We got to the park about noon and spent most of the afternoon getting settled in. Our friends Peggy and Vernon Bullock, who had also come here from the Good Sam Rally in Phoenix and the park in El Mirage, are parked right next to us. Later in the afternoon we packed up two weeks worth of dirty laundry and drove into Cottonwood to wash clothes and linens. On the way back we stopped and picked up one geocache, thinking that we needed one for this date. Turns out we didn’t, but it still counts as a find. About 5:00 we were back at the coach for happy hour with the Bullocks. We had a little BBQ for dinner, hamburgers for us and chicken for the Bullocks, and then retired to our coach for the rest of the night.
Camp Verde is the oldest community in the Verde River valley. The town has a unique history, dating back to the early 1860s. Settlers first began migrating into the Verde Valley because of the mining industry. The first military establishment was a temporary post overlooking the farms at West Clear Creek. In 1865, the next post, Camp Lincoln was established. In 1865 the name was changed to Camp Verde. The post was moved to its present day site in 1871, due to the onset of a malaria outbreak. In 1878, the name was changed to Fort Verde to signify permanence. The fort was occupied from 1871-1891; with the post officially closing in April of 1890. Much of the old fort has been preserved and is now an Arizona State park.
Just outside of Camp Verde is Montezuma Castle National Monument. On December 8, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt celebrated the passage of the Antiquities Act by declaring four sites of historic and cultural significance as our nation's first National Monuments. Among these was Montezuma Castle, which the President identified as a place "of the greatest ethnological value and scientific interest." Although very few original artifacts remained in the structure due to intensive looting of the site, Roosevelt's decision assured the continued protection of one of the best preserved prehistoric cliff dwellings in North America. Montezuma Castle National Monument quickly became a destination for America's first car-bound tourists. In 1933, "Castle A", a 45-50 room, pueblo ruin was excavated, uncovering a wealth of artifacts and greatly enhanced our understanding of the Sinagua people who inhabited this riparian "oasis" along Beaver Creek for over 400 years.
Early visitors to the monument were allowed access to the structure by climbing a series of ladders up the side of the limestone cliffs. However, due to extensive damage to this valuable cultural landmark, public access of the ruins was discontinued in 1951. Now, approximately 350,000 people a year gaze through the windows of the past during a visit to Montezuma Castle. Even 600 years after their departure, the legacy of the Sinagua people continues to inspire the imaginations of this and future generations.
The Monument also includes the site of Montezuma Well, a natural limestone sinkhole through which some 1,400,000 gallons of water flow each day from two underground springs. The sinkhole, which was once an underground cavern measures in at 368 feet across and 55 feet deep. The water is highly carbonated and contains high levels of arsenic. Montezuma Well's outflow has been used for irrigation since the 8th century. Part of a prehistoric canal is preserved at the picnic ground, and portions of the original Sinagua canal are still in use today.
The existence of the well was almost unknown to Anglo Americans before the publishing of Handbook to America by Richard J. Hinton in 1878. In 1968, Montezuma Well was the subject of the first ever underwater archaeological survey to take place in a National Park, led by archaeologist George R Fischer. The Yavapai people believe they emerged into this world through the well, and as such, it is a very sacred place to them.
Tuesday, April 3rd we left the park after lunch with the Bullocks and did some geocaching in the general area of Camp Verde. We had a really good afternoon with 21 new finds and no DNFs. A lot of the caches were out in the desert on some Jeep trails, so it was good we had the Geo-Jeep with its high clearance. After caching we returned to the RV park for happy hour. Later Jackie fixed her nice chili rellano casserole and we and the Bullocks had a very nice dinner in our coach.
Wednesday, April 4th, we and the Bullocks left the park early, about 10:00, and set out for Flagstaff, Arizona, about 50 miles north on I-17. Our primary purpose for driving all the way to Flagstaff is to visit the Camping World store. Regular readers may recall that back in March, when we were parked in Casa Grande, Arizona, a big wind storm had blown one of our air conditioner covers off of the roof of the coach. I had jury-rigged it back on, but it needed to be replaced and the Flagstaff store was the closest Camping World that had a cover in stock.
