Arizona Ramblings

Here we are half way through January and Carol and I are ready to get on the road again. Arizona is a nice place to stay for awhile, but deep down we want to see more.

Yesterday we took a drive to Kingman AZ. to do some sightseeing. The drive is about an hour and a half. How many people can say they truly saw "nothing"? Carol and I can. It is hard to see, but we are passed by "nothing", on our way to Kingman up Arizona 93. There was some construction for a short stretch around Wikieup attempting to re-direct traffic. When there wasn't construction, there were some beautiful rock formations and canyons. Unfortunately I was too much in awe to take pictures, shame on me. We arrived in Kingman and changed into our tourist clothes, first stopping at the Powerhouse building to get our bearings.
The Desert Power & Water Company powerhouse supplied power to northwest Arizona for several decades beginning in the late 1800's. From 1936 - 1965 the powerhouse was used for back up once Hoover Dam was completed. Once it was closed for good the state took the opportunity to make it into an information center and museums. The museums are split into the "Route 66" museum, and the "Electric Vehicle" museum.
For those of us too young to know the whole story about Rt. 66, it ran from Chicago IL. to Santa Monica CA. Over the decades there has been many items made to celebrate historic Rt. 66.
Route 66 was a major path out of the poverty of the dust bowl throughout the Midwest in the 1930's. The migration was so great that many families stopped along side the road or encampments, others drove out to California.
Decades later families were still traveling Rt. 66, mostly for fun. In the 1950's it was the "thing" to ride in a Studebaker.








This Studebaker was luxury, it had an air cooler to keep the occupants cool on the long drive. How many of you folks still own a Studebaker? Down stairs we watched part of an hour long video on the history of Rt. 66 in Arizona. Across the hall is the "electric vehicle" showroom.

 How would you like to ride with Willie Nelson in his personal golf cart? One of several carts, along with an electric land speed record holder. 

You can see that there are some other special cars, like that yellow hot rod....it is electric. 

Let me show you some real hot rods only the more mature speed demons can handle. Imagine zooming down the street/sidewalk at lightning speeds of nearly half  a mile an hour.


Break time.... off to lunch, a place called Mr Dz across from the street from the Powerhouse building.













Be honest, how many of you out there were pulled over by a cop car that looked just like this?This cop car sits in the parking lot at Mr Dz Diner. The diner was originally a diner and gas station. The menu is a simple selection of hamburgers and hot dogs, with a choice of fries or onion rings. One of their big selling points is homemade root beer. Carol and I had hot dogs and root beer. Carol had the Harley Dog with fries and I had the Mac Dog. Carol enjoyed her dog with the exception of the jalapenos in the Thousand Island sauce. My dog had macaroni and cheese on it. It was cute that the fries were served in mini fry baskets, the larger baskets were guitars. What was cool was free refills of the root beer.  Break over.

A short half mile walk from the diner is the Bonelli House. The Bonelli were a major community figure in Kingman. This is a picture of their second home, the first one burned down. It is suspected that the first house burned down caused by electricity, their house was the first house to have electricity. They had some luxuries not available to everyone. The reason for this was because of his various businesses ranching from ranching to a jewelry/clock store. The photo is the back of the house. From the Bonelli house we walked to the Railroad Museum. Only in America can you find signs like this...If you cannot read the lower side,
"no coasting vehicles" on city streets, meaning no skateboards as well. Again a short walk to the museum.

The museum is operated by the Whistle Stop Railroad Club. The station itself is an active stop off for Kingman. The club has three displays set up (H, HO, O), then of course there was the real trains passin' by. They have trains for all ages.

We left there and walked to the history museum. The history is as you expect, about history of the area. Once thing I didn't mention about some of the museums is displays about Andy Devine, on of the great actors, having been in over 400 movies. Andy came to the area as a child when his parents bought a hotel in town.

You may breathe easy, we are nearing the end of our day trip. Drove back to Wickenberg for dinner at the Oinery Hog BBQ shack. This little shack had meats that melted in our mouths...we will be back. The end is here, we are in our home for the night.

Temporary Arizona

Howdy folks. With settling in to retirement we do not feel a need to go out and burn the candle at both ends and see everything available in one afternoon. We have been out visiting the local world. Most of our trips start from Wickenberg. The local ghost town is Vulture City. The city became part of the Vulture mine which began in the late 1800s. At it's peak the population was approximately 5000 men, women, and children. The mine shut down in the 1940s, and the town became a ghost town. In it's first heyday it produced  a lot of gold and silver. The mine was bought again and is active today, and still producing. The old days of the mine has a checkered history with 18 hangings for workers stealing
high grade ore on the way off their shift. It is rumored that five of them were because of a murder at the mine. The house in the background is the original home of Henry Wickenberg when he first started the mine back in 1863.

During the time the mine was active in the early days a lot of people died, both adults and children. Those that did not survive are buried in Verde Flat Cemetery located about a half mile down the road from Vulture City. There is only one site that has a name, the rest are just crosses spread out throughout the cemetery. After we left Vulture City we headed back home for the day.

