Good Thursday Morning! We are gearing up to head back up to Burro Mountain Homestead. We have invited our new friends Dan and Nancy to join us. Remember we met them on our recent trip to Flagstaff. Tracey and I really tried to be ready earlier than normal, meaning not running around at the last minute shoving stuff in so we can leave on time and all the while hoping we don’t forget anything. So for about 4 days prior to departure we loaded things into the RV, we went shopping, we thought we were getting ahead………………………… but Wednesday evening we found ourselves loading our clothes, running to the gas station to fill the extra gas cans for the RZR and realizing we need one more trip to the store. So here we are Thursday morning and Tracey is emptying the water tank on the RV and refilling it, and I am running to the grocery store for hopefully the last time 🙂 Lucky for us Scott and Kerri needed to move departure time to 11 instead of 10, by the way we had wanted to leave at 9. We, as you can tell, would have never made a 9 or 10 departure time!
So we are finally locked and loaded and head to get fuel in the RV. Never fails when we pull into a gas station there is always someone blocking the diesel pump or stopped texting on their phone in the most inconvenient spot. We manage to maneuver around the texting oblivious person in a white car, and discover a work truck blocking the outside diesel pump, ugh. We wait for a car to leave and wiggle our way in between the building and the island of pumps. Wiggle is a funny term for a 40ft RV towing an 18ft trailer, but we did it. We fuel up and head to the predetermined meeting place.
We pull in to the parking lot of Tractor Supply and spy Dan and Nancy’s trailer. We circle the parking lot and pull in along the front row of parking spaces, making sure there is plenty of room for us to get out. Dan walks over and joins us in our RV, as he tells us Nancy is inside the store. I receive a text from Kerri saying they are on their way. We are then joined by Nancy and the four of us chat about our adventure. Shortly thereafter Scott and Kerri are pulling into the parking lot. We all get out so we can make the formal introductions, as Scott and Kerri and Dan and Nancy have never met. We lay out the route we followed last time, Dan assures us he will hold us back since he travels at a slower speed. Tracey lets him know we will hang back to whatever speed he is comfortable with, and all stay together.
We are off, finally. Just over an hour into the drive, Tracey realizes he is hungry. We did leave later than we had planned so it is already lunch time. We chat about it and decide we will have a snack, that way we will be ready for dinner when we arrive at Burro Mountain. I get up and look in the fridge and cabinets deciding what we should snack on. I settle on apple slices, sharp cheddar slices, cheese spread and crackers. Before getting our snack ready I excuse myself to the restroom, yep cuz I can do that in the RV. It’s the little things in life LOL. After washing my hands, I prepare our snack, getting our little stool out to sit it all on so that Tracey can reach it while driving. As I sit back in my seat I check Tracey’s phone for messages. Good thing I did as Dan needs to stop for gas and Scott has recommended Love’s at Exit 302 and we are approaching exit 302. We exit and pull into the big rig parking lot next to the gas station, we are followed by Scott, and Dan turns into the gas station to fill up. Tracey takes advantage of the break to use the restroom. I can see Scott checking messages. Not too long Dan has called to say he was done and had exited on the other side of the station and is back on the freeway. He comments that he is sure we will catch up in no time. I call Scott give him the message and we are both headed back on the freeway. Tracey and I enjoy our snack and our conversation. Tracey and I really don’t ever seem to run out of things to talk about but this was a bit different. Tracey talked for hours about his time in the military, his friends from the military where they are what they are doing, those he is still in touch with and those he lost touch with. May not seem odd at a glance but he doesn’t talk much about those days. I know very little about his time in the military, well at least very little about his time in Panama. Although he did not go in to detail about that time even now, he talked about things I hadn’t heard before. It was very nice, I enjoyed hearing the different tones in his voice as he talked about different places and people.
