111 Who am I kidding!

Now here is a saddle!

    I don't know what I was thinking when I said I was going to do one more post on Wickenburg.  It seems like we crowded a lot of living in a few days in and around this little town.  I will let you know when we pull out of this little oasis.  I believe I have also made a discovery about myself.  Not being one for detailed conversation most of my life.  I now think when I write I channel Ruthie giving much more detail than I would in person.    By the way if she reads this I mean it as a compliment, she tells wonderful detailed very detailed stories complete with dates, times, hand gestures and GPS coordinates. (okay I'm exaggerating on one of the details.)
     We continued our tour of the little town window shopping, taking pictures and venturing into some to take a closer look.  The two custom saddle makers were favorites of mine.   We wandered past the theater named for the giant cactuses surrounding the area, The Saguaro theater was built in 1948 inactive for ten years in the seventies and now shows current movies for $5.00 admission.    A delicious lunch at the Rancho seven café provided a photo opportunity for us.  I'm sure it wouldn't mean much to others and many wouldn't have noticed the feed sack curtains separating the booths.  The one we sat at was from Pipestone Minnesota.  The decorating always adds to a dining experience and in here you felt comfortable at home.   Checking out the place further we found they had an open outdoor patio in back and a full bar.  A newspaper clipping on the wall caught my eye.  The headline read "A man walks into a bar" (sounds like a lead in to a joke) the story continued, and stayed for 68 years.  Uncle Wes as the community called him started 

Pipestone Minnesota, been there!

bartending in 1942 and 68 years later at the age of 90 he retired.   He was so admired by the little town when a new motel owner filed a complaint against him there was an emergency town meeting to exclude his peacocks from the noise ordinance.    Yup , I will return here someday especially after I seen they have one of those long bar shuffleboard games. (I wonder if they still make those or if they are all antiques?) 

Reminds me of the movie the electric horseman.

     During our stay we had the opportunity to eat a sandwich at Nana's sandwich shop and Anita's café, I'm going to stop here for two reasons.  I won't remember them all and you will think all we do is eat out.  My reason for starting in the first place.  Of all the people we asked our stock questions of, only one person wasn't infatuated with this little town.  Her reason was the restaurants.   We believe since she left Florida to move here with a new husband she was used to
large expensive ones.  We enjoyed them all including Screamers drive inn, Qorri's Italian and the Sizzling Wok where my female companions say they had the best meal ever!  There you have it. 
     December 4th and 5th Our plan was to ride to Apache Junction to Minnesota prairie neighbors Barb and Warren who had sold their winter home in Arkansas and relocated here.  I do hope her and Ruthie get along better here.  On our 2012 winter trip she had threatened to cut out
Ruthies tongue if she didn't stop bidding. (Evidently euchre can be a physical game)  Besides visiting our friends new digs we hoped to meet up with daughter Michelle heading to Arizona on her Harley coming from San Antonio Texas.   It was  misting when we left and the cycle was running poorly.  On the way we stopped at the headquarters of  "Gold Wing Road Riders Association"  I had put off paying our dues and our chapter leaders Joe and Janet had reminded me shortly before the trip.  I hadn't told them but knowing the headquarters was in Phoenix I thought we would stop in and see it.  Close to the interstate and easy to find I was curious if we had rode the furthest to pay our dues, not even close, "darn Canadians".   They were very nice to us gave us each a GWRRA tee shirt as a gift and took our picture in the lobby.  Didn't realize the piping on our coats was so reflective.   Evidently the cycles problem was the moisture as it had stopped raining and it ran perfect the rest of the day.  We had been keeping in contact with Michelle thru facebook and phone, it was nerve racking for her mother and I was trying to stay calm.  It seemed everything was against her, cold, rain, a rear tire she stopped to have repalced, shifter fell off and then a muffler not put on correctly after a tire change.   To many things for a three day trip, fortunately she is quite determined, we were all able to finally relax at Barb and Warrens.   The community in Apache Junction they live in has a spectacular view of Superstition mountain.  Our hosts showed us some of the local hangouts and of course we played some cards.


Superstition Mountain

      It was Saturday the sixth and we had a date for Swiss steak at the catholic church in Wickenburg.   Michelle was staying in the Phoenix valley area to ride with new and old friends. On the way home we stopped by Cave Creek to touch bases with Rick and Jane our friends from the restaurant.  We keep telling everyone not to invite us if you don't want us to stop by.  After their gracious invitation we thought the least we could do is let them know what we were doing.  It was like reuniting with old friends.  It was great to see them again, they were happy we had found lodging and a place for the rest of the trip.  One of the things that impressed me was when they showed us around their place in the desert, Rick waved his hand over the area and said "everything you see can hurt you" he explained that even the cactus plants that look like cotton are very painful.   We found this is true of much of the south west desert area.  We will try and stop here again.  
     We invited Gary to go along with us.  Like all of Wickenburg the Church was within a couple blocks of where we had met Jack on that first day.  Held in a building across the parking lot it looked as if this must be a popular function.   We sat in an covered outdoor patio with a fireplace in the corner.  The meal was wonderful and we found out that Jack our Wickenburg greeter was the cook for this event.  He sat and visited with us for awhile until duties called him elsewhere,  he told us to give him a call and he would show us his home in the desert.  Surprisingly to we Methodist they had a full bar ran on gratuities.  A beverage with the great meal, nothing wrong with that.  Fun night I think back and I believe Gary ended up paying for his "gift ticket" how did that happen?  

     Sunday there was a special treat in store for me, Gary was taking one of the resident horses out in the desert for a trail ride.  He asked if I wanted to ride along with him and a friend.  I jumped at the chance.  It had probably been over thirty years since I had rode just for pleasure.  Most of my riding has been in a training mode on either unbroken or horses with behavioral problems.    He asked me to get one of his roping horses out of the corral.  Bueno was very  extremely patient with me and I have to apologize for the way I mounted him.  Gary had raised the stirrups after looking at my legs.  Unfortunately for me and Bueno not near enough, 

One of the team roping trophies!

when I stood up in the left stirrup I could see there was still a lot of horse above me, I ended up climbing up similar to the way you would crawl over a obstacle wall.   Sorry Bueno!   Once in the saddle Gary adjusted my stirrups once more, now we are good.  We followed our leader from the stable yard across the road thru a gate, across the nearby school entry way along the highway to a padlocked gate.  Once Gary entered the secret combination (kind of made me wonder if we lost Gary if we would be locked in the desert forever?).   I was kind of glad there wasn't a rope on my saddle because my ride today would know exactly what to do if a steer or milk cow presented itself.  We soon left civilization winding up and down the sandy 

"You finally get up there"

dunes, Gary confirmed that everything out here would indeed hurt you as we guided our rides around scrubs brush and cactus.  I was impressed as our horses followed our intended path with no hesitation traversing rocks that I would not have sent horses at before today.  Gary said ranch horses are like this, a calm reliable ride that does what you suggest without hesitation or a fuss.  We rode for over an hour and I thought I had better take an Aleve or something as my legs were already starting to feel some tenderness.  Fortunately Gary was still with us for our exit from the desert,  I think I will remember this ride forever.  Thanks Gary!