Arizona Visiting Miss Daisy's Stormy New Chandler Location

Visiting my mom's new home location for the first time.

Miss Daisy has moved a few miles to the northeast of Sun Lakes, to a new location in Chandler.

Chandler is also the town where Jason, Joey, David, Theo & Ruby's Aunt Jackie and Uncle Jack live, along with their cousin, Jeremy.

Miss Daisy's youngest has twice visited mom's new location since the move a couple weeks ago.

In this photo taken last weekend I can not tell who is looking happier, mom or Miss Daisy's youngest, David, Theo and Ruby's, Mama Michele...

Near as I can currently tell, the next time I will be in Arizona will be, maybe, during the Thanksgiving time frame, two months from now.

Possibly David, Theo, Ruby, Spencer Jack and Hank Frank will be in the Valley of the Sun during the same time frame...

Back Biking With MSU Mustangs Considering 1988 Time Travel With Miss Daisy

If I remember correctly a few days ago I mentioned my bike was in malfunction mode due to the pedal crank being noisily cranky.

Months ago, last winter, my bike went through a similar cranky period.

And then suddenly the cranky crank returned to normal.

And stayed in that normal state until the day after a severe night time thunderstorm a week or two ago, a thunderstorm which poured down some rain.

The morning after that storm my bike was still wet, even though it is safely anchored, undercover, overnight. And riding the bike that same morning was when the crank returned to being noisily cranky.

Then a few days ago, after several days of the temperature being well north of 100 I decided to see if whatever had made my bike cranky had somehow dried up and gone away.

And so it did. And I have been enjoying HOT bike rides ever since, including today's which included a stop at the MSU fountain.

To the right of where my handlebars are located above is the new MSU Mustangs I visited on Saturday at their newly installed location by the soon to open Centennial Hall.

After the above fountain drink break I rolled over to that aforementioned newly installed Mustang location.

You can not quite make it out, due to my inferior photography skills, but the small pond in which the Mustangs are stampeding has now had water added, with the fountains in burble mode. The cyclone fence construction barrier has now been removed, replaced my regular ol' 'DANGER' tape.

Let's zoom in and see if I can get a better picture of the Mustang stampeding over the burbling fountain.

There you go. This would be a much better photo if that traffic cone had not intruded.

Prior to exiting air-conditioned comfort for a HOT bike ride, Sister Jackie called with a report on how Miss Daisy is doing. I do not recollect mentioning that Miss Daisy has moved to a new location, still close to Sister Jackie, but no longer in Sun Lakes.

Miss Daisy is gradually adjusting to her new surroundings, and enjoying the time travel machine which came with the move.

Yesterday Miss Daisy spent several hours back in 1988, babysitting her grandsons, Christopher and Jeremy, before returning to 2019 to watch a Little League game on TV with dinner.

Sister Michele will be using conventional air travel means to fly south on Friday to see Miss Daisy at her new location. I do not know if Miss Daisy is planning on taking Michele anywhere interesting in her new time travel machine...

Miss Daisy Driving To Maricopa McDonald's Before Sending Me Back To Texas

I am now back in Texas, at DFW International Airport, which I think is in Grapevine, not either Dallas or Fort Worth.

I have a couple hours before I get on the final flight of the night.

Today began with Miss Daisy making a delicious breakfast of cinnamon rolls, yogurt, chicken soup, oranges from the front yard Daisy Tree, and a lot of coffee.

By mid morning Miss Daisy's substitute drove us to a medical complex in Mesa where Miss Daisy had a follow up procedure following the procedure she had last Tuesday, which is why I have been in Arizona, providing pseudo professional medical care for Miss Daisy.

With a few hours to kill before it was time to deliver me to Sky Harbor Airport Miss Daisy directed her temporary driver to drive to Maricopa to the Ak-Chin Casino Resort prior to visiting Penny at our favorite Maricopa McDonald's.

Above you are seeing Miss Daisy rolling through a sculpture garden which is part of the impressive Ak-Chin landscaping.

We were in the casino only long enough to secure this week's special gift given to those who regularly support the Ak-Chin money raising efforts.

I did not want a repeat of over eating at the McDonald's buffet, so I only had a fish sandwich, double cheeseburger, coke, chicken tenders, and a small fries, with the small fries being the cutting back part.

I am sort of looking forward to being back at my home location. The past two weeks have been exhausting. Fun at times. But exhausting.

