Author: Rudy

When I woke up and started down the stairs Alex and Max were already sitting in the living room. Early to bed, early to rise, I guess. And so begins day one of the Spring Break holiday. Everyone had slept well, although Max claimed to have been awake all night! I made coffee. Tim got up a bit later. Max changed into his shark shorts and tank top — that alone was almost as exciting for him as anything else on the menu for today — and he went for another bike ride around the neighbourhood.

Bacon and eggs and toast and another fresh cup of coffee. Too many cooks in the kitchen. Well, that’s better than none. After breakfast Alex and Max went to the pool. Tim and I sat around a bit and then walked over to check it out as well. No one else there! It’s the busiest time of the year and we’ve got the pool to ourselves! Max was making the most of it. He had his goggles on and was dog-paddling around, going a little farther every time he jumped in. I’m ordinarily not a ‘pool guy’ but with an enthusiastic little shark inviting me to join him how could I not! 

By the time we got back to the house and had showered and changed it was time for lunch. Steak sandwiches by Tim and Alex. A table full of assorted chips, too. And after reading a few stories it was time to get ready for our 2:30 tee time at Mountain Brook. 

I put Max’s new set of golf clubs on my cart and we drove out to the first tee. Max took his little driver and had a few swipes at a teed-up ball. No windows on the houses that lined the first fairway were in danger. For the next three-and-a-half hours we enjoyed a round of ‘family golf’ — no one behind us so no pressure. Max would take a putter and ball on some of the greens and try ‘sweeping’ the ball into the hole, but mostly he just cheered us all on with his endless enthusiasm. Good shot, Opa. 

After some great shots, lots of laughs, and another beautiful Arizona sunset reflecting on Superstition Mountain, we headed to Wahoo’s, the local pub, for supper. We’d missed ‘pizza night’ yesterday, so that’s what we ordered tonight. Wahoo’s seems to be crazy busy all the time, so we were lucky to get a table near the ‘band’. The pizza was pretty good, but the music is what Max liked most. Not just the middle-aged couple who were singing along with a recorded music track, but the three or four couples who took every opportunity to go up and dance. Max sat and watched intently, snapping his fingers to the music and telling us he couldn’t help it but he really felt like going up and dancing too. I got the feeling it wouldn’t have taken a lot of arm-twisting for him to do it, too.

Back home after a very busy day, Max watched one of his (Netflix) shows as he ate his cherry ice cream for a night snack. I read him a bedtime story and by the time I got to the end so had he! The adults held on for a bit longer, but not much. We were checking the time regularly, just waiting for 10 o’clock so we could feel okay about going to bed, too. 

Today is Friday. Tim and Alex booked off an extra day of ‘holidays’ so they could drive down to Fargo this morning and catch an Allegiant flight to Mesa. They are scheduled to arrive here at 2:40 pm. I spent the morning cleaning up and getting ready. Well, actually I worked on a crossword puzzle for an hour or two. I made a grocery list but decided that we would stop on the way home from the airport so the kids could have some say in what we should pick up. I wasn’t sure if we’d go out for supper on our first day or if they would prefer staying at the house for the first evening (which would mean they’d have to cook!).

At about 2 o’clock I took my golf clubs out of the van and headed for the airport. The Mesa airport is about half an hour from my place. Actually it’s nearly 10 minutes just to get out of Gold Canyon and onto the highway. 

I parked the car and went into the arrivals entrance. In a few minutes the doors opened and passengers began to come through the gate. Tim and Alex’s seats were in row 4, so they were one of the first ones off the plane. The minute Max saw me he got a big smile and began to run. I had my phone camera ready, and that stopped him in his tracks. Pose. Snap. Run. Hug. We’re in Phoenix!

While the kids waited for their luggage Max and I headed outside to feel the warm sunshine and get a couple of close-up looks at some of the cacti in the planters in front of the terminal. And then we loaded up the van and headed for Gold Canyon.

