Saturday– We had a lot of last minute tasks to complete, but when Bob had the oil changed he was told that our battery was low on the car. So we made an appt. with the Honda dealer, as Bob thought that the battery was still under warranty. We arrived for an 11:30 appt. and went right in. Unfortunately, we had already used the warranty on the battery at 3 years. The warranty was good for 8.5 year and Honda will only honor the warranty one time. They wanted $199 to replace the battery. So from the showroom Bob called Costco and we ran over to Costco and bought one for $69. Bob had to put it in himself, but that took about 10 minutes. Then we had to turn in the old battery. A decent savings for a little bit of work.
We went to the library at the park and picked up a couple of books and went to the swimming pool for one final time. The pool was pretty busy as it must be spring breaks somewhere. There were a lot of young families there. The water was very warm. We also spent some time in the hot tub.
We ate dinner, read, played on our tablets and went to bed.
Sunday- Moving day. We finished packing up and getting the MH ready to travel. We pulled out of Paradise RV Park at 8:45. We drove on Union Hills out to I –101. We turned south and headed through a lot of traffic. Normally the road would be fairly empty on Sunday morning, but at the Glendale stadium ( where the Super Bowl was played) they were having a church service. One of the mega churches had all of their worshipers coming in from their various congregations across the valley to one large service at 10 AM.
We stayed to the left and moved through. We merged onto I-10 east and then exited at 51st street. We drove south on 51st until it turned east and became Beltline Rd.. Charlie had told us about this route. It was a much nicer drive, even with having to slow to 35 mph through a short part of the Gila River Native American Reservation.
From Beltline we exited onto I-10 again and continued 38 miles south to Case Grande. We entered Palm Creek RV park and they sent us to the reception area for the host to guide us to our site.
We pulled up behind Susan and Dale Prichard, our co-hosts of the pre-rally. Mike and Lorraine Lynch pulled up almost immediately to also welcome us.
We were taken to our site,which is farther away than in the past. We are in site 1490 this year. I had requested a north facing site and happily we are parking in one.
We settled into the site, unpacking and setting up. We did a few tasks then changed clothes to go to the Easter Sunday dinner. The meal was not that great. We had a carrot and green grape salad, a roll, ham, potatoes, asparagus and a horrible dessert. The dessert was a pineapple lemon pudding with coconut on top and three chocolates. None of us ate the dessert.
Bob had become dehydrated and had the A-fib, so he started drinking water and Gatorade. We took a short nap. Susan came over and invited us to go to dinner with a group of folks, right when we were getting ready to cook leftovers.
We went with 4 other couples to Macayo’s for dinner. We had a nice time meeting new Alfa owners.
Monday- At nine I went over to Susan and Dale’s MH to assist with putting together the welcome packages. We labeled, stuff and put them in order. Here is the little Roadrunner that Dale made for each packet.
We then gave the packets to the row greeters to deliver to the new arrivals. Bob is doing our street. At 10, Susan and I went over to the main building to meet with Marian, the contact at the resort. We discussed issues and walked around the rooms. We joined up with the Wagon Masters from the South Loafers, the second largest club. We are the largest with about 50 rigs here for the rally. The National Rally is actually called the AOC, Alfa Owner Chapter Rally and there will be 105 RV’s here total by Saturday for the rally.
We ate lunch, then Susan and I went to Sam’s Club to pick up items for the morning coffee, pot luck, beer tasting etc.. We had a fun time doing that. Meanwhile, Bob was doing laundry, making dog food, and cleaning the outside of the MH.
When I arrived back, I printed out more forms for Bunco on Tuesday. I also put the pieces for the Card Class that I am doing on Wednesday. At 5, we went to a happy hour which kept getting bigger and bigger. We finally left around 7 and returned to feed the dogs and to eat dinner. I walked into the bedroom to find that Roxie had had an accident. Both dogs have had upset tummy’s for the last few days. They must have a doggy virus. So we cleaned that up off the floor. Later, about 9:30, Bob realized that she had also vomited on the bed. So we had to rush to run the sheets, blanket and quilt through the washer/dryer in the laundry room. Fortunately the room does not close until 11. We went to be at around 11, which is late for us.
Tuesday- Today is the start of the Roadrunner Pre-rally so it is a really busy day for us. The morning was fairly quiet. Bob ran to Walmart and I waited for my golf cart to be delivered.
My knee is giving me a fit and I am not able to ride my bike or walk distances so I decided to rent a golf cart for our stay here($ 157, with tax and delivery for the 10 days). It was delivered a little before 11 which was great. They guy showed me how to use it and then we took a ride around the park.
