Dry Run

The shop where Josie will be working this season is located in an area where we aren't sure about the time to allow for the commute. She has only worked there once before, for about a week, and it was long ago. We took a dry run to the shop yesterday to get an idea how much time she should allow for the drive. It turned out to be about 32 miles and almost 50 minutes of driving time. There is some construction on Carefree Highway, so we took the new route 303 over to I-17 and south to the Northern Ave exit. The address is at 51st Ave and Northern, so she will allow around 50 minutes for the drive. Time will tell if the time is acceptable or not. Josie picked up her schedule and she will be working Mon, Tue, Wed and alternating Fri/Sat each week. The days will be eight hours which is very good. Monday begins her schedule.

We then drove to our storage unit in Surprise, but after a stop at the new car wash at the Costco store. We were very impressed with the quality of the wash and at $7.99 is a real bargain. For fun, we took these shots of the "drive" through the carwash:

Not your everyday photos, for sure.

We had to get Josie's uniform pants from storage, so that was accomplished. We also placed our suitcases back into the unit. Once again, we shake our heads each time we look into this storage unit.

We're ready for Halloween night tonight. We don't usually get very many kids here, but we bought some candy anyway to be prepared. There better be a rush because we certainly don't need to be stuck with all the candy we have in the bowl now...

Back in Arizona

Our wonderful visit with Patty and her family came to an end yesterday AM as we caught our return flight to Phoenix. Patty drove us to the airport (O'Hare) and we arrived in plenty of time for our 11:55 AM flight. The flight to Phoenix was much smoother than the flight to Chicago and we landed over 1/2 hour ahead of schedule at 12:55 PM PST. We were home by 3 PM and began the cleanup of our site at Lake Pleasant. The mess from the tree was expected and it looked as though there were no unusual weather days while we were gone. The plants made it OK except for a couple mums which looked sad before we left.

I had one nice surprise while we were in Chicago when my first check for Wyoming Unemployment was deposited into our account on Tuesday night. I will again receive that benefit - if I am not able to locate a job - for 15 weeks which will take me into early 2015. Josie begins her season at the flower shop on Monday.

We have some decisions to make this winter season regarding the future. We still like traveling and living our lifestyle, but the time is approaching when we need to make more permanent arrangements. The fifth wheel is now 7 years old and in need of some repairs. Do we want to spend the money for repairs, or do we either locate a home or apartment somewhere or locate a permanent site for the fifth wheel to make it a long term home? One serious consideration is to move closer to Patty and her family and stay in either a rented home or apartment. We looked at some nice new apartments while we were there, and it is something we are looking at for next year. Among other things, that would involve getting rid of both the fifth wheel and the truck.

All of these considerations will work out in the long run so, in the meantime, we are looking forward to another full season here at the Lake Pleasant RV Resort...

Here, There and Everywhere

We had a lot of last minute errands to run before getting ready to leave today. Of course, the main trip was to Naperville to pick up our rings. Mine was only resized, but Josie had a complete makeover including a new setting. This is a shot of her new ring set:

We also had an appraisal done for insurance for her new ring. Mark's cousin, Joe, and his staff did a great job on all of the work and completed the work on-time.

There were other trips to the store for groceries, the girls got their nails done, we stopped for lunch at Jersey Mike's where we had great cheese steaks and Josie had a hoagie, a trip to the bank for some travel money and a final trip to Macy's where we picked up a carry-on bag to use on the return flight. With all the extra clothes we bought while here, our weight limit on the one checked bag would be too close to the 50 lb. limit. We are thinking about using two carry-on bags to travel with from now on as the airlines are too expensive for checked baggage and that is what most people are traveling with anyway.

The chances are looking better for a bowl visit by Austin's team and we hope to be able to attend that game. It depends on where the game is held, and when - and if - his team receives an invitation. It appears to be almost a certainty that the twins will again be traveling to FL for the Nationals in December so we hope they are again successful in that tournament.

