Mesa AZ

After the month at Foothills West in Casa Grande, we were ready to move on. Our destination was recommended by friends from our church back in Maltby. Dick and Janet Pakko own a park model in a 55+ resort called Venture Out located in Mesa. So upon that recommendation we made reservations for 1 week from April 1st through the 8th. Unlike many of the other RV resorts we've been visiting VO is almost wholly dedicated to those retirees who want a permanent "home away from home". VO has a few spaces for visiting RVers and we were assigned a backin space right next to the pickleball courts. From talking to the folks here, I understand that pickleball is a very popular sport down here. From the number of people playing on the six courts we were next to, I'd have to say it's VERY popular.

A rare cloudy day

A few observations about Venture Out. It's undoubtedly a very vibrant and active community. The list of activities is quite extensive. From sewing clubs to ham radio, this place has something for nearly anyone. And if you can't find one to suit you, you are encouraged to start one. The people seemed to be very friendly and outgoing. Questions were answered and nobody gave the impression that new folks would be excluded. Here are a few photos of the grounds which should give you a feel for its extensive activities and surroundings.

This building houses the activities related to anything where you use thread. One room is dedicated completely to quilting and includes a machine that quickly sews patches onto the pattern.

One of two pools

Here are the horseshoe pits. In the background is the main clubhouse. Inside are a library, a room for billards which has 11 pool tables, a large open space for gatherings like potlucks or general meetings of the population. On the second floor is a huge ballroom for dances or church services.

This is one of two lawn bowling/croquet courts. The grass is kept short and is planted in a very sandy, solid surface. The croquet wickets and posts have predrilled spots in which to place them.

These tennis courts are just two of the seven on the premises. Every year there is a big tennis competition among many communities around the area and they use VO as the venue

This is the 9 hole putting green 

I was very pleased to see that VO has an active amateur radio club N7VOC. I went to their meeting on Saturday morning. Some of the fellows came from surrounding communities that don't allow antennas. VO does allow them and I could see many park models with  vertical or dipole antennas on the property.

The main radio shack with a Wilson tribander and several verticals. Above the tribander is a 3 element 6 meter antenna

Not far from the shack is a 35 foot tower with another tribander and vertical. For the low bands there are several dipoles and end fed wires all over the place.

One of the fellows at the meeting was a ham I've contacted many times over the years both in contests and casual ragchewing. His name is Bill Harris W7KXB. This was a special treat as Bill and I have been Foxes in the QRP foxhunts over the years. Notice Bill's DX Engineering hat. I have one too!

Dick and Janet and Janet's mother Q flew in from Seattle a couple of days after we arrived. They took us to one of their favorite restaurants in Mesa. We sat outside in the warm desert evening and had a great meal and fellowship.

From left to right...Janet, Q, Marilyn and Dick

Janet insisted that we go to Barleens Arizona Opry so the five of us plus George Lee went on a Saturday evening. It's a dinner and show.

From left to right....Marilyn, George, Dick, Janey and Q

There is enough room for over 500 people and they served a chicken dinner within 35 minutes. 

All those instruments you see were actually used during the show. These folks are multi-talented.

The dummer is Brenda Barleen who is also the general manager....and a fabulous drummer. The two fellows to the left were on a jam with the famous tune from the movie "Deliverance"

Our daughter-in-law Felicia and granddaughter Sophie happened to be in Phoenix. Sophie is a junior at Bremerton High School in Washington and they were down here to check out the U of A and ASU. So we had a few hours together to greet and chat.

Marilyn, Felicia, Sophie and me

On our last day at VO we were invited over to Dick and Janet's park model in the park for dinner. Janet fixed a fabulous salmon dinner for us and we got the chance to say goodbye. What a wonderful couple.

Well that about wraps up our time in Mesa. The day we left the predicted temperature was 92F. Time to move to cooler Verde Valley.