Riverton, UT – Ray and Cindy

I truly don’t remember what the weather was like while we were there. I know we had to run the air conditioner during the day but the nights were fabulous.

When I posted several weeks ago that we were going to make a stop at the KOA in Salt Lake City, I got a phone call from Ray inviting us to mooch-dock in their drive way. That sure sounded a whole lot nicer to us than staying at the KOA.

We pulled into their drive way on Wednesday and they had a 30 amp electric ready for us to use and water if we needed it. Jim and Ray got the Bungalow backed into the drive way and set up while Cindy took me on a tour of her beautiful home.

Their daughter and her family are also living with them which makes it really nice when they head out in the fifth wheel because someone is always there at the house.

Ray’s truck and Montana fifth wheel are parked behind us in the driveway.

I don’t think beautiful is a descriptive enough word for their home. It is incredible. Ray and Cindy designed and built the home and every aspect of the home has a wonderful creative touch about it. I am amazed at the talent some people have for decorating and showing off a room to its best advantage.

I took a few pictures of the outside to share with you because what they have done is so gorgeous.

I found their backyard just fascinating. They hold a lot of weddings there and it really is the perfect place.

Ray and Cindy were also marvelous hosts. Cindy fixed us a roast beef dinner with homemade dinner rolls and gravy. It was soooo good. They offered us the use of their home if we needed to do laundry or wanted to take a nice long shower. Anything we needed.

More about our stay in Riverton in the next post.

Headed North

The park we’re in today has a good wifi signal so I’m going to get this posted while I can. I can hardly wait for Thursday to get here so I can have some internet again.

Flagstaff - Sure am glad the climb up the mountain out of the Valley of the Sun is over with. We did have one problem. On the way up the mountain the truck went into “limp mode” which means we can only go 30 mph. We had this happen to us before and after long discussions with On-Star, Jim finally talked to a technician who told him how to reset the computer. He had to turn off the truck, take the key out of the ignition, open and shut the driver’s door (seriously), and then wait five minutes. So that’s what we did. The code indicates a problem with the fuel system but Jim thinks that the heat and the hard pull up the mountain was the problem. We’ll find out tomorrow.

We arrived at Black Bart’s RV Park in Flagstaff (I don’t really like the park but it’s an easy in and out on the way north) just after a big storm went through. The temperatures were in the 60’s and it really felt wonderful. I even wore a jacket when we went to dinner. We slept really good in the cool temps.

Kanab, UT – No problems with the truck today – I’m so grateful. It was a nice easy drive – some road construction and some rough roads but not a bad day. We’re in the Kanab Corral RV Park. We’ve stayed here before and like the park. Jim must have twisted wrong sometime because his back is really bothering him. Sure hope he feels better tomorrow.

We left the cool temps behind – 99 today in Kanab. But the night cooled down and we have the doors open. It’s wonderful.

On to Fillmore, UT at the Wagons West RV Park which is a Passport America park with nice long pull thrus. We are watching TV when a trailer pulls in two sites over. Jim says to me – that looks like Larry. Sure enough – Larry from our park in AJ. He usually spends the summers in Kalispell, MT but the smoke from the fires drove him out this year and he was headed down to the rim country in Northern Arizona to spend a month or so before going down into the Valley. Definitely a small world.

Next stop – Riverton, UT.

Saying “See Ya”

AJ, AZ   High 106  Low 83

After suffering from record heat of 115 and 117 we are so ready for cooler weather. Our low a couple of nights ago was 93. We definitely need a break.

Monday we had lunch with Dianna at Boulders on Broadway. Wednesday was lunch with Bob and Jo at Sal’s Gilbert Pizza. Friday night is dinner at the American Legion with all our good friends in the park.

In between all the eating, Jim got the oil and filters changed on the truck, as well as having the tires rotated. Once we fill it’s belly, it’s ready to go. We’ve been slowly moving clothes and odds and ends into the Bungalow in the early morning hours when it’s cooler. We should be ready to head out Sunday morning

Both of us got pedicures. This was a first for Jim but definitely won’t be the last. I kept telling him how wonderful it was.

