Leaving the Heat Behind

Saturday 8/6

Off first thing this AM to H F Coors for the first Saturday sale. Surprisingly there were almost as many people there today as there are on winter weekends! Guess thay have been promoting the monthly sale. Nancy found a few treasures. Stop at Walmart to drop off prescriptions, oops, pharmacy not open yet!

Back to Tucson Estates Hardware to mail a package to Joan, then back to Walmart to drop off scrips. Back home about 9:30. Temp headed to 100 today, so we basically hibernated.

Sunday 8/7

Short walk around the RV park this AM, then watched our regular Sunday Morning TV shows. 

Late in the morning we went into town to the Verizon store. We decided to get a small iPad to take with us on our upcoming trips, particularly the Jeep trip in September, instead of lugging along one of our laptops. The problem in September is the Jeep will be open when we stop for meals or sight seeing so any valuables cannot be left in it. This applies in general as well since with the soft top locking it up is an exercise in futility.

Anyway, research over the weekend showed that Verizon prices were the same as the Apple Store and there was the possibility of saving $250 if we signed up for a new two year contract! I called our favorite Verizon store on Saturday and they had the models we were interested in in stock. I say ’favorite’ because every person we have dealt with at this store has been friendly, knowledgable and helpful!. 

After looking at the Aire 2 and the mini 4 (same price) we decided the mini 4,was the right size. Then the rep suggested that the mini 2 would work just as well since they are the same except for the fingerprint ID. So we saved money all around. (See why we like this sore!) Added the iPad to our Verizon data plan, with discount for a new 2 year contract, and are ready to go. 

Since we were already right down the street we stopped at Beyond Bread for lunch. Back home we hibernated again - triple digits today. 

I ran into some issues loading apps on the iPad. Since it was new device I had to answer security questions in the App Store and they did not match up with my records! Spent more than an hour on the phone with AppleCare with no resolution. Actually got locked out of Apple Store account and had to wait 8 hours before they could reset! How crazy is that? 

I also had to adjust our Verizon data plan to the “new plan.” We had been at 12 GB per month while we were traveling. Options now go from 9 GB to next step of 16 GB. Backed off to 9 GB and saved $10 per month. After September trip we should be able to back off to a cheaper plan since we will have Desert Trails WiFi until we get into the house.

Monday 8/8

Morning walk in the desert. Things are much greener than they are in the winter. Getting hot already at 7 AM! We are running our AC 24/7, nighttime lows in the high 70's 

AppleCare scheduled call at 8 AM and quickly had App Store security issues resolved. Thinking about it, there may have been a relation to my data loss in June. 

Quick trip over to the Foothills Assoc office to clarify the storage lot assignments. Then we stopped by the house. Plumber there running water lines, something getting done every day. They said plumbing would be done by the end of the week. We are liking our layout more and more

Ice machine here on the fritz, so we had to stop at the Circle K in Tucson Estates to get ice. 

Back home and relaxed. 

Tuesday 8/9

Up just before 6 AM do walk in desert much more pleasant temp, but we were still drenched with sweat when we got back. Don't think we will be spending much time here in August in the future!

Partly cloudy early, then dark clouds really socked in. Light rain here, but flood warnings for Pima County. That has been a regular thing the last week. 

Nancy got the vacation drug refill straightened out with Humana yesterday, so her extra prescription was ready at Walmart. Took the truck in case we encountered water on the roads and that was a good decision. There were several places where the water running across the road was deeper than would be comfortable for the smart. Not an unusual occurrence this time of year.

Stopped at BK Tacos for lunch, the bank for travel money and then back home.

We did not see a lot of rain here West of the Tucson Mountains, but from what we see on the news there was a LOT of rain in Tucson proper, over 2” in most places. A lot of main roads flooded and closed.

Wednesday 8/10

Up at 6 AM for morning walk. A bit cooler, low 70’s, but it felt good to get back into the AC. Ice machine working again, yeah!

After breakfast we drove into town to pick up our reassembled table from Bix Furniture. Good to have it back! Crossing the Santa Cruz river we could see it was running fast with muddy water, not full to the banks, but a lot more water than we have ever seen there. Usually it is dry, or at most just a trickle.

Stopped at the house to look around, most of the plumbing is done - fixtures not in yet. Measured garage so I will be ready to order the next time SwissTrax has a sale. Hopefully it will be before I am ready to order. The more we look at the house the better we like it, so far we are really pleased with the layout. No internal walls yet, just studs. Guessing electrical wiring will go in next.

Back home mid-morning. Nancy did some laundry. Not as hot today, but the sun is really hot when you are out of the shade. Very quiet here, place is kind of spooky without the regular winter residents! Less than a half dozen RV’s in the park!

Thursday 8/11

Early morning walk around the park, there seem to be a fair number of flying bugs out in the desert, so we have just been walking around Desert Trails and Diamond J next door.

No rain today, so clear roads. Nancy went down to the shopping center on Irvington for a pedicure. I straighten up and vacuumed. Spent some time packing for the trip.

After lunch we zipped over to the Bank of the West in Tucson Estates to pick up Nancy’s checks. She opened a checking account there for direct deposit of her Social Security the first of the year.

Went by the house again, nothing happening today. We expect the electricians will be starting next week.

Friday 8/12

Early morning walk as usual, then after breakfast we loaded up and moved the trailer over to a different site alongside the pool hall. Still shaded on the West side, but away from trees and cactus gardens that might be harboring pack rats. Don’t want those little critters getting in while we are gone over the next several weeks.

The other reason for moving is that we can stay in this site until the end of November, the site we were in is reserved starting November 1st.

After moving the trailer we took the truck over to our site in the storage lot at Tucson Estates II. We rented the two lots last spring to make sure we had storage space when the time came. Annual fee is about what we were paying for a month in Illinois! Again this is hopefully to avoid the pack rat issue. 

Getting hot again here, supposed to be triple digits over the weekend.

Saturday 8/13

Happy birthday Joan!

Did our final packing for two weeks in Alaska, hard to get into the mindset of what clothes we need for 50 to 70 degree weather! Also packed up open packages of food from the pantry and put them into a Rubbermaid bin that we will take to our storage locker this afternoon. Storage is climate controlled so not worries about heat.

Will not have our laptops with us on the trip, so I won’t be updating the blog until we get back. I will continue to take notes on the iPad though. On past cruises I kept a handwritten trip diary, will see how the iPad works out for note keeping.