GAS PRICE $1.47 A GALLON?

How much a gallon? Oh, we’ll get to that in a while.

We drove to Tucson today because I had an appointment with a dermatologist. I’ve had some scabby and tender stuff on one ear, and my father lost part of his ear to cancer, so I was edgy. Turns out it was a pre-cancerous lesion; the doctor says 1 in 500 of these will become cancerous, but they never know which one. So she applied “cryosurgery,” freezing with liquid nitrogen, four times on that ear, moved on to my forehead then to my arm. Ouch! That doesn’t feel good, but it should all be healed in two to four weeks. I’ll go back in four months to be sure all is okay.

But that gasoline price? Yes, yes, we’ll get to that.

While in Tucson we stopped at Costco and dropped a few bucks. In addition to some chicken thighs and breasts, some sausage and other goodies, we began our shopping for Christmas. Well, not really for Christmas, but for a Christmas tradition here at the SKP Saguaro RV park. Early in the season, some individual or another will put together two bags of goodies to anonymously leave on the doorstep of a friend, a neighbor, a park visitor, someone they know or someone they don’t know. Each bag carries the message, “You’ve been snowed!” and challenges the recipient to do the same for two others in the park. This year we are ready early with boxes of holiday latte mix, special candy, and holiday-themed night lights.

$1.47 gasoline? Be patient, we’ll get to that.

This week I revoked my pledge to never barbecue again. I used to be a good grill chef, but all at once I seemed to lose the touch, finally giving up the charcoal and / or propane in the patio for a George Foreman in the kitchen. This week we bought a nice propane grill at Lowe’s in Sierra Vista. I had to ask for one in a box rather than already assembled, as there wasn’t room in the car.

This is the back road to Benson from Sierra Vista, just northwest of Tombstone.

At home Wednesday evening, I began what the imaginative author of the assembly manual described as a 30 – 45 minute job. It actually took about two and a half hours. Thursday evening I grilled some bratwursts and a chicken breast. The brats were wonderful; the chicken breast will be used in a salad tonight.

What? The gasoline price? Oh all right. Usually when we go to Tucson we buy our gas at Costco, but not today. We do the bulk of our grocery shopping at Safeway – the only alternative in Benson is Wal-Mart – and they have had a gasoline promotion. For every $100 in “qualified” purchases, you earn a reduction of 10 cents per gallon at any Safeway store that has a gas station. Our store doesn’t have a station, and the closest one is in the middle of Tucson.

We had been planning to take our motorhome that direction fairly soon and hoped to make a real score. Three facts stood in our way: the promotion ends September 12; we wouldn’t be taking Rosie that way until later; and Rosie’s gas tank is already full. So today we took advantage of nine ten cent discount credits in the Suzuki. Ninety cents off the regular price of $2.37 meant that we paid only $1.47 a gallon for our 10 gallons of gas. We saved $9.00! On the way home we treated ourselves to Eegees!

Now you’ll want to know what is an Eegee. Eegee’s is a local small chain of hamburger joints that feature a frozen product -- finely crushed ice flavored with real fruit and juices, probably some other ingredients as well. They call this concoction an Eegee, which is way beyond sno-cone! An Eegee comes in a big cup with a straw, but you need a spoon to eat it. We pulled into an abandoned shopping center, parked in the shade of a former Walgreen’s and enjoyed a “peaches and cream” Eegee.

This evening we’re getting a treat from Hurricane Jimena. Jimena kind of petered our moving up Baja California, but she has brought us a wonderful rain storm with thunder and lightning.

These pictures were taken on the entry road to our park shortly before the storm hit.

At the start of the rain in our area, this rainbow appeared to the southeast of us.

Can’t lay this rain on the monsoon. Add this storm to last night’s full moon, and we have had a real treat from Mother Nature. The moon was so bright at 2:00 am, I actually walked outside in my scanty jammies to see where all the light was coming from!






Such photographers we are! We didn't get a picture of assembling the grill, didn't get a picture of cooking on the grill, didn't get any picture of the food from the grill! We'll do some more grilling this weekend and get some pictures for you!

So that's the story from this part of ... Our Life on Wheels.