Sunsets & Myths

We spent the day watching some football and then decided to go for a bike ride.  We had both of our bikes worked on last week and had some pieces replaced, new bike seats (old ones destroyed by hail) and an overall tuneup.  Today was the time to see if all the money spent on the bikes was well spent and if they would be ready for the road again.  They were, but I am so out of shape that it will take some time to build up my leg strength again.  I only have two weeks, so it will be close whether it will work out in time.

Getting ready for the Tour de CCRV

 We rode around the park a bit and Gerry managed to capture some nice sunset pictures.

Our son-in-law Henry has worked in the food service industry for a number of years and for many of those years his company made fruit cakes.  There was a story going around that there were only fifty fruit cakes in the whole of the U.S. and they were regifted every year.  I finally was able to disprove this theory when I was in Sam's Club.  They had a pallet of Claxton Fruit Cakes for sale and when I went back a day later, the pallet was still there and full of fruit cakes.  I picked one off the pallet and put it in the shopping cart.

An old neighbor of ours was from Claxton, Georgia and bragged on these fruit cakes for many years.  In reality, Gerry loves these fruit cakes and looks forward each Christmas season to buy one.

The new TV is working fine and I think we are keeping it.  Not positive, but it's looking that way more and more.  I will have to cut a couple inches from the brace and lower the tv, but it will be workable.  Just another task to put in the job jar and have it finished in the next two weeks, or ---. 

New TV & Visitors

Ron & Dee C came by Friday afternoon and I jumped into their beautiful Ford pickup.  It looks and rides more like a Lincoln than the old pickups I am used to.  It has more electronics, bells and whistles than a fully loaded car.  

The three of us were on a mission to buy a tv at Sam's Club after Gerry and I talked over the pros and cons of three 42" tvs we checked out on Thursday.  We settled on the JVC 42" Smart tv and we loaded it into the back of their pickup for the long drive back to the campground.  Ron helped me unload the tv and bring it into the motorhome.  They hung around for a while and we got caught up on what's been going on with them.  It was very nice of them to help me on this purchase and also provide a delivery service.  Thanks a million.

Ron K came over and we removed the tv in the living room area and replaced it with the new tv.  Ooopss!.   The new tv isn't as tall as the old one and there is an opening beneath it showing the wires and such.  Now we have to decide if we want to keep the tv, rework the braces holding the tv and lowering it, buy a decoration to cover the opening or what to do.

In the meantime we are watching the tv and getting used to using it.  It also has a lot of features including being able to access the internet through an ethernet cable or wireless reception.  They have some apps out there and one of them is Netflix.  Interesting.  I haven't activated this feature since I don't want to run it off the Millenicom wireless setup we have.

Saturday afternoon Sherwin and Linda stopped by for a nice long visit.  They have rented a house a few miles from here and we hope to see more of them this year.  It all depends on how fast my knee heals and I can get back on the road.

Right after they left Ron K stopped by to discuss what the next steps will be with the tv.  We discussed a few options and once we can decide what to do, I hope to finalize the installation.  

Gerry had a hair appointment today and headed over to Nellies for a cut and whatever women do to their hair.  She returned looking like a new and younger woman.  The short haircut looks great on her.  Why doesn't a short haircut look good on me?  No fair!

That was our Friday and Saturday happenings.  What interesting things did you all do today?

Settling in at Cactus Country

There hasn't been much to write about since we arrived here at Cactus Country RV Resort.  We've been settling in and filling the larder, shopping, eating out at Montgomery's in Vail and trying to stay awake past 10PM.  

We have the motorhome all set up for our stay here with our tow bar, brake buddy and associated parts stored away for the next five months.  The wash job we got at the TTT didn't work out very well and now we have a wash and wax job scheduled for Monday.  $$$

Tuesday was coffee and donuts day and seeing some of our friends who have arrived early at the Park.  It was nice seeing them and catching up on what's been going on in their lives since last spring.  They had a lucky buck drawing, however we weren't the lucky winner.   We have won in the past, so we will continue to play when we go there.