Our boarding passes are all printed and ready and we plan to leave the house at around 9 AM for our 11:55 flight.

We thank Patty and Mark for a wonderful week and wish we were closer to be able to visit more often. Maybe someday, and maybe not so far off in the future...

Free Day in Naperville

The fact that Patty was scheduled to work yesterday left lots of free time for us. I mistakenly mentioned she would also be working Tuesday (today), but she will be off today and work Thursday and Friday after we leave. Anyway, we had a very relaxing and enjoyable day.

We took another walk around the neighborhood in the morning. This time, we walked in another direction and ended up walking just short of 3 miles. We would need to walk 50 miles  - each day - to lose the weight we have gained over the last week. There were many different shrubs and trees that were still displaying their beautiful Fall colors, and one that we walked past is below:

It is always satisfying to get some exercise, and walking is one of the easiest and most convenient.

I read some of the book that I brought and Josie did some laundry and some other things around the inside of the house. She also found a little time to sit with me on the front porch to enjoy another beautiful day weather-wise. She will be surprised to see this photo that I snapped while we were sitting on the porch:

Our final full day is today and we have some errands scheduled. The girls will stop at the salon to get a manicure and we will pick up our rings at the jeweler's while out and about. It is hard to believe that our week here in Naperville is winding down...

Recovery Day

There was no activity scheduled for yesterday to rival the big game day. We spent most of the day recovering from the extra long day on Saturday.

We did take a walk around the circle in Patty's neighborhood and the entire loop of her street amounted to about 1.25 miles. Oakley also enjoyed the walk on another beautiful day:

We drove to a nearby development to look at some townhomes and apartments that are in a neighborhood called River Run. It is another option for us to consider as an alternative move for the next several years. We have been having some conversations about the possibility of moving closer to them while they serve out the next 4 years with the twins attending high school. Patty and Mark have said they would like to move back to AZ following the high school years of the twins. The apartments are a good value and present some food for thought for us.

We plan to take another, longer walk today. Patty has to go to work at her shop from 9:30 AM until 2 PM and she will then pick up the boys at school and return home at around 2:30. She is scheduled to work tomorrow also, and we have a couple projects lined up to complete while she is working.

It is suppose to be another nice day today and we are thankful for the terrific weather we have had while here this year.

From Thumped to Rout

What a difference a year makes. Last year, we watched Western Michigan University (WMU) get thumped by Buffalo, 33-0. We had great expectations this year, and we were not disappointed.

Our drive to Kalamazoo started on schedule at 6:30 AM and we had a carload with all the food and drinks for the tailgating party, four adults and three boys - the twins and their friend, CJ. The two and a half hour drive wasn't bad although the entire morning was cloudy. There was no rain in the forecast, and the weather forecast was right on. The sun came out during our tailgating party and by game time, it was sunny and 60.

We have lots of photos for this entry, so let's get started.

The tailgate party was in a different - and better - location this year. There is a group of players' parents that gather before each home game in this new location that is much more convenient to the stadium. In fact, we walk to the game from this parking area where the tail gate party is held. Below are some shots of the tailgate party.

The crowd for our party was about 30 (or so) people and we were in a corner of the parking area that was reserved by one of the couples at 5:30 AM so that we would get this choice spot. Here is the crowd:

There were many shots taken during the party and below are just a couple of those:

And these two photos of one of the many "toasts" during the party:

Josie, Patty and I talk a short walk to the campus Bookstore about a block away during the party to pick up a couple WMU logo items to wear for the game. The bookstore was super crowded as you can imagine, and this shot was taken while were standing in line to check-out:

The party ended and everybody packed up their individual leftovers and headed to the stadium for the game. The stadium was packed for this game, and we had our same front row, 50 yard line seats that we enjoyed last year. This is a shot of the packed stadium at the start of the game:

