho Falls, since we had enough points for a free room. Of course it snowed during the night but only a light dusting.
25 th Jan..... We again departed Idaho Falls early so we could reach Mesquite , NV before dark were we thought we might pick up our trailer from the storage lot. However, when we reached Mequite we decide to check out the price of a room and it was 26.00. A camp site was $22.00 so it was a no Brainer. We immediately decided to take the room and get the trailer in the morning. After, checking in and having supper, Carroll decide to donate $20.00 to the casino so i went to a nearby Macdonld's to take advantage of their Free WiFi. While perusing my email I overheard a couple having trouble getting a connection so I ask if they needed assistance. I knew they were Cdns because the man was wearing a CANADA hockey sweater. ( Just to be clear.... Yes this couple are now our friends but the story gets better.) They accepted my charity and i show them how to access Macdonald's. They did not realize that they had to check " I agree ". Before I left Macdonald's they ask if i would meet them in the morning to help get on the web site again, so I agreed. Yes, Carroll donated the $20.00.
26 th Jan..... After breakfast, Carroll and I meet the couple ( now called Mary and Evan Roy , a nurse and a farmer from Ontario ).During our 1/2 to 3/4 hour chat we found out they sold their farm in Melborne and bought 600 arces in new Liskard, ON. However, they were in Calgary and the Peace River, visiting their two boys and decided ( as apposed to planning )to take a trip to southern USA for a couple of months. We thought we could give them some tips on where to go and were to camp since they had never been down this way before. We then agreed to meet for supper and we would enlighten them.
Carroll and I retrieved our trailer and moved it to a local camp site, where we had to do a bit of cleaning, and to unpack our bags with the clothes we had brought with us. Next we had to do a large grocery shopping but first I had to get the truck washed. It was still dirty and to be perfectly honest, it was a mess from the slushy streets in Calgary. There was a Wash Rack about 200 M from the grocery store and he offered to clean it, both inside and outside for $12.00 . I just said.. get at it.
After getting the trailer sorted out and swapping a few lies with our camping nieghbours in the camp ground, from AB, it was time for supper with our new found friends. During supper we offered and they acceted the offer, for us to lead them as far south as Quartzsite, AZ; a place they had heard about and were anxious to visit. We agreed to leave at 8:30 in the morning and bid them goodnight. Carroll donate another $20.00
We spent a week at Todd's place in Okotoks getting re-organized and re-aquainted with our family and a few friends. Clark's family was in Calgary on the weekend as Morgan and Paige had a Dancing Fesh, so we were able to watch the girls dance and have supper with the family. We also managed to get some time with Connor as he opted to go swimming, with his cousins rather than being bored watching his sister dance.
On the 24 th Jan we departed Todd's place around 6:30 AM with a target of reaching Idaho Falls by night fall. Since we left the trailer in Mesquite, NV in Oct when i was in St. Geo, UT playing ball, we made good time without the trailer and managed to get to Idaho Falls with mainly clear roads. We had about 30 KM of snow covered roads going thru the Manida Pass but other than that it was clear roads all the way.
I did make a pit stop at the Cdn Duty Free to pick up a couple of cheap ( less expensive ) bottles of RYE. So we stayed at the Comfort Inn , in Idaho Falls, since we had enough points for a free room. Of course it snowed during the night but only a light dusting.
25 th Jan..... We again departed Idaho Falls early so we could reach Mesquite , NV before dark were we thought we might pick up our trailer from the storage lot. However, when we reached Mequite we decide to check out the price of a room and it was 26.00. A camp site was $22.00 so it was a no Brainer. We immediately decided to take the room and get the trailer in the morning. After, checking in and having supper, Carroll decide to donate $20.00 to the casino so i went to a nearby Macdonld's to take advantage of their Free WiFi. While perusing my email I overheard a couple having trouble getting a connection so I ask if they needed assistance. I knew they were Cdns because the man was wearing a CANADA hockey sweater. ( Just to be clear.... Yes this couple are now our friends but the story gets better.) They accepted my charity and i show them how to access Macdonald's. They did not realize that they had to check " I agree ". Before I left Macdonald's they ask if i would meet them in the morning to help get on the web site again, so I agreed. Yes, Carroll donated the $20.00.
26 th Jan..... After breakfast, Carroll and I meet the couple ( now called Mary and Evan Roy , a nurse and a farmer from Ontario ).During our 1/2 to 3/4 hour chat we found out they sold their farm in Melborne and bought 600 arces in new Liskard, ON. However, they were in Calgary and the Peace River, visiting their two boys and decided ( as apposed to planning )to take a trip to southern USA for a couple of months. We thought we could give them some tips on where to go and were to camp since they had never been down this way before. We then agreed to meet for supper and we would enlighten them.
Carroll and I retrieved our trailer and moved it to a local camp site, where we had to do a bit of cleaning, and to unpack our bags with the clothes we had brought with us. Next we had to do a large grocery shopping but first I had to get the truck washed. It was still dirty and to be perfectly honest, it was a mess from the slushy streets in Calgary. There was a Wash Rack about 200 M from the grocery store and he offered to clean it, both inside and outside for $12.00 . I just said.. get at it.
After getting the trailer sorted out and swapping a few lies with our camping nieghbours in the camp ground, from AB, it was time for supper with our new found friends. During supper we offered and they acceted the offer, for us to lead them as far south as Quartzsite, AZ; a place they had heard about and were anxious to visit. We agreed to leave at 8:30 in the morning and bid them goodnight. Carroll donate another $20.00
Friday, 27 January 2012
16 Jan 2012- The flight Home
It is hard to believe that a week and half has passed since we were sitiing in the Joburg airport waiting on our Midnight launch time to fly back to Calgary. But i finally found time to close out the final chapter of out trip to ZA as i am sitting in MacDonld's in Laughlin , NV on our way to Yuma.
Anyhow our 20 hour boring flight got airborne at 10 min after midnight and our first leg was an 11 hour ride with a 2 hour stop in Amsterdam. Most of the trip was uneventful as most of the Brats, excuse me, kids , were sleeping. Althought they fed us twice both Carroll and i managed to get a few hours sleep.
After leaving Amsterdam for the 9 hour flight to Calgary, which swear was at least 2 days long and noisey, we were finally on our way home. I believe they purposely awoke all the kids and fed the candy and coffee, especially the 2 located 2 seats in front of us because they hollered and screamed most of the flight, hence, no sleep time.
We arrived in Calgary at 3 PM and the temp was - 33 C and our bodies went into shock. After spending 3 months in shorts and tee shirt, the cold temp seemed to go thru us like a knife. Yvonne, Emily and Rhett met us at the airport and she brought us coats, mitts and hats which was much appreciated.
I think i got caught in the Jet Lag syndrome because I could not get much sleep for the next three days.
As most of you know, we intended to head south until apr so my next Blog with start with our trip south effective Tuesday. South Africa is a wonderful country and i think everyone should add it to your " Bucket List"
Anyhow our 20 hour boring flight got airborne at 10 min after midnight and our first leg was an 11 hour ride with a 2 hour stop in Amsterdam. Most of the trip was uneventful as most of the Brats, excuse me, kids , were sleeping. Althought they fed us twice both Carroll and i managed to get a few hours sleep.