We stopped at Bashas and filled up a grocery cart. Max was getting impatient. He just wanted to get to the house and get into his shorts and sandals and explore.

The first impressions upon entering the house were great! I was happy that Tim and Alex were happy, and Max declared it ‘awesome’ after a quick tour. Max got the downstairs bedroom so he unpacked his bag and put his things into the multi-colored dresser. We opened up the big sofa-bed and found sheets and a blanket for that. Then we sat down and had G&Ts and ‘unwound’. Max was VERY wound up! He’d apparently been so good and patient during the 3.5 hour car ride to Fargo, and then the plane ride, and then the drive here and the grocery shop stop — but now he was a bundle of energy and he needed to get some release. Time for a bike ride. He gave his little green bike a hug — hadn’t ridden since last fall — and got his helmet on. Alex walked with us as we took a spin around the ‘neighbourhood’. A few gentle ups-and-downs on the roads here — better remember to step on the pedals for the ups and put the brakes on for the downs. It didn’t take long for Max to get the hang of it. We checked out the pool area and the community centre. We said hello to some of the neighbours who were polishing up their fancy cars and motorcycles on their driveways.

We parked the bikes in the garage and then went for short walk. It was sundown and the sprinklers were starting up on the golf course. No more golfers. Safe for Alex, Max, and me to walk across the course behind the 5th green and go check out the little playground not far down the road. Lots of bunnies and birdies to distract a young curious Canadian along the way (and Max enjoyed it, too!).

A bit of exercise and it was time for dinner. Tonight’s meal would be rib-eye steaks barbecued by Tim and ‘rice-a-roni’ and a salad made by Alex. Delicious. This is going to be a GREAT week!

By ten o’clock it was midnight in Manitoba and we’d had a long and exciting day. Time to hit the hay. Tomorrow is another day. Tomorrow is Saturday. Bacon and eggs. Fresh coffee. Can’t wait!

I woke up after 7:30. Yikes! I’d better hurry or I’ll be late for the 9:15 tee time at Mountain Brook. Ken Loewen and I are golfing this morning. I quickly showered and had a little breakfast before driving my van out of the maze that surrounds my subdivision. I was happy to see Ken’s CRV with Manitoba plates at the golf course parking lot — I hadn’t heard from him and wasn’t a hundred percent sure he’d received the booking email. 

We were paired up with two Americans, one who lived in the area, the other from Iowa. Mountain Brook switched the front and back nine around earlier this season. So although this course really feels like my ‘home’ course — it is, after all, where Sue and I first took up golf when we were at Jill’s house for the first time in early 2011 — today the entire first nine holes felt like we were near the end of our game. Bonus! Nine more holes to go! The greens here were VERY sluggish compared to the greens we’d played a couple of days ago at Sidewinder. It took a few holes to adjust. In the end we both played quite a few strokes better than last game, and we had fun.

It was around 1:30 when we got back to my house for lunch. Sandwiches and Sam Adams. Ken left at around 3:30 — time to go back to his RV park to pack up his motorhome and prepare for tomorrow morning’s departure, heading for home.

I got on the road bike and went for a ride. I stopped in at both golf courses and enquired about a ‘deal’ for golf for the next month. The green fees are expensive, although there are cheaper options outside of Gold Canyon. But after talking to the folks at both pro shops, I think I’ll be happy golfing here — especially after the end of next week (Easter, end of March) when many snowbirds will have left for home and the courses will be less busy. I don’t need ‘prime time’ tee times — and am happy to golf ‘twilight rates’ which start at around 2pm. 

When I got home I showered and sat around for a bit. I drove down to Basha’s to scout out supper options. I didn’t really want fast food and I thought maybe I should try ‘cooking’ something. Hmm… Maybe not tonight. I came home with a couple of ‘Lean Cuisine’ packages (we used to call these ‘TV dinners’). I can follow basic directions and know how to set the timer on the microwave. ‘Cuisine’ is certainly a misnomer! The cardboard container of chicken and noodles didn’t taste any better than fast food and I’m pretty sure it isn’t any healthier either. Oh well. Tomorrow the kids come for a week and there’ll be no shortage of great ‘home-cooked’ meals!