Bob continued delivering packets to people as they pulled into the park. We ate lunch, took a too short nap, and at three we went to the First Timers orientation. We spoke about our part in the pre-rally. This lasted from 3-4. At 5:30 we headed over to the Fireside Patio for a pizza and salad dinner. The guy who baked the pizza’s did it right there using several ovens. For $6 per person( already included) you had all you could eat freshly pizza and salad. He limited everyone to two pieces for the first round, then you could go back as many times as you wanted.
There was a lot of greeting old friends and meeting new ones. Of course there were a lot of announcements. The announcements went over and into my Bunco Game time. We got to the room at about 7:30 but I only ended up with 12 people to play. We all thought it was because we went over so long in time; the game was supposed to start at 7. Everyone had a great time though.
We played until 9, then we returned home and Roxie was still sick. Poor baby, you could hear her stomach growling. Bob walked her over to the Pavilion where there was some grass. She ate a little and it went right through. We had learned our lesson and are keeping the door to the bedroom closed! If she is not better in the AM we are taking her to the Vets.
Wednesday- Our first breakfast. We had to set the alarm for 6 and had to be at the Pavilion at 6:45. We picked up the orange juice and creamers which are in a refrigerator in a shed behind our motor home, belonging to some other Alfa owners who have purchased a site here at Palm Creek RV Park.
We rode the golf cart over to the Pavilion to find that the electric was not working for the coffee pots. Then we discovered that the regular coffee pot was not working, so we ended up switching pots with the hot water. For some reason it would heat the water but not perk the coffee. Whatever! The doughnuts arrived and so did the rest of the Roadrunners. We had a great time chit chatting with folks. At 8:30 we started packing up, taking the left over yogurt , OJ, and creamer back to the refrigerator. We also took our cooler back, as it was in use for the OJ and water. We are drying it out and will use it again in the morning. We declined to take the doughnuts as we knew that we would eat another one if we did!
At 9, Bob took off to go to an impromptu Generator discussion given by Dale Prichard. Dale is a retired electrician and he knows a lot about our electrical system. I confirmed our coolers and ice for the Beer Tasting.that Bob is doing this evening.
We ate lunch, then fell asleep in the recliners for about 25 minutes before I had to take off to run to the Sonora South room for the games. I am the game coordinator. We only had six people show up, five women and one man.
Marion Greer, MaryAnne and I played Mahjongg and the other three folks played Hand and Foot. Our fourth Mahjongg player, Dorothy, is not here this year and we miss her!
We played games until three, then returned to the MH. While I was gone, Bob and one of our neighbors had taken the beer over to the North Pavilion to the coolers to ice the beers. The coolers were delivered around two. We had less than an hour break before we had to head to the Social Hour, which is most days from four to five-thirty.
We enjoyed the social time, then raced back to the MH to cook dinner. We made a quick, from scratch, skillet dinner with leftover chicken from the dogs chicken and rice, the meal we give them when they have the upset tummies. Karlie is back to normal, but Roxie is not quite yet back to her usual self.
At a little before seven, we headed over to the North Pavilion for the beer tasting. We had twenty-eight people signed up for the beer tasting. Bob told the folks about beer and how to do the tasting.
He also gave them a four page handout with lots of the information and some beer rating websites.
The beers in order were:
- Sam Adams Light- Boston Brewing Co
- Dos Equis- Cuauhtémoc Montezuma Brewery Monterry Mexico
- Sunspot Gold- San Tan Brewing Co Chandler AZ
- Shiner Ruby Redbird- San Tan Brewing Co Chandler AZ
- Hefeweizen by San Tan Brewing Chandler AZ
- Dubbel, An Abbey Belgian Style Ale-New Belgium Brewing, Fort Collins CO
- Hop Hunter- Sierra Nevada Brewing-Chico CA
- Black Butte Porter by Duschutes Brewery in Bend OR
Each person had the equivalent of two bottles of beer, or that was the plan! Six people did not show up. So some of the folks had more beer at their tables. Most people liked the first and the last beers. Everyone hated the Hop Hunter, the IPA . It was very bitter, although everyone had a a great time!
We had some left over beer, so Susan gave two bottles to each one of the folks who did not show up. It as their loss. Then there were four beers left, so Bob took two and Dale took two. We had a big box of Goldfish crackers for everyone to nibble on between beers. We still have a lot of those leftover so they will be going to the social hours all next week.
Thursday- It is our 27th wedding anniversary! We were too busy to celebrate! Up and out again, really early, for the coffee and pastries. We decided not to do doughnuts each morning, but to do some pastries, yogurt and fruit. All of which were a big hit!
