TUCSON WITH THE BRAKERS

TUCSON, ARIZONA
2009 GEM SHOW

02-03-09

Our good friends and next door neighbors, Hank and Edna Braker, drove out from Bella Vista, AR, to visit us. We met up with them in Tucson, AZ.

Hank and Edna stayed at a hotel right off of I-10. Let’s just say they were not impressed with their room. And it wasn’t the best hotel but one of the only places they could find.


We camped at the Cactus Country RV Resort on Hougton Road. Little did any of us know that one of the largest Gem Shows in the world was being held in Tucson the same weekend we were there. Lucky us!

Well, Edna and I thought we were lucky once we started shopping. I don’t think Ken and Hank thought so. Ha.

02-04-09

The day started with us shopping at one of the Gem Show buildings. Edna bought a beautiful paperweight at a very good price. She knows how to talk with those sellers. I bought some beautiful African beads for beading into some of my bracelets and necklaces.

After we stopped for lunch we had to take Hank and Edna to a Trader Joe’s for a few grocery items. They loved Trader Joe's.

Later, it was back to the hotel for a game of Mexican Train.


SAGUARO NATIONAL PARK WEST
& SABINO CANYON



02-05-09

Hank and Edna picked us up and we drove through Saguaro West National Park.

A saguaro's growth is very slow. By the end of a year the saguaro may measure only 1/4 of an inch. After 15 years, barely a foot tall. At 30 years saguaros begin to flower and produce fruit. By 50 years they can be as tall as 7 feet. Somewhere around 75 years old it may sprout its first branch, or "arm".

It was amazing to see how old some of the these "green giants" where. We started counting the arms but gave up after a short time.










After Saguaro National Park, we went to Sabino Canyon. I think Edna fell in love with every rock she saw there.

We all enjoyed our time together. It just wasn’t long enough.

We had to say goodbye to Hank and Edna because they had family to see the next day in Phoenix. See you guys when we get home.

QUARTZSITE,AZ 2009

PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA

We left Borrego Springs, CA., on Monday,
01-12-09, and headed
up I-10.
Windgenerators were dotting the highway all along our journey
up I-10 to Palm Desert, CA.-Go Green!

Before heading to Q=Quartsite, where we knew we were going to be boondocking or dry camping (not hooked up to water or electricity), we needed groceries and clean clothes. So, we stopped at a laundromat and on to the local Wal-Mart and Sam's to stock-up.

Finally, we made it to Q on 01-12 or 13-09.



Here is a shot from Google Earth. At one point, there were 140 units parked at
Boomerville.

Our location is just on the south side of I-10-represented by the purple box that is drawn on the map.







See the red pointer? That's our New Horizon 5th wheel. We parked up toward the front of the pack with fellow Boomers that we had met up with at Lake Mittry in December.

The hosts and co-hosts for Boomerville 2009 were John and Julie Black and Ken and Sue Pace. Also assisting were Bryan and Susan Lavender. (Susan loved to give Ken a hard time. They had a good time joking with each other every time we got together.)




Here is our good friends from Alberta, Canada:

Brian and Nancy "Hat Lady" Wilde (And Baby)
Nancy always had a big hat with a big flower on it. What a character she was. Lots of fun!



And from Long Beach, CA:

Bruce and Kathy Johnston along w/pets (4 dogs & 2 cats) Note: The pets get the bed above the cab!

Kathy was our chief cook and organizer for our troop. She is a great cook.

Both Bruce and Kathy gave us a lot of good

information on full time RVing and places to see. They have a lot of knowledge to share and they were willing to share some of that with us. Thanks guys.

Some of the other couples that we didn't get photos of but had a great time with are: Doug and JoAnn and of course their dog, Fillmore, Sam and Carolyn Kidd, Dave and Darleen Neer, Tom and Nancy Doyle, who hosted the Lake Mittry Boomerang and Olen and Marilee.


Almost every night we had a community dinner around the campfire at the end of our row of RV'ers. We were all like family. For instance, if someone was making a run into town, they would ask if anyone needed anything and they would pick it up. It was a lot of fun. And a lot of good eating!

We had a blast with everyone here and are looking forward to Q 2010.


We attended the Escapees Ralley on Wednesday 01-14-09, and met up with Carolyn and Sam Kidd.

01-15-17-09:

There was plenty of daily activities planned and a daily happy hour. We just had to check the schedule of activities to see what we wanted to participate in each day.

