February 6th

What a gorgeous day, the sun shone and it was nice and warm in AJ.
  We both got up early & Marg met up with the Gamblin' Gals to go to Fort MacDowell.  They picked her up about 15 min early, sitting out front blowing the horn.  They played bingo, then some on the slots.  For a change Marg said she was close on the bingo and did well on the slots.  Not a big win like one of her partners, but good enough to put a smile on her face.  Her partner Nancy on the slot next to her had a big win, something like $2,100.  As usual they had lunch up at the Fort and lots of laughs throughout the day.  They always come back in a great humor from their adventures.
  Gerry Canuel came to the park and we went golfing with the time slot they have here at Apache Sun.  The course was in great shape and we were teamed with Gary & Stan, a couple of real characters.  We too had lots of laughs, just a great day.  I was swinging the Taylor Burner like a machine today.  Made some great shots as well and scored my best 9 of the winter, 43.  Probably will not duplicate that again.  Likewise Gerry had a great round @ 41, all 4 of us in the 40's.
  Came back and made my lunch, that's the only downside of Marg going with the gals, the service goes down hill badly.  LOL  Then I played pool in the afternoon.  Played with some fun guys, one of whom [Luther] just got in this week.

  By then the girls were back and we had to go to happy hour, to celebrate the successful trip by the Gamblin' Gals.  Pretty good turnout.  On the way back noticed that Nancy's bird seed had attracted a bunch of Love Birds.  They look like parakeets, but to see 6 of them is unusual & they drew quite a crowd. 
  We went out for a quick supper and then got back so Marg could do laundry & I could play poker.  Made out OK playing poker & again a good group.

The route

 This was the first switchback. It doesn't look it here, but the turn was tight and steep.  About half the units went up with spinning tires.

 Narrow roads with lots of branches to give everyone some Arizona pin striping.

 The stream we had to follow to get out.

Another switchback on the way out.  The descent was so steep in places that we were often above the vehicle in front

Abandoned house

 This must have been built as a house.  There are the remnants of some kind of out building

The old house had a second out building remnant.  It had a working corral & water trough fed by a nearby stream.  It appears that it is used with horse riders.

Desert Day

  Marg went with the girls to the Olive garden for lunch.  It was mostly the wives of the guys that went in to the desert today.  It's quite far from here, down to the big mall at Superstition, so quite an adventure.  From the sounds of things they had a great day and lots of laughs.

   You can't see it but the left side of the road has a bit of grass before the 1,000 sheer drop off.

 This is the road out, just along the mountain on the left.

  This picture in the distance shows the road into the mountain pass.
  I left at 8 with some guys from this park as well as some others, 5 units in all, 12 guys.  I rode with Jerry Binger in his Kia.  We entered the mountain pass at 9AM and got out at about 3:30 & back to the rv park about 4:30.  There were numerous rough rock areas, switchbacks, steep climbs/descents streams to cross, one stream to drive down, narrow road with sheer drop offs.  It was a great day and the weather could not have been better.

Feb 4th

Happy birthday Anna, hope you had a great day!
  No blog yesterday, wasn't much to write about.  Sunday was  a cooler day, so we decided to go out.  Marg had heard about a new outlet center called Tanger over in Glendale.  It turns out that it is a couple blocks from Cabella's, on the other side of Phoenix.  We drove over there and there are some stores in the center that we haven't seen in the one we usually go to.  Marg bought a bunch of stuff, mainly for me [6 new shirts], but she did get a really neat pair of Sketchers.  Those are the bouncy shoes that are supposed to tighten up the gluts.  ;>) 
  There was even a Coach store [I had never heard of it] & they apparently had good prices on their stuff.  I guess there was a gorgeous handbag that was normally $500 that could be had for $219 & wallets for $200 that were regularly $350.  Now I know why I have never heard of it!  LOL  Marg tells me it is good for a return visit, but I think we will take another couple so the guys can go to Cabella's and the gals can shop the outlet stores.
  After we got back we went to the Superbowl party in the rec hall.  It was much smaller than last year, only a couple dozen people.  I had committed to help Ron with his pool, so pretty much had to go.  Turned out to be a pretty good game, even though it started out kind of lopsided.

   Gene & Pat waiting by their cart for a coyote to make up his mind what he was doing.  If you look close, he is just beyond Pat at the front of the cart.  He hung around us for about 10 minutes.  There were geese on the course and he may have been using us for cover to try and get close to them.
  I think the temp must have been around 70F & no wind.

  Today we got a later start.  I went golfing with Pat & Gene from the park here.  We picked up Gerry Canuel and went to Encanto, we call it his home course.  A beautiful day for golf and we hit some good balls combined with some that were not so good.  I did managed to put one into a palm tree that ricocheted into a pond.  It was the first time for the guys from the park at this course and I think they found it to their liking. 
  Marg went out to Walmart for groceries.  She needed a few things and I am going out on the desert tomorrow, so she wanted to get some lunch stuff.

