Hemmin', Hawwin' and Hiking

Sunset in the Old Pueblo

So, we left off with my tease about the Friday night dance at the Voyager. “Two’s Company” a husband and wife musical duet provided the music gave us a very fun evening. They play and sing a variety of songs, including a Blues Brothers song complete with costumes. The husband part of the group plays keyboard and trumpet and does a really good job at both.

We met up with several couples that we have become friends with over previous years and spent some time catching up. Marcia and Jerry were one of the couples we reconnected with and they both look great. They are from western Michigan were both public educators so there is that natural connection as well.

Marcia and Joan, despite my and Jerry’s best efforts to stop them, are organizing the “Michigan Party” for the Voyager. The last Michigan party at the resort was in 2012 and since then no one has stepped up to take over the organizing. Jim and Faye, who we met three years ago, and Elaine, who we just met were the former organizers and have graciously turned over the keys to the event to Joan and Marcia.

Sunset and clouds

By turning over keys I mean they gave us a box of decorations and some computer files of fliers and spread sheets to make the organizing easier. They also graciously handed over a bank account for the Michigan Party that includes a balance of $186 to get us started for this year. The process of changing the signatures on that account ended up taking more than two hours at the credit union.

The party is scheduled for Monday, February 29, which is the leap year day, so I’m hoping that we keep that date into perpetuity so we only have to do this party every four years. Marcia and Joan decided to keep it simple by doing a little cocktail reception in the resort courtyard (praying for good weather that day) with everyone bringing a hearty cocktail snack to share. If this year’s party is successful we’ll take suggestions for next year’s party at this year’s party.

My job is to come up with a new Michigan map so people can stick pins into it when they arrive so we can see where everyone is from. We’re planning a mixer to get people to meet folks they don’t already know. I also volunteered to set up a table at the Saturday morning coffee through February to sign up folks for the event.

View from Maiden Pools

On Saturday morning we picked up Mahlon and Colleen, our friends from Riverside Tabernacle, at their rental home in Tucson and headed out to Sabino Canyon for our adventure there. We grabbed a shuttle there and did the tour up the canyon and got off the shuttle and began the hike back.

On the way up, we couldn’t help but notice that more than half the bridges over Sabino Creek were halfway underwater, which we knew would make getting back a little more challenging that in the past. No one was eager to wade through the ankle-high rushing snow melt on the hike so it turned into a game of leap frog by waiting for a shuttle at each stop and then jumping off at the next to avoid the rushing ice water.

Finally, we abandoned the leap frog plan and took the shuttle back to Shuttle Stop 1 and walked the mile back from there. Mahlon and Colleen track their daily steps on Bit Fits or whatever they are called and so they were still short the 10,000 steps they like to do each day so we headed out on some other trails from the visitor center until we had accomplished that.

It was a fun day with friends and as I have previously mentioned we love it when people come to visit so we can show off our second home, Tucson. After arriving home we got cleaned up, had a sandwich dinner and spent a quiet evening in our trailer.

Mahlon at Maiden Pools

Sunday, as it usually does, began with a workout for me followed by church, which is bulging at the seams with the arrival of so many new snowbirds this week. After church we headed to Walmart for shopping and because my old flip phone was barely holding a charge anymore I joined the 21^st century and purchased a smart phone. Not an iPhone, but an Android, which will primarily be used for phone calls and now texting (I never had text before) but we are not purchasing a data plan so I can only use it as a smart phone when I find free wifi.

I spent the afternoon playing with my phone and learning how to use it. More on that later.

On Sunday night we had been invited to our friends Darcel and Barry’s house in the Cove. This is the nice section of the park where people live in actual stick built homes. We had been to Darcel and Barry’s last year for dinner after our second wine tasting adventure with them. They are great folks who live in Idaho and were former professors at a Washington university.

Also at the party were Jim, and another couple Myra and Butch, who I know from the Tuesday hiking club. Darcel is also a frequent Tuesday hiker. We had a fun evening with them and walked home about 9:30 p.m.

A live skunk at the museum

Monday began with a workout in the fitness center, Joan went to her aquacise and then a trip to the AT&T store so Joan could replace her flip phone with a phone like mine. I also needed a few lessons on how to access my phone as I hadn’t been able to find my voicemail, etc. We met in the afternoon with Marcia, Jerry and Pam (an employee at the activity center) about the Michigan Party and found out all the details we needed to do to pull off the party. All that led to the later meetings with Elaine and Jim along with the marathon credit union session.

Part of the credit union session was holding a brief meeting, keeping minutes to officially transfer control of the funds from Elaine and Jim to Marcia and Joan.

Following that meeting, we returned home and got ready for Meet Me At Maynard’s, which was also held during the jazz fest here on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. So downtown was packed and finding a place to park was challenging as my usually garage parking space was blocked by a stage for the jazz festival.

We checked in at Meet Me At Maynard’s and for the first time ever Joan was able to make the full two miles without the pain she experienced last year. She was as excited as can be. We waited for the raffle drawing, which we did not win, and then headed to “Fired Pie” for dinner.