We mostly just hung out around camp with our gang of new boomer friends and ate and talked and soaked up some sun. Oh, Did I mention we ate?
One evening a DJ played music and we all danced out under the stars until well after midnight.

01-8-09: BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL in BLYTHE, CA

We went with Sam and Carolyn Kidd to the 22nd Annual Blythe Bluegrass Festival for the day. We got to hear several really good bands like: Cedar Hill, Arizona's Burnett Family, Sawmill Road and the Martin Family. But, Rhonda Vincent & The Rage was the main attraction. She was really good and she is a Missouri girl. She stayed around and signed autographs. We got to take a photo of her and her bus.



















After the festival, we returned to Boomerville @ Q.

Our gang had planned a fish dinner night. Carolyn and I stopped and picked up pies for our contribution. It was a great meal with crablegs, salmon, squid, abalone and I'm not sure what other fish was brought. But it was well attended. I lost count of how many people were there.


After the meal, a fire was built and then it was singing around the campfire. Bruce and Kathy's friends, John and Erica, came out from another campground. They ate and visited with us. They were a neat young couple. He was a pilot and she was a professional singer.

01-19-09:

We went to the big vendor tents today with Sam and Carolyn. We spent the whole day looking through the tents. Wow! Lots of stuff to see. Just about anything and everything you could want is here or they can get it for you.

01-20-09:

Inaugural Day-President is sworn in. Tom and Nancy Doyle had a brunch to celebrate the swearing in ceramony of President Obama. They had a television setup outside their rig and everyone brought food, drinks and their chairs. It was a well attended brunch. Very historic.

That evening, our small community of friends got together for our evening meal with everyone contributing something. It was wonderful, as always.

01-21-09:


Doug and Ken volunteered to take the Boomers trash to the landfill this morning.

Ken and I went to Tyson Wells vendor tents to shop and we also went to the big tents, again. Ken bought some LED lights for our 5th wheel. The LED lights will save a lot on our battery draw.


I bought a hat to keep the sun off my nose and the back of my neck. I was starting to feel like a crispy critter. That's not a good thing! I also bought a tye-dyed sweatshirt. It's pretty colorful. You'll see me coming-ha.


We also stopped by a car lot that had "oldies but goodies" cars. This was my pic. Of course its pink!

CALIFORNIA 2009

We left Lake Mittry 01-04-09, with Doug, JoAnn Dubrouillet and their Standard Poodle, Fillmore. And we traveled to Borrego Springs, CA., to meet up with some friends of Doug and JoAnn’s. So we said goodbye to the our Boomer friends but most of them we will see again in Quartsite, AZ.

Well, we arrived in Borrego Springs sometime after lunch and we had no trouble finding the town. Al had given great driving directions to JoAnn.

We stayed on the right side of Highway S22 at milepost #27. It was on private property but has been open for years to anyone that wants to camp here.

Here we are. And it looks like we are just parked out in the middle of nowhere. But, there are other rigs parked in the same area.

The road just to the south of where we were camped was called Rockhouse Road. Ken and I drove down to the very end to see what was down there. This amazing rock stood at the entrance to a sand and gravel company.

We met Doug and JoAnn’s friends, Al and Karen. Al gave us a tour of downtown Borrego Springs, CA. And they had even picked us up some maps and brochures of things to do while in and around Borrego Springs.

Al you gave us a great tour of the town and we all used the maps and brochures. Thank you both for making us feel so welcome.

Doug, JoAnn, Ken and I went into town for dinner later and ate at Albertos which was a Mexican Restaurant which Al suggested. Good suggestion Al.

01-05-09:

JoAnn and I drove into town to the Visitors Center and visited with a neat lady by the name of Rosemary. She has been volunteering for 20+ years at the Visitors Center and still loves working there. She was so neat to visit with.

While we were at the Visitors Center, we picked up additional brochures, maps, and etc. We also watched a film on the Marshal South family that moved to Borrego Springs during the depression. He raised his family on top of a mountain in Blair Valley and they packed everything they needed in on their backs. The history on this family is worth reading. I think he was an actor and writer and she was a poet. I think their children is still alive but they do not live in the area. Anyway, it was a neat story to hear.

One of our stops on the way back to camp, was to the Anza Borrego Desert Natural History Association (ABNHA) where we visited with another nice lady and signed up for a guided hike on Wednesday to see pictographs in Blair Valley.

We were to meet up with a group of fellow hikers at the Blair Valley Nature Center on the east side of town. JoAnn and I signed the guys up but told the nice lady that the guys may not go with us. She understood and said that was fine. They would rather over count than under count. JoAnn and I were excited that we had all gotten on the list.

