Monday, January 22, 2007
Madison Driveway, Tucson, AZ - Dec 30-Jan 21
As of our last update, we were parked in Doug's dad's driveway because Gayle had fallen and cracked his left femur shortly before Christmas. Since we were conveniently in Benson at the time, we drove the 60 miles and parked at his house in order to oversee the first stage of his rehab. It's not often that we can park our trailer in one spot for over 3 weeks without dumping, but since Gayle's house was available for showers & other bathroom & kitchen necessities, we were able to keep from filling either holding tank. Luckily, we arrived just in time for the New Year's Eve fireworks display put on by Westward Look (a resort just across the street from Gayle's house), preceded by a delicious dinner at an Indian restaurant with friends from the Boulder area who happened to be vacationing nearby.
Initially, much of our time was spent shopping & cooking, but with Gayle's in-home physical therapy doing wonders, our time helping gradually diminished until we were only cooking dinners and providing companionship. It was nice being able to spend time with Gayle, but we certainly were not chained to the house. We managed to get away to play bridge a few times and take in a movie ("Flushed Away" -- quite funny but we'll probably rent the DVD since we missed half of it laughing at the other half). We visited nearby Gallery in the Sun, designed by artist Ettore "Ted" DeGrazia. 
Constructed with traditional adobe bricks crafted on-site, it is home to nearly 15,000 DeGrazia originals. Doug was fully prepared to dislike the museum, but we were both actually fascinated by the tracing of his changing style over the years, including a Master of Arts thesis from the University of Arizona exploring the relationship of art and music.
Gayle had inherited a Lincoln Town Car from Gertie, but was unable to register it due to administrative red tape -- a sore subject for Gayle for at least a year. We decided to give it a try. First we got online & then managed to get to car inspected and registered in a single morning. Gayle was quite surprised & pleased (as were we!). Brother Bob's arrival allowed us to continue with our travel plans to meet up with friends in Yuma and CA.# posted by Doug and Willie @ 12:46 PM 
