Got an early start on the day and made it to the church service here in the park. While there are still a lot of people not here yet, there was a respectable turn out. It was nice to see Pastor Don's family in attendance. His 3 grandchildren are always a hit and they sang three nice pieces with such happiness and joy, it was truly uplifting. I'm not sure of their ages, but the youngest would look to be about elementary school ages. Don's son-in-law also spoke about the orphanage in Mexico that he works with. The church group here donates money to it annually, so it was nice to get information on how they are doing.
When I got back we went out to the big Mesa flea market. I sold some pocket books to the old gal who runs the book sale on the west side and was happy with what I received for them. We wandered around a bit and Marg managed to find a grill mat she wanted. It's one of those things you place on top of the grill to do vegetables and stuff like that and that was it for the day. She did look at lots of things, but it seems nothing made the grade to come home with us.
After we picked up an outdoor antennae so we could get some local television programming. Now in Canada this may not seem significant, but here, once I got it installed on the old satellite dish bracket, I set the search and program feature on the TV. It came up with 85 DTV channels. Then you have to pick through the channels to delete the ones you don't want, mainly the ones in Spanish. It's either that or take Spanish lessons. LOL. That still left us with about 40 or 50 stations & the reception is excellent. Pretty amazing really. At home we would probably only get 2 or 3 channels, so quite a difference.
For lunch we went to Taco Bell. They have great food and Marg tried a special that had a burrito, taco, taco chips & a drink for $5. I just had a deluxe burrito for about $3. The drink thing is something else. One customer behind us had two beverage mega mugs that must have held a couple of quarts each and that seemed to be fine. Makes me wonder how they could drink that much and still have room for food.
Happy hour and then a nice supper at home rounded out the day. Still had some potato salad from yesterday which Marg combined with a nice ham steak. The steak was so huge we will have to eat it for 2 meals.
Almost forgot, we enjoyed a super moon tonight. It makes the moon appear much larger and is the first one since 1948. A great night for a walk in the moonlight?
Sunday, 13 November 2016
Saturday, 12 November 2016
Saturday
No surprise, the day started out sunny, stayed warm and ended that way. The weather here is highly predictable and that is why there are so many snowbirds. It was really a gorgeous day.
Got up in time to make breakfast in the hall. We were asked to help a breakfast team out, but with our other commitments had to decline. There must have been a change as it was a totally different crew this AM. Sat with a group of friends and had ham, eggs & pancakes. It was pretty good and nice to start the day with a big breakfast. Marg chose not to participate, even though she was up before me.
We started the day with high expectations. The new SIM card came for Marg's phone and she was able to keep the same number as last year. This was the day we were scheduled for a Mediacom appointment to install our wifi, television and landline. They were to come after 8 & before noon, but would call ahead. The lack of TV and poor internet we have right now had us really excited about the prospect of getting it looked after. So we stayed by the phone with one of us at the trailer all day. Sadly we never got the call and pretty much ended up very unhappy about the whole thing. It put me in mind of the Seinfeld episode where Cramer tormented the cable guy to get even. Could sure use him when or if they ever show up. We may need to look at options. Tried calling them to be put on the never ending voice activated circuit they call customer response. Tried going to the office that is closed except on days when the staff don't have something more pressing [like pedicures] to deal with and are actually in the place.
After breakfast I went over and helped Mark & Carol finish the roof on their shed. It was not a big job, but anything like that in 80+ heat is taxing. Well it is for us northerners anyway. Got it done and with any luck it will not leak on the first rainy day. They were sure appreciative of the help, so it made me feel good that I was able to do it. With them being year-round residents and Mark being right across the road, they kind of keep an eye on things around here when we are gone, so it was a good neighbour gesture on my part. After I did that it was my turn to sit on the nest while Marg went and did laundry. Speaking of laundry we are getting an RV laundry machine. It is a one piece washer & dryer that runs on 110 v/15 amp power. Kenny & Doris are getting new laundry with 2 separate machines. While it will not compare to what Marg is accustomed to, it will be a welcome addition to our place.
