Here we are, on the road: We’re in Casa Grande, AZ

March 4, 2013 Lorraine’s report

No report from me this week, it’s too late and Chuck wants to send this before we get going with the day.

Until next week,

Lorraine

3/4/13 Chuck’s report

We moved on to Casa Grande from our two days at Lazy Days campground in Tucson on Wednesday. Like I said last week, we have probably eliminated Tucson from our list of places we may settle when we get off the road. But there are still lots of places to we want to see and things to do before we have to make that decision.

We didn’t get this written on Sunday, we had plans with our friends to do some things, here it is Monday so I’ll try to do a short review of our previous week and get this posted.

Last Sunday was a quiet day for us, after we had dinner we played a dice game with Dave and Sandy and continue our visiting with them. There was lots of laughter intermixed with the conversation, that’s for sure.

Monday we left the Pima County Fairgrounds and moved about 15 miles to the Lazy Days campground, what a change. The fairground sites are very tight with no individual patio or space for table or chairs. Plus the sites and the roads are all gravel so when the snow melted, it made for a muddy mess. But Lazy Days is a real 5 star place, lots to do and the sites have nice sites with a concrete pad for a patio with table and chairs at each site.

Steve and Sandy were scheduled at Lazy Days on Monday too and we would have both been there to check in at the same time had we not stopped to get diesel in the rig. As it was, they had just checked in and got to their site when we pulled around the corner to the check-in/registration office. Dave/Sandy were moving over too but they had a scheduled visit with some other friends and wouldn’t be in until after noon or so but we were all three in the same area.

This campground has lots of things to do and even has a nice restaurant on sight so after everyone got checked in, we walked over to have dinner.

Lazy Days has a free driver’s confidence course for anyone who stays at the park. We wanted to to take the course and do the driving later so we were signed up for Tuesday morning. Steve/Sandy decided to take the course too but Dave/Sandy said they would meet us for lunch after the morning class. It was almost 1:00 when we got out so we headed across the street to La Mesa RV to sample their free lunch and tour some of the new and used rigs they have on site. Once again, nobody found anything they had to buy, all of us are pretty satisfied with what we have now, at least no one wanted to spend the money to upgrade, ha.

After lunch, we went back to Lazy Days RV and toured some of the new rigs they had on display. The salesman came by and agreed to show us some of their newest rigs, just in and not in the display area yet. Boy, everything from $865,000 at the most expensive down to what we were interested in. Of course, nobody pays full MSRP but even with 25% off, they are way more expensive than what I would buy. Nice but out of our league.

Wednesday morning we had breakfast in the restaurant with Dave/Sandy and Steve/Sandy. Both Steve/Sandy and us were heading out, driving about an hour to our place here in Casa Grande. It took a while to say our “so longs” to Dave and Sandy who were staying there for two more days before heading on to their normal winter haunts in Cave Creek, NW of Phoenix. But it was before noon when we started up the engines and headed out for our short trip.

We got here to Palm Creek Golf and RV Resort and checked in. We had been given a coupon for a week’s stay for $89/week but by the time everything was added on, it ended up being about $130/week, they have high taxes here. But what a resort this is, over 1400 sites and lots of things to do, large meeting rooms and two large swimming pools with hot tubs and such and it’s all designed and built around a 18 hole golf course. They have many activities, some are lapidary, stained glass, wood working, quilting, computers, painting classes, dancing instructions and classes and on and on. They told us if anyone is bored in the place, it is because they want to be and I think they are right. But without our coupon, it would have been pretty expensive to stay here. I think they get $900/month and lots of folks check in in October and leave in April.

After we got set up, we drove around the large park, getting our bearing and just checking things out. We were in our rig watching a movie after dinner when Steve stopped by and told us the Space Lab would be visible just before 7:30, after the sun set but it would still be shining on the Space Lab so it would be easy to spot. So we gathered outside the rig and sure enough, here comes this bright light, looked liked a big star, moving from the North West to South West. If Steve hadn’t told us about it we never would have known what it was.

Thursday the park had a woodworker’s, arts and craft and photograph show/display. All of the items on display were made by residents of the park and some of them are real professional. The wooden stuff was very high class and well done, almost made me miss my shop back home. At one time that was what I thought we might do during retirement, hang around home and I would spend time in the shop. But I like this lifestyle much better plus the weather is better. After seeing the displays, we headed out to do some shopping before returning back to the rigs for another quiet evening.

