Hello Phoenix-Metro

Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.

The weather forecast can’t always be trusted. Many times clear skies are predicted and it does nothing but rain. However, when the weatherman predicts windy conditions, we listen. The last place we want to be is on the road when the gusts are high. Windy was just the prediction for a few days this last week including Thursday. Thus, our departure date became Wednesday. We were going to be out of Lake Havasu City by 7:00 am. That’s just exactly what we were going to do. Well, that’s not exactly what happened though. We did get out of the park by 8:00 but left the town closer to 8:30. Okay, so we weren’t timely but actually does it really matter?

We were also going to bypass Quartzsite and take Hwy 72 to I-10 which was a little shortcut saving us about 10 miles. However, there was a construction sign just before the turnoff indicating part of the road to I-10 was closed. Oops! We changed our mind and rerouted through Quartzite. There probably wouldn’t have been a problem since it was a major route to Phoenix but we didn’t know and certainly didn’t want to take a chance for just 10 miles.

Our first planned stop was at exit 138 …. the Blue Beacon. Our coach needed a good bath. We had stopped there before but now they have a competitor right around the corner so they were a little edgy. Danny’s Truck Wash is the new kid on the block and offers a free wax with the wash. Of course, we didn’t see that in time. Blue Beacon management was a little paranoid that I took a couple pictures of their sign and was very fast to see what I was up to with those pictures. I guess competition can be pretty rough in this economy and they were afraid I might be competition.

With the Willy Wagon still dripping wet (they wanted $25 to dry it off) we headed through Phoenix. Traffic was really pretty good but we don’t stay on I-10 going through the town. We often opt to take I-17 south which is the truck route and bypasses the center of Phoenix. It normally has a lot less traffic. Five miles on the other side of town the two highways reconnect.

The Tempe Elks is almost in the center of Tempe and that was our destination. The location can’t be beat. Sites were available and this is where we figured we’d be for about four days. In the past we’ve parked in the back of the RV area but the fence is next to an animal hospital and dog kennel. This time we thought we were lucky enough to be able to get the end site next to the building. The end borders a little driveway that is used for delivering supplies to the clubhouse. We didn’t think it would be used and we really didn’t think the dumpsters would be a problem. I guess we just didn’t think.

It just so happened that our first night was the night before the big Veteran’s luncheon. Pickup trucks and trailers started arriving before daylight the next morning. It wasn’t that the trucks were so noisy. It was the people in the trucks. I’m not sure what the reason was for showing up before daylight other than maybe they had a real job to go to afterwards. My guess is the unloading started about 5:30 …. 5:30 in the morning!! Over the next couple hours the unloading of the trucks continued and so did the loud conversations right below our windows. When Terry crawls out of bed before 6:00 AM you certainly know something is up.

We held our breath Friday morning but were thankful there were no deliveries. However, that's the day the early morning garbage trucks arrive. We used to think freeways and trains were bad. We’ve also learned not to park near the dumpster. It's amazing what we continue to learn. Countdown …. two more nights.

Later in the day we dropped my bike off at the bike shop. This time we’re having a reinforced tube put in the back tire. Let’s see if that helps on the gravel and sharp rocks. The bike tire wasn’t the only tire we needed to replace. The Jeep also had a bad tire on it and since the Goodyear dealer was right down the block, we figured we might as well get that taken care of too.

Several restaurants offered free or discounted meals on Veteran's Day. We didn’t search one out because we were looking forward to Texas Roadhouse. There are many different roadhouse restaurants around the country but we’ve never found a better one than the one located in Mesa. The steaks are usually perfect and the wait staff fabulous. They didn’t disappoint us. On top of that, Terry even got an unexpected 50% off of his meal. We were stuffed and we were happy. Even Duchess was pleased with the leftovers.

One last thing was to get the appointment set up for the Ready Brute & Brake system. We previously had the Blue Ox tow bar with a different braking system. This one is all integrated in a single tow bar. Once installed we'll put our Blue Ox tow bar on Craigslist.

Life sure is busy.