It was like night vs day. This year's team is so much improved over last year's that you would hardly even know it was the same school. They won only one game the whole year in 2013, and yesterday was their attempt at winning number 5 with three more games to follow. Austin was super as the special teams leader and we got lots of good pictures of him during the game. Below is a good representation of these photos:

He and one other player were responsible for causing, and recovering, a fumble on one of the punts in the fourth quarter. The team played nearly flawlessly and led in the game, 42-14, with 3.5 minutes left in the game:

The defense got a little sloppy in those last three minutes and, as a result of a couple stupid penalties, allowed Ohio to score one final touchdown with time running out to make the final score 42-21. They are getting very close to qualifying for a post season bowl game, and that is causing some real excitement at the University, not to mention for all of us. They are now 5-3 and expect to win at least two of the three remaining games. Patty took a couple shots of us while watching the game, one of which is below:

We all met with Austin following the game and before he went in to take his shower:

The day ended with a visit to Austin's home where he is rooming with three other football buddies, and dinner at a nice sports bar in Kalamazoo - AFB Bar and Grill. It was a terrific day that ended with a long drive home and going to bed at 10:30 PM. This will certainly rank as the highlight of our trip to Chicago this year...

Fun and Expensive Day

Our day started slowly but ended with a flurry of activity.

Patty had to get things done for our trip to Kalamazoo today, so she spent the morning making chili for the tail gating party and two kinds of cookies and some brownies to take to Austin. We also had to pick up some things at Costco so the morning was pretty much shot with those activities. The afternoon was spent doing some fun things but also some expensive things as it turned out.

Mark's cousin, Joe, owns a jewelry store in Naperville and we had planned to go to his store to get an estimate on repairing Josie's diamond ring which has been neglected for some time. The band has separated and needed to be soldered, and the entire ring set needed to be dipped in white gold again. We compared the cost of repairing the ring to obtaining a whole new setting, and the new setting won. Ka-ching. The cash register started to make noise and when my ring  - badly in need of downsizing and cleaning - was added, the Ka-ching grew louder. We ended up spending lots more than we planned for the day but Josie has a much needed upgrade to her wedding ring. We pick up the new product on Tuesday before we leave for our return trip to AZ.

We came home following a trip to Patty's store where we spent some time trying out samples of cosmetics and meeting the staff at her shop, and picking up the boys after school. She has a wonderful crew that she works with and we also picked up some nice products at the store for which she will get credit.

It was such a nice afternoon outside, we took a couple shots of each other on the rear deck before moving to the front porch for happy hour:

While sitting on the porch, we enjoyed our wine:

and watching Jordan raking the leaves that are now falling in the front yard:

The boys had a Halloween dance to attend at the school last night. We planned to take them to the dance and meet Michael at Potter's Place in Naperville where he would stop on his way home for the weekend from Iowa. He is entering his senior year at the University of Iowa and it was great seeing him again as we enjoyed a fun evening of Mexican food and margaritas. Below is a shot that we had taken of the group at dinner:

It will take us a long time to lose all the weight we are gaining this week, but who cares. It sure is a fun time so far.

We watched the disturbing report of another high school shooting on the national news. The Marysville-Pilchuck High School in WA is the high school that our grandson, Justin, attends. We immediately texted him to make sure he was OK. Thankfully, he and his step-brothers are all fine. They, of course, know the shooter and said he was a good kid. You never know about these things and we are thankful that they are fine through this tragic event.

Today is the big day for Austin's game and we are excited to watch the game. There is a full day planned, so we will see you tomorrow with, hopefully, a good report on the outcome of the game...

Visit to Outlet Mall

There was a relatively new Outlet Mall that we passed on the way out of the airport on Wednesday that Patty had indicated we should all visit while here. Yesterday was the day as she dropped the twins off at school and we drove to the Mall. It is a very nice mall with upscale shops. It is so conveniently located to O'Hare that a shuttle runs between the airport and the mall so people can shop there between flights or delays. We all bought some nice clothes and also had our lunch while there.

