Friday, November 10, 2017

We were slow to start this morning, as we are just getting over our big hike yesterday, and know today isn't going to be too demanding.  We went to Benson to get some of the few caches there, that we haven't gotten or didn't have time to do before.  We had lunch at G & F Pizza place, and then we went to a wine tasting outside of Sunsites, AZ. 

We finally captured a picture of a Roadrunner!  They are an interesting bird down here.  They are very elusive, and try to run and hide (beep, beep) when they feel threatened.  This was the best shot we could get. 

We wanted to get to the Golden Rule Vineyards tasting room around 4:00, as they close at 5:00.  'Ruth' was tending to the customers today, as 'Jim' was off some place for a two day wine producers meeting.  We met Jim in 2007 when Norm and Helen Agan were visiting this area with us.  We just stumbled onto this pistachio farm, and at that time, Jim was preparing his land for planting the grapevines.  He told us that growing grapes used less water than pistachio trees do, and he wanted to get into the business.  They have grown immensely and their wine is very good.  Jim graduated from Iowa State University, and he said he knew more about growing corn and soybeans, than he did pistachios.  He didn't tell us how he met his wife, but we found out tonight!  Ruth was divorced with 3 teen-age children, she went back to school to get her degree, and was on the plane to Las Vegas for a meeting in Reno.  Jim happened to be sitting next to her on the plane.  One thing led to the other, they shared some time in Vegas, kept in contact, and after a visit to his place in Iowa and her place in AZ, they decided to get married.  She said, 'they never dated'!  LOL.  Jim had never been married and he was 44 years old when they met.  I believe in destiny!  Being that we missed him, we might go back Sunday to meet with him again and chit chat.  Then at the tasting, we sat at the tasting bar with a couple from Sunsites.  They are in their early 50's, retired and settled there.  They were fun to visit with, and we could relate to many of the things they knew about, so it was fun.  They met online.... he was from California and she was from Ohio. 

We had to get a picture of Ruth.  She was very fun, and we enjoyed the conversation and the wine!  We ended up getting  4 bottles from them and a bag of pistachios.  Why do we always like the more expensive wines?  I'll end of that note!