LAST DAYS AT THE RANCH: DIARY OF A WORK DAY

Since we, Ron, and Rosanna arrived on the ranch Wednesday night, it has been transformed.  The work crew is composed of six – five seniors (Rosanna, me, Odel, and Art and Suzan, the RV’ers who have been property sitting for the past month), and 30-year old Ron.  What a congenial group!  The energy and good humor of everyone in the group has made this tough project rewarding and fun – I sort of imagine this is how pioneers or homesteaders felt out on the range or prairie, everyone bringing their strengths to the effort, then sitting around swapping stories at night. 

On Thursday, after burying Farah the sheep, we all started sorting and hauling,  There was way too much “stuff” to get a clear picture of the scope of the effort, so we just started filling bags and boxes: stuff yet to move to California; books to be donated to the local library (boxes and boxes!); useful stuff to give to Gene, who runs the local flea market; stuff that was being sold or given to friends or neighbors; and broken or otherwise useless stuff to go to the local dump (a BIG category). 

Friday was more of the same: refrigerators and deep freezers were emptied and defrosted; shelves were emptied; cupboards were cleaned out; piles were sorted, pickups were loaded, and goods were hauled off.  A friend of Rosanna’s arrived with a trailer to carry away furniture and the piano, and we began to see real progress.  By the end of the day Friday, sitting at the dinner table in Art and Suzan’s RV, we made a plan for Saturday – beginning with breakfast, to use up the eggs in Rosanna’s refrigerator!  I put some of the pinto beans we found in the barn freezer in the crockpot overnight, and we all agreed on breakfast at 8:30 am Saturday.

Loading up after breakfast.	Odel with a load for the dump.

What an excellent beginning to the day!  We enjoyed scrambled eggs, pinto beans, salsa, avocado and freshly cooked tortillas sitting in the morning sun. It was so much fun that we settled on an early (4 pm) dinner so we could dine outside again. Then we got back to the business of packing, hauling and cleaning. We filled one pickup with trash for the dump, and Odel and Ron took off for Elfrieda.

Art and Suzan ready to head to Gene’s.	Ron almost lost a thumb to this cage!

Suzan and Art’s pickup was loaded for a trip to Gene’s flea market; they took off as Odel and Ron came home with a load of hay for the four remaining farm animals.  Once they unloaded the hay, we filled the pickup with another load for Gene and away went the guys. 

Rosanna and I just kept loading and sorting bags and boxes; every so often, I took a break to work on the dish (Southwest Cornbread Pudding) I was putting into the crockpot for dinner.  Just as I finished up in the kitchen, Rosanna knocked on the door saying I had to “come and look”.   This is what I saw – and I’m posting this photo for Donna, for Sydney and Frank, for Auntie Carol, for Joy and Greg, all the people who know what the barn used to look like (borderline hoarders)! 

By the time all the trucks arrived back at the ranch (early afternoon), Rosanna and I were taking a break in the sunshine, and soon our four co-workers joined us for iced tea and beer.  Then it was back to work, but relaxed… a little work here, a little there.  We cleaned up an old table from the barn and set it with a tablecloth and some of Rosanna’s old dishes and wine glasses, then converged with food, wine, and good appetites. 

A toast to the ranch!  A toast to the workers!  A toast to a great day!

The old barn table cleaned up pretty well!	Another good meal with good folks.

A BUSY WEEK AND A BIG SURPRISE – TUCSON

We had our week so carefully planned.

On Monday, we’d do all the “get ready to go after three weeks in one site” stuff. 

Tuesday morning, we’d pull out early to deliver Scoopy to Revived Auto Detailing for a day and a half beauty treatment.  We’d spend the day at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and check into a motel on the east side of town, near Sabino Canyon, overnight.

Wednesday, we’d hike in Sabino Canyon in the morning, pick Scoopy up at 1 pm and skedaddle on over to Catalina State Park.  Arriving in early afternoon, mid-week, we’d be likely to snag a W/E site by the end of the day, where we’d spend the next week or so hiking and visiting with our friends Alex and Ellen.  Odel made a tee-time for he and Alex for Friday.

Sounds great, eh?