Speaking of which, tomorrow the kids arrive! I’m so looking forward to that. It’s the reason I’m here! It will be great to spend another ‘holiday’ together.

After ‘dinner’ I tried watching a subtitled Swedish movie on Netflix again. I started it a couple of nights ago and quickly fell asleep. I made it about 30 minutes further into the show tonight but in the end all that fresh air and exercise took its toll and I surrendered to the night.

As per our earlier arrangement, this morning I’m expecting Eric and Anne Froese and some of Anne’s “jeschwister” to join me for a hike up to the ‘heiroglphics’ on Superstition Mountain. The Enns sisters and their spouses book suites in Tempe for a few months every winter.

It’s ten o’clock and the doorbell rings. Nettie and her husband Mark arrive. Earl and Mary and Eric and Anne arrive a few minutes later. We have a quick house tour and then we’re off. Earl and Mark will not be hiking; they will idle around the area for the next few hours, “house-shopping”, while the rest of us get a bit of exercise.

We pile into my van and drive up to the parking lot at the trail head. The forecast for today was for HOT weather, but there are clouds and a gentle breeze so it’s really quite comfortable. We gather an assortment of water bottles and walking sticks and go through the iron gate at the entrance. I’m not surprised that the biggest challenge today will not be the walk; the biggest challenge will be to avoid serious collisions with the hundreds of like-minded tourists on the trail. It’s high season here in sun country.

The wide path and gentle incline make for a relatively easy hike, and as we set off it is soon apparent that I will talk more than walk today. A captive audience. I really haven’t visited with these ‘cousins’ for a very long time and I do my best to make up for lost time today!

It’s a bit tricky picking a level of difficulty for a group you don’t really know very well. I’m am assured that the trail and the pace is okay, but not all of them are quite as keen by the time we reach the last section where the path narrows and the incline increases. Some of them decide to take a break and wait for a couple of us while we go to the ‘end’ of the trail.

Nettie and I keep going. It’s just a short climb and we’re there. And who do I see standing next to the slimey pools of water up here? Hey, that’s Hans and Ken! I join them for a couple of photos.

Nettie and I are just about to descend when Anne comes around the bend. She too is going to see those ‘heiroglyphs’! We take a few more minutes and then the three of us return to where Mary and Eric are waiting for us. Back down we go. The sun is warmer now. Must drink water or we’ll suffer later.

Earl and Mark are waiting for us at the Jack-in-the-Box near Basha’s, where we have agreed to meet for lunch at around 12:30. We are going to be a bit late. The wait is too long for Mark; he has decided to go back to the condo and look after their pet dog. Mary texts Earl that we will be a bit late.

We get to the restaurant about 20 minutes late. No problem, says Earl. He buys lunch and we push two tables together so we can sit as a group. The visit continues well past lunch. It’s happy hour by the time we say goodbye and head back to our respective homes.

Back home I cut up an apple and sit down to work on my blog. SERIOUSLY. Gonna bring it right up-to-date today. And I do.

For supper I have the leftover pizza in the fridge. I’ll have some of that cherry ice cream for a ‘night snack’. I watch a bit of Trumpy news. I flick through the channels and end the day with Colbert and Kimmel. 

Tuesday. The Dycks are packing up. They’re going back to Palm Desert, a four-and-a-half hour drive west from here. We had coffee and toast. Arlene put the sheets in the laundry and the dishes in the dishwasher — and then showed me how to use both machines. As it turns out the machines are not so different from what I have at home — I will manage. 

After Arlene has made the bed and restored the room to better-than-new, Robert backs his Honda up to mine and we move the clubs from one vehicle to the other. Load up the suitcases too. And say good-bye. Come again. It’s been fun. Drive safely.

