Month: January 2020

Tuesday January 21, 2020

With Chuck Berry’s classic song dancing around in my head, hence the title of this post, we head out of the park…… Ridin’ along in my automobile with no particular place to go!.. Jil has seen some pretty cool looking lawn art here in the park and she wants to look for some for herself. We head over towards Florence, AZ to peruse the Happy Adobe metal art shop. OK, I stand corrected- we do have a particular place to go……….

• 

• 

Along the way we stop at the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument. We have seen photos of the ruins and didn’t expect to find them as interesting as they are. The ruins are what remains of the Hohokam Indian’s Great House (Casa Grande) and surrounding compound.

• 

• 

It is one of the largest prehistoric structures ever built in North America and yet its purpose remains a mystery. Archeologists have found evidence that these ancestral Sonoran Desert people also developed wide scale irrigation farming utilizing canals. Many small Hohokam communities have been discovered along the Gila and Salt Rivers. The ancient people also had extensive trade connections which lasted over a thousand years until about 1450 C.E. when Casa Grande was abandoned.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

The name Hohokam is somewhat of a misnomer as it is really more of a term. No one knows what the builders of this complex community called itself. Hohokam is a Pima term meaning “those who have vanished”. Scientists feel that a probable reason for these ancient farmers to have left was an extended drought making subsistence farming next to impossible.

• 

• 

Above photos: The protective roof structure above Casa Grande was built in 1930 to help preserve the ruins. The man lift in the left photo was part of the equipment used by structural engineers to determine the integrity of the structure. The man at right is repairing one of the original remnants of a wall. The worker said he used a mixture of the local dirt, sand and mud- the same materials that the Hohokam used to build the walls.

We continue on to Florence (26,000 souls), the seat of Pinal County. The town is one of the oldest in the county and is regarded as a National Historic District with over 25 buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is located in an area once inhabited by the Hohokam, ancestors of the O’odham people. Prior to the establishment of the town the Gila River served as part of the border between the United States and Mexico. The Gadsden Purchase of 1853 extended the American territory well south of the Gila.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

A fella by the name of Levi Ruggles founded Florence on the south bank of the Gila River. Originally a U.S. Indian Agent he recognized the agricultural potential (remember the Hohokam?) of the valley, found an easily fordable location on the Gila and surveyed a townsite there. He then secured a post office the same year. Silver was discovered in 1875 in the nearby mountains which led to the creation of the famous Silver King Mine.

• 

• 

• 

• 

In 1870 Fred Adams decided to give old man Ruggles a little competition. He founded a farming community 2 miles west of Florence. The town had stores, homes, a post office, a flour mill and water tanks. It was named Adamsville for you-know-who. Adams apparently was unaware of the nature of desert rivers meaning he hadn’t a clue of flash floods. In the 1900’s the Gila overflowed its banks and most of the town was wiped out. The residents moved to……… Florence! The area is now a ghost town.

A canal was built in the 1880’s which enabled water from the Gila to be diverted for irrigation (again, remember the Hohokam?). Farming and ranching played a major roll in Florence’s economy. A current boon to it’s economy are the multiple prisons located nearby. Not many communities have state, federal, county and private prisons in their back yard. Speaking of prisons, a large prisoner of war camp for German and Italian prisoners of war was established just north of town during WWII. Japanese Americans were interned at the nearby Gila River War Relocation Center during that sad time in our history.

Of note:

This is a tough way to have a natural feature named for you: Silent film Cowboy actor Tom Mix died when his car went into a wash, now named Tom Mix Wash, in 1940 just outside of Florence. A riderless horse monument was erected nearby.

McFarland State Park is named for Ernest McFarland (Arizona State Senator, Governor of Arizona and Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court) is a small historic park in Florence that contains the first Final County courthouse. McFarland purchased the property, donated it to the state, and paid for it’s renovation. The park opened in 1979.

The Pyramid Tomb of Charles Debrille Poston (1825-1902), known as “The Father of Arizona” is located on Primrose Hill which was renamed Poston Butte. It was through his efforts that Arizona became a U.S. territory. Click on his name for a good read!

• 

• 

Tomb of Charles Poston First Pinal County Courthouse

That pretty much catches the blog up with our adventures. I’ll be writing about life here in the resort in the coming blogs as well as the status of our car and how well our new boy Ollie is fitting into the family.

• 

Sunday January 19,2019

We have friends who live in the area and wanted to meet with them. Connie and Jim, our Washington State pals who cohost with us at the Bonneville Fish Hatchery, and Ellen and Dick who live down the street from us in Reno. Both couples own homes nearby in which to over winter. We met with both couples and had great visits with each. We’ll be seeing more of them in the near future.

