We are now into our 12th year of my retirement, Sandy retired in 1998, and things are still looking good for wanting to get out and see our vast and beautiful country.
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It’s Sunday the 11th which is Mothers day so hi to all the mothers out there. It’s time to leave and head towards home. After everything was put away, loaded up with water and dumping the waste tanks we went out by the highway and waited for Ron and Jane so we could go to Rock Springs for breakfast. Was that place was so busy at 9:30, we had to wait 45 minutes to get seated. The breakfast was good but the banana cream pie we bought to take with us was mediocre at best. After saying our goodbyes to Ron and Jane we headed north to Flagstaff where we plan on staying north of town at the Bonita Campgrounds which is a National Forest CG near Sunset Crater Volcanic National Monument. After getting set up in site 32 we relaxed, played some dice and had supper. There is no cell service and we could not get a clear shot of the sky for satellite TV.
On Monday morning when we woke up it was 28 degrees outside. I don’t think it’s going to be shorts weather today. We are sitting in the back watching the sunrise through the pine trees. After breakfast it was off to visit Walnut Canyon National Monument just east of Flagstaff. Walnut Canyons cliff dwellings were built between 1125 and 1250 AD. The Canyon builders, the Sinagua (Spanish for “without water”), had to carry and store their water supply into their dwellings as the stream below did not flow year round. The Sinagua homes remained largely undisturbed until the 1880’s when the railroad brought souvenir hunters into the ancient dwellings. The visitor’s center onsite tells of this story. Even though you must walk 240 steps down to see the dwellings it was worth it. Oh! And 240 step back up, it was good they had lots of rest areas along the trail which is at an elevation of 7,000 feet making it a little more difficult for us who are not used to higher elevations.
Some of the cliff dwellings viewed from across a canyon.
This area is called “the island” and has cliff dwellings all around the perimeter. It was believed that they moved around to different dwellings as the seasons changed. Either to stay cooler by being in the shadows or warmer by being in the direct sunlight.
How many steps do we have left? She’s still smiling.
The railroads brought in hundreds of people who destroyed many of the dwellings and pillaged the artifacts which included pieces of cloth, pottery and food remains. They even dynamited the walls to get more light into the dwellings.
The Sinagua built their fires against the back walls. The blackened areas and the smoke followed the roof to the front where they had small outlet vents. Even so, I would believe it had to be quite smoky in there.
Me standing in front of the entrance and a small vent hole of a dwelling. Note the short entrance door.
Sandy is checking out some of the ruins.
Here are a few pictures of the flora and fauna in the area.
This little guy tried his best to camouflage himself.
Today, Wednesday May 7th, we finished the trek to Phoenix and got settled in and then went over to Ron and Jane’s for Ron’s famous meatloaf supper. After supper Sandy was saying that this was the first time we had been in the desert when the Saguaro cactus were in bloom. Sandy said she wanted to get a good picture but that the blooms were too high off the ground to get a good picture. Then Jane says grab your camera, I know just the spot, so off we went for a short walk. Thanks Jane. We also saw 2 coyotes wandering around on the golf course.
After we returned from taking cactus pictures Ron gave us a demonstration on making large bubbles.
Here is a short video of Ron’s bubble attacking Sandy.
Jane prearranged our first party at the new RV. She and Ron along with two other couples who also own Lazy Daze RV’s brought food and grills for a cookout on Thursdasy evening.. It was great fun to see everyone again. One couple, Karl and Deb, bought our 2011 Lazy Daze last May.
Here are Dan, Paula, Karl, Deb, Dave, Ron and Jane.
Here Jane and Dan are enjoying a beverage of choice. Jane, that doesn’t look like a margarita glass to me.
Karl is making a point to Dave, Sandy and Ron.
Jane, postulating, preaching…… oh! maybe just plain talking.
Ron giving Dave, Dan and Karl a lesson on grilling a hot dog. Just kidding.
We went to Ron and Jane’s on Friday where their daughter Allison came over and made dinner for us all. She brought over Kobe beef patties and we had the best hamburgers ever.
On Saturday Karl and Deb invited us over to their house for a visit, and afterwards we went to Harold’s in Cave Creek (the wild side of town) for supper. It was fun to sit and visit with the owners of our 2011 Lazy Daze. It sounds like they are having a lot of fun, and more fun to come when Karl retires this fall.
