Today we took a trip to Surprise to visit brother Jack. We had a great visit and had the additional pleasure of also visiting with Pat & Carolyn who live across the street from Jack. They are our cousins. Max went in the house and searched every corner so he could know what he was dealing with. I’m sure he picked up scent of Kelly, Jack’s great granddaughter, who visited us in St. Helens last summer. He’ll get to see her tomorrow to confirm his belief as we’re all getting together for a small family reunion. Should be fun.

For lunch we went to an In-N-Out Burger. Neither Diane nor I had been to one of those before and we were very pleased with the food. We had a good visit over the food, then returned Jack to his home at Happy Trails.

Happy Trails is a really nice place that’s been active since the beginning of the housing boom in Phoenix for Northerners looking for a milder winter. It also has a stellar golf course for the thousands of inhabitants. If we plan to head south for the winter again, Happy Trails is the kind of place we’d like to inhabit. They have things to do there.

It’s going to be a nice, pleasant evening, I think. Especially if they put all those F-35 Lightning II’s back in the barn. I have to admit, however, how awesome it is to see them take off then go vertical and just disappear into the sky. Seems like I’ve said that before.

Now we’ll relax and think about what we want for dinner, or if we actually want dinner. We might just go with dessert to end the day. I know for a fact that there is a tub of sherbert in the freezer.

That piques my interest.

A lot.

Just so you know, Max has been on the lookout for the neighbors he loves.

See you tomorrow.

We made it through the night and no one knocked on the door so they could tell us to leave. I guess that means we can stay here for a little while.

Max isn’t upset at all about the non-familiarity of his new surroundings. For him it’s all about smelling the new stuff and filing it away for future reference. He’s a little overwhelmed, I think, by the amount of open space that’s available for him. Still, he just wanders around the edges checking things out.

I used this photo yesterday, so forgive me for repeating myself. Just wanted you to see the open range right next to the FAMCAMP.

Our first walk this morning was all the way around the 60 sites at this location, and even a short way down the road outside the facility. We went up and down every row, all five of them, and he really enjoyed himself. We only encountered one other dog-walker so the masses must have gone earlier. Even for the one, he wasn’t very interested. There were so many bushes to smell I think he was actually swooning. So much so, that I failed to catch him the moment with my handy camera. Maybe tomorrow I’ll get new ones.

In case you need to make a note about where we are, here’s the sign.

I believe there’s a common naming theme for RV Parks located on air force bases. On the way up the freeway, I also saw a sign directing us to the Saguaro National Park. I’m not sure if it’s the same one we visited while in Tucson, or another one. I could look it up, I suppose, but it doesn’t matter. If you’ve seen one saguaro, you’ve seen them all. That’s not true, of course, because each one of them is unique. They are like snowflakes, no two alike.

President Jimmy Carter’s funeral was today, and we watched the entire thing. Of most interest to us were the speakers who we really enjoyed. As I listened to them extolling Mr. Jimmy’s incredible life of service, I couldn’t keep my head from wondering what Mr. Trump’s eulogy might be like. That planted a seed, of course, which might have to be watered into reality one of these days.

As the camera panned the inside of the National Cathedral, Diane and I had flashbacks of our visit to Washington DC many years ago. We visited it one afternoon and had the joy of getting there just in time to attend an evening service. There weren’t many in attendance, but there was a choir who sat in the first sections on either side of the aisle behind the stage. Diane and I sat in the next section down on the right. The pastor was a magnificent lady. I don’t remember her name but if you are adventurous, you can check one of my old posts where I documented that trip.

I stopped here and searched my photos looking for pics of the cathedral but shouldn’t find them. I’ll look again later. But I did find one of Diane from 2011 that you might enjoy.

I know. That’s not relevant to this post, but it’s a great photo.

This was the sunset today when I was out walking Max for his last walk of the day.

Not true. I watched Notre Dame beat Penn State and advance to the NCAA Championship game. That means it’s past 2100 and the sun set about 3 hours ago. I’m pretty sure he’s generated some urine by now. I certainly have. I told him I’d take him out one more time and all the while I’ve been typing this he’s been sitting next to my feet staring at me.

I must go now.

Today started like this:

Max always checks the weather before we head out on our morning walk. The sunrise only shows off for a brief moment before it all goes away so we were lucky Max was on the ball and brought this to my attention. By the time Max got his gear on, and we got out the door, it was all gone. Like magic.

Lots of coyotes roamed around in the park last night, but they are very quiet. They leave a scent, however, and Max follows every one of them. We spend a lot of time going back and forth as he does his best to smell all of them and properly catalog them for future reference. He’s a busy little guy.

Max loves his toys. He was calmly looking out the window when I buried him in them and he didn’t mind at all.

While I was dismantling the RV for our departure, Max found a better use for the wheel covers than I had in mind. I left him alone because he looked pretty comfortable as I worked.

Someone is going around the park planting gigantic pineapples. I’m kind of bummed we’re going to miss watching them grow and bloom.