Later in the afternoon, Ken and I drove thru the Galleta Meadows Estate to see the Sky Art. The art is of vertebrates of the past which inhabited the Anza-Borrego region during the Pliocene-Pleistocene and Miocene eras. This art is located on Borrego Springs Road.

A man by the name of Dennis Avery purchased miles of Borrego Springs property in the 1990’s known as Galleta Meadows and commissioned a Mexican artist, Ricardo Arroyo Breceda to create ‘Sky Art’. Here is some of our pics:

For more information you may visit:
http://www.galletameadows.com/ or http://www.ricardobreceda.com/


From the brochure the artist gives his motivation:

Ricardo Breceda states that a few years ago when the movie “Jurassic Park” came out my passion for dinosaurs began. I began with small sculptures until my daughter motivated me to create a big sculpture that would capture everyone’s attention.

Six months later I finished my first T-Rex and Spinosaraus which both measured about 20 ft. tall by 35 ft. long! Like the ones that fought in the movie.

Once I placed them on the side of the freeway, the traffic stopped bumper to bumper! People, newspapers and TV reporters stopped by wondering what the new sensation was all about.

That motivated me to turn my hobby into a unique, fun business.

For anyone going to Borrego Springs, don’t forget to drive by and see these animals-A must see!


01-06-09 :

We found the hamburger joint in town called Jillburtos. We had lunch and then headed back out to the campsite.

We met Butch Holt, the neighborhood welcome wagon, and his dog Kapeesh. Butch invited us to Happy Hour at his place this evening.

Here is our pic of Happy Hour with our neighbors at Butch's place:

01-07-09:

Doug, JoAnn and I drove to Blair Valley for our hike to see the pictographs. Ken was working and didn’t get to go on the hike. So we met up with 18 other hikers at the kiosk on the east side of S2 at Mile 22.9 approximately 6 miles south of Scissors Crossings. From there we drove about 5 miles back to the trailhead.

The hike was led by volunteers, naturalists Mary Ekelund and Paul Larson of the Anza Borrego Desert Natural History Association (ABNHA).

It was a moderate 3 mile round trip hike thru a beautiful desert valley to a panoramic overlook.

Here's JoAnn enjoing the shade. It was getting warm!

On the hike, I learned the names of a few plants that I hope I can remember when I see them again like the Mormon Tea, Jojoba and Creosote.

I saw the rock art. It looked like a sun and a teepee to me.

There are several holes worn down into the top of this rock. These are called morteros, Indian grinding holes. This is where the Indians would grind their corn and/or grain.

After the hike, we met Ken in town for lunch at Calicos Restaurant for an Egg Pocket and walked around town.

JULIAN, CALIFORNIA & BACK TO BORREGO SPRINGS

01-08-09:

Doug, JoAnn and I went to Julian and shopped. Too bad Ken had to stay at the trailer and work, again! He really missed a fun day of shopping.

Julian is about 25 miles from Borrego Springs and it is up over a winding mountianside. But it is beautiful. We ate lunch and of course we each had to have a piece of the famous pie at Mom’s Apple Pie Place on Main Street. It was great!

For more information on the beautiful town of Julian visit: http://www.julianca.com/ or chamber@julianca.com.

BACK AT BORREGO SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA

01-09-09:

Ken and I attended the Farmer’s Market which was held on Christmas Circle in the center of town. It had lots of local produce and plants.

Ken was interviewed by a local newspaper reporter. He was asked if he had broken any of his New Year’s resolutions, yet. It was funny. He said, No, because he had not made any. Sounds like Ken, Huh?

TO OCEANSIDE, CALIFORNIA & THEN BACK TO BORREGO SPRINGS

01-10-09:

As we traveled S22 up the mountains out of Borrego Springs, on our way over to see my nephew, Joel and his wife, Nadia, in Oceanside, CA., I got to see several bighorn sheep- Borrego Cimarrons on the mountainside. They were amazing creatures to see. Now I know where Borrego Springs get's its name-from the bighorn sheep.

Our nephew, Joel is with the USMC and lives in Oceanside. We are so proud of him! His wife Nadia is a student at Texas A & M at College Station, TX.

We were lucky that we got to see Nadia because she was on a break from school. She is a lovely young lady and we think her and Joel are going to enjoy a very successful life together.

We all had a nice lunch together at Joe’s Crab Shack right on the ocean. What a view! It was beautiful. We hated to leave them but we had to head back over to Borrego Springs.

