Apache Junction (Day 3)

Today is Sunday and we went to church this morning.  It was quite crowded, and, at the beginning of the service, the pastor mentioned that he knew that some people would be leaving this week to return to their homes up north.  So he asked just how many people were leaving.  Out of about 300 people, 75 raised their hands!  It gave us an idea of just how many snowbirds come down here for the winter months!

After lunch we drove over to Bob and Maureen Pivec's home.  (Bob is the brother of Steve, who is married to Judy's sister, Pam).  They used to live in Minneapolis but retired and moved here about 18 months ago.  Jim and Meg Pivec (from Washington) were also here visiting.  We got a tour of the community on their golf cart which was very impressive. 

It was a great afternoon with good food (Bob's chicken wings, and Maureen's salad) and fried rice and bread.  Later we had dessert out on the patio.

We made plans to visit Jim and Meg in Washington sometime in early May as we continue to make our way north to Alaska.

Apache Junction (Day 2)

Today is Saturday and we drove about 15 minutes east of our CG to a place called 'Goldfield Ghost Town.' 

Back in the 1890's gold was found here and the town flourished to about 5,000 people, but when the vein faulted, it died a slow painful death. 

We did witness an old west gunfight right on main street which was fun to watch. 

The saloon gals actually won this fight!!

Took a train ride around the town and learned about everything that went on back in those days.

Later, we drove over to Denise and Joe's house for an delicious meal of salad, white chili, and beer. Denise is the daughter of Russ and Elvira Diefenback who we knew back in the 80's when we lived in NJ.  Here are a few pictures:

We had a great time getting to know Joe (they were just married last November) and seeing their home and playing with their dogs.

4th Stop - Apache Junction (Phoenix) AZ

The trip from Deming to Apache Junction was really nice.  After an hour on I-10, we got off the freeway at Lordsburg, NM and drove NW on SH-70.  It was pretty boring for awhile, but then we came to:

Shortly after that we took this picture for Gehrig and Emma!

We then got into several mountain ranges (according to Wikipedia, there are 194 mountain ranges in AZ)!!  And that's exactly how it felt driving - we would leave one and then go into another - and each one seemed to have its own character.

We made it to Apache Junction, found our GC, and got settled in.

As you can see, we are actually between two mobile homes.  This CG has about 160 sites for campers plus all the mobile homes. 
The bank, Walmart, and a Chinese buffet are all close by so life is good.
Tomorrow we will do some sightseeing and visit with Joe and Denise (We knew Denise and her parents, Russ and Elvira Diefenbach and their son, John, during the 6 years we lived in NJ).

3rd Stop - Deming, NM

We left Carlsbad on Thursday and drove to Deming, NM for the night.  The trip was better as the wind was not as strong.  We did pass through the White Sands Missile Grounds and drove by an enormous amount of cameras and other security devices along the side of the road.  I guess they were scanning your vehicle for who knows what?  Then about an hour later we made it to Las Cruces and hooked up with I-10 coming out of El Paso.  At that point all vehicles were directed off the road where you had to go thru a border patrol security checkpoint.  They also had all the security devices in place.  This time we figured that they were looking for illegals.  Anyway, we didn't have any, so they let us through!!
We made it to Deming and did not unhook the trailer since we were only staying the night.  The CG had an ice cream social that night - met some interesting people there.

2nd Stop - Carlsbad, NM

Well, we made it to Carlsbad yesterday.  The trip was about 300+ miles and most of it was in direct or cross winds that were 30+ MPH.  Not a good day driving-wise, but we made it.  Alot of the time we had sagebrush or dirt/dust drifting accross the road.

Most everyone knows that TX is a big producer of:

and:

but did you know that they also produce:

I guess we learn something every day!

We found our CG and settled in.  I got the DISH out and started setting it up, and, low and behold, I got it to work.  However, since we are traveling, we have to call DISH each time we stop so we can get the settings that we need (azimuth, elevation, and skew), and, if we want local channels, we have to tell them where we are.  Fortunately, there is a special 1-800 # for RV'ers like us.

