5/132013 The Wild, Wild West

(Tucson, AZ)

Bob and I had every intention of touring the Desert Museum today.  We didn’t make it.  We got sidetracked.  It was a good thing!

Look how blue our sky was today. 



Instead  of the Desert Museum we ended up at Old Tucson. 



We happened to pass this on the way and Bob asked if I wanted to check it out.  Heck yeah!  Anything as long as we’re doing something!

The store/ticket office.



Old Tucson is a movie set that was built in 1938 as a replica of 1860s Tucson for the movie Arizona, starring William Holden and Jean Arthur.  Workers built more than 50 buildings in 40 days and surprisingly many of those structures are still standing.
Of course, some of the buildings are nothing more than facades.

We followed our guide and walked the very street that the likes of John Wayne, Gene Autry, James Stewart  and Ronald Reagan walked while making movies that everyone recognizes the names of.  Does Gunfight at the OK Corral ring a bell?

Some of the buildings in this movie studio turned theme park.





This is a real building and stage shows are held in it each day.



Park visitors have a choice of touring the grounds by stagecoach…..



…..or train.  Or walking of course.



This mountain below is in 99% percent of all westerns made here in Arizona and a lot of westerns have been made on this movie lot!  Cowboys and Indians have gunfights around it,  hide behind it and sometimes its just  background. 



It was time to take in a show.  We found seats  in the bleachers and sat back to watch three actors put on a comedy/stunt show.

This young fellow was pulled from the crowd and given  a Tucson dollar, worth absolutely nothing, to hold between his teeth. 

Now prior to this, one of the actors was doing tricks with a whip and he wasn’t that accurate with what he was trying to do, which I’m sure this boy saw too.  He was told to just shut his eyes and keep them shut….so he didn’t see the blood.  Of course just as the guy with the whip snapped it the fellow standing next to him pulled it out of his mouth.  I still don’t know if the kid knew what happened.



The show proceeded with a showing of stunts often seen.





Having the ladder your climbing pushed off the wall its leaning it against.

And what’s a good western without dynamite being throw into a building?



By now we were getting hungry and headed to one of the restaurants on the property,  BBQ sounded good to us so we chose Big Jakes.



We made a good choice!  Bob had the BBQ beef and I had the BBQ pork.  Even the coleslaw was good and I’m real picky about the the coleslaw I eat.  The inside was typical theme park restaurant, cafeteria style, with saddles on railings, wooden tables and chairs, cowboy pictures on the walls and priced on the high side.

Some pictures I snapped…..just because.

This is the Crooked Creek Chapel.  A modern day bride can choose to get married here but it would have to be a very small wedding.

Like every old wild west church it has a cemetery.

This is The Reno.  The locomotive was built for the Virginia and Truckee Railroad in 1872

This world famous locomotive worked Nevada’s legendary Comstock Lode (silver mine) before becoming the movie star it is today.

Famous passengers and co-stars have included:  President Ulysses S Grant, President Theodore Roosevelt, John Wayne, James Stewart, Katherine Hepburn, Paul Newman, Clint Eastwood and Elizabeth Taylor.

The Reno has appeared in nearly 100 movies and TV programs including;  Rawhide, Twilight Zone, Posse, Joe Kidd, Tombstone, Wild, Wild, West and The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean.

The Reno is known as the most photographed locomotive in American history.
Bob and I next toured a replica of the General Store from back in the day.  This was truly the place to meet the townsfolk and farmers/ranchers from outlying areas.



It was where one went to buy flour, sugar, a new washboard, soap, and a slate if you had kids in school.



It was usually the pharmacy, the post office and the telegraph office all rolled into one.

The General Store was the towns menfolk gathered to talk about current events, tell a joke, discuss grain prices and of course to play a game of checkers.

The womenfolk would get to the General Store once a month or so if they lived in the outlying areas so this was their chance to talk to another woman, admire the fancy dress material they could ill afford and the place to buy sturdy cotton with which to make the family’s clothes.  I am sooo glad I didn’t live in the olden days.

It was time to take in another show.  The same three actors that were in the first show but now a young woman was also part of the cast.  It was short play about a sheriff gone bad and his son who was beginning to see the light about him.  The other actor played a preacher man who in his heart could not shoot another to save his own life.  Enter the young woman who is there for revenge against the sheriff.  It was action packed and in the end the son ended up dead.  Doesn’t it figure?

We went through a few of the stores and I bought one thing for the park model but I’m not showing it until I get it up where it belongs, so you’ll have to wait.

It was getting very hot by late afternoon and although there were a few more shops we could have looked at we decided to call it a day.

This was very enjoyable and we’re both glad we took the time to explore Old Tucson.

5/11-12/2013 So Long Bonnie & Steve

(Tucson, AZ)

Today our friends moved on down the road.  Steve left earlier than Bonnie and headed back to Quail Run where they’ll spend the next couple of days. 

