Baseball: Arizona Diamondbacks vs Detroit Tigers

We attended a game of the Arizona Diamondbacks vs Detroit Tigers at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona.

Jenn’s game summary:

At Chase Field, the roof was open to a warm desert evening as Opening Day unfolded—pregame ceremonies, a military flyover, and a packed crowd setting the tone. The D’backs built an early lead (Corbin Carroll had a triple and a home run) and held off the Tigers 9-6 to secure their first win of the season. Michael Soroka set the tone in dominant form, including an immaculate inning, before turning things over to the bullpen, which promptly imploded, giving up 6 runs in the 7th inning. The home crowd booed their own squad before the D’backs got another homer in the bottom of the inning to get things back on track for Paul Sewald to close it out. The churro dog was interesting, but it was no Disneyland churro.

An interactive map of the ballpark:

Chase Field

Team store:

Team store

Chase Field

Dessert first: Churro Dog, a hotdog-like form factor made of a cake donut, churro, and ice cream; not the best churro, but pretty tasty:

Churro Dog

View from our seats: Section 319, Row 14, Seats 1 & 2:

View from our seats: Section 319, Row 14, Seats 1 - 2

Roof opening:

Roof opening

Got a couple of burgers from a mini Chick-fil-A:

Chick-fil-A

Legends mascots:

Legends mascots

Opening Day ceremonies:

Opening Day ceremonies

Play ball:

Baseball

Dillon Dingler is a very baseball name:

Dillon Dingler is a very baseball name

Home run:

Home run

Exploring the ballpark

Exploring the ballpark:

Exploring the ballpark

Bigger Chick-fil-A on another level:

Bigger Chick-fil-A

I went to Streets of New York for some garlic cheesy bread:

Streets of New York for garlic cheesy bread

Garlic cheesy bread

Play review:

Play review

New pitcher:

New pitcher

Legends race:

Legends race

Home run:

Home run

Baseball

Another home run:

Home run

Hat game:

Hat game

More hats:

More hats

Organist:

Organist

Baseball Spring Training: Seattle Mariners vs Chicago Cubs

The last spring training game we attended was our Seattle Mariners vs the Chicago Cubs, playing at the Peoria Sports Complex.

Peoria Sports Complex

The field:

View from our seats

We splurged on club seats for this last game:

Club seats

Club area with free beverages and popcorn:

Club area with free beverages and popcorn

Sammy’s On Third:

Sammy's On Third

Not pictured, hot dog:

Sammy's On Third

Selfie:

Selfie

The temperature was 105° F, so the sun on our backs was not welcome:

Sun

We used damp cooling towels to shield our necks and help cool down a bit:

Selfie

Cal arriving:

Cal arriving

Starting lineups:

Starting lineups

Cubs vs Mariners:

Cubs vs Mariners

Umps:

Umps

Play ball!:

Play ball!

Baseball

Sunset:

Sunset

Baseball

ABS challenge:

ABS challenge

Baseball

ABS challenge:

ABS challenge

Free cookie:

Free cookie

Art:

Art

Baseball

Retired numbers:

Retired numbers

Goodbye Peoria Sports Complex:

Peoria Sports Complex

Video

Video: Sun City to Tolleson back to Sun City, Arizona motorhome travel timelapse

A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 37 miles round-trip from Encore Paradise RV Resort in Sun City to Velocity Truck Centers in Tolleson, then back to Paradise in Sun City, Arizona.

Velocity Truck Centers for engine air heater repair

As we were arriving in Phoenix, we got a Check Engine light on our dash. Never a welcome occurrence!

Error codes on dash

Looking in the BlueFire app, it showed more details of the codes; clearly a short of the engine intake air heater:

BlueFire faults page

Later in our stay, we started the engine again to see if the codes were still there. They were, so I contacted NIRVC to see if they could fix it. They referred me to Velocity Truck Centers, which is a Cummins dealer, and has an RV department.

Travel route, heading south then back north afterwards:

Travel route

Our appointment was for 7 AM; we considered arriving the day before, since they had a few full-hookup spots, but decided to just go very early in the morning. Probably a good thing, as their RV department was very busy that day; there may not have been a spot for us.

