Thursday, Friday and Saturday, December 28, 29 and 30, 2017 (High Chaparral RV Park, Casa Grande, AZ)

Thursday and Friday were pretty much work days as we want to take advantage of full hook-ups before heading out to the desert next week.

Thursday morning it was time to gather all of the laundry and head up to the laundry room. It a lovely new facility. While I was doing that, Steve was flushing the tanks and arranging for a local company to come out to wash our rig.

With that work done, we headed into Casa Grande to pick up a few things at Walmart...we were out of some basics. After a quick stop there (right Steve?), we went to Fry's where there was a Glacier drinking water kiosk to fill our containers.

Karen, Wayne, Sandy and John joined us for happy hour...we had a good visit for a couple of hours and then called it a night.

It was Thursday night...which means it was High Chaparral Band night. So after dinner, we wandered down to the Club House to join others there to listen to them...

Our 91 years young neighbour Jack (left) and our ride leader the other day Gib on the right...

Friday morning was another work day...I defrosted the freezer and cleaned the refrigerator. Another job crossed off my "to-do" list...yay! Steve worked on pictures from our quad ride the other day.

Shortly after noon, the fellows came to wash the trailer. General Wash was the company recommended by the park and they did a great job @ $2 per foot. The owner Rafael was great to deal with and gave Steve lots of tips regarding waxing older rigs. Seems a good electric buffer is required to get the shine back.

We finished the afternoon off with a walk around the campground. We stopped by Karen and Wayne's site and Karen gave us a tour of their new 2018 Jayco Pinnacle Fifth-wheel...very nice guys!

Steve and I were sitting outside with a bevie taking in the last rays of the late afternoon sunshine when a fellow who we had been on the quad ride with the other day stopped by. After chatting for a bit, Steve (yes, another 'Steve') asked if we wanted to go out on another ride tomorrow. This time they were heading southwest towards the Sawtooth Mountains. Of course, we said yes, we'd love to join them! We had originally planned on watching a parachute competition nearby in Eloy...that will have to wait for another time when we are in the area.

Our ride Saturday started off a little later than usual...11:00, but that's okay, it made for a very relaxing morning. There was Steve and Patty with passengers Kent and Janet in their 4-seater side-by-side; Crusty and his dog, Roxy in a side-by-side; Jim and Susie in their jeep and, Steve and I on our quads.

We headed off south, having to ride on some paved roads again but for a fairly short distance compared to the other day. Then we were into the dirt...some of which was like fine powder! So dusty you couldn't see in front of you at times...a breeze would have been nice to help clear it!

It was a beautiful day...clear blue sky; not a cloud anywhere!

Sawtooth Mountains ahead...

Nice to be in a forest if only for a short while...

Of course the sun has to be in just about every picture!

                                   

                                     

A jet stream across the sun...

It was such a beautiful ride through the Sawtooth Mountains....time for a stop and a little lunch!

After a nice break with beautiful views of the valley...and great conversation, we were on our way again...

                                      
We stopped here to make sure the jeep could make it across a deep ditch and through a rather narrow opening between metal posts. That's me on the left, Crusty and Roxy, with Steve following behind...

   Crusty checking it out...                                   
Jim had no problem getting the Jeep through and we were all headed back to our vehicles when (my) Steve noticed the back left tire on his quad was low....well, that sucks!        
So out came a bottle of water as they tried to find where the leak was. Lots of help here! They found it and Steve got his repair kit out to plug it. Unfortunately after 4 "pepperoni plugs" in it, Steve discovered it was also leaking from the valve stem. Last year in Q the tire shop couldn't repair this tire so they put a tube in it, so it appears that's why it was leaking from an old cut and the valve stem. Thing is, we were planning on replacing all of our 7 1/2 year old tires next week in Q..sheesh!

So this ended any more photography, it was time to concentrate on getting back. The tire just wasn't holding air for very long, so Jim and Suzie headed off in their jeep to go borrow a trailer from a fellow back at the RV park. In the meantime the rest of us headed back...goal was to get as close to a paved road as possible. We finally made it to a spot...having to stop numerous times along the way to pump up the tire. Fortunately the last few miles of trail and road was soft with no rocks so Steve just rode with the tire flat. Thank goodness Patty managed to get cell service so she could contact Suzie and Jim to let them know where we were!

A huge thank you to each and everyone of you for your patience and help getting Steve's quad back home! Sorry this ruined the rest of the ride :-)