Week ending Jan 25, 2018 Tucson to Wellton(Yuma)

Not a lot of excitement this week.  We took it pretty easy after our 2 weeks in Aruba.  Here are a couple of extra pictures from Aruba.

blooming due to the rain?

divi-divi tree

The day after we got back to Pima County Fairgrounds, we stopped at the RV office (which just moved to its new building) to let them know we were back.  They updated us on the GEM&JAM Festival which was starting on Thursday, Jan 25.  Fortunately, we were leaving that day.   However, a few days before, they started doing set-up.  The south end of the fairgrounds was reserved for the event.  On Monday on our walk around the exercise circuit, we saw the beginnings of the set-up.  There must have been 50 little silver tents in rows.   Truck loads  of purple porta-potties were coming in. 

Friday night, it dropped below freezing, so John increased the temperature on the furnace to heat up the underneath of the trailer.  It only ran for a couple of minutes.  Both of our 30 lb propane tanks were empty.    We had forgotten to turn off the furnace and the propane before we left for Aruba.  We put on extra comforters to get through the night.  In the morning we headed into Tucson to pick up a second space heater (two have died in the last few months), and filled up the propane tanks. 

Tuesday, we decided to do a section of the Arizona Trail (which runs from Utah in the north to the Mexican border).   John entered gps co-ordinates from a trail section on the Arizon Topo Map.  He dropped a digit, which put the location about 50 miles east, so that was useless.  Instead, we headed a few miles up Helvetia Road from Hiway 83 to an OHV staging area, which was supposed to be on the AZ Trail.   We couldn't find the trail there either.  Maybe next year.

Wednesday, we did a bit of shopping, and got some cash.  In the evening, we started to hear (and feel) loud bass.  It was coming from the stage they had set up for the Gem&Jam.  Fortunately, they were just testing the setup, so it didn't go on for very long.

Thursday morning, we packed up and headed for Yuma.   At Gila Bend, we stopped for coffee, and phoned an KOFA co-op, an Escapee RV park in Yuma.  They only had dry camping available for at least 5 days.  Our second choice didn't have any space.  Our third try did have space.  They are primarily long term spots, but do have 5 sites (with no sewer) for daily or weekly stays.

We carried on to Arrowwood RV Park in Wellton, about 25 miles east of Yuma.  As we were driving west along I-8, we got a bit concerned.  Close to Wellton, we started seeing a few feedlots, and started smelling them.   However, the smell was gone once we got the the RV park.  It is a nice little park with good facilities.  There is a mini-golf course beside our area complete with balls and putters,

and a small pool with a hot tub.  We checked out the laundry, which has just been updated with equipment using a 'smartcard' instead of coins.  We picked up a card from the office so we can catch up on our laundry.

Week ending Jan 18, 2018 Aruba

Friday we hung around the pool.
At one point we noticed one of the little dogs next door trying to be taller.

Saturday we did a 6 km. walk to the Casabari Rock Formation.

There is a nice garden at the base of the rocks.

There are a couple of routes to the fenced area at the top.  Naturally we took the most complicated route.

There are good views of the area around the rocks.

We had  a drink at the Casabari Cafe which was just opening at 10.

On the way back to the apartment we had to stop at Baskin-Robbins for another milkshake.  While there a couple from near Winnipeg chatted with us.


On Sunday we went to the bird sanctuary.  We could see the viewing platform across the water.  We checked at a hotel concierge who told us the road was  across from the windmill.  From the tower we could see the egrets back towards the hotels.  There were a few black ducks with red spots on their heads.

We returned to the hotel and had some expensive drinks and pastries.  We did get to enjoy some 'wildlife' on the patio.

Monday, we decided to see where the cars and school kids come from up the hill.  The road goes up over the hill and down towards the sea.  The pavement ends after a couple of houses but a packed road goes down the hill to some more houses.  Then we walked past a school and followed a well used path north to the main east-west road.

Tuesday, we caught the bus to Arashi Beach, the northernmost bus stop.

