The Adventures of Fric and Frac: Adventure 112: Valley of the Sun RV Park/Marana, AZ/Post A

Fric, clean and cheery!

No tale has more woe than that of Juliet and her Romeo. My so called anchor clanking, deck swabbing, backsliding, cheater butting, oyster-eyed, wily cagering Hunny Bunny made no sacrifice even close to sweet Juliet's sipping on a little arsenic (Let alone a knife to the gullet). No! She fed me the whole poisonous bottle in tiny doses of twos and fours while she amassed large chunks of sweet nectar in the form of twelves and sixteens. Need I say that the cruel fates have star crossed my arse with a big L for loser, and worse, the overall score is now tied. First thing on tomorrow's agenda is a trip to the Family Dollar store for a fresh deck of cards: That'll put a Capulet into her Montague! Although I was in a dazed state of mourning, our trip to Tucson was uneventful. The valley of the sun is just that. The clouds that hung overhead yesterday were mere memories here. Right now, as I type this (7:07 P.M.), it's still hovering just under seventy degrees. I can see why so many people come here for the winter. The RV park in Marana is in the lower third of the places we've stayed in terms of ambience, but the infrastructure works, and we're inside a half hour to Tucson, which like most of these Western towns, stretches for a long piece along both sides of the freeway, and almost everywhere you look there are houses the color of sand set among the Saguaro cacti (Which are way cool, by the way). After we set up, Judy did the laundry (Significantly, we changed from flannel to cotton sheets), and I cleaned all three bikes, which was sorely needed. As a side note, so far we needn't have brought the two single bikes, but California still lies in front of us, so maybe we'll make use of them yet. After our housekeeping chores, we did what we always do. We went exploring to get our bearings. On the way, we almost jumped the divider when we saw an IN-N-OUT burger stand, so after cruising around for a while, and after washing Fric, we smashed a very good version of the best fast food burger in the country (In my opinion) down our gullets in a time that would make a Nathan's Coney Island Hot Dog contestant proud. Though unhealthy, the friendly serotonin producing lump in my gullet makes me glad to be an overfed American. I had my first IN-N-OUT burger in Pasadena, CA at the original outlet back in the early seventies. I still remember sidling up to the outdoor movie theater squawk box, placing my order, and not three minutes later, having a brown paper bag handed to me out the window. By the time Doug Perry, an LA boy giving tours, pulled out into traffic, I had chomped my first bite: Hot and delicious. The trick that IN-N-OUT uses that seems so simple is that they place their burgers inside a half sack (Like a cupcake wrapper). This prevents the juices from getting all over you as you drive and eat at the same time (And they say texting is distracting). Everyone knows that burgers are best right off the griddle, so the convenience of a drip free presentation is superb. Of course, IN-N-OUT also never freezes its burger and always cooks fresh fries to order. Their motto is quality you can taste. I guess that's why after the first store opened in 1948, they kept on replicating themselves. Now, they have multiplied like exotic mushrooms and extend from Southern California into the depths of Arizona. Just plain salivating, and not for the timid, the calorie conscious, or anyone dieting either. This meal is a smash mouth frenzy of at least 1,500 calories. And by this meal I mean the double meat, double cheese (Sliced Kraft American) and fries. Oh, my, if I don't quit writing, I'll have to go back out tonight to repeat the decadence, but since we'll be here a week, I just console myself with the fact that life is good, especially today.

Home Sweet Home for the next week or so (It will look better with the awning out).

The view from our living room (We may keep the curtains closed).

The view to the east. I think these are the Rincon Mountains.

Just fifty miles away and maybe less than that, these Saguaros don't grow. In this valley, they are everywhere. There is even a National Park we plan to visit which celebrates these magnificent plants.