Mar 21st to 23rd - Mesa

Mar 21^st – Thurs

I got a crock pot full of meatballs & BBQ sauce on the go for the 4^th Street Farewell party this afternoon & evening.  Groups of people kept gathering & chatting.  The party wagon was delivered and there was lots of help to set up tables & chairs and some traffic cones to block traffic.  Terry & Ron set up Brian & Bev’s shade “tent” (it is currently stored at Ron’s site) for the musicians.  It will provide some shade and a spot to hang the bucket light when it gets dark.

The party started at 3 and people began arriving a little early.  Residents of 4^th Street and a few others made dinner food and everyone else brought light appetizers.  We drank, visited and ate appies until 5:30, consolidated remaining appies to one table and brought out dinner so we could eat at 6 in the daylight.  Someone counted 73 people at one point and I think a few arrived later.

Duane(guitar), Ernie(guitar), Dianne(bass guitar) and Don(fiddle) provided music before and after dinner.  Don is visiting Ernie & Dianne and had his 90^th birthday a couple of days ago when he & his wife Doreen arrived from Dawson Creek.  A few other guests also sang.

We added a buddy burner for more light – heat was not needed.  We danced on the street and had a wonderful time.  Park managers Kevin & Nancy stopped to check things out just in time to join us for dinner.

The music finished at 9 and we had lots of help putting away tables & chairs.  About 16 of us gathered at Ron & Terri’s afterwards for a nightcap and party postmortem.

Mar 22^nd – Fri

Eight couples went for a bike ride & lunch.  We loaded bikes on vehicles and drove to Tempe Lake where we parked under the freeway and unloaded the bikes.  Then we rode past one end of the lake, past a golf course, around another little lake, partway back and then across a bridge which put us on a path on the other side of the lake.  We rode into Tempe a couple of blocks and had lunch in the outdoor patio at Rula Bula which is an Irish pub & restaurant.  After lunch, some of us rode around the other end of the lake and some cut across on the pedestrian bridge to get back to the vehicles.  Another wonderful outing.

We had time for a short rest before getting ready for a farewell dinner & dance here in the park.  Dinner was at 6 so we went at 5:30 to get seated at assigned tables and found no numbers on the tables.  We keep running into small glitches this year and hope things get more organized next year.  Music was provided by North Star and we even started some line dances.  We were ready to hit the sack when it ended at 10.

We said goodbye to Brad & Clare as they are leaving early tomorrow.  They are storing their trailer in Mesa as they won’t use it much in the summer and plan on being back here next season.

Mar 23^rd – Sat

No rest again today.  We left shortly after 7 for a few items at the Mesa Marketplace.  It is supposed to open at 7 but when we arrived there were only a few booths open.  We had breakfast while we waited for more vendors to arrive.  I got my golf sandals and 2 other small items and we headed back.

I sorted out the laundry while Terry moved chairs outside & to the middle of the room in preparation for carpet cleaning.  We put clothes in washers and came back for a while.  I returned dishes left from Thursday and went back to put clothes in the dryers.  When I walked back, the carpet cleaners had arrived ½ hour early so it was a good thing that Terry stayed at the rig.  By the time I came back with all the laundry in the truck, the carpet cleaners were done & gone.  We didn’t want to walk on the wet carpet so we left the clothes in the truck.

We went to the courtyard for lunch but forgot it was Saturday and food is not normally served on the weekends.  But something new has been added and they have one or two items available.  Today it was hamburgers and hotdogs so we each had a hamburger.  The bar, however, is open!  Ernie & Dianne were playing music in the courtyard from 1 to 3 today along with Bill, Wayne & Deb which is why we were there.  We danced quite a bit which worked better once I made a trip to change shoes.

Nancy (line dancing friend) wanted to show our 5^th wheel to her husband Richard and by the time they got here from the courtyard, there was an impromptu happy hour starting at our place.  By the time I finished with them in the rig, there were 9 people outside so they stayed for a drink.

Larry came over (Julie is in Laughlin) and wanted to watch basketball so Ron took him next door, found the game and left him happily watching his beloved Gonzaga team.

We had planned dinner using leftovers from Thursday so we set up a couple of tables at Don & Deb’s.  Also there were Ron & Terri, Bob & Darlene and Duane & Sue.  After eating, I came back to put away laundry & make the bed.  Then I took over dessert to end the evening.