Day 27 -

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1. Some parking lots have a cloth type roof to protect the cars from the hot sun of the summer....
2. The entry to our RV park...........
3. the front of one of the park model homes. Those are the pots I want...................
4. The sunset tonight..........

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Hello to all my snowy friends.

I did some mailing this morning. Cards and bills. then we went to Casa Grande to find me a swim suit cover. I found 2 terry cloth dress type things at good old Savors. Mel even found a swim suit. But I doubt that he will use it. Maybe he will go in the hot tub.
Should I post a picture? Naaaa, I better not. ;-)
Along the way we found a couple of treasures.. We bought a used bike. Now if we can get the seat low enough for me to reach the pedals it will be great. Every one rides a bike here. I wish I would have brought mine from home. Then we came upon a guy selling plants from the side of the road. Next to jewelry plants are the hardest thing for me to pass up.
I got 2 neat cactuses. My garden is getting bigger.
We got home just in time for some swimming. Mel and Molly cleaned up the bike while I was gone.
Tomorrow we will travel North of Phoenix to visit Mel 's nephew, Shannon.
We might not get back in time for me to write but hope you will check in on Wed night.
Going to cool down for a couple of days. way down to 65. hehehehehe

Day 26 - A swimming nice day

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The first picture is the entry to Mexico from Nogales. Looked really dark in there.

The second is our swimming pool. 88 degree water. In the background is the mini golf and the building is the workout room (that I use every day. Sure I do! haha) There is also pool tables in there. Notice the beautiful blue sky.

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Hi there,

How ya doing in the cold and blowing country? It was cooler here. Only 75* today. :-)

I didn't leave the park today. After church and dinner Mel & Molly went for a ride and I went to the pool. There is an ice cream social at the pool on Sundays so we had a strawberry sunday before I got wet. Oh and we watched some of the qualifying for the Daytona race right after dinner. For supper Mel started the grill. We shared a table with our camper neighbors. They are from Lakeville, MN.

Thats it for today. Stay warm. Good night

Terri, You didn't drag me to the Burt Bacharach show. I loved it.

Day 25 - I really hate to tell ya !!!

.Hello everyone. Today was a great day. 80 degrees.
You all will have to come and visit us and get warm. I follow the home temps on the computer and from the boys. Brrrr it is cold in Dexter. But here it was so warm. I went swimming and it was so great. Swam for a couple hours and then the hot tub. It is a heated pool but it won't have needed it today. I WALKED back to the camper and made a pork chop supper. Mel babysat Molly for the afternoon.

This morning was rummage sales around the camp but nothing big deal. I did get a neat ring for 50 cents.

Other than church tomorrow I don't know what we will do. Maybe more swimming. :-)

...............................................................................................This picture was taken in Nogales.

I think it is the Mexican border fence.

One of the little roads down there, North of Nogales, was so different. It was like riding a roller coaster. They weren't plained flat like the roads we know but just followed the lay of the land. Up and down and up. Not high but still up and down.

Day 24 - Off to Mesa

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These are some of the over pass walls and sound barriers.
Aren't they pretty?





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Oh what a beautiful morrrning.... Oh, what a beautiful day! .....Can't you hear me singing?
Maybe a good thing! But it was about 75 degrees & sunny today. Tonight is the first night we don't have our fireplace going.

We had a pretty quiet morning. The electrician came to replace the faulty plugin.
Then I just tidied up the place a bit. This afternoon we went to the Mesa Flea Market. This is about 60 miles north of here. It is huge. Didn't find what I wanted but did get a couple of things.
I want a clay pot with the southwest paint or design but the ones there that I liked were over $100. I didn't want one that bad. It was a huge market. We didn't even get threw it all.
Guess we will just have to go back sometime. Oh well, Quartsite is another huge flea market and we hope to get to that one too. That is where Mel's folks spent many years. If I still don't find a clay pot I will have to check out NM. :-)
Tomorrow is rummage sale day at our RV park. I have no idea what to expect but I certainly will find out.
I hope all in the Minnesota snow storm will stay warm and safe.
Is it in Iowa too??????

good night

PS... Daytona races this week.. #8 is the one to watch. No, that isn't Jr.!!

