Tucson, AZ

3 Replies

The 607 Combat Air Command Davis-Monthan AFB, Tucson, AZ

The 607 Combat Air Command
Davis-Monthan AFB, Tucson, AZ

We’ve made our way up to Tucson and settled in at Davis Monthan AFB. We plan on being here for a few days or so before we head home.

Davis Monthan AFB has to be one of the nicest military bases in the country. It has a resort style camping area that has won “campground of the year” award many times and is always in the top running, probably one the top three, out of over 200 military camp and recreational sites in the United States each year. There are 198 sites; most are pull-through sites with full hookups: electric, water and sewer. The commissary is to die for with some of the nicest produce I ever seen and the Base Exchange is huge.

Our second night here they had a Valentine’s Day dance for the RVer’s. About 150 or more showed up ready to party: They served heavy hors d’ oeuvres; a live deejay was on station, and door prizes to boot, all for $2 a person. The appetizers were something else: Swedish meatballs the size of tennis balls, chicken strips, ham, turkey, rolls, cold meats, vegetable and cheese trays, assorted fruit, and of course, chocolate. Did I mention $2 a person? There is also free coffee and YFI in the office 24/7. I like this free thing a lot.

The base has been in operation since 1925 and started out as a big open desert field. It was named in honor of World War I pilots Lieutenants Samuel Davis and Oscar Monthan both Tucson natives. The base is also called the “Bone Yard” and used for storage of thousands of aircraft that could be re-activated if needed.

This is going to be our last post for a couple of months or so. We plan on putting the Wowie in storage and heading home next week. Aside from the usual doctor appointments, the dentist, taxes (you name it) Patricia has jury duty in early April. We’ve been gone nine months now and looking forward to seeing old friends and faces in our desert hideaway at Pebble Creek…

Old Tucson Studios

Leave a reply

Old Tucson Studios

Old Tucson Studios

We visited the Old Tucson Studios, about a 15 mile drive from downtown Tucson for something to do. Originally built in 1938 for the movie Arizona, starring William Holden and Jean Arthur, workers built more than 50 buildings in 40 days for the movie set. Many of those same structures are still standing today.
After the movie Arizona the filming of The Bells of St. Mary’s in 1945, starring Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman was one of more than 300 movies, westerns and TV shows that were filmed there including The Last Round-Up (1947) with Gene Autry and Winchester ’73 (1950) with James Stewart and The Last Outpost with Ronald Reagan. The 1950s saw the filming of Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold (1958), and Cimarron (1959) among many others.
The price for admission with a discount was $13.95 and worth every penny. There are several venues, shows and lectures given that are definitely worth the time to see. There are fights, shootouts, and stunts by actors giving you insight how old western movies were made. If you are anywhere near Tucson we highly recommend Old Tucson as a must see. It makes for a fun day…

Fort Stockton, Texas

Leave a reply

There's always room for one more...

There’s always room for one more…

We are on the move again. We spent the night in Fort Stockton and saw one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen. The next morning we headed out early with nothing but road and open road in front of us not knowing exactly where we were going. An hour and a half out I noticed a ABS COMM FAILURE warning on the systems computer followed by TRANS COMM FAILURE warning. Then the Coup de grace – ENGINE COMM FAILURE. We lost all power doing 70mph in a 22,000 pound tin box! I managed to get over to the side of the highway and out of harms way. There we sat looking at each other. What happened? Not in those exact words but you get the idea. After several minutes of just sitting there doing nothing, I tried to restart the engine. The gages, there are many, were jumping back and forth kind of saying pick me, pick me. Nothing, no turn over, no nothing. Luckily I took out special insurance for RVs and called Coach-Net. I called them and they asked if we were safe (yes) and where we were. Where am I? I’m in the middle of the F-ing desert with nothing but open spaces as far as the eye can see and I’m damn lucky I have a cell signal because over the next ridge there isn’t any. After a lively discussion that was being recorded for quality assurance, we figured out where we were. I was told then that there would be a tow truck out in 2 to 4 hours. What? You’re kidding, right? I have a life! The clock is ticking. It’s the forth quarter and no time outs. After venting, the operator said they would do their best to get someone out ASAP. Yeah, right.

So now what? Good question. I decided to fire up the hot spot and get on line and ask on a reliable RV network web site if anyone had experienced this type of problem before. It didn’t take long before I started getting recommendations from a number of people. Everyone thought it was probably the alternator not supplying power to the electrical system. Two people recommended wedging something up under the battery booster control button drawing power from the house batteries and by-passing the alternator altogether. We had been sitting there for about four hours and had not even seen a highway patrol car or anything.

