Hilton Garden Inn Scottsdale

... visiting. It's great to see an old friend with a great family, but it also makes you reflect. It was the first time I really got to play with and study a two year old. And now I know why they say an angel watches over all small children. <br>Erin and I have decided to make our visits more frequent in the future.

We did a bird walk this morning at Veterans Oasis Park, a new reclamation project in Chandler. Reclamation meaning the end product of a waste water treatment facility.<br>We have a fish able lake here with limits and everything, a large wetland and an environmental education center on site.<br>Parks like this are an inspiration in the desert. Take a look at the pictures to see what I mean--would you guess it's genesis?<br><br>When you grow up ...

I know that I have spent some time in previous entries trying to convince all of you that I have turned over a new leaf when it comes to my border-line obsessive planning!! I really do feel that I have made huge strides forward in this endeavor. With that being said I have to now confess that I am back to my 'old' ways. <br><br>We will be spending the winter 'season' in the heavily visited 'snowbird' region of the country. This area encompasses ...

... Home after 4:30 and they had brought my coach back to my site for me. Went in and got it all set up. Then Andrea called to ask me to go the McDonalds for supper. This is their Friday night ritual &#8211; and I joined them, then back here so they could see the motorhome all set up. Last night it was rather crowded with none of the slides out. We will go towards Tupelo MS tomorrow. My internet is acting up and I have not been able to download my caches yet. <br><br>October 17th- a fun ...

... could show the taxi driver, i could have done with one of those in Montreal! Anyhow so everyone was sure to be on time. The landscape changed dramatically from San Diego to Scottsdale as we headed into the dessert. This was a long day on the coach, we didn't have too many days that were spent on the coach but if memory serves right i think this was one of them. We had plenty of stops along the way ...

We started our trip from Tempe, Arizona (see how we currently lived there). Our goal was to find a new life and our destination was the south-west, southeast, and notrth-east sections of the United States.<br><br>So it was time to say our 'Good byes.'

As I sit here in my apartment, home and base of operations in Scottsdale it seems like an eternity before I will begin my journey, yet all of my thoughts and most of my free time are dedicated to the trip. I'm getting organized, doing research, buying gear and establishing this portal which will become my primary connection to the friends and family who care to know what I'm up to. A little about the ...

... laundry-4 loads, got some more library books and home. Mid afternoon we headed out for some caching and did 7 with only one DNF - The Last Namo. (we later found that it was in a tree that has been removed!) We have spent 2 trips and prob an hour looking for this elusive cache! Then of to find a Trader Joes-I know there is one nearer to our house but the Nuvi sent us west quite a ways. They had some mini daffodils-the bloom was only about ¾ inch-so tiny and ...

... the Anaheim Ducks take on the Phoenix Coyotes in a couple of weeks at Jobing.com Arena (funny name, eh?). Our seats are up fairly high, but very close to center ice, so it should be a great view. We took a ride up the Apache Trail toward the Superstition Mountains a couple of weeks ago, so I'll post a few of those pictures here, along with some more of my favorite "sky" shots! Guess that's about all the updates for now.

... Oct. 31st. Fijian time. Look for updates to come, hope all is well. Travel Itinerary below. Sincerely, Ian --------------------------------------- --- Itinerary Fiji - Oct. 31st - Nov. 12th. New Zealand - Nov. 12th - Nov. 28th Australia - Nov. 28th - Jan 2nd. Bali - Jan 2nd - Jan. 17th Hong Kong - Jan 17th - Jan 27th