Apricity West 3

March 24, 2023 - Friday

Learned a lot about beertender, Lisa, at Copper Mine today. She is part owner and handles the front and publicity. 

We started talking about the Air Force Thunderbirds Air Show happening this weekend. As much as we love to see these jets fly over our park, the sound sometimes rattles the RV. Who are we to complain when Lisa, her husband and their 6-month old child live on the base! He is an NCO (non-commissioned officer) and they moved on base after renting an apartment near us because the electric bill was $500/month in the summer months. At the base they only pay for internet - so they will set that money aside and save to buy a house.  

 Picture

March 25, 2023 - Saturday 

Snooze is an eclectic breakfast joint that we visited today. WOW! I know that I have a LOT of food/beverage pictures, but here you go...

Shrimp and Grits


Avocado Toast 

Chili Verde Eggs Benedict

Spuds Deluxe

March 26, 2023 - Sunday

Neighbors Fred and Tony chatted with us. Fred and his wife are leaving tomorrow and going to Mexico - Yikes. He has a friend who lives there near the border and they say all things are quiet - no issues. His wife grew up in Old Mesille where we have visited several times. They now live in Las Cruces and travel a lot with their travel trailer and a 5th wheel. Tony was a welder, machinist in the copper mines nearby and is one of 15 kids. Really nice guys - glad we got to talk with them.

T&J picked us up to go to Copper Mine - they had never been there. We sat at a round table which was varnished after the knots were filled with what looks like wheat grain. Really clever idea. 

It was a perfect day for the air show - not a cloud in the sky.

The spin off 

We watched it from our place while sipping on cocktails AND opening gifts from Terri and Jim! Rich’s bag contained Sweet Vermouth and drink charms which could become part of one of his miniatures pieces. Cute...

My paisley decorated bag contained Triple Sec, orange bitters and homemade simple syrup - put these together with vodka, lemonade and lemon rind and you have a LeMonda, Jim’s creation. 

You can tell Jim is a graphic designer…

On top of that they gave us Tucson Popcorn and 2 mini-pies for the road.

March 27, 2023 - Monday  

We were pulling out of Crazy Horse at 7:45am heading for Deming, NM for one night to visit with Dennis Keller. He just got back from sailing on his son’s 42-foot catamaran for 6 weeks around and through the Panama Canal. He had a wonderful trip which exceeded his expectations. I looked back in my phone for my Panama pictures, some of which were the same places, to find out it is 10 years ago that my Dad and I did an 8-day tour. Ah, the memories. 

 

We have been watching the Centennial series which is a classic interpretation of history of the Wild West. It is 12 episodes with various talented cast members portraying 3 generations of the families responsible for founding and developing this town in Colorado. 5 stars!

 

Pulled into Dream Catcher in Deming, NM at 1:30pm - 3 hours with time change.

 

March 28, 2023 - Tuesday 

Left at 8am sharp - destination KOA at Tucumcari, NM. The winds howled so loud last night that it woke me up. The camper was rocking and the temperature dropped. I didn’t know if we would be able to travel today, but thankfully the winds lessened at 8am. 

 

Love this route we are on today (Route 70 to 54) which are secondary two-lane roads with 65mph through lovely landscapes. We only do 64mph anyway and there is minimal truck traffic. Crossed over into Central Time Zone. Interesting spots we have passed through are Las Cruces, White Sands (missile range and National Park), Alamogordo, Tularosa, Three Rivers, Valley of Fire, Billy the Kid country, Carrizozo, Carona, Vaughn, Guadalupe, Santa Rosa...

 

White Sands is hundreds of miles of desert which seems uninhabitable by humans. In fact, humans have lived there since the Ice Age. Fossils of human foot prints and great ground sloths exist in the National Park. Lake Autara evaporated leaving behind alcholine flats. Archaic people entered the area to live there raising wild plants and living in villages. Seven hundred years ago, Apaches followed herds of bison leading to fighting with Buffalo Soldiers which ended in their removal from the area. 

Love my Autio App by HearHere which narrates stories of areas we drive through. Fascinating to sit and look out across this vast land and think of the covered wagons rushing out here chasing their dreams and then coming up against the terrain, the dust storms, the Indians, the outlaws, etc.

 

Pulled into a KOA at 2pm - 6 hours.

 

March 29, 2023 - Wednesday 

On the road at 7am with indecision about where we will stop today. Watching the big storm with 70 mph winds coming in from the west and whether to try to beat it or lay low an extra day before it hits on Friday. Are we storm chasing or racing? As it turns out, we got hung up in a traffic jam due to a 2-car, 1 semi truck crash. Held us up about 1/2 an hour, but we decided to get off in Elk City, OK KOA RV Park at about 2pm after going through Texas with all their wind turbines - 7 hours.

