We arrived on October 1, 2017 at one of our favorite RV Resorts, Paradise RV Resort in Sun City, AZ. Even though this resort has it all, a great swimming pool, exercise room, library, banquet facility with entertainment, pickle ball courts, tennis courts, even a lawn bowling green! Plus other activity shops, woodworking, pottery, glass and jewelry shops and maybe even a few more we haven't discovered. Paradise promotes a Special for October through December for about $300 per month plus electricity. October has been a record setting month of warmer than normal temperatures in Sun City and therefore we ran the air conditioning a lot. The good thing about the desert is that it does cool off considerably immediately after the sun sets. As a result, we mainly ran the AC during the daytime when we were at the RV, but we do spend a lot of time over at Shilo's house (Gari's mom).
We have been up to some of the usual things and a few new things as well to keep things interesting. Below Shilo and Steve are getting happy as three racks of baby-back ribs are going back on the smoker-grill for the last half of the cooking process (heavy-duty foil wrap phase).
We went car shopping with Shilo, after all Shilo's car is only 20 years old, a 1996 Honda Accord. Below Gari and Shilo get the feel of a Hyundai Sonata.
This is the hot little number Shilo ended up with, a bright red 2017 Honda Accord Sport SE!
It wasn't all play here, Gari puts the finishing touches on cleaning the roof. Next steps, Steve caulks and Gari waxes...
Gari applies the wax. We used a marine product for fiberglass, which was advertised to be UV resistant. We will see. The roof is looking great right now we must say!
We couldn't resist having another baby-back rib smoke out! Below Steve removes the back membrane on rack #1.
Shilo and Gari take care of the seasoning. Shilo tweaked the rub recipe this year and it was a marked improvement! They wrapped the ribs and let them marinate in the rub over night in the refrigerator.
Pit-Master Steve prepares the Smoker-Grill for the three racks... Steve opens the Smoker-Grill and is overwhelmed by the smoke in the shot below!
Three racks on the smoker for phase one cooking; direct onto the grates, no foil.
Those ribs are ready to come off! It is about to get delicious in here!
Steve and Shilo bond over the smoked ribs project. Judges declared a full success! The team was so integrated that we had a repeat smoker performance with a 13 lb turkey after Thanksgiving.
Since we ate out on Thanksgiving the team wanted to make our own smoked turkey and have plenty of leftovers!
Of course there was more eating... L to R: Shilo, Gari, Faye, Hank and Steve celebrate Faye's birthday at Carrabba's Italian Restaurant.
The food and service were very good. The wait staff brought Faye an awesome birthday cake; it was big enough for all of us and Faye passed the lovely chocolate dream around the table.
Shilo and Gari take a turn at Fay's birthday dessert.
We came back for a competitive card game of Rummy 500. Faye shuffles as Gari reviews the rules. Retired Civil Engineer Hank looks like he is analyzing a way to take maximum advantage within the rules... and he must have the correct formula because Hank was the big winner of the contest!
Another birthday cake... afterall, it is an hour or two since we had the first birthday cake!
We took an over-night run down to Yuma, AZ to help Jerry move into his double-wide for the winter. The water in Yuma is extremely hard and there are always water leaks when you move back in for the winter. We replaced the kitchen faucet and one bathroom faucet and tightened several other fittings and got control of all the leaks in short order.
Not much hope to repair this fixture, this is a replacement job!
Gari gives smartphone pointers to Yvonne and Jerry, which is interesting because Gari doesn't even use her own phone.
We rode around the Foothills neighborhoods looking for rental lots. The spot below is an example. We scored a reservation on E. 49th St. in the new section. Yuma was already getting crowded, which doesn't usually happen until January or February. The scuttlebutt was that the hurricanes in Florida and Texas have convinced more snowbirds to visit Yuma this winter...
Thanksgiving Dinner and a show! Shilo treated us to a fine adventure. We traveled by brand new Prevost bus from Sun City to Apache Junction... all the way across the greater Phoenix area. It was a 90 minute ride each way, but we went in comfort and style. Shilo, Gari and our new friend Gloria are seated below waiting for Thanksgiving dinner at Barleen's Dinner Theater. Notice at Steve's seat the pumpkin pie is missing, while everyone else has a nice slice of pie. What could have happened to Steve's pie?
The show after dinner was awesome. The singer in the purple coat was from Norway and was a singer with the Righteous Brothers; he was excellent.
This singer was one of the Barleen family. He had the deepest base voice we had ever heard. He was singing some Elvis Presley here.
This was the guy with the hair, he was a good musician and comedian, but his hair was the best.
This fella married one of the Barleen sisters. He picked that mandolin faster and more cleanly than any we had ever heard. It was truly amazing.
This is the base guy doing an impression of Dean Martin singing. We think he did it even better than Dean!
The three Barleen sisters perform a little Andrews Sister music.
This was the finale by the Barleen siblings only. They sang a rendition of Hallelujah. It brought tears to my eyes... in the good way, the very best way.
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