Fort Verde Days Parade

Every October Camp Verde, AZ has a parade, as part of the celebration of historic Fort Verde in what is called Fort Verde Days!

Here comes the parade!

Here is the parade route!

This is a cute parade entry! 

Here comes the park service!

It's always fun to see Smokey!

Looks like the cavalry has arrived!

Here is some Camp/Fort Verde history!

The stagecoach has arrived in town!

I don't who the Murdock family is, but they must have some history here.  I'll have to look into the significance of the family name.

Here are the Murdocks!

Yay for beer!

It's the VFW riders.

I love this style of H.S. band uniforms!  It's the Camp Verde H.S. band!

The Camp Verde Assembly of God Church has some rockin' music!

King Kong appears ready for action!

It's the Historical Society!

What's a parade without candy being thrown and kids grabbing as much as they can!

It's the end of the parade, but only the start of the fair, car show, and craft show!  Fort Verde Days is always a lot of fun! 

Fall Fun In Camp Verde!

Here is an example of the small town fun and comradery we love about Camp Verde, AZ!  As part of the October Fort Verde Days celebration, a scarecrow contest was held by the businesses throughout the community! 

Here is a nice traditional scarecrow, with the addition of a sombrero!

I enjoyed the liquor store's cowboy holding a bottle of Jack Daniels!  I wonder how many people checked to see if the bottle held the real thing!

Here's Wilson kicking back at Fort Verde Suites!

This is Annie and Max, neighbor cattle ranchers.  Annie met Max when her cows strayed one day onto Max's ranch.  From that day on Annie and Max spent lots of time together.  Max has acquired a ring through Laid Back Jewelry and is popping the question!

Here's a handsome couple!

Here is a scarecrow going for a hike!  The museum is getting a new mural painted in its entryway.  It's interesting how the artist had pictures of what was to be painted on the wall in the location of where it would be painted into the mural.  The small paper pictures were just visual guides for the freehand painting of the larger items.  What a wonderful talent!  

This is an interesting scarecrow that garnered an honorable mention.  Voting was done by community members!

Here's a cool biker guy at Camp Verde Realty!

The Ace Hardware scarecrow turned out well.  He looks a bit like Santa! 

Great doctor scarecrow!  Very well done!

I enjoyed seeing the tire scarecrow.  Very clever!

All the businesses seemed to go all out! 

Here's a cute couple at the Thanks A Latte coffee shop!

Here is the scarecrow at Trails End R.V. Park, where we are staying.  One of the park residents put it together!

Great job road crew! 

What fun.....a river rat scarecrow!

There were several honorable mention scarecrows not pictured, but the contest winner overall was the Anasazi Veterinary Clinic for this scarecrow scene!

Camp Verde, AZ

As you come off Highway 17 onto Highway 260 near Camp Verde you'll find every fast food restaurant you could want, as well as, the world's larges Kokopelli!

Just a short distance along Highway 260 is Finnie Flat Road.  It runs from one end of Camp Verde and out the other!  To the left in this picture is a big new medical center being built!  It will be an excellent addition to the community!  Trails End R.V. Park is located just a short distance from this intersection along Finnie Flat Road before reaching the business district.   

This is the newer section of town.  This strip mall has nearly everything a person needs except for clothing stores.  The community has a calm, quiet, polite atmosphere that you'll feel right away!  Everything seems to be designed for the community members convenience!  To the left in the picture you'll see the dumpsters for recycling.  The recycling isn't only convenient by location, but allows plastics, cans, and aluminum all to be put into one dumpster!  The motor coach in the center of the picture is in a park and sell lot!  There are medical services within this mall and nearby buildings.

Walgreens sits across the street near a gas station and Family Dollar.

Leaving the newer shopping center you continue on Finnie Flat Road around this pretty wooded bend to the older portion of Camp Verde.  The mountain pass you see in the distance heads south to Phoenix about 90 miles away.  To the right in this picture note the sign indicating that there is a casino.  Cliff Castle Casino is a nice large one complete with restaurants and a bowling alley.

This is what you'll see, as you round the bend into older Camp Verde. 

 It is still active with a variety of business.  

In the center of older Camp Verde is historic Fort Verde.  Each Fall the town holds quite a celebration called Fort Verde Days.  This year was it's 150th anniversary!

I enjoy a drive through old Camp Verde, as it gives such a great feeling of small town life and a sense of contentment that everything for day to day living is conveniently available.  The hustle bustle community of Cottonwood is only 16 miles away and has all the large chain stores.  We love that, as it keeps Camp Verde peaceful!

As you exit off of Finnie Flat Road onto Highway 260 out of old Camp Verde, you'll see this beautiful green valley!  The desert in this area is said to be one of the wettest! 