It took about an hour to get to the RV store, which was about ten miles west of town, and we spent a little while shopping before leaving with our new cover, and a few other goodies, stuffed in the back of the Jeep. We all decided we needed to have some lunch about that time, so we did a little Google search on the smart phone and found there was a Greek restaurant called Taverna on the west end of town. It turned out to be a very nice place in what appeared to be a fairly new building. The place was large and bright, and the staff was very welcoming. The restaurant was busy, but we got seated and served quite quickly. The menu was large, but not cumbersome, and the food was wonderful. Two of us had lamb shanks, I had the stuffed peppers and one had another Greek dish the name of which I don’t recall. Everyone reported that their food was excellent. My two large peppers were more than I could eat and I ended up taking one home for lunch tomorrow. I can highly recommend Taverna, located at 2420 S Woodlands Village Boulevard, in Flagstaff, to anyone who craves Greek cooking while in the Flagstaff area.
After our lunch we spent a couple of hours doing some geocaching in the Flagstaff area. We got seven new finds, along with two DNFs, before deciding it was time to hit the road for the trip back to Camp Verde. After we returned to the RV park we had happy hour with the Bullocks before retiring to our coach for the rest of the night. After the big lunch we didn’t even need dinner.
Thursday, April 5th, was to be a chores day. Vernon and I both had some chores to do, the biggest of which was the installation of the new backup camera systems that we had bought at the rally in Phoenix. While Vernon and I worked on our new cameras the girls left to go for lunch and do some shopping in Cottonwood. I started working about 10:00 or so and it took a good five hours to get the camera installed and working. The only issue I wasn’t able to tackle today was putting the new, smaller, flatscreen monitor in the hole in the dash where the old one resided. That will have to be put off for another day. For the time being the new monitor sits on top of the dash. I was also able to get the new air conditioning shroud installed on the roof, despite the high winds we were experiencing. By the time the girls got back home I had my tools cleaned up and was relaxing after a busy day.
We had happy hour with the Bullocks and Jim and Pat Goetzinger, who are also staying in the park, came down and joined us. We chatted for an hour or so before we went in for dinner with the Bullocks. We had another BBQ and had some very nice hamburgers with all kinds of goodies, including escargot for everyone but me. I don’t care for the snails, but I do like the garlic butter they are cooked in and ate a lot of bread dipped in the sauce. After dinner we just relaxed for the rest of the night.
Friday, April 6th, we stayed around the house until about 5:00 when we drove over to Cottonwood to spend the evening with my brother Dennis. He still works full time as a bank manager in Sedona, Arizona, so we wanted to visit him on an evening when he wouldn’t have to get up to go to work the next day. Dennis is the second of the five boys in our family, and he is the only other one to share the last name Holt. He is eight years younger than I and was born in Milwaukee as I was. Our other three brothers have our stepdad’s last name, Disch, and were all born in Phoenix.
We visited with him for a couple of hours, catching up and looking at his ongoing kitchen remodel, before heading out for dinner. The three of us went to a Mexican restaurant in Cottonwood called Concho’s. Although the place has been here for about six years, we had never eaten there before. It had really great ratings on Trip Advisor, an internet rating site, so we thought we would try it. It is located on Main Street, just north of old town Cottonwood, and is in a very old building. The place would be easy to miss since it is set back off the road and all the parking is in the rear. They have a large patio area and a big dining room as well. When we got there just before 7:00 we were the only customers, but the place filled up quickly.
They have a very large, authentic menu and we ordered our usual Sonoran favorites. I got the red chili burro and a taco, Jackie got a chili reallno combo. The staff was excellent, very attentive and friendly, and the food was very good. My red chili was excellent, but Jackie said her food could have been a little more spiced. The excellent salsa provided did spice it up a little bit. We had a very nice meal. We did find the place was a little pricier than other Mexican restaurants in the area, but the portions were huge. All three of our meals had to come on multiple plates because of the size of the portions. We all took food home with us for the next day. After dinner we dropped Dennis back off at his house and went back to the coach for the rest of the night.