Bonnie went to phone school.  Sounds funny doesn’t it, but that’s what she did.  It seems with the new IPhones they are so complicated and do so much that you have to school to learn all the features.  I’ve already decided that my next phone will be an IPhone.

We really hated to see them leave.  We had so much fun with these two this week, and hey,  if the truth be told, Steve could cook for us any night of the week.

This weekend Bob spent a good amount of time sitting with our neighbor Dennis.  He has been living in his RV’s for the past 21 years and loves to spend his time out in the desert, sometimes all by himself.  He’s a Canadian who became a US citizen and served as a Seabee in the service.  He’s very much into music and can tell a good story.



I threw in a load of clothes and they dried in no time at all.  I think they hung there for a total of 20 minutes.  I just love this clothes line of mine.



We made a run to the grocery store and watched TV, played on our computers and read the weekend away.

Relaxing, but we’re ready to move on.  Beyond ready to move on.

5/10/2013 No Pool For Me!

(Tucson, AZ)

No pool for me today!  I’m still a little too red to be going to the pool.  Bonnie went for awhile but I just couldn’t take the chance.

Steve and Bonnie had their motorhome washed and waxed here today.  The fellows who perform this service use a smear and swirl free wax which leave the RV’s looking like they just came off the showroom floor.  They did a fantastic job and we have said all along that we would have ours done before we left here.  (If we ever leave here.)  Yes, its pricey, but worth it.  I’ll be sure to take before and after pics when we get ours done.

We didn’t cook dinner tonight, we had Chinese take-out.   The place we went to was quite busy when got there which was a good sign to me.  We placed our orders and in no time we were heading back to Lazy Days.  Mine was good, not as good as the place we used to go to when we lived in Delaware but I would eat there again.

We sat outside again this evening but called it an early night.  Bonnie and Steve will leave tomorrow and they wanted to get a head start on getting ready for travel.  I sure am going to miss them.  It was fun while they were here.

5/9/2013 A Service Bay Day…For All Of Us!

(Tucson, AZ)

A trip to the service bay….HOORAY!  These days are so few and far between that they should be celebrated.

Steve and Bonnie’s motorhome was taken first so they ran errands they had to do.  Around 11:30 ours was come for. 

Their motorhome also had an ongoing hydraulic problem but was finally fixed.  Hopefully, once and for all.

We had our speakers replaced and the arm/ram replaced on our slide out.  All is good.
This afternoon the guys spent the afternoon sitting with Dennis, our neighbor, and as all men do when they get into a group of three or more, they solved all the world’s problems.
Bonnie and I spent it at the pool talking about this and that and not even touching on the world’s problems.  We’ll leave that for another day.

I spent way too much time at the pool.  I got a couple shades darker than pink, that’s for sure.

Before long Steve & Bonnie’s motorhome was back in place.



We sat around for a while in our beach chairs and then ours was brought back.



For dinner we had burgers on the grill, baked beans and a squash dish I make.  Steve grilled us some fresh beets.  This was my first time ever, yes, ever, eating fresh beets.  We have beets quite frequently but always out of the can.  I don’t think that will be happening again while they are in season.  We really liked them!

Dennis came pver and we sat around with him and told jokes and talked about full time RV’ing and tons of other things.

The wind picked up considerably and along with that comes dust so we retreated to our respective RV’s for the night.

An enjoyable day!

5/8/2013 A Trip to Quail Run

(Tucson to Arizona City and back again)

We left the confines of the blacktop parking lot in Lazy Days RV today to go close up our park model in Quail Run.

There’s very few people in the park now.



We put jugs of water in all the rooms, covered all the furniture and tables with sheets generally made sure everything was set for the summer.

Our plan is come to back here next fall and paint the entire interior.  We had planned on that for last fall but it just never came to be because when we left we didn’t know we weren’t coming back and were going to the Florida Keys instead.

I walked around our yard to look at the cactus in bloom.  Actually, this one is in our neighbors yard.



Here’s what we have.

There’s just a few blooms left on this one.  Some year I’m going to get to see this in full bloom!



This next picture was taken in our park by the park manager Brenda.  They counted the blooms on this century plant and there were 58.  The blooms only last one day.  Now that I think about it I’m not sure of the name of the cactus.  Anyone know?

After a short while we were done all we had to do and it was time to head back to Tucson….and Bonnie and Steve.

Some going down the road shots as we headed east.





When we returned Bonnie and I went to the pool for about an hour.  She had spent her time on the phone earlier in the day trying to find out about parts for the problem they are having with their motorhome.  She got the answers she was looking for, it seems we are just better at dealing with the manufacturers and component suppliers than our guys are.

