When we were at our RV lot in Casa Grande AZ last winter, we took the time to attend our Escapees RV Club annual rally (Escapade) that was being held at Pima County Fairgrounds at Tucson, AZ.
Kathy enjoying an ice cream treat at the Escapade with new friends Connie and Dennis
This was the 59th annual Escapade and was, as usual, full of educational seminars, live entertainment, food, impromptu happy hours and a large vendor fair selling all things RV related. You can check out the 60th Escapade information to be held in July 2020 at Rock Springs Wyoming by following this link.
One of the “all in” evening gatherings at Escapade
One of the seminars that Kathy and I attended was put on by Liz Rice of Historicorps. Historicorps is a 10 year old organization that works with (typically) government agencies to restore and preserve historic buildings on federal or state lands like; national forests, state parks, and more. They solicit volunteers to do the work and some of those volunteers, like us, are RV’ers. Here’s a link to their completed projects over the last few years. As of this writing, there is only one project scheduled for 2020 (in Puerto Rico) but I know there will be many more published as we work through the winter into spring.
Kathy and I decided that there was one of their projects that would fit right into our travel schedule in late summer/fall 2019. We realized that after D.C. Booth in Spearfish SD we would then be visiting Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park along with some other spots of interest on our way back to Arizona for the winter.
The project we decided to volunteer for was the rehab of the historic Miller Barn on the National Elk Refuge in Jackson (Hole) Wyoming. (just south of Yellowstone). The project work would be mostly painting, with some replacement of wood siding and restoration of window sills and frames.
The Miller Barn at the beginning of the project
The Miller House and barn were built in 1898
Kathy, feeling a little hesitant about working with hand tools, decided that she would be happy to work in the mess tent and kitchen, but ultimately she got involved in some painting too!
Bacon and eggs for 10Kathy and Doug painting some of the new replacement siding before installationKathy priming the replacement siding before installation
If you know me at all, then you know I’m not comfortable with heights over about 6-8 feet yet there was at least one time that I got up into the bucket for a few hours to paint the gable end of the barn.
No, that’s NOT me in the bucket – I’m taking the picture this time
There were 10 volunteers – two couples and the other volunteers were single folks. 3 or 4 of the crew had worked with Historicorps on other projects in the past while 5 or 6 of us were new to working with this organization. The two couples lived in their RV’s and the Elk Refuge provided us with full hook-up sites. The others slept in tents or in their cars.
Brian and Jeanette showing off their painting expertise!
We had two crew leaders … Ruthie and Daniel. Ruthie was the Chief and has worked with Historicorps many times over the years while Daniel was new to the organization. Daniel, in addition to being the new guy on the block running a crew (and the youngest in our group) was responsible for helping to give training and direction to the volunteers and he was also responsible for planning our meals, buying all the food, and cooking our meals.
Crew Chief Ruthie using the electric plane on a piece of siding (to make it fit)Daniel, our Assistant Crew Chief (and camp cook)Elk Refuge Volunteer Camp along with the Historicorps Cook TentPancakes and sausage … YUM!
Enjoying each other’s company after a hard day at work and a good mealOur crew enjoying a night out after a long day’s work
In addition to providing us with an opportunity to serve as volunteers, we were also provided with all the tools necessary to do the job, training, 3 meals a day, a full hook-up RV site …. and best of all … outstanding beauty in all directions!
NOTE: Some of these scenery photos were taken by other volunteers
We’ve been volunteering for about 3 years now since we sold our sticks ‘n bricks and hit the road full time. All of our experiences have been rewarding and this was another great example of the wonderfully rewarding experiences.
This experience was especially fun because we were working (and relaxing) with other like-minded people from all walks of life but with the same interest in volunteering and seeing a project to completion. Different personalities of different ages, different walks of life, different work experiences but we all enjoyed each other’s company and respected each other’s contribution to the project.
By the way, what I haven’t already explained is that this was actually a 4 week project. Historicorps solicits volunteers for one-week stints, but they will allow you to stay longer. This means that the crew chiefs have to train a new crew every week. But it works for them as they can get more volunteers this way, not just counting on retired folks but getting those who are still working a regular job the opportunity to take a “volunteer” vacation that is very rewarding.
