Our Mantra "RECALCULATE! RECALCULATE!"

Translate this Page

Monday, October 31, 2011

Monday p.m.

Cannot believe it is the last day of October already – where has this year gone?
And where did today go? Today was one of Bill’s “off” days. Spent most of it resting. I spent most of it ready my Tom Clancy book. Boy I really have to pay attention to what I am reading to keep everything straight.
This evening we went out for dinner. Mostly just to get out. Went to a Sizzler – haven’t been to one in years. There prices sure have gone up. Meal and service was fine.
We have Direct TV both in the motorhome and at the house. As of tomorrow they will quit carrying our favorite channels – My favorite Speed – where all the NASCAR news etc is and Fox Soccer where Bill’s soccer games are. Also a bunch of other channels. They sure better quit charging me for them as of tomorrow too. Not much we can do about it – can’t change to any other provider. Crap.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Sunday p.m.
We have actually made reservations in Las Vegas. The TT is so small there better safe than sorry. We’ll be rolling in there Nov 7th for two weeks – maybe…..
Today was Sprint Cup NASCAR race – lots of excitement. Well not a good race for Kyle Busch #18 the M & Ms car – second race in a row he got wrecked ‘cause he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. So he is pretty much out of the chase.
Now we’re watching a soccer game – Barcelona is having a great game. Messi made three goals – a Hat Trick – in the first 30 minutes of the game.
Other than that – haven’t done much except for three loads of laundry.
It’s funny when we travel and go grocery shopping. I have a whole stack of cards for different grocery stores all over the country. Found out yesterday that the Frys chain – here in Cottonwood – is a Kroger so I can use that card for the cheaper prices. Had red and yellow peppers for 88 cents each with the card.

Visiting Jerome, AZ



Sunday a.m.
Didn’t get this posted last night – my book was calling to me. So now it’s Sunday morning. Because we are in Pacific Time my NASCAR is already on the tube. So will be watching half the day – at least until after the cup race is over. But will catch up posting and do laundry to while watching TV to make use of my time.
Had to replace the ink in our printer – guess if you don’t use it for a couple of years the ink dries up. Hummm….. Then of course since we were out we had to go to the grocery store. We went to Frys in Cottonwood – it is part of the Kroger chain so got sale prices on our purchases – one of which happened to be Häagen Dazs Dulce de Leche ice cream. It is so good. Bought a roasted chicken for early dinner. They’re pretty good.
Saturday p.m.
Up bright and early – I’ve got to adjust to the time changes. Funny thing is I don’t go to sleep any earlier – just wake up earlier. This morning I thought “Oh Ho- I’ll watch the NASCAR sprint cars – cause of rain yesterday they would be out on the tract early this a.m. like 8:30 eastern time” – But it was still raining there and they weren’t running. So ended up reading till the sun came out.
A picture of us in the campground with one of the other Alfas across from us.
We went out to breakfast before setting off this morning. Ate at Georgies Café again. Again very good and very inexpensive.
Then up the hill to visit the semi ghost town of Jerome. Call it the Mile High City.
Actually it seems to be growing over the years. The first time we went through there was around 1972 in our 24’ motorhome with all our kids. The memorable thing about the visit was it was at night – we didn’t mean to go there – it was winter and the roads were worse then. This is the town.

Now the drive seems like nothing – in a car, in the daylight and with better roads. Just one of the homes built up on the hills. The town suffered several fires and was rebuilt again and again. The blasting from the mining caused several buildings to slip down hill too.
The old theater – it is being restored little by little
One of the walls inside – it is now a shop in the front.
Inside it – Me and Elvis
The old projector
This is the Connor Hotel it was built originally in 1898, but burned down twice and had to be rebuilt. The rooms rented for $1 per night! The foundations were made of stone quarried for the nearby hills and the brick was made in Cottonwood.
The first floor of the hotel is now mostly shops and a winery tasting room. I was interested in the ceilings – Larger squares of molded metal in gold finish.
This one has a silver finish. I’ve always liked that look.
This church sits way up on the hill above downtown. Luckily it hasn’t slide down the hill.
Just a view out over the valley.
Looking up the street towards the theater and the hotel.
Walking down one of the streets – wonder what it used to be?
And this was around the corner. Looks like it is thinking about slipping down the hill.
Walked around a bit more just enjoying the atmosphere but not the altitude. Bill is still  not back in the shape he was a year ago. And my sitting around most of the summer has drained me too. We need to do more walking – not less.
Bill has fixed breakfast so better stop and eat.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Saturday a.m.
Waiting for it to warm up a little then I think we’ll drive up to Jerome. The old mining town up in the hills.
Don’t know where they are coming from but we are infested with little tiny moths. They aren’t out during the day but drive us crazy at night. We’ve smashed, slapped and squirted and sprayed them. And they just keep coming. The last few years we had lady bugs - none of them this year.
Before coming back to the RV we stopped to eat at Georgie’s Café. We ate there years ago. Bill had a pastrami sandwich with French fries  – which he said was very good and I had what I thought was going to be a chicken salad. It was HUGE – not only did I get a scoop of chicken salad, I got a scope of coleslaw and a scoop of potato salad and sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, hard boiled egg and carrots all on a lot of lettuce. I brought home enough for dinner. With coffee and ice tea the bill was $16.00  Need to go back there.
We were at the tourist center finding out about some of the jeep trails around. Don’t know if we’ll do any trails or not. We’ll see.
I mainly wanted to add some more pictures of the area.  No explanations just pretty.


private property

Cathedral Rock




Beautiful place to spend a week. Or maybe more.

