Back to work!

We've begun the "settling in" process at our winter home, Palm Creek Golf and RV Resort in Casa Grande, AZ.  Each day we have taken care of a few more chores like collecting saved mail, filling the bicycle tires, putting together a new grill and taking care of previously scheduled doctor appointments.  The weather has been hot and sunny in the daytime and comfortable in the evenings.  We've made our way through the park and the city, checking out the changes that occured while we were gone.  Best of all, we're checking in with friends and neighbors as we go...catching up on everyone's adventures.  Bright and early Monday morning it was "back to work" for both of us as we joined the group of tennis players at the courts at 7:30 am.  We even had to set the alarm!  This is the work we enjoy!  Let the season begin!

Tom playing with partner, Trisha, serving to Bob.

Can you hear me now?

We had a great visit in Abilene, Texas with our grandchildren and their parents....learning our way around their new hometown and taking the grandparents role at ball games, dance lessons, horseback riding sessions and more.  We also enjoyed touring some of Abilene's new neighborhoods as the family researched building a new home.

Months ago we had scheduled a string of regular medical appointments in Arizona, so it was finally time to head west once again.  We departed Abilene on Monday, October 10.  Our planned stopping point that night was in Sierra Blanca, Texas at an RV park listed in our Passport America Directory.  When we got to the small town we found that the RV park was abandoned and went to another down the road that didn't look much better.  But, there was working electricity and a lock box to deposit our $10 fee for a night.  Shortly after arriving, we discovered problems with our brand new tow car.  We started making phone calls to get roadside help only to discover that we were in a very marginal area for cell service.  We were alos on the edge of a time zone change.  There was much confusion in trying to get someone to understand where we were located and what help we needed, and then when help would come.  "Can you hear me now???"

A contact was finally made and help arrived.  Our AAA driver, Joe, managed to get us relocated into El Paso, an 80 mile drive, on Tuesday morning.  We spent two days 'camped' in an alley behind a Ford dealer in El Paso before deciding that we would have them totally disengage the drive train and transmission and we would tow the car on to Arizona.  We drove directly to a Ford dealer in Gilbert to drop off the car.  The service department there has been completely helpful and says they will help us recover from our "catastrophic failure" and work with us to prevent it from happening again.

Greater downtown Sierra Blanca, Texas



Load 'em up, move 'em out!


The RV is now happily parked at our winter home at Palm Creek in Casa Grande, Arizona.  There are still details to work out, but it appears that Ford will cover our expenses under warranty.  After all, the car has barely 2000 miles on it and the transmission failed!  We are looking forward to a relaxing winter.