Friday, May 9, through Thursday, May 30, 2014: In Utah, Part 1: Hurricane:

The 57-mile drive from Mesquite to St. George was actually uneventful.  There were signs warning about potential traffic problems in the Virgin River Gorge (through the Arizona portion of the trip) due to road construction, but they didn’t materialize.  That gorge remains a spectacular piece of geology.  Our first stop in St. George was at D&D Automotive, a repair facility we were assessing to repair the blowout damage we had. 

We were impressed enough with what they told us that we told them to tentatively schedule the repair work, left with them the repair parts we already had, and called the second possibility we were planning to see---Jim’s RV Repair---and told them never mind. 

We then checked into the St. George KOA park where will be for the next month.  It’s a KOA on the surface, but is actually owned by Encore Resorts, which is the parent of Thousand Trails.  As the result, we get a decent discount when we stay there.  By pre-arrangement, we were assigned Space 22, the same one we were in last year.  It’s a very nice site.

Even though we had only come a short distance, travel days are always tiring, so we crashed early Friday night.  Saturday was pretty tame until late in the afternoon.  While we watched Blackfish from the redbox (an interesting documentary about killer whales) the wind started to come up with a vengeance.  Then it started to rain as well.  Then the thunder and lightning started.  Exciting!  It was a long night, and Ramsey and Kelsey joined us in bed.  The next morning, we saw fresh snow on the nearby mountains,

and we learned during a call to our daughter in Park City that it was still snowing there---and they expected a foot or two.  Doesn’t anybody know it’s May?     

Sunday morning (Mother’s Day) the park threw a free pancake breakfast, which we attended.  No big deal.  After that, we drove into central Hurricane and took the dogs on a walk through the historic residential area.  There are a number of nicely-maintained old “Mormon” houses there.  (A Mormon house has more than one main entrance---to accommodate the existence of several wives, all of whom have equal status.)  We then stopped at the Wal-Mart there (nearly everything else is closed on Sunday in Utah) for some stuff.  On the way back, Becky, Ramsey, and Kelsey got out and walked the last half-mile.

Monday morning, we had appointments with our audiologist, Kimball Forbes, for our annual review.  We passed; our hearing had not deteriorated in the past year.  Good news.  But one of my devices seemed to have lost most of its oomph, and we left it with them to have the factory repair it.  Later, I dropped Becky and the dogs off in the “red rock” recreation area that starts across the street from our RV park, and they hiked back while I picked up dinner at Wal-Mart.

Tuesday was our day to see our dermatologist, Dr. Robin Berger, for our annual review.  She froze a few little goodies off my body, and we made an appointment for her to freeze off one other one.  Per some bizarre Medicare rule, she couldn’t do the last one the same day---even though Medicare does not pay the $10 fee for the procedure.  I don’t get it.

Wednesday was our day to see Joshua Frame, our GP since 2003, for our annual review.  All seemed to be in order.  On our way back to the RV park, we dropped off our bikes at High Knees Cycling in St. George for tune-ups and a few fixes. 

We had stopped there on Tuesday to discuss our situation, and they convinced us to bring the bikes in.  The folks there, Will and Dennis, seem to be very nice, and knowledgeable.  Since the bikes are outside year-round, they suffer a lot of weather damage.  They are supposed to be ready on Friday.

Thursday was my day to attack a problem with our rig that has been bothering me for a while.  A few years ago, in Bozeman, Montana, the bed had become detached from the slide out mechanism due to what the manufacturer admitted was a design defect---such that when the room opened up the bed didn’t move, staying squeezed up against the dresser.  It was a Sunday and my sources for repair parts were limited.  I fixed it as best I could under the circumstances, and knew that someday I would have to do it again---the right way.  That day had come. 

It involved taking the bed mechanism apart, crawling around on my hands and knees in very tight spaces, and generally moving some of my body parts in ways that were rather unfamiliar.  I finished the job, but I now hurt everywhere.  I will recover, but I don’t want to have to do that again.

