The Blast--Shut Down by the Fire Marshal

Casa Grande, Arizona

I had a couple of calls asking how the Blast was.  Saturday morning it was cloudy and there were sprinkles off and on all day.  

We walked over to the grandstand area for the dinner and to listen to the band.  It's a great place to have happy hour.  Carlena and Harry came over to our coach to watch the show.  They are in the row behind us and didn't have a very good view.  There was no point being outside with bad weather when we had a perfect view from the recliners.

I was unable to get the audio portion on the radio.  After about an hour, everyone started leaving.  Later we found out that there was a traffic accident and the vehicle leaked gasoline.  The fire marshal shut the pyrotechnic show down.  
Sunday morning the weather was much better.  It didn't rain enough the night before to leave any puddles.

I must say that I was extremely disappointed in the meals that were served at the rodeo grounds.  In the past, they were very good and worth the $10.  They were very stingy with the servings.  Jan got four potato chips the size of a half dollar.  The meat on the sandwich was so thin you couldn't see any when the bread was together.  On the plus side, the grounds, showers, and rest rooms were very clean.  The people were friendly.  They closed off the road on the wall side and used the paved road to escort people to their sites.  The staff is very friendly.  The band was very enjoyable.  

Dennis and Carol Hill invited us over for biscuit and gravy breakfast.  He thought it would be nice for the Loosey Goosey bunch to get together.  

It was really fun and informative too.

Everyone was ready to eat at 8:30 except Harry and Carlena weren't there.  I said these people are never late.  It turns out their clocks bounced off the California towers and they were on California time.  

The discussions were all about Alaska.

Dennis convinced us to take our big camera to Alaska.

Mark helped me get my emails on my new phone.

Mark did suggest, I get a real screen saver.

I took this photos for those people that attended in the past.  Closing off this road made a huge difference.

Bill and I went for a walk and we watched the kids sled riding down the sand hill.  I went to get my camera and when I came back there wasn't a kid in sight.

The next thing we knew, it was time for happy hour and to listen to the band.  

The band played and one little girl about two stole the show dancing.

John and Gayle are enjoying the sunshine.  They never seem to get cold.

Carolyn and Craig really enjoyed themselves and they are planning to come back next year.

The Sunday show was spectacular.  Everything that wasn't launched was shown then.  It seemed more fitting that the last show should be the best.

Sunday morning everyone seemed reluctant to leave.  We had originally planned to stop at Quartzite on our way home as we had a picture freeze and a 775 error on our TV one day.  It never did it again so I cancelled the appointment.  Paul of Satellite Advantage suggested I stop anyway as there had to be something wrong.  He said he'd personally check it out for us.  

Don and Sharon wanted something in Quartzite and Carlena and Harry also wanted to stop in Quartzite.  All three of started down the road together.  

Paul changed out two components for us and then started checking things.  At first he though it might be our receiver so he tested it on theirs.  The problem turned out to be a long standing one.  When we first got the coach, we never used satellite in the bedroom.  When we did hook it up, we found that the satellite coax connection didn't work.  

The coach was out of warranty but Montana sent us to a RV repair shop at no cost to us.  At that repair shop, I said if they wanted to run another coax they could install it closer to the TV.  They installed it and it worked fine up until I got the rooftop antenna that gets Direct TV on HD.  Paul was upset about the inferior coax that was used and the way it was done.  He corrected it all for us and never charged us a penny.  I highly recommend Advantage Satellite for any satellites you may use.  He also does work in the Phoenix area.  

We got back to Casa Grande a little after 4.  We picked up Sharon and Don for dinner about 5:30.  They wanted to try Manuel's since Bedillon's is closed on Mondays.  

 It was wonderful being around these two after all they have been through.  Looking forward to seeing them again next month.

Turtle Safely........