A few events of the day.

We were saddened to hear this morning about the massive earthquake in Japan. Nancy and I had an opportunity to spend a couple of weeks there and we became quite found of the area, the people and the culture. Hopefully the loss of life is not too great and the damage will be easily and quickly repaired. The Japanese people are strong and resilient and I'm certain they will bounce back from this tragedy just as they have in the past.

Yesterday I went to look at a motorcycle at one of the local dealers here in Tucson. I bought a 2003 Honda VTX 1300 Retro S in Amarillo a few months back. The bike was very clean and well taken care of and the price was good so I bought it. At the time I thought Nancy and I would be spending more time riding together and the VTX is a big comfy cruiser for two up riding.

Well, as it turned out we don't spend much time riding together and that leaves me riding a large slow handling motorcycle by myself all the time. Not my style. The bike was very good at going straight down the highway but little else. The ground clearance was almost non-existent, the brakes were weak and the suspension too soft for any back road riding.

Before we started full timing I had a number of motorcycles, most were collectibles. My daily driver was a 2007 Harley Davidson FLHX Street Glide. I know many of you who know bikes are saying, "that's a very similar bike to that Honda VTX. How could he not like that VTX but like the Harley?" Simple, the Harley was a better motorcycle. The Harley was low slung too, but it had just enough additional ground clearance to make it possible to have some fun on the back roads. The suspension was soft but never wallowed until you were traveling well above legal speeds. Lastly the Harley had real brakes (triple floating disc with 4 pot calipers) and behaved better than the Honda when the brakes were applied.

Back to today... Yesterday, I brought the Honda to a local dealer to look at one of the bikes he had for sale and to talk a possible trade. Long story short, this morning the VTX was traded for a 2005 BMW F 650 CS. I went there looking for a used KLR 650 but upon seeing this little beemer and the like new condition it was in, fate was sealed.

I put 120 miles on the little fella today and I couldn't be happier! The little bike is a hoot! It cruises along happily at freeway speeds and is a downright blast on the back roads! The best part is the bike is light and nimble enough that Nancy could ride it in a pinch (something that would not have been possible with the VTX). Nancy says she is comfy sitting on the back with me riding so no issues there. And it came with a full set of BMW rainproof matching luggage! Other bonuses include, heated grips, ABS and a convenient 12 volt power socket. And did I tell you that it looks and rides like a new bike? The person who owned it before seems to have never even broken in the suspension! My big backside will certainly remedy that!! Oh, and it lowered my insurance by a couple hundred bucks a year to boot!!

After getting the bike deal squared away, Nancy and I had a craving for some Jamaican beef patties. This called for a trip into Tucson to 1070 North Swan road, the address of CeeDee authentic Jamaican food. Upon arrival, you could smell the curry goat and jerk chicken from the parking lot. Nancy went in and retrieved our beef patty fix while I waited in the car with the dogs. The prize she returned with really hit the spot! Perfectly prepared authentic Jamaican beef patties, just the right amount of spicy, beefy goodness in a flaky pocket. And to wash it down, two authentic Jamaican fruit punch sodas. Excellent lunch!! We hope to get back there before we leave to try a few more of their Jamaican specialties later in the week.

From there we decided to drive over to the site of the Safeway Tucson shootings. The news here is still rife with updates of the Tucson shootings that left 6 dead and 14 wounded including congresswoman Giffords. For the most part, the site of those Jan. 8th shootings is business as usual. Only the sight of six white crosses across the street from the Safeway parking lot gives away the secret. It's terrible how the actions of one deranged man can have such far reaching consequences. I hope the victims and their families can find peace again soon.

Upon returning the the rig, I assembled the portable grill Nancy bought yesterday with our American Express rewards Home Depot gift cards. I'm amazed we made it this long without a grill. We gave the grill a nice break in for dinner tonight as I made us two sirloins with some famous dave's rub. As a side, I prepared two foil packets filled with red potatoes, rosemary, garlic, smoked paprika, salt, black pepper and olive oil. Nancy put together some delicious sweet corn and we had our first grilled meal as full-timers. WooHoo!

We closed out the events of the day with another of Arizona's famous desert sunsets.

Not quite as spectacular as some, but glorious none the less.

Have a great day everybody!!

