Travel

A Good Experience

rv-camping.jpgI recently posted about our travel strategy of first driving to Phoenix before renting the travel trailer for our vacation in Arizona. The strategy worked out great and we enjoyed the vacation a lot.

Image: The cruise America Travel Trailer at Apache Junction KOA. Click image for full-size. We were in one of several Cruise America RVs there.

When we returned the rental trailer to Cruise America in Mesa, AZ, we inadvertently forgot Damsel’s Canon Camera battery charger which was still plugged in to one of the AC outlets in the kitchenette. As soon as we discovered it was missing, I called the Rental Supervisor, Joe Morales, and asked him if he would look for it. He agreed, and was to call me back later. He did call back later that day, but I missed the call. By the time I got his voice mail, Joe would not have been at work. I sent him an email asking him if he would send the charger to us, with an offer to pay for shipping and handling. The next day, Joe emailed us back saying he would send the charger and advise us of the cost.

Two days later, the big brown truck of goodness (UPS) delivered the charger. It was bubble-wrapped in a small parcel – a real professional-looking package. Damsel was glad to have the charger since the battery was low and you know how she loves to take pictures.

After the package showed up, I sent Joe a follow-up email thanking him for the effort and asked how I could pay them back. Joe sent this response today:

No problem, just let your friends and family know how great we are, nice doing business with you.

Joe said it – they were great! We’ll be back to the Mesa Cruise America for sure. Soon, we hope.

The Ghost of a Saguaro Cactus

saguaro-ghost.jpgHow about a good, but not scary, ghost story for Halloween?

From WikiPedia (edited):

The saguaro, pronounced suh-HWAR-o, (Carnegiea gigantea) is a large, tree-sized cactus species in the monotypic genus Carnegiea. It is native to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, the Mexican state of Sonora, and an extremely small area of California. The saguaro blossom is the state flower of Arizona.

The common name saguaro came into the English language through the Spanish language, originating in the language of the Tohono O’odham native American nation. Saguaros can grow to forty-five feet tall and ten feet in circumference.

The ribs of the saguaro were used for construction and other purposes by Native Americans. A fine example can be seen in the roofing of the cloisters of the Mission San Xavier del Bac on the Tohono O’odham lands near Tucson, Arizona. The Seri people of northwestern Mexico used the plant which they call mojépe for a number of purposes.

When a saguaro dies, the woody support ribs remain after the flesh decays or is consumed. What you see in the image (click to enlarge) is the ghost (skeleton, maybe?) of a saguaro in Apache Junction, AZ.

Road Runner

We stopped briefly in Quartzsite, Arizona, for gas and some bottled water (the desert makes you very thirsty). While we were parked there, this road runner walked across the parking lot. I took this picture of him from the truck just before he ran off into the field. For a moment, he was a “parking lot walker,” before becoming a “field runner.” At no time did he say anything like “beep, beep.”

road-runner.jpg

No larger size image available.

The Other Catalina

The Catalina Mountain Range, just outside of Tucson, AZ.

catalina-mountains.jpg

Very pretty. I also love the little red-bird of paradise flowers like the one that got into the edge of this view of the mountains.

Train Wreck

Check out this panoramic image of an actual derailment we passed near Globe, AZ, today. Workers were busily working to fix this mess. Click on the image to enlarge.

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It made me wonder who is going to fix the derailed US Government? The House of Reps, Senate, and Administration in Washington are seriously off-track. It will have to be the American voters over the next several election cycles that will vote the idiocy out of office. Hopefully, ACORN and other subversive organizations will have been fully exposed for the frauds they are and sanity will prevail.