We had a few calls worried that we were close to the Branson tornadoes. We are in Benson Arizona NOT Branson Missouri where the tornado damage happened the other day.
Another cool night, but with sunshine and a light breeze the temperature got to 85f today, love it! Not much on the agenda. Coffee, computing and walkabouts, chat with a couple people just enjoying the great weather here.
the desert behind our coach
wonderful blue skies
Then I went for a short drive about town for and stopped at Safeway for a few groceries. Just love shopping here they really make you feel welcome. Staff asks if you can find everything, cashiers welcome you with "good morning" after checking out they almost always say Thank you Mr. Yates you saved $..... today and would you like a carryout. Thank you not yet I can still manage. Here I think, boy do I look that old ? But they asked other much younger people the same, great customer service.
We enjoyed a relaxing afternoon reading in the shade until it was time to hop in the car for the short 5 mile drive to visit with friends Rick and Suzie at St. David Resort this is the third time this winter we have run into them. So a nice visit catching up again and enjoy a nice happy hour. Then time to fire up our Weber for a couple smoked pork chops, boiled potatoes and a pepper squash for a nice tasty supper.
Now read a bit more, a tv show, and call it another great day, just enjoying the awesome lifestyle that we are so lucky to have.
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Up early as usual coffees, computing walkabouts then jacks up, slide in, say goodbye to our friends and hit the road at 9 A.M. We only have 84 miles to travel today, but we have a stop in Tucson to get our propane tank shut off valve repaired.
84 miles today
We have had a problem with the shut off valve on our propane tank for a while now, every time we close or open the valve we have a propane leak and it has been getting worse. Yesterday I research a fix for this problem and realized it was not something I could handle. I came across ALL RV Service Centre (qualified propane technicians), plus any other rv repairs you might need, in Tucson and after a quick phone call they said they could probably fix, it come on by.
This is a small family run business that have been in business for 38 years. (my kinda place). Nothing fancy, but very busy and very friendly people here. I stopped at the office and said I had called yesterday about our propane tank valve. It was right there sitting on the counter waiting for us! Boby the manager inspected our tank right away, checked with one of her technicians, gave us a quote and said disconnect your car and come back in three hours. They need to dump the propane which will take a while, change the valve, refill the tank and test for leaks.
this the place
service area
Well its almost 10 am by now and we have about three hours to wander about Tucson.
this is the new shut off valve
Now we have always wanted to visit a Trader Joe's and there is 4 or 5 in Tucson. One only about 4 miles away. So we gonna visit and check out this place. Wow an amazing grocery store, different products, specialty products, organic foods, gluten free products, and all very reasonable prices too.
We walk around the store at least twice checking all the interesting food choices. We didn't have our fridge with us or even room in it right now or we would have bought more.
paper shopping bags, two buck chuck and British crumpets
We did get some famous "Two Buck Chuck" a Charles Shaw wine that they have been selling at the same price $2.99 for ten years AND the biggy for us was Crumpets. A treat (origin Great Britain) we enjoy back home in Canada, toasted with peanut butter or jam for breakfast. But have yet to find in any grocery store we have shopped all thru the USA.
yummy crumpets
Now its shortly after 11 am and we still have two hours to kill and need something to eat. So we came across China A Super Buffet. Checked it out and a full buffet lunch only $6.99, yep we can have that and a couple glasses of water and enjoy too much tasty Chinese food. Gotta stop eating at these buffets. The selection was great the food fresh and hot, (a very busy place) some of my favourites , hot and sour soup, and wings, (hot sauce on the side), lotsa shrimp, fish, oysters, tuna, squid sushi to name a few.
China A Supper Buffet
and I got my wings too!
Now back to the ALL RV for 1 pm and they were all done the work on our coach as promised and for the quoted price. Feel much better that this potential problem has been resolved. Good to go again so hop back on I-10 for another hour and pulled into Valley Vista resort in Benson shortly after 2 pm. Another one of our membership parks that we enjoy, will be here for 8 nights.
heading east on I-10 leaving Tucson
down into the valley, Main St, Benson
If you have followed us for while you will notice that we have been to Benson quite a few times. Just something about this small town that has everything we need, nice weather, nice people nice friendly merchants and services. Everybody makes you feel welcome and, its not a big city.
our site
Its a bit cooler here today and just a light wind but we just relaxed now putter around a bit , walkabout, read for a while and watch a tv show.
our front window view at the mountains
A light supper again to night, just an apple and some popcorn, but that's ok we like that too.
If this is not enough for your supper go back and look at lunch picture
Good night, and thanks for stopping by!
