Tuesday, March 29, 2022
Winter getaway wraps up with many friends
Life and time in the desert spins out of control like one of those clocks in an old fashioned movie. It seems like we just got here and now we are in the final throes of cleaning out the refrigerator, cleaning out closets in the trailer and packing for the trip home.
As I write this (March 29) we spent the day checking our closets for stuff that has to go and for the stuff that will stay put in the trailer after we store it Saturday morning in Flagstaff. This year, more than others, we put some extra time and money into trailer maintenance and just today we ran into a new issue.
Two mornings in a row we woke up to a pool of water on the kitchen floor. The first morning we passed it off as a water bottle that may have leaked, but when it happened again we realized we had a more serious problem. So down on the floor I went and discovered that our 15-year-old water heater has sprung a fatal leak.
There is no time or ability to replace it in two days, so we bypassed the water heater, shut it off, drained it and will deal with it when we return next year. For the time being we are boiling water to wash dishes, so just like real camping. It’s just for two more days so we’ll struggle through.
We had all the trailer decals replaced and the outside of the rig detailed and it looks practically new even though it had started to show some of its 15 years outside.
When I last wrote (I know it has been more than a month) we had just attended a Tucson Roadrunners hockey game and were getting ready for the Michigan Party on Monday, Feb. 21. We had a lower than normal turnout but still 38 of our fellow Michiganders showed up to celebrate all that is the Mitten State.
On Wednesday, February 23 Mr. Boogie Woogie performed in Bourbon Street Bash and it was a raucous but wonderful show that left our toes tapping and our hands clapping. The shows here this year have been simply wonderful. More on those later.
As I love to do I have continued to hike at least 2 times a week and sometimes a third. I’ve done Ventana Canyon, Wasson Peak, Chiricahua Mountains, Phoneline (which turned into a 9-mie slog in 85-degree heat), Gabe Zimmerman, Cactus Forest Trail in East Saguaro National Park and a couple others. I also had a memorable day hiking with my friend Bob from Lapeer.
On Thursday, February 24, Bob and I headed out so we could hike to Ft. Bowie in southeast Arizona. It’s not a difficult hike, but it gets a lot harder when you have to do a third of it over because you dropped your cellphone on the trail. Yes, that’s right, I lost my cellphone on one of the more difficult parts of the return trail.
I noticed it was gone when I reached for it in my pocket to take a photo of the fort from the top of the hill overlooking it. When we couldn’t find it, Bob headed one direction and I headed back in the direction I came from to see if I could find it. I was on my way down a fairly steep hill (which I had just climbed up) and looked ahead about ¼-mile and saw a couple holding something in their hand.
When I was close enough to yell at them they immediately held up my phone and said they were in the process of trying to unlock it so they check my phone logs and try to call someone who would know who it belonged to. Thankfully, they were honest and caring and my panic over losing my phone and all that it contains subsided. I still had added about a mile to the hike.
Ft. Bowie is famous because it is the location where the Apache Wars started back in the 1800s. There remains a small post cemetery than includes the remains of a number of Native Americans, including a son of Geronimo a few farmers, but all the soldiers who were buried there were moved a long time ago to a national cemeteries elsewhere.
I’ve read two books on the Apache Wars and it was moving to see the actual locations where many of the events in the books occurred.
OK, back to other activities, Joan and I attended most, but not all the Thursday lectures. Joan attended the one by a local DEA agent on opioid abuse and I attended one on electric vehicles. Because of Covid restrictions only four lectures were held this year.
Both Joan and I continued to attend the separate mens’ and womens’ Bible studies and last Thursday I completed the 12-week study that I led on Thursday nights that centered on the lives of the 12 Disciples.
I had a great group of 24 people who attended by Thursday studies and I learned more from them than I’m sure they learned from me.
We’ve attended dances almost every weekend, including a new group called RAW, which is the remnants of one of our favorite groups, Retro Rockets. Since I last wrote we attended another Reminiscence Dance, which is a group made up of musicians who live at our resort.
DJ Delores, another resort resident hosts a monthly dance with recorded music.
At most of the dances we joined with our friends Mike and Sue and Joe and Sharon, although Joe and Sharon left the park early to begin more of their retirement travels. We did get a chance to introduce Joe and Sharon to Monday Night at Maynard’s and we are hoping they will return here in a future year.
The other concerts we attended were Walkin’ the Line, a Johnny Cash tribute; One of These Nights, an excellent Eagles tribute band, Surfin’, a Beach Boys tribute and finally Woodstock, a show that we previously saw on February 7 with our friends Bob and Karen. They left the park at the end of February.
On March 15, we skipped our usual Tuesday night potluck dinner and went to the Gaslight Theater again this time to see “Arizona Smith” which was a spoof of Indiana Jones. Lots of great music and laughs with good friends. We’re going to do more of the Gaslight offerings in the future.
