Day 2 - On To New Mexico

We continued east on I-10 today, arriving at a beautiful destination - Las Cruces NM.  The view of the Organ Mountains coming in from the west is outstanding.

The scenery on this leg of the trip looked a lot like scenery all over Arizona and New Mexico.  Lots of long vistas to the horizon and many mountain ranges on all sides.  And cool rocks.

I cheated and got this pic off google images, but I love those mountains so much I had to do it!

We drove (only 1 mile) to the authentic, historical village of Mesilla (pronounced Mehseeya) and it felt like we were in Mazatlan again.  Ate a Andele restaurant which was awesome.

Of course, there is a cathedral at one end of the plaza.  I failed to get a photo of the narrow neighborhood streets, which made it feel like Mexico.

We just can't get enough of this type of architecture.  There must have been some sort of festival recently; notice the luminaries on top the one house.

Here's where we had a meal.  As you can see, Yvonne got a small appetizer nachos.

Day 1 - Casa Grande AZ to Willcox AZ

A very short drive (152 miles) to our first stop along the way to PA.  Willcox AZ is a little bitty town in southeastern AZ.  Here's where we stayed; I don't think our reservations were absolutely necessary.

It was a cloudy day and continued to get cooler as we went southeast.  We got as high as 5000 ft at one mountain pass.  Went through some beautiful scenic areas, including this rock strewn mountain near a rest area.

If you've ever driven Interstate 10 through southeastern AZ, you had to see about 50 billboards about "The Thing?".  Well, we stopped and guess what the main feature was.

I decided not to pay to see "The Thing?", leaving a little mystery in our lives.

Here's part of the view from our RV site.

Back on the road tomorrow - to Las Cruces NM.  There's a little Mexican village nearby we'll visit.  It is very authentic, we're told.  And New Mexico Mexican food is our favorite.  Hatch peppers, hmmmm good.

hEADING EAST - Destination PA

We've come home to Casa Grande to drop off our little car.  We're leaving this morning for a 12 day trip to the east coast.  Twelve days on the road!  It takes us that long because we have no reason to rush, so we only drive about 4-5 hours per day, then have the afternoon and evening to explore our local venue.
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I'll try to post at each stop, if I can, so you can see the country as we cross it, pulling our home along with us.  Fun.

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After 2 months up in Prescott Valley (by the way, pronounce that Presscut as they do here), it was nice to be back in our hometown area for a day.  But, we're glad we aren't staying in the triple digit temps - 105 yesterday afternoon, down to low 80's at night.

Your comments are welcome right here on the site.

I'll also be posting some pics on Facebook as we go along.

Fain Lake and Park

One of my favorite places around Prescott Valley is Fain Park.  It is just a couple of blocks off the main drive in town and is located on Fain Lake, a damned portion of Lynx Creek.

In Prescott Valley, is a small pretty lake that offers well kept picnic areas, docks and trails. The dam creating this lake was built in 1927 along Lynx Creek several miles below Lynx Lake. Fain Lake

Fain is a very familiar name in the valley.  Two twin Fain brothers actually own the Orchard Ranch RV Park where we are staying.  One lives in a house across the highway from the park.  Here it is.  I took this picture from the hill on the far side of the park.

Here is the dam.  

You can see the dam from up on this hill.  As you can see, the lake is not very large.

Here's some bozo on an early morning walk.

This is where the creek comes in - when there's water!

There's a historical chapel above the lake.  Unfortunately, I haven't learned its history.

This is where the dam holds back the water - looks like an infinity swimming pool.

Jill loves going for a hike by the lake.

ORCHARD RANCH 55+ SENIOR RESORT AND RV PARK

We're spending the month of June and July 2015 in a beautiful park between Dewey and Prescott Valley in Central Arizona.  It's only 80 miles north of Phoenix, but due to the 5000 ft elevation, it's considerably cooler (15-25 degrees).

There's some history about Orchard Ranch that I'll share.  

In 1890, James and Adeline Hall Purchased 130 acres here above the Agua Fria River and Lnyx Creek.  The Halls named their homestead Orchard Ranch and with the help of their children, Sharlot and Ted. produced apples and beef.  Life on the rach instilled in Sharlot a love of Arizona's pioneer ways.  She wrote about early Americans and collected documents and artifacts.  In 1927, after the deaths of her parents, she sold the ranch and moved her collections into the 1864 log Governor's Mansion in Prescott, which she opened as a museum which now bears her name.  

There is, on site at the Orchard Ranch Resort, the Sharlot Hall Kiosk and the Sharlot Hall Musuem.  We haven't yet, but do plan on going into the Sharlo Hall Museum in Prescott.  Most of her collections are there.

One of the old farm buildings still sits here in the park.  As well as some old west mementos.

As you can see by the sign, this is a 55 and older resort/park.  And, it's a very active place with lots of activities and amenities.  Pickle-ball, swimming, biking, hiking are some of the exercise activities

Here is our site for the two months we're here.  The sites are pretty good sized and all have some shade, which is nice on the 90+ degree days.  Today, it's 110 in Phoenix and 94 here.

Our picnic table was really in poor shape, so I sanded it down and repainted it after asking permission in the office.  They assured me the maintenance guys would be very happy.

It is much nicer, now.

This covered pavilion sits right by the pool for various activities, meals.

These two buildings have card rooms, craft rooms and workout room.  Nice exercise equipment.

This is the office, laundry and big gathering room called the roundhouse (in the background).

We had a great classic car show one weekend.

This '64 Porsche was my personal favorite.

Here is what the surrounding area looks like.  It's a lot like Central and Eastern Oregon.

This first one is from the car as we're coming back from town.  The green area at the bottom of the hill is Orchard Park.

Here is what we see looking west.

This is the Stoneridge area just south of town.  Beautiful golf course and homes there.

This is the view looking east from up at Stoneridge.  That is the southern end of Prescott Valley.

Just to the southeast of us are two small towns, Dewey and Humbodlt.  These first two pictures are some stores they built out by the Highway in Humbodlt.  The third picture is the original main street in Humbodlt, pretty much deserted; they even moved the Post Office down the hill by the highway.