Payson and Phoenix (09-07-15)

Labor Day Weekend.  What to do.  Many full time RVers know to avoid moving on this weekend if at all possible.  When we were boaters, we parked ourselves before the weekend, and didn’t move until it was over.  But these days, we travel in a truck camper, so theoretically, its easier to find places to park.

We started the weekend by heading to Phoenix. No One heads to Phoenix on Labor Day weekend, so finding a place to park was easy (Thanks for the tip, Sandie!)  Our goal was to window shop at MSI, a major supplier of tile, stone and  granite, etc. More on that later.

We are easily entertained when driving 300 miles in one day.  The shine on this tanker was quite impressive, and we enjoyed watching our reflection in the mirror like finish.






















Once our errands were complete, we headed for the hills of Payson, looking for relief from the heat.
Tonto Natural Bridge State Park was our first destination.  This park is so popular, we had to wait about 30 minutes just to enter, because the parking lots were full.  Once there, it was a fairly short hike down the trail to the base of the bridge.


This is one of the world’s largest travertine bridges, standing 150 feet wide, and 183 feet tall.  It’s a great hike for kids, with tons of exploring, and even the opportunity to swim. 





Back up on top, there were several viewpoints available to check out the bridge.  After an hour or so, the crowds got to us so we took off to find a place to spend the night.






Nearby Apache Sitgreaves National Forest has quite a bit of boon docking available, but again the crowds were quite amazing, even considering that it was a holiday weekend.

We did find a secluded spot to spend the night , but our hiking plans for the next day were abandoned when we couldn’t find a parking spot any where near a trail head. Soooooo, we headed back to Phoenix.

Doesn’t Dozer look like he’s a little nervous walking on a high shelf?

In reality, he was on the floor, stalking imaginary mice.

Since we knew we were headed to Phoenix, we had checked the inventory of the Phoenix Sears Outlet, and lo and behold, they had something we wanted. The oven we want is a GE Profile series 5000- but we had noted that if the 7050 model was on sale at a great price, we would really prefer that one.  Well, this Sears had the 9050 model on sale for less than the 5000 model. This store is a “scratch and dent” store so there is one small scratch on the bottom and that was it.

The main obstacle would be transport back to Havasu, but we’d had the foresight to put the hitch on the truck.  So, we rented the smallest U-Haul available. (although that sounds simple, its a whole other story…..)

We wracked our brains trying to think of something else we could buy, but in the end, the oven was the only cargo in the trailer.

We had an uneventful trek back to Lake Havasu with our treasure, and saved over $1000 on the oven!

House Update

Phoenix is where MS International is located, and MS International is where everyone in Havasu gets their stone and tile.  We’ve been struggling to come up with a back splash that we really like for the kitchen, and stonework we like for the exterior, and had decided a trip to Phoenix was warranted.   As a bonus, we got to check out the granite we want.

Blue Pearl is a little different, since it’s more in the gray tones than brown, but we already have a table made with blue pearl and we know we like it.

We arrived at MSI late in the day Friday, but we thought we’d have all day Saturday to wander around.  We didn’t realize they were closed all weekend. Thank goodness we decided to get a head start by taking a peek on Friday!

Luckily we saw a backsplash we liked right away.

There is a corresponding stone pattern that we can use as an accent on the front exterior of the house ( this picture really doesn’t do it justice) and to tie it all together, we will also use this stone on the spa surround.

We have very few decisions left to make.  I hope we don’t get bored, with no shopping to do.  Just kidding- once the septic is in, (hopefully next week) we can start our own projects on the exterior of the house.  The first one will be to build a small (30’ high) stacked wall along the side of the property.

Back at the house, the drywall is coming along.

The Sheetrock is all up, and the taping is done. They have started the sanding, but that will go fast because the  walls will be textured.   Wes says they will paint the interior next week!

The stilts look like fun- I can just picture myself landing gracefully on the floor if I try them!

As if the progress on the interior wasn’t enough, they are simultaneously working on the exterior.

“Brown coat” is what they call the first layer of stucco. They literally spray on the cement and then smooth it out to the texture they want.

It took a full two days to do the entire house. 

There was quite a good sized crew working on the stucco…

It kind of looks nice, until it starts to dry….then it looks blotchy.  They have to water it for 30 days so that the cement doesn’t dry too fast, and crack.

The final color, a light sandy color,  as seen here, won’t be added until close to the very end, so that it doesn’t get damaged.

Speaking of the very end, we had a short conversation with Wes about an estimated move in day.  Although he wouldn’t commit, he did say we were about a “long two months” away, which means we might be in the house by Thanksgiving!