We have been blessed this year with the company of great friends from Michigan. Roger and Jessica who have stopped and stayed the last few years, made a point of staying in the resort in their RV for about 10 days. It’s all the time they had this year as they made a detour to Hawaii which ate into the time they usually spend with us. Can’t blame them for choosing Hawaii though.
Roger was my first editor at the Flint Journal and he has been a great friend. While Roger and Jessica were here another former colleague, Jane, and her husband, Chuck, joined the four of us for dinner at “Sauce” one of our favorite places to eat. Roger also knows Jane, who was a photographer at the Journal.
Jane and Chuck also joined us for the Wednesday night “Woodstock” concert at the resort on March 23 and dinner before hand at Fat Willy’s here at the resort.
It is fun to share our time here with people we know from back home.
Another visitor was George Overman. George and I both served on the USS Cogswell DD-651, but not at the same time. We have become friends through the ship association that we both serve on. He was in town for the Family Motor Coach Association rally at the Pima Fairgrounds. He also visited us at the resort for dinner. It was great to have George here as well.
Joan has continued to attend and enjoy her polymer clay classes on Friday afternoon. She recruited her friend Suzy, who is now a frequent attendee as well. She continues to enjoy her Zumba classes two times a week and her aquacise classes which are also two times a week.
And when Joan isn’t doing all that she is volunteering as a receptionist at the medical clinic here at the resort. The nurse practitioner who runs the clinic takes her volunteers out to lunch each month and Joan enjoys those get togethers as well.
Joan was also honored at the March birthdays party at our friends’ Darcel and Barry’s house in the Cove. Everyone sang the birthday song, but mostly we got cake and ice cream.
As for me I am in my 8th year of volunteering on the table and chairs team, which is more intense that it may sound. We set up 625 chairs every Wednesday night for the concerts, 300 chairs every Sunday for chapel, dozens of tables every Saturday for coffee and donuts in the ballroom, not to mention tables and chairs for the dances and other gatherings.
Our table and chair leader is Carl, a retired airline pilot, who is a joy to work with.
There was another Market Daze and finally this past weekend, Joan, me, Roger and Jessica did our annual wine tasting tour through the Sonoita region just south of here. I’m the designated driver but we had a ball sitting out on the patios and looking at the gorgeous scenery. We ended the evening with a very nice dinner at the Copper Brothel (really!) Restaurant in Sonoita.
There has been one other adventure this past month or so. Joan’s dentist in Michigan warned here in December that she had a crown and tooth that probably would need attention. Joan opted to wait until we returned in April, but the tooth had other ideas. So we began an odyssey to find a dentist who could diagnose and fix her toothache.
Eventually we found a good dentist in Tucson who, along with the help of a local Endodontist performed a root canal. The original dentist is installing the new crown on Joan’s birthday, March 31 the day before it’s wheels up for us as we depart our winter paradise.
This is the second time we’ve had to have emergency dental work done for Joan here. Finally we have found a doctor/allergist here in Tucson that was willing to give Joan her allergy shots so that has been a good thing this year.
One of the big dramas, well one of a couple dramas here this year, involved a stray dog that residents nicknamed “Buddy.” The pit bull mix has been wandering free here since our arrival and survives off the scraps left for him by the residents. A failed attempt to tranquilizer and capture him had folks up in arms, although truly the best thing for this animal would be for him to be caught and given a good new home.
The second drama involved a Javelina, a wild pig like (but not actually related to a pig) creature that broke through the floor of a park model and ended up sleeping on the bed after trashing the inside of the trailer. Local sheriff’s deputies chased it out of the park model with a curtain rod and an open front door.
Sunday, February 20, 2022
Another active month in our desert paradise
After Dad left it
was a bit of a letdown for us as we had kept pretty busy with fun activities
(if you call falling out of an airplane fun) while he was here. So after a
couple chill days we started back on our normal activities.
Joan has resumed
her volunteer receptionist duties at the Voyager clinic and I have been busy
with table and chair duties as activities have picked up as the Covid numbers
have gone down.
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| Me and my shadow |
The following week was The Spouse Whisperer,
who we’ve seen here before, but he showed up with a lot of new and very funny
material. That show contained an unplanned heckler but the entertainer dealt
with it with great humor. At one point the woman heckler shouted out that “I
live alone!” The comedian shot back,
“Ma’am I think we can all be thankful for that.”
Shortly after that
she stumbled her way out of the concert (I think she was just a little tipsy)
and tripped and fell over a chair in the dark room creating yet another
interruption before she finally made her way out the door.
On February 9 we
say the show “O Canada” which celebrated the many musical artists that have
come from north of the border. Bryan Adams, Celine Dion, Anne Murray, a band
called Tragically Hip (never heard of them before) and several others.
Mercifully, they did not include any musical offerings from Justin Bieber.