I left some clothes behind at Miss Daisy's this time, due to my travel bags being overstuffed with new stuff.

But, I really don't see myself returning soon to make use of those clothes I left behind...

Ruby & David Grant Grandma Daisy A St. Patrick's Day Pinch Pardon

Well, yesterday was a super festive St. Patrick's Day with Miss Daisy, here in Arizona. We joined the celebrations at more than one Costco, along with driving by at least one Finn McCool's in full Shamrocks in Guinness Irish mode.

Whatever that means.

Mid afternoon on America's favorite Irish holiday I found myself in a text message frenzy with multiple siblings, along with non-siblings in Texas.

Among the text messengers was David, Theo and Ruby's Mama Michele.

Grandma Daisy had me text the message that if David, Theo and Ruby were not adequately dressed in green that we would like pinch punishments to be administered.

This seemed just a tad hypocritical on Miss Daisy's part, since she was wearing absolutely zero anything green. But, no counter message came from Tacoma regarding our level of green here in Arizona.

A followup message from Tacoma said that Theo was not currently at their home location, and that one of the trio was totally in green, and that the green one was not the one we would probably guess to be all green.

We guessed that the redhead leprechaun David was who we might guess was all green but that it was Ruby who was the all green one.

Soon it was confirmed we had guessed correctly.

We requested photo documentation before totally granting the pinch pardon.

The photo above soon arrived. We could see Ruby was totally green, though later it was determined her shoes were not properly green. But, David's green claim appeared weak. Grandma Daisy and I texted that unless David amped up his level of green we were going to have to insist he be pinched.

Almost immediately the following photo arrived. And so we granted David a pinch pardon.

Soon after granted the pinch pardon to David and Ruby, Miss Daisy and I got an old-fashioned phone call from Ruby and David. Grandma Daisy's lack of appropriate green was discussed. I asked Ruby and David if I should pinch Grandma Daisy.

Both said do not pinch Grandma.

And so there was no pinching of Miss Daisy yesterday on our exciting St. Patrick's Sunday in sunny Arizona...

Miss Daisy Becomes Durango Texas Guest Blogger

My eldest baby is letting me be what he told me is his guest blogger today.

I don't really know what that is. He told me all I had to do was hit the space bar and talk and this machine would turn what I say in to readable words, and so that is what I am doing.

Only this past week when my grandchildren were here did I learn from David that on this internet thing I am known as Miss Daisy.

So, I now understand why my son was calling me Miss Daisy every once in awhile. Like when he was ready for me to get out of the car he would say something like hop aboard Miss Daisy.

Or we would be driving along and I might say I am hungry and my son would ask where would Miss Daisy like to eat?

I don't know why I can't just be Miss Shirley, since that is my name, not Daisy.

But, I have had it explained to me that some of the time my son uses nicknames for people when he writes about them. I thought he really knew someone named Elsie Hotpepper and Betty Jo Bouvier. I am not sure who Elsie and Betty Jo really are, but I do know who Clancy and Fancy are.

And who is Durango Jones? That one really puzzles me.

I went along with this guest blogging thing because my son told me if I cooperated he would go to his nearest internet connection, which is my Community Clubhouse, and put what I had to say on this blog deal.

And then go swimming.

Anything to get a break from that boy's constant need to be doing something or going somewhere. Or drive me somewhere.

I really should just stay home and rest, but my son seems to really enjoying Driving Miss Daisy...

Miss Daisy's New Driver To Maricopa's New Bridge Over Dry Land

Yesterday Sister Jackie was Miss Daisy's replacement driver, whilst Miss Daisy's regular driver got to sit behind the driver, thus better able to enjoy the passing scenery as we drove out of the Phoenix metro area to the distant suburb of Maricopa, population 48,007.

When I am in Arizona I am regularly impressed with the differences between this American location and what I see when I am in some other American locations, such as some Texas towns.

Texas towns like Fort Worth, Texas.

A railroad passes through Maricopa. This is where the Amtrak station is located which serves all of the Phoenix area to the north. Other trains also pass through Maricopa. When a train comes through town this has long created a traffic backup, waiting for the train to pass.

On my last visit to Arizona, when we visited Maricopa, I asked what that was being constructed by the Amtrak station. I was told it was a new highway overpass, passing over the train tracks and a road or two.

And now a few months later this bridge project, being built over dry land, appears to be near completion.