By this time, we have reached about 70 miles from Lordsburg when the rain started and the wind picked up. (reminiscent of our last trip). The crazy sky out in front of us is so dark and cloudy and lightning strikes are huge. I excuse myself to the restroom again only to get a call from Kerri saying they are pulling off at exit 5 because Dan is stopped on the side of the freeway and there wasn’t room for them both. I get back up front quickly to tell Tracey what Kerri said, and he has already talked to Dan on the phone. Their step came unstowed, he fixed it and they are back on the freeway. I call Kerri to let her know and they return to the freeway as well. It is still raining and very very windy as we exit at our turn off Exit 20B. We all fuel up at Love’s, Dan and Nancy walk their adorable dogs, and we get back to the road.
As we are driving Tracey and I comment on the amount of standing water on the sides of the road. As I notice the water I also notice totally dry areas, very amazing how that happens. IT is during this conversation we notice on the left side of the road, what looks like roaring rapids. There is so much water and it is moving swiftly causing it to look like rapids. Captain Obvious, that is me, asks “where is that water coming from?” Tracey glances over at me and says “up the mountain” as he points to where we are headed! Yikes, remember from our previous trip Robert’s “oh shit” moment on the road up the mountain? Now we are getting concerned about the condition of the road up the mountain, 7 miles of dirt road. Despite the rain and wind, we made it to the Homestead without any issues. We pull up to the office and discover it is already closed for the day. We know what spot we are in so we are good, Dan and Nancy don’t remember and Kerri is not sure. We are looking around the office for night registration when up pulls Dewey the camp host. He has a big ole smile on and giving me a hug and welcoming me back. I introduce him to our new friends Dan and Nancy and he pulls the sheet from the front door (Captain Obvious, me again, has missed it right out there in plain sight) and tells each of them which space they have been assigned. Dan and Nancy veer off to the left and head to their site and begin setting up. We pull passed our site to the open area to unload the RZR and drop the trailer. Tracey and I unload the gas cans and unsecure the RZR. I drive it off the trailer and over in front of the office to park it out of the way. Tracey is back in the RV and attempting to back the trailer up to park it. I say attempting because in the time it took me to drive the RZR the 50 yards and park it, Scott has pulled up behind Tracey LOL. While Scott is unloading their rhino, Kerri carries our gas cans over to our site. I ask her if she wants help, she declines. Dewey asks if she wants help, she declines. She is woman hear her roar, or in this case see her carry heavy gas cans LOL I get Tracey backed up with my awesome ground guide skills, I think it was all him and very little to do with me J By now though Scott has pulled totally in our way and in backing his trailer up to park it. We wait for Scott to get unhooked and pull passed us and head for his site. Then we are able to back up passed our site so we can pull into it from the correct angle. We get situated as far as where on the site we want the RV and how far from all the hook ups we need to be and we switch, Tracey comes outside and I head inside. I release the air from the air ride bags so the coach lowers, and I push the button for the automatic jacks. I can hear them going down and I can feel the coach leveling. Tracey taps on the side and tells me to stop the jacks. Evidently the ground is so soft that the jack is just pushing a huge hole into the ground. So I retract the jacks and Tracey gets down under the RV and fills in the hole, attempting to compact it in the process. I push the button again for the jacks to go down and just when I feel them touching the ground Tracey yells for me to pull them back up. I push the retract button and poke my head out the window. Tracey explains that the rear jack is just sinking in the ground. He says he needs to put the jack pads under the jacks. So I flip the switch to load the air back in the air ride bags and the coach raises up. At this point Tracey has discovered we have a problem. “hey hon do you know where our jack pads are?” to which I respond with a shrug of the shoulders, I don’t know. “I do, I bet I can tell you” “oh” I say “does Chris have them?” at this point I am thinking he is referring to the second set of jack pads we own and the last time I knew Chris had “borrowed” them for his RV and we hadn’t seen them since. “Nope” says Tracey, “where did we use them last?” Now I am confused hmmm “I don’t know, the last place we took the RV was Flagstaff” to which he responds “yep” seeing that I am still confused he says “yeah they are probably still sitting right where we left them when we drove away” oh no! So he has found 3 cracked very old ones and is hoping they will do the trick. He places them 2 in the back and 1 in the front on the driver’s side as that is which side needs lifted more. Once he has them placed I release the air and push the button for the leveling jacks. Tracey yells again to stop the jacks and pull them back up. I push the button to bring the jacks up and flip the switch to refill the air. Tracey then takes all 3 jack pads and puts them in the rear and we try again. This time we do get leveled, but one tire is up off the ground and the 3 jack’s pads are buried in the ground. So I release everything yet again and refill the air. Now Tracey walks up to his brothers site and comes back with 5 more jack pads, yeah for brothers who camp together! Tracey places the pads and I release the air, and lower the jacks. We get level, not exactly how we like as one tire is still slightly off the ground but it is raining and we are tired. As I am glad that I don’t have to release the air and push the button and push the button and add the air yet again, I look at Tracey as he is all wet and dirty from crawling around on the ground all this time. Guess my part of the job wasn’t so bad!