On Monday, I emailed Ellen to find out how things looked at Catalina State Park; had they had any delay getting a site?  An overnight in dry camping?  Her reply, which arrive quickly, mentioned the word “reservations”.  Reservations??  At Catalina???

In a quickly flurry of emails, we were surprised to learn that Arizona State Parks, first-come, first-served for all the time we have been traveling, are now on a reservation system!  Our carefully-crafted plan was useless; all the empty sites Ellen could see from her window were reserved.  A quick phone call to a reservations agent confirmed what we found on the online website: all sites, with the exception of one night here or there, were reserved for the next 10 days.

Wow, did that change our plans!   The rest of Monday afternoon was spent in hasty research and preparation to leave, and by the end of the day we had recovered from our big surprise. 

Tuesday morning, we had Scoopy in the hands of Revived Auto Detailing at 9 am, and we were at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum just in time to powerwalk down to the 10 am Raptor Free-Flight show (with a short stop to photograph and admire the barn owl, as well as the docent who patiently exhibited the bird on her outstretched arm).  The morning free-flight show features several different kinds of raptors; the afternoon ( 2 pm) show features a family of Harris’s hawks.  We stayed around long enough to see both shows, enjoying the wonderful trails, exhibits, and lunch in the few hours between the raptor shows.  No visitor to Tucson should miss this incredible attraction, and one visit definitely is not enough.  I could write reams about our visit, but the real message is: GO!

We were pretty well wiped out by the end of the afternoon, and just managed to beat Tucson’s commute traffic as we drove all the way from the west side to the east to check into to our motel, Comfort Inn at Sabino Canyon.  This very unassuming motel is tucked into the end of an uninspiring strip mall, but we had done our research and the place lived up to reviews we read: very friendly staff, very clean rooms, and an appealing interior design that erased the image of our strip mall location.  The sparkling hot tub and pool felt SO GOOD after our day on the trails of the museum.  A very good Mexican dinner followed, and we were sound asleep by 9 pm in a very comfortable king-sized bed.

Wednesday morning began just as we’d planned, with a hike at Sabino Canyon (preceded by a quite good, full breakfast at the Comfort Inn, included in our overnight stay).  A phone call to Revived confirmed that Scoopy would be ready to pick up at 1 pm, and we proceeded with Plan B: fill the rig with groceries, then head down for one last visit to Paws and Hooves Ranch, where Rosanna and her nephew Ron would arrive that night for several days of post-move cleanup work.

When I say fill the rig with groceries, I mean some major shopping.  The nearest good-sized grocery stores to the ranch are at least 45 minutes away.  The nearest restaurant is a café that isn’t open for dinner; dining out is not the easy option – particularly for vegetarians Rosanna and Ron.  Since Rosanna no longer had a working kitchen (everything had been moved to California), we turned Scoopy into a food truck.

In two hours of shopping (Costco and Sunflower Market), we packed Jules to the ceiling with fresh produce, wine, frozen seafood, bread, cheese – everything that we needed for breakfast, lunch and dinner for four ranch hands for 4-5 days.  It took us a good half hour to transfer everything to Scoopy, and we left with bags of groceries still unpacked to beat the traffic out of town.

A hike, marathon shopping, and a 2+ hour drive… we were so happy to pull into Paws and Hooves Ranch.  Rosanna’s property sitters, Suzan and Art (part of our Escapee Boomers RV club), welcomed us with hugs, then left us to set up near the barn where we could plug into a 15 amp outlet to keep our batteries topped off (Suzan and Art being in the RV site).  I put together some vegetable soup for dinner, and we carted food and wine over to the house to greet Rosanna and Ron when they arrived at 9 pm.

So, we’re back at the ranch for one last visit.  The weather is very good, we’re a congenial group, and there is PLENTY of work to be done.  Yesterday, as we were burying Farah – an elderly sheep who died the day before we arrived – in heavy, rocky soil, dust covered and sweaty, Rosanna made a wry comment about how we owed all the fun to Catalina shutting us out with their new reservations policy.  You know what?  We’re glad we’ve been diverted back to Cochise County and one last visit!