Coach Net called and said a tow truck was on its way and they were about 120 miles away en route. Okay, what in the hell can I wedge up under this booster thing and see if I can start this bad boy? I took a thick piece of cardboard and folded it over and proceeded to jam it under the booster control button. I then turned on the ignition and KABOOM! The engine started and came to life as if nothing had happened.

There is a lot more to the story but I’ll summarize it to give you an idea as to the end results and perhaps fill in the details at a later time. The nearest Cummins dealer was 170 miles away. We spent two days in their parking lot. I had a complete service done and they spent 12 hours trouble shooting to find the problem. It turned out to be a loose wire in the ignition system cable. All is well and we are once again happy campers on the road of life – the end.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Progreso, Mexico

Leave a reply

Progreso, Mexico

Progreso, Mexico

Just a short update: We ran into Progreso, Mexico, to say we’ve “been there, done that”. Progreso is a typical Mexican boarder town with plenty of poor kids begging for anything they can get their hands on. The streets are crowded with vendors selling typical junk unless you are there for prescriptions, dental work or eye glasses. A lot of retirees swear by the savings and dental work done there but personally I’ll play it safe and stay within the U.S. for anything that I need regarding my health. After lunch we headed back across the notorious Rio Grande River and headed home.

On Thursday the resort had an open house and lunch, a wonderful brisket of beef sandwich that our neighbors cooked for twelve hours. The open house is an opportunity for a lot or homeowners to show off their decorative and design skills. It’s also an opportunity to sell your lot or home if you are so inclined. One couple sold EVERYTHING all at once: RV lot, motor home and tow vehicle. They are having a house built here and will live in one of the rental casitas for three or so months while their new home is being built. RV lots go anywhere from $48,000 to $120,000 depending on the size of the bunkhouse or casitas and what was done to it. The coach houses go for about $220,000 or so.

Weather is great here, around 74 yesterday and 81 today. I have to admit I feel sorry for those poor souls up north and the Midwest. Buuurrr… Glad I’m not there.

Mission, Texas

2 Replies

The Grapefruit City, Mission, TX. Home of Tom Landry former Dallas Cowboys FB Coach

The Grapefruit City, Mission, TX. Home of Tom Landry former Dallas Cowboys FB Coach

We arrived in Mission, Texas, and have joined thousands of “Winter Texans” from across the U.S. and Canada. The draw here is the weather. The area is a tropical, sunny area situated along the Rio Grand River, bordering Mexico with an average winter temperature of 76 degrees. There are over 300 RV parks in the region to accommodate all of us old retired types. The city is the “home of the Ruby Red Grapefruit” commonly grown in the area. Vegetables and fruit are grown here year round because of the rich soil and warm climate.

We are staying at the Retama Village, a luxury RV, age-restricted community with a mixture of deeded RV lots, “port houses” with attached RV ports or garages, and single family winter homes, not to mention three heated pools, fitness center, craft center, outdoor kitchen, lounge, library, billiards room, game rooms theater, laundry and much more. Lot owners rent their lots out when not in use. The owner of the lot we are renting owns 3 lots and uses the income to support his retirement life style. Not a bad idea considering the problems renting a house out. Not a lot can go wrong and not a lot to worry about renting out a lot. That’s a lot of lots in one sentence…We’ll be here through February and then have to move down the road to another RV resort.

Tom Landry, the former coach of the Dallas Cowboys, was born and raised, and played high school football here in Mission. Landry was one of the great all-time coaches in football.

We ran over to South Padre Island the day before yesterday for a quick visit and had lunch at a place called Dirty Al’s. The restaurant is right on the Gulf of Mexico, and Dirty Al and crew go out each day and catch all their own sea food which is sold to large crowds of loyal customers from near and far.

South Padre Island is a high rise strip of hotels and condominiums surrounded by beautiful beaches. Not sure I’d want to be here during Spring Break.

Horseshoe Bay

1 Reply

Welcome and bring money...

Welcome and bring money…

We headed up to Horseshoe Bay on LBJ Lake to explore the area before we head south to Mission. The lake is huge, almost 7,000 acres and about 90 feet deep. Its man made, a Corps of Engineers damn project built back in the 50’s and is feed from the Colorado River. Horseshoe Bay is a resort town with a population of about 6,000 in the off season. During the summer months the town doubles in size with Texans from around the state. The Marriott has a plush resort and spa in the heart of town. Bring your wallet if you come. We stayed at a place called Sunset RV Resort right on the lake. The weather was not pleasant but the skies were clear and the view gorgeous.

