Moving into a New Time Zone

Wednesday, April 12, 2023

We are at Rusty's RV Ranch in Rodeo, NM. We have enjoyed three nights in this quiet place and tomorrow, Thursday morning, we will be moving again. We have stayed here in the past and each time have taken a ride into the Chiricahua Mountains that we can see in the distance. It is a lovely ride that takes you up through the mountains and over to the Chiricahua National Monument. We have enjoyed this ride in the spring and fall both times beautiful. 

The sun setting in the distance. It will soon slip behind the
Chiricahua Mountains.

There are three goats, a rooster and a chicken across the way.

After taking their picture I turned and took a picture of our site.
We have a firepit, picnic table and a nice clay tile patio.

Looking East as the sun set.

Tuesday, April 11, 2023

We could see the clouds coming over the mountains to the southwest late in the afternoon. Dark and ominous they brought wind and rain.

Still windy we did get some pretty color in the clouds 
after the sun slipped behind the mountains.

It rained on and off for several hours and the wind lasted well after dark. Though it was quiet when we woke up Wednesday morning.

How we got here:

Monday, April 10, 2023 ( The Ride to Our New Spot)

We did not pull out of Quail Ridge RV Resort until almost 11 o'clock this morning. The good news we only have about 120 miles to our next destination. The bad news we will lose an hour today. After leaving Quail Ridge we made a quick stop at Walmart to pick up a few extra groceries. This is going to be an interesting trek back to Michigan for us without a 

"toad" we can rely on. I know we will be just fine and figure it out as we go; what we will miss is the freedom to take side trips as we travel along. The decision has been made to tow the Jeep home and take care of it there so we will not be looking back and second guessing the decision. I am not sure what "Plan" we are on now but luckily there 26 letters in the alphabet...lol

As we approached Ft. Huachuca it looked like they were
bringing the Tethered Aerostat Radar System down.

Huachuca Mountains still have some snow on them.
We are now on AZ-92.

I believe these are the Mule Mountains in the distance.

We are driving along the southern edge of Bisbee.

Still passing by the outskirts of Bisbee, AZ

Now on AZ-80, this highway will take us all the 
way to today's destination.

Cattle crazing on a sea of green.

Passing by Cochise College I spotted this semi.

We have entered Douglas, AZ and the "D" Hill is in the distance. 

Heading north on AZ-80.

I spotted a lot of these along the side of the highway today
and I have not idea what they are but they are pretty.

I am pretty sure we are now seeing the Chiricahua Mountains
in the distance.

These would be the Peloncillo Mountains off to our right.

Is that a face peeking over the hills.

We are also on Historic US-80

The Chiricahua Mountains.

A motorcycle rider pulled in just as we were going by the 
Geronimo Surrenders Monument.

A makeshift Border Patrol Inspection Station.

Then we crossed into New Mexico and lost an hour.
We are now on Mountain Daylight Time. 

Not long after the above sigh we arrived at Rusty's RV Ranch.

This will be home for three nights.

Thursday, April 6th through Sunday, April 9th, 2023

Looking back at the time we spent at Quail Ridge RV Resort there are no complaints. It is a nice stop and we have always enjoy our time here.  We had originally planned 8 nights which ended up expanding to 16 for the reasons I have mentioned in previous post. 

We did get the driver's side airbag replaced on Friday, April 7th, so that was very good news. As I mentioned in a previous post there was a problem securing one from Freightliner but Jonathan Smith the young man who did the work for us was able to find one. He and another young man, who works for him, arrived Friday morning to put it in but had an issue with one of their tools and had to go back to his shop in Benson to secure a new one. Even with this unexpected delay in about three hours we had a new working airbag. (Side note:  A few years ago we had a similar problem and ended up at a shop in Tucson where we had to have both front airbags replaced. We had to bring our motorhome there two mornings through Tucson traffic and it took two long days to replace the two airbags. We now question what they were doing all that time.) Back to the present, the work we had done was by Jonathan Smith his shop is Pitstop Auto and Mobile Repair in Benson, AZ. The really nice part was he came to us. If you are ever in this area and need work done we would highly recommend him. Plus, the price especially knowing what we paid last time was very reasonable. 

