Living in Mesa, Arizona (Season '06-'07)

We decided to taking this year off from our boat in Mexico and drive the tour paddleboat Desert Belle to get my days needed to renew my Coast Guard Captain’s license. After searching the web for warm winter locals and sending out several emails, Mesa, Arizona and Saguaro Lake were chosen (or they chose us). The narration in the next Log below is what happens on the Saguaro Lake every day, but during our stay in Mesa, we made a few excursions that broke up the routine. Our first guests to visit were Tom and Sue Stose. They arrived shortly after we got our routine down and were our first complimentary guests on the Desert Belle. While here we showed them some of the area although we weren't that familiar with it ourselves yet. We did, however, do some kayaking on the Salt River below the Stewart Moutain Dam that holds back Saguaro Lake.

In mid December, Molly & I thought we would take several days off and drive to Los Angeles to visit our good friend and cruising/RV buddy Cathy Fleming. We had a great time going and shopping and visiting. It was a great break that we needed.

In January we made a short local trip down to see the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument just south of Phoenix. It was interesting, but not as impressive as we expected. Later that month we had to make a trip to San Carlos, Mexico to get a survey done on Albion. We have to have one done every three years for insurance purposes. We got a local surveyor in Guaymas and he gave it a good bill of health. It was nice to be on the boat again, even though it was still in the storage yard and if only to just check up on it.

Daughter Jeanette came to visit for a week in February. We had many things planned to show her while here. Of course we took her to the Organ Stop Pizza parlor to listen to the world’s largest Wurlitzer Pipe Organ. It is always a great time listening to the many old songs that the organist plays while having a pizza and a beer. We also took the drive up Apache Trail past all the lakes with a stop at Tortilla Flats for their great hamburgers. We also took her to see the play 42nd Street at the Broadway Palms Dinner Theater. We have gone there several times and wanted to show her what we do for fun. And of course we took her out on the Desert Belle to see the beauty of the Arizona desert habitats from the lake.

Later in February, Granddaughter Briana came to stay with us while she had a try-out with the Phoenix Ballet. They actually weren’t hiring apparently, but it was a good try-out and we got to see her and had a great time showing her the area. Oh, yes, we took her to the Organ Stop Pizza parlor as well, and she loved it, even though someone spilled a beer on her while maneuvering to their seat. She liked it so much that when she came back in March for a follow-up try-out with a friend, she asked to go back to Organ Stop to show her friend.

Another little excursion we made was up to Payson, Arizona to see the Tonto Natural Bridge State Park. It is the largest travertine natural bridge in the world. It is quite impressive and I walked down the creek under the massive bridge. We stayed the night in Payson and took some Desert Belle brochures up to the Payson Chamber of Commerce. Bud and Lisa Root (more cruising friends) came for a visit also and went out on the lake for a tour and visited Tortilla Flats with us. It was a great time. They were in their RV and stayed in our Apache Wells RV Resort.

In April, Cathy Fleming came to visit for a few days and so we had to take her on the Desert Belle and show her around our area. We got tickets to the Arizona Opry and she thought that was great. That was the second time we had been there. It is not quite what you expect, not quite like the Grande Ole Opry. It is a mixture on all kinds of music and the leader of the program (the guy who sings the high notes in "The Lion Sleeps Tonight") plays every conceivable horn instrument, from the Alpine Horn to the largest tuba in the world. He has about 20 or 30 on stage and plays every one of them before the night is over. Some of them have been given to him by well know artists like Al Hert and others.

All in all, it was a great winter season. Except for not being on our boat in Mexico, it was great. We had a lot of visitors who made the time go faster and more enjoyable. During the last few weeks, the other Captain became unemployed and I was the "only" Captain. Although I had planned only one season here to get the days for my license renewal, the owners made it attractive to return for the next season. Molly liked the area, the park, the people, and got very involved in the quilting group here. I enjoyed the lake tour and meeting new people everyday, so we decided to come back next year if they gave us time to head down to the boat in San Carlos, Mexico for a cruise or two during the season. The die was case!

As we headed home, we decided to stop at a few more attractions along the way. The first was the Verde Canyon Railroad> trip in Cottonwood, Arizona. We stayed close by in a Coast to Coast park. The trip was an all day excursion up the Verde River Valley with great scenery, and a turn-around location at <Perkinsville that was in several movies. It was a great trip that we would highly recommend to everyone.

Then we went on to Fredonia, Arizona again like last year, but this year we waited until May 15th when the North Rim of the Grand Canyon was open. Again, it was quite impressive. We then head home via I-15 through Salt Lake City, Utah and I-84 through Boise, Idaho. Again, we spend the first two weeks back at our "home park" in Neskowin and then headed for the Salem Elks for the summer.

We are now back in Salem after spending about a week in Redmond at the FMCA RV Rally. We kept the vendors happy by leaving a few $$$ with them. Our major purchase was a GPS....we have been checking out the various madels available. The one Brent was interested in was having the ability to utilize nautical charts and at the rally, we found one that already had the charts installed, so that was a definite plus. So now we are just having a good time learning how to use it and maximize all the bells and shistles on it!

At the rally, we went to a seminar on how to create BLOGs. Although this is far from the start of our BLOG listing at "Log 1", this portion of this posing was the first try after the RV Rally. Then we went back and changed all our "Log of Albion (and other travels)" from the Northwest Yacht Delivery web site to be included in this on-line BLOG. Hope you have had fun reading and keeping up with our travels. Stay with us as we continue learn more about this blogging stuff and put our activities out there for you all to keep track of us.