End Of An Era

The problems of the US auto industry have trickled down to us. Last week I found out that Visteon was not renewing my contract. For the past almost 8 years I've provided Unix, web and programming support to the Utica Plant remotely. Before that I worked there on site for several years. It's pretty amazing to recall all the different locations from which I have worked. Literally coast to coast to coast and even offshore of some of those coasts on our sailboats. I've connected using telephone lines, cell phones, DSL, cable modems, wifi and wireless broadband cards. I've done my work while sitting in our boat's cockpit, at picnic tables in RV parks and in hotel rooms all around the country and even traveling down the highway at 60+ mph. It's been a real "trip" :) I'm sad that it's over but all good things must eventually come to an end. And I've always kept in mind that my original agreement to provide remote support was supposed to only last for 9 months. That stretched into almost 8 years so I can't complain!

Ross

Today's Hike

We've had some really great weather here in Mesa the last few days, sunny and low to mid 70's. Today we went to Usery Park and hiked the Cat Peaks/Pass Trail. This trail is a loop about 3 miles long that's fairly flat with several wash crossings and one short but steep section to the top of the pass. We can tell that the desert is getting ready to bloom. The ocotillos have leaves on them and the ground is covered with small green plants that look like grass. We'll make sure to get out and take some pictures when the bloom begins and post them. The trail was crowded today. Of course on this trail that means we saw about a dozen other hikers, 3 mountain bikers and 6 people on horseback. A regular traffic jam it was ;)

Karen and an ocotillo. You can see people on horseback rounding a bend behind her. Click here to read about the ocotillo.

New Hike

Today we did a new hike in a new area. In the city of Scottsdale is the McDowell Sonoran Preserve. There are several trails in the Preserve with the longest almost 5 miles each way. We parked at the Lost Dog Wash Access Area and hiked up the Lost Dog Wash Trail to the intersection with the Ringtail Trail. From there we hiked up to the Lost Dog Overlook. In all the hike was about 3 miles with about 300' of elevation gain. Next time there we'll probably try one of the more aggressive trails.

	Karen leaving the Lost Dog Overlook and continuing a short way up the Ringtail Trail.
	Teddy Bear or Jumping Cholla. You don't want to mess with any cactus but these are particularly nasty! Ross knows this from a couple of too-close encounters over the years. Click here to read about Teddy Bear Cholla.

Apple Does It Again!

Another success (in my humble opinion) for Apple! On Saturday I finally got around to updating the firmware on my iPhone. OK, the upgrade came out several months ago - I've been busy. Besides taking a LONG time, almost 1 1/2 hours, the upgrade went smoothly. After the phone rebooted I had a new icon - the App Store. This is an online store where you can buy applications for the iPhone. They have tons of games and applications that you can download instantly to your iPhone. And many of the applications are free! I've downloaded several free applications and actually paid for 2 others - 99 cents each. The variety of offerings is impressive! Strangely, given this universe of offerings, currently the most popular application is one called iFart which is described as "The world's most popular digital fart machine!" That aside, the App Store makes the arguably best smart phone even better!

Ross

Disclaimer: I don't get anything for saying nice things about Apple and their products :)

Movie Theater

Good and bad news to report. Our favorite movie theater, the Super Saver Cinemas at the Superstition Springs mall, is gone! Their listings quit showing up online a couple of days ago and when we called their phone number it just rang and rang. Yesterday we went to the mall to see what was going on. The marquee was empty and there was a "thanks for the business but we're gone" sign hanging in the box office window. It was our favorite because they only charged $2.00 general admission with $1.50 Tuesdays. Yes, they showed second run movies but we've gotten used to waiting to see most movies. $4 to see a movie second run is much more attractive to us than $14 for a first run movie... in most cases.

Now the good news. We found another second run movie theater in Tempe (that didn't take very long, did it?) It's more expensive ($3.00 general admission and $2.00 Tuesdays) and it's almost a 20 minute drive but the seats are MUCH more comfortable! To say the seats at the Super Saver were "uncomfortable" is being very charitable! A good imitation of a medieval torture device is a better description.

Our sadly departed former favorite movie theater.

Waldo's BBQ

Karen wanted to try a new (to us) nearby restaurant, Waldo's BBQ, so we rode our bikes there for lunch today. The food was very good and the prices were quite reasonable! The owners have a great sense of humor that shows in the decor. Here are a few pictures from Ross & Karen's excellent barbecue adventure.

	Waldo's BBQ on Main in Mesa, AZ.
	Karen enjoying here barbecue lunch (and part of Ross's).
	Mascot outside of the restaurant.
	Sign on the door.
	Reassuring (we think) sign inside of the restaurant.

