Scottsdale & Fountain Hills

Today is our last night here in McDowell Mountain.

I was only able to get 4 nights here - I need to reserve earlier to

get such a prime spot for longer.

Yesterday we had to run some errands down in the Phoenix Metro.

We hit Camping World, Trader Joes, Home Depot, and

Sur La Table to name a few.

I shot this picture with the iPhone while driving just to give you

an idea as to what the area looks like.

That picture was taken on E Mountain View Drive in Scottsdale 

which is a beautiful town with just about every type of shopping imaginable.

Its hard to believe that you are in the middle of the Sonoran Desert with

all the wonderful greenery.

Last night and this morning I did some minor modifications to the Monty.

I added some 12v LED Rope light under the kitchen & bathroom counters

and mounted a separate on/off switch for each.

It was a modification that our friends Jim & Vickie had made in their

Monty and I really felt it added to the livability of the RV.

The energy efficient LEDs cast a nice warm glow at night and use only

about 1 amp of power.  Power consumption is always important to us since

we spend a lot of time running off the batteries and solar.

In the bathroom I mounted a switch right by the door from the bedroom.

That way if one of us makes a late night run to the head the light switch is

conveniently placed and the gentle light is enough to see what you are doing

yet not so bright to wake anyone up.

The Stainless Steel light switches that I used:

Note - my switch is level - the factory outlet is crooked.

One more example of the shoddy workmanship in the Montana.

In my mind it all about the details...

Today we headed into the town of Fountain Hills - just 10 minutes away - to

take the Doodles for a walk around the famous fountain.

Fountain Hills is a great town. 

It is just outside of the Phoenix Metro in the extreme NE corner yet seems

a world away from the hustle and bustle of the big city.

The fountain park is a great place to stretch the legs and wear the dogs out

and it seems that much of the town comes out on Sunday to do the same.

The fountain goes off every hour on the hour

It shoots over 100' into the air.

At one time it was the highest fountain in the world.

We can see the fountain out the back window of the Monty.

It is like our silent companion when we visit this town.

Now we are back home and the Doodles are passed out on their beds….  nice!

Here is a final view of our backyard. 

The Gentle lighting brings out the subtle colors and textures of

the Sonoran Desert plant life.

Such a beautiful place...

I really need to schedule better so that we can spend enough time here

to take advantage of all that this park has to offer.

Tomorrow (Monday) we move about 50 miles to the extreme NW Corner of

the Phoenix Metro to Lake Pleasant Regional Park.

You might remember that we were there this past November when we

bought the Dog House.

We have one of the best spots in Lake Pleasant this time and we will be

there from Monday thru Friday.

Saturday we will move to Quartzsite for the big snowbird nesting

in the desert.

A big thanks to all of you who leave comments or reply to the

email delivery of the blog.

We love to hear from you and it's great to know that you are enjoying following

the travels.

See you down the road.