Mesa

Stayed at Monte Vista RV Resort in Mesa, AZ. Beautiful place that appears to be new due to the lack of vegetation and customers. Or, perhaps the campground was practicing social distancing. Check it out:

Nice place:

We even had a garbage and recycling can. Felt like we were living in a house again! We were able to lounge around at this nice pool a couple of afternoons:

Met with Angela and Tim Brown (another BeautiControl gal) for dinner at Ling and Louie’s Asian Bar and Grill.

Great food and discussion! Our wonderful evening was capped off by visiting Angela’s BLO bar.

Remember when I told you that I hurt my leg playing pickleball? Here’s a picture:

Ouch!

The following day, Tim and Angela came by to see the Busse Bus. I think they really liked it because Tim was on the phone with his daughter and switched over to FaceTime in order to give her a video tour of the rig.

For dinner that night we went into downtown Gilbert and ate at the Culinary Dropout restaurant. What a fun area with lots of restaurants and bars.

The next day we took the Busse Bus to NIRVC – Phoenix to have them look at the full wall side, replace the windshield, fix the awning, and fix the clothes washer. Check out the guys replacing the windshield:

For lunch we stopped at Portillo’s! What a nice slice of Chicago.

I had to have an Italian Beef, dipped with cheese and sweet peppers. A little slice of heaven!

Katrina got her hair cut. That’s a big accomplishment when you are on the road. She got a great recommendation from Sarah Eichmann who moved from Libertyville to Phoenix a few years ago.

Since we couldn’t stay in the Busse Bus because of the new windshield, Amy Bouchard let us stay with her in her newly renovated house in Scottsdale. What a beautiful house!

Bear loved her pool. Thank you Amy! Now I can call your home in Scottsdale the “park, piss and sleep” place for us!

We had dinner with Amy at the True Food Kitchen in the Scottsdale Quarter. Great food and very nice area!

Katrina and Amy were able to get a hike in at Pinnacle Peak.

The three of us then went to the Scottsdale Executive Airport and had lunch at Voltaire’s where we were able to watch the planes come and go.

We then headed to pick up the coach with the new windshield and fixed awning. Awaiting resolution on whether our insurance will fix the washer ($1,140) or replace with a new one ($800). Seems like a no-brainer to me.

Met with Janet and Bryan Zonsius for dinner. They took us to their country club to listen to a band.

We got the band to play “Turn the Page”!

Katrina got to go walking with Sarah the next day. I didn’t go because my calf was still recuperating from my pickleball injury. Afterwards, we met at Sarah’s house for a drink before heading over to DVine for dinner.

I had an excellent salmon dinner as we listened to a small band. Katrina got them to sing “Turn the Page”.

Seems like life is getting back a “normal”, eating out and listening to live music.

Katrina got out for lunch the next day with Amy and another BeautiControl gal, Stacey Axon

and then they came by to see the Busse Bus:

Janet and Bryan had us (including Bear) over for dinner at their house. Their son, Steven and his new wife, Brit were there as well. Unfortunately, due to COVID, they had to change their wedding plans in March to family only. We were so bummed that we weren’t able to attend their big day. It made seeing them now all the more better! Their daughter, Kristyn and her boyfriend, John were also there. What a wonderful evening! Bear enjoyed playing with the dogs as well:

It was so great spending the evening with all of them! Great family!

On the drive over to the Zonsius house, we were able to catch these beautiful sunsets:

The next day, Katrina was able to catch up with Angela again for lunch in Old Scottsdale at The Mission:

What a couple of good looking ladies!

For dinner we headed back to downtown Gilbert and ate at the Mexican restaurant Barrio Queen:

We were able to meet with Betsy and Sam Kim at their house. The Kim’s are friends from Libertyville who just purchased a house in Tempe.

It was great catching up with them. We talked about our travel experiences with them. Sam was very interested. Maybe we will have another couple to travel with in the future?

The following day we went to get the new washing machine installed. Yup, I said new. Even Good Sam’s Extended Insurance can smell a deal! Told you that it was a no-brainer! Since it was late, we spent the evening in the National Indoor RV Center parking lot / campground. Therefore, after a few days of delays (5 total) due to the new washer, we were able to see more people in the area before heading out.