Just A Nice Trail

When we're in the mood for a quick hike we usually head for Usery Park and hike the Merkle/Vista Trail. It only takes about 30 minutes to do this hike. It starts out on the Merkle Trail, a very flat trail that circles a couple of small hills. After hike half way around the hills we intercept the Vista Trail which takes us up and over both hills with a few hundred feet of elevation gain/loss. Besides the nice views there's a cool bee hive at the top of the second hill that is right next to the trail. This time of year the bees are all dormant but in warmer weather there's a lot of activity there!

Karen starting down the Vista Trail just past the bee hive. This picture was taken a couple of days ago the last time we did this hike.

Cool Free Wifi

That last blog entry (and this one) was created at a McDonalds using their wifi provided by AT&T. Recently I found out that the AT&T wifi is free for iPhone owners - cool!! We like free :) The only problem using our iPhone to create blog entries is that there's no way to add pictures, at least no way we've been able to find so far.

Las Vegas

Last spring we had booked a trip to Las Vegas for the middle of December. We were supposed to have left on Monday but the weather forecast was looking pretty bad when we checked on Sunday morning. So we called New York New York and asked if we could arrive a day early. They said there were plenty of rooms available, so no problem! We threw some clothes in a backpack and hit the road. The weather there on Monday was cold and rainy but we got out of town in time to miss the snow (!) they got mid week. We had a good time playing nickle video poker and eating at the buffets. We may head back at the end of January because the room rates are so cheap right now!

Bike Riding

As readers of our blog know we ride our bikes a lot. Over the last couple of months we've been riding even more. We've taken to riding our bikes instead of driving whenever possible. We ride our bikes to lunch, to the library, to visit Ross's aunt and uncle, to the grocery store, well, you get the idea. When we head out by bike our typical ride is about 10 miles per day and sometimes a lot more. A few weeks ago we rode to Usery Park and back and logged about 22 miles.

The Phoenix metro area is relatively "bike friendly." In our area of Mesa most streets either have bike lanes or are designated bike routes. We try sticking to the quieter streets but we do ride on the major roads if necessary. We also try riding on the sidewalk whenever possible (we checked, and it is legal to ride on the sidewalks here in Mesa.) For additional safety we bought a couple of safety triangles and pinned them to our backpacks but our main defense is being really careful and observant!

	Bike lane on Higley, a major road in Mesa. Note that we're riding on the sidewalk.
	Safety triangle on Karen's backpack.

Sunsets

We don't get many clouds here in the "valley of the sun," but when we do they produce some fantastic sunsets. The pictures below are from two different evenings. Hope you like them!

DTV

Unless you've been living in a cave or just got back from Neptune you know that as of February 17, 2009 all TV broadcasts must be digital instead of analog. If you get your TV signal via cable or satellite then you don't need to worry about the switch. We're currently getting our TV from DirecTV (satellite). Our monthly bill is over $80!! We decided to see if we could "live" with the new DTV (digital TV), dump our DirecTV and save $80 per month. Our first step was applying for the government converter box coupon. You get 2 $40 coupons towards the purchase of converter boxes. Click here for more info and to apply for your coupons. It took a couple of weeks for the coupons to arrive and what we actually got looked more like credit cards than "coupons". We took one of them to Best Buy and bought an Insignia converter box. Based on our research it was one of the best boxes for the money. It rang up at $65 total so we had to pay $25 out of pocket for it. We rushed home (not really) and hooked it up. The installation is very straight forward and the box is very easy to use. After it scans for channels we found that we can receive about 30 digital channels! The best surprise was the picture quality. It's OUTSTANDING! And you even get a guide like you do on cable or satellite except it only shows what's currently playing and what's on next. Today we bought another Insignia converter box with our second coupon. On Monday we're going to cancel our DirecTV service. Based on the comments we read while researching converter boxes a lot of people are canceling their cable or satellite services.

We're very happy with DTV, but after dealing with all this digital/analog/satellite/converters/etc stuff we found ourselves wondering "when did TV get so freaking complicated?!?"

New DTV converter box on the top right. Under it is the DirecTV box that will soon be leaving us. Note the old "rabbit ears" antenna on the left on top of the cable modem and wireless router. Yup, you need an external antenna with the DTV converter box!

Zion National Park

One of the reasons we bought our Casita was so we could take off whenever we wanted and see the sights. At the end of September we decided to give it a try and visit Zion National Park. You can get to Zion by driving straight north from Phoenix, but we decided to detour a bit and visit Las Vegas. We stayed at the Sam's Town RV Park. While not as nice as being on "the strip" we enjoyed Sam's Town. The buffet was as good as any we had tried and a lot cheaper. The nickle video poker machines cost the same (hahaha).

