Quail Ridge to Surprise, AZ and Bayfield Bunch visit

Thursday, Nov. 18 was our last day at Quail Ridge RV Resort at Huachuca City (gosh I love saying Huachuca!) so we didn’t get into anything other than sitting around in between packing things away.

We had no reason to rush in the morning but we decided to put everything away with the exception of the Weber Q and the folding table it sits on.

One sad thing about this day was that we made some really nice friendships with our neighbors, Deb and Dj and it is hard to say goodbye. At least, we made promises to keep in touch by texting etc. Sometimes, these promises are made and it doesn’t happen for one reason or another. This time, I believe it will.

Deb makes jewelry and before we left she brought me over a lovely choker-type necklace. Oh, my goodness, that was totally unexpected! She is a dear sweet lady.

Learning of her talent, Bill dug out a necklace that we bought at Crazy Horse, S.D. in 2011 and could only wear it a few times before the wire broke. Upon showing Deb she said she could fix it and indeed within the hour had it restrung with stronger wire and some added beads. It is now something he will wear proudly with double meaning! Of course, she wouldn’t take anything for her work so we gave her a small momentum from a collection I have of ceramic Avon dolls.

I'll have to post pictures of us wearing our necklaces at a later date.

We have not had any luck purchasing more gb online to add to our Verizon Jetpack. It seems we can only add to the pack by purchasing the card at a store and activating it online. Geesh! Is this typical of any other Canadians who use Verizon for Wi-Fi? Anyway, because of that Bill had to take a quick drive into Huachuca City to the Dollar General before we got on the road. It always works out in the end, but it would’ve been nice to buy it online.

With no snow to deal with, they take the time
to make their overpasses beautiful

So, we pulled out Friday morning by 10 am under sunny skies and 65F. Our destination was Surprise, AZ to pit stop at a Walmart for the night before forging onward. By 1:30 pm we were driving through Phoenix, by means of the I-10 & I-60 bypass. Surprisingly, it was pretty easy peasy.

Arriving at Surprise was not quite as easy, with construction and detours to the W. Bell Road we were looking for.

Another nicely painted overpass

entering Surprise, Az

Once we found it and turned into the Walmart, we discovered that a Friday afternoon was not a good time to try and find a spot. The lot was congested making it difficult at the best of times to maneuver around, let alone with a 39’ rv behind your truck! Obviously, there was no room to be had for an over-nighter.

Bill, of course, took it slow and didn’t let it fluff him too badly. Clemson, on the other hand, was in the back seat getting ‘very fluffed’. We found the nearest exit and moved on down the road to a Sam’s Club with a totally different experience. 

Found a spot easily with many, many spots to spare and reported to their staff that we were parked in their lot. It was a treat to see a Classic Car Cruise Night taking place just 50’ away. After frying up our sausages inside with a salad, we wandered over for a look at the cars. Bill details a few in his post of yesterday at On Our Way.  We crashed early so we could get up and get on our way early in the morning, we had something special to do!

Saturday morning, we were up and out on the road towards Congress, AZ by 8:30. Anyone who reads the same blogs we do will know where we were headed but in case you don’t, I’ll fill you in. We were on our way to meet Al and Kelly (and Pheebs, of course!) of  The Bayfield Bunch read Al’s blog for a few years now and were very excited to finally meet them. How many times in our life together had we driven through Bayfield, On to visit our parents in Goderich?

Driving through Wickenburg, we went through 3 roundabouts. I caught one of the statues as we went around.

Why does this town remind me of witches?

As planned, we met Al at the designated lot across from the Congress Fire Department around 10.

Al waiting for us, our mini taxi to their place

It was ‘iffy’ whether or not our rig would go in and out of their place easily so Al drove Bill, Clemson and I to their lovely home down Ghost Town Rd.

Beautiful fire truck, nice and close 

Such a quaint Arizona home they have and Kelly proudly took us on a tour. As you can see, Pheebs, was only too happy to do her part, displaying a bedroom.

We had a great visit for a couple of hours on their porch before we decided we needed to get on the road to our next destination at Alamo Lake State Park, 2 ½ hours down the highway.

Lovely private backyard

"And this is one of the beds I can sleep on"

Al took us back to our rig and we opened it up and made a sandwich to tide us over until dinner. Thank you, Al and Kelly for such a wonderful visit!

We arrived at Wenden and turned onto the two-lane road back to A.L.S.P. 

Nope, not gravel, Al, but quite narrow and winding in spots. 38 miles later we turned into the gate and got settled at Site B1. I think we’re going to like it here for 3 nights.