BACK IN TUCSON, TAKING IT EASY

When I flew back to Tucson on Thursday from Sacramento, Odel and I had plans to visit the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, one of the highlights of Tucson, on Friday.  Instead, I awoke late and moved around like a slug until almost noon.  I don’t know if it was the grey skies or the high activity level of the prior week, but doing nothing held great appeal.  With the exception of a trip to the grocery store and a short walk in the desert, that was exactly what we did.

I awoke reinvigorated on Saturday, but didn’t want to head to the museum on a weekend.  Instead, I planned a day in town: a farmer’s market, a visit to one of Tucson’s great independent bookstores, a stop at Trader Joe’s, and lunch at Chopped, a favorite Tucson restaurant.  Odel was happy to sign on as driver/accomplice.

Farmers markets in winter?  Yep, here in sunny Arizona.  We decided to visit Tucson’s newest farmers market (Farmers Market at Maynard’s Kitchen), in the middle of downtown Tucson at the old train depot.  We had a plan: walk the entire circuit once before making any purchases.  This worked as well as it always does – in other words, not at all!  :)

The selection at the farmers market was very, very good.  Though there weren’t many booths, there was great variety – and we immediately got hung up at a booth selling savory pies of all descriptions.  Most of the pies featured chicken, but the one that caught my eye was made with Copper River Salmon from Alaska.  Since we had paused for a moment, the vendor quickly engaged us in conversation and offered samples.  Oh, boy, that salmon pie was fantastic.  Since I doubted we would run into the same thing for less money just around the corner, we made our purchase of the frozen pie, which the vendor obligingly kept in his freezer until we were ready to leave the market.

After that, it was all caution to the winds.  I bought a delicious roasted vegetable puff pastry for breakfast; Odel bought some sort of custard-y sweet.  Cranberry walnut bread went into the bag.  Then we came to the vegetables, all locally grown, and we added kale and kohlrabi to the mix.  Two guys had a business selling beautiful, unusual beans packaged with herbs as soup mixes and we snapped up a couple packets when they gave us a taste from their crockpot.  We passed on tea, salsas, homemade tortillas, ceviche, grass fed beef and books about raising chickens at home; no fresh roasted coffee beans for us, or homemade biscotti (unusual restraint).  It was a great little market!

When I was in Sacramento, the bill for our lunch in the café at the Crocker Art Museum was presented in a book, The Pat Conroy Cookbook.  If you have read Pat Conroy’s books, you know that food plays a prominent role, usually seafood from the Carolinas.  The cookbook featured Conroy’s reminiscences (real or fictional, I don’t know) introducing his favorite recipes, and I wanted it!

Tucson has a wonderful independent bookstore, Bookman’s, with two or three locations.  They sell both new and used books (their used book selection is huge), so I set out to see whether I could find the cookbook there.  The answer was “no”… but I had a good time browsing through the cookbook section anyway.  Maybe I’ll end up buying it retail eventually, but I’ll give myself a chance to forget about it first.  I really DON’T need another cookbook…

Then we were off to Trader Joe’s and Chopped, which has now changed their name to Choice Greens.  They still specialize in (huge) custom mixed salads, just as good as I remembered (I ordered spring greens with asparagus, peas, candied walnuts, dried cranberries, feta cheese and balsamic vinaigrette, a yummy mix of crunch, sweet, and salty).

Back home, we spent an hour or two chatting with Day and David, a couple we first met in Oregon a few years ago when they hopped up from a picnic table and introduced themselves (they knew us from this blog).  They left a note on our door the other day; they are here at Justin’s.  David is a self-described “foodie”, a fan of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives so, as the sun dropped and the cool breeze sent us each to our own rigs, we made a plan to share breakfast at Coyote Pause, a local favorite, on Monday. 

Today we took a long, looping hike through the desert, out to the Ironwood Picnic Area in Tucson Mountain Park.  This tree (an Ironwood) is said to be 250+ years old, and is by far the largest tree in the area.  With it’s gnarled trunk, scaly bark, and the welcome shade it casts on the sturdy concrete picnic table, it is one of our favorite goals when hiking from Justin’s or Desert Trails.

Back home, Odel tossed a load of wash in our new washer – both new appliances are working perfectly.  Tonight: the last two hours of series 2 of Downton Abbey.  Boo-hoo!  Sundays won’t be the same without Maggie Smith.