Noah

FreightLiner of Tucson A+

Just wanted to post an update for any of you with a FreightLiner chassis motor home traveling the South West. As most of you may have heard FreightLiner on the Border in El Paso is to be avoided. You can read about why here. No worries though, as bad as FreightLiner on the Border is, FreightLiner of Arizona in Tucson is that much better!! It's only a few hundred more miles to get to Freightliner of Tucson and it is well worth it!

One phone call will confirm you made the right choice. Amy will most likely be the cheery voice on the other end of the phone. She is a doll, she knows her stuff and she loves her job and it shows. Freightliner knew what they were doing when they hired her to be the customer face for Freightliner of Tucson. She makes you feel like you are her most important customer and she has the correct answers for all your questions.

We had an appointment for 9am Wednesday to get a 26k mile service performed on our Allison transmission. As most Freightliners appear to be, they were understaffed that day and a local big corporate customer had just dropped off a number of trucks overnight with no warning. Needless to say they were not able to get us in at 9am, but they were able to get us in, and they kept us informed of exactly where we were and what was going on so that we could remain comfortable while we waited.

Once we did get the rig in, Nick (the service technician) took good care of us. He was informative and conscientious with his service. He pointed out a few things to watch for going forward and was quickly done and had us on our way. All with a consistent smile and friendly attitude. You can't ask for anything more than that.

Thanks Nick and Amy! You guys restored my faith in Freightliner service!

To all of you needing service here in the South West, if you can make it to Freightliner of Arizona in Tucson, give Amy a call, you'll be glad you did!

Have a great day!

Noah

Today we are doing one of our favorite things...

... hanging out at Freightliner. Some of you may have read about our last trip to Freightliner in El Paso Texas, it was not pretty. Well, so far Freightliner here in Tucson has been much better. We are only here to get a few maintenance items done, change transmission fluid, change air filter, change hub oil, so it should not be a big ordeal. Fingers crossed!

Since we aren't really doing anything fun, I thought I would post a recap of all of our recipes to make it easy for folks to check out any they may have missed.

Here goes:

Chinese Spaghetti with Meat Sauce - Spicy simple Chinese pasta with ground beef - very tangy.
Chicken Lazone - Super simple chicken dish that tastes like it took much more effort. A favorite of both Nancy and I.
Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas - Smooth, creamy, yummy.
Red Velvet Brownies - The name says it all.
Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup - Very savory, great soup for a cool day.
Chicken Primavera with Pasta - Quick, easy, versatile pasta dish. Great with garden fresh veggies!
Shredded Bar-B-Que Beef -crockpot recipe - Set it and forget it. Later on eat it!
Sweet, Sticky and Spicy Chicken - Nice, quick, cheap alternative to ordering Chinese food out.
Greek Gyro Recipe - Versatile and tasty can be used with numerous meats. Lamb, beef, turkey, etc.
Peruvian Roast Chicken - Just look at the picture in the post and you tell me if that looks yummy.
Drunken Noodle (Pad Kee Mao) - This was one of our favorites at a Thai place in the North East. This recipe is pretty close to what they served.
Chicken Scampi - Simple meal but a personal favorite of mine
Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings - Great cold weather comfort food
Beef Stroganoff - One of Nancy's favorites
Home-made Black Bean Burgers - Nancy likes 'em I would rather not feed them to the dogs. lol
Pasta Pomodoro - Nice, simple, light pasta dish.
Thai Basil Chicken over Rice - Spicy, tasty, Thai dish. This dish has a very "fresh" taste when prepared with fresh basil.
Slow Cooker Bar-B-Que Pulled Pork - who doesn't like set it and forget it Bar-B-Que?
Chicken Tortilla Soup - Really good taste of the South West.

Hope you all enjoy 'em!

Have a great day!

Noah

A trip to the Pima Air and Space Museum interrupted by a Sand Storm!!

In keeping with our aviation themed weekend, Nancy and I decided to take a trip over to the Pima Air and Space Museum on Monday. We read online that the museum is a "pet friendly" facility so Luke and Leia were welcome, we like that.

The museum is a short drive from Justin's Diamond down Valencia over near the airport and the AFB. The museum sits on 80 acres and contains 300 aircraft in a combination of indoor and outdoor venues. There are 6 hangars containing numerous aircraft from a Wright Brothers replica, to a B-29 superfortress, to an SR71 blackbird.