I am alone again. I have a call from Ingrid who is getting her TV and internet re-configured. Then I get an email from Hans, inviting me and Ken Loewen to a ‘Mennonite dinner of farmer sausage and wine’ that Chris will cook tonight. Huh? That doesn’t exactly sound like a ‘Mennonite’ dinner. But I’m in.

I look at my Yahoo weather app, which gives me the current weather conditions for the places I select. Here are my three places, and the ‘Flickr’ photos that the app links to for each place. Looks like I’m in the right place. Nineteen degrees isn’t all that warm, and even Portugal, where my friends Dave and MaryLou have been rained on for the last couple of weeks doesn’t look so bad. But look at that photo for Steinbach! The temperature is PLUS 2, but the photo looks like it’s ‘schteeming’! I sure hope the snow is gone by the time I get home a month from now.

I work on updating my blog. Shoot! I should have taken some more and some better photos. Oh well. I want to go for a little bike ride. I need to finish my crossword puzzle. I should really check out the movie I didn’t watch last night and see if I can watch it again before my iTunes rental expires. I do that. Yeah, it’s a pretty good movie. 

I’ve volunteered to bring dessert to the dinner tonight. What will I get? Oh, I’ll stop at Basha’s on the way and see what the bakery has made today. But I end up Facetiming with Tim and Max and when I hang up I really have to hurry to make it to Hans and Chris’s for the 5 o’clock invitation. 

Google maps sends me south down the 60, to the Florence turn-off, and then back up on the Arizona Farms Road. It’s supposed to take 45 minutes, but it’s rush hour. I get caught in rush hour and road construction once I’m in the San Tan Valley. Plus I still have to get to a grocery store and buy my dessert. There’s a big Fry’s store not too far out of the way. I select a cherry pie and some cherry ice cream to go with it. And then I wait and wait in the turning lane out of that parking lot.

I arrive at Hans and Chris’s nearly half an hour late. No problem. It’s Arizona. We’re all on ‘holidays’. We sit in the backyard, next to the pool, and just across from the 17th fairway of the golf course around which this neighbourhood is built. The evening is warm. The sun is setting. The music from the dance hall about a mile away is wafting across the golf course. 

Chris has made a delicious ‘Menno’ meal. Bothwell farmer sausage and scalloped potatoes. I guess there is a Mennonite sausage smuggler who sources these things! It is a fine evening of laughter and story-telling. Chris is a good cook. The Neufelds are excellent hosts.

I drive back home via a different route — basically zip right up along Ironwood Road all the way to the 60. No traffic issues now — these retired snowbirds all go to bed by 8:30.

When I get home I feel a bit bad about not getting much done today — especially as it pertains to my blog. So I will try again. Shoot! the internet is down. (What else is new — it’s the same Mediacom flaky service that I endured when we were here in previous years.) Oh well, I tried. Might as well go to bed. So I do.

Monday. You know it’s going to be a red-letter day when it begins with bacon and eggs. As Robert and I were enjoying our morning coffee it was clear that Robert’s lower back was giving him some serious discomfort. What to do? I wondered if Robert would or should be golfing today, but he insisted he’d be fine. I suggested a combination of pain killer and muscle relaxant. He agreed. I volunteered to the drugstore for some Robaxacet if he would fry up bacon and eggs for breakfast. Deal.

When I asked the pharmacist for some Robaxacet he looked at me and said, “Maybe in Canada, but not here.” What? “You can’t buy that without a prescription in the USA.” Huh? But this is the land of the free and the home of the brave. “Yes, and our scientists develop the drugs and then you Canadians make generic copies and sell it for cheap.” His tone was one of derision. I returned without the remedy. Robert was gracious and made bacon and eggs anyway.

