The Tucson fun continues

Last year we arrived in Tucson on Jan. 15. When we arrived here the area was experiencing record cold temperatures and eventually we had snow. Everyone was complaining that this weather was not typical for Tucson.

That's our forecast for the week.

On the first night here in 2013 we didn’t bother to de-winterize the trailer because we were concerned that lows predicted in the teens might freeze the rather delicate plumbing in the trailer.

Not so this year. We arrived here in the midst of some pretty incredible weather, which promises to persist for at least the next seven days and probably longer. A high pressure system over the west coast is to blame, or better yet, gets the credit for this wonderful weather.

No complaints from us.

So how did we spend Wednesday? Well, I got up early and headed to the gym and Joan got up early (for her) and headed to water aerobics.

Again we are still getting set up and spent a little time this afternoon doing our travel laundry and washing the bedding that was in the trailer when we left it.

We sat outside and read and I finished my second Charlie Leduff book “Work and Other Sins.” I also spent some time at the Internet café working on the study book on Revelations for the Men’s Bible Study. Tomorrow is my first meeting although it will be the third for the group. I’ve run into a couple of the men who I met last year and they were happy to see me back.

Joan cooked up some really good hamburgers for dinner, accompanied by some broccoli and salad. Nothing like ruining a good hamburger by serving broccoli with it, but I know she is looking out for my health. Seems to me French Fries are a better companion to a burger than broccoli. Of course, I consider a corn dog a vegetable.

The big red bus - Link Union

On Wednesday night we attended our first musical concert here at the resort. “Link Union” was great. They are a very talented family and they play dozens of instruments and sing a variety of blue grass, Celtic, gospel and a variety of other music. It was a really fun night.

Earlier today I saw a huge red bus pull in and it was the Link Union family of entertainers. They are spending the night in the resort and the bus is parked just a block away from us. If you want to see more about them you can go to their webpage at linkunion.org.

One of the more amusing and confusing news stories is the angst here over the fact that the reintroduction of Bighorn Sheep into the Catalina Mountains has resulted in some of those transplanted sheep becoming a midnight snack for the mountain lions that also live in the mountains.

Another view of the big red Link Union bus

Who would have thought that releasing yummy sheep into mountains where hungry mountain lions live would result in such an outcome. The folks in charge have responded by having sharpshooters take out a few of those hungry mountain lions.

It’s called nature folks. Release a tasty morsel into the wild and it will certainly attract the attention of a predator or two. Sheesh.

On Wednesday, the State released some Pronghorn Antelope into the mountains south of here. I’m guessing there are a few mountain lions licking their chops tonight in that region of Arizona.

So Thursday started with an early morning workout for me at the resort fitness center and then Men’s Bible study in the Mesquite Room. About a dozen guys showed up and I knew all of them from last year’s visit.

Somehow I couldn’t avoid the stare of this week’s study leader and ended up volunteering to do next week’s lesson. Should be fun.

We spent some time lounging around the trailer and then went for a little drive so Joan could get her fingernails prettied up. Because the nail salon was near the Fry’s Store (same as Kroger) we did a little shopping there and picked up a movie at the Red Box. Too bad I didn’t learn a little Vietnamese during my brief government sponsored visit there, it would have been entertaining to listen in on the worker’s conversations.

Our official resort badges with Joan's name misspelled

We also met our across-the-street-neighbors who are from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Jim and Faye have been coming here for many years and are currently renting a small park model across from us while the home they own in “The Cove,” is undergoing repairs for water damage while they were gone. We hope to go out to dinner and a movie with them very soon. Jim is also in my Men’s Bible study.

Last night with nothing on television we watched the movie “Jobs,” which was an interesting look at part of the life of Steve Jobs, the Apple inventor and founder. If the movie is half true, it sounds like he was a complicated guy.

We are pleased to report that Joan is enjoying her stay her much better than last year when her right knee worked hard to spoil all her fun. She has been faithfully attending her aerobics class (Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings) and really enjoying it. Last year she remembered what a struggle it was. She pronounced herself ready for some short hikes, so that will be fun and something we can now do together. She is NOT yet ready for the Tuesday hikes that require a little more strenuous activity.

One thing I have noticed here is that while everyone comes here to escape the weather in the north they can’t escape talking endlessly about it. And they don’t talk about the weather in Tucson, they talk about the weather they are missing back home.

One of my best friends is named Kim Crawford

As for me, I am trying to live in the moment and not worry about the weather back home. Buuuuut, I did hear from John, our son at home, and a friend Brendan Thursday that the traffic on I-75 in Oakland County was terrible and that it took two hours to go just about 20 miles. Well, at least I’ll have something of my own to share about the weather when I go to the gym tomorrow.

Here’s a sign I saw at a Baskin & Robbins yesterday in the shopping center where Joan’s nail salon was: “Movie flavored buttered popcorn ice cream now available.” I’ve been trying to think of a worse combination for ice cream, but so far have only come up with “Brussel sprout  flavored ice cream” that would be a worse combo for me.

This afternoon I made a movie run to return “Jobs” to the Red Box machine and then came home and curled up in the sun with a good book.

On Friday night we went to the CD Dance with Delores Warren in the ballroom. It was a good test for Joan’s new knee and she passed with flying colors. While her knee was in good shape her ears were hurting a little as many of the dances were country and western music. One of the classics was “I’ve got a tear in my beer.”

But we had a good time wearing a hole in the dance floor and Joan felt frisky enough to join in on a couple of line dances.  When it comes to line dances I’m strictly a spectator, but I do like watching the folks dance to “Cotton Eye Joe.”

A guy can dream can't he? Look at that price tag!

With Saturday’s arrival we have now been here a full week. Joan wanted to go visit the RV show at the nearby Pima County Fairgrounds so after a quick workout this morning we got cleaned up and headed to the fairgrounds to look at the new RVs.

The also include king size beds, but would would cost a fortunate to drive and operate. 

We have been toying with the idea of buying a small travel trailer to take on long distance, but shorter length visits. We saw a couple trailers we liked, but to the chagrin of a very persistent sales associate we were just looking.

Finally after trailing us around the show for about 30 minutes, the guy said to me: “You’re not going to take advantage of our show specials are you?”

“Nope,” I said. He disappeared.

Nice!

We saw some beautiful rigs, but the only chance we would have to purchase one would be if Joan hit the lottery. They have Class A rigs (Those are the big bus like self-contained RVs) that now have dishwashers and two bathrooms.

It is fun to dream however.I also finished re-reading "The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors," a dramatic and true story of one of the greatest and yet under told war stories of World War II. I am loaning it to our park neighbor who has an interest in World War II history.

Church tomorrow and then a couple football games. Go Niners!