A trip to the Mining Camp Restaurant near Apache Junction, AZ. Several old buildings depicting days gone by as well as wagons and mine ore cars. Beer 5 cents and 25 cents for a bath. There is an old shovel that has had the engine removed. It would have been interesting to see what kind of power it had. It looked to be of the 1920's era, maybe earlier.
Clark Bostwick and Carol came by Nancy's and picked up the three of us and we met Ed and Bonnie Pearson at the restaurant.

The restaurant has a large area with all kinds of clothes, jewelry, belts, hats, etc. Lots of ways to get your money. We were seated at a long picnic type table and the food is served, family style. We had home made bread, rolls and raisin bread,
cole slaw, chicken & gravy, broasted potatoes, ham with glaze, green beans and lots of BBQ beef ribs. All very tasty, a bit pricey, but good food and a nice atmosphere and with good friends, made it a very enjoyable evening.
We are enjoying the nice weather here, even if it is a bit cooler than normal, it is quite tolerable. However, all good things must come to an end as we are getting "hitch itch" and are ready to get back on the road.
We will be leaving the middle of the week for Yuma and attend the Gypsy Journal Rally the second week in March. Then we will be heading east toward Indiana and anticipate being there the middle of April or so. I will list our itinerary as soon as it is complete as we have several hamfests lined up to work on our way to Indiana.

We were invited by Clark and Carol to go to Wickenburg, AZ to visit the Western Museum. It was about noon when we arrived so we went to the Golden Nugget Restaurant. A very nice restaurant in old town Wickenburg. A nice menu but only fair food. I had a Reuben which was good but some of the others were a bit disappointed in their food. Our waitress left a lot to be desired. We had a good visit while we ate and then we were off to the Western Museum. Outside is a bronze sculpture titled "Thank you Father for the Rain" Something that is always appreciated in this part of the country.
The museum is filled with all things you would need to be a cowboy back in the day. Lots of leather work, chaps, holsters, lassos, saddles, hats, etc. A very nice gallery of paintings, many from various collections from around the country. I would have loved to have some photos, but no photography was allowed inside the museum. There was also a nice collection of guns, hand as well as long guns. A typical chuck wagon with all the utensils needed to feed a group of cowboys on a trail drive. The cook was the one that decided where the herd would spend the night and would get set up and have supper on the way before the cowboys arrived with the cattle. Not sure where he got all of the groceries but he had to feed everyone breakfast
and supper every day. Some of the drives would take many weeks to complete. So the cook was a very important member of the group.
It was a long day but a very interesting and enjoyable one. Good company and we even stopped on the way home for some ice cream at DQ.

The photos are of the Museum. Merle, Ed, and Clark and Evelyn, Bonnie and Carol. The bottom photo is of the sculpture in front of the museum.

Not sure why I lose photos when I post the blog sometimes, but here they are.

The photos are of the sunset in Palm Springs, CA, the first looking west and the second looking east with the reflection of the sun on the clouds.

I must apologize for not keeping up on the blog. We have really been lazy and not doing a lot. Got back in Mesa on the 2nd and back in our parking spot. We did attend the Handicapped Travel Club Mesa Lunch Bunch at Joe's BBQ on the 3rd of February. I had to cut and bevel several name tag blanks to replenish the stock that we had used at Quartzsite and Palm Springs.
We went to the Mesa Flea Market on Saturday. What a large facility. Hundreds of vendor booths selling most anything you can imagine as well as lots of duplicate items.
We were invited to Clark Bostwick's for a Super Bowl Party. About 10 of us with some neighbors in and out. A nice party with lots of good food and drinks and only a fair ball game. Sorry that with the season the Colts had that they came away with no record or Super Bowl rings.
The weather has been fairly cool in the evenings but mostly sunny and in the 70's for highs. Pretty nice for this time of year, at least much nicer than in the midwest and on the east coast. There has been a lot of snow in the upper elevations of Arizona and cold, 11 degrees the other morning at the Grand Canyon.
We picked up the Straube's, friends from Cherokee Village, AR and took them to dinner at a local Village Inn. A very nice restaurant with a nice selection on the menu and you can get any item in a breakfast or a lunch mode. Breakfast includes hot cakes, eggs and hash browns along with your choice of entree. Plenty of food at a reasonable price. We took a drive north toward Cave Creek and then back to their home.
It was necessary to replace the left front wheel bearing on the van. It was one made in China and we replaced it with a Timken bearing, made in the USA. They had been replaced a couple of years ago when we overhauled the brakes. So, will keep an eye on the right front to see if it is coming close to the end of its life. Always something on an old vehicle with a lot of miles.