Sunday, November 18, 2012, Ka’anapali, Maui, HI

Sunday, November 18, 2012, Ka'anapali, Maui, HI

This morning was still cloudy but the wind was down to a breeze. By late morning the sun was out with some clouds hanging around.

Cultural Performance

We decided to go into Lahaina for some shopping and a late lunch. We took a taxi from the resort into town. Our driver, Ann, was very nice and gave us information along the way. She has only been in Hawaii for a short time; she was raised in Vietnam and came to Hawaii from South Carolina. Our original plan was to eat at Cheeseburger In Paradise. Ann also recommended Cool Cat's. 

We walked around the waterfront for awhile and decided to try Cool Cat's.   The burgers and onion rings were good, but next time we will go to Cheeseburger in Paradise and compare.

Frank and Gerri

Neva

At Cool Cat's

Burgers and rings

Pearl diving

Neva in Lahaina

After eating Gerri and Neva went shopping and I walked to the nearest geocache. The ladies bought Maui sweatshirts for themselves and a couple of shirts for me. 
I found the cache which was in front of a Catholic Church built in 1846.  The cache was too small to leave a travel bug. This was my third cache found in Hawaii.

Neva by the sea

Gerri spotted me as I got back to the main street. She and her Mom were at a place that sold pearls. They both bought pearl earrings. We rested for awhile and talked to a local character. When we were ready to go we called the taxi driver, Ann. Ann picked us up and we returned to the resort at about 5 PM.


We relaxed with the TV on. I tried to do some Sudoku puzzles and Gerri and her Mom read. I for one was ready for bed by 6 PM, I guess I'm still on Texas time. I made it through a couple of Law and Order episodes and a couple of Sudoku puzzles before giving in and calling it a night.


It was a good day, with family in a beautiful place.

Saturday, November 17, 2012, Ka’anapali, Maui, HI

Saturday, November 17, 2012, Ka'anapali, Maui, HI

We slept in this morning. It was still cloudy and windy. We spent the morning in the room.
We did some planning for the rest of the week. In the afternoon we went to a sales presentation for The Diamond Club. We were committed to this for the big discount for the island tour we booked for Tuesday.

As usual we fell for the sales pitch. We now have a timeshare in Hawaii. Part of the deal was an easier way to use the two weeks in Las Vegas that we normally trade. We will see how it works out.

We went to the restaurant in the resort for dinner. It was too noisy and dark. We ordered food from a grill and took it to our room to eat.

Some TV and computer time finished the evening and we were in bed about 11 PM.`

Friday, November 16, 2012, Ka’anapali, Maui, HI

Friday, November 16, 2012, Ka'anapali, Maui, HI
We started this trip at 10 PM Thursday evening. We drove to the airport in San Diego. Our original plans were to drive to San Diego and spend the night on John and Montyne's boat before flying to Maui early Friday morning. Those plans changed but the flight didn't. Our route was south on I-15. I slept part of the way. We stopped in Escondido hoping to buy gas and eat, but nothing was open. Gerri spotted a Denny's when we came into San Diego. We had a good meal punctuated by some kind of altercation between other patrons. After gassing up and eating we continued on to the airport, arriving about 5 AM.

The flight was pretty smooth and we all napped a little. Neva read her Kindle and Gerri and I worked Sudoku Puzzles. When we arrived in Maui the sky was overcast and it was windy. Since the resort was 30 miles from the airport Gerri had arranged a shuttle to take us there. When we arrived at the Ka'anapali Beach Club our room was ready so we met with concierge representative and we arranged a tour of the road to Hana. Of course we have to attend a 90 minute presentation to get the discount.

View from our room.

We waited for our room at the resort restaurant as it was too cool to go out and look at the ocean. The soup special of the day was Portuguese Sausage, so we all ordered a bowl which was very good and filling. Shortly after that our room was ready. We are on the second floor with a mountain view, needless to say, no ocean to view from our room. Gerri then made reservations for our Thanksgiving dinner Thursday which will include a Hawaiian show along with the buffet.

