We Are Home Now - For a Little While

The evening in Las Vegas was pretty uneventful and Maggie behaved pretty well in the motel room.  She did bark once when someone went past the door making noise.  Her biggest issue was where to sleep.  Normally when we stay in a motel we get a room with two beds.  The reasoning is we don't sleep well in motels and especially if the bed is soft theres a lot of tossing and turning going on.  So, to get some sleep we get two beds.  I put Maggie's bed at the foot of my bed and she was OK for a while but during the night she hopped down and had to go check on Roger, then she would jump back up and settle in her bed.  Back and forth she went several times. So much for us getting more sleep in separate beds.  

We made it home yesterday afternoon around 4pm and had no adventures on the way - thank goodness!  It's a long and pretty boring drive from Las Vegas but it was ok.  The sun was out, but it was cold and windy.  When we stopped in Tonopah for lunch it was 47 degrees and the wind was gale force.  Very unpleasant.  Had to eat in the truck again.  Welcome back to Nevada, eh?  We did notice lots of water in the Walker and Truckee Rivers.  It was nice to see.  I read that this is the first time in six years that the Walker River has flowed into Walker Lake at Hawthorne!  

Maggie doesn't like two lane roads.  US95 from Las Vegas to Fallon, NV is two lanes most of the way.  Because we weren't pulling the RV we were going along at a pretty good clip and actually passing people.  We never get to do that when we tow! Every time Rog pulled out to pass (mostly slow RVs) and back into our lane he crossed the center line, of course, and drove over the rumble strip.  Maggie got her shorts all in a knot.  She did not like that sound at all.  She insisted on sitting in my lap as close to me as she could possibly get and just shivered.  At one point she was pushing into me so hard I thought my belly button was going to end up on the back of the seat!

After dragging in all our stuff and eating left over pizza from the night before, we made a quick trip out for breakfast groceries so we wouldn't have to eat out this morning.  We spent the evening putting away "stuff" and it was bed time before we knew it.

Today was restocking the pantry and fridge day.  After a trip to Costco and Raley's I think we might have enough food for a few days.  There was nothing here so we even had to get condiments and basics like that.  It was pretty $$$ today!

This afternoon I spent with the computer trying to transfer Quicken files to the desktop from my laptop.  I got to spend an hour on the phone with a nice young man from Louisiana named Bob who helped me out and gave me some good tips for next time.  He said his folks were full time RVers so he understood what I was doing.  Then I went through all the mail that was stuffed in the box over the last month.  Mostly junk, but buried in the stack were a few treasures.

We are home now for about four weeks.  We start back to the gym on the 1st and have doctor/dentist/vet appointments to keep us busy.  I need to get the yard in shape and my drip system up and running before we take off again.  There are lots of things on the "to do" list.  The time will fly by and we will be reversing the trip to Arizona to pick up the RV.  

The good things about being home -  real toilet paper and not that flimsy RV stuff, garbage disposal, dishwasher, full size shower with lots of water, we can go into separate rooms, and my own washing machine.  Ah, the little pleasures of life.

I'm signing off now.  I'll start back up probably around the 25th of April when we head south.  Mark your calendars.  

Arizona Winter Home to Las Vegas, NV

 It was not a bad drive at all today.  Sunshine and about 75 all day with little to no wind. We did have some traffic, though, especially in the Phoenix area and from the Nevada state line into Boulder City. Going north out of Kingman, AZ we did encounter a lot of traffic heading south out of Las Vegas (we are assuming it was going home after a weekend in Vegas).  We were glad we were going the opposite direction.

We got on the road about 9am. Maggie got a little confused when everything around her house got put away and we were loading the truck, but it didn't stop her from scouting the back area for critters.    We loaded up and headed out.   Think we have enough stuff?  Maggie, alone has three beds! Rog had all his tools and I couldn't leave the plants to die while we were gone.  

We stopped just south of Wickenburg, AZ
at a very nice rest area for lunch.
We even had trees and grass!

Once we got north of Phoenix we had Joshua tree forests, saguaro forests, and scads of wildflowers.  Lots of yellow ones that I don't know the name of, some orange Indian Paintbrush, some blue and purple lupin, and some very pink flower that I, again, don't know the name of. (My book on the Arizona desert flora and fauna awaits me at home)  We were going too fast to capture any of them - all I got were blurs.  I did get a semi-good photo of the hills covered in yellow flowers surrounding the saguaro.  

Maggs has had her dinner and
 is crashed in her bed
 with her blankets
after a stressful day
 riding in the truck.

