3 Busy Days and One Hot Dog

We had 3 busy days in Tucson. The first day we were there, we checked out 6 parks we had chosen based on the internet. One of them is only 2.2 miles from Ron and Betty's and the rest were scattered around town.

One we found we hated on sight and left without asking any questions. The rest of our choices were all excellent rv parks, and all charge about the same. In AZ, (which Naggy Maggie GPS pronounces "Ahzee") if you stay in a park longer than 30 days, you pay for electricity and each site is metered. You have to sign up with Tucson Electric. Each park had its own strengths and weaknesses.

Our favorites turned out to be Far Horizons and Voyager, which is part of our TTN network. Voyager is MUCH bigger and has over 300 activities per month, several pools and hot tubs, a market, a restaurant, a spa, a hair salon. Just about everything a person might need. Far Horizons has fewer amenities, but many activities and a huge pool and two hot tubs. Being right in town, there are many shops and restaurants near by. And so are Betty and Granny. Voyager is 11 miles from Betty and 13 from Granny but not far from the air base and the military facilities.

The second day Ray had the van detailed and it looks better than it has since the day we bought it. They scraped off all the moss and mildew. Shiny!! In the afternoon, we looked at 3 homes with a Realtor. They were all doublewides on at least an acre and all up north. We liked one of them quite a bit.

The third day, we took Granny with us to look at RV garage homes in Gold Canyon, Arizona. We really liked them, especially the observation deck on top of the garages and the view of the Superstion Mountains. They were almost perfect. To make them perfect costs more money than we think we want to spend. On the way home we stopped by the Oro Valley Red Lobster and treated Granny to dinner at her second favorite restaurant. We were also keeping a secret from her...that Betty and Ron had gone to Phoenix to pick up Robin, who had flown in to surprise Granny at her Birthday Lunch at Olive Garden, her favorite restaurant. We kept her out long enough that it was her bedtime when we got back to her neighborhood. No one let the cat out of the bag and on Friday, Granny was very surprised. Friday night we all went to dinner at Casa Molina, a well-known Mexican restaurant in Tucson.

Friday morning, we ran back out to Voyager and looked at their doublewide manufactured homes. We found a couple of model homes we really liked, and we liked the security of the gated community. Plus they are in our price range and we'd have access to all the Voyager resort activities and amenities, and a community pool a few blocks away. We could also get an RV port there. The community itself was beautiful. If we decided not to get a port, then the rv storage lot costs only 400 dollars a year. Of course, it is outside storage. Inside storage in Tucson costs 250 a month and Voyager does not have inside storage.

We are thinking about these options and more, like a condo in Tucson or elsewhere, and waiting until we are ready to settle down. But it would be lovely to be in Tucson with Ray's family during the Winter.

It has been quite warm ever since we left Redding last weekend. And in Tucson it was about 101 during the days. But today! Hotter than hot. It got up to 120 in Needles and we did not enjoy our rest break there very much. Norm did not enjoy any of them. But our a/c worked fine. I think up in Seattle, it will blow snow! 3 fighter jets flew over us on I-40, we don't know where they were coming from or where they were going, but they were fast and low.

For lunch, we got sandwiches to go at a Subway at a truck stop and drove to the next rest area for a picnic lunch. We certainly did not have to worry about getting chilled. In Ahzee, you can have your dog at the shaded picnic tables, which is very nice and unlike many other states. It was not as nice as the cool, grassy lunch we had in Tehachapi, but it was nice enough and appreciated very much.

Here in Barstow, it was 112 when we arrived at the Holiday Inn. It was about 105 when the 3 of us went over to In N Out Burgers for supper. They had outside tables in the shade so we ate outside with Norm. We had double doubles and large diet Cokes. Norm had already eaten his supper, so he had the last bites. In N Out Burgers are good!

Now Ray is watching Dark Shadows and I am going to join him. Will update tomorrow, I hope. Stay cool out there!