Saturday, April 7th, we left the coach around noon, after lunch, and drove back over to Dennis’ house to pick him up for some geocaching. Dennis is the one who first told us about geocaching back in 2007. Prior to that we had never heard of the hobby. He still enjoys caching, but doesn’t do much on his own because he stays too busy with work and other projects. He likes the hunt, but not the administrative work. The three of us headed out and managed to get thirteen new finds, along with one new DNF. However, among the finds were two caches that we had DNF’d last year when we cached here. We always like to fix DNFs when we can.
After caching we dropped Dennis off at his house, so he could get his car, and then we drove back to the RV park. Dennis came over a little while later to spend the evening with us at our place. He sat with us for happy hour with the Bullocks and the Goetzingers, and then we had a nice lasagna dinner in the coach. Jackie made a big batch of yummy garlic bread to go with the pasta. After dinner Dennis and I retired to the back of the coach and spent a couple of hours with the karaoke machine singing and having a very nice time. We finally decided to quit about 10:00 and Dennis headed back to his house and we went to bed. A very nice day with family.
Sunday, April 8th, Happy Easter to everyone, Happy Passover to our Hebrew friends. We spent the day around the coach, mostly relaxing but also doing some cleaning and cooking for an Easter dinner for family and friends. Jackie and Peggy are doing most of
the cooking for a dinner at which we are expecting about 12 people. About 3:30 my youngest brother Ken and his wife Susan arrived after driving up from Phoenix. They will be spending the night with us so we can spend tomorrow with them as well. Over the course of the next hour we were joined by my brother Dennis, who lives here in the Verde Valley, and his girlfriend Mona, Mona’s daughter Harmony, who is visiting from Hawaii, where she lives, and Gary and Ramona Wilson. We had been expecting Ramona’s brother, who lives in Sedona where they are parked for the week, but he had other plans and didn’t come.So we had eleven people and we all just sat around between our coaches, in the shade of a wonderful Easter day, and enjoyed the mild temperatures and the companionship of friends and family. The weather had worried us because eleven people in one of our coaches is doable, but not comfortable. Fortunately, the weather was perfect. The wind, which had been blowing fairly hard most of the day, settled down about 4:00
and we had just enough breeze to cool the air. About 6:00 we got the food out and everyone had dinner. We had ham, turkey, and all the holiday fixings and we had way more than even this big group could eat.After dinner everyone stayed around and talked and visited until about 8:00 when the Wilsons and Dennis and his group left. We cleaned up the leftovers and then we went into our
coach with Ken and Susan and visited for another couple hours. We finally pulled out the sofa bed and got them settled in for the night and we went to bed as well. A very nice Easter.Monday, April 9th, we all got up about 7:00 or so and by 9:30 we were out the door ready for a day of caching. We introduced Ken and Susan to caching a couple years ago and they love it.
We took Ken and Susan in our car and Peggy and Vernon rode with the Wilsons, who are just recent converts to caching. We then set out to capture some caches in the area. We got about eleven caches in a couple of hours, along with one DNF, and then decided
it was time for lunch. The Wilsons had to go back to Sedona to see Ramona’s brother, so that carload departed. The four of us went into the little town of Camp Verde and had lunch at a little café called the Verde Café. It was a typical local café, the waitresses seemed know most everyone that came in, and the menu was mostly sandwiches and comfort food. The food was very good, inexpensive and you got a lot to eat. I would give it a good recommendation. It is on Main Street, right in the middle of old town Camp Verde. After lunch the four of us headed out for more caching. We continued our success and by 3:30 we had managed to get a total of 20 new finds for the day. We also got another DNF, bringing our total to two. We headed back to the coach where we chatted for a little while before Ken and Susan started back to Phoenix about 4:30. Poor kids still have to go to work tomorrow. Later we had cocktails with the Bullocks outside before heading into the coach for the night. It was a great day, but tiring and we crashed pretty early.
