Day 1

Hello to all...
We are at Mark and Mary's in Gilbert, AZ What a wonderful home and what a wonderfully warm reception we received. We were able to meet both Danielle and Nicole, Mark & Mary's 2 daughters...they are both beautiful and very intelligent young women. They both seem to be grounded and have great personalities. We are enjoying them. And, of course, Mark and Mary have wonderful personalities and are great fun to be around.

Mom thinks she's at a resort complete with horses, a pool, tropical fish and a waterfall.....what more could anyone want? Mom and I are sharing the guest house while Dad and Cubby are rooming in the main house. Cubby decided he wanted to be "top dog" instead of Rain, the family german shephard. Fortunately for Cubby, Mary had put a muzzle on Rain before we came into the house and Mary kept Rain close by so that Cubby could pretend to be king for awhile. Mom's adventures include petting a horse and a german shephard. For those of you who know Mom, you know that this is a great achievement

The car ride from Santa Ana was fun. Lots of beautiful scenery to enjoy. I don't think I've ever been to Phoenix, at least as far as I can remember, so the journey was new and we enjoyed seeing all of the different cacti, rock formations, hills and the desert landscape. We saw a couple of "dirt devils"... blowing dust that kind of looks like a tornado, but on a much, much smaller scale. Those were in the distance as we drove, but we also saw lots of green hills right now because of the rain that So Cal has "enjoyed" recently. Lots of beautiful desert flowers in purple, yellow, and orange.

We did a lot of talking during the car ride, and I think that most of the time Mom & Dad could understand each other, but every once in awhile I wasn't sure cuz at one point Dad was talking about the Masonic Temple in Freeport,Illinois where he and my Mom would go to dances and Mom W was talking about Shirley Temple. I told them that we'd invest in 2 tin cans and a string so that they could talk to each other from the front and back seats.

Hope you all get the idea that everything is great. We did almost 400 miles to Gilbert from Santa Ana, making potty stops for Cubby and the people. We had stretch breaks when we needed them and everyone is happy and healthy.

Mom says to say Hi and Dad says to say Lo to all of you.....
Chris