From Las Vegas it was only about 3 hours of driving to get to Zion National Park. We stayed in the Watchman Campground. It's unusual for a national park campground in that it had electricity. That was most welcome as the week that we were there the highs were in the mid 90's! Running the A/C during the day prevented coming home to baked kitty. The Virgin River, the force responsible for creating Zion Canyon, flowed a few hundred feet behind our campsite.

Zion has a free shuttle bus system that we made good use of. During the prime season (about May - October) the road into the canyon is closed to all private vehicles. Before the shuttle system was introduced it was common to have several thousand vehicles in the canyon fighting for about 400 parking spaces. Needless to say they had to do something. The shuttle system is a great way to get around! There's a bus once every 5-10 minutes so you never have to wait long.

We did several hikes while at Zion and were constantly amazed by the scenery! We said "WOW!" a lot. There really aren't that many hikes to do at Zion and most of them are either very short or very long. 3 of the hikes that we particularly enjoyed were the Watchman Trial, the Emerald Pools and the Canyon Overlook Trail.

The Watchman Trial leaves right from the visitor center which is next to the campground. It climbs up and around a small canyon and leads to a great overview. From the end of the trail you get good views looking up into Zion Canyon.

The Canyon Overlook Trail starts right after the Zion-Mt. Carmel Tunnel. Click here for info on this interesting tunnel. It's only about a 1/2 mile hike to the overlook but shear drop offs make it not for those with fear of heights. The view from the overlook into part of Zion Canyon was amazing!

The Emerald Pools are a series of 3 pools formed by the north fork of the Virgin River. They are the lower, middle and upper pools. The name comes from the fact that algae growing in the water tints it green. By taking a wrong turn at the start of the trail we managed to visit all 3 of the pools. The lower pools are easy to get to but the middle and especially the upper require a lot more effort. It was well worth it! Seeing standing water in the desert is pretty amazing. Seeing waterfalls is even more so.

Next time we're at Zion we'll try some of the harder hikes. This trip was a good introduction and definitely left us wanting more.

On the way home we sent another couple of days in Las Vegas at the same RV park.

	Looking up into Zion Canyon from the Watchman Trail.
	View from the end of the Watchman Trail looking down in the campground. The vehicle and trailer at the top of the picture are our Casita and Xterra (Hi Jake!) This picture was taken with a 300mm zoom lens.
	The park road and shuttle bus end at the Temple of Sinawava. We did the 2 mile walk that takes you up to the start of the Narrows. Next time we'll get the right kind of footwear so we can hike up the river.
	Zion Canyon from the end of the Canyon Overlook Trial.
	Karen at the Upper Emerald Pool.
	Fun and helpful sign at the start of the Emerald Pools Trail.
	Zion shuttle bus.

Back In Mesa

Quick update: after an uneventful trip from Detroit we're now back in Mesa. Our place here survived the summer well except for the toilet. It had been on its last leg for a while but we kept putting off fixing it. Other than breaking off a big chunk of the tank (WHY do they thread the handle nut backwards?!?) the repair went smoothly. Some epoxy took care of our mistake.

It's still pretty darn hot here in Mesa. We really can't do much outside other than in the early morning. So we've decided to hit the road again! We're going to Zion National Park next week via Las Vegas. It will be hot there too but not as hot as Mesa. We'll post again when we get back.

On The Road Again

It's been a very busy couple of weeks! We picked up our Casita on Long Island, drove to Michigan and spend about a week in Detroit. We were able to get together with some friends and family but, unfortunately, not everyone. Sorry for those that we missed! On Tuesday we picked up our Casita at Mark & Paula's house where we left it while in Detroit. Thanks again!!! Tonight we're in Elk City, OK after 3 days on the road. 2 more travel days and we should be back in Mesa.

So far the Casita has "exceeded our expectations!" It's quite comfortable for the 2 of us and Jake. Most people would find it cramped to say the least but it's perfect for us. It tows like a dream and we hardly notice it's there. Today I actually looked back at one point to make sure it was still there! The best surprise so far is our gas mileage. Our Xterra is rated at 14 city and 20 highway mpg. We're actually averaging about 17 mpg towing the Casita! Our secret is fairly simple - *G*O* *S*L*O*W*!! We keep our speed around 55 mph. On the entire trip so far we've passed exactly 1 vehicle. That's OK as we're not in any hurry.

Our Xterra and Casita on Long Island waiting to get new tires.

