Joan on the Road...of Life

Things are moving along toward being ready to leave Mesa on May 4 and head up to McDowell Regional Park for a few days. The saguaro are just starting to bloom so there'll be picture opportunities! Otherwise things are just daily life..like..

Doggie Freedom: The guy behind us hollers out, "do you know where your dogs are?" so I run out. He says Rocky is down the street and won't come, but it looks like Adrienne is headed back. Another guy says they're behind his house but headed back. As soon as Rocky sees us he starts howling! Good thing they didn't hear the call of the open road and head for the street!!!

Krispy Kreme Diet: We're trying to lose weight and do real well for several days and then we just have to say...what the heck. We were out early before breakfast and decided that since we never had Krispy Kremes, this would be a great time. But they only came in a box of a dozen, and we didn't want them to go bad...so...they disappeared fast! No weight loss there.

Satellite Connections: Spent time with another guy this AM on how great our Direcway Satellite is. It is so awesome looking that people stop in to see what it does for us. I doubt that we could live this life without our internet connection. Must have been kismet that it was available when we were ready to leave.

Betty: Our neighbor, Betty, is the welcoming committee on this street. She celebrated her 85th birthday recently so we sat outside with her and helped her drink a box of wine that wouldn't fit in the fridge! Betty used to teach dancing, she sews up stuff for craft shows and used to own a silver jewelry business. She's also a dog spoiler and has a box of biscuits for the doggies who go by. Adrienne is convinced that Betty's house is a regular stop on our walk so she just wants to sit down by Betty's porch and wait for food!

Posted by Joan at 11:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well we're still here. Lately I've been wondering if we'll ever leave Mesa! We are getting too settled in. We had such a long list of things to do in Mesa, some of which are done, but now we're down to the, hopefully, last week and the crunch is on. Wash the motorhome, oil change the car, oil change the motorhome, wash the dogs...and everything seems to take half a day. Our new license plates are on the way from SD, so that turned out to be easy. Just got a temp plate here while we registered by mail in SD. Amazingly, when you call the DMV in SD you actually get a human...her name is Angie...no waiting, no hassle.

And boy have we spent our share of money here in Mesa! First it was the previously loved van we bought to replace our van with broken down AC. Then Jim's bike was stolen (our security was lax). It was 8 years old but looks like we'll get nearly full replacement value. So he got a new bike, and since we always buy bikes in pairs...I have a new one too. Actually the new bikes are way more comfy because we are sitting up straighter so we'll do more riding for sure. Then we donated my old one to Goodwill and will take a $350 donation write off.

We've visited lots of spots here and feel at home. Yesterday we checked out another park, rated #1 in the nation. It looked pretty good except it had no trees and did not allow pets...so not for us. I really love the palm lined streets in this park...and all our neighbors say they "love" to hear Rocky howl. (They should live with him.) We also went to the Superstition Ranch Market (reminded me of the old Irvine Ranch Market) and bought lots of dried fruits and nuts to make a trail mix. Stopped at Bates Dates and replenished our Medjool date supply.

Sometimes people think that our life is a vacation...true. But it is also filled with the daily "stuff" of living.

Posted by Joan at 12:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix is "not your garden-variety garden." We spent 3 hours walking the various garden paths surrounded by native desert plantings. I wish we'd gone a little earlier in the season to see more blooms, but I got a lot of great pictures.

The prize pix of the day is the Zebra Longwing below. One of the exhibits is the Butterfly Pavilion where thousands of butterflies are housed in a screened in building with flowering trees, shrubs, water, and flowers. It is an amazing place and overflowed with people and kids...spring break! The little kids were just in awe as butterflies came and sat on their hands. The entrance to the pavilion has a door with an air curtain to prevent the little creatures from getting out. When you exit, a volunteer brushes you off with a feather duster to assure no little creatures excape. I was snapping away pictures and suddenly realized that all the butterflies want is to be free! Then I didn't want to be in there anymore.

I've been thinking a lot about freedom, as we have so much of it....I mean Jim and I have so few constraints on our life. I listen to all the political ads and hear people arguing about who is the best candidate. Isn't it all about freedom? I keep hearing the words to Lee Greenwood's song in my head and finally had to capture them off the internet..

"I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free,
And I won't forget the men who died and gave their lives for me...."

Watching "Band of Brothers" and seeing soldiers in Iraq interviewed on TV, hearing them describe how they feel about fighting for the freedom of others...It's all about freedom.

Posted by Joan at 09:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Taliesin West, in Scottsdale AZ, is as complex and intriguing as Taliesin East which is in Spring Green WI. To escape from the cold of Wisconsin, Frank Lloyd Wright brought his family and students to Arizona to build the "western camp". He was 70 when he started this endeavor and 1/3 of his design work was done after this time. I have always been drawn to his style of design...houses, interiors....and love his philosophy of "nature and building are one". Maybe that's why I love the motorhome life...always looking for the perfect place to park. He always tried to integrate the bulding into the location and bring the outdoors inside. One way he did that is shown in the living room picture where the roof is made of canvas covered with glass or plastic. The lighting is beautiful! Wright was a real American "character" and his building are unique to America.

Posted by Joan at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is the living room, aka Garden Room, at Taliesen West.

