On the Road Again – Leaving Yuma

When it’s time to leave Yuma in the spring, we always do so with mixed emotions.  We have such good friends in Yuma during the winter, and Ron enjoys his Shuffleboard and Pool so much, it’s hard to leave.

We decided to have one last gathering of friends before leaving Yuma. Together with Bob and Dianne, we hosted a Salad/Dessert Dinner. It was a lot of fun with over 35 people attending.

But even though it’s hard to leave, we’re always eager to “hit the road again”.

We left early on April 12.  The sun was just rising as we entered the pass between Yuma and Wellton.

It seemed like no time until we were driving through the Sonoran Desert with it’s mighty saguaros.

It’s unusual to have a cloudy day in Arizona, but the clouds and a chilly wind stayed with us all day. We stopped for the night in Marana, AZ, on the north edge of Tucson. Granddaughter, Emily and her friend, Eric joined us for dinner. We had a great time.

Friday morning, we were ready to hit the road at daybreak. There was wind in the forecast, and we wanted to stay ahead of it as much as possible.

   

We spent 2 nights in Deming, NM, visiting with friends.  It’s a good thing our visits were finished before Saturday afternoon, as the winds rose to as much as 60 mph, creating a dust storm so severe, the interstate, I-10, was closed for the entire width of the state for several hours.  The sun was completely obscured throughout the afternoon.

   

By Sunday morning, the winds had stopped, and it was time to head for Texas.

 

Square Dancing with Ron and Anita

We try to find square dances as we travel. From Benson, AZ (covered in a previous post) we moved to Deming, NM. Arriving on Saturday, we picked up a square dancing friend, Bill, and drove another 60 miles to Las Cruces for the Southwest New Mexico District dance. The Southwest District consists of clubs from Alamogordo, Las Cruces, Deming, Truth or Consequences, and Silver City. Seven clubs were represented at the dance. Rusty Wright was the caller, and Jim and Linda Klein cued for the round dances. Dancers filled the floor at the Belton Bridge Center, home of the Blue Bells Square Dance club.

Later in the week, we danced with the Good Time Squares at Deming. Several years ago, while staying in Deming, we saw a flyer for 3 free square dance lessons. We decided to give it a try, and had our first five square dance lessons with the Good Times Squares and their caller, Rusty Wright. We try to dance with the group each year as we pass through. A small club, we only had one square this week.

While in Deming, and the next week while staying in Silver City, we danced with the Silver City Squares. Fred Beem is the caller. This area has lost 3 callers in the past five years to retirement or death, so Silver City is encouraging several of its members to become club callers.

Before leaving the area, we spent a few days in Las Cruces and danced with the Crossfires, a Plus Club, and the Circle Eights.

The Crossfires meet at the Belton Bridge Center in Las Cruces:

The Circle Eights meet at the Munson Senior Center:

Ted Clements calls for both the Crossfires and the Circle Eights.