(February 4 & 5)

Day 41 & 42 - Phoenix Visit Days

And Then A Party Broke Out...

 

My mom and my stepfather Ray during our celebration of Ray's 87th birthday.

 

One of my major tasks on my Saturday in Phoenix: source and install a new saddle. Just couldn't take the numbness any longer.

 In my mom's neighborhood (a retirement community in Surprise AZ called Sun Village), many of the homes have a small "casita" in the front of the home where guests...like me!...can stay. This pic is of my mom's home (the small building in the front yard is her casita). Great invention!

Early Sunday morning I took a short ride..just under 30 miles...up into the White Tanks Regional Park to see how I'd done in fitting my saddle. This is the view of the Valley of the Sun as I was leaving the park. One of the most beautiful rides I've ever enjoyed.

 

 

I ended up shipping 47 pounds home. That did include the weight of my trailer itself, but it all counts when it comes to climbing hills! I felt like I'd successfully completed a weight loss program :)

 

I also ended up replacing my saddle. Bottom line: parts of me that aren't supposed to go numb had been numb constantly for two weeks. I finally couldn't take that anymore, did a bunch of research and came up with a Selle SMP Lite 209 as my option to try. I'm not sure it is perfectly dialed in with regard to fit, but it was as close as I could get it. And it did fine on my trial ride Sunday morning.

 

But, mostly, I spent my time visiting family and friends...which was, after all, my top goal for my stay in Phoenix. All that visiting crescendo'd at Ray's 87th birthday party where I learned some really cool things about the RVing lifestyle from my mom and Ray's circle of friends in attendance. You can, for instance, have a TV satellite dish installed that, after you push a button inside your RV, finds the signal and tunes in regardless of where you are.