Pictures of the completed Historic Miller Barn on The National Elk Refuge
Thanks for riding along and stay tuned for more updates on our travel and volunteering experiences.
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One of the great advantages of being in one place for a bit of time (in this case the winter season) is that you get to know the other folks in the park and they quickly become your friends, or in many cases .. your family.
Last week a lot of “the family” took a tour of one of the many local cotton farms – The Caywood Family Farm just east of Casa Grande.
Being that we lived in central Ohio for 30+ years, we were somewhat familiar (but not well versed) in the farming of wheat, soybeans, and corn. This tour provided us with TONS of information about the cotton business. We’ve seen the cotton bales and modules in fields along the road and we’ve become well aware of the cotton transport trucks, but this tour really opened our eyes to the entire process.
Some of the pictures in this post were taken while on the tour, others were taken at fields or at nearby gin, and then a few were pulled off the internet to round out the post.
Nancy Caywood was our tour guide and shared with us that she is the third generation of the Caywood family to farm that property.
Nancy Caywood
Her son Travis is now actually running the farm and Nancy and her helper Al handle the tour operation.
We learned a lot during the 3 hour tour about the cotton farming business and how hard it is to “make it” given the dire water situation here in central Arizona along with all the government regulations on when they can plant, when (and if) they can have water, how they are required to control dust, when they must have the crop out of the ground and so many more “must” and “must not” regulations.
Here are some of the interesting facts we learned;
Water rights are first given to the;
Native Americans then;
City and County Governments then;
Industry then;
lastly to the farmers (if there’s any left)
A typical round “module” of harvested cotton weighs about 5000 pounds
The rectangular modules weigh about 15,000 pounds
The harvest weight will be about 2/3 seed and 1/3 cotton lint
Crops can be planted as early as late March (weather dependent)
Crops MUST be off the field by mid-February (regulation)
Crops generally get picked twice each season before the plant is cut and turned under
Between field preparation, planting, fertilizing, picking, 2nd picking, cutting, tilling, leveling, and other necessary operations the field is crossed by tractor 15 times or more during a typical season
A typical John Deere 4 row picker costs about $650,000 (new)
Central Arizona farmers typically grow either Pima (Egyptian) Cotton or Upland Cotton
The cotton “modules” are trucked to the local cotton gin for cleaning and separating the seed from the cotton lint and packaging to be transported to storage and ultimate sale to textile mills
Cotton or cotton seed is used in; clothing, animal feed, pharmaceutics, explosives, adhesives, oil, toothpaste, currency and hundreds of other applications
95% of the cotton grown in the U.S. is exported to the Pacific Rim (China, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and others)
Al and Nancy started off the tour with a little homespun music (play the video)We loaded up on two wagons for the farm tour
The cotton seed is planted in the spring after the final frost. The seeds begin to germinate and pop their heads out of the ground about a week later. Cultivating is done to minimize weed and grass growth that would otherwise choke out the cotton plant.
The crops are watered by flood irrigation. The ditches are filled with water from either; on site wells or from canals coming to the area from the Central Arizona Project. The CAP gets it’s water from Lake Mead. Yes, that’s right … central Arizona gets it’s water from Lake Mead (nearly 300 miles north of Phoenix). The opening and closing of the irrigation gates to the fields are controlled by government agencies with hefty fines to the farmers should they be caught abusing their privileges.
Typical Irrigation Ditch (gates controlled by government agencies)
The flower has fallen and the unopened boll is exposed
About 2 months after planting, buds begin to form on the plant & in another 3 weeks or so the blossoms open with pale yellow flowers.
In a few days the petals change color to dark purple. A few days more and the flower withers and falls leaving the BOLL that contains the seeds and moist fibers. Eventually, as the seed matures the BOLL bursts open exposing the fluffy bounty. The cotton now is ready to harvest right after it is sprayed with a defoliant. This allows the leaves to fall thereby producing a cleaner cotton harvest.
