May 10, 2013 - Phoenix, AZ - Desert Shadows RV Park

Our trip from Winslow to Phoenix, AZ was a leisurely 191 miles that involved descending about 5,000 feet and the accompanying scenery of the descent. It's a beautiful drive and the Mothership handled the downgrades in fine fashion. We are staying at the Desert Shadows RV Resort for the third time over four years and there has been no decline in its facilities at all. It's a great place to stay and is close to I-17 which runs down the center of Phoenix. It takes 15-20 minutes to reach my brother's house, depending on traffic. We have full...

Mar 19, 2013 - The MIM Is A Must!

The Musical Instrument Museum is only three years old and growing every day. What a fabulous place. Founded by an ex CEO of Target, the MIM has a collection of over 15,000 instruments and artifacts ( only 5000 on display at any given time). The collection represents over 200 countries in five regional galleries : Africa & Middle East, Asia and Oceania, Europe, Latin America - Caribbean, and the United States and Canada. There are four additional galleries on the main floor : The Mechanical Music Gallery, The Artist Gallery, The Experience...

Mar 6, 2013 - Phoenix, AZ

Wed, 06 Mar: Well, we're back and again on the road. While we haven't exactly been racking up the miles in the coach we've definitely covered a large swath of the planet. In late January we parked the coach in Casa Grande and drove the car to San Diego where we boarded the ms Statendam for a 28 day cruise to Hawai`i and the South Pacific. We covered in excess of 10,400 miles, crossed the equator and dateline, and managed to eat a lot of food. While it isn't exactly our RV travels we will include a few pix we shot on the cruise. While we...

Mar 1, 2013 - Day 228 - Phoenix area

Another work day for Garry. He wanted to clean the batteries for the bus now that we have the new inverter/ charger and it seems to be working far more efficiently than the old one. He figured that it would take him a couple of hours. WRONG!! Six hours later and a parts run by me for new battery post connectors to replace the worn ones, he completed his chore. As all my chores for the day required power, vacuuming, bread-making, blog up-dating, I had a lovely lazy day of book reading. This is the life. Garry may not agree.

Mar 1, 2013 - Wrigley Mansion

William Wrigley Jr. built this house (1929-31) as a 50th wedding anniversary present for his wife Ada. It was the smallest of their five homes - 16,850 sq.ft! - their winter cottage! The house has so many interesting features like Catalina tile, the prized Steinway dual-art player piano, hand painted ceilings, eleven different styled fireplaces and a foil lined telephone room - the foil coming from gum wrappers! The house has only four bedrooms because Wrigley owned The Biltmore Hotel across from the mansion and put guests up there. He...

Feb 28, 2013 - Day 227 - Phoenix area

Another golf day. We had a 1 pm golf tee time booked at the same course with Don and Verna. Our games were about the same as on Tuesday, a couple of pars each, a lot of bad putting, and some great drives. We like this course, short enough to enjoy, but challenging enough to improve our skills if we had the time to play it regularly. Maybe another year. Don introduced us to Dave's BBQ for supper. We had a sampler meal served on a garbage can lid with pork ribs, beef brisket, chicken pieces, beans, corn on the cob, and coleslaw. The four of...

Feb 28, 2013 - Phoenix update...

It's been a hectic but great couple of days. We've had good news & bad news on our truck & RV maintenance issues. The truck needs a new turbo. Not great news. We'd hoped to clean & 'fix it' but it's too far gone. Se we're having a new one installed next Monday or Tuesday. We'll be camped at Dead Horse while they are doing the work and our friends John & Joyce will be right down the road so we'll be spending time with them. We're pretty excited to act as tour guides in Sedona for them. We've been there many times & love it. As a matter of...

Feb 28, 2013 - Weeks 108-112 (9/26-10/30)

Weeks 108-112 (9/26-10/30): On the last day of September we left our Summer digs, and made the short journey to Cheyenne Mountain State Park, in Colorado Springs. One of the newest state parks, Cheyenne Mountain is nice and clean, and has twenty miles of rolling, well-maintained, spectacular trails. It is definitely worthy of a return trip. While there, we visited the U.S. Olympic Center, but not the Figure Skating Hall of Fame. Sorry. We did go to the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center, which included getting up close and personal with many...

Feb 27, 2013 - Day 226 - Phoenix area

We got company today. Janice and Dean Hopping came over around noon for a visit. They are here visiting several friends and are currently at Cliff and Sandi Montpetit's in Anthem just south of our campground. We got all caught up, had snacks and couple of drinks then headed over to Cliff and Sandi's. They have a lovely home in Anthem by Del Webb that is still under-construction. Dean and Cliff made a great BBQ supper and we talked the afternoon and evening away. It is great seeing friends and getting updated on their lives since we saw them...

Feb 27, 2013 - Phoenix

Welcome to the 2013. I made one New Year Resolution which I make and stick to every year. That is not to make any stupid new year resolutions that I cant keep. In saying that I hope you all have a prosperous and healthy 2013. Lily and I arrived back in Los Angeles on 14 February. We got monstered by TSA (Transportation Security Administration). A TSA gentleman named Officer Gomez gave us a hard time. He suggested we were creating a pattern of being in the US and it looked like we intended to live here. I explained that I was born in...

Feb 26, 2013 - Phoenix, Arizona...

We made it in this evening without incident. Thank goodness, as our day started out with a kitchen faucet leak again this morning! Larry has done everything he can short of purchasing a new faucet. We did locate some new 'innards' this evening so he'll give it one more try tomorrow & if that doesn't do the trick, it's outta here! LOL We're heading to Camp Verde at 7am tomorrow to have our turbo cleaned and to verify that everything else on the truck is in good shape. We don't want to begin our spring traveling with any issues. We are also...

Feb 26, 2013 - White Tank Mountain hike

Day 44 (am temp 37.8) White Tank Mountain Regional Park The White Tank Mountain Regional Park is not too far from where I was staying in Buckeye, and had it not been for a hint from a Portland friend, may not have known it was here. My plan was to see Jared off at the airport later this afternoon, so the morning was open. Seemed like a good day for a hike before heading into Phoenix. This park has several miles of hiking opportunities, and the tough part with only having one day to hike, and never having been at a site before, is trying to...