Meanwhile in Fort Worth, Texas, population over 800,000, the town has been struggling for over four years to build three simple little bridges over dry land, hoping to one day connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

How can such a similar project be realized so efficiently in one town in America, and so ineptly in another town in America?

Perhaps someone other than the dopey unqualified son of a local congresswoman is in charge of this Maricopa bridge building project.

Seeing this new Maricopa railroad track overpass in the making brought to mind another mystery regarding how one location in America can be so different from another.

Regularly at various locations in DFW, such as Highway 377, a train can bring all traffic to a halt, creating massive traffic jams. This has been going on for years, with the locals, near as I can tell, seeming to think there is no solution to such a problem.

And another item noted.

Being driven around the Valley of the Sun with Sister Jackie being Miss Daisy's driver I was freshly impressed with what I was seeing when I saw new development. Sister Jackie confirmed that when new development develops it is mandated that parks, landscaping and sidewalks be installed along with the new homes and apartment complexes under construction.

Every month when I return to DFW I am appalled at the mess of zero urban planning I see in north Fort Worth, where thousands of new homes have been stuck on the ground, with little if any landscaping, parks, sidewalks. The main roads are the same roads I drove on in this area when I first moved to Texas, with little upgrading.

It is like an entire area of America is greatly lacking in basic common sense, whilst another area of America seems to have a surplus of common sense.

So perplexing...

Fountain Hills Frappe With Miss Daisy On Beeline Bush Roller Coaster

Due to my erratic internet connections my blog postings will be being a bit out of sync for the next 10 days, give or take a day or two.

Right now I am successfully connected to the internet at Miss Daisy's Clubhouse.

This is an open wi-fi connection.

At the DFW airport Google did not like an open wi-fi connection. It took a few minutes before Google objected. If this gets posted, successfully, I guess Google did not object.

I have yet to be able to blog about all which happened on Friday, except for the horse riding/McDonald's part of the day, with the rest of Friday consisting of things such as playing in the two best playgrounds I have ever played in.

Or Saturday's fun which included a re-enactment of Macklemore's Downtown video, along with a little Butch Cassidy raindrops falling on the head bike handlebar fun. Plus a swimming pool incident which seemed to shock those not used to year round swimming. And a new Arizona Little Library.

But, before I get to any of that I will just stick with today.

David, Theo and Ruby flew their parental units back to Washington this morning. I have received text message confirmation of their safe arrival.

Around the mid-morning time frame Miss Daisy directed her driver to drive north to Fountain Hills. That  may have been the driver's idea.

Way back in 2012 on the first day of an Arizona visit, a rainy day, dad drove Miss Daisy and me to Fountain Hills, and then on a mountain road, at high speed, which was quite memorable to me. I was not sure upon departure that I would be able to find that road, even with Miss Daisy's detailed help.

So, we headed north on Highway 87 where it is known as Arizona Avenue in Chandler, which turns into Country Club Avenue in Mesa, before becoming the Beeline Highway when Highway 87 leaves civilization surrounded by saguaro infested desert.

Finally reaching Fountain Hills Miss Daisy asked if I have ever had a McDonald's frappe. One gets asked this question frequently. Soon I found myself in a McDonald's drive-thru duo line ordering two medium frappes, costing $3.99 each. This seemed to me to be an absurd price to pay for such a thing. But, what do I know?

After exiting McDonald's Miss Daisy directed me to the heart of downtown Fountain Hills, where we found the lake and the giant fountain. The Fountain Hills fountain erupts on the hour (like Yellowstone's Old Faithful) with one of the biggest fountain eruptions on the planet.

There were hundreds of people walking, jogging, biking and blading the paved trail around the lake. Miss Daisy did not want to join them while she still had some McDonald's frappe to deal with.

We did not get to see the fountain erupt.

Exiting Fountain Hills I continued on Highway 87, making a beeline for the Fort McDowell Casino, which I quickly passed until exiting on to the Bush Highway., which is the wild ride I was looking forward to driving.

The Bush Highway did not disappoint. I thought it was a rock and roll roller coaster when dad was doing the driving. It remained as such with me driving much slower.

The Bush Highway had a lot of traffic, which made it funner. There are a lot of recreational opportunities along this highway, including hiking, mountain biking, boating, inner tubing, kayaking and horse riding.

I do not know if the Bush Highway is named after 'those' Bush people, or what Bush, if any.

Another interesting thing today. Due to all the rain which has fallen on the Arizona desert the landscape was not its usual brown, instead tinted green.

