Empire Ranch

 

It’s unbelievable how quickly the week has passed.  Early in the week we finished the exterior of the motorhome – windows cleaned and the rest of it washed and waxed.  Now a few things to get cleaned inside and should be good for the winter – more or less anyway.

Since we left home with minimal groceries as one is never sure what is and what isn’t allowed to cross.  We did spend a night at a Walmart on the way down but didn’t do a whole lot of shopping.  About 35 miles away is a fairly large town/city – Sierra Vista which has a whole array of shopping. 

It was interesting how mask wearing differed with the different stores.  At Food City, no staff wore masks and neither did the majority of customers; however, there were very few customers.  At Ross (similar to Winners) all staff wore masks and so did the majority of shoppers, especially the ones with  young children.  Dollar Tree was similar.  At Fry’s Foods, the staff wore masks, and while it was much busier than the other food store, probably half wore masks.  I found it rather interesting to see where and who were wearing masks.  It is strange, that in these times, so many would choose to  not take precautions that are both simple and easy.  Who knows!!!!

Since we were there over lunch, we stopped at a Sonic Burger for lunch – certainly reminiscent of the old Dog N Suds days.  You drive up to a speaker, place your order, pay by credit.  Soon a young person on roller skates comes scooting out with your food.  Loved it.

The small town closest to where we are staying is Sonoita, AZ.  We have been in the area a number of times but have never really toured the area.  There are 16 vineyards in the area.  While many of them seem to be fairly small, who knew??  Most of the wine tasting is Thursday to Sunday – shucks, it was Wednesday so no tasting.

Not sure why the grapes were still there

It is always interesting to see some of the other camping units.  Here is one that Gerry thought would be ideal for some neat backroad trips.  I agreed, but he is definitely fifty years too late to think I would consider this type of accommodations although it isn’t a tent on the ground!!

The downfall of being out here is the lack of garbage disposal as there aren't a lot of public dumpsters.  Of course, in the meantime, garbage does pile up and can be smelly.  To combat the problem I made, very rudimentary I must say, a container for the back of the Jeep.  That way, it is contained away from us until we find somewhere to dump it.

This past week was also a total eclipse of the moon – the longest partial since February 1440.  The peak eclipse was 2:00 a.m. local time.  Well the only way to make sure you see it is to set an alarm which is what we did.  Just before alarm time we woke up and went outside to see this phenomenon.  It was pretty chilly out there in the middle of the  night, it was amazing to see as there was large halo around the moon.  There also was some cloud but it seemed that the clouds parted and the area around the moon was perfectly clear.  It was rather cool to see.  I did try to take some photos but of course, none of them turned out.  Earlier in the evening, we were watching the moon come up over the mountain.  As we watched, we could literally see it move up in the sky which is quite amazing as well.   I was able to get, at least, one moon picture!!

The temps are starting to get a bit cooler – only 21 or 22C during the day so early next week will be moving day.  Not totally sure as to where yet but somewhere at lower elevation as we are currently at just under 5,000 feet.  As much as we love it here, it really is a place to visit earlier in the fall.  At least we don’t have to deal with some of the weather  that they had back home with the wind and snow and cold and ice.  Worse yet, the poor folks in British Columbia who are facing incredible challenges from the devastating floods – our hearts certainly go out to the residents and many volunteers as they try to reach some semblance of normalcy.

While a quiet week means that there is really nothing too exciting to write.  I hope everyone has a great week.  I must include an Arizona sunset to close.