Lost Dutchman State Park - Part 2

December 16th

Monday morning, Ray and I were both up early at 5am. Me because I went to bed too damn early, lol and Ray seems to have come down with a cold. Gave him some meds and we shall see what it develops into. Hopefully nothing too bad or I will have a cold for Christmas. :(

Today I will bite the bullet and get our massive load of laundry done ... 2 hours and 8 double load washers later, I was finally done. As I did not hear back from  4-Point Mobile RV Service on Friday, I called this morning and spoke to the owner, Juan, about the stove and washing machine situation ... He has ordered the computer board and will install on Thursday. I mentioned that whether they get it in time or not ... by Friday afternoon they have to put my closet back together as we cannot travel the way it is now with the doors off and dryer not put back into the closet far enough. Juan actually came to the coach at around 4 pm to double check the measurements for the stove, and check out the dining room light measurement for replacement and I showed him the situation with the washer closet.

The plan now is to have the new stove installed at Quartzsite. Juan will be representing Dometic with their people for the first 3 days of the show so Dometic can bring the stove and Juan will install it. One would think it would be a better deal as it is the "show".

The rest of the afternoon I alternated sitting outside and inside depending on how much the wind blew. Ray started feeling worse so spent a good part of the afternoon in bed. No one was really interested in dinner, I had a greek salad and Ray tried a few leftover ribs but they did not settle very well to say the least.

Woke up a 2 am. The wind was howling, the slide toppers flapping and the flags singing. Stuffed my ears with earplugs and managed a couple more hours before getting up at 5 am. Ray at least was sleeping well so hopefully he feels better today. By 7am it was still howling ...

After running into town to pick up some milk and more tonic water from Safeway, Ray took me out for lunch at the Handlebar Pub and Grill in AJ. What a cute place. Most of the tables are outside in a courtyard surrounded by plants. A very peaceful oasis. They had heaters placed everywhere so it was quite warm. This pub has the most fabulous smoked food. I ordered smoked chicken skewers and Ray a salmon dinner that was smoked. They are also known for their many, many craft beers on tap from all over Arizona. They have live music most nights and have their outdoor barbeques set up Friday, Saturday and Sunday. A definite must to visit when anyone is in this area.

Back home and after walking Freya we had a 2 hour nap! Ray needed to recover from his cold and I needed it as I have not been sleeping very well for several nights now and we planned to go out later tonight to see the Lights of the World, downtown Phoenix. We left at 4:15 pm so I could drive the heavy traffic in the daylight. Wow they have a lot of traffic down here on 8 lanes of freeway. Fortunately we could use the HOV lane so that definitely helped. After an hour plus drive we arrived at the Mother Bunch Brewing Company. They had great beer but unfortunately we ordered the wings and they were too spicy to eat. I'm a lightweight when it comes to spicy food but Ray can stand more heat but they were too much for him. lol We were still kind of full from lunch so it was okay.

Next it was off to find the Lights of the World a couple miles away. How frustrating ... Ray hadn't read the "fine print" as they were closed Monday through Wednesdays. What a bust. 2 1/2 hours of driving in heavy traffic for naught. It's too bad as the pictures on line are quite stunning. Here's a few examples. This event has only been running for 3 years. This year their lights increased to 10 million lights!








Right now we don't know if we are going to see any xmas light events this year ... too much bother now after striking out twice. We are going to Barleens Arizona Opry on Friday night for their Christmas show with friends so that will have to do.

Back home after walking Freya and having a nightcap ... that was it for the day. Had a call from our son-in-law Jason telling me that the new hot water tank has been installed at the lakehouse. Kristi celebrated her birthday last weekend with some friends at our house the tank went kapoot. I had Jason call our plumbers and they managed to get a new tank in before Christmas. Awesome as Jason and Kristi want to use the house over Christmas. Here is some pictures of them being goofy on her birthday. It was her friend Layla's BD too so they had a kids party. Jason has grown out his hair and beard in preparation for his manly man's bonspiel in January. I hardly recognized him.

Jason, Kristi, Layla and Ross

Wednesday morning, another night of heavy winds and flapping of toppers ... no I did not get much sleep. lol Might be another "nap day".

Ray was off early with the car to Cliff's Welding in Mesa. I called Demco, who make the Air Force One air braking system on the car, regarding making an appointment with them while they are at the Quartzsite RV show. As some of you know, when we hooked up the air brakes for our trip up Vancouver Island last June, we toasted all 4 brakes on the car so have not hooked it up until it is properly adjusted. They told me to contact Cliff as he is "the guy" here in Mesa. Interestingly enough this is the same company that installed our hitch system on the old Ford Edge when we purchased the car and coach 7 years ago in February. Hopefully he can adjust the brake module/brake pedal correctly so we can engage the air brake system again.

While Ray was gone I took Freya for her morning walk. A beautiful windy, sunny morning. Also got attacked by a jumping cholla! It was stuck on the back of my jeans, then my hand and finally I was able to remove it using my keys as tongs. lol I have been told by my friend Malcolm to always take a small set of pliers when walking near Cholla ...

Here is a bloom that I found on the ground from an Ocotillo... I had no idea that they were so "plump" and about 4 inches long. Usually they are on top of the tree, up 12 feet.

Ray got back after 2 hours from Cliff's Welding and $200 lighter. Apparently the unit was installed incorrectly by Ford Canada in Surrey, and the ram did not retract 100% leaving the brakes slightly on all the time. Situation is now fixed, but we were told to keep an eye on it for the first while ... I think I will be travelling in the car for a short ways while Ray's towing, making sure the red light goes on and off as Ray applies the brakes. We also needed our break away switch replaced.

After some further discussion on our 0 and 2 christmas light record, we decided to go to the Fairmont Princess Hotel in Scottsdale for dinner tonight and tour their grounds. We'd yet to see a great Christmas Display and Ray knows I really love all the lights. It was one of the reasons we decided to stay here for 2 weeks...

I reserved for dinner at their Bourbon Steak House, so we will have free admission to the display otherwise they charge $55 for up to 6 people in the car. We will spend that at dinner. lol So we will brave the rush hour traffic again heading into town.