With wildflowers.

I am almost certain the blue wildflowers I saw alongside the road today were what we call bluebonnets in Texas. But, I am not registered horticulturist, so what do I know?

Riding Horses With Miss Daisy, David, Theo & Ruby

I am once again back at an Internet connection.

Actually when I wrote that previous sentence I was at my mom's, without an Internet connection. But, I thought maybe I would be able to describe my Friday day today and then turn what I typed and the photos I took yesterday into a few blog posts.

The first major event of the day, yesterday, was driving Miss Daisy to an equestrian center in west Chandler.

David, Theo and Ruby were scheduled to do some trail riding, with Miss Daisy, Grandma Janet, Grandpa Gary, Mamas Michele and Kristen, Aunt Jackie and me watching the pre-ride preparation and training inside a corral, before the trio reached a skill level sufficient for the teaching cowgirl to have her horse open the corral gate.

The kids then disappeared into the desert, returning about a half hour later.

That is the corral practice you see at the top, with next photo being the wave goodbye as the trio trotted out into the desert.

There was a moment of high anxiety when one of the Equestrian Center's cowboys took off at high gallop, heading in the direction where we had last seen David, Theo and Ruby disappear into the horizon. And then a few minutes later the trio appeared in the distance, heading our direction. All was well.

Here we see Ruby on top of 27 year old Alice, who was heavy with child.

David rode Butch, named after the Sundance Kid's Cassidy partner in crime.

And then we have Theo on Eyeore. Theo had a little trouble shifting Eyeore out of first gear.

And above we see the  trio as they leave civilization to head out into the wild, with David and Ruby leading Theo and Eyeore.

After the horse portion of the morning was completed it was off to the nearest McDonald's where Aunt Jackie and Uncle Jack had arranged a special McDonald's welcome. We entered McDonald's greeted by Miss Ricki who had Happy Meal boxes filled with every one of the current Happy Meal toys which usually require multiple McDonald's visits to acquire.

Above you see Theo, Ruby, David and Miss Daisy enjoying their Happy Meal toys.

I knew a visit to a Scottsdale Mexican Burrito purveyor was scheduled for later in the day, so I only had myself a limited selection from the McDonald's buffet. A fish sandwich, the new french fries smothered with cheese and bacon option (okay one time, not a second time), with a few random things thrown in, such as some of Miss Daisy's chicken tenders.

I have a lot of blogging material from yesterday. With more incoming from today. But, my current typing position is not conducive to being quick about it. That and I hear a party blaring nearby which requires my attention.

More later...

Driving Miss Daisy To Swim In And Out To Tucson

I have discovered the world's best exercise guaranteed to strain every muscle in ones body to the edge of failure.

Play with three kids in a swimming pool for three hours. Or more.

I'm glad we got mom two transport chairs. I may need to use the second one by tomorrow....

Okay, the above was written yesterday whilst I was still in recovery mode from hours of swimming.

In the photo documentation of this I believe that is David in the foreground, myself on the left, and Theo directly behind me.

Eventually I was sent to Grandma's kitchen to bring back some sort of treat before heading to In 'n Out for a different type treat. The In 'n Out was in Gilbert, a distance from the swimming location in Sun Lakes. David, Theo & Ruby's grandma provided navigation direction to the Gilbert location. Thus adding to the exploration adventure element. Eventually we reached the location we long sought.

Above we are still at the pool in Sun Lakes. You are looking at Ruby, David and Theo's favorite aunt and uncles, Jackie, Jake and myself. Can you tell we are now sunburned?

After getting our fill of burgers, David, Theo and Ruby directed their parental units to a nearby shoe store whilst Miss Daisy directed her driver to head south to Sprouts to get some Irish Soda bread before heading to the Oasis Veterans Park, in Chandler, so David, Theo and Ruby could take turns driving Miss Daisy.

Above that is Theo driving Miss Daisy to the main trail around the Oasis Veterans Park lake, with me providing directional oversight.

David, Theo and Ruby liked visiting the snakes, cougars and bobcats housed in the Oasis Veterans Park Visitors Center. That and finding all the jackrabbits and regular rabbits hopping all around the park, along with the dozens of fishing poles angling at the lake's edge.

Today David, Theo and Ruby had their mother drive Miss Daisy to Tucson to see their other grandma and walk through Tucson's Desert Museum before leaving their non-driving maternal parental unit behind with her parental units.

