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!!