Nancy and I enjoyed wandering around inside the hangars and looking at all the interesting aircraft. Luke and Leia were more interested in all the people. Some other folks brought their dogs as well and that always meant much tail wagging whenever we would cross paths.

Leia is still cautious around young children. We're not sure what it is about children that has always had her on edge but when kids see her she always tries to move away. Luke on the other hand eats up any attention he can get. He charges right into the middle of even large groups of kids and starts dishing out nose kisses to everybody!

If you do attend the museum with a pet you will not be able to take any of the tram/bus rides. As far as we could tell that was the only thing the pets were excluded from. Every other building or hangar we entered the dogs were welcomed with open arms.

There is also a diner on the premises that serves the usual burgers and fries and such so it is possible to enjoy a lunch here as well.

Nearly all of the planes (except the ones hanging from the ceiling and a few that are roped off) are hands on. A few, such as the F-14 even have a ladder pushed up to the side to allow you a vantage point to get a good look inside the cockpit.

"Goose" was giving everybody the "hang loose" sign.

JFK's Air Force One.

While we were all wandering the grounds looking at the outdoor planes, a nasty sand storm came out of nowhere. I no sooner said, "I think we might want to get back inside", and we were engulfed in whipping winds and sand everywhere. I took a look behind me and I could barely make out the outlines of the planes we had just been looking at. We jogged back to the nearest hangar (space exhibit) to wait it out.

While we were hiding out in the space hangar, the power went out. The space hangar is the only hangar in the complex with no skylights for natural light, so it was only light by tiny emergency lights over the exits. We decided it was no fun hanging out in the dark so we ventured back into the storm to get to another hangar. By this point my camera was getting pretty low on juice as I foolishly forgot to recharge it after all the weekends picture taking/uploading, so I didn't get much for pic's. I did manage to snap this one just when the storm died down a bit.

This pic was taken after the sandstorm had knocked out the power to the entire museum complex. It doesn't look too bad at this point but you can still see there was quite a bit of sand in the air looking at the mountains in the background.

It was fun looking at all the classic aircraft and wandering through the different hangars. And it was fortuitous that we planned an event that afforded us indoor comfort on a day that a sand storm rolled into town. I must say I did find the entry fee to be a bit high at $15 per adult (dogs are free) and I was also a bit disappointed in the state of a few of the exhibits. Too me for that entry fee all the exhibits should be meticulously maintained as the term "museum quality" implies.

As a comparison, John and Ellen just posted about their visit to the National Museum of Naval Aviation on their blog relaxedrush and it appears the exhibits there were in better condition and the entry charge was $0. That's right NADA.

Overall, it was a fun day at the Pima Air and Space Museum. It's a good "pet friendly" activity even if it is a bit pricey and some of the exhibits seem a bit less than perfectly maintained.

Have a great day everybody!!

Noah

It's a shame we can't get better sunsets here in Arizona...

Today Nancy and I took it pretty easy. We started our day attempting to find a house in the area that looked good online that was super cheap because it was "unfinished". What they neglected to tell you online was that the roads to reach the house were "unfinished"! After driving our Honda Fit down some roads that the poor little car had no business being on, we ultimately came to a section of road that could best be described as a washed out dry river bed. Obviously, this was the end of the line for our little Fit. So we never even laid eyes on the house... I guess that's why it's so cheap, you need a helicopter to get there. lol

After that we took the dogs and headed back into Tucson to find another vantage point to watch the free air show that we started watching yesterday. Well we found a great spot down between some scrap yards that ended up with us right next to the runway. Awesome vantage point (although next year I will need to remember to have something to stand on to get me above the fence for the low altitude stuff).

While waiting for the show to start, I snapped a few pics of some neat stuff in the area.

These riders are seriously "hardcore to the bone".

Then I took a second to smell the local desert flowers.

And then is was show time!!

Click the image for the larger view to really see the flame out the back with the afterburners on!

Check out the Southwest Airlines jet in the background.

A bit out of focus, but that is what you get when you try to get a pic of an F-15 on full burner!!