I also undertook to program the two new tire monitor sensors I received on Wednesday---to replace the two that had seemed to die a few days ago.  It’s not as easy as it should be.  Since the written instructions are incomprehensible, I called the manufacturer for technical advice.  After two scraped knees from crawling around under the slide outs to get at the tires, two dropped cell phone calls, and sweating bullets from the 100 degree temperature, I gave up and told the tech I would call him on Friday to pick up where we left off.  He was sympathetic.

Friday was haircut day for both Becky and me.  After that we went to Sakura for sushi.  This was the first time we have gone there, always preferring Samurai 21 previously.  But since it is now closed we thought we would try Sakura.  Not bad.  And one of the sushi chefs there (and we think one of the owners, as well) is “Johnny,” who used to be the main chef (and we’re sure one of the owners) at Samurai 21 when we first went there in 2004.  It was fun seeing him again. 

Then we picked up our bikes and settled in for the night.

Saturday was our day to visit the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. 

From where we are it is about 140 miles each way.  Every time we go there, which is every time we are in this area, we remind ourselves how beautiful the drive to the rim is.  The place is still the same, except they spent $900,000 putting a new roof on the lodge.  We woke up Mike Kidd, the lodge manager, who was sleeping on his first day off in 45 days. This is his third season as manager, and he not only is enjoying it, he has lost some weight and looks great.  The lodge just opened for the season on Thursday, and things are still a little chaotic. 

We had lunch at the Deli.  The line was out the door since they had only one person making everything on the menu, so we both selected pre-made items.  My salad, I found out too late, had been made the day before and, while the lettuce was still OK, the croutons were soggy and chewy---and the salad cost $13.00!!!  Becky’s ham sandwich was OK and only $7.00. 

On the way home we decided to have filet mignon for dinner, which we picked up at Lin’s Market.  Matched with one of our Justin reds, they were delicious.

 

Sunday was our day to hit Costco for the first (and surely not the last) time since we got here.  We stocked up on the usual goodies, including, this time, 70 pounds of dog food. 

Monday (the 19^th) was Becky’s birthday and we drove the 33 miles to Zion National Park so she could celebrate by buying a Senior Pass allowing free entry to all federal fee installations.  (Hint:  You have to be 62 to buy that pass.) 

While there we walked the mile-long Riverside Walk along the Virgin River to the entrance to the Narrows, rode our bikes back from the end of the road to the Lodge, took the shuttle back into Springdale, and had a delicious lunch at Oscar’s Café.  While in the park we chatted with Kirstine Johnson, Becky’s former boss in the gift shop,

and with a lady named Sharon who was “manning” the new beer bar in the patio outside the Deli.  Sharon was a long-time server in the lodge dining room; we never learned her last name in all the years we’ve known her and her husband, Tom.

Before we entered the park, we dropped Ramsey and Kelsey off at the Doggy Dude Ranch, in Rockville---just outside Springdale.  This was Ramsey’s second time there and Kelsey’s first.  The idea was not only to free us to enjoy the entire park, but to introduce the dogs to spending time with Philly, the proprietress, because we plan to leave them there while we go to Park City at the end of the month for Emily’s high school graduation.  The dogs did well at the ranch, and were completely pooped when we got them home.

The big event on Tuesday was mastering the mysteries of the tire monitors.  Mike at the manufacturer, with whom I had been discussing the problem time after time, finally decided to tell me that I had been wasting my time the past few days since the display monitor had been corrupted somewhere along the way.  The fix involved a very simple procedure, and within five minutes everything was working perfectly.  Hurray!!! 

Three days ago I discovered that someone had stolen a tiny piece of trim from our truck.  The dealer told me that GM would only sell me a giant piece that included the small piece I needed, and suggested a visit to a wrecking yard.  On Wednesday, we went to Dixie Auto Wrecking, and picked up three of the little pieces for $5.00.  (We bought three in case the thief returned.)

