Mesa, Az

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Back in Mesa,Az yesterday. Greeted by Mexico friends that were here in the Fall, went to Mexico for the winter and then back here for a little more R&R. Wonderful to see old friends. Shared dinner with them and lots of news from Mexico.

We left Key West and travelled back up to more north in Florida. We headed off to Disney World. We feel like we have done Florida now but have never set foot in Disney World. We bit the bullet and camped in Disney World at Fort Wilderness. ($115 per night) walked a couple of minutes and a bus to take us to Epcot. We chose Epcot for our 2 days because it seemed more adult oriented and seemed like somewhere you might not go if we came back with grand kids. It was perfect for us. Some rides but tame enough for the two of us. Lots of interesting things from each of the countries represented. Every country we went to had something different to offer. We walked our legs off but enjoyed it all. Spent 2 full days there and didn't miss much if anything. Left DW and drove ourselves up to Atlanta, Ga where Larry has a cousin living. Had dinner with he and his wife Jamie. Nice to see them. Left Atlanta, arrived in Nashville. Drove down to old downtown area, bought the guitar shaped fly swatters for my friend, don't ask but it was on my shopping list for me. I had asked her to buy me some paper mache people from San Antonio. We have a very nice china cabinet thing in our 5th but needs to be unbreakable stuff in it. She emailed to say she had made her purchase for me and don't forget the fly swatters. The heat was on, I really had no idea what I was looking for but once I saw them I knew it was right. Thank gosh. Took a city bus tour and then that evening a bus picked us up at our campground and drove us to the Grand Ole Opry for an evenings entertainment. It actually is a long standing radio show. Many entertainers but that night Carrie Underwood was the highlight. It was perfect. So nice to just come out of the theatre, hop on the bus and get driven home. Left Nashville with every intention of heading north but the weather looked like it was not 5th wheel travel weather. Glad we made the decision. At one point, we saw the sign to St Louis and debated again but headed west instead. They had a dump of snow that night so it was the right decision. For us, we drove 3 long days (6 - 7 hours) and arrived in Mesa. Arrived to 80 degrees and tomorrow should be a record high of 97 degrees. Might be too hot but you won't hear it from me.
We left James and Karen in Miami when we flew off to Panama. They are now back in Palm Springs waiting out winter in their town in California. We had such a nice time with them and miss them alot. We agreed we would much rather travel with friends then on our own. Nothing to do with safety or comfort just plain company and chat and sharing.
We are just now deciding what we might do. We have Easter dinner planned at our place so know we must be home a couple of days before Easter Sunday. Would like to drop our 5th in Carstairs, Ab where we bought it for a few minor repairs on our way home. Checking roads etc now.

Since October 17 we have driven 18,327 kms, (10,996 miles), spent $3500 usd on Diesel and got an average of 13.4 miles per imperial gallon of diesel. The least we paid for diesel was @2.799 usd per us gallon in Oct and just yesterday we paid $4.199 for the same thing. Expensive winter compared to our normal Mexico trip.

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