Day 23 - Day trip south

1. On the way to Patagonia, AZ

2. Randy and Anna Speirs

Tuscon

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We left the camper at 8am. What an early hour for a vacation! But it was worth it. We had a great day. We headed to the pretty little town of Patagonia. Taking pictures of the beautiful scenery all the way. My cousin, Eddie Qualle lives there. What a thrill to see him. Sorry I couldn't print his picture as it turned out pretty dark. I haven't seen Eddie for years. He grew up in Cannon Falls. Thanks for lunch Eddie!

We went on to Nogalis. Nogalis is right on the Mexican border. We just drove around and looked. Very interesting town. Lots of hills.

From there we headed north again. Kind of NE of Tuscon. There we visited Randy and Anna Speirs. This is Bob's aunt and uncle. They also had a guest from England. Gunilla made Swedish meatballs for supper. We sure enjoyed our visit.

Back to the camper about 9. Sure tired tonight .

It was over 80 degrees today. Oh so nice.

Good night and God Bless

PS... Daytona races start on Sat. Mark Martin - #8 - got 2nd for the Shoot Out. :-)

Day 22 - Hair cuts

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Pictures are: Mountain view on the way to Casa Grande, a cotton field, my little garden in front of the camper, Molly enjoying her ride. She is laying on the dash.
If you want to see a bigger picture just click on them.
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Another warm day in Arizona City. Must have got to 73 today. Still cool after dark.
We even went for a little walk. We met a gentleman from Rochester. And then to find out that he lives in South Port. He knew the Mork & VanNurden name. His last name was Younger. Does anyone know him? He owns one of the park models here in the park.

I made some crock pot beef stew this morning so it really smelled good in here all day.
We mostly sat in the sun this afternoon.

Both Molly and I got hair cuts today so we are pretty again. We also got groceries .
I wish we didn't have to eat. But we do a good job of it.

Tomorrow we go to Tuscon to visit my cousin who lives just south of Tuscon. Then visit a Air museum. We will also visit Bob's aunt and uncle who have invited us for supper.

So I better get to bed. Big day tomorrow. Come on back and see how it went.

good night

Day 21 - Good friends visit museum

................Hello and welcome to Arizona.


We had a great day today. Friends, Jackie and Don came to visit.
They are Minnesota snow birds now in Green Valley, AZ. We had lunch up the road from us at a family restaurant. We had chicken parmesan. It was mmmm so good.

We then traveled northeast about 40 miles to a little historical town called Florence. It was a pretty ride with the mountains all around but in a distance. We spent most of our time there in the Pinal County Historical museum. What a collection of Southwest materials.
There was Indian exhibits, bullet and bared wire collections, guns & ammo collection, Cactus furniture; (as pictured) parlor furniture, light purple dishes from before WW1, trading post display, ranch and cowboy display, Tom Mix collection, AZ State prison collection, antique tools
quilts, a 1980's Brougham carrage, and so much more.

Jackie and Don had to leave us from there. We went back threw Coolage and looked up Mels half brother but didn't find them home. We did enjoy seeing where they live for the winter.

We also found a dirt race track along the way but there won't be any races until after we leave this area. shucks...

Picked up a pizza and home again.

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The pictures above were taken at the museum. The big chest is my next jewelry box!!! (Talk about wishful thinking)

Day 20 Morning rain, Evening beauty

It rained and blew all night and most of the day. The sky this evening was truly God's artwork. It was so awesome. Every direction we looked.

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It has been a long day. This morning the elec. still didn't work well. Mel found a 'fix it' guy that camps here and is a certified rv repairman. He checked everything out and found that the plugs had reversed polarity. The hot wire and ground wire was switched. Hope you understand that. I don't . But anyway we now have full power. Before we shut the full elec off I made a pot of coffee. Guess I had a double filter in the basket as it wouldn't drain threw and I had coffee and coffee grounds all over the counter top. What a mess. Then the LP tanks went dry. so no heat and no frig. Went down the road and got them filled. By 4 everything was working again. To celibrate we went out for supper. And a good one it was. We just went to the Flying J truck stop buffet and it was so good.So now we are home again and just relaxing.

