July 18, 2007 Butte, Montana & Wind

Visit to Butte Montana and a drive up to look over the city from high on the hill in old Butte near the copper mine shafts. The old Dumas House of prostitution was in operation from 1890 to 1982. We talked to a security guard that was a retired city police officer. He said the girls of the Dumas gave $1 from each “visitor” to the local police department so they would look the other way.

Also pictures of one of the mines, and Copper King Mansion.

The last shot of the motor home is an example of why you shouldn’t park in a Walmart lot, put your awning out and leave for a day of sightseeing and “hope” no wind kicks up.

July 14, 2007 Medora, North Dakota

Theodore Roosevelt National Park. This buffalo stood on the road as we came around the corner. Betty took the picture and tried another as he passed by about 3 feet from her window. She thought the picture didn’t take but…. Several others were seen on the 36 mile scenic drive through this National Park in North Dakota’s Bad Lands.

July 8-10 2007 Brooklyn Park, Minnesota

What a nice visit with our friends Dwain (waving to me in the front yard) and Linnea (in their living room).

We met our friends 2 years ago in Arizona. After lots of visits in the camp grounds and at our home in Casa Grande it was time to visit them at their home in Minnesota.

They had a cement pad, 50A electric, and water hook ups for us. We backed in right next to their home.

Note the lush green lawn, I checked, not 1 weed. We had Linnea’s fresh Rhubarb Pie made from Rhubarb that Dwain cut that morning in the back yard garden. They took us to a spaghetti dinner to meet some of their friends one evening. The next evening Dwain fired up the BBQ for great steaks.

This was the spot I selected to take on my long delayed job of rewiring the overhead entertainment compartment in our Bounder. This meant taking out the 27” (450 pound, at least) TV. We got it out and rewired with a new home theater unit. Good picture, great sound, thanks Dwain.

Their son Tim (in the kitchen) prepared a 5 Star going-away breakfast for us our last morning. Not enough time with these folks but time to leave and find the “Oregon Trail”. We made plans to meet this winter in Arizona and share our latest adventures and a game or two of Pegs & Jokers.

June 30 - July 7, 2007 Scandia Minnesota

We stayed this year as we do every summer when we come this way, with our friends Mike & Diane at their home in Scandia, Minnesota.

I (Dennis) grew up about 30 miles from Scandia in St Paul. We call this place "Thom’s RV Resort", space for 1 rig. The first year we brought the motorhome they asked what we needed. We said a little power would be nice. We got a leveled space with water and 50A service and a welcome mat from our old friends.

Pictureof our rig through the metal work of the fire pit.

We spend the month of November in Mazatlan. Mike & Diane are friends that joined us last winter to spend a week with us leaving the snow and cold of Minnesota behind.

A few pictures at the pool (90 deg.) of Mike sitting at the end, Diane and Betty floating and Diane and Betty in the kitchen.

July 1-5, 07 Visit with Relatives

Good visits with my (Dennis) Dad in White Bear Lake, MN. Dad will be age 91 in Nov.Brother-in-law Glenn, Sister Karen, Dad

We had a fun afternoon with my little sister Karen, 6 yrs younger than me. We took a drive to visit my niece Rochelle and her family in Wisconsin with a stop at Taylor’s Falls, WS.

Dinner with my Step-Dad at Old Country Buffet in Woodbury, MN. Harold is age 86, still getting around great.

June 22, 07 Friends and Tomatos, Wiggins, Colorado

“The time has come,” the Walrus said,”to talk of many things.”– L.Carroll

We had a fun visit with Harold at his summer home “farm” in Wiggins, Colorado. Betty at the wheel of Harold’s 1953 Ford NNA tractor. Harold is our neighbor in Casa Grande.

While there we took a side trip to visit his daughter and son in law, Cindy & Russ. Cindy gave us a tour of their produce business. Honeyacre Produce (since 1985) They have 5 large climate controlled greenhouses.

The vine tomatos are grown from seed in a bag of coconut husks. An irrigation system provides water and nutrients. They pick twice a week when the tomato’s are ripe and rush to market, fresh with no pesticides. Unlike regular store tomato’s that are picked green and have little flavor. They are all flawless and look perfect or they don’t go to market. We got to watch the watering, pollination from bumble bees and the trimming of the suckers. Best of all we left with tomato and pepper samples J

United States Air Force Academy

We spent a couple of fun days here in Colorado Springs, Colorado with Pikes Peak out our front window. The people were so friendly, maybe the most friendly group at this Elks club. Happy hour was 5pm in a nice shady area next to the pool. We are looking forward to seeing our new friends Kay & Jim on the West Coast.

We spent a fun afternoon at the Air Force touring the area open to the public. The Cadet Chapel was amazing. The chapel is 150 feet tall, taking 4 years to build and beautiful inside and out.

It contains a separate chapel for each of the three major religious faiths represented in the Air Force. Betty is standing with a soon to be fighter pilot and Cody the falcon.

