A busy Sunday

On Sunday, we went to First Baptist Church of Tempe, meeting our friends Keith and Ruth Ann there.

This was the church that Carl and Sue had attended when they spent the winter in Mesa, so I got to participate with and meet some folks that Carl knew from then.

After church we noticed a well-preserved AMC Pacer in the parking lot...

No hiding of what you have in the car with this one!

We headed over to YC Mongolian Grill for lunch -- you fill your bowl with all the things you want them to cook for you (meats, veggies, noodles), and another bowl with sauce to cook with it... and then bring it to the cooks and they cook it on big round grills -- the one on the left was cooking Carl's at this point...

They keep it moving...

This is a list of different sauce combinations that you might choose.

My selections are the tray to the right (with the blue glove also on the tray) -- the guy behind me (the bowl to the left) had mastered the art of stacking his contents in the bowl!

Carl's finished dish -- we then went to another island where we could get rice and soup, and then drinks. It was very delicious!

We got back to our RV park just in time to go view the quilt show -- there were some really pretty quilts, but I only took pictures of a couple of wall hangings -- we thought this one of a Christmas tree was pretty, and just the size and shape of a Christmas tree that would fit into an RV or tiny home!

I was really impressed by this scenery quilt -- especially when it became clear how many pieces there were in it... just below the crafter had posted the pattern:

The pattern of the scenery quilt -- many tiny pieces...

Here's a closeup on one part of the pattern with gardens below the barn and the bottom of the windmill...

And I think this is zoomed in to about the same area on the quilt. Wow!

Finally, in the evening, the park was having a "Country Jam" -- a bunch of musicians getting together, each played and/or sang a song, and all the others harmonized or added to the song in some way...

There were probably about 25 musicians/groups (some were couples) -- they all performed one song that they had selected (so about 25 songs performed), and then they started going around again. We didn't stay through the end. There were two folks playing accordions, a hammered dulcimer player, a couple of violins/fiddles, a bass, mandolin, a piano/keyboard, quite a few guitars, and probably some others that I am forgetting.

We've had a good time at Mesa Spirit RV Resort. The people who live/stay around where we were parked were very nice. We would definitely go back to visit again.

Visiting with friends

We had friends over on Saturday afternoon for snacks...

It wasn't *quite* as chilly as it may appear in this picture, though it was definitely nicer when we had sun on us. Since our "patio" in our current site is east of our rig, it gets shady and chillier in the afternoon. Ruth Ann and Keith were with us...

... as well as Tom and Gayle!

Tom, Gayle, Keith, and Ruth Ann (and Patti)...

Keith and Ruth Ann, Patti and Carl.

We had such a good time visiting with friends!

Friday night dance at Mesa Spirit

Friday night Mesa Spirit had a band coming in and a dance scheduled. We decided to go, and our friends Keith and Ruth Ann joined us...

"Uncorked - The Band"

There were quite a number of folks dancing -- and we danced some too.

Carl and I are working on learning some dances together - and we had a good time trying out some of our newly learned dance moves on the dance floor. Our "dance floor" in Gracie is somewhat compromised by the continuing issue with the big slide that is stuck in -- we have an appointment on Tuesday in Tucson to have another service center work on it, and I am cautiously hopeful that they will be able to get it resolved.

Thursday around Mesa Spirit

On Thursday, we decided to make a big batch of Beef Stroganoff...

Mushrooms and onions cooked...

Stew beef from Poplar Springs Farm in Virginia into the pan (we used the wok because any skillet we have would not be large enough).

The finished product (egg noodles were in a separate pan) -- yum!!!

When we got to Mesa Spirit a few days ago, I noticed that there was a Safari Trek in the row behind us down a couple of spaces. When we were bike riding a couple of days later, we got to speak with Paul, the owner. On Thursday, he and MC invited us over for drinks and conversation - so we had a nice visit with them on Thursday afternoon.

Paul and MC in front of their 2004 Safari Trek - the same year of Trek that Dwayne and I purchased back in 2014. It was the first RV that Dwayne and I owned, and we went out in it for one season - realized that we loved RVing, but that the Trek would not work well for us in the long term. Paul and MC's Trek is in great condition - it was neat to see the inside of their beautiful home!

We also got to spend time with our friends Keith and Ruth Ann, though we forgot to get pictures! They have come in to our park here in Mesa for a few days and we're looking forward to visiting with them more!

