Monday - Dec 8th

A beautiful day in the valley of the sun.  A bit of a breeze, but in the high 70's all day.
  The guy who normally washes our rv when we get here came this AM to wash the trailer.  In the past we have been really happy with his work, so Marg called him to do it this year.  There was so much dust, dirt, cobwebs, etc. all over and the water here leaves water marks, while his is treated and everything dries to a shiny finish.  We were not disappointed, the end result was great and they also did the Az room, carport and drive pad.  Marg cleaned all the windows & window channels on the inside and then vacuumed the place while the guys were doing the outside.
  I went to beg off the bike ride this AM as my tires were flat, but Larry was having none of that and got out his portable air compressor.  He has only been out a few times, so I was able to keep up with him.  We rode a little over 5 miles. Marg went to water aerobics [splash & thrash] and got a good workout as well.  They had a good turn-out for this early in the year and unlike last year she did not over-do it.  Most of the gals were regulars last year, with one new addition.  Susie was in the park, but not able to participate last year.
  Unloaded the Rhino from the trailer.  Drove it down the street to the service station and filled it, that was a first for me.  By the time I got back to the park, Marg had lunch made for me, a nice touch.  Got together with Jerry [he had his quad] and Norm [with his tracker] to go to the desert.  Kenny rode with me, he wanted to get an idea of what the side x side is like.  Norm took a new guy, from Pennsylvania, with him.  We drove out of the park, down city streets to where the Bulldog canyon trail system starts.  They had the most complicated locked gate I have ever seen & even though Norm had the combination it was a challenge to get open.  Saw some great country and ran some challenging terrain on the trails.  At one point Norm had the tracker with 2 opposite corner wheels on the ground & the other 2 in the air, so I pulled him off with the winch on the Rhino.  Made a hill climb that had the other guys impressed with the Rhino, they wouldn't even try it.  We came out just out by Goldfield and ran down highway 88 [the one that goes to Tortilla flats] a short way to get on to Lost Dutchman and then on to home.  Made about 40 km round trip.  Lots of fun.  Sorry there are no pictures, but I didn't realize Marg had packed the camera in the cooler bag she sent with me.
  Marg went out and found a few things she needed.  She also put the Saskatoon jam in some small jars to give to her buddies and did some Christmas cards up. By this time it was happy hour, so we went down for one and swapped stories for a bit.  There was a new couple in the park from Victoria at happy as well.  Interesting guy, they had spent 4 years on a 29 ft sailboat a couple of years back that they sailed to thru Fiji & Tonga down to New Zealand. 
  Back home for supper, where we bbq'ed the first of the New York cut steaks.  It has been a  while since I grilled a steak this thick and it was quite a challenge.  A great supper as always.
  After supper I went to play poker.  They are playing Monday & Wednesday now and we had 7 players.  One new guy there [Al] who had an interesting time picking up on some of the games.  The rest were guys who were playing pretty regular last year.  Lots of laughs, especially if you were winning.  I never count what I start or finish with, so I believe I about broke even.