How Much Money On Those Walls?

Kevin was on the phone the next morning to find someone to come look at the bedroom slide on HOWE (footnote 1) and see what needed to be done to fix it. (That story was posted last Friday.) He found one that could come that day. The guy did and Kevin felt he is knowledgable about slides and how to fix it. Of course, parts (motor) have to be ordered. Getting parts ordered and delivered can be a problem when you travel full-time and change places every week to 3 weeks, like we do. The guy knew we had to leave in two weeks and he said as soon as the parts came in he would be over to do the repair.

Kevin contacted the dealership where we bought HOWE. He told the guy about the damage from the tire blowing out. They will look at it and fix it when we get there. We already have an appointment in a few weeks for an Alliance recall on HOWE. Kevin said it was a good conversation and feels it will get fixed.

How To Taste Olive Oil, Queen Creek Olive Mill, Queen Creek, AZ 11/24

Queen Creek Olive Mill. I had first read about this place several years ago from the website Only in Your State. I would mark down places I thought we would like to go. This was one of them: From motor oil to olive oil This news article gives much better and more info than they have on their website. 

Queen Creek Olive Mill, Queen Creek, AZ 11/24

On one side of the road we saw fields of cotton not harvested yet, and on the other side olive trees. This place has “444 solar panels on our roof that generate enough electricity to run our milling machine.” They have over 7000 olive trees. Inside the building you can purchase tickets for a tour. Kevin said he saw a sign that it is $12.00 but all the time slots were full today. That was fine, we can just look around. There are a lot of choices of things to purchase here, including freshly made food to eat at several cafes. As we walked around each section there were bottles that are tasters and there are  small cups for you to pour and taste. At the back of the store there are windows that look into a large room with machines. We only saw a person cleaning in there. It was fun to look around and then see the outside area is great, too. Large area for dining among olive trees. There are sections of seating around fire pits. They have a lot of events here and we can see it would be a great and fun place to come back and visit.

Canyon Lake, Tortilla Flat, AZ 11/24

Tortilla Flat. This is such a great drive over Apache Trail. We were there before, Jan 2021, when we flew to Phoenix to look for a home base for full-time travel. The road has so many tight turns and I can’t remember how many 15, 20 mph turns. This area has saguaro cactus and makes us laugh at the different shapes. One poor cactus -guy, wow, he is having a rough life. The sunlight on the mountains, rocks, vegetation, and the lake were so very beautiful. The road wasn’t busy and we saw just a few boats out on Canyon Lake. We got out at Tortilla Flat. The history is very interesting.

Over $750,000 On The Walls At This Tortilla Flat Restaurant! Tortilla Flat, AZ 11/24

We got there at 4:00 p.m. and there were quite a few cars around. We decided to eat at the restaurant. Last time we ate outside in a food court where a band was playing. I remember the chili was so very spicy, we could hardly eat it. So I stayed away from the chili and had Cheesesteak Sandwich; Kevin had a Rueben. Rated: Outstanding- Worth The Drive Anytime To Come Here, AND, Surprising How Great It Was Since It Is So Far Away From Civilization. 😃

Inside the restaurant the walls are covered in dollar bills. How much? The walls are 6 to 7 bills thick and over $750,000! On the way out we stopped several times, along with others, to take photos of the natural beauty and the super-sized moon.

Who would have thought, a short visit while walking their dog in a campground far away would turn into a deep, close, beautiful friendship. Back in Minnesota, Aug 2023, we met but only for a brief few minutes. We talked about getting together the next day for games but then one person got sick. A note and a gift of tea bags had their contact info and if I wanted I could reach out. I did. We haven’t stopped texting and sometimes sewing together over FaceTime since. 🙂 We just HAD to get together when we were in their area. They were so kind to offer us a bedroom when our slide broke. We were able to still sleep in our bed but that was nice of them. The next week, as planned, we pulled into their RV garage and hung out with them for a week. Oh the wonderful time we had! We were able to sleep in our own bed in HOWE. Fun to have our “home” at their home.

Friend Decorating Cookies, Chandler, AZ 11/24

Dinners out, dinners in, sewing together, games, decorating cookies, Costco, Japanese Friendship Garden (pics above), and about 5 quilt stores! They even allowed the RV repair man to come to us and fix the bedroom slide on HOWE.

Another blessing to this full-time traveling the country life – the people we meet and the friendships we have made. Love it!

1. “HOWE” is what we named our Alliance Avenue 36-ft 5th wheel. See: Home On WhEels and we pronounce it Howie. We live and travel in it full-time around the country.