We’re Actually Moving

Apache Junction, AZ  High 85  Low 55

I’ve been trying to write a post about my brother’s visit last week but I don’t think it’s going to see the light of the blog. However, it was cathartic for me. I’ll do a post with pictures about his visit, hopefully before too long.

We are actually going to pull up stakes and leave our spot for a week. We’re fitting this trip in between doctor appointments and physical therapy appointments.

We’re headed down to Benson so we can explore Tombstone, Bisbee, Willcox, and who knows what else we can get to. Dianna is going to follow us down so this will be her first big outing with her new rig.

We had a wonderful Easter dinner at the clubhouse with enough food to feed double the number of folks who were there. We definitely have some great cooks here in this park.

Spike hopes you had a wonderful Easter.

HE IS RISEN

(I posted this last year at Easter but for me it expresses my feelings of love and gratitude to my Savior.)

I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me
Confused at the grace that so fully he proffers me
I tremble to know that for me he was crucified
That for me, a sinner, he suffered, he bled and died

I marvel that he would descend from his throne divine
To rescue a soul so rebellious and proud as mine
That he should extend his great love unto such as I
Sufficient to own, to redeem and to justify

I think of his hands, pierced and bleeding to pay my debt
Such mercy, such love and devotion can I forget?
No, no, I will praise and adore at the mercy seat
Until at the glorified throne I kneel at his feet

Oh, it is wonderful that he should care for me enough to die for me
Oh, it is wonderful
Wonderful to me

Music and Lyrics by Charles H. Gabriel

How Long Has It Been

Apache Junction, AZ  High 86  Low 52

Since the price of diesel was less than the price for regular gas. Sorry about the lousy picture. Taken on the run through the windshield.

I Am A Card Carrying LEO

Apache Junction, AZ  High 82  Low 50

First – Great News – Jim’s bone scan came back clean.

Second – Bad News – we still don’t know what is wrong with Jim’s upper back. So back to the drawing board.

These last couple of days have really proved just how dedicated I am to the LEOs. I am worthy to be a member of the Let’s Eat Out club.

On Wednesday we went to the last Escapees Chapter luncheon until next November. Nice turn out of 51 folks.

Then I got an e-mail from Diana. She and Phil were going to be at Superstition Skies Wednesday night.  Key was also going to be there along with Diana’s sister, Barbara and Ron. Couldn’t pass up this opportunity. Can you believe I didn’t get any pictures. Not a one.

Normally Brant and Kerry play on Wednesday nights but this time Brant was there with a different guitar player and a woman on the keyboard. They were good but I missed the B & K show.

We got there early enough we were able to visit before the place got real busy and noisy. Diana and Phil pulled out the next morning headed for a WIN dance get together in Texas. Barb and Ron aren’t sure when or where they’re heading and Key is going to stick around like we are until May or so.

Yesterday Jan and Bill wanted to go to lunch at Portillo’s which just opened about a month ago in Scottsdale. They picked us up and off we went.

This was the end of the line when we got there but it rapidly grew behind us. The line goes all the way to the front, across the front, and down the other side.

More of the line.

What is amazing is that it only took us about 10 minutes to get through the line with maybe another 7 minute wait for the food to be ready. They really have it down to a science. Jim had an Italian Sausage sandwich, I had a hot dog, Jan had the Italian Beef sandwich and Bill had a combo sausage/beef sandwich. Everybody was really happy with their choices.

After lunch we took a ride out to Saguaro Lake and then they dropped us off at home so we could get ready to go out to dinner with Ginny and Mickey at Golden Corral.

I haven’t been to a GC in probably 25 or 30 years. I as pleasantly surprised at how good the food was. And of course, they have the most wonderful thing of all:

So I’m definitely a proud card carrier of the LEO’s.

A Whole Lot Less Excitement

Apache Junction, AZ  High 83  Low 52

Monday was a really laid back day after all the excitement of Sunday. Jim putzed around the rig and took a nap. I read and caught up on a few blogs. That was it.

Today was bone scan day which is a very long day. It’s an hour drive over to Scottsdale and then we had to find the right place. Only took a couple of tries. They took Jim back and gave him a shot to make him radioactive and then they send him away for three hours.