“Fired Pie” is a little medium speed food place that specializes in making individual thin-crust pizzas and salads. I love thin crust (for my friends back in Flint think Luigi’s) and you can have all the toppings you want for a total of $8 for an 11-inch pie. Joan and I split a Caesar Salad and with our 20 percent Meet Me At Maynard’s discount the cost was only $21.

Joan and her favorite species of bird

We returned home late from an eventful and busy day.

During the week I said many, many funny pithy things, but can’t remember any of them now. I’m going to start carrying a small notebook so I can remember all my wonderful sayings so I can use them in the blog.

Because Mahlon wanted to go a more difficult hike than the one we did with the wives on Saturday he and I headed out this morning for a hike up Ventana Canyon. This is a challenging hike with six creek crossings and a 1,200-foot elevation to Maiden Pools. I have made this hike twice before in previous years, but I’ve never seen this much water in the creek before.

I skipped the regular Tuesday resort hike which was pretty easy this week but I’ll do the Prison Camp hike on my own later. The Prison Camp Hike is up in the Catalina Mountains on the road to Mt. Lemmon.

Mahlon, is a marathon runner, and did much better up the big switchback climbing than I did. So as not to hold him up I let him go ahead and caught up with him at the top of the hill about 15 minutes later. It takes me a few weeks to get acclimated to the altitude and in case you didn’t know, I’m NOT a marathon runner.

When I got home from the 5-hour hike I got cleaned up and we headed to the Tuesday potluck. With more people in the park, there are more people at the potluck and Joan brought one of my favorites, a crockpot lasagna. Much more variety this week including a couple plates of deviled eggs, which is one of my favorites.

We left more than full.

Sometime on Monday, I tried locking one of the basement doors on the trailer. “Basement” is what I call the storage areas under our bedroom on the outside of the trailer. I put in the key, turned the lock and it promptly snapped off. I guess 8 years is the limit on a small metal key for a difficult to lock door. Unfortunately, it turned far enough to actually lock the door. Behind that door is the Diet Coke that keeps Joan happy and content, so I started to panic.

Also one of the spring clips that holds open the basement doors when they are open, gave up the ghost. So on Wednesday I headed out to my favorite key maker at Ace Hardware on Irvington Road to see if I could get a new key made for the basement and also make a brief stop at Camping World to pick up a new spring clip.

With only a broken key as a form, the very skilled key maker at Ace was able to make me a new key from just the broken section of the key that I had coaxed back out of the lock by tapping lightly on it and grabbing with a pair of needle nose pliers. That $1.10 key saved me a $45 locksmith call.

When I returned home from the Ace Hardware trip I installed the new spring clip and re-opened the locked basement door with my new key. Two fixes in one day, that’s a record for me.

We had leftover crockpot lasagna for dinner and then headed to the Wednesday night concert  - “Hemmin’ and Hawwin’” which was a tribute show to the old “Hee Haw” show and yes, it was just that corny. The music was good. It should be noted that Joan does not like country and western music and I told her we could skip this one, but she insisted on getting the tickets anyway.

I couple folks were complaining on Thursday morning that it was “too corny.”  I pointed out that the show was named “Hemmin’ and Hawwin’” so what could you expect.

Thursday dawned with me leading the Men’s Bible Study at the resort. We are studying the Book of James. After the class Joan and I headed over to pick up Mahlon and Colleen for a trip to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum.

We love taking first time visitors there as ASDM is much more than a museum. With the live animal displays and the Free Flight Raptor Show it is an amazing place that always surprises. Joan and I renewed our annual membership so we can go there anytime we want and trust me we will get more than our money out of it.

We dropped off Mahlon and Colleen, wished them a safe journey home to Michigan and then headed back to Voyager. We bought some beautiful T-bone steaks last week and Joan had them thawing while we were gone.

I set up the grill quickly and cooked our steaks and we added some mashed potatoes and salad and devoured dinner in about 10 minutes.

Thursday night I attended the “Experiencing God” program at the resort and then returned home to find Joan falling asleep in her chair. Lots of walking and fresh air will do that to you.

A co-pay too far and "Those Were The Days"

Meet Me at Maynard's crowd

In my last missive I mentioned that we were going to get our allergy shots on Monday. Well, that turned into a much more complicated thing that we anticipated. We arrived at the resort health clinic right at noon, the time they open, and were first in line for our shots. Shots are given on a first come, first served basis so things were looking good.

Good, until the doctor asked us if we had an Epi-Pen. For those who don’t know an Epi-Pen is an emergency device that injects you with epinephrine in the event you got into a severe allergic reaction. Over the years that I have been taking shots I have owned several Epi-Pens and have never had to use one. The six or so that I have owned have all expired unused.

Joan's favorite block on the MMM walk

Being the folks we are we gave the honest answer and that opened a whole can of worms. Before we could get our shots we had to pick up Epi-Pens for both of us at a local pharmacy before the clinic would administer shots.

So the doctor placed a prescription order and we headed to the pharmacy, but lost our first and second place position in the clinic line. After we arrived at the pharmacy I nearly had a severe allergic reaction when the clerk told us that the co-pay for the Epi-Pens was $217 for each package. Before I hyperventilated and needed the Epi-Pen I simply told the clerk that he could restock the items as we would not be paying such an outrageous price.

