No Police Report

On Wednesday I travel into Tucson (25 minutes) with Matilda, my handy softly spoken Australian-voiced GPS. I am now an independent woman with that device!! I ogle all the fabric at JoAnn's and then head to Michael's where Earl needs a vase for his mosaic glass design. Coming out of the store, I see a paper in my door handle of the pickup. This is what the note says:

"Hi You hit my van we have a witness we will notify the police and your insurance Thank you Have a wonderful day." (There was no name, address or phone number given ---and no periods in the note (being a fourth grade teacher).

Well, I never hit anyone while parking so go into Michael's. Indeed, someone has reported this "accident" saying their Chrysler van was hit.

So I call the Eastside Tucson police, they make note of this, and say to call back in three days and see if a police report has been filed. Today I call again and the officer assures me that this is a scam.

Well, it made me very worried for awhile but no one rains on my parade when it is my allowance day and I am shopping, I tell you!!!!

Accident matter closed. Over and out.

Gracie and Rufus

We invited Barb and Dennis for lunch as they are Mission Builders camping now at Desert Trails. They constructed the outer structure of a Lutheran Church in Indiana; it took the team five months!!!

They loved Rufus and had debated about getting a puppy.

The next morning they went to the Humane Society and adopted Gracie, a very sweet and mellow puppy. We got to dogsit Sunday as they were in a meeting all day! She is now a very happy camping dog!

What We've Learned!

In almost four months of fulltiming, this is what we've learned:

1. Goodwill has everything you ever needed or wanted; we are on a strictly "our income" basis and it works well;

2. Barb is getting pretty dang good at line dancing;

3. If only she would put a chip on each number while playing Bingo, she would have had $87 for quilting supplies;

4. I believe in PTSD; a gentleman here who was a combat photographer in Vietnam is still living in that age; Vietnam stickers everywhere on his trailer. The park has him now taking photos of events and he's so happy about that;

5. Those elderly women came to perform for us; "Tap Sensations"-one woman is blind and 82 years old - she can really to the Charleston and gave us great hope for our aged lives!

6. We missed George's family at Thanksgiving and we will miss our families at Christmas but the park potlucks for holidays are wonderful;

7. Rufus wanted to tell you that the dog run here is amazing and there is a table to shower him afterwards;

8. We will get a campsite here next year but closer to the Wood Shop where Earl's scroll saw is located;

9. I'm now "eco-friendly" - clothesline for everything except my personal items!

10. A step stool is very important because a lot of our things are stored in the highest cabinets!

All for now - we are having Lutheran Nomads over for lunch Tuesday - they worked FIVE months building the outside of a church sanctuary - I think the Methodist Nomads have more fun!

The City of Tubac, an art community

The wolf is of bronze.

The minute Rufus saw it, he stared and then started barking at it! After smelling, he desisted!

Tumacacori Fiesta Today

A fiesta was held today at the Tumacacori site. I had powdered sugared fry bread, Earl had fry bread with chili-delicious!

Tumacacori National Historic Site

..

Tumacacori Mission was established by Father Kino, a Jesuit priest, in 1671. It was to serve the Oodham Indians which the Spanish called Pima Indians. It is the oldest mission in Arizona. The church was begun in 1800. It is made of adobe bricks. We traveled about 50 miles south in the Sonoran Desert to arrive here. Nogales Mexico is about 20 miles south from here. Coming back, we were stopped by the Border Patrol. They asked, "Are you American citizens? Is your dog an American citizen?"

Desert Trails RV Park, Tucson, AZ

From our campground, we have a path

into the desert. "Indian Path" is a mile. Rufus loves the hike if he doesn't step on a cholla! There is also a dog run at our RV Park which he loves. I am "training" him in agility! We had 100 folks at Thanksgiving dinner and 23 choices of desserts! A noisy, fun, filling time was had by all!

