Since we weren't supposed to arrive in Mesa AZ for our winter stay until Christmas Day we had one more stop after Tucson. That stop was at High Chaparral RV Park just south of Casa Grande, Arizona about 70 miles west of Tucson. This was another passport America park. It's not real close to anything other than the small town of Arizona City We did make a trip over to Arizona City to look at birds on a little man-made lake inside of a development. Other than that, there was not a lot to do in this area.
Since there wasn't much to do in the area, we decided to do something we have never done by ourselves before. We decided to make tamales. About 15 years ago we did participate in a gathering of people who made tamales, so we used that lesson and applied it to our own tamale making experience.
I looked up lots of recipes on the internet and watched a several videos on YouTube. After learning a lot, we decided to make red chili pork tamales. I kind of chronicled the experience on my personal Facebook page. If you want to check it out just do a search on John Hinton on Facebook. You should be able to see it.
All in all, it was a laborious but rewarding task. It was great and we ended up with a little bit over five dozen tamales. They came out way better than we thought and we are enjoying eating them. Some we will freeze as well! The main reason we made them was because we wanted some of our favorite Delia's Tamales from San Antonio, but were unable to order them in time for New Year's..
It's a bit of a tradition of ours. We like to have tamales, black-eyed peas and cornbread on New Year's Eve for good luck. The tamales we previously bought in the Mesa Arizona area had a much thicker masa and less meat than we prefer which is another reason we decided to make our own. We are certainly glad we did and will likely do so again every year going forward since they turned out so well.
On Christmas day we made the 60-mile drive west to Mesa, Arizona where we'll be staying for three months. We've stayed there many times before and enjoy this area during the winter months. With its daytime temperatures being mild and overnight lows being chilly but not cold, almost every day makes for a perfect winter location.
Since we were traveling Christmas day this year, Christmas was just another day. However, we did discover Christmas day is a great day to travel because there's virtually no traffic on the highways. We are now all set up in our site and ready to take on the next three months. Warm weather and good times, come on down...
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On the Road of Retirement
