Baseball: San Diego Padres vs San Francisco Giants

We attended a game of the San Diego Padres vs San Francisco Giants at Petco Park in San Diego, California.

Jenn’s game summary:

The Padres beat the Giants 7-1, with an excellent start from Nick Pivetta, who limited the Giants’ offense. Adrian Houser allowed a couple of early runs and was hobbled by sloppy defense. The game stayed fairly quiet until the 8th when the Padres scored 5 runs, including a home run to break it open. The Giants managed just one run late and never really threatened. Petco Park is absolutely beautiful with decently priced seats and excellent food options, including tri-tip nachos and banana pudding (in a helmet). Friendly staff and perfect weather for a ballgame.

An interactive map of the ballpark:

Petco Park

Hall of Fame:

Hall of Fame

Team store:

Team store

Museum:

Museum

Seaside Market:

Seaside Market

Tri-tip nachos:

Tri-tip nachos

Banana pudding:

Banana pudding

View from our seats; section 101, row 17, seats 19 & 20:

View from our seats; section 101, row 17, seats 19 & 20

Seat selfie

Fun Padres mascot:

Fun Padres mascot

Umpire assignments:

Umpire assignments

Petco Park:

Petco Park

Play ball:

Play ball

Baseball

ABS challenge:

ABS challenge

Baseball

Out at home:

Baseball

Exploring the ballpark:

Exploring the ballpark

Pretzel:

Pretzel

Baseball

Sun City, Arizona to Sweetwater Summit Regional Park in Bonita, California

We drove our coach 354 miles, about six hours of driving, from Encore Paradise RV Resort in Sun City, Arizona to Sweetwater Summit Regional Park in Bonita, California.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading west:

Route map

An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:

Pulled out of our site in Encore Paradise:

Pulled out of our site in Phoenix

Leaving Paradise:

Leaving Paradise

Exit to I-10 West:

Exit to I-10 West

Teacups ride trailer:

Rail crossing:

Rail crossing

Dinosaurs:

Dinosaurs

Another Tiffin Allegro Bus (with poor lane placement):

Another Tiffin Allegro Bus

Oversize load:

Oversize load

Train:

Train

Rest area:

Rest area

Mountains:

Mountains

Arizona centennial sign:

Arizona

Fuel stop before leaving Arizona:

Fuel stop before leaving Arizona

This short handle isn’t all that useful for washing RV windshields:

This short handle isn't all that useful for washing RV windshields

Spendy fuel, but cheaper than California:

Spendy fuel, but cheaper than California

Interesting bridge art:

Interesting bridge art

California State Line:

California State Line

Welcome to California, and Pacific Time Zone:

Welcome to California

Agricultural Inspection Station:

Agricultural Inspection Station

No Inspection Today:

No Inspection Today

Rest area (with a dump station):

Rest area (with a dump station)

Interesting rocks:

Interesting rocks

Tecate Divide; Elevation 4140 feet:

Tecate Divide; Elevation 4140 feet

Closed immigration inspection:

Closed immigration inspection

Exit to CA-125 South:

Exit to CA-125 South

Arriving at the campground of Sweetwater Summit Regional Park:

Arriving at Sweetwater Summit Campground

Entrance station:

Entrance station

Campground map:

Map

Our site, #134, with a nice concrete pad:

Our site

Very level site:

Level site

Our site

A nice campground; we’d stay here again.

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

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

Camelot Inn, Downtown Disney, Disney California Adventure

We normally stay in our motorhome when visiting Disneyland, but on this occasion we left our coach in Phoenix, and drove six hours to stay at the Camelot Inn, across the road from Disneyland.

Here’s an interactive map of the driving route from our site in Phoenix to the hotel:

And an interactive map of our walking route from the hotel to dinner and shopping in Downtown Disney, to Disney California Adventure, and back to the hotel:

Camelot Inn:

Camelot Inn

Our hotel room:

Our room

A short walk from the hotel to the crosswalk by the Disneyland entrance:

Short walk to crosswalk by Disneyland entrance

The Disneyland walk-in entrance:

Disneyland walk-in entrance

We walked past Disneyland to Downtown Disney, with a stop in the Pandora jewelry store:

Pandora

We had a reservation at the Céntrico restaurant for dinner:

Céntrico restaurant

LEGO Store:

LEGO Store

Jenn bought some LEGO bonsai:

Jenn bought some LEGO flowers

A quick look through the World of DIsney store:

World of DIsney store

Then we went into Disney California Adventure for dessert:

Disney California Adventure

We happened to see a Lunar New Year parade:

Lunar New Year parade

Churro for dessert:

Churro for dessert

Happy 25th birthday:

Happy 25th birthday

Lunar New Year:

Lunar New Year

Cars Land:

Cars Land

Heading back to the hotel:

Heading back to the hotel

Watson Lake, Arizona

We took a scenic drive from Phoenix to Watson Lake in Arizona.

An interactive map of our route:

Park features sign:

Park features sign

We had a picnic lunch with a lake view:

Picnic lunch with lake view

Interesting rocks and the lake:

Interesting rocks and lake

Lake map:

Lake map

Interesting rocks and lake

We do enjoy interesting rocks!

