The green, green grass.

 February 19, 2014: It’s good to touch the green, green grass of …Casa Grande, AZ.

The grass is Heavenly!

Oh, to feel the touch of lush green grass between your toes.  I can’t help but take my shoes off and wiggle my toes in the cool grass.  The grass is covered with fragrant flower petals that have fallen from the trees heightening the senses even more.  It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen this much green grass in one place on our adventures.  It is grand!

Casa Grande City Hall.

We’ve driven into Casa Grande to have lunch and take a “walk about” around town.  After lunch we wander down the street and come upon the Casa Grande City Hall.  It appears to be a pretty old building, but extremely well maintained.  Jack heads off in one direction and I meander off in another direction taking pictures as I go.

Jack in the distance moseying around checking out the grounds.

The fountain in front of City Hall with flower petals floating in the water.

The resident clock to keep all the passersby on time each day.

A man approaches with his dog and settles in on a bench.

Jack ambles toward the man and his dog and greets him with a friendly, "Hello".  Before long they are deep in conversation.

His name is Van and he and his wife have lived in Casa Grande for 55 years.  This is where they raised their children.  Seems pretty much anything you could ever want or need can be found right here in this nice hometown. 

I join in the conversation.

I comment about City Hall – what a nice building it is.  Van tells us it hasn’t always been City Hall.  It was built back in the early 1920’s as Casa Grande Union High School.  It even had its own indoor swimming pool and auditorium, with an adobe gymnasium being added on in the 1930’s – the only adobe gymnasium in Arizona.  His kids graduated from this school.  As the population increased, a new high school was built and this school closed down in 1997.  It was turned into City Hall, retaining as much of the old character of the building as possible.  It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  I peeked through the windows of the main door.  Indeed, it looks like an old high school – like my old high school.

My wife will be worried about me.

Van has spent over half an hour talking about his family and his town.

Jack, Van, and little Lola talking about what makes the world go 'round.

Finally he says, “I’d better get myself and Lola back home.  My wife will be worried about me.  I’m not usually gone this long.”

The afternoon shadows grow long as our conversation grows longer.

 We thank him for his time and wish him a good evening.  We watch him retrace his steps back toward home and to his waiting wife.

And the sun goes down once more.

Back in the Jeep we head out of town back to our little conglomerate of motorhomes and trailers in the desert.  We’re all tucked in our little Site #35 gazing westward.  As the sun retreats behind the far off mountains we can ALMOST ignore the lineup of motorhomes between us and the setting sun.  Almost!

Tucson awaits.

Tomorrow we leave the Casa Grande area and hit the road for Tucson.  We’ll settle in our new home, make sure our cowboy boots and duds are in good shape, and be ready for the rodeo on Friday.

 

Until next time – be safe.