The day after my last post we drove north to Florence where Dean Cross and Jane Eccelstone have been wintering. After they visited with us in Tucson on Thursday they invited us to come and join them on a Jeep ride in the back country on Monday. We drove up and met them and three other Jeeps (well two Jeeps and a Suzuki). There were some double takes as Dean and I drove up, our Jeeps are almost identical Cherry Red four door Rubicons.
After a short highway drive we turned off onto a dirt road and finally reached a turn off onto a lesser road and pulled up in a wide spot to air down the tires to 15 psi for traction and comfort. I would love to describe the next four hours in detail, but will spare my readers and my fingers. At one point as we made a switch back turn I saw our leader about to climb a cliff wall. Carol said “there is no way we can drive up that” I engaged 4 L and the lockers on both my axles (real traction aids) and we drove up the incline on dirt and stone without a hesitation. I felt like I was lying on my back and the only way I could see forward was to lean out the window and stare ahead. I memorized the route before beginning the ascent. After one of these, the road turned 90 degrees right and I just had to keep going straight until the hood came down enough to see. On one climb the Suzuki had to back off the grade and find an alternate route after he made it to within 10 feet of the top.
As we were leaving the area Dean and Jane called to us that there was a hill we needed to play on. I drove over and stopped and Carol and I got out. Once again she said “there is no way to drive down that cliff and how do we get out if we do”. We watched as Dean and Jane descended straight down the cliff face. Not to be left behind, I once again engaged all my tools and drove down the cliff face, no more than 60 degrees, made the loop at the bottom and followed them right back up to the parking lot. Damn that Jeep is fun! Carol says the Jeep is a mountain goat.
After airing the tires back up we had some time to chat and agreed we will see Dean and Jane in the same place next year. We drove back to Lazy Days for dinner and some rest. For the most part we have been hanging around the Lazy Days Campground reading, cleaning and sometimes chatting with neighbors. The tech had fixed the red signal but left us without use of the dvd. Rather than wait for him to get to it, I opened the wall of the cabinet, located the hdmi distributor and was able to see that it had four output cables and no input. I located the input, plugged it in and once I demonstrated that everything was working for the moment, I closed it back up. So far so good. We used my handiwork to watch Glenngary Glen Ross. When it came out I swore I would not see it. I was right!! It is a fine movie with great actors at their peak, the story is not one for anyone who has spent a life in sales. It is way too painful and I swear I knew some of those guys in my office at one time or another.
We continue to wait, the temperatures have soared into the 90’s. We have a date to get together with Marjorie and Larry Aleamoni this Sunday. Marjorie is a high school classmate of mine. We last saw each other at the 50th reunion a couple of years ago. Carol and I are looking forward to this.
Oh, one other exciting stop. We went to the Etherton Gallery to see the exhibits. It is a photography gallery and when we mentioned that Carol was a VSW Alumna, Terry Etherton responded that Nathan Lyons had just been in Tucson and had spent some time in the hospital, flu. It is amazing, how many people we get to talk with when we talk about Carol’s relationship to VSW. She spoke to Joan today and Nathan is well.