October 31st

Happy Halloween to everyone!!!!!!!!!!
We had a pretty good day, got a few things done around here.  Cyndy still busy with her jewelry and I am almost done with two more walking sticks that we picked up in Alaska.  They are called diamond willows, I hope to have some pictures tomorrow.
About 11:00 AM we took off for a ride in the RZR to see if we could get lost.  We have a map of the area so off we go.

 Cyndy was getting a little concerned as we came up to the top of this hill.

I said what ever goes up must come down, she didn't like that thought.

Hay look we are heading over there.  Cyndy was taking pictures as we went along so if we got lost she could look at the pictures in case we got lost.  I told her not to worry I have a map.

Cyndy wanted to turn around but I couldn't find a place that would be easy to turn around so I guess we must go down then come back up.

Whats around this corner, here is a few pictures of out ride today.

 This was fun I thought, Cyndy had a different idea, like if we get out of here I may _____.

We even found this water storage tank up here for watering the cattle that are running around up here.  We seen one or two today.

When we started up this hill those tanks down there were a lot bigger.

OK, we are getting closer.

We had a great day and the trail was a lot of fun.  In a couple of days we will be in Salton City, doing a lot of geocaching and playing in the desert.  Now all we have to do is get everything packed back in its place and hit the road Monday morning.

October 30th

The past few days have been pretty busy, Tuesday night Bob & Sue Keirg stopped by for the night at our park.  They were on there way home to San Diego, CA.  Cyndy & I fixed them just a small dinner and we had a great time just visiting with them.  Its hard to believe we have not seen each other in over a year.  We are hoping to catch up with them again while we are in Salton City.
Wednesday we set out on a adventure cross country towards Jerome in the RZR's, we were out looking for Geocaches and going to Jerome for lunch at our favorite little restaurant for pizza.  They also have some great sandwiches but we like their pizza the best.  We did pretty good Geocaching today, we found 10 caches and couldn't find one.  Yes, Doug we went back to the fire station and still didn't find it!!!!!
Which brings us to the best day of October, the 30th which is my BIRTHDAY so Happy Birthday to me!!!! and I am a true senior citizen now.  Can't believe I made it to 62, but now I have to wait almost 2 months to get my first S&S check.  Something to do with if you die you don't have to send it back in.  Oh well I finally get some of that money that I paid in for all those years.  YEAH!!!!!
We had a great dinner tonight at this little mexico restaurant  in Verde Valley called La Fonda.  Nancy and Dan met us their and we enjoyed some great company and look forward to seeing them in the Phoenix area.  Tomorrow we are going to go for another ride in the RZR'S and see if we can get lost.

October 27th

Yesterday we didn't do much of anything, being Sunday and all I just did nothing but watch the NSCAR Race and heard that Seattle Seahawk's won their game.  Other than doing some work on the computer it was just a plan lazy day and we all need them once in a while.

I noticed that the sun was going down and this sunset was kind of nice so took a couple of pictures.

OK, that's to much work for today, now back to the easy chair and doing nothing again!!!!
This morning was a different story, we were up early (by 9:00 AM) and on the road by 9:45 AM to pick up Dan & Nancy for a day of playing tourist.  We had plan's to head to the Chapel of The Holy Cross up near Sedona, AZ.

  This Chapel came in to being because of Marguerite Brunswig Staude. I will not go into the whole story about her thoughts about how this Chapel was to look.  Please go to this web site to read all about this wonderful Chapel, http://www.gatewaytosedona.com/popular-articles/item/31-sedona-arizona-landmark-the-chapel-of-the-holy-cross. Here are a few of the pictures that we took while here.

It was a great visit and glad we made it a point to visit this historic site.

Dan, Nancy & Cyndy were great tourist on this trip, we enjoyed our day with them and look forward to seeing them again.

What amazes me is how green these trees are and how little rain they get here, let alone the dirt that their roots grow into.

 Even I got a picture with my lovely bride.
After a busy walking around this Chapel we head to the town of Sedona for lunch.  We wanted to take Dan and Nancy to a Sandwich shop that we have been to when visiting this area in the passed.  After making a couple of wrong turns we found the shop.  It is called the Bakery & Cafe, here a couple of the great sandwiches we had.