At this point I usually get the inside all set up and Tracey gets everything outside all set up. A little while goes by and Tracey comes inside. I have everything set up and put away. Tracey sits down on the couch to relax. I turn the satellite on and hear it begin to whirr as it attempts to find a signal. I find the remote and turn the TV on. As the satellite is searching I put water and oils in my diffuser. I love the smell and the health benefits are an added bonus. I push the on button and nothing happens. I check that it is plugged in, plugged in correctly and push the button again. I look up front at the control panel and it is registering no power. I look over at Tracey and say “are we plugged in to power?” He jumps up off the couch and says “uh no” and goes outside to hook us to shore power. LOL what a funny thing to forget.
We venture down to Dan and Nancy’s to check in. This is their first time at Burro Mountain and our first time camping with them since becoming friends. They invite us inside their trailer and we sit and chat over drinks. We are really enjoying getting to know them. It appears they were getting ready to make dinner and they ask if we would like to join them. We decline but tell them to go ahead and eat. About the time they are getting ready to fix their dinner the second time we are joined by Scott and Kerri. Dinner is put on hold again as we all sit and laugh and tell stories. Now it is long after they were going to eat so Dan lights the stove again and Nancy prepares plates. They are so cute working together in the little kitchen. Nancy makes each one of us a sandwich, Italian beef with paperchains. Something Nancy is telling us she makes in the crockpot and it is one of Dan’s favorites. They end up feeding all of us!! It was so good; I really need to get that recipe (for Tracey to make LOL). A little after 10 local time we decide to call it a night and head to our own RVs for the night. Dan jokingly tells us to be careful “going” home (just 6 spots away) don’t hurt yourself! Well I guess that jinxed us. As we are walking back in the total darkness, nope we didn’t remember a flashlight and since we have no cell service up here we don’t have our phones on us. Just as I see our RV in the darkness, I hear a thud and feel Tracey grasp my hand harder and I think say a few choice words. We both freeze. My out of worry or fear as I don’t know what just happened and Tracey out of pain I think. It seems that as Tracey was trying to cross in front of me to open the RV door for me (always the gentleman) his shins rammed right into the bench of the picnic table at our site. Stupid picnic table. As he is wincing in pain I get the door opened and we go inside. Once inside I get a light or two on and we see the gash in his shin and it looks like it is swelling right in front of our eyes. The other leg is more on his calf and more of a scratch, although a big one. He sits down and I clean up the cuts. I pull out my handy dandy essentials oils and lightly massage around the cut with deep blue to help with the pain and decrease the inflammation. Then I gently rub lavender on the cuts. We sit up for a few minutes letting the pain subside and then head to bed.
Day 2 at the Homestead. We leisurely wake up. Okay not all that leisurely as our spot is right out in front of the office which is evidently the early morning gathering place. I am awakened by RZRs, quads and rhinos and lots of different voices. But we do lounge around the RV. I get up and take a shower and then make Tracey some coffee and tea for me. We get something for breakfast and sit chatting at the table. We venture outside, where at least 5 people say good morning. We hook up with our friends and family and decide to take a short ride. Scott and Kerri decide not to go with us, Kerri has a bit of a headache and Scott is working on installing his in car radio set. Tracey and I take Dan and Nancy out for a ride. They have not been in a RZR nor on this mountain. We have our headsets so we are able to talk with them on the ride. We don’t go too far as we are alone and haven’t brought any tools with us in case we break down. We see some cows and a few deer along the road. We head back to camp. I think Dan and Nancy enjoyed their first excursion in a RZR. Dan says he is going to cook up some hot dogs and we are welcome to join them. We definitely want to join them but I feel somewhat guilty that they want to feed us again. So I pack up a bag and bring down hot dogs and buns and fixings along with our drinks and we head to their site. Dan already has hot dogs grilling as we arrive. 
