Donna was up early yesterday. She had a table at the Orangewood Shadows RV Resort Country Store. The Country Store is a Saturday morning swap meet for the residents of the RV park. Donna had a table with some of her books. I stopped in for a plate of biscuits and gravy for breakfast.

After breakfast, I posted to the blog, then dumped and flushed our holding tanks. Before I knew it, it was noon and Donna had returned from the Country Store.

A few days ago, I wrote about meeting Mike and Kim at Lucky Lou’s. They’re in the process of selling their house and hitting the road in a fifth-wheel RV. One of the things they mentioned to me was fact they would be leaving their friends behind. They asked me how we cope with it.

We never looked at it as leaving our friends behind. We knew we’d be back for a visit. The cool thing is that we get to see friends all over the country that we may not have had a chance to see in previous years. We have also made many new friends in the RV community. It’s amazing how we cross paths with people we’ve met in our travels.

We took advantage of the rental car by driving up to Greasewood Flats in the DC Ranch area of Scottsdale. This area was originally settled around 1900 and was a large cattle ranch. The owner of the cattle ranch, E. O. Brown, used the DC brand on his cattle. The ranch eventually encompassed 43,000 acres. Thus the name DC Ranch.

Greasewood Flats was originally an old bunkhouse on DC Ranch. Around 1955, Doc Cavalliere bought 45 acres of land around the bunkhouse. He developed it into a hideaway to take retreats from downtown Scottsdale. Over the years, it was known by various names – it was called Pinnacle Peak Patio, then Reata Pass before becoming Greasewood Flats (the name was derived from all of the greasewood bushes on this flat area of desert). It’s one of the last rustic cowboy haunts in Scottsdale.

We went there to meet up with our friends, Bob and Sini. We first met them when we were neighbors at Mission Bay RV Resort in San Diego last year. Since then, we’ve kept track of their travels through Europe on their Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Then they drove their motorhome from Edmonds, Washington to Florida. They’ve crossed the south and are now parked west of Cave Creek. Greasewood Flats was a great place for us to meet up as it’s about halfway between their current site and ours.

Sini, Bob and Donna at Greasewood Flats

We arrived late. Road construction had the ramp from Gilbert Road to the Loop 202 closed. We had to take a zig-zag detour route that put us about a half hour behind schedule. We eventually got there and saw Bob’s vintage Chevy K5 Blazer in the parking lot. We found them seated at a table near the outdoor dance floor.

We caught up with each other and dined on green chili cheese burgers at the table. A musician was playing on the bandstand and a couple of people hit the dance floor. It was a little hot for dancing if you ask me.

Bandstand at Greasewood Flats

After lunch, we took a walking tour of the area. The place is packed with old ranch implements, mining equipment and even an old 50-caliber quad anti-aircraft gun. There’s a corral in back with horses and burros.

Cafe and bar at Greasewood Flats

Old tractor with two PTOs

Fire tanker next to wood chopping area

The area around Greasewood Flats has grown into an affluent residential development. This will be the end of Greasewood Flats. They will be closing down in a couple of months and the land will be developed into more housing. Progress kills another cool hangout.

We followed Bob and Sini to the small community of Cave Creek. We parked in the old downtown area and walked through the shops looking at all of the tourist trinkets and also looked at antique furniture. We stopped at the Rare Earth gallery and looked at gem stones, petrified wood and huge rock art displays. The rock garden in the back featured a huge rock crystal that was split in half and serves as a pair of tables with a glass table top. It’s yours for the bargain price of $175,000!

Rock tables – $175,000 price tag

After walking and shopping for a few miles, we stopped for liquid refreshment (coffee and espresso for everyone but me – I had a beer). Then we drove to the outskirts of town and had dinner at Harold’s Cave Creek Corral. This is a western-themed restaurant and saloon featuring barbeque meats. I had the half rack of babyback ribs. Donna had tilapia poached in salsa. Bob and Sini split a huge barbeque combination plate. It was a lot of food and we had leftovers to bring home.

Half-rack of babyback ribs

As it turns out, we’ll be meeting up down the road again. Bob and Sini should be at Mission Bay RV Resort in San Diego when we arrive there in April.