They make there own bread here at this shop, we asked to buy a loaf, but he said they have just the right amount for the sandwiches they make every day.  I got a kick out of Nancy, when she said I can make two sandwiches out of the meat they put on this one sandwich.
It was great to spend time with Nancy & Dan once more while we are here in Verde Valley.  They are going to be here for another month working as volunteers for a church project.  Then they are moving down towards Phoenix area for a couple of months.  We hope to see them there when we get back to Apache Junction.
Tomorrow some friend are stopping by for a night so looking forward to see them.  Other then that we are going to play some more.

October 25th

Another beautiful day in Paradise.  I enjoy spending time with our grand children and our own kids and their spouses, but this weather really makes us feel a hole lot better than the weather in the northwest.  Yes, I enjoy the pacific northwest, but this time of year I really enjoy this weather a hole lot better down here in the warm desert areas.  We have had a couple of nights that the temp as gotten down to the middle 40's, but the days are still in the 80's for another week then it drops down to the middle 70's where it should be.
After a lazy morning we finally decided to go out and do some geocaching.  We loaded the RZR up with water and  our geocaching stuff and out we went.

After our first find we found this little guy getting some sun.  He or she is maybe 1 1/2 inches long.  Other than seeing cows this was about all we seen all day.

Some of the trails were nice and wide,

and others are getting smaller as we go down them.  This one had a fence across it, so I backed back down and then went looking for the cach.  I did find it but it was a little hike up and through the brush.  I was wearing shorts, which are not best cloths for this kind of geocaching, but I made out all right and did find the cach.

If you look real close to the right and in that dark area way over to the left, that is where we started from this morning.

This had to be the best find today, it was called a "tree whisperer".

Cyndy making notes about the cach we had just found.

It has been a long time since we have been out in the RZR just trail rideing and looking for geocaches.  We did some trail riding after the last cach and both of us enjoyed it and look forward to the next time.  We might even try and go out tomorrow and see if we can find a way up to Jerome and have lunch or something.  Maybe even some ice cream.

October 23rd

We have been doing a lot of nothing.  Wait a minute, I was just told by Cyndy, she has been busy making jewelry for when she gets a chance to sell it at the parks we visit when they have craft days.  I think this Saturday is one here at this park, so we will see if she does it or not.  A lot of it is really nice.

I think she enjoys doing this, she says it is relaxing for her.

Here is a necklace and ear rings, well at least one.

She says that everything is well organized on her desk here.  I am not saying nothing.
I have gotten a couple of odd jobs done, one was the coached washed and the bugs off the front. Now I just have to put some more wax on the front to make it easier to remove the bugs when they decide to go for a ride with us.  Maybe this next weekend, I don't like to going out and being a tourist on the weekend.  I think their was something else I did but just can't remember.  Oh, now I do, I have been working on one of the many walking sticks that we have that need to be sanded and then varnished.  These are what they call Diamond Willow from Alaska.  I have had them laying around for a couple of years.  I have got one just about done and another two to start working on.

   The one closes to us still has about 8 hours of work, and I would hate to guess how long the other one will take.  But it is nice when all done and they take on there on personalty.  I have two other that are done and will get them out when this one is done.
Yesterday we went to lunch with Dan & Nancy Ragatz, they were on the Grand Circle trip with us.  It was great to just sit and talk about what each other have been doing.  They also went to the Balloon Fiesta, but was parked in the Presidential Park, that over looked the field where all the balloons took off from.  It was great to see them and we think next week we will get together one more time before we leave this area.

As you can see Turbo, is doing his part by soaking up some sun, and he does this every chance he can.  Tomorrow we are going out in the RZR and doing some geocaching and seeing if we can keep from getting lost.  SO if there is not a post in the next couple of days send out the search party for us.

October 19th

We have been taking it easy the last few days and enjoying it.  It has been nice to sleep in and just enjoy life.  We have made a couple of trips to Prescott and one of those was for Cyndy to do a little shopping at Hobby Lobby.

 As you can see Cyndy has the RZR out of the back and her craft room set up.  She is enjoying herself and that is good.  Because if MOM isn't happy know one is.  She has been working on some of her jewelry that she makes.

