Day 57: Nov 26 on to Tucson

We headed out of Yuma Friday morning at approximately 8:36 am.  We had a 4 ½ hour ride to our final destination of Tucson, my tour guide and hostess’s winter home.

There road was again straight and flat. Isn't that a surprise.

Most of the country is a real easy place to learn to drive I guess. Flat and straight, doesn’t help you learn how to turn corners.  I guess it’s like NASCAR drivers they only had to learn to turn left.

After a few miles out of Yuma we came upon a Check point Charlie, which I didn’t take a picture of because I was too busy watching the K-9 dog sniffing all the cars and our unit also.   And I promised myself I wasn’t going to take any more road pictures or mountain pictures.

Not far from there we saw a field workers bus with the essential porta potties along for the ride. 

Have to treat the hoers right I guess.. I was going say illegals but I am sure they all had the correct papers with them on the bus.

After a couple hours of travel I noticed we were in the Sonoran Desert, known as the greenest desert in the world.  And the only place the Saguaro grows natural. 

 Feeling like my right hand was cut off without my camera in it, and kicking myself for not getting a picture of Check Point Charlie, I had to take it out and turn it on just in case something else exciting came into site.

I took about 45 pictures of the saguaro cacti trying to get a good shot but traveling at 60mph or so I could only do so much.

Digital cameras are amazing but you have to sort of focus 10 seconds before the shot goes off.  I am amazed that any of my pictures even came out… this shot I whipped my camera almost backwards. Not bad though shows the backseat of the truck and the RV behind.

The Saguaro grow like the oak trees back home. Here is a forest of them.  These went on for miles. They are one of my favorite parts of the southwest.

Okay that’s enough cacti for one day even if I could look at the all day long.  I know in my heart as much as I love New England with all its trees, I love the southwest and the cactus look.  Maybe in my past life I really was a mail order bride and headed west.

We arrived here at our final destination about 1ish got all set up and a big sigh of like relief came over Mike and Shirley.  They are home.

It feels good to me also. And I am glad to be here, and glad that we don’t have to pack up and head out again in a few days.  I have a week to get myself ready for my plane trip home.  I will have to go buy a new suitcase because when I first got here I threw my old one away.  The zipper only went half way around, not good for flying I didn’t think.

I don’t know if I will have much to blog about for the next few days because this is really like home and I’m not hearing whispers about touring anywhere new as I was here a few years ago and did it all then.

So I hope you all have enjoyed my trip with me and I hope my pictures were adequate to give you a glimpse of my time and fun on this venture.

 I promise to blog again if anything does happen of importance. And I will let you all know when I fly home.  I leave here on Southwest Saturday morning at 6:20 am.  Right now we are approximately 1 mile from the airport so I am sure I won’t be late even if I have to walk.  But we all know that won’t happen, Mike I am sure is so ready to get me on the plane I will be 3 hours early.

Thank you all for reading my blog,

Until the next time,

Marie.  
P.S.  Yes I intend to blog later today... I am working on it in my head.  This is not the last you have heard from me.

Day 56: Nov 25 Thanksgiving.

Today is Thanksgiving and it’s my first one ever away for my kids.   I hope they all fair well and miss me. But I am with family and friends will arrive shortly to enjoy the day with us.

Thanksgiving is about food and we had plenty from date nut bread, stuffed dates and celery, shrimp cocktails, and other appetizers, rutabaga, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, turkey, stuffing, gravy and I’m not sure what else, but definitely plenty of food for us.

Ms Shirley was busy in the kitchen all morning long. 

Friends arrived at about 2:30 for cocktails and appetizers before dinner.  

Time to check the turkey.

 Mike takes his job seriously.

It’ sure smells good…

And looks good...

Falling off the bone.

We had a completely wonderful Thanksgiving Meal, thank you Shirley.

I made the pumpkin pie and to be truthful will you… it was not my best in fact I will honestly say… It was my worse.  I have not a clue what I did or didn’t do to it but… we can joke about it anyway and I probably won’t have to make another one for this crowd.

