We are planning to leave on a couple of trips at the end of August, so we are preparing for those. One trip (by train) is just a long weekend in San Diego to attend a Buena Vista Social Club concert with some friends, and the other is a three + week trip (in our RV) to the northwest. The RV has been sitting idle in our garage for almost four months, so I need to make sure the batteries, etc., are ready for a trip.
We plan to take it out of the garage a few days before we are scheduled to leave so we can put back into it some of the stuff we took out of it when we arrived here in April. We really stripped it at that time. We plan to be fairly bare bones on this trip. It will be interesting to see if the substantially reduced weight will make any difference in handling the RV or in the fuel usage. We also are arranging for some work to be done at the house while we are gone. Otherwise, the past three days (Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday) have been very normal---haircuts for the two of us,
many walks with the dogs, a Bordatella shot for Ramsey. One highlight was the Republican Party debates on Thursday. Normally, I wouldn't bother watching since they tend to be very boring. These were different, though. A few fireworks, and a few surprises. It'll be interesting to see how things develop over the next few months.
I was introduced to the Buena Vista Social Club several years ago (probably 1998) on a trip to visit Salli and Carl Middleton in Washington. The music was playing on their stereo during our freshly caught (by Carl) crab dinner.
Months later, I heard their music on a plane returning from a trip to France, and recognized it. It was a very different and recognizable sound, performed by some old Cuban musicians. When I returned home, I immediately bought the CD, and over the next several months almost wore it out. Although I know some of the members of the group have now passed on of old age, I am very much looking forward to the concert later this month.
Saturday morning we dropped off the dogs at the GC Railway kennel and headed for Prescott. Besides suffering from not having visited a Costco in several weeks, Becky wanted to go to the Prescott Art Fair in Courthouse Square to see Lori Wyznewski, a co-worker at the South Rim who had an exhibit there. We hadn't seen her in years. She makes decorative items from old watch parts. They're quite nice. It was fun seeing her.
We also stopped at Wal-Mart, Costco, and Trader Joes, of course and had lunch at Murphy's, our favorite restaurant in Prescott. On the way home, we drove by the home of Joe and Stephanie Happ, old friends of Becky's from her days in Europe in the late '70s, who recently moved to the Prescott area from Palmdale, California. They have a large home on a large lot (probably six acres) in Williamson Valley and have a few horses.
Very nice setup. We didn't stop to say hello because they had already told Becky they would not be available.
The Saturday redbox movie was Danny Collins, with Al Pacino. I normally don't like him or his movies, but this one had nice reviews and was surprisingly good.
Sunday was a day of relaxation. We had cheese and crackers for dinner. The redbox movie was a turkey called Slow West, starring nobody of any interest. It had good review numbers and apparently was a hit of some sort at Sundance, bit it was so slow and uninteresting that we turned it off half-way through. Oh, well, it's only a buck and a half down the drain.
Monday and Tuesday were normal, mundane days, with, but, some serious rain showers at times. It is, after all, monsoon season here.
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