At the end of the long suffering day, we had a bbq of pork chops and a nice potato salad. Marg had actually made it yesterday, but when the opportunity for fish came up we opted for that. Any of you who know how Marg loves fish and how often she would eat it if she could will realize that was pretty much a given. Anyway we still had the potato salad in the fridge, it being one of my favourite parts of summer. Well of winter as well when we are down in Arizona. I would have said up in Arizona, but for the blasted Mediacom.
After supper we went to an auction. It real close to here, just down on Apache Trail at Idaho. There were a lot of people there and they had a huge number of what they call "smalls". Some were interesting and everything went at good prices. What was interesting? Well for me: a small band saw, fishing reels, some bar signs, a step ladder; for Marg: a cat tail rocking chair a drop leaf table, a wind ornament, some ornamental stuff. We never bought anything, but were interested in a few things. The people watching was interesting, there are lots of characters. It's nothing like a Sotheby's auction of priceless antiques or art, rather the redneck version of auctions. There was a big ol' biker in a top hat who, among other things bought 26 boxes of pistol ammo [50 per box]. There was a black powder rifle and a pistol as well. It was entertaining and now we are registered and on file to go back. Marg is the auction fan, so no doubt we will be back.
Got up in time to make breakfast in the hall. We were asked to help a breakfast team out, but with our other commitments had to decline. There must have been a change as it was a totally different crew this AM. Sat with a group of friends and had ham, eggs & pancakes. It was pretty good and nice to start the day with a big breakfast. Marg chose not to participate, even though she was up before me.
We started the day with high expectations. The new SIM card came for Marg's phone and she was able to keep the same number as last year. This was the day we were scheduled for a Mediacom appointment to install our wifi, television and landline. They were to come after 8 & before noon, but would call ahead. The lack of TV and poor internet we have right now had us really excited about the prospect of getting it looked after. So we stayed by the phone with one of us at the trailer all day. Sadly we never got the call and pretty much ended up very unhappy about the whole thing. It put me in mind of the Seinfeld episode where Cramer tormented the cable guy to get even. Could sure use him when or if they ever show up. We may need to look at options. Tried calling them to be put on the never ending voice activated circuit they call customer response. Tried going to the office that is closed except on days when the staff don't have something more pressing [like pedicures] to deal with and are actually in the place.
After breakfast I went over and helped Mark & Carol finish the roof on their shed. It was not a big job, but anything like that in 80+ heat is taxing. Well it is for us northerners anyway. Got it done and with any luck it will not leak on the first rainy day. They were sure appreciative of the help, so it made me feel good that I was able to do it. With them being year-round residents and Mark being right across the road, they kind of keep an eye on things around here when we are gone, so it was a good neighbour gesture on my part. After I did that it was my turn to sit on the nest while Marg went and did laundry. Speaking of laundry we are getting an RV laundry machine. It is a one piece washer & dryer that runs on 110 v/15 amp power. Kenny & Doris are getting new laundry with 2 separate machines. While it will not compare to what Marg is accustomed to, it will be a welcome addition to our place.
At the end of the long suffering day, we had a bbq of pork chops and a nice potato salad. Marg had actually made it yesterday, but when the opportunity for fish came up we opted for that. Any of you who know how Marg loves fish and how often she would eat it if she could will realize that was pretty much a given. Anyway we still had the potato salad in the fridge, it being one of my favourite parts of summer. Well of winter as well when we are down in Arizona. I would have said up in Arizona, but for the blasted Mediacom.
After supper we went to an auction. It real close to here, just down on Apache Trail at Idaho. There were a lot of people there and they had a huge number of what they call "smalls". Some were interesting and everything went at good prices. What was interesting? Well for me: a small band saw, fishing reels, some bar signs, a step ladder; for Marg: a cat tail rocking chair a drop leaf table, a wind ornament, some ornamental stuff. We never bought anything, but were interested in a few things. The people watching was interesting, there are lots of characters. It's nothing like a Sotheby's auction of priceless antiques or art, rather the redneck version of auctions. There was a big ol' biker in a top hat who, among other things bought 26 boxes of pistol ammo [50 per box]. There was a black powder rifle and a pistol as well. It was entertaining and now we are registered and on file to go back. Marg is the auction fan, so no doubt we will be back.