NEW YEARS EVE BOOMERANG AT LAKE MITTRY

During our December, 2008, visit at the Escapee Saguaro SKP Co-Op Park in Benson, we met so many interesting couples that we wanted to stay in contact with each other so we all exchanged cards. The cards are like business cards except they contain personal contact information along with blog and/or personal webpage information. Most cards have the individuals’ photos and some have photos of their rigs.

The photos really help us to remember couples that we might have met before; and we can put their names and faces together. Card exchanging goes on at most social functions.

One of the couples we met at Benson is now our good friends, Sam and Carolyn Kidd. They have been fulltime RV'ers going on their 8th year. They are also members of the Boomers.

Carolyn invited us to join them and fellow Boomers for the New Year’s Eve Boomerang (get-together) at Lake Mittry, which is just north of Yuma.

The Boomers is a BOF (Birds of a Feather or a club within a club) social group of the Escapees RV Club where the members are of baby-boomer age and have RVing in common. They are such a fun group to hang with!

Happy Hour is held each day at 4:00 P.M. Eveyone is invited to bring a snack and whatever they want to drink plus their chairs and meet up at the campfire. We all go around the circle and tell our names and where we are from and a little bit about ourselves. This is a great way we can all get to know each other a little better. Then we all sit around and a host normally speaks for a few minutes and then opens up the circle for discussions on whatever topics comes up. And boy can the topics fly and we can laugh away the hours...

We arrived at Lake Mittry on 12-28-08. Met a few people but nothing was really going on. No schedule of activities, yet.

12-29-08

Carolyn and I left the guys at camp and went into Yuma to do some shopping. We did mostly grocery shopping but we had her car packed by the end of the day. However, we did find time to stop for lunch at our favorite restaurant, MiMi’s.
We purchased a pizza for dinner and Sam and Carolyn showed us how to play Pegs and Jokers which was a lot of fun.

12-30-08

Ken and I got to watch the Yuma Areo Modelers flying their radio controlled pontoon airplanes on Lake Mittry which was right around the bend from where we where camped. One of the club members told us that they come out to Lake Mittry and fly every Tuesday morning. We enjoyed watching them so much that we stayed for quite awhile and visited with them.

I think watching these guys might have made Ken want to get back into this hobby which he did when he was much younger. He used to fly radio controlled airplanes. But, I guess he would prefer to spend his money traveling.

You can see a white speck in the sky that's the model plane.

Our first official Boomer activity was a group luncheon at The Brown Bagger in Yuma. There was a great turnout and we all caravanned. The hamburgers were HUGE! The smallest burger that you could order was 7oz and I couldn’t finish it. Ken didn’t have any problems eating his. They were good. And from what we heard the shakes were great but we were so full we didn’t have one.

Our AT&T cell phones did not work at Lake Mittry so we had to go into town when we had to use our phones or the computer. Since Ken is still doing some work from the trailer, this made his life a little more challenging.

We seemed to always make it back to camp in time for Happy Hour.

And I have no idea what I was talking about here but thought this pic was good for a few laughs during Happy Hour-Ha!

12-31-08 New Year’s Eve

Brunch-Everyone brought dishes and it was amazing. Carolyn made a fantastic Raisin Bread French Toast Casserole with Apples and Cream Cheese and it was served with hot syrup. Oh my gosh, it was so good and it was gone in a flash. I’ve got to get this recipe from her.

Carolyn gave me her recipe for Sausage Stratta and I made it. It also went fast. So, I think I should raid Carolyn’s recipe box. I do thank you Carolyn for sharing your recipes. You are a great cook!

The activities for the rest of the day were:

2:00 P.M. Boon docking Talk-which was very informative with lots of Q & A.

3:00 P.M. Solar Discussion-with a representative from a solar store in Yuma.

4:00 P.M. Happy Hour

7:00 P.M. Z Circle Get To Know Each Other-

Several hosts opened their trailers/motor homes and two couples would meet with Host A and get to know each other with their hosts.

After 30 minutes of visiting the couples would leave and the couples would split and go to Host B to meet up with two other couples, etc.

It was a lot of fun and we did get to know a lot of couples that we probably wouldn’t have met otherwise.

After the Z Circle, everyone was to meet back at the campfire to welcome in the New Year.

Well, we must have gotten out too early because there was no one at the campfire. We thought everyone had decided to go on to bed since it was so cold. So, we went on to bed.

Boy, the next morning did we hear about how we were such party poopers! Everyone was just running late from their circles and they all rang in the New Year without the Kings.

Welcome 2009!