Now the boll is open and ready for the picker
Here’s a typical hopper style picker. This two-row picker collects the cotton in the large hopper in the back. When it’s full, the picker then dumps the hopper into a large rectangular Module Builder
This picker holds loose cotton
Here’s Nancy showing us the head of their two-row picker. This picker pulls the cotton out of the plant boll and places it up into a hopper in the back. The loose cotton is then “dumped” out of the picker into a large rectangular cotton module builder that can then be transported to the gin for processing.
Nancy and the Picker Head
Here’s one of the picker heads showing the tall row of spindles (silver horizontal spikes). The spindles are about the size of your baby finger and rotate (very fast) and have little teeth on them that catch and pull the cotton off the plant. At the same time, the vertical shaft that the spindles are attached to is also turning and moving the spindles under a brush to remove the cotton so it can be blown up into the hopper at the rear of the picker
Inside the picker head showing the spindles and brushes.
This shows the doffers that pull the cotton off the spindles so it can be blown up into the hopper
Once the cotton is picked it needs to get to the gin for processing .. right? So the farmer dumps the cotton from the picker into what is called a Module Builder.
The wheels on the Module Builder are mounted on hydraulic rams so that the “box” can be lifted off the ground so it can be towed by the tractor
The module builder is basically a large metal box that is open on the top and bottom, one solid end and a gate on the other end. It is usually hooked to a tractor to not only move it around the field, but also to supply the hydraulic power for the ram to pack the cotton tightly
The inside of the large module builder. Note the large white arm that holds the ram to pack the cotton tightly. The ram is remotely controlled to move from end to end
The walls of the module builder are sloped being wider at the bottom than the top so that the builder can be pulled off the module easily
Here’s a You Tube video I found online that shows how the Module Builder works
After the module is packed, it’s time to pull the builder away and then the transport truck comes to pick up the module and take it to the gin for processing
The wheel hydraulic rams lift the builder, the tractor pulls the builder forward, and the cotton module is left on the ground awaiting transport to the gin
This cotton transport truck drives onto the cotton field, backs up to the end of the packed cotton module, turns on the chain drive track in the floor of the trailer, and backs up …. at the same speed that the chain drive runs. This picks up the module .. one foot at a time .. and neatly deposits it into the truck trailer where it’s then taken to the cotton gin for processing.
One of the large 15,000 lb modules on the feed conveyor into the gin
Close-up of the conveyor system feeding the gin. The blue bin in the front holds the yellow (round) module wrappers to be compacted and sent to plastic recycling
Just some of the modules sitting in the gin lot waiting to be processed.
The newer and larger cotton pickers can produce their own round modules
A newer 6 head cotton picker that makes it’s own round modules
This picker rolls the cotton into round 5000# modules. These larger pickers eliminate the need for a separate (rectangular) module builder
The round modules are dropped in the field by the picker and then a very large fork-lift type of truck goes out and picks them up and sets them onto the flat bed trailer for delivery to the gin.
This picture below shows round modules arriving at the gin and being weighed
Round modules coming from the farm and being weighed at the gin (40,000# est)
Look closely below (right side of picture) and you’ll see the tractor placing the round modules onto the conveyor to head into the gin for processing
Modules being loaded onto a conveyor belt that feeds them into the gin
Trucks loaded with the ginned 500# cotton bales to head to storage (for ultimate sale)
Unfortunately, we can’t go into the gin to see the operation first hand (safety issues), but I found this YouTube video online that explains the process very well. Although this video was done in Australia, the process is very similar if not identical to how it’s done here in Arizona.
An Australian video of the cotton ginning process
The picture below shows the large piles of cotton seed that will be processed further for things like; cottonseed oil, fertilizer, animal feed, soap, glycerin, cosmetics, rubber, and a lot more that we use every day.
Large piles of seed outside the gin. This will be processed further for other products
All in all it was a great day and we thank Nancy Caywood for the very informative tour. Now when we drive throughout Arizona and see all the cotton farms, we’ll have a new appreciation for the crop and the people that work so hard to produce it, especially given the limited water supply.