Aunt Jackie and I are now back in Chandler after doing some extensive area explorations, preparing for tomorrow morning's horse ride. We are currently awaiting the return of Miss Daisy, David, Theo, Ruby and whoever is currently driving Miss Daisy, most likely Mama Michele.

Miss Daisy lost her wi-fi connection since my last Arizona visit. And so my only connection so far with the Internet has been at my current location, at Chandler's Casa Weston.

I went swimming again this morning, eventually with a crowd of a couple dozen Sun Lakes ladies doing their daily water aerobics tuned to loud rock music.

I am liking being back at a location where the air is warm...

Desert Breeze Driving Miss Daisy Railroad To Chandler Vintage Chevys

Miss Daisy is not slowing up on her daily directions to drive Miss Daisy to yet one more new location.

The Miss Daisy energy level today was a bit surprising, what with staying up way past midnight waiting for game three of the World Series to come to an end with a win by the Los Angeles Dodgers over the Boston Red Sox

So today, on this final Saturday of the 2018 version of October, and the last Saturday of this current visit to Arizona, Miss Daisy put on the possibility agenda either going to the Downtown Chandler Vintage Chevy event to look at some old Chevrolets.

Or to another of the Chandler city parks, this time the Desert Breeze Railroad Park.

Riding the Chandler railroad won out as today's first destination. Above you are seeing Big Ed rolling Miss Daisy on one of the paved trails which trail all over this park, and around the Desert Breeze Park lake. In the location of the above photo the train tracks are between the photographer, me, and the train tracks.

Above the photographer, me, is on a grassy knoll, looking down on those aforementioned railroad tracks running along beside the rolling Miss Daisy.

There were a lot of people in the Desert Breeze Park today. Several large pavilions were full of people. From various locations barbecue perfumed the air.

Above Big Ed has left Miss Daisy beside the railroad tracks whilst he skittered off to do something else. The train's driver was hollering "all aboard" which had Miss Daisy thinking she was in danger. I assured Miss Daisy that I would have her out of the way of the approaching train before it arrived at her location.

Upon leaving the Desert Breeze Park Miss Daisy informed the driver she would now like a McDonald's ice cream cone. I said unless there was some objection I would go to the McDonald's on Arizona Avenue, across from Food City.

This met with Miss Daisy's approval.

After the acquisition of the ice cream cones Miss Daisy instructed the driver to drive south on Arizona through Historic Downtown Chandler. Upon reaching that destination it was quickly realized we were at the location of that aforementioned Vintage Chevy event. Traffic was heavy, movement was slow, and so we got a look at the old Chevys from the comfort of the Miss Daisy chariot.

I do not know what Miss Daisy has in mind for tomorrow. But later today my instructions are to return to Casa Daisy to make chicken noodle soup and other stuff for tonight's World Series game.

Have I mentioned I am tired? And that I am looking forward to being back in Texas. Words I never ever thought there would be circumstances arise where I would make such an utterance...

Driving Miss Daisy Around Chandler Veterans Oasis With Snakes

On this last Friday of October, also the last Friday of the current visit to Arizona, Miss Daisy directed her driver to drive her to Chandler's Veterans Oasis Park so as to explore, via paved trail, Chandler's most scenic oasis.

I have seen Veterans memorials in a town or two, but none as well executed as Chandler's. Chandler's is well designed, well executed and, unlike other such things I have seen in some other towns, not a mish mash of bad ideas borne of a committee decision which probably should have just been left on the drawing board with no money wasted.

The Chandler Veterans Oasis is stocked with a variety of fish, such as rainbow trout and channel catfish, and others I do not remember.

During Miss Daisy's drive around the Oasis we came upon many people with poles in the water. Such as the group you see above. None whom we queried were able to tell us of any fish catching luck.

The water in the Oasis is reclaimed for irrigation type use, and thus not suited for drinking. Or swimming, though no NO SWIMMING signs were seen. The water in the Oasis is clear, allowing fish to be seen swimming in search of a hook.

The area you see above is at the west end of the Oasis, with the trail leading to a large building housing the Veterans Oasis Park Environmental Education Center. In that building we saw a couple large live snakes and a live tarantula, along with multiple deceased, stuffed critters, such as a mountain lion, a bobcat and a desert fox.

Before today's trip to the Chandler Oasis Spencer Jack and Henry's grandpa Jake came to Sun Lakes for an early swim with his favorite brother. And then it was on to Miss Daisy where we made breakfast, whilst Jake pruned the orange tree.