A LAID-BACK WEEK IN TUCSON

We’ve had an unusually calm week here at Justin’s.  The only “chore” on the agenda was to test the washer and dryer to make sure they worked – and they do.  So, we’ve managed a daily hike in the desert, Odel’s been out on the links, we saw “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” (mixed feelings), visited Safeway. 

And we met Brenda and David Bott, of Outside Our Bubble.  I first connected with the Botts a few years back, when I followed a link about a RV’ers cruise they were putting together, and I have read their blog off and on since then… and they have done the same.  We planned a meet-up in Quartzsite in January 2011 (didn’t work out) and again in January 2012 (didn’t work out).  The third time was charmed, and we spent a few very pleasant hours talking with Brenda and David on Superbowl Sunday (early in the day, of course). 

Brenda and David are two decades younger than Odel and I, and work via the internet.  David is an avid conversationalist who spoke freely about his concerns for the future (their own, and the country’s), and it was very interesting to listen to the viewpoint of a person different from me in many ways.  In the RV world, unless we are with close friends, we usually avoid political topics, but as we sat in the desert sunshine, we felt our way into usually difficult discussions with respect and interest.  “Civil discourse” is the term than came to mind, and the couple of hours we spent together gave me interesting food for thought.  It was a very enjoyable meeting.  Thanks for the visit, Botts. 

With just a little more effort…	… we got David to pose for a photo.

Other than that… oh, let’s see, I *did* back up my blogs and do my usual monthly computer maintenance: virus scan, malware scan, and backups of both computers, my least favorite job other than doing our taxes!  I mention this only as a reminder to those of you who intend to back up your computers, but procrastinate… :)

Tomorrow morning, very early, Odel will drop me off at the airport for a week-long stay in Sacramento.  He has at least a couple days of golf planned; I’ll be visiting my family and checking out Rosanna’s new place.  See you when I get back.

WE HIT THE BIG CITY: TUCSON, AZ

After pulling out of Paws and Hooves Ranch on Wednesday (for the last time) and settling in for an overnight at Tucson’s Pima County fairgrounds (click here to read our recent review), we enlisted Jeanie and Ray to come along to check out a new-to-us Mexican seafood restaurant, Mariscos Chihuahua (the one on Grande Avenue).   We’d seen the menu online; it included both ceviche and pulpo – memories of Panama - and my mouth watered. 

Our opinion: delicious!  Oh, that ceviche tostada was outstanding… yum.  It was great to spend the evening catching up with Jeanie and Ray over margaritas and fresh seafood.

Next day, we were up and on our way early, driving through rush hour traffic to Lance’s RV Service on the north side of town.  Our service list had grown – besides installation of the new Splendide washer and dryer, we needed a small adjustment to the wood trim on our big slide and decided to have the generator serviced.  Leaving Scoopy in Lance’s hands, we took off for a busy day. 

First stop?  Late breakfast at Coyote Pause Cafe, a cozy restaurant near the entrance to Tucson Mountain Park.  Then we headed off west once again, to Justin’s Diamond J RV park (click here to read our review and see photos).  Justin’s, owned by “Doc” Justin and his wife, Christine, is our favorite commercial RV park in the Tucson area, and we had called earlier in the week to see if we could snag one of their unusually large sites on short notice. 

Christine, a native of Viet Nam, is one of the most friendly, energetic and personable RV park managers we’ve met – and she has a great memory.  We exchanged hugs, and she confirmed that she’d reserved a spacious site for us.  The prior renters were leaving as we went to check it out – we’d arrived at the perfect time. 

I was surprised to realize we hadn’t been at Justin’s since September of 2008, over three years ago.  The landscaping has matured, and Doc and Christine have continued to improve their park.  Their unusually large spaces are particularly welcome this time of year, when every site is occupied.

Once we secured the site, we were off again, this time to the Tucson Mountain district of Saguaro National Park.  On the welcome advice of a volunteer at headquarters, off we went to the Signal Hill picnic area for the short hike to view 1,000 year old petroglyphs… which stretched into a pleasant, 3 1/2 mile loop hike back to the parking area.

