November 10, 2009

Now that we are in the south we seem to be waking earlier every morning. I guess we anticipate a more active lifestyle down here and are anxious to be up and getting to it.

We attended the weekly activity meeting to find out what goodies were being planned for this year. We have a very full venue which ranges from golf, hiking, motorcycle riding groups, darts, card games, movie night...the list goes on. Last year a group of people chose books to read and then discuss at a social gathering. There really is something to do for everyone here.

A quick trip to Safeway to pick up a few items and then it was lunch time. After lunch a group of us went out for our weekly 9-hole golf game. There were 20 men and women and I expect there'll be more as the snowbird season progresses. It was hot but we had fun.

Lise decided to do the washing while I was out so when I got home it was all done! We had a quick supper and then went over to the games room to have a couple of games of darts. Also a good turnout. Unfortunately we missed So You Think You Can Dance but when we're down here it doesn't seem to important and there's so much else to do.

November 9, 2009

Our routine is starting to come together. After breakfast I headed over to the gym to do some physio; Lise went to Curves for her exercise. Once we were both back we changed into bicycle gear and headed out for a ride right from the Resort. We only rode for 10.4 miles but it was quite a workout as it has been a while since we last had our bikes out. And the weather was hot so it was pretty draining with the sun beating down on us.

We were back by 11:30 and it felt like we'd done a lot already. After a quick lunch we drove to Camping World to see if they had any patio chairs. Of course it's a small world so we came across our friend Art, and Peter from New Zealand, who were also visiting Camping World. Peter and his wife Jeanette have been visiting Canada and the United States for a while now and will be heading to Los Angeles in a few days for their trip back to New Zealand. They make this trip frequently and will probably be back again soon. They have bought an RV and toad and use that to drive around the country. Then it is stored for use again when they return.

We did find some chairs so now we have enough on hand if we ever get somebody dropping by our rig. After that stop we headed over to Trader Joe's, a popular grocery store in this area. We picked up items we always get there, particularly Trail Mix for our hikes and biking trips, and then headed home to try out the new chairs.

gravel pad and concrete patio

We're the first RV in the row, site 02

Some of the people we hang out with during the winter haven't arrived yet so it was great to see Gary and Karen (formerly from Yellowknife, NWT) turn into the roadway at 5:00 this evening. They share similar interests so we end up spending lots of time with them over the winter.

I noticed that Dancing With The Stars was on tonight. I can't seem to get into that this year, especially since So You Think You Can Dance is also on (although on a different night). After watching SYTYCD for the last two years the DWTS seems pretty anemic. We do like House and Lie To Me so that'll keep us busy tonight.

November 7 and 8, 2009

I can't say much about Saturday. We did go to the omelette breakfast at the Resort. They do such a great job with it and there are always a lot of volunteers cooking and serving and cleaning up after. The cost was only $4.00 each and included omelette (6 volunteer chefs cooking) cooked with your preferred ingredients plus hash browns, sausages, orange juice and coffee. Not bad, eh?

Later in the day we visited with Art and Linda in their bus for a while and then retired back to our Resort and our rig to indulge in a bit of reading (outside on the patio, of course). I'll have to take a picture of our site so you can all see what our setup is like.

On Sunday we picked up Art and Linda and headed out for a 'preview hike' of the hike I have planned for Wednesday. I needed to make sure that I wasn't going to get our hiking group lost on my first hike :-) We didn't do the whole hike, just the first part that goes up and down through gullies and washes; it's that part which would be easy to be diverted and end up 'lost'. Anyway, it went fine and I got a couple of pictures of Art and Linda for our friends in the Yukon.
All decked out in hiking gear.
We've got that saguaro surrounded:)

It's great to finally be out on the trails!

November 6, 2009

We had our landline installed through Mediacom today. They arrived in the morning as promised. It's a relief to finally be able to call people and to have a number where we can be reached. Our cell phones don't have the north american long distance plan on them so we couldn't very well use them while travelling. We had a phone card that we bought over two years ago which still has minutes/units on it so we were able to use that for outgoing calls, and we could always be reached by e-mail. It's not perfect but it'll do for now.

It was a pretty relaxing day. Lise went to Curves in the morning and I -- relaxed (I said that already didn't I :-) We went out for coffee in the afternoon and then did some shopping at Safeway to fill up our cupboards and fridge. Last year we seemed to be going to the grocery stores just about every day. This time around we are planning ahead a little bit more so we can avoid a repeat of that.