After leaving Amsterdam for the 9 hour flight to Calgary, which swear was at least 2 days long and noisey, we were finally on our way home. I believe they purposely awoke all the kids and fed the candy and coffee, especially the 2 located 2 seats in front of us because they hollered and screamed most of the flight, hence, no sleep time.
We arrived in Calgary at 3 PM and the temp was - 33 C and our bodies went into shock. After spending 3 months in shorts and tee shirt, the cold temp seemed to go thru us like a knife. Yvonne, Emily and Rhett met us at the airport and she brought us coats, mitts and hats which was much appreciated.
I think i got caught in the Jet Lag syndrome because I could not get much sleep for the next three days.
As most of you know, we intended to head south until apr so my next Blog with start with our trip south effective Tuesday. South Africa is a wonderful country and i think everyone should add it to your " Bucket List"
Monday, 16 January 2012
15 Jan Sunday.... Victoria Falls
I know that my last Blog said no more blogs until I get to Okotoks but I'm sitting in the Joburg airport in the KLM "Slow Lounge" with nothing to do but drink Beer, Jack Daniels and Tea in that order so I will do my Sunday blog.
Sunday morning after breakfast our guide picked us up for a trip to the World famous Victoria Falls and they certainly are great. But first the guide had to pick up 7 other people around town. The next 2 ladies were ready as there pick up time was about 2 mins after us. Then we moved to the Kingdom hotel to pickup a couple and their adult son ( and I use the word adult loosely ).
The couple were ready but the son was nowhere to be seen. After 5 mins the driver said to go get him and i will return after I pickup another couple. In less than 5 mins we return and still no son. So we waited and waited and after about 10 mins this idiot finally showed up. Even after the driver ask him to hurry he just saundered.
The trip to the Falls is just a few mins away but we needed two hours to walk the entire lenght of the Falls and take time to shoot some Pics and we had to be back to our hotel to catch a Bus to the airport by 11:15.
Now we get to the Falls and we are behind time so the guide pushes us to keep moving because there are 16 lookout points to take some pics. We did have time to shoot as many pics as we wanted but we hurried from one spot to another. Now the idiot and his parents and another couple where from Argentia so they where guided by a Spanish speaking guide. I'll get to the Falls in a min. The Argentias must have taken their sweet time because they where 20 mins behind us. By this time our driver/guide is getting mad so he tells they to hurry and they don't give a dam. Instead of getting in the bus they go to watch some dancers performing in the parking lot; then they decide to buy a CD. Finally the driver tells them that some of his passagers have to get to the airport so please get in and they did. I was told later that Argentias are like that.
Now for the Falls: Victoria falls is much like Niagara Falls ( but much bigger ) in that it dives two countries. Fhe Falls is located in the Zambea river which divides Zimbabwe and Zambeze, however, the majority of the Falls is in Zimbabwe. There are actually 7 set of Falls, all have a name of course and they are at different heights, albeiit by several metres. The shortest is 70 M and the highest is 107 M. These Falls set up such a spray that it actually rains down on you as you are very close to the edge. There are 16 lookout points from where you can take some pics but you are so close you can not alway see where the sheet of water hits the river. The noise is deafing. After the water/river passes over the falls it then joins another river running thru a gorge and this povides a venue for white water rafting. I spoke to a guy who went rafting and he says it is so wild that you will definitly get thrown out of the boat in some of the rapids.
This was a great experience and well worth the money. It would have been ashame to come all this way and not see this "Wonder of the World".
We did manage to get to the airport on time and flew back to Joburg where we rented a car or what passes for a car in this country. I ask for a spare "Bobbin" as i thought it was too small to fit an engine in it. It did hold our 4 peices of luggage. Then we drove to the store and picked up supper and returned to the KEA Rental lot where they graciously gave us suite for the night. This was all prearranged before we left. After three days of running for 12 to 14 hours we were quite content to just rest for the evening. Another chapter in our travels come to a conclusion. Tomorrow we fly home.
Sunday morning after breakfast our guide picked us up for a trip to the World famous Victoria Falls and they certainly are great. But first the guide had to pick up 7 other people around town. The next 2 ladies were ready as there pick up time was about 2 mins after us. Then we moved to the Kingdom hotel to pickup a couple and their adult son ( and I use the word adult loosely ).
The couple were ready but the son was nowhere to be seen. After 5 mins the driver said to go get him and i will return after I pickup another couple. In less than 5 mins we return and still no son. So we waited and waited and after about 10 mins this idiot finally showed up. Even after the driver ask him to hurry he just saundered.
The trip to the Falls is just a few mins away but we needed two hours to walk the entire lenght of the Falls and take time to shoot some Pics and we had to be back to our hotel to catch a Bus to the airport by 11:15.
Now we get to the Falls and we are behind time so the guide pushes us to keep moving because there are 16 lookout points to take some pics. We did have time to shoot as many pics as we wanted but we hurried from one spot to another. Now the idiot and his parents and another couple where from Argentia so they where guided by a Spanish speaking guide. I'll get to the Falls in a min. The Argentias must have taken their sweet time because they where 20 mins behind us. By this time our driver/guide is getting mad so he tells they to hurry and they don't give a dam. Instead of getting in the bus they go to watch some dancers performing in the parking lot; then they decide to buy a CD. Finally the driver tells them that some of his passagers have to get to the airport so please get in and they did. I was told later that Argentias are like that.
Now for the Falls: Victoria falls is much like Niagara Falls ( but much bigger ) in that it dives two countries. Fhe Falls is located in the Zambea river which divides Zimbabwe and Zambeze, however, the majority of the Falls is in Zimbabwe. There are actually 7 set of Falls, all have a name of course and they are at different heights, albeiit by several metres. The shortest is 70 M and the highest is 107 M. These Falls set up such a spray that it actually rains down on you as you are very close to the edge. There are 16 lookout points from where you can take some pics but you are so close you can not alway see where the sheet of water hits the river. The noise is deafing. After the water/river passes over the falls it then joins another river running thru a gorge and this povides a venue for white water rafting. I spoke to a guy who went rafting and he says it is so wild that you will definitly get thrown out of the boat in some of the rapids.
This was a great experience and well worth the money. It would have been ashame to come all this way and not see this "Wonder of the World".
We did manage to get to the airport on time and flew back to Joburg where we rented a car or what passes for a car in this country. I ask for a spare "Bobbin" as i thought it was too small to fit an engine in it. It did hold our 4 peices of luggage. Then we drove to the store and picked up supper and returned to the KEA Rental lot where they graciously gave us suite for the night. This was all prearranged before we left. After three days of running for 12 to 14 hours we were quite content to just rest for the evening. Another chapter in our travels come to a conclusion. Tomorrow we fly home.
Sunday, 15 January 2012
13 and 14 th Jan Friday.. Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe
We had a great sleep in our Five Star suite, compliments of KEA rentals. After breakfast we repacked/rechecked our luggage to make sure we has the right things and enough things for our trip to Vic Falls. After living in a MH for 2 1/2 months, a suite case was kind of a novelty to us. Besides we were only taking one suite case so whatever did not fit did not go.KEA was taking us to the airport so we had a pickup at 9:15 AM for our 11:30 flight. We flew British Airlines and they are comparable to Air Canada but some friends we met said that BA is not as bad as United.
