Wrapup of the week

Whew... The past week has been a whirlwind-like experience. When you traverse a couple time zones and go from the green in Florida to the browns of the desert you feel as if you are in a time machine that has the abilty to transform weather, scenery, and all that buzzes around in your head.

Jeff commented when he flew back in to the South Pole the second time, after staying there a year, that it began to look like home (that's when he knew it was time to do something else.) What was a bit scarry to him visiting such a hostile place, a similar feeling had a "warming" effect on us as we followed the route north to I-10. Yes, AZ is laid out in sections, but we knew the land marks and enough of the roads to get to our location without a hitch. It was like coming home.

There is a giant flea market just a mile or two from us...what a place. Open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, it is an upscale facility (as compared to, for example, The Strip District in Pittsburgh) that is quite large and chocked full of all types of merchandise. Might you want a leather coat for $20?

We ate breakfast there (similar to Plamanti Bros., it was not) and walked the covered facility for about two hours yesterday, then off to Estrallia for a two mile walk around its large lake. I headed back to the campground to tend the Rose who had a flare-up of "can't quite pee very much to take care of the urge that won't go away." This is similar to what she was doing before, so we just doubled her meds and kept her quiet. That seemed to work because she is much improved today. We supped at an authentic Mexican restaurant similar to Margarita's in Holland and a few notches up from Su Casa in Fennville.

We played dominos at Jan and Gary's and finally figured out how to add the "Mexican Train" option after Aleene read the directions of the new set they purchased at the aforementioned flea market. It took 2 1/2 hours to play double twelves, but we are now experienced players. Actually the rules we used were a combination of Habitat rules, Texas rules, Florida rules and Hutchins Lake rules. (Those places all had input to our brand of Mexican Train.)

So it was a late night when we turned in, but we slept well and the Rose seemed to improve. We went to church (the pastor made a positive reference to the Steelers, but mispronounced Rothlesburger) with our host and hostess at the clubhouse in Pebble Creek. We then went our separate ways for the early afternoon. We join up again about three to head for a hockey game (the Arizona Coyotes, coached by The Great One) which is on tap for the early evening.

We will be joined by Wes and Marilyn tomorrow (as they tour Arizona for a few weeks) for a few days and we will be able to enjoy the upper seventies weather doing whatever...or if nothing else, swimming in the heated pool here at the RV park. Sorry to bring it up, but the weather here is nice, even if a bit dry. They are heading for 104 straight days without rain. But I gotta tell you...the nights have been cold. We bundle up with our furnace a runnin for a very delightful night's rest. Our present plan is to pull out next Sunday and watch the SB on the road...somewhere in southern California.

I will keep you posted...See you later...bye