            

We celebrated by taking the dogs to the Dog Town Park for a romp.  They really enjoy that place.       

Our granddaughters, Meghan and Emily, had requested that we make a contribution to a video they were making to celebrate Donna and David’s 25^th anniversary.  The deadline was approaching, so on Thursday we watched the video of their wedding to give us some ideas.  It was a lot of fun re-living the event. 

We recorded some appropriate words and forwarded them to the girls.  We then watched The Secret Life of Walter Mitty from the Redbox.  It was just awful, which was very disappointing, since I remembered that the original with Danny Kaye was delightful.

Friday morning, I returned to Dr. Berger’s office to have a gross-looking thing removed from my jaw line.  It was some benign growth that I had first noticed last summer.  I thought it would go away on its own, but I was wrong.  She hit it with her magic nitrogen gun and promised it would disappear in a couple of weeks.  I hope she’s right.

Becky had started having a sharp pain in her head Wednesday night.  By Friday, it had become such a nuisance that she went to the Instacare facility in St. George for some relief.  It turned out that she had shingles.  She was given several medications and warned that she would be uncomfortable for at least two weeks. 

Saturday and Sunday were basically relaxing, in that on both days we had the free pancake breakfast at the RV park, followed by hot dogs (not free) by the pool, and quiet afternoons avoiding the heat.  The only variation was on Sunday when Becky took Ramsey and Kelsey on a very long hike that wore them out completely. 

 

On Monday (Memorial Day) we revived an old tradition of ours by taking the dogs and some wine, bread, cheese, salami, and two National Enquirer-type magazines to the local park for two hours of reading exciting news items to each other.  The park in Leeds was completely empty, so we had a peaceful and rewarding time there.     

Tuesday was a lazy day for me.  Becky dropped off some old clothes at the local Mormon thrift store and shopped for some new ones at a more appropriate venue. 

Wednesday was my day to get a pedicure.  Becky thought the place was one of the stereotypical salons filled with Vietnamese women who seem to do all of the nail work in the U.S. these days.  It was not.  The lady who did my nails (the only one working that day) was a former truck driver who had finished nail school only two months ago.  Giving a pedicure is not brain surgery, so she did just fine, although it took a lot longer than usual and she was completely stumped by the toe that I broke 18 years ago when I dropped a TV set on my foot.  The nail on that toe is rather nasty looking.  After consulting with her boss, she just ignored that toe altogether. 

 

We also stopped at the Verizon store to get some technical advice, and went to the Willowind RV Park in Hurricane to book a site for next year.  We had decided not to return to the park we had stayed in previously since it was a little removed from civilization and, more importantly, because it was behind a hill there was very weak cell and internet service available there.  We felt like we were stranded without the ability to immediately and fully participate in life there.  At Willowind, we will not only be fully connected, but will also be able to walk to stores and easily take the dogs to interesting places.  We spent an inordinate amount of time selecting the site for next year, but we were finally satisfied that we could survive for two months in #164.

Late in the afternoon, while driving the dogs (and Becky) to a spot in the federal wilderness area across the street from where they would begin their afternoon hike, Kelsey chewed on Ramsey’s leash for the first time in months, and it came apart.  While Becky took them on their walk holding onto what was left of Ramsey’s leash, I made an emergency trip to St. George to find a new leash.  It turned out to be much more difficult than I had supposed.  Apparently, leather leashes are no longer popular.  After hitting three stores and calling three more, I finally found a suitable leash.  It was one of the few the store had left and was the only one that was the right length.  The owner was so happy to get rid of it that he gave me a 25% discount.            

Thursday was devoted to getting ready to leave for Park City.  On my part, that included a lube and oil change on the truck (called a “Signature Service”) at Jiffy Lube in St. George, a quick lunch at Burger King across the street from the Jiffy Lube, a stop at Wells Fargo Bank to get some cash, packing bags for the trip, and a bunch of other mundane details.  