Friday, 11 November 2016
Friday, November 11th
Remembrance day in Canada, Veterans Day in the US of A.
A nice parade, much larger than I expected. Many veterans wear caps that identify them as veterans, often telling where they served; either branch of their service [i.e.: army, navy, airforce, etc.] or campaign [WWII, Korea, Vietnam, etc.]. The people in the parade, especially kids like the boy scouts frequently came over to shake their hand and thank them for their service. We stood by Jim & Beth and he must of had his hand shaken a 100 times. Two little girls beside us held their hands over their hearts the whole time. There were lots of: horses, old cars, hot rods, motorcycles, military vehicles & personnel, etc. By shortly after 11:00 the parade was over. There was not ceremony at a 11:00 AM nor any moment of silence. The only poppies were the ones handed out by the vets in the parade, well other than the ones Marg & I wore that is.
When I returned I went to help Mark & Carol put some roofing on their shed. Carol Built the shed, but had it moved to Marks place, so not sure who it belongs to. We got the front side almost done. I say almost because we didn't have the stuff we needed, so Carol is picking it up sometime for tomorrow. It was really hot [about 80F] so they wanted to quit after a couple of hours. It was the kind of job I would have completed today, but is starting to look like a Mexican Manana project.
After went for a short [one beer] happy hour. Then Kenny asked who wanted to go for fish, so us and another couple agreed to go. Fridays typically have all you can eat fish on Fridays. The place we went [Dirtwater Café] has cod for this, so excellent fish. We ate a lot of fish for 6 people, but it lived up to our expectations. Stopped in for an evening chat with Kenny & Doris before calling it a day.
After went for a short [one beer] happy hour. Then Kenny asked who wanted to go for fish, so us and another couple agreed to go. Fridays typically have all you can eat fish on Fridays. The place we went [Dirtwater Café] has cod for this, so excellent fish. We ate a lot of fish for 6 people, but it lived up to our expectations. Stopped in for an evening chat with Kenny & Doris before calling it a day.
Thursday
An early start to the day. The first trip with the Gamblin' Gals for Marg. It appears Thursday is the day again this year and the bonus is more dishes. This weeks prize was a multi-purpose serving dish, a ceramic bowl in a basket frame that holds anything. I don't recall seeing one quite like this before in our house, so if we had one it was sold in the garage sales of 2014.
I got up and went to the first coffee and donuts. Well it was equally successful, I got an apple fritter, one of my favourites. It was an informal meeting as the association president and vice pres were not there. It was brief and pretty much gave an update on what is happening for the next week. I got a copy of the events schedule for the rest of the month so I could post it on the Tenants Assoc FB site. Oh yeh, also got a pic of the people who make the coffee and donuts available that I also posted on FB.
After I went down and helped Larry with his patio door. The rollers were badly worn and we managed to find them at the hardware, they were only $3 each. It is a double pane sliding door, so a heavy brute. The wheels were also very difficult to remove and replace, so it took several hours. The door is operating, but will need to be adjusted, arghhhh. Although I had committed to play in the pool tournament, I missed it because of the time spent dealing with a difficult door.
Spent some time on the computer, but for some reason didn't make a post. Mainly I was fighting with copying pictures from the camera to the file on the laptop. it seems something has changed in either the software or settings that is making it much more complicated. Checked on my bike and the front tire is still holding up, but the rear is totally flat again. Looks like I will be doing a tire repair in the very near future. A couple of the guys are talking about riding pretty soon.
By then Marg was home [with the dish]. Apparently the casino put new carpets in and the slots were not paying well. The gals think they have cut back the payouts to pay for the carpet. Could happen! We went for a short happy hour at the usual spot. After that we ate in. Some brats cooked up in a pasta with a tomato sauce. It was very tasty.
