GORGEOUS DRIVE…TONTO NATIONAL FOREST

Monday, March 16 – We pulled-out of Mesa, Arizona, early this morning after a month enjoying the wonderful weather. We've sure enjoyed one of the best winters, weather-wise, here in the Southwest part of the U.S.A. It's already getting HOT in the area, climbing into the 90's during the afternoon.

With a destination of Datil, NM, in mind, we headed up the mountain on AZ-87 on our way to Payson, AZ. This road took us through Tonto National Forest. Man-O-Man, what a climb. That is the most strenuous climb our Ford-350 has been put through. There were times we were climbing at only 30 mph.

We are sure glad we chose to go over the mountains to Payson. This is truly a scenic route, one of the best we've experienced. Wish we would have planned a week's stay in this area! We then cruised along the mountain tops (the Mogollon Rim) on US-60 to New Mexico. What a change in geographic scenery. This part of New Mexico appears significantly differently from the areas we've explored several times in the past. It's very beautiful too!

Some of the mountains in this area still have snow on them.

Just outside Payson, Doug Laning (http://missadventuretravels.blogspot.com/) and his dog, Yuma, passed us on the highway. We would have stopped for a short chat if he had seen us or stopped for a break, but we eventually lost sight of him. Darn! We met Doug and Yuma in Quartzsite, AZ, this past January at the Blogger Fest.

We slowed down in Pie, NM, hoping to stop at Pie-O-Neer for a piece of their famous pie. Unfortunately, they were closed. We weren’t surprised. We sometimes felt like the only vehicle on the road.

We are in Eagle Nest RV Park located in Datil, NM. It is just a scattering of RV sites behind the Eagle Nest Restaurant. Great for a few nights or over-night…nothing fancy. Gravel/dirt streets and sites. All the sites are FHU, 30 amp sites. The sites are haphazardly set with no apparent plan. You pick out a site and pay in the restaurant. Most of the sites are occupied by workers. By the looks of their trucks, they appear to be highway construction crews.

Looking right.

Looking left.

We are only here for the night. We are visiting the Very Large Array (VLA), 20 miles down the road, first thing tomorrow morning. Stop back to check out these huge satellite dishes. Maybe they heard life out there in another galaxy?

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

MEETING NEW FRIENDS AND ENJOYING OLD FRIENDS

Thursday, March 12 – We were off to Goodyear, Arizona, this morning for our last Cleveland Indian Spring Training baseball game. They are playing last year's American League Champion, the Kansas City Royals.

A gorgeous day for a game.

We again arrived at the ball field early enough to roam around and enjoy the excitement of pre-season baseball. We had pretty nice seats down the first base foul line. We grabbed a couple hot dogs (You can't go to the ball field and not have a dog.), some peanuts, and a couple beverages and sat back to enjoy the game.

The game started out so promising with our first batter hitting a triple.

It didn't take long for Marsha's phone to start beeping. We had told the family we were attending the game, so they were watching on their local TV channels to see if they could catch a glimpse of us. Evidently we were right in line with the camera that keeps the pitcher in view because we were constantly on the TV screen. They even zoomed in on us a time or two and caught Paul shelling peanuts and feeding his face....ha ha! Masha’s dad called us twice while we were at the game telling us how many times he keeps seeing us. Our daughter even had a friend call her to tell her she was watching us on TV. JEESH.......stardom!

Unfortunately, the score didn't end as we would have hoped. They are still playing many new guys to establish who to keep in the majors and who to delegate to the lower leagues. I suppose we should have delayed our visit closer to the end of spring training in hopes of seeing more of the starters. Maybe so, but we've enjoyed the games and are making preparations after a month in the Phoenix area to head toward New Mexico and then Texas.

On Tuesday, we had the opportunity to meet for the first time Ingrid and Al, Live, Laugh, RV, and dear friends, Pam and John, Oh, The Places They Go.  We met at Handlebar Pub and Grill in Apache Junction, a really neat pub. We had a great time with lots of talk, laughter and delicious food. Both of these couples love to hike and enjoy the outdoors. We have so much in common.

F: Ingrid, Al, Pam; B: Marsha, Paul, John.

We meet up again with Pam and John for dinner on Wednesday. We intended to show them the famous Organ Stop Pizza, home of the huge mighty Wurlitzer Pipe Organ, but upon arriving we saw a huge line of people waiting to get in. Yikes, that didn't look like something we wanted to do, so we headed down the road. We eventually stopped at a nice Mexican Cantina for dinner and to visit for awhile.

Marsha’s back is giving her fits again. She is taking muscle relaxers and laying on an ice pack. We will be laying low the next few days hoping the spams slow down.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

TEXAS BEATS OHIO

Sunday, March 8 – We joined Janice and Dave, Ready To Go Full Time RVing,  today to attend the Cleveland Indians vs Texas Rangers spring baseball game at Surprise, Arizona. This is the Ranger's home field which they share with the Kansas City Royals. It's a very nice stadium and part of the 15 team Cactus League here in the Phoenix area.

It was a beautiful day for baseball with temperatures in the 80's. Man was the sun intense. Luckily it was not beating down on our faces. We sat on the third baseline today. We usually sit on the first baseline but luckily not today or the sun would have hit us head on and baked us for sure!

Starting pitcher….T.J. House

Carolos Santana at the plate.

It was a good game and came down to the last out in the 9^th inning. With a runner on third, the score tied 7-7, two outs, full count, the Texas Ranger batter got a hit and won the game. Dang! It was fun and we enjoyed visiting with Janice and Dave.

Janice, Dave, Marsha, Paul and the photobomber in the background. lol

The stadium has the best huge posters on their walls.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!