Mesa, AZ - Rain, Rain, Go Away

I’m sure that you’ve heard about the rain that fell recently in California, with walls of mud sliding down on highways burying cars and trucks. We haven’t had nearly that much rain in Arizona but there has been more than usual in this area too. Today, they had quarter-sized hail in Apache Junction, the city east of Mesa. In a town north of us a car was buried in mud and water up to the hood and a woman had to be rescued out of the rear window. We waited all day for rain, watching the black clouds slide off to our west and rain falling off to our east. But we had temperatures in the mid-70’s and, with sun playing hide and seek with the clouds we took our daily walk.

We planned a hike for Tuesday and got out our hiking gear. Monday evening we heard the weather report and thought: maybe Wednesday. Wednesday doesn’t look too good but, who knows? And even Thursday is looking iffy. Of course, if the weather prevents a hike, it also prevents cleaning the RV. So, it’s not all bad.

We took a walk through the campground and noticed this RV already for Halloween.

Another guy is happy that we’re getting rain since he won’t have to water the flats of plants he’s bought to put around his new deck.

Our neighbors, who are new to RV’ing, had their awning out all day and then left. We got a warning on our iPhone that heavy winds, rain and dust storms were heading our way. We rushed to close our awnings and two of our slides and then headed oer to the neighbors. Here are Gary and another neighbor trying to tie their awning down. Gary is anxiously looking into the sky.

And, here’s what we’re seeing coming right at us. See that brown cloud in back of the house? Yep, sand, and it’s really billowing up.

I ran around putting all of the trash and recycling bins down on the ground and a ladder I found behind their RV. Didn’t want them flying through the air and hitting something. Below you can see the sand swirling at the other end of our street. In the end, it didn’t amount to much where we were but in other areas, it caused problems - like on the highway when drivers couldn’t see each other nor the highway itself.

Yesterday, when we walked, we noticed that a local church was having a big bash. A live band, lots of food but the weather was not so good to them. We even cut our walk short and reversed direction when we heard the thunder and saw the lightening. In the evening we heard what sounded like fireworks and looked out towards the church. Sure enough, they were shooting off fireworks in the rain. Too bad.

But, on the whole, every bit of rain in the desert is welcome.

Meanwhile Gary and I have discovered a really find fitness center here in the park. There was one last year but it was pretty crowded and I wan’t impressed with the machines. Now, however, they have really upped their game and not only is the fitness center triple in size but the machines are state of the art. They have a great circuit that Gary and I have both done. They have rowing machines, lots of weights, but it’s the stationary bikes, the stair-steppers and the ellipticals that really are superb. They have screens on them and you can choose a course, a TV channel or a scene. Yesterday, on the stair-stepper, I hiked through Bryce Canyon with all the red rocks, others hiking in the opposite direction and all the elevation changes. Then, I got on a bike and cruised through the rural Loire Valley in France, past homes, fields, forests and others biking.

Here’s Gary on one of the circuit machines.

And, here I am trying not to looked strained. Trying really hard. But failing.

‘I’d do anything for a good body except exercise and eat right.’
                        Steve Martin