Wednesday, February 27, 2013

THE Trip, THE Encore' :: Buckeye Arizona Air Show, The Autos

Copyright 2013, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Yesterday I showed some of the "auto art" I shot at the Buckeye Arizona Air Show.  Now, lets see the vehicles, or a few of them:









And for the photo I deem the winner of the car show photos:





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Tuesday, February 26, 2013

THE Trip, THE Encore' :: Buckeye Arizona Air Show, The Auto Art

Copyright 2013, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Part of the Buckeye Air Show is a car show.  They had a nice row of beautiful autos, old, newer, shiny, restored, or, not so much.

Today, auto art, or, Carol loves steering wheels (and one side view mirror).  Those dash boards are not half bad either.  Toss in a few pair of fuzzy dice and, well, what's not to love?












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Monday, February 25, 2013

THE Trip, THE Encore' :: Someday, This MIGHT be Humorous, Maybe - -

Copyright 2013, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Today we left Buckeye and headed west once again.  We had our sights set on Bullhead City for a week.

We had studied the campgrounds, called a few, chatted with friend Nita who was already in the area, and made our informed decision.  We "reserved" a site and left Buckeye, reassured it was easy to back into, large, full hook ups and a "nice" site.

We enjoyed the trip over, about 220 miles.  We did have to eat our lunch on the side of the road, as the route took us past desert, mountains, cholla, saguaro and Joshua trees.  It did NOT take us past any eateries.  So, I did the maintain the Demon stuff, power bars, protein drinks, cheese, sliced turkey, some chips.

I took about 130 photos, nope, have not previewed them yet.

We pulled into the campground and the first empty campsite I saw was totally fab, WHAT A VIEW!  Looked right up the Colorado river to the casinos in Laughlin.  Nice view,  the campground is up high and really that view, WOW!

This however, is the view of the campsite they gave us:


Ya, really.  Makes me a bit sad, Man had a bike similar and we once had Layton Celebrity.  But, we could not look at this stuff all week long.  We would have been 1 foot from the back of this "stuff".  We were not even sure we could hook up our sewer, and we have 30 foot of sewer hoses.  We understand that some people full time out of necessity and not out of the desire.  We understand that there are a lot of sad stories out there.  My heart breaks hearing these stories.

But, I just could not do it.  I dealt with the barbed wire, I dealt with the side by side hookups, I dealt the the record setting cold and rain and such.  But, I could not deal with this.

We left!  We are very lucky, they gave us a full refund.

I just could not do it.  I guess that makes me a snob??

Tell me, that someday, this will be humorous, please tell me it will - -




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Saturday, February 23, 2013

Why Digitizing Is So Important

Copyright 2013, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

First, let me say, I am not casting stones at the county of record, this happens everywhere, paper quality differs, issues (like mice, etc.) happen.

But, this is what can happen to our paper records.  And, this is why I am thrilled that this county has allowed some recent digitizing of portions of their records.


From my experience I would guess that this damage was cause by the breakdown and over handling of the paper.  Lucky for me, seeing that this is a record that I was interested in, the information seems to be there, the losses are minimal.  I reviewed the entire record set, this was one of the most damaged records.

Yes, we do love digitizing of records.




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Thursday, February 21, 2013

THE Trip, THE Encore' :: Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show

Copyright 2013, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

I have always had a soft spot in my heart for Arabian horses.  Rode one once, the spirit of their souls and vibrancy of their attitude appealed to me.  It was many years ago, but, the memory of that horse is vivid.

I kept seeing this Arabian horse show advertised on the local telie stations and mentioned it to Man. After a bit of discussion, we decided to drive over to Scottsdale.

After a breakfast out, we drove over, not in a particular hurry, we were just going to go, see whatever, enjoy it, and call it a day.  Perfect.  We arrived in time to see these 13 year olds (and younger) compete in the Arabian Country English Pleasure class.




These two riders were from another group, I believe the same, but 14 to 18 year olds.


You can see these are magnificent animals.  After the 13 and under group there was a short break.  Next up was the Half-Arabian/Anglo-Arabian Mounted Native Costume class.  Well, I had no idea what that was, but, I knew that native costume stuff sounded very special!  And, indeed, special it was!  The native costume class celebrates the deep relationship of the Arabian horse and the Bedouins of Africa.

A bit of back story, Man and I spent about 1.5 years in Morocco.  We are familiar with the Bedouins.  There was the wedding ceremony we attended - - but, really, now, I am digressing too much.  Back to Scottsdale - -

The costumes and horses were gorgeous, stunning, breathtaking.  (Nope, my photos don't do justice, you would need to see this in movement to really appreciate the beauty.)

The moment the first rider rode into the arena Man and I were enthralled.  The class could have stayed in the ring for hours and we would never have had enough.  How we enjoyed this.  Lots of bling here, I cannot imagine what these costumes must cost.

Enjoy the beautiful costumes and horses. I know Man and I did.







We felt we had seen the best part of the day, so, we went and found some lunch, walked around looking at other arenas, horses, and the vendors.  Oh, MY, the vendors.  Their goods were exquisite.  Now, I have been to a dog show or two in my time, but, let me tell you, dog show vendors cannot even compare to the quality and expensive stuff these horse show vendors were selling (well, Westminster might come close. LOL).  You know, there are just a few times in life when you wish you had a bottomless pocketbook full of $$$$$$$$.  HAHA, this was one of them.

