Day 34 - EVA Day 1

Up at 7am as I prepared for today's RC event. I made some coffee and toast and then grabbed my plane and headed out to the pits. Lots of folks here already getting the site set up with the electronic scoring system and the sun shades for the judges.  John had the pilot's meeting at 08:30 sharp and then we all had our pictures taken with our planes.

Pilots meeting under sunny skies!

John gets his picture taken.

My photo.

 We had sunny skies and light winds for most all the day. We had a short pause for a great pulled pork sandwich at lunch then flew until 17:30. Everyone got their four rounds in as we all took turns in the judges chair for the other classes.  I had a couple good flights but have to pull up my socks if I am going to advance on any of the front runners in tomorrows two rounds. I really enjoyed the day sitting with the guys and doing judging assignments. Fellow Canadian Scott Lenover was flying Intermediate here as well.

Pit action.

Judging practice :-)

Full pit view.

Gary's batteries in his RV were toast so he headed off to get some replacements. Unfortunately the Newmar dealer in town was of no help at all. He returned just as we all headed off to Rudy's Mexican Restaurant and decided to skip the meal to do the battery swap out.

John drove us over and about twelve of us converged on the place.  I ordered my first Margarita of the trip... turns out it's made with some wine as they don't have a liquor license! Sheesh! Oh well what can you do.... go to a real bar I guess.

Back at the flying site we were happy to see Gary's lights on! He had done the swap just before it got too dark. He was clearly relieved as his fridge was cooling down nicely.

I blogged and then prepped the coffee for the morning.

A couple inbound texts from Kelly saying she was having a good time in Campbell River at the baby shower. Also Kris had a trainer session in Toronto on the 737 MAX simulator and all went well. He is probably already home in Victoria as I type this.

Life is good! Off to the rack.

KM’s today: 0
To date KM’s driven:  5703
Today’s Temps - Low: 10ºc  High 25ºc

Day 33 - East Valley Aviators

A bit lonely with Kelly gone but I managed to make myself a nice strong coffee and a bit of breakfast this morning. She called me asking to come back as it is 6ºC and blowing at home :-)

I had issues once again with my T-Mobile account so a quick phone call and I had it all sorted... seems I have to contact them when my data runs out so they can apply my 10 gig of additional data in 5 gig increments... how about just adding a 10 gig plan?

The RC field was busy with numerous local pilots out in the morning. By 10 o'clock the precision aerobatics guys took over with 18 pilots flying off two practice lines for the remainder of the day. Good flying under a thin overcast and balmy 24ºC heat.  Pizza & water was provided for lunch!!

A few shots of the day....

Rex and John prep the roster for tommorrow.

Lineup

Dan's Andes

John Carter and his caller Frank Capone

Gary's plane... gorgeous paint job by Patrick Harris

Judges row.

The weather was very nice with a bit of blow out in the afternoon. I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the practice rounds. Game on tomorrow:-)

Kelly texted that they had safely arrived in Campbell River. Lauren also sent pics of her getting her hair done by her cousin and favorite hairdresser Louise! The gals are having fun!

A bunch of the folks headed off to IHOP for dinner but I had a nice steak to go on the BBQ so I took a hard pass. After dinner I did some cleaning up and prepped the morning coffee. It was very peaceful with no generators running... until everyone came back.

I did managed to capture tonight's sunset... again!

Sunset at the field.

 Gary's new motor home was experiencing electrical problems with his house batteries not holding a charge. I grabbed my voltage meter & donned my light to help investigate. The connections were all  solid and the voltage at the terminals indicated that the converter was pumping out 13.6 volts so next we checked the water level in the cells and discovered a few had gassed off a lot of electrolyte. We filled them up with some bottled water (not ideal but all we had) and let his generator run. Hopefully this will get him through the night for his fridge to operate properly. A trip to the battery store is forthcoming I think.

A little TV while I finished off the blog and then I was off to the rack. Pilot's meeting at 8:30 and flying at 9:00 am sharp!

