Last Few Days in Casa Grande

Our time in Casa Grande was filled with a lot of interaction with friends and family.  My brother Marty and wife Elena were a little over an hour away in Saddlebrooke which is a retirement community just north of Tucson.  We managed to spend almost every Sunday going to church with them and then out for Sunday brunch.

Marty and I got to play a lot of golf during our time in both Tucson and while Pam and I were in Casa Grande.  Golf is always a fun time with Marty.  He's an excellent golfer and always improving, though he sports a pretty strong 6 handicap.

Back at the Palm Creek Gold and RV Resort in Casa Grande, we had some projects around the Roadurnner to tend to and some serious hang out time at the pool.  One thing I really like is to be able to get UPS packages delivered directly to the campsite.  That was the case for our new porch light that we installed.

I got the idea of the light from Steve @GoneByRV and found that Art and Gerri had ugraded from the original to this brand.  So I figured I was in good company.  I reread the tutorial Steve posted on how he did his install, but had trouble finding it now.  But I know its there somewhere!

During our time in Casa Grande, we took a couple of day trips to the Tempe/Chandler/Mesa/Apache Junction area to have lunch with friends and to stop and see other friends one day which was fun.  Ron and Marta are from Albuquerque and are also full-time Rvers.  We are glad to connect with them whenever we are anywhere close to where they are.  Ron and Marta headed from Phoenix to Albuquerque where he was going to get both knees replaced.  Yikes!  Tough patch ahead but he'll be glad when they are done.
Other friends John and Greta were in Apache Junction and we had the chance to meet them for dinner.  They are friends from one of our early Habitat for Humanity builds in Brookings, South Dakota.  It was great to see them again after many years.  They recently bought a beautiful VanLeigh 5th wheel which we were able to see.  Fun to catch up with these folks.

Before we left Casa Grande friends Kirk and Susan drove from OKC to stay with us a few days and to play golf

Here we are with Marty at the Preserve Golf Club in Saddleback where Kirk, Marty and I played 18 holes.  It was a fun day.  While we played golf, Pam and Susan and Elena went to lunch, shopping and spent time at Marty and Elena's place.
One Sunday afternoon, we got to join Marty and his two sons (Matt and Rob) and Rob's wife Christine (with kids Jackson and Andy) at an Oakland A's Spring Training baseball game.  Matt is from the San Jose/Bay area.  Wife Sierra and 3 year old son William did not make the quick weekend trip.  Rob and Chris are from the San Diego/Del Mar area.  We haven't seen them in years so that was fun!

Next are photos of friends Bobbi and Paul.  They were nice enough to stop by (and pay the $$$) and visit overnight.  We met them in Santa Fe at one of our early Habitat builds in Santa Fe.  They are from Tehachapi, CA and were en route to their place at the Escapees Campground in Benson Arizona.

Palm Creek is one nice resort.  It is an actual resort, not one in name only.  We were lucky to have spent time there during March.  It is a very nice place with lots of nice things to do.  I especially loved the swimming pool and enjoyed it every chance I had.

That's all for this edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles!  On to Yuma and getting some dental work done...
Thanks for joining us today!

2016 Warner Bros Reunion - Friday and Saturday

Friday morning was golf for the four Bros while the ladies hung out at the cabin.  We went over to Sequoia Woods to practice the night before and then played 18 holes at Forest Meadows in Arnold.

Somehow I missed taking photos of our golf Friday morning.  I was fun.  Reid was the surprise of the day.  He plays once every couple of years and was 1 over par after 4 holes.  If was fun to watch him do well.

After we returned to the cabin and had lunch, the rest of the group went to Angels Camp to tour around and over to Ironside Winery to see the museum and grounds.  Pam and I were recently at Angels Camp and had seen the Winery and museum a couple of years ago, so we didn't join them.

Before everyone scattered, we got some photos:

While they were in Angels Camp, Pam and I packed up and headed to Sacramento.  She had a early morning flight to Virginia Beach on Saturday morning so we spent the night at a hotel near the airport.
The mother of one of Adam's best friends (and a friend of Pam's) recently passed away unexpectedly and we felt it was important for her to be there despite the reunion.  The service was scheduled for Tuesday in Virginia Beach.

