Leaving Mesa around 11 am today we headed out Hwy 60 toward New Mexico.  The landscape changes rapidly east of Mesa with huge mountain ranges and beautiful canyons.  The desert is in full bloom right now and with all the rain there is way more color than I expected.  Red, White, Blue, Yellow, Orange, Pink, Purple,  and more YELLOW than you can believe.  It looks like a mustard field all over the hills. 

We drove through the most amazing canyon, Salt River Canyon and it made me think again of the Grand Canyon although it is not near as large the hwy goes right  through it so you see it from above, inside, and exiting to the other side!  There were so many switchbacks going down into the canyon and Paul was driving so slowly that even he got to see a lot of the canyon.  We stopped only once and that was because there was an opportunity – you don’t just pull over 50′ of RV and check out the view!

Across the Canyon is the rest of the HWY

 Like most awesome landscapes you just cannot photograph it.  These are taken about 1/3 of the way down the canyon and as you went around the next bend, very steep grade you could see the most amazing canyon walls.

We ended our day in Springerville, AZ which is about 50 miles from the border of New Mexico.   Paul decided that after going 200 miles on some really tough roads that that was enough and saw this sign as we were coming into the town of Springerville.  An interesting place.  I feel like I am camping in my dads pasture without the cows!  There are about 40 sites and most appear to be here as construction employees for the Power Plant that is being built.  It is very quiet and we almost got to see a lightening storm but it fizzled out.  But we do have cable TV and WIFI for only $22.50.  Not bad!

Springerville, AZ

I got home from California Tuesday evening about 11:30 pm and Paul tells me that we will be having guests on Wednesday afternoon!  Wait! What?  Kip and Pat Garvey were going to stop by on their way home from Albuquerque, NM in their new RV!  It is beautiful and they are very excited to start traveling around in class. 

It's a beauty

Soft leather, Grey Accents

A spacious Bedroom area

That’s all you are going to get to see from me!  I am sure they will have it beautifully decorated for their first trip in April.  Wish I could be there.

We had to take them to Paul’s favorite Arizona restaurant which is so bad for you they call it the Heart Attack Grill!  I pray we don’t have to go again.

He's happy!

It is just not the same when the nurse helps the women!

Paul and Kip thoroughly enjoyed the view while we ate our Single Bypasses with unlimited french fries.  At least we counted this as two meals but I think it should be two day’s worth of meals! 

We have only one more week here in Mesa and then we hit the road!

March was a crazy month and I survived!  Our Aramark job at Tempe Diablo Stadium is over. There were 17 games.  I missed 3,  but still that is a lot in 30 days.  My booth was mostly made up of people like Paul and me.  People living the life on the road and working to earn that little extra cash for fuel to get to the next stop. 

Can I see your ID please?

Here is the gang that kept Booth #3 together for the month of March.  I am going to miss you all. It is amazing to me still that we all fit into that little booth without trampling someone – oops, we did have one mishap.  Hope you are healing OK Diana!

No more Nacho’s, Cold Beer or Hot Dogs until March 2011 Please!  Happy travels to all of you wherever you go and keep in touch. I plan to see at least some of you somewhere on the road!

Paul has truly crossed over!  It took him 1 1/2 hours to drive to work which  should have taken 30 minutes!   He drove 6 miles in the wrong direction to the baseball park!  No, it is not a new route, he has been driving to the ballpark for 3 weeks now and he has been driving these same roads since we got here in November!  He had no clue he was driving East instead of West until he came across a road 6 miles out that we had been on the day before and it finally dawned on him that he was heading into the desert instead of town.  And….. he did all this on his scooter which only goes 35 miles per hour!

It will be awhile before he lives this down.  One of our neighbors reminded him today to turn left instead of right when he leaves the park!

Spring is definitely beautiful in the desert; the desert is so green and full of little purple, white, yellow & orange wildflowers.  There are so many California Poppies that it makes me homesick! 

 Today we took a cruise on the Desert Belle up into the canyon of Saguaro Lake. 

The lake was full of boaters, fishermen & SeaDoo’s.  It looked a little cold to me but there were plenty of skiers & kids on tubes.  The boat was a nice double decker houseboat type of boat and gave us a leisurely ride up the canyon.  Paul thought he hit the jackpot when they said a live band &  happy hour!  The band was 1 guy on the piano and a girl that could really play a Sax!  She sang pretty well also.

Another passenger insisted!

I always get to chat with a very unlikely person whenever we go out and todays visit  was a guy that had beautiful long black hair and a beer gut who was traveling with his 2 preteens, girlfriend and 2 elderly aunts from East Texas.  People will tell you their life story and never ask you about yours which I find so interesting and really enjoy.  Paul noticed while I was chatting with this guy (who I never asked or got his name!) that his aunt was wearing a t-shirt from PBR which until yesterday morning we had no idea what it was – Stephanie was going and had to explain the language to US!

