Life in the Lettuce Fields

 

     When I go for my three or four mile hike around the area, this is what I see. The city of Wellton does a fine job of presenting itself to the snow bird public.

This is the field directly across the street from the road into town and also across the street from the road to the RV park. We all marvel at the precision of the rows. We all watch their every step, so I guess we could start our own veggie fields. The best thing is that we have good prices on veggies from the locals. Notice the proximity of the railroad. They are not allowed to blow the horn at the crossing in the middle of the night in deference to us snow birds.

Sometimes I take a walk directly west; actually most of the people in the park do who don’t want to walk the inside of the park. This goes past Tier Drop RV park and Valley View Estates. Gary and I stayed at Tier Drop in May of 2005 after his the operation on his arm from the IV infection. Pioneer was open, but they didn’t do business in the summer. Valley View Estates is just some fields that a farmer sold to a local developer, but it does have a pretty view.

The landscaping on the right hand side of this picture is different from four years ago. They had planted that area with California poppies and I had some kick ass pictures of that, and it was the screen saver on my old lap top. They may be on my old lap top, but I don’t know how to get them back. Oh well! I love to take pictures of clouds. You never know when you might need them for some scrapbooking project.

Speaking of scrapbooking projects, my newest friend Norma has drawn me into the card making group; however, I did tell her about Photo Shop Elements 9, so we will soon both be into that. We also went to Alagodones, Mexico with her cousins on Monday. Nobody had a camera, but we did have a great time. Our new singles group is going back on December 4, and I will have pictures of that. What I do have are pictures of is last Thursday’s hike. We are supposed to hike this Thursday, but since it is Thanksgiving and we are all going to a big dinner, I don’t know.

We found an abandoned geocache site. I think that would be fun to do, and they do have some groups around here.

Looks like we’re going to have some weather for the next few days. That only makes for good picture-taking.

Fun at Pioneer

 

Well, I reached my winter destination almost two weeks ago, but I’ve been too busy getting settled in, developing a routine with my boys, and having fun. Naturally I took pictures of all this.

The park is located in the middle of veggie fields on the edge of Wellton , AZ. Across I-8 is a golfing community called Coyote Wash. They have an 18 hole golf course, a residential community which is a mix of RV’s and stick built homes. They also have a small shopping center with restaurants, stores, an IGA, and travel center. Everything is within walking distance of Pioneer, so it’s easy for me to get my exercise as I do my shopping.

Here’s a picture of the courtyard at the clubhouse.

These two pictures are of the pool and spa. Looking through the gate in the spa picture, you can see the front of my rig. I’m that close to all the activity. It’s really worked out well considering all the other walking I do.

These are my decorations for my site so far.

Last Sunday was my friend Bob Raner’s 65th birthday, and his wife Cathy had a birthday party for him. These are my friends from Rochester, NY. Gary and I used to be parked  next to them, and we usually get together somehow when they go and forth to NY.

Our hiking group goes hiking every Thursday. This past Thursday was the first hike of the season, and we climbed part way up Betty’s Mountain. Chet, one of the veteran hiker’s, named the mountain after his wife, because they have a perfect view of it from the living room of their 5th wheel.

Someone piled about two feet of rocks and dirt across the road, so the guys had to shovel it down some, so the vehicles could get across. That was an unexpected delay. Here we are hiking up a wash. There were lots of pretty rocks and things to collect along the way. My friend Norma was great at loading up here back pack.

When we had gone as far as we wanted, we came upon a strange creature that was very identifiable: tarantula. I took this opportunity for everyone to gather around at get a picture. Whoever put this thing together did a good job. Wire covered in black velour made the legs and a pillow covered with black velour made the body. We joined our newest best friend for lunch.

My friends from left to right are Frank, Ken, Chet, Dennis and Norma.