Next up was the F-16

A good look at the underside of an F-22

Hope you didn't blink, because the burners came on and he said, "bye, bye"

This is just a sampling of the pictures I took. Overall I have almost 1000! It was a good day for the camera!

Meanwhile, back at the rig, what's Jeanie looking at?

The sky toward the west.

The sky toward the east.

 Just another one of the typical sunsets around here... Sometimes, life is good!

Be Good!

Noah

What a Great Saturday!!!

I hope you all had as good a Saturday as we did today!

We started the day not expecting to do a whole heck of a lot. My day started at about 5AM. Leia apparently heard some rustling outside the rig that woke her up and of course soon after waking up she had to pee. I threw on Nancy's robe and my slippers and got her business done.

After getting her back inside, I decided to try to get a bit more snooze in... nothing doin'. Now Luke was awake and he made sure to get the kitties up too. Nancy and I got up and got the menagerie all squared away with pills, food and walks and threw on a pot of coffee.

We hung around, drinking our morning cups, reading a few blogs and started talking about what to do today. Nancy had some things to drop off at the post office, I wanted a book (Erich Fromm, Escape From Freedom) and a magazine (Sunset, Living in the West) and we both wanted to drive by a few things to see how far they were and where they were.

The 300 year old San Xavier Mission was on the way to the post office so we decided to stop there first and check it out. When we arrived, there was a procession taking place down to the Mission. We were in the traffic behind the procession the entire way. I was able to snap a few photos of the cemetery beside the mission as the traffic was barely moving.

Upon reaching the parking area for the San Xavier Mission, the procession began to assemble in a circle around a large stone symbol in the ground.

The procession was clearly Native American and contained at least one Shaman and one Monk. 

This is the stone symbol that the procession gathered round before proceeding into the mission.

As soon as the ritual was over in the courtyard the procession headed into the mission for a service. Due to this service I was not allowed to get much information or take pictures, so I got shots of what I was allowed to and headed off with the intention of returning to finish the exploration.

After returning to the car Luke, Leia, Nancy and I headed off to the nearest postal annex. We arrived at the annex a few miles down the road only to find that they do not accept deliveries on Saturdays, and that they only accept deliveries between 9-11am Mon-Fri. Nancy needed this package to go out today so we decided to punch into the GPS the next nearest location as told to her by the post master at the annex.

The trip took us a few more miles into Tucson where we arrived at the post office. Once there Nancy took her package in to be delivered while I waited in the car with the dogs. It was a glorious morning! The sun shone brightly and was the perfect contrast to the still cool desert air. I had all the windows down so the dogs and I could enjoy this outdoor goodness! Off in the distance I heard a rumble... Then a roar... The distinct sound of fighter jets!

I looked around and spotted them a ways off in the distance. When Nancy got back to the car we were off in hot pursuit! We raced through the streets of South East Tucson until we arrived at an area where some cars had begun to line the road. This was the spot! We pulled over and parked among the gathering crowed. There we all were treated to an unexpected air show!

At first the planes were at a fair distance.

But they got closer...

Until eventually, they were flying directly over us!!!

Just Awesome!!!

I have one hundred some odd more pictures but there is no way I can post them all here on the blog. If you run into me on the road and you want to see more, ask me and I'll show you all of them (including a 15 shot sequence showing the F-22 Stealth going vertical, inverting and then completing a loop from an inverted dive!)

Man I love fighter jets!!!

I know all of the jets pictured above, I don't (yet) know all of the prop fighters. If you know all the jets and all the prop planes, post it in comments and show off how smart you are! I would love to know how many of you are as into these planes as I am and more!

Around 11:45am the planes took a break so we continued on. From there we took a nice scenic drive through North Tucson on our way out to find Biosphere 2. I was still a bit amped from our impromptu air show so I didn't think to take pictures.

Along the way we enjoyed lunch at a Panda Express (Nancy and My first), I had the fire (something) chicken with a chicken egg roll and fried rice. Nancy had the orange chicken with Beijing beef and chow mein. Hers was better. ;-)

On the way back home to Justin's Diamond we stopped at Borders and picked up the Sunset magazine and my Erich Fromm Escape From Freedom.

We topped off the day by again trying the Chicken Lazone this time over fettuccine, another winner!

What a great end to a great day!

I hope you all had as great a day as we did!

Noah