Pam flew out at 6 AM on Saturday morning, returning on Wednesday about noon.

After I drove her to the airport, I went by McDonald's for an egg McMuffin and to Starbuck for a large coffee, I drove back from Sacramento in time to meet up with the group downtown at Arnold in time for the Lions Club Pancake breakfast.  The Lions have 41 members, do a Pancake Breakfast three times a year and raise about $35,000 for scholarships, eye and hearing charities.

 I texted a picture of everyone to Pam while she was at Chicago Midway airport for a short layover.

The first event down the parade route was the annual 5k run.  That was followed by a steady stream of fire engines and US Forest Service trucks and vintage cars. If was pretty great and I'll bet that scene was duplicated in hundreds and hundreds of towns across the USA!

After the parade we wandered through the Arts and Crafts Fair looking for something we couldn't do without. Marty and Elena picked up a couple of black and white photographs and Brad and Sue got a little ceramic sign.

 When we got back to the cabin later in the afternoon, we somehow ended up in the Roadrunner for awhile.  I think I wanted to show them my table and favorite invention.  It sits over the coffee holders in between the two front seats above the center drawers in the front.

 Next, it was dinner on the back porch again.  I think we had salmon that Marty caught last year in Alaska which was pretty terrific.  Elena rustled up a tossed salad.

The deck on Marty's back porch was built just for get-togethers and is large enough for chairs and tables and the barbeque. After we cleared the table and loaded the dishwasher, we had dessert and coffee and talked long into the night again.  It was another special time and a lot of fun.

2016 Warner Bros Reunion - Wednesday and Thursday

My brothers and wives and Pam and I have gotten together often during the years and we did so again this past week at Marty's cabin up in the Sierra's.  He built his mountain cabin in the 1980's and had the foresight make a paved RV space with electric hook ups.

We drove in early Wednesday morning and were all set up when Marty and Elena arrived from Tucson.

Pam and I were so excited that the Roadrunner fit well into the parking space right in front of Marty's cabin.  He had insight to plan it out long ago before we ever had an inkling that we would have a motorhome.  We planned on 30 amp service but over the years he upgraded to 50 amp so we were all set!
Brad and Sue drove in next from Sacramento Airport.  They live in Ft Worth.  Reid and Amy soon followed, also flying into Sacramento and taking a rental car.  They live in Albuquerque.

Marty had things planned for us during the week including days for all of us to cook dinner and do a couple of meals.  It all worked out great.   There was a good balance of 'hanging out' and activities.

We changed things a bit on the schedule and Pam cooked tortellini and we had a big salad for dinner.

The notion that 'We have too much food here" became a recurring theme everyday.

 We had a nice time catching up on the back porch and then moved it inside for some more chatting.  We did a lot of that which was great.

The next day, the only thing we had on the agenda for activities was a 90 minute hike around a grove in Big Trees State Park.  It was about 5 minutes up the highway from the cabin in Arnold.

 We had a good group and enjoyed the docent who explained a lot of things about the history of the park and some of the tid bits about how it was discovered.  In the spring of 1852, hunter Augustus Dowd was chasing a wounded grizzly bear and came upon some large sequoias.

 This was back in the '49er' gold rush days.  Dowd was from Murphys, the gold mining town 20 miles to the south.  He told a lot of stories about the place and finally more and more people took the trip and saw it for themselves.

We've been to that park 3 or 4 times over the years and always learn something new every time we visit.

Our shirts are Elena's idea.  She came across a picture of the four of us that she had imprinted on T-Shirts.  

So which one do you suppose is me in this photo?

After our hike, we gathered for a group shot

Then returned to the cabin and everyone helped with dinner.  Elena spiced things up a bit with her 'infused' water that we all enjoyed.

It was Sue and Brad's turn so we chowed down on some brisket they cooked on the grill.

And it was another nice evening to spend on the back porch after dinner.

That's a recap of the first couple of days together.  It was a lot of fun!

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!