We were fairly close to Austin and decided to take a look at the Del Webb’s retirement community Texas style. We hear about this community from friends and decided to take a look. I’ve never been a big fan of Del Webb’s construction so the home models did nothing for us but the landscape and facilities in the resort were first-class.

I think we’ll be back up this way in February sometime and would like to spend a little more time exploring Horseshoe Bay and the surrounding area.

Pam Tillis Show

Leave a reply

Merry Christmas from Kerrville, TX

Merry Christmas from Kerrville, TX

We went to a Pam Tillis dinner show last Saturday night held in the “old red barn” here at Buckhorn Lake Resort. Pam Tillis is the daughter of legendary country singer Mel Tillis. She is one of six children, born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, and a former Grammy winner. Pam said jokingly the six children are the reason her father still stutters. Pam taught herself to play guitar and made her singing debut on the Grand Ole Opry at age 8. At 16 she was involved in a car accident and underwent years of facial reconstruction surgery because of the accident. The music was upbeat and old school according to many who attended. I gave it a so-so…

Interesting, one of the RV couples at our table told us about a llama ranch they sold a couple of years ago. The woman said the llamas protect sheep and other live stock and can sense when another animal is in stress. She went on to explain how llamas will actually kill coyotes and dogs that attack sheep by kicking them to death. “I didn’t know that…”

The owners of Buckhorn, Dee and Kathy Christensen, took us out to dinner the night before last. Dee is the one who broke his finger trying pickle ball for the first time. Long story short: Dee was a very successful commercial real estate developer. They retired and traveled all over the country in an RV. Seeing how resorts were run, good and bad, mostly bad, they decided to build one. They bought the raw land in Kerrville, and “voila”, Buckhorn Lake Resort at a cost of about 3.5 million. For their next venture they are off to Charleston, SC, in February to finalize the purchase of a 57’ yacht in which they plan on living aboard and sailing the Caribbean (for starters) while one of the older kids runs Buckhorn. Now for a funny: Patricia asked at dinner if they were from Salt Lake based on something Kathy said. Dee said they were. Patricia said innocently, “oh are you Mormon”? Dee looking down at his glass of wine said “yeah, right”. You had to be there…

Christmas has come and gone and we are now looking forward to New Years Eve here with a dinner show and live band to bring in the New Year. We passed on the Christmas pot-luck dinner and opted for one of the red heads fabulous dinners with all the trimmings.

Our next posting will be from our new digs in Mission, Texas, once we get settled in and organized. Happy New Year to all . . .

Christmas Trees and a Return to The Alamo

Leave a reply

Kerrville's town square Christmas tree. Merry Christmas to all . . .

Kerrville’s town square Christmas tree. Merry Christmas to all . . .

Okay, I seem to be losing track of time either because we are too busy or I’m just getting senile. We visited Kerrville’s town square a couple of nights ago to observe the Christmas trees entered in the decorating contest held each year between different businesses in town and to also see the town’s nativity scene. I doubt anyone would even consider removing the nativity scene here; probably wouldn’t be very healthy if you get my drift. There’s something about Texas . . .

Yesterday we decided to re-visit the Alamo in downtown San Antonio. We were here three years ago (there’s that time flying by thing again) and really enjoyed our visit. Interestingly, the Alamo receives no Federal or State funds to operate. The entire operation is supported by donations and volunteers. The Daughters of the Republic of Texas is a sorority association dedicated to preserving the memory of Texas pioneer families and soldiers of the Republic of Texas. The Daughters of the Republic of Texas is best known for its role as caretakers of The Alamo which they actually own. Membership is limited to descendants of ancestors who “rendered loyal service for “Texas” prior to 1846, the year the Republic (an independent country) ceased to exist and Texas handed over authority to its territories to the United States.

Texas has had six flags fly over it over its territories making claim to its boundaries over the course of history: Spain, France, Mexico, The Confederacy, The Republic of Texas, and the United States. Rich in history and spirit, the state’s motto, “Remember the Alamo” and “Don’t Mess with Texas” are fitting to describe the attitude and swagger displayed by most Texans.

