WANDERING WITH THE WRIGHTS

March 6, 2019

Even though we started this adventure of living full-time in our motorhome in the middle of the summer we keep track of mileage by the calendar year.  We traveled 6,559 miles in the motorhome and 10,380 in the Jeep in 2018.  Little less in 2018 than 2017 but not by much.

We have been in Benson, AZ since October.  We have left several times for a few weeks but for the most part have been here.  We really enjoy this park and the people.

So for you younger people reading this this was our New Year's Eve Party.  Us old folks still have some spunk :-)

Wonderful band - great music

Dancing the night away - must be honest we didn't make it til midnight

January 2nd we woke up to snow!!  Very unusual for it to snow enough to stick on the ground.  The good news is it was all gone by the afternoon.  Love the Arizona sunshine

It did make the desert beautiful

The next day was the SKP Saguaro RV Park's food drive for the local Benson food bank

Those volunteering at the event wore Polar Bear T shirts

The results from the fund raiser were $6,030.00 in cash and 2,589 pounds of food
Pretty awesome for this small RV Community

There is actually a drink called the Polar Bear and it was served at no cost for anyone contributing to the food bank -
Who Knew?

The Tucson High School Steel Drum Band came and played for us - they were fabulous

Really nice young people.  Stayed around after the concert and answered all of our questions.
If you look closely you can see the the notes on the inside of the drum so they can know what area to hit

We visited the Benson Historical Society.  Doesn't look like much from the outside but it was full of fascinating displays and the docent was excellent

When they were looking for buildings in town to house the Historical Society they found this old store set up just as you see it in this exact location when they moved all of the "stuff" piled in front of it out of the way.

The old Benson jail

These Mastodon bones were found very close to Benson

At this RV Park you can get on a list and eventually get a site with a life long lease.  After almost three years we got ours in late January.  All the lots are the same size but some are just bare lots and some have what is called a casita.  No two casita are the same.  This is ours.  It is 270 sq feet which is pretty much the maximum size allowed here in the park.  Our casita has a small living room, small office area and a full bath.  The lot and casita are ours for as long as we want it.  We pay a minimal yearly fee to the park.  The nice thing about it is that we can come anytime we want and stay as long as we want.  The other nice thing is if any of our northern friends or family want to come to AZ in the winter we can have guests for up to two weeks at a time. We can not live or even spend the night in the casita ourselves but we can have guests stay.  Ours needed some work so in the last 6-weeks we (mainly Jerry) has painted the ceilings, all three rooms, laid a new floor with the help of friends and put in all new baseboards.  There is more we want to do to it but that is it for now.

Front of the Casita - large window is the living room

Side and back of casita

Here is Vincent - age 2  

Teddy decked out for Valentines Day

 

One morning about 2 weeks ago we had more snow about 3".  Schools were closed.  It was all gone by lunchtime!!  It is very unusual to have the amount of snow here that they have had this year.  Actually snowed 3 different times with the 3" being the most.  It is beautiful in the mountains and since it is always gone by that afternoon or at the most the next day we don't mind at all

View out our front window

How about that another Vincent picture slipped in  - LOL

This is our godson Garrett receiving special training in the Army in Georgia.  Please remember all the men and woman who do so much to protect us.

 Several years ago while camping in Yuma, AZ we crossed the Mexican border and went into a town called Algadones.  The first time we went over Jerry got glasses at a very reduced price and last year we were brave enough to get our teeth cleaned.  Algadones is frequented by many many American and Canadians.  It is a very lively town with street vendors, restaurants, dentist, optical shops, barbers, hearing aid stores, etc.  Oh and Pharmacies.  Since we are now in Benson and will probably spend most winter's out here we decided going to Algadones was to far and wanted to find something closer.  We have gotten to know a retired dentist from Lake Zurich.  He and another man were going across into Naco, Mexico to go to the dentist and so we made an appointment for cleanings and rode with them.  We park on the US side and walk across the border.  This town was very different as it is not full of all the tourists although we saw some Americans going for dental appointments but it was much quieter - didn't really see many people at all.

This was the view of the border wall from right outside the dentist office

The dentist office.  Very clean, friendly staff, spoke English and we were all happy with our care.
At home we pay $112 for a cleaning.  In Naco we paid $45.

Border wall with barbed wire and you can see a border patrol viewing tower.  Needless to say we talked to the US Border Patrol before we went over and our way back and they all told us we were safe.  Didn't recommend going over at night but during the day no problem.  And for what it is worth I asked 4 different border patrol if they thought we needed a wall - they were not near each other when asked - and they all said we needed the wall.

One of the border patrol men took our picture right before we crossed back into the US

 So we have had a wonderful winter here.  We have gotten involved in some volunteer work and we both enjoy that.  Jerry is on the Landscape and Architectural Committees and I am on the Welcome and Rules Committee.  They have movies every Wednesday night in the clubhouse and at least once a week sometimes twice they have other entertainment.  Frank Sinatra was here two weeks ago and Neil Diamond will be here Friday.  They do a great job of offering different types of entertainment.  

But all good things must come to an end - even if only til next winter so we will be leaving Benson on the 15th.

We are taking an around about way to get back to Illinois for the summer.  We will be doing two mission projects.  One in Alabama and one at the Billy Graham Center in North Carolina.  We will be visiting friends and some family and should be back in IL around June 1st.  We will be there for four months!!  Can't wait to see my mom and the grandkids and of course all of our friends and family.