TOUR AMERICA, 2019: PHOENIX, ARIZONA – THE GRAND CANYON STATE

Places We Have Called Home In 2019

Home Is Where We Park It:   UMOM New Day Centers, Phoenix 

Dec 20, 2019

Temperature 68 Degrees

We’re Beginning to Believe This Place is Jinxed 

Three Down, Many, Many More To Come We’re Sure

Organ Stop Pizza 

Ah, so nice to just snuggle down under the covers and not have to worry about when we had to get up.  It’s Friday, Project Sixteen is Finished, so we don’t have to worry about getting up and out – at least not until the end of January.

Breakfast was absolutely fantastic!  A big plate of cheese potatoes and a side of spicy Spam.  Yup, they have a new one on the shelf and it’s great.  I added in a glass of orange juice and a couple cups of coffee and I was ready for the day.

What’s that old saying?  If I didn’t have bad luck I would have no luck at all?  Unfortunately, this has been so true of so many here these last three weeks.

To wit.  Last night Bob went and filled his truck up in preparation for moving out.  He filled it with unleaded.  Problem?  His pickup is a diesel.  Repair cost?  $10,000 and down time of about two weeks.  Fortunately, whatever kind of insurance he has it paid for all of it.

Today, Anton and Sandy were flying out to be with family for the Christmas Holidays.  Problem?  He couldn’t leave his 5th wheel here because others would be coming in before he returned.  What to do?.  Move it across the street to a secure, locked UMOM lot.  Unfortunately, the lot was way to short for his truck and trailer.  In the end trying to jockey the rig into the lot he ripped off his patio awning.

So far we have escaped the jinx that seems to be hovering over this place.  To say the least, though, I’m moving very, very cautiously and checking everything twice before I do a thing.

Then there is that other saying If its too good to be true then it probably is.

This is what we went to check out today.  A 2007 Newmar Mountain Air.  The price was much lower than any others I had recently viewed.

We were thrilled with the color.  No accident damage and no delamination.

Then we started looking closer, especially inside.  First knock, old fashioned string blinds

A bad job of throwing in a new TV.  Doesn’t even fit the cabinet.  And oh so small.

A shower enclosure that is so flimsy that it appears in imminent danger of falling down.

Cracked woodwork.  And the list goes on.  Chips in the kitchen counter.  Outdated TV in the back.  No washer and dryer.  Frayed carpeting.  A kitchen cabinet held up by a 2 by 4 bolted to a wall stud.  None of the lights have been converted to LED.  We would have to start at square one with this one if we were to buy it.

Still, I thought I’d take it for a test drive.  That clinched it.  Cross this one off.  It sounded like it was trying to shake itself apart.  Going over a set of rail road tracks it shook like a bowl of jello.   It was very, very noisy.   Compared to this coach, Graybeard is whisper quiet.  So the hunt goes on.

Exhausted, deeply disappointed, and very hungry – it was now 4 pm – we knew where to go.

Funny name for a pizza shop, hey?

Yes, they have pizza but they also have something unexpected in a pizza joint.

Can you remember the last time you saw organ pipes in a pizza shop?

More pipes to the left and the right.

You hear it first then it begins to appear.  Slowly coming up.

Ever so slowly it arises turning in a complete circle as it does.

Then there it was.  And now you know why they call it Organ Stop Pizza!  Organ Stop’s Wurlitzer theatre organ was built for the Denver Theatre and was installed in 1927.  The organ was used regularly until the early 1930s.  With the advent of the talking picture and the 1930s depression, the organ was rarely heard.   But then it came to Mesa and found a new home.  In the theater, the Denver instrument had 15 ranks, or sets of pipes. The instrument was totally rebuilt, and the decision was made to enlarge the organ to 23 ranks for its debut in the new Mesa Organ Stop.  Over the course of the ensuing years, careful acquisition of rare pipework and percussions were made, culminating in what is now the largest Wurlitzer pipe organ in the world.

You are treated to a thirty minute mini concert.

There were Christmas carols.  Military marches.  Patriotic Songs.  Big Band tunes.

What goes up must go down – true, so true of the organ and the organist.  Just like that the concert was over and the organ had disappeared.

Time, finally, to head for home.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  We came, we saw, and we walked away very disappointed from what we though would be a first class coach and a worthy successor to Gray Beard.  We, however, salvaged the day with piece of pizza and an organ concert.  Yup, life is so full of surprises.  That’s what makes this life so fascinating, you never know what is coming around the next corner.

Thanks for coming with us again today.  We always appreciate your company and your comments.  Catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before

See you on down the road!