The four of us are just about ready to eat when Scott and Kerri finally arrive, so Dan throws some more dogs on the grill. We sit outside on the picnic table and enjoy our lunch and the conversation. During lunch the sky grows dark and it rains. It rains pretty hard, but is coming down at an angle. The angle is to our advantage as none of us are getting wet, so we stay outside loving the cool wet weather. While we are sitting outside up drives Dewey. He is just making his rounds checking things out and he stops to say hello. After some small talk I ask if he is doing the talent show. (we heard him sing at karaoke last trip and he was very good) He rolls his eyes, shrugs his shoulders and laughs, giving me the impression his answer was of course he has to! So I ask what he will be doing and he gets a huge grin on his face and replies “I can’t tell you” and then drove away! At this point Tracey decides that due to the rain he needs to put a tarp over the RZR, so he takes off in a slow jog towards our rig. He gets all the way there and the tarp out before remembering it is a two person job and he is only one person. Tracey always folds the tarp in a very specific way so that putting It over the RZR is easier, easier for two people that is. So he lays out the tarp beside the RZR and pulls the back end up and over the back half of the RZR. But by the time he moves to the front to pull the front half up, the back half has fallen off. So he goes back and fixes the back half and returns to the front to discover again the back has fallen off. He does this several times. And did I mention that it is raining pretty hard and oh yeah the wind is blowing too. So basically he fought with it several times before deciding to use the wind to his advantage. At this point he moved the tarp to the opposite side of the RZR and tossed it up and towards the RZR hoping the wind would catch it and carry it over. Success at last! He got it all hooked down with the bungee straps. It is only now that he realizes he is soaked to the bone and a little chilly, and wonders just how many people watched his first few failed attempts!
While Tracey has been fighting with the tarp, Nancy has already been inside her trailer to close the windows on the other side. We also wonder where Tracey is as he has been gone for quite a while. I figure he has met a new neighbor and they are becoming long lost friends. About this time, I glance to my right over Nancy’s shoulder I notice the rain pouring off the end of their trailer through a cool little gutter and down spout. As I am admiring it, I also notice the sheets of rain water sliding down the side of the trailer in one spot………………….. right into the kitchen window!! I point it out and Nancy hops up and runs inside to check it out. Sure enough the water has come in the window over the kitchen sink and was trailer back along the counter and heading towards the stove. Whew glad we caught that.
The rain subsides but the cool breeze hangs around. We all decide to take advantage and go back to our own RVs and take naps J Funny how we allow ourselves these small self-indulgences like naps while we are on vacation but not during regular life. Or is it just me that does that? We talk about dinner plans and the movie that is showing in the lodge at 6:30, 13 Hours. We think we all want to go.
Tracey and I get back to our RV and go inside, it is only now that I realize Tracey’s shirt is soaked and his skin is cold to the touch! Opps bad wife, guess I should have helped him with the tarp. He changes his clothes to something dry and I toss his wet ones in the dryer while we lay down for a nap. Ah ha, bet you didn’t know that not only do we take the kitchen sink with us when we camp we also take the washer and dryer!!
With all the windows open and that cool breeze blowing I guess it was all too relaxing. By the time we all meet back up at Dan and Nancy’s it is 6pm. We start the grills and get our steaks going. The six of us enjoy and very nice dinner outside again in the beautiful weather. As we are cleaning up dinner, Dan asks what time the movie starts and should we head up now. We have to break the bad news to him that we have missed the beginning of the movie. Scott believes he has the same movie on a memory stick over at his RV, so Dan and Scott head inside to check out Dan’s TV and DVD player to see if they can hold a memory stick. No such luck. Then Scott comes up with the idea to bring his DVD player over and hook it to Dan’s TV, so he heads over to disconnect it from his rig and bring it over. The guys get it all hooked up, drinks are poured, seats are taken, lights are out and it is time for the movie. What a good movie, but another one that really pisses me off! Just like when I watch Black Hawk Down. It just makes me so angry that “we” can let those things happen. Well I won’t bring politics into this or rant about my views on the subject. I worried a little about Tracey watching the movie but he says he is fine. (after serving in the front lines with the Marines in the Panama conflict, some things can trigger PTSD) After the movie, we chat for just a little while and then call it a night.
