Sonoran Desert

Arrived in Tucson January 22.   

Happy Trails was a fun place and we were able to attend the in house tournament right before leaving so managed to meet & greet with lots of people from other communities as well as the Happy Trails crowd.

The day before we left Happy Trails in Surprise we came down with colds.   

Mine went instantly into the coughing mode, Marc's took several days before the chest cough happened.


We were leaving town just prior to the big Superbowl in Phoenix and I assume a lot of traffic congestion in and around the area.










ARIZONA OPRY
Incredible talent at this live musical, variety dinner show in Apache Junction.  This show was 50-60's Rock N Roll.  $40.00 and a hot sit down dinner of chicken & beef and about two hours of great entertainment - an evening well worth driving across the Valley for just over an hour each way.

December 26, 2014

With the house packed with 496 hungry people, the sit down dinner was served to all within half an hour by a pack of volunteers.

The business began in Kansas with the Barleen family, a family of 8 children, most of whom became musicians and the family found themselves travelling the country playing in various venues.  The Barleens began dinner theatre in Colorado and in 1987 opened the Arizona Opry (by this time the twins, Barbara and Brenda, father and brother) ran the show.   To date they are booked solid through the winter months with the addition of various performances nights including Rock n Roll, Gospel, Comedy, Country, John Denver Tribute; shows ever changing.ny of our expections (10 of us went).  

George Staerkel

Musician extraordinaire!  He has been performing since age 10 and was a vocalist and keyboard player for The Tolkens (The Lion Sleeps Tonight).

George owns a collection of instruments hitting the 100 total mark.  The Opry stage holds only 50 instruments.

The huge bass sax is a hit when he blows out the Woolly Bully tune.

A week before leaving Happy Trails, the washer starting leaking as the bearing and seal  for the agitator had wore out.

So, Lowe's was to deliver a new top loader (which just squeezed into the spot with about a half inch on either side to spare) to the store in Tucson for when we arrived.   Interesting - no agitator and we found an apartment sized washer for under $350.

The store called on time and delivery was organized.   The washing machine when the cardboard came off, had a dent on the side.   We weren't concerned as it was just aesthetics and we were reimbursed $50.00 for the damage.

The other repair that needed to be done was the Hydro hot heating system - it quit several weeks prior to the washing machine.

After a lot of research and phone calls, Marc found someone he felt would be reliable in Tucson to come out the flush out the system right here at Rincon.   Apparently the problem is the type of antifreeze used originally by Country Coach - after years, the fluid crystalizes and plugs the system so it will need flushing.   A couple came out, spent about three hours and said they were amazed the hydro hot was working as long as it did.   So, for about a month we had no heat but the little portable heater - which worked fine.   The fluid that came out was black goo - like the Beverly Hillbilly's oil!

Kennedy Park is just minutes away by car and the dogs are so thrilled to see the jumps, weave poles and frisbees come out.

The flight path to the airport in Tucson is right over this outdoor concert area so I see all kinds of planes.   One day though a helicopter scared me and the dogs as it came up over the hill directly behind the dogs in this picture and flew just over our heads, lower than the power line - Tazz froze - didn't know how to react to the big bird.   Border Patrol vehicles and helicopters are common sights around here.   

6:30 pm dusk was just happening and I saw something at the far right of the field watching us - thought at first it was a stray dog.   Then the Javelina went behind a building and through a gate to cross the field in front of us.  The dogs were as stunned as I was.     A few nights later, and slightly later, I saw the forms of about 10-12 Javelinas four of which sprinted off as soon as they spotted me and the dogs coming - we stopped as soon as I realized what was coming into the field and they regrouped and ate while we stood and watched until I couldn't make out the forms with little ones among them.



More cyber difficulties ensue us .   .    .     .       .         .

after managing to get new Credit Cards sent to us at the 'proper' address at Happy Trails Resort, there have been a couple of places that the cards would not work at (Babbo's was one).   We had eaten there a few times with no problem but one night, the cards would not work.   

Here in Tucson Marc notices an email that came in from some Russian address.   Then another, another, and yet another.   They came in quicker and faster and more frequently (from the same IP address).   Our email account got hacked.

So, several phone calls to shaw and it was strongly advised that we change every single password and Shaw informed Marc that their account were hacked so hundreds/thousands of people were affected.

Three hours in the middle of the night and Marc had completed the task, changing passwords for email, apple, banking, Verizon, Star choice, Revenue Canada, Pension and the list goes on!  Fortunately, none of our contact lists were affected.

It doesn't stop there!

Not even a week later, Marc fortunately has his iPhone in his pocket and a message comes in.   Its a $35.00 bill from Skype (supposedly for our yearly account that we pay but that account is due in November, not January).

Red Flag time!

Then a few minutes later, another bill came through - this was being paid through our PayPal account.

Then, another for about $79.00.

So, Marc quickly turns off the account and shuts down the PayPal then proceeds to contact PayPal.   They were good and set us up with another account.

Skype however - extremely difficult to get customer service.   Many emails later, and about four days with no Skype (this is our main phone, especially for anything out of country), someone finally gets back to Marc.

We eventually got reimbursed and had to start up a new account.

If I take the dogs out for their play time 5:30 or later, I get to view gorgeous sunsets almost daily.

A view of W. Tucson

Things are greener than we have ever seen this winter - as recently we had a full day of downpour.

Rincon West RV Resort is alright and we have met with many pickleballers - Michael has been diligently getting the newly formed club organized into open play, drill times, round robin and getting Marc & I together with some players from the park as well as other communities.   They have approx 90 members and four brand new courts; four old courts.

Our cough is still hanging in there but has subsided somewhat.   

Our newest endeavour is checking out vehicles and small trailers as we have decided to downsize this coming year and sell the coach(whah whah).   It's been eight years and there are places we would like to check out and it is a huge task for Marc to plan ahead for fueling and places that will take a coach this large.   Although there are many places down here, we hope to get to some of the state parks we can not go to.