Traveling-U.S.A

April 11 Travelog

Tuesday April 4. We are enjoying our stay at the North Ranch SKP park in Congress AZ. We organized our camping supplies so we can just take off in the truck on a back road or on a river kayaking trip and stay overnight away from the 5th wheel. In the evening we went to the town of Wickenburg and stopped at the Elk’s Club for a drink. The people were so very friendly and even bought us a second round. We went to dinner to an all you can eat Taco bar.

Wednesday we took off in the truck across back roads 30 miles to Alamo Lake. We had a cold front come thru and it was very windy so we didn’t stay overnight but we had a lovely lunch from our supplies overlooking the lake. We decided to try the paved road out and visited a friend “MartyO” in Salome. Back at Wickenburg we stopped at Safeway, got a rotisserie chicken and had a great dinner at home.

Thursday we went to Prescott. Toured a lovely museum “Sharlot Hall”. It was founded by a lady named Sharlot Hall in 1928 and contained the Territorial Governor’s Mansion. She was a rancher, author and appointed Territorial Historian and traveled all over AZ. She was an electoral voter and was instrumental in getting AZ as a separate state when the federal government wanted to bring both NM and AZ into the union as one state. We had a nice lunch at the Palace Saloon where a movie Junior Bonner with Steve McQueen was filmed back in the 60’s. Back at the Ranch we had a chicken and biscuit dinner served at the club house.

Friday we did a back road trip to a wildlife refuge northeast of Wickenburg. Ended up at a deadend in a riverbed. The scenery was great and it was a wild ride at times. Back in Wickenburg we went to the Elk’s lodge for a drink then toured the Desert Cabarellos Museum near by. It turned out to be a gem. We didn’t get to see it all so they gave us free tickets to return to see the rest of it. Back at the Elk’s we had their fish fry dinner and danced a few dances. The band left a lot to be desired so didn’t stay long.

Saturday was Bob’s birthday so it was a day of rest. The park had a yard sale and we drove around and bought things we thought we needed.

Sunday we drove back roads again and toured Stanton. It is the home of the Lost Dutchman Mining Association. It was an old gold mining town. “Rich Hill” was where a couple of prospectors found eggs size gold nuggets and the rush was on. Still is. People can join for $3500 and camp and prospect the area. We saw a couple of men panning in a small creek. Next weekend they will have an outing where all gather, work together to mine jointly and split the profits. I guess it is featured on Outdoor and PBS according to my son-in-law. Back at the “Ranch” it was ice cream social time and they celebrated April birthday’s with cake. Bob and about 10 others were honored.

Monday we got up super early, boarded a bus and took off with fellow SKP’s and went to Laughlin, NV for a day of gambling at the Flamingo. It cost $5 and we were given a free coupon for the buffet. We broke even on the gambling. I lost $20 and Bob won $40 coming ahead by $20. We didn’t stay all day inside. We walked the boardwalk, took a boat ride on the river and was told about the history of Laughlin. Went to the mall and a few other casinos then went to an rv dealership and dreamed of a new motor home.

Tuesday we moved to Sedona and the rest of the story will be told on next travelog.

Donna and Bob