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Well we took advantage of yesterdays weather and enjoyed many hours of happiness with our friends here yesterday afternoon and last night. Good thing we did even thou we had a great sleep and the day was very bright, sunny and warm 85f (30c) the winds today were blowing us away. 20 mph (32 kph) winds with guts to 50 mph (80 kph). Trying a walkabout was very difficult but did get a bit done. Chatted with a few other people around the resort, nice to see some old familiar faces, not too many out today thou.
I checked out the local area around the resort to see if anything new, just some desert flowers and greenery appearing, soon to be gone by the intense summer heat. Even the Rooster Cocburn Ostrich Ranch next door was closed due to high winds. Then we just puttered around did some more research on the net and found a place in Tucson that could checkout our propane system, it needs to be looked at. Will stop there Tuesday morning (tomorrow) on our way to Benson.
desert greenery
pool and hot tub
closed today too windy
Looking out our front window a few times during the day we noticed large clouds of dust blowing across the desert floor, glad we were not on the road today!
Before we knew it was time for supper, even thou the winds let up a bit it was still to windy to BBQ so tonight some fettucini Alfredo with shrimp and a little salad will do the trick.
yummy
After supper we took a short walk to visit with our friends Steve, Barb, Spud and Jan again say for another short visit before we head out in the morning. Its always a delight stopping by to visit our friends on a regular basis.
Then back home to relax a bit more with our books call it another great day to be retired and in a warm winter climate., even if it is windy.
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Bright, sunny and a warm day, its gonna be a great travel day. We are now officially homeward bound. 9 am heading thru Yuma along I-8 we have a nice comfortable 209 mile trip today.
209 miles today
The east end of Yuma rises into the foothills winding our way up, down and thru the pass, with some lovely scenery and a steep windy road.
thru the pass and down into the flat desert
A couple of hours on the road and a couple rest areas to stop stretch our legs, and make a bite to eat for lunch.
rest area
There was a long stretch of interstate flat land, on the north side we noticed green fields and huge cattle ranches. And on the south side rows and rows of massive bales of cotton
cotton bales
A little further along from very little desert vegetation the scenery is these huge Saguaro Cactus populating the desert floor. Real Arizona landscape.
Saguro Cacti
We are heading to Picacho Peak Rv resort located at the base of Picacho Peak (of course). And we can spot this distinctive peak about 20 miles away where I-8 merges onto I-10 at Casa Grande.
Picacho Peak
getting closer
the resort wall facing I-10
After stopping for fuel at the Flying J in Eloy we arrived at the resort about 1 pm. Our friend Steve was on the gate so he welcomed us back and got us checked in.
nice large site
Setting up our dish I noticed these two lonely, tiny flowers all alone in the desert dirt so small and colorful compared to the mostly grey surroundings.
A few people stopped by to say hello and welcome us back. This is a very nice resort we have spent three Christmases at over the years, attended many dances and dart nights here as well. So we know many of the fulltime and winter residents here. Its always nice to stop for a couple nights while we are driving by.
Steve got off work at 4 o'clock so we visited with him and Barb for a quick Happy Hour then take a break for supper.
cheers
So a quick easy meal today, a hot pork sandwich (our leftover pork loin roast), with mashed potatoes, gravy and peas, just hit the spot.
so tasty
Its still a nice night so back to visit some more catching up, chin waggin, a few more people drop by to say hello, then we went over to visit with Spud and Jan.
relaxing on their porch
Finally satisfied that we were caught up enough for today we called it a night. Its so nice to stop and visit with various friends that we have met over the years.
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Now we had a great day yesterday, Mexico fun, new glasses cheap (by the way they are great!), fix the wiring on our toad, great lunch and supper and reading in the shade.
So today we have no plan, coffees, computing, walkabouts and enjoy the great weather. We missed the cinnamon buns at the clubhouse this morning but saved quite a few hundred calories by doing so. But the walkabouts we could enjoy some of the great cactus gardens they have here and a few more spring blossoms at this time of year.
A quick trip to Yuma, pick up a few grocery items and back home. picked up some really nice looking fresh California Strawberries. They were really only $2.48 a lb and surprisingly sweet for the size of them.
After a light lunch we puttered around a bit. Checked tire pressures, emptied our grey water tank. Then set up our awning and chairs to relax in the shade with our books for a wonderful afternoon.
Our neigbors left with their beautiful dog today so we were dog-less, but still have a very enjoyable afternoon. Staying in the shade as temperature were hitting close to 90 f (32c) and very dry not much wind either.
But soon time for supper and todays craving was once again chicken wings and home made fries. So fire up the fry daddy and the Weber grill and we are cooking again.
wings are doing good
Add some celery, carrots dips and hot sauce for the wings we are good to go.
Even a few strawberries on the side just because they are sooo good.!
Next thing we know its getting dark and time wind down again. Where does the time go!
We got done what we wanted here, time to get on the road in the morning again.
Did I say thanks for stopping by?
If not Thanks for stopping by!
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