My friend was going to visit today but because of the rain and wind they decided to come tomorrow.

Thanks for riding along. Good night

Day 19 - Windy Sunday

Hi there,
Thanks for riding along with us.

Is there an electricion in the house????? Trey, come over will you?

For some reason most of our electrical plugs quit working. Only have 3 that work. Frig also went on gas. Mel worked all morning trying to figure it out. 2 neighbors stopped in to try to find the problem. But no luck. Guess we will have to call for professional help tomorrow.
I miss the fire place the most as it is really really windy tonight so the extra heat would be nice.
But we do have some lights, TV, and furnace and microwave. The important stuff !!!!

How was the big game? Did your team win? We aren't into football but was willing to check in for a while. But guess what? No football on our cable. Must have been blacked out here.
Didn't bother either of us.

Church this morning and then just rested this afternoon. About 5 we went to Casa Grande to get a tool Mel needed . I found the cactus I wanted. A little yellow barell cactus.
Pictures tomorrow.

We stopped at the Golden Correl for supper. Was good but as uaual, we ate way to much.

Tomorrow we are having company. My friend Jackie and her husband will be here.

Unless we blow away I will be back tomorrow evening. Minnesota weather doesn't sound good either so everyone stay safe.

Good night

P.S. I must tell you .... When I write this blog I do have paragraphs. I try to fix it when the words come down the side of the picture but no matter what I do it won't change. So as long as you can read the words thats all I care. But tonight the spell check doesn't work either.

Day 18 - A busy day

Our little fire place. Sure has come
in handy. It gets pretty cool at night
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a pretty sunset tonight. from behind our camper. I think some rain is coming.
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Many great big coachs came in today. Some RV club gathering I guess. It is funny as all these huge RVs all lined up before us and after us and accross from us and here we are with our little 5th wheel.
This morning the camp had a craft and bake sale. My goodness, some of these campers really keep busy making things. I bet you can't guess what I got.... Oh, ok. a pair of earings.
I washed a couple loads of cloths then home for lunch. Had a little rest time then went for a ride. Had to fuel up the pickup and then went to Casa Grande. Found a couple of rummage sales along the way. We got Molly a kitty toy. Also a cute little pickup flower pot.
A nice lady gave me a slip of cactus. so will plant it in the pickup.
It was about 68 degrees today. Nice and sunny.
Steaks for supper. Thats about it for today.
Wish you were here.

Day 17 - 75 degrees :-)

Mel gave the ol Dodge a good polish.
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My rummage sale finds.



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Oh what a beautiful day!! There was frost on the pickup when we got up this morning but it sure warmed up by afternoon. Molly and I sat out on the patio with a book and a Pepsi while Mel worked on the pickup.

This morning we tried to find some rummage sales but only found two. We had to laugh at the signs as we would see a sign on the main road, turned to follow it, but would lead to nothing.
Mel would drive for blocks but never would find a sale. Some of the signs were just on a cardboard box left on the side of the road so the wind could have turned them or something. Not the way sales are done in Minnesota !!! Maybe will look again tomorrow.

For supper we went to a near by restaurant for a fish fry. Wasn't to bad. But I do enjoy going out to eat.

Tonight we are just sitting around the fireplace.

See you tomorrow.

Take care & God Bless

Day 16....Cold day in AZ

Brrrrr.......... It is cold here. A have a coat on and turn the furnace up day. It was ONLY 54 degrees. Almost as cold as Minnesota and Iowa!!!

We just went for a ride this afternoon. Looked at some possible RV parks to move to and the one we liked was filled up. So guess we won't go there. My big requirement is that it has cable TV so we can watch Daytona week and the Nascar race. Not long to wait for that now..... Gooooo Mark Martin!!!!

I seen this cactus in that park. It was so red or purpleish. really neat.

We had a good supper. I made BBQ ribs and the trimmings. Mostly microwave cooking so was easy.

We will check out some rummage sales tomorrow. not sure if there is any but we will look anyway.