The sun setting on what was a good day. Our airbag is in and
Patsy and Bill got their truck back. Plus, we spent a wonderful
last Happy Hour with them for this Adventure.

This was our home at Quail Ridge RV Resort.

As I was writing this I realized I have no idea what we did on Thursday, April 6th or Saturday April 8th. I am going to guess they were both good days.

Easter Sunday, April 9, 2023

We woke up to beautiful blue skies on this Beautiful Easter Sunday. 

Mass was at 9 o'clock at this lovely little Mission Church just
down the road from where we are staying. We could see a
Deacon on the left and a Priest on the right
 waiting to start Mass as we walked up.

The altar area was filled with beautiful flowers.

After Mass we went back home had breakfast and we talked with our children and grandchildren. We spent part of the day packing up and getting ready to leave in the morning. 

Tom replanted the tiny Saguaros we found at a
shop in Tombstone. At the rate they grow this
 little pot will be there home for a few years. 
 

This was a good day!  

We are glad you stopped by!

If you have time to leave a comment we would enjoy hearing from you.

In Sayre, Oklahoma Where We Waited Out the Wind

Tuesday, April 7, 2021

We are presently at the Sayre City Park. The wind started Sunday later in the afternoon and we stopped at a Safety Rest Area just east of Amarillo, Texas. That wind continued through the night and into the morning. Looking at the weather we felt our best choice was to find a place to wait it out. We have stopped at this park in the past and knew it was not to far down the road.  So we slowly headed there in the morning luckily the wind was mostly behind us. After about two hours we pulled into this park. There are several long pull through sites with water and electric plus a dump station here and for $12 it is an excellent overnight stop or even for a couple of nights. It is a very nice city park with a playground for kids and pool, which is not open yet. They have a picnic area, a golf course, a pond where Tom saw several people fishing, and a walking trail.   As I sit here writing this tonight the wind has finally stopped and it is really quiet. It looks like tomorrow will be a good travel day so we will be off in the morning. 

Update: This morning April 8th it is a beautiful calm day and we are getting ready to pull out.

Below is another catch up post.

Quail Ridge, March 22, 2021 through the Morning of March 31, 2021 

We arrived at the Quail Ridge RV Park around noon on Monday, March 21st. After we pulled into our site I headed over to Sierra Vista to pick up a curbside order I had placed at Walmart a couple of days before. While I was gone friends, Elva and Jerry, arrived and pulled into a site right across the road from us. After getting our groceries put away we put our chairs out behind the Stinger "B" and they walked over with their chairs. It was nice sitting in the sun spending time catching up and just chatting. Basically we had a very nice Happy Hour. 

After calling several tire places and not being able to locate the tires he wanted for the Jeep Tom ended up ordering them online through Walmart. The closest Walmart to where we were headed that could put them on the Jeep was in Douglas, AZ. So on Tuesday, March 23rd ,we headed there to have them put on. I will only say about the experience the Jeep does have the new tires Tom wanted on it and we had a nice ride.    (I typed March 23rd and a flood of feelings hit me. It would have been my Mom's 93rd Birthday. This is the 21st Birthday she has celebrated in heaven. Somedays it seems like forever since she has been gone and other days it feels like just yesterday we were talking on the phone.) 

Coming out of Sierra Vista on AZ-90 we can see the line of

Cottonwoods along the San Pedro River in the distance.

Coming through the Mule Pass Tunnel then passing 

Bisbee and the Lavender Pit Mine.

The ride to Douglas, AZ on AZ-80 continues.

As we headed back to Quail Ridge and through 

the Mule Pass Tunnel I was able to capture 

the light at the end of the tunnel.

One of my favorite views heading North 

on AZ-80 after leaving Bisbee.

Looking over at the clouds as we head into Sierra Vista.

Elva and Jerry in front of their beautiful home.