No idea, except they have a drug problem here

Just a few years ago, before everyone’s child came down with peanut allergies, they cost well under $100 and the co-pays were even less. In Canada you can buy them in a two-pack over the counter without a prescription for $94 retail (that’s Canadian money so about $60 in today’s exchange). Looks like Canada does a lot better negotiating drug prices than American insurance companies.

A couple days later, with Joan starting to hack and cough, I went back and purchased one of them, so Joan can get her shots, but I refuse to pay that much money for something I know I will never use and which will expire in just about a year.

Another part of the MMM walk

So she’ll try again next Monday to get her shots armed with an Epi-Pen that costs about $500 retail and will likely never be used.

Before the great Epi-Pen adventure Joan attended her aquacize class and I had a good workout.

After the great Epi-Pen adventure we headed downtown to attend our first Meet Me at Maynard’s this season. We are now up to ten MMM and only have five more times before we get our free hat. We earned the t-shirts last year on our eighth visit.

Joan walked really well compared to last year and was able to do almost the entire 2-mile trek with only one rest stop. That is much better than last year. The weather was chilly, but we waited for the prize drawings, which we didn’t win and then headed to dinner downtown.

Last year there would have been dozens of homeless

One big change is the absence of the numerous homeless pods and folks downtown. Apparently after complaints from downtown businesses and visitors they have relocated the folks elsewhere. Where elsewhere is I haven't found yet although every street corner has at least one panhandler.

Also the Hotel Congress is famous because John Dillinger once stayed there while fleeing from charges in other states.

Kitchen Cocktails is a relatively new restaurant with televisions the size of an old drive-in theater. OK, not quite that big, but one of the largest televisions I have ever seen. We dined on appetizers and watched the first half of the Clemson vs. Alabama National Championship game. During the dinner Joan bit down on a hard piece of bacon and a piece of a back molar broke off. More on that later.

Morning in the Old Pueblo

After we left we liberated our car from a downtown garage and I realized I left my Atherton Police Department hat (I worked there in the 1970s) in the booth at the restaurant.

I dropped Joan off in front of the restaurant and made a spin around the block so she could retrieve my prized hat.

Back at the RV we watched the rest of the game and then went to bed.

On Tuesday, I was up early and headed for my first big hike. There were 27 folks on hand for the hike, but the planned hike location had to be changed because of the recent weather here. A stream that runs down from Seven Falls was running quickly and two-feet deep. Because we have to cross the stream five or six times it was not practical for us to do that hike Tuesday.

The hiking group getting ready to head out

Instead we headed to East Saguaro National Park and the Hope Camp Trail and a side trip up the Ridge Trail for some stunning views and a rest stop. It was an enjoyable hike and a great first hike for someone just getting acclimated to the higher altitude.

It was great to meet up with old friends and yet sad to learn that a couple of the regular hikers from past years are no longer hiking due to health concerns. It is sobering to realize that all of the things we do here on earth have an expiration date.

After I returned to the park, I showered and we headed to the resort pot luck and joined a few dozen other folks for a true pot luck dinner. This week turned out to be meatball week and Joan was one of those who contributed a crock pot full of meatballs. Folks who attend our annual Christmas party and very familiar with those meatballs and they are the favorite of our granddaughter Addisen.

Heading up the trail

I woke up early Wednesday and got in an hour long workout at the fitness center and then started making phone calls to find a dentist to fix Joan’s tooth. We located one who agreed to schedule Joan in on Thursday. More on that later.

Our friends from Riverside Tabernacle came to the park at 10:30 a.m. and we gave them a tour of Market Daze and then a quick tour of the park and lunch in the ballroom. We have plans to go hiking with them Saturday in Sabino Canyon.

William Florian, a one-time lead singer for the New Christy Minstrels, was the entertainment at the Wednesday night concert series this week. What a great and fun show. To be clear in the history of the New Christy Minstrels there have been a total of 300 members of that group. Florian did not join the group until 1977, but he put on a great and fun show tonight singing both songs from that group, the Mamas and Papas, John Denver, even a couple Neil Diamond songs.

Cactus in the foreground snow capped mountains in back

He was funny and a great story teller. He is spending the night in the resort in his 40-foot motor home, which he drives from concert to concert. If you get a chance to see “Those Were The Days” with William Florian, you would not be disappointed.

Usually on Thursday I head to the Men’s Bible Study, but not this Thursday. We found an ad for a local dentist in the resort newspaper, called and made an emergency appointment for Joan to get her molar fixed. Anyone who has had a broken tooth knows that your tongue instantly goes to that wounded tooth and rubs against the raw edge of the tooth.

Dr. Rodney Gold, an Iowa dental school graduate, put a temporary fix on the molar and we are in a waiting mode from the insurance company on what they will cover for a crown. We should have the answer in a few weeks and we’ll get the tooth fixed here before we head home.

Fighting the rock to stay alive

After the dental appointment we went shopping for an HDMI cord so we can show movies through my computer only to learn that the computer won’t play Blu-Ray DVDs either. Looks like Mad Men will have to wait until we get back home.

At 1 p.m. we went to the weekly lecture at the resort, this one was on the history of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. The presenter, a retired Air Force veteran, is the current civilian historian of the 355^th Air Wing at the base.