In addition to The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, we watched a number of redbox movies during our stay here:  Gimme Shelter, which was very good, Gloria, a Chilean film that was excellent, Labor Day, with Josh Brolin and Kate Winslet, which was eerie but captivating, Blackfish, a documentary about killer whales, which was very interesting, At Middleton, with Andy Garcia and Vera Farmiga, which was delightful, and That Awkward Moment, a teen movie that was disgusting.

Thursday, May 8, 2014: The "Uneventful" Trip to Mesquite

We had just a 144 mile trek to Mesquite on Thursday, but we started out early because we had to stop first at the BigO store to have our new tire installed.

That went well, and we were quickly cleared to leave.  Then I happened to check the tire pressure sensor on the new wheel and discovered that the lug nuts on the wheel had not been tightened.  They weren't even finger tight.  Oops!  The result could have been catastrophic.  We then headed for Mesquite.  Immediately, we discovered that the new tire pressure sensor that we bought after the blowout wrecked the last one wasn't working.  We got to Mesquite and the bland, and expensive, Sun River RV Park---hidden behind the Smith's Food Store.

I then spent more than an hour on the phone trying to solve the problem with the tire pressure monitor.  While that was going on, another of the sensors stopped working.  The tech on the phone finally gave up and promised to send me two new sensors.

In frustration (and because we planned to do it anyway) we had lunch at Samurai 21, the Mesquite "brother" of the restaurant of the same name in St. George, which is one of our favorites. 

It was not only delicious (our most expensive trip to a sushi restaurant ever) but informative.  We learned that the owner (our chef, Michael, coincidentally) sold the St. George restaurant in December, 2013.  We will, therefore, be relegated to having sushi at a sister restaurant there which is mostly Thai food.  (Michael is half Thai and half Chinese.) 

Whew!  On to St. George Friday morning!


  

Thursday, April 17, through Wednesday, May 7, 1014: In Comfortable Pahrump:

Well, maybe we shouldn't have left the desert after all.  The 282 mile trip to Pahrump, Nevada, which is 7 miles inside Nevada from the California border, was completely uneventful---until we got one mile from the border.  Then we had a blowout on the right rear tire of the rig.  This one was the worst we've had in the sense of the damage it caused to the rig. 

Then, we called AAA to get the tire changed to the spare, and ran into the dumbest (or the least well-trained) person we've ever encountered.  After waiting forever to talk to someone, this person couldn't get anything right.  Fortunately, we also called the Good Sam Roadside people simultaneously and they were terrific.  When the Good Sam tow truck arrived, The AAA lady still had not figured out where we were.  The tow people were great, and we were back on the road---for the remaining 8 miles of our trek.

We got a nice site at the Preferred RV Resort, where we have stayed twice before.  The site is ostensibly a pull-thru but because it is too close to a fence we had to back in, which is always a challenge.  Fortunately, our next-door neighbor, Roy, was a truck driver in his former life, and he ended up backing us in. 

After setting up, I got on the phone to the insurance company to start the claim process to get the rig fixed, to the rig manufacturer to order the necessary repair parts, to the tire monitor manufacturer to order a new monitor to replace the one that was destroyed in the blowout, and to a dealer in Las Vegas to set up an appointment to deal with the (unrelated) problem with the truck's bed cover.  After all that, I was exhausted, and opened a bottle of a nice Rioja.  Delicious.  We then took the dogs for a walk,

and, after I made mussels for dinner, we settled in for the night---until, that is, Ramsey needed me to take him on another walk.  He's become such a good dog, it's actually fun to take a late night walk with him.

Friday we headed to Las Vegas (55 miles away) to see if the dealer there could actually do something for our truck bed cover.  Action Truck Accessories is a family-owned and operated enterprise that's been around for a while. 

