Monday, October 22, 2018

October 22 - 28, 2018, AZ

Monday, October 22. This morning, after hooking up and heading out, we drove the 90 or so miles to the Valley and to our destination of the Shiprock RV Resort in Apache Junction where we will be planted for the next 5 months.  The manager was not available, so Sid got us settled in our site - a nice one on the back wall of the park and if we walk just a few feet, we can see the Superstition Mountains not too far to the east.


The drive was nice and I watched the thermometer go from 54 degrees at the top of the mountain to 84 when we got down in the Valley. It felt good to see the old familiar landmarks of the Four Peaks, Weaver's Needle, and Red Mountain as we neared Mesa. The last stretch of the drive was along Bush Highway and I hoped to spot some of the Salt River Wild horses along the way, but no such luck.


Thursday, October 25.  We have spent the week getting settled in our new digs, meeting a few people, getting Frisco familiar with the potty areas, and running a few areas.  The park has a very nice dog run that is shaded and clean.


We spent some time at the pool yesterday, the temperature was nice and the hot tub was bubbly and warm.  The pool and clubhouse are a short walk along a pathway just across from our site, in fact we can see it from our site.  More than once, we have said to each other that we have a good feeling about this place - it is small and has all of the amenities that we might want.


I desperately needed a haircut, so got in to see Kelli today and I went short, short, short again.  I'm not 100% satisfied because it is much shorter than what I asked for, but the good thing about hair is that it grows fast.

 

Sunday, October 28.  The highlights of the last 2 days were the Halloween Party at Highlands and breakfast this morning with Tom's former coworkers.


It was nice to see old friends with Highlands and, in spite of our costume and face masks, we were identified immediately. That was good, because we really didn't want to wear the masks for long.  The band was good and played lots of rocking songs and we danced quite a few. It was a bit strange coming back home having to drive for 12 miles rather than walk 2 blocks. Since we are still members of the social club, we can continue to attend their parties - lots of friends to see.




And, it was nice to see Manuel and Linda and Ron and Mary for breakfast at Biscuits, we had good conversation and good laughs. 


We did a bit of shopping on the way home and are settled in with Tom reading the newspaper and me catching up on phone calls and writing.  I spoke with my brother, Russ for the first time in many, many months.  He has been struggling for several years with homelessness followed by incarceration for an offense in Iowa.  He is no longer incarcerated, recently moved into his own place, has a job that he likes and gets paid well, and most important, he is sober - and I'm hoping that this continues.