Back In Indiana !

Wednesday, September 16th, we went into Phoenix and spent the night. Thursday we flew back to Indiana to visit family and friends. My sister Debbie was kind enough to come to the airport and pick us up. We ended up spending the night at home and got to visit with Jim & Tasha. Over the next few days we had the opportunity to visit Cindy’s father and brothers, David & Andrea Rowe (with soon to be a "little David"). Debbie had us over Sunday evening for pizza and all of my brothers and sisters came over to visit with us. For those of you who have moved away from family and friends, there is nothing quite as nice as being able to see all of them again. Monday we went to Sunset Funeral Home and had the chance to visit with the people I have worked with over the past few years. Jim and Nancy went out to eat with us on Tuesday, then back to Carmel to spend the night with Cindy’s father.

The whole purpose of flying back was to pick up our car, drive it back to Arizona so we would have it to visit various places out here. Sometime while at home I must have picked up a bug because I got sick on Tuesday night. Nothing worse than having 2000 miles to drive and having a case of stomach cramps to do it with. Thankfully we were driving the car and not towing the camper so Cindy got the chance to do a lot of the driving while I lay over in the passenger seat holding my gut. We stopped by David’s house and got a chance to spend a couple of days with him before heading back to Arizona. Our goal was to drive to David’s then head over to Denver and visit with Randy and family, but felt it wise not to take whatever it was I had and share it with them. My apologies to them for not making it this trip, but I’m sure they were healthier for it.

We decided to take the southern route back and went down to Oklahoma City and came across I-40 to I-25 then south to I-10. We figured while we were that close to Tombstone, AZ we might take in the town. For those of you who are wondering what is in Tombstone, Arizona, there is a lot of history there. Wyatt Earp, Boot Hill, The Birdcage Theater, Doc Holiday, The O.K Corral, etc, the only thing we did not like about it, you had to pay $5-10 to see any of it. With the exception of Boot Hill, most everything in the town cost (what a rip). We can add it to the list of “been there, done it”, but would I recommend it or go back NO WAY!

The past couple of weeks we have pretty much just been hanging around and writing down things we want to see in the area. I will tell you that we did visit one of the local attractions. It is called “Desert Sweet Shrimp” farm. Now I know what you all are thinking, no way is there shrimp in the desert, (exactly what we thought). Well without boring you with all the details basically they have these large ponds, add salt to the water, add the shrimp, which have just hatched, and wait for the hot dry desert temps to grow the shrimp. They claim that the shrimp is sweeter than you get out of the ocean, no antioxidants, no chemicals, and therefore are healthier for you. We haven’t tried them yet but the first week of November they put on a “shrimp fest” in town, so we figured we would give it a shot. If your interested in learning more and would like to order some they have a web address. Just type in Desert Sweet Shrimp and look for the link to the one located in Gila Bend Arizona. As of the writing I will say that we are adjusting to the heat, learning about the desert, and so far, NO RATTLESNAKES or SCORPIONS!!

Out of the freezer, into the fire!

Saturday, September 12th, we headed for some sunshine and warm weather. The drive through Idaho was a nice drive, the drive through northern Utah, not so interesting. Actually the southern part of Utah was a very nice drive. One of the things we enjoy most about Utah is the “red rock’ formations. Instead of taking the Interstate all the way to Vegas and cut over ,we decided to take some state highways. On a positive note, taking these types of roads usually takes more time (which we have) and you get the opportunity to visit small towns dotted along them. On the negative side, when the roads were built I believe no one considered the fact of towing RV’s on them. I will admit after the first several miles I was asking myself if maybe the Interstate would have been a wiser choice. The first night we stayed at one of the famous WalMart Resorts. The next day took us into Arizona ( by far a totally different look than the mountains of Montana). We arrived in the Phoenix area later that day and decided to stop for the night, as we figured there were a few things we needed to pick up before our arrival at Augie’s Quail Trail RV Park.

Now for those of you who have done camping in your past years one pretty much knows what to expect when arriving at your destination. Since Cindy and I have never done any “desert camping” we were not quite sure what to expect. We both knew that it was going to be a total reverse of camping in Montana on the water. Lonesomehurst taught us things like looking over our shoulders for bears, making sure our food was not left out for “Yogi” , catching very nice size fish, knowing that on June 12th you can wake up and find 2 inches of snow on the ground, spotting Eagles, without much of an effort, as they fly over, those types of things we have learned to handle over the past 5 months. The last week we were at Lonesomehurst our water line froze, temps down to 26 degrees. Upon our arrival in the Phoenix area our thermometer showed around 105 degrees, ( yes I typed it right).

In leaving we would like to share with you something we have never experienced in all of our years camping. The first night at Augie’s we turned on the water heater to take showers. Cindy went first and when she finished she informed me that she did not need to use the hot water. I thought yeah right, well what she said was true. Never in my years of camping have I ever ( and I mean ever) been able to take a cold water only shower and enjoy the warmth of the “cold” water. But then again I guess when the temps outside hit 105+ degrees, and heats up the sand, I can understand why “cold water” in Arizona, actually is “warm enough for a shower”.