WANDERING WITH THE WRIGHTS

November 20, 2020

We left our summer base in Park City, IL on October 30th (same time we left last year but thankfully this year it hadn't snowed or formed ice all over our motorhome).  We spent 3 nights in Peoria.  We were blessed to park in some friends driveway that we met on a mission project years ago.  It was so fund to catch up with Judith and Reed and so appreciated their hospitaity.

On the 31st we celebrated our godson, Isaac Mains wedding to Aria.  It was a beautiful day all around.   

This cute sign greeted us as we entered the church

The bride and groom - as you can see they were very conscious and respectful of Covid (they had already delayed their wedding from June to October and still had to cut the guest list in third)

Our dear friends Laura and Eric Main - the parents of the groom

While in Peoria we visited with my sister-in-law Anita and my brother Brian - had a wonderful meal with our nephew Keenan, and Kathy's daughter and son-in-law.

We then headed on our way to our winter hangout in Benson, AZ  The first night we stopped at a huge Bass Pro in Columbia, MO.  They allow campers to spend the night and we were very grateful as they even provided a water-view.

We belong to a group called Harvest Hosts which offers you some unique places to spend the night - we spent the night at one of those in Hutchinson, KS at an underground salt mine called Strataca.  Getting there was interesting though.  The GPS told us to turn right so Jerry was in the right lane when we saw the mine on the left but it was to late so we turned right - it ended up being a narrow dirt road - YIKES!! We were fortunate that a short way down we found a business that allowed us to turn around.  Crossed the four lanes of traffic to get to the mine and missed the turn into the parking lot - so went several miles around and finally made it!!  As it turned out it was well worth all the trouble the next morning when we toured the mine.  This particular mine does mostly road salt and their largest customer is the City of Chicago.  We took an elevator 650 feet below ground (90 second trip) for a fascinating tour.  The salt was deposited over 250 million years ago.

Pretty narrow tunnels we rode through on a tram

Salt hanging from the roof of the tunnel

I know you have heard the adage what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas - 

I believe that really originated in the mines as they say what goes down in a mine stays in the mine.

They have actually learned a lot as they find the trash as to what the men ate over the many decades the mine has been used.  

Like I said what goes down in the mine stays there - LOL

So all the facts about the salt and getting to ride through the tunnels was very interesting and we learned a lot - another thing we learned is that many business now store items in these old abandoned mines.  The mines maintain a year round temperature and humidity ideal for storing items.  Floods can not penetrate the thick walls of salt - tornadoes can't touch anything that far below ground.

Also store lots of old equipment so that someday in the future engineers, computer wizzes and everyday humans can see what it was like in the old days.  Hollywood stores reels and reels of film and costumes.

We also spent a few nights in Tucumcari, NM which was on Old Route 66 - it was fun driving around and seeing a lot of the old motels, restaurants, gift shops, etc.

As I have mentioned before Teddy doesn't like the motorhome that much when we are driving but he eventually settles down and sleeps the miles away.

Almost 1,900 miles since leaving Park City, IL we arrive at our winter base on 11/11 in Benson, AZ about 45 miles south of Tucson.  Here we have the blue building on the left called a casita so we have a little more elbow room than we have in the motorhome.

When driving through Kansas we heard something hit the windshield but found no damage until we had been here in Benson for a few days - a nice crack.  The entire windshield will need to be replaced and we are working on that.

Like everywhere else in the world our park is pretty well shutdown including our beautiful clubhouse where many meetings and much entertainment normally takes place.  Fortunately we have this beautiful park and they have purchased a new sound system so meetings can be held outside.  They are hoping to be able to start showing some movies down the road also.

We had to drive into Tucson to take care of some banking from my mother's trust last Friday and went by the Pima, AZ air museum and what they call the bone yard.  Many - many planes just sitting to be used for parts.  They are thousands - kinda sad actually.

Even though much of the park is closed the cactus are still blooming

and the road runners are still running

and Jerry is back with his popcorn machine - so all is right with the world

As I mentioned in my last post we lost our mom in September - this luminary was set outside, along with all the other deceased members, at Victory Lakes where she had lived for 5 years.  They also had a beautiful, zoomed memorial service, where each resident who had passed had their name read aloud.  Such a beautiful tribute and so appreciate that they thought to take a picture of mom's luminary and send it to me.  I also want to thank all of you who sent beautiful cards and expressed sympathy on the loss of mom - they were truly appreciated and made us happy to know how much she was loved by so many and your thoughts and prayers for us as we do life without her.

Normally there is a large Thanksgiving meal here in the clubhouse and then on Friday everyone goes back for leftovers - obviously not this year so Jerry and I have decided to cookout on the grill and totally break tradition - I know we could do turkey on the grill but we have a tiny grill so filet mignon won out - a treat we rarely partake in.

So as I end this blog we want to wish each of you a wonderful, happy, and healthy Thanksgiving.  If you can't do what you want or what is normal for you hang in there - we are all praying next year will find us all much more back to normal.

If you want to send us any mail we will be here in AZ until March or April - you can still ALWAYS send mail to our address in SD but we only receive it every two to three weeks so if you want to send mail here it is 600 E Saguaro Drive Lot #9  Benson, AZ 85702

Love and Blessings, Carol and Jerry            Teddy too

They have changed this program since I used it and can't figure out how to do spell check so sorry - but at least I got pictures in this time!!