Rain and a drive up North of Mesa

We were house bound today, since it began to rain before it became light outside.  And rain and rain it did all day long.  Seemed to never quit, but mostly rain here in the desert is a sprinkle type of rain.  At least in the winter, anyway.  I've been told that rain in the hot part of the summer can be a thunderstorm deluge, but of course we have never been here for that.

After lunch, I had had it with being inside the coach, so we went for a drive.  Seems like we have been everywhere, last year, but we retraced the path out to the North up what is called the Bush highway.  This is thru the rural desert North of the Salt River.  We went up to a country campground by the Sheriff's office.  It is mostly just a parking lot, but folks are allowed to boondock out there. They have to have a Tonto Forest pass, and I think they are about $6 a day.  They do have a camp host there to keep an eye on things.  Or perhaps to call in problems.

From there, we headed to Saguaro Lake, to see what activity was going on there.  The fishermen were fishing in the rain.  Again we didn't have the day pass, so we had to keep on moving.  Again the sheriff has an office at that boat ramp.

Finally we headed over to Fountain Hills, where there is a quilt store.  But that was closed on Monday.  We waited in the Lake park for the Fountain to go off at 3 PM, since we know it goes for 15 minutes at the top of each hour.  It was still overcast, and raining off and on so we went East from there into the North End of Scottsdale.

We buzzed around in Scottsdale, but my knowledge of the streets there isn't as good, so I ended up going the wrong way once when I was looking for a specific road.  Of course the GPS had my back, and pointed out the errors of my ways.     Instantly!!

We went to the historic Old Downtown area, but it began to rain in earnest.  The traffic began to be rush hour like, so we headed out of town to the East.  Just get East of the 101 Freeway.  That puts you into the country right away.  So we picked our way back to the Salt River, and crossed on Highway 87 into Mesa.

I was never lost, but was on streets, roads, and such that I have never driven on before.  I never resorted to asking the GPS to take me home, but it was on with the map moving, so I didn't do it all by myself.  But then that's why I bought it, right?

Tonight, we went out to Village Inn for some supper, and it began to rain more seriously.  The temperature is 52 degrees, and the wind has picked up to about 6 or 8 mph.   That would be a cake walk if we were in Kansas, but we are not, and we are used to highs in the 70's, so needless to say, the heater is on!

Retired Rod