Organ Stop Pizza

We were surprised when our lunch stop turned into a spectacular history lesson. Apparently in the late 1920’s, the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company decided to expand beyond pipe organs for churches and cathedrals, with short lived success.

In 1910 in an attempt to open a new market, silent movie theaters. Since movies had no sound and only subtitles in that era, theaters would frequently hire entire orchestras to accompany the silent film. The orchestra would play a score matching the action in the film, with a frenetic frenzy when there were action scenes, somber tunes during romantic scenes, and the like.

Wurlitzer thought it could leverage its pipe organ technologies to mimic the sounds of an entire orchestra. A theater, rather than hiring an entire orchestra every day and night, could make an investment in the Mighty Wurlitzer theater organ, and only hire one musician, with essentially the same effect on movie goers. Unfortunately, it was not long before sound technology eliminated the need for theater organs, but not before thousands had been installed all over.

In 1927, a Mighty Wurlitzer was installed in the Denver Theater in Colorado. By 1930 sound had made its way into film, and the organ was no longer used. Dormant until 1975, an enthusiast bought this Mighty Wurlitzer and move it to Mesa Arizona, and opened Organ Stop Pizza, attracting groups to dine and take in concerts with this amazing instrument.

We got an up close and personal look into this phenomenon. Over the years, the owner has added pipes and instruments to where the organ now boasts about 6,000 pipes – that makes it officially the largest such pipe organ in the world! The master at the keyboard took us on a tour of all the instruments he could play from his bench, including drums, symbols, bells, an accordion, bells, etc. Seriously, he could make the sounds of woodwinds, brass or strings come out of that Mighty Wurlitzer, making it truly sound like a complete orchestra.

To leave us with one last proof of its capabilities, he decided to play a rousing rendition of Chuck Berry’s Johnny B Goode. Everything from the famous guitar riffs to a simulation of the melodic vocal tones, accompanied by the frantic drums, made for a very compelling finale.

Talk to you soon!

Superstition Mountains

We visited the Superstition National Wilderness Area. Established by Congress in 1964, over 160,000 acres cover some of the most infamous mining sites in the history of early Arizona. This cactus wren turns out to actually be the Arizona state bird.

We started in Goldfield Ghost Town. In the 1800’s, with a population of over 5,000 Goldfield was the largest city in the Arizona Territory. The area witnessed the discovery of the richest gold mines in all of the Arizona Territory, including the Lost Dutchman Mine. Allegedly staked by German immigrant Jacob Waltz in the mid-1800’s, Waltz took the secret of the location of the mine with him to the grave. The legend has resulted in an estimated 8,000 people a year setting out to try to find its location.

We also learned that in the early time of our nation the term Dutch did not refer to folk from the Netherlands. As Americans tend to butcher other languages, they referred to folk who spoke Deutsch (Germans) as Dutch, or Dutchmen. Hence the name of the lost mine took on the term that locals referred to immigrant Jacob Waltz as.

Early Pima and Hopi residents were convinced that they heard strange noises coming from the mountain range. In addition, people who ventured into the range often didn’t return (which still happens to this day – each year even experienced folk get lost in the area and die from the severe terrain and climate.) So, as the Pima and Hopi found the range to be superstitious, the name stuck and eventually became its official name.

We visited the Superstition Mountain Museum. The foundation has gathered together here artifacts of the many uses of the Wilderness over the centuries. One of the main focal points is a cool collection of mining equipment. We learned about the interesting mining methods in use when there is nearly a complete lack of wood that otherwise was readily available to miners in the California goldfields.

We also learned that the area was almost a standing film set in the early motion picture industry. The backdrop of the Superstitions, as well as the nearby Four Peaks range, played perfectly into the early film industries appetite for Western films.

We even got to walk on flooring and stand inside a church building where the King once walked and stood. The church was one of the many settings used in the Elvis Presley film Charro. Interestingly, while widely believed to have been Presley’s overall best performance, the film was not a runaway success, and to this day, is likely his least seen film.

Talk to you soon!

Tonto National Forest

We visited the Tonto National Forest as we had not managed it in all our previous visits to Phoenix. It’s hard to think of it as a forest as all you can see are saguaro, cholla, ocotillo and Palo Verde, but if a forest is more about density than it is about trees, this qualifies.

We learned that the Palo Verde are the mommies of the Saguaro. When a Saguaro seed sprouts under a Palo Verde, the shade provided by the Palo Verde makes the Saguaro thrive. Most seeds that without the protection just don’t survive. After a hundred years or so, the Saguaro grows to be taller than its mommy.

Sadly, the mature Saguaro generates a tap root that sucks up all the water that is anywhere near it. As a result, the Palo Verde that essentially mothered it to adulthood eventually dies as it is starved of any water at all.

We visited Canyon Lake created by the Roosevelt Dam. Apparently, there are many more lakes similar to this in the area created by dams that were designed to store water for the residents of the Phoenix valley.

Talk to you soon!

FMCA 95th International Convention

We took in the FMCA 95^th International Convention in Chandler Arizona. FMCA is the Family Motor Coach Association and is one of the organized entities that supports the general RVing community. We enjoy our connection with the organization, but had never attended one of their conventions.

While the official attendance has not yet been determined, we are guessing that there may have been over 2,000 RVs attending the convention. In addition to the seminars, the vendors and all the new rigs to look at, we got a bonus. The Woman’s best RVing friend we have met in all our travels was also at this rally.

We spent as much time as we could with Annie and Rocky Rockholdt. We lounged at their parking spot, went out to dinner and made the most of this chance meeting. This is one of the wonders of the homeless life!

Talk to you soon!

White Tanks Regional Park

We hiked a bunch in White Tanks Regional Park with Brenda and Jerry. This nice park has groomed hiking trails, horse riding trails, nice picnic areas and a very nice campground with power and electric, capable of handling several larger rigs.

We hiked the waterfall trail. The plentiful Saguaro left us feeling a bit like being back in Tucson. There was not actual running water at the falls this late in the spring – you would really need to visit during monsoon season for that. But there was plenty of evidence of water when we got to the base of the falls, likely from the recent rains we experienced.

Knowing the park well, Jerry knew that even if we didn’t see running water we would be pleasantly entertained with the numerous petroglyph sites along the way. We always love petroglyphs and make sure to visit them whenever they are in our area. Thankfully my brother was a local who knew his stuff.

Talk to you soon!

Sonoran Desert National Monument

Check another one off the bucket list. We finally made it to Sonoran Desert National Monument. Sonoran Desert National Monument is another of the Monuments proclaimed by Slick (Clinton) and is managed by the BLM like most he proclaimed.

There are essentially no services, other than a hiking trail along the old Butterfield Stagecoach roadway. However, the scenery was very nice along US Highway 238, so we were able to get a good look.

Talk to you soon!

Gotta love Arizona in the winter!

We have come to expect to see a lot of Minnesota license plates in Arizona this time of year. And we have seen our share of Minnesota Viking fans. Our son Nick would be proud.

Surprisingly we haven’t seen a lot of fans of President Trump. With the way Arizonans seemed to love Sheriff Joe Arpaio, I would have thought that they would embrace Trump as well. I guess maybe it’s because their all Minnesotans we are seeing.

Nice coach next to us today – really makes the name “Big Rig” fit.

Talk to you soon!