Places We Have Called Home In 2020

Places We Have Called Home In 2019

Home Is Where We Park It:   Rancho Rialto RV Resort, Yuma

January 2, 2020

Temperature 71 Degrees

Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area – Colorado River State Historic Park

Time to get back in the sight-seeing groove and there was no better time than today to begin.

Wait, breakfast first.  Potato pancake sandwich – yum – a glass of orange juice and a couple cups of coffee and now I was ready.  I’m making the most of these next few days because I know beginning next Monday it is back to counting calories.  Some unwanted pounds seemed to have attached themselves to my waist and it’s time to say goodbye to them.

On the road.

We headed past the RV Park and eventually to Route 8.

On Route 8 we discovered this bridge art.  I finally figured out that both are representations of steamboats the kind of which used to ply the Colorado River.

Alongside the highway was just one of many produce fields.   I discovered that over 90% of leafy vegetables that American’s consume is grown in this area.  Produce season starts in August and typically ends in April.  The winter crops are more than 75 varieties of lettuce, baby greens, cauliflower, broccoli, herbs, roots, vegetables and kales.   Harvesting is done on a daily basis, 7 days per week, and the fresh produce leaves Yuma within 24 hours of harvest.

Moving along

The road sign that shows where we are heading – the bottom part of the brown sign today, the top part next week.

This was our destination today which is one part of

Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area.  This area encompasses seven square miles along the Lower Colorado River in Yuma, Arizona and Winterhaven, Califorina.  It includes several noted attractions and over 3 miles of contiguous riverfront parks, trails, and 350 acres of restored wetlands.  The Red X on the map above is where we are today.

Let’s get started.

This is the front entrance to the Visitors Center

The Visitors Center from out in the park.

This is a map for a Self-guided Tour of the park.  They stated it would take no more than 45 minutes, well two hours later we finally left.   We’ll get into the many exhibits in detail tomorrow but tonight, first an overview.

Founders Plaza

This is a general overview of the Park itself.  We could not have asked for a better day to visit.  Temperatures were in the low 70’s, clear skies and bright sunshine, and a brisk wind to keep it from getting too hot.

Throughout the park there is a lot of unique plants.

An Orange Tree.

Pink Grapefruit.

Pomegranate bush.

By far my favorite place in the whole park.

Oh I’m glad I found this before next Monday!

My mouth was watering and I hadn’t even entered the shop.

Moving inside, what a unique and fascinating place.  There are little touches everywhere that put you immediately at ease and make you feel like you are at home.

For example, this was so beautiful.

The counter was absolutely wonderful.

This, however, was the real reason we were here – fresh pie.

Here it is!  Fresh baked, hot apple pie with vanilla ice cream.  It doesn’t get better than this.

We’re going to call it for now.  Tomorrow and for the next couple of days we’ll share with you the many fascinating exhibits and interesting facts that we discovered during our visit here.  We’ll learn about the significance of this area, a bit more about Yuma itself, and the significance of water to this area.  Stay tuned.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  It felt both a bit unusual and exciting at the same time to be out sightseeing again.  We’ve been looking forward to this for a long time.  I don’t believe we did all that bad for our first trip out in the new year.  Again, there is much, much more to come.

Thanks again for coming along with us.  We always enjoy your company and your comments.  We have so much more to share with you in the days ahead.  Catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before

See you on down the road!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Places We Have Called Home In 2020

Places We Have Called Home in 2019

Home Is Where We Park It:   Rancho Rialto RV Resort, Yuma

January 1, 2020

Temperature 68 Degrees

Out and About

Monthly Maintenance

Newmar Dutch Star

This is more like it.  Temperature in the mid 40’s at night and the mid 60′ during the day.  Would you believe it?  I actually saw several people in the pool.  I sure hope that water is heated to bath like temperatures.

Guess what we don’t hear a sound of, not even one toot?

If you replied, a train, you were right.  We just realized today that we have not heard one whistle since we’ve been here.  Not that we’re complaining.

Now

if we could just get rid of this pesky bird and his traveling companions in the morning all would be well.  Every morning, right around 7 am three of them dance and prance on the roof.  They also peck at the vent covers.  But only in the morning.  After 8 am we don’t see a one of them until the following morning.  Strange.

We may not have a train but we still do have

mountains all

around us.  They are so majestic and I never tire of looking at them.  Going over them by RV is of course another thing all together!

Yesterday cabin fever caught up with us so off we went.

With a couple of errands to run we headed off down the road.

