Good Morning Dear Ones,
We are in Eloy, AZ. It is a little town 8 miles South of Casa Grande, AZ. It is a farm community that has been mostly forgotten. It was founded in 1902 and most of the buildings are original.
There are cotton fields around us and cotton harvest will be finished in December. It was pretty interesting to see the cotton pickers and the huge bales of cotton in the fields. The bales are now being hauled to the cotton gins. There is a tour the middle of December but we will be in Iowa. Sorry, to miss it.
We have small mountains on the East and West of our campground. So, I get to watch the sun rise and set. It is amazing how different each sunrise and sunset is. It is one of my most treasured events each day. I think one of the best things about retirement is the time I have to enjoy this wonderful gift God gives to us each day. It is more beautiful than any man made Church or place of worship. This morning as I sit here and look out the window God is just starting His fantastic show. The first orange of sunrise is coming up over the mountains, wispy gray clouds and the tall palm trees are in the fore ground. As the orange increases the gray clouds turn a pinkish orange. I enjoy this special time of morning so very much and a cup of tea makes it about perfect. Everything in my world is at peace.
On our way to our winter home in AZ. we stopped in Branson, Mo. The fall colors were beautiful. The trees covered so many hills. We saw one valley that is called the New England of the Ozarks. The trees were so pretty. We missed the colors in New England but we were still able to enjoy the colors of the Ozarks. How lucky we are.
We try to see Presidential Library's as we travel across this country. LBJ's Library was closed to remodeling so we opted for the ranch. We thoroughly enjoyed this stop in the Texas Hill Country. The gentle rolling hills were very pretty. There is more rain in this area so things were greener. LBJ raised registered Hereford cattle on his ranch. After his death part of the ranch was donated to the park service and it is now a National Park and the park service maintains a herd of registered Hereford cattle descended from LBJ breeding program. It was interesting and it was nice to see cattle grazing on the land. Gene made the comment that it was cattle like his Dad bought for his feed lots. We both remembered all the pictures of cattle that we sorted through when we cleaned out their house in Marcus.
On our way to the Hill Country we stayed in Fredericksburg, TX. When we pulled in on Friday afternoon the town was full of people and a wine tasting party was going on. This little town of 10,000 has an activity or celebration every weekend. They have found their secret to survival. The town is full of tourist, shops, hotels and restaurants. The thing I noticed about the town was the extra wide main street. I commented as we pulled our unit down the main street " Boy, we have enough room to turn around on this street". Later, we found out that when the town was established in the "1800" the teams of oxen's and wagons needed a lot of room to turn around. Today, this is appreciated by all the drivers of motor homes and RV's that come to town for a visit. A perfect example of History repeating itself.
The sun is just about to break over the mountains. It is a brilliant burst of light. I hope some of my neighbors are also enjoying this show, but the units all look pretty quiet. No dogs are walking their masters yet.
Yesterday, one of our neighbors asked me if we knew where Decorah, IA was. She was so excited about the Eagle cam. She was a teacher in St. Louis and has watched the Eagles for a number of years. How small the world is.
There is a stirring in the bedroom so Dad and Bailey are waking up. We get to start another wonderful day of retirement. Love Mother