By then, it was 1:30, and the work on Scoopy was slated for completion by 2 pm.  When we arrived just after the hour, we found three RV techs inside, grunting and exclaiming as they tried to get the dryer onto its shelf above the washing machine.  The three worked well together; they even kept their senses of humor as they alternately applied brains and brawn to the problem.  It took longer than anticipated, but we pulled out of their parking lot at 4 pm, just before the worst of rush hour – whew.

(While service work is on my mind… if you don’t already know about the RV Service Reviews website, be sure to check it out the next time you need service work: RVserviceReviews.com.   Reviews are written by RV’ers – be sure to add your own experiences, too, good or bad.  It is a great resource for those of us who are likely to need service or repairs in an unfamiliar area.)

By the time we settled in to our site at Justin’s, breakfast was a dim memory.  With wine in hand, Odel skimmed through the owner’s manuals for the new washer and dryer (light-years beyond the basic, hard-working Kenmore W/D we had replaced) while I boiled pasta and nuked a frozen container of Odel’s fantastic Italian sausage pasta sauce.  Oh, the joy of homemade, frozen food and a microwave!  :)

Odel tossed a load of laundry into the new washer on Friday morning, and we entertained ourselves watching our tumbling laundry through the glass door of our first ever front loading washing machine.  It appears to use fraction of the water we needed in our old top-loader.  And the dryer… tumble, tumble, tumble – STOP… and then tumble in the other direction.  It changed direction every couple of minutes; at first, I wondered if it was broken.  Will that keep our sheets from rolling themselves into a giant, wrinkled ball in the dryer?

So we are happily settled in our site here at Justin’s for the next couple weeks.  I’m heading off an a plane again next week, to Sacramento; Odel picked Tucson as his home while I am gone.  Justin’s offers great desert hiking right out the back of the park, and Odel has sussed out good deals on the city golf courses.  Life is good in the beautiful Sonoran desert of Arizona.

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY FOR RV’ERS IN HISTORIC COCHISE COUNTY, ARIZONA

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you’ve read many times about our stays with my cousin, Rosanna, and her mom, my Auntie Carol, on their little ranch (Paws and Hooves) near the intersection of Hwy 191 and Hwy 181 in historic Cochise County, Arizona.  Many of Arizona’s most well known historic sites are in Cochise County, including Tombstone, Ft. Bowie, Slaughter Ranch, Cochise’s Stronghold – along with Chiricahua National Monument, Kartchner Caverns State Park, birding hotspots like the Whitewater Draw and Ramsey Canyon.  Ghost towns, jeep trails, and photo opportunities abound.

If you read Al’s blog, The Bayfield Bunch, you are acquainted with the area.  Jeanie and Ray’s place, where Al and Kelly frequently ranch-sit, is about 30 minutes south of Paws and Hooves.  Al and Kelly first met Rosanna and Carol three years ago; since then, they have enjoyed a Jeep trip or two and a visit from time to time.  I can’t remember all of our friends who have become Rosanna’s and Carol’s friends, too: Doug and JoAnn, Bev and JC, and of course Al and Kelly.

It is time for Rosanna and Carol to move on, after many years in Arizona.  The ponies have moved on to a good home; Kahlua (the big horse) and Gem (the young, wiggly dog) will go to their new homes soon.  All the domestic animals (cats, birds, and a dog or two or four) will make the move in February – which leaves a couple outdoor cats, 2 goats and 3 sheep as the ranch residents.

Rosanna would like to keep a human presence on the ranch after she moves and as it is being shown to potential buyers.  For ranch-sitters, there is little work to be done – feed the goats and sheep morning and night, pet and feed/water the cats, keep the water barrels topped off, put out the trash once a week, unlock and lock the gate.  Rosanna will come and go on the property from time to time.

The level RV site (top photo) is packed dirt, next to a 30 amp electric hookup and good water pumped from Rosanna’s well. Gray water can be run onto the ground. Verizon service is good (phones and air cards; we use our MiFi here).  The ranch is big dog friendly (completely fenced) and secure; your pets are welcome (Luna used to love to visit here).   General Delivery mail can be sent to Pearce (15 miles northwest) or Elfrieda (20 miles south).  Put out a bird feeder and you’ll have plenty of visitors; hawks patrol the open skies.