Because we have no cell service up here at the Homestead (one of the very few gripes I have with ATT) I have Kerri’s phone with me for the weekend. I text my sister Leslie to see how close they are to arriving. Last I heard they were leaving Tucson around 7:30pm. You see my niece’s boyfriend plays football for ARMY and Leslie wanted to watch the game J I don’t hear back from her so we head to bed. I am tired but wondering about my sister’s arrival so I doze off and on. Tracey, he knows he will see them tomorrow so he is off to sleep pretty quickly. About 1 am I hear and then see my sister and brother in law pulling in. I had already texted them their site number so they knew where to pull in to. I pull on some sweatpants and grab a flashlight (so I can see that mean picnic table) and head over to say hello. They look tired and worn out so we just chat for a few minutes. Larry says he is off to bed as he can’t keep his eyes open. Leslie asks if I want her to walk me home LOL. I laugh and mumble something about having my picnic table repellent. She doesn’t get it but is too tired to care. I make it back unscathed and crawl into bed. Not sure Tracey knew I was gone!
Day 3 starts out as usual for us when we are on vacation. I guess we are not really morning people ha-ha. We lounge around, shower, have our coffee and tea, and chat. (told ya we never seem to run out of things to talk about) As we step outside the RV we are greeted by several residents. There are a few ATVs and UTVs parked just out in front of RV and people milling around. Today at the homestead they are putting on a poker run.
It is a one dollar bet per hand and you can bet up to 5 hands. There will be 4 stops that you will draw cards at, with the 5th being drawn first when you place your bets. Scott and Kerri are going in their rhino, Leslie and Larry are not ready but will leave behind us in their RZR and Dan and Nancy will ride in our RZR with us. There are probably about 15 vehicles in the group with leave with. We are given a map and told the course is marked with arrows and pink polka dot ribbons. Ok, so how hard could it be right? All of that is followed by a story from one year when someone made a wrong turn and got lost and ended up spending the night out on the mountain somewhere!! Yikes! I think we need to travel with the group J Anyone could bet, it was not per vehicle, so at each stop Dan and I get out and go draw our cards. We laugh and joke with others as we pull our cards and realize we got nothingL The “back 40” as it is called by the residents is a beautiful wooded area. The trail is fairly well marked, the vehicle 2 in front of us misses one turn but quickly gets us back on track. There are wildflowers galore, cows and deer around a few turns, and some trees so close together I wasn’t sure we were going to fit! We end up with really crappy hands but had so much fun. We get back to camp and turn in our “hands” so they can be recorded and a winner picked later. There is a hot dog lunch being served in the corral for $2 and a silent auction going on. We have decided that we really don’t want hot dogs since we had them yesterday (probably a good thing since they ran out!) But we do go check out the silent auction items.
The corral is filled to the brim with items to bid on. Most bidding starts at 25 cents, there are a few items with higher minimums. I see items so old I remember my grandmother having ones just like it! Most of the stuff isn’t anything we are interested in but we do find some fun odd ball kind of things and place some bids. Periodically we venture back in the corral to check on our bids. In the meantime, we cook up some burgers and sit under Dan and Nancy’s awning once again having lunch. Not only are they centrally located, they have all the shade and in this case they are located just out the gate of the corral, so it makes for easier checking on bids time J After lunch we play a few games of Fumiko and enjoy the weather and each other’s company. At 4pm all bidding is closed and you pick up the items you were the winning bid on and get in line to pay and take your stuff. We have each won a few things. Tracey got a tote full of old CDs, somewhere around 100 to 125 CDs for $3. CDs like Merle Haggard, Sons of the Pioneers, Boxcar Willie, The Kingston Trio, etc. Lots of oldies but goodies along with many blank CDs we can use for Miss C’s skate music. He also won on a set of old prints of Navy planes and ships, he says for his new garage LOL. Leslie and Larry won several things, but can’t disclose as some were for gifts of someone who might be reading this.