We had folks taking the coffee pots to their coaches and doing the coffee in advance. That worked really well, since the electric seems to be limited at the North Pavilion. So folks showed up with the pots already perked. Bob and I picked up the other items for the refrigerator behind us, the left over creamers, OJ and yogurts.
Today was the Glass Class at 9:30 and a lot of people were signed up for that activity. I was giving a card making class at 10 in the Sonora South room. There was also the Freightliner Classes going on all week and lots of folks were in Mike’s Freightliner Class. Bob had attended last year!
I had six ladies signed up for my card class and only Marian showed up. Susan had decided not to charge for the class is advance and that turned out to be a mistake. They also did not have the folks for golf pay in advance and Marvin Greer is having the same problem with the golf. So Marian and I did her two cards, then we returned home.
We ate lunch and fell asleep in the recliners again for about 30 minutes, before I headed over to run the games again. Again, the same folks playing the same games.
I put together three of the cards and put them in the baskets. I will go the second three tomorrow. My editor had also sent me another article to update, so I will have to get to that as soon as I have time.
At 4 we had the social time from 4-5:30, we had a great time. We have tried each time to sit with different folks to get to know more people. What fun!
We went out to dinner with MaryAnne and Ray, Susan and Dale and another couple whose name I cannot remember. We went to Suki’s BBQ House, which had been recommended.
It was a small place.where you sit, then order at the window. Since there is going to be BBQ a the dinner tomorrow night, I ordered a Chicken Teriyaki skewer. Turns out the skewers are her specialty as it was excellent. Bob ordered the ribs and was sorry that he had.
We returned home and went over to the Fireside Patio and sat around the fire pit chit- chatting with folks. A great evening. We returned home at 8:30 and spent some time with the dogs.
Friday- The last day of the pre-rally! Yippee!! This morning was the pancake breakfast. Again folks stepped up to assist. Susan had given me 2 1/2 dozen eggs. I had cracked the eggs last evening. This morning I put them in my mixing bowl and used my hand electric mixer to mix them. Then I cooked 1/2 in the electric skillet and placed them in my warm crock pot. Then I did the second half. Meanwhile, Bob got the leftovers out of the refrigerator and took them over to the Pavilion.
The cooks were working away, all volunteers, to make the pancakes and cook the sausage. Bob and I ended up as servers for the buffet line. We had lots of leftovers. We took home pancakes and have put them in the freezer. Neither of us ate the sausage,as they were the regular ones. We usually eat the lot fat ones. I had eggs and pancakes though. Bob only had the pancakes as he had an upset tummy from the fat in the ribs last evening.
Here is a picture of me taking over flipping pancakes for awhile .
We cleaned up and took items back to Susan and Dales. I left at about 9:45 to go to the Eloy Airport to watch Jim and Becky Godfrey to a tandum jump out of one of the planes, riding with Dale and Susan. We had a problem getting there, as the road is all torn up. We finally arrived just in time to watch their plane take off. They were each wearing bright shirts and we were told that the color of their parachutes was gray and red. So we anxiously watched for them. Below, Da plane, Da plane!
They came down right in front of us. It was awesome! Becky had a great big smile on her face, but they had to push her out of the plane! They are more courageous than I am. I hate heights.
We sat watching the parachute’s and talking to other folks.
We left about 11:30 to return home. Dale and Susan dropped me off. I fixed lunch, then we both fell asleep in the recliners again.
A little after 1, we went over to Sonora South to check on the games. Marian could not play today, so no Maj. MaryAnne was there and played Hand and Foot with the other folks. Bob and I split a banana split, as it was Split Friday. It was pretty good. We returned to the MH and took a nap.
There was no social hour today as we had the Pot Luck Dinner in the Fireside Patio. this was an awesome pot luck with a good supply of everything! There was so much food that you really had to be choosy as you could not take a sample of everything. Some people complained that the paper plates were too small. They were a good size so that you did not eat too much. There were also dessert plates.
This was the Sheriffs Dinner. This year the Sheriff was Lorraine Lynch.
There was a lot of kidding around and laughter as we were all fined for ‘infractions’ such as forgetting our name tags, having a newly painted coach, still having blisters, and other items. Charlie Musgrave was fined for not having his name tag and then when someone pointed it out to him at breakfast one day he cussed about the sheriff to Lorraine( not knowing she was the secret sheriff) who also fined him for cussing!
After dinner we had the annual Roadrunners meeting.
I had to go over the baskets for the group. We left after the dinner and returned to the MH. Bob promptly fell asleep in his recliner, then had a good night sleep.
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