Yesterday we spent a little over 6 hours driving to Surprise to visit Jack and his Arizona family. We took turns driving 2 hours stints and it went well. We arrived at our designated Hampton Inn on Grand Blvd late afternoon, a couple of miles from Jack’s home. We were tired so deferred first contact to this morning which worked for Jack.

After waking around 0700 I walked Max then grabbed a cup of coffee for Diane and headed back to the room. We got ourselves ready for the trip then stopped by the breakfast nook for sustenance before heading to Happy Trails. Jack met us at the gate and got us a pass so we could come and go at will which Diane did. Before she left we had lunch at the activity center; Diane had a patty melt, Jack had a quesadilla, and I had a few dead shrimp. It was all good. Then Diane went off to a nearby Dollar Store for some essentials and I stayed at the house working on a jigsaw puzzle with Jack. I think I found only about 3 pieces, but it was productive. We talked a lot.

Later in the afternoon we returned to the hotel so I could get my evening pills then stopped by Albertsons where Diane picked up some dead chicken and a salad for supper. When we got back to Jack’s, Brian, Annie, and Kelly had just arrived so we foolishly stayed outside for a while just talking, until the mosquitoes got busy and forced us to go inside. It was really great to visit with the family.

For a while we weren’t sure we’d be able to visit with Brian because he had a medical emergency the previous evening that made walking difficult. He spent the night in the hospital. But, he was able to come visit. We felt special that the whole family came to see us.

Alas, the visit had to end, and everyone went home. Well, everyone went home except Diane, Max and me. We went back to our hotel with a plan to return the next morning.

So, that’s what we did. After a restful night’s sleep, we went back to Jack’s around 0900 and loaded up a few things he wanted us to transport to St. Helens. That didn’t take long then we were on our way. It was a solemn goodbye because we’re both old and we’re never sure we’ll see each other again. That would be true, too, even if we were still young. Being old makes that possibility more likely.

At the time I’m writing this we are 48 miles from Flagstaff, going north on I-17. It’s been mostly a quick trip but we’re going the long way through Flagstaff. From Flagstaff we worked our way along the north side of the Grand Canyon heading mostly west. The scenery was really beautiful, when we could see it. For a majority of that portion of the trip it poured rain in astounding quantities. It was almost like being home in Oregon.

In case you were wondering, we skipped I-15 from the Phoenix because, as roads go, it really sucks. It’s horrible. I-17, on the other hand, is way better. It’s longer but a much better ride, and I wasn’t driving so it was OK.

Now, for some exciting news! On this trip Diane set a new record for non-stop long-distance driving. Our trip from Surprise to St. George going down was 6.5 hours long, or something like that. Taking I-17 moved us north through Flagstaff and past the eastern edge of the Grand Canyon which made it a little longer for the return. We left at 0950 and got to our RV just after sunset around 1930. Disregarding hours lost, or gained, due to time zone changes, that works out to almost 10 hours. We stopped for about an hour for lunch, so call it 9 hours. Diane’s record is that she drove every minute of it without running off the road even one time. She even managed to get the truck up to 103 mph once while passing a couple of cars that weren’t pleasing her in the way they couldn’t maintain a constant speed in the vicinity of posted speed limit that varied from 65 to 80 mph.

Now, we’re back in St. George and everything is still in place. The only thing I had to do was figure out why we didn’t have water pressure in the rig. I didn’t mention that before, did I? Well, Diane took a shower and said the water pressure was so pitiful that it was like getting wet and rinsed with a squirt gun. An old squirt gun. I fixed it by removing the pressure restrictor from the input line. Now we have great pressure and the water lines don’t seem to be in any danger of blowing out. If that proves to be untrue, I’ll publish a retraction. Now I can take a shower and be confident the pressure will be enough to get all the soap off. I might even wash my hair. Haven’t done that in a while.