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| Steel drum fun |
We’ve been
attending the Thursday lecture series, one on the Sonoran Desert Museum and
Joan went to the Thursday lecture today on the new Art Express Theater here in
Tucson. (I stayed home to write this blog post).
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| Hike thru Rattlesnake tunnel |
Bob and I also made
a trip to Huachuca City and did a nice hike at the San Pedro House. We also did a short hike to the remains of the house that once was the residence of the Clanton family of the famous "Shootout at the OK Corral" fame.
In early February
we went with Bob and Karen to a show at the Gaslight Theater in Tucson to see
the Tributaries perform “Woodstock.” The
show also included Mindy Ronstadt singing and was really, really good.
I’ve done a couple
great hikes, Tanque Verde Ridge, Bridal Wreath Falls, Seven Falls, Brown
Mountain and Cactus Forest Trail in Saguaro East National Park. We also
attended another of the monthly Market Daze art sales here at the Voyager on
February 9. I dropped Joan off at the
Tucson Gem Show on Saturday, Feb. 5 and picked her up a few hours later.
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| Tucson Roadrunners hockey |
We’ve also done a
couple of Saturday dances here at the resort, the RAW Band and then the local
dance band made up of musicians who live here.
We always have a good time at those.
On Friday, February
4, we attended the Voyager talent show, which showcased some of the incredible
talent that resides here at the Voyager.
Another night we
went with friends to the nearby town of Sahuarita and saw a great free concert with
a local steel drum band. The outdoor setting was beautiful and we had a great
time with our friends.
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| Remains of Clanton ranch |
Our weekly Meet Me
at Maynard’s event continue with the addition of our friend Deborah Peterson
who just arrived her from Minnesota. Deb and her husband, David, used to go
with us down there in previous years. Sadly, Dave died last year so we were
really glad to see Deborah make it down this year. This past Monday Joan and I
won tickets to see the Tucson Symphony Orchestra perform Duke Ellington’s
“Harlem” this coming Sunday.
As well as the
volunteer and fun activities we are currently waiting for some major
maintenance work to be done on the trailer. More on that in a future blog post.
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| Brown Mountain trail |
On Saturday, February 19 we headed to downtown Tucson with friends to see a Tucson Roadrunners AHL hockey game. The Roadrunners are the farm team for the Phoenix Coyotes so of course I wore my Detroit Red Wings Darren McCarty sweater.
It was a great game and the Roadrunners won it 4-3 on a shot with 15 seconds left in the game. A great night and fun to see hockey in the desert.
The music, singers
and musicians were all terrific and we are truly blessed to have such talent available
to us here.
So as you can see
(and I’m probably forgetting a thing or two) we have been busy out here in
Arizona. We’ll be back soon with further adventures.
Thursday, January 27, 2022
Sky diving at 96, a special tour and too much fun
What a month it has been with Dad here. We had more fun that a human has a right to have, but before I bury the lead to this story let me just say that my 96-year-old father accomplished a 70-year dream to jump out of a perfectly good airplane.
On Saturday, January 15, after several back and forth messages with Sky Dive Marana and communications with Dad’s cardiologist it was a go for the jump. My father was not nervous at all, but me and the owner of the Sky Dive business were a little nervous.
This dive had been in the works for many years. For a long time I thought he was kidding or being silly about wanting to do this dive. In recent months it became clear he was not kidding and really wanted to do this. Here’s the Reader’s Digest version of why:
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| Waiting to jump |
During World War II Dad trained for an emergency parachute jump as part of his training to be a B-17 crewmember. Although he did the ground training he never got the opportunity to actually do a test jump. Thus the 70-year delayed jump.
One of the things the owner told me when I first contacted him about this unique tandem sky dive was whether Dad was able to lift his legs high enough so that the skydiver accompanying him could get his legs under Dad and slide into a safe landing. Dad spent a week exercising and making sure that when the time came he would be able to pull up his knees and avoid a bone-breaking, gravity induced tumble on earth.
Two of our resort friends, Bob and Jean, asked if they could accompany us and watch and Dad said that would be fine. We arrived about ½ hour early for the 11 a.m. scheduled flight but when we arrived the owner said he wanted to move Dad’s jump back an hour so a skilled (and by that I mean tall, lean and mean) skydiver named Steve could be the one to bring Dad back to earth.
Once I saw Steve almost all of my worries evaporated as Steve was taller than Dad, built like a brick house and with a great positive and enthusiastic attitude. Steve serves in the Navy (another great asset for me) and is a parajumper in the service. He assured me that everything was going to be fine.
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| Falling to earth with Steve |
They put a harness on Dad and then it was time to fly. Steve grabbed ahold of Dads harness and walked him to the twin engine jump plane and off they flew. There was a 20-minute wait while the plane climbed to 10,500-feet and then we watched as these tiny specks began dropping from the airplane. The first speck was Dad and Steve.