Great views of wide open spaces, the Chiricahua mountains to the east and the Dragoons to the west.  Plenty of sunshine! Nights here are quiet and dark, with stars spangled across the big sky.  Besides the proximity to so many recreational and historic sites, Benson, Bisbee, Douglas and Willcox are all an hour’s drive away (it’s a distance to the grocery store!), more or less; Tucson is about and hour and a half distant.

This is a good opportunity for a couple or a solo RV'er who enjoys outdoor recreation, peace and quiet and would like a free site from which to explore the many interesting places in Cochise County in exchange for minimal responsibilities.  Springtime is a great time to visit Cochise County, and Rosanna is looking for property sitters for March, April, and possibly beyond.  If you think you might be interested in spending a month here (or longer), or would like more information, you can email Rosanna at rosanna.lippe@gmail.com. I told her I would put the word out to my readers; tell her Laurie sent you!

GOODBYE TO PANAMA, HELLO TO THE AMERICAN DESERT SOUTHWEST

When we settled in here at Paws and Hooves ranch and I sat down to chat with Auntie Carol, she asked me a great question: what was my favorite aspect of my trip to Panama? A place? An experience?

After some thought, I realized what I appreciated MOST about my Panama adventure was the sense of renewal generated by stepping outside my usual routine. New sights, new experiences, new foods, a different language… pushing the edge of the envelope just a little, in a very pleasant way.  It was refreshing, invigorating, and those feelings of renewal carried over into my “normal” life as a renewed appreciation for my daily experience.

It’s been fun to document the trip, and I particularly enjoyed selecting photos for the blog.  Nothing like a photo to bring memories into focus.  These posts will help me remember why I want to go back!

So, what didn’t I like? 

I didn’t talk much about the heat and humidity in Panama City.  Even in the dry season, the humidity was very high and, combined with the heat, it was oppressive.  We were damp with sweat the morning we hiked to the top on Ancon Hill, and found walking in the mid-day sunshine very draining (a hat is a must; an umbrella even better).  Much nicer to stay in the shade, walk after sunset, or find a breeze (not found often). 

Though the heat was not as intense in Bocas, the humidity was still very high. When we arrived in dryer Boquete (with the perfect dry season climate!) and I opened my suitcase, every article of clothing was damp.  In the humid lowlands, towels never dried; I had to hang nylon pants in front of a fan to dry them, which still took 12 hours.

I didn’t talk about the bugs.  On our entire trip, I saw but one mosquito – yet we all collected a multitude of bites from bugs unseen.  The itching was minor, but annoying.  To avoid chemical bug repellents, I relied on lightweight, long pants and long sleeved shirts, but still came home with a collect of small red welts on ankles, knees, and wrists.

And I few things I want to remember and others visitors might find useful:

Although it didn’t make any difference to me, most places outside of Panama City did not accept credit cards, including many restaurants.  I used a debit card to withdraw cash from ATM’s (which were very easy to find); my bank reimburses ATM fees so it was a cheap and easy way to get money.  Since Panama uses U.S. currency, you don’t have to try to spend all of an exotic currency before you head home… very handy.

We took cabs all over.  It helps to have an idea before hand about what the cost should be; the staff at our various lodgings were helpful in this regard.  Negotiate the price before you enter the cab… and if your group doesn’t fill the taxi, don’t be too surprised if the driver picks up another fare along the way.

I didn’t take a computer, but both my friends had laptops and it was generally easy to find WiFi (quality varied).  Becky also had an aircard that cost $30/month and worked everywhere.

I DID take my Kindle, and was glad to have a case with a built-in light.  As is not uncommon in rented lodgings, there was rarely a good bedside light or a comfortable chair next to a reading light. 

I brought a small flashlight and was glad to have it.  I hate to turn on a bright light at night when I want to move around a room, or to check the time… and I also hate to swing my bare feet out onto the floor in a tropical climate without peering around a bit first.

I mentioned the bugs.  On my next visit, I’ll plan to bring a good “natural” repellent product.  And don’t forget plenty of sunscreen and lightweight, sun-protective clothing.

And, of course, you don’t want to forget to bring your good, adventurous friends!

Now, back to regularly scheduled programming as we prepare to head to Tucson for our new washer and dryer.  The excitement never ends!  :)