Posted by Joan at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Our guide at Taliesen pointed out this cactus which she said blooms only one day of the year...and we were there! Must be a good omen!

Posted by Joan at 10:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On the way home from McDowell park we stopped in Fountain Hills to see the fountain which sits in the middle of a 28 acre lake and shoots up 560 feet every hour for fifteen minutes. We actually saw the water shooting up while out in the park, 10 miles away! Fountain Hills is a very posh suburb of Phoenix with very southwestern adobe architecture. We enjoyed this lovely scene and visited with a couple who were camping with their horses and had seen the fountain from out in the mountains. Quite a sight!

Posted by Joan at 08:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Right next to our luncheon spot today were these 4 great Saguaro...we haven't seen many groupings like this. This is at McDowell Regional Park in Maricopa County AZ, just north of Mesa. I wanted to check out the campsites, which are awesome; we'll be headed out there after Mesa. With a great view of the surrounding mountains and abundant cactus this is a wonderful retreat. It is so quiet it's almost surreal. I can't wait to see what the stars will be like out there. With electric and water hookups it is looks like a heavenly spot for us.

Posted by Joan at 08:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's just a 20 mile trip east of Mesa on the Apache Trail to the Superstition Mountain area and then on to Canyon Lake. The road is very good out to the mountains and the Lost Dutchman State Park. After that it starts to go up, curve, switchback and take you to a whole other world. I didn't realize how wild the area would be but it's mountainous, rocky, filled with great cactus and uninhabited.

Canyon Lake is one of a series of lakes created by damming the Salt River. It is really beautiful, with a marina and old paddlewheel boat tour. Next time we're here I'd like to rent a pontoon and spend the day on the lake. We had a great lunch sitting on the balcony overlooking the lake...the Big Bum burger really hit the spot.

The state park sites are nice and large, well maintained but did not have electricity as the brochure claims. Boy, if they had electric we'd be out there in a flash. I can just imagine the night sky and the howling coyotes! When we're here at a cooler time we'll stay there for several days. Arizona State parks seem to be consistently well maintained and attractive.

Posted by Joan at 02:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A view of the mountains from Lost Dutchman State Park.

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Canyon Lake Marina is on the far right

Posted by Joan at 01:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There are 76 metal sculptures on display in a one mile stretch of Main Street, downtown Mesa, AZ. This is the 5th annual display that runs from November through March. Most are for sale with prices ranging from $1200 to $50,000. There are all kinds of figures but the ones I like best are the lifelike sculptures that you can't resist touching. The Citrus Grower below is part of a permanent display. Downtown Mesa is not too exciting, especially on Sunday when most of the shops and restaurants are closed! We've seen several towns with sculpture displays, like the cows that Chicago had. Scottsdale had a display of large, painted horses and only a few are left. There were painted ponies in Temecula; painted sturgeons in Sturgeon Bay, WI; bronze presidents in Rapid City, SD! And of course there were the painted mailboxes in Stevensville, MT!

Posted by Joan at 09:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You can't help but laugh when you see this guy!...nearly 6' tall as he sits on the wall.

Posted by Joan at 09:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is life size and colorful. The little girl's face is very expressive and the old guy is peeling her an orange...this in honor of the citrus growing history of the East Valley.

Posted by Joan at 09:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I didn't expect to find so many cactus blooming here in the Phoenix area...but they are. Ivory yucca and these beautiful yellow beavertail like cactus along with some hot pink blooms. There are saguaro cactus all around the area and some beautiful palo verde trees that are blooming brilliant yellow. I'm looking for some good photo ops on that tree. I love the variety of trees, flowers and birds that we encounter. Today, walking the dogs along the wash, we flushed out a half dozen rabbits that Adrienne wanted to chase and came within a couple of feet of red throated hummingbirds in the shrubbery. Truly...it's "take time to smell the roses" time. And for some truly outstanding flower shots...visit daughter Laura's website!

Posted by Joan at 05:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Joan at 09:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's been an interesting few days! Wednesday morning we had a '93 van...by Wednesday night we had a '99 van! The key was a $2000 AC repair estimate on the old Villager Van. We really liked that car and it served us well so we'd had in mind that when the time came we'd look for another one. Well after getting this estimate on Wed. AM Jim walked over to the sales side of the dealership and asked if they had any Villager Vans. Kismet! It's just like what used to happen...when the washing machine died we'd go to Sears and they'd have what we want on sale. So there sits a '99 white Villager with 33k miles and in excellent shape. Checked it out on Carfax on the internet to assure it had not been in an accident...all was well...price was right...so we're driving a "new to us" car. Then the fun of preparing it to be towed started.

So now it looks like we'll be in the Mesa area through April because we had to order parts to set up the towing. Fortunately we can use about half the parts from the old car. That will be a fun day..we'll have to take car and house to Camping World for at least a day for the installation!

Last night a storm blew in here, literally! Clouds gathered and as we walked the dogs we noted a wall of clouds, muddy looking, heading our way. Suddenly the wind picked up, probably to 30-40 miles, and fine dust blew in. Then the rain hit and it's been raining since. Temperature dropped 20 degrees. It's a welcome relief and looks like it will last a few days.

Posted by Joan at 08:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)