San Antonio’s famous and touristy River Walk is only a couple of blocks away from the Alamo. Filled with outdoor cafés, restaurants, boutiques and souvenir shops, it’s an escape from the typical shopping mall or bay window store fronts associated with most large cities. The Alamo and the River Walk make for a fun day of sight seeing and adventure with something new and interesting to learn even if you’ve been here before. We like the area so much we’ve even talked about moving here if we decided to settle down at some point. I am hoping that doesn’t happen for a long time…

Christmas Gift Excange Party

Leave a reply

thWe went to a Christmas gift exchange party last night. There were maybe 65 or 70 people there. The gift exchange works like this: Everyone brings a gift valued at around $10. The wrapped gifts are placed on a table and everyone draws a number. When your number is called you can go up and select a gift from the table or you can take another person’s gift and give them your number allowing them to either go up to the table and select another gift or take someone else’s gift giving them the number. . . The secret is to watch closely as people open their gifts. If you see one you want, just keep track of where that person is sitting and BABBA-BOOM, take their gift. Patricia opted for a large box on the table and got, packed in a lot of Styrofoam, a pair of pliers from Lowe’s. I took another person’s gift (she wasn’t happy) but to my despair someone took it from me. A gentleman opted to take Patricia’s pliers (yeah) and she picked from the table a box of Baklava. Five minutes later a lady next to us took the Baklava, and yes we were very disappointed. The exchange process went on for about two hours with a lot of laughs and smiles all around. We ended up with two nice bottles of wine, one in a handmade wine sack (damn, should have keep the pliers).

Everyone also brought appetizers and BYOB. Boy, some of these old people can really pound ‘em down if you know what I mean. Someone even went to the trouble of making (of all things) penguins out of black olives, cream cheese and bits of carrots. Now that’s creative… Anyway, a good time was had my all, and we got home just in time to watch boxing. Life is good…

Camp Verde, TX

Leave a reply

We took a drive over to Camp Verde for lunch and a look-see yesterday. We heard about the old general store and post office from other RVers so thought we’d go and see it for ourselves,

A Brief History of the Store…
Nestled in the Texas Hill Country on the banks of the Verde Creek, the Store was first established in 1857. The present day two story stone structure of Southern Colonial design was constructed after a flood swept away the original building around 1900. Originally, the General Store was established to offer goods and services to the soldiers stationed at Fort Verde – a mile to the west. By the time the US Army deactivated the Fort, Camp Verde General Store and Post Office had become an important part of the community – servicing the growing number of pioneer ranchers in the area.

The Camel Experiment…
In 1854, Secretary of War Jefferson Davis (who later became President of the Confederacy) petitioned Congress to appropriate $30,000 for the Army to experiment with using camels for supply transport and other military purposes. With the support of President Pierce, the bill was subsequently approved by Congress on March 3, 1855. Major Henry Wayne and Lieutenant David Porter were put in command of securing the camels from the Middle East. The first shipment from Egypt (of nine swift dromedaries, twenty burden camels, plus four others of mixed breed) arrived via naval supply ship in April of 1856.

U.S. Army Camel 1856

U.S. Army Camel 1856

New World…
It was late August of 1856 when this first group of camels finally arrived at Fort Camp Verde. The second load of 40 animals arrived during the spring of 1857. By the time the Civil War had begun, there were over 50 camels in residence at the Fort. During the winter of 1861, the Fort was captured by the Confederacy. When the Fort was recaptured by the US Government in 1865, there were more than 100 camels.
The animals passed every test of their ability – carrying heavier loads and traveling longer distances than the mules and horses used in the area. However, the War Department sorely needed funds for Reconstruction after the Civil War. The Fort was deactivated in 1869 – ending the experiment. While a fire destroyed the buildings of nearby Fort Camp Verde in 1910, the courage and bold spirit of the Great Camel Experiment survives to this day.

Camp Verde Today…
Camp Verde evokes a feeling of stepping back in time to a place full of history, yet is welcoming and new. Half-way into it’s second century, this unique store occupies a special setting along the Verde Creek – offering the community that surrounds it a link to the past and a place for today.

Since the fall of 2003, the Camp Verde General Store has been undergoing a renaissance. Carefully and conscientiously, the proprietors have brought a new spirit to this historically important area of the Texas Hill Country. In 2012, a beautiful new restaurant was added to the site. Everywhere, there are distinct touches that add to the historical setting of this venue. The spectacular outdoor patios are perfect for a gathering with friends and family. The front porch invites you to “sit a spell” and enjoy the day. The shade trees surrounding the store have offered shelter to visitors for hundreds of years. Great care has been taken to honor the past while continuing to embrace the future of this remarkable place. Note: This is a reprint from one of many historical sites on the web about Camp Verde and the Army’s experiment with camels.