Today she said that we need to make another trip to Hobby Lobby some time in the next day or two, I have a feeling that we will go after the race today.  Yep, I am watching NASCAR and waiting to see if my boy Kahne makes the cut for the chase. Its a good race a Talladega Superspeedway, very fast on this 2.66 mile track.
We ordered some new tires for the RZR, we needed some good DOT tires so I have been looking on the internet ( what a tool for finding great products and prices).  The brand I ended up with are GBC Kanati Mongrel Radial ATV Tires and they have an 8 ply rating.

We will install them when we get to the desert at Steve's place in November.  Want to have them on when we head back to Apache Junction for 6 weeks.  They look like they will be great in the mud and sand of the desert, but the most import is they are DOT approved for the road. I realigned the front end on the RZR so we will have to see how they handle. At least the RZR is not pulling to one side now.

We think we got one of the best spots here in Verde Valley, we have a large front yard and Turbo is enjoying the grass.  He has not seen much of it in the last 45 days while traveling on the Grand Circle Tour and the Balloon Fiesta Rally.

He also likes not having anymore of those nasty sand burs getting in his feet. He is also enjoying all the time mom & dad is spending with him.  He is not spoiled just well loved.  We don't have much planned this next couple of weeks.  Maybe a little geocaching and being a tourist and see some of the sights here in the valley.
We had dinner with Rose & Bobby last Thursday and enjoyed visiting with them and Carol who was on both of our last trips. Bobby, the steak was great and Turbo enjoyed Cyndy's scrapes.  The weather here is nice and we have nothing but fun planned in the next few weeks.  One of them is with the RZR playing around here and the dessert.
If anyone is wondering what we are going to be doing this winter, well we have been asked to go on the Copper Canyon 30 day Top & Bottom.  So we will be out of the stated for part of the month of January and February.  So if you would like to travel with us threw some of  the most beautiful parts of Mexico please feel free to call us and we can take care of signing you up for a lot of fun and adventure.

October 14th

We have finished the Balloon Fiesta on October 12th and most people left that day.  We packed everything up and got it put away in the storage unit.  Then the wind came up to over 35 miles and hour and gust to 50.  So we stayed in the rig the rest of the day and watched the wind blow, and was glad not to be on the road. The staff went out for dinner that night and talked about the rally and how things went really good.  They tried to put up balloons in the AM but the wind was to strong.  We felt really lucky to see them fly 8 of the 10 days.
Then on the morning of the 13th we were getting ready to leave and I looked up.

 We got to see them one more time before we left.

There was only 10 that went up this morning and I think most of them had passengers with them.  It was a great week and with all the work we still got to see a lot of balloons.
We stopped half way to Verde Valley TTN park at Root 66 RV Park.  We drove by the Petrified Forest National Park, so after getting set up we went for a short drive back to the Petrified Forest National Park.

We stopped at the visitors center so Cyndy could get her book stamped.  Then it was off to visit the park.

Our first stop was Route 66 Alignment, a 1932 Studebaker sits where famed Route 66 once cut through the park.

 We headed next to the Puerco Pueblo ruins.

We headed up to Newspaper rock next.

This park is amazing, every corner has something else that just is out of this world for a park.  The Blue Mesa is one of those.  Just think we haven't even made it to the Jasper Forest yet.

The pictures do not do this area justices, I think the sun has a little bit to do with the colors coming out.

 Agate Bridge is the longest standing petrified log spanning a gully.

You can see they have put a concrete support wall to keep it from falling.

 Our last stop was Jasper Forest, this is what I was really looking forward to seeing, all of the petrified log.  As far as you can see they are laying every where.  The only problem is you can't walk among them any more.  To many people where taking peaces.

 Their was a couple of logs close to the road.  It was getting late so we didn't do any of the hikes will look forward to some of them in the future.
We left this morning for Verde Valley TTN and got here this afternoon and have just been taking it easy.  Tomorrow we are going to Prescott to get Turbo his pedicure and bath and Cyndy is getting a pedicure while I am doing some running around for little things we need.  Then off to Costco for some major buys.