Finishing Nomad Project

We created a rock wall by moving rock in our pickup over to the area, unloading them, and beginning the moving process again. Barbara, our Prescott, AZ, Nomad, was the genius on this project. Willie, the maintenance supervisor, was a great help to all of us. Alice and Bob McCune

have led over 40 Nomad missions and assisted us in obtaining our Leadership Certificate.

Tuscon Metropolitan Ministries

The new 12 children unit that we

cleaned for the inspection.

Shahela as "Little Red Riding Hood" for Halloween!

We NOMADS are here to serve this organization for three weeks. What have we done so far?

1. We've cleaned a unit just constructed for twelve children under Children's Protective Services; a unit on each end for six children each with two apartments in the middle for the house parents. Some siblings can live in one side; sometimes just six various children. That took us two days.

2. Always, Barbara paints a dumpster container! It is a three sided concrete block structure...now we have to paint the metal gate. That will take another morning.

3. Three of us women went to Mission Vista to create files for each apartment there for weatherization possibilities. Refugees from Bhutan, Somalia, Ethiopia, and Mexico live there with their children. TMM supports these people for two years as they adjust to America. It is low income housing and they pay rent and the utilities. They all have jobs which we listed on the files.

4. Earl has sheetrocked a bathroom and will paint a kitchen in the activity center. Filters, fire alarms etc. have been replaced in every apartment.

5. Finally, we three women have sorted clothes at the Restore which serves refugee families of TMM who receive vouchers. Earl has a new silk shirt and I have a new pair of pants!!!

TMM is a ministry to 36 children who live with 6 house mothers in units. The director of this program says that it takes three months for a child to adjust. So many house mothers and staff have been here for over fifteen years. There is also low income housing here for mothers (mostly rehabilitating drug addicts) and their children where they are taught all the necessary skills to operate in the world within two years. The children are precious and just love Rufus!!!!

The director, Don, is such a visionary and EVERY building on this campus is already paid for.

WE went to "Men Who Stare at Goats" Friday night - George Clooney was fantastic; the movie was OK. Then the highlight was dinner at Mimi's.

Today we visited a fancy-dancy RV resort close to Nogales. Not for Earl and me...just too sterile and everyone lived so close together but great for people who live there...lots of activities, discussion groups and charitable work to do.

We will travel there Wednesday as we have been selected to be leaders for NOMADS so will be trained by a retired Methodist minister who lives there.

Tuesday night we are going to a dinner theatre. Our leaders went to the theatre Saturday morning and watched The Metropolitan Opera - a three hour production live from New York! So much to do in Tucson! We just love it here. Enough for now! More later...

We miss ALL of you!!!

Grand Canyon

This is Bright Angel trail which takes you to the canyon which is almost a mile deep. You cannot hike down and back up in a day - it takes too much water, strength and stamina and the park suggests two days at least. You can stay at Phantom Canyon at the bottom. You can also take a mule ride down and then back up the next day.

I am still learning how to use this program so nothing is in order here! Upon arrival at the park, we saw a desert pig-havlina, I believe. We went up the four flights of the watchtower, designed by Mary Coulter, to see the Grand Canyon for the first time. We then visited Tusayan Ruins, the westernmost village of Anasazi. The photo is the remaining part of their kiva. They grew corn, ate the native animals and plants and built cisterns for water. Very intelligent people.

We have gone to many ranger talks which we love. Today, the desert plants spoke to us! Junipers with parasite mistletoe, pinyon pine which gives us pine nuts, ponderosa pine, rabbit brush, barberry, and fern plants. Small leaves on all to survive this harsh climate. Animals we have seen include elk, deer, rock chipmunks, ravens, and today we saw a condor soaring in the sky!!!!! 73 here now.

Oh my, such an amazing place. On to Phoenix.

Coral Sands State Park, Utah

What a pleasant surprise! We randomly decided that on our way to the Grand Canyon we would stop at Coral Sands State Park. You pay $16 for a nice campsite but NO hookups! But, in return, you walk on the sand and see this!!!! Our favorite place in southern Utah so far!!

