Tag Archives: travel

Day 134 – Sunday – Peoria, AZ

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This morning I turned on the new heater because it was so cold. The fake fireplace heater was already running but I was curious to see how much quicker the bus warmed up with both of them running. What I learned was that they worked well together until I turned on the coffee pot and popped the circuit. I actually found the problem quickly and fixed it. It was the circuit breakers on the inverter which is located in the outside aft starboard cubby. I reset them and went back inside just as Diane did the same thing. So, I went back out and reset them again.

Then the coffee pot wouldn’t start. I fiddled with it a bit and convinced it start like normal, then everything was OK, but I can’t deny there was just a little moment of panic when the pot wouldn’t brew and much joy when it was resurrected.

Can’t have two heaters running and make coffee at the same time. I might need to make a sign.

This morning, Diane went to the commissary, which is literally right next to the Fam Camp we’re in, so it was a short trip. While she was gone, I took Max for a long walk because he was assigned guard duty for the bus while we went to visit Julie & David in Peoria. Julie is Diane’s cousin, and she grew up in Warren, Oregon, just like Diane did. Kinda handy, right?

The drive over was nice. It was about 10 miles away and many of the roads in and around Phoenix are long and straight, so we only had to make about 6 turns to get there. You could almost take a nap between turns.

This is Julie and David.

They live in a 55+ community and it’s pretty nice. They actually have grass in the neighborhood which is a treat. Their home is beautiful and there is one entire wall of mirrors that is quite stunning.

One of my favorite features were a couple of windows. This is looking out.

This is from outside.

We had a wonderful visit and got to know David a little better. Previous visits have been short. This time we had time to actually visit and learn stuff about each other. The fun thing I learned about David is he has a very large family. Here’s proof.

His mother is in it on the left side, row 12, 26 to the right. He put his finger on her briefly so I’m really guessing about her position. She had dark hair in the photo. She doesn’t have it anymore because she’s 90. I know that’s true because we got to meet her.

Max was alone for about 4 hours and he did his best to make us feel really bad about it, but he was OK. He generally sleeps while we’re gone. He gets over our absence quicker when he’s given a treat, a good back scratching, and a long walk.

That’s it.

Day 133 – Saturday – Surprise, AZ #2

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Today we met Brian,

Annie, and Kelly

at Dillons KC BBQ Wildlife World Zoo where we had a nice lunch next to the flamingos. There were no flamingo choices on the menu. I didn’t see any other zoo animals either. I looked twice.

Brother Jack, joined us at the venue making the group complete.

For those of you unfamiliar with the family associations of all these people I’ll enlighten you. Jack is Brian’s grandfather and my (I think) grandnephew, Annie’s grandfather in-law, and Kelly’s great grandfather. I think that’s it. Anyway, it was interesting to have a meal at the zoo where they can grow their own menu items.

That’s not true, of course. I just added that so Diane will talk to me about it.

After lunch we drove back to Jack’s house in Surprise where we visited with Pat and Carolyn, cousins you met yesterday, in the driveway, in the sun. The sun was nice and warm. The mornings here are really cold – 38 degrees or so. Thankfully, once the sun comes up it warms quickly as long as the wind doesn’t blow much. It is my experience, that the wind doesn’t have to blow very hard to make it cold.

We spent a good amount of time visiting outside before moving into the house where we went to work on the puzzle Jack was working on. Kelly took Max on several long walks around the neighborhood and I know for sure he had a great time. He loves his walks.

I think it took about an hour for the six of us to finish the puzzle. It would have been eight, but Pat and Carolyn went home before we started. We had a good time getting it done. There was only one piece missing.

Jack provided dessert in the form of lemon Oreos. Those are really, really good.

Just before it started to get dark, we excused ourselves and headed back to Luke AFB. We would have stayed longer, but Diane doesn’t like to drive after dark, and I’m not allowed to drive her car unless I’m alone. It’s a rule.

Visiting with the family is always awesome and we treasure the time spent with all of them.

Once back on base, I immediately took Max for another walk because he was pretty insistent about making his rounds. He’s really serious about maintaining a routine.

Now I lay me down to sleep…..

Day 130 – Wednesday – On the road again.