Monday, April 10th, my granddaughter Ashley’s 21st birthday! Happy Birthday Ash! For the second day in a row we got out for an early start on the day. We left the coach around 10:00 for a trip to the Prescott, Arizona area. Prescott is about 45 miles southwest of Camp Verde, and is a fairly large mountain community with a long, rich history. The area was a center of mining in the Arizona territory in the 1800's, and Prescott was the territorial capital for a number of years before it was moved to Phoenix. Vernon Bullock is a bit of a history buff and likes to go to old mining sites and ghost towns and he knew from his research that there were a lot of them around the Prescott area.
Since we were unsure how bad the roads might be to get to some of the areas in the mountains south of Prescott, we rode in the Bullock’s “real” Jeep Wrangler. The four of us were in their Jeep and the Wilsons followed along in theirs. We got into the town of Prescott about 11:30 or so and stopped at the Forest Service office in town, hoping to get some maps of the back roads. All of the area around Prescott is part of the Prescott National Forest. Unfortunately, we found that they did not have the kind of detailed road maps that we had hoped for. It seems that now you have to go to a bookstore and buy commercial maps, the government doesn’t do them for free any more. Poop. Nonetheless, we knew of a few sites, including the old mining town of Walker, named after Joseph R. Walker, a mountain man and fur trapper who led a prospecting party into the mountains of central Arizona, which was then a part of the New Mexico Territory. Walker’s discoveries and the subsequent mining boom are touted as the reason Prescott was founded.
We did a couple of caches in town and then found a Mexican restaurant where the six of us had a pretty good meal. The restaurant was called El Charro. The place is on Montezuma Street, just a half block off of Whiskey Row and the old courthouse square, which represents the center of the Prescott tourist area. The food was good, not great, but good. Most everyone had something different and the reviews where mixed, but no one had really bad food. After lunch we started exploring. We decided that we would stick with what little info we did have and we started south on Walker Road, which would take us to the site of the old mining town of Walker.
There wasn’t much in Walker other than a sign indicating that the area was once the site of a booming mining town. We then passed through the community of Potato Patch which had a lot of signs indicating it was a private community and you might be wise to stay out. Since you have to drive five miles on a twisty, bumpy dirt road to get to the community, they probably value their privacy, and probably protect it. We reached the junction where Walker road ends and meets the Senator Highway, which is also a rough dirt road that follows the original trail that led from Prescott down into the Salt River Valley where Phoenix lies. We decided to take the Senator Highway back to Prescott since it was getting late.
We did some caching along the way and managed to get nine new finds. The last of the finds
turned out to be our number 3,800, another milestone in our caching “career”. There were several really neat caches including one called “Pink Car”. This was described as definitely a Walker Road landmark for approximately 73 years and a must stop. The car has a bit of history to it. Some 73 years ago it was left at this
spot and rested comfortably for all those years. Story has it that back at the time when the gold and silver mines were active in this area, a local doctor known as the town drunk rolled the car. Supposedly the insurance company paid him for it, so he just left it there. Earlier this year it was "removed" by a group of kids not knowing it 
was considered private property and they did the right thing and returned it to it's resting place. They even gave it a new paint job since the original paint had lost it's curb appeal may years ago. We found the cache, which was attached to the car by magnets, and took some pictures of our group around the car.Once we got back to Prescott we started back towards Camp Verde and arrived in time for happy hour with the Bullocks. Since we had a long day and were tired we didn’t do any dinner and just crashed in front of the TV for the rest of the night.
Wednesday, April 11th, we had a quiet morning for the first time in a few days, not in a hurry to get out and go somewhere. After lunch we left the coach and drove to Cottonwood just to do some exploring. We went to old main street, which has been cleaned up and now houses a lot of restaurants and shops. We spent a couple of hours walking around downtown, going into shops and antique malls, just enjoying the cooler day. It rained lightly on and off all afternoon, but nothing that would spoil the day. After downtown we drove to the mall and found a geocache, located behind the J C Penny’s store, that had eluded us a couple of days ago. We had gotten a hint from the owner of the cache and this time we found it. Yea, a fixed DNF.
