Friday, March 17 through Wednesday, April 5, 2023: Back to Casa Grande, Jon Visits, Appointments, and Bye-Bye Palm Creek until Winter

What a difference a day makes! Beautiful Casa Grande without snow and severe weather.

We always enjoy seeing Jon. He came by to sit and talk. Jon was recently assessed as a 4.0 level pickleball player. Congratulations, Jon!!!

On Saturday, I tackled the firestick planting. While we were in Williams, I had the plant sitting in a bucket of water. It was time to plant it in soil. Viola!

I hope that the plant thrives on our Lot #924. While we are here in Casa Grande, I will water it every few days. But, when we leave in April, the plant will be on its own. There is no watering system. Blanche, who gave me the cutting, thought it would survive the summer. We will see.

 

In the afternoon, I went to Palm Creek's Bistro Cafe. Our friend Joyce Wells knows a woman who works here at Palm Creek. Joyce and her husband Don knew Cathy from working at the Grand Teton National Park. I wanted to say hello to her. It is a small world!

Later in the day, I walked the dogs in a loop that included the 10th green of the golf course.

Sunday, a hot air balloon was carried over Palm Creek.

The next morning, another hot air balloon was spotted overhead.

Over the weekend, I received a letter from Union Bank that said that my Portfolio Connection checking account was going to be closed April 21. Union Bank is merging with US Bank, and they are no longer going to support this product. I have had this account for over 25 years. It is my only checking account --- with social security and retirement direct deposits and a number of scheduled direct payments. What a pain! I decided to open a checking account with US Bank here in Casa Grande. Once the merger is complete later in the year, I can link this account to my brokerage account.

Monday morning, I dropped my truck off at Jerry Seiner Dodge. Service Advisor, Allen Staley, was going to find out why my truck was not starting properly.

Tom picked me up and we had breakfast at the Cook E Jar Restaurant. Yummy! Several hours later, I received a call from Allen at the Dodge dealership. The problem with my truck was a bad battery. They replaced the battery and all was good. Tom dropped me by the dealership and I got my truck. Ca-ching, $527.00.

 

At 2:00 p.m., I had an eye exam appointment with Dr. Jeffers at Professional Eyecare Associates. My Flagstaff eye doctor's office no longer accepts my insurance plan. So, I decided to get my annual exam done in Casa Grande. By coincidence, when Richard and I were in Casa Grande March ten years ago, I went to this facility for an eye exam!

I had forgotten that --- and, it was not mentioned in the Becky & Richards Journal. Dr. Jeffers says that my cataracts are starting to impact my vision. Last year, I knew that I had cataracts, but they were not in my line of vision. Dr. Jeffers suggested that I not do anything until it begins to affect my lifestyle.

At 3:30 p.m., I had an appointment to meet US Bank personal banker Jessie at the Fry's Market Casa Grande branch on Pinal. There, I opened a new checking account. It was deja vu. I worked for US Bank in Denver in 1998-2000.

On Wednesday, I played pickeball at 10:00 a.m. and then drove to Chandler for my facial with Heather Liston. This will be my last facial there until I return to Casa Grande in the winter.

In the afternoon, Tom and I had adult beverages outdoors. Jamie and Kelsey were interested and watched us.

There was a beautiful sunset that evening.

Thursday was a day to tackle some projects. We purchases a deck box from Amazon and it was time to assemble it.

Tom has the perfect technical skill to read the instructions --- which has no words --- just pictures. Thank-you, China! In less than an hour, that project was complete.

This deck box will house items that we leave at the lot over the summer. It is very attractive and matches our trailer.

On Friday morning, the dogs enjoyed lounging in the living room.

Jon will be leaving on Monday to begin the Pacific Crest Trail. Like he did in 2018, he will begin it at the Mexican border inland from San Diego. So, Tom wanted to treat Jon to a nice dinner. We had dinner at the Hideout Steakhouse & BBQ. This restaurant has a very nice display of meats and desserts.

The next day, Jon came over again. He is readying his trailer for the summer.

I had an 11:00 a.m. appointment to give blood in the San Tan Room at Palm Creek. It was Vitalent --- the same entity I give blood to in Northern Arizona.

Meghan posted a photo on Instagram of my Great Grand Dog, Carl. What a cutie!

Saturday night, Tom and I went to hear and dance to Campbell's Band. This was the second time we heard this group. The singers are two brothers and two sons/nephews.

One of our table mates snapped a photo of Tom and me.

Sunday was a beautiful day. I played Partners Competitive/FUN pickleball in the morning. In the afternoon, I saw the resident turtle at the nearby pond.

That afternoon, Dana and Rick Phillips arrived in Casa Grande. Dana and girlfriend Diana are going to hike the Pacific Crest Trail with Jon. Rick is going to support the trio for several weeks in his trailer. We met them at their RV park, Fiesta Grande.

