Ostrich Ranch

I am trying to catch up on our travels so I wanted to tell you about our trip to the Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch. The ranch is just down the frontage road from our RV park so we finely decided to go check it our, in hopes that the monster truck ride tour would take us our behind the park and into the hill we look at every day.  Our friend Steve and Yvonne were with us , so we hopped on our bikes and rode over and got our tickets. in large pens they have deer, Ostrich, goats, prairie dogs and birds.

After you look ,feed and laugh at these animals, you load up into a small bus that has huge wheels and looks like a monster truck and your driver guide takes you out into the desert area(not far) into their 600 acres  of pasture. They drive over dry river beds and other things to make you bounce out of you seat and stop and give you info about the desert.

 the three amigos

 dead cactus

 Ostrich fishing  they have poles with clips on the end, and put orange slices in the clips and feed"fish" for them.

they passed around a box with a dead rattle snake in it, stood on an ostrich egg to show how strong they are and took us back to the beginning. there we went into the Lonekeet bird house. they give you a little cup with a lid on it and say just go in and the birds will land on you, open the cup and drink the liquid. so Steve took the cup and in we went.

while we were watching the birds, Yvonne screamed and we all turned to see what was happening and all it was , was that a bird had pooped all down her arm and surprised her. funny for us but not her. I had a bird land on my shoulder and walk down my arm. it was preaty cool to be in the "cage" with all the birds.

It was a fun trip and we really did learn a lot. Fun and enjoyable time.

picture info

Just a quick note. so you will know. If there is a picture posted on our blog and you click on it, it will become larger. If multiple pictures are posted you you click on one of them it enlarges it and lets you scroll thru all the ones on at posting . hope this helps. just a quick couple of photos to try it with.

gourd festival

Linda and I went to the Casa Grande gourd festival. what an event! gourds of every size, shape, style. The festival is at the Pinel County fair grounds and is attended by gourd lovers from across the USA. I never knew what could be made from just some old squash. It is amazing


These are just a quick sample  of some of the caricatures one person made.

The next three pics are a desert arrangement that is made of all gourds. The work is unbelievable! All the birds, animals, turtles,snake,rocks and cacti are all made from gourds.

One sample of the delicate work some folks do and sell

I had thought this was a burll from a tree, but it is a stained and treated gourd

just a couple of small gourd fields, and there were miles of fields that have already been picks and the ground turned over for the next crop

We didn't even get into the barn with the competition gourds.   they also had gourds with a screen door spring stuck into the bottom so when you shake it it sounds like thunder. Walking sticks made from long necked ones and so much more.
 While outside watching a family playing country music, we heard something sounding like a big bee and finily realized it was a drone. I started taking pictures and it came right down to me. I believe it had a camera and was filming me , filming it.  it took a long time to find the operator, and he was standing along ways away operating it remotely. Really neat and very expensive toy.

  two other great things from this wonderful day, were I got to try a Philly cheese steak with the green chiles I love and listen to a great country/bluegrass family play and yodel.  hope this video works for you.

lots more to come, we have been so busy having fun and enjoying the sights and RV park we are in , I am tired by the time I get to sit and write on the blog.

Feb 8 Apache Junction trip

 Well, I will try and catch up with our activities as best i can. Friday we went to Apache Junction, Tortilla Flats and took the Apache trail around Superstition Mountain. Our friends drove, as they had been there before and their truck has a little more room than ours. Steve did a great job driving. We stopped at The Lost Dutchman mine and walked around seeing what an old mining area would have look like. Really neat. We didn't tour the house of ill repute but the madam did talk to us from her balcony. I found a shop that made and sold all kinds of metal sculptures

this has my creative juices flowing. I just may have to get a plasma cutter when we get home.

we continued along, seeing great panoramic views of beautiful plants, mountains

 

 We stopped in Tortilla Flats and had lunch at a great restaurant. we found a few things in the gift shop we liked , and I got some post cards.  After Tortilla  Flats the road becomes dirt and very steep and windy and quite narrow one lane. Linda did really good and didn't hide her head from seeing the drop offs and great views. it is a long way around. I got nervous a couple of times , as I am not a good passenger.

we came to Roosevelt dam. It looks a lot like Hoover dam but not as big.

we continued along and made it back to asphalt and good road. we can breathe now.  we came to a little town of Miami and Steve turned off the main street and started driving up and down these narrow residential streets, it felt like we were in Mexico slums but he was having a ball getting his big Dodge thru the houses. one street as pretty much dirt and washed out but we saw a handmade sign that said "thru street" so we continued. Yvonne was telling him to get back to the main road, but he figured that after this "tour" when anyone ever mentions Miami we will think of Arizona vice Florida.  We made it back to the rv park in time for a beautiful sunset. 9 hours was a long day, but what a lifetime chance to really see the sights.

Sunset over Picacho Peak , taken from right beside the RV

More to write but will post this for now.