Just about six minutes later Steve and Dad came into a sliding, but safe landing in front of us.
Dad was a little winded but very excited about his achievement. Two men from Iran, who jumped at 10 a.m., waited around to see Dad jump as they were impressed with this old guy who wanted to jump from a plane.
As it turned out Dad was the oldest person to jump at Sky Dive Marana exceeding by four years the previous oldest jumper who was 92.
We called my sister, who knew there was going to be an attempt at a jump but didn’t know what day it was going to happen, as soon as we got back to the resort and let her know that the feat was accomplished and that Dad was safe and sound.
At the resort chapel the next day the pastor had Dad stand and explained to the 250 people there what Dad had done the day before and he became an instant celebrity at the resort. In fact, Dad left for his Louisville home on Tuesday, January 25, but people are still talking about “The Sky Dive.”
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| Getting close to the ground |
Now you would think it would be hard to top that, but we almost did. As soon as we arrived here I made contact with the public affairs officer at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base to see if there was any way I could get Dad on the base for a tour.
In a number of back-and-forth emails the public affairs officer and I discussed dates and ideas. She finally offered a Friday, January 21 tour of the 47th Fighter Squadron based at Davis-Monthan. The 47th Fighter Squadron is now an A-10 Thunderbolt, known more affectionately as a Warthog, reserve unit. The reflects the affectionate name of the squadron "Termites."
The 47th traces its lineage to the attack on Pearl Harbor when two of its pilots were the only airmen that got airborne during the Japanese attack scoring 7 “kills.”
It has been in almost constant service since, most recently in Iraq and Afghanistan.
I avoided telling Dad about the plans until they finally came together about 3 days before the scheduled tour. He was beyond elated about the prospect.
The tour was scheduled from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
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| Dad getting cockpit tour of the A-10 |
We arrived at the gate a few minutes early and were met by a sergeant who escorted us to Hangar 8 where the 47th had pulled an A-10 into a hangar with a floor so clean you could have eaten off it.
We were met by a Chief Master Sgt. who met us in the hangar along with several other members of the A-10 squadron.
The crew took turns welcoming Dad to the hangar and then raised up some mechanical steps so Dad could get a close up view of the cockpit interior.
Another enlisted man sat in the cockpit and gave Dad a tour of the cockpit. Sometime during all this Dad boldly asked if they had a two-seat version of the plane (the meaning of that was not lost on anyone) and they regretfully said that while three two-seat versions were built, none are currently in service.
Another crew member showed Dad the 30mm gatling cannon that the plane is built around. They had opened up the access door to the weapon so Dad could get a good look inside the weapon. Before the tour continued with an A-10 pilot, the crew members presented Dad with two posters and a 30mm dummy shell that they had engraved Dad’s World War II Army Air Force rank and name on it. It left Dad speechless, but the tour was just starting.
Major James Buchanan, a 2006 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy took over the tour from the hangar. Next Dad was taken to the recreation room (bar) used by the A-10 air crews.
The interior of the room is a testament to the history of the 47th Fighter Squadron. A photo of the two hero pilots from Hawaii hang on the wall along with a squadron sign that came home from its place on Iwo Jima after the war. The 47th Fighter Squadron was based at Iwo Jima and escorted B-29s on bombing raids to Japan.
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| Dad and his 47th FS friends |
At some point while Dad and Major Buchanan were talking “shop” the Major pulled out several squadron patches and a challenge coin and presented them to Dad. There was more speechlessness. Major Buchanan finished a detailed tour of the recreation room and then we followed him to a large Air Force training building where they had set up the high tech A-10 simulator for Dad to use.
Unfortunately, the tightness of the space left Dad concerned he could never get out of the simulator cockpit so Joan was quickly substituted as the A-10 pilot in training.
With some help from Major Buchanan Joan was able to take off and began flying around the Tucson area which with the help of computer graphics was somehow filled with enemy aircraft and Russian tanks on the ground.
Using missiles and cannons Joan had the privilege of destroying a Russian made tank on the ground and shot a MIG 29 out of the sky. Not an ace yet but then it came time to land the A-10. I guess the best thing we can say about the landing is that she walked away from it. But it didn’t actually land on the runway. But, hey, it was her first combat flight so there’s that.
Our two-hour tour had turned into an almost three-hour tour an it was time to leave, but with many happy memories and some great souvenirs soon to be applied to a new jacked for Dad.
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| Dad and engraved 30mm shell |
It seemed as much as Dad was honored by the tour, the members of the 47th Fighter Squadron were honored to meet a member of the Greatest Generation close up.
In between skydiving and air force base touring, Dad went to two more concerts at the resort, one was a Paul Simon tribute show and the other was William Florian, a former lead singer of the New Christy Minstrels who gave a really fun concert.
