Day 6 - Prescott, AZ to Paradise Valley, AZ

[Prescott, AZ to Paradise Valley, AZ] We just have to suppose that every single Comfort Inn in the country now comes with a complimentary breakfast that includes malted waffles! What a great idea....for the waffle maker / ingredient maker. Though, John claims they are really yummy. He brings his own peanut butter for them. Guess what Linda had for breakfast? No prize involved...

We checked out just after 9:13a.m. and headed off for Linda to attempt finding two Prescott letterboxes. One was on the town square with the old courthouse. It consisted of a series of four clues. John and Maggie parked and let Linda off (in front of a crepe restaurant that sold espresso drinks). While Linda went merrily on her search, John got himself a "pick-me-up" (large mocha with extra shot).

Twenty, or so, minutes later, Linda returned. She found the location but could not locate a letterbox in the prickly juniper. The clue said thigh high. OK, whose thigh? Not Linda's or anybody taller or shorter than her, that she could tell. John assured her that someone must have taken it, because if it was there, she would have found it! Linda still enjoyed the clues and was able to see an interesting sculpture of Bucky on his horse. Across the square we saw a coffee named after him.

The next letterbox was in the Native Pioneers Home Cemetary (supposedly) near the grave of Big Nose Kate. Kate was the sometime girlfriend of Doc Holliday (of OK Corral fame). Now this one was tough. First you had to find the grave of Big Nose Kate (Katherine Cummings). Then you had to do some compass work based on a tree stump across the road from the Civil War Memorial. Problem was neither John or Linda could see a stump. So, they just assumed where the stump should have been and did the compass work from there. Finally, Linda said, "I give up"! Off to Phoenix. But she still enjoyed seeing some interesting graves.

Now, when we say Phoenix, that is techincally incorrect. Linda's sister actually lives in Paradise Valley, AZ which is a town in the Phoenix area. However, Wilma's nav system was not set for Gloria's house. It was set for Pancho's Mexican Buffet. The Pancho's in Phoenix is the western-most of the restaurants. There are, sadly, none in California. Even more sadly, there are none in the vicinity of Morgan Hill. It is one of our favorite Mexican restaurants and we haven't been to one in thirty, count 'em, thirty long years! It is truly a buffet, but cafeteria style. You go through the line and tell them how many of what items you want. The variety is huge! Chile Relleno (with cheese sauce), green and red tamales, flautas, taquitos, chimichangas, red chile, green chile, Mexican vegetables, four different enchiladas (red, chicken, cheese, sour cream), beef and chicken tacos. On each table is a stand with a flagpole and small flag of Mexico. When you need a refill, you just raise the flag and a server takes your request and fetches more food or drink for you. When you are about done with your meal, the server offers you a basket of sopapillas (fried fluffly pillows) and a bottle of honey. The sopapillas are full of holes. So, you bite off a corner and fill the thing with honey. Then consume. All this for less than $8.00 a head. The trick is to not eat for a day before going to Pancho's!

After being wheelbarrowed back to our vehicle (did we mention how nice the servers are?) we drove to Gloria's. Time for Maggie to meet Misty, their Soft Coated Wheaton Terrier. Misty is a rescue dog that they have had for about three months. We carefully planned to introduce them outside of the home so Misty wouldn't feel threatened or "put upon". It went pretty good at first. Misty likes to romp, Maggie doesn't. Misty doesn't like it if Gordon shows another dog any attention (which he was careful not to do). The real problem arose when Gloria and Linda went into the bedroom where we would be staying. This is the bedroom where Gordon usually sleeps and where Misty stays. Now, Maggie was tagging along with Linda and Misty was following behind. Misty jumped on the bed and Gloria made her get down. Within a few seconds, Misty attacked Maggie (what do you think you're doing in MY room? I'm going to kill you!) And, so she tried. Gloria got Misty off of Maggie as quickly as she could.

It wasn't until later that night that Linda noticed that Maggie was shaking more than she'd ever seen before. Upon examination, Linda found some puncture wounds. That night, Maggie hunkered in the back of her doggie crate with her face on her paws and didn't even touch the treats laid before her. We decided that first thing Friday morning we will take her to the vet, one recommended by friends of Gloria's who know him and have had animals cared for by him.

This was really no one's fault. It was just an unfortunate incident brought about by bringing two animals together. For the two old buzzards and Maggie, it is a road tripping life lesson.... don't stay where you have to live with other animals.

No pictures for today. But, future postings will have pictures of Pancho's Mexican Buffet fare. Just wait!