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We got up at 0630 when Diane’s bird alarm started chirping. Since I didn’t have much to do this morning, I stayed in bed like a lump. I stayed there until 0700 when it was determined that I should arise. So, I did. Actually, it was my idea.

Our first stop was Lazy Days RV place where we had an appointment to get the bus’s radiator drained, cleaned and refilled. We got there at 0911 and left the rig with them because Noah said it would take 3 hours or so. An hour into it he called to report that the tech doing the work said the overflow tank had leaks and suggested we get one before dealing with the radiator. The new tank price was quoted at $1300.00 and would take 2-3 weeks to arrive. Yup, that fit right into our plans for the day. So, we went back to pick it up and head north, pretending like it would make it no problem.

It did just fine and didn’t heat up even a tiny bit. To aid in that effort we chose to not pull the car. Instead, Diane drove and I followed. That worked great until we got to Phoenix where the traffic got real dense and all of the agressive drivers seemed to have a problem with Diane. They actually tried to run her over more than once. From my perspective it was pretty frightening because there was nothing I could do about what was going on. Thankfully, nobody hit her.

There was one rest area on the trip and we stopped at it. Both of us parked in the truck section which was a little bit of a walk to the urinals so I took Max along so we could take a trip through the pet area. He enjoyed the trip, stopping to sniff then pee on everything more than 6 inches tall. It took a while. Then, when we made it to the bottom of the area I see the back of a sign that was obviously meant for folks walking into the area from the restrooms. The other side of the sign said “Beware: This area is populated by poisonous snakes and reptiles.” We made it through safely, but it would have been really nice had they also included that sign at the top of the area. I should have taken a photo of that sign.

After that stop is when the traffic got nasty.

We made it to Luke AFB, and through the South Gate, just about quitting time the barriers in the road popped up stopping all traffic in and out the gate. No one seemed to know why, and it took about 30 minutes for someone to figure out how to make the barriers go away. By then, pretty much everyone on base trying to get home after a long day at the office was lined up for miles in multiple directions. Thankfully, we were apparently the last two vehicles that made it through the gate going on the base. The incoming line outside the base must have been just as bad as the lines waiting to get out.

The barrier we needed to get past was around a right turn corner just inside the gate and there were only 4 cars ahead of us. So, when the barrier dropped, we moved on passed the barrier we quickly found our way to the Fam Camp here on Luke.

We got checked in, parked in the front row,

and hooked up our pedestal, cooked a great dinner of leftovers (no photos available) and got Max out for a walk.

Then I seemed to have lost my iPad. I eventually found it, but it took multiple searches of the bus and the car before it revealed itself. The “Find My Device” app told me it was here, but it was illusive. Perserverance paid off. Now I will be able to sleep peacefully.

Day 118 – Friday – Off to See Roberta

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For this trip, we decided to leave Max home alone. We know he’ll be bored, but we’ll make it up when we return. I actually think he’s part bear, because he doesn’t really sleep, or play with his toys, he kind of hibernates. I’m guessing about that but intend to one day install a camera to see what he does when we leave him alone. We might be amazed to find out that he’s a super-hero who pretends to be a very nice dog when people look at him then becomes an unstoppable crime fighter when they look away. Quantum mechanics must be involved allowing him to shift back and forth as quickly as he does.

Before going on our trip to Green Valley I’m being forced to take my shower a day early. Actually, I’m a day late even though I was told I don’t smell bad. Yet. So, I’ll clean up and put on fresh underwear even though no one will see them unless I hurt myself badly enough that a trip to the doctor is necessary. Most people don’t know that any time you go to the emergency room, no matter what it’s for, they make you remove your clothes so they can confirm that you have clean underwear. There’s a check box on the intake form for that purpose. I looked.

When we left the bus, Max just sat on his pillow, hanging his head, looking as pitiful as he could, but he didn’t fool us. We knew he would shift to hero mode as soon as the crunch of our tires faded away.

We left a bit early to ensure we would arrive at the appointed time, so we took the long route. That means we stayed off I-19. I may have mentioned before that Interstate 19 is not really an “interstate” highway. It never leaves Arizona so it should be A-19. I won’t dwell on that but rest assured I’ll be thinking about it every time I look at a map.

