Pinetop, AZ – 10/1/2016

October 1, 2016 (Saturday)

We had to get up early because we had signed up for a meet and greet when we checked in last evening. We were promised there would be no sales pitch, and there wasn’t. There were donuts, fruit, bagels, orange juice, coffee, and tea available. Lots of people showed up and there were quite a few kids, which surprised Michael and I. We sat with a couple of really nice ladies – one from Arizona and the other from Iowa. We enjoyed getting to talk to them before the presentation.

The lady giving the presentation went over weather, hikes, things to do, things to see, fishing, etc. She told us about the bicycle race going on and to be careful when out driving as there are hundreds of bikers out and about. She even went around the room and asked where everyone was from. Most of the people in the room were from Arizona, a group from Colorado, one from Iowa, and us.

After the get together, we went back home and Michael tried to work on the blog. I can’t believe how much trouble we are having finding decent internet. We do have it in our unit, but it’s really slow and we can’t upload pictures. It’s very frustrating for him (as that’s his job on the blog). So today’s outing is to find some internet.

We left around 11:00 AM and headed out to look for internet, but first we went to a local hiking area to check it out. The trail is around a lovely lake. Michael and I are looking forward to it as it is quite beautiful. After that we saw Worldmark Drive and had to check it out. I knew there was a Worldmark up here and it was beautiful. We might have to come back and try them. Much smaller resort but very nicely maintained and newer looking buildings. We stopped at a the local Safeway to see if the Starbucks had internet – no luck. We tried Show Low Starbucks, no luck. We tried Denny’s, KFC, Taco Bell, McDonald’s, and any other place we could think of. Can’t believe there isn’t one place we could get the pictures uploaded. Not sure when we’ll be able to do that. We ended up doing laundry during the search.

The weather was getting colder and colder as the day progressed. We think a rather large storm is supposed to be coming in around Monday. We went to Walmart and I got some hair dye and batteries. The guy who checked us out was probably 80 years old. Michael asked him how much longer he was going to work and he said until he died. He went on to tell us that he worked and retired from the railroad, lived somewhere on the East Coast for several years, and then moved to Arizona. Once he was living in Arizona, his disabled brother came to live with him and he took care of his brother (his brother had disability payments that went to help him) but he went into debt taking care of him and now has to work. Poor guy. He said he wouldn’t know what to do if he didn’t work as he’s so used to it. Probably a good thing but…

We are now in our home and Michael is making dinner (baked potatoes and salad). That was our day. Hope yours was great!