We left the Parker area yesterday and came over to Goodyear on the far west edge of metro Phoenix. This is a picture of the clean Gus just before we left. There was a portable RV washing team that came through the park and we had them give Gus a bath.

We found a nice park here in Goodyear and decided we would stay for a week or so on this west side of Phoenix and then move over to the Mesa/Chandler area for another week and then hit one of the state parks for a third week before heading north toward home. Of course those plans change with the hour. We love talking about what we want to do and then doing whatever hits us at the moment.

Today we drove over to the Mesa area and ended up driving way out east of Mesa and then down to Chandler and Gilbert. We traveled on I-10, I-17, 60, 101 loop, 201 loop, and many regular streets. I had wanted to take in a quilt show in Mesa, but when we got over to that area, we got caught up with looking at other RV parks, some of the thousands (no I am not exaggerating) of RVs for sale and Camping World. Then we stopped to visit with my sister and her friend. They had just returned from Mexico and our visit with them lasted most of the afternoon. So that is what happened to my visiting the quilt show.

We found what we were looking for with the help of Gertie (the Garmin) and the computer when we needed to look up other things. And then we decided to drive back through Phoenix on I-10 right at 5 pm just to see if the traffic was as bad as we had heard. It was no different than any large city with 5 lanes of traffic plus an HOV lane in both directions with multiple 2 lane merges - sometimes on both sides. It was slow going right in the middle section, but we traveled the 45+ miles in just a bit over an hour.

So, we have gained the “lay of the land” here in the Valley of the Sun - from the west end to the east end. We will start our north and south exploring Sunday. Tomorrow we are staying close. Kassie needs a bath and we both want to just hang loose and read or do some computer stuff.

I lived in the Phoenix area for a few years 40 years ago! Lots of things have changed - mostly what used to be desert is now people - in every direction - in cars and houses. I have been back many times in the past 10 or 15 years, but it always amazes me.