One of our campsite neighbors had a neat canopy set up so we invited ourselves over to find out more about it. One of the things we like about RVing, is that most of the people are very friendly. They said it was from REI and is called an InCamp Shelter 100. It’s 10 ft. by 10 ft. and over 6 foot high so I can stand in it. We can fit our lounge chairs and a side table inside. We just move the chairs around as the sun moves. We bought this for shade because the sun gets too hot to sit outside and read and in the complete shade it is actually chilly. The shelter filters shade so it is just right. Now we will have to test it when it gets in the 90s, then maybe the dark shade will be OK.
My brother and sister-in-law, Glen and Becky, came up to Cave Creek on the 29th to visit and have lunch with us at the Sun Dial Café in Carefree.
On Super Bowl Sunday, February 1st, as we were getting ready to leave for Gilbert to go sightseeing with Glen and Becky we noticed this fog line to our south and west. The mountains looked like islands in the ocean.
We even ran into some heavy fog as we got closer to Gilbert. Leaving Gilbert we were still in heavy fog until we drove about 10 miles on our way to the Globe area. The Miami/Globe part of the country still has open pit mining for copper.
We have no idea what’s going on here. It did look like they had sections of fence across the face of the hill. The terraced appears to be on the outside of an open pit mine. Cattle were grazing on the steep slope.
My brother Glen, SIL Becky, Sandy and I spent the day, Wednesday the 4th, touring north of Phoenix. We first drove up I-17 to the south side of Flagstaff where we picked Alt 89 south to Sedona through Oak Creek Canyon. Glen and Becky had never been there before and enjoyed the scenery as we do every time we go through the area.
We had lunch at the Cowboy Club at their outdoor seating area. As much as I tried, no would sit on the horse for a picture.
After lunch we drove to Jerome, AZ. We neglected to get a picture of the town as it sets on the hill side. The streets zig-sag up the hill so steeply that it is said that mothers would put ropes around their children to keep them from going too far down the hill if they fell. It’s probably just a old wives tale, but believable if you saw the town.
This is Humphreys Peak at Flagstaff which is 50 miles away as the crow flies.
The Jerome Grand Hotel sits above the town. I think it would be a nice place to stay sometime. We saw signs and have also heard of “Ghost Tours”. If you saw the town and new the old mining history, ghost stories must abound.
This is part of the Mogollon Rim that runs from a little NW of here to the New Mexico border.
Sandy flew home on the 7th because her sister is in the hospital. Her plane left Phoenix at 10:30AM and flew to Minneapolis where she picked up her Buick and drove to Aberdeen. She arrived there at 9:00PM and that was good because they had freezing rain later in the night and it continued for the next 3 days. I guess it was a mess out there.
On Monday the 8th I drove to Los Angeles to have some warranty work done on the RV.
The next morning I dropped the Lazy Daze at the Factory at 8:00 AM . After breakfast at Flo’s, which was just OK, I drove to Riverside to look at a campground there called Rancho Jurupa Park. It’s a little further to drive to the factory but its $35 a night versus $58 at East Shore. I got back to the factory at 12:00 and sat in the shade to read a book but did not get too far as at 1:00 they brought the RV out and everything was done.
I had been thinking about having a Banks Power exhaust system installed since we bought the 2011 Lazy Daze so I finally decided to have it installed on the 2014 LD. I dropped the RV off on Tuesday morning and they said it would be done around noon on Friday. This included new everything including the exhaust header pipes. They also used the K&N air filter and reprogramed the fuel system. The reason for the Banks system is to have the ability to climb the mountain grades better. They were finished by 11:00 am and after some instruction on how to reload the programmer if needed it was off to East Shore RV Park to wait for Sandy to fly in tomorrow afternoon.
My first test was a 3/4 mile grade coming into the campground. In the past I would drive up the hill at 40 MPH at around 5000 RPM. This time up the hill I could do 45 MPH at about 3500 RPM. I was very happy, but the real test will be up the Cajon Canyon on I-15 when we leave town and it is about 10 miles of 3-7% grades.
On Saturday the 14th Sandy plane was scheduled to arrive at 3:20, her plane landed a little early as she called me at 3:18 and said she was outside waiting. Anyway it was good to have her back “home” again.
We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and watching the wildlife around us.
We had plenty of space in this area of the campground with about 30 feet of lush green grass between sites.
We even had two Roadrunners come by and pay a visit.
There were a couple of hawks flying around as we looked out over the valley and this on finally perched in a tree in front of us. While sitting there we noticed it would keep pecking at something by its feet.
When it took off and I got this picture we saw it had what likes like a gopher or mole in its claws.
A small airport is in the valley nearby and it’s a constant parade of planes flying by as they takeoff.
Thanks to everyone who replied with book recommendations. Linda, a classmate of mine, posted on her Facebook page about a book site called “BookBub”. It’s free to join and they send out a notice daily on free books that are available for free or a a low cost. So far I have only seen listing from Amazon, B & N and Apple. But there have been some good books for free.
I finished four books by Nora Barker, White Elephant, Red Hot and Dead, Blue Murder and Green-eyed Death. They were very good reads. Nora is the pseudonym for Jackie who is my classmate Tom’s wife. I believe she has 5 Nook books out on the Barnes & Noble web site and 3 more in publishing. Her first book, Murder in Primary Colors shows as being free. The books also show up on Amazon so they can probably be gotten other places too, although B&N is the only ones showing a free book.
On Tuesday the 17th we will leave LA and work our way to Death Valley.
Until next time,
Dave and Sandy
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