Beep Beep ----whooshhhhhh

Not much to write about this evening. We left Sierra Vista this morning. Thought about going to see The Buffalo Soldiers Museum, but didn't. Maybe next time.

I'll try filling this evenings blog with blah blah blah stuff. We have seen road runners while on the trip. You know Wiley Coyote and the Road Runner. They are funny to watch running. We've gone thru several Border Patrol check points. Two of them again today. We're in New Mexico this evening. I now send Pam in to get the rooms. She has a knack of getting the $55.00 rooms. We're staying in a La Quinta Motel in Las Cruces, New Mexico. She got for $49.00. She was standing in line and saw a lady in front use a coupon for a lesser price. So Pam came back to the truck, looked thru our coupon books we got at the visitor center. Eureka, she found one. Thus the price. Ate at Country Kitchen. Again, $20.00 for both meals and drinks. The food wasn't bad. Walked over to WalMart and shopped and stretched our legs. Prices were comparable to Ketchikan prices. There were some good prices on food. Example - 2 bags of oranges $1.00. ....for both. about 15 oranges in each bag. Saw a beautiful sunset this evening.

Well, that's about all today. No videos this evening. Was a nice warm day today. Hope everyone will have a wonderful and safe New Years Eve.

Our Lady of the Sierras

We spent last night on Sierra Vista, AZ. Nice little town yet still has large shopping malls. See a lot of Border Patrol vehicles. Also go thru BP check points, so yes that are on the job.

We visited Montezuma's Pass with an elevation of 6,575 ft. and a cavern not far away.

We took in the view and drove a few miles to see Our Lady of the Sierras. That's the video below. Our Lady of the Sierras Shrine is located on a hill in the Huachuca Mountains. Visitors are welcomed by a 75 foot Celtic Cross and a large angel with open arms.

We've decided to spend another day here and planning on seeing a museum about the Buffalo Soldiers tomorrow.

Had dinner at The Texas Roadhouse. Two steaks and shrimp, ice tea, and a strawberry daiquiri was $47.00. Again, it was more than we could or should eat in one sitting. The room is $55.00/night and diesel is still $2.89 -$2.99/gal.

Bisbee, Az. an old copper town

Bisbee is a old historic Copper mining town. Although the mining has long since gone, the historic buildings and flavor of that era still lives on. If you go to Tombstone, then drive a few miles further and visit this town. It will be worth the drive.

The weather was chilly today by local standards, warm to us though. Thought about wearing shorts, but decided on jeans.

Looked in some art galleries. There were some nice paintings and pricey ones. One gallery had paintings from $4.000 and another $14,000. Talked to a gallery owner who also paints. Of course I asked her all kinds of questions. She reminded me of Diane who owns the Exploration Gallery in Ketchikan. I need to get my paints out and start painting.

39 shots in 30 seconds

That was the shoot out at the OK Corral. Saw a reenactment of it. It was certainly realistic.....sort of. After the gun fire, kids were crying. So if ya got kids, cover their ears. Video of it below. All the videos I post are a short version of longer clips. We ate at one of the resuarants in town. All the places to eat keep the Western atmoshere. Did see a young lady order some beef ribs. It was the biggest ribs I've ever seen served on a plate. I wanted to go over and take a movie of it, but Pam said no. The ribs were bigger than the plate. I looked over about 20 minutes latyer. She was still eating on them, but didn't look like she made a dent in them.


Cloudy today. Headed towards Bensen to see some cavern, then on to New Mexico. I'll blog about it tonight and add more to this one.

Saw on the weather channel more snow up North..BRRRRRRRR

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.