It seems that Robert has more resources that he can draw on in such a situation. That iPad of his soon connected with family ‘experts’ who prescribed a series of exercises that should loosen up those tight muscles. Robert recited the instructions and Arlene got into the act, helping him with his stretches.

I got a text message from Ken Loewen. When he learned that we had a 1:38 pm tee time he messaged back that he was at the Mexican border but would try to be here in time to join us. I called the golf course and added a fourth to our group booking. Great!

In the mean time Robert had called the Gold Canyon Golf Resort spa, and was off for a massage treatment before lunch. He returned feeling MUCH better. Things were looking up.

Robert made sandwiches to take along and we headed to the course. We were just registering when Ken pulled up. He’d parked his motorhome at an RV park in Mesa and was here and ready for a game of golf. The sun was shining warmly and there wasn’t a breath of wind. Things are definitely looking up!

Each of us shot some great shots and mixed in a few not-so-good as well. The course was busy — it’s spring break in some states and provinces, and this is definitely ‘high season’ here in Gold Canyon. We often had to wait for the group ahead, but we enjoyed the day and all finished the day with ‘decent’ if not great scores. 

After the game Robert asked one of the cart boys for a supper recommendation; he directed us to the Hub Grill in Mesa. We got into our vehicles and drove a few miles down Baseline Road and found the pub in a corner strip mall. 

When we pulled into the parking lot I noticed a ‘Nail Salon’ in the same strip mall. I had torn my thumbnail on the edge of the cup when I reached in to retrieve a putt, and I was worried that the nail would tear further unless I could ‘glue’ it back together. So while the group waited for a table, I had a lovely Filipino girl repair my nail — not just ‘glue’ it, but totally rebuild it! Who knew?

We enjoyed quesadillas and craft beers and conversation in the comfortable night air. Then we said goodnight to Ken, who was going back to his motorhome while we headed back home. 

It really wasn’t very late, so I selected a movie for us to watch (“I, Tonya”) while we sipped our evening glass of port. Unfortunately I am unable to give a proper ‘review’ of the movie since I only saw the beginning and the very end of it. The Dycks both claimed to have enjoyed it. I guess I will need to re-view it sometime. For now, I stumbled up the stairs to the bedroom and continued the snooze I’d begun in the living room. A good day; and good-night!

It’s Sunday morning. I’m waking up WAY too early. The good thing is that the timezone here is 2 hours behind Steinbach time, and quite a few of the shows on TV are on earlier than they’d be at home. So I watched SOME of my favourite Sunday morning TV shows.

I’d been derelict with my blog writing and posting on this trip, so I sat down and started writing about the past 5 or 6 days. Man, this sucks! I should know better than to procrastinate. I can’t even REMEMBER what I did every day! Oh well, like Mary Poppins says, “Well-begun is half done.” I had a pretty good start by the time Robert and Arlene arrived. They had driven down to Phoenix where they’d left their motorhome in fall, and driven it down and parked it Palm Springs where they will be spending the next month or so. Today they are driving their car back here to Phoenix for a 3-day visit at my place. I’ve booked tee times at Sidewinder for today and tomorrow afternoon.

The Dycks arrived at around noon. We made sandwiches and had a quick lunch and then hurried to the golf course. The temperature was a little cooler than what is forecast for the next week or so, but very pleasant for riding around the course hacking away at a little white ball. Which is what we did! And it was fun. My sore hand meant I had to adapt my grip a bit, but in the end the three of us finished (just before the sunset at 6:30) with similar, if not stellar, scores for the round. 

It hardly made sense to go back to the house for a happy hour — it was already time for supper! So we opted for dinner at the roadhouse that is next to the golf course parking lot. The restaurant has undergone numerous changes over the years since we’ve come here — most recently it was known as ‘The Hitching Post’. Now it is “Wahoo’s”. Well, the name has changed, and it certainly is busier than it often was when we were here 3 winters ago, but there are more similarities than there are changes. We found an open table and ordered pizza and wings. Next to us were a couple of big poker tables where a motley assortment of players came and went while we had our meal. 