This hilltop overlooking the newer portion of Camp Verde has a beautiful housing development.  You can get a nice overview from this vantage point.  Camp Verde is located about 45 miles east of Prescott, 30 miles south of Sedona, and about 60 miles south of Flagstaff.  We enjoy the quiet convenience of life in Camp Verde and can see ourselves as possibly settling down to stay someday.  Our current plans are to stay from now through April.   

Something To Think About

We had an unsettling occurrence at our current r.v. park that gave us a lot to think about.   A 63 year old man named Gary died shortly after being taken to the hospital.  He left two cats behind in his motor coach.  A friend within the park cared for the cats in Gary’s r.v. and the manager allowed the r.v. to remain on its lot with the air conditioning running for the cats.  The park manager is a major animal lover and went to great measures on behalf of the cats, but this may not be the case with all r.v. park owners and managers.  Gary’s friend had a key to the r.v..  I don’t know how he came to have one, but it got me thinking that someone should have access to our rig, especially since we have pets.  The r.v. park manager once told me that she likes to see residents at least every couple of days, as she has had people pass away at the park before.  It made me think how cool it is that she checks on people, but also made me aware of the need to be seen in parks that don’t make a routine of checking.  I think this is especially true, if you live with pets.  We are traveling with two dogs and two cats!  Gary had a few casual friends in the park, but for the most part stayed to himself.  They knew little about him and that stood out, as point number 1:  In an r.v. park, we are likely to be with people who know nothing of our personal business regarding Wills and next of kin!  The park manager looked through Gary’s r.v. for a Will.  She commented that she didn’t see anything that looked like a box that would contain a Will.  That stood out as point 2:  Have your Will or an informal written directive with who to contact in the event of your death in a location easy to find.  In Gary’s case, the best the manager could do was to start calling numbers on his cell phone.  He did not have next of kin that could be located, so his vehicle, the r.v., and its contents including the cats became property of the probate court system.  A few weeks went by with the r.v. still at the r.v. park and Gary’s friend caring for the cats.  The manager called all the area animal shelters and Gary’s friend personally visited vets offices, shelters, and even a pet supply store looking for leads on a placement for the cats.  Both people were turned away, due the shelters Summer overload.  It was looking like the cats would be euthanized.  A resident animal lover within the park managed to get an opening within a no-kill shelter, but by that time the representative from the court was involved and the park manager felt she had to acquiesce the decision regarding the cats to the court representative.  In this case, the court representative was an animal lover and had made arrangements with another shelter to take the cats.  Although the shelter had a questionable reputation, the manager was told the cats wouldn’t be euthanized.  The park resident that had found the first shelter opening made a point to get the cat’s vet records to help prove the distraught cats were indeed house pets and not feral.  By this time the park owner and manager were ready to have the cats gone, even if it meant euthanizing them, as leaving the r.v. in a rentable lot with air conditioning running was costing the park money.  I have to give the management at Trails End R.V. Park in Camp Verde, AZ credit for going above and beyond on behalf of Gary’s cats, but I don’t assume that this would be the norm for all parks.  A Will or informal directive including contacts and information about your wishes for your pets should be placed in your r.v. in a location easily seen.  Your contact person should also have a copy of your written directive.  I’m still baffled by the financial end of making final arrangements for pets, but a friend suggested the primary contact could pay by credit card from across the country to carry out one’s wishes.

Another issue to consider is identification in your wallet to be attached to your driver’s license.  Since, as a full time RVer the address on your drivers license most likely isn’t where you are located, a card should be made up that lists the RV Park you are staying in, a contact number for the park office, a contact number for a family member, and a notation as to the pets you have traveling with you.  On longer RV Park stays I have decided I’ll ask the office about keeping a key to our rig during our stay, as well as, provide them with a contact’s information.  None of us want to think about such unpleasantness, but as travelers living amongst strangers it would be wise for us to have at a minimum current identification information on us, emergency access to our rigs, and an informal directive including contacts placed where it can be easily found.

In regards to Wills I’ve done some minimal research and it appears that creating a basic Will isn’t as complicated as I had assumed.  We plan to put something together with the idea that something is better than nothing in making our wishes known.  Here are some tidbits of advice I picked up:

1.     A totally handwritten Will is legal, as long as it is clear that it is a Will.

2.     A Will should be all handwritten or all typed.  No mixing of the two!

3.     Generally spouses have their own wills that mirror each other. 

4.     A Will requires two witnesses to your signature.

5.     Wills do not have to be notorized.

6.     Wills can be signed and witnessed in a state other than your residency.

Best Wishes