March 30, 2023 - Thursday

Left at 7:15am headed for Springfield, MO via OKC, Tulsa, Joplin, MO. Sorry we couldn’t stop this time around, Kibbie and Phil😘😢 Still keeping a keen eye on the weather and playing hide and seek with the storm. Set up successfully at 2:15pm (7 hours) for the night with intentions of a 6am departure in the morning. Spring is in the air…

Apricity West 3

March 17, 2023 - Friday

Terri and Jim took today off so we could celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and the fact that we are only here this weekend and next. We chose to stay put at their place rather than be on the road and Rich cooked up a delicious boiled brisket dinner. Terri and I worked on art - she did her first rock painting and it really sparkled. I tried to make one of my drawings sparkle more too. 

March 18, 2023 - Saturday

Gorgeous day today. T&J are ISO (in search of) their go-to Mexican food fix so today we tried a new-to-all-of-us restaurant - LaChaiteria. The meal was very plentiful and delicious food; the only downfall was they do not serve margaritas. Carnitas for me…

Totally vegan for Terri…

 

The boys each got a burrito…

The wall art was so bright and colorful…

So with full bellies, we took a ride ISO fields of desert poppies that carpet the fields after the unusual rainfall here. We only found a smattering of poppies, but it was a great day for a ride and since my hip prohibits us from walking any distance, is our best option. We stopped at an age old (1956) watering hole for margaritas which were especially strong and tart. On top of that, they over-salted the rim with table salt - tooooooo much! As we got back into Parsons’ neighborhood, we spotted beautiful clusters of the poppies.

March 19, 2023 - Sunday

Very windy and cloudy so we spent our day inside at Terri and Jim’s. After solving the problems of the world, Terri and I set up the art supplies at the kitchen table and got busy. The boys went out for a beer at the Hop Shop nearby. When they returned, Jim set up the bar and proceeded to make various beverages...

In the meantime, Terri had created her Southwestern Vegetable Chop-Chop Chowder and it was stewing on a low flame. The fragrance was enticing, but the flavors were amazing. Garnished with a wedge of lime and artisan bread, who could ask for anything more?!

March 20, 2023 - Monday

Rich started up again on his woodcrafting, even though this is our last week here and there is a lot to get done - most of it at the last minute. These are his adorable key holders, including velcro on the back for hanging. 

Ran some errands and stopped in at Murphy’s to hear about the St. Patty’s Day celebration. Uh oh - no Guinness! They didn’t run out, but the lines weren’t working which was getting fixed this afternoon. And no more peach cider or food because they ran out. Note to self - don’t expect the usual after an Irish holiday at an Irish bar. Britney, a bartender we had not met yet, was busy scrubbing every surface behind the bar - she had already done the public area. We had a quick alternative drink and learned that they had made $3600 in tips alone - divided by 6 bartenders! Do the math - they each got around $600. They talked about dividing it up by hours worked and decided to split it evenly as this was such a well oiled team.

 

March 21, 2023 - Tuesday

I got busy working on my paisley collection...

March 22, 2023 - Wednesday

Stopped at Copper Mine and chatted with Marina. She suggested we come by on Sunday with our chairs and sit outside to watch the Air Show. We had planned on that with Terri and Jim since they have never been there.  

 

March 23, 2023 - Thursday 

HAPPY 93rd BIRTHDAY, MOM 💗

My card for Mom...

Terri’s card for Mom...

Thought I was pretty much done with the blog this week as we didn’t have anything new that we were doing today. However, when we got to Murphy’s we told Tora it was our last time to see her this year. She asked if we were flying home, and I showed her a picture of the camper and bug. 

She loved it and said that is what she wants to do - get an Airstream and haul a trailer of her music around the country. What? Music? We have been trying unsuccessfully to find Matt at the bar at lunch time because of his musical acumen. Little did we know, Tora is also a singer, song-writer! As we continued to ask questions, she shared that she was on X-Factor where the judges loved her, including Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul. Simon gave the winners a tour of London, including his home. As a business woman, she declined signing the contract and wanted to negotiate the terms, so they disqualified her. Click on this link too see her audition on YouTube - amazing! https://youtu.be/o2iNoeTxJU0

Much of her life has been in the Bay Area of California, where she had a scholarship for film school which was disrupted by the pandemic. Then in December 2022 her grandma passed away in Tucson, leaving grandpa (who she was caring for) alone. Tora decided to try to support her family and stay in the area to help out. Adam (owner of Murphy’s) has been a friend of hers for years and was venting about working so many shifts as he couldn’t get enough bartenders. So she offered to help as she was staying and would need work. There is a lot of music happening in Tucson, but she needs to get a band together. She plays piano and drums along with dancing, modeling, photography and she is an artist. 