Professional Bull Rider?

And then there is always the fashion disaster!

Paul wanted to ask if she would stop by and fix our leak!

And the sunset!

It wasn’t a perfect sunset but it was pretty cool to be riding on the lake and watching the sky change.  We arrive back at the dock about 6:30 and were treated to…

Just out for a Saturday drive

One of the things I am not used to since moving into the motorhome is having friends and family around who really know me.  I have met some awesome people that are so much fun to hang out with and will be friends from now until forever but they still are not the people I grew up with, who saw me get married, have kids, etc…. so I was so looking forward to the visit from the girlfriends.

Diana, Vikki, Lani & Maryanne arrived in Phoenix on Thursday night really late so I didn’t get to see them until Friday mid morning when they came to my job at the RV park.  After a quick tour we headed  to Scottsdale to see how the rich of Arizona spend their days.  Historic downtown has lots of cute shops and you could buy just about anything from spring training t-shirts to  speciality biscuits for your doggie!

Who's that doggie in the window?

Posing on the cliff, Superstition Mountains is our backdrop

What is she doing? And, Why?

Waterfall in the desert!

After a beautiful day in the desert we went for a real cowboy dinner.  Rustlers Rooste Steakhouse is a big attraction in Phoenix, complete with peanut shells on the floor, 24 oz steaks, 2 bars, patio seating with a view of the entire city, a live band in the dining room along with a dance floor,  a slide, a bull at the front entrance and bull horns for those that have had a bit too much to drink – you know who you are!***

***Someone took photos but are not sharing!

Spring training has begun here in the desert and everyone talks baseball.  Paul & I found ourselves a job working at the Tempe Diablo Stadium, home of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

We work in the consession stands where I sell beer and hot dogs and Paul got promoted to Supervisor so he watches people sell beer and hot dogs and gets them more when they run low!  I was a bit nervous when we first got the gig cause I hadn’t worked a beer tap in a long time.  No worries, in Arizona you have to go to a 3 hour training course and get certified on how to sell beer!  I didn’t see any classes for drinking beer?  I passed the test and now I can sell beer (only 32 oz. per person per transaction!)  That does pose a problem with some of the fans but I stand strong.

My first day on the job I carded a 50 year old woman who didn’t have her ID and then I couldn’t serve her and I refused to serve a really stoned dude that proceeded to flip me off as he left the stand!  Today I went all the way to the park only to watch the cooks fill the hot dog warmers, ready the pretzels and cheese sauce and fill all the condiment trays and then the game was canceled 30 minutes before game time because someone forgot to tell God that it never rains in Arizona during Spring Training!

We will work 16 games in 29 days along with our already busy schedule of workamping in the RV park and I am still working 1 day a week for HR Block.    I thought we retired!!!!!!

Remember when you were a kid and the movie projector would shine on the screen and the teacher wasn’t looking?  Paul had one of those moments this week and Duke was the subject of our laugh for the day!

Duke was not sure what his dad was doing or why I was taking a photo of him.  He is such a good dog.  Duke provides us comfort, love, company and sometime a bit of entertainment!  He got an extra treat today

The power that we have over our men!  I got Paul to take me to the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix just to walk around and check it out!

This hotel was designed by Albert Chase McArthur who studied under Frank Lloyd Wright in Chicago.   The hotel is first class and the grounds are beautiful.  It was a bit chilly as the rain had just let up so none of the pools were being used however we did find the swim-up bar where the US – Canada Hockey game was underway.  We had a seat until the US tied the game and sent it into overtime!  

This is definitely a 5 star hotel that also appeared quite comfortable.

Glowing Cacti

The new growth on this Cacti against the sunset looked radioactive. 

Redblooms. All was brown just a month ago

We have the perfect spot to capture the sunset against the desert and the mountains.  Only a 20 minute hike and we have this beautiful vista;  Hills behind us, the desert floor in front and then the Red Mountains.  Today wasn’t the best sunset but it is still good to be out in the desert and watching the sun.  Today we were not alone.  Shortly after we got settled and looked for a good photo frame a family climbed the hill to share the sunset.  The kids, a boy and a girl were quite shy and when Duke greeted them with his bark the girl picked up a rock the size of a tennis ball and tossed it at him!  Scared him and he ran away with his tail tucked.  The good news is after some coaching she was prepared to pet him and as dogs are so forgiving he gave her a lick! 

Luke, please don't throw rocks!!!

Thankfully Luke was not as afraid of Duke as his treasures were pretty large!  Duke is such a good dog and just patiently waited until both kids were ready to pet him and share their cookies. 

We did finally get to see the sunset; not a spectacular one, maybe next week. 

and the sun goes down

The sunset makes a beautiful backdrop for the desert plants

aahhhh!