Wednesday activities

On Wednesday, the Sunlife Amateur Radio Club had its Winter Field Day scheduled to occur. These field days are a practice in setting up equipment in the field for emergencies. They are often scheduled at the same time as other clubs nationwide, usually in January, but Sunlife has theirs in February. There is also a big field day in June (Summer Field Day).

Field days involve setting up radios and antennas on different frequencies, performing remote operations, off grid, no AC power, making as many contacts with other stations as possible, being seen by the community - making folks aware of Ham Radio, and inviting friends and family and having a pot luck. You can find more information here: http://www.arrl.org/field-day

Unfortunately, Wednesday was a cold, rainy, blustery day in Mesa (cold = 50s) - the Hams set up radios out in Red Mountain park and were broadcasting, but the decision was made to move the pot luck into a local church building (which all the non-Ham spouses and, I think all the Ham's too, were *very* happy about!).

We didn't get any pictures at the park...

... but we did get a couple of pictures at the pot luck...

There was plenty of food for everyone!

Wednesday evening, we had signed up to attend a "Marriage Event" at a local church -- when we were out driving around one day, we saw a sign out about the evening event and decided that spending an evening concentrating on strengthening our marriage would be a good thing to do...

The event was called "Spark" with a subtitle of "Ignite your marriage" -- there were folks in the lobby area of the church taking pictures (with our phones) as we arrived and they gave us sparklers to signify that we were "sparking" our marriage.

Inside the auditorium -- it was unfortunately (in my opinion) a very dark room with a professional production environment which made doing things like taking notes (which I like doing to keep my mind centered) very difficult.

At the end of the session, a picture of the 2 couples who were teachers during the event.

We are glad we went and thankful that the church had the event, and grateful for some reminders that we can apply to our marriage.

Tuesday doin's

On Tuesday...

Carl had been thinking he should get a shingles vaccine - it requires 2 shots 2-6 months apart - and we had found out that you don't have to go to the same location to get each shot... so he headed to CVS on Tuesday afternoon to get the first shot. However, with his Part D plan, the cost was going to be $195, and the pharmacist recommended that he check prices in other places because there are probably cheaper options. But... after coming home and doing more checking, especially noting the side-effects, he has decided that he doesn't want to get it after all!

Tuesday afternoon at Mesa Spirit is Happy Hour at one of the pools with a band/DJ providing music. There were lots of folks dancing...

...and lots of folks watching.

It was a good time. We got to talk with a couple from Alberta who have been coming to this park for 11 years (minus last year). They own a park model and come down every year from mid October to mid April. They pointed out a lady who was dancing who is in her mid 80s and has been coming for 35 years, but just sold her park model and will be leaving this weekend.

Fixed window!

The side window at the driver's seat has had some fogging in it (at times), and when it is bad, could cause issues in our ability to use the left side mirror, so we had wanted to get it repaired. We had a business card from a fellow that had provided window repair out in Quartzsite in 2021 (we didn't have a problem then!), but we were having difficulty getting in touch with him. Finally, on Monday, Carl reached him, and he agreed to come out that morning.

"Before" picture -- but there wasn't any fogging in the window on Monday morning. The window has 3 panes in it -- the two at the bottom - the one to the left is a slider with a screen, the one with the problem to the right, and then there is one at the top too. The problem window had a streak on it from being dirty, but the fogging wasn't obvious on Monday. These windows are dual pane which are good for keeping the temperature inside the rig consistent, but are subject to having fogging issues when the seal gets broken.

The team took the whole window frame out...

...removed the problem pane, cleaned between the panes, and re-sealed the dual pane...

... replaced the window into the frame and the frame onto Gracie.

Sealing on the exterior.

They were able to get the job done in about an hour -- we're glad to have this completed as we were concerned that the fogging could show up on a travel day and cause us issues in being safe while driving.

Finishing up the steps...

I posted a couple of weeks ago that we had decided to get the entry steps sanded and re-painted while we were in Mexico.

We did not explicitly take pre-project pictures, but... this is a picture that we took while the guys in Mexico were doing the body work, and you can see that the steps were looking a bit worn...

This picture shows the rust at the corner of the top step -- it was also rusted on the corner of the bottom step.

Here is a link to the post about them sanding down the steps and re-painting them: https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2022/02/more-painting-on-gracie.html

The steps were all painted and looking nice, but we no longer had the anti-skid material or edge-marking on the steps - so we hat that on our to-do list. Here is the start of the project with masking tape marking where the edges of the step tread material would go.