The trip south once again took us through the vast pecan orchards that live in the valley south of the Tucson airport and north of E. Sahuarita Road. I’m guessing but believe I’m pretty close. Whatever the boundaries are, the orchards are composed of thousands and thousands of huge pecan trees. Maybe hundreds of thousands. There’s a lot of them. So many, I’m pretty sure there aren’t many available for planting anywhere else in the world. I’m pretty sure there’s a sign long one of the roads through the trees that has that written on it.

Once we got to Sahuarita, we had to turn left on A-19, heading toward Nogales. It wasn’t long before Veronica, our GPS, directed us to get off the freeway and establish a presence on the southbound Frontage Road on which we traveled until we made it to W. Placita de la Cotonia Street. That’s the street Roberta said she lives on. It has been about 70 years since we’ve seen each other, and we hadn’t communicated during that time, so we didn’t have any reason to not believe her. Surely after all this time she wouldn’t lead us astray, would she? No, she wouldn’t.

We found her home without any problem and drove in the driveway just as she was escorting two gentlemen out of the house. We were introduced to both of them but I only remember Ron. I think the other fellow was Bruce. That’s a guess.

As with most family members, Roberta greeted us as if we’d been missing for only a little while, not 70 years. It was a good reunion. Big hugs all round. Then we sat down a table on which she had her photo album displayed. Shortly, another person arrived, and we got to meet Jim whose grandfather was my uncle whom I have no memory of meeting. I knew the name, Knute, but to me he was just one of my Dad’s brothers who lived in California.

We sat around the table going through the photos, putting names to those we knew, and wondering about the ones we didn’t recognize. It was a great visit that went well into the afternoon until Max called and suggested that we return before he got a notion to chew on something. His call was a surprise because I didn’t know he had a phone. Huh.

Before leaving, i set up my tripod and took some photos from Roberta’s veranda to commemorate this joyous gathering.

This is me, Diane, Roberta, and Jim

Me, Roberta, and Jim

I didn’t get a photo of Ron because he left the party before I figured out how to get my phone hooked up to the tripod. I learned, from Roberta, that Ron came with the home when she bought it. Seems like they said he worked with the previous 2 owners, too. Kind of handy to have someone like Ron who’s been around long enough to know pretty much everything about the house and how to fix it.

After the visit we headed home using the same back roads that brought us here. Fortunately, we got home just about sun down, Max’s suggestion, and I took him for his walk right away. He’s about the best dog in the world. Really, he is.

It was a glorious day in Arizona.

Day 116 – Wednesday – Merry Christmas

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Here we are, counting down the days until we begin our trip North, to home. Only 2 weeks left here in the Bone Yard. We’ve been here for so long that everything seems quite normal. This is the longest we’ve ever parked in one spot.

Yesterday, we took a vote to see what our future travel plans might look like. It went something like this:
All in favor of camping in the future cover your left eye: 2 to 1 (Max abstained)
All in favor of not being full time Snowbirds blink 6 times: 3 to 0
All in favor of going to the beach any time we want bow your head: 3 to 0
All in favor of selling the RV nod your head vigorously: 87 to 2
(we used some proxy votes for this one)

So, next stop is Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix.

From there on we will continue moving north as the weather allows.

Should be fun.

Here’s Christmas morning in Tucson.

After a lunch of eggs and toast, we took a leisurely drive around the Tucson Mountains. To do this required that we transit the road to Old Tucson and Saguaro National Park West, roads we’ve been on before. Diane was actually hoping we were going to a park where Max could run freely. It was a really nice ride and it was fun to see all those Saguaro cacti again, but the end of this trip, according to the GPS, was Gilbert Ray Campground.

We drove around inside the park for a while but didn’t find any place where Max could run freely. The park is smack dab in the middle of Saguaro National Park West. Well, maybe not in the middle, but it’s imbedded in the park because Saguaro cacti are everywhere.

Since there wasn’t a place for Max to jog, I got out with him and prepared to walk along the exit road. First, I stopped at an empty campsite to check the electrical hookup and found that it was both 30- and 50-amp service. Diane did another search and discovered that this campground is only $35 a night. There is an RV dump and there are no showers in the restrooms. But when the sun goes down I don’t think there is any light pollution so star gazing must be incredible.