At one point the men folk decide they are going out for a ride. Larry wants Leslie to go so she leaves the game to get ready. I don’t really want to go, so Tracey hymns and haas about going. He pokes his head in the trailer and asks Dan if he wants to go, no he has a bit of a headache and is laying down. Scott had already retreated to his RV for a nap. I tell Tracey I will go if he wants me to but he declines. A group of them leave on ride and we resume our game playing. After a few more hands, we all decide we have had enough and want to retreat to our own RVs and rest and relax.
At 7pm there is a cake walk in the lodge that we are going to check out. Not everyone wants to go and that is okay. We are having our traditional camping happy hour after the cake walk, so some stay behind to prepared their appetizers to share. OMG the cake walk was hilarious. It was a cross between a cake walk and musical chairs. There were 24 chairs in a circle. You paid 25 cents to sit in a chair. After everyone dropped their quarter in the basket, the music started. While the music played you walked the circle, or danced around, or jumped up and down or did whatever you wanted to do. Once the music stopped you found a chair to sit in, and they pulled a number from a can. If that number was on your chair, you won that round and pulled a number from another can. This second number corresponded to a cake or dessert and that was your prize. You then had the choice to take the cake/dessert you just won, donate it to the dinner the next night, or donate it to be enjoyed on the patio after the cake walk was over. We have played quite a few rounds, when Tracey says during the music that he wants to get chair 22 this time, his lucky number. As the music stops we are not near 22 and Tracey tries to squeeze through the people but when he gets there someone else is already sitting in that chair. And wouldn’t you know it the number drawn is 22!! He says “See I told you!” I suggest we leave the circle and give some other people a turn. And wouldn’t you know it, 22 was drawn like 3 out of the next 4 times!! Guess we should have stayed. At one point while we were dancing around in the middle of the circle a little old lady is playing. We saw her and her husband here last time we were here. Very sweet older couple. She must be late 80’s early 90’s, still gets around really well. Anyway she is in the circle with us but more or less just standing around while the music plays. Tracey takes a hold of her hand and begins to dance with her and even twirls her around a few times. She has the biggest grin on her face and is really enjoying herself. When the music stops and we begin to take a seat, she squeezes herself in between Tracey and I and takes a seat. As they are shuffling the numbers in the can, I lean over to her and say “hey are you hitting on my man?” To which her face is consumed with a smile and she replies “yes, yes I guess I am”.
This event is a fundraiser for the Homestead, so in addition to this fun game they are auctioning off 4 special cakes. We spy a beautiful German chocolate cake and decide we will bid on it. They auction off a cake every 5-7 rounds of the cake walk game. We watch a coconut cake go for $70 WOW. It was a bidding war between either friends or a mother and daughter, totally fun to watch. I guess the German chocolate is the best as they are saving that one for last. I had told Tracey earlier that he should just open the bid with $100 for the German Chocolate cake, it is a donation after all, now I am not sure that is enough! Tracey and Scott are back in the circle dancing and being silly. I have decided I need to head back and get our appetizers going since we are already 15 minutes passed the time we said we would be back. I leave but the rest stay.
Later as we are enjoying our happy hour drinks and appetizers with our friends and family and new friends, Tracey and Scott return from the cake walk. As Tracey gets out of the rhino, I notice no cake. “What you didn’t win your cake?” Tracey says “How much would you let me pay for that cake?” everyone chuckles and I said “I thought we said $100” Tracey tells us that was not even in the ballpark. He said the bidding started at $100 but not by him, and he stopped bidding at $200 and was still not in the ballpark. That cake ended up going for, are you ready for this, $400!!
