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Another perfect day. They are supposed to end on Sunday.
I got a call from my brother Pat asking about the new iPad. Since retiring he doesn't have any way of doing email. They did get exposed to them by Linda's sister and the grand children.
Had my UND ODNA meeting by conference call. Fairly short meeting with just mark and Bryon.
When we got to Snyder Hill yesterday, we saw a poster about a missing Service Cat. Today the woman who lost the cat, Awanee, stopped by to see if we had seen it. She thinks somebody reached into her van and stole it. I hope she finds her cat. When we got up this morning there were several people whose only RV was a pickup with out any type of topper. I climbed up the trail on Snyder Hill to see what the view was like.
Our campsite from Snyder Hill
We drove into Tucson to Trader Joe's to do some shopping. Won't see another one for quite awhile.
Got back to campsite, hitched up and headed for Benson, AZ about 47 mi away. Stopped at Camping World on the way out to get the awning slider catches that we need. Man in parts department said they weren't available as replacement parts, that I would have to buy the whole rafter. I had already looked them up and gotten the part number for a 2 pack. This really irritated me, wouldnt have thought it was too bad if they didn't stock them, but to tell me you couldn't get them really got to me. Wnt next door to Lazy Days. He said they had sol two packages already that day and didn't think they had any left. he went in back to check and said they were out.
Drove on to Benson and got to the Escapees SKP Co-op at 4:00pm. Cathy registered us for 2 nights and we were assigned site number 105. Nice corner lot with a view of the valley.
Our site at SKP Saguaro Co-op
There was entertainment at the club house, but we didn't feel like going.
Over night low in Tucson was 46 degrees. the high in Benson today was 84 degrees. The wind was 7 to 21 mph, with gusts to 28 mph.
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| Posted by John Hilley at | | | |
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Another perfect sunny warm day. Got up, walked Snoopy, made coffee and took care of some things on the Internet. We had no cell phone or Internet connectivity last night. Verizon Wireless had a major outage in Arizona We pulled out of Organ Pipe National Monument at 11:00am. We headed north on AZ-85 to Why. Stopped at the gas station on the east side for ice cream bars. Headed east on AZ-86 for 100 miles through Indian reservation to Tucson. We are camped at Snyder Hill, a very small BLM 14 day dispersed camping area 6 miles west of Tucson at the intersection of AZ-86 and South San Joaquin Rd. Nice flat area.
Snyder Hill
We got to Snyder Hill at 2:00pm. We put the jacks down, started the generator and air conditioning. We left Snoopy in the motor home and went to the Walmart and 99 cent only store on Valentia. It is an easy drive for about 7 mi on AZ-86 then down I-19 for a couple of miles to Valentia. When we got back we sat outside for awhile. A couple from Rapid City, SD stopped by and we talked for awhile. Tried TV, but all we could get was the basketball tournament and several Spanish stations. Cathy fixed left overs for dinner. We watched Season One of Hiccups with Brent Butt and Nancy Robertson. It is a Canadian comedy series.
The day was clear and sunny. Over night low at Organ Pipe Cactus national Monument was 50 degrees. The high in Tucson was 81 degrees. Wind was 6 to 10 mph.
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| Posted by John Hilley at | | | |
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Another absolutely perfect day, clear and warm. Spent the morning around the motor home on the Internet and reading. After lunch we decided to see what is in Lukeville, a border crossing, about 6 miles south. There's not much there except the border crossing check point, a gas station, a cafe and duty free store, that wre closed because of a power outage.
Lukeville border crossing
Lukeville cafe
No power notice in window
When we got back to Organ Pipe we took the Puerto Blanco Drive. This drive used to be 37 mi and ended up at Quitobaquito on the border. It is now closed at the 5 mi point and converted to a two way road with some improvements. They closed it because of the illegal and drug traffic. There is a ranger van tour of the old road, they can take 10 people.
End of Puerto Blanco Drive
the over night low was 50 degrees and the high for the day was 84 degrees. It was sunny and the wind was 4 to 8 mph.
About 6:00pm Verizon wireless went down, no Internet or cell phone. It was up again this morning.
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| Posted by John Hilley at | | | |
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As usual another perfect day. Sunny and warm. Finished getting the motor home ready to leave and went to the bakery a short distance north of the campground on AZ-85. Got some donuts, apple fritters, cookies, a cup of coffee, a map and a copy of the Ajo Copper News newspaper. We were on the road by 10:30am. Stopped at Why to fill with gas, 9 cents less than Ajo at $3.999/gal.
Drove on to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument 40 miles south of Ajo. Nice, easy, scenic drive. When we got to Organ Pipe, we stopped at thhe Visitor Center and got some information. Went another 1 1/2 miles to the Twin Peaks Campground. We got space 5. All 208 sites are beautiful.