We stopped at the grocery store before picking up the twins from school so Patty could get some things she needed to make Chicken Devan for dinner. The rest of the afternoon was spent catching up on our computer stuff and watching Oakley march around with his doll until finally he stopped and went to sleep with his favorite toy:

While getting ready to sit don for dinner, Jordan told us that there was a rainbow outside - and sure enough, a distant storm produced this nice shot out the back of their home:

Josie also snapped this photo of another one of the colorful trees that are in the backyard of their home:

We seem to have caught the perfect time for these nice Fall colors.

The activities are building for the trip to Kalamazoo tomorrow for Austin's game. We are doing some more shopping today for goodies to take to the tail-gating party that is held before each game. This year the twins will be making the trip with us and Michael is coming home for the weekend from Iowa to say hello even though he will not make the game with us. We are all excited and anticipating another Bronco win tomorrow...

Good Flight and Arrival in Chicago

Our flight to Chicago was mostly good with a few "bumpy" areas along the way. We arrived in Chicago at O'Hare Airport shortly after 11:30 local time. Here is the best shot we could get through the clouds of the Chicago skyline as we landed from over Lake Michigan:

Mark was at work and the twins were still at school as we got to the house and had a sandwich which was the first food we had since we left home in the AM. Oakley - their seven year old Golden Retriever - is uncanny. Every day at 3 PM he knows it is his meal time. At exactly 3:01, he grabbed Patty's arm to take her to his food in the utility room:

 



Believe me, there was no prodding or hint to him that it was time to eat.

It was a quiet evening as Mark and the twins came home and we sat around and visited with some wine before dinner on the outside porch. The Fall colors in their neighborhood are beautiful and the house looks great:

 

Even though you can't see us in the photo, we are all sitting on the porch in the right hand side of the photo. Here is one final shot of Oakley watching Josie walk back to the porch from taking the photos and shows the beautiful plants on their front steps:

 



 

We hope to have many shots of the family during our seven days here as we get ready for our stay and, especially, the drive to Kalamazoo on Saturday to watch Austin's homecoming game against Ohio University. His school - Western Michigan University - is currently in second place in the Mac/West Conference, and another win will put them in the running for a post season Bowl game. By the way, Austin won the Special Teams Player of the Week last week as his team won its fourth game of the season.

 

Today we plan a trip to a relatively new Outlet Mall in Chicago while the twins are in school and Mark is working. It's nice to see everybody again and we look forward to a fun week...

Early Departure

Yesterday was filled with preparation - both for ourselves and for the fifth wheel.

Josie was at the hairdresser for several hours while I put together clothes to go on the trip, pack away some things in the basement, made a list of last minute must-do items like turn off the water, lock up the bikes with our cable locks, set the plants in place for the sprinklers and put the pillows from the furniture in bags and put them in the storage shed. I think we are ready to go.

This morning - at 3 AM - we are getting everything out-the-door and in the Jeep. We had a quick breakfast, packed up last minute stuff like our computers and chargers, and loaded everything into the Jeep. The flight leaves Phoenix at 6:10 AM.

We're off to Chicago and we'll see 'ya tomorrow from Patty's...

Re-Visit to Storage

If there is one regret since we hit the road over six years ago, it is the fact that we didn't get rid of everything instead of taking the storage unit. Of course, the whole motivation for taking it in the first place was that if this lifestyle didn't work for us, we would still have our furniture and possessions to move back into a "stick built" home again. The expense over the six year period is hard to justify. We revisited the unit yesterday to take out our large suitcase to travel to Chicago with on Wednesday. As soon as we raise the door at the storage unit, we shake our heads and look at each other. Most of what is in the unit can be either donated or sold and we could get by with a space probably less than half the size of the one we currently have. Oh, well. We took out the suitcase and placed a box of towels in the unit that we aren't using in the fifth wheel.