The presentation was very interesting and we learned that the base started in 1919 as the nation’s first municipal airport and was later transitioned into a military base with the dawn of World War II. Flight crews for B-24s and later B-29s all trained there during the war.

Break time on the trail

Because of the surrounding desert and its vast gun ranges, the base is ideally suited for training combat air support crews and is currently home to the A-10 Thunderbolts (Wart Hogs) that are used extensively in the battle against ISIS. There is also a helicopter squadron and a C-130 squadron here as well.

Folks in Tucson have been celebrating all week with the news that the demise of the A-10s have been postponed for at least two years by Congress. The financial impact of the base is more than $1 billion a year for Tucson.

The historian showed us lots of photos and had great stories, including one about John Dillinger being arrested in Tucson and flown out of Davis-Monthan for his extradition to Indiana on felony charges.

A very old Saguaro cactus

The base is named for two airmen who were killed in training crashes back in the early part of aviation history, I believe somewhere around 1915.

We sat outside soaking in the sunshine until the sun dipped low enough that the cool temperatures returned.

Thursday night I attended the group Bible Study and on Friday Joan went to the Women’s Bible study and wrote postcards and took it easy Friday afternoon. (Actually we take it easy just about every day). Joan did some laundry (I earn my keep as the mule who hauls the dirty laundry to the laundromat) and we are planning to attend the resort dance tonight. You’ll have to read about that in my next release.

 

 

Into every life a little rain must fall, but really.....

The Smiths have landed

When it comes to things I’m good at, and trying to be honest, there are quite a few things that I am good or even maybe very good at. But remaining honest there are a number of things that I am simply not very good, or even dismal at.

I’m not going to list the things I feel I am good at, but the one thing I am really not good at is being a handyman when it comes to plumbing and electricity. Plumbing jobs, or basically anything to do with the movement of water, forget it. Same with electricity, I am good only at making a phone call to a friend or professional who knows what they are doing.

I have a great admiration for people, like my brother-in-law Denny, who is not just good, but great at diagnosing and fixing household and vehicle problems. It’s a gift. One I do not possess.

This was a brief break from El Nino

In the past I have called the RV repairman for things that I am sure he has left our mobile residence shaking his head at how completely inept I am. In previous years, we called him to find out what was wrong with our hot water heater and he showed up and found that the outdoor shower was left open and by turning off the hot valve we suddenly had hot water.

There were other things that I should have been able to figure out for myself, but didn’t. Dick, the RV repairman in the park, has been merciful and not charged me for those quick fixes as we have also spent some money with him on hail damage repairs and a new toilet a couple years ago.

This year, on our first morning here, we suddenly found ourselves without power in the trailer. We had lights because they work off the battery (until it runs dead) but it was clear that nothing else worked. I called park maintenance over to check the electrical connection from the resort and it was working fine, so the problem was with us.

The snow-capped Catalinas

In the past I have spent time laying on the floor looking at the fuse box and trying to determine if a blown fuse was the issue and it never was. It didn’t even occur to me to try the fuse box for a complete electrical failure. So eventually we called Dick. He drove over made some cursory checks, opened the fuse box, flipped the main breaker and, voila!, power was restored. I felt pretty stupid, but Dick again took pity on me and spared me a service call charge for that.

Since our arrival in Tucson the weather has been marginal at best and pretty bad at worst. The temperatures are cold (50s in the day and 30s at night) and plenty of rain. In fact, when I went to Bible study on Thursday I fully expected a lesson on Noah and the Flood.

We’ve stayed inside much of the first few days, getting things organized and avoiding rain drops. So imagine my frustration on Friday night when we decided to watch a DVD instead of regular television and found that our entertainment unit was not working. Dead. Dead as a doornail. So no DVD and a night of considering whether to bother Dick again.

Catalinas with snow from the resort

Instead, on Saturday morning I took out my drill driver, removed the unit from the cabinet and started playing with the connections and fuses behind the unit. Suddenly I pulled and replaced a fuse and the unit barked back to life.  You will excuse me for going into my happy dance with the actual satisfaction of fixing something that was electrical. Joan walked in coming back from the shower just as I fixed the unit and saw the extreme happiness I was enjoying.

So Dick got to sleep in this morning.

We spent much of Wednesday putting things away, going shopping and then attended our first concert – The Class of 66 – which included many of the top hits of that year. The Lonely Street Productions are very good and when I went to get tickets on Wednesday morning there were only five tickets left and only two that were together. They turned out to be front row tickets and why they were still available became clear when we arrived at the show. We were directly in front of a large speaker at the stage and I immediately removed my hearing aids as it was apparent that I would have no issues in hearing the music. It was a wonderful concert.

We went back Thursday and purchased tickets to all the concerts we want to attend as they are selling out very quickly and since we purchased our tickets many have sold out.

On Thursday morning I attended my first Men’s Bible study class which is a continuation of the Book of James, which we began in the park in March last year. It was great to reconnect with so many friends and to catch up with what is going on in their lives.

Puffy clouds on a cool Tucson day

After Bible study I headed to a local hardware store to have trailer keys made for Joan, who, if I haven’t mentioned it before left HERS in Michigan while only I remembered mine. I am totally gloating on this. After I returned to the trailer we went for a nice walk in the park together. Still plenty of spaces here, but they will begin to rapidly fill in the next week or so.