Also highlighting Dad’s visit was some research Dad and I did at the county clerk’s office where we found the address from Dad’s late mother-in-law (my step grandmother) who once lived in Tucson. No one remembered her address, but I was able to pull up some old deed records and found her former address (she left in 1990).
I visited her once there back in the mid-1980s and Dad and my sister had been there previously too. Those old investigative reporter skills still come in handy once in a while.
After we got the address we drove to the house and after finding it I decided we should go to the door and see if anyone was home. A very nice lady was there and invited us into the house. A lot of changes had been made, but it was still pretty much as we remembered it. She had some questions for us about what the house had looked like when we saw it and then it was time to leave.
It’s hard to remember all the things we did while Dad was here, but here is a quick list:
A second visit to downtown Tucson and Meet Me at Maynard’s.
Two trips to the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum. The first time we went was on a Wednesday which is the only day they don’t have the “Raptor Free Flight” show, so I took Dad back the day before he left for home so we could see the show.
A car tour of Saguaro East National Park.
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| Dad and Major Buchanan and coin |
A car tour of Madera Canyon where we stopped and paid our respects to “Michael’s Mountain,” which is actually Mt. Wrightson, but the place at the summit where I took my brother’s ashes a number of years ago. On the way home from there we stopped and had a picnic lunch at the Titan Missile Museum.
We had both toured it previously so we skipped the tour.
We made one more trip to the Pima Air and Space Museum so we could finish touring all the buildings there. We stopped in and visited with the B-17 pilot again on a Thursday.
We took a car trip up the road to Mt. Lemmon.
Dad and I rode the guided tram tour up Sabino Canyon.
We went and saw another movie – King Richard – the story of Serena and Venus Williams and their father, Richard Williams. Very good movie by the way.
Dad attended resort chapel with us each Sunday.
Joan, Dad an I went to the Friday dinner show at the resort. The entertainment was a program called “Back to the Fifties,” and we enjoyed it very much.
We had dinner out at Chuy’s a Mexican Restaurant we had never eaten at before.
Dad was kind enough to go on several chore runs with me to get the car washed, gassed and pick up odds and ends, including filling our large propane tanks for the trailer.
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| "Termites" sign from Iwo Jima |
So soon the visit was over and we drove Dad to Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix for his flight home to Louisville. It was kind of a letdown to get up the next day and know that he was not here in Tucson anymore.
Wednesday night Joan and I went to the resort concert which was “Chicago Experience” which was a really good tribute to the band with the same name. At the previous concerts Dad had used my ticket and sat with Joan at the shows so this was the first time I was back in my “assigned” seat.
More fun to come.
Sunday, January 9, 2022
Back (finally) in our Happy Place - Tucson
Curse you
Covid! It’s been awhile since I have
posted here, but Covid be damned we are back in our happy place – Tucson,
Arizona – after taking two weeks off (er, 21 months off) to flatten the curve.
Remember those days. All we had to do in those early days was to isolate for
two weeks and then everything would be good.
So last year we
stayed home because the resort was basically closed to all activities other
than walking outside alone. But life must move on, the pandemic will become an
endemic and we will just learn to deal and live our lives again.
This year we are
very excited to be able to bring my 96-year-old father with us to Voyager. My Dad used to travel to Tucson on business
and he loves this place. Or at least he loved this place then. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
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| Nice chairs |
Prior to leaving we
had an early Christmas with daughter Elin, her partner Justin and our son Tim.
So with a new
security camera system in place and our bags packed we left Lapeer with the
temperature at 28 degrees.
Our first night on
the road was spent in Cave City, Kentucky and the hotel was nice, but the hotel’s
recommendation for dinner left a little to be desired. The clerk told us that “everyone”
loves the Watermill Restaurant. Apparently, we are not “everyone.”
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| Things 1,2,3 |
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| My chair |
sweet potatoes. We both settled for a chopped steak (hamburger patty). The vinyl chairs had gaping holes in them, but at least they required using plastic gloves for the salad bar. It was an eclectic group of diners including Amish folks and rednecks.
The next day we passed through Bowling Green,
Kentucky just a week after the massive tornado raced through Kentucky. We could
see twisted trees, damaged buildings, trees with sheet metal wrapped around
high branches and plenty of tarp covered roofs.
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| $5 donut place |
Our first destination was Murfreesboro, Tennessee to spend a couple days with our son, daughter-in-law and three grandchildren for an early Christmas. While there we were taken to a beautiful outdoor Christmas light display that was coordinated with music. We also went to a special donut store ($5 per donut) where the donuts were incredible.
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| Christmas light drive |
Next stop was
Louisville, Kentucky and Christmas with my sister and brother-in-law and father.
While there we had another Christmas light adventure in a mega cave near
Louisville and a great meal out at a 5-star restaurant. It was here on the
actual Christmas Day that we celebrated our third Christmas for 2021.