Day 4 at the Homestead. We have decided to take a ride to Jake’s peak today, up to the towers and see if the lady bugs are out. All in all there are 8 rigs going. Larry and Leslie are leading and since we have the other radio we are hanging in the back. The ride is pretty tame which I like. We have to wait for cows to cross the road, we see deer and huge birds and even a rattle snake. We make it to the peak and everyone gets out and climbs the hill to check out the lady bugs, there were thousands of them. There is one young boy with us, Tristan and he is having a ball catching the lady bugs. We all take lots of pictures of the amazing scenery. We load back up and head just down the hill for a drink and snack break. There are ruins, remnants of a house. The fireplace is still standing. Just up the hill from that is what appears like it could have been a tennis court. Seems like an odd thing to be out here. There is a tank, and the guys decide it is a cistern for collecting water. That perhaps the “court” collected the water and directed it into the tank. But there are poles, one on each side that definitely make it look like a tennis court. Maybe it did double duty! Not too far from that down a small hill is a square rusted big tank of some sort. After exploring around the area we all gather at the fireplace for a group pic. We took a few with someone behind a camera and not in the picture and then Tracey worked his selfie magic and got us all in one shot. We have a drink and snack before all loading back up. We have decided that we will hang all the way in the back, it is easy to watch everyone when they are in front of us. About ¾ of the way back we stop and regroup. Part of the group is going up a steep rough hill to an old mine shaft. The 2 rhinos don’t want to go as it is a little rough for them, Dan is having some issues with the dust so between that and us having a radio, we split off with the group heading back to camp. 5 head to the mine and 3 are heading back to camp. We make it all the way back to our RV and call out to Leslie on the radio. She comes in loud and clear, and they are at the mine shaft!!! Distance of at least 10 miles. Way to go Rugged Radio!!!
Once every one is back and cleaned up a bit, we grab our drinks and tablecloths and a game and head into the corral. There is a social hour then dinner provided by the Homestead. We pick out our tables and cop a squat. We break out the rummikub game again. They are selling raffle tickets to gift baskets, so we buy some and drop the tickets in a few baskets that look interesting. While we are playing our game a woman from the table next to ours offers us some shrimp and cocktail sauce. She says they have way too much and she doesn’t want it to go to waste. How neighborly. There are some announcements made and a prayer said to bless our meal. Tables are called by names that are taped to them. When yours is called you may get in line for dinner. It was the same when we were here for July 4th only this time before each name she calls she gives you some history or a story about the area. I very much enjoyed learning all the new facts. We are served chicken, white or dark meat, potato sald, coleslaw, green beans and tea or lemonade. Of course I chose white meat, and I mean to tell you the breast was as big as half a chicken, no way could I eat it all. It was all very tasty. After dinner they called out the winners of the gift baskets. I think there were about 15 in all. The highlight of the night was when a lady won a basket that had kid stuff in it, and walked over and gave it to Tristan!! They also announced the winners of the poker run and the ATV/UTV games, who were awarded money prizes. We did not go to the ATV/UTV games as they were held while we were riding out to Jake’s Peak. From the stories I think we will be sure to check them out next time! I heard something about a blindfold and a cone course???
After dinner we are served ice cream sundaes along with a slice of cake (ones that were donated from last night’s cake walk) Tracey is not feeling well so he retreats to the RV. The rest of us finish dessert and clean up. We head back to drop all our stuff off and then we are planning to head to the lodge for the talent show and karaoke. I sit with Tracey for a while waiting for the others before heading to the talent show. ( I had told Dan and Nancy to stop on their way and I would walk up with them) My sister taps on the door and comes in asking if I am going, I tell her yes just waiting on Dan and Nancy. She heads up to the lodge. Shortly thereafter Dan and Nancy show up, I ask Tracey if he is sure he doesn’t want to go. He chooses to stay behind L Dan, Nancy, and I head up to the lodge. The talent show has already started. We quietly walk in as there is an act going on. Dan and Nancy are in front of me and and head to the back of the room. As I enter the room I am looking around for the others in our group, and as I glance slightly right I see Dewey, not Dewey, yes Dewey, not Dewey. WOW he is dressed as a drag queen!! SO awesome! He smiles and I think blushes a bit and then scolds me for missing his first number LOL. I spy my sister across the room and my brother in law in the back row. I venture to the back of the room and stand watching the acts. There were some good ones and some bad ones but I think fun was had by all. David the young son of some friends of my sisters played his guitar and the crowd loved him. But I have to say Dewey stole the show! Not only did he perform several songs, he MC’d the show with costume changes included. But ending the evening with one of my favorite and of course Cher’s songs Believe, it just doesn’t get any better. Thanks Dewey for an awesome evening!