Parking here was tight to say the least. This is compared to our parking spot at the Santa Fe, NM Elks. There we had about 2 acres to pick our spot in and no neighbors. Here in Colorado Springs we had electric and water but not much air to breath J. Less than one foot clearance on one side and about 2 feet on the other side. The Alfa "See Ya" coach that is parked next to us came in and the driver said he couldn’t back it into that spot, could someone help him. I got into his coach and slowly backed it into the spot shown. Of course I had an interest in how this big rig was backed in, not wanting the paint or mirrors on my coach removed

Albuquerque NM, Sandia Peak

A nice couple days visit here in Albuquerque with a good parking spot at the Sandia Casino. We had a very good buffet dinner at this beautiful Casino/Golf course. We took a short drive to the Sandia Peak Tramway. They say this is the world’s longest passenger tramway. The ride climbs the mountain for 2.7 miles to an elevation of 1,378 ft. It takes a 14 min. ride to get to the top. All supplies for the restaurant are taken up in the tram. Very interesting information can be found at www.sandiapeak.com. Cost for round trip “flight” as they call it was $15 each for seniors. Well spent dollars. We spent a little over an hour at the top taking in the 11,000 sq mile view.

Holbrook, AZ Petrified Forest and Spirits

Greetings from Holbrook, AZ We parked at the local Elks lodge. At this stop we visit the Petrified National Forest and the Painted Desert along with a stop to take some pictures of some rock art left by a group of people that lived here or passed through at some time in the long ago past. This rock art looks like a giant bird trying to eat a small person. Was this a historical record or story or...
We, had a fish dinner with the local Elks members, some good conversation and got a “hot tip” to be sure to visit the haunted court house in town. We did visit the court house but didn’t see any spirits floating around. They say only one may was hung here in the 1800’s and he is still hanging around the area.

Camp Verde, AZ Cliff Dwellings

Our campground is one of our favorites. Camp Verde sits on the Verde River. We have been here several times. This time we saw 3 beavers playing in their pond they made by falling trees along the river. We came back with our camera the next day but no luck at finding the beavers again. Here for a couple days then on to Holbrook, AZ.

This stop gave us a return visit to these 3 ancient dwelling sites, 2 of them are cliff dwelling sites. These sites were used by the Southern Sinagua people. All 3 sites are about 30 miles from our campground. As for the pictures, the large cliff dwelling is Montezuma Castle, a 20 room dwelling about 100 ft above the valley, used in the 12^th century.

The picture with the “little” lake is Montezuma Well that was formed by a collapsed underground cavern now fed by springs. A small cliff dwelling can be seen across the lake in the side of the cliff. The area was home to about 150-200 people in the years 1100-1400.

The picture that looks over and down into a bunch of open rooms it Tuzigoot. This overlooks the Verde Valley. 77 rooms some were 2 stories that were home to about 50-200 people 1125 to 1400.

Coronado National Memorial – April 14, 07

This was a visit to find our park ranger friend Denise. She recently transferred from the Casa Grande Ruins (about 18 miles from our home) - http://casagranderuins.areaparks.com/
to the Cornado National Memorial, South of Sierra Vista, AZ about 1 mile from the Mexican border (about 180 miles from our home). www.nps.gov/coro We had a very nice bike ride to this memorial. The picture in the case is a real armor suit. I am the goofy looking guy wearing a heavy replica with Ranger Denise standing by. The suit is made of heavy steal chain material. Almost like a 1500’s bullet proof vest. You have to have help getting into and out of it. We had a very nice visit with her and her staff. There is a lot to see and do there so we will have to come back when we can spend a whole day wandering the park, checking out the cave. So next winter we will be back and no I am not putting on that goofy suit again Denise!
















If your interested...Ranger Denise says the Cornado National Memorial commemorates the first major European exploration of the American Southwest by Francisco Vasquez de Coronado. The park is composed of 4,750 acres of Oak woodlands with the visitor center at 5,230 ft. For more information see www.nps.gov/coro


The real suit!

Tucson, AZ Rally & Ride @ Beaudry's April 5-8

Sponsored by Beaudry’s RV in Tucson, AZ. We arrived a day early on the 4^th to avoid the rush on registration day since about 200 RVs signed up. We are all RVers that also have motorcycles. We saw several trikes, several Gold Wings, a few others, and a LOT of Harley’s. Beaudry’s is a first class resort. The food was great; they fed us breakfasts, a sack lunch for the ride and wonderful dinners with entertainment every night. One night was casino night, one night karaoke with a DJ, one night Cathy Sea and her band. We have seen her several times. Thanks to Kiri and her support staff for a fun rally.

They offered 3 nights 4 days of guided rides. There were several rides per day. Just show up at the start time and join in with the group. The guided rides were to The Casa Grande Ruins, Bisbee, the Saguaro National Park, Tortilla Flat, Patagonia Lake, and Tombstone. Most rides were 80-120 miles one way. Also available were self guided rides.

On day 1, registration day, we went on a ride with our new friends Judy & Larry from California. We rode about 100 miles round trip to the Saguaro National Park.

This is Betty with “Guy”, the ride captain for the Tombstone ride. I choose the ride Tombstone with about 35 other bikes. We went about 180 miles round trip with 2 hours to spend walking around the town seeing the sights. Tombstone calls itself “the town too tough to die”. With the OK Coral, Big Nose Kate’s Saloon, The Bird Cage Saloon there are lots of sights to take in. This is Betty with “Guy”, the ride captain for the Tombstone ride.

We made plans with new friends to meet again in November for the Fall Rally & Ride.