Our site at Twin Peaks Campground
After getting settled at our site we went back to the Visitor Center and watched the 15 minute film. We then went on the 21 mile Ajo Mountains Scenic Drive. The drive took a little over 2 hours.  Typical view along drive It was mostly a smooth to rough dirt road, with some asphalt through washes and areas with sharp drop offs. There is one place where there are double arches. There aren't many arches in the monument.
Double arches
When we got back I walked Snoopy and visited with our neighbor who is from London, Ontario and had spent the winter in the Rio Grande Valley. They are working their way back home slowly. They are traveling in a class B with a small enclosed trailer.
Cathy made tomato soup from Trader Joe's for dinner. Took Snoopy for his last walk of the day. The stars in the sky were really beautiful and there weren't any sounds, not even coyots.
Over night low was 46 degrees and the high for the day was 84 degrees. Sunny all day with wind 5 to 14 mph, gusting to 17 mph.
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| Posted by John Hilley at | | | |
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Another perfect sunny day. Spent the morning around the motor home. After lunch we headed to El Cobre feed store to see if we could get some dry dog food for Snoopy. They only had one kind and only in 50# bags. Cheto the owner was very interesting and he had a beutiful complex with his house and store. He was born in Ajo and worked in the mine for 37 years. His grand daughters were in the store. They were on a 2 week vacation from school. They go all year and have several 2 week vacations and one 1 month vacation per year.
El Cobre feed store
We then headed over to the museum and mine. We first saw the Greenway House. John Greenway was a mining engineer and named the town of Coleraine on the Mesabi range in Minnesota. He built the house for his wife Isabella. Isabella moved to a ranch in North Dakota when a child, to a ranch her father owned with Teddy Roosevelt. John was a Teddy Roosevelt Rough Rider in Cuba.
Greenway Mansion above mine in Ajo, AZ
Shortly after completing the house John Greenway died. Isabella took a flower cross from his funeral and encased it in concrete and put it on the highest peak around Ajo, where she could see it from her house across the way.
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| Posted by John Hilley at | | | |
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Another perfect day. Got up and watched some TV. Went out and drained the holding tanks.
Watched the Sprint Cup Las Vegas pre race show. Had sandwiches and watched the first part of the race. Went up on the roof and installed a Camco Cyclone 360 degree sewer vent. Then finished watching the race. Tony Stewart won the race, one of three tracks he hadn't won at before.
We were about to head to Why, when Cathy discovered the shower full of water. She had mentioned earlier that the water wasn't hot. Actually it didn't dtop putting in the water and it went down the drain. Although I had the tanks connected to the sewer, I didn't have the valve open. The bad thing is we lost half a bag of expensive prescription dry dog food that we had in the shower. Drained the tanks and headed for Why.
i was interested in the BLM dispersed camping near Why. It is 2 miles south of the junction of AZ-85 and AZ-86 on the west side of the highway. The area is refered to as Gunsight Gulch. There is a Camp Host there.
Gunsight Gulch BLM Dispersed Camping Area
There is also a warning sign. You can see the Camp Host's site behind the sign.  On the way back to Ajo, we stopped at a monument up on a hill above the AZ-85. Turns out it was a monument for the Clarkston Cemetary, which was moved into Ajo.  We noticed a lot of solar panels behind the monument, so we went over and took a look.  When we got back to Ajo we drove around looking at the residential areas. We grilled sausages for dinner and then watched TV.
Over night low was 41 degrees and the high was 75 degrees. It was sunny and the wind was only 3 to 8 mph.
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| Posted by John Hilley at | | | |
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Beautiful, warm, sunny day. Set up satellite receiver to watch Nascar race. Cathy used the motor home washer/dryer to do some washing. I went across the road to Reuben's Barbershop and got my hair cut. Got it cut real short. $14.00 and a 1 hour wait. They are closed on Monday, so decided I had better get it done today.
Reuben's Barbershop in Ajo
After my haircut I watched the first part of the Nationwide race in Las Vegas. Then we headed down to the Ajo Plaza. We met a very nice man named Charles that was born in Ajo. When he was a young boy his family moved to California. He gave us a lot of information about Ajo.  Ajo Plaza Charles thinks he finished 2nd or 3rd grade in Ajo. There were eight in his family. In Ajo his father worked at the mine, in California, the shipyards. Charles has a home in Ajo and one he spends the summers at in Idaho. He commented on the Jeep Cherokee and asked what year it was. He said he has a 1993 that was his wifes. He left it parked in the garage for 5 years after his wife's death, but then drove it down to Ajo. He walks 10 or 12 circuits of the plaza every day.  Old Ajo School After walking around the plaza we drove up to the old hospital and then south of town into the desert. Srove back to Olsen's Market Place and bought steaks for dinner. We went back to the motor home and grilled the steaks. We then watched murder and mayhem on TV.
