Mesa - Kingston April 2013

Can You Spot What I Forgot to Do?

Five days on the road, and I'm going to get home tonight. Departed Mesa on April 1 (solo), and arrived home around 7 pm, April 5. Here was the route I took, almost 2,400 miles, and just about the shortest way there is to get home from Mesa.

Camped all four nights, weather ranged from hot in Las Cruces (about 85F), to absolutely freezing the next night in Amarillo. Woke up on Tuesday morning to an ice storm.

Spring motor travel is all about dodging weather fronts. The I-10 and I-20 corridors were not an option this time due to weather. Cold fronts merging with warm fronts, tornadoes, hail, heavy rain, the whole bit. Best to avoid it. This time it was take the I-40 route, and for the most part it was pretty good, with the leg between Amarillo and Oklahoma City the most challenging with ice storms and then torrential rains most of the day.

Last gas I purchased before crossing at Detroit on April 5 was $3.81 US gallon. First fueling at Woodstock, ON, was $4.90 US gallon (converted from $1.35 litre). The entire trip at Canadian gas prices would have been about $150 more expensive.

Fuel costs for the trip home came to $700. The Coach averaged about 14.5 mpg US gallon (17.5 Cdn gallon).

Camping fees for four night came to $110, which compares with hotel bills of $426 (five nights) on the way to AZ in the fall.

Ready For The Road - April 1

Bottom line: if you drove a more fuel efficient vehicle, what you spend on gas will easily cover your lodging and meals, but then you miss out on the camping adventure. You don't Roadtrek to save money.

The last leg of this trip (670 miles) was definitely the most challenging for this trip due to the distance, and the major cities you pass through (Detroit and Toronto). Fortunately, the weather was good. Cold, but clear and sunny.

The Roadtrek is a truck, so you do feel the road. Roughest roads were between St. Louis and Indianapolis, and then between Napanee, Ontario and home. City with the most traffic and congestion was definitely Toronto.

Answer to the quiz above: lower the antenna. Fortunately, I noticed it. The 5th Wheel lives in AZ, and after I leave someone else has the pleasure of bringing it to covered storage for the summer.

Splash and Dash

Things are starting to come to an end for this season at Valle del Oro. One of the final parties involved a pig roast, which was held March 27.

Everyone brought along something to add to the food (salad, etc.), and the park provided the roasted pork, wine and beer, along with live entertainment and decorations. It was a beautiful warm March evening, and a perfect way to end the season.

My friend David Park kindly provided the photos.

Wild Horse Pass Casino Resort

Wild Horse Pass Casino Resort - Chandler, AZ

Judy and Colleen signed up for a Cal-Am* golf tournament at the Whirlwind Golf Club, at the Wild Horse Pass Casino Resort, so we all decided to take advantage of some packaging pricing and go the night before. It was definitely worth it.

Rooms that normally book in the $250 range cost us $140. Golf, which is normally around $100 a round for this package was $75.

Lee and Cam went for food and to see the facilities. The hotel is no more than 30 minutes from our place in Mesa. This was also both of our 49th Wedding Anniversaries, so this was a way to celebrate.

We gave the hotel and the two restaurants we ate in a solid ten, which means we liked it. Ling and Louie's in the casino is where we ate dinner on the patio, and with wine the meal ran about $50 a couple.

There was a little gambling after dinner, and both Lee and Judy cashed in for a few bucks.

Wild Horse Pass Hotel Lobby

The girls were off early Monday morning for their golf tournament. They played the Devil's Claw course, and as a team scored a 79. This made them very happy, and they're already making plans to play again next winter.

* Cal-Am are the resort operators who own and manage Valle del Oro where we live. In total they have 11 resorts in SW Arizona.

Why I Go Back to Coolidge

Given so few Adam A500 aircraft were ever produced (7), seeing one is indeed rare.

This plane has two engines providing a push-pull configuration. What I found interesting, with a full fuel load, the airplane apparently does not have the load capacity for even the pilot.

The airframe is largely built of Carbon epoxy. The cabin is pressurized and there is room for five passengers.

Then there is this gyroplane with its 80 HP engine. I think it is called a Rhoads Mark E Woodstock ll.

There was general agreement among those at Coolidge last weekend that it would take a special kind of courage to head into the clear blue sky on one of these.

 Dale Ison's, Heroes Monster Truck was also on display, at Coolidge last weekend. It took five years to build Heroes, at a cost of $650,000.

Heroes has toured the U.S. in support of veteran causes over the last decade. It was purchased at Barrett-Jackson in Scottsdale in January 2013 along with the trailer that hauls it for $357,500 to Kent Lundine of Casper, WY. Herores full body paint was done by famed airbrush artist Mickey Harris of Cosby, TN.

Heroes travels in this Kenworth Semi, which also has Mikey Harris airbrush work. Named, Dragon Master, there is said to be over 3,800 man-hours of airbrush work, which apparently cost in excess of $130,000.

Lundine plans to keep both vehicles in public view in support of veteran causes.

Arizona Winter Golf

So here we are on March 9, and Judy is playing in a charity golf tournament with our friends Dan and Sandy.

Those really are winter mitts that Sandy is wearing, and it really is 46 degrees. Cool weather follows a day of heavy rain in the Phoenix area, and winter storms in the high country.

The good news, temperatures will be back in the 70s tomorrow.