On Tuesday, December
28, we departed Louisville with Dad aboard and spent the first half of the day
driving through rain in Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and through St. Louis,
Missouri. The rain finally let up after St. Louis and we breezed through
Missouri and spent the night in one of the weirdest hotels we have every stayed
in.
I’m not too fussy
about hotel rooms, I desire them to be clean and reasonably priced. The
Microtel in Joplin was both, but it was like staying in a closet. It was only
$60 a night, but next time I’ll pay extra to have a room with a little more
room.
On Wednesday, morning the 29th we left Joplin and had a nice breakfast at a nearby Cracker Barrel (the Microtel doesn’t offer anything) and then hit the road. As we passed through Oklahoma we saw an antique store with the name “Dead People Stuff.”
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| Christmas with the kids |
With a destination
of Tucumcari, New Mexico we were traveling through Amarillo, Texas the place
where my Dad went to boot camp in the Army Air Corps in World War II. With some
help from OnStar we located the place where the base was, except it wasn’t
there anymore. Acres and acres of empty fields where military buildings once stood
greeted us. The roads were still there but all vestiges of the base were gone.
We talked to a couple
guys who worked in a new building on the former base property and they said
sometime in the 60s or 70s a Democratic President closed the base in a cost
saving move. “We’re a Republican state, so that’s probably the reason,” the man
said.
After the short
tour of empty fields we stopped and ate at The Big Texan. It’s a famous place
where if you order and eat a 72-ounce steak within one hour you get it for
free. Two guys tried but failed while we were eating there.
Dad with his World War II hat always attracts a lot of attention and people were gracious and thankful for his service.
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| The Big Texan dinner |
We arrived at a
very crowded hotel in Tucumcari, New Mexico and because it was relatively late
we all went to bed in our rooms. The hotel had a basic breakfast and after eating
the next morning we headed out into a very strong headwind. That wind played
havoc with my gas mileage, but we landed at the Twin Arrows Casino and Resort
in Flagstaff, Arizona about 3 p.m. on the 30th.
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| Dad and the colonel |
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| Dad and the B-17 |
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| Me on a hike |
When I arrived back
at the casino I met Joan and Dad at the sports bar and had dinner. Then I got
to watch Michigan State pull out a come-from-behind victory over Pittsburgh in
the Peach Bowl.
Hooking up the trailer early turned out to be one of my better decisions, as it was snowing hard in the morning and hooking up would have been a real mess. Having the trailer hooked up and ready to go we missed the brunt of the storm and after driving down the mountain about 2,000-feet the snow disappeared and the driving was smooth all the way to Tucson.
I've learned over the years that the trailer tows better and the Tahoe runs better if I balance the loads between the two. The temperatures were cold, but not as cold as they would be in the morning so I removed the tire covers, put the battery on the trailer, and hooked the unit up to the Tahoe. All this took a little over an hour and I was frozen by the time I was done.
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| Dad and a C-47 |
We arrived into
the Voyager Resort in the early afternoon. It was a beautiful 69 degrees,
nearly 36 degrees warmer than when we left Flagstaff. After checking Dad into
his hotel room (he’s staying a month here) we got help setting up our trailer
on our usual spot. Miraculously our 14-year-old trailer was in good working
condition and everything (gas, electric, slide outs, hot water, etc. all worked
to perfection).
After dinner at the
new restaurant at the Voyager, Dad went to bed and we went to the New Year’s
Eve Dance at the resort.
The next day, New
Year’s Day, we had breakfast at the restaurant and went grocery shopping but
then came back and spent the day watching the football marathon that is New Year’s
Day.
On Sunday, after
we all attended chuch at the resort, we took a little drive with Dad to show
him the resort and watched some NFL football.
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| The Eagle has landed |
Still recovering
and catching up from our long driving trip Monday was laundry dad and then we took
Dad downtown for Meet Me at Maynard’s. The weather was a little chilly, but we
took Dad to one of our favorite restaurants.
While Joan started
her water classes, Dad and I drove to a car wash and got the Tahoe cleaned on
Tuesday. We drove around a little and then returned to the resort for the
weekly pot luck dinner.
On Wednesday, I
took Dad to the Pima Air and Space Museum, which was half the reason for his
trip here as he has been eager to visit for many years. We spent several wonderful
hours and then returned home for dinner in the trailer followed by the Wednesday
night concert at the Voyager. Dad enjoyed “The Starlets” a group of women
singers who relived the girl group hits of the 50s and 60s. “Sugar in the
morning, sugar in the evening, sugar at suppertime, be my little sugar and love
me all the time.” Lots of great songs.
On Thursday, after
my Men’s Bible Study, Dad and I headed back to the Air and Space Museum to
continue our touring there. I was excited to learn that a man I have heard talk
there before in the B-17 building was still giving talks under the plane. The
man was a B-17 pilot in World War II and he and Dad spent a wonderful 40
minutes swapping stories under the iconic airplane. The pilot will turn 99 in
March, Dad will turn 97 the same month.
