February 23, 2011---Mesa, AZ

Well, we are now in Mesa, AZ. It is a little part of Phoenix. Our trip was an up and down trek of the mountains. We started about noon because we wanted a few things warmed up before we went on the move. As we left Williams and headed east to Flagstaff on route 40 the mountains were glorified with the new fallen snow. The tall pine trees were covered with the beautiful snow but it was starting to melt with the sun shining on them. So many of the smaller trees were bending with the weight of the snow. At Flagstaff we turned south on Route 17 until we came to the outskirts of Phoenix.

We kept going up and down in the mountains with sharp curves and 6 or 7 % down hill grades. It was a stressful drive for Walt. When the day came to an end he was very tired. The sky's were blue with a few clouds on the way, so the scenery was changing from snow to bare ground depending how high we were in the mountains.

As we past east of Sedona we saw more rock formations equal to what we saw in Sedona except for the bright red color.

As we came out of the mountains close to Phoenix's outer belt we started seeing fields of tall cactus. They seemed to have their seed scattered by the wind because they were everywhere.

We finally reached our park--the Arizona Cowboy Park. It is a very nice park in the middle of many many other RV parks. This is truly snowbird country. We have one of the last sites in the park and are parked parallel to the back fence. We have just enough space to extend our slides between the fence and the driveway in the park. We have orange cones on the road so no one drives over our steps. We certainly do not have to worry about dragging mud into the house because everything is concrete, stones or pavement.

Everyone is very friendly and I found out that almost everyone walks their dogs between 10 and 11 am. It was like a dog parade. All sizes and all shapes. Bart just could not keep up with protecting the door from all of these strangers. At least he does not get stuck in the snow so he his happy to take his walk.

Sunset over the park. Taken from our front door.

Time for other things. We will be busy tomorrow because we will be visiting with our friends tomorrow.

Watch for me on the 25th.

Happy Birthday to Clay on the 24th. I cannot believe it has been 14 years ago when we were all praying for him.