New Friends and a Rodeo!

ahschneid
Dec 2, 2024
3 min read

Buckeye Arizona 9 Nov 2023

We're still enjoying our winter in Congress Arizona, getting maintenance things done on the truck and our fifth wheel. We're improving at pickleball and playing most week mornings. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at the campground potluck held at 3pm on Thanksgiving day. We went to two more potlucks the Saturday after Thanksgiving! The Catholic Church in Wickenburg (St. Anthony of Padua) held a half-day "retreat" for the beginning of Advent. The day began with mass at 8am followed by a potluck breakfast, then a talk with reflections. Steve made a quiche for the breakfast potluck. That night (Saturday) we were invited for a birthday celebration for three people which was also a potluck. Needless to say, we were ready to get back to our routine of pickleball and our healthier cooking.

Wickenburg Arizona is the Team Roping Capitol of the world. After mass this past Sunday in Wickenburg, we met a couple who live just outside of Wickenburg four months out of the year because he is a team roper. Steve and Anita plan to attend the Legends Roping competition next week and we told "Matt" we'd cheer him on. This couple is our age or older and both are retired teachers. He has been roping as a hobby most of his life. Purses in these competitions can be up to

$1 million! We're hoping to see some of those guys at the Legends event.

Our new friends, Mark and Kathy had had us over for Gumbo one evening, so we had them over for lunch one day. They've really been helpful when we needed a jumpstart one day and letting us know where to find parts we've needed.

Steve tried fishing at Alamo State Park, about 75 miles from Congress. It was a "cold" day when we went and unfortunately he didn't even get a nibble. On our way home, we stopped at Wayside Oasis, a bar and campground not far from Alamo State Park, to see a huge desert tortoise we had heard about. It's located down a 2 mile gravel road. We got to see "Bob" the 60-80 year old tortoise, and later heard of a local Wickenburg resident having a desert tortoise appear on their back patio.