The day was sunny and warm. The over night low was 48 degrees and the high for the day was 66 degrees. Wind was 10 to 17 mph, gusting to 24 mph.
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| Posted by John Hilley at | | | |
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A perfect morning warm, sunny and calm. We went to Mimi's to use a breakfast coupon that expires tomorrow. We both had a two egg breakfast. Mimi's is a very comfortable place to eat.
Mimi's in Yuma
After Breakfast we stopped at Sam's Club and filled the Jeep with gas for $3.729. We then went to the Walmart on Pacific. We bought a cordless vacuum, I haven't gotten the built in vacuum installed yet, beer, chocolate wine and a few other things. Went back to the Fair Grounds, hooked up and headed out. We stopped at RV Connections on 32nd Street for their parking lot sale. We got on I-8 about 12:30pm. We stopped at Dateland for a break and refreshments, ice tea for me, ice cream for Cathy and a walk for Snoopy.  Dateland We then continued on to Gila Bend where we headed south to Ajo, AZ on AZ-85. The scenery was very pretty on the drive. We got to Ajo at about 4:00pm. We checked into the Shadow Ridge RV park. got set up and went to Olsen's Market Place IGA grocery store. A very nice store with a great selection and good prices. Picked up some shrimp for a vegetable and rice dinner, some cookies and potato salad. Went back to the motor home and had dinner and watched TV.
Overnight low in Yuma was 53 degrees. The high in Ajo was 78 degrees. Wind was 10 to 20 mph most of the day.
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| Posted by John Hilley at | | | |
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Nice sunny, but hazy day. Cathy and i both went over for coffee and donuts. Cathy and I went to the Boondocking Tips Round Table at 9:00am. Good discussion on ways to conserve water and power. At 10:30am, I went to the Advanced RV Battery seminar. Good information on charging RV batteries.
After the seminar, I went out to Bard to pick up the mail for the last time. It was sad to know I was seeing Picacho Peak and Castle Dome for the last time this year.
Stopped by the 99 cent only store for cookies, chips and candy. Got back to the motor home and walked Snoopy. Then went to Judy Howard's seminar, "Have You Ever Thought Writing a Book?" She published her first book, "Coast to Coast with a Cat and a Ghost," in July. It was an interesting seminar and I learned a lot more about ePublishing.
At 7:00pm we went for the last door prize drawing. The food vendor won the Kindle, which was pretty nice. They have a little girl who was very much involved in every thing and is home schooled. I think they will make good use of it.
After the drawing we went back to the motor home for sandwiches and salads. Watched TV and went to bed.
Over night low was 41 degrees and the high was 76 degrees. Wind was 5 to 17 mph, with gusts to 23 mph.
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| Posted by John Hilley at | | | |
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Day started sunny, windy and cool. Fellow Flickertails, Duane and Phyllis from Fargo, ND came to the Gypsy Journal Rally for the day. Met them for coffee and donuts and got caught up on what they had done since we last saw them.
Cathy and I went out to the Foothills Veterinary Hospital to pick up medicine and food for Snoopy. We then went to the Yuma Regional Medical Center to pick up the x-ray CD for Cathy. We then stopped at CVS to pick up some prescriptions for me.
We got back to the motor home and had lunch. In the afternoon I went to two more of Nick Russell's seminars, Highway History and Back Road Mysteries and Birth of a Best Seller. Highway History and Back Road Mysteries is a seminar he used to do for Life on Wheels. Birth of a Best Seller, was about a book, Big Lake, he wrote 14 years ago and putting it on Amazon as an eBook at the insistence of his wife Terry and a friend. It made the best seller list on Amazon and the New york Times. There is now a sequel, Big Lake Lynching. For the first few month he got 5 star reviews, then when he got to #18 on the Amazon Top 100, he was hit by the "Screw the Indie" group, people who pick a popular Amazon author and then give him 1 star reviews to see ow far they can drop him on the Amazon Top 100. He went to #84 over night. It is is currently #215 in the Amazon top paid, #5 in Mysteries, Thriller and Suspense, Police Proceedurals and #19 in Mysteries.
At 6:00pm we had the pizza party. We had Dominoes cheese, pepperoni and sausage pizzas. All 300 people were served in 5 1/2 minutes.
After dinner we had the Cactus Queen beauty contest. It was hard to pick from the five beauties, but as Cathy said, the big chested one always wins.
The blonde, second from the right, won.
Went back to the motor home and finished off the evening watching TV.
Over night low was 50 degrees and the high for the day was 64 degrees. It was sunny with winds 12 to 25 mph, tapering off towards the end of the day.
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| Posted by John Hilley at | | | |
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