As long as we were there we walked around Penny’s for a little while before going over to Walmart for some last minute shopping. We also ended up going to Fry’s for some stuff that Wally World didn’t have. Finally, about 4:30 we headed back to the RV park for happy hour and dinner. We and the Bullocks got together and did some steaks on the BBQ along with a salad and some yams. We had a very nice dinner and by 8:30 everyone was back in their own coaches relaxing for the night.
Thursday, April 12th, we left the RV park about 11:00 or so to go some errands and then have lunch with a good friend. Our first stop was just outside of Camp Verde for a geocache that has eluded us for a week now. We have DNF’d the cache twice, once after even getting a hint from the owner! The cache is rated a 3.5 difficulty, which is pretty hard. The max is 5.0. Peggy and Vernon, who had been out caching already this morning, met us there and between the four of us we finally found the little bugger. It was a very small plastic tube, smaller than your pinky finger, tucked under a tuft of Bermuda grass on the side of the highway. Geez!. Nonetheless, finally fixed the DNFs.
After finding that cache we drove into Cottonwood and stopped at Walmart for some stuff we forgot to get yesterday when we were there. Mostly office stuff like paper and printer ink. We go through a lot of ink printing maps for our geocaching. We had a 1:00 lunch meeting in Cottonwood and still had a little time, so we stopped at a very nice antique store on Main Street. A little before one we went into the Mai Thai restaurant, which serves, no big surprise, very good Thai food. We were meeting Pat Ruese for lunch.
Regular readers may recall that last June when we were in Flagstaff we drove down to Sedona and had lunch with Pat and Ed Ruese. Ed and Pat were full timers for 25 years and Ed was the founding President of the Full Timers Chapter of FMCA, as well as holding numerous offices in FMCA, including INTO Vice President and Senior Vice President of FMCA. Pat happened to be the President of the 100%ers Chapter of FMCA, an offshoot of the Full Timers, when we joined the Chapter in 2006 and I was recruited as Vice President. As it turned out, that would be the last time we saw Ed. Last summer, while the Ruese’s were back in Madison, Wisconsin, at an FMCA Convention, Ed had a heart attack and passed away. Fortunately for Pat, they had decided a couple years ago that they needed to have a home base after 25 years on the road. The bought a little house in Clarkdale, which is a small town right next to Cottonwood.
We had a very nice lunch and caught up with what Pat has been doing. She seems to be doing very well and has a lot of friends here in the Verde Valley. She is staying very busy with crafts and other activities and is enjoying the great weather. She will be going back to Washington DC this summer where Ed’s remains will be interred in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors. Ed was a retired U.S. Navy Commander. It was very nice to see Pat again.
By the way, the food at Mai Thai was excellent, as was the service. It has a very nice, quiet ambiance, and the portions are large and tasty. The restaurant is at 157 S Main, Cottonwood, Arizona and is just off Mingus Road on Main. I can highly recommend it for anyone looking for good Thai food in the Verde Valley.
After lunch we drove over to the Cliff Castle Casino, located near Camp Verde just off I-17. It is a Yavapai Apache Nation casino and sits on the top of a hill overlooking the Verde Valley. We were at the casino last year for a show featuring Bill Engvall, but we didn’t go in after the show because of the crowds. We were in there for less than an hour and lost our $60, so we said enough. That should take care of our gambling urge for a while. The machines were very tight and there were no nickel poker machines. After we left the casino we found a new geocache that had been placed in the parking lot just a few days ago. We were the fourth to sign the log. We then returned to the coach and spent the rest of the evening relaxing. We had cocktails with the Bullocks, but we didn’t do dinner because of the large, late lunch we had.