Thursday night I attended another mixed group Bible study headed by the pastor and his wife here at the park and we will be doing a program called “Experiencing God” which some of our church members at home have already done.

On Friday, I went to the fitness center got in my first workout since leaving Michigan and then hit the showers. Joan spotted an announcement for a “Home Show” at the Tucson Convention Center and Friday was senior day which included free parking and 2-for-1 tickets for seniors. Being good seniors we would never pass up a special deal like that.

We probably should have. The show was more a place for people to sell time shares, unusual cooking gadgets and very little home improvement items. There was a section that included some new travel trailers and fifth wheels so we did enjoy touring those.



The water's warm but the air is cool for aquacise today

Joan also attended the Women’s Bible Study on Friday and ironically met a woman who was attending Keuka College in the Finger Lakes part of New York the same time that she was. Joan spotted her Keuka class ring (she graduated a year before Joan) and struck up a conversation with her and now we have more new friends here at the park. The Women’s Bible Study is titled “Growing Older and Wiser.” She is looking forward to doing both. That is looking forward to growing older and wiser. She also wants to see if this would be a good study for our Wednesday night Bible study at Taecken’s Terrace back home. We miss our folks there.

On the way home from the “Home Show” we went to Poco & Mom’s for dinner. Poco & Mom’s is a Mexican restaurant that has very good food for very reasonable prices. We arrived home in time to find out that the entertainment unit wasn’t working, but of course I fixed it on Saturday.

People here at the resort are in full open throat complaining about the weather, but Saturday the sun was out, temperatures were in the high 50s, so no complaints from us. El Nino was in full effect for the past week, but is supposed to let up for some good weather this week.

Sunday morning started with a quick workout at the gym and then both of us head to the people wash and got ready for church. Church was wonderful and the highlight for me was that Roger, a member of our Thursday Men’s Bible Study, led the choir in the singing of his own musical composition “Come Meet My Friend, Jesus.”



The obligatory bonnet picture

Roger is a retired physicist from New York and the music was very moving. What a great thing that someone, at any age, can pursue something so totally apart from what they did as a “young” person and make an impact. It gives me hope.

After church we returned to our home on wheels and enjoyed a quick lunch, a quick watch of playoff NFL football and then we headed to two stores for shopping. As is our routine here, on my way back from my Sunday workout (it is so great to be able to walk to my work out here) I stop at the store and buy a newspaper.

Joan found sale items that we wanted and or needed at Fry’s (the Tucson version of Kroger’s) and Walmart. Fry’s had an unbelievable sale on T-bone steaks and soda pop and Walmart had the usual collection of stuff we needed at reasonable prices.

Once back at the trailer we settled in for an afternoon of football watching and then we planned to watch our new “Mad Men” DVDs after the games were over. We polished off our spaghetti (so you know this was a great day for me) and then I prepared the now fixed entertainment center for the DVDs.


Our winter home

Well, we encountered a problem that neither of us was capable of fixing. We have a regular DVD player and the Mad Men DVDs are Blu-Ray and there’s no way to play them. So I spent the evening productively by studying for next week’s Bible class.

We also heard from Mahlon, a member of Riverside Tabernacle Church in Flint, who is down here with his wife for two weeks. I gave them a quick rundown on our favorite things here and we are making plans to accompany them on a few adventures and Mahlon and I are going to tackle a couple of my favorite hikes. It is always fun to have friends from back home come and visit. In fact, that’s pretty much the only time we do any touristy things now as we have done many of the local attractions. It is fun to show them to visitors, however.

We are expecting more visitors this year and you all know who you are.

Monday morning I did a really good workout, Joan went to her aquacize class and we are going to the resort doctor this afternoon to get our allergy shots and then tonight is our return to “Meet Me at Maynard’s” in downtown Tucson. We will likely catch a little football as well.

 

 

A little bit of everything (mostly good) and a safe arrival

No sweat for a guy from Michigan

Bottom line: We are in Tucson in our space, safe and sound. If that sounds easy, think again. We had a little bit of everything and not always in a good way, but our prayers were answered and we dodged a major snow storm in Flagstaff and found the trailer in pretty good shape considering 9 months of no one living in it except a couple mice.

I found one of the offending mice dead next to a trailer tire, no doubt a victim of some of the poison we left behind in the trailer. Sorry to do that, but my rule has always been you stay in your habitat, I leave you alone. You come into my habitat, we have a problem.

When I said we had a little of everything, I especially meant weather. We left Albuquerque early as we heard of an approaching major Tuesday snow storm heading toward Flagstaff on Tuesday morning. The storm was supposed to hit about 10 a.m., but was just tardy enough to allow us to escape down the 7,300-foot hill just as the storm arrived.

There's a lot of snow on those Flagstaff mountains

It was snowing pretty hard in New Mexico as we left and we encountered temperatures of 23 degrees and then more snow, and then sleet and then rain as we made our way to Flagstaff. The prospect of driving the Tahoe, a 33-foot trailer down a steep mountain grade in a snowstorm did not excite me so with Joan praying like crazy we were very happy to arrive to the news that the major part of the storm wouldn’t hit until about 1 p.m.