The fellows there were terrific, and after about an hour of probing, prodding, dismantling, and reinstalling, the bed cover works perfectly again.  The $60.00 charge was a lot better than the $$$$ it would have cost to replace it. 

We celebrated by having dinner at the Nugget Hotel & Casino across the street from our RV park.  We chose the buffet, rather than the steakhouse because:  1) The buffet was cheaper, and  2) The buffet was featuring seafood.  It wasn't fancy, the crab legs were very skinny, and the shrimp were "peel-and-eat," which is a pain, but the dinner was fine, nonetheless.  Then, we're not that hard to please.  As of this morning, I had lost 15 pounds since the end of the gluttonous Hawaii cruise, but I probably retrieved a few of those at the trough tonight.  Oh, well.  Tomorrow is another day.   

My initial challenge on Saturday was to piece together the parts we had retrieved from the blowout.  The idea was to re-attach  as much of the trim as possible to cover up the damage to that extent.  We even went back to the scene of the blowout to scavenge more parts.  After spending more that two hours matching and gluing shards, it was clear that this would not work.  It had been fun, though. 

Instead, the plan now is to get some paint that matches and simply cover the "blank" area.  We'll see how that works.

We then walked into town to order some prescription refills for me and to pick up a film from the redbox.  It is The Invisible Woman.  We'll watch it on Sunday (Easter).  Before dinner, I called Dennis and Jackie Dexter, our Denver friends. 

Dennis was a fraternity brother of mine.  It's always fun catching up with them.  They travel a lot, but, unlike us, they stay for months in rented homes.  Their last adventure was two months in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

After Becky walked the dogs (and watched the end of a local Easter Sunrise service along the way) we watched The Invisible Woman early on Sunday.  It was a terribly British period piece (Ralph Fiennes was its star and director) and moved a little too slowly for me.  Becky liked it a lot, though. And we saw an interesting side of Charles Dickens that was new to us. 

In mid-afternoon, we tried to join some of the other RVers at our park for Easter dinner in the lodge, but we had failed to sign up and they were sold out.  We ended up getting a cooked chicken and some crab salad at the local Smith's.  Not exactly an elegant or festive dinner, but good enough.  We then watched Odd Thomas, a strange, mostly teenybopper item from the redbox that was oddly engulfing.

Monday was a day for Becky to ride her bike (seven miles roundtrip) to the RV resort at the local winery---mainly to check out the pickleball scene there.  Not much was happening, apparently.  She came back with her equipment unused.  We then went to The Home Depot to get the paint for our experiment, along with a few hardware items,

and I picked up some prescriptions at Walgreens.  The rest of the day was very ordinary.  The weather was beautiful; we expect some wind on Tuesday.

Tuesday, the wind came as expected.  It prevented my going ahead with the plan to spray paint the damaged area on our rig.  That was good, since the claims adjuster called later and told us not to fool with the area until he had taken official pictures of the damage.  Becky got her hair done in the morning, while I fiddled.  In the early afternoon, we took the dogs to a huge local park. 

On the soccer field, Becky let Kelsey off-leash so she could run free for a while.  Kelsey's so cute when she does that.  It's obvious that she enjoys her new life.  We know better than to let Ramsey off-leash.

There's not much to do in Pahrump, so, after walking the dogs, shopping for groceries, and playing some pickleball (Becky, not me), we pretty much watched movies for the next several days. 

On Tuesday, Becky hit the market and brought home two DVDs from the  redbox.. We watched the first one, The Best Man Holiday, a black-oriented film about a Christmas reunion of old friends at the home of one of the couples.  Sort of a black version of The Big Chill, but, frankly, more complicated and more interesting   It was very different to see the portrayal of successful African-Americans on their own turf, made by black people, not white liberals.  Well worth the effort. 

