When you don’t have much to say, there’s always the weather to talk about. The overnight low temperatures have led to chilly mornings the past few days. Yesterday, the coach cooled down below 50 degrees overnight. This morning I recorded 49 degrees. It’s not bad in bed, under a down quilt. We sleep better when it’s cold and we’re covered up.

Yesterday, Donna was up before me (which is unusual). She fired up the furnace. I got out of bed a short time later and started the generator. With the generator running, I shut off the propane furnace and ran the heat pumps. If I’m burning fuel in the generator to charge the batteries, I might as well stop burning propane and use electricity to run the heat pumps. Donna told me about wild animal sounds in the night. I didn’t hear a thing, but apparently there were javelinas or something in the area. Our neighbor heard them too.

The mornings warm quickly once the sun rises over the ridge. With the window shades open, solar heat takes over and I can shut off the heat pumps. We’ve had afternoon temperatures of 80 degrees. By late morning I have the door open and the roof vents open. I deploy the awning to shade the door and windows.

Yesterday, our neighbor from Kansas, Kevin, drove Donna up to Usery Regional Park. He was going that way and offered Donna a ride, saving her the scooter trip in the morning chill. Donna met our friend, Mona from San Diego, there. They hiked up Pass Mountain to Wind Cave. It’s about a 90-minute hike with beautiful views of the valley. You can see all the way to downtown Phoenix from there. After their hike, Mona drove Donna back home.

Mona at Wind Cave

Kevin returned to the park before Donna. He came over and asked me where the nearest place to dump waste water and take on fresh water was. I told him of a couple of options. A little while later, he and Barbara pulled their fifth-wheel trailer out of here. I expected them to return after a couple of hours, but we haven’t seen them since then. I don’t think they reached the 14- day limit here, so we may yet see them again.

View from Wind Cave trail – you can see Phoenix spelled out on the mountainside

Meanwhile, new neighbors pulled in. Emily and Mark Fagan set up their fifth-wheel near us. They have a choice spot with a view of Four Peaks right out their door (we see Four Peaks out our windshield). They joined us for dinner last night. Donna made a meatloaf that she served with smashed red potatoes and green peas with mushrooms.

We had an enjoyable meal and much conversation. Mark and Emily are excited about all of the hiking trails and opportunities for photography in the area. They’re both avid photographers. You can see some of their work on this site. Mark shot a beautiful photo of our rig with Red Mountain in the background.

Our Alpine Coach at Phon D Sutton – courtesy of Mark Fagan

Donna and I watched Shark Tank and another show with Marcus Lemonis (CEO of Camping World and Good Sam Club) helping a business grow (Green Tea Ice Cream). The name of that  show escapes me. We went to bed at 11pm.

Today, I think I’ll go back to the Fluff N Clean Laundromat to wash bedding and towels. Donna is planning to take a bike ride with Emily and Mark. I haven’t ridden much since we left San Diego and don’t feel up to the challenge of Usery Pass right now.

PS – I just learned that Mark has more photos at this site.