We've been shopping for a new 42 inch tv and it seems that there aren't many of them being marketed.  The stores have the plus 46 inch tvs in numbers, but not as much for smaller ones.  We did find three tvs in the range we are interested in at a Sam's Club today and will most likely buy one on Friday.  Gerry can't get used to the 32 inch tv we have now and prefers a larger one.  It seems that "smart tvs" are the rage now and there are may choices for them.  Guess that is the way we will go' too.  It's hard to keep up with all the changes in electronics now since they change so fast.

On the way back today we ran into a huge traffic jam.  The police had a major avenue blocked and were routing vehicles into neighborhoods.  We saw a lot of Tucson that we haven't seen before winding our way around those neighborhoods.  The police had K-9 dogs out and also a helicopter flying overhead.  We never did find out what the problem was.

The weather forecast for Friday is for winds in the 30-45 mph range with gusts over 50 mph at times.  They are calling for possible dust storms north of  Tucson and also in the Wilcox area.  I am glad we aren't on the road in those areas.

Tucson has instituted a ticket writing campaign this year.  The following paragraph was taken from the KOLD TV broadcast.
 
"TPD instituted a mandatory minimum, or quota, back in March. Each officer on the street is now required to write at least one traffic ticket a day.
We wanted to know how effective that's been, so we got the numbers.
Between Jan. 1 and Aug. 27 last year, before the quota: TPD wrote almost 25,000 tickets.
In the same eight month time period this year, TPD wrote more than 46,000 tickets; that's an 89 percent increase."

Guess I will have to watch my speed while we are here this winter.  Actually, I drive the speed limit and have gotten dirty looks, one finger waves and everything else.  Tailgating is very common here in the afternoon and people become aggressive on their way home from work.

See, I told you there wasn't much going on around here.  At least we've had super weather with temps in the 80s during the day and cool at night.  Life is good.

Marine Corp Birthday & Veterans Day

When I was an U.S. Foreign Service Officer serving overseas one event we always looked forward to was the Marine Ball celebrating the birthday of the U.S. Marines.  Sunday was the 238th birthday of this proud member of the U.S. Armed Forces and we wish all Marines a happy birthday.  The Marines have a saying that once a Marine, always a Marine.  Semper Fi.

Today is Veterans Day and we honor veterans of all the services who are serving now and those who came before them.  Without their sacrifices, we could not remain a free nation.  

Thanks to all veterans out there.

I got up early and drove the car to a tire repair garage and they immediately took off the tire and removed a 2 inch screw from the tire.  In went a plug to patch the tire and I was out of there in 20 minutes with only $8 missing from my wallet.  Great service and a fair price.

We stopped at the Tucson Truck Terminal (TTT) to fill the diesel tanks since they had an advertised price of $3.67/gallon.  When I pulled up to the pump, it read $3.83/gallon.  Gerry went in to check with the cashier and she said for units over 26,000 lbs it was the higher price.  Why?   Because they can charge it.  No problem, we drove across the street to the brand new Pilot station and filled up for $3.73/gallon.  Guess who we will patronize in the future.

We arrived at CCRV in Tucson today and have signed up for 5 months.  It is about 89 degrees outside and we are sitting in the cool comfort of our a/c.  Yes, it is a dry heat.
 
Time for a beer and some relaxation.  Life is good.  

Catching our breath

Gerry and I have been running low on energy and decided to take a couple days off and relax here in Benson, AZ.  We met Jerry and Suzy for dinner and caught up on what has been going on with them the last few months.  It was good to see them and we met at a local restaurant called Pablos and had a very nice meal to go along with the great company.

We did take some time out from chilling to do a little geocaching today and picked up three caches.  We looked high and low for another one, but it either had been muggled or was so well hidden that it escaped us.  We'll check it out again when we are next in the Benson area and see if it reappears.

The Saturn started making a ticking noise and now we have picked up a bolt in the driver's side tire.  The last time that happened we had to buy another tire and hope that isn't the case with this one.  It has a lot of tread left on it and should be good for 30K miles if it can be repaired.  Looks like I will have to check it out early in the morning. I hope it doesn't delay us getting out of here.  The weather forecast is for high winds on Tuesday and I don't like to drive in them.

It's almost time for "The Amazing Race" so it is time to close the blog for tonight.