Thanksgiving

This has been quite a week. Sunday night, Kathy woke me up at 1:30 AM with severe stomache pains. We got up and after a few minutes, it was obvious it wasn't going to go away. The Benson Hospital is only a block away and we went to the ER there. After a number of tests, they determined she had pancreatitis. Later tests confirmed this and gall stones as well, so that gall bladder will have to come out soon. She spent two nights in the hospital on IV to settle down her pancreas. Hopefully, this surgery will be as simple as we have been told as there is no infection. So, it's a lo to no fat diet two days before thanksgiving, oh boy!! We had a wonderful meal in our banquet hall with the park providing 6 turkeys and 3 hams and most everyone else pot-lucking everything else. We reassembled at 6 PM for desert. What fun. Here are a few pictures of the event.

Gammons Gulch Movie Set and Museum

We took a trip to Gammons Gulch Movie Set and Museum today with our next door neighbors, Steve and Barbara. It's about 13 miles from Benson out along what used to be a stagecoach route. Our host was Jay Gammons, owner, curator, construction foreman and tour guide. He and his wife have been building this place for years and collecting items for much longer.

Here we are in front of the first building. Jat is the fellow with the hat. Inside is this gorgeous bar imported from England in the 18 somethings.

Below is a fully operational blacksmith shop used occasionally on weekends.

Below is the jail built on site several years ago.

A couple of jail birds.

This saloon is the newest building in the town completed a year ago. We spent several hours in there drinking sarsaparilla and listening to jay tell about his history in movies as an extra including some John Wayne movies when he was an 11 year old.

The saloon is a homey place and Jay is quite the musician as well.

This is the general store filled with turn of the century things.

"Come on, you have to see this""

Apparently, the undertaker also was the furniture maker.

People are just dying to come here.

This Church has seen several weddings and doubles as a school house by removing the cross.

Here is our happy group in front of the saloon getting ready to depart. This was quite a fun day trip. It is open 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM Wed. thru Sun. Call ahead to guarantee they will be open at 520-212-2831. Donations accepted.

The Train is coming!!

Today was an interesting day in Benson, AZ. The Union Pacific Railroad has spent a great deal of money and several years restoring a vintage steam locomotive. This was not some little switch engine, but rather a main line engine with 8 drive wheels. Apparently this is part of the upcoming centennial celebrations of Arizona and New Mexico. The train arrived about 10 minutes late and stayed at the Amtrack stop for about 30 minutes. This was a well publicized event and there were easily 3 to 4 thousand people there to see it. Some schools even excused 5th thru 7th grades and kids were all over the place.

There were lots of Union Pacific personnel and police on hand.

Part of a crowd of several thousand.

Here it comes! This thing is BIG and it is LOUD!!


There's the proud engineer.

Everyone was allowed to get really close to see this rare sight.
There was some vintage rolling stock including a dome observation car.

A beautiful and cool Saturday morning

This morning, our propane furnace kicked in about 4AM and ran intermittently for about 4 hours. Yesterday we were at 80 degrees, but a front came through and along with it came a half inch of rain. I know this because last week I mounted my birthday present weather gadget.


I was also able to confirm that yesterday's wind peaked at 28 mph. Usually when we have strong winds, the dust causes the mountains to get fuzzy and sometimes blocks them from vision. The rain cleaned up the atmosphere to give this view from the campground entrance looking directly south.




Little more than a week ago, we attended our park's Observatory Show and were rewarded with images from our solar system and well beyond as well as spectacular views of the planet Jupiter and four of its moons. These are views of the 16 inch reflector telescope inside the observatory dome.



We were late this week, but we finally got the latest edition of Living the RV Dream posted to www.livingthervdream.podomatic.com . We talked about our visit to Fort Huachuca but unfortunately, I had a sore back and I didn't get many good pictures, but we will be going back there. Below are some of the original buildings constructed in the early 1880's.