A Top Ten Western Town

Escapee's RV Park

 Sometimes it’s nice not being on the go.  I guess you could call it a time to refresh.  This is exactly what we are doing at the Escapee’s RV Park at North Ranch in Congress, Arizona.  (We have been members of this RV club for about 6 years.)  The Park is about 6 miles from the town of Wickenburg where most of the action is in terms of restaurants, shops and museums.  We travel into the town of Congress to only pick up our General Delivery mail.  Here at the Park, being able to play catch up on laundry (and at a reasonable price) is always good as well as being plugged in to electric and water . . . so nice!  A time to meet your neighbors - who you hope can be a good source of information when needed.

Settled in at North Ranch. . .ahhhhhh

In this case, Jeff’s questions about our new piece of equipment that we are now “dragging” around with us (also known as the "Dish" satellite) has been quite the challenge for us novice users.  (Do we really need TV???) We broke down four days before the Olympics were over to sign on the dotted line for what they say is “endless entertainment”.  Do we have that yet?  Well, not exactly.  It’s pretty sporadic with us newbies so we have to pick someone’s brain, don’t we?

This was the case with our neighbor right next to us here in the park, Rebecca, from Steamboat Springs, Colorado.  What a delight to meet Rebecca and her two dogs, Cola (chocolate lab) and Sadie (black lab).  Her horse trailer with combined living space definitely told us that we would get along perfectly, having owned horses too.  So, with information in hand regarding how she works her Dish – and also the use of her satellite finder – we felt that we might have this under control.

(l-r) Tiger, Rebecca and Ferrari

Rebecca has a total of 12 horses, all dressage.  Currently, she boards two of her horses in Wickenburg (about 6 miles from the Park) named, Ferrari and Tiger.  Their breed is called warm bloods, originating from Europe.  We quickly asked if we could accompany her on one of her visits to see the horses.  Guess what we got to do?  Help with cleaning up the stalls, getting fresh water and the best was brushing their coats.  Did we like it?  You bet! 

Jeff enjoying the moment!

 

Kay finishing up on the grooming responsibilities!

 

We definitely didn’t think that we would be in the midst of horses so many miles from home.  The area around Wickenburg is definitely Cowboy/Cowgirl country - ranches complete with horse facilities, lots of horse trailers coming and here you gotta love "horse country".  Team roping is the "thing" to do around here and hopefully we can get to see some competition from the locals before we have to leave this area.
 

Steers are ready for roping by the Cowboys

 

Everywhere you look. . .horses. . .horses!!!

And, now for the cultural side of things here in Wickenburg.  A tour of the Desert Caballeros Western Museum was so much fun, strolling through special exhibit rooms, street scenes and an superb collection of Western art that we have ever seen in one place.  Add to that being accompanied by our friends from Alberta, Chuck and Sheila and you have the most awesome of days.  C&S drove in from Quartzsite to tour the museum with us and have lunch (and for us to play catch-up with what the other has been doing) before we all start the trek homeward.

Metal Sculpture outside of their Learning Center

Awesome horses!

The Cowboy's Cryptic Alphabet - see anything you like?

 

Tiled landscape greets you at the entrance of the museum





The landscape here is beautiful - quite different from Organ Pipe National Monument.

In the distant, Vulture Peak

 

Wickenburg has a "crested" Saguro - awesome!



The below photo is in memory of the 19 firefighters from this area who lost their lives in Yarnell (approx. 30 miles from where we are).  Do you remember these very brave men? 

 

 

Can't wait to share with you on our next blog the Jeep trip we took just recently.  We have a dirty/dusty Jeep once again, but Oh, what a fabulous day it was.  We now have to decide which photos to share with you so Kay had better get to work!

Hugs to all ~ Kay & Jeff

Travel Recap:  Everyone here at North Ranch RV Park is absolutely wonderful – staff and new friends that we have met – that we extended our stay for another 7 nights.  We will head Down the Open Road on 3/24 to the Lost Dutchman State Park in Apache Junction, Arizona (just outside of Phoenix), where we have a reservation for 4 nights.  You can be sure that we will take some great Jeep trips in the Superstition Mountain area.  Also, we will finally spend some quality time with Jeff’s cousin, Carol and her husband, Dale who live in Apache Junction during the winter.