Friday, April 13th, eek! At 10:00 we went to the clubhouse at the RV park for a “members meeting” put on by manager of the park. We had hoped that Jim Loken, the owner and CEO of Western Horizons would be there, but he wasn’t. The manager, Marsha, was very nice and spent nearly an hour talking about what is going on with Western Horizons, which parks have been sold, and what rights we still had at the various sold parks. About the only thing I didn’t already know was that when Western Horizons sells a park they have a contract with the park to lease back about a third of the sites at the park for Western Horizons members. I wasn’t aware there was an actual lease contract, I thought it was just an agreement with the new owner to allow Western Horizons members access. It was a good meeting and we were glad we went.
After the meeting we and the Bullocks loaded up in our car for a day on the road, exploring and geocaching. Our ultimate goal was Payson, Arizona, a small mountain community northeast of Phoenix. It is almost due east of Camp Verde, but higher up in the eastern mountains of Arizona. Payson is about 60 miles by road from Camp Verde. Although I have been there many times, having grown up in Arizona, none of the others have been in what is known to Arizonans as The Rim Country. The name comes from the Mogollon Rim, a steep slope defining the southwestern edge of the Colorado Plateau, and along its central and most spectacular portions is characterized by high limestone and sandstone cliffs. The name Mogollon comes from Don Juan Ignacio Flores Mogollón, the Spanish Governor of New Mexico from 1712 to 1715.
Much of the land south of the Mogollon Rim, which includes both Payson and Sedona, lies 4000 to 5000 feet above sea level, with the escarpment rising to about 7,000 ft. Extensive Ponderosa Pine forests are found both on the slopes of the Rim and on the plateau north of it. The Rim is nearly 200 miles wide and cuts across much of Central Arizona.
The road from Camp Verde to the top of the Rim near Pine, Arizona, is know as the General
Crook Trail, named after General George Crook, an Army commander in the area in the 1880's. The road roughly follows the route of a trail his troops blazed from Fort Verde to Fort Whipple, near Flagstaff. The route is very scenic and climbs more than 3,000 feet from the high desert of the Verde Valley to the top of the Colorado Plateau, above the Rim. From there we turned south and into the small mountain area known as Strawberry-Pine. They are actually two separate towns about four miles apart, with Pine being the larger of the towns. We did a couple of geocaches in Pine before deciding to stop for lunch. One of those caches was number 1,300 for Peggy and Vernon.We had lunch at HB’s Place, a small diner in the middle of Pine, right on Highway 87. The history of the place that was printed on the menu shows that the property has been in the same family since the 1930's. It started as a café and gas station and is now strictly a café. The café is still family operated and is a very clean, bright place with a patriotic theme. Everything inside is red, white and blue, and very USA. It has a typical café menu and the food was quite good. After lunch we visited the Strawberry-Pine museum which was right next door. There was a virtual cache at the museum and we had to locate the answers to six questions about local history by looking at the museum displays. We learned a lot about the area, even stuff I was not aware of.
We then started further down the hill, did a couple more geocaches along the road, and then stopped at the Tonto Natural Bridge State Park. There was another virtual geocache at the park which we wanted to claim. It required us going into the park and taking
a picture inside the park, as well as answering a question about the arch. Tonto Natural Bridge is a natural arch that is believed to be the largest natural travertine bridge in the world. The area surrounding the bridge is a state park and is located off State Route 87, just 10 miles north of Payson The bridge stands over a 400-foot-long tunnel that measures 150 feet at its widest point and reaches a height of 183 feet.
