Vegas Lions

Feeding the Burros

Oatman Arizona

Our visit to Oatman, Arizona was great. The town is a true ghost town on the famous RT. 66. It started as a mining town & when the gold ran out in the 1930's so did the miners. They left their burros behind & they became the true residents of the town.
http://www.desertusa.com/oatman/du_oatman.html

The gold mines produced two million ounces from its start in 1904. Carol Lombard & Clark Gable spent the first night of their honeymoon here at the Oatman hotel.

The burros became the main tourist attraction of the town. They come walking into town looking for the carrots that the tourist bring for them.

Then they return back to the mountains for the night. We patiently waited for their arrival. I wanted to share the carrots but they don't just take a bite, they want the entire carrot. The baby donkeys can only have small pieces at a time. It was really fun feeding them. When I walked away with some carrots still in my hand, one of the donkeys head butted me right in the butt! Twice! And once in the arm. As long as you have some carrots they will follow you around the town.

Each burro in town has been named. The day we arrived one of the donkeys just had a baby. They can sense where there is water & then they stomp their feet on the ground & bring up some water.

Visiting With a Friend

John & I were in Verde Valley area in Arizona. Julie & Frank only live about an hour south of our campground. We stopped by for a quick visit. They were getting ready for a weekend of out on their quads. It was a good visit with friends. Last time we came out this way they drove up the mountain to visit with us. This time we drove down the mountain & what a mountain it is. They have a really nice house with a pool and a beautiful dog. See you next time around Julie & Frank.

The Beginning of our 2008 RV Trip

We started out on our trip following I-10 across the US to Arizona. A long dusty trip. We left Florida in the rain and entered Texas, the Lonestar state, plagued with wind & dust storms. We hurried through 2 counties in Texas as we had tornado warnings. We made it out of those counties but hit a hail storm in the next county. John had a tough time driving through all the wind. The hail dented the hood of the car but not to bad. The roof of the RV is pretty dented from marble size hail. Well we made it through the weather woes of I-10. We are bound not to take that route on the way home.

Our first stop was at Colorado River Thousand Trail park. If you are interested in watching deer this is the place to go. They walk through your camp site with out a care that you are there. I enjoyed watching them.

Our second stop was Tombstone Arizona.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tombstone%2C_Arizona

What a great place. The town really only lasted 9 years during its time back in the 1880's, but it is back as a booming tourist trap. The mines in tombstone filled with water shutting them down. The town also burnt down twice. With the mines going bust & the town burning down, the town died down. But it came back each time, giving it the name, the town to tough to die.
The main road of the town is shut down to vehicles but not to the horse buggies & stage coaches.

The town people all stroll around the town in the clothes of 1880's. We dined at Big Nose Kate's.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Nose_Kate

An authentic saloon & restaurant with saloon girls. In the good old days it was a saloon & hotel. The entertainment was great there. Big Nose Kate was Doc Holliday's girl. She was the one who loved Doc Holliday & everyone else. In the basement of Big Nose Kates was a room where the janitor lived. They called him the swamper. In his spare time he dug a hole in his room down to the underground mines that are throughout Tombstone. He mined quite a bit of silver during his stay in that room.

On the way into the town we stopped at Boot Hill. In this cemetary lies the three men killed in the OK coral shoot out. Doc Holliday & Wyatt Earp were the ones that make Tombstone famous with the shoot out at the OK Coral.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ok_Corral
Here I am with Wyatt Earp, his brothers & Doc Holliday. Note that these were the good guys & they were all dressed in black.

After Tombstone we took a ride to Bisbee, Arizona. It was a booming old mining community, with the richest mineral deposits in the World. It was at the time the biggest city between St. Louis and San Francisco with its own stock exchange. Here we went into a old copper mine. It was cold down there. It was a cool 47 degrees. I haven't been that cold in quite some time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisbee%2C_Arizona

Catching Up Again

Daytona 300

John went to the Daytona 300 and had excellent seats. The crowd was over 200,000. It was extremely loud, but he enjoyed it. A friend of his took him for the day. What a friend! The cars whizzed by so fast they can blow your hat right off. 43 cars whizzing by within inches of each other at a speed of 189 mph.