From there we walked around the northwest corner of the island.  There is bit more surf here than the beach area to the south.  Along the coral ledge we saw some pelicans fishing

shell fossils

a few crabs and a dead eel.

The end of our walk along the coast was the rocks on Westpunt. 

From there to the lighthouse where we had a nice lunch at the Terrace Cafe.  Then down the back stairs to Arashi Beach.  We caught the bus back to the hotels on Palm Beach, then walked back to the apartment.  There  we chatted with our neighbor, a young grandmother from Grand Prairie.

On Thursday we fly to Newark.  Friday morning we fly to Phoenix where we pick up our truck and head back to the trailer in Tucson.

Week ending Jan 11,2018 Aruba

On Friday, after cleaning up the trailer, we headed into Phoenix to Preflight parking about 4:30.  Everything went smoothly, even got upgraded to economy plus (5 inches of extra legroom) on the Phoenix to Chicago leg when we did our boarding passes about 5 hours ahead of boarding.   we headed for better restaurant options in terminal 3. There a volunteer got into a discussion about curling, which he had actually done. Then he told us the restaurant s on terminal 4 were the only ones before security.  After having a BBQ brisket and a creative salad, we sailed through security.  After arriving in Chicago about 6 AM, we got a couple of McMuffins, then boarded the flight to Aruba.  We were in economy but there was no one in the window seat. Great!

The process of getting through passport control in Aruba had a hiccup.  It wouldn't read  Joan's passport.  The attendant had her try the next machine while John successfully used the one that didn't like her.  Joan's passport worked on the second machine.  Apparently this is not unusual with Canadian passports.  We got cab driven by a nice young lady who gave us some tips on local driving rules in case we rent a car.  No turns on red lights, rules for roundabouts, and license plates for rental cars start with V, so expect the unusual .

The apartment is really nice.  The cleaner was just leaving when we arrived but she showed us where the lockbox was so we could get the keys for unit K (1 of 7).  We met Joanne the manager's Dad.  He helped us out with  a few things, including the location of a nearby store.  The DoIt Center had most of the basics we needed. 

We got to sleep about 7 and slept until 5.

Sunday morning after eating oatmeal, we were still hungry so we checked out restaurants in the area.  We saw Diana's Pancake Place.  Only about 3 km away in the Palm Beach hotel area.  By the time we got there we were a bit warm.  There was a short lineup which we were able to skip by volunteering to sit at the bar.  A couple of iced coffees refreshed us quickly.  We enjoyed an apple cinnamon  and a pineapple bacon pancake.  From there we went across through a hotel to the beach, took off our shoes and walked south along the beach.  Beautiful water, sand and lots of people enjoying the sun.

 After walking past quite a few hotels we stopped at a concierge to get a map to figure out where to start heading back to the apartment.  We came out on the main road at Super Food on Bubali Road.  We picked up a few things we missed yesterday.    With a couple of bags we headed for what John thought was the next crossroad to the apartment.  After walking along it for about 3 km we got to the CIBC First Caribbean Bank.  Next to it was a Baskin Robbins / Dunkin Donuts.  We had a couple of milkshakes and confirmed we needed to head north a bit.  This turned out to be back to Bubali Road by the DiIt Center, so we had gone about 15 minutes too far south.  People were surprised we were walking.  One even stopped to offer us a ride.

After our long walk on Sunday, we spent Monday hanging around the apartment enjoying the sun and the pool.

Pool area

Troupial

Tuesday we headed back to the hotel strip along the beach.  Our first stop was the windmill.  Then we checked with Avis how much a 3 day car rental would be.   From there we walked to the Palm Beach Plaza Mall.  Not much was open at 10:00.  We started to look for iced coffee.  We didn't see anything at the Holiday Inn except some people with Dunkin Donuts iced coffee.  Before we headed there Joan bought a beach cover-up.  On the way for coffee we came upon Dushi (sweetheart in the native dialect) Bagels and Burgers.  A better class of place to relax for a few minutes and enjoy a cold coffee.