I got up and went to the first coffee and donuts. Well it was equally successful, I got an apple fritter, one of my favourites. It was an informal meeting as the association president and vice pres were not there. It was brief and pretty much gave an update on what is happening for the next week. I got a copy of the events schedule for the rest of the month so I could post it on the Tenants Assoc FB site. Oh yeh, also got a pic of the people who make the coffee and donuts available that I also posted on FB.
After I went down and helped Larry with his patio door. The rollers were badly worn and we managed to find them at the hardware, they were only $3 each. It is a double pane sliding door, so a heavy brute. The wheels were also very difficult to remove and replace, so it took several hours. The door is operating, but will need to be adjusted, arghhhh. Although I had committed to play in the pool tournament, I missed it because of the time spent dealing with a difficult door.
Spent some time on the computer, but for some reason didn't make a post. Mainly I was fighting with copying pictures from the camera to the file on the laptop. it seems something has changed in either the software or settings that is making it much more complicated. Checked on my bike and the front tire is still holding up, but the rear is totally flat again. Looks like I will be doing a tire repair in the very near future. A couple of the guys are talking about riding pretty soon.
By then Marg was home [with the dish]. Apparently the casino put new carpets in and the slots were not paying well. The gals think they have cut back the payouts to pay for the carpet. Could happen! We went for a short happy hour at the usual spot. After that we ate in. Some brats cooked up in a pasta with a tomato sauce. It was very tasty.
Wednesday, 9 November 2016
Wednesday, Nov 9th
Day 3 of our stay in the south.
It was election day yesterday and surprisingly little commentary among our acquaintances on the results. It appears they have heard enough about it all and are prepared to move on. For my part I am fine with that for the same reason. Confucius said something like - May you live in interesting times. We certainly are doing that.
We went for a walk and took a few pictures to start posting on the tenant's association FB page for Carefree to get people started looking at it again. It was a gorgeous day with temps reaching into the 80's, so more to my liking that the 90's of yesterday.
While taking a few photos, we stopped at the pool and I cleaned the leaves and crud out of it while Marg dabbled her feet in the water. I think she is anxious to get back into it. She really loves her pool time. The water was very inviting, almost a shame to see it empty, but that will change soon enough.
It seems Jim is not here yet and with their personal situation may not be for a while, if at all this winter. He usually cleans the pool while Barb organizes the water aerobics and while that pales in comparison to their personal challenges, it is just another reason we will be missing them. So I decided to get the worst of the leaves and other stuff picked out. I'm not all that familiar with the process and in fact rarely even go in the pool, but Marg and the other ladies will need someone looking after this. Although I don't want to take it on, I may have to look at offering to help out there.
By the time we got back to our place, our neighbour to the west was having a shed moved from her driveway over to Mark's place. So always up for a challenge, I gave them a bit of help, mainly lending them some blocking and watching for problems. The guy doing it had a forklift with 12 ft forks, so pretty much had the rest of it in hand. One of the problems is that the roof is un-shingled, as it sat under a carport. Mark has not been real active with that kind of thing, so may need a hand getting it done, so I offered. You can probably tell which one is me & which one is Mark. Stay tuned. It was a little tippy, but the move went well an using a forklift is really the answer to this kind of job. Can never have too much supervision on a job like this in our park. LOL
After lunch we went out: me to Harbour Freight, Marg to Big Lots next door. I never found anything and still do not have any coupons, so it was just an exploratory visit. Next time I will be better prepared, even if I don't really need anything. It is a real man cave hangout. Marg had a lot better luck and got several bags full of necessities. In fact she had quite a load, more than I can recall, well that's not correct, she did get all the stuff to do laundry.
By then it was happy hour and a bbq for supper.
Did I mention that it was hot and sunny here in the Valley of the Sun, well there you have it.
It was election day yesterday and surprisingly little commentary among our acquaintances on the results. It appears they have heard enough about it all and are prepared to move on. For my part I am fine with that for the same reason. Confucius said something like - May you live in interesting times. We certainly are doing that.
We went for a walk and took a few pictures to start posting on the tenant's association FB page for Carefree to get people started looking at it again. It was a gorgeous day with temps reaching into the 80's, so more to my liking that the 90's of yesterday.