The next blog will be at the Grand Canyon where we are now camped at Trailer Village (unique name???) We boarded a shuttle bus to Yavapai Point and walked to the Village Center (2 miles) along the rim. We walked down Angel Bright trail for aways. This afternoon we are doing one of my favorite things-IMAX! Then we will go out for a hamburger - a rare treat for travelers on a budget.

P.S. I remember, when in New York, walking at least 40 blocks to see the IMAX Mt. Everest film!

Capitol Reef National Park

Using Chris's gift of walking sticks, we hiked to

Hickman Bridge this morning-two miles round trip.

Capitol Reef is a 100 mile stretch of Wingate sandstone formations located in southern Utah. It is named "Capitol" because there are domes in the park that resemble the Capitol dome in Washington, D.C. The "reef" is coined that because it is a barrier.

The bighorn sheep walked right across the road while we were following the Scenic Drive.

We finished the day with my favorite activity: we hiked through Grand Wash. I love the washes in Borrego Springs and this was the most spectacular wash I've seen.

Now on to Grand Canyon!!!

More of Mt. Rainier

On the left is

Madcap Falls.

To the right is the forest we hiked through to the falls.

We are now in Ashland for a week.

Mt. Rainier National Park Waterfalls

Narada Falls is on the

left - a small hike down to the bottom of the falls.

On the right is Carter Falls which was a 2.2 hike straight up.

Mt. Rainier is a spectacular park with such a spiritual quality to it. Wish we could have been there in July for the wildflowers.

The campground had no electricity - no TV for Earl but he managed!

Case of the Missing Basket

Earl hung his latest pine needle basket with a scroll sawed middle piece

(with a scroll sawed butterfly on top of that) above our slide on the wall in the living room. Lo and behold, when we arrived at Ike Kinswa State Park, it was gone!

First thought, someone stole it - impossible.

The mystery was solved when Earl climbed the ladder, looked at the top of the living room slide, and there it was! A bit wet, a bit out of shape!

What happened? When we were traveling and the slide was in, the basket must have dropped on the top of the slide. When we arrived, we pushed the button and the slide goes out (with the basket on top!) Hence, the pouring rain attacked it.

It is salvageable. Earl will "paint" the basket with wax and reshape it and almost as good as new!

Lake Mayfield at Ike Kinswa State Park, WA

Earl took these photos as we camp on the western side of the Cascade Range of WA.

Eight NOMADS working at Ocean Park

Here are the infamous 10 picnic tables we women cut, assembled and built! We all also built the patio cover, built a garbage storage shed to keep away the "resident" bear, painted 10 other tables, painted ten other tables, etc. We said goodbye to Ocean Park Methodist Retreat Center...on to Mt. Rainier tomorrow.

Earl Ziplining

Not since Costa Rican jungles has Earl ziplined. His chance came at our camp where there awaited a pole to climb and a zipline to scurry across. No macahs, no jungle canopy, just the scream as he took off! Instead of going to another wooden landing to be caught by a native, he swung to the other end, came back on the zipline, to be caught by an employee on a ladder!

Just to let you know that Earl was the only brave one of the eight of us working here this week!
In Costa Rica, you hike to the top zipline. Chris and Shahela were happy eating termites on the way and looking at poison frogs! Then you "fly" to seven or eight landings. Earl was proud he could climb the pole AND do the dangerous feat!

One more day and we are on to another beach site by ourselves with the final destination being Mt. Rainier. I attend another "Death and Dying" conference at Rogue Valley Medical Center on September 26,27 and then "home" to Klamath Falls and KOA for our doctor appointments. Then heading south to Tucson where we will work at a homeless shelter from November 2-19 and then another month in Tucson for Christmas.

We send love to all...you might consider being a "Follower" because then you will know when we have posted another blog!

Barband Earl