We arrived in Vic Falls, Zimbabwe at 1:30 and it took us an hour to get there immigration and we had to pay 75.00 USD per person for a Visa. More on that story later.
We had a packaged deal that include all the meals; a Sunset Cruise ( actually a boat ride) on the Zambeze river on Sat evening and a guided tour of the Falls on Sat and then a traditional supper ( called a BOMA dinner ) on Sat evening. Carroll got to thinking ( and that is dangerous )about all the spare time we would have so she ask the Bus driver, who picked us at the airport if we could change our timing and he said "absolutely" . So we took the Sunset cruise at 5 PM Friday and changed the guided tour of the Falls to sunday morning since we were not leaving until 1:30 PM to return to Joburg. Now we had all day Sat to kill so the Bus driver suggest we go to Botawana as he was taking a group of 7 and had extra seats at a cost of 175.00 USD per person. Did I mention the a trip to Zimbabwe is not cheap. Anyway We took the deal so now we are set for the 3 days.
About 4;30 the bus picked us up at our hotel along with a few others for the Boat Cruise at 5PM. We just happen to say hello to a young couple from Solvakia ( who spoke fluid English) on the Bus so we invited thenm to our table on the cruise. They were very interesting couple as she is an executive with Johnson Controls and she is part of a Team working for the next to in Joburg as the make car parks for the car manufacturers in South Africa. He is a self employed Mechanical Designer. After the Boat Cruise we returned to the hotel called the Safria Lodge and had supper around 8 PM. The hotel is built on a hill overlooking a forest and a small watering hole for the "wild " aninals , if warthogs and baboons are still considered wild aninals. All meals were 3 course and I had Impala (antelope ) verison steak and Carroll had Filet Mangon. the cost was 48 USD, althought our meals were include. I tell you right now that Zimbabwe does not have a currency so they prefer USD but will accept the ZA Rand, reluctantly.
Saturday 14 th
Since we had to leave at 7 AM on Saturday for our trip to Botawana, some 70 KM away, we had to order a "Takeout " since the kitchen did not open until 7 AM. The downside was that we had to eat it before we got to Botawana as we could not take food into the country but the driver never mentioned it until we got to the Border so we had to leave it on the bus. since this bus could not cross the border, he and his family had a good meal on us.
I should mention at this time that the others on the trip with us were: a couple from Castlegar, BC: the young Solvak couple; a mother and daughter from Austria; and a young man from Japan.
Crossing into Botswana was easy. We just filled out the normal form and he stamped out passports and that was it. The Botawana bus driver then took us to the Marina lodge were we would pre order a 3 course lunch including beer and then board a boat for a 3 hour boat ride to see wild animals along the river and to get an history lesson on the Chobe river and the national Park including the land and water dispute between Botswana and Namiba. This dispute had to be settled by the World Court in the Hague. Both countries are now happy with the Agreement. There is a point on the Chobe river were it joins the Zanbeze river that all 4 countries actually meet. That is Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namiba and Zambia. It is the only place in the World where this occurs. The best part of the river cruise was that we seen and where within a 100 KM of a herd ( more than 35 but less than 50 )of Hippos grazing on the island in the river. This is rare because Hippos normal stay in the water but apparently they will grass if the grass is pentiful and near their watering hole; this case the river. It was at this point where our camera batties went dead so no camera for the rest of the day because our spare batties were in Joburg. However, all 3 couple are sending us the pictures and the couple from Castlegar are sending us a disk so we will definetly have enough pictures.
At 12;30 we returned to the Marina Lodge for our lunch which was great. At 1;30 we were picked up by a Game Drive vehicle and taken to Chobe National Park for another game drive for 2 1/2 hours. The park covers 11000 sq KM and has 60,000 Elephants. Do you think we seen any Elephants? The only wild animal that does not live in Chobe N.P. is the Leopard.
Now we have to return to Zimbabwe and the immigration is no more freindly than it was yesterday. They charged us another 75 USD each to get another Visa. Canadian are charged the highest rate and do not get a "Double entery " because Mr. harper has decided to Bad Mouth president Mugabe about his " Human Rights" policies. As an example the US citizen only pay 30.00 and can get a "double Entery".
When we returned to Vic falls, I ask the bus driver to stop at a camera store so I could get sone batties. this is a small town so he didn't think i would have any luck, especially since it was after 5 PM. While driving down the street we spotted a small Kiosk that said Camera and Bike Hire so we stopped. But it was closed so the driver ask some kids if the knew where the owner live. One kids said he did so he went and got the owner who open his shop and sold me the batteries. Just try to get that kind of service in Canada.
Tonight we are going to a " Traditional " dinner called a BOMA. (Don't even ask what it means ). Reservation was 7:30 so we were pickup and delivered to the BOMA House. We were met by a warrior ushered us in, then a young lady " Warrior " dapped some paint on our face and another Warrior wrapped and tied a shawl around us so we looked like them. Now for the food; They had a beautiful layout of food, including cooking a lamd over an open fire inside the building. it was buffet style and it had many of the eadible wild meat in Africa such as Alligator, Warthog, several species of Antelope, Guiney Fowl ( a wild chicken ). I had to taste some Traditional home made beer but it taste like dish water. During our meal there was Traditonal Dancing and much playing of the Bongo Drums. It was most enjoyable evening
History: Botswana has a population of 2 Million and their main industries are diamond mining and tourisum. They have a Democratic gov't which is not corupt or self fulfilling as is so in Zimbabwe. According to the Game driver the people are happy with the PM and the gov't.
Zimbabge has a terrible gov't and it shows. We had to pay 30.00USD to visit the Falls because it is a national park so I ask the driver where does the money. He said, you never ask a gov't offical about money because it is hazardous to your health and well-being . One good point about Zimbabwe is that when it was Rodesia and Smith was the President, ( before Mugabe ) he had all the blacks educated to the British standard , hence they are well educated. ZA on the other had spent less money on educating the blacks and the country is now paying for it by having so many under educated.
My next blog will be from Canada.
We arrived in Vic Falls, Zimbabwe at 1:30 and it took us an hour to get there immigration and we had to pay 75.00 USD per person for a Visa. More on that story later.
We had a packaged deal that include all the meals; a Sunset Cruise ( actually a boat ride) on the Zambeze river on Sat evening and a guided tour of the Falls on Sat and then a traditional supper ( called a BOMA dinner ) on Sat evening. Carroll got to thinking ( and that is dangerous )about all the spare time we would have so she ask the Bus driver, who picked us at the airport if we could change our timing and he said "absolutely" . So we took the Sunset cruise at 5 PM Friday and changed the guided tour of the Falls to sunday morning since we were not leaving until 1:30 PM to return to Joburg. Now we had all day Sat to kill so the Bus driver suggest we go to Botawana as he was taking a group of 7 and had extra seats at a cost of 175.00 USD per person. Did I mention the a trip to Zimbabwe is not cheap. Anyway We took the deal so now we are set for the 3 days.