We stopped at Josie's hairdresser that is in Surprise following the storage visit and I got a haircut while Josie scheduled an appointment for herself for 8:30 this morning. The wait would have been too long for her yesterday so it was much easier to schedule a separate appointment.

Just about everything is gathered for packing our suitcase for our trip tomorrow.  Our flight leaves at 6:30 AM, so we will have to get up around 3 or 3:30 AM in order to get to the airport, park the Jeep and get to the gate in time. We will probably catch some zzzz's on the flight...

Wild Storm

Our day yesterday was literally a calm before the storm. We had some on and off winds, but for the most part, it was a nice, sunny and calm day. That is, until around 6 PM. The skies turned very dark to the southeast and it looked like we would get a big thunderstorm. The skies were rapidly changing and we caught these shots of the southeast (notice the rainbow):

and the storm beginning to surround us as you can see in this shot taken toward the north:

All of this was happening while the sun was producing another beautiful sunset to the west:

We ended up not getting any rain out this storm and the reports we heard were that communities to the east of us - mainly, Scottsdale - received some heavy doses of rain.

Josie did some laundry and I made some modifications to the drip system and that about rounded out our work for the day. We are preparing now for our trip on Wednesday and we will probably take a trip to our storage unit to pick up our large suitcase. The airlines do not allow for any free checked baggage, so we will limit our checked baggage to one bag. We'll carry on our computers and some snacking food. It's not fun flying anywhere these days with all the extra charges and hassles at the airports.

The weather forecast in the Chicago/Naperville area looks great for the next week or so. We won't have to take our winter clothes and will most likely only take our light jackets and a couple sweaters to wear. The big unknown is the Saturday football game at Kalamazoo, MI. It seems to look good right now with a forecast high of 65 and partly cloudy skies. Of course, we know how the forecast can change, but we are counting on it to be accurate. We expect Austin and his team to win their 5th game of the season against Ohio, so the weather is secondary...

Drip System Done

Last year we installed a drip system for all our plants so that there would be no concern about them while we spent extended time away from the site. This year, I re-installed the system, but with a different configuration. We have a few more plants and also have the upright stand which holds three hanging baskets. The work was done by noon and the first scheduled watering occurred as scheduled with all drippers working fine. The only change I will make is to replace three of the drip nozzles that are on the stand to "broadcasting" nozzles as only the center of these plants are getting enough water. That was a fairly simple project.

I didn't mention that on Friday we got our annual flu shots at Albertsons. We feel that they have been beneficial as neither of us has had the flu for many years. Our fingers are crossed.

We are busy now getting ready for our trip to Chicago on Wednesday morning. This year, we are going later than last year so we will be taking a few warmer clothes. Austin's game that we will attend in Kalamazoo will be on the 25th which is almost two weeks later than last year (12th). It also happens to be their homecoming game so it should be a fun day. His team is doing much better this year  (4-3 record) and Austin is still playing on almost all of the special team plays. The twins are playing well again this year and we are hoping for another invitation to FL to play in the Nationals Tournament at the end of the season.

The weather has been terrific the last several days with very little wind. We hope it continues...

Closer to Final Look

We finished the job of putting down the carpet that we purchased on Thursday. It looks OK but when you buy inexpensive, you get inexpensive. If we were to spend the rest of our lives on this site, we would have gotten pavers for these areas instead of carpet. The problem with the new carpet is that we can't use the blower to remove all the debris that collects from our messy tree. We will have to use our shop-vac to do that job on the carpeted area. Anyway, here are a few shots of the completed project. Starting with the area in the rear:

And the rear and side:

And finally, along the side of the fifth wheel:

Since we have the larger covered area in the rear of the site, we decided to get rid of the heavy picnic table that was in the rear. We will most likely replace that with a bench of some kind.

All that is left to do now is to install the drip system for the plants that we used last year and then we will be set to go. We wanted to get everything done before we leave for Chicago on Wednesday morning and it looks like we will make that schedule.