Once the talent show was over many folks headed out for the night. Chairs were removed and tables brought in. Karaoke to start shortly. We decided to hang around for a little while as we really enjoyed it last time. This time proved to not be the same so we left after a short time. Everyone back and to bed.
On our last day everyone is keeping to themselves getting packed up and ready to head home. My sister comes by to say goodbye and we end up chatting for a bit. While the 3 of us are chatting Jim stops by. (he is the grounds keeper, maintenance, jack of all trades kinda guy here at the Homestead) I offer up some pumpkin spice muffins as we all chat. Jim is filling us in on the winter weather, how many folks will stay this year, only 18, and tries to persuade us to come back for Octoberfest. Oh how we wish LOL. We tell him we are interested in checking out the Jamboree in May, so that might be our next time. Then he dangles a hard to resist proverbial carrot, he is cooking Thanksgiving dinner here at the homestead and he really thinks we need to be there. Ahhhh something to consider.
Dan and Nancy had said they were heading out at 10, Scott and Kerri and Tracey and I planned for noon, and Leslie and Larry are leaving now. We all say our goodbyes and get back to packing up and ready to go.
Leslie and Larry did pull out then, followed by our new friends Brian and the other Dan. Dan and Nancy were running later than they wanted but head out just before 11.
Jim has already moved our trailers back to the parking area near us so we can get hooked back up. Tracey pulls out and goes around to the trailer area, while I stay and pick up the jack pads. Where the rear jack kept going into the ground I am having a little trouble getting the last one out. So I leave it there and head over to be ground guidance for Tracey. We get the trailer hooked up with a little help from Jim. I was off ever so slightly in my ground guidance and Jim helped me push the trailer down onto the ball. Trailer is secured and Tracey pulls forward toward our campsite so we can finish loading. We get the RZR loaded and tied down. Gas cans are loaded and secured. So it is now I tell him I need something like a big long straight screwdriver to pry the last jack pad out of the ground. He walks over to the hole where I already pulled about 5 pads from and says “oh you couldn’t get the last few” “there is only one left and I couldn’t get it” I say. “No there are still two down there” he says as he tugs on the pad. I am thinking he is crazy, for one there is only one down there and secondly if I couldn’t pull it out what makes him think he can! After he tugs a few times he finds me a pair of water pump pliers. I take them to the hole and pull on the jack pad, and yep you guessed it there was another down below that! We were really deep in the ground.
Since we have now lost all our yellow jack pads, half to Chris and half in Flagstaff, we had already talked about just ordering new ones. So Tracey takes Scott’s orange jack pads plus the three orange ones we had over to Scott. We are loaded, locked and ready to roll. Scott and Kerri and backing up to their trailer. While we wait for them we pop into the office to say our goodbyes. Kay is there, but on the outside of the counter chatting. We chat briefly, and say goodbye. Dewey comes out from behind the counter and gives us hugs. We thank them again for everything. Hard to say goodbye to this beautiful place and these wonderful people.
We pull out and are on our way. We roll passed Dan and Nancy a few hours later as they had stopped at a rest area for a quick lunch. Scott and Kerri and Tracey and I stop at Love’s in Benson. Our plan was to get fuel and have some lunch. We decide we don’t need fuel so we enjoy some lunch together in our RV, some yummy chicken corn chowder. (yes I can make a few yummy things) As we pass Casa Grande we think of our new friend Debby we made while on the poker run. About this time, I receive a text from Kerri stating there is an accident ahead on I-10. I ask if she knows where. She gives a non-descript answer. By this time, we are not that far from our turn off and we see nothing. I tell her where we are and that we see no accident nor any slowing. She texts back that they have exited the freeway to avoid it, and are going the back way to Chandler. We arrive home with no problems and no signs of any problems, so not sure what that was all about J
We are partially unloaded, tired and sitting down to relax. Thanks for joining us, we had a great time. Check back soon for the next adventure!