Following that Dad
and I took the tram tour around the outdoor airplane exhibits. We still have unfinished
business at the museum so we will return and finish two of the buildings we
haven’t toured yet. We again had dinner in the trailer and I led my first
Thursday night Bible study here.
On Friday morning
Dad and I ventured off campus to do a little shopping (I needed a new sewer
hose for the trailer) and Dad needed some stuff as well. I gave him a tour of
the Tucson International Airport and then we returned to base and had lunch.
Later we headed out to the movie theater and saw “American Underdog” the movie
about the life of Kurt and Brenda Warner. Kurt was the quarterback who defied
the odds and became a great NFL star.
Saturday morning
brought a free donut at the Voyager ballroom and then Dad and I read our books on
the patio until it was lunch time. After lunch we took Dad for a riding tour of
Saguaro East National Park followed by a T-bone steak dinner at the trailer.
Finally to bring
you completely up-to-date, we went to church on Sunday here at the resort and
then watched NFL football all afternoon. We also did laundry. More fun to come.
Mileage out from Lapeer: 82360
Time out: 9:08 a.m.
Mileage in Cave City: 82871
Time in: 5:02 p.m. (Central)
Mileage out Cave City: 82362
Time out: 8:31 a.m.
Mileage in Murfreesboro, Tenn: 82997
Time in: 10:51 a.m.
Time out (Dec. 24): 8:57 a.m.
Mileage out: 82997
Time in (Louisville -ET): 1:25 p.m.
Mileage in: 83216
Mileage out (Louisville – Dec. 28): 83439
Time out: 8:36 a.m.
Mileage in (Joplin, MO): 83988
Time in (CT): 4:06 p.m.
Mileage out: 83988
Time out: 7:25 a.m.
Mileage in (Tucumcari, NM): 84606
Time in (MT): 6:08 p.m.
Mileage out: 84606
Time out: 8:02 a.m.
Mileage in (Flagstaff): 85077
Time in: 3:01 p.m.
Mileage out: 85154
Time out: 7:59 a.m.
Mileage in: 85443
Time in: 12:51 p.m.
Tuesday, April 7, 2020
There's no place like home
 |
| Luggage collection at home |
After an uneventful,
but eerie drive from Arizona Joan and I are back home in Michigan.
Our last week at
Voyager was quiet with much of the time preparing for the time we would pack up
and head home. With more and more departures from the park, things were getting
quieter and quieter. We did see (at a distance) some of our friends still at
the resort and said our goodbyes over the last few days.
We did have a chance to get in one more hike on the Gabe Zimmerman Trail with Joan, Denny, Diane and I.
We spent quite a bit of time social distancing
with Diane and Denny before our Thursday, April 2 departure. While the park was
willing to extend stays for people already in the resort, more and more
amenities (if you can call a laundry and bathrooms an amenity) were being shut
down leaving us with little option but to pack up and go.
On Thursday
morning I finished prepping the trailer for departure and at 11 a.m. with help
from Denny I hooked up the trailer and he and I drove it to the nearby Camping
World so it could be winterized and prepared for storage in Flagstaff.
 |
| Social distance dinner in Casa Grande |
Joan and her
sister watched the trailer pull out and then went back to Diane and Den’s park
model to wait for Denny and I to return about 1 p.m. We had lunch with them and
too soon the time came for us to leave for good this year.
Our departure was
bitter sweet as we had a lot of fun with Diane and Denny but with the
cancellation of so many of our beloved events (concerts, dances, end-of-the-year
parties) it left a little bit of a hollow feeling. Don’t get me wrong, the park
did everything it could and should have done to keep everyone safe. Especially
when you consider the vulnerable age of everyone there.
So about 4 p.m. we
headed out of the park and to Camping World to pick up the trailer. As we
always do we shifted our luggage from the back of the Tahoe into the trailer to
balance our load and improve the ride up the mountain to Flagstaff.
 |
| Our night stop |
We were on the road
at 4:27 p.m. On the way to our dinner stop in Casa Grande we noticed that the
Pinal Air Park was overflowing with commercial aircraft which had been brought
there to store during the massive slowdown in air traffic. There are always
some planes parked in the desert at Pinal Air Park, but we guessed a 10-fold
increase in the number of planes from when we passed by in early January that option was
closed. Buffalo Wild Wings was offering take out dinners so we both got a hamburger
and fries and then ate our dinner outside the trailer in a mall parking lot in
our patio chairs. Joan purchased a bottle of Pinot Noir from the restaurant and
she sipped on that treasure until it got dark. We presented quite a sight and
several people gave us big smiles as they drove by.
We always wait until
the sun goes down in Casa Grande so as not to pull the trailer up the mountain
during the heat of the day. We also watched out final 2020 Arizona sunset which
was beautiful.