Groundhog Day 2013

Well the groundhog never saw his shadow, so an early spring is expected.  That will be good for all our friends & family in GP.  Down here in AJ, no biggie, it was 72F/22C today, a nice warm day in short pants.  Don't want it any hotter than that on golf days anyway.
  Early morning, Marg was up at 6 & me 6:30 as our breakfast crew was on this AM.  As usual Marg was on scrambled eggs & I was on pancakes.  We had a new couple out with us this AM and it really made a difference on the work load.  We had lots of fun.  Marg said she scrambled over 12 dozen eggs & I made over 150 pancakes.  We had a new system for the biscuits & gravy that worked really well, we kept the biscuits in the a slow cooker so they were nice and warm.  For those of you who have not experienced this uniquely American breakfast item, all I can say is it's an acquired taste and none of the Canucks I know have acquired the taste.  It is a lot of small pieces of sausage in a creamy gravy poured over top what looks like something close to baking soda biscuits.  What really makes it different is the seasoning, not anything that appeals to me a breakfast.  It's not as bad as haggis, but I would rate it close.  But the folks down here love it.  Clean up went really well with the larger crew.  The highlight of my day is cleaning the grill - not!  At the end we had quite a bit of pancake batter and I made a huge pancake, bigger than an extra large pizza.  Usually there are a bunch that want to see if it can be flipped & it is.  Then I kid a bunch of the customers about making it especially for them.
  We had lots of visitors after at the motorhome, so it was almost too late for lunch. So it was into the old coupon book where we decided to go to Sonic.  We have never been there before, but we had coupons.  We had the 2 for one hot dogs & 2 for one strawberry sundaes and with drinks all in lunch for 2 was $4.37.  Went over to the big Mesa market looking for golf cart tires.  They had lots and even used ones, but none that appealed.  The used ones were a good deal, 4 tires on rims for $60.  We did manage to get a new ice cream scoop, the other thing we went there for.

 
    On the way back we stopped at the farmers market and Marg got a bunch of veggies that we were needing.  Check out the price of a flat of strawberries.  Marg got a big container [more than double that you get in GP] of blueberries for $1.50.  You probably can't see it, but baking potatoes were $1 for 10 pounds.  The best part is all the produce is very fresh, just like we get at the farmers market at home.

   When we got back to the rv park, there was a helicopter buzzing around for quite a while, like the better part of half an hour.  One of the guys jumped in his car to see what it was all about & saw a bunch of police cars around an area.  You have to know Jerry, but he went and spoke with the police & it turns out they raided a house not far from here and a guy got away and turns out it was the Sheriff's dept helicopter.  Apparently they caught him as it stopped.

   That was a good thing because all the noise was detracting during happy hour, where important stuff is discussed.  Oh yeh, went to cocktails at Larry & Nancy's again.  I wasn't going, but then a couple of guys stopped to harass me.  They put out the bait that they wanted to discuss going to the desert on Tuesday; in case I was interested.  Well as you readers know by now our last trip was cut short due to mechanical problems & they are going the same place; where they will likely cross the pass and get into some new territory.  So as much as I don't like to party, I went to meet with the guys.  Not sure why Marg went, the girls were probably talking about the price of rice and she had something to say about that - - could be!

February 1st

A nice sunny warm day in AJ.  I got out for a bike ride early in the morning.  A perfect day for it, no wind to slow me down, LOL.  Made over 5 miles, in fact just about 6 today & my top speed was 15 mph.
  After I got back we went to the big Fry's store in Scottsdale.  While it includes the regular grocery store that we have in AJ, the Scottsdale store has much more.  We are still looking for the ez up gazebo and while they had a pretty good selection, they were all the kind you build & leave in place.  The traffic was fairly heavy both going there and returning home on the 101 loop where it merges with the 202 loop.
  We got half way home and pulled off in Mesa, with the idea of going to a soup and salad place we like.  Before we got there we passed the Golden Corral, one of our favorite buffets.  They have a great salad bar and that was what we were really looking for anyway, so stopped for lunch.  It was good as usual and while we were able to keep from loading up, but still had a pretty good sized lunch.
  After lunch Marg went for a haircut.  She got an appointment with the hairdresser of a friend, so it was her first time at this place.  I think it turned out well and so did her friends when she got back.  Not sure what her reaction is, but I think that will come out after she does her hair after a few mornings.  I played some 8 ball while she was at the hair place. 
  Went to happy hour tonight and had a few laughs.  It's kind of like the guys sit in one are and the women in the other and talk about different things.  Not sure about the topics for the girls, but today we talked about fishing, snowmobiles, camping and tried to solve the question of world peace, LOL.  Had trouble getting away, the hosts are too gracious, but as we had lots to do we were the first to skip out.
  Just got back in time for a quick snack, good thing we had a big lunch.  Went over to the hall to get everything ready for breakfast in the morning.  Our team cooks breakfast, I will be the architect of the best pancakes in Carefree Manor RV park & Marg the scrambled eggs.  It's always a stretch for Marg, not the cooking but the 7 AM start time.
  After we went to the animal races.  Small crowd tonight, hope it picks up next week or the animals may become extinct.  I think Marg won every race but one and that may have been the time I did win.  She was doing her happy dance all night.  Lots of laughs again.  I guess you could say it was a fun day.