Friday, October 28, 2011

Some of the Red Rocks of Sedona

 Friday p.m.
Another beautiful day here in Valley Verde, AZ. Today we took a ride to Sedona – The closer we got to Sedona the redder the mountains. Click on the pictures to enlarge them. They are worth it.
Going into Sedona proper. We haven’t been here for over four years and the town seems bigger.
Just some of the beautiful scenery – too pretty for words.

Driving north on Oak Creek Canyon
Oak Creek
More colorful rocks.

A view of Sedona from up near the airport.
I have lots more pictures but haven’t uploaded them yet. No wonder this place has a reputation for being mystical.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Laid back Thursday

Thursday p.m.
Turned out to be a beautiful day today. By the weekend it is supposed to be up in the 80s. We didn’t do much – changed our campsite to a 50amp site. Now we can run the heater on electric when it cools way down tonight. Went out to breakfast at Denny’s and to WalMart – Did a load of laundry.
Met a couple of other campers that have Alfas. Always interesting to see what other people have done to their rigs. They are both full-timers. They liked a lot of the things that Bill has done in here.
We’ve done 1770 miles so far.

Old Town Visit

Thursday a.m. -  news from a couple of days ago
I have to tell a story on myself. The other nite I went to bed after Bill was asleep. So I tiptoed to the bed pulled the covers down and climbed in. Before he went to sleep I had turned the blanket on. Any way very early in the morning – way before it got light out I woke up. I was warm enough but I wondered why it didn’t feel like I had the covers over me. No weight there. Finally it dawned on me. I was sleeping on top of the sheet and blanket and only under the bedspread. Dah….So I snuggled under the blanket and sheet and went back to sleep till it got light out. From now on I’m turning them down before the lights are out.
Fixed a good dinner last night. Skinless chicken breasts with onions, artichokes and broccoli cooked in lemon and Italian dressing. Yum. And angel hair pasta with a creamy sauce. Turned out pretty good after a long day.
So back to Tuesday. The promised rain and wind didn’t come so we set out to do a few things. A view of Albuquerque from Nine Mile Hill.
Saw this gas station – Unleaded for $2.99 – first time I’ve seen gas under $3 in a long time – and we didn’t need any….
Crossed the Rio Grande – always surprises me that it is in other places except the Texas/Mexican border. The trees are a pretty yellow.
First we  went to WalMart – had to get a new DVD player and a few grocery type things. And a Tom Clancy book. Then we went to Old Town Albuquerque. Unfortunately the parking lot we went into charged $5.00 – a little steep I think. Especially as we didn’t spend a whole lot of time there – I was kind of disappointed – too commercial now. Shop after shop selling the same things.
Liked the old Church – San Felipe de Neri – This building is from 1793. The original church is from 1706. The church is in the shape of a cross and is constructed of adobe. The walls are five feet thick. The convent is next to it and is now a museum/gift shop. A couple of pictures of it.

Inside.
The rectory. It has a new tin roof.
Some of the shops across the street.
A bench that was pretty neat.
Chiles hanging on the balcony.
Then back to Alfie as the weather started to turn.
This morning - Thursday - Here in Arizona it looks like it will be a beautiful but cool day. The campground is so green, guess they had a some rain the last few weeks. Only have 30amps though. Have to use propane to run the heater - glad the tank was full.
More later today.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

AAAGGGGHHHHH!!!! Snow in Flagstaff

Wednesday p.m
AGHHHHH! Yes that is a snow plow.
And this is snow!  We are going South - what happened?
How did we go so wrong? Oh Yah - Flagstaff, AZ is almost 7000 feet high.
It’s been a wild day from beginning in Albuquerque and ending 378 miles away in Cottonwood, AZ where we are at a Thousand Trails Camp. Left the campground at 8:30 this morning. No wind and sunshine. But there was rain in the distance and spots of sun on the mountains.
I like the very red cliffs in New Mexico.
Just a small village along the highway in New Mexico.
As I mentioned – sun and rain and a rainbow.
Crossing the Continental Divide.
Then going into Arizona.
We stopped to eat in the Hopi Travel Center near Holbrook, AZ. Restaurant needs a little tender loving care but the food was excellent. After we ate we ran into a downpour that stretched all the way to Flagstaff. Hard to see at times. And the wind picked up pretty good for a while.
Think this says it all.
We debated stopping in Winslow but we could see lighter sky in front of us and the weather map on the phone (yes I figured out how to do that) showed the storm moving over us to the east so we continued on to Flagstaff – where we ran into the Snow!!! Saw several snowplows on the move. But by the time we dropped down into the Valley near Cottonwood the sun was shining again and another pretty rainbow was out in the distance.
So we are in the Thousand Trails campground and will stay here for a week. Hopefully by tomorrow it will warm up again. Whoops it is raining again. Time to fix dinner then do another blog update about our visit to Old Town Albuquerque.