It was also a little weird that in the middle of the snowflakes, we drove through some controlled burns along the freeway that mixed a lot of smoke with the snow.

While we were slip sliding through New Mexico and Arizona it amused me that the Arizona highway department has frequent signs that say “Keep off of Median.”  I think most people would do whatever they could to “keep off a median” and if they are there it is not likely by choice.

All hooked up and ready to fly

We were very grateful that once at the trailer, things worked like clockwork in getting the Tahoe unpacked, the load in the trailer balanced and then hooked safely to the truck. I’ve learned to be deliberate about the steps in hooking up the trailer, as a missed step could spell disaster on the road.

Each year we bring home the trailer battery and I keep it on a trickle charger all spring, summer and fall and there is always a worry that this will be the year the battery will die. Well, not this year anyway.

I had also planned to call and have a mobile tire replacement company come and put new rubber on the trailer, but with the storm coming I went ahead and made the trip on the old tires, which have plenty of tread, but a couple sidewalls are starting to look a little worn. It was a small gamble and it paid off.

Leaving Albuquerque early

With Flagstaff expecting 8 to 12 inches of snow Tuesday, and more on the way for Wednesday and Thursday we could have found ourselves trapped on the mountain when all we wanted to do was be in the valley.

Of course a 6 percent downgrade saves a lot of gas, but one must be careful not to use the brakes too much as stopping a 7,500-pound trailer and Tahoe could heat things up a bit. By carefully using the gas pedal I was able to make it down the hill without touching my brakes even once.

There is one spot on the trip down the mountain where the road heads back up another mountain before the final descent into Phoenix on I-17. I affectionately refer to the climb up that mountain as 2-gallon hill. Because the six-mile grade sucks up about that much gas.

We have been happy to note that gasoline in every state we have traveled through has been under $2 and in some case well below that. In Oklahoma City we purchased it for $1.63, but saw one place that had it for $1.49. So while 2-gallon hill is a challenge, it isn’t breaking the bank this year anyway.

At 3,000 feet the snow is pretty much gone

Of course a day like this could try one’s patience and as many of you know I am a patient, very patient man. Joan will be rolling her eyes at that line and has to constantly remind me to keep cool. I simply remind her that patience is my long suit and that “I am the most patient man she is currently married to.”  She can’t disagree with that one.

I have to admit to being frustrated by inconsiderate drivers who simply don’t realize that when they merge on a freeway directly in front of my 50-foot personal convoy, it is nearly impossible for me to stop on a dime when they pull in front and don’t speed up.

As we came down the long mountain we watched as the on board thermometer rose in relation to how far down we had come. At one point in the morning, as I mentioned previously, the low temperature was 23. By the time we got to Phoenix the car registered 66-degrees. By the time we arrived at the Voyager RV Resort the temps were steady at 60.

Now that's more like it

One of our favorite security people, “Lee,” met us at registration and directed us to our usual spot (9-197) and ably assisted me in backing the trailer into the spot. Joan loves Lee because she no longer has to be my guide which was always frustrating for her.

It was fun arriving back in Tucson and seeing all the tents going up for next month’s gem show, which is really a series of shows all over town. We are looking forward to Elin being her during that time.

It took about an hour to hook up the water, the electricity and cable and begin the process of packing away clothes, supplies and start to have fun in the sun. Oh, did I mention that El Nino has arrived here and the next three days are supposed to be wet, I mean Noah wet.

But there is plenty to do indoors and tomorrow night we will go to our first concert, “The Class of 66.” Our first dance is Friday night.

Home Sweet Tucson Home

Chances are I will not be posting every day as many of our days are pretty routine, but I will post at least every fourth or fifth day, so no need to check daily.

Mileage out: 35522

Mileage in to Flagstaff: 35841

Mileage in to Voyager Resort: 36122

Time out: 5:41 a.m.

Time in to Flagstaff: 10:31 a.m.

Time out of Flagstaff storage: 11:06 a.m.

Time in to Tucson: 3:47 p.m.

Total trip mileage: 2,255

Bananas at Love's, Sixties music on the radio and snow in the mountains

More snow here than Michigan

Another long day on the road and apparently I didn’t smell quite as good as I did previously because there was no mention made of this morning.  Joan is now crediting the brand of shampoo provided by “Budget Lodging” for the good smell of yesterday. No such luck with the Governor’s Suites shampoo.

The day started out cold (window scraping required) and ended with clouds and a threat of rain in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Just outside Oklahoma City we were warned by a road sign that we had 61 miles of road construction ahead of us. After driving the 61 miles they were only about 60.5 miles off.

“Invisible construction” continued through parts of Texas and New Mexico, but I am not complaining about a lack of construction zones, no sirree.

Large cross near Amarillo

We spent the morning listening to our favorite XM disc jockey – Plash Phelps and then listened through the afternoon to the disc jockey who came after, Pat St. John. Both are very entertaining and make the miles roll by.

We love having fruit in the morning and Love’s Truck Stops seem to have the best bananas, so we partook of a couple. For the first time in several trips we were not plagued with the high winds blowing across the plains of Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle. There was wind, there always is, but not like we’ve had in the past.

