Dad and daughter Indian food chow-down

While Pamela was visiting, on Monday, Dylan was working remotely, and I was leading a review class of absolute beginner line dancers, so Carl took advantage of having a person who enjoys Indian food to go out with him...

Carl's plate

Pamela and Carl at Guru Palace Indian Buffet Restaurant

I'm glad he got an Indian food fix!

As the season winds down...

Once March starts, we're officially in "wind down" season around Venture Out. There are constant questions of, "When are you leaving?" as people prepare to return to their homes in other parts of North America.

The block where our RV lot and casa are located is an active block with regular block parties about once a month. Even though we are no longer living on the block during the season, we're only a block away, and they still welcome us joining their parties. The last one of the season was on Sunday, March 22...

The host for the party arranged for The Outlaws, a band made up of residents of Venture Out who also happen to be former law enforcement officers (thus the name), to entertain.

Cooper, the dog of our friends, Don and Linda, was auditioning for a position with the band. I guess since he isn't former law enforcement and since he can't play an instrument, he didn't get a place in the band (besides which Don was demanding that he return home!). (Cooper is the sweetest dog ever!)

Carl's youngest daughter, Pamela, and her husband, Dylan, drove over from Albuquerque for a few day visit -- they got to participate in several activities around the community -- including the block party!

Some of our friends at the block party -- we were all seeking shade as the temps were over 100F -- we were thankful when the sun went down enough that we had shade and the temperature began cooling.

Some of the block party participants enjoying the band...

Another view of folks enjoying the band -- note that they are all clustered in the shade!

Taylor was hosting the party...

The pot luck was set up on his driveway.

Folks enjoying the potluck -- 

There were quite a number of folks from the block (800 Douglas) as well as other friends participating. Taylor had the 800 block of Douglas folks introduce themselves and share how they ended up at Venture Out.

Phil was playing his "air guitar cane" at one point during the evening.

It was a fun time to get together with friends, and we were glad that being in the desert means that the temperature drops quickly once the sun goes down (and, even when the sun is up and it is hot, being in the shade can be comfortable, particularly if there is a breeze!).

Our Rooted group get-together

I posted about our Bible study group (it is called "Rooted") doing a service project at Feed My Starving Children (https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2026/02/feed-my-starving-children.html). As it is ending the time of our group's commitment, we did a 24-hour fast together and then broke our fast together with a time of prayer and then sharing a meal.

We met at Lori and Marty's house -- she had this beautiful display of heirloom tomatoes that she had just harvested from her garden. She said that the hot weather we are having is causing the plants in her garden to bloom much earlier (like in March rather than May), and causing plants like her tomatoes to stop bearing earlier than they would normally finish.

We had a delicious potluck meal to break our fast. It has been great to get to know this group of folks during our season in Mesa.

 

At a recent Friday Night Dance

Carl took some pictures and a video of some of us line dancing at a recent Friday night dance...

The line dancers try to sit near the dance floor on the east side of the ballroom. 

We can usually count on one or two of the regulars to pick a dance for whatever song the band is playing!

Here's a video of part of this dance - "K is for Kicks" danced to "Lay Down Sally" being performed by Rocksmith, Friday night dance, 20March2026: https://youtu.be/xWpmwg5O_k0

The Honda gets a bath

The amount of pollen had nearly turned our red Honda into an orange car... with all the other things going on, we decided to go ahead and get it washed at a car wash instead of trying to do it ourselves...

It was a rather "alarming" experience -- literally! as the car's collision avoidance system was hard pressed to deal with all the things coming at it!

Thankfully nothing crashed into us! And... before we got out of the car wash, I finally figured out how to silence the alarms!

 

Dedicated volunteers

Our community, Venture Out, is successful because of the large number of volunteers who help out around the community. 

Our two primary line dance instructions, Deb and Kay (on the stage) were recognized with gifts for their contributions through the season by those of us who have appreciated their teaching so much!

Side note: I am just starting to help with review sessions for the absolute beginner line dancers.

The golf cart returns!

I have written about the problems that we have had with our golf cart -- they stared on New Year's Eve (in the morning) when it would no longer go into reverse (and ultimately wouldn't go into gear at all -- previous posts: https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2026/01/more-golf-cart-challenges.html, https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2026/01/what-are-they-doing.html, https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2026/03/off-for-repair.html). After Carl and Al had done diagnostics on it, they figured that it was the controller. Carl called a golf cart repair person that a neighbor, Don, had recommended, and the repair person picked it up earlier in March.

The repair person confirmed that the controller needed to be replaced. He also found some other issues with the golf cart. We confirmed for him to go ahead and replace the controller and the rear-end which was evidently hanging on only by a thread... 

The repair guy wanted us to come by and test drive the cart before he brought it back to us -- it turns out that the new controller in combination with the older motor makes some interesting sounds, and he wanted us to know that before he brought it back. We actually stopped by there on our way home from the hospital, noticed the odd noise, had it explained to us, and indicated that we were okay with the repair.

He returned it on March 18...

Our golf cart returneth!

We had tried to see the new rear end when we stopped by the repair shop, but it was easier to see with the cart up on the trailer.

We have enjoyed having our golf cart back!