The arch was first documented by David Gowan, a Scotsman, in 1877 while hiding from hostile Apache tribe members. Gowan was impressed by the location and persuaded his family to emigrate and live there. Gowan also tried to claim the land for himself under squatter's rights. Gowan family members lived near the bridge until 1948 and their lodge building survives to this day and is included in the National Register and serves as the State Park headquarters. After taking some photos of the arch and the general area we continued on towards Payson.We got a few more caches along the road and finally reached Payson about 3:00 or so. Payson is located at a point which is very close to the geographic center of the State of Arizona, so it calls itself “The Heart of Arizona.” Payson considers its founding year as 1882, at which time it was known as Green Valley or Union Park. On March 3, 1884, the town officially established a post office and Postmaster Frank Hise recommended that the town be named after a man named Levi Joseph Payson. Senator Payson was very instrumental in the establishment of the Post Office and in honor of his help, the town decided to change the name to Payson. Payson had its first rodeo in 1884 and considers its rodeo the "world's oldest continuous" as it has been held every year since.
In 1918 author Zane Grey made his first trip to the area surrounding Payson. He would come back with regularity through 1929, and would purchase two plots of land near Tonto Creek, including 120 acres under Myrtle Point. Grey wrote numerous books about the area and also filmed some movies, such as To the Last Man, in the Payson area in the 1920s. During the 1930s an effort began to try to get Payson a better road to connect it to the outside world. At that time Payson was very isolated with a trip from Phoenix to Payson taking four to five hours. Throughout the 1950s work on a paved road from Phoenix to Payson progressed and the paving was completed in 1959. The road was nicknamed The Beeline Highway, a name that sticks to this day, because it made a beeline from Phoenix to Payson.
We explored Payson for a little while, got a few more caches, and then went to the Payson Elks Lodge. This was a new lodge for all of us and we had a very nice visit. There were a couple of members at the bar and they were very friendly. It was getting late, so we only had one cocktail, got our lodge pins, and then started back towards Camp Verde. All in all, we had a very fun, very full day, with a total of 14 new geocache finds and no DNFs. We finally got back to the RV park about 6:00, had some cocktails and a late dinner with the Bullocks in their coach. Peggy had made a pot of ham beans from the ham bone left over from Easter. Dinner was excellent and we finally went back to our coach about 9:00.
Saturday, April 14th, the skies opened up in the middle of the night as the storm the weather service had been promising for a week moved in. I woke up at about 1:30 a.m. with the wind blowing and the rain hitting the top of the coach. It didn’t rain a very long time, but what we did get was heavy. Then about 7:00 a.m. or so the rain started again, along with a brief period of light hail. When I got up the skies were dark and gloomy, everything was wet and it was cold, in the low 40's.
Our original plans for the day were for Vernon, Gary and I to go into Camp Verde, to the Fort Verde State Park, for an old west re-enactment festival. We presumed it would be a bunch of guys dressed in old calvary uniforms, playing battle and so forth. The girls were going to drive to Sedona for lunch and shopping. Well, Vernon called Gary, who is staying at the Elks Lodge in Sedona, and found that it was snowing. Gary said he wasn’t coming over for the re-enactment and Vernon and I decided that if they were being really authentic, and camped out overnight, they were going to be wet and unhappy. The girls didn’t want to drive in the wet and possible snow, so we all just decided to stay home for the day. We had also planned to have a big farewell dinner for everyone tonight since we, the Bullocks and the Wilsons are all leaving on Monday and heading in different directions. We won’t see any of them until August in Indiana. Everyone agreed that the dinner was still on since we could eat inside.
Jackie and I spent the day doing chores and some light housekeeping since we were hosting the dinner. Jackie was making a big pot of her special risotto with asparagus, shrimp, mushrooms, and scallops. Other people were bringing side dishes. Since we had the time we also did a couple of loads of laundry at the park’s laundry facility.
About 3:30 my brother Dennis and his girlfriend Mona came over. A little while later Gary and Ramona Wilson came, along with Ramona’s brother Hal, who lives in Sedona.