After the Oasis visit Miss Daisy directed the driving to take us to the Arizona Avenue version of Costco for Costco free sample lunch, then to WinCo, then back home, where we left Miss Daisy rocking in her favorite chair. We will be returning in a couple hours for Miss Daisy's World Series Pizza and Chicken Party.

Anyone who actually knows me knows how excited I am to be attending this. I'm told the game can last three hours. Or longer. I shall bring diversions.

And below is a video I YouTubed of Miss Daisy's drive around the Chandler Oasis....

Dreamy Draw Hiking Miss Daisy In & Out Up Piestewa Peak

Today, on this final Thursday of this visit to Arizona, Miss Daisy wanted to do some mountain hiking in the Phoenix Mountain Preserve, specifically at the Dreamy Draw section of the Phoenix Mountain Preserve, located on the north side of Piestewa Peak, which was our mountain hiking destination.

The paved trail leading from the parking lot was just a little steep. I was a slightly concerned about the going back downhill part of this hike.

But, Miss Daisy's new wheels have sturdy handbrakes which made for a safe descent.

For the most part.

Sand on the cement made for some slipping issues, both in uphill and downhill mode, but nothing too tragic.

I think Miss Daisy enjoyed her mountain outing a lot. Even more than the Walmart racing we did yesterday.

After hiking Miss Daisy directed the driver to continue on the 51 freeway, eventually exiting at Shea Boulevard, to Scottsdale Boulevard, and eventually Loop 202, where Miss Daisy directed the driver to go west on 202, but the driver rebelled and went east on 202, to 101, telling Miss Daisy he misunderstood her directions, that and the 101 is a straight shot south to Chandler Boulevard and the In & Out burger joint Miss Daisy wanted to go to.

When In & Out opened in Fort Worth I went with Big Ed to its West Seventh Street location for a Double Double Combo. I had been saying since 2004 that In & Out makes the best burger ever, having had two in Tempe in February of that year.

So, we had the Fort Worth In & Out Double Double, with fries. And it was not good. Not good at all. I did not concede to Big Ed that I also thought the Fort Worth version was bad, told him he had poorly developed tastebuds.

And now today Big Ed finally had an Arizona In & Out Double Double. And it was as bad as the Fort Worth experience. Super messy, and the fries seemed of the frozen sort we had had in Fort Worth. Barely edible, and so we ate few. And poor ol' Miss Daisy. She gave up trying to consume her Double Double in the conventional way and instead opted to deconstruct it for piece by piece consumption.

Last February Miss Daisy and I Double Doubled and Fried at this same In & Out and it was good, real good. So, I am thinking there is something wrong with Big Ed which causes problems with In & Out when he is in those burger's vicinity.

We are taking Miss Daisy swimming this afternoon. She has already been asking what we get to do tomorrow. I'm exhausted. Am looking forward to being back in Texas where I can relax.

And below is a short video I YouTubed of today's hike with Miss Daisy. In the video I can not remember the Dreamy Draw name of the location...

Driving Miss Daisy To Gilbert Arizona Temple With Costco Bumps

Sunday morning, on the way to Santan Village in Gilbert, Miss Daisy directed the driver to drive to the site of the Gilbert Arizona Temple, an edifice erected by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Mormon presence looms large in the Valley of the Sun.

I first saw this particular temple under construction way back in 2012. The finished product is an impressive piece of church architecture.

Wikipedia has a short article about the Gilbert Arizona Temple which elaborates on details about how it came to be at this location and in this shape.

After driving around the temple Miss Daisy directed the driver to drive across the Loop 202 freeway to Costco, which Miss Daisy determined was too busy to stop at. The followup directions directed the driver deeper into Santan Village, which then had Miss Daisy declaring she had never been at this location previously.

Leaving Santan Village Miss Daisy directed the driver to head west on Williams Field Road, which becomes Chandler Boulevard when it enters Chandler, and soon arrives at the heart of Chandler, that being the city center Old Town zone of Chandler.

The driver on his own initiative turned north on Arizona Avenue, heading to another Costco, at which we had shopped two days prior. Soon thereafter Miss Daisy claimed she had never been on this road, that there was no Costcos on this road and that she had no idea where her driver was driving her.

A couple minutes later the driver pulled into the Costco parking lot, which had Miss Daisy claiming she had never been at that Costco, and that she thought the driver was talking about a Costco on the corner.

