Arizona     9 - 19 Sept 1997

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Tues 9th - Prescott/80s°F Left El Morro, NM and drove through the Painted Desert (video) and Petrified Forest (video). Bought David a train on a railway spike, with local ore embedded, at the souvenir shop. Arrived at Joyce's in Prescott around 6PM. Found Bill to be a funny, zany fellow (video) and Lucky to be the same ornery dog. Bill cooked up some Chinese and we talked until 11PM. Jim Hoffsis called.
		Petrified Log Bridge
Sept 9 Diary
Wed 10th - Prescott/80s°F. Day 65 of our 3 month journey around the world. Saw about 20 quail feeding in back yard (video). Drove to the top of the hill with Joyce to see the changes in past 7 years. Went to Burger King for lunch. Bagel shops replacing doughnuts. Double shower curtains.
Sept 10 Diary
Th 11th - Prescott/80s°F. Day 66 of our 3 month journey around the world. Went to bank to activate our ATM cards. Went with Joyce to Prescott Valley and the new center by Walmart. Home for lunch, then Gail and I went to Thumb Butte Park for a walk in the forest. Called home and found out that plumber replaced element in water heater. Went under Joyce's house to get the box of clothes and stuff that I left in 1990. Tacos for supper. Played Ad Mania and it was great fun, even Joyce got into it (video). Hoffsis called twice, about hiking, travel plans etc...
Sept 11 Diary
Fri 12th - Prescott/82°F Gail and I rock scrambled to the Watson Lake dam. Was a good two hour exercise before it got hot. After lunch we went to the antique shops with Joyce. We found a Monopoly® watch for David. I bought a Goofy Stop Watch and a Sport Goofy ITF Jr Tennis button at Richard Johnson Toys and Antiques. Found a Goofy Water toy and Goofy in the Wild West at Pennington's. Lucky took Gail's shoe and wouldn't return it (video).
Sept 12 Diary
Wed 17th - Prescott/80°F Gail and I climbed Thumb Butte with around 20 others. We made it to the end of the trail where the lookouts are found (video). We visited Bill in the ICU (looking for a reason for his dizzy spells). Had lunch at China Jade (in Frontier Village Center) and I had an excellent Shrimp and peas. At 7:30PM I brought Bill his poker machine and stayed there until I was kicked out.
higher than it looks
TB upper-right
Sept 17 Diary
Fri 19th - Phoenix/82°F On the roof where I drained the Swamp and covered it for the winter (video). And I did it in 12 minutes to Joyce and Bill's amazement. Gail and I drove to Phoenix and went to the Arrowhead Mall where despite advertising to get new glasses in an hour I couldn't even get an exam done. I found a Goofy keychain at the Disney Store which had a hanging Goofy. Supper at Andy's Family Restaurant and had a non-stop chatty, loud and unforgetable waitress. Turned in the car at Alamo and get a new one (apparently 2 months was maximum for a rental). We were the only ones there. Clerk went out to check the mileage (6,600 miles), but took a very long time trying to find a mid-size California plated car. And by now a long line of customers formed. So we had to sit an hour before he could go look again and it was decided to give us a full-sized car (Dodge Intrepid) at mid-size cost. Of course I was mildly upset since we had booked over two months ago and had to spend four hours driving to swap cars. Didn't appreciate having to waste time doing nothing.
Sept 19 Diary
Sat 20th - Prescott to border/80°F Took photos, said our farewells and left Joyce, Bill and Lucky at 11:20AM. First stop was Montezuma's Castle or a pueblo high in a cliff (video). Then we went to a Target in Flagstaff, so I could buy Aqua's Aquarium CD ($12.99) since Mattel was suing the band for the song "Barbie Girl" and wanting to stop sales of CD. Long drive to the border by Page (where a Pizza Hut was on fire). Brief stop to get photo of Grand Canyon from the east edge (video). But drove right past Lake Powell and Glen Canyon National Recreational Area (video) so we could get into Utah at dusk (video).
bookmark	"The Miracle" by Fred Lucas
Sept 20 Diary
All Albums	1997 Trip Albums	MalleyGram