After we posted our last blog we got a response from Ann and Rod who bought our first, 2005, Lazy Daze in July 2007. It was good to hear from them and it sounds as if they are anticipating retirement so they can hit the road more often.
We have been so fortunate to have met so many nice people while traveling in the last 7 1/2 years.
Today, May 2nd, is the big day. We got to the factory at 8:30 for the walk through and paper work. The only issue we had was the factory had forgotten to install the battery disconnect switch. It was 10:30 before we could leave with the ICC driver driving the coach and us following behind in the Subaru. It was about 2:30 when we got into Primm, NV where we had to sign the paper work showing that we took possession of the motorhome out of the state of California in order not to pay CA sales tax. Then it was off to Oasis RV Resort in Las Vegas where it was 95 degrees while we unpacked the Subaru and loaded up the RV.
Here is the new Lazy Daze. The outside looks the same, but the inside has light maple wood rather than the darker cherry interior of the 2011 coach.
Saturday we did some running around and picking up supplies in the morning so we could be ready for Gil and Nancy coming over about mid afternoon. We had made arrangements earlier for Nancy to pick up tickets for the four of us to see the Donny and Marie Osmond Show. Gil and Nancy also have a Lazy Daze so they were interested in seeing what changes have been made in the last few years. Later we left for “the strip” where Gil and Nancy treated us to a magnificent buffet at the Cosmopolitan. Thanks, Gil and Nancy. Later we walked around sightseeing before going to the show at the Flamingo. The show was fantastic. Sandy had seen a Donny Osmond concert before back home and this show did not disappoint. Both Donny and Marie are excellent singers and performers with a wide variety of music, comedy and dancing. Before the show we stopped at the Bellagio to watch the fountain show and we returned after the concert to watch the fountains again. The “Dancing Waters” at the Bellagio are probably the best free show in Vegas. By the time we got home at 10:30 we were tired and ready to hit the sack.
Here are Gil and Nancy and us at the Conservatory in the Bellagio.
Gil took the next 7 pictures.
The Bellagio.
5 pictures from inside the Venetian, Encore, Wynn, Palazzo and Bellagio casinos.
These parasols move slowly up and down.
Gil took this candid photo of us and Nancy in the Bellagio Conservatory which was filled with spring flowers.
Sunday morning after breakfast Sandy did some more arranging on the inside and I put on the step cover and a bug screen to keep the bugs from plugging up the radiator fins as we are driving down the highway. Gil and Nancy invited us to their home for dinner then later took us back into town to see the Palazzo and Wynn Las Vegas hotel casinos. These hotels are extravagant beyond description.
This is Elvis. I wanted to say their “dog”, but I don’t want to hurt his feelings. Elvis has a little bell he rings when he needs to go outside. He also has a little bell outside that makes the doorbell ring when he is ready to come back inside. Sandy tried to get a picture of Elvis ringing his bell, but he was way too fast for her to snap the picture.
On Monday, the 5th, we were on the road again and drove from Las Vegas to Ridgecrest, CA where we are had tire valve stem extenders put on the motorhome. It was another windy drive so I kept the speed down to under 60 MPH. Even so, we got in early so Chuck said to pull into a bay and he would install the extenders on the front tires now, leaving just the rear tires for the morning so we could get a earlier start tomorrow. Chuck came by the RV about 6:30AM to drop off some coffee. It’s a good thing he had told us he was going to do that or he would have caught us in our PJ’s. He said he would be back at 7:45 to take the RV and put the extenders on the rear tires. While he was putting on the extenders we went for breakfast and picked up some supplies. When we got back to the shop, Chuck was finished, so we were on the road by 10:00 heading for Phoenix, AZ. We ended up stopping in Parker, AZ and spent the night at Pirates Den Campground where we backed up to the Colorado River. We got the feeling it could be a busy and noisy place during the day with jet skis and water skiing on the river.
On Wednesday April 30th we were excited to get to the Lazy Daze factory to get a look at our new motorhome. When we got there we could only look at it from a distance as they were still working on it. It appears they had to do some repainting. One of the things I wanted to do was visit the Wally Parks NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) museum in Pomona. So after stopping at the factory we went to the museum and spent a couple hours there. There were salt flat racers, dragsters, drag bikes and street rods on display.
This is for our neighbors back home.
Nothing sounds better than a smooth running V-8 flat head.