Dana and Rick are retired Air Force. They have been married for 30 years. I met Dana in 2017 when she and Jon hiked the Arizona Trail. 

We had dinner at Lin's Grand Chinese Buffet. Rick loves buffets.

The evening was a nice send-off for Jon, Dana, and Diana.

On Monday, Tom and I and the dogs drove to Picacho Peak State Park. It was about a 40 minute ride. I have always wanted to visit this park, but never have. There is an interesting peak and rock formation.

The wildflowers were in full bloom ---Mexican Gold Poppy, Coulter's Lupine, and Brittlebush.

The Sunset Point parking lot was full, so we drove to an overflow lot and walked up to the trailhead.

The weather was good, but a little too hot for the dogs. So, we didn't hike further up the trail.

We left the park at about 12:30 p.m. and drove up to the town of Coolidge. There, we had a late lunch at Pizza Hut. Yummy!

 

Jon, Dana, and Diana started the Pacific Crest Trail on Tuesday. At the Mexican border, it is the start of a 2,650 mile trek through California, Oregon, and Washington.

Dana is chronicling the hike on a substack blog. I subscribed to her newsletter. Free and informative!

The next day, Tom had a Round Robin at 2:00 p.m. I met Tom at noon and we played some pickleball.

I had a demo pickleball paddle --- Joola Hyperion. It was a nice paddle and I ended up buying a new paddle from Mark Shields.

Wednesday morning, I played 3.5 Women Ladder Pickleball. I came home at noon. I tried to turn on our main air conditioner. Nothing. I called Freedom RV. The service manager, Newt, walked me through steps to investigate why the air conditioner was not turning on. Unfortunately, nothing was resolved. The fan in the unit is not turning on. Newt said that the technician already scheduled to come out on Tuesday is the earliest time that they could come to Palm Creek. We do have the second air conditioner in the bedroom. Darn, darn, darn...

 

In the afternoon, there was a concert in the park. The band had a Jimmy Buffet theme --- Adventures in Parrotdise. The group was okay but not great. This concert was the last of the season. We stayed for an hour and then headed back to the trailer.

On Friday, Tom went up on the roof to see if the air conditioner covers I purchased would fit. The first pair I bought were too big. I returned them and I ordered the correct size. Thank-you, Amazon!

In the afternoon, I told Tom that we should unplug the trailer and then plug it back in. During the night, a thought came to me that maybe this would reboot the air conditioner. Wonders of wonders... the air conditioner came on! 😊😊😊 We'll test it through the weekend. Fingers crossed!!!

Saturday was April Fool's Day. It is hard to believe that we are into the month of April. Our friend Roland came over to show us his new Razor/side-by-side. Beautiful!

Later in the afternoon, I went geocaching. After March 31, there is no more organized pickleball in Palm Creek. One of the caches I found was rated a 5 in difficulty --- the highest rating. It was called "Gnarled."

The cache was lodged in a dead limb. I had to pick up the limb and turn it over. I rated the cache a favorite. That evening, Tom barbecued a t-bone steak.

On Sunday, I suggested to Tom that we drive to the town of Florence and enjoy some lunch. Florence is about twenty minutes from Casa Grande. The restaurant I selected was the River Bottom Grill. It was a busy place, but the service was good. Many Harley Davidson riders were out for a Sunday ride and dined there too.

After lunch, Tom and I drove to the historic area of the town. The Main Street was deserted, but we walked several blocks in each direction.

Tuesday morning, Justin from Freedom RV came to make some adjustments to our travel trailer. He mounted our towel rack and our toilet paper holder. He fixed the striker pad for the second door. The last task was reprogramming the air conditioners.

Wednesday was our last day in Casa Grande. We worked on getting our food and clothes out of the trailer and readying the trailer for the summer. That evening, we had an early dinner at the Angry Crab Shack. We enjoyed several adult beverages.

The bartender made an excellent Hurricane for me and an Old Fashion for Tom. We then enjoyed a dozen raw oysters. They were huge and delicious!

This was our first time dining at an Angry Crab Shack Restaurant. There certainly was a great assortment of seafood!!!

When we arrived back into Palm Creek, we were able to see the rising of April's Pink Full Moon.

That evening, my friend Elaine LaMarr texted me a photo from a dinner enjoyed in La Quinta, California. They had seafood at the Fisherman's Grill.

Salli and Carl Middleton always spend the month of April in Bermuda Dunes. They live in Seattle. Elaine and Don LaMarr have a second home in LaQuinta. Their main home is in La Canada. 

The next morning, Tom and I finalized closing the trailer for the summer. We placed three 5 gallon buckets of water in the shower, kitchen sink, and kitchen. We covered the two air conditioners. We made sure that there were no food left on the pantry shelves. Bye-bye trailer until winter!