KM’s today: 0
To date KM’s driven:  5703
Today’s Temps - Low: 9ºc  High 24ºc

Day 32 - On the move again

Kelly was up first and quickly had the coffee going. Another great sunrise for us. Although our last at this location :-( We filled the fresh water tank and prepped for some boondocking out at the East Valley aviators RC field. This will be the RV's home for the next 5 days.

We hooked up and hit the dump station for a "full service" pit stop. Once completed, we headed over to the EVA field and got set up among the row of RV's.  John had saved us a spot next to him so we were set. Frank Capone was there so Kelly got caught up with him while I set up the unit.

RV row!

Once the RV was ready, we departed for the Sky Harbor Airport as Kelly is heading home today. A 35 minute ride in light traffic had us at the airport in plenty of time to get checked in. (The online app was not working... again!) I know this airport very well now!!

Kelly got her boarding pass and then went for lunch while I headed back to the EVA site to get my plane ready for some practice flights.  The parking lot was filling with RV's and we had about 12 guys flying precision aerobatics. It was a lot of fun.

Frank's Angel's Shadow

Pit action.

I played around with Gary's Radio trying to get some conditions set up but the Jetti stuff is a bit daunting for those unfamiliar with the software.  I consider myself in that category! We made some progress though.

A quick dinner (smokies on the BBQ) and then some blogging as darkness fell. Kelly texted that she made it to Vancouver and was catching a flight with Lauren over to Victoria.

I tidied up the RV a bit and prepared the coffee for the am.... the usual housekeeping stuff.

At 8:30 local time in Arizona, Kelly texted that they had landed in Victoria so all is good. 

KM’s today: 126
To date KM’s driven:  5703
Today’s Temps - Low: 9ºc  High 21ºc

Day 31 - Tortilla Flats

Up at our usual time..... just as the sun just popped out from behind Superstition mountain.

Runrise's never get old!

Site 87 at lost Dutchman

 We made coffee & toast then planned out our last full day at Lost Dutchman State Park. We move tomorrow to the East Valley Aviators flying site in preparation for the upcoming contest. Kelly will also be leaving me as I am putting her on an airplane home... she is attending a baby shower for our niece's new baby Carson in Campbell River.

Busy bird!

We decided to take a trip up HWY 88 towards Tortilla Flats. The road is washed out beyond there but we had been told it was a nice drive anyway. A right turn out of the park and we were on our way through the windy Apache Trail to Canyon Lake and Tortilla Flats.

Canyon Lake

 A couple stops for photos and we quickly found ourselves at the small town site of Tortilla Flats.  Not a lot there to tell the truth, so after a short wander around we drove through the campground and then headed back towards Apache Junction. Lots of neat scenery with climbs up and over several mountains.

Sorry Kelly!

Tortilla Flats (not so flat)

 Our next stop was the Superstition Mountain - Lost Dutchman museum just down the road from our campsite. An old Elvis Presley Movie set church was there along with some old stamp machinery from a gold mine. A huge model train display was also prominent.

Model Train

Amazing detail!

Stamping Mill

How it all works.

 Lunch was at the Hitching Post Saloon and the food was really good. It definitely had the saloon feel to it!!

Back at the RV, we prepped for an early departure next morning as we move to another location (rc contest). Kelly has packed her bag and is ready to depart for home tomorrow afternoon. We did manage a short hike up to a geocache in the area.

Another stunning sunset and view of Superstition Mountain.

One last pic...

Ok... one more in the sun

 We went online to book next year's site at Lost Dutchman but all the power sites are already taken :-( 

 Tonight's dinner...... tacos! Delicious!

KM’s today: 72
To date KM’s driven:  5577
Today’s Temps - Low: 9ºc  High 19ºc

Day 30 - Take me out to the ball game...

We got up early and set up the chairs and campfire to watch the sunrise. It was just left of the main Superstition Mountains and was spectacular.