About 4;30 the bus picked us up at our hotel along with a few others for the Boat Cruise at 5PM. We just happen to say hello to a young couple from Solvakia ( who spoke fluid English) on the Bus so we invited thenm to our table on the cruise. They were very interesting couple as she is an executive with Johnson Controls and she is part of a Team working for the next to in Joburg as the make car parks for the car manufacturers in South Africa. He is a self employed Mechanical Designer. After the Boat Cruise we returned to the hotel called the Safria Lodge and had supper around 8 PM. The hotel is built on a hill overlooking a forest and a small watering hole for the "wild " aninals , if warthogs and baboons are still considered wild aninals. All meals were 3 course and I had Impala (antelope ) verison steak and Carroll had Filet Mangon. the cost was 48 USD, althought our meals were include. I tell you right now that Zimbabwe does not have a currency so they prefer USD but will accept the ZA Rand, reluctantly.
Saturday 14 th
Since we had to leave at 7 AM on Saturday for our trip to Botawana, some 70 KM away, we had to order a "Takeout " since the kitchen did not open until 7 AM. The downside was that we had to eat it before we got to Botawana as we could not take food into the country but the driver never mentioned it until we got to the Border so we had to leave it on the bus. since this bus could not cross the border, he and his family had a good meal on us.
I should mention at this time that the others on the trip with us were: a couple from Castlegar, BC: the young Solvak couple; a mother and daughter from Austria; and a young man from Japan.
Crossing into Botswana was easy. We just filled out the normal form and he stamped out passports and that was it. The Botawana bus driver then took us to the Marina lodge were we would pre order a 3 course lunch including beer and then board a boat for a 3 hour boat ride to see wild animals along the river and to get an history lesson on the Chobe river and the national Park including the land and water dispute between Botswana and Namiba. This dispute had to be settled by the World Court in the Hague. Both countries are now happy with the Agreement. There is a point on the Chobe river were it joins the Zanbeze river that all 4 countries actually meet. That is Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namiba and Zambia. It is the only place in the World where this occurs. The best part of the river cruise was that we seen and where within a 100 KM of a herd ( more than 35 but less than 50 )of Hippos grazing on the island in the river. This is rare because Hippos normal stay in the water but apparently they will grass if the grass is pentiful and near their watering hole; this case the river. It was at this point where our camera batties went dead so no camera for the rest of the day because our spare batties were in Joburg. However, all 3 couple are sending us the pictures and the couple from Castlegar are sending us a disk so we will definetly have enough pictures.
At 12;30 we returned to the Marina Lodge for our lunch which was great. At 1;30 we were picked up by a Game Drive vehicle and taken to Chobe National Park for another game drive for 2 1/2 hours. The park covers 11000 sq KM and has 60,000 Elephants. Do you think we seen any Elephants? The only wild animal that does not live in Chobe N.P. is the Leopard.
Now we have to return to Zimbabwe and the immigration is no more freindly than it was yesterday. They charged us another 75 USD each to get another Visa. Canadian are charged the highest rate and do not get a "Double entery " because Mr. harper has decided to Bad Mouth president Mugabe about his " Human Rights" policies. As an example the US citizen only pay 30.00 and can get a "double Entery".
When we returned to Vic falls, I ask the bus driver to stop at a camera store so I could get sone batties. this is a small town so he didn't think i would have any luck, especially since it was after 5 PM. While driving down the street we spotted a small Kiosk that said Camera and Bike Hire so we stopped. But it was closed so the driver ask some kids if the knew where the owner live. One kids said he did so he went and got the owner who open his shop and sold me the batteries. Just try to get that kind of service in Canada.
Tonight we are going to a " Traditional " dinner called a BOMA. (Don't even ask what it means ). Reservation was 7:30 so we were pickup and delivered to the BOMA House. We were met by a warrior ushered us in, then a young lady " Warrior " dapped some paint on our face and another Warrior wrapped and tied a shawl around us so we looked like them. Now for the food; They had a beautiful layout of food, including cooking a lamd over an open fire inside the building. it was buffet style and it had many of the eadible wild meat in Africa such as Alligator, Warthog, several species of Antelope, Guiney Fowl ( a wild chicken ). I had to taste some Traditional home made beer but it taste like dish water. During our meal there was Traditonal Dancing and much playing of the Bongo Drums. It was most enjoyable evening
History: Botswana has a population of 2 Million and their main industries are diamond mining and tourisum. They have a Democratic gov't which is not corupt or self fulfilling as is so in Zimbabwe. According to the Game driver the people are happy with the PM and the gov't.
Zimbabge has a terrible gov't and it shows. We had to pay 30.00USD to visit the Falls because it is a national park so I ask the driver where does the money. He said, you never ask a gov't offical about money because it is hazardous to your health and well-being . One good point about Zimbabwe is that when it was Rodesia and Smith was the President, ( before Mugabe ) he had all the blacks educated to the British standard , hence they are well educated. ZA on the other had spent less money on educating the blacks and the country is now paying for it by having so many under educated.
My next blog will be from Canada.
Thursday, 12 January 2012
12 Jan Thursday End of our Camping
Today we return the MH to KEA around 3 PM. I'm not sure what to expect but I know it will take an hour for the paperwork. First they will do an inventory of all the cutlery, chairs, bedding etc. Then they check for damages and ensure the fuel is FULL. Anyways, there is no hurry as we are only about 150 KM from Joburg. We left the fridge for today as we had to defrost it and do a cleaning. We have some food stuff to keep cool until we get to KEA.
By 11 AM we were ready to go so we stopped at the Camp resturaunt had lunch then headed for Joburg.
We arrived in Joburg around 2:30 and went to the grocery store ( Pick and Pay ) to pick up something for supper because KEA not only has a room for us, but they also have a kitchen for us to cook/make supper since we would not be going any place until tomorrow morning.
Then we arrived at KEA and they were waiting for us. We backed into the inspection bldg which is also the guest accommodation. First they show us the guest quarters and I was floored. This is a 5 star room and it could have been the Raddison or the Hilton, and most import, it is free. The kitchen is fully furnish and design like any upscale home in Canada.
So we unloaded our 4 bags and other paraphnalia so they could actually see inside the MH and then proceded with the paperwork. As expected everything was fine.
They gave us a key for the bldg so when we return on the 15 th we can come back to stay overnight again and they will take us to the airport tomorrow morning. We whiled away the night by having supper and doing my Blog and Carroll spent her time organizing the bills to get our VAT ( this is the same as our GST )tax back at the airport.
As Carroll said as we hit the bed; finally a real bed to sleep in. there was nothing wrong with bed in the camper, but a 6 inch foam is not a 12 inch "pillow top " matress. Tomorrow we go to Victoria Falls.
By 11 AM we were ready to go so we stopped at the Camp resturaunt had lunch then headed for Joburg.
We arrived in Joburg around 2:30 and went to the grocery store ( Pick and Pay ) to pick up something for supper because KEA not only has a room for us, but they also have a kitchen for us to cook/make supper since we would not be going any place until tomorrow morning.
Then we arrived at KEA and they were waiting for us. We backed into the inspection bldg which is also the guest accommodation. First they show us the guest quarters and I was floored. This is a 5 star room and it could have been the Raddison or the Hilton, and most import, it is free. The kitchen is fully furnish and design like any upscale home in Canada.
