May 17, 2013 - Departure from AZ

It has been a hectic day, trying to get our house here closed up for the summer. Things were complicated by the City deciding to repave our street yesterday and today, precluding us from bringing the RV to our door, and requiring everything to be transported across town to the RV storage lot. This meant many trips back and forth carting "stuff." Some of the "stuff" along with us on this trip are about 15 bags of grapefruit from our citrus tree, all to be shared with family and friends in Seattle and Portland. They are packed in ice in 3...

Apr 12, 2013 - Mesa and Cave Creek visits

We had a few things we wanted to do here. We wanted to check out the Mesa Flea Market which we had visited many years ago and tried last year but the rain stopped us! This market is huge with new stuff. We were looking for the dash cover for the truck which we found. We got there about 10 left at 1:00. Walk around found some minor stuff to buy. The photo attached was of this booth that sold only these doggie sun glasses! All types and styles! Today is about 89. Yesterday we headed to Cave Creek to check it out again. The magazine True West...

Apr 10, 2013 - Arizona

We arrived yesterday about 2 pm. It was a 5hr drive from Indio. The winds were blowing but not that bad. Were are about 2 miles from Fountain Hills, AZ at Eagle View RV resort at Fort McDowell which is on a Yavapai Nation (Indian reservation). Of course there is a casino not to far. Went over last night to see my cousin's wife as she works there. Our site here is backed up to the Verde River. We also have view of Red Mountain (Mt. McDowell). It is cool here suppose to warm up during the week in low 80's. I guess we miss the mess on Monday's...

Jan 29, 2013 - Yosemite Bound

As a birthday present awarded last summer, Anne gave me five days of cooking classes offered by The Food Network. The classes were held in Yosemite National Park during January. Top chefs from around the country offered weekly sessions organized around a cooking theme. Our week was Mediterranean Cuisine. Friends from Maine, Fran and Bob Clukey, joined us for the event, as well as for a week's stay in Fountain Hills. Getting to Yosemite in late January is not always easy, since snows in the Sierra-Nevadas can be quite daunting (i.e., CHAINS...

Oct 27, 2012 - The Heard

We try to do a morning walk every day, usually around Fountain Park.....but sometimes in the McDowell Preserve. On this afternoon, we visited the Heard Museum in Phoenix. The Heard is a great museum devoted to preserving and showcasing Native American history and culture. It was established over 80 years ago and exhibits American Indian art ranging from centuries-old pottery and basketry to contemporary paintings, sculpture, jewelry, etc. There are 11 galleries housed in a beautiful Spanish Colonial building complete with courtyards,...

Oct 26, 2012 - The Superstitions to Roosevelt Dam

As a start to our new winter season, Ann and John Parker (longstanding friends from Sugarloaf) arrived to enjoy some AZ sunshine. This was their first trip to the Sonoran Desert as tourists, so, after a day spent at the Phoenix Botanical Gardens learning about cacti, we took off on the Apache Trail to show them Arizona plant life and land forms "up-close-and-personal". It was a beautiful day and we did the drive in Black Beauty with her top down. As you may recall, this road goes high into the Superstition Mountains, starting outside of...

Sep 28, 2012 - Fountain Hills

We arrived home today on a typical hot AZ afternoon. Daisy cooled off in the pool while Anne and I unpacked the RV. Everything at the house seems fine. Today we will move the 5'er to its RV storage lot and hopefully get Black Beauty up and running for our final leg of this journey.....the coast of Maine to the coast of California. We leave for CA at the end of next week. Thus, more adventures will follow.

Sep 5, 2012 - Eagle View Camp

driving east on I-8 thru the desert with temps of 100+ (with NO air), stopping at several places for gas, lunch and at dateland for date shakes... leaving I-8 towards phoenix at 84/347n up to I-10n to rt 60e to rt 87 camping in fountain hills at eagles view camp... there temps we a little cooler at 95deg...today was a long hot driving day but we have done much worase temp wise... r&b our todays photos... https://picasaweb.google.com/100756971738843543706/EagleViewCampTripDay120122# today we are here by...

May 29, 2012 - Ready to Roll

It's been a busy week getting ready for our next cross-country venture. Our RV has been in storage for the past 18 months, sitting at a local storage lot in the Arizona sun. Needless to say, it was in need of serious cleaning, both inside and out. And then there was the family of rattle snakes who had been sleeping in it for who knows how long ....(only joking). The batteries were dead, brakes were not working, tires were cracking from the sun.....on and on and on. Fortunately, we found a good RV repair guy who "travels" and he helped get...

Apr 21, 2012 - Sedona in the Sun

It was predicted to be 107 in Fountain Hills on Saturday, so we decided to do a day trip to Sedona, which Betty and Bob had never seen. Sedona is quite a bit higher than Scottsdale or Fountain Hills, causing it to be cooler. Temperatures there are usually about 15 degrees less than around Phoenix, which makes it a popular destination in the heat of summer. This proved true on our visit and we had a very comfortable day there. As the pictures show, there was no snow on the red hills this time. On Sunday, we had lunch in Tempe with the...

Apr 20, 2012 - Walking Among the Cacti

After a delicious breakfast of grapefruit from our tree and Bob's perfect scrambled eggs, we headed into Phoenix for a walk in the Desert Botanical Gardens. More was in bloom this time compared to our visit here one month ago. It was incredibly hot, so we walked VERY slowly and drank gallons of water. Trying to remember names for all the AZ cacti is akin to remembering the names for all ferns growing in New England. A daunting task!

Apr 18, 2012 - Friends from Sugarloaf

Betty and Bob Crane (longtime skiing friends from Sugarloaf) spent a week with us on their first trip to Arizona. They got a real taste of the Arizona sun while here, for the temperature reached in excess of 100 degrees every day of their visit. Needless to say, we spent a lot of time in the pool, where Bob taught Miss Daisy to belly flop into the water to get her ball. Betty brought lobsters from Maine, which we ate under the stars on our outdoor patio. Of course, all implements we normally use for cooking and eating lobster were left at...