Arizona - Week One

Jan. 8 - Woke up to sunshine coming over the mountains.  We have a beautiful site here at the Oracle Junction Mobile Home Court.  There are mostly mobile homes (MH) here, but each cul-de-sac has room for two-four RVs.  We are in Bobcat Circle, #49, with a MH on one side, an RV on another and MH behind us.  We have a concrete patio pad which is wonderful to sit the chairs, table, grill and bike on.
We have palm trees on each side of us and face south/southeast looking at the mountains! Beautiful.

Our AZ home

The view out our front windows

We spent the day setting up and settling in.  In the process, we became aware that the propane was not working again, so the Captain took on that job again.  We ate lunch outside on the patio and in the afternoon went in to Tucson for an extension sewer hose, propane fix supplies and groceries.  Home for supper.  We hoped to sit outside, but it really cooled off after the sun went down.

Thursday - after breakfast, Gary started working on projects, starting with connecting to the sewer system and working on the propane regulator.  The day started out sunny, but then was cloudy most of the day.  I drove to Deb's and went on a long walk with her and our friend, Krista.  It was fun to be out walking and visiting.  The veteran walkers tried to take it easy for me, but I was tired when we were done.  Back home again, to find that once again the Captain had been successful in fixing the propane. He is the best!  The sun had come out by then, so we sat outside until it started to cool off again.  We were both tired from all the fresh air.  After I was in bed, I heard a pack of coyotes howling, they sounded like they were very near by.  There is nothing behind the trailer park here, so they were probably close.

Friday - up and breakfast.  After catching up on more paperwork, we drove to Saddlebrooke (the community that Dan, Connie, Deb & Joe live in) and we walked for an hour on the paths through the neighborhoods there.  We spotted a large roadrunner along the way, our first sighting here.  Back home, we sat outside for lunch.  That night we met Dan, Brian & Krista at their clubhouse for Happy Hour and dinner.  We also saw many of Dan's friends that we have met on previous visits.  It was great to see them all again.

Saturday - Gary had an early webinar session for his RV Inspection business and then we had a Skype interview with a RV industry based company.  It went well and we hope to hear back from them.  After lunch, we went to the shopping center at Oro Valley.  We went to Best Buy, it was time for Gary to upgrade his phone, he now has a smart phone he is learning about.  We walked through a couple other stores and then went to the San Carlos Grill, a Mexican restaurant we discovered here last year.  We had margaritas and watched the Chargers/Seahawks game.  Then we stopped at Walmart for a few supplies.  The view from this Walmart is incredible.  The Catalina mountains are right there and the sun was shining on them.  I will have to get a picture next time.

Sunday -  we went to Mass at 9:00 at the Santa Catalina Church nearby.  This is the church where Dan and Connie were married in October and where they all go regularly.  We returned home and had brunch.  Then we went to Joe & Deb's to watch the football games.  Because we are now on Mountain Time, the first game started at 11:00 AM.  Joe got off work at 12:00 and joined us.  Deb & I went for a walk between games, Gary and Joe went to an open house Dan was having on one of his listings.   We stayed for supper, Joe grilled a chicken (yumm), we visited and watched the sunset.

Monday - we worked on projects in the morning and then went to Deb's softball game at 1:00.   We sat in the stands in the sun and enjoyed watching them play.  This was the first game for this season and unfortunately they lost. Afterward we went back to her house and then walked with her to deliver a form to the clubhouse office.  A good distance for us today, Deb walks everywhere in her community.   Home for supper and computer time.  I heard the coyotes again tonight.

Tuesday -  Hiking today!  We drove to the Rancho Vistoso area to the Honey Bee Trailhead.  This is where we had hiked before with Dan's neighbor two years ago and with Joe, Deb, & Krista last February.  This time we went on the north trail to try and find the petroglyphs documented here. The trail follows the canyon wash and is very sandy.  It was a good workout for our legs,  We walked all the way up until we came to a fence.  At that point, we met people who told us we had missed the drawings, so we turned around and headed back.  We found the drawings, they were on rocks above and easier to see from this direction.  There was a man sitting there when we went by the first time, we had said hello to him in passing and had not looked up.  About an hour and half of walking by the time we got done, but another beautiful day in AZ, seeing the beauty here God created.

We were saluted on the trail

New saguaros growing out of the rocks

The sandy trail created by a large rock dam made by sheep ranchers in the early 1800s. 

Petroglyph rocks drawings by the Hohokam

We went home and showered up, then went to Joe's softball game.  These teams were a little more competitive, Joe had some great plays in the outfield.  It was a little cooler sitting in the stands, there was more of a breeze.  Later we did a grocery run, put on our jeans and long sleeves, then went back to Joe & Deb's for another delicious grilled supper and enjoying the AZ evening.