AZ Days

We arrived at Westworld in Scottsdale on Friday.  We stopped a few places first and pulled in that afternoon.  

What a huge place.  The road going all around is about 2 miles.  Westworld is an oblong shape with huge structures made out of ribbing and poly-something.  This is an equestrian center for the area and there are large corrals and buildings at one end of the oval.  The west end is dominated by an extra huge building, it's going to hold multiple rings for agility, dock jumping, flyball, snooker, along with 15 vendors, potty area, play area, center tent... etc.  We're talking a building that on one end has room for 6 large doors spaced 30' apart that are big enough for a tractor trailer rig to get in without touching sides or top.  It is so tall that it looks like it would be 3 stories tall.  

The show has to be indoors as the heat is still high by 12 noon each day.  

Hoshi and I have been going for bike rides early in the mornings, before 8am... today we did almost 5 miles.  My bike computer isn't working so I look at the map and guesstimate the distance.  She is loving it... we found a dog park on one of the small streets and stopped to see if she'd like it.  She got in and was mobbed by half a doz of the larger dogs... she took off in her normal running around and a greyhound wouldn't leave her alone... he was able to keep up with her and wanted to be on top of her the whole way... she freaked and came running to me and cowered under my legs where I sat.  I picked her up and held her while she allowed the other dogs to sniff her and when she was calm she jumped down and wanted to continue.  A ridgeback female was the one that wouldn't leave her alone this time.  She came running back to me and from the look on her face I could tell she wanted to get out of there.. she was so happy to be hooked up to the walky dog again.

I've gone to the PO, and there are grocery stores fairly close to Westworld by bike.. the show will start on Wed afternoon at 1pm and subsequent days at 9am.  It goes through Sun but we will be staying here for a few days afterwards to make sure we get all our mail delivered that we've ordered.

Lost Wallet

Saturday I discovered that my wallet was missing... I had used it on the previous Monday and didn't have a reason to use it since.  I checked my accounts and found that someone was using one of my cards to charge alot of different stuff!!!  I called and cancelled all my cards and started getting the money back into my accounts.  It's going to take about 45 days to get everything straightened out.

My ID was also in the wallet so I'm going to have to get that taken care of also.  My bank is going to get a new card for one of the business accounts expedited to AZ where we are going so that it will be waiting for us when we get there.

God is watching over us, and everyone at the various banks was so helpful.  I have learned my lesson, from now on I do not have all my eggs in one basket.  I will only take 1 card and ID with me into a store the rest will stay in the RV.

Praise the Lord for His Protection

We just finished up 9 days of Topeka KS... got set up in record time a week ago friday and then had time to order in the boxes that we needed to fill two last orders before the rabbit convention at the end of this month.

Saturday was a good day at the show, I was busy alot... it was the regional show on the weekend, the national didn't start until the following tuesday.  On Sunday it was a very slow day and we closed up at 4ish pm.  Hoshi and I then took the checks and cash that we took in and did a run to the bank.  It was a mile down the road in the center of town.   They are renovating the capital building and there is scafolding all around it, looks like an extoskelton.  It will be very nice when they are done. 

Monday was a holiday so nothing went in or out, on Tuesday Hoshi and I did another run to downtown to the main PO.  We passed a Macdonalds on the way and I told her that we would come back that way and get dinner.  She knows that word.  She guarded the (locked) bike while I was in the PO and when I came out I told her that we would now go get dinner.  I got on the bike and she was immediately pulling!  She knew where we were going and set a pace of 12 mph, a good clip for her.  We flew down the sidewalk and she stopped right at the McD!!  I locked her and the bike up outside, I could see her out the window and she watched so closely for me to bring out the dinner.  I treated her with a french fry when I got out and told her that we now had to take it home to the Man and Nougat.  Off we flew!  She is a great companion and wonderful puppy!  She's fun to have around.

The show was very slow most days and we would take off when the judging was done and go for bike rides, except when it rained really hard!! We actually got hail one day, about the size of peas.

We broke down on Saturday evening and this morning took off really early.  I still had two boxes that had to go out so we stopped in Wichita at an Office depot to drop those off.  We then took off again, the wind blowing so hard that Peter had trouble holding the rv on the road.  We heard an awful noise banging on the roof and I stuck my head out the window and saw that the awning had come unfurled.  It had happened once before when the wind was bad so Peter pulled off at the next exit and I got out to furl it back up.  The wind was NOT going to allow that, I got one side undone and started to do the other side and the wind ripped the tarp right off the reel.  I grabbed it and cut it away and started to put the metal pieces back up, the wind then grabbed them out of my hand and I fell from the impact hurting my left wrist.  I then decided that I would just undo it all and put it into the trailer!  Peter came out to help and we got one end undone, I went to the other end and it was still wound on it's spring and it unsprung so fast that it wacked my three fingers on my right hand!!   We finally got all the pieces off and cut part way through the 25' reel, it was all aluminum and all it took was a small cut on one side, turning it over, putting it onto the tongue of the trailer and Peter climbed onto it.  It broke so cleanly!!  We got it wedged into the trailer and came onto the RV park 30 miles down the road.  The owner takes parts like that to the recycler so it's out of our hands now.

God sure protected us all the way.. we praised Him for making us aware of the problem, it didn't unfurl or fall off while we were driving so that others were involved, and we got rid of the parts quickly without a hassle!!!

Now we're parked for the night just 4 miles from the KS/OK border, we're going to take the long way around so that we can stay on the interstates, the gas prices are down, we just filled up for $2.33 a gal!!  We were down to under 20 gallons left so are very pleased with the price.

We're going to get onto I-40 and head for NM tomorrow.

Kansas here we come

We've done alot of traveling in the past two days, we're already in Kansas city MO.... Peter always says we're going to take it easy but then goes ahead and pushes it cause he wants to get there... I'm the same way and only tell him to not get tooo tired since he then gets grouchy!!

We just heard from the from Dr's office, his echo shows that one side of his heart is a bit enlarged, have something wrong with the tricuspid valve, but overall is basically fine... We'll follow up on our return visit in March.

We are in a rain zone right now... from Salina KS to Springfield OH everyone is having rain.. we're hoping that the weather turns nice for the next two weeks.

The Doberman National starts on Saturday the 11th and goes until the following Saturday.  This is their 100th year of being a USA club so it's a big deal.  Peter is working leather like crazy and will pump them out as quickly as possible.  I've got alot on the rack right now and since I oppted for a 10' booth it will look like I have alot!! My outdoor tent is 20' and gives me plenty of room for all the product and people to come and stand around talking.

The girls have been running through damp grass and are smelling doggy, so they get a bath tonight, what fun!! I'll have to take one after they get through with me! LOL

God is good and we praise Him daily for the grace He gives us and shows us... we can't worry about anything since He always supplies all our needs, even before we ask... we just have to give Him Praise!!!