Take care and God Bless

Day 15 - Visiting friends

Don and Jackie Schacht from Rochester. Jackie is a good friend, school mate & Red Hatter with me.

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Jack and Gail Rooker from Oronoco. Gail is also a Pine Islander and Jack is Mels truck friend.

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Hello, We had a good day visiting these friends who also are in Arizona for the winter.

We visited Jackie and Don at their camp site in Green Valley. About 75 miles from here. They rent what is called a Park model. like a trailer house. Really pretty one. Then we went out to lunch. It was so good to see a them. Then we went back north to Tuscon and met Jack and Gail for coffee. We haven't seen them for a long time. In Minnesota we live about 40 miles apart but had to come to AZ to see them.

Home again and had a small supper and then just been sitting around. And fighting with my computer. I have so much trouble getting into any site or email until after 10. Not sure why.

Tomorrow will be a quiet day at home. I might even go swimming. :-) Come on over. That is if it is warmer than today. Was only about 55 and windy. Needed a jacket.

Thanks for stopping in.

Diane

Day 14 - Lunch with brother

Hello to all,

We are so missing out of the big storm at home!! (sure we are ;-0 )

It was a sunny 65 here. Turned the A/C on in the pick up for the first time. Got chilly tonight though. Had to put a jacket on.

We met Mel's half brother, Ken, and his wife Marie for lunch today. (Their picture above)

What an enjoyable visit. They are in a camp site north of us. Their home is in Rochester, MN.

The other picture is just a huge cactus. Oh how I would love one of those.

After lunch we got a few groceries and I bought a little Sago palm tree to take home. Still looking for an affordable big cactus.

We even had supper out. We went to Eva's Mexican Restaurant. Was ok but Mexican food is not a favorite of mine. It was good though.

Tomorrow we will travel to Tuscon to meet another friend, Jackie.

Come back tomorrow for all the details.

Good night. Stay safe and stay warm.

Day 13, House cleaning day.

See what I got today? Almost as pretty as yours, Terri. :-)

Now I need a pedicure.

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It was a busy day. I washed clothes this morning. There is a real nice laundromat here.

It has been a long time since I used a laundromat. I even paid the same dryer twice.

I meant to push the button for the upper dryer but hit the button for the one I already had running on the bottom.

Then I did some house keeping. Vacuum and stuff. Mel washed some outside windows.

This afternoon we went ot Casa Grande and shopped the used a bit shops. Martha should have been with us. I wanted some AZ looking things like pottery or something but found nothing.

Other campers have such cute ornaments in the fronts of their place so wanted something.

I did bring along a real looking rose bush so I got a basket to put that in. Looks so real that one lady even smelled it.

Tomorrow we will be having lunch with Mel's half brother. Not sure what from there.

so good night to all. Thanks for stopping by.

Day 12 - Day of rest

Hello everyone, We had a very quiet day. Church service at our Camp site was very nice. After we just rested in the camper. It rained all day so wasn't even outside other than untangling Molly!!!

Last night I about broke my neck... I slipped on the steps coming from the bedroom and landed hard. But guess I have enough padding as I wasn't hurt other than my feelings. I sure got Mels attention!!

Today Molly got into one of her running moods and after about the 3ed time from couch to bedroom going on one side of the bed, on the bed down the other side and back to the living room and on the couch and back to the bedroom. this time she run right into the step with her nose. Poor little girl... she didn't run any more. She had to be held a while then was ok.

We traveled 2062 miles to get here and got an average of 11.75 miles per gallon. Not bad, eh?

Sorry, no pictures today. Will get some tomorrow. Not sure what we will do but I am sure Mel will think of something.

I hope the rain and then freeze in Minnesota doesn't cause to many problems. Kind of scary.

Stay safe...

Good night

ok just one picture....

Day 11

Is this the life???? the middle picture is just the front yard of some house. only seen a couple with grass. Most have just the small rock and all kinds of cacti.

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It was 70 and sunshine again today. We didn't do to much today. Went for a ride and looked at houses and the yards. All stucco and mostly brown . Looked for some rummage sales but must have been to late as all we found was signs but no sales.