So we unloaded our 4 bags and other paraphnalia so they could actually see inside the MH and then proceded with the paperwork. As expected everything was fine.
They gave us a key for the bldg so when we return on the 15 th we can come back to stay overnight again and they will take us to the airport tomorrow morning. We whiled away the night by having supper and doing my Blog and Carroll spent her time organizing the bills to get our VAT ( this is the same as our GST )tax back at the airport.
As Carroll said as we hit the bed; finally a real bed to sleep in. there was nothing wrong with bed in the camper, but a 6 inch foam is not a 12 inch "pillow top " matress. Tomorrow we go to Victoria Falls.
11 Jan Wedesday D- Day or Packing day
Today is the last camping day of our ZA trip and it will be a busy day. First i had to take the MH to the Wash Rack, which i previously had made an appointment for 9 AM for a Full cleaning. However, we had to unload the MH and pile everything on the ground as we ask the Wash Rack people to clean inside and outside including a complete vacuum of the storage area. The food stuff and Fridge was left for us.
After delivering the MH to the Wash Rack we started to sort out what we would need for our trip to Victoria Falls and then decide how to arrange the other stuff so we would only have our limit of 50 Lbs in each bag. We started with 1 large Hockey bag and two smaller sports bags. This was proving to be most difficult as we appeared to have too much stuff for the bags. I really don't how that could happen. Like i told Carroll it was her fault but I blaming her anyways. ha ha. I then googled KLM to see if our bag limit was 2 per person and if i read it correctly that we are allowed 2 bags each weighing not more than 50 lbs each. So we went shopping for a 4 th bag/suit case. Now with the 4 bags we had to do some more re-arranging but I think we have the bag weight down to 50 Lb limit.
After 2 1/2 hours af packing and repacking I went and retrived the MH. They did a fantastic job and only charged 20.00 Cdn. Then we started to put the bags and other stuff back in the MH and it was about that time I realized the MH was too dam small.
Since we had to return the MH to KEA tomorrow we called to see what time we had to have it back. They said 3 PM would be great so we decided to hit the wave pool and worry about cleaning the fridge and the cupboards tomorrow. I always say " Don't do today; what you can leave for tomorrow". However, we rec a Bonus by calling the KEA office. They are really helpful and they ask if we had a hotel to say at tomorrow night. Carroll told them we called a couple but could not get thru. They said ;good, we have Guest Siutes for our customers, free of charge, and you are welcome to stay with us. We also have a kitchen so bring your supper and cook it on site. Talk about luck???
After a couple of hours at the pool we decide to see if the 5 PM Game drive had an opening and it did so we took the 2 hour game drive just to kill the evening. These are not wild animals , in fact the Rhino's was a tame as a Milking cow. However, it was an enjoyable evening.
After supper we headed back to the indoor/outdoor Hydro pool for our last swim. Actually !/2 of the crowd from the previous night must have went home because they were not there. Also we were not the only Whites in the pool. Many of the Muslum ladies go in the pool fully dressed.
Note: this may be the last Blog until I get to Okotoks because we will return the MH tomorrow and then off to Vic Falls, where i will not have a connection. I am on a Vodafone SIM card and it does not work in Zimbagwe.
After delivering the MH to the Wash Rack we started to sort out what we would need for our trip to Victoria Falls and then decide how to arrange the other stuff so we would only have our limit of 50 Lbs in each bag. We started with 1 large Hockey bag and two smaller sports bags. This was proving to be most difficult as we appeared to have too much stuff for the bags. I really don't how that could happen. Like i told Carroll it was her fault but I blaming her anyways. ha ha. I then googled KLM to see if our bag limit was 2 per person and if i read it correctly that we are allowed 2 bags each weighing not more than 50 lbs each. So we went shopping for a 4 th bag/suit case. Now with the 4 bags we had to do some more re-arranging but I think we have the bag weight down to 50 Lb limit.
After 2 1/2 hours af packing and repacking I went and retrived the MH. They did a fantastic job and only charged 20.00 Cdn. Then we started to put the bags and other stuff back in the MH and it was about that time I realized the MH was too dam small.
Since we had to return the MH to KEA tomorrow we called to see what time we had to have it back. They said 3 PM would be great so we decided to hit the wave pool and worry about cleaning the fridge and the cupboards tomorrow. I always say " Don't do today; what you can leave for tomorrow". However, we rec a Bonus by calling the KEA office. They are really helpful and they ask if we had a hotel to say at tomorrow night. Carroll told them we called a couple but could not get thru. They said ;good, we have Guest Siutes for our customers, free of charge, and you are welcome to stay with us. We also have a kitchen so bring your supper and cook it on site. Talk about luck???
After a couple of hours at the pool we decide to see if the 5 PM Game drive had an opening and it did so we took the 2 hour game drive just to kill the evening. These are not wild animals , in fact the Rhino's was a tame as a Milking cow. However, it was an enjoyable evening.
After supper we headed back to the indoor/outdoor Hydro pool for our last swim. Actually !/2 of the crowd from the previous night must have went home because they were not there. Also we were not the only Whites in the pool. Many of the Muslum ladies go in the pool fully dressed.
Note: this may be the last Blog until I get to Okotoks because we will return the MH tomorrow and then off to Vic Falls, where i will not have a connection. I am on a Vodafone SIM card and it does not work in Zimbagwe.
10 Jan move to Bela Bela
Bela Bela will be our last camp site as we will be here for 2 days to PACK and to have the MH washed and cleaned. Ironically, Bela Bela was were we stated for the first two nights of our trip. I'm sure you folks all knew that because you would have read in the Blog for 1 and 2 Nov.
To refresh your memory Bela Bela ( previously called Warmbath until the ANC gov't decide to change some city names to a Black Africa name ) has many attraction that all go with the price of admission. They have a huge hot pool for swimming, a Wave pool and a couple of small pools for toddlers. Along with the swimming they have a water slide, a Tube slide, a Single Zip line and paddles boats. For an extra fee they have Cable skiing which is water skiing pulled by a cable around a 1/2 KM oval waterway.
They have a fair size hotel and convention centre. But most of all they have 2 Olympic size Hot pools. One is inside and one is outside and they are attached by a 50 foot Isthmuis.
When Carroll and I went to the pool tonight I could not find another white person. I was not sure if I was in India or Iran. I actually thought there was some kind of Muslum/ Indian convention but I was advise otherwise. When i ask were they all came from the answer was mainly Pretoria. You probably know that Pertoria is the capital of ZA and with a large population of Muslums and or East Indians... join that up with the ANC and the minority Whites don"t have a pray about the SAY in Gov't. Enough about politics.
When we came to Bela Bela in Nov the price R160 per night and because this is "High" season the price was R360. Talk about inflation, actually they call it " screwing the Public " .
To refresh your memory Bela Bela ( previously called Warmbath until the ANC gov't decide to change some city names to a Black Africa name ) has many attraction that all go with the price of admission. They have a huge hot pool for swimming, a Wave pool and a couple of small pools for toddlers. Along with the swimming they have a water slide, a Tube slide, a Single Zip line and paddles boats. For an extra fee they have Cable skiing which is water skiing pulled by a cable around a 1/2 KM oval waterway.
