November 18-19, 2013 Casa Grande, Arizona

Monday, November 18

After our windows were fixed, we made the decision to head to our lot in Casa Grande.  We arrived there around 7 PM and pulled in the lot in the dark.  Let me tell you - it is a challenge to situate a motorhome in the dark.  But we made it!  We hooked up the electric, went to Subway to pick up dinner and then just relaxed!!!

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled: 61 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Arizona - from Mesa: Main Street; Lindsey Street; Queen Creek Street; SR-87/587; I-10; SR-93/387; Cottonwood Road, Thornton Road; Gila Bend Highway; South Montgomery Road

Tuesday, November 19

I just have to say that coming back to our lot is just like coming home.  Today we spent visiting and doing things around the motorhome.  It is great to see everyone - .

We expect to be here until January.  I will be blogging periodically but not daily until we start traveling again.

Until then - Enjoy today and...

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”

  Mahatma Gandhi

November 17 - 18, 2013 Our Time in Mesa

Sunday, November 17

We had a slow start this morning and made our way to the Mesa Marketplace and Swap Meet.  We really did not need anything but it was good to walk around to see the “stuff”.   There is some beautiful things out there but, alas, does not fit in a motorhome - .

Our next stop was Staples to look at computers - both Andy and I hope to get new ones soon.  And, lo and behold, we found Utz’s Sourdough Pretzels on sale.  Those pretzels are made in the PA Amish area and they are probably the best pretzels I ever ate.  They are hard if not impossible to find once you leave Pennsylvania but someone did tell us that Staples does stock them.   YEA!!!

The rest of the day, I spent trying to get caught up on my blogs from Death Valley.  Now done through November 7 - 3 more days to go.  I took over 2000 pictures there and we only saw just a little part of the park.

Monday, November 18

We were up early and made our way to Auto Glass Boss on Main Street in Mesa.  We have double pane windows and every one of them has leaked.  Two years ago at the steps near Lake Havasu, we had Joe fix two of our windows (Thanks Jan and Chuck for letting us know about Joe.).  Since this year was our maintenance year, a few weeks ago we called Joe to talk about getting our other windows done.  So today was the day.

We had ALL (20 windows) of our windows fixed and the windows in the living area tinted (12 windows).  He did a great job and I highly recommend him if you have creeping seals on your double paned windows - very reasonable.  A link to his web page and number is on the right side of the blog under “Interesting Links”.  Feel free to tell him we sent you.

They finished up around 5 PM and we could have stayed there (he does have electric and water) but we decided to move on to our lot in Casa Grande - see next blog for details and stats.

Enjoy today.

November 16, 2013 Travel to Mesa

We woke very early and headed on down the road.

Past Lake Mead:

Over Hoover Dam into Arizona:

Oh-Oh, hope this is not going to be a dust storm:

Coming into Kingman - no more clouds but the wind is picking up:

The route from Kingman to Wickenburg on SR-93 has topography that changes and is incredibly beautiful:

Saguaros:

Lots of Saguaros:

And dust in the air:

This is the rocky area - piles of rocks that look like the giants left:

What a gnarled one:

Joshua Trees - we went thru forests of them:

Oh My:

The wind continued to blow - my Andy did a great job in getting us there.  What is interesting is that the forecast was for the wind yesterday - not today. 

This is the scenery around Wickenburg:

And this is the scenery around Phoenix - around 60 miles southeast:

Large Metropolitan areas have lots to offer but, sheesh, too much traffic!!!

We arrived at the Palm Gardens RV Park on Main Street in Mesa mid-afternoon.  After setting up, we did a few errands and had supper at In-and-Out Burger - my favorite burger place - YUM!!

We will be here for a few days so stayed tuned and enjoy today.

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled: 293 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Nevada: US-93

Arizona: US-93; I-40; US-93; SR-101; I-10; SR-202; Gilbert Road; Main Street