As Max and I walked to the back of that first site, a coyote calmly walked across our field of view about 20 feet away. I was a little astonished. Max didn’t see it. If he had I may have lost an arm is he’d taken off to chase this guy. Within seconds he disappeared in the underbrush. What fun. Max and I continued our walk while Diane followed along behind us. We quit about 1/2 mile down the road then got back in the car and headed out.

Instead of returning the way we got there, we took Gates Pass Road that goes over the Tucson Mountains back to the town proper. It was a very scenic trip.

This is about halfway up the road from the valley.

This is closer to the top, looking back to the valley, before heading down the other side.

Going down the Tucson side, looking at the north side of Tucson.

When we got home Max wanted to stay outside after that long ride This is how he communicates that desire.

When asked if he wants to go inside, he drops to the ground immediately if he wants to stay outside. He’s pretty creative that way.

That’s pretty much it for the day, except for the spaghetti dinner we made. No pics so you’ll have to trust me it was really good. It’s the first time we’ve had spaghetti this trip.

Since supper we’ve been binge watching NCIS from 2012. We’ve always liked the show but these are so old if we watched them then, there’s no way we’d remember. So they’re all brand new to us. Nifty.

Now I must stop.

Day 105 -Saturday – Football, Maybe

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Saturdays are usually my day to watch NCAA football, but Oregon had time off after winning the Big 10 conference championship game. We won’t see them again until the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day. Until then I just kinda watch whoever shows up on the TV.

I actually started watching the Army vs. Navy game and saw Navy score first, but let it go when a movie came on that Diane had set to record. Since our Dish receiver only has one tuner we can’t record a show and watch a different channel. Diane was out at the time, replenishing our food and I know she would not have minded if I have cancelled the recording. It didn’t seem right, though, so I just let the system change channels. I heard later that Navy went on to win that game 31-13. How about that? The only other scores that sometimes interest me is when Notre Dame gets beat.

After Diane returned, we went off base and got the car washed because we’re going to church tomorrow in Saddle Brooke. This trip is so we can visit with pattyaz and her husband geneaz. With the use of very few brain cells I think most of you can interpret those names to be Patty and Gene. Patty is Diane’s legitimate cousin and, therefore, my cousin by marriage. Patty and I were also classmates all through high school in Scappoose. Unlike me, Patty paid attention in all her classes.

Because of our lack of activity this day, I don’t have any new photos, except for this stellar sunset. I’ll leave you with that.

Kinda nice, huh?

Day 103 – Thursday – Laundry Day

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Yup, all the clothes are dirty again. She didn’t know it, but I’ve been running around the Bone Yard for the past 3 days without underwear. I didn’t realize how much denim chaffs.

I don’t normally lie so blatantly, but that’s a big one. Old denim doesn’t chaff at all.

Helping with the laundry is something I always do willingly. That’s a tradeoff because I’m totally not allowed to actually do laundry unsupervised. There once was a sweater Diane really liked …. need I say more?

As directed, I put designated stuff into designated washers and put washed clothes into designated dryers. When clothes are dry, I help fold them.

In the morning, I called brother Jack to wish him a Happy Birthday. I try to do this every year but think I didn’t get it done last year. He’s much older than me so it’s OK. It was good to talk with him. During our talk he mentioned that Roberta lives somewhere down here and said he’d see if he could find her phone number and/or address. Our guess was that she’s in Green Valley. Not long after that visit, he sent me a text with a phone number. When I took Max on his afternoon walk, I called the number and had the pleasure of reuniting with my long-lost cousin. We had a nice long visit, remembering some of the many things we did together as children. It will be great to look her in the eye and say Hi. May be toss in a hug or two.

I’ve kinda kept track of her over the years through contact with other family members but was never in position to make contact until now. Plans are in the works. She’s only 36 miles away.

Our conversation carried on until it got dark, and it ended while Max and I sat next to the laundromat. We’re only 4-5 RV’s away from there but it’s still a little unsettling to be that far away with no flashlight knowing the coyotes are patrolling the area. I know it’s not likely we’ll be attacked, but you just never know. They might be hiding just around the corner. With Max on guard, I doubt if there’s any danger, but I can pretend. It keeps my sphincters in shape.