When we went to bed last night the only thing connected to the bus was electricity and water. Everything else was stowed away, ready for tomorrow.

Now I’ll quit.

There’s very little to share today other than the failure of the A/C in the tow car. Seems kind of silly to be concerned about that when the morning temps are in the low 40’s, right? Although the days start like that, they heat up quickly when the sun comes up. Yessir. When Max takes me on his first walk in the morning, with a stocking hat on my head, I truly shiver me timbers.

Today I visited the base garage to have the A/C fixed. They had the car most of the day so I walked back to the RV. It was only about 3 miles. I arrived just as Diane was walking back from the laundromat, so we had some lunch. I don’t remember what we ate, but it was good. Around five thirty-Ish, one of our new friends, Linda, drove me back to the garage to get the car.

Diane has been working tirelessly to plot our course. I’m useful when phone calls need to be made but useless in every other aspect of this endeavor. The end result of her planning is that all she has to do is point me in the right direction and keep me between the lines. She’s really good at all of that. She uses code words to keep me straight; when I get too far to the right, she just says “Jerrie” and I immediately correct our course. When I drift left, she says “You’re over the line!”. I correct that quickly and gently drift to the right until she, once again, says “Jerrie.” We go on this way, mile after mile, zig zagging down the road, bouncing off the lane boundaries. It gets more complicated when there are more than two lanes and I’m not in the slowest one. It gets pretty exciting some times.

One of the places Diane wanted to stay asked us to send photos of the RV so they could see if it’s something they’d allow into their park. I sent them these:

We’ve been watching “White Collar” on NETFLIX a lot. We’re on Season 4 Episode 1 (S4E). Sadly, the show was cancelled after season 6. We don’t know why. Anyway, that’s what we watched today – 2 or 3 episodes.

Time to stop and reflect on today’s progress.

Then to bed,

Today we took a 8 mile trip up Craycroft Road to Sunrise Drive, took a left turn and went another 4 miles, or so, then found a parking spot near the front door of the Firebirds Woodfire Grill. We had a date with Patty and Gene for lunch and had to be there by 1230. We got there about 1210 which was good because Diane wanted to put another coat of color on her fingernails. We were there early enough for her fingers to dry before she had to use the restroom.

The folks at Firebirds are very nice and can take a joke. Our waitress was top notch, too. When she brought the bill she asked if there was anything else we needed, and I asked her what was free. She said cheese cake bites, then she brought us a plate of them. Both Diane an Gene’s birthdays were recent and that worked for the free snack.

I had really good intentions of having our waitress take a photo of the four of us, but we got busy talking and that desire pushed aside, so I don’t have one. I do, however, have aold photo of Diane and Patty so that will have to do. Perhaps Patty will forward a photo of her and Gene for me to share. Then again, maybe she won’t. Here’s what I have.

It’s still early in the day, 1632, but there is nothing more scheduled so I’m closing this. We are both looking forward to the next move to Luke AFB in Phoenix. I called Brian, Big Brother Jack’s Grandson, and got permission for Jennifer to send our mail to his home. After a short delay, he said, “Sure.” Actually, there was no delay at all. Brian’s the best. That’s because he has Annie and Kelly. They are all related. I think Brian is our Grand Nephew, but I’m not sure how that works.

We hope all is well with you. Perhaps we’ll wind up in your neighborhood one of these days. Keep an eye out for us.

The only thing I remember doing this day was taking Max for 3 walks, vacuumed the exhaust fan screen in the bathroom, emptied the tanks, vacuumed the floor, read my book, ate breakfast, nibbled, fed Max, sketched a little, etc.

Diane went shopping.

I’m willing to bet she was busier than me. What I did was busy work, just to pass time until Diane got back. Max is the same way. We’re happy that she enjoys her alone time, but we miss her when she’s gone. Even for just a little while. Then we’re really happy when she comes back. There’s always the chance she won’t or can’t.

Today she returned from one of her favorite thrift stores with a large “mystery” box that she paid $3.50 for. It was for me, she said, because it was labeled electronics. When things calmed down from her celebratory return, we sat down to open it and see what we got.

Let’s see how much I can remember.

There are 3 digital headphones, 1 Kodak digital photo frame, 4 charging cords, 1 working heat gun, 1 working flashlight, 3 boxes of LED light bulbs, 1 Gold PS2 mouse, 1 working digital alarm clock, 1 HDMI cable, 1 set of computer speakers, 1 really heavy speaker, 1 not so heavy speaker, 1 Old Maid card game (with all the cards), 1 RC car, and 1 Radio Shack appliance timer.

If, for some reason, we are invited to a White Elephant party, we have lots of gifts for the masses. I’ve been saving a couple of brand-new boxes of 3.5″ and 5″ floppy disks for that reason, too.

Diane also got a beautiful brand-new quilt and a coloring book.

The coloring book goes with the new box of crayons I found on the giveaway table by the laundry. She had a really good time, but we were glad to get her back.

That’s it for today.