After lunch we went out: me to Harbour Freight, Marg to Big Lots next door. I never found anything and still do not have any coupons, so it was just an exploratory visit. Next time I will be better prepared, even if I don't really need anything. It is a real man cave hangout. Marg had a lot better luck and got several bags full of necessities. In fact she had quite a load, more than I can recall, well that's not correct, she did get all the stuff to do laundry.
By then it was happy hour and a bbq for supper.
Did I mention that it was hot and sunny here in the Valley of the Sun, well there you have it.
Tuesday, 8 November 2016
Tuesday, Nov 8th
Election day in the USA, hardly anyone here talking about it. One of our friends said it was the first time in 40 years she had not voted. It will be interesting regardless of who wins and much like our elections there will be lots of post game analysis.
Had to get up early as Alberto was coming to was the park model. It sure was dusty and dirty this year. Often in the summer they get a couple of major dust storms, or haboob. Now how did a dust storm ever get a name like that anyway? Anyway the result is a lot of plant material and that fine dust from the desert. He was a couple of hours with his pressure wash and then cleaned up the windows and had them sparkling when he left. It was money well spent and I don't have a pressure washer and the water here is so hard it leaves spots on anything, so you have to have some kind of rinse agent to counter that.
After we pulled out all the patio furniture and got things set up. I took down the brace off the back fence, which stood up very well this year. Again another effect of the haboob winds, last year it was blown down and had to be rebuilt. Just as we were finishing, Lynette stopped by and Marg made us all a nice lunch. Lynette is having her kitchen counters & cabinets redone, so is in the midst of a mess, so I think glad for the offer of lunch.
We went out for a bit as I needed to get a filter for the a/c system. Again the haboob. Also wanted a new shower head, the water is very hard here and lots of scale on water fixtures. I saw one that shows you the water temp on a display. Now a novel idea, but who cares what temp it is, I think most people like me, just put their hand in the water to see if it's ok. I am sure there are people who would buy it, but then how would they show it off?
Stopped at the ranch market for vegetables and such. Got a couple of bags of oranges & they are so fresh and juicy here @ $3 per bag. Got a watermelon for 59 cents, a head of lettuce for 49 cents, a bag of carrots for $1. The produce is so fresh here, it's a real treat compared to what we usually see at home in the grocery aisle at this time of year. Also stopped and bought water, for the cooler and ice maker as it is still quite warm here. One of the downsides is we buy most of our drinking water, but do it in the 5 gal bottles. I think Marg said she saw 33 on the truck temp display when she went for groceries.
That was another good experience as lots of the meat was buy one get a second one free. This pack of T Bone was $13 and the steaks are thick and large. Some nice steaks, can hardly wait to bbq. She bought groceries at Fry's so that will give us loyalty points and at least a 10 cent a gallon discount off the $2.09 gas prices.
After getting back I went down and helped Larry get the rear wheel on his bike. He had a flat from it sitting and was having difficulty putting it back together. Both of my tires are flat, but I am hoping they just need to be inflated and that I never picked up a goat head. Since putting liners in my tires I had not been having problems with flats, fingers crossed.
Spent a frustrating half hour on the phone dealing with one of our Trac phones. They are pay as you go, so one had run out of days and needs a new SIM card. Several times I wanted to say I thought I pressed "1" for English. The girl's command of the language was terrible. It was as if she learned it from a text book without actually hearing any pronunciation. It was downright comical when she tried to say Apache Junction. When giving her our lot number she asked it that is spelled: lote. But the service is low cost.
A quick stop at happy hour and then supper at Ihop tonight. They have a promo on in support of children of wounded and not returning veterans, so we made a donation in the name of the Gourlay Family. It's one of those things where they post donor names on their wall.
Funny, no one here is wearing any poppies. I asked about it, telling them I was wearing one in GP before leaving home, so it seems strange this close to Remembrance Day [not what it's called here]. Jim said they used to do like us, but now just wear them on the Nov 11th. There are lots of parades on the day, in fact the one here in AJ marks the start of a 2 day celebration.