It’s too far to come back home so we looked for a restaurant to have a long, leisurely lunch. We had a Groupon for Salad Works in Scottsdale and it was delicious. (Judy B. it’s a lot like Salad Creations.)

So for $10 this was our lunch: (love those Groupons)

After lunch we wandered back over to Scottsdale Diagnostic Imaging and they do the actual bone scan. That only takes about 45 minutes and then we have the hour drive back home.

Boy were the girls excited to see us.

Hopefully we’ll get the results of the bone scan before too long. We heard back from the Dermatologist and we will be going back to see them on Friday. Jim’s still has a few problems and we’ll find out on Friday what we’re going to do for them.

So we’re back to normal for us.

Adrenalin Rush

Avondale, AZ   High 82  Low 57

This post is going to be mostly pictures. Jim had a fantastic, wonderful, fabulous day.

Waiting in line to register.

Registration

The Winner’s Circle (and no they don’t get to drive the car over to this area.)

Even the ice machines are dressed for the race.

My BIL, Don, went with us. I really tried to talk him into taking a Ride-A-Long but he said next year he’d go for it. I’m not going to let him forget. When we picked him up he wanted to know if we were going to stop by Lloyds. Could not figure out what he was talking about until he said Lloyds of London. We all cracked up on that one.

 Getting to that shoe gets harder as we get older.

Al and Marv are from our RV park and came out to watch all the excitement.

We also signed Jim up for a three lap Ride-A-Long. This gave him a chance to learn about the track before he actually went out and drove it.

And he got to ride in the 88 car. For those of you who aren’t race fans that is the number on the car that Dale Earnhardt, Jr drives. He’s Jim’s favorite driver in NASCAR.

After the ride-a-long, it was his turn to climb in and take the wheel. Everything worked out really good today because he got to drive a Chevy. He didn’t even have to ask for it.

This program is the Rusty Wallace Driving Experience. The one in Charlotte, NC was the Jeff Gordon Driving Experience.

Time to climb into the car. This is why I don’t do a ride-a-long. There is no way I’m going to fit through that window.

I did take several videos of him driving around the track and we can watch them on the camera. But for some reason I can’t get them to play on the computer and I can’t get them to load to the blog. We did get a video of Jim’s face as he drove and also of what he was seeing out the window and hopefully when we get that I can upload a snippet of that.

He kept hitting the rev limiter and was ready to go faster. I’m glad that 155 was his limit. He passed a couple of slower cars and couldn’t believe his 12 laps were up already.

So not only do you have to get in that window, you also have to get out that way.

                  NASCAR JIM

This is Jim talking now.  Wow what a great day, Thanks my love!!!

Happy St. Paddy’s Day

And that is what Jim is going to be doing tomorrow to celebrate. He is driving a NASCAR race car tomorrow at Phoenix International Raceway.

Everybody is welcome to come out and watch. He will probably start driving about noon. Just come in the main gate, bear left and check in at the guard stand.

Jim drove a race car at Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina and had such a great time that I gave him another drive here as a birthday present.

He will be driving 12 laps and can go 155 mph. At that point they have a rev limiter on the car that stops them from going any faster. However, if you want to do a Ride-a-long, those cars will be going 180 to 190 mph.

Hopefully I’ll have some good pictures to post tomorrow night.

Spike says to be sure and wish all of you a very Happy St. Paddy’s Day. Don’t drink too much green beer.

 

More Doctor Visits

Apache Junction, AZ  High 93  Low 64

It’s hard to come up with a title when all you’ve done is go to doctor’s offices.

We had the dermatologist on Monday. Wednesday we had to be in Phoenix at 7:45 a.m. (think rush hour traffic) which meant we were up at 5:30. Boy was that hard to do. Jim had an Echocardiogram. His heart doctor called today to tell him that his heart looks pretty good considering two by-pass surgeries and a heart attack. In fact his numbers (whatever those are) were better than last year and that is a good thing.

Thursday we saw his internist. He has had a pain in his back on the left scapula and down his arm for about three weeks. Decided enough was enough. Got some pain meds for him. Now he has a bone scan scheduled for next week and he also needs to get a stress test scheduled.

Then, to top it off, we had to take Scooter to the Vet Thursday afternoon. She must have twisted wrong and she is in a great deal of pain. Dachshunds have a lot of problems with their backs and necks because of their long spinal column. So now she’s all doped up on exactly the same pain medication that the doctor gave Jim today. But since we have insurance for Jim, his pills were a whole lot cheaper.

