Radisson Hotel Phoenix Airport/Southbank

... try and dress like the local people. It will be warm there. I'm glad for that as here in Arizona in the desert no less we have had a lot of rain today and a lot of snow in the North. It is just hard to beleive the weather here. Every so often a siginal comes on the TV with a notice of the weather.

... story of how Melissa and her boyfriend were named Homecoming King and Queen of their high school here in Mesa.

Melissa stood up and did her Miss America wave to everyone with this great Daisy smile--
I mean... think Daisy with a red cowboy hat and jeans and you have this girl.

Made me tear up, dang it.

Oh, and when we walked in they gave us each a little gift--me a bright blue boa and Bob a western tie. Oh yea, we were cute. You don't ...

... you know--or FISHERs for crying out loud. It's needed downstream for golf courses n' stuff. Important stuff. Oh, don't get me started.

But that's Roosevelt lake--more of that on another day.

Anytime I'm by water I'm happy, but today, with my toes in the riffles, I'm truly in heaven. I haven't sprung for an Arizona fishing license since we're only here two months, but today just watching the fly fishermen was enough.

It truly is another world down by the water.

... get something, Fred had to go back to Toys R Us to get something, and I volunteered to brave Walmart to get Janine's girls some motorised bikes that were a huge bargain at only $50. By the time Janine and I found the aisle that had the bikes, quite a few people were standing by the pallets which they were stacked on and had claimed 'x' amount for themselves. Janine found a nice young guy and his girlfriend who said that would save us one, and at 4.40am ...

Yummy breakfast this morning with the State of Texas shaped waffles – heh heh. Naturally Fred, Josh & I had to sample them!

Hit the road by 9am and drove straight to Wilcox, Arizona where we had a rather disappointing lunch at a local Burger Joint called 'Carters' – cost us $25 for the four of us, and that was 3 small burgers (tiny by U.S size standards), 2 ...

... and made an illustrious return from that faraway and exotic land. And upon this reflection, I truly appreciate what I have here, and what I have done with my time at home and abroad.

Three weeks on the road in Vietnam is something that I will never forget, and that moment will last forever. Over 2000 km traveled, spanning the northwest mountains to Hanoi to Ha Long Bay, across the central ...

Drive. Departure slightly delayed to get the passenger side window fixed so it would actually close (travel trouble 1). I got a ticket just shy of the state line (travel trouble 2), for 10 over (a conservative estimate). The drive was extremely hot as the temperature rose. Driving through mountains at times, we had to kill the AC to prevent overheating... which did nothing for the temperatures or temperaments inside. In Phoenix ...

... before catching the bus I rang Mum to let her know what I've been doing for the next couple of week we talked for hour and half then I jumped on my bus to Phoenix, it was a three and half hours bus trip to Phoenix which I slept most of it I got to the hostel at 8.30pm check-in and the lady in the hostel was a little nutty but I just went to bed and slept.

... be least expensive to fly from Phoenix, Arizona, to Orlando, Florida, from there on to Toronto, Canada, then to Frankfurt, Germany, then to Madras, India and finally into Bangalore, India. It was a bit of a zig zag route, but saved us a good $1000 in those days. The taxi that took us from our apartments to the airport was a stretch limousine, which did not cost any thing extra, I believe around $30, in those days, but Suzanna was nonetheless impressed by this surprise.