Apache Trail

Left Casa Grande this morning. Decided to fuel up so I pulled into a service station. Talk about a 3 ring circus. There were 3 rows of 3 pumps at each island. So if you're the guy at the middle pump, you wait. Now if the guy in front had to come in on the 'wrong' side, then he or you and everyone else needs to back up so someone can get out. Of course there's vehicles waiting in line and barely any room to drive around because other cars at the other island are too close for a vehicle to drive thru. Like I said a mess. Now for the real messy part. You pay cash or use your debit card at the ATM machine right next to the pump. They don't take credit cards. Oh, and there's a transaction fee. So now your 2.87/gal for diesel is even more. Did I mention that I don't have a debit card. So no fuel for me. Now I have to back up and hear the guy behind me blow his horn. Wasn't a big deal to me, but seeing a big Dodge truck coming back had the senior citizen nervous. I could see her in my rear view mirror, so no harm. I just told her to double up on her medication when she got home. I was then able to barely squeeze between the cars on the way out. What troubles me is that there was a line 3 cars deep waiting to get gas.

We got on the Interstate and was now officially en route to Tortilla Flat and Apache Trail.

We made it to Tortilla Flat but not before we stopped at one of those 'NATIVE JEWELRY SOLD HERE' on the side of the road layed out on a couple of tables. Well, I stopped. The jewelry was very nice and a reasonable rate. Silver, turquoise, other precious stones. The first table $10.00 for a pair of ear rings. Very nice and seemed reasonable to me. So I bought a pair. I walked over to the next table feeling pretty good about my purchase. Second table 2 pr of ear rings, $10.00. They were also nice. We drove off $20.00 lighter and 3 pr of ear rings. Could have had 4 instead of 3.

Finally arrived at Torrilla Flat, well after making a wrong turn off the Interstate. Then finally getting back on the right road. I'll never figure out how we got back on the right one. It's way to complicated to tell the story here.

Tortilla Flat

Finally. Lots of cars parked everywhere. Still, we decided to have lunch. Lot of people waiting for a table. We told the hostess "table for two". No problem, I can seat you now. So we got right in and ate good food at a reasonable price. The stools at the bar with saddles to sit in were full, so we didn't get to sit there.

Apache Trail Video

We're in Casa Grande this evening. Nice little town. Well not that little, seems to be just the right size. We'll look around tomorrow and post more here tomorrow night.

We ate a meal last night that cost $20.00 for both of us and it was more than we could eat. 5 Gals of drinking water is 50 cents. That not 50 cents/gal either. 8 lbs of ice, $1.00. Avacados 5/$1.00. Saw a halogen light just like the one I bought for my shop at home for $12.00. Here it was $3.40. The room tonight at the Best Western was $58.00. I couldn't charm her down to $52. I think they're reading this blog.

50 degrees this evening

MERRY CHRISTMAS

We decided to spend several days in Casa Grande. The weather has been 61 every day and a lot of places to shop. Well, window shop anyways. Been looking online at houses. There are some very very good prices on homes here. I think we'll go to Tortilla Flat and also drive Apache Trail tomorrow. Pam has been to Tortilla Flat last yr. There's video of them both on You Tube. Maybe we'll have our own video shortly.See on the weather channel all the snowy weather in the mid west. Think we'll stay South a bit longer. Also want to go to Tombstone before leaving Arizona. Oh, and cliff dwellings, got to see those also.The sun is up and it's time to go look around. Hope
everyone is having a good Christmas today.

.

Foothills outside Yuma, AZ.

The video below is of property around the Foothills a few miles outside of Yuma. Lots here sell for $102,000.00, but you can put 3 RV's on it with sewer, water, and electrical hookups for each RV. You can also build a house on it if you like or just a small building with perhaps shower, toilet, and washer dryer facilties. Anyways, all kinds of possibilities.

Donna and Howard

We stopped and visited some neighbors from Whale Pass who winter in The Foothills. They invited us to stay so we enjoyed their company that evening and breakfast the next morning. Donna started us off with fresh squeezed orange juice that Howard picked from their tree in the yard. The only way to get it fresher is to take the juicer to the tree. I've never had fresh squeezed OJ before and not sure I can go back to 'fresh' OJ from a carton again. Anyways, here's a short video below. Pat ....Laura, better go visit them.

66 degrees this morning. Snowing in Ketchikan

Christmas lights on 55th st Fortuna Foothills.

"If it ends in cylin, we sell it.....cheap".

That's the first words we heard as we entered Mexico. A hawker standing in front of the many pharmacies in Los Adoronos. Video of this is below.

"Senior, you come to Mexico to spend money". I heard that many times, also. Actually, I probably would have bought more than we did if it hadn't been for the tough selling. Then again the bartering is part of the flavor of Mexico.