We discovered another nice, new RV park in Benson, AZ that will warrant further investigation. They have ownership lots that are very reasonably priced and very large. The name of the park is Arizona Legends and we will pursue that investigation after we return from Chicago...

Time Out for Pruning

One of the big disappointments with our space is the very messy tree that has grown wildly over the years. There were many dead branches that were hanging low and were in danger of puncturing the roof of our gazebo if we didn't get rid of them soon. We have been hacking away at some of these low hanging branches since we arrived back and the other day a maintenance worker happened to come by as we were performing the ritual and he said he would return when he had some time and do the cutting. Well, yesterday was the day. He worked for about an hour cutting, slicing, and pulling, and we were afraid that he may have over-trimmed the tree to the point that there would not be good shade provided. Here is a shot of this guy performing tree surgery yesterday morning:

By the time he finished and hauled off the branches, it was mid-day. The jury is out on the job he did, but it looks better for now.

Once the tree trimming was completed, we left for Home Depot to buy the inexpensive outdoor carpet that we will use to put down in the areas around the fifth wheel and the shed that will help cut down on dust and gravel that we track inside all the time. We started to lay the carpet yesterday afternoon and will complete that project today.

In our ongoing search for possible alternatives to this space, we saw that one of the nice sites at the Havasu Resort has became available. We are giving some serious thought to pursuing that location. Our time that we recently spent in Havasu didn't include another look at these properties because we had already seen them and know they are in a nice park. The problem we are having in evaluating any alternative is that one goal we have is to eliminate our storage unit in Surprise, and that will require a house to be able to get everything moved out and sorted. Oh, well, we'll find the right solution.

We were both tired at the end of the day and had a light dinner while watching another beautiful sunset behind us over Lake Pleasant:

New Mat is Down

We ran a few errands in the morning while waiting for the new outdoor mat to arrive. We priced some outdoor carpet to place along the side of the fifth wheel that might help keep down the dust when the wind blows. We found some good carpet that we will probably pick up today. At $.41 / SF, it is a good buy. Look for that in tomorrow's entry. That would complete our outdoor improvements for this year and is a far cry from what we spent last year on all the major improvements.

The new mat arrived in the early afternoon and we got that installed in place of the old, damaged one:

It looks good and will, hopefully, last another 5 or six years like the old one.

We fired up the grill for the first time this season and did a couple salmon fillets which were really good:

As we finished our dinner, we had our first opportunity to get a photo of the always beautiful Arizona sunsets:

There may be beautiful sunsets in other parts of the country, but I haven't seen any anywhere that can top these sunsets in Arizona...

Visit to The Outlets

The winds died down yesterday and we were able to "putz" around some more outside. In line with our "options search" for next year, we drove over to the Pioneer RV Campground that is just off the freeway near Anthem. It is a much older park and even though the cost was slightly less than here at Lake Pleasant, we didn't see anything or hear anything that would make it a better spot for us. Throw in the language on the campground flyer that said "walk around at night with a flashlight as there are scorpions and snakes" and that ended any further consideration by Josie.

While we were close to the Outlet Mall in Anthem, we paid our first visit there for the new season. There wasn't anything in particular that we needed, but it was nice to walk around and see the changes. There are a few more stores that closed down since last year and a couple new ones were added. We had lunch, bought some socks and Josie bought a jacket for our Chicago trip next week at the Columbia store.

There was one more stop at the Home Depot where Josie picked up a couple more flower plants for our planters and the day was done. Our new carpet is scheduled to arrive today for the outdoor area where our table and chairs are placed. Once that is placed on the ground, we can thoroughly clean that area and be ready for the season...

Adding Plants

We had to order a replacement carpet for the area where we have our table and chairs on the site. The summer heat and weathering took its toll on the old carpet and it had separated at the seams. We ordered a new one from Amazon, and it will arrive on Wednesday which is when we will complete the setup on the site.

