REFLECTING

My life amazes me every day. I will tell you about what I have been up to but it will be mostly pictures since it is the images I remember. Not so much the day, time or place.

I temporarily left the WINs and went to the Escapees Escapade in Tucson, AZ from March 8-13.  I got to park with the Escapee Boomers group which was a lot of fun. They are one of many special interest BOF (birds of a feather) groups you can be a part of. The Escapade had lots educational classes on RV maintenance and life on the road, as well as being a great time overall.

I took an excursion with the group to the old west town of Mescal, AZ which is in the desert and mostly forgotten. The set was originally built to film the movie "Arizona". It would go on to be the location for TV shows and movies like: "The Young Riders", Michael Landon's "Little House on the Prairie", "Tombstone", "The Quick and the Dead", and "Buffalo Soldiers" with Danny Glover.  The sole resident of Mescal is the Sheriff for almost 20 years, Frank Brown.  He is witty and has met so many of the western movie greats.

He said that Val Kilmer told him he regretted his "I'm your Huckleberry" line in Tombstone when facing down Johnny Ringo.  He said that no one ever comes up to him anymore to say hello, they always say "I'm your Huckleberry.

The OK Correl in the film "Tombstone"

We also stopped at the boot hill cemetery in in Tombstone, AZ, after visiting Tombstone

I went to a lot of jam sessions but only played with my friends.  I am terrible. LOL!

Dave Mckinna (Boomer) and Dave Bloom (WIN) trying their best to teach me. 

My new uke

Jean and I made dinner for our friends that had been so helpful.  I was in charge of the decorating.   

Jerry, Dave, Jean and Dan

We were roughing it.

On another adventure I had a chance to go to a rodeo in February.

  

I needed something to go with my pirate costume so my friend Gene carved this beautiful knife for me.  

As there is never a dull moment, my next adventure was a romp on the White Sands National Monument. It was 16 miles southweast of Alamogordo, New Mexico on our way to the dance rally in Bandera, TX.  President Hoover created the White Sands National Monument in 1939.  The monument is completely surrounded by military installations so at times the monument area is closed.  We were lucky that we had a chance to play.  We were in Alamogordo from Mary 17 - 21.

Sledding the dunes!

Looks like snow doesn't it?  Actually it is gypsum  The gypsum sand have engulfed 275 square miles of desert, creating the world's largest gypsum dune field.  You can rent the sand saucers at the visitors center and go sledding on the dunes.  Gypsum that makes up white sands starts out as clear, translucent sand grains. As the wind bounces the sand grains along the ground, they collide and scratch each other.  The scratches change the way light reflects off the grains, making the sand appear white.

Instead of staying with the WIN group, Jean and I went to El Paso, TX, since we had to get to the dance rally early to meet our friend, Gene.

While there was I surprised to get a call from my cousin, Kevin.  It turned out that he lived about 10 minutes from were we were parked at the Sam's Club. 

 

The next post will be about the 10 day dance rally I attended after leaving the dunes. What fun!