We all have things we are thankful for but for me it was different this year.

For me to be away from my kids for Thanksgiving has been part of a growing experience for me as has this entire trip.

This may sound weird to some of you but in 62 years... Yes I had a birthday while in Death Valley… I have never been alone for 24 hours.  While I am not alone here on this trip; I have also never been away from my kids for any extended period of time. This has been the longest by far.

 I want to say that daily I have thought of my kids, and I have called them often, but I now know that I can survive. The next step obviously will be for me to get my own RV and begin a new era in my life.

Then I will finally be able to say, I have made it.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you, I hope it was great and safe, mine was.

Tomorrow we head out of Yuma and head to Tucson,  Mike and Shirley’s home for the winter.

Until tomorrow,

Marie

Days 53, 54 and 55: Nov 22~24

Today is Monday and we are having a relaxing day reading and sewing are on the agenda for today.

I promised you all a picture of my quilt I am making for my precious Sophia for Christmas.  After about 70 hours or more of hand sewing it is done enough for me to take a couple pictures of it for you. The edging isn’t done yet but I have what I am going to put on it for a ruffle so you get the whole gist of it. 

I have close up of one of the princess to show you the detail in it.

This was all done with transparent thread so many times I felt like I was sewing the Emperors New Clothes not seeing the thread at all.  I am very proud of it though I think I did a great job hopefully my edging ruffle comes out like I hope it should.  The back is a pink striped flannel and I will do the top border with the flannel so my sweet granddaughter won’t have to  contend with a ruffle in her face when she is trying to sleep.

I’m going to apologize to Sophia right now because she is not the first to sleep with this blanket for comfort.

Miss Gradie had found this a very comfortable spot.

Day54:

On Tuesday Ms Shirley and her friends went off on a short trip to Mexico, I don’t want to lie here so I will tell you she brought back some Tequila for Margaritas at cocktail hour.

Mike and I went touring here in Yuma. We went to a very historic place that sort of left me unsettled for a bit.  

We went to the Yuma Territorial Prison.

I usually am fascinated with history and the way things used to be. Always thankful I live in the 21^st century.  But something about this place left me chilled.

The museum part was fine and had a lot of good artifacts from the prison. And I learned that this was a very humane place and had electricity and a hospital it cared about its inmates.

But…..

When I stepped into one of these small cells I just had a very eerie feeling come over me.  I stepped in to a couple others after and didn’t get the same vibe,  even the dark cell where you went if you needed to be punished.

After the prison we continued to tour a bit.

The bridge behind this bridge is known as the “Ocean to Ocean Bridge” because it completed the span across the Colorado River totally connecting the east coast to the west coast by roadway without the use of ferries.

 We then traveled on to another Museum.

This place had an original house and area of the Quartermaster and how they lived back in the day.  Fascinating how crude some of these places were and they were considered comfortable.  The dirt floors always get me.  The Quartermaster’s house was very elegant though and didn’t have dirt floors.

By the time we got back home the trek to Mexico was over and it was time for cocktail hour. Always the highlight of my day.  

Day 55:

Wednesday morning I baked my famous homemade pumpkin pie.  After all that strenuous work I decided to tour the neighborhood here were we are staying for a bit. 

This is our site. Our closest neighbors moved out today so I had a much better shot but you can see how close they are and how small.

I like the trees here they are large, branchy and the leaves are tiny I hope to find out what kind they are before I leave here. I do know they are like an evergreen and the name begins with an “F”,  that narrows it down nicely.

We have the Colorado River at the end of our street. It is not large and impressive here like it has been and here it is hidden with all these reedy things.

There is a very nice dog walking path that is landscaped very well.

That is the end of my tour…

I intend to sit out and enjoy the sunshine while I work on the top edge of Sophia’s Quilt and wait for happy hour. 

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we all will over eat.  I intend to call my kids later to make sure they all have plans for the day and if they are cooking that their turkey is thawed. 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Until tomorrow,

Marie