28 March 2013

This part of the trip is really just covering the distance. It is pretty distance to cover but we've done this many times so it is just a little boring. Especially so if you keep on the interstates.

We stayed in Tonopah, Arizona (does anyone know what tonopah is or means - there is a Tonopah in Nevada too?), in a much nicer RV park which cost us half what the one in Indio did.

The next morning we decided to avoid Interstates and headed towards Casa Grande via back roads.

Along this route there was the added advantage of driving through the Sonora National Monument. One can't say too much about the Sonora National Monument. Some of it was pretty - maybe that was too much said, the picture says it best.

After nearly running out of gas we made it to Casa Grande. Local anglos insist on pronouncing "casa" with a long "a" as in "case" and "grande" as "grand" as in "ain't English grand?". The local hispanic folks enjoy pronouncing as it is in Spanish as in "Espanole es mucho mejor!". Either camp will correct you if you say it "wrong". I think it helps a lot to be bilingual here, which I'm not.

Having to get back on the interstate for a few miles we pulled into the Gilbert Ray Campground in the early afternoon. This is maybe the 8th time we've stayed here. It is possibly our favorite campground. Here is a photo of the campground taken near our site.

We have now driven just 592 miles in 3 days. When we reach Texas we may cover more miles a day. So far this pace is just about right for me.




29 March 2013

Gilbert Ray does not take reservations. Jeff and Linda called this morning and are on their way from Anza Borrego to here. They will arrive tonight. The folks at the park office let us pay for their space for
one night.

We spent the day with our cruising friends Mike and Mary Jane Fuller.

Here is a view from Gates Pass near here. This side of the pass is a beautiful area. The other side is Tucson - just a city.

During the day we went to an Apple store to get a car charger for Brenda's i-pad and to ask for help setting it up as a hotspot.

Apple stores, if you've never been in one, are amazing. You can approach them through a near empty mall and find standing room only inside the Apple store. However there is never a problem with long waits because about 25% of those standing around are employees who are there to help you buy very expensive stuff.

The average Apple employee really knows her stuff. That is all but the one who helped us. Brenda asked him to show us how to set the i-pad up as a hotspot so we could use it to provide wi-fi connections to our lap top and kindle.  He told us you couldn't do that with an i-pad! After we got back Brenda could see how to set it up as a hotspot. By this time Mike and Mary Jane gave us a verizon hot spot. Now we have spots before our eyes.

Jeff and Linda were waiting at our campsite when we got back to camp. A few glasses of wine and lots of hugs - it is so great to see them.

Tomorrow Jeff and I go to the Pima County Air Museum and the Davis Mothem aircraft bone yard.

30 March 2013

A bad day.

Jeff has been not feeling super great. Today he felt worse. He has had chronic problems with a blockage in his intestine. When he gets these he ends up hospitalized. That's where he is now.

This is the 6th or 7th episode of this he has had. Last time the doctors really wanted to operate. This time I think they will.

Linda spent the night at the hospital. This is a hospital the Fullers recommended and is thirty miles from Gilbert Ray. We will move trailers nearer the hospital tomorrow. Then wee will wait to see what happens.

The doctors here think they can operate and fix-up Jeff then send him off in just a few days. Jeff may have other ideas.