For dinner we weren't that hungry so Gerri called and ordered a pizza from the pizza kitchen. No delivery so I was elected to go get it. We were all very tired, no game playing tonight, maybe tomorrow. Mike Bunker, former co-worker, found out we were on Maui and called. We plan on getting together. He and his family have been here almost 2 weeks.
Very little sleep, everyone has headed to bed so I'm following.

 

Sunday, November 4, 2012, Las Vegas, NV

Looking east from our site

Sunday, November 4, 2012, Las Vegas, NV
We were confused on the time this morning. Nevada participates in day light savings, Arizona doesn't. After coffee and putting things away we left Eagle view at 7:45 AM, Nevada (PST) time. The route was south on US-89 to Shea, west to Loop 101 North, to I-17 North, to AZ-74 to US-60 to US 93, north to I 40, west to Kingman, west to US-95 and then north to I-515 then on to I-215 west to home. It was a total distance of 317 miles. We did stop at the Petro station east of Kingman for fuel. We also stopped at the Cracker Barrel in Kingman for a late lunch.
This trip started on the 20^th of August shortly after my mother died. I was able to take care of some of the details of her estate while traveling.
Our first stop was Tonopah, NV. We stayed there three nights. While in Tonopah I did the oldest active geocache in Nevada and some of the caches in the ET Highway series, plus some caches around Tonopah. Our next stop was Reno for a visit with our daughter Kathleen and the grandkids there. After Reno we headed west across Nevada and Utah on US-50, the loneliest highway in America. Along the way I found caches that completed my goal of doing a cache in each of the Nevada counties. We spent some time in South Fork, CO visiting our friend Alan Howleth and seeing some sights in the area. We spent a week in Southfork before heading out to visit Mike Ault in Nolan, TX. Our next stop was Roanoke, TX, where we had dinner with Gerri's cousin Ken Barnhart and family. Then on to McKinney, TX to have work done on some of our window shades. From McKinney we went about 8 miles to Melissa, TX and spent time at a park visiting friends from Havasu City, AZ, Alice and Keith. While in Melissa we also drove to Argyle, TX to visit and have dinner with Gerri's cousin David Perley and family. We will be visiting his parents in East Texas later in this trip. We then worked our way further east to Columbus, MS. In Columbus we visited with classmates of Gerri 's from High School. Her class was celebrating their 65^th birthdays. We then turned west heading for Texas. Our first stop in Texas was Garrison to visit with Gerri's cousin Jo Nell and her husband Herb. They are David's parents. We stayed longer than planned in Garrison because of an injury to my right leg that required a couple of doctor visits and the needed rest. We had to cancel visits with some of my Family in Spring, TX. After leaving Garrison we traveled to the Austin area and visited friends we met several years ago in Ohio. Carl and Joyce Wolf are camper workers at a park near Lake Travis. From Lake Travis we went south to Spring Branch. While there we visited friends Paul and Ann Conner. Paul retired from LVMPD. We visited two other couples while in Spring Branch; Ken and Sylvia Harwood, RVers who we met in 2008 in Indiana. We also visited Brad and Bernadette Dass in Bulverde. Bernie is one of Gerri's best friends who used to live in Las Vegas. While in Spring Branch we drove to Kyle to visit our son Curtis and his family. Later we moved to an RV park in San Marcos to be closer to them for more visiting. We also got to visit our oldest grandson, Sean, in south Austin. By the 29^th we had pretty much worn out our welcome in Texas and headed west. We did stop for three days at Fort McDowell, AZ, north of Phoenix to rest up and visit friends Beth and Tim Burton, who we met on a cruise last year.
It was a great trip and seemed to involve a lot of meals during visits with friends and relative. As with any trip there were some hiccups along our way, but we were blessed with safe travel.
Our next trip starts on November 15. We are going to Maui for a week with Gerri's mother. Until then it will be catching up on doctor visits, including one to evaluate treatment of my knees.