My father, who did his basic training in the Army Air Corps in World War II, in Texas once told me that Texas is the only place where you can be up to your waist in mud and get sand blown in your face. I think he also told me the only thing in the panhandle that slows the wind is the barbed wire fences.

Only our Buffalo friends will get this reference: This was a
"Huuuuuuuuge" car.

There was plenty of evidence of last week’s blizzard in the Panhandle, but the road was clean and green and we had no traffic issues today at all.

Also in the Panhandle Joan was fascinated by giant flocks of small birds flying in formations and in such numbers that they looked like low moving black clouds. We’ve got to do a little research to find out just what the birds were, but they were pretty much throughout the Panhandle.

A forest of giant windmills grew up in the Panhandle as well, most since our last trip through. We can’t imagine how so many of them were constructed so quickly, but there they were. I can’t imagine a better place in the country to use the wind though. One of the sad effects of the windmills is they now dwarf the giant cross at a church just east of Amarillo.

Of course, we had the usual plethora of stops for Joan who admitted she has a bladder the size of a shot glass. (I think it is more the size of a syringe).

Hello New Mexico!

There’s a tourist trap in New Mexico along I-40 called “Cline’s Corners.” The advertisements for it stretch for many, many miles and all seem to be directed at luring young children into pestering their parents to make a stop there. “Snake Stuff” was my favorite sign, but there were many other signs advertising Indian curious and other souvenir type stuff.

I remember as a boy traveling with my parents seeing these same kinds of places on our many travels. One lasting memory is the famous “Mystery Spot” which is advertised as the only place in the world that water flows uphill. Actually the only thing at those places the flows in any direction is the money from the tourists into the pockets of the owners.

Up near "Cline's Corners" in New Mexico

In my travels I have now come across several “Mystery Spots” that advertise they are the only place in the world were water flows uphill. The only mystery to me is how they stay in business.

As we moved across New Mexico the sun hid behind a growing number of clouds and as we climbed up the temperatures fell to 33. (We started the day at 29 in Oklahoma City) and ended it at 44 at our stop at the Route 66 Casino and Hotel outside Albuquerque.

As I write this Joan is enjoying a few minutes in the casino and I’ll join her for dinner later. We will turn in early and rise early for the final leg of our trip. We pick up the trailer and then head south to Tucson.

Not sure I will have time to post after our arrival, but I’ll catch up on Wednesday.

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Mileage out: 34962

Mileage in: 35522

Time out: 8:06 a.m. (CST)

Time in: 3:20 p.m. (MST)

Casino stop, turkey sh**, and I found out I stink at home

You just never know how a day will start out. Today was a good start, but then came an interesting conversation with Joan as we departed “Budget Lodging” in St. Clair, Missouri and headed west on I-44.

“I need to tell you something,” Joan said. My immediate unspoken reaction was “uh-oh this could be bad.” Now what I am going to relate to you is my best recollection of the ensuing conversation and my admission that I may have somewhat over reacted to what Joan said, but I’ll let you be the judge of that.

Me on the road, according to Joan

“You know when we’re on the road, when you get up before me and shower I notice how good you smell when you get out of the shower,” Joan said. (So far, so good). “I always notice that when we’re traveling.” (She should have stopped there).

“When we are home we live in that big house and you get up and go to the gym and when you come home it’s just not the same,” she said.

“So what you’re saying is that I smell good on the road and stink at home,” I said.

“No, that’s not what I’m saying, I just notice how good you smell in a small hotel room,” Joan said.

“But, I don’t smell like that at home,” I said.

“That’s not what I’m saying, I just don’t smell you like that at home,” she said.

Me at home, according to Joan

“OK, I get it, at home I stink and on the road I smell good,” I said. The conversation continued like that for a dozen or so miles until she realized I was collecting as much info for this essay as I could.

“You’re not going to write about that, are you?,” she said.

“Of course not,” I told her.

Anyway, I reminded her all day about how much I stink at home and how good I smell on the road.

I also learned a new valuable tool for getting her on the road in the morning. Last night before we headed for bed, I told her that if we got on the road early we might have time for a brief stop at the Buffalo Run Casino just inside the Oklahoma/Missouri border later in the morning.

Well, let me tell you, she was up and at it and performed her morning makeup ritual in record time.

Lesson learned.

Joan is behind Door No. 2

We did make a quick stop (about an hour) at the Buffalo Run Casino and left down just a very few dollars. It was a nice break from the road and because we don’t eat lunch actually cost less than a fast food lunch.

I spent my usual time waiting for Joan outside restrooms.

The morning at departure time was crisp and 31-degrees, although it briefly dropped to 29-degrees, coincidentally enough during our “smells good on the road and stinks at home” conversation.

Somewhere about mile marker 151 in Missouri I approached a large truck carrying a large number of live, caged turkeys. There had to be hundreds of medium sized turkeys on this truck. Feathers were flying like rain and suddenly so was some obnoxious white liquid turkey poop which painted the front of my Tahoe and windshield. The windshield was cleaned fairly well with the wipers but the front of my car is speckled with turkey crap.

I could swear I saw a couple turkeys smiling as I passed them to the left. I simply smiled back with the knowledge that Thanksgiving is only 10 ½ -months away.

