RC Flying at Palm Creek

Rick has flown RC aircraft for many years and was very happy to learn that Palm Creek RV park has their own RC field right in the park. The club members fly only electric aircraft, but there is a very wide variety of planes and helicopters being flown.


Rick's favorite aircraft is called a Slo Stick and is very maneuverable, light, yet inexpensive. I have a small, but powerful electric brushless motor installed that will pull this plane literally straight up! I also added ailerons which allow the plane to perform much better in rolling maneuvers.
This shows the Slo Stick, radio and Li-Ion batteries. These batteries allow flights of 20+ minutes, at which point you can change batteries and fly again. This type of plane is perfect for the fulltime RVer!

Here is a model of a Corsair model that flew very well. I would say that about 40% of the models are scale types (models of a specific, real aircraft), while the rest are models of all different kinds. One guy even has a ducted fan electric "jet" which is a spectacular performer. If you get a chance, give this hobby a try!

Cody Visits the Dog Play Yards in Palm Creek

Palm Creek is a very nice RV park and has done many things quite well. One thing that we have really appreciated is the creation of a pet area and a non- pet area. The pet area has about 1000 sites and constitutes about half the park. This is a very large area and you are welcome to walk your pet anywhere in the pet zone. They even have special Dog "pot" receptacles to deposit dog waste (and provide new bags to pick up the waste). These are emptied daily and as a result, it is very rare to see any dog refuse around.


Cody might be an oldtimer, but he loves the dog play yards at the park. In fact, he tries to pull us to the yard to go play. When he gets to go, he plays like a puppy! On of his favorite activities is to play with the other dogs. Since he is bigger than most of them, he will lie on his back to play at their level:

It is really amazing how well all the dogs play together and it is very rare to have any disagreement.

Here are a couple of Cody's pal who are thrilled to see him when he comes to the yard.

It is a Slow Season in Arizona this Year

We are now approaching the peak of the winter season here in Arizona, and I was interested in how full the Palm Creek RV Park was going to become. However, it seems that given the economic situation, a number of folks have not made the trip. Indeed, I was surprised to see quite a few empty sites in our park in February. Here, you can see a couple streets down from us where there are quite a few open sites. You can also see that the sites are very wide and level -- a nice place to stay!

Here is another view of a group of empty sites. Some of these fill up for a few days, but then the folks move on.

Speaking of difficult economic times, you have probably heard the term "Toxic Assets" with respect to certain real estate operations. As we tooled around Casa Grande, we were able to see a number of these toxic assets in person. Here is a good example -- the development of Mission Ranch.

As you can see, all the infrastructure for the development is in -- roads, privacy walls, streets, power, water, etc. It is ready to build homes, but unfortunately, the real estate market crashed and the market is stagnant.

The development even built these models, now enclosed in chain link fencing for protection. It is very sad to see these beautiful homes just sitting empty. We have seen quite a few such developments like this -- must be a huge investment that is now in trouble.

Golfing at Palm Creek

Last Saturday, we had the opportunity to play in a couple's golf tournament here at Palm Creek. Since Orinda does not play, I teamed up with Belinda, a neighbor from Canada who lives behind us in their coach, and played. Orinda walked along enjoying the beautiful day.

First, we had to travel from the coach to the course, so used our electric bikes. Rick hooks up his golf cart to the back of the bike as a trailer and tows his clubs down to the course. It is about 3/4 of a mile and a nice ride.

Once we got to the Pro Shop, we signed in, paid our $9.00 green fees (for 9 holes) and did a little practice putting on the very nice putting green. We really like the beautiful surroundings here at Palm Creek and the excellent maintenance that keeps it this way.

Finally, we teed off at the 10th hole to play the back 9. Here, Rick shows how to tee off and hit the ball for the first hole (he hit the green too!).

The couples tournament was a fun event. Both Rick and Belinda teed off, then they had to switch balls and play the other person's drive. So, Rick played Belinda's drive and she played Rick's drive. This lead to some very interesting shots! Fortunately, we both did reasonably well, but there were several exciting moments.

The back 9, known as the Creek Nine at Palm Creek is a part of 18 holes of beautiful golf that is challenging and lots of fun to play. This is the tee box on hole 13, 174 yards over the water and the large sand trap. This is a very interesting hole -- sometimes you do well, other times -- opps!

This is our team during the tournament -- we did well, but placed fourth. Not to bad and a fun day.

Caleb's First Birthday and Visiting around Palm Creek

Caleb turned 1 on Saturday and REALLY liked ice cream with wipped cream as you can see. I think he is wearing about as much as he ate. 

Here he is getting ready for the big party. He can really drink quite a bit, but of course that soon results in a diaper change!

Caleb liked Cody and was really interested in him. He especially liked to pull Cody's ears and Cody did not seem to mind (he is a nice old dog!). 

We did quite a bit of walking around Palm Creek and Caleb liked seeing the many dogs. Here, we say hello to Lilly, a wonderful West Highland Terrier. She is a very friendly dog and likes everyone.

Here is the team ready to go. Rick, Cody and Caleb set for a tour of the park. 

Around Palm Creek~

We had some great visitors lately at Palm Creek! Rick took George golfing and Cindy and Caleb helped in the caddy role. The course is beautiful and lots of fun to play, although George learned about the challenge of golf today!

George thought it looked really easy on TV!

Caleb is ready to go. Tiger Woods, look out! 

Here is real trouble. Orinda, George, Caleb, Cindy, Erica and the Wonder Dog, Cody, walking up to our rig.

Golf is not the only thing to do at Palm Creek. Rick and Orinda tried lawn bowling as well. This is surprisingly difficult and interesting since the balls ("bowls") have a built in bias that causes it to break and curve as it is rolled. 

Rick found it fun, but challenging to do well.

We have 

Caleb Arrives at the Coach!

I have been pretty slack in posting to the blog because we have had a great time and been very busy here at Palm Creek. I will try to make up for my poor posting from now on, but no real promises. 

Orinda is one happy camper since we visited Bob and Kum cha today and picked up a very active and happy Caleb! He is doing great and is very busy. He will be staying with us for the next few days and Bob will pick him up again on Friday (and also he and Kum cha will join me for a round of golf). Orinda is very happy to be Grandma and have her grandson over for a visit. Cody and I are second (or third) fiddle for sure.

Caleb is a wonderful little boy that is interested in everything. Cody seems to really like him (and Caleb is thrilled with the dog). I think Caleb will be doted on by every grandmother in the park (and there are alot of them!).