They have a fair size hotel and convention centre. But most of all they have 2 Olympic size Hot pools. One is inside and one is outside and they are attached by a 50 foot Isthmuis.
When Carroll and I went to the pool tonight I could not find another white person. I was not sure if I was in India or Iran. I actually thought there was some kind of Muslum/ Indian convention but I was advise otherwise. When i ask were they all came from the answer was mainly Pretoria. You probably know that Pertoria is the capital of ZA and with a large population of Muslums and or East Indians... join that up with the ANC and the minority Whites don"t have a pray about the SAY in Gov't. Enough about politics.
When we came to Bela Bela in Nov the price R160 per night and because this is "High" season the price was R360. Talk about inflation, actually they call it " screwing the Public " .
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
9 Jan Monday Sun City
Today we went to Sun city which is Theme Park located 20 KM from the Nation Park but in the middle of NOwhere. This is a mining area , mostly platinum so why the built here is beyond me, possible because the land was available and cheap. There is a town 5 KM away but I am quite sure no one in that town can afford to go to the theme Park. The closes city is Pretoria which is about 1 1/2 hour drive and Joburg would be at least 2 hours so that would be where the majority of the patrons would be from. The theme park has a huge Hotel, some less expensive self catering chalets, a large Wave pool with a sand beach, a "Killer" watwer slide , a casino and a huge amphitheatre to watch sports and each seat has a VLT screen to take youe money as you watch sports.
Now, a little story about the Casino; Carroll plays the machine but I don't but you need to purchase a card for R20 ( 2.50 cdn ) before you can play. you then insert the card and insert your money which goes directly to this card. there are no coins nor slips of paper, it is all on the card so if you win it goes up and if you lose it is deducted. As the story goes i was standing in line with Carroll to get her card. A security lady approaches me and rambles on in Afrikan. I said "what" and she switch to English and said, turn your hat around backward. My reply was " what for". she said you are under cover, please turn you hat around backward. Carroll picked up on her request right away and said to me the camera can't see your eyes because of the peak. So i turned my hat around backwards. This was a first for me and I have been in many Casinos in several different countries.
After Carroll lost her 20.00 dollars we decide to go thru the back gate to the park which was about 30 KM from our camp site. During this self drive we had hope to see tha t wild Elephant ( just kidding ) and the every elusive leopard. We did see Elephants ( and I kept my distance ) huge Rhinos, several Giraffes, Warthogs and a Red Hartebeest which looks similar to a Wildebeest but is rarely spotted except in western ZA and this was in the north.
On out way home we decide to stop at one more Dam just to see if there were and Hippos waiting for a " Photo Op" by us tourist. The road to the Dam was about 2 KM long but was a Cul de Sac and had a 1 lane bridge. We did spot the Hippos but they could only be seen from the bridge and as luck would have 7 more tourist like ourself came behind us so I had to wait until they crossed the bridge. Just as I entered the bridge we seen an Elephant standing on the road. I looked at Carroll and said ; I seen this movie before and there is no Dam way I'm crossing the bridge first. So we waited until another car past the Elephant and i stopped him and ask where the Elephants was now as I could not see him. The driver said he was 100 M off the road so I made a run for it. No More Elephant hunting for me.
We got home around 4:30 so Carroll did a Wash as we only have 3 more days of camping before we fly to Victoria Falls. Around 7 PM we went to the resturaunt on the camp site as we are down sizing our fridge before we return the MH. I had Venision Pie with Puff Pastry for 12.00n Cdn and Carroll had pork chops for about the same price. I can't believe they can make money with these prices but I assume the waiters rely on tips.
Now, a little story about the Casino; Carroll plays the machine but I don't but you need to purchase a card for R20 ( 2.50 cdn ) before you can play. you then insert the card and insert your money which goes directly to this card. there are no coins nor slips of paper, it is all on the card so if you win it goes up and if you lose it is deducted. As the story goes i was standing in line with Carroll to get her card. A security lady approaches me and rambles on in Afrikan. I said "what" and she switch to English and said, turn your hat around backward. My reply was " what for". she said you are under cover, please turn you hat around backward. Carroll picked up on her request right away and said to me the camera can't see your eyes because of the peak. So i turned my hat around backwards. This was a first for me and I have been in many Casinos in several different countries.
After Carroll lost her 20.00 dollars we decide to go thru the back gate to the park which was about 30 KM from our camp site. During this self drive we had hope to see tha t wild Elephant ( just kidding ) and the every elusive leopard. We did see Elephants ( and I kept my distance ) huge Rhinos, several Giraffes, Warthogs and a Red Hartebeest which looks similar to a Wildebeest but is rarely spotted except in western ZA and this was in the north.
On out way home we decide to stop at one more Dam just to see if there were and Hippos waiting for a " Photo Op" by us tourist. The road to the Dam was about 2 KM long but was a Cul de Sac and had a 1 lane bridge. We did spot the Hippos but they could only be seen from the bridge and as luck would have 7 more tourist like ourself came behind us so I had to wait until they crossed the bridge. Just as I entered the bridge we seen an Elephant standing on the road. I looked at Carroll and said ; I seen this movie before and there is no Dam way I'm crossing the bridge first. So we waited until another car past the Elephant and i stopped him and ask where the Elephants was now as I could not see him. The driver said he was 100 M off the road so I made a run for it. No More Elephant hunting for me.
We got home around 4:30 so Carroll did a Wash as we only have 3 more days of camping before we fly to Victoria Falls. Around 7 PM we went to the resturaunt on the camp site as we are down sizing our fridge before we return the MH. I had Venision Pie with Puff Pastry for 12.00n Cdn and Carroll had pork chops for about the same price. I can't believe they can make money with these prices but I assume the waiters rely on tips.
8 jan Sunday Game Drive
Sunday was dedicated to several Self drive Game drives in hopes that we could finally find that elusive Leopard especially when there are 35 of them within the park. So, bright an early ( around 7 AM ) we head out on the hunt. We were out for approxi 3 hours and seen Hippos, Elephants,giraffes, Zebras, Wildebeast and of course 100's of different species of Antilope. Antyilope are just "cannon fodder" for the Lions and Leopards. By this time it was getting too hot (33C ) so we return to camp; had breakfast, then hit the pool as it was nearly empty, since all the trailer trash had return home to start another year, both at work and at school. We decide that 5 PM would be a good time for another self drive.
It seems funny in hind site, at how much time we can spend watching a Hippo do mostly nothing while waddling around in a pond of water, or a graceful Giraffe muching on a tree branch.
So when 5 PM arrive and the Sun was a little less hot, we did another Self drive but each time we go out to a different area. This time we planned to be at a Dam where we had hoped the animals would come for a drink, as they normally do. about 6 PM we arrived at the Dam and seen 5 Hippos that were either playing or just mad at each other. They would roar, raise there head out of the water and open their huge mouth. However, we did not see them fight like they would do if a new male tried to join the herd. Then we decide to mossey up the road hoping to see something; and this were the story gets interesting.
