10 Mar 2019 - Tortilla Flat; Dinner with the Central Iowa Jayco Group Snowbirds

10 Mar 2019

Tortilla Flat

This morning we drove east of Apache Junction to Tortilla Flat, a 1904 old west town located in the Tonto National Forest, in the Superstition Mountain Range. It is allegedly the last surviving stagecoach stop along the Apache Trail.   Tortilla Flat is also supposed to be the smallest official Arizona community having a post office and a population of six!

To get to Tortilla Flat we drove the Apache Trail, aka State Route 88, which is a windy, narrow road around Canyon Lake and crossing two single vehicle bridges.  We were told to go early as it gets very busy, and we are glad we did.  The traffic was picking up quickly which made navigating the windy road more difficult.  It was a beautiful drive, though.  The scenery was amazing.

We arrived at Tortilla Flat and strolled up the wooden sidewalk.  There were several shops and a restaurant/saloon so we stopped for lunch. 

The inside of the restaurant is covered in one dollar bills!  Thousands of them!

The bar stools are saddles!!

After lunch we checked out the gift shop and then looked around outside a bit.  

The old schoolhouse, now a museum.

Water routinely runs across the road

The drive back was great.  Weather continued to be fantastic.  Sunny and not too hot, but it is supposed to be changing in a day or so.  We are hoping the inbound rain does not cause havoc with the baseball games this week.

Several members of the Central Iowa Jayco Group own homes or park model trailers down here in the Mesa area, or they drive their RV's down for the winter.  When they heard we were coming through here on our journey west they decided to have a dinner at Dwayne and Darlene Hansen's house.  The Hansen's live in Kenawha IA which is southwest of Clear Lake .  We arrived about 1600 hrs and enjoyed the nice weather on their patio getting caught up on how everyone was doing. 

Richard Noss and Dwayne Hansen Cooking supper in the Dutch Oven

Orange tress in the back yard

Using their Dutch oven over charcoal, they prepared chicken and potatoes with all the fixin's.  We had a great time talking with everyone and really enjoyed the meal.  Due to our second trip this summer we likely won't be able to camp with the group until this fall after we return.