The WINdow
Recent Activity Reports

June - July, 2010

Wandering Individuals’ Network, Inc.
PMB 8206, 914 SW Coast Hwy, #104 Newport, OR 97365
for Qualified RV Owners

Filing away
our memories

Mar 1-8 CAVE CREEK, AZ  WWC
Randy picked a beautiful setting for the Cave Creek WIN gathering.  We were surrounded by mountains and numerous Saguaro Cacti.  The outing was in the center of this western town within walking distance of many unusual stores, restaurants and bars with humorous names like "Horny Toad" "Buffalo Chip" "The Dump".  Randy explained all the mountain ranges and some local history.  We had plenty of time to walk thru town and do some shopping, dancing every evening, trip to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West, 4x4ing in Bloody Basin (a 120-mile round trip), hiking up Spur Cross Ranch, discovering many petroglyphs, hiking the Sears-Kay Ruin of the Hohokam Indians, kayaking Barlett Lake, visiting the local Cave Creek Museum, and watching bull riding (real bulls not the mechanical ones) in the back yard of the Buffalo Chip restaurant.  We had dinner and went dancing at many of the western restaurants. Randy did a Lewis & Clark Trivia questions game and gave "Bird Woman" dollars out to those that answered the questions correctly… Adelle and Carolyn were the Big winners.  Adelle turned the tables on Randy and quizzed him.  It was an extremely beautiful, exciting and fun filled WIN gathering.  Thank you Randy… hope we can do it again.

Feb 22-Mar 1 CHANDLER, AZ WWC
When the Wild Horse Casino parking lot was closed at the old location, we moved to this wonderful new casino and were welcomed with open arms. Between happy hour discount priced snacks and dancing, daily, we felt right at home. Trips to the Heard Museum, Organ Stop Pizza, The Arizona Opry,
the Elks for Lost Dutchman days, the Savers thrift shops, and an open house at Bertie’s Mesa home kept us all out of trouble.

Mar 8-15 TUCSON, AZ WWC
A large group streamed in to the Desert Diamond Casino, about 20 miles south of Tucson. Bob cleverly pawned off on Paul from Reno host duties. Those that didn’t make it to Hugs on time each morning missed Paul’s corny jokes. The group was kept very busy with a tour of a copper mine, a trip to Nogales, Mexico (and no one got shot!), an outing to Tubac’s arts and crafts center, a very long day at the Pima Air Museum and a "Chuck hike" UP a mountain at Madera Canyon (he maintains a hike downhill is for wimps!). Casino parking was free, restaurants were good and inexpensive, but the beer was pricey, so we had to settle for happy hour margaritas! 

Mar 15-19 WILLCOX, AZ WWC
The wonderful weather had many WINers scurrying to hook-ups for heat especially since electric/water was only $5/day more than boondocking. Figured we’d spend more on propane than that! We walked the streets of Willcox and visited its many museums. We ate corned-beef and cabbage at the Elks Lodge on St Patty’s Day, ate apple pie w/cinnamon ice cream at Stout’s Cider Mill and a bunch hiked the Cochise Stronghold Trail led by Chuck. We are still wondering how Phil got away from that cougar! One activity not seen in many years: this was a newsletter fold, staple, address, stamp gathering. Thanks for the help WINers.

Mar 19-24 WILLCOX, AZ WWC
WINers continued to stay at the roomy Willcox Elks Lodge with choice of electric/water or boondocking. It is a very friendly lodge with a train rail (2 of) nearby. This track provided us with a variety of train whistle blasts around the clock. We enjoyed enchilada dinner and karaoke singing (our WINers were the best). The karaoke night included Arlene being joined by a Tony Orlando look alike, who was local, during her rendition of Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree! Several danced to the singing. Later on in the week we joined members for a steak dinner at the Lodge. We had a PM who joined during the gathering. On Saturday we went to Chiricahua Nat’l Mon for an educational tour at Faraway Ranch about Buffalo Soldiers stationed there in the 1800s. Then on to tour by car or hike more of the Mon’s beautiful forests, rock columns, pinnacles, and balancing rocks. The vista is fantastic from Massai Point. Then a great steak dinner and dancing at a local saloon. Sunday, Chuck led the Heart of the Rocks 8.9 mile hike through the most challenging area of the Chiricahua Nat’l Mon. Monday we rested or visited the Rex Allen Museum, the Marty Robbins Museum, shopped at the oldest dry goods store in AZ, ate at the BBQ Railroad Dining Car, or did our own thing. Then we had a wonderful Baked Potato potluck at circle in 70+ degree sunny weather. Since Tuesday was windy and cool, we prepared our mobile households to move out on Wed. for new adventures.