Time seems to fly by when we are in the Southwest and it looked like we were not going to have the opportunity to spend time with this couple this year. Tom and I had been going back and forth about stopping at Quail Ridge again since we had been there in December. Tom wanted to get the motorhome washed and waxed and the Jeep needed a thorough cleaning and for a small fee this park does allow motorhome washing. Then I heard they were going to be at Quail Ridge so we made a call and were pleasantly surprised to get a spot in the park. So in the end we got to go out to lunch at Big Nose Kate's with Elva and Jerry plus spend a couple of Happy Hours chatting away. It was so nice to have this time together looking forward to next time. Plus, the Stinger "B" did get her bath.

 

Another couple we did not expect to see this year,

Michelle and Doug. We found out through Facebook they were

 just a few miles away at an RV Park outside of Tombstone.

After some checking back and forth we drove over on 

Sunday for  a short visit. They were there with another

 couple so we were glad it worked out. 

 Always nice to reconnect with friends. 

There is in Tombstone what is listed as the World's Largest Rose Tree. Tom and I had seen the sign for the Museum in the past. Then Nancy, Kissack Adventures , mentioned in her blog she had a rose blooming from a cutting taken from this Rose Tree. So I was intrigued. We do not have a place to plant one right now but our children both do. Well it turns out I am cheap because my research told me it would cost $5 to get into the museum then $15 for the cutting. I started thinking the cutting could die before we get it planted in Michigan so we did not make that visit. Then I remembered there is a large rose tree behind Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Tombstone.  Probably not as large but it is the one we visited for free. No cuttings here but still worth the ride by.

The Rose Tree behind Sacred Heart Church. There is a small

shrine here and someone was in prayer and we did not want

to interrupt with closer pictures.

We spotted a couple of roses.

Heading back to Sierra Vista we went over the San Pedro.

I took this on Tuesday, March 30th. This is on AZ-90 as you 

are coming out of Huachuca City. The Whetstone Mountains 

are in the distance and the highway looks like it goes on 

forever. It is a great view and the picture does not do it justice.

Wednesday, March 31, 2021 ( The Stinger "B" is headed North and East)

After spending several days more than we planned today under beautiful blue skies we pulled out and started heading north and then east. 

She looks so clean and shiny. 

Watching the Whetstone Mountains on our left they will 

soon be behind us. This is the first time in six years of 

driving down AZ-90 we have seen this Check Point closed.

It is sad and scary to see. I do not believe in getting political

on my blog but there is a crisis down here on the border and

this closure, along with others,  is a sign of how bad it is. 

I spotted this as we were pulling out of the Love's Travel Stop 

in Benson. I have no words they have a mask on the dinosaur.

Merging onto I-10 and into Road Work.

We will see these signs for several miles.

Then there are the boulders hanging onto the mountain side.

We are driving into the Texas Canyon.

There is a rest area here and we stopped to have lunch.

As we were leaving the rest area we spotted this RV.

We admit defeat they win in the color brightness category.

Continuing East.

We see a lot of semis moving our supplies down the road.

Then we leave Arizona behind and cross into New Mexico.

It is dry. We usually see some standing water in here.

This is where we had planned/hoped to stop for the night.

They have casitas you can park by with a picnic table.

The first side was full, the truck/RV parking was full and the

turn for the other side where there were some vacant spots 

we could not turn into because of how the parking was filled.

These two pictures are out of order but needed to be included.

This is how we usually see Semis, passing us on the left.

I have often say, if we pass anyone I take a picture because

it is an event...lol Today was a "red letter" day 

the Stinger "B" passed not one but two Semis. 

The rest area was full so we kept going and saw this sign and

took the exit. We spent the night at the 81 Palms RV Park.

It is located in Deming, New Mexico.

It was easily the most level park we have ever stayed at.

We had full hookups and they are long sites so we did not

need to unhook. Not wanting to pay that extra dollar we

were on our way before the 11 am checkout.  It really is a

very nice park and we had a good night here.

We are glad you stopped by!

If you have time to leave a comment we would enjoy hearing from you.