We headed out of Cottonwood and south through Phoenix on October 29th.
156 miles later were were at RoVers Roost Escapees Co-op in Casa Grande, AZ. Our last stop in Casa Grande was way to the east for the Gypsy Journal Rally in February 2007.
Here is our campsite:
It was much warmer here, in the 90s during the day.
We were three sites away from Ken and Joan, who we intended to visit with a lot. We had last seen them in Bushnell, FL in December 2007.
We had our first out dinner at the China Buffet in Casa Grande and it was not as good as any of us expected. Ken and Joan said it was better the previous year and we had recently eaten at two other China Buffets and they were better.
Our neighbor came in late the next day.
October 31st, Halloween, we drove back into the Phoenix metro to Cummins in Avondale to get our check engine problem worked on. Here is the motorhome waiting for the tech.
We had Evita with us in the car and it was in the 90s. Not a fun day. Turned out the problem required extensive diagnostics to determine the real issue. Late in the afternoon they determined all six of our injectors were leaking and needed to be replaced. We had had one injector replaced in October 2006 so we were surprised they all needed replacement. It got dark and cooler so we had dinner at Islands with Evita in the car with the windows cracked. She was fine. The repair was done about 11:30PM and the paperwork and our $100 deductible from the engine warranty paid by midnight. Cummins was open till Midnight so they didn't keep anyone over to help us. We parked for the night and were in bed about 1AM
Here is our campsite in the morning with our neighbor who was brought in on a flatbed about 9PM. This Cummins has six 50AMP electric only campsites with no water or dump.
We were slow getting started in the morning but finally got going. We stopped at the nearby Flying J for both propane and diesel (under $3/gallon) and then headed back to Casa Grande.
158 miles on the odometer since we left and we were back at our campsite at RoVers Roost on November 1st:
A bit of fun one evening since Darla wanted to jam with Ken before she left. Here is Ken on guitar and Darla on ukulele:
Darla and Freddie, her dog:
Ken:
Diane, Joan and Ken:
Ken, Diane, Darla and Joan (Joan paints and painted the side of the shed herself):
November 4th trip to Casa Grande Ruins National Monument
We went out twice this time. Once to Cafe de Manuel for 3-star Mexican and another time to the new Mimi's Cafe by the mall. Restaurants here were frustrating since Ken's favorite Mexican place had closed and the Greek place we planned on visiting our last evening had also closed. We were all looking forward to Greek so it was a disappointment. Ken and Joan will probably satisfy their desire for Greek food by driving 30 miles to Florence and we will find something in Phoenix, our next stop.
We fed Ken and Joan once and they fed us twice so I guess we owe them one. We had a great visit with them.