Friday Feb. 26
My search to get the Internet is gone. I can sit in the garage or the front room of the house it is not so bad.

Bob went off the boys to play tennis and Judy took me to the step aerobic class. The class was good haven't had much exercise since we have been gone. I left Judy's in a pursuit to get the obnoxious looking toe nails done. Venus nails in Tucson that was recommended by Sandra was the best. Trader Joe's is right next door and I was able to get some food supplies so we can start to cook at the house. Enough with the eating out.

This picture is of the pergala that was over the patio. It has been up about 10 years and the boards were falling down. Bob and Jim armed with saws, hammers and a crow bar took some of the structure down. Decisions are still being made as to how much to save. Shelly and Jim came up to the house for a quiet dinner and some wine. It is nice to know we will be settled for an extended period of time.

Thursday Feb 25
It has been really difficult trying to get an Internet connection here in Florence. I finally found it at the library and while I was wondering around I came across these gentleman doing wood carving. They get together a couple of times a week and carve walking sticks and many other things. The pieces they were doing truly were works of art.

Bob is involved in a tennis match and golfing event with a bunch from White Bear all the activities are in Tucson. Judy Brewer invited us to spend the night so I could attend the dinner that was arranged by the Kennedy"s.

The Kenndy's organized a steak fry at a ranch called White Stallion Ranch. The place was unbelievable it is truly a working dude ranch. The meal was sirloin steak grilled on an open grill and a self serve buffet it was the best. The setting is outside of Tucson and you would think you were some place in the Montana wilderness area. We obtained a brochure just in case we would ever want to come and spend a few days riding horses in the desert. We ended the busy day with some port and enjoying the Olympics.

Wed. Feb 24

Bob and I checked out of the Flamingo never to return again and headed over to visit George and Phyl. We walked into the lobby and Bob spotted his dad sitting on the couch reading the paper to a lady with a white cane. Phyl informed us he reads the paper to her every morning they are couch partners it was really cute. They seem to be doing really good and the facility is top notch.

We left and headed down to Az via Laughlin, Nevada. Not being able to communicate via the phone for a week we were unable to hook up with Becky Larson Squibbs. I am so sorry we missed seeing her.

Rush hour through Phoenix was not so bad we managed to get through it pretty good. We had been dealing with some light that kept telling us the tire pressure was not ok. About a week and 1/2 ago I wrote about the nail that was stuck in the tire well it decided to give us some problems.

We were 7 miles from our final destination at 6:00 (dusk) and the tire blew and when pulling off we were on a slant. Bob called AAA and told them we were in no danger. That was a lie we were 1 foot off the highway were the cars were traveling at 65 mph. He called back once he came to his senses and told them it was urgent. We attempted to change the tire while waiting but the jack wouldn't go high enough. The truck finally showed up and with all his power tools jacked the car up and we were on our way. The best part of the whole ordeal it could have happened any place in our 7 hour trip that would not have been close to assistance.

Tuesday Feb 23

Today we say good by to Osa she was a great host and we enjoyed talking with her. She has owned the El Delfin Blanco for many of years and built it from the ground up. The place is very clean and Osa is very accommodating.

We fly to Phoenix then to Vegas where we will spend tonight, then on to Florence, Az tomorrow to stay for the next week committing between Tucson and Florence. We are anticipating the trip home to be very uneventful. As planned we headed to the airport 3 hours early to catch our flights to Vegas. We had 45 minutes to get through customs arrive at the gate to depart to Vegas. The plane was on time and everything was going off without a glitch. We taxied on the run way and sat for it seemed like an eternity. The pilot got on and announced a mechanical problem and we were going to run out of gas if we didn't go back to the gate. This made no sense but we re just the passengers. One hour we left and were and hour late getting into Vegas it is only a 45 minute flight a lot of wasted time.

Once again we stayed at the Flamingo I must sober with glasses I could see things I have never seen before or ever want to see again. The cleanliness of the bathroom was worse than a good truck stop.

We dined at Battistas the restaurant Pam had recommended and it really is the best value in town and fun.

Monday Feb 22

San jose is nothing like Cabo. This is the beach when we went walking in the morning. Not a soul anywhere except for a couple of fishermen cathching their dinner. The area is a cab ride away from downtown San Jose that costs about $5.00 each way. We spent some time looking at the art shops and enjoying the local culture. While standing in one of the shops I felt something on my leg, I brushed it away and it was a bee that was trying to get every pound of flesh from me. We hurried down the street to get some ice and I tripped on the step going into a bar and pulled my hamstring not much more could go wrong. The ice helped the bee sting and the tequila helped the hamstring.

In the middle of town square there was a quiet demonstration consisting of about 300 individuals. The individuals were squatters taking water and electric from the air port. The city decided to kick them off the land that was not theirs so they had a few tents in town square and were staging a quiet demonstration. The information we received was there are about 11.000 of these people on this land. The next weeks could be interesting.

Below is a picture of one of the Artists shops in San Jose this area is nothing like Cabo .

We finished our time in town at a bar named "Shooters", this is a bar owned by a Candian man and it was fun. We had a peaceful night in the hut the cat only was on the roof one time. We were the only guests so it was really quiet except for the dogs barking and crickets.

Sunday Feb 21

Before leaving the Riu we were given explicet instruction on how to get to San jose. Rosa the person in charge of our tour told us to walk out to the highway and take a green, white or red bus then hook a taxi to the new residence. Bob and I walked out to the highway and hopped on a blue bus that would be the local bus that was only 2 dollars, we didn't know where to get off so walked about 1/2 mile and some taxi came out of no where. High price at $10.00 we were dropped off at the Eldefeno Blanco (means white dolphin. Once inside we were greeted by a lovely lady Rosha not sure if spelling is correct. As promised we did have a bathroom in the room and 2 beds a thatched roof and even a TV with 2 chanels. This place and area is very quant and quiet.

We found out as much as we could so we could walk to someplace to eat, the wrist band is gone and no one is feeding us or suppling us with drinks. We walked down the street and as we were coming up on Tommy's the restraunt we were greeted by Rosa. Rosa lives in the marina area and was so happy to see us she is the woman at the Riu who gave us directions.
Dinner was very good fresh yellow tail and all the extras.

Tired from our day of traveling sleep was in need. I am not a sound sleeper as everyone knows and all of a sudden something sounded like it was running through the 10X10 room I was screaming and Bob was really confused as to what was happening. We both just waited for the noise again and yes it did happen. Best as we can figure out the resident cat was jumping on the thatch roof. Good sleep???? This is the cat drinking our of the fountain.