Back at the house we opened up a very fine bottle of port that Robert and Arlene had brought with them and toasted the conclusion of a fine day here in Gold Canyon. Let’s do it all over again tomorrow.

Saturday morning. I should have bacon and eggs. I should be sitting down to tackle the weekend crossword puzzle. I should have a second cup of coffee.

A few days ago, enroute, I took a look at tee times and rates at some of the golf courses in the Gold Canyon area. I noticed that there was a golf clinic scheduled for today — more than 4 hours of instruction to a small group by the resident golf-school instructor focussing on the golf swing, especially the long irons, hybrids, and drivers. I signed up. So after a quick fruit and yogurt and only one cup of coffee (although it was a GOOD cup of coffee — my grinder, my aeropress coffee maker, and my package of coffee beans made the trip here with me), I drove down to the practice tees at Mountain Brook Golf Course. For the next five or six hours I listened to Maria P. critique our swings and encourage us to ‘swing through the ball’. I kept wondering why we were being critiqued but not really given any ‘lesson’ on how to improve. But Maria promised she would start ‘teaching’ once she had taken a short video of each of us with her iPhone.

We stopped for a sandwich lunch at the clubhouse and then returned to the range and kept swinging our clubs. At one point Maria offered that I should try one of HER clubs — a Ping seven-iron with a longer than average shaft (she was also a professional club-fitter and would happily have measured me up and sold me a set of custom clubs!) I was amazed at how far my first swing at a ball flew. However when I tried to repeat the shot, my (longer) club dug into the ground and I injured my hand. That made the rest of the afternoon less enjoyable, and I was actually a bit concerned that I might have sprained my right hand and wouldn’t be able to go golfing with Robert and Arlene for the next couple of days. Finally, in the last hour of our lesson, Maria took out a big poster with clock-like numbers arranged around a couple of parallel lines. Maria gave a little talk about the importance of the 45 degree angle at the 2 o’clock and 7 o’clock positions. Hmmm.. I don’t really get it. So why are you showing us this at the end of the day, when we really don’t even have time to PRACTICE this and for you to watch us practice this? At the conclusion of the clinic I was disappointed with how little I had learned. I came away frustrated and with a sore hand to boot!

Oh well, I tried. I went back to my townhouse. The house was pretty good — I felt confident that my kids will enjoy it when they come at the end of the week. It will suit us just fine. But after going through it, there were some things that it lacked. Most of the light bulbs were the ‘new’ fluorescent energy efficient kind — the kind that start up very dim, and gradually get brighter. And only two of the four in the kitchen worked at all! I can’t tolerate burned-out light bulbs! So I made a shopping list and I headed into town to the nearest Walmart. 

Here are some of the photos of my rented townhouse (‘borrowed’ from a realtor’s online listing)

I found most of the things on my list and then stopped at a Chinese take-out on the way home. I unpacked and replaced bulbs and filled up soap dispensers and rearranged dishes and washed all the cutlery and mugs and generally cleaned and fixed things. Then I sat down and watched a couple of interesting documentaries on Netflix (via my AppleTV which I brought from home and hooked up to the living-room TV) before going to bed.

Woke up just as the sun was showing its face over the golf course outside my kitchen window. The dawn of another chapter. Not a bad way to see a new day.

I spent the rest of the morning catching up with emails and doing a few little website jobs that were waiting for my attention. I had a call from Anne Froese to talk about hiking options. In the end we decided that she and her company would come HERE and we’d hike up to the hieroglyphics on Wednesday morning. I’m hoping I can ‘trade’ the favour and try one of ‘their’ hikes later in the month.

