10/14-17, Surprise, AZ

I’ve been taking my time cleaning up.. one day to remove all the foodstuffs and dirty laundry, wash and put things away. One day to thoroughly vacuum and wash the nose prints and drool off all the windows. One day to wash the bugs, mud and road dirt off the outside of Blue, then tuck him away in storage for the next Blue’s Adventure in November!!

10/13 Monday, Benson to Surprise, AZ

In spite of being close to Interstate 10 and the Railroad tracks, we slept pretty well. Took the dogs for a walk in the pet walk area that leads to a bluff overlooking the interstate. Both dogs on sensory overload walking up there!!




We had a nice breakfast of French Toast cinnamon rolls at Apple Annie’s restaurant in Benson. Then onward to Tucson to inspect both of Anjanine rental houses.

I was really apprehensive about seeing the houses, but I got a pleasant surprise!! The 39th St house looks great inside, especially the kitchen, where Tucson Steve has re-finished the new French doors to match the new cabinets. I fight back tears when I think the kids had hoped to be the first ones to live in their “dream home”, and now it is to be a rental.

This is the 39th St Kitchen Before:













This is After:












This is the Living room, Dining room and Family room Before:











This is the Living room, Dining room and Family room After:





The Manitoba house, while needing some work, is not THRASHED as the realtors claim. It is dirty, and there are repairs needed, but I think I can do most of the work myself in a couple of days. We walked around and picked up yard trash, and bought locks to secure the back gates.

As it would have been peak traffic hours to drive through Phoenix, we made a pit stop near Casa Grande, where a new open-air shopping area has been built. Quite a selection of stores, so now folks here don’t have to drive to either Tucson or Phoenix for their “mall” fix.

After shopping, we drove on home and stopped at our favorite Chili’s for dinner, as there are slim pickin’s in our refrigerators!! Smudge knows where “home” is, and got quite animated the closer we got to Surprise.

10/12 Sunday, Silver City, NM to Benson, AZ

We all slept in this morning, even the dogs!! I took the pups out for a walk and gave them breakfast outside, and got dressed and we had our breakfast of cereal and yogurt. Steve went down to the shower house while I got Blue ready to go.. filled with water, dump tanks, shake out throw rugs, check motor oil, fluids and tire pressure. The sky is beautiful today, but still breezy. Our neighbors with a 5th wheel commented on how well behaved the dogs are. They are using a convential semi tractor, with storage for two Harleys as their tow vehicle!!!

I took my laptop over to the park office, as I couldn’t get their internet access to work last night. Since I will be home next week, I do need to check my work schedule…. Back to the real world, Sigh!!! The clerk was very helpful and got the connection to work (they have upgraded their site security from last year). He has a little Pomeranian named Sissy that I got to play with, too. Loved their "ranch" themed stop sign!
We got gasoline, then drove down to the historic part of town. This weekend is Silver City’s Art Festival, so we had fun walking around, looking in the galleries and antique stores. I took lots of photos of the old homes and buildings.

Stained glass studio!


Oriental styled bar
cabinet with striped
mirrors!









Someone waiting for his/her people... very friendly Lynx Point Siamese kitty.....

Historic building next to the "Big Ditch" and building details.

We couldn’t decide where to eat lunch, and after poking our noses in a couple of places or looking at the prices on the menus, we were almost ready to give up and walk back to Blue for sandwiches. We ended up having a wonderful lunch (me, bacon & avocado on jalapeno bread with cream of tomato soup, Steve, meatloaf and Caesar salad). We saved half our sandwiches so we could have lemon cake for dessert. Oh, YUM!!!!

Old and new side by side, right.....




Since the area we were walking in is reasonably compact, we were able to pass by Blue numerous times to unload purchases, walk dogs and leave our leftovers in the refrigerator. Where I parked was under a nice shady tree on a very steep sideways angle. It felt like the “Mystery House” at Knott’s Berry Farm when one walks from one end to the other.







Also, most of the curbs are very high (12” to 3’), and a lot of corners have steps and railings!

Sedgeway parking!


Like this plastic over the windows....

One tough plant to the right... Artist's row.

It was late afternoon by the time we had our fill of walking and looking, so we reluctantly headed southwest towards home. I notice the wind is picking up again. In passing conversation with some folks in town, I heard that the final day events for the Balloon Fiesta were cancelled due to severe wind.

The sun was just starting to go down when we decided to stop in Benson, Arizona for the night. We are staying at the Pato Blanco RV Park, just off I-10. So, we do hear the interstate noise and the freight trains going by, blowing their horns. It’s not horrible, though.

We wandered down to the shower house after dinner of our leftover lunch (YUM x 2). It is sooooo nice to not take a “Navy” shower, even if the shower nozzle doesn’t work well! When we opened the door to Blue, the trash was EVERYWHERE!!! Some Smudge dog can’t resist getting into the trash, and some guardian sometimes forgets to put the trash away from temptation! So, both dogs got scolded and I picked up the mess.