As we came around a corner traveling at no more that 20 KMH we see an Elephant plodding down the road in our direction. Carroll immediately grabs the camera for an " action " and believe me , we got action. After Carroll snapped the pic we could see that the Elephant was in a bad mood because he was waving his head, flapping his ear and his trunk was going up and down and over his tusk. This had all the potential of becoming problem if the Elephant want the whole road. Bare in mind , these roads are dirt, just wide enough for 2 vehicle to pass slowly. A 7 ton Elephant takes up most of his 1/2 of the road, leaving very little room for a car to pass. And our MH is "slightly" larger the a Camary, so we need a little more of the road. So I decided to back up and to give the Elephant his space but he went from plodding to a fast walk so I assumed he did not want us on his road. I tried to back up faster but I had to stay between the ditches or i would be stuck and I had to back around a curve, which is not easy, even without an Elephant in persuite. When the Elephant got within 20 feet or so I realized we were in a "No win " situation and my brain was in "overdrive" looking for a solution. All while Carroll was giving me directions, but to this day I have no idea what she said nor what good it would do. Luckily the Elephant stayed on his have of the road so I stopped going backwards hopping he would pass us without causing a fuss. Now, for any of you folks who have not driven a vehicle with a 6 speed tranny, you will not know that you can not shift directly from reverse into Low gear. You have to take it out of reverse, let it sit in netural for a second and then shift into Low. However as the Elephant got closer, my brain lost some of its' ability to think fast so i was fighting the gear shift. I finally got it into Low and I waited until the Elephant was even with the front of the MH and then I "floored " it to get past him. At this particular time Carroll was hollering " close your window... "close your window". I later advised Carroll that i had 2 hands and one was on the steering wheel and the other on the gear shift. As we past the Elephant he bellowed at us and flung his trunk but did not hit the MH. He aslo chase us down the road but I did not even slow down or look back for about 2 KM. We feel lucky that we got away unscathed but we did here that a pickup truck recieved a dent in it earlier in the day by an Elephants swinging its' trunk.
I think my heart was racing for the next 1/2 hour so needless to say we had enough "Elephant Hunting " for one day so we returned to camp for supper.
It seems funny in hind site, at how much time we can spend watching a Hippo do mostly nothing while waddling around in a pond of water, or a graceful Giraffe muching on a tree branch.
So when 5 PM arrive and the Sun was a little less hot, we did another Self drive but each time we go out to a different area. This time we planned to be at a Dam where we had hoped the animals would come for a drink, as they normally do. about 6 PM we arrived at the Dam and seen 5 Hippos that were either playing or just mad at each other. They would roar, raise there head out of the water and open their huge mouth. However, we did not see them fight like they would do if a new male tried to join the herd. Then we decide to mossey up the road hoping to see something; and this were the story gets interesting.
As we came around a corner traveling at no more that 20 KMH we see an Elephant plodding down the road in our direction. Carroll immediately grabs the camera for an " action " and believe me , we got action. After Carroll snapped the pic we could see that the Elephant was in a bad mood because he was waving his head, flapping his ear and his trunk was going up and down and over his tusk. This had all the potential of becoming problem if the Elephant want the whole road. Bare in mind , these roads are dirt, just wide enough for 2 vehicle to pass slowly. A 7 ton Elephant takes up most of his 1/2 of the road, leaving very little room for a car to pass. And our MH is "slightly" larger the a Camary, so we need a little more of the road. So I decided to back up and to give the Elephant his space but he went from plodding to a fast walk so I assumed he did not want us on his road. I tried to back up faster but I had to stay between the ditches or i would be stuck and I had to back around a curve, which is not easy, even without an Elephant in persuite. When the Elephant got within 20 feet or so I realized we were in a "No win " situation and my brain was in "overdrive" looking for a solution. All while Carroll was giving me directions, but to this day I have no idea what she said nor what good it would do. Luckily the Elephant stayed on his have of the road so I stopped going backwards hopping he would pass us without causing a fuss. Now, for any of you folks who have not driven a vehicle with a 6 speed tranny, you will not know that you can not shift directly from reverse into Low gear. You have to take it out of reverse, let it sit in netural for a second and then shift into Low. However as the Elephant got closer, my brain lost some of its' ability to think fast so i was fighting the gear shift. I finally got it into Low and I waited until the Elephant was even with the front of the MH and then I "floored " it to get past him. At this particular time Carroll was hollering " close your window... "close your window". I later advised Carroll that i had 2 hands and one was on the steering wheel and the other on the gear shift. As we past the Elephant he bellowed at us and flung his trunk but did not hit the MH. He aslo chase us down the road but I did not even slow down or look back for about 2 KM. We feel lucky that we got away unscathed but we did here that a pickup truck recieved a dent in it earlier in the day by an Elephants swinging its' trunk.
I think my heart was racing for the next 1/2 hour so needless to say we had enough "Elephant Hunting " for one day so we returned to camp for supper.
Tuesday, 10 January 2012
7 JAN Golden Gate N.P. to Pilaneberg N. P.
This trip would cover approxi 500 KM and would take us thru the rest of the Free State, Gauteng province and into the most northern state of Limpopo, which borders on Zimbabwe. The first 2 hours was thru the Free state and this is obviously part of the "Food Basket" for ZA. The corn fields never seem to quite and there were many filds of beans and peas. Every small town we passed thru had 10 or 12 silo elevators so thet speaks for itself. We also seen some potato field for the fisrt time and i notice that there was not irrigartion so I assume they get enough rains as the crops looked great. Then we got on N3 which is a Toll highway so the speed change to 120 KMH but I noticed that most of the drivers , skipped their reading class because i was doing 120 and they flew by me. I was stopped once by the police but I think he was doing a commerical vehicle check and he thought I was a bus. He just checked my licence.
As we continued north we seen many more cattle than cash crops and about half were dairy herds. The dairy cattle are mostly Gursey.
As mentioned we were on N3 heading for N1 and then to N4 this all seemed fairly simple. After an hour or so I figure we should be nearing N4 until carroll says you are heading SE not North as we thought we were. Needless to say the maps are not good but we also ingnored the GPS, which we should not have done. by now I'm a little peeved so i whip into a gas station to ask directions. I ask the clerk who was black to direct me to the town on Britz. She said ask the gas attendant. I ask the gas attendant who was black and he said , " I'm not working today ".i said I don't give shit if you are working or not : just tell me how to get to Britz. So he notice by Fowl dispostion and called to buddy who was pumping petrol for a White lady. I too noticed the white lady so i went directly to her and she said turn left on 512 and don't get off it for 40 KM and you will be in Britz. Thank you white lady. We did got thru several small towns but we finally arrived at our destination . This would be our last chance to see the Big Five because when we leave here on tuesday our "Elephant" hunting is done. the park is beautiful and the camp site is great and the bonus is that most of the people will leave sunday morning as the kids start the new school year on Wedesday and the parents summer holidays are over. while signing in we noticed that the park hotel, chalets is affiliated with RCI time share. Anyhow we parked at our camp site, and since it was around 3:30 it must be "Miller Time" . The temp was 33C so we took a dip in the pool to cool off. Then back to the camp site for a "Braai" ( Bar-B- Q ) of lamb chop.
As we continued north we seen many more cattle than cash crops and about half were dairy herds. The dairy cattle are mostly Gursey.
