March 18th

This was not a good day, the wind blew most of the day and the sky clouded over.  There was a forecast of serious rain, thunder and a possibility of hail.  The storm never reached here in AJ until well after lunch time.  When the storm hit, it was typical of a desert rain storm.  The rain came down in torrents and the streets were like small rivers.  The roar of the rain on our carport was so loud you couldn't even carry on a conversation under it.
  We decided we would be gone by Saturday.  First there is a problem with the weather up in Montana and we only have about a 5 day window when it is clear.  It's either make that opening or wait until early April and that would be cutting it close.  There is also the problem with this Corona Virus that is casing problems for travelers.  They are recommending using gloves even when fueling the vehicle.  A good many of the road rest stops are apparently closed.  All of the hotels linked to casino's are closed.  Most restaurants are closed and only offer take away food.  Finally we both are suffering from our allergies and the resulting cough makes folks wary of us.  Finally we have been here a long time, arriving in the first week of November, this was to be our longest stay in Arizona and is still pretty close to be our longest time here.  So it's time.
  We started packing things up and getting rid of junk and got caught up in it.  When we make a decision to go Marg really gets a surge of energy to get on with it.  People were stopping by and at first we said we will be gone by Saturday.  A bit later in the day we were telling folks we would probably leave Friday.  By noon we were in high gear and leaving tomorrow.  That's just the way we roll, I guess.
  In the morning I went to the bank and took all the money out of our Bank of America account.  We were a bit fortunate in that they never held funds on the cheque for sale of the golf cart that I deposited on Monday.  It was funny, the teller wouldn't let me close the account but would let me withdraw all of the money, so I did.  She even gave me a bank draft or cashiers cheque at no service charge.
  We did stop for lunch and then Marg put together the financial statement for the Entertainment Committee.  I acted as scribe and put it in statement format.  Then delivered it to the Treasurer.  It took a bit of creativity to get it to come out to the exact amount of money she had turned in.  It was only out a couple of bucks, but was perfect when we finished.  Just like the old say:  Figures don't lie, but Liars can figure.  LOL  Not that bad really, it was only a couple bucks!
  It was pretty much pack and load all day, but even with our best efforts we could not get it all in the truck.  As a result we have the ladder and a storage bench [the one from the Az room] going back to GP with one couple from home.  We have my hand cart, 2 lawn chairs and two tubs of stuff going back to Stony Plain with another couple.  The rest is pretty much crammed into the truck.  Tomorrow I need to put the bike rack on the receiver/hitch and load our travel gear.  Oh yes take the tv/internet router back to Mediacom.  We cancelled our insurance a while back, so a refund should show up for that and likely there will be one from Mediacom as well.
  Later I went to Walmart where I got Marg some Salonpas patches and cough drops.  The patches ar more powerful than the ones she can buy at home, so I got lots.  On the way back I stopped for fuel.  Didn't have time to go to Costco, but fuel here in AJ has dropped about 35 cents a gallon in the last few weeks and I only needed a top up as I had 3/4's.  When you use a credit card here you have to enter your Zip code.  Not having one used to be a problem, but for the last few years we just enter the 3 numbers in our postal code followed by 2 zeros.
  The most difficult part of the whole exercise is the constant stream of visitors.  Whether walking to the garbage, taking things for the others to bring back or just working on the driveway, there was always someone stopping to confirm we were leaving and the timing.
   She even made supper tonight.  She kept enough in the fridge to be able to make it.  If it had been me I would have said you're taking me out now.  LOL  It was a nice meal, burgers, baked potatoes and veg.  Leftover birthday cake was our dessert.  She Rita come over to help clean out the fridge and freezer.  There were so many bags that I drove her back to their place.
  Well that is a wrap on another fun season in the sun.  The only unfortunate thing is Marg will be spending her birthday on the road and the probability of having a restaurant meal for supper is poor.  There will be no wifi here, so you should be able to reach her using either one of our U.S. phone numbers.  With any luck we will find everything we need along the way.  Will try to pick hotels with wifi, our plans do not include sleeping in the vehicle like some folks around here.  Stay tuned for the tales of our exploits on the trails of America.  <: p="">