Pictures

Pictures

 

The roll of wire after the bystanders rolled it off the road.

This speaks for itself.

Car Accident!

There is a special place where RVer’s come from that seems to make them super people.  This afternoon, God sent us Dan and Kit from Red Deer, Alberta!

We had gone on a sight seeing trip, out in the desert to Gila Bend, Az.  We knew the place was nothing special to go to, but it was more about the trip not the destination. 

At about dark, we were returning on the I 8 highway and had turned on a two lane headed for Maricopa, Az.  In the dusk light I suddenly saw a roll of woven fence wire in my lane right in front of the car.  I instinctively swerved to miss the wire, worried that it would come right thru the windshield and hurt us.

The roll was four feet in diameter, and five or more feet long.  By swerving, I lost the back end of the car and just as though we were on ice, we were sliding sideways and then backwards.  As we left the road the wheels dug into the soft desert sand and over we went onto the top.  The front windshield broke, but stayed together because of the plastic laminate.

The back window shattered and glass flew everywhere. Miraculously, we stayed on our top and did not continue to roll.  Sand ground into the car from all directions.  The doors remained shut and were locked from the automatic locking function because we were in Drive gear.

Disoriented, we crawled from the car, as people had stopped and were helping us get out.  One of those folks were the Canadians from Red Deer.

It took the 911 folks over an hour to respond with a highway patrol unit, and an ambulance.  Once on the scene, they were very professional.  I had cut my knee on the broken glass and Loyce has several banged spots on her head and arms. 

The Lord rode with us in this crash, and decided it wasn’t our day to be hurt really badly.  I am humbled with this decision.

Our Canadian friends, stayed right by our side allowing Loyce to sit in the back of their car on the white leather interior.  We were covered in gravel.  They would not let us be in trouble with the loss of our car.  They were headed to Yuma, but immediately made arrangements to return us back to the RV here in Mesa Spirit.

They are RVer’s with a 42 foot motorhome, and also a sticks and bricks in Yuma.  The second they found out we were RVer’s, they stuck to us like we were family, helping us gather our belongings.  They will stay over night, with a friend here in Mesa, and return on their trip to Yuma in the morning. 

Our car is toast, but we are only banged up somewhat.  The Corolla is a bent up mess, but the passenger compartment, though smashed down onto the top of the seats, never seriously hurt us.   The engine stopped running, as we rolled, I presume from the fuel tank cut off. No fuel spilled from the tank and there was no fire.

Thank you Dan and Kit!!!!!  And all the other folks that stayed with us while we waited forever for the authorities to arrive.  

I’ll blog more when I get myself back in one basket.  Sitting here alive, seems strange, like perhaps I shouldn’t be.  I haven’t had that feeling, since I left Viet Nam.

Retired Rod

Super Blue

This entire town is bummed out tonight.  They had built themselves so high for their first appearance in the super bowl, and then to lose in the final seconds after fighting themselves into a 4th quarter lead.  To say the least, the loss is a tough one.

For us since we are from Iowa, and Kurt Warner is from Eastern Iowa, graduating from UNI in Cedar Falls, and then playing for the Iowa Barnstormers in Des Moines, we enjoy any game that he plays in.  Since we are Arizona snow birds this winter, it adds to our loyalty.  We enjoyed the time he played for St. Louis and won the Super Bowl there.

Of course the traffic seemed non existent during the game, but moments after the end, the streets broke out into pandemonium.  Everyone was going home from the many parties.  We went out to find a pizza, but found most places closing up.  Finally we stopped at the local Cici’s for the buffet. 

This barely qualifies as pizza, but since we were about the only patrons left, the manager watched as I took a slice of pepperoni and another of sausage.  The next pizza to hit the buffet board, was a pepperoni sausage combo.  Good man, he may con me into coming back.  The pizza is mostly dough, without much in the way of toppings, but we were hungry and it was fast and easy.  Loyce likes the salad bar.

Again today was beyond beautiful.  The sun was out before 8 AM and the day was in the mid 70’s.  Almost hot, in the trailer, but not unbearable with the fans. 

Loyce worked hard on her craft projects, and I ran the computer, while we waited for the game to begin.  Folks here in the park were scurrying about getting to their respective parties.  In mountain time zone, the game began at 4, with all the pregame stuff in the early afternoon.

So that was our day, with a big let down at the end.

Retired Rod

In answer to the question if we have any more pictures like the new header pic, the answer is they all came out drab.  It was really overcast the day we were in the Arboretum.  The only others that were close to good are in the blog from that day.  Perhaps we will go back out when the sun is blasting, or early in the morning, to get some good shots.

Nice Weather

You couldn’t ask for a better day than we had here today.  Cool in the morning, but the sun came out and warmed us quickly.  The wind was just a cooling breeze and we put the awning out about mid day.

I signed the contract that was sent to me for the verizon air card, and went to the post office to mail it.  I had put it off since receiving the card last week, but they charge you $50 if you do not return it.  So why not take care of it right now?

Not much else was on the agenda for today.  Just enjoy the 76 degree day.  Loyce worked on her charity quilt in the afternoon, and I helped by making suggestions that she wasn’t about to incorporate in her quilt. LoL

Tonight we went back out for more fabric at the local Jo Ann fabric store, and then over to Fuddruckers for a burger.  Our standard fare.

Tomorrow we plan on much of the same.  Tough duty, but at least the super bowl will add something new towards the end of the day!

We note that it was quite warm in the mid west today, and hope everyone back home had a welcome and pleasant warm up.

Retired Rod