As mentioned we were on N3 heading for N1 and then to N4 this all seemed fairly simple. After an hour or so I figure we should be nearing N4 until carroll says you are heading SE not North as we thought we were. Needless to say the maps are not good but we also ingnored the GPS, which we should not have done. by now I'm a little peeved so i whip into a gas station to ask directions. I ask the clerk who was black to direct me to the town on Britz. She said ask the gas attendant. I ask the gas attendant who was black and he said , " I'm not working today ".i said I don't give shit if you are working or not : just tell me how to get to Britz. So he notice by Fowl dispostion and called to buddy who was pumping petrol for a White lady. I too noticed the white lady so i went directly to her and she said turn left on 512 and don't get off it for 40 KM and you will be in Britz. Thank you white lady. We did got thru several small towns but we finally arrived at our destination . This would be our last chance to see the Big Five because when we leave here on tuesday our "Elephant" hunting is done. the park is beautiful and the camp site is great and the bonus is that most of the people will leave sunday morning as the kids start the new school year on Wedesday and the parents summer holidays are over. while signing in we noticed that the park hotel, chalets is affiliated with RCI time share. Anyhow we parked at our camp site, and since it was around 3:30 it must be "Miller Time" . The temp was 33C so we took a dip in the pool to cool off. Then back to the camp site for a "Braai" ( Bar-B- Q ) of lamb chop.
6 Jan Carroll's Birthday
This was not our most active day by a long shot. We did not get mobile until 10 AM as we just admired the mountain scenry that surrounded our camp site and we talked to the neighbours looking for info on other likely sites to visit on our last leg of our trip. Most campers are only too glad to make suggestion and most of their suggestions are great. Then we drove around the National park for about 2 hours admirering the scenery and then headed for the small tourist town of Clarens. This town is littered with small boutigues and resturaunts. But it also attracts a large tourist crowd, us included. First, as is our habit, we stopped at the Information booth and the lady was full of suggestions, most of them very interesting.
However,after a short Walkabout the town, we happen to find the German Brewer/pub/resturaunt who was giving 6 beer samples so that got my attention. After tasting the beer, one of which was not drinkable, we decide to have their Lunch Plate for two which was an assortment of cheese , bread, cold cuts and sauage. I also told the waiter I would like a pint of one of the samples so i could get the "full body flavour". Both the beer and the Lunch Plate were excellent.
Then we checked out the German resturaunt to make a reservation for 7 PM for a German supper and it was superb. I had Lamb Shank and Carroll had a Pork Snitzhel.
After supper we now had to drive about 20 KM to our camp site and it was very dark mainly because we were surrounded by the mountains. Just as we left the town we seen a tire burning in the middle of the road and this made me a little concerned. I slowly got closer to see what was happening but I was prepared to return to town and ask for a police escort past this area if necessary. But as we got closer, there was nobody around the burning tire so I quickly skirted around it and headed home , arriving safely but wondering what the tire burning meant.
However,after a short Walkabout the town, we happen to find the German Brewer/pub/resturaunt who was giving 6 beer samples so that got my attention. After tasting the beer, one of which was not drinkable, we decide to have their Lunch Plate for two which was an assortment of cheese , bread, cold cuts and sauage. I also told the waiter I would like a pint of one of the samples so i could get the "full body flavour". Both the beer and the Lunch Plate were excellent.
Then we checked out the German resturaunt to make a reservation for 7 PM for a German supper and it was superb. I had Lamb Shank and Carroll had a Pork Snitzhel.
After supper we now had to drive about 20 KM to our camp site and it was very dark mainly because we were surrounded by the mountains. Just as we left the town we seen a tire burning in the middle of the road and this made me a little concerned. I slowly got closer to see what was happening but I was prepared to return to town and ask for a police escort past this area if necessary. But as we got closer, there was nobody around the burning tire so I quickly skirted around it and headed home , arriving safely but wondering what the tire burning meant.
Monday, 9 January 2012
5 Jan Thursday Gariep Dam to Golden gate National park
I confused the dates again but I should now be back on track. When we left Gariep , we took the secondary roads on the advise of a " supposedly " well traveled camper, who was just a bundle of knowledge on any topic. After some of the roads he put us on , I might want to give a piece of my mind.
We have now entered the Free State ( FS ) (the name of the province )which by ZA standards is considered to be mostly flat but it is no Parire ,as it is also very mountainous. As we entered the state it was mostly grazing land and i was afraid the scenery would be boring.
Before I go any further, the Free State wraps around 2 sides of another country by the name of LESOTHO which is located in the middle of ZA. South Africans consider it a pain in Ass as it is not a prosporous country nor one you would care to pass there, so they mainly go around it. " Hello Quebec " do you still want to separate?
As we traveled further into the FS, it became obvious that this was an agriculture area. They have huge fields of Beans, peas, some cereal grain and mostly corn. Some area were mainly fruit like peaches and Apricotes. It seemed that every town or city had huge concrete silos which were obviously elevators for storing the grain. I was surprised that I did not see any fields with Canola, althought I'm told they do grow it here.
In the area where there was grazing land, we expected to see hundreds of cattle grazing but it was not so; then again the cattle could have been else were on the land.
We traveled 500 KM today and that is a lot of traveling for ZA due to some road conditons of some secondary roads. As we got to within 100 KM from the Golden Gate National Park we could see the topography changing . The mountains became solid rock formations and the scenery was wonderful. It kind of made you slow down to drink in the different formations. In fact we just had to stop and takes some Pics. It's amazing what the wind, rain and water can do to a rock over a few hundred years and the beauty it can form on the rocks.
We actual came to this area to visit a small tourist town called Clarens, much like Banff, AB except on a little smaller scale. We will visit the town tomorrow so you will get a report in the next blog
We have now entered the Free State ( FS ) (the name of the province )which by ZA standards is considered to be mostly flat but it is no Parire ,as it is also very mountainous. As we entered the state it was mostly grazing land and i was afraid the scenery would be boring.
Before I go any further, the Free State wraps around 2 sides of another country by the name of LESOTHO which is located in the middle of ZA. South Africans consider it a pain in Ass as it is not a prosporous country nor one you would care to pass there, so they mainly go around it. " Hello Quebec " do you still want to separate?
As we traveled further into the FS, it became obvious that this was an agriculture area. They have huge fields of Beans, peas, some cereal grain and mostly corn. Some area were mainly fruit like peaches and Apricotes. It seemed that every town or city had huge concrete silos which were obviously elevators for storing the grain. I was surprised that I did not see any fields with Canola, althought I'm told they do grow it here.
In the area where there was grazing land, we expected to see hundreds of cattle grazing but it was not so; then again the cattle could have been else were on the land.
We traveled 500 KM today and that is a lot of traveling for ZA due to some road conditons of some secondary roads. As we got to within 100 KM from the Golden Gate National Park we could see the topography changing . The mountains became solid rock formations and the scenery was wonderful. It kind of made you slow down to drink in the different formations. In fact we just had to stop and takes some Pics. It's amazing what the wind, rain and water can do to a rock over a few hundred years and the beauty it can form on the rocks.
We actual came to this area to visit a small tourist town called Clarens, much like Banff, AB except on a little smaller scale. We will visit the town tomorrow so you will get a report in the next blog
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