We had seen the second film, Inside Man, with Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster, and some other well-known stars, some time ago, but, naturally, had forgotten everything about it.  It was complicated and a little confusing at times, but enjoyable nonetheless.  Denzel was fascinating as a hostage negotiator.

Late on Tuesday, we had a long phone chat with Terrell, the claims person from Progressive.  He was very comforting in describing the process.  (I haven't had an insurance claim in an eon, so it was rather new to me.)  He was in Texas, and would contact an adjuster in Nevada.  Wednesday was Ramsey's birthday and Becky gave both dogs some real bones we got from a butcher as a treat.  They were in Heaven. 

We then took them to the Lakeside Casino & RV Park---about five miles out of town---for a long walk on the beautiful grassy areas they have there.

Also on Wednesday, we heard from the adjuster, Alex, who said he would come see us Friday morning to assess the damage. After Becky took Kelsey to the vet Thursday morning for her second rattlesnake vaccination, we watched two more movies from the redbox, Home Run and The Gabby Douglas Story.  Douglas was, naturally, the story of her struggle to become an Olympic gymnastics gold medalist.  It was well-done and interesting.  Fascinating to me was the fact that they found a pretty-close look-alike who expertly performed the moves in the film.

Home Run was a surprisingly good religious-centered film about redemption from drug and alcohol (and other) abuse problems.

Alex arrived at 7:30 Friday morning and did his adjuster thing.  We celebrated by watching Flowers In The Attic and Grudge Match from the redbox.  Flowers was an older film, and very creepy.  Grudge Match was a must-miss.  DeNiro and Stallone were actually hard to watch. 

Saturday we went to Las Vegas to meet Paula Browne for lunch.  (She worked with Becky many years ago in Santa Monica and has now been a commercial lender at Wells Fargo in LV for many years.)  We met at Frank & Fina's Cocina, where we had last seen her in December of 2012.  The food was excellent and Paula was her usual delightful self.  It's always fun to see her.

Saturday night our RV park put on a fireworks show, celebrating something, that lasted for about two hours.  It was dazzling, but the dogs didn't like the noise at all.  They both ended up sleeping on our bed.  

We set aside some time on Sunday to take a look at two kennels, knowing we would have to board the dogs at least once while in Pahrump.  The first one was a loser, but the second, Jake's Big Dog, looked promising.  Across the street was Sullivan's Pub, and it seemed appropriate to have a beer after such an arduous morning.  It's really a local place, and two "regulars" were sitting at the bar when we entered.  It turned out to be just fine, and we ended up having delicious hamburgers for lunch there. 

The bartender, Carolynn, was very nice (she's lived in Pahrump for 15 years) and it turned out they have a tradition there on Sunday---the food is free, but a donation is accepted.  I even played a little blackjack on a video machine at my seat, and broke even.

We also visited the Nevada Treasure RV Resort, a few miles out of town.  It's a pretentious new place we've visited before.  We went there just to have a different place to walk the dogs.

That afternoon, we watched two more redbox movies, Hours and Out Of The Furnace.  Hours, starring Paul Walker in his last film, was a harrowing tale of survival after Hurricane Katrina left a newborn in an incubator at a local hospital which had been abandoned after the hospital became flooded.  Very intense and engaging movie. 

By contrast, Out Of The Furnace, starring Christian Bale and Woody Harrelson, was a confusing shoot-em-up involving bad people doing stupid things.  I gave up on it about halfway through..   

On Monday, our new Progressive claims man called to say he'd received and processed the estimates from Alex, and would send the estimates and our check immediately.  We received all of that on Tuesday.  Earlier on Monday, Becky and I took Ramsey and Kelsey for a long walk around town, then Becky went looking for pickleball players at the winery RV park---and found some.  They were brand new at the game, but Becky was in Heaven, anyway. 

Tuesday (the 29th) Becky met Amy Vanderpuy for lunch at the restaurant at the winery.  Amy worked with us at Zion National Park in 2003, etc., and now lives and works in Henderson, Nevada, with her husband (who works at Area 51).  They had a good time reminiscing, apparently. 

