Heading North

Monday March 18

Monday AM meeting and then a nice walk in the desert. Relaxed after lunch and then went to Tiny’s for dinner.

Nancy went to a presentation on Kinesio taping by Angel while I watched the Hawks win again.

Tuesday March 19

Nice hike in desert this AM, beautiful in the morning this time of year. small wild flowers starting to appear. Did some prep work on the truck, greasing hitch and checking things over. Found that I need a new alternator belt, so off to the Volvo dealer tomorrow.

Went to Beyond Bread for lunch, then stopped at Bookman’s for a look-see. Nancy bought a couple of books for Miles and I GOT OUT WITHOUT BUYING ANYTHING! A new record!

Second half of lunch sandwiches for dinner.

Wednesday March 20

Off early this morning to drop the truck at the Volvo dealer, then stopped at Coyote Pause for breakfast on the way back. Traffic going into town on Ajo Highway was really nasty at 7:30 in the morning - glad we don’t have to do that regularly.

Took care of Margo today as Karen had a couple of places to go. Late in the afternoon we went back to pick up the truck, really reasonable cost for the belt replacement at Vanguard Truck Center.

Since we were on the east side of town anyway we stopped at Nimbus Brewery for dinner.

And the Blackhawks lost to Anaheim tonight! Bummer, they were lucky to hold them even in the 1st, then played pretty well through the 2nd and 3rd periods and gave the whole thing away with a couple of sloppy plays at the end.

Thursday March 21

Off to Tucson Yoga for our last class of the season, we’ll be on the road next Thursday. The RV Park is really thinning out. A lot of people we know are gone already and our next door neighbors are leaving this weekend.

Stopped at Food Conspiracy on the way home and after lunch we went over to a truck stop on the far east side to Comm Techs to see if they could fix our CB radio. It has been dead for over a year and we like to have it available when we get into traffic problems.

Friday March 22

The mornings have been beautiful for our desert walks, this morning it was about 57 degrees and sunny when we went out.

Off to the 4th Ave Street Fair this morning. An amazing crowd for a Friday, can’t imagine what it is going to be like tomorrow! I picked up a nice sun hat for our Prairie Home Companion Mediterranean cruise in August. Should nice and toasty in Italy in August!

Nancy got some skin cream from a vendor she likes. Then we stopped at Beyond Bread for lunch before swinging by the CB shop to pick up our repaired CB Radio.

Karen and Gary stopped by this afternoon for drinks before we all went to the evening entertainment. This was the Road Runners group which is kind of a “catch as catch can” assemblage of the students and teachers from the Tucson Jazz Institute. No students tonight, but a really rousing and excellent performance from four of the adults from the group.

Saturday March 23

Pretty quiet day, morning hike and then watched the F1 qualifying from last night. Spent some time planning our trip to the Grand Canyon and Denver late next week.

Went to Cushing Street Bar & Grille for dinner, sat on the patio where we could just hear the jazz group inside. We chose the patio as we did not want to be inside where the music might be loud, but turns out it was pretty mellow stuff.

Sunday March 24

Two nice walks in the desert today, early in the morning and later in the afternoon. Otherwise we watched the F1 race and the Sunday news programs.

Helped our neighbor put a cover on his fifth wheel since they are leaving it here over the summer.

Monday March 25

Skipped the park meeting this morning and went up to the Desert Museum and then up to the Saguaro National Park visitors center to check out the gift shop.

After that we made a couple of stops and had lunch at BK for the last time. 

Back home we went to the pizza party at the park rec hall. Much better than last year’s, better organized and less standing on line for more more pizza.

Blackhawks played another sloppy game tonight and lost to LA. They need to get back into the pattern they had for the first half of the season.

Tuesday March 26

Nice long walk in the desert this morning, then we went to Beyond Bread for a last visit until fall. Stopped at the CB Radio shop and picked up a dash cam for the Volvo, just a bit of insurance.

Wednesday March 27

After our morning walk both of us spent the day getting ready to hit the road. Nancy did laundry and worked at packing things away inside. I loaded the car in the morning before it got too hot and then repacked the storage compartments and generally prepared for travel.

Thursday March 28

Left Desert Trails right at 9 AM, which was our target time. Weather was good, even a bit of tailwind, and the traffic was relatively light. Made it to Flagstaff for a late lunch at Cracker Barrel and then on to Tusayan, just outside of the entrance to the Grand Canyon National Park. Arrived at Grand Canyon Camper Village about 4 PM. Must say the 54 miles from Williams to Tusayan was the most boring part of the trip! Pretty much straight and flat all the way, sure not very scenic!