Thursday, March 16, 2006

Monochromatic browns of the Arizona Desert

Thursday….St. Pat’s Eve

Hmmmm…..didn’t get my post written last night. Yesterday was a busy day with trying to finish up a bit of painting, giving some private music lessons, and then preparing for our trip out to Arizona today. Sooooo,……..needless to say, it is now THURSDAY, and the 1st Lady and I are south of Phoenix, in Casa Grande. Or should I say, about 8 miles outside of Casa Grande, visiting life-long friends who winter out here. They own a “park model” home in this RV park in the desert, plus they also have a small motor home where the 1st Lady and I are staying while here.

We arrived at the airport in STL this morning about 5:45am…..yep, it was a damn short night for us!!! Our routing took us to Detroit, leaving STL at 7 AM. We had 30 minutes to change planes…..from one end of the LONG concourse to the other. Soooo, we hopped on the shuttle train, but just as we were pulling out of the loading area, the damn train completely shut down!!!!! NO electricity!!!!!

Well, I kept looking at my watch…..the time moved on, and we stayed still!!! The doors wouldn’t open and so we just looked outside the window at the people who were looking inside the windows at US!!! And time move forward…..and we remained locked inside….and our flight was getting closer to leaving for Phoenix. BUT…….the gods were with us….the lights returned….and we began to move forward. Luckily, we JUST made the plane before the doors began to shut…..WHEW!!!!

The flight was uneventful……other than the event was four hours plus LONG!!!! Seemed like we were traveling across our grand country at a snail’s pace. But, we arrived right on time……HUNGRY!!!! Oh yeah……they do not even feed you peanuts or pretzels any more…..nothing!!!! We just sat there in that sealed tube hurtling(not really) through the air, seven miles closer to space, for FOUR hours. At least it was a fairly smooth flight!!!
Our friends met us in the airport, we collected our two bags, and off we went across the city to the IKEA store!!! Yep……can’t pass up that store……WOW!!!! What bargains…..what prices…..what a humongous store!!! It is just like a Barnes and Noble for me……when I leave, I always feel cheated!!! Never ever have enough time there!!!

We had a late lunch at IKEA…..and then after shopping for a couple of hours, we headed south to Casa Grande. Again, the monochromatic desert colors becoming very boring very quickly. No rain produced no flowers this spring in the desert…..nothing like last year when I was here and the desert was in full bloom.
We moved into our home for four days……our friends small motor home which they had hooked up for us. A bit of rest and then we walked over to their winter home and drank some of my dark red medicine……which was needed by my parched body…..sooooo damn dry out here.

We are back in the motorhome and ready to recline for the evening…….my body is sagging sooooooooo much after such a long day. In fact, I almost stumbled over my hanging chins……EVERYTHING has headed south with exhaustion!!!!
Tomorrow?? St. Pat’s Day……and a grand celebratory party is planned here in this desert rv community!!!! Corned beef and cabbage and green beer…….sounds GREAT!!!! Sooooo, with that thought in mind, as always……

Life is GREAT……and I hope it is for all of you,

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