So, I sighed a bit, drooled (carefully, so as not to ruin the merchandise) and after several enjoyable hours we headed back to Tana.  I was most anxious to look at my photos.

A special day, perfectly timed by default.  Ya, that worked!




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Tuesday, February 19, 2013

THE Trip, THE Encore' :: Wickenburg, Arizona

Copyright 2013, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

It was Gold Rush Days in Wickenburg, about an hours drive from Buckeye if you take the very picturesque route of North Wickenburg Road and Vulture Mine Road.  Two lane paved highway through the desert and hills, filled with dips and curves to delight bikers and those that like back roads.  We only saw one bike during our ride:


You can see the dips in the road.  I was shooting the mountains in the background, but, the dips really show up quite well:


There are several areas where RVs were boondocking.


The Vulture Mine is abandoned, but, tours are sometimes available.


Spied this sign along the way, with all the sun out here, it makes sense they would build solar here.


In Wickenburg, Man met up with a floozy!  Yes, again!


There was of course, a carnival full of rides and yummy (spell that full of fat and carbs) food.  Yes, we had just a little bit of that yummy food.


Someone we all know enjoying a bit of music, the musician was good too!


Downtown street sign:


The weather was favorable, we had a nice day in Wickenburg and we enjoyed the drive up so much we did something we rarely do, we turned around and went back the very same way!



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Monday, February 18, 2013

This N That Arizona Style

Copyright 2013, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

A palm tree??  Sorta looks like the ones in the background, sorta - -


Fancy palm tree, with Sony Too's zoom we discover, is not a palm tree, but a cell tower.


Helicopter in a trailer, well, parts of a helicopter, tooling down I 10 Phoenix, just west of I 17.



This rig is in the campground we are currently staying in.  The trailer is taller than the motorhome, it looks HUGE!  We walk by and wonder every time, how IS he getting that down the road without taking off the roof.  He is from Canada, he had to drive it here.  HUGE!  We shake our heads.  And, it is PURDY!!!!  All that chrome!


Over in Buckeye I spied this 25 foot tall statue.  From the main road it was hard to see what it was, so, of course, I asked Man to drive over there, and lo and behold:


Meet Hobo Joe.  You can read about him on the RoadsideAmerica.com site, here.  Let's get a bit closer, in one pocket it sure looks like his lunch, even a banana.


In the other pocket, his newspaper and a glove.


Well, now, I had fun bringing you 'This N That' from Arizona.  Hope you enjoyed it too.  Ya just never know what you will find around the next bend.




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Sunday, February 17, 2013

THE Trip, THE Encore' :: Bye Bye Quartzsite, Hello Buckeye

Copyright 2013, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

After 15 nights on the desert, we headed back east to the Phoenix area.   Here, is Quartzsite in the side view mirror of Jolly.


Classic Arizona, palo verde, saguaro, black stones and mountains in the background.


We were running with no concrete reservations, the campgrounds said, "just come on in".  Then, we called and found out the offices would be closed, 2 to 4 hours before we would arrive.  Seriously, how do we come in with no one there to answer the phone, assign us a site, etc., etc.  This little issue made us rethink where we would stop/stay.

A phone call or two and we found an alternative campground.  Changed the plans, our normal.  We ended up in Buckeye Arizona and will end up staying here for a month.  These are side by side hookups, a situation that many RVers do not care for.  The campground is extremely clean, they run a very tight ship and the monthly rent is quite reasonable.  We have major shopping just 1.1 miles from the entrance of the campground.  Seems this is where we were meant to be.


Cell tower within feet:


Never have seen this.  It is a sewer system vent.  Yep.  From what we can figure, this type of venting was required many years ago.  It is not required now.  It is scheduled to be removed.  So, we are looking at an antique.  LOL  And, it seems the system is an antique that some RVers do not understand.  We saw a review of this park online that said these sewer vents smell up the campground.  NOOOO.  They do not.  There is however, about a mile southwest of here, a cow farm.  Now and then when they spread the manure,  if the wind is just right, well, ya, the odors can fly a mile or more.  Fact, they have spread the manure a few nights while we have been here.  Fact, the unpleasantness only lasts a short time.  Fact, we have the same issue at the stick built now and then.  Fact, it has not been a huge issue for us, we keep the door closed and ditto the windows.  Fact, the sewer vents are not an issue, but, an oddity that we had never seen before, probably never will again.


Never have seen this either.  Impressed?  Yes, we were.



Home for the month of February while we try to wait out Mother Nature and Ole Man Winter - bring on spring!!  In the meantime, a bit of ill luck turned good, very good!  The finances are getting a bit of a rest, as are Man and I.  We sometimes hear the jets from Luke Air Force Base fly around practicing (so far, no photos).


There have been a few nice sunsets too, both taken from the campground, different evenings.


Not bad, if you can overlook the electric wires, SIGHH.  Got vibrancy tho!


We are doing a little sightseeing and a lot of reality days. We visited the Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium (see photos at Flora and Fauna) and Wickenburg during their Guld Rush Days.

Buckeye turned out to be just fine, thank you. Funny how things work out sometimes.




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