It turns out that Hal banks at the local bank where my brother Dennis is the manager. Small world. Once the Bullocks came from next door the party was on. There were nine of us, which pretty much fills the living room of the coach, but it was not overly crowded. Everyone had a great time chatting and nibbling on snacks and having cocktails. About 6:15 dinner was served. We only had salad, garlic bread 
and the risotto, but it was wonderful. The risotto was a big hit with everyone. After dinner we all sat around and talked until about 8:00 when the Wilsons and the Bullocks had to leave. The Wilsons had a 30 mile drive back to Sedona, but the weather had pretty much cleared up, so the roads were OK. My brother and Mona hung around for another hour or so and we talked. When they left we cleaned up the house and then watched TV until bedtime.It was a nice dinner with friends and family. We will miss traveling with our friends, but we also have a great time with just the two of us. We will see most everyone back in Indiana in a few months when we all cross paths again.
Sunday, April 15th, Happy Birthday to Smokey the Cat! We got Smokey in 2000 as a kitten and since he was a feral cat we could only guess he was five to six weeks old. The vet who checked him agreed. Based on that we picked a day that was easy to remember, tax day. So today he is the ripe old age of 12! My brother Dennis came over about noon and the three of us went out to lunch at the Verde Café in Camp Verde. We had a nice talk and agreed that we would try to get together in May when we come back through the Phoenix area. We will be staying on the far east side of the valley, but we will make the effort. After lunch the three of us went out for a couple of geocaches. We had to have at least one for the day to fill the day on our “days of the year” grid. We managed to get two fairly quickly. Peggy and Vernon, who had been out caching already, met us at the two caches so we could all cache together.
After we got home we talked with Dennis for another hour or so before he left to head home. I spent an hour or so packing up stuff, getting ready for our departure from the area tomorrow. We had cocktails with Peggy and Vernon and then did a carne asada dinner with them. We BBQed some chicken and beef carne and had all the fixings. This would be our last time with them until late summer. We talked until about 8:30 before heading back to our coach for the rest of the night.
Monday, April 16th, we were up early and getting packed up to leave. We pulled out of Camp Verde just before 10:00 after saying farewell to the Bullocks. They are also leaving today, heading for the Grand Canyon for a few days before heading back home to northern California. We had a 230 mile trip today, heading southwest, through Phoenix and back to Ehrenberg, Arizona, on the California-Arizona border. The trip was uneventful and we got pretty good fuel mileage, almost 10 mpg, because it was mostly flat or downhill. We arrived at the Western Horizons park in Ehrenberg about 2:30 and got a site for just one night. We didn’t even unhook the car or put out a sewer connection. Water, electric and put the slides out. After I got hooked up we never left the coach. I was pretty tired from the four hour drive so we just chilled the rest of the night.
Tuesday, April 17th, we left Ehrenberg around 10:00 or so, again on the road headed west. Today we are going to Indian Waters RV Resort in Indio. It is only a 100 mile trip,
but we had to stop for fuel in Arizona before crossing the border. Fuel is at least forty cents more per gallon in California. We paid $4.03 in Arizona and later saw it for $4.49 in Indio. Yikes! We made good time and got into the resort right about noon. It was quite hot, close to 90, so I did the minimal amount of setup outside. We are only here for five days, so we didn’t need a lot of stuff out.We were surprised to see our friends, the Jay and Donna Blumenthal, were still are Indian Waters. They have been here most of the winter. We are parked only two coaches down from them this time and they came over to say hi when we got in. We got set up and had lunch and then went out to get at least one geocache for our “days of the year” grid. We needed one for this date. We missed the first one we tried, it was in some heavy brush and it was just too hot to dig around in them, not to mention I was wearing shorts and didn’t want to get all scratched up. We just took the DNF after looking for a little while. We did find the second cache, logged it, and called it a day. We went back to the coach to cool down. Although we both like the heat, having spent many years in the desert, it will take a little while to re-acclimate to the heat. Jay and Donna came over to our coach for happy hour and we had a nice time catching up. After they left we had dinner and just relaxed the rest of the night.
With our arrival here in Indio I will close this chapter of the blog and get it published. We will be here for five days, mostly to take care of some doctor appointments for me. On Sunday we move up to Silent Valley Resort, near Banning, where we will be for nearly a month. We will publish again sometime during our stay in Silent Valley. Until the next time, be happy and live life tot he fullest! See Ya!