That’s it!

Just for fun, here are a couple of school photos that do not relate to this post at all except they are related to us in the form of Grandchildren.

First is Siah. He’s 3.

Then there’s Jasper. He’s 4.

Then there’s Mom, our daughter Jennifer:

Day 102 – Wednesday – Biosphere 2

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Today Diane drove me north to visit the University of Arizona Biosphere 2, a giant 3+ acre terrarium. Perhaps you’ve heard of it. Eight people entered the facility in 1991 and stayed there 2 years and 20 minutes. during that time, they had no contact with the outside world. They ate what they grew and recycled everything. I’m guessing the food they ate had a head start so they wouldn’t have to wait for something to grow so they could eat.

I thought the additional 20 minutes was a little odd but after careful consideration I figured it had something to do with skepticism about how accurate the clocks were in 1993. Adding 20 minutes might have been a cushion to ensure they had indeed spent 2 years locked up.

Or, it might have been because one of the detainees had to use the facilities one more time before exiting. It could also have been because the second to last person to use the facilities used the last few strips of toilet paper and couldn’t reach the Kleenexes.

With Diane’s blessing I was allowed to take the 90-minute walking tour and learn all about Biosphere 2. By the way, after a little research, I learned that Biosphere 1 is actually planet earth. Biosphere 2 is a miniature earth because is encompasses most of the various environments found on earth.

Max was allowed to accompany me because he’s a good dog. That was true right up until the moment we got through the gate, and he saw the turkeys. Three of them. He did his best to yank my arm off and it took a while to convince him that Thanksgiving is behind us, so he had to leave the turkeys alone. Finally, he saw something else move and we detached from the turkeys to follow the RED arrows.

I took a lot of photos after Max decided we were OK, and he didn’t need to protect me from anything. He was, however, very curious about everything. I mean that literally. He is curious about everything and what he was seeing was totally foreign to him.

The walking tour is accompanied by an app you download to your phone that leads you to 23 locations throughout the complex. At each stop you can watch a video on your phone of someone explaining what you’re looking at. Pretty cool. It worked just fine until I missed a turn somewhere and missed #7 so had to go back and find it. That involved going down 3 levels of stairs then finally asking a handy docent where #7 was. He looked at me, leaned to his left a little and point over my shoulder at the #7 hanging in the window behind me.

Apparently I missed #1, too.

Max paused here and I’m sure he was thinking, “that’s a lot of stairs.” But, he skipped the ramp and dragged me to the bottom.

Proof of life. Made it in one piece.

That tall portion of the structure is the library that was reportedly not used a lot because getting to it involved lots of stairs like those below.

The skylight in the center is the top of the library from the inside. I think I would not have gone up there very often, either.

Next is one of the three sections where the atmosphere is controlled so they can study how water flows through soil – like how much water hits the ground and how much of it makes it to the bottom of the hill.

This tree apparently fell down, broke it’s hip and was doomed to use crutches for the rest of its life.

Finally got back outside.

This dome structure is called the “Lung” of the facility. I’s purpose is to ensure the air pressure of the enclosed buildings is maintained as the air heats and cools. Had the lung not been included, the hot air inside would have caused the big buildings to explode. That’s a lot of glass that would have littered the dessert. There’re roughly a bazillion glass panels in this place. It’s true. I’m sure I heard that on one of the videos I watched. Amazing.

Inside the next structure are a stunning variety of trees and plants.

There’s even an ocean with a coral reef. Sadly, we learned, the reef did not survive but it served it’s purpose to allow people to study the effects of various temps of ocean water.

Some of the trees in the rain forest section are 90 feet tall. This is a big terrarium.

Heading for the exit.

Back up the stairs makes a full circle.

Another aspect of the facility is the many casitas they built to accommodate scientists who come to study. I believe I heard that the casitas had 3 to 5 bedrooms for a total of 200. They are very nice, too. They won’t let riffraff wander through them. Seems like they could probably make a few bucks on the side if they rented them out to common folks.

Somewhere not far down the road to home we stopped for lunch. When I did a search for a likely location, Max spied the Grain River Asian Bistro so that’s where we went. I think it was a lucky call on his part because it just happened to be the first one on the map and we were hungry. How handy.