In the afternoon, we booked the 'ultimate island tour' for Thursday.   They only pick up at hotels, so will pick us up at 7:45 at the Caribbean Palms about a 20 minute walk from here.

Wednesday we walked to the hotel to time it and make sure we could find it.  Then we went for more groceries, and back to apartment to take advantage of the pool.

We set the phone to wake us up at 6 am on Thursday to make sure we had plenty of time to catch our tour.  They picked us up and took us to the ABC-Tours office.  There we signed waivers and made our selections for lunch.  Then they loaded us into 3 trucks.

Each one had seating along the sides in the back for 8 people.  Since they only had 2 staff to drive, they found a couple of volunteers to drive the other  truck.  We were lucky to be in truck with the volunteer driver since there were only 5  of us in the back.  The other 3 were from Windsor.

Aruba is 19 miles long north to south and 6 miles across.  The tour goes from the north tip to the south end in 9 hours.
Our first stop was the California Lighthouse, named for a ship that wrecked near it.

Then we stopped at the Alto Vista church, built by the Spanish.

Then we left paved roads behind on our way to the Natural Bridge.  A lot of the volcanic base of the island is covered by coral structures.  This bridge is the second largest of 8. The largest, which was many times larger collapsed exactly one year after huge waves from a passing hurricane pounded it.

Then we stopped at the ruins of the Bushiribana Gold Mill. It was built in 1872 to crush quartz to free the veins of gold.  The gold was then extracted using mercury.   It wasn't until the 1890's that the use of cyanide made the process profitable.  The official report was that 300 pounds of gold where taken, but it is thought that it may have produced twice as much.

From there we went back to tour offices to enjoy our lunches on their patio.

After the break we headed back to the west side of the island to Arikok NP.  The tour leader told our driver to keep the truck in first gear due to the grades and roughness of the road.  We headed to the Natural Pool.  We parked and walked down to the pool.  It is sheltered from the surf created by the Trade Winds that always blow from the northeast here.  There are can be strong waves if the surf is high. Today it was just on the edge of being safe, so only a few people went in.

From there we headed to Quadrirki Cave.  It is a very nice limestone cave.  There are 5 ' rooms' in the cave.  Only the first two are open to the public to protect the bats.  We did see a bat fly through.   The guide told us a story about an native girl who would meet a boy from another tribe, which was taboo.  The tribe blocked them in the cave.

Our next stop was a beach just south of the park.  It had a steep beach, and lots of surf.


Our last stop was Baby Beach.  We spent an hour here and did some swimming.

Then we raced back to the cruise ships since the passengers on the tour had to be back by 5:30.  We were slowed down a while by heavy traffic in Oranjestad.   We were surprised that they would pick a full day tour.  We were a few minutes late, but hopefully their gangplanks were still open. We then headed back to the tour office transferred to a bus to be taken back to our pick-up points. Luckily they dropped us off at our corner, saving us a 1 mi!e walk to the apartment.

Week ending Jan 04, 2018 Tucson Tubac and Tumacacori

Friday, we went to the Loma Alta trailhead in Suguaro NP.

We started out on the Ridge View trail which climbs slowly  .8 mi toward Tanque Ridge, which we had done last week.  Apparently we should have gone about .3 mi past the end of trail sign to get to the flat rocks.

From Ridgeview Trail

 When we returned from Ridge View we headed up Hope Camp Trail, which connects to a section of the Arizona Trail, which runs north and south through Arizona.   We were passed by 3 people on horses.  About .7mi further on, we came to the  junction with North Coyote Wash Trail.

From there the sign said it was .5 mi further to the Ruiz Corner, or south 1.5 mi to Ruiz wash.  We figured that was a good distance to do the loop until we went about  a mile south and realized that the 1.5 miles wasn't back to the Hope Camp Trail, but was to a junction further south, so would be about an extra 1.5 miles or so than we expected.  At this time were only about 300 yards from the road we had come in on, so it would be shorter to head to the road.  We got stabbed by a few thorns heading across.  When we got to the road, the barbed wire fence was too high to cross.   We had to carry on parallel to the road for about .3 mi before we got to the trailhead where we could cross the fence.