Friday morning we were planning on walking through some of the park models, mobile home they have on display here at the park. I think over half the sites here have park models or mobile homes on them. Most of them are privately owned but they don’t purchase the lots, they rent them the same as everyone else who has a house on wheels. But these are the folks who spend all winter here, enjoying the normally warm weather and having lots of activities at the ready.

After we finished touring the models we were surprised to see that our friends Rob/Norma and Dennis/Barb were in the check-in at this park. They wanted to surprised us so they didn’t let us know they were coming in. They were able to get sites close to where we are and they will be staying two weeks while we are planning on leaving here on Wednesday. But it was nice to see them, we kind of figured we would run across them somewhere after leaving them in Yuma when we left for Benson. After they all got set up, the gals decided to head to one of the swimming pools and cool off a bit. They told us it was a very nice, relaxing time.

After they got back and cleaned up, Steve/Sandy, Rob/Norma and us decided to head out for dinner. We found a Chinese Buffet and had a good dinner and a better time visiting. Once again, I think we may have been a bit loud for some of the folks at the next tables but everyone had a good time.

Saturday there was a classic car show with a band at the park that we made plans to see. We drove over and looked at the nice cars, some were really different. There were only about 40 cars, not one of the biggest shows but most of the cars were top quality and the band played lots of oldies too.

Dennis/Barb and us wanted to head out to the Chili Championship downtown. At least that’s where we thought it was but we found it a few miles out of town. We got there later than planned but still managed to get a small sample of some of the chili. In our opinions, most of them were spicy hot and not a traditional chili flavor but we are from the Northwest and they are from British Columbia, Canada so maybe it’s a local thing. There was only two that I thought would have been in the running for the chili contest at the refinery picnic.

After we returned to the rig, the gals talked us all into heading out to the swimming pool. I agreed, it was nice and relaxing and the water was warm. After we got back and cleaned up, we headed out to Cracker Barrel for their Sunday dinner special. Lorraine really likes their Chicken over rice Saturday special and we haven’t been to one this winter yet. Rob/Norma and Dennis/Barb came along too and once again we had a great time. We might have been kidding Norma a bit over something she told Rob in the swimming pool, if you get a chance, ask her what she said, something like “Rob, I really like it when you ----”. She says she didn’t mean it the way everybody in the pool area thought but she did get everyone’s attention, ha.

The reason we didn’t write our blog yesterday was because we had plans to tour the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument. The Casa Grande Ruins National Monument preserves an ancient Hohokam farming community and "Great House”. It was created as the nation's first archeological reserve in 1892 and the site was declared a National Monument in 1918. For more information, click on the following link:

http://www.ask.com/wiki/Casa_Grande_Ruins_National_Monument?o=3986&qsrc=999

While we were there, we went with one of the volunteers who give tours. She gave us lots of information and pointed out things we probably wouldn’t have seen on our own. Afterwards, Dennis/Barb were riding with us and they offered to buy us a burger at In n Out, what could we say but “Yes, thank you”.

Later Rob/Norma, Barb and us headed out to check out the local casino. After playing for awhile, we decided to sample their buffet. The buffet was pretty ordinary, nothing to write home about but it did fill us up. After dinner, we played for a little while longer and when we left at least two of our group were happy we had gone there because they left with some of the casino’s money.

The weather has been FINALLY getting back to normal or a bit above. I heard on the radio on Wednesday that we shouldn’t experience any more 30F weather at night, yea. And the days have been high 60s until Thursday when it started getting into the 70s. Friday and Saturday it got into the 80s and I got into shorts and sandals for the first time this winter. In fact, some of us might have gotten a little bit too much sun on Saturday but no one is complaining about the warmer temperatures for sure. I haven’t checked the forecast for the next few days but it’s nice and sunny outside at 11:00 and looks to be another warm day.

Our plans have us staying here only one week, leaving on Wednesday. We have made reservations at Casa De Sol East in Glendale for the remainder of time here in AZ. We are still trying to decide just how long that will be and which route we will take back to the Bay area. Here’s hoping for more of this nice weather for the next month, feel sorry for those who are still in the cold, rain or snow.

And now to add some pictures and finish this up.

Saguaro National West, more cactus here than on the one we toured last week.