Mar'01-Apr'01
We headed to Sierra Vista and stayed in a new park close to my cousins place. They have a nice military park nearby but we were going to have a desk made to replace the kitchen table while we were there and the proximity to my cousins place was needed as the cabinetmaker that works for him could stop by for measurements and such. We had a good visit with Pete & Carolyn and one day their grown kids came up and we enjoyed visiting with them also. They are some good kids. Don't know how Pete did it---probably was Carolyn.:>) Pete clued us in on the good places to eat where the locals go. He was right. They were good.
While there (30 days) we also visited Tombstone. Interesting. Pretty
commercial but had a lot of interesting historical displays. Really enjoyed 
the
tour of the old opera house. It had gunshot holes in the walls and in the
basement was where they had a continuous card game that lasted 7 years. Day
& night. Buy in was $1000 and they had a waiting list. That was quite a bit
of money back in the late 1800's. Basement also had the rooms for the 'ladies of
the evening'.
We wanted to visit the latest area attraction--Karcher Caverns but they were
booked up for months. You could go there at 6 AM and wait on standby in case
there was a cancellation. We did not take that option knowing we will be back in
the area. Even if we weren't going to be back there I think we would have
skipped the standby thing. During the month we were in Sierra Vista, Bob &
Donna were in Benson, AZ and they came up and spent a day with us. Also, while
browsing the RVAMERICA website
we saw that Pat & Nancy Gallagher were in Benson. They are the organizers of
the RVAMERICA Rally we were working our way towards. 
We
made phone contact with them and found out they were leaving the next day for
the Rally site. So we went to Benson and had a nice visit with them. Went out to
eat and then sat around and BSed a bit. Rest of the month was spent enjoying the
area, couple of trips to Tucson and touring Ft. Huachuca. On the Fort, Kay found
a Bingo hall so she went there a few times. And won--not big but paid for itself
plus. We got the desk installed and do not miss the table. The center drawer is
our table. We can pull it out and 2 can eat comfortably on it. Also we gained a
lot of extra storage space. Especially for the 'puter' and printer. They did a
terrific job on it and matched our cabinets perfectly. It also gave the MH a
more personal feel. We have been very 'at home' in it and the desk just added to
the feeling.
April--We headed for the RVAMERICA
Rally in Apache Junction, AZ.We arrived the same day. The park was fairly new
and it had on site phone hookups at each site. It could have used some weed
trimming. We went to the office. Kay had the dog on a leash outside and I went
in. First thing the lady (?) behind the counter began to yell at me for having
the dog in that
area. Wouldn't even deal
with me until I went outside and told Kay to put the dog in the truck. It was
very hot and no way were we going to leave the dog alone in the truck. Kay got
in and started the A/C. I wasn't even going to register, just wanting to find
the Rally people as they had our site info. She was rude when she told me where
they were located. If it had not been for the rally being there we would have
left right away. Keep in mind that about 80 RV's from our group were going to be
there. That would have certainly paid her salary that week. Hell of a way to do
business. In talking to others from our group, they had the same BS from that
lady (?). We decided that she actually worked for the next park down and was
running off customers from this park. Anyway--on with the Rally. We got parked
and some others were early also. Renewed old friendships and made new ones. The
next day a bunch more came in and same thing again. Pat & Nancy did a GREAT
job of organizing things. Had meals all set up, seminars scheduled & free
time scheduled. Lots of fun things. This group is not affiliated with any
product or RV dealer. Just a bunch af people that met thru the RVAMERICA
bulletin board and wanted to get together for fun times. The people that started
and ran RVAMERICA (Don Magary & Dan Holt) were there to enjoy themselves and
meet the participants of the BB. Also to see what they could do to make things
better if they can. I think that made it a more relaxed atmosphere. Oh yeah, Bob
& Donna ended up parked right next to us. We were in the 'dog' area. Nothing
to do with the way we or our vehicles looked. Had to do with our pets. :>)
The Rally was a great success and we hope to go the next
one. A fine bunch of people and hopefully we will cross paths with some of them
as we travel. One of the free days we were in the park and the wind came up
quickly. No forewarning. The ones of us that were there quickly went around and
put up the awnings of the ones that were out touring. Just an example of the
camaraderie.
Rally was over on fri and sat, Bob, Donna, Kay & I went to Tortilla Flat
and checked out a campground there. Flowers were in bloom due to all the rain
they had been having. The campground was OK but we would have to boondock. No
electricity. As I need elec for my oxygen concentrater (for sleeping) we were
concerned. The place was big and empty enough that they would have put us away
from the rest and I could run my generator. We had the special rate at the rally
park for a couple more days and then it was going to increase to their normal
rate---high! That's why we were going to move. Sunday we had breakfast with
another classmate of mine--Stan Jocelyn--then went to his house and met his
wife--Tricia. We made
arrangements to meet for supper and on our way back to the MH we stopped and
bought 2 bikes and a bike rack. We had told each other that this would be our
christmas presents and finally got around to doing it. We got back to the MH
with just enough time to clean up for supper. Well, we'll ride the new bikes
tomorrow. Had good dinner with the Jocelyn's and went home. Next morning, sun, I
could tell that I was getting bronchitis again. We had planned to meet with
Harry Sharkey, another schoolmate and called him to cancel so he came over to
the MH to visit. I was glad he decided to do that as I would have hated missing
him. Mon we were off to the Phoenix VA hosp. While there Kay was talking to some
people and they told her that the premier VA hosp for Agent Orange checkups was
in Palo Alto, Ca. We got my meds and the Dr. said to leave the area. Things were
blooming that hadn't bloomed in 20 years. We got back to the MH and I could not
leave. Couldn't even do the simple things like unhooking sewer, elec etc. This
case of Bronch was kicking my butt. We bit the bullet and paid the higher prices
to stay in the park. It was a week before I could get up enough strength to
leave. Meanwhile Kay, good wife that she is, decided that I could use a lot of
quiet time. So every evening she went to the bingo/casino place nearby. Wasn't
that decent of her? :>) Again she did OK. Always
came back a winner. Amazingly, she plays nickel slots only and is able to come
back a winner. Some of those nickel slots take up to 90 nickels--$4.50--per
play, thats more than the usual dollar slots take. ($3) When we could finally
leave we were headed west to LA. The awning came loose again as we went thru the
Indio, Ca area. That's also where we stopped for a night.