She had also been to the store while we were gone and picked up dinner for all of us.  Bonnie made a fresh crispy garden salad and Steve grilled nice thick pork chops and sweet potatoes on the grill along with roasted cabbage quarters.  Oh my heavens…the roasted cabbage was delicious!  Of course everything else was too but this was our first taste of roasted cabbage and we liked it!

If you haven’t made it before, or even had it,  here is the recipe that is making its way around Facebook.  (This is not the recipe that Steve used as he used a spice mixture that I had never heard of before.  That said, I have some friends that have made the recipe below and its getting rave reviews also)

ROASTED CABBAGE
2 tbsp. real bacon bits 
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper (more or less to taste)
1 medium head of cabbage

Preheat the oven (or the grill,) to 425 degrees.

Mix the olive oil, bacon bits, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper to make the marinade.

Cut the head into quarters. Rinse

Lay each wedge on a sheet of aluminum foil large enough to wrap it up in. Spoon about 2 tbsp. of the marinade on top making sure to get it in all the nooks and crannies.

Wrap each wedge and bake for 20-30 minutes. They will continue to cook once you pull them out - cook them up to an hour for softer cabbage.

The wedges reheat wonderfully in the oven or the microwave!

HMMM….HMMM GOOD!

After dinner we sat outside and talked and laughed the night away.

5/7/2013 Bonnie & Steve Arrive!

(Tucson, AZ)

Today our friends Bonnie & Steve from Quail Run arrive to get their motorhome worked on.  They are parked right next door to us so this should prove to be a good time.  Steve thinks they’ll be here overnight and that tomorrow they will be on their way.  Silly man.  He doesn’t realize that he’s in Lazy Days and that this service department is aptly named!

Bonnie arrived a few hours later than Steve and we to leave shortly after she arrived to pick up our 5th wheel from the body shop.  To their credit they did a beautiful job on taking care of the spider cracks and buffing out a section that didn’t look so great from the factory.  All is good now as far as that area is concerned.

When we returned a half hour later we settled in with our chairs and snack tables set up in between our rigs and talked the afternoon away.

We decided to go to the restaurant on the property.  Florizona is its name.  We arrived around six and were greeted by a server at a table who called out to us, “Somebody will be with you guys in a minute.”  I cringed.  We were seated promptly and were asked, “What can I get you guys to drink?”  I cringed again.  This is truly a pet peeve of mine.  If you go into a pizza parlor and lay down twenty five bucks for a pizza and a pitcher and your server is a 17 year old teenager, well, you kind of expect to hear you guys.  It isn’t right, but expected all the same.  When we are going to lay down over a hundred dollars for dinner four, you guys is NOT expected or acceptable, in my book.  Ever.  Bonnie and Steve both ordered the walleye and Bob and I ordered the top sirloin steak.  Shoe leather would have been more  palatable.  In hindsight, we should have sent them back but we didn’t because Bonnie & Steve had their dinners and were eating already.  Yep, we should have sent them back.

After dinner we spent the evening in our outdoor living room and talked the night away.

5/6/2013 55 Days and Counting

(Tucson, AZ)

Today is our 55th day here at Lazy Days.  Only two weeks total for me since I was home in Delaware for those five or so weeks.  I totally understand Bob’s frustration and his boredom.  But things are moving now. 

Today we took the 5th wheel to the Body Shop which is located three miles away.  We have some spider cracks in the fiberglass that they will fix for us.  We’re scheduled for three days in the shop but the body shop manager assured us we would be out in two.  Actually, it’ll be out at the end of the day and we’ll be able to bring the rig back so that we have it for the night to sleep in.

So today we spent our day in the lounge and Bob would go check on our new friend Dennis to see how his move was coming along.  He traded his 5 month old 5th wheel for a fairly new toyhauler,  a 5th wheel with a garage in the back to hold his All Terrain Vehicle.  Toy haulers cut down on living space somewhat but come in handy for those who have ATV’s, motorcycles, have a need for a hobby room or just lots of storage space.

A cold front has come through, the weather has cooled considerably.  We’re now in the 80’s with a nice breeze. 

I got this calendar that someone posted on Facebook about the dates to watch the skies for meteor showers.  Last night was one listed and I couldn’t wait to go out and watch.  That said, just like the calendar says, these nights are typically the cloudiest nights of the year.  You guessed it, it was a cloudy night and not one meteor visible.



It will probably being pouring the night of August 12th, no matter where we are.
We’ve been playing around with some ideas on where to go from here.  Nothing has been decided as yet.  We just know we have to go someplace to play.

We ordered pizza in for dinner as I had forgotten to take anything out for dinner.  (Yeah, he bought that…hehehe)  We then settled in for a night of Monday Night RAW!

Back to the Body Shop tomorrow but the day will go fast because friends Bonnie and Steve are going to be here tomorrow to get their motorhome worked on.  Wonder how many days they’ll be here?