She has done commercials for people and has Instagram accounts - ToraTigerArt and ToraWoloshin. Tora means Tiger in Japanese. We certainly wish her well💕

We continue to watch the weather systems for our best route home - departing on Monday!

 

  

Apricity West 3

March 10, 2023 - Friday

Had lunch at Murphy’s - Kendra was bartending. Spent most of the day working on our art projects. 

March 11, 2023 - Saturday

Went over to Terri and Jim’s to hang out and lay low. Went to Calle Tepa, a favorite Mexican restaurant of theirs - great food and margaritas. 

 

March 12, 2023 - Sunday

Went to check out a new Carniceria near T&J’s - there are 22 of these in the city of Tucson, but this one has been in the works for about 6 months and opened 2 weeks ago.

Met the owner, Carmen, on the Bakery side of the operation. It is family owned and all but a few employees are family members.

They really did a top notch job putting this market together - in front of the meat case is a variety of different brands of tortillas made in Tucson. The case was well displayed and the meats were fresh and covered in cellophane. 

If you purchase any of these meats, you can take them outside for Calletano (Tano for short) to cook up for you on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. We bought some churros and peanuts for snacking but will be back for more. 

On to the original Borderlands Brewery (Kendra was bartending!) to sit outside and listen to Kevin Pakulis and his band. He is an Americana singer-songwriter, master musician and storyteller and now a regular there on Sunday afternoons - we really like his music and his message. 

He draws a big crowd of music lovers and dancers. 

Back at the Parsons’ ranch, we lolled around on the patio and had Rich’s grilled chicken and Terri’s Mexican pasta dish, followed by Jim’s churros with a dollop of ice cream, drizzle of chocolate syrup and dribble of Kahlua. YUM.

 

March 13, 2023 - Monday

Went to Fry’s to pick up corned beef and cabbage to cook on Friday, then to Murphy’s but no one there to open the bar!

 

March 14, 2023 - Tuesday

The winter back home (Lee, MA) had been very mild with little snowfall until today. Spent a lot of time communicating with family and friends who were caught in the 2-day Nor’easter. There was as much as 31” of snowfall and power was out all over Berkshire County. Thankfully, my house was only out for a few hours and my gas heater kept up with keeping the house warm enough to keep pipes from freezing. Randy, my son, did snow blowing at his house and mine. 

It was hard to keep my brain in the right place at the right time as it was 77 degrees, hot and dusty here in Tucson. We went over to Copper Mine Brewery in the afternoon and Marina was struggling (calmly) to keep up. She was calling her boss to let him know that there was no internet which kept her from using the Square register and credit card unit. The place was not real busy, but busier than we have seen it at this hour. The boss dropped in but didn’t really get it back online and had to go back to work at Intuit. Somehow she was able to accept credit cards and ring on the register. During all of this two customers ordered 3 growlers of different beers - about $45 worth - which really slows down the process. She mentioned that they were down a beertender and had to find someone to work. On our way home we saw a dozen Cox Communication trucks and crews burying a whole lot of lines in the ground, so we are assuming they are fiberoptic now. Our TV was offline last night too.

 

March 15, 2023 - Wednesday 

Turns out we got rain this morning and expect more this evening. I worked on some more paisley art in the morning. 

Went over to Murphy’s and Rich ended up helping Tora, bar manager, change a keg of Guinness. She is a tiny little gal and could do it herself using a dolly, but he was happy to help. The way the kegs were stacked, he had to lift one down from behind after shuffling those in the front. They weigh about 130 lbs. Tora has suffered some ex-personnel retaliation as she runs a tight ship - some people don’t like that. The owner, Adam, backs her up, but things happen outside of work too. Wishing her the best.

Dr. DeFalice called me himself. He had been on vacation and didn’t have my paperwork with him. At this point, he agrees that surgery is imminent and he will have his secretary get the ball rolling. I have a dentist appointment for clearance on April 10th already. The weather is the real determining factor so we have to keep a close eye on that. 

 

March 16, 2023 - Thursday

Worked on more art, then went to Murphy’s for lunch. There was a lot of hustle bustle going on to prepare for St. Patrick’s Day celebration tomorrow. It was the busiest lunch we have ever seen, so there was a lot of action. For the third time, Rich was only charged for 1 Guinness when he had 2 - different places each time. Tora said to forget about it. Left there just in time as we got home just before an unexpected rain, so more time for art…