Sept 26th to 29th - Mesa

Sept 26th – Sun – Mesa
I thought I mentioned this previously in the blog but apparently not – we are going to be staying here in Mesa for about 3 months. The CalAm group of RV parks has a special from Sept 20th to Jan 2nd for $795 and we thought it would be a way to cut down on expenses for a while.
We rode our bikes to check out the amenities this morning. There are indoor & outdoor pools & spas, a huge library, a room just for making jigsaw puzzles, card rooms, ballroom, meeting rooms, outdoor bar & stage with covered seating, a couple of laundry rooms, woodshop, lapidary, miniature golf, tennis courts, fitness room, US post office and, of course, guest services offices. The RV park is actually 4 different areas and some of the other areas have pools, laundry rooms & activity areas which we all can use.
We made a trip to Costco to replenish Terry’s Scotch supply at $13.99 for 1.75 liters. Just had to include this information for our Canadian friends who pay so much more for alcohol. Costco now has their pumpkin pies in stock so we had to get one and then make another stop at WalMart for the whipped cream to go with it. When we returned, we hit the pool to cool off. Before I got wet, I went to the puzzle room for a while.
Dinner tonight was at Larry & Julie’s. We all took hamburgers for the BBQ and we had lots of leftovers from last night’s dinner as well as the pie for dessert. Larry & Julie have a 7 month old Schitzu puppy named Bandit so I could get my dog fix.

Sept 27th – Mon – Mesa
Blog entries are going to be slightly repetitive while we are in Mesa but I will probably still do an entry for each day.
I got up early and went to the fitness center for about ½ hour. I don’t want to do too much and end up with sore muscles. A bit later, we went to the office to register as the office is not yet open on the weekends. We bought a laundry card, picked up our mail box key at the post office and checked the activities office to see what was going on.
Next we sorted out clothes and went to the large, spotless laundry room. The washers are all front loaders which spin the clothes so dry that we didn’t use all the time on any dryer.
After lunch, we went to the pool. Again, I started in the puzzle room.
We are facing east and don’t get usable shade from our awning so we bought a free-standing sun shade at WalMart and placed it beside the back part of our 5th wheel. This will give us some late afternoon shade which is mandatory to sit out with the weather as hot as it is. This heat wave is supposed to ease by the end of the week.
Larry & Julie and Bill joined us for happy hour and then we all went our own way for dinner & TV.

Sept 28th – Tues – Mesa
Terry joined me at the gym this morning but I don’t think it will be something that he continues. Then we went for a long bike ride around the park and spent time inside before heading to a different swimming pool which has salt water. It is quite a bit cooler so you have to ease in after getting very hot in the sun.
After lunch, we went shopping for a few items and spent a lot of time at Hobby Lobby just looking around at the myriad of items that they carry.
We sat outside for a while before dinner but it was very warm when the slight breeze would die down.

Sept 29th – Wed – Mesa
After my gym visit & cool down this morning, Terry & I went out for breakfast and shopping. We bought a coupon book with a lot of 2 for 1 restaurant offers and used one today at what turned out to be a nice, clean place (Mickey D’s). We shopped at a few places including Camping World which is just down the street from the RV park.
Next to the salt water pool where Larry & Julie were cooling off and Bill & Lauri had just left for lunch. We didn’t stay too long as the group was going to a nearby Elks’ club to drink beer in an air conditioned building as the hot weather continues. We made use of the bench seat in the truck to fit all 6 of us for the short trip – nice!
We all stopped off at “home” to grab drinks & snacks-for-dinner and went to Bill & Lauri’s motorhome to continue the fun.