Fashion Show


MOSN held its annual fashion show. I got to strut my stuff again this year. So much fun! I love doing this fashion show.

Superbowl Sunday

Above are the girls at the Superbowl party with one missing. The guys didn't get together for their pictures. Wow! What a game!

Big Blue all the way!


Visit from Jay & Daria

Jay & his girlfriend Daria came to visit us in MOSN. They didn't stay very long, as they went up to Jacksonville to visit with his brother. Well it was a good visit anyway.

Heeeeeere's Johnny

Well John got home this weekend. I was so happy to see him, just like a little kid for Christmas. He arrived home at midnight to a house full of visitors. My buddies from NJ came down to Florida & visited me for the night.

Bill, Dianne, Lou (Linda's father) & Linda stopped by & enjoyed the community bonfire & cookout. Eat your heart out Jimmy.

I hope they enjoyed it.
Well we all managed in my small house. John & I stayed in the motor home for the night. We all went out to breakfast in the towns local cafe minus John. He was a little to tired after driving from 4:30 am to midnight. His daughter is doing fine & recovering well.

I am going to see the doctor Jan. 15 to get out my stitches (hopefully). Then I get a hard cast. The pain is pretty bad but I finally got rid of all the side effects that plagued me.

Again, I can't say enough about the ladies in this community. They came to my rescue. What a wonderful bunch of people that live here.
Thanks again ladies!

The New Year 2008

Well the new year has been a bummer so far for me. I broke my arm & had to have surgery. I was in the hospital for 3 days. I had a plate put in my left arm. I fell backwards in my sons house into his sunken living room. No kids, toys or animals to blame. I just got my foot caught between the step & the wall & fell backwards. I am going to the doctors Jan. 15 to (hopefully) get my stitches out & have a hard cast put on. I decided to come home from my sons house in Jacksonville and stay in my own home. It is much easier here. The ladies all got together & have done so much to lift my spirits & help me in any way they can. They are just wonderful. You couldn't live in a better neighborhood.

The ladies here at MOSN came over to take down my Christmas decorations, brought over food & washed my hair. I can't thank them enough. They are great!


John is up in NJ because his daughter had to have surgery. Everything is going well with her. John should be home soon. She had her tonsils removed & it serious when you are older. So now she seems to be doing good. Hopefully he will be home in time to take me to the docs.

Hopefully as the year progresses it will get better, let's see. I will keep my fingers crossed.

Christmas 2007

Well John is up north with his family & he left behind in sunny Florida. Hope it isn't to cold up there for you, John.

John went up to stay with his family. He will be home sometime in January. I don't know how much trouble I can get into without him, but I will try. I am staying up in Jacksonville with the kids for the Christmas week. I will be home for New Years eve.
Santa came here with a bunch of stuff. The kids all got new bikes, so did Mary & Don. Well where was mine? I wanted a recumbent bike, but Santa must have forgot I was here or maybe I am just not getting one. Could that be? Oh no!

Well here I am with the kids. I think Santa shrunk this year. Oh no that's just Evan.

The kids with Mom & Dad.

The kids

Time to Catch up

The story below is the story about the Osborne family directly from the MGM Web site. It is a very interesting story & it tells how it all started & how Mickey saved the day. Remember it is directly from this web page http://www.wdwinfo.com/holidays/osbornelights.htm & is not my words of wisdom.

As the story goes, Arkansas resident Jennings Osborne and his family were very big on the Holidays. In 1986, Jennings asked his youngest daughter Breezy what her Christmas wish was. She replied that she would like to see their whole house covered in lights. They had quite a large house but Jennings was determined to make his daughter's Christmas dream come true. That first year the Osborne family covered their home with a modest 1000 red lights. With each passing year, the family wanted to do more. The Osborne's eventually purchased property adjacent to their own in order to expand on their newfound hobby.