Our first stop was at Chase.  It’s usually hard to find a Chase out here so when we find one we make sure to take care of all our banking needs.

We made a few more stops.  We went to Wally World and then

to the Panda for a bite to eat.

We thought that maybe this little guy was going to join us for a bite to eat.

Time to head back home.

Through the front gate and past the ever present horse.

Let me show you where we live.  This is a park

 with a combination of manufactured homes.

Each with a distinct flair – such as this one with this unique wall along the back.

It is also

an RV Park with some really high end RV’s here and there.  I spotted three Prevost Buses up in the front row.

This, again, is our home.  There are thirty three open spots around us but I was told by staff that all sites are spoken for and rigs should be rolling in from this week on.

This by the way is how we

get our mail.  You pay a small fee for a box and key.  They also are good about bringing packages right to your rig.

OK, today we stayed home and I began to work through my monthly maintenance list.  I checked outside for leaks underneath the rig, checked in the refrigerator box and hot water compartment for any signs of things amiss and found none.  Moving inside I went around checking under all sinks for leaks, under the shower for same, as well as in all our overhead lockers.  Everywhere I went I found no issues.  Then I decided, since I had heard of two incidents were Microwaves had come loose from their mounts, to check the supports that held ours up.  Guess what?  Of the six screws, three in each bracket, four were loose and I needed to tighten them up.  One more item to add to the monthly check list.

Today we made a decision about our next LV (living vehicle).  We are going after

a Newmar Dutch Star.  Eliminating other vehicles means the search for just the right Dutch Star will probably be a lengthy one but we are prepared to take our time.  Wish us well.

Day One of the New Year on The Road of Retirement has come to a close.  As we ended the old, we began the new traveling together, hand in hand, singing our song.  We would have it no other way.

Thanks again for joining us this New Year.  Stick with us and we’ll take you as we did in the old year to fascinating and interesting places galore.  Comments?  We’d love to hear from you.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before

See you on down the road!

 

 

 

 

Places We Have Called Home In 2019

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

December 31, 2019

 

Well, my friends here we are again.  Just hours before the lettuce drops.

Yup, out here it is a head of lettuce and it drops at 10 pm to coincide with when the Crystal Ball drops in NYC.  But before we get to the New Year, a brief look back at 2019.

This is where we began the year 2019.  We were work campers at Dade Battlefield Historic State Park.  What an adjustment that was!  Having to get up and out at 8 am most mornings was a real shock to the system.  Yet, by the time it was over we both agreed it was a wonderful experience.  The best being we met two terrific people, Steve and Patti, who we remain good friends with to this day.

When our time there was over, we were on the move.  We traveled here, there and everywhere.   Here, in brief is where we went and what we saw.

While still in Florida we visited the Kennedy Space Center, St. Augustine, and a whole bunch of different museums before we even left Florida.

We continued on through the Panhandle of Florida. 

We were able to attend a practice session of the Blue Angels

and visited the National Museum of Naval Aviation.  I spent so much time there Barbara joked about seeing if they would allow me to just camp off in a corner of the Museum.  We also visited the Battleship Alabama, Submarine US Drum and the Pensacola Lighthouse.  This lighthouse was the true test of my new knees.  Yup, I made it to the top, and of course back down again.

Leaving Florida we moved on

to the Big Easy.  I wanted so much to hate this city but within a day I had fallen in love with it.  It has its own distinct vibe which is unlike any other city.

We continued up the Natchez Trace eventually making our way to a factory tour of Tiffin Motorhomes.  We also visited the US Space and Rocket Center.

We were also able to visit The Corvette Museum, The Ark, and The Creation Museum.  We were just getting warmed up.

  Nashville was a wonderful stop with lots to see and do.  What a time we had at the Grand Old Opry.  We hope we can go back some day.

Two unusual places we really enjoyed were The Popcorn Museum and The Cardboard Boat Museum.

We were able to visit the Flight 93 Memorial  and the Tower of Voices

with our daughter Amanda.  The trip from her home to us sort of took a toll on her!  This is also when Marti went to live with her.  We still miss him.

Next we moved into Pennsylvania and

were so grateful that we got to spend two weeks during the summer with my Mom.  What a wonderful two weeks we had.  We laughed, played dominoes, went out to eat and just had a fantastic time together.  Little did we know then that her time here on earth was running out.  Within months she went home to be with her Lord and Savior. Mom, we miss you but we know you are ever with us in our hearts.

