March 4, 2005

March 4, 2005

Casa Grande to Coolidge, Arizona & return

DAY 259

 

Another sunny, very warm day.

Another lazy, late start to the day. Hey ... why not ? I puttered around this morning with routine preventive maintenance, then read the paper while Joanne did some laundry. We had an early lunch, then set off for Casa Grande Ruins National Monument in Coolidge, about 20 miles away. North on Montgomery Road to Hwy. 84 / Gila Bend Highway, then east into Casa Grande. We stopped at the Tourist Information Centre at the Chamber Of Commerce in Casa Grande to pick up some information on local tourist attractions. Then through town, and onto Hwy. 287 east, then north on Hwy. 87 to the town of Coolidge, where the Casa Grande Ruins are.

At the intersection of Montgomery Road and Gila Bend Highway, just a mile or two from RoVers Roost SKP Park is a luxury hotel and golf resort. It's just the sort of place our friends Sep and Susanna Liang from Kingston, Ontario would enjoy. I’m going to invite them to fly down to nearby Phoenix, and meet us here for a winter holiday next year. They can stay in the sort of upscale resort that Sep favours, while we stay nearby, here at RoVers Roost.

The Casa Grande Ruins are the remains of a Hohokam Indian village from the 1300's. They are an interesting, and significant, archaeological exhibition. Archaeology isn't really my “cup of tea”, however. To me, the most interesting thing was the Great Horned Owl sitting on top of the Casa Grande. Casa Grande translates from Spanish as Big House. The most significant archaeological component is, of course, the “big house”.

On the way back, our first stop was at a road side produce stand, where we stocked up on fresh local fruits and vegetables. Then we stopped at the Pinal County Fairgrounds to check out the huge Samboree RV Rally that’s going on there right now. Samborees are the RV rallies conducted / hosted by the Good Sam RV Club. We’re members of that club, but nowhere near as involved as we are with the Escapees RV Club. We wanted to take the opportunity to see what a Samboree was all about, since we were going to be near one. I had wanted to attend, but Joanne did not want to attend three rallies, one after another. From here we are going to attend the Escapees Alberta Roamers Chapter 44 Winter Rally at Mesa, Arizona, then on to Escapees Spring “Escapade” National Rally in Imperial, California.

After stopping at the fairgrounds, and walking around the Samboree site, we drove back into the city of Casa Grande, and through the city to their municipal airport. I wanted to find the airport, and judge whether or not I wanted to attend the second and final day of the 47th Annual Cactus Antique Aircraft Fly-In tomorrow. Probably ! After we attend the 27th Annual Arizona State Open Chili Championship. From the airport, back into the city to find Lupita’s Mexican Restaurant. We had seen an ad for this restaurant, and Joanne wanted to go. It’s only open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings. It’s owned by a woman named Lupita. All food is cooked by Lupita. No menu, just a buffet. All plates, cutlery, glasses, etc. are disposable. The greeter is Lupita’s son, about 10 years old. The waiter is another son of Lupita’s, about 12 or 13 years old. The Mexican food, and ambience, doesn’t get any more authentic than this. It was like sitting in on a big Mexican family dinner. Lupita keeps coming out from the kitchen to chat with the diners. Except for us Canadian gringos, all the other patrons seemed to be family or friends of Lupita’s. We returned to the trailer over stuffed a bit with Mexican food. Waiting for us were a starving cat and dog. Geez, guys, your supper is only an hour late !

Now our pets have pets ! ! ! Bo refuses to come to sleep without having his duck faced retrieving dummy ( Ducky ) in bed with him. When I climbed into bed, I tossed Ducky off the bed. Indignantly, Bo jumped off the bed, picked up Ducky, and jumped back onto the bed. I tossed Ducky down again. Bo brought him up again. Fine ! Sleep with your freakin’ Ducky !

DSK