The display grew to millions of lights. There were flashing lights, multi-colored lights, custom made light sculptures and a 75 foot Christmas tree adorned by lights. This drew onlookers from all over Arkansas. Displeased by the resulting traffic jams, the local residents asked that the Osborne family stop the annual display. Legal intervention was sought, and it appeared that the Osborne's beloved tradition was about to come to an end. When Mickey Mouse got word of this, he offered a venue where the Osborne lights could be shared with visitors from around the globe. In 1995, Residential Street at the Disney-MGM Studios became the home of this dazzling light show. Approximately 80% of the lights that are on display come from the original Osborne collection.

In 2003, Residential Street began undergoing a major renovation in preparation of the new stunt show scheduled to open in 2005. For the first time in 8 years, the Osborne lights were not displayed.
Fortunately, a new home was found for this magical attraction. The Streets of America (formerly New York Street) is now hosting the Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights.

As in years past, once evening descends, this amazing display springs to life. Formerly drab buildings become twinkling light sculptures, while a host of angels fly overhead. Visitors are welcome to stroll through at their own pace. With over 4 Million Christmas lights, this is not to be missed. To enhance the experience, Florida "snow" flutters down while Christmas tunes fill the air.

MGM

We watched the Christmas street lights at MGM last night. They came from a family called the Osbornes. They used to decorate their home with many lights until the neighbors complained & Disney bought their lights. It is truly beautiful. Every 10 minutes the lights dance to the music. It also snowed in the street. We enjoyed it.



Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
I've got my tree up & I am pretty much ready for the holidays. Looking forward to the holidays.

My Christmas tree this year!

Well I have some catching up to do. Some of the main events since we've been home will now be documented. I have been very busy since we've been home. So many things to do and not enough time to do them.

Merry Christmas &

Happy New Year!

Trim a Tree Party
The club house Christmas tree. The elves got together to decorate the tree. 20 elves this year. Sandy must be doing something right. Sandy threw her second Trim a tree party. Again a total success. Santa came to visit us all. What a surprise.

Everyone got to get a picture with Santa.

What do you have planned for next year Sandy? Mrs. Claus? Well you never know what she'll have up her sleeve. I am sure it will be successful.

Sandy & her elves

MOSN Bonfire

Nov. 10,2007

The organizers of the bonfire When I got back from The Tampa Classic we had a bonfire at MOSN. It's a great way to mingle with your neighbors & friends. The neighbors gather for a BBQ, some drinks, dancing, and of course the bonfire.

Tampa Classic-Nov. 1-4, 2007Rose & I went to the Tampa Classic Line Dance workshop for 4 days. It started on Thursday night at 7 PM. We left 12:30 AM. Our drive home was tough. An office chair fell out of a pickup truck in front of us & nearly came through the windshield. Oh my God that was scary. It was heading straight through my window & I don't know why, but it just swung over a bit & Rose swerved a bit & it hit right along side of the vehicle.

50's night at the Tampa ClassicWe headed back to the hotel on Friday morning at 6:30 AM. Man were we tired. But we were staying in the hotel for the rest of the workshop. Thank God. We had a 50's night and a lot of the guests dressed up, but not all. Of course I had to, you know me.

We met up with some friends from Dennis' class. ... and Sheila's class It was great to see some of our dancing buddies there. We also met a lot of new people. There were so many people from the Villages. They have line dancing there practically every day or maybe even every day. People came from all over the World for this event. This was our first time there & we enjoyed it so much. My feet are still trying to recover from all the dancing, from 9 AM to midnight & then some. I could hardly walk afterwards.

Rose & I danced with some great choreographers:

Robbie from Scotland, who choreographed my favorite dance, keep on dancing, although it is an older dance, it is still my favorite. Mr. Showcase from Kentucky- He has so much energy, which I guess that is why they call him Mr. Showcase. He was so much fun to dance with. I don't think he should ever have an energy drink.



Micheal from California-Rose & I both loved his dance Doors of Life, a beautiful waltz. I only remembered 2 dances from the entire weekend & this was one of them.


One night at 3:20 AM there was a fire in the hotel. Maybe it was a false alarm, but the fire engines showed up & the hotel was evacuated. Can you believe that some people were still dancing? After we were allowed back into the hotel, some went back to dancing. That's dedication.