Today we went to the Caverns and took the Big Room self-guided tour.  It took about 11/2 hours and we walked about 1.25 miles.  Very impressive.  Here are a few pictures:

The elevator takes you down 750 ft (about the height of the Empire State Building); it takes about 1 minute.  Once down there, you can take a number of tours, but we took the Big Room tour.

It was quite dark in there so most of the pictures that we took were too dark to see anything clearly.  We saw some people going down into a hole to do some cave exploring.  They were wearing headlamps, gloves, kneepads, etc.  Not sure if this was the one, but one of the tours advertises that: "The route is slippery, muddy, and may require and ascent of a 15 ft slope using a knotted rope."  Another said:  "You will be required to crawl long distances, squeeze through tight crevices and up slippery passages."  We thought about doing one of them for maybe a 'nano-second!!'

Tomorrow we are off the Deming, NM for a stopover before driving in to the Phoenix area on Friday where we will stay the weekend.

Stay tuned...

1st Stop - Post, TX

WHERE??

Post, TX is about 40 miles south of Lubbock in West TX. 

We left Melissa about 9 AM, stopped at Camping World in Denton for some supplies and then west on I-20 until Sweetwater, TX (where they have the rattlesnake roundup every year) and then north on TX 84.  For about 5 miles there were wind turbines on both sides of the road for as far as you can see - quite impressive.

We made it to our CG about 4PM and got setup - except for the DISH which did NOT get setup.   Called them and they gave some instructions but they didn't work either. We can get movies that we previously recorded, so all's good for tonight.

Tomorrow we go to Carlsbad, NM for a couple of days.  Not sure if we will take the cavern tours yet but will check them out.
So much for now...

Only a few more days....

Well, here is a tentative itinerary for our trip:

	Trip to Alaska - Itinerary
3/21/2011	Leave Melissa
3/21/2011	Post, TX
3/22/2011	Carlsbad NM
3/24/2011	Las Cruses, NM
3/26/2011	Phoenix, Az
3/29/2011	Palm Springs, CA
4/1/2011	Huntington Beach, CA
4/5/2011	Bakersfield, CA
4/10/2011	San Jose, CA
4/14/2011	San Francisco, CA
4/19/2011	Oregon
4/30/2011	Washington
5/10/2011	Vancouver, BC
5/11/2011	British Columbia
5/22/2011	Yukon Territory
6/1/2011	Alaska
9/1/2011	Yukon Territory
9/10/2011	British Columbia
9/26/2011	Montana
10/8/2011	North Dakota
10/18/2011	Minnesota
11/4/2011	TX

We spent this past (long) weekend in Nashville with Belinda, Bryan, and Bailey.  Judy and I drove over in Julie's van with Gehrig and Emma.  We left on Thursday morning and got there around 4 PM.  Had a great time.  Went bowling, watched Avatar (in 3D - awesome!!), watched most of the NCAA tournament games, celebrated Emma's 10th birthday, etc.
We left early Monday morning and got back to TX in the afternoon in time to celebrate Emma's birthday again!
This week we have been busy getting ready to get on the road.  A school friend of mine, Marlene Smallfield, and her husband, Larry, visited with us on Tuesday thru Friday.  They were on their way back from the RGV to MN.  We had a great time with them and hope to meet up with them next winter in the RGV.
So much for now...will write more once we get on the road.

North to Alaska

Well, I think the time has actually come where we can say that we are going to Alaska!!!!!

Click on the address below and it will give you the link to go to;  then click on the play button on the left to get the full affect:

http://www.we7.com/song/Johnny-Horton/North-To-Alaska?m=0

Our plans are taking shape and we are leaving Melissa, TX on March 21st and are planning to be in Alaska by June 1st.  We hope to spend the summer there and start our trek back to the lower 48 by the end of August.  If all goes as planned, we will be back in TX around November 1st.

Our itinerary (mapped out) is as follows: (if you click on it a couple of times, it will get larger - and easier to read!)

I'll post a more complete itinerary in the next few days.

Stay tuned...