While moving through Ohio

we spent time with my son, Paul, and his wife, Brittany.  Together we visited the Armstrong Air and Space Museum. This was another great visit.  Time with family is oh so precious and visits like this rate high in our book.

Next up was Indiana and a visit to

The Studebaker Museum.

We also took a factory tour of Newmar but pictures were not allowed.

Still so many places to come.  We’ll never forget our time at The College of the Ozarks.

Often call The School of Hard Work.

Ever student graduates debt free.  How?  They are required to work on campus at one of several spots, and they are encouraged to pick up a part time job off campus.  We also were fortunate to again be able to visit with friends, Charles and Linda.

Down through Arkansas, Texas and New Mexico we went.

We went looking for aliens in Roswell.  We visited what is now our newest National Park,

White Sands.  Also in Deming

while staying at Dream Catcher RV Park we were able to spend some time visiting with our good friends Bobby and Mary.

We made our first trip to Mexico while we were in Deming.  This is where we purchased our new eye glasses.

The Pink Store is a store we will never forget.

Around the bend and back up the map we went to Tucson and then to Phoenix.  This is where we officially became a part of the NOMADS Family.

This was our First Project at TMM in Tucson.  Tight quarters indeed!  This is where we officially became a part of the NOMDS family.  We met and made so many new friends.

While here we volunteered for a Pack-A-Thon.

Then it was on to UMOM in Phoenix.  This was a fantastic experience from start to finish.  What a great staff to work with.  What a great group of NOMADS.  Once again we met and made so many new friends.

In total we worked Three NOMAD Projects, back to back, from November to December.  It felt so good to be able to finally give back for all the blessings we had received all year.  Once again it was a big adjustment having to get up and get out early Monday through Thursday. But we did it and in the end actually enjoyed it.  We also, once again, were able to visit a number of fantastic places.

One of the highlights of our time here was our visit to Saguaro National Park.

I for one will also never forget the visit to the Franklin Auto Museum.  

I know I’ve missed a number of places that we’ve visited in 2019.  If you want a full list of where we’ve been, please,  click the link in the heading above Places We Have Called Home In 2019 and you’ll be given a short summary of each place we stopped at and what we did.

Here we are today.  As we say Home Is Where We Park It.

Home right now is Rancho Rialto RV Park.

 In the process of getting here to our new home in Yuma  we traveled through 16 states, stayed at 40 different places, and traveled 5,486 miles – give or take a few hundred – during the year.  We stayed at Harvest Host locations, Boondocker Welcome spots, National Parks, State Parks and Private Campgrounds.  We’ve taken time out for maintenance, continued to upgrade our home, and dealt with the odds and ends that threw us a curve or two along the way.  Speaking of which, we’re dealing with one now.  The bottom line though is We have truly been blessed this past year and give thanks every day for this fantastic life that we live.  Truly, God has been good to us and we never forget it.

So much for the year in the rear view mirror.

Now looking forward through the windshield 2020 is before us.

  We’re about to begin yet another New Year.  Another 365 opportunities to do our best.  Another 365 opportunities to make life count.  Another 365 opportunities to love, smile, hope, dream, pay it forward, to do amazing things, to boldly go where we have never been before,  and to live each day to the fullest.  My hope and prayer is that in the New Year each of us will do something more significant than put on more pounds, watch football or Hallmark, or whatever.

So, here’s to a new year with a clean slate.  Maybe some things didn’t go the way you wanted in the old year.  Maybe you’re still dwelling on some What If’s.  I say throw all that old baggage overboard and concentrate on the infinite possibilities for love, life, happiness and good health that God is presenting you with in the new year.

So, go to it.  Go spend time with family and friends.  Go make some new friends.  Launch out and test the waters.  Begin living that dream you’ve only till now been toying with.  But most of all spend the first day of the new year with someone you love.  And let them know even now how much they mean to you.  And always remember We may never know what is around the next bend in the road of life but we count on God being there to walk with us to see us through.

Thanks for traveling with us throughout the year.  We always appreciate your company and as always appreciate your comments.  Catch you next year!

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before

See you on down the road!

 

 

Places We Have Called Home In 2019

Home Is Where We Park It:   Rancho Rialto RV Resort, Yuma

Dec 30, 2019

Temperature 55 Degrees

Hall of Flame – Phoenix, Arizona

Promises, Promises.  They keep promising warm weather is on the way but it can’t come soon enough if you ask me.  Yea, I know I’m beginning to sound like a broken record but this weather is ridiculous.  Why anyone would want to spend their winter here is beyond me.