Well that is all for today, from down south here in the Valley of the Sun.
Had to get up early as Alberto was coming to was the park model. It sure was dusty and dirty this year. Often in the summer they get a couple of major dust storms, or haboob. Now how did a dust storm ever get a name like that anyway? Anyway the result is a lot of plant material and that fine dust from the desert. He was a couple of hours with his pressure wash and then cleaned up the windows and had them sparkling when he left. It was money well spent and I don't have a pressure washer and the water here is so hard it leaves spots on anything, so you have to have some kind of rinse agent to counter that.
After we pulled out all the patio furniture and got things set up. I took down the brace off the back fence, which stood up very well this year. Again another effect of the haboob winds, last year it was blown down and had to be rebuilt. Just as we were finishing, Lynette stopped by and Marg made us all a nice lunch. Lynette is having her kitchen counters & cabinets redone, so is in the midst of a mess, so I think glad for the offer of lunch.
We went out for a bit as I needed to get a filter for the a/c system. Again the haboob. Also wanted a new shower head, the water is very hard here and lots of scale on water fixtures. I saw one that shows you the water temp on a display. Now a novel idea, but who cares what temp it is, I think most people like me, just put their hand in the water to see if it's ok. I am sure there are people who would buy it, but then how would they show it off?
Stopped at the ranch market for vegetables and such. Got a couple of bags of oranges & they are so fresh and juicy here @ $3 per bag. Got a watermelon for 59 cents, a head of lettuce for 49 cents, a bag of carrots for $1. The produce is so fresh here, it's a real treat compared to what we usually see at home in the grocery aisle at this time of year. Also stopped and bought water, for the cooler and ice maker as it is still quite warm here. One of the downsides is we buy most of our drinking water, but do it in the 5 gal bottles. I think Marg said she saw 33 on the truck temp display when she went for groceries.
After getting back I went down and helped Larry get the rear wheel on his bike. He had a flat from it sitting and was having difficulty putting it back together. Both of my tires are flat, but I am hoping they just need to be inflated and that I never picked up a goat head. Since putting liners in my tires I had not been having problems with flats, fingers crossed.
Spent a frustrating half hour on the phone dealing with one of our Trac phones. They are pay as you go, so one had run out of days and needs a new SIM card. Several times I wanted to say I thought I pressed "1" for English. The girl's command of the language was terrible. It was as if she learned it from a text book without actually hearing any pronunciation. It was downright comical when she tried to say Apache Junction. When giving her our lot number she asked it that is spelled: lote. But the service is low cost.
A quick stop at happy hour and then supper at Ihop tonight. They have a promo on in support of children of wounded and not returning veterans, so we made a donation in the name of the Gourlay Family. It's one of those things where they post donor names on their wall.
Funny, no one here is wearing any poppies. I asked about it, telling them I was wearing one in GP before leaving home, so it seems strange this close to Remembrance Day [not what it's called here]. Jim said they used to do like us, but now just wear them on the Nov 11th. There are lots of parades on the day, in fact the one here in AJ marks the start of a 2 day celebration.
Well that is all for today, from down south here in the Valley of the Sun.
Monday, 7 November 2016
Another year in the life - Gourlay's in Arizona --winter of 2016/17
Monday, November 7, 2016: Although this post is early for our winter retreat, it is late in our process. We left GP on Thursday, Nov 3rd but owing to spotty internet service I have been remiss in posting to our blog. I tried to provide some benchmark data on our travels on Facebook, but kept it brief - just like the old TV series Dragnet - nothing but the facts maam.
We put in some long days to start, 1,200 on day one, 950 on day two, then a couple of days just over 600 or 700 km's so that we could play a bit on the way down. Our main focus is to get through Alberta and Montana where we have the greatest risk of poor weather.