We decided to stop at the DQ we had passed coming to the trailhead.   It was closed until 2:00 pm to install some new equipment, which another half hour.   So, back to the trailer instead.
 
Sunday we walked the 4 mile road loop around the outside of the fairgrounds.  There are a lot of motor sport parks along this route.   There is a warning in the campground rules not to complain about the noise of events. 

MC Motorsports Park
Tucson Speedway

Musselman Honda Circuit
Tucson Kart Speedway
Southern Arizona Modelers radio controlled Flying Club

 Modellers at play

Tucson Dragway

Monday, New Years Day, we went to the  Desert Diamond Casino with Helen, Rupert and Keri.  There was a bit of a mix-up, as there are two locations with this name.   We each wound up at different ones, one about 6 miles north of the intersection of Nogales Highway and Pima Mine Road, the other west of the intersection. Thanks to cell phone communication and help from the Buffet staff, we found we had gone to the wrong location, and got directions to the one where Rupert and crew were waiting for us.   Very nice buffet.   

Tuesday morning we booked our seats for our flights to Aruba.

On our way to Tubac Community Library , we were able to get a picture of a crested saguaro that Helen had told us about.  These are few and far between.

Crested Saguaro

 later with the sun from the west

At the library we were able to use one of their computers to print the confirmation for our flights, even though the librarian was in a meeting. 

Then we went to the Tubac Presidio, the first Spanish fort in Arizona.  We watched an informative 8 minute video narrated by Will Rogers Jr who owned a ranch near Tubac later in life.   We found out a few interesting details we didn't know.   Tubac was the first European settlement in Arizona.  Juan Bautista de Anza https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Bautista_de_Anza  made a trek from here to California in 1774, founding San Francisco on his second trip in 1776.  This was in response to Russian expansion down the west coast.  
The schoolhouse on the property was very interesting.  They had blackboards with several different things on them, several boards covering how many lashes a child (boy?) would get for various offences.

 There is also a collection of maps of Arizona at different points in time.  There is on of North America in 1836 before Texas independence showing 'British Territories', the USA which included British Columbia as far north as the Queen Charlottes, Mexico which included California, part of Oregon, Utah, the Republic of Texas which included  parts of New Mexico and Colorado, Alaska owned by Russia, and the Yucatan Peninsula separate from Mexico.  
They had an area with historic working tools including an arrastra for grinding.

Arrestra

The ocotillo fences would have worked better than barbed wire, but would have been a lot more work, particularly tough on the hands, to build.

Kitchen and thorny Ocotillo fence

In Ottero Hall, there is a gallery of beautiful oil paintings 'Cavalcade of History' by Bill Ahrendt that are beautiful representations of local history, some from Tubac and area, others from the rest of Arizona. We bought a pamphlet with the pictures and descriptions.  Check out his website  www.williamahrendt.com.

From Tubac, we went a few miles south to Tumacacori, which was the site of a church that was part of a chain of missions established by Father Kino to work with the peaceful Pima Indians who had a village there.

Tumacacori garden

Tumacacori Church

Wednesday, we did laundry, cleaned up the trailer and packed a couple of back packs in preparation for going to Aruba on Thursday. 
We got a text to that our flight might be cancelled due to severe weather on the east coast (it went through Newark NJ, which we think is  the long way around, but that's airline routes).  After supper, we saw that it was cancelled, so we called United.  After waiting for an agent for a couple of hours we decided we would hang up at 9:00.  About 8:50 (2h 42 min of waiting), we got through.  We were able to change our flight to leave one day later (we're sure the agent appreciated our co-operation on that).  This flight goes through Chicago instead of Newark.


Thursday, we phoned Joanne at our accommodations to let her know we would not be arriving until Saturday.  She sent us back an e-mail with instructions on how to get in if she doesn't happen to be there when we arrive.

We will attempt to post the blog from Aruba next week from Joan's tablet.  Hopefully we will be able to add photos.