What corner? the driver asked.

I don't know said Miss Daisy.

Soon we found ourselves inside Costco loading up on Kirkland bottled water, cookies, tomatoes and pizza.

The driver then returned Miss Daisy to her current home base and then returned to his own home base where he is currently typing and counting the days until he is back to relatively peaceful Texas...

Apache Trail Driving Miss Daisy To Tortilla Flats With Linda Lou & Big Ed

If you have not had yourself a mighty fine time in Arizona driving Miss Daisy's special wheels on the Apache Trail, you are really missing something.

In this particular photo documentation you see the moment Miss Daisy arrived in Tortilla Flats.

A somewhat large crowd of tourists cheered as Miss Daisy rolled into town.

The road to Tortilla Flats has been repaved since I last drove it in 2012. It is so smooth now it is like self motoring on a roller coaster of ups and downs, twists and turns and sharp drop offs.

Some with guard rails.

With ongoing narration from Big Ed, with the multi purpose of distracting Linda Lou from panic attacks and distracting me from being annoyed at the constant demands from Miss Daisy.

Linda Lou has some sort of aversion to mountain type roads which traverse cliffs with other drama inducing features. At one point Big Ed asked Linda Lou if one of her multiple doctor degrees was a PhD in Animated Whinology.

This seemed amusing at the time and still seems slightly amusing the day after the screaming abated.

Soon upon arrival Miss Daisy had us roll her wheels into the Superstition Saloon and Restaurant where Miss Daisy opted not to drink beer whilst sitting on one of the saloon's horse saddle stools whilst pondering the menu.

No, I do not think, for sure, that that is Big Ed and Linda Lou on the right side of the group of horse saddle sitting beer sippers. But it looks as if it may be them.

The walls of the Superstition Saloon are plastered with money, mostly American dollar bills, with occasional  currency from other nations. Above we are looking at Linda Lou, back at the dining room table, looking at a wall of money, and the dead bat dangling overhead.

Above you are looking the result when Linda Lou asked a fellow tourist, I think she was Australian, if she could take time out from enjoying her delicious Prickly Pear Gelatto to take a group photo.

That would be Linda Lou, me and Big Ed in the back, which would make that Miss Daisy hitting the brakes on her wheels.

After this photo was taken Linda Lou led us into the aforementioned gelatto purveyor's location where cold confections were acquired for all but myself.

After multiple inquiries, from multiple Tortilla Flats locals, about how scary the next section of the Apache Trail was in actual fact, the consensus was that, even though the next five miles are now paved, it is still not for the faint of heart with fear of heights.

And so Linda Lou allied with Miss Daisy to forbid any further exploration of the Apache Trail.

So, it was back to civilization, soon arrived at, where surface roads were mostly used for a lengthy torment which included eventually reaching Little Mexico, also known as the little town of Guadalupe, followed a few minutes later by being back at home base in Sun Lakes.

This morning brought an adventurous return of Linda Lou to Sky Harbor Airport. I did not realize the freeways would be so busy at five in the morning.

Or that Miss Daisy would get up before five to call and insist on riding along to the airport.

Have I mentioned I am looking forward to being back in Texas? Words two decades ago no amount of imagination could have conjured imagining what might cause me to utter such a declaration...

Driving Miss Daisy's Bank Tank Kini Dillards Fashion Mall Chariot Excursion

It is only an hour or two past noon and I have already had myself yet one more mighty fine busy day driving Miss Daisy around to various Arizona locations.

This morning began with Miss Daisy joining me for pool time where once again she was asked why she was not in a swimming suit, with the most pointed asking coming from my favorite nonagenarian, Philamina, whom we call Miss Phil.

After swimming, prior to being allowed to return to where my regular clothes are located, Miss Daisy directed me to drive to her bank, and then McDonald's, where we could find Sausage McMuffins with Egg.

Miss Daisy's directions to her bank soon went awry. Eventually it was realized, after passing McDonald's, that we had somehow missed the bank. So, we turned around and eventually found the bank on the opposite side of the street Miss Daisy had said it was on.

Miss Daisy directed me to one of the bank's ATMs. I parked. Miss Daisy gave me her bank card and told me the secret four digit code by which one was allowed to conduct Miss Daisy's bank business.

I stuck the card in the appropriate ATM slot, then, when asked to, I entered that four digit secret code, after which the ATM told me the four digit secret code was incorrect and that the transaction was being cancelled for security reasons.

