Benson

We left Eloy on a sunday morning April 1, but not after having some issues. When attempting to "park" our dish antenna, it quit in the upright position. Not a good thing. After doing some internet research it was determined that a call to our installer back in Houston area might be a good thing. To make a long story short, he determined that we had a turret failure, got a warranty claim initiated, and provided info to manually down the dish for travel. This got us on our way.

The whole base that attached to the roof was what needed to be replaced

 We arrived at Butterfield RV Park in Benson, AZ just after noon. Got settled in.

Part of the reason for us coming back to this park and this area was to visit some old friends (Dick & Patti), to go to Sierra Vista, AZ for routine service work on our truck, and for Mary to get to an appointment at her Optometrist Specialist there to have eyes checked.

Dinner with Dick & Patti

Truck Service in Sierra Vista

We did take a couple of days to enjoy some of the local sites. First was Winery Tour in the Elgin, AZ area. They have a number of wineries in the area. We visited 2 of them.

Sonoita Vineyards

Another stop, of course, was a trip to Tombstone.

Getting ready for the OK Corral afternoon show

Tombstone is a really special place

Trip to Tombstone not complete without a visit to Big Nose Kate's

this guy is a regular attraction here- Johnny Bones

Another area treat is Mi Casa Restaurant. It is probably one of the best Mexican Restaurants we've ever gone to.

The place is small, but the service is large and the food is great.

Just a couple last things to pass on .......the day before we were to leave, noted a gathering just outside the park at the Post Office. Turns out is was a regular commemoration of the Pony Express .....

On the 22nd of April we packed up and left Benson. It was with kind of mixed emotions. Nice in that it brought back memories of our first winter in AZ and the friends that we made then. Not nice in that something had changed.  With the park and the people. Well, I suppose that happens. We couldn't figure it out and quit trying. In the future, when we have to return to the Benson area for appointments, we'll probably stay somewhere else.

**********Oh, and BTW, while there we did get the replacement turret for the Direct TV antenna and utilizing a local tech, got it installed. And working. After 10 days of analog cable tv reception, it was soooooo nice to get back to HD.

Eloy, AZ

We spent the month of March in Eloy, AZ, a small town midway between Phoenix and Tucson and just outside of Casa Grande. Basically came back to this area, and specifically this park to renew old acquaintances. Many old friends in this area. We stayed at Silverado RV Resort.  Here is a view of the park from the roof of our rig......

Looking off to the north towards Casa Grande

That is I 10 in the far background

The park was steadily emptying out as many of the seasonal residents began their trips back home. Home for many was Canada, specifically Alberta, BC, and Saskatchewan, although we did notice many from Minnesota. All though, had one thing in common: glad they missed the winter back home.

Our stay was crowded with varying emotions, mostly disappointment.  My pickleball was still a no go. The achilles tendonitis graduated to achilles damage after I attempted to play in late January, so all I could do was occasionally go up to the pickleball courts and watch others play. A real bummer. The second bummer about the place was getting up one morning to discover that my bike had been stolen. One of 3 stolen that particular night. Not a happy camper.

We did find things to keep us occupied in the area though. We "discovered" Chris' Diner, a misnomer for a nice Greek Restaurant. Another day, we headed to Chandler, and another one of our favorite spots:

And along the way we saw some old friends and made some new ones.....

Our neighbors first week at Silverado. Canadians from BC

Lunch with friends Kevin and Marita- fellow work campers last summer at Hart Ranch in SD. At Creative Cafe in Casa Grande.

Perhaps the thing that we will remember most about Eloy is Skydive AZ.  If you click on this link, it will take you to their webpage. Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page and check out the video SDAZ Easter Boogie 2017. This will give you an idea of just why this is so popular. We had always known that this was a popular activity in this area, but didn't realize just HOW popular. And from how far away people come to enjoy this. One day we decided to find the place and visit, to see what it was all about. Let me tell you, this was without a doubt the best FREE entertainment around. We just never realized just what a big thing it is.

Part of their fleet of airplanes.

On our second day here,we saw a group of military loading up for training.

Waiting for their turn

A group on the way out to the airfield to board plane

Group getting instructions on their jump and what they intend to do

It was really quite amazing to watch the jumpers in action. We observed a number of different groups that were jumping together. The first day we were there, there was a group from Sweden. Previously I mentioned the Military(I was asked not to take pics of them). They loaded up here, but landed in another area. The groups we watched would jump, land on the field right in front of us, hustle off the field with their parachutes to  an area where they would unbuckle, lay out the chute, grab another parachute, and be off to get in line for the next plane. While they were gone, there were staff that would fold up their parachutes and have them ready for them when they got back after the next jump. Really something to see.  Here are some more pics.....

The funnels in the background is the indoor skydiving training area.  Check it out on their website.

Tandem jumpers

Some pretty happy tandem jumpers in the background

These were a couple of happy tandem jumpers

It was Easter weekend. Check out the rabbit ears on this girl....

This is the one armed jumper

Up close

One arm. Unbelievable

In the background is the shed where the staff repacks the parachutes.

Eloy wasn't all about Restaurants and SkyDiving. Our little Lexie was growing up. At times she transitioned from Boston Terrier to Boston Terror, as evidenced by the pics.....

She was into EVERYTHING

On April 1 we packed up and headed down the road about a hundred miles to Benson, AZ and the RV park where we began our adventure 3 years ago. More to come.