We started September where we left off in August...traveling west in the west....across the western Colorado desert and into Utah on I-70.  The landscape changed from red rock in Utah to the gray-brown desert of Nevada as we headed to Las Vegas to rendezvous with friends.  We arrived September 2 at the Las Vegas Thousand Trails Preserve.  On September 3 Kathy and Dennie Dew flew in from Toledo and we enjoyed spending several days with them doing the usual Las Vegas things.  We were then on our own for a few days while they drove to San Diego to visit their son but got together once again when they returned.  Sadly, our mutual friends Bonnie and Don Wolfe, who live in Las Vegas were detained in California with health problems and then motor home problems and did not arrive in Las Vegas before the rest of us were on our way once again.  We missed getting together with them!
 
 

Utah is one of our most beautiful states!	We've decided that most of Las Vegas is now "under construction" - either new or being remodeled.

On September 11 we left Las Vegas and headed to Arizona.  It was a beautiful sunny day and we had decided that we could make the drive from Las Vegas to Casa Grande in one day, arriving just before dark.  As we got closer and closer to the north side of Phoenix we realized we were heading straight into one of Arizona's infamous "haboobs."  It was interesting being far enough away to watch the large yellowish-brown cloud bank move across the horizon ahead of us.  Nearing the suburb of Surprise, AZ, we finally were hit with the winds which threw the coach to the edge of our lane on the highway.  At that point we pulled into a shopping center parking lot and waited several hours while the winds and sand whipped all around us and rocked the coach back and forth.  Finally, we decided things had calmed down enough for us to continue.  We don't like to drive after dark, but also didn't want to spend the night in that particular spot.  It was about a 90 minute drive down I-10 to Palm Creek in Casa Grande where we gladly parked in the "pull-through" sites for the night.  On Friday we parked in our winter spot and listened to the national news reports about the previous night's storm that was 60 miles wide and had winds of over 60 mph.  Parts of Phoenix were without power for several days, but there had been no rain!
 
 

Welcome back to Arizona - beautiful mountains and cactus!	Warning!  Haboob ahead!

We're in a new site at Palm Creek this year - and have become "property owners" with a small "shed" that can house our golf clubs, tools, lawn chairs, bikes and other miscellaneous items.  It's still pretty quiet in the park, but each day a few more rigs arrive.  There is no charge to play the golf course inside the park, although by the end of the month they had closed the "front 9" for overseeding.  Tom and one of his golfing buddies have driven to Phoenix several times to play a course there that has been running a $25 special rather than their normal $149.  They really liked the course!  We have also played quite a bit of tennis with a small group of dedicated players.  Of course, since the daily temperature is around 100* and nights go down to 70*, we get in most of our tennis and golf before 9 am. The park has had a few social activities through the summer and we arrived in time to participate in a few of them...some poker games, a movie night, a salad potluck dinner.  Mary has also started working a few shifts as a volunteer in the activities office.  A few new businesses have opened in town and at the mall that opened last year so we have made the rounds investigating new shopping and dining opportunities.  We've started making the rounds of doctor appointments and checkups.  Slowly, but surely, we're getting organized for the winter ahead.  The former residents of our site, Arne Hawkins and Judy Grove, stopped by for a visit one afternoon and we enjoyed catching up on their adventures since we saw them in Colorado last month and hearing about their new house in Florence, AZ.
 
 

Site 513 at Palm Creek Golf and RV Resort	Some of our new neighbors!  Hopefully they've moved on by now!	Heading to the golf course and tennis courts early in the day allows us to see a gorgeous sunrise!