Lunch with The Senator

Senator McCain came through town on his "Thank You" tour. About 25 of us in Havasu were invited to lunch with him, and he spoke briefly. It was nice to have a good number of people out to Waldo's who had never been there before. I was sure to greet everyone and ask if they'd ever been to the restaurant. Of course I suggested the "Half a chicken" lunch. That's my favorite.

Havasu's Awesome

We made the national news this week, but not because we're awesome and wonderful. We had a shooting over the weekend and six people are dead as a result.
This guy Brian, who is known around here for his shady business deals and his horrible temper, took a gun to his ex's house and shot up everyone inside. He and his ex had been separated for quite some time, and she had a restraining order against him. She had custody of their two little kids, and apparently that was not acceptable in his book.
Instead of fighting it out in court, he decided to go over to her house on Saturday night while she was having a birthday party. He opened the front door and began shooting.
The people inside didn't know Brian, probably didn't know of all the problems he had been causing for his ex--they were there because it was someone's birthday. When you hear of a shooting like this you automatically think that there were drugs involved, or some sort of gang activity. Nope. Not this time. It was a deranged person who had no respect for life.

Who did he shoot? Two 20-year olds, named Broc and Ashleigh. Ashleigh's parents were there--Russ and Debbi Nyland. I've known Russ, Debbi, and their daughter Ashleigh for a few years now. They were involved in a lot of lake activities and events, and everyone always noticed what a close family they were. Brian also shot his ex Deborah and her new boyfriend Primo. They were just 23 years old.
Debbi survived and managed to call 911 on her cell phone once Brian left the house with his two little kids. She's expected to recover, but I can't imagine how awful it must be to lay in the hospital knowing that her husband and her daughter died because of that stupid situation. They're gone--just like that.

Brian ran to California with his kids, and shot himself after he got the kids over to his sister's house. Six people died because this guy couldn't get his act together. What a monster.

Debbi's lost the love of her life and her daughter--who may as well have been her best friend. And there's a lot of people in our community who are walking around really sad right now because they lost a friend in that house on Saturday night.

Here's Debbi and I, at a boat regatta out on the lake--goofing off of course:

Quick Day Trip To Williams

The Valle Airport is about 25 minutes north of Williams, Arizona, and that puts it very very close to the entrance to the Grand Canyon. We heard about an annual air show that's every August, so we decided to hop in the car (too windy for the plane) and see what we could explore up there.
It was glorious weather, about 76 degrees. But the wind was blowing at about 30 mph and that made it seem even cooler out there. What a contrast to the searing heat we've had in Havasu for the past month.

We got up there a little late, because we didn't realize the show had a closing time of 3pm. All the cars on display had left, and so did the farm tractors. But the planes were there and the Mustang was still out giving rides for $50.

The gentleman who owns this airfield just south of the Grand Canyon has a magnificent collection of old military planes and crop dusters, so we were happy to see those.







This Ford Tri-Motor is a very old one, built in the 1920's. The Grand Canyon Scenic Tours used to give rides in one starting in 1929.



But I think our biggest thrill was the Mustang. It was doing fly-by's as we arrived and it's a very loud fast plane.