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.
Wednesday, 21 March 2012
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
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