I decided to do some monthly maintenance today.  Finished up what I could do inside, then decided to go outside and do some more.  Nope, as soon as I opened the door I knew I was done for the day.

Barbara was smart.  She stayed inside

and worked on the details of our 2021 Alaskan Cruise.  It will be a twelve day combination land and sea excursion.  I know it is a long way off but I’m already excited and looking forward to it.   We also considered taking our rig up as part of a caravan but that was more expensive.  In addition we would have to pay for fuel and hope the rig held together there and back.  So, land and sea it will be.  We’ll fly from Vancouver to Anchorage and work our way back.  This was the recommendation of the tour consultant at Holland America.  He stated it seems to work best to get all of the land tours out of the way first, then just relax on the cruise back.

So what else did we do today?  Absolutely nothing.  I make no apology for just sitting back in the recliner all day.  It was great.

Now, let’s finish up our tour of the

Hall of Flame has six exhibit galleries.  Within the six galleries the museum has over 130 wheeled pieces in the collection. In addition there are over 10,000 smaller objects, all of which relate to the history of firefighting.  There is absolutely no way in which I can share pictures of everything here so I’ll try and highlight some of the more important or unusual.

Let’s get started.

 

 The Philadelphia firm of Joel Bates built this engine in 1844 for the Rhode Island town of Pawtucket.  The figure on this side of the condenser box is St. Euphemia, a patron saint of firemen.

On the other side of the condenser box is  Rebecca, the wife of Isaac, at a well.  The intricate art work on this engine illustrates one of the main differences between American and English fire engines.  American engines were usually elaborately decorated while English engines were plain and utilitarian.

With two sets of pump handles – front and back – manned by fifty firemen, it can pump over 250 gallons per minute.

This village pumper was used in 1865 by the Badger Volunteer Fire Company of Centerville, Wisconsin. In 1871 the Company, with its little Rumsey, moved by train to Chicago to help fight the terrible fire that destroyed a third of that city.

The Badger is called a piano box style engine because of the shape of its tank and pump housing.

 Form follows function in this engine, which carries its suction hose squirrel tail style on a graceful crane neck frame. The pre-connected suction can be put to immediate use, and the front wheels can turn at right angles to increase mobility.  The elegant curved design of the pump lever allows firemen to work the pump handles closer to the ground.  Capacity is about 130 gallons per minute.

The attached hose cart, called a jumper provides several hundred feet of hose.

This engine was built in 1852 for the New Hampshire town of Exeter. Like almost all Hunnmans it was highly decorated. The Hunneman Company maintained a staff of several artists and painters to decorate their engines. Most volunteer companies took delivery of their rigs with a simple primer coat of paint and contracted with a local carriage maker to decorate the engine.

The typical hose wagon.  Simple and practical.

 For many years after its invention in 1807, riveted leather hose was an expensive part of a fire department’s inventory. Only the wealthiest volunteers could afford to organize hose companies, and they commissioned fire apparatus builders to make elaborate carriages to carry the hose. By 1870 inexpensive cotton and canvas hose was replacing the leather variety, and practical but plain hose carts were the norm like in the previous picture.

Not to be deprived of their beautiful carriages, hose companies ordered even more highly decorated and extremely expensive versions of the old carriages, intended only for use in parades or at ceremonial occasions.

What attention to detail.  Such beautiful etched glass.

Many modern departments follow this tradition by carefully restoring their old fire engines for display in parades. This is a great example of such a parade carriage.

Another example of a parade hose wagon

The ends to which the companies went to decorate the wagons is hard to believe.  Note the elaborate etched glass again, the brass, the chrome and the painted wheels.

Moving to the Motorized exhibits.

An early hook and ladder.

Something a bit unusual.

In another exhibit hall.

One more exhibit hall.

We’ve come to the end of our tour.  Again, just a small taste of all that is there.  We found it to be a wonderful museum to visit.  It was fascinating to see first hand the evolution of the fire engine; to view the different smaller exhibits; and, to visit the hall of heroes.  The Hall of Heroes was a vivid reminder of how fragile life can be, a reminder to always hold those you love close and to tell them over and over of how much you love them.  If you are ever in the Phoenix area I would encourage you to take the time to visit The Hall of Flame.

That brings to an end our day on The Road of Retirement.  We’re doing what we came here to do, nothing but rest.  The NOMAD projects back to back took quite a bit out of us physically.  We need some time to regroup and recharge.  So we shall.

Thanks again for being part of our day.  We always appreciate your company and your comments.  Till tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before

See you on down the road!