Here we are at the Palm Creek Golf and RV Resort in Casa Grande, AZ more or less minding our own business and wham!- life happens………. Let me explain:

We’d been in Casa Grande for a week and needed to restock our pantry. Off we went to Walmart shortly after dawn which in Arizona comes late. No daylight savings here ya know- and on Mountain Time to boot. The sun is bright and very low on the horizon behind us. We are stopped at a red light in a left turn pocket when this fella on the cross street begins his turn towards us and into the sun. He drives very slowly and deliberately as he angles his car…….. right into the front of ours! Bang!…… Crap……. No one is hurt but both vehicles show damage, like our hood won’t close. The other driver has in his possession an expired drivers license, no vehicle registration and no proof of insurance. Luckily a Casa Grande Fire engine company witnesses the accident, stops, makes sure everyone is OK and directs traffic.

Shortly thereafter a Casa Grande Police Officer arrives, determines the other fella’s at fault, then takes the report- which takes over a week to post and for me to retrieve for insurance purposes…. jeez! Anyhow our car is in the shop being repaired and we are driving a rental. The good news is the other fella has a current driver’s license, liability insurance and current registration so all is well there-and he got a ticket for reckless driving. Our insurance company is in contact with his so all is well and our car should be repaired and out of the shop next week. By the way, that low speed impact is probably going to cost the other fella’s insurance company over 3000 smackers. It’s almost unbelievable how much it costs to repair these newer autos anymore. This accident wouldn’t even have put a scratch in the bumper of my ’62 Chevy Impala……………

The morning after the accident Jil is walking Megan when she notices a Boxer dog closely following her. It makes her nevous so she shoos it away. A couple of hours later we both see the Boxer running loose inside the park. The front desk is notified and the Boxer is put into a pet run for safe keeping. The dog is in the pet area for hours so I go down to see how he’s doing. Turns out he is doing OK and someone has left a bowl of water for him to drink. But boy, is he skinny! The fact that he is so skinny, has no ID and still has his manhood is a good indication that he doesn’t belong to anyone in the park. I spend some time with him and give him a couple of cups of kibble- which he inhales. He lays down at my feet as if to say “thanks mister”. He’s really a gentle guy……..

This where things get strange. The office staff decide to post a notice on their Facebook page of the dog’s plight but doesn’t notify animal control. Jil calls the office again to voice her concern about the dog’s welfare- the sun will set in a couple of hours, he has no shelter and the nights temperatures have been near freezing. Oh yes, Jil is assured everything is good. Animal control will be here in a half an hour. We go down an hour and a half later and he is still in the pet area. Concerned for his welfare we load him up in our car and take him to the Casa Grande Animal Shelter.

OK, you’re smarter than the average bear- you saw this coming, didn’t you? Yep, we adopted him! After a 72 hour waiting period and about the same length of time for Ollie to lose his manhood, he is home. We still can’t believe no one came forward to claim him. Megan had a couple of grumpy spells at first then accepted him. Ollie never had a problem with Megan. It’s very apparent that Ollie likes his new digs. He likes to ride in the car, go for walks and to Megan’s chagrin even started playing while off leash in the pet park. And he’s the first to arrive when the dinner bell rings! He’d been with us for four days before we felt we could leave both the mutzos alone in the RV for over an hour- no problemo! Then we took the furry ones on a car ride, left them both in the car for about a half hour as we shopped and still no problemo!

The only issues Ollie has had is he is not leash trained. We are working on that and he has steadily improved. The big one is he is leash aggressive towards other dogs. Working on that one too. He should be OK after some intense learning sessions. Strange thing though, he was not aggressive and more like complacent when I took him to the Vet for a free checkup. The waiting room was standing room only with dogs and their owners and all he did was look at the other dogs, then lay down at my feet- and we waited for an hour before we were seen.

Now I know you are saying to yourself, self those folks sure didn’t do much in their first two weeks in Casa Grande. Well we did get around to a little sightseeing. More on that in the next post………..

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Several months ago Jil and I discussed spending some time away from home, hopefully in a warmer climate. We had spent a few days at the Palm Creek Golf and RV resort in Casa Grande, AZ last winter on our way to the Deep South- and liked it. Palm Creek is a true resort featuring a golf course tennis and pickleball courts, lawn bowling, a ball room, and places where one can woodwork, silver smith, make pottery, and knit/sew. You name it, they’ve got it. It even has a cafe.

After storing our Christmas decorations we hit the road on December 28th, hoping for decent travel weather. We hope the 6 day snow event that occurred during Thanksgiving week isn’t a precursor for what’s to come.

We got off to a late start by design as we wanted to do a last minute clean up of the house. We are only traveling 140 miles. Our first stop is the Whiskey Flat RV Park in Hawthorne, NV (3200 souls). It’s a no frills park- we are comfortable here- and it’s location is a good jumping off point for our trip south.