We aren’t going to be doing much sight seeing on our trip north. Our first stop is Flagstaff where I will probably freeze to death when the night temps are in the 50’s. I won’t post again until we get to Riverton, UT. I’m still on a very restricted data diet until the 3rd.

Jim’s surgery to remove the blockage in his right groin area is scheduled for November 11. Then hopefully he’s good to go for a couple of years.

Don’t Know Where My Brain Went

AJ, AZ   High 111  Low 85

I made the mistake of trying to download Windows 10 and there went all my gigabytes. So I’m not reading any blogs for awhile. I’m going to try and find time to get to the library to use their Wi-Fi.

Jim is doing good. Still has some pain but it gets less every day. Our plans are to leave here on the 23rd. But that all depends on the weather. We’ve had a couple of strong storms go through but no microbursts so damage has been minimal. Thank goodness.

See you later.

SNAKE!!!

AJ, AZ  High 112  Low 88

I am the first person to admit that I do not like bugs or crawly or slithery things.

So my heart just about didn’t survive the other night. I took Scooter out for her final time before bed. As we were coming back into the house she went into hunt mode and was pulling on the leash to get to something on our sidewalk. It was really dark and my flashlight is weak, so I at first thought it might be a lizard. But then it moved and it was not a lizard. I screamed and hauled Scooter back away from it.  I have no idea what kind of snake it was because I didn’t get a very good look at it but it was only about 9 or 10 inches long. But it was definitely a snake. Needless to say, I am really cautious when I go out the door now but we haven’t seen any sign of it since. Thank goodness. 

This interesting looking building is on our drive to the surgeon’s office. It is the Viad Tower which was built in 1991. The tower was originally built for the Dial Corporation and the building is supposed to look like a bar of dial soap. I guess my imagination isn’t that good because I don’t see the resemblance.

Maybe from this angle.

Nope, I still don’t think it looks like a bar of soap.

 

Scooter has been impatiently waiting for Jim to be able to take her rabbit hunting again. I have been trying to fill in for him but it’s just not the same.

Not a cloud to be seen. This was taken Sunday morning about 5:45 when Scooter and I went out rabbit hunting. Pretty amazing considering the clouds we’ve had for the last couple of days. That little white spot is the moon.

And the heat is back – 112 today and tomorrow. Definitely an indoor movie day after the doctor’s appointment.

The drain came out today. Not sure who is more excited about that – Jim, me or Scooter. Doc says he is healing nicely but he still needs to give it a couple more weeks before he does anything too strenuous. We also decided that the next surgery will be scheduled for the middle of November.

Now we have to sit down and figure out when we can get out of here.

Well – That Was Quite a Storm

AJ, AZ  High 106  Low 78

Finally, something to blog about besides Jim.

We experienced our first monsoon storm yesterday and I will say, one is enough. But I’m sure we’ll have more before we get out of here.

Yesterday afternoon, Jim took Scooter out and had only been back in the house about five minutes when I said – isn’t that our awning? The wind was howling. Weatherman said 50 mph. We ran outside to get the awning put up and the rain came DOWN! It took every muscle and ounce of strength that we had to get the awning up but we made it.

We were completely soaked – in fact my shoes are still wet this morning. It was incredible to see that much water coming out of the sky.

We also lost power for 3 hours but since the storm cooled the temps down it was survivable. If it had gone on much longer we would have turned the generator on. One of the many good things about having an RV. The news just reported that 20 poles were knocked down here in Apache Junction.

After the storm we gathered outside to make sure everyone was okay and to survey the damage. Our corner survived nicely but other parts of the park were not so lucky.

We took a couple of pictures of some of the damage.

This is what’s left of Ron and Ruth’s carport/patio awning.

Al and Wilma’s awning. They are headed back from Wyoming to get started on the repair work.

This tree is outside the park wall on Ironwood.

We see the surgeon on Tuesday and have high hopes that Jim will get rid of his drain and we can start making some plans.