"Pure silver, look at the stamp on the back, senior". I fell for that one and bought a bracelet. Later I found out it was made of steel. A shop vendor had a magnet and held it to the bracelet. Silver of course is non magnetic. My next trip will certainly have a magnet in my pocket. I did get the price of the bracelet from $22.00 to $10.00.I know I could have gotten it for $2.00 if I had a magnet to show him it wasn't silver. Then again he already knew.

Another no no is don't pick up an item and say "I like this." Everyone was on Pam trying their best to sell her some ear rings. I wish I would have thought to get a video of it. No, she didn't buy the ear rings.

We didn't spend too long in Mexico. About 3 hours. That was long enough for our first time.

While standing in line to go thru customs, I met a gentleman from Canada. Turned out he was in WW2 on the German side. He was about 80 yrs of age and migrated to Canada in 1953. He had lived under the dictatorship of Hitler. We were able to talk for about 45 minutes. It was an interesting 45 minutes. I also asked him about Canadian health care. He wasn't thrilled about it when he said that it was OK. He lives in British Columbia, so maybe we'll see him again.

People from everywhere

Open Market-Flea Market-Craft Market

What ever the name, that's what we went to this morning. There was several hundred shops and lots of people. There were good deals and not so good deals. Good merchandise and really cheap stuff both in price and quality. All in all we had a good time and didn't spend any money. We wore shorts and the weather seemed warm to us, but to the people who live here, it must seem cold. Some wore boots and jackets.

Stopped at a WalMart to get a few items. Seems the prices at the Yuma WalMart are the same as Ketchikan's. Go figure. Also the price for diesel is $2.86/gal. In Ketchikan when we left it was &2.99/gal.

I have a short video that may only last a few seconds, but it'll give you an idea .

Tomorrow will be our trip to Mexico. Well, just across the border. Hope to have a lot to 'show and tell' tomorrow night.

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

3:10 To Yuma

This morning started with motorcycles starting up and getting on the road for what I guess a week end road trip. Actually looks like an interesting way to travel. Least ways down in this area.

Decided to visit the Yuma Territorial Jail. Most of it was rebuilt....guess back then when it closed down, no one thought it was worth saving. However, the 'spirit' of the jail and what must have been a horrible place in the summer was still there. I did notice that quite a few convicts were released early.

Here is a YouTube video made by Arizona State. Very well done and gives a good verbal history of the prison.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pS7BloOA1U&feature=related

We also went to the Quartermaster Depot. The visit there is included in in the Yuma video.

Yuma Quartermaster Depot, was used by the US Army to store and distribute supplies for all the military posts in Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Texas. A six month supply of clothing, food, ammunition, and other goods was kept at the depot at all times. The supplies were brought from California by ocean vessels traveling around the Baja Peninsula to Port Isabel near the mouth of the Colorado River. There, cargos were transferred to river steamers and brought upstream to Yuma.

We were going to go see the camel farm but it was getting late and I was getting tired. Decided to go see it Sunday. Just read where the place is closed on Sunday.

Saihati Camel Farm has one of the largest camel herds in North America. The animals are sold at auction for work in films after they entertain guests at the farm. This farm is also home to Sand Cats, Fennec Fox, Arabian Wild Cats, Ostrich, Emu, Miniature Donkeys, Four-Horned Sheep, and other unusual animals.

Ate at a Chineese Buffet this afternoon. The food was excellant and the cost was $7.00 all you can eat. We didn't eat all we could, but we4 did try a little of everything. We'll probably go back tomorrow. Maybe a video or two about it tomorrow.

Decided to go to a flea market Sunday just a few miles down the road. Then Monday we're planning a trip into Mexico.

That sounds like fun and hopefully will have a lot of video and stories to go with it Monday night.

70 degrees and it does feel good. Oh, wore my shorts today. Didn't care if I looked like a tourist.

Hot, HOt, HOT !



Drove to Yuma today and staying at the Ramada Inn. There's some friends from Whale Pass vacationing here and we'll try to get with them for dinner some evening.


The drive here was uneventful, but we had the windows down enjoying the warm breeze flowing thru the truck. Been a long time since I did that. We did stop at a RV park/big flea market. Saw a lot of good deals, but don't want to pack it around. Still, we had fun looking and talking to people. Getting close to Yuma we saw lots of fields where vegetables were being grown and migrant workers out tending the crops. Interesting, least ways to us since it was the first time we've seen that. Did get into one traffic jam. Not due to so much traffic as to very poor planning on the DOT laying the road and traffic light out. It's impossible to explain.

No video to upload tonight, but we hope to have some tomorrow. Have a few sites to go to and will try to get a visit into Los Algodones, Mexico. Looks like a fun place to visit. There's some video on YouTube by other people if you care to look at it. We'll have our own video on it in a couple of days.

Pam and I are waiting for a pizza to be delivered and we'll take a walk afterwards. I'll try out my walking shorts.

That's all tonight from Yuma......Pizza just arrived and smells good.