SWAP MEET AND FRIENDS

Today was partly cloudy but nice with a high of 15C and a low last night was 3C. Even though the nights are cool the days warm up nicely from the sun.

We set up a rendezvous with our friends Anne and Ed from Terra Cotta and their son Brian and his wife Liz visiting from Brampton to meet at the Mesa Market Place Swap Meet.  This a large 55 acre flea market with 1600 booths with everything you can imagine for sale. We arrived at 10:30 and already the parking lots were filling up as it started at 7 o’clock. Of course Cathy and I did our bit to help the economy.  

I didn't think the glass was large enough for Cathy.

 

We left at 2 o’clock and then met up again with them to enjoy dinner at the Olive Garden. We were back at the coach by 7 o’clock to relax and have a cup of tea.

That’s about it for now...                        

DOING THE TOURIST THING!

This morning there were remnants of the white stuff around the campground. It went down to just above freezing but the sun helped warm things up (some what).  We took a short ride into Apache Junction to do some grocery shopping as some supplies were getting low. I also had my ears lowered and in talking with the Barber, who has been in the area for 10 years, he has never seen snow in the area. The temperatures lately are unusually low.

After arriving back at the coach we put our shopping away, had a quick lunch then off we went to check out the Superstition Mountains. I didn’t mention earlier the name of these mountains.

 The scenery was great as we headed east to Tortilla Flat, an 18 mile ride. This apparently was the last surviving stagecoach stop on the historic Apache trail. This is a tourist trap but it had one building which was wallpapered with one dollar bills. They were on the ceiling, the over head joists and walls.

Check out all the dollar bills

On the way back we stopped at another tourist attraction we passed going to Tortilla Flat. It was an old gold mine in 1893 and has now been converted to a small town like setting back in the day with a saloon, church, brothel, jail etc.

The blacksmith's art

Had to include a picture of the bordello.

All in all, it was a good day checking out the scenery and the sights.

Till tomorrow...        

A WET DAY!

Today wasn’t that great, it started with a few sprinkles of rain through the night then became heavier in the morning. At one point the rain had a slight white flake consistency. I won’t say the word. Then looking off to the distant mountains we noticed they had changed colour on the top. The tops of these mountains would be visible and then disappear with the different cloud layers.  After lunch it looked like it was going to clear but another round of rain moved in instead. The high was 9C today, not sure how cold it was last night but it wasn’t as bad as we have had elsewhere.  

Just the higher altitudes received this stuff.

Cathy had a call from Anne who is only 7 miles away from us as she and her husband Ed are here for a couple of months. They live in Terra Cotta. We hope to hook up with them in the near future.

While looking out at the mountains we noticed these birds running around and found out they are Gambel’s Quail.  The males are more colourful than the females as in the case of many other species.

Picture Cathy took

Picture from internet showing male and female.

Cathy did some baking, making cupcakes and a cake and I had some computer work to catch up on.  

Hoping for a better day tomorrow...

WE MADE IT TO OUR NEXT DESTINATION

Yesterday we were in no real rush to hit the road as the next destination (Apache Junction - Arizona) which is east of Phoenix is a 2 hour drive to the north. So we took our time getting ready to go and left about 11 o’clock.

The weather was nice with a high of about 22C. Last night the temperature went down to 8 and there was a little rain.

Picacho Peak

This highway barrier was for sound and wind protection for a RV resort on the other side.

This green pasture was beside the area in the next picture - water makes all the difference.

Artwork created by different stones.

   

During the drive there were areas the wind would p/u and in the distance there looked to be a fog but it was the wind picking up the sand and blowing it around and in one case we saw a small twister. I was hoping we didn’t have to drive through a server storm as I hear you lose a lot of your visibility plus I didn’t want the coach to be taking it in.

Coming into the dusty area.

Cathy didn't quite get the twister but it hit the small community on the left - hope no one had their laundry out!

http://goo.gl/maps/cdEuw


All for now...