Mar 24-31 ROOSEVELT LAKE, AZ WWC
What a great place to spend a week (too short). The weather was good for a variety of activities that included a campfire nearly every night. The first was a kayak paddle to the Tonto Creek end of the lake where we paddled among the trees and viewed nesting birds including cormorants, a heron and a pair of eagles. A small group that didn’t want to kayak, took a jeep trip to Young for a burger. The burger place burned down but a song was created along the way (see page 1). With wind predicted for the following day, it was decided a road trip over the Apache Trail to Tortilla Flat was in order. A burger, a beer and a dance to the music of the Tortilla Flat band was enjoyable. Of course, browsing the shops was a given. That evening was a birthday potluck for our very own Nancy with her furnishing the main courses and the cake! (See page 1.) The next morning noted bag-tender Doug hosted a "breakfast in a bag" event. We walked that off on a 4.5 mi hike. Sunday featured a Chili Cook-off potluck. Monday six kayakers left for an overnight trip on Apache Lake. They enjoyed a full-moon night and absolutely gorgeous days. Our group of devoted motorcyclists took several rides using everything from dirt bikes to Harleys.

Mar 31-Apr 7 ROOSEVELT LAKE, AZ (Part 2)
A small group of us decided to stay at Roosevelt Lake and hold our own gathering. In addition to volunteering his site, with its million dollar view, as gathering headquarters, Harlan graciously assumed the role as host. Have you ever experienced a sushi chef’s "cutting" entertainment with his fast moving hands creating art work with his knives? Well, Harlan could easily compete with those guys! Richard, Rick and Harlan scouted for wood on their motorcycles; then Rick returned to the wood site with his pickup to haul some of the largest pieces of wood you’ve ever seen to camp. We had enough wood for fires to support smoke signals to Phoenix, no kidding! Did I mention food!! All of us shared breakfasts cooked on a campstove with Randy using his creative flair to prepare the absolutely best fried potatoes with red peppers. Likewise, dinners were shared by all, with everyone contributing tasty ingredients. We ate "healthy" the whole time, REALLY, with the exception of some chocolate cakes and ice cream sneaked into camp (do you think anyone complained?). Remember the earthquake... during that moment, Randy was driving (herding) his Wrangler Jeep over a mountainous washboard road, bouncing Duaine and Deannie all over the jeep. Because the ground was moving so erratically, we didn’t even feel the earthquake. And what about those two daring dirt bike riders, Harlan and Richard?? Well, they were performing some kind of wild jump in the air so they didn’t feel the earthquake either! Only Rick, who had stayed in camp, knew an earthquake had occurred. The bikers, on both motorcycles and dirt bikes, explored the surrounding scenic mountains. (Don’t you imagine they had some "sore" posteriors!). Not to be out done, the rest of us used Randy’s Wrangler. We celebrated Easter dinner in style... The star of the dinner was the ham cooked by Chef Randy (we enjoyed the delicious leftovers for days). An even more important celebration was a Mexican dinner, at a restaurant, to celebrate Rick’s special day, his birthday!! Then, later that evening around the campfire, we shared cake and ice cream. Rick had a fun day; we ALL did! The weather was perfect, the surroundings were beautiful, and there were many fun-filled activities, but the most enjoyable part of this SPECIAL gathering was the fantastic camaraderie shared by ALL!!!

Mar 31-Apr 7 SEDONA, AZ WWC

How lucky we were to be able to spend some time in beautiful Sedona! Almost everyone took advantage of the hike at Doe Mountain where we lunched overlooking the Red Rock Country. The Easter Bunny was able to find all of the WINers plus a couple camped in a tent and a couple from France. Plastic eggs filled with chocolate and jelly beans were an unexpected treat. Easter dinner was ham and all the traditional fixings served under blue skies. After breakfast at the Coffee Pot Restaurant, a trip was made to Boynton Canyon where Shirley educated everyone about vortexes. Some felt the energy, some did not. A planned hike up the West Fork of Oak Creek was foiled by high runoff which made the river crossings more of a challenge than the hikers were willing to attempt. Oh, well, a stop at Dairy Queen kept spirits high. The alternate plan was hiking in the Bell Rock area. Several WINers made trips to ruins, others hiked in the Coffee Pot Trail area, and some even ventured up Schnebly Hill.

 

Bumper Stickers:

Watch out for the bad driver behind me.
Why is the alphabet in that order?
Is it because of that song?
Make it idiot-proof and someone will make a better idiot.
Money isn’t everything, but it sure keeps the kids in touch.
How many roads must a man travel down before he admits he is lost?
An expert: Someone who knows more and more about less and less.
If at first you do succeed, try not to look astonished.
Driver carries no cash. He’s married.
Where there’s a will, I want to be in it.
Out of my mind. Back in five minutes.
If you can read this, I’ve lost my trailer
Monday is an awful way to spend 1/7
th of your life.
We do precision guesswork.
No one is listening until you make a mistake.
When in doubt, be quiet.


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The music you are hearing is "Boogie Woogie"
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Revised: May 18, 2010.