Encore Paradise RV Resort

We stayed at Encore Paradise RV Resort in Sun City, Arizona. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A nice 55+ community in the Phoenix area, where we spent three months; our longest stay to date. It was ostensibly winter, but had record unseasonal temperatures reaching 105° F!

Dates:

Check in: 2026-01-01
Check out: 2026-03-31
89 nights

Weather:

Partly sunny
High temps 55-105°F, lows 38-69°F
Negligible wind, occasional gusts to 25 MPH

Noise:

Little road noise
Very distant train horn noise
Little neighbor noise
Frequent fighter jet noise weekdays (in flight path for Air Force base)

Site:

#832, back-in, sandy gravel
Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
Somewhat level site; low slope in front; used hydraulic leveling
Sandy gravel driveway about 45 feet long by 18 feet wide
Total site 55 feet deep by 45 feet wide
Just gravel between site on passenger side
Carport on driver side
24 by 8 feet concrete patio
No trees
Clean site
Elevation 1210 feet, front facing south

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
60 PSI water, conveniently located
Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

Starlink: 105-125 Mbps down, 25-35 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
RoamLink: 21-23 Mbps down, 4-8 Mbps up, 88 ms ping (RoamLink uses whichever is best of AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile)
AT&T: 580-620 Mbps down, 13-17 Mbps up, 35-42 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
Pool
Cafe (breakfast and lunch, Tuesday to Saturday)
Lots of activities

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Since we were there for three months, we set up all the things:

Our site

Including making pizza:

Our site

Record heat:

Hot

A nice thing about this place is that Amazon, UPS, and FedEx delivers directly to the site:

Delivery to site

For USPS, they have mailboxes:

Mailboxes

Mail room

Mail info

They also have a small on-site cafe (that is open to the public, though I doubt many outsiders patronize it); we thought we’d eat there regularly, but actually only went once — not because it was bad, we just never really felt like it (if they had been open for dinner, we might have gone there more):

Cafe

Cafe menu:

Cafe menu

Breakfast

Lots of activities:

Activities

A popular pool (that we didn’t use; we’re not really into pools):

Pool

RV arrival area:

RV arrival area

Water feature at the front of the park:

Front

A nice pond and fountains:

Pond and fountains

I added a Pokemon Pokestop for that, and the front water features:

Pokemon Pokestop

Lawn bowls:

Lawn bowls

Pickleball:

Pickleball

And more:

More games

Garbage:

Garbage

Recycling:

Recycling

Propane fill:

Propane fill

The park is split into two parts, the pet area (where people can have dogs) and the non-pet area (where they can’t); we were in the non-pet area, as an indoor-only cat doesn’t count as a “pet” (fair enough; he’s in charge, and we’re his staff):

Pet area

“Stop; it does matter”:

Stop; it does matter

Free fruit:

Free fruit

Other sites; the vast majority of the community are park models:

Other sites

Aerial views of our site (a couple of days before departing, after packing up our stuff) and other sites:

Aerial view of our site

Aerial view of other sites

Aerial view of our site

Aerial view of other sites

Quite a nice community. We’d stay here again. The jets were somewhat annoying, but we got used to them after a while.

Travel from Palm Desert, California to Sun City, Arizona

We drove our coach 252 miles, about four hours of driving, from Palm Desert, California to Sun City, Arizona.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading east:

Route map

An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:

Entering I-10 East:

Entering I-10 East

We got a little bit of fuel at California prices:

Fuel stop

Back onto I-10 East:

Back onto I-10 East

Foggy:

Foggy

Rest area closed:

Rest area closed

Another rest area:

Another rest area

Rest area

Interesting homebrew van:

Interesting homebrew van

Paladin in a box:

Paladin in a box

Arizona state line, and also Mountain time zone:

Arizona state line, and also Mountain time zone

Welcome to Arizona:

Welcome to Arizona

Arizona Centenial:

Arizona Centenial

Airstream trailer:

Airstream trailer

Interesting mountains:

Interesting mountains

Westbound freeway closed for hours due to accident:

Westbound freeway closed for hours due to accident

Another fuel stop to top up, since we’ll be in one place for three months:

T/A fuel stop

Filling diesel:

T/A fuel stop

Filling DEF:

T/A fuel stop

Exit to AZ-303 North:

Exit to AZ-303 North

Overpass:

Overpass

Exit to Bell Road:

Exit to Bell Road

Arriving at Paradise RV Resort:

Arriving at Paradise RV Resort

Registration parking, where we filled in the paperwork and untoaded:

Registration parking, where we filled in the paperwork and untoaded

Guided to our site:

Guided to our site

Galleta Meadows Estate sculptures

We visited the Galleta Meadows Estate sculptures, large metal artworks of various animals (and a Jeep) around Borrego Springs, California.

Our approximate route from the campground:

We first went to the Montezuma Valley Road Lookout for a picnic lunch overlooking the valley:

Valley

Then back down the hill and explored the sculptures, which are scattered around outside town. Most you can drive right up to, but some you need to walk a short distance.

Sculptures