Holding short

We are at the Wild Horse Pass casino south of Chandler, Arizona (map), a very familiar stop for us. We have been here for two nights, which was not exactly our plan, having arrived here Monday after a very short drive from the truck stop in Eloy. Monday night we ate at the tasty and fairly casual Ling & Louies in the casino, which has an Asian flair and where my wine was half price during happy hour.

Our plan yesterday had been to drive the rest of the way into Phoenix and visit our restaurant investment, parking perhaps at the Scottsdale Elks or maybe one of the casinos in Phoenix proper. However I learned around mid-day that the managing partner was hung up out of town until late in the evening, and so we deferred that visit to this evening, after we drop Louise's mom off at the airport.

Thus unencumbered by any visits or travel yesterday, we simply remained here, using up the second half of our 48-hour limit, and I did some work around the coach. That included identifying the part number and specifications of the failed lift strut on the engine tailgate, which I am now scrambling to find, figuring out that the fuel pressure switch is actually leaking a small dribble of diesel, explaining the spotting on the tailgate, installing a new rear oil pressure gauge, and re-priming the generator.

Having elected to spend a second night, and in recognition of knocking a bunch of projects off the list, we decided to eat at the upscale Shula's steak house in the hotel last night. Louise just had soup and salad, and I opted for the little-known special involving a fillet and a pair of crab-stuffed shrimp plus dessert for $42, a really good deal at Shula's.

In a few minutes we will roll into Scottsdale for our visits. Tonight we will end up in the long term lot at Sky Harbor, as we need to make a drop off there, and it's an easy Metro ride from there to the restaurant and back. In the morning we will head northwest through Surprise towards Kingman.

Photo by DeeKnow, used under a Creative Commons license.