We toaded up just before sunrise:

Toading up early in the morning

Sunrise:

Sunrise

Exit to the truck place:

Exit

A hot air balloon in the distance:

Hot air balloon in the distance

Arriving at the truck service center:

Truck service center

Velocity Truck Centers:

Velocity Truck Centers

The RV waiting room was so crowded that one couple brought in camp chairs:

Crowded waiting room

We decided we didn’t want to hang out there, so went to Chick-fil-A for second breakfast:

Chick-fil-A for second breakfast

Then some chores, and to Starbucks to spend the next five hours:

Starbucks

They completed the work in the afternoon; the issue was a metal-wrapped line intermittently touching the heater relay, causing a short. They secured the line, and replaced the relay, since it had been damaged by the arcing. Just over one RV Buck (about $1,300) to fix.

Heading back to the RV park after the work was complete:

Heading back to the RV park

Arriving back at Paradise:

Arriving back at Paradise

Back to our site, which looks a bit weird without the RV there:

Back to our site

A hassle, but I’m glad it was a relatively easy fix.

Apache Trail scenic drive

We did a six-hour drive from Phoenix, including along the scenic Apache Trail Historic Road, a narrow dirt road that started as a stagecoach trail through the Superstition Mountains.

An interactive map of our route, heading counter-clockwise:

Superstition Mountains:

Superstition Mountains

Cowboy in front of Superstition Mountains

Canyon Lake:

Canyon Lake

One lane bridge:

One lane bridge

Another one lane bridge:

Another one lane bridge

Approaching Tortilla Flat:

Approaching Tortilla Flat

Tortilla Flat:

Tortilla Flat

Cacti

Pavement ends:

Pavement ends

No vehicles over 40 feet:

No vehicles over 40 feet

Apache Trail

Salt River:

Salt River

Roosevelt Dam:

Roosevelt Dam

AZ-188 bridge:

AZ-188 bridge

Boondockers along Theodore Roosevelt Lake:

Boondockers along Theodore Roosevelt Lake

Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers

We tried Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers for the first time.

Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers

The fries were disappointing, but the chicken strips were tasty, and the chicken sandwich (which consisted of chicken strips) was also good. And interesting sauce; a bit pepper-heavy, but nice. We’d be happy to eat there again.

Imperfect Foods groceries delivery

Back during the Covid pandemic, while living at our homestead, we subscribed to food delivery from Imperfect Foods. While staying in Phoenix we happened to see an Imperfect Foods truck driving past, and decided to take advantage of being in one location for a few months to try the service again.

Imperfect Foods delivery van

Misfits Market boxes:

Misfits Market boxes

Groceries:

Groceries

They use ice blocks and insulation for refrigerated and frozen food:

Ice blocks and insulation

Our second delivery:

Our second delivery

Groceries

It was nice to be able to use that service again.

Replacing closet light

One of the lights in our rear closet stopped working properly; very dim, and only half working:

Closet light not fully working

Plus blinking:

Blinking

I unmounted it from the ceiling:

Unmounted from the ceiling

Then replaced it with a new one, bought from Tiffin:

Replaced light

Remounted on the ceiling:

Remounted on the ceiling

Done:

Done

An easy fix.

Baseball Spring Training: Los Angeles Dodgers vs Seattle Mariners

Our second spring training game was the Los Angeles Dodgers vs our Seattle Mariners, playing at Camelback Ranch.

They really captured the spirit of a Dodgers game, with a long wait to get into the big parking lot around the stadium, leading us to arrive just as the game was about to start, instead of an hour before as we had planned.

Baseball

Food

View from our seats:

Baseball

Food

Baseball

Dodgers win

Baseball Spring Training: Seattle Mariners vs San Diego Padres

Perhaps the main reason for staying in Phoenix over winter was to attend baseball spring training games.

The first one we attended was our Seattle Mariners vs the San Diego Padres, playing at the spring training facility that they both share, the Peoria Sports Complex, for the first game of their spring training.

Baseball