• 

• 

We are off by 0800 the next morning. Our main concern is driving into high altitude and the possibility of snowy and icy roadways. Most of US 95 in Nevada is laid at 4000′ following long flat sagebrush covered valleys. Tonopah is a tad over 6000′. No worries though, a little snow on the ground but the road is clear. This town is the seat of Nye County, her nickname is Queen of the Silver Camps so named for the 1900 discovery of silver, the second richest silver strike in Nevada history.

• 

• 

Continuing south on US95 we come upon Goldfield. Goldfield (268 souls) is an interesting old town. Between 1903 and 1940 Goldfield’s gold mines produced more than $86 million at then-current prices or $1.496 billion in today’s dollars! Due to the remarkable production of gold the town rapidly grew to be the largest in Nevada at over 20,000 souls. By 1923 gold production and the population were in steep decline.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

That year a moonshine still exploded destroying most of the town’s flammable buildings. Of note Wyatt and Virgil Earp resided there- Virgil taking the position of Goldfield sheriff. Virgil contracted pneumonia and died here- Wyatt moved on shortly thereafter. As tiny as the town is it is the seat of Esmeralda County.

• 

• 

Our next overnight stop was to be Beatty, NV (1000 souls). We had an early start which meant we arrived in Beatty just after noon and way too early to stop for the night. Beatty is a jumping off point for Death Valley National Park and the the historical mining town of Rhyolite. We found a municipal park, walked Megan, and enjoyed lunch. A command decision was made to continue on. Somewhere in a desolate section of the Amargosa Valley we hook a right onto Nevada State Road 160. We pulled into the Lakeside Casino and RV Park after traveling 277 miles.

Pahrump (36,000 souls) has it’s own story. Originally inhabited by the Southern Paiute, the valley was slowly inhabited by settlers in the late 1800’s. The area has numerous artesian wells; the water they provide is vital to farming. Numerous large farms were established, most over 1000 acres on which cotton and alfalfa were grown and livestock raised. Until the 1960’s there was no phone service except for one radio phone nor paved roads in or out of the valley. Real estate speculation prompted the establishment of paved roads and telephone service.

We are on our way shortly after 8am figuring all that white slippery stuff was in our rear view mirror. Wrongo Cowboy! As we approach Mountain Springs Pass (elevation 5400′) about 60 miles from Lost Wages, er, Los Vegas (650,000 souls) snow appears on the hills, then on the side of the road, then ICE on the road. Holy Smokes, who would have thunk it? To make matters more interesting the road is under construction and the construction guys had made a narrow obstacle course out of the normally straight road. The good thing was the construction crew also limited the speed to 25-35 miles an hour and had treated the roadway making the slippery roadway more safe.

Traffic is not terribly heavy going through the southern suburbs of Lost Wages (620,000 souls), at least by big city standards. Us big rig jockeys don’t appreciate it one bit. I-5 to I-215 to the new section of I-11 brings us to the Hoover Dam/Lake Meade overlook and across the Colorado River Canyon Bridge into Arid Zona, er, Arizona. This time of year brings some rain to the area so it doesn’t look so arid- the hills are actually green.

We are now traveling on US93, the road that will be replaced by I-11 when it is complete. As such, this highway is not getting a lot of attention as the road surface is pretty rough. As we pull into the Kingman (28,000 souls) area traffic is backed up for blocks. The cause- two traffic signals that don’t appear to be synchronized and trucks trying enter and exit the nearby truck stop. We again have arrived at our loosely planned destination early. We fuel up at Loves Truck Stop, have a bite of lunch, walk Megan and are off, this time on I-40 east where we once again catch US 93 south. We stop for the night at the Hidden Oasis RV Park located in Wikieup, AZ (320 souls) after a drive of 211 miles.

The Oasis RV Park and Cool Water Cafe is an eclectic place for sure. Most of the folks live here year round so there are no newer rigs in the park. The folks here are definitely country and they are all nice, respectful and willing to help one another. The co-owner and head chef at the Cool Water Cafe that fronts the RV park is also down to earth friendly. Brenda and her mom offer wholesome vittles but are mostly known for their delicious home made pies made fresh every day. She stated that most of her clientele live in the RV park with some walk-in travelers. Folks, if you are driving through Wikieup AZ be sure and stop in at the Cool Water Cafe- the food and pies are delish!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

We drove another 190 miles on December 31. The wind was blowing a little and the road very rough. We almost got in a traffic accident in Wickenburg when a pick up truck pulling a trailer cut us off in a traffic circle. From Wickenburg we head south on US60 to I-17 to I-10 continuing on through Phoenix. The traffic through Phoenix (1.6 million souls) wasn’t horrible but like I said we drive a big rig.

Continuing south on I-10 our turnoff comes in Casa Grande- a 190 mile day. We arrived a day before our reservation began so we spent the night in the overflow section of the Palm Creek Golf and RV Resort, our home until March.