Sunrise

I made a nice breakfast of eggs, fried potatoes, tri-tip, avocado and toast for both of us.  Some basic clean up and then Kelly cut my hair in our "living room". A great job as always and then I jumped into the shower while she did the clean up/vacuuming :-)

The hummingbird feeder was proving very popular with the local birds.

Bird reflection

We grabbed some extra clothing and headed over to Gary and Bill's RV site at the KOA. We will travel with these fellow RC guys to the American Family Fields of Phoenix for the Mariners/Brewers tilt in the Cactus League (This is the pre-season Major League Baseball warmup games)

 On arrival, we had a few issues with the tickets as Gary had bought them on-line through a reseller. The guy at the ticket booth said they were printed out but only available at the main ticket window... on the other side of the ball park! A little exercise was now in order as we hiked around the park. Once at the main ticket window there were further issues as they now had to be "downloaded" from the website. Gary needed an account and, well it was a bit of a cyber wreck going forward. As the game was now starting, Gary bought tickets for us all and would dispute the charges later.

Ball Park

We had great seats 5 rows up and just right of the Mariners bench. I bought a round of beverages to get the game started off right. 

Row 5.. not too bad!

Mariner Fans!

The sun was on our side so we quickly peeled off most all the extra clothing we wore. (never know what you will need!) A couple hot dogs for a late lunch and we watched an exciting defensive game. Lots of hits but it was a tight game, right down to the last inning, which finishing 2-1 for the Mariners.

Kelly drove us home via the HOV lane and the north route. We dropped off our passengers and grabbed the truck for the quick 10 minute drive up to our campsite at Lost Dutchman. Our timing was perfect as we pulled out the chairs & fire and watched the sun set on another great day in the desert.

The mountain backdrop was pretty nice as well

Amazing!

More amazing!

Sunset... full circle on our day!

Dinner at the RV was some left over Tri-tip sandwiches and a cool beverage. We went in and watched Jeopardy and then flipped over to the last period of the Chicago Black Hawks - St Louis Blues game... what a third period! Crazy goals! New Amsterdam is next while I finished today's blog.

We only drove to the KOA RV park and went with Bill & Gary.... this was our route we followed....

KM’s today: 19
To date KM’s driven:  5526
Today’s Temps - Low: 8ºc  High 23ºc

Day 29 - Day Trip to Saguaro Lake

From our bedroom window we had a great view of the Superstition Mountains and the morning sun.  It looked so close we could just reach out and touch it. 

Nice view out of the front bedroom window.

 Coffee and an egg sandwich kick started our day then we headed into town for a our usual Walmart stop. Seems like we are there almost daily! We were looking for a specific window hanger for the hummingbird feeder and we quickly found it.

On the way, we stopped at the KOA Campsite and found Gary, Bill and the Wallace's RV's. No one was home but at least we know where they are for the week.

John Bentley had suggested a drive out to Saguaro Lake for some sightseeing. Off we went and after a very nice 25 minute drive through the mountains, we found ourselves at the lake shore. We wandered around a bit then settled on the balcony of one of the cruise boats moored at the dock. A glass of wine and an IPA went down nicely as we enjoyed the views.

Saguaro Lake

Nice view from the floating bar.

Rocky!

 We headed back to our RV and noticed another campground along the roadway. It was called Buckhorn Family Campground and was very similar to the Lost Dutchman site. We made some inquiries at the gate and got some brochures. Looked promising.... perhaps another time.

Back at the RV we relaxed in the sun with some snacks after getting the hummingbird feeder mounted into it's new holder. It didn't take long for one to show up.

We also prepared dinner as Ryan Hughson was stopping by today. He was in Tuscon for business and was traveling back to Phoenix to catch a flight to Anaheim. A quick visit to catch up and he was off.

Nice to have Ryan stop by for a quick visit.

Tonight's sunset.

We cleaned up and after the dishes were all done, took a walk around the park. We watched some TV and I did the blog.

Big plans for tomorrow that might include a ball park frank!

KM’s today: 88
To date KM’s driven:  5505
Today’s Temps - Low: 10ºc  High 21ºc