The Adventures of Me & My Shadow #8 in AZ 1/27/98
Hi Everyone!, From Peoria, AZ - at the NW edge of Phoenix. This
is the life! Good weather (high temp. 60 to lower 70s - low temp.
40 to 50), Good roads (except in Texas), Good food, Good friends
& relatives to visit. A fun motorhome to drive with good navigators
(Gertrude & Gus) and Mike has fixed me up with a place to
park with AC power & phone line and even makes a car available
to me. Best of all - NO SNOW. Nebraska was never like this.
About two weeks ago Mike took me out to the Palo Verde power plant
were he has worked since it was built. It is the largest producer
of electricity in the nation by about two million megawatts. They
have tighter security than Fort Knox, he got me through all the
check points and gave me a tour that even included the control
room, this place is BIG. There are three reactors running at 100%
power most of the time. Each reactor has two BIG (V20 cylinder
about 20 inches in diameter) diesel engines for emergency power
to shut down the reactor in an emergency. The diameter of the
steam pipes going to the turbines can be measured in feet instead
of inches. Same thing for the shaft for the turbines and generator.
I see in the control room they constantly monitor the vibration
and temperature of each of the bearings on this shaft. The steam
pop off valve is so large if it ever popped off you could probably
hear it in Nebraska. I did see one thing that made me wonder,
it was some stainless steel vats in the corner of one room. They
looked a lot like those vats in that restaurant in Boise, ID that
makes their own beer. I think they call it a mini brewery. I asked
Mike about those vats and he said something about chemicals to
purify the water. I still think it wouldn't take long to turn
out a batch of beer with them.
Last weekend Ron & Connie & family took me to Lake Havasu
to visit Bob & Norma, they were going on to Las Vegas and
Hoover Dam. I had a nice visit and enjoyed the over 70 degree
weather (the map on TV showed Nebraska with about 20 degrees).
I went to a very large flea market with Bob, looked like everyone
had something to sell. Ron & Connie came back on Sat. and
we headed back to Phoenix on Monday. Down by Quartzite I saw acres
& acres of RVs camping out on the desert, I suppose many of
them were from Nebraska enjoying the warm weather.
The more time I spend in metro Phoenix the better I like it. It
is bigger than I imagined it to be by seeing it on the map. It
is well laid out and easy to maneuver in with a good distribution
of the essential businesses. The streets are in pretty good shape
and traffic is well controlled but could be better. The rush hours
are almost as bad as So. Calif., more express ways are being planned
to handle the load.
I finally ran out of oranges and grapefruit that I got from Dick
& Janet Headley in Sarasota, FL those were the best oranges
I have ever eaten some of them as big as grapefruit. If it weren't
for the storms between here and there I would head back to Sarasota
for more. I did supplement them with some grapefruit from a small
tree in Ron & Connie's back yard. I hope the oranges are still
in season when I get to Bessie's in West Covina next month.
I have been having a heck of a time trying to come up with a format
for an e-mail attachment of this letter that can be read by everyone.
It seems that those with America On Line are having the most trouble.
I will send this one as an e-mail message by copying it from Word
Pro and pasting it onto the e-mail screen. If this works it should
solve the problem.
Janet told me that she almost deleted my letter when she was deleting
all the junk mail on AOL. With Hotmail I can put a block on all
the junk mail addresses that I don't want to see. Mike found a
way to do it in AOL but you have to select each address you want
to block. It seems like some of the junk mail comes from a different
address each time so this can be a problem. I don't see all the
junk mail on hotmail that is on AOL so if you are tired of junk
mail you might consider switching to hotmail. The advertising
on hotmail don't bother me as much as all the advertising on AOL
and I don't have all the junk mail.
I have dental appointments for Feb. 3rd & 11th and I see the
cardiologist on the 5th. If the dentist don't take all my money
I'll then head for San Diego and all points north in Calif. so
if you have an orange tree please save me a few.
If you receive this letter by slow mail and have an e-mail address
please let me know I may have lost your e-mail address. If you
get it via e-mail and can't read it, keep after me till I get
it right. I'm still learning.
Till next time, Dallas, or Dad if it fits.