While waiting he thought maybe he could sit at the table with Mom.

I convinced him that dogs eat while standing on the floor. When I told him I’d order some chicken for him, he readily agreed.

Thanks, Dad

Day 101 – Tuesday – Tacos and Nachos

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Today we visited a museum where all the displays are all miniatures. Very stunning stuff. I took at least 125 pictures and videos of the displays. I know, it doesn’t take me long to use up that much film and there’s no way I’ll be able to share all of them with you. I was fascinated looking at the incredible work the artists created. The houses and everything that fills it were awesome, but what got me the most was the art created at the end of a #2 graphite pencil. Simply amazing.

Max enjoyed it, too, and we didn’t even have to pay his way in.

The miniatures start before entering the museum. The door is beautiful.

Next to it is it’s miniature.

The pencil art is amazing.

This is the couch from Beetlejuice. It’s not a miniature, but it’s pretty cool.

I took a lot of photos but I didn’t do justice to the displays so please visit the Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures website and see for yourselves.

Day 99 – Sunday – Tumacácori National Park

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We left the bus not long before noon, and we only made it about 10 feet before Diane stopped and told me to get my keys.

I’ve done this before. So far, no harm has befallen us because of my mismanagement of the keys.

The park is about 55 miles away, a bit south of Green Valley, so we had to traverse familiar territory to get there. That was OK, because it’s actually a nice drive. It’s even better because I don’t have to drive. More accurately, I’m not allowed to drive. Max and I just sat there enjoying the ride.

Getting there was simple but when we approached the park there were cars parked all along both sides of the road. At first glance it was apparent that getting to the park itself could involve a long walk. Not knowing exactly where the entrance was, Diane kept driving until she spied a handicap spot and took it. As it turned out, that spot was directly in front of the entrance door into the park. Amazing, right? It gets better.

The entrance sign was very specific that no pets were allowed so I went inside to see if Max would be allowed to enter as a Support Animal. I made it clear that Max was a work in progress to be a Service Animal. To our benefit, the guy sitting behind the desk was a retired Command Master Chief with over 40 years of service so wearing my navy hat paid off. He only gave me a little grief about only making Senior Chief and for quitting the Navy after only 26.5 years. We chatted a bit and It was a good talk. He handed us off to a fellow ranger gave me the drill for service animals to ensure I understood the importance of not letting him desecrate the buildings or grounds. We understood. That actually isn’t a problem with Max because he’s the best little dog in the world.

There was a fiesta going on, the reason for our trip, and we could hear the music and singing in the distance. It was very pleasant.

We followed the fiesta signs that led deep into the park, behind the old church in the photo. Since it was on the way to the music, we had to stop and to see it before finding the source of the music.

Work on the church began in 1800 and the church was dedicated in 1822.

This is a rendition of what the interior looked like when it was in use.

This is what’s left

This is a rendition of what the altar area looked like

Here’s what’s left.

Now that you’ve seen my photos, you need to check out the park’s web site for better ones. I’m sure you will enjoy it.

The festival was a venue for many church, youth groups, and individual artists who sold items they made to support their groups. Scattered amongst the crafty people were many opportunities to by an incredible array of food. I bought Diane a bottle of water and a small Christmas tree ornament made out of string. Here are a couple of photos of the festivities. It was a busy place.

On the way out of the park we stopped for a while in a shady spot.

Here’s where we parked – the car on the right. That dark spot to the left of the car is the entrance door.

We drove back to Green Valley before hunger struck so we stopped at Arby’s for a fill-up. Max wasn’t offered anything to eat so he was a little bummed.

He stood like that the entire time I was eating my sandwich, so he got his way and wound up with quite a few bits of roast beef. It was only fair.

As soon as we got home, I took Max for a walk. We wound up talking to Chuck Berry, a fellow who drives an older RV with Oregon plates. I’ve been waiting to meet him, but he was never there when we went by, until this time.

I introduced myself and asked him which part of Oregon he had escaped from. He looked me right in the eye and said, “have you ever heard of St. Helens?” That was a true shocker. He and his wife live in St. Helens less than a mile from where we live.

Small world, right?

Needless to say, we had a nice visit and plan to have another before they leave this week.

Imagine that.