In the meantime, we took a drive to the Home Depot to check out plants that we could use on our space this year. We picked up a few hanging baskets and some Rustoleum paint to paint our plant stand. The baskets look nice following the new paint job on the stand:

 

The plant stand, by the way, was a real find as I discovered it sitting in the dumpster last year. Somebody tossed it before leaving here last Spring.

 



We also bought some small plants for a planter that Josie placed by our front door:

All of these flowers should grow and look terrific in a month or so. I will connect our watering system today so that they will get regular watering while we are gone for days at a time.

We are beginning to evaluate options for next year - at least for the next winter season. We have to put a (refundable) deposit on our site here to reserve it for another year which we will probably do before we leave for Chicago. There are a few things that we don't care about regarding this site, and the first one on the list is the frequency of winds which are creating messy problems from the tree which is the second main concern about this space. We have to spend way too much time in cleanup mode for the mess from the tree. We aren't too happy about the lack of maintenance on our site while we were gone for the summer. We felt that they could have kept the weeds away and the leaves raked the same as they do for the empty spaces in the Resort. We also asked them a year ago to repaint the wall on our site which hasn't been done after they promised to complete the job.

We are enjoying the free time even though there is work remaining outside. It's hard to beat this area in the winter when the winds are calm...

Progress

We continued to get everything set up and organized in our space yesterday morning. That is, until the winds arrived early in the afternoon. We had forgotten how windy it gets here and yesterday afternoon - and all evening and night - were reminders. We had gusts up to 35 mph -and lots of them - and average winds for the entire day of 13.7 mph. The winds interrupted what was a good day of setting up outside. The gazebo is all set and the furniture is in place.

A huge problem this year is cleaning out the weeds that have grown around the outside perimeter of the space and the insects that live in those clusters of weeds. Josie has insect bites all over her feet and ankles and she could barely get any sleep last night as a result. Once we get those cleared out, we should be OK for the winter.

The work schedule for Josie appears to be set. She will begin working on Nov 3 at the store that is located in Glendale. Since the Sun City location was closed down, she will have further to go to work. To make up for the longer distance, she will be scheduled for longer, and fewer days. She will work at least three 8 hour days vs four 5.5 hour days last year. We'll see how that goes.

I have submitted applications for seasonal work at Costco, Lowe's and Home Depot. I haven't heard from any of them yet so I again filed for unemployment in WY in case nothing comes up. I did that last season and it worked out fine. I am really getting to the point where I would like more free time anyway, so we'll see.

We hope to complete our setup this morning - assuming the winds die down...

Back at Lake Pleasant Resort

It was a relatively short trip yesterday - 178 miles - from Lake Havasu City to Lake Pleasant in Peoria. We arrived shortly after noon and stopped in the office to let everybody know we were back, get updated on any changes and to pick up any mail that was waiting. We then drove to our site and took down the sections of fence that I installed that could move to allow for the fifth wheel to move in and out of the space. It worked like a charm. and the setup was easy. The next step was to remove the covers from our furniture and get the pieces all cleaned up. The site itself was a disaster area with all the leaves and junk that had blown onto the space all summer. The furniture made it without any damage. That was a relief.

We took some shots of our afternoon project to clean the space and to get the furniture all cleaned. This first one is of all our furniture that we moved to one end of the space to set up a wash station:

Josie performed the washing while I cleaned up the rest of the leaves that we couldn't pick up and bag in our large trash bags. Josie's station looked like this:

I was blowing the ground-up leaves from the artificial grass:

The furniture is done, and we removed the cushions from the storage shed - all in fine shape - and sat down for the rest of the afternoon. We still have the other half of the site to blow clean and the gazebo to set up today.

Other than a few personnel changes at the front desk and one of our neighbors missing, everything else is about as we expected. It's nice to be here for the start of our 2014-15 winter season at Lake Pleasant...