We thought that we would be able to get the step tread material at Camping World, but they did not have it in the store here in Mesa, and... though they offered to order it for us, they will only ship orders to "home" and there is a charge if you don't make a minimum order (they don't have "ship-to-store" for free). We talked to one of the folks in the store, pointing out that having only a "ship to home" option when at least some of your customers are not in a permanent location was not very helpful -- she gave us the name and number of their Chairman and CEO to contact. A side note: this is characteristic of what we've seen with Camping World -- it is not very well regarded by folks who have been RVing for any length of time. Since that didn't work out, we went to our go-to source for products, Amazon, and were able to use Amazon lockers near our RV park for delivery. 

We didn't take pictures at the Amazon lockers, but, in suburban or urban locations, they are really quite handy! When Carl went to pick up the order, it had come in 3 packages, and it turned out that the Amazon delivery driver had just delivered when Carl got there. I have always picked up the packages before, so Carl asked the driver if he could help, and the delivery driver said that he really didn't know how it worked for the customer pickup -- but he stayed on with Carl to help. Carl put in the 6-digit code that had been sent to us (they also send a barcode that is supposed to be able to be read off your phone but I've never had success with that and Carl didn't either). The locker control station recognized that there were 3 packages for this customer, and for whatever reason, they always seem to be put into separate lockers. Carl touched the touch-screen for the first package, and the screen showed with an arrow pointing to where the first locker door was now open. He retrieved that package, closed the door, and could now touch the touch-screen for the second package (find the open door, retrieve the package, close the door) and then get the third package. It was funny that both Carl and the delivery driver learned how it worked together! I think a lot of folks use the lockers now even if they live in houses because there is such a large incidence of packages being stolen from front porches. They are great for people like us who don't have a fixed address -- as long as there is a locker near where we're staying.

Back to the project:

Figuring out where the treads should be placed on each step and marking location with masking tape.

Putting first tread in place... we both worked on the project when we were pulling the backing material off and keeping it straight, so no pictures during that part!

The directions recommended using a metal roller to smooth the step tread down -- which we did not have -- so we used the roll of masking tape pressing down with fingers inside the roll. It was also challenging to smooth it down with your fingers as the material is like sandpaper and kinda wrecked your knuckles!

Lower step done.

Material placed on upper step and smoothing with masking tape roll.

Both steps finished -- hurrah!

I also wanted to show the modification that we have had to do because our main slide is stuck in (still - we have a service appointment for March 1 in Tucson to hopefully get it corrected). The main slide is not only deep and long, it also drops down when it is all the way out to make the slide floor even with the main floor of the rig. When it is in, the slide's floor is about 2.5" higher than the main floor -- which means our dining room chairs are at an angle unless all 4 of their feet are on the slide or on the main floor. This is particularly tough for Carl as he works at his computer which is located on the slide and has the chair's back legs on the main floor -- so he has been sitting canted backwards whenever he is on the computer for over a month now. I mentioned in a blog entry that he had "tweaked" his back a couple of weeks ago, and we think it may be related to poor posture at the computer caused by the chair being un-level... so, again, using our favorite shopping resource, Amazon, we ordered Furniture Risers to raise the legs that are not on the slide. In this picture, he has his chair facing so he can eat at the table and two side legs are on the risers; when he is using the computer, the chair is turned 90 degrees and he puts the back legs of the chair on the risers. It isn't perfect, but it is a lot better than it had been prior to this point! And... we figure that it does not hurt to have these risers with us as there are times that we use the rig with the big slide in (like when we're traveling from one place to another and stop for lunch, we don't put the slide out) and this will allow us to sit at the dining table more comfortably.

Later in the afternoon, we took a bike ride on the roads that make up the outermost part of the Mesa Spirit Resort. We knew that at Venture Out, where we have a lot (that is rented out this year), the outermost loop is about 2.2 miles -- and it is similar distance here, though we had to turn from one road to another a lot rather than there being one outer loop road.

We looked out after dark (it doesn't get very dark at this RV park, they have very bright outside lights on all night long) -- we wanted to see if the reflective stripes on our new step treads were lighting up -- they weren't, but Carl put the flashlight on the top stripe and afterwards it was shining nice and bright. Probably won't last long, but we think that even without the reflective strip activated by light, it will be visible if it is really dark to ensure that we don't miss the edge of the steps. There are not many times that we are out after dark anyway... so our need is probably low.

Also this afternoon, Carl put a water alarm in the bay where we have placed the water softener so if we get a water leak in that area, we'll hopefully hear the alarm and deal with it.

There's always things on the to-do list, and it makes us feel good when we got some moved to the "done" column!