We had a pasta supper. cheese tortellini. I made it with hamburger and pasta sauce. We never had this kind of pasta before. Just caught my eye in the grocery store. It was really good.

I see it is warming up a bit in the North. It might rain here tomorrow.

I hope I can get up in time to attend chapel service here at the park.

Hope you all have a great Sunday.

good nigh

Diane

Day 10, We are here ! Arizona City

Our very own lemon tree. Right beside our camper.

Is that a big cacti or what? must have been 15 feet tall. I wish I could see it in bloom.

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Welcome back. I really hate to rub it in to my family but golly, it is hot here!!! hehehehe. It was 70 here this afternoon. Was so very nice.

We spent most of the morning at the tire shop. I found a nice place in Tucson on the net. It was just a couple of miles from where we stayed last night. We got new tires for all 4 camper wheels. It even pulls nicer now. Most of the tire shops, oil changes, etc are open air. they only have a roof.

We got to our camp site about 1 this afternoon. It is really nice. I hope to get some pictures tomorrow. www quailrunrvresort.com Heated swimming pool & mini golf. They had a fish fry tonight.

It took us a while to get set up being we didn't know what we were doing but Mel got it all figured out. Didn't know we were suppose to have our own TV coax for cable so got that along with groceries. Will hook that up tomorrow. Also didn't have a piece for the sewer hose. It works but ... so got that too. Walmart is only about 8 miles away.

Not sure what tomorrow holds. I think just rest a bit and enjoy the sunshine on our patio.

I want to find a book or web site to tell me what these plant names are. All so cool!!!! And so big!

Oh my, just realized that tomorrow I have to wash dishes again.

Good night

Diane

Mel thought this was the perfect spot as there are 4 truck stops near by. should keep him in coffee and balony talk for a few days. ;-)

Day 9 - Tucson, AZ

Hello to all, It was a beautiful day today. 65 and sun shine. Some dark clouds but not to bad. Had some cool winds for a while. Had to put a coat on. :-) Molly keeps looking for grass but none to be found. She doesn't like the sand in her paws.

A sign in the rest area said poisones snakes and insects could be in this area. yuk....

Seen none.....thank goodness. Mel said to cold for them to be out. I hope he is right.

We mostly just traveled today. Beautiful mountains sights all day. No off road adventures.... except for one. Stopped at a rest area to let Molly out and we must have drove over something on the way in as another flat tire. big hole in the bottom. Mel had the necessary tools to change it but the spare is what we took off yesterday so not a good one. Tomorrow we have to go to a tire shop again.

We reserved a camp site in Arizona City called Quail Run. http://quailrunrvresort.com

I hope it is as nice as the web site claims. Will be there after the tires are done with.

Plan to stay there at least a week. maybe 2.

I been following the weather in the North land. Feel so sorry for you. ;-)

Crank up the thermostats. Add another blanket.

Take care and God Bless

Diane

Day 8, NM/TX line

Hi there,

I am finally able to read and send my emails. It has been a long 2 days. ha!!

Today we got into the mountains of TX. ohhhh so pretty. but was so cloudy that the pictures didn't turn out very good. Will be more tomorrow as we go threw NM and into AZ.

Thank you all for the invitations to visit that we have been getting. We are going to try and see as many of you as we can.

We found a couple of camp sites we will check on tomorrow. Plan to park near Arizona City and rest for a day or two. Then just take the pickup on our trips around the state.

We had a small problem today. Stoped at a rest area for lunch and couldn't get the kitchen slide back in. With the help of another camper Mel pushed it in so we could travel. With the help of "Good Sam" we found a place to fix it. I guess a screw fell out. At the same time a tire was going bad so had to replace that also. Kind of an expensive and frustrating day.

But tonight the phones and computer both work again so I am happy.

I have GPS on my computer and kind of fun to see where we are going. Of course with Mel being a human map we don't really need it very often.

Mel and Molly had their ice cream and already in bed so guess I will go too.

See you in New Mexico tomorrow........Maybe even Arizona.

Good night

PS... got to 65* today. First day in spring coats.

If you would like to leave a comment just click on the word comment at the bottom of my post for the day. thanks.....