In Phoenix I
donned my mask and gloves and topped off the Tahoe tank as the trip up the
mountain sucks a lot of gasoline. (We also make another gas stop halfway up the
mountain just to make sure we have enough fuel).
At 9:40 p.m. we pulled
into the Maguireville/Prescott rest area at about 4,000 feet and went to bed.
We parked between a motorhome and a running semi-truck and trailer.
Because of the
current issues we did not use the rest area bathroom to brush our teeth and get
ready for bed and instead used our trailer bathroom.
 |
| The truly open road |
We were up early
(about 6:10 a.m.) and headed back up the mountain for the rest of the journey
at 6:33 a.m.
We arrived at the
storage area at 7:38 a.m. and the outside temperature was 30 degrees in
Flagstaff. Luggage was removed from the trailer, loaded into the Tahoe and I spent
the rest of the time covering the wheels, securing the trailer and removing our
battery before heading out on our trip to Amarillo, Texas.
By the time we got
to Albuquerque (sounds like a Glen Campbell song) it was 70 degrees and
beautiful outside. Traffic was scarce through what is usually a very traffic
laden city. We climbed up out of Albuquerque and the temperatures dropped to 57
degrees for much of the rest of the time in New Mexico.
There were some
pronghorn antelope along the freeway so that was cool. By the way this day was
our 21st wedding anniversary. Usually we spend it in Bakersfield, California
but not this year. New Mexico and Texas are a major improvement over Bakersfield
as an anniversary destination.
A local taco place
was doing take out for dinner in Amarillo which we took back to our hotel room
and devoured. We missed eating out at on this trip, but a small price to pay to
stay safe.
 |
| Loving these gas prices |
Saturday morning
was cool (37 degrees) but sunny as we headed out of Texas heading for
Springfield, Missouri. We saw llamas and longhorns in Oklahoma. Gas was
incredibly cheap in Oklahoma down to .99 cents a gallon at one station and
$1.09 at most others. Unfortunately I filled up in Amarillo so no need to fill
up needlessly there.
Cows, cows and
more cows as Joan would say along the route. With speed limit
s of 75 mph the day
went fast and we only had to stop once for gas later in the day. We tried to
minimize our exposure and always used masks and gloves during refueling stops.
On Sunday, we departed
Springfield about 9 a.m. and tuned into our church’s online broadcast for Palm
Sunday. Halfway through the sermon we lost our signal so we had to finish the
sermon later at the hotel. Again traffic was minimal, mostly trucks and it was
like the world was slowly crawling to a stop.
In addition to beautiful
purple flowering bushes along the road we saw plenty of not-so-beautiful dead
armadillos on the road. At one point we drove by a farm field just at the right
time to see a back hoe pushing over a very large tree in a field along the freeway.
Sorry no photo of that to share.
Our high
temperature was 59 on Sunday. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in
Cloverdale, Indiana and had a meal delivered from a small restaurant across the
street from the hotel. Fried chicked, I think.
 |
| A final hike |
We have been
through Indianapolis many times and we usually have to contend with oodles of
traffic, not so this year. There was some traffic, but nothing like usual. Once
we got north of Indianapolis we and the trucks had the freeway to ourselves.
At one rest area
we passed there was a solo car in the rest area and a man playing his guitar on
a bench there. Everything was very surreal.
For one of the
first times ever the sky was clear and bright as we entered Michigan in the
early afternoon. Predictably the roughest roads we encountered were as soon as
we entered Michigan. The weather did get
greyer as we closed in on home.
We are thankful
for the easy travel home and continue to pray for the safety and health of all
our friends.
Before I end this I
want to go back to our friends Mike and Suzy who headed out ahead of us from
Voyager. I got a text from Mike Friday night that they had gotten as far as
Little Rock, Arkansas and then found out they could not find a park that would
let them stay overnight further east. They turned the motorhome around and
headed back to Arizona to wait out the virus situation.
Thanks for
following along with us and we pray for a better rest of the year for everyone.
Mileage out from Camping World in Tucson: 38036
Mileage in to storage at Flagstaff: 38313
Time in to storage at Flagstaff: 7:38 a.m.
Time out from storage at Flagstaff: 8:18 a.m.
Mileage in Amarillo, Texas: 38932
Time in to Amarillo, Texas: 7:17 p.m. (CDT)
Time out of Amarillo, Texas: 8:35 a.m.
Mileage out of Amarillo, Texas: 38932
Mileage in to Springfield, Missouri: 39496
Time in to Springfield, Missouri: 4:46 p.m. (CDT)
Time out of Springfield, Missouri: 9 a.m.
Mileage in to Cloverdale, Indiana: 39919
Time in to Cloverdale, Indiana: 4:28 (EDT)
Time out of Cloverdale, Indiana: 9:12 a.m.
Time in to home: 2:48 p.m.
Mileage in at home: 40295
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