I’m just so grateful that I’m healthy.

Party Crashers

Apache Junction, AZ  High 95  Low 63

That would be us. Last Tuesday I was visiting with Retired Rod via e-mail and he happened to mention that he was meeting up with Ray and Cindy for lunch. So Jim and I crashed their party.

Rod, Cindy, Loyce

It was so wonderful to get to Fuddruckers and see Gordon standing outside visiting with Ray. We haven’t been able to meet up with Gordon and Juanita this year. They have the neatest Beagle named Abbey. Such a wonderful surprise.

Gordon, Juanita, and Ray

I always find it amazing that RVer’s and bloggers never seem to run out of things to talk about when we get together. And like Jeri  said in her comment, food always seems to bring us together.

We’ve Been Seeing a Lot of Butts Around Here Lately

Apache Junction, AZ   High 83  Low 55

For those of you worried about Jim not being able to go to Bass Pro shop, he spent over an hour at Liar’s Corner here in Apache Junction. And one tackle shop a week is his limit.

Yesterday was another doctor appointment. The dermatologist. I came out looking okay – had a spot on the top of one ear frozen. But Jim looks like he lost the battle. (It doesn’t look near as bad under the bandage.)

 

So now we wait on the results of another biopsy. I guess the medical profession decided they didn’t get enough of our money last year. But I sure am grateful for them.

As for butts, this is how it’s looked around here:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And for the end:

Dinner with Bloggers

Apache Junction, AZ  High 86  Low 52

One of these days I’m going to get caught up on blogging and reading blogs. I finally finished a couple of tax returns. Now I can tackle ours. But I really don’t want to.

Friday night we went to Cracker Barrel over by Bass Pro Shop. (No, I didn’t let Jim go there.)

It is always so much fun to meet up with people after you have read their blog for awhile. So interesting to finally put a face to the blog and that’s what we were able to do.

Once again, my pictures didn’t turn out all that well because of the light coming in the windows.

Jim, the back of Ray’s head and Cindy’s hand, Kyra, Key, Jan, Dianna and Bobbie.

The two Jim’s.

 

Kyra and Jan do not have blogs (yet). Kyra has only been full timing for two months and was headed to New Mexico. Jan hasn’t bought a rig yet but she’s thinking about it pretty seriously.

Kyra

 

Key and Jan

Dianna and Bobbie who you know from my previous blogs. Since Dianna hates having her picture on the blog I’m only putting her on here once in the first picture.

Ray and Cindy (I had to “borrow” this picture from their blog because mine was just too lousy.)

Ray and Cindy are most timers from Utah. They are really looking forward to spending their summer in Alaska. Should be some good blog reading over their way with lots of pictures along the journey.

I love the name of Key’s blog - The Ramblin Rivercat. He’s a new blogger and has some interesting ideas on living the full time lifestyle. He’s been busy going to Spring Training games. We’re also making plans for Key and Jim to go fishing sometime in April when hopefully the fish will be biting.

Most of you already know Jim from Jimbo's Journeys. He’s been really busy working at the Spring Training games in Mesa. It sure was nice to be able to spend more than two minutes with him like we did in Q.

What a great time we had. Looking forward to seeing them all again somewhere on the road.

Elvis Visits Santa Fe

Apache Junction, AZ  High  70  Low 43

Friday was Luau time at the Santa Fe RV Park. Jim and I seldom go to the parties here in the park, but we decided this one might be a good time.

They had the party outside by the pool and the weather was perfect. The park provided everything for the party so all we had to do was show up.

Line up for dinner:

 

Dinner was pulled pork, with green beans, potatoes and salad. Well worth the wait in line.

After dinner was the entertainment – hula girls and guys telling us stories of the islands. (But no fire dancers).

Don Ho serenaded us with his famous Tiny Bubbles.

The really big name of the night was Elvis. Some swooning among the ladies when he came out.

  

The Entire Cast

The Islanders had to entertain themselves so Pass the Banana teamed the men against the women. Of course, the women won two out of three.

(I really need to apologize for these pictures. My little ole point and shoot just doesn’t do a good job in the dark.)

It was a fun time with good food and friends.