Back in Miss Daisy's mechanized chariot I gave her the rejected card and proceeded east on Riggs to that aforementioned McDonald's and its Sausage McMuffins with Egg.

At some point, in the short distance to McDonald's, Miss Daisy somehow lost the bank card I had just handed her. I told her not to worry, we would find it, it had to be in the vehicle.

Parking at McDonald's I went inside to get those McMuffins. Miss Daisy continued to search for the missing card.

When I returned with the McMuffins Miss Daisy directed me to head to her home base, which I did, whilst we consumed those McMuffins.

Back at home we forensically deconstructed Miss Daisy's purse and the billfold device inside the purse, in which she was sure she had stuck the bank card.

I made a pile of the 1's, 5's and 20's. And the various cards. There were a lot of cards. At one point I removed a small bright red zippered purse-like thing. Miss Daisy said that was of no import.

I continued to look, to no avail. At one point apparently I got into a forbidden zone in the larger purse, when I discovered some folded large bills of the 100 dollar sort.

Just as I was beginning to be just a bit frustrated Miss Daisy unzipped that aforementioned small red purse and to her wondering eyes what appeared?

Yes. The missing bank card. Which was also red. Bright red.

Miss Daisy then remembered this was where she kept the bank card, so she could remember where it was amongst all her other cards.

With that crisis over Miss Daisy directed me to drive to the Chandler Fashion Center Mall. I soon found myself pushing Miss Daisy's manually operated chariot over all levels of that HUGE mall.

At one point I was more than a little shocked when Miss Daisy indicated she wanted to go into Dillards.

To shop for a swimming suit.

I soon found myself in situations I never envisioned being in. Asking Dillard's people where the women's swimming suits were located. The location was on another floor, so we were directed to the special elevator for those who are transported via wheeled chariots.

Upon finding the swimming suits I found myself telling the Dillard's swimming suit section lady that we where shopping for a swimming suit for my mom. We were quite excited because the swimming suits were 40% off. The saleslady advised that something called a tank-kini (no idea how to spell this) was likely the best choice.

Unless Miss Daisy would prefer a one piece or a two piece bikini type.

We went with the tank-kini option after learning these were much easier to put on, compared to a one piece. We quickly ruled out the bikini option.

The swimming suit Miss Daisy picked out cost $71, after that 40% discount. What a bargain. And it looked and fit so nice.

We shall see if I am able to get a photo of Miss Daisy at the pool in her new swimming suit before I head back to Texas on Saturday.

At the top that is Miss Daisy in the Chandler Fashion Center, heading towards a giant mural of what looked like a Grand Canyon image.

Tomorrow Sister Jackie is taking me and Spencer Jack's grandpa surfing in Scottsdale. I do not know if I will be able to photo document this desert experience. The waves are reportedly Pacific ocean worthy....

Jeremy Driving Miss Daisy To Arizona Arby's Atom Bomb

Monday night my favorite nephew Jeremy showed up for his regularly scheduled date with grandma, also known as Miss Daisy.

I go along for the weekly drive to the drive through through one of the neighborhoods many fast food joints for some counter balance to the healthy stuff we consume during the rest of the week.

For tonight's fast food Jeremy drove Miss Daisy and me north on Alma School Road to the fast food joint known as Arby's.

Ever since I have been in Arizona I have been seeing an Arby's TV ad touting two Arby's Beef Bacon Cheddar concoctions. On TV the ad man has Donald Trump hands, making the Beef Bacon Cheddar concoctions look enormous.

In reality the Arby's Beef Bacon Cheddar concoctions turned out to be a fraction of the gargantuan concoctions shown on TV. With hard chunks of bacon instead of strips. And the melted orange stuff may have been cheese. With a few slices of what appeared to be a beef-like product.

Did that aforementioned Donald Trump sign one of those executive orders he is so fond of signing, reversing yet one more American regulation?

Like truth in advertising?

Anyway, Jeremy is an excellent Miss Daisy chauffeur. Unlike when Jeremy's mother is Miss Daisy's chauffeur, when Jeremy is the driver I am able to relax and enjoy the scenery without feeling the need to keep a close eye on the driver.

Heading back home with our bagful of Arby's, clouds appeared to the east. Monsoon clouds. One of which looked like what I imagine an atom bomb looks like if one were to see such a thing actually explode.

I am fairly certain tonight is the last time I will ever be having myself anything from Arby's. Don't get me started on the curly fries...