Saturday, November 3, 2012, Fort McDowell, AZ

Saturday, November 3, 2012, Fort McDowell, AZ

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We decided to stay at Fort McDowell another day and drive all the way to Las Vegas on Sunday.
I got out of the park to try to get pictures of the surrounding mountains. Most of the roads off US-87 are posted no trespassing, entry only to members of the Yavapai Tribe. Also most places had power lines in the way of a good view.

I drove into Fountain Hills and did a cache. On the way back to the park I took a dirt road for a short distance and saw what appeared to be a sculpture. I stopped thinking it might be some type of cultural display. Turns out it was a display advertising the different types of landscaping materials available from a nearby quarry.

There are a lot of Saguaros in the area

I did manage to get some pictures of the mountains relative free of power lines.

I talked to several neighbors during the afternoon. One thing about RVing is that you meet such interesting people along the way. I often write about the distances we travel on given days, usually not more than 300 miles. The people I have talked to here tend to travel even shorter distances, more like 200-250 miles.

This old Saguaro has taken a beating but still survives

I unhooked everything except the power. I also rolled up all the awnings, all we have to do in the morning is get the inside ready and hook up the Jeep. We may have to stop for fuel, but otherwise we will drive straight home. It's about 320 miles.

At the Eagle View RV Resort

The nearby Verde River

East of the parl

Leftovers were for dinner. Some computer and TV and it was bed time.

Friday, November 2, 2012, Fort McDowell, AZ

Friday, November 2, 2012, Fort McDowell, AZ
We tried to sleep in, but we are still on Central Day Light Time. It was a beautiful morning after a cool night. There were a lot of high clouds that cleared away by mid-afternoon.

This being our day of rest before driving home, we didn't do much.

I did go out about 3 PM and did 4 of the nearby caches.

We considered going to the casino for dinner for all you can eat crab legs, but opted for dinner at home. Gerri made a chicken casserole with macaroni and cheese.

The Verde River near the Eagle View RV Resort

Just before sunset we walked along the fence on the north east side of the park. We hoped to get a glimpse of the river, no luck. On the way back we chatted with a couple from Colorado. Gerri went back to the coach before I did to finish supper. I stayed and talked longer. We spoke of Kings and Cabbages and solved most of the country's problem.
Although we were never able to see the river from the RV Park, I did stop on a bridge and get a picture looking downstream earlier in the day when I went caching.

We may make it all the way to Las Vegas tomorrow, or we may stop before or near Kingman.

Thursday, November 1, 2012, Fort McDowell, AZ

Thursday, November 1, 2012, Fort McDowell, AZ
We are now back on Las Vegas time, Arizona doesn't do day light saving time so part of the year we are the same. I fixed coffee and called the parts department here at Lazydays to ask about replacing the hinge on the door under the sink. They said they had them. I started walking to the parts department. A kind employee with a golf cart gave me a ride and waited until I was through and carried me back to the coach. The hinge they had didn't match our broken one. The gentleman there told me he would find the right one and give me a call. It turns out the hinge has to be ordered from Fleetwood, I'll do it when we get home.

Our progress home from Texas

We left Lazydays at 11:15 en-route to Fort McDowell, AZ. The RV Park in Scottsdale didn't have a spot for a 42' motorhome. The route took us to the east of Phoenix and then east on a loop road to AZ-87 to Fort McDowell Road and on to the RV Park. The park seems like it is way out in the country but they have quite a lot of amenities, including a shuttle to the casino on the other side of the highway.

Tim and Beth Burton

The Verde River is on the east side of the park. I walked along the rail fence but could only see the trees and brush growing in the river bed. I didn't walk down the slope beyond the fence. The setting sun was golden but the sky was clear. It was pretty but not spectacular.
Tim and Beth came over at 5:30 and after visiting we went to an Italian restaurant for dinner. It was an excellent meal and we lingered over it visiting and talking about future plans.
We got back to the coach after 10. We said our goodbyes until we see them again in Carlsbad next July.

At dinner with the Burtons

I got ready for bed while Gerri caught up on her computer. She was asleep on the couch ten minutes later. I had to wake her up to get in bed. Tomorrow will be a day of rest before we head home on Saturday.