George, the Activity Director asked me to look after the Wednesday trail hikes until the regular hiking leaders arrive at the park. Sounds like fun. At the start of the year the hikes will be fairly easy but will still take two or three hours to complete. I'm looking forward to getting out on the trails and getting some proper exercise again.

We decided to pass on the Happy Hour tonight and just stay home and have a quiet dinner. While I was out BBQing I noticed the sunset so took this picture for posterity.

November 5 and 6, 2009

We were up very early yesterday morning. I think we were both excited to get things going. It's funny how easily you fall into your routines again. You'd think every day is always around 90 F with a calm wind and the sun shining.

Lise was busy on the inside of the coach getting it livable again. There was lots of cleaning and sweeping to do. I spent the morning setting up the satellite dish - which worked after making a small change to the frequency. We've had so many issues over the last few years that I wasn't too optimistic that this would be an easy fix. Thank goodness for that.

Then it was time to get the chairs and tables out, put the welcome mat down and set up our portable clothes line that we'd had made by one of our friends here a couple of years ago.

Lots of people dropped by to say hello and we got all the latest news on their summers and what's happening in the park this year. Just like getting reacquainted with family again.

On Wednesday we had found our friends Art and Linda, staying at an RV park on the Apache Trail less than two miles away. They drove their converted bus down from Whitehorse, Yukon to spend the winter here. While catching up on everybody's news we went to the Village Inn Restaurant which offers free fruit pies on Wednesday's. That, along with a good cup of coffee spent with friends was a great way to start off our time here.

I was lucky enough to get invited to be part of a golf foursome as one of the guys had been unable to make it. So I already have an 18-hole game under my belt. And the cost was only $12.95!! Too bad that special is now ended. It was 90 F out on the course and no shade to speak of so we were all pretty beat by the end of it. The good side of that? - I slept like a log last night. Yay.

November 4, 2009

We woke up to a very cold morning yesterday, in Gallup, NM. I don't know the temperature but there was ice on most of the vehicle windshields in the park. During the night our heat pump was working a bit and in the early morning it was making a funny sound so I turned it off. I tried to turn on the propane furnace for the living room and it wasn't working either, although the one in the bedroom worked. Now what!:-) Anyway I checked out the furnace in the morning and found a wire had come loose. Once that was determined we were back to the races. And today, Wednesday, I was able to confirm that the heat pump/air conditioner was working again. So one more problem resolved. I like these easy fixes. The heat pump was probably trying to cycle down to propane which it does when it is too cold to work efficiently, and that's the wierd sound I heard.

We decided to head straight to Flagstaff on I-40 and then down I-17 to Phoenix; we were going to take another route through Show Low and Payson but decided this route would probably be faster and less work for the RV. We were right. We arrived at the Flying J in Phoenix at 3:00 and hung out there for a couple of hours, after gassing up and filling our propane tank. We wanted to arrive at Meridian RV Park late enough that we could just park in their entryway and pull into our site on Wednesday, which is just what we did.

The weather here has been great - I think it hit about 98 F yesterday and probably in the mid 90s today. Great!! It was worth getting here a day earlier after all.

Entering AZ on the I-40

a few different modes of transportation

seems a little smokey from forest fires; south of Flagstaff

brief stop at overlook near Sedona turnoff

November 2, 2009

Today we decided to push on a little further than usual. Rather than taking another 4 days to get to Phoenix we've cut it down to two. So after putting in 421 miles today we have arrived at USA RV Park in Gallop, New Mexico. It is just 16 miles from the Arizona border so we'll be able to drive straight through to Apache Junction tomorrow. The plan is to go as far as Holbrook on I-40 and then south to Show Low, west to Payson and then a southerly run into the Phoenix area.

The weather was the same as yesterday - that's what we heard for most of last winter "today is sunny and warm":)

It felt good to put on the extra few miles. We have been talking about that for the last week now and next year we'll try to make the trip in 6 or 7 days rather than the 11 to 12 that we're doing now. It will also buy us more usable time to plan special trips at either end, such as going back to Utah again, but this time for a week.

Here are a couple of pictures from today's trip.

Our satellite dish is not working properly today so we had to hook into the campground wi-fi which was available for free, thank goodness. Now after posting this blog perhaps I can find out how my Yankees are doing. I never thought I'd hear myself saying that! But they are in the AL East so I at least have to root for that don't I?