A Busy Week

We’ve done lots of running around the Phoenix area this week. Jim finally got his tooth and is trying to get used to chewing on that side again. He has one more appointment next week and hopefully will be able to stay away from the dentist for awhile. Saw these on the way to the dentist. They looked dangerously close to the power lines.

Yesterday we took our “house” to Sanderson Ford in Glendale to get the transmission fluid changed and the parking brake checked, since it never seemed to work.  We only have 22,000 miles on it, but the 3 year warranty runs out at the end of this month, so we wanted to get some things checked out. They have a heavy duty truck and RV service center, and it was an impressive place. Turned out the brake was not functioning and they had to replace the pedal under warranty. The transmission was fine, they changed the fluid and filter, and they also replaced the fuel filter. Ford recommends doing both at 30,000 miles but now we are set for another 30,000.
The other night we drove to Lake Pleasant Regional Park, another county park 25 miles west of Cave Creek. Our friends Chuck and Carla were there for a few days after spending some time in southern Arizona and California. They invited us to come and eat with them at Dillon’s at Scorpion Bay, a restaurant on the lake, to watch the sunset. It was a sunny day, but by the time we got there at 5 the clouds rolled in, so there was no sunset. The only thing vegetarian on the menu was a grilled portabella sandwich, and they were out of portabella mushrooms. So we had a nice evening visiting and watching our friends eat! They were kind enough to share a few of their onion rings with us so we were fine.
They had a pretty site on an inlet, but the sites are much closer than the other county parks we’ve been to. There is a 10 lane boat launch at the park, and only one hiking trail, so it is really a boating and fishing park. Not the place you want to be on a weekend.
They had lots of flowers in their site, and we saw several hummingbirds. It’s not easy trying to photograph them, but if you click on this photo to enlarge it you can see it a little better.


We’ve done a couple short hikes here at Cave Creek, but unfortunately the trails are multi use, and they have a horse stable with trail rides. This is what we encountered both times we hiked. The horses themselves are okay, but what they leave on the trail is not so pleasant. And there is lots of it!