So, that brings us up to date after 3 good days. It is so hard for us to believe we have been on the road 2 days’ shy of 4 weeks. Life is good!

Here we are set up on Site B-1

Thank you for reading, all comments are welcome!

New Friends and Bisbee Visit

Tuesday, Wednesday, Nov. 15, 16^th were a couple more good days. I did what I do best on Tuesday, while Bill puttered around. I relaxed, visited and read. I was able to find a couple of books at the clubhouse that looked much more appealing than the last disappointment. Sometimes you can’t tell what you’re gonna’ get.

Western sky with the moon at sunrise

Eastern sky, so beautiful waiting for the sun

This book is quite interesting “The Girl Guide to Homelessness” by Brianna Karp. It grabbed me in the first paragraph sentence “The Walmart lot was cold in the night air, even for southern California” (my daughter taught me this way to choose books) and I’m halfway through this unique story. She is homeless, due to life’s circumstances, through no fault of her own, and living in a 30’ travel trailer which she inherited along with an older Dodge pick-up.

Aside from that, a lazy-type day. Our neighbours beside us, DJ and Deb, invited us to join them for a bbq and campfire at 4 pm. A nice little gathering with 4 of us plus another couple, Jesse and Marita. Bring your own meat and we would share a contribution of side dishes. I made up a potato salad in the afternoon and added that to the beans, chili and chips they offered up. Deb made a pumpkin pie so I supplied whipped cream to top it off. It was delicious!

Jesse, Marita, Bill, DJ, Deb

Better than that was the company. We all clicked and shared stories around the fire while enjoying the meal. You learn a lot about people that you otherwise could only surmise about and we are certainly open to that with this or any other lifestyle. It was our first campfire since leaving home on Oct. 24 so we thoroughly soaked in the warmth.

Our site #35 from 30' up

Ground zero, we were all waiting for the drone to rise

Bill brought out his drone to the awe of DJ and Jesse, now it is on DJ’s Christmas wish list. J  Too fun! What a delightful group of friends they are and since they are full-timers, living here in Quail Ridge we are sure we’ll see them another time. 

We packed it in by 9 pm after seeing the beautiful new moon and gorgeous night sky. Unfortunately, I didn't get a nice picture of the moon, so you'll have to visit The Bayfield Bunch  to see Al's captures. They're beautiful.

Say cheese!

Wednesday, we took our time getting dressed and fed and headed in the Sierra Vista

direction down I-90 to I-80 to visit the recommended Bisbee.

 A special note for my daughter, Bridgette, is that the following movies (among some not mentioned) were filmed in Bisbee: Young Guns 2, Desperation by Stephen King and Cannonball Run II. She’s quite the movie buff even though the last one she may not be familiar with.

By the way, the stories are true; the town is a quaint old 1900’s village. Even though there have been some remodels, each one retained the original appearance as much as possible. It was yet another gorgeous drive, the scenic views continue to inspire me.

Tunnel, lights on please

Mule Pass Tunnel 1958

"B" is for Bisbee

Homes of Bisbee, reminds me of pictures of Italy

Main Street

I popped into a couple of shops but since I was not in shopping mode, didn’t bore Bill with any more in-store visits. We walked the boardwalk down and back and went in to the Queens Mine site but our timing was off and we’d just missed a tour time. There will be other days/years/times when we can come back and take advantage. 

For my big sister

Clock Tower, est. 1904, chimed at noon

Banned Books display

Interesting display in the library
Toni Morrison? Dr. Seuss?

Speaking of books, here is a library I could truly love
with an outside sitting area looking over Main Street

Stairway to heaven?

We stopped into the Walmart and Lowe’s once more in Sierra Vista for some groceries and brackets before grabbing a bite to eat at Chili’s. Almost going on our favourite place to eat list, if we had one. Phannie and Mae, we’ll leave that up to you, you are doing an awesome job! Our timing is off these days but again, mid-afternoon lunch meant a very meagre dinner, if any.

The cloudy day went quickly and before we knew it, the darkness had closed in upon us. We watched our recorded shows, Murdoch Mysteries, NCIS, NCIS New Orleans and Bull and I retired to bed at 9, quite simply exhausted.

When the sun finally peeped over the horizon, I was there to
witness it.

It was a great day; the town was fun and I enjoyed the many photo ops down the Main Street and the scenic views around us. I don’t think you could pay me enough to live in some those hilltop homes, especially the ones with steep steps leading to their door.

I hope you enjoyed your day as well and thank you for reading along. Please feel free to let me know you are tagging along.