The Missouri highway department has some clever lighted warning signs, my favorite today was a reminder to potential drunk drivers: “Drive Hammered. Get Nailed.”

We finished the Shaara book “A Chain of Thunder” and after leaving Buffalo Run we listed to the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets game which came out in favor of the Bills which made Joan very happy.

Joan also spotted several fields full of cows and pronounced “they look happy.”

“Probably because they don’t stink like me at home,” I said. As you can see I had a lot of fun with that conversation all day, and likely will continue on with that theme for awhile.

Our usual OKC stop

We made good time (speed limits on the Oklahoma Turnpike are 75 mph) and checked into our old standby “Governor’s Suites and headed to dinner at Joan’s favorite “Texas Roadhouse.” We didn’t have to wait (although it soon became packed) and ate dinner surrounded by a couple dozen utility workers who are here on business, perhaps cleaning up lines from the recent storms here.

Tomorrow’s destination: Albuquerque.

Mileage out: 34496

Mileage in: 34956

Time out: 7:55 a.m. (CST)

Time in: 4:15 (CST)

On the road again....

Blue skies and light traffic greeted us in Illinois

Welcome to Day One of our journey back to Tucson. With all the Christmas and New Year’s activities getting organized and on-the-road this year was a big challenge. Each year I have refined my efforts and have created a check list sheet to make sure I don’t forget anything vital for our trip.

A Missouri house in the middle of a flooded plain 

The process has worked well for me, but I didn’t take into account that the trip involves two of us and so about two hours into the trip, Joan looked at me and in a pleading tone asked me sheepishly if I brought the keys to the trailer. (Hint: I did). But she forgot her set of keys which leaves us with no back up in the event I lose mine. Additionally, she forgot our trailer box that contains all our historical records on stops and our “Last Exit” book that we find so helpful while traveling.  So check one for me on being organized.

My checklist requires that I first make a check mark that I have the item and it is ready to load into the Tahoe and then a second check indicates that it has actually been loaded. All of MY items have two check marks, you’ll have to ask Joan about her system.

Traveling on Saturday morning meant that I set the cruise control for 72 mph when we got onto I-69 and Lake Nepessing Road in Lapeer and didn’t have to touch the brakes or cruise control until we stopped at a truck stop in Indiana more than two hours later. Dry roads and light traffic make for an easy travel day.

Joan messing up my travel time

As usual we left under cloudy skies and didn’t see any glimpse of the sun until we were a short distance into Indiana. It got clearer as we traveled on.

The temperature was 31 when we left Lapeer and was 50 when we arrived at our destination in St. Clair, Missouri tonight.

Each year in Indiana Joan has a moment when we pass the Vera Bradley plant and reminds me how much Elin is not a fan of the Vera Bradley line of handbags.

Leading up to getaway day we have been following with more than passing interest the flooding in and around St. Louis from a major storm last week. The area received 7-inches of rain in less than three days and rivers overflowed and I-44 was closed for nearly 30 miles just outside of St. Louis. The major traffic artery was closed on Monday and remained closed through New Year’s Day, but opened mid-morning on New Year’s Day which really uncomplicated our travel plans. Had it remained closed we would have taken I-70 which would have greatly extended our travel time.

Mississippi River is high

Joan snapped some photos of a swollen Mississippi River as we entered St. Louis and grabbed a quick picture of cleanup crews preparing to open Highway 141 just east of St. Louis as we passed through. About an hour after we passed the road was reopened after being closed for more than four days.

We could see plenty of evidence of the flooding, but it did not slow us down. Joan also noticed many deer herds through Indiana and Illinois lurking close to the freeway. But this was one of the best first travel days we have had since make our winter pilgrimage to better weather since 2009.

We continued listening to a book on CD that we almost finished on our trip home last year and will likely finish tomorrow. It’s Jeff Shaara’s historical novel called Chain of Thunder about the siege of Vicksburg. It gives me a chance to wow Joan with my extensive knowledge of the Civil War, which in turn keeps me bright and alert while driving. A win-win for both of us.

A picture of Joan taking a picture of a flooded off ramp

Outside Indianapolis we passed the Lucas Oil Stadium the scene of the Spartans recent Big Ten Championship victory. The fact they got smeared in the National Championship semi-final game means that I won’t have to scrounge up a ticket for the National Championship game next week in Phoenix. How’s that for finding the silver lining?

I snapped a couple photos of Joan messing up my travel time with unplanned rest stops. 

Last year we found “Budget Lodging,” a motel in St. Clair, Missouri that is pretty much as advertised, except it is run by really nice people and the rooms are neat and clean and what more could we ask for. We had dinner at Gibby’s, a nice little sports bar near the hotel where we ate on our way home last April.

Highway 141 getting ready to reopen

During a short stretch this morning, while Joan slept I reflected as to how blessed we both are having the means and freedom to travel each year. In addition, we are blessed with wonderful family and friends. I will write more on this later. Tomorrow: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

The folks at the Budget Lodging are very spiritual people and we were greeted in our room with a Gideon Bible opened to a very appropriate passage. 

Time out: 7:10 a.m. (EST)

Now I am going to lay down in peace

Mileage out: 33867

Time in: 3:55 p.m. (CST)

Mileage in: 34495