Exploding Tires And Strange Birds

Today we went for a ride on the carriage roads. Since we're leaving Maine on Tuesday today's ride was going to be our last. We had gone about 5 miles when we heard a loud "pooft" sound. A quick check showed that Ross's rear bike tube had blown. Luckily we carry a spare tube and tools for just such an emergency. While working on the tire a fairly large bird came out of the woods and walked right up to us! It showed no fear at all. Karen even fed it a blueberry. It tried to sit on one of our bike helmets but fell off. Then it hopped up on the front tire of Ross's bike and just sat there for while. It was obviously used to humans. After changing the tube and pumping it up we started putting away the tools. Then we heard a very loud "BANG" that had us thinking that maybe someone was bird hunting for our friend. But it was that darn rear tire again. This time both the tube and the tire had blown! Fortunately we were near the Duck Brook bridge so we walked there and Ross rode Karen's bike the 1 1/2 miles or so back to the Xterra. In Bar Harbor we had a new tire and tube put on the wheel. The bike shop guy guessed that the tube had been pinched while being installed and blew out under the air pressure taking the tire with it.

Bird on the front tire of Ross's bike.

Time For A Change

For the last few years we've been coming to Maine for the summer. We've enjoyed our time here but last year we began thinking that it might be time for a change. This summer cemented our thinking. The lousy weather we've had probably influenced our thinking but basically we've come to the conclusion that it's just time for a change for us.

So what's that mean? We spent a lot of time over the last year or so really thinking and talking about what we'd like to do next. We still love spending winters in Mesa, AZ but we have no desire to spend summers there. We miss seeing and exploring new places so by the middle of this summer we had decided to get a small camper and tow vehicle so we could spend summers traveling around. We could also use that rig to take some shorter trips during the winter too.

Once the decision to change had been made the rest was pretty easy. We started looking around for a tow vehicle and ended up with a new 2008 Nissan Xterra. It's tow rating is 5000 lbs. which is what we were looking for. Given that SUV's aren't very popular right now (now there's an understatement!) the pricing on the Xterra was great! There weren't exactly giving them away but we bought ours for less than 3 and 4 year old ones are being advertised for sale. And needless to say the dealer was very eager to get their hands on our Toyota Corolla so we got top dollar for that too. It wasn't exactly an even trade but it didn't cost us very much at all.

Once we had a tow vehicle the next step was to find a trailer. After a lot of research we decided that the right trailer for us was a Casita. You can check them out by clicking here. Our current trailer is a 25' 5th wheel and the Casita we wanted was a 17' trailer. We've made an art of living in small spaces over the years! We kept looking for a good used one and finally found a 2005 17' Spirit Deluxe model on eBay. We won the auction and took a trip to Long Island to see it and conclude the deal. The seller, Mike, turned out to be a really nice guy! It was a real pleasure to meet and get to know him. It didn't make any sense to drag the Casita all the way back to Maine and then just turn around and head back in a couple weeks so Mike graciously agreed to keep the trailer in his driveway for us until we came back to pick it up right after Labor Day.

So now we're getting things ready to leave Maine, get our 5th wheel sold and get things arranged to pick up our Casita. So many new things to learn about like sway bars, weight distribution hitches, etc. Stay tuned for more updates!

	Our new 2008 Nissan Xterra.
	Our new 2005 Casita 17' Spirit Deluxe.

Whale Watch

In July we went on a whale watch out of Bar Harbor. The usual cost is over $50 per person but they have a deal for people who work on MDI. If there are any seats left you get to go for free. Free is good! The Bar Harbor Whale Watch Co. is a customer of West Marine so I asked one the the guys which is their slowest day. He surprised me by saying it was Saturday. Turns out that Saturday is a transition day when the current week's tourists are leaving and next week's tourists are just arriving. So we took the free bus to Bar Harbor and got on a free whale watch.

We saw 3 humpback whales and Ross got some pretty good pictures (see below). It's COLD out there and the day was pretty hazy but we got good views of the whales. It was fun! And did we mention that it was free?

Blueberry Time in Maine!

It's peak blueberry time here in Maine! Wild blueberries grow pretty much everywhere around here. There's a small patch right here in the campground and a 5 minute walk brings you to a large field with lots of the plants. Our favorite picking area is along one of the carriage roads where we like to ride our bikes. This time of the year the blueberries there are large, sweet and plentiful. Yum!

	Blueberry plant.
	Half an hour of picking yielded 1 1/2 liters of blueberries on a recent bike ride.

Oh Oh - Cute Cat Picture!

Jake's latest hangout.