Later in the afternoon it occurred to me that perhaps the hieroglyphic hike wasn’t even open to the public — it’s been at least 3 years since I walked up there. So after ‘assembling’ my bikes and filling the tires and generally ‘organizing’ all my stuff in the garage, I got on a bike and pedalled up to the hiking trail head. Clearly the hike was still a ‘thing’ — the parking lot was full of cars, many from out-of-state. I locked up the bike and set off on the trail. I more-or-less ‘ran’ up to the top, passing lots of late-afternoon ‘adventurers’ along the way. And yes, all was still as it ever was. The view was great, the pools of water were still there, the ‘hieroglyphics’ were still visible, and it appeared the hike was as popular as ever. And it wasn’t too difficult or too long for the Froese (Enns?) group I was going to lead up there on Wednesday (in fact, it took me less than half an hour to run up). All good. My bike was waiting to take me back down to the house.

It was around 5:30. I decided to text Hans and Chris Neufeld to see if they were interested in going out for pizza tonight or tomorrow night. I was pretty sure it was already too late for this evening, but was pleasantly surprised when Hans replied almost immediately. We’ll meet you at the Handlebar Pub & Grill in Apache Junction at 6:30. GREAT!

I quickly showered and headed out into town. I was not surprised that the Handlebar was PACKED. The wait for a table was 45 minutes to an hour. But the evening air was warm and the beers on tap sounded interesting. And since tomorrow is St Patrick’s Day and I was already wearing one of my green golf shirts, I started with a Guinness. And so did Hans when he and Chris arrived a few minutes after I did.

We sat in the busy outside bar area and visited while we waited for a table. And about an hour later we were shown to a table right near where tonight’s 3-piece band was just getting going. Big burgers and cold beers and old-time rock’n roll. And here in the retirement capital of the world it doesn’t take much to ‘shut the place down’, which we nearly did. I think I was home and in bed by ten o’clock.

I’m telling you, those crazy waffle machines they have in all the hotels now aren’t NEARLY as exciting as they were the first few times I saw and used them! Every flea-bitten (flea-infested?) hotel now advertises “Hot Breakfast” or even “Hot BUFFET Breakfast”. By now I know better; I’ll skip it and instead pull into one of the truck stops an hour into the drive and go for the egg mcmuffin and coffee. 

It’s just a few minutes out of Albuquerque and immediately the scenery changes. Before me, as far as the eye can see, extends a big valley with rocky ridges out in the distance and a ‘ribbon of divided highway’ painting a black stripe from me to the horizon. And the farther down the road I go, the better the scenery gets. I take a turn south off of the interstate at Grants and take the scenic route through the El Malpais National Conservation Area. I should have taken more photos. It’s a bit of a climb up to Show Low, Arizona where I stop for gas. At 6300 ft, the temperature here is freezing. And the ‘sleety’ rain that’s coming down limits my fill to ten bucks — that will get me ‘home’ where I’ll fill it up for real. But the best part of the ride is just ahead. The winding trip down to a thousand feet of elevation takes me through the Snake River Canyon. STUNNING! You don’t even WANT to pass the slow vehicles ahead of you because it’s so much fun to look at the cliffs on the one side and the canyon down to the river below you and the other side. The highway soon takes a turn back up to northwest, and then it’s only a few more minutes and I see the familiar and welcome sight of Superstition Mountain. I’m “home” — at least it FEELS like I’m home. I’m happy to be here.

I had emailed the rental agent yesterday to enquire about how to get access to the house — and she emailed back that she was too busy and so she gave me the access code to the community gate and told me the keys to the house would be under the mat at the front door. I made a quick stop at the Basha’s grocery store at the corner to buy provisions for the first evening and tomorrow’s breakfast. I’m still not very comfortable shopping for groceries, but I had made a bit of a list and I managed okay. Then I drove to the house — again, I remembered the area because a few years ago Sue and I had come from Palm Springs to visit our friends Dave and MaryLou who had rented a house in this same complex. I found the keys, parked the van in the garage, unloaded the groceries, and opened a bottle of Sam Adams lager. Ahhh. This will work out just fine!