While they were enjoying lunch, I undertook the painting project on the damaged part of our rig.  It turned out fine, even though the paint color was very far from matching the surrounding area.  At least the damaged area looked a little less intimidating.

Wednesday (the 30th) was Becky's pickleball day at the winery RV park.  She taught the newbies how to play and really enjoyed it.  Afterwards, we watched Magnum Force, the second Dirty Harry movie, on DirecTV.  (It was too old to have come from the redbox.)  Even though it was more than 40 years old, and therefore not in the same style as current cop movies, it was still pretty good.

We had set aside Thursday for a trek to Las Vegas to visit our storage facility where we have left our indispensable "stuff" for the last 11 years. The plan was to drop off some newer indispensable stuff we had accumulated and pick up some of the older indispensable stuff (essentially, clothes we hadn't worn in at least 11 years) to give to charity.  The "operation" was successful, and we donated a truck full of stuff to the local Goodwill here in Pahrump.     

We also had to stop at the Staples store there to see if they could fix a problem that had suddenly occurred on my notebook computer.  The tech there, Alex, fixed it in about two minutes.  It returned the next day, and Becky talked to Alex by phone, and he walked her through the simple procedure to work around the problem.  He suggested that the problem needed a permanent fix, and to contact the manufacturer for the solution.

The day, though successful, was very long and tiring, and, after picking up the dogs at Jake's Big Dog, where we had stored Ramsey and Kelsey for the day, we had Panda Express for dinner. 

Friday was mostly pickleball for Becky and relaxation for me.  It was too hot to do much more than walk the dogs after Becky finished playing.  Saturday evening, we watched Gimme Shelter from the redbox, starring Vanessa Hudgens and Brendan Fraser.  It was a surprisingly good movie.  

We had originally planned to leave Pahrump on Friday, May 9, but decided to go a day earlier and spend the night in Mesquite, Nevada.  That way, we can get to St. George, Utah (only an hour from Mesquite) early Friday morning to scope out a couple of RV body repair places before settling in at our RV park.  I sent some pictures of the damage to one of the places on Saturday, so they could get an advance idea of what we needed.

On Sunday, Becky played pickleball until it got too hot.  For dinner we had filet mignon, washed down with a delicious Justin red ("Justification"), a combination of cabernet franc and merlot that arrived this week. 

Then we settled in to watch Gloria from the redbox.  It was a delightful and interesting import from Chile, and won the female star a first prize in Berlin recently.

Monday our new wheel and trim piece arrived, and I took the wheel to the local BigO Tires to mount a new tire and we will have them fix everything Thursday morning on our way out of town.  I also attached the box containing the trim piece to the back of the rig.  It's so long, there seems to be no other way to carry it.  As soon as she saw it, Becky nixed that idea, saying it will ride inside quite nicely while we're on the road.  (She hates it when we look like The Beverly Hillbillies going down the road.) 

Tuesday, we had some wind and a little rain.  That prevented pickleball for the day and allowed us to concentrate on paperwork, reading, paying bills, etc.  Altogether it was a nice day---topped off with dinner of delicious salmon with a balsamic vinegar glaze from Becky's creative kitchen.  Yummy.

Wednesday, Becky played pickleball again while I slowly prepared our rig to take us on the road to Mesquite Thursday morning.  I can stretch a half-hour task into a whole day if I really try.  That is especially so when Becky adds washing the windows to the to-do list.  (Full disclosure:  Becky did the washing, I held the ladder.)  We did take Ramsey and Kelsey back to the large sports park.  Ramsey gave himself a massage in the grass

and Kelsey galloped around off-leash.

Our Wednesday movie from the redbox was Labor Day, with Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin.  Not a great movie, and in spite of how hard it was to believe the story, it was it was engaging and we happily stayed with it until the end.