We took a drive to Prescott via the dreaded Arizona 89 North, I was curious why they don't want vehicles over 40 feet long. Initially it didn't look any worse than some of the mountain roads in California, Then we hit the section that removed all my doubts, turns were tight and some areas had an 8% grade. We stopped at Lucy Dee's BBQ for lunch.

Carol and I each ordered a two meat lunch consisting of brisket, ribs, and a cornbread muffin. The difference between our lunches was Carol's sides were a double portion of cole slaw, I had ranch pinto beans and macaroni and cheese. Carol and I were both in agreement, the brisket was dry, the ribs were ok. My guess would be that they did not wrap the brisket while it continued to cook. The ribs had a smoke ring but they kept them in a pan on a steam table. Anyway, after lunch we drove over to Fort Whipple Museum. The fort was stood up about 1863 and was the headquarters for the Calvary during their attempts to "control" the Indians. Once the Indians were "under control", the fort lost it's importance and closed
around 1898, re-garrisoned in 1902, closed down again in 1904. In 1922 the site was

turned over to the Veteran's Administration and turned into a hospital. The museum is located in one of the Officer's quarters and contains many artifacts found on the grounds of the original fort. Several of the other houses are under renovation and may be used for future residents or professional services. Something that I thought was neat is that the VA here has a veteran's homeless program. I recommend this as a half day trip.
I didn't mention the weather earlier, probably should have. The area had rainy weather earlier in the week, then cleared up. On the way up the weather was beginning to get cloudy again. At the museum it began to snow so we decided to come back home a different way, good thing too, our original route began receiving snow. We made it home safely for this trip. See ya later.

No More California

As you might suspect I am working my retirement option. My goal is simple, I'll get to it when I'm ready. I'm not sure what Carol's goals are.

Our exit from California went well, landing in Congress Arizona for the next few months.


This is our home for a couple of months. North Ranch is an Escapee's park in Congress. This is a nice park to stay in for the cold months. The ranch is set in the desert off of Arizona 89. Most of the ranch is set up with permanent homes with room for RVs, and an area for us temporary folk trying to stay out of the cold. There is a lot to do here, ranging from hiking in the desert, beading classes, happy hours, and ice cream socials.  We arrived the week before Christmas and settled in quickly, signing up for the Christmas meal. People signed up by tables, 10 per table and each person/couple provided enough food people for their assigned table.
It was an opportunity to make new friends and learn about their experiences living the RV life. Some of the folks don't travel anymore, but they love living in the desert. Carol has been going to a beading class, and learning how to make a variety of items such as ornaments (pictures later when she get one done). While she is beading I take walks in the desert. From the back of the property there are many well defined trails to walk, or ride ATVs on. I can get a good five mile hike enjoying the quiet surroundings, with a gentle breeze blowing through my beard. We also can take easier walks within the ranch. The saguaro cactus in the photo is circa 1870. These magnificent cacti are home to a variety of desert creatures. In a past trip to the Saguaro National Park we learned that these cactus can live for hundreds of years, and do not grow the out reaching arms until after approximately 75 years,

Congress Arizona is located approximately 15 miles from Wickenberg,  which is a historic active town in Arizona. For you Elks out there, there is a lodge full of friendly folk.  We came at a great time and were able to sign up for the prime rib dinner they had the Saturday after Christmas. The cook did an outstanding job with the prime rib, which came with a baked potato and vegetables. We returned Sunday after church to watch football and chow down on a potluck extravaganza, which included the rib bones from the previous nights prime rib. The bones were as good as the steaks themselves. You might be asking what is there to do in Wickenberg and the surrounding area.

 Like a lot of small towns that invite tourism there are stores, galleries,roping events, ACE hardware, museums, ghost town, hanging trees, cafes and restaurants, and bars with dancing. This town is large enough to have two hardware stores and two grocery stores. The jail tree located in downtown Wickenberg housed the rowdy folks and criminals, by use of chains. Ya see, there was no formal jail house to keep people in the town of Wickenberg in the 1800s. I don't think I would have wanted to be chained up there in the winter, it still gets down in the 30's some nights.

Bet you thought we don't eat too much, you're wrong.
On the main street of Wickenberg is a little sandwich shop called Nana's. Carol had their Firehouse Club on sourdough with potato salad side. A basic ham, turkey, bacon, cheddar cheese club. Oh, did I forget the lettuce, onion, tomato, and avocado? She enjoyed her sandwich very much, I know this because she did not remove the avocado. My sandwich was their Cowboy. A roast beef sandwich with swiss cheese, horseradish dressing, lettuce, tomato, and onion on rye. Great sandwich, just needed a bit more horseradish for me. After lunch we visited the Desert Caballeros Western Museum in downtown Wickenberg. Visiting the museum is like strolling through the early 1900s. In the first building is a collection of baskets made by the local Indians, brands from area ranches (with audio), and a replica scene of the Tombstone Sheriff's office. The second building contains art collections from various artists, saddles from different indigenous groups, an artifacts collection from a local family, and down stairs is a replica street scene containing interactive displays.

At the General Mercantile a hologram storekeeper explains a little bit about how the town got started and what the occupants were like.  I suspect some of you may recognize this lounge chair.

You can go through the two buildings in an afternoon, or you can make it a day, either way it was an enjoyable visit. So far Carol and I are enjoying the area. Bye for now.