Most of the trip went very well. One of the troubling parts was the number of road killed skunks we saw, more than a half dozen. No these were not politicians or anything of that ilk, but real black & white skunks. A few were particularly nasty, but fortunately we didn't pick up any of the smell on the truck tires. The other harrowing part of the trip was the lengthy traffic jam through Salt Lake City. It was Friday, so lots of folks leaving work when we got there. The first half driving into the city was great, the second half not so great. On a good day at 65/70 mph it is over an hour to get through, but Friday was 8 southbound lanes bumper to bumper. Marg suggested we try the HOV lane and it worked much better for us, although stopped dead at times. Most of the road travel was uneventful, but I did get the finger from a trucker in Utah. I think he was Mormon and pointing out there is only one way to heaven, but not sure.
We had a box of Timbits from our stop in Devon for lunch. We ate a few, but the rest came south with us. By the time we reached Las Vegas and found them under the pile of baggage they would have made good ammunition for an artillery unit. I wanted to give them to some homeless people but Marg said they might throw them at us and damage something. Las Vegas was our only locked bathrooms in a MacDonald's, the lady had to come out and punch the code in to give us access. They really do have a lot of homeless people there and after our evening in the casino we know why. At each overnight location I was able to have a dram or two of either the Chivas or the Glenlivet Founders Reserve that I picked up in Duty Free. That was all we bought there. The border crossing was the quickest ever. It was supper time and we drove right up to the agent, no waiting. He asked us where we were going and for how long and how much cash we had on us and told us to have a nice trip.
We got into AJ shortly after 2 PM on Sunday and came in to our lot via the rear entry. We were trying to avoid letting people know we were here until we got unpacked and things straightened away. There was a lot of dust and crud in the breezeway to clear away, but the park model was in pretty good shape, except for some hard water build up in the bathroom. It was a good plan, until about 3:30 when Kenny spotted the nose of the truck sticking out of the carport. He and Doris came right up and asked if we were going to happy hour. Well that was a loaded question. [A pun?] We had some confusion at that point because it was set clocks back an hour in Nevada and they never change them in Arizona and we weren't sure what the time was when were in LV. As a result I had 4:30 and Marg had 2:30, but the local time was 3:30. I think that would qualify as a senior moment. We had no intention of going and no beer, but even that could not get us off, so Kenny brought me a brewski and we went. Nice to see a bunch of friends again. Then we went out for supper with Kenny, Doris, Darryl and Rita. We have to travel 3,500 km's to spend time with them, they live in GP as well.
After it was Walmart for some groceries, foremost of which was the 30 pack of Miller High Life, for $18, no can deposits here. There was also a buggy full of less important stuff.
That gets us up to Monday. Early in the morning we went to Mediacom to find out that we can't have TV, internet or our land line until Saturday, so any internet stuff will be spotty until we get that connection. We had the carport all cleaned out and most of the stuff out of the truck, so we went about dealing with all the loose ends. The door at the back of the breezeway wouldn't open, then once opened wouldn't close. The calcium mark in the toilet and bathtub were treated with CLR and some kind of scrubbing thing Marg bought. Then I put new screen in the sliding screen door, new weather stripping on the patio door, a new screen in the Arizona room door so that made 3 trips to the hardware store. Sheesh, well I never started out planning to do all those things. Pulled the weeds in the flower bed and on the back patio. Some of them looked like grass but had sharp spiny ends. Poked myself on several of Marg's cactus out front; while putting the awnings up. Had lots of drop by visitors and a nice pastrami sandwich at lunch, not all at the same time. I'm not sharing that nice fresh bread and delicious pastrami.
By then it was happy hour, there are still only a small number attending. It's kind of different when you can actually hear what everyone is saying. Turns out our host is having trouble with his patio door and asked me to have a look and see what I thought. I did and was able to confirm beyond a doubt that he is indeed having trouble with it. After we bbq'd and had a nice supper. Just about time to relax, well we had some more visitors and got really caught up on most of the gossip. Whew that was a long dissertation. Will try and be more regular, with posts that is.
Good night mrs kalabash where ever you are.
We put in some long days to start, 1,200 on day one, 950 on day two, then a couple of days just over 600 or 700 km's so that we could play a bit on the way down. Our main focus is to get through Alberta and Montana where we have the greatest risk of poor weather.
