Integration

I admire people who have this effortless way of integrating themselves into a local community, and Tom McCloud is one of those people.  Every time we come to visit Tom and Darlene we are introduced to new people in the community that he has met, and befriended.   He reminds me an awful lot of my father, who was the same way with people.  I have tried to emulate my father over the years, and have found when I get outside my comfort zone that I meet some amazing people......and that is actually how I met Tom originally.

The large barn Tom is building revolves around his love of Newell Motorcoaches and their owners.  When it is finished up to 5, or 6 Newells, or large Class A coaches could be parked here on his property with access to 30 amp, 50 amp, water and sewer.  He has unofficially named the structure "Newell House".  I spent part of the morning with Tom helping him place the outdoor sewer connections for those who will come to visit him in the future.

Around 11:30 TLE and I decided to take a 40 minute walk into the surrounding desert......there is a lot of open land here.....

We found a 'horse track' to follow into the desert

Even a mile out the 'Newell House' serves as a landmark to guide us back

We ended up walking just over 2 miles in 40 minutes.....we needed to be back by 12:30 to take a ride with Tom up to a rental property he owns to check on repairs to the master bath shower........it was about an hour drive across the 'Valley of the Sun' to the property, and in all we were gone for 4 hours.  We picked up a very interesting guy named Chuck who is a new friend of Tom's who is an expert in tile and its installation who offered to give Tom some advice on installing new tile in the rental property master bath shower, which involved a stop off at a ginormous warehouse that sells only tile.  

By the the time we returned 'home' it was after 5:30, and we only had about 40 minutes until we were to leave to go to dinner with more friends of Tom......Ron and Bridgette, who live just a few 'blocks' from Tom.  Our destination?  The Road Runner Steakhouse and Bar over in New River.....I had no idea it was half way to Prescott......:-)  Every Friday night is "All You Can Eat Fish Fry" night.  We arrived a little after 7 pm, and within minutes we had our first plate of fish and chips before us......and it was very, very good (he said whilst wiping drool away from the corner of his mouth).  Frankly, I was stuffed after the first plate so did not order anymore, but a few people at our table did.  It is a very funky, rustic place out in the middle of no where, but definitely worth the drive.  Yelp, Trip Advisor and Urban Spoon give them ratings from 3.5 to 4 stars, and I think that is about right.  On Friday nights they have a live band out on the heated patio, and during the day on the weekends you have access to 'beach volleyball' courts, and horseshoe pits, so it is an interesting place.

'Road Runner' at night (picture courtesy of Yelp)

We were home by 9:30 and spent the rest of the evening sitting around an outdoor fire roasting marshmallows (me) and making 'smores'.

 A nice way to end the day of 'driving'

Another day well lived, and more interesting people met......thank you Tom, and thanks for stopping by!