Most of the trip went very well. One of the troubling parts was the number of road killed skunks we saw, more than a half dozen. No these were not politicians or anything of that ilk, but real black & white skunks. A few were particularly nasty, but fortunately we didn't pick up any of the smell on the truck tires. The other harrowing part of the trip was the lengthy traffic jam through Salt Lake City. It was Friday, so lots of folks leaving work when we got there. The first half driving into the city was great, the second half not so great. On a good day at 65/70 mph it is over an hour to get through, but Friday was 8 southbound lanes bumper to bumper. Marg suggested we try the HOV lane and it worked much better for us, although stopped dead at times. Most of the road travel was uneventful, but I did get the finger from a trucker in Utah. I think he was Mormon and pointing out there is only one way to heaven, but not sure.
We had a box of Timbits from our stop in Devon for lunch. We ate a few, but the rest came south with us. By the time we reached Las Vegas and found them under the pile of baggage they would have made good ammunition for an artillery unit. I wanted to give them to some homeless people but Marg said they might throw them at us and damage something. Las Vegas was our only locked bathrooms in a MacDonald's, the lady had to come out and punch the code in to give us access. They really do have a lot of homeless people there and after our evening in the casino we know why. At each overnight location I was able to have a dram or two of either the Chivas or the Glenlivet Founders Reserve that I picked up in Duty Free. That was all we bought there. The border crossing was the quickest ever. It was supper time and we drove right up to the agent, no waiting. He asked us where we were going and for how long and how much cash we had on us and told us to have a nice trip.
We got into AJ shortly after 2 PM on Sunday and came in to our lot via the rear entry. We were trying to avoid letting people know we were here until we got unpacked and things straightened away. There was a lot of dust and crud in the breezeway to clear away, but the park model was in pretty good shape, except for some hard water build up in the bathroom. It was a good plan, until about 3:30 when Kenny spotted the nose of the truck sticking out of the carport. He and Doris came right up and asked if we were going to happy hour. Well that was a loaded question. [A pun?] We had some confusion at that point because it was set clocks back an hour in Nevada and they never change them in Arizona and we weren't sure what the time was when were in LV. As a result I had 4:30 and Marg had 2:30, but the local time was 3:30. I think that would qualify as a senior moment. We had no intention of going and no beer, but even that could not get us off, so Kenny brought me a brewski and we went. Nice to see a bunch of friends again. Then we went out for supper with Kenny, Doris, Darryl and Rita. We have to travel 3,500 km's to spend time with them, they live in GP as well.
After it was Walmart for some groceries, foremost of which was the 30 pack of Miller High Life, for $18, no can deposits here. There was also a buggy full of less important stuff.
That gets us up to Monday. Early in the morning we went to Mediacom to find out that we can't have TV, internet or our land line until Saturday, so any internet stuff will be spotty until we get that connection. We had the carport all cleaned out and most of the stuff out of the truck, so we went about dealing with all the loose ends. The door at the back of the breezeway wouldn't open, then once opened wouldn't close. The calcium mark in the toilet and bathtub were treated with CLR and some kind of scrubbing thing Marg bought. Then I put new screen in the sliding screen door, new weather stripping on the patio door, a new screen in the Arizona room door so that made 3 trips to the hardware store. Sheesh, well I never started out planning to do all those things. Pulled the weeds in the flower bed and on the back patio. Some of them looked like grass but had sharp spiny ends. Poked myself on several of Marg's cactus out front; while putting the awnings up. Had lots of drop by visitors and a nice pastrami sandwich at lunch, not all at the same time. I'm not sharing that nice fresh bread and delicious pastrami.
By then it was happy hour, there are still only a small number attending. It's kind of different when you can actually hear what everyone is saying. Turns out our host is having trouble with his patio door and asked me to have a look and see what I thought. I did and was able to confirm beyond a doubt that he is indeed having trouble with it. After we bbq'd and had a nice supper. Just about time to relax, well we had some more visitors and got really caught up on most of the gossip. Whew that was a long dissertation. Will try and be more regular, with posts that is.
Good night mrs kalabash where ever you are.
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