We are staying in a LaQuinta on the north side of Las Vegas.  Not a bad place and very dog friendly.  No extra charges, they supply the poo bags, and allow the dogs anywhere on the property.  I was impressed by that.  The motel itself could use some improvement - the grounds are a bit littered but there is construction going on. the reception staff is super friendly and helpful.  We had pizza and salad delivered for dinner.  Easiest thing to do with a dog. It's now time for us to settle in for a quiet evening. 

Home tomorrow!  

Busy Day Getting Ready to Go Home

We stayed busy all day in prep to travel mode.  We had to go into town for lunch groceries and a big storage tote for the bed of the truck.  I did laundry and cleaned and organized and packed winter clothes to take home while Roger took care of the outside duties - putting away furniture and rugs in addition to draining tanks and packing up the truck with his tools and bike. 

We are leaving the RV plugged into power so the fridge can run. There are things in the freezer and few condiments and such in the fridge.  We are hoping they will still be viable when we return the end of April. 

We will go to Las Vegas tomorrow.  

Lesson Three Was Very Hard

The third and last lesson of the stained glass class was this morning.  It was all about soldering.  I have some issues with soldering.  It takes two hands working together.  Just not a happening thing for me. What a mess.  I did get yelled at.  "I said solder first then iron.  Try again.  No, solder first, then iron."  It was a bit of a mess, but we finished our projects.  One of the things we were warned about was when we washed and waxed our pieces not to work towards the edge because we might pull off the foil and solder.  You can guess what happened to mine.  I quickly pushed it back onto the glass and when I showed him my piece I held on to it at that point so the instructor wouldn't see it and I wouldn't get yelled at again. Lona just laughed and helped me cover it up.  I crazy glued it down when I got home. I didn't mention in previous posts that in lesson one I was given a piece of glass to figure out which was front and back.  I promptly dropped it on the floor and it shattered into pieces. Lesson two went well - no mishaps, but today the instructor handed me a baby food jar with flux (for soldering) in it and I grabbed it by it's loose lid and it dropped and shattered all over the place.  I'm thinking this is not where my talents are even if they do let me back into the "studio."

We took the RV in for new tires this afternoon.  It wasn't too bad of an adventure.  Rog was able to maneuver right up to the bays at the tire place and they worked on it right away  - probably because we were blocking the bays and not necessarily because we had an appointment!  

Mick and Laura came over to the tire place and visited with us while we waited and we were able to say our farewells for the season.  We are leaving Sunday and they are hanging out here until the first of May.

Looks like we will encounter cool and rainy weather on the way home.  Rog says he is thinking about staying another week to wait it out, but he is also saying he's anxious to get home!  One of the considerations about going home is getting through Las Vegas.  If we go on a Sunday - no prob.  If we go on a weekday we would get there right at going home traffic time.  Even though we will be in the truck with no RV it is still not a pleasant thought.  

Sunshine and about 75 today.  Perfect!  A cool start to the morning, but the afternoon was great.  

Tomorrow will be laundry, packing, and getting groceries for our lunches on the road.  It'll be a busy day.  

A Change in the Weather

After an all night rain - and a very hard one - we woke to cool temperatures and high winds this morning.  What a change. Two days ago a high of 96.  Today 69.

The rain was hard enough that it did wake us both up a couple of times and it left the ground pretty saturated.  It didn't look as if it were, but it was.  On the walk this morning I would be just cruising along and all of a sudden my shoes were slipping and sliding in about 2 inch deep mud.  Almost butt-planted a couple of times.  The look of the ground was very deceiving - it looked dry, but underneath it wasn't even close.

I spent the day inside knitting, playing WORD, and working on the budget for the rest of the year.  Now that we have made this land purchase we have to put the improvements on it.  I spent the afternoon figuring out how we might accomplish that.  
Roger did sit outside after a visit to the fitness center and lunch Armed with a hat, long pants and sweatshirt, he found a spot that was a bit protected from the wind and was occasionally in the sun.  He and Maggie stayed out there most of the afternoon - Maggie watching for critters and Rog listening to his audio book.

An upside to the cool weather today was that since the AC wasn't running, I could use the toaster oven and bake some salmon for dinner.  (Can't run both at the same time.)  We had a nice meal this evening instead of "It's too hot to cook, let's just find something in the fridge."  I think Roger appreciated it.  

Tomorrow is new tire day.  After my last lesson in stained glass making (how to solder the pieces together) and lunch we will go into Casa Grande. Our friend Laura said she would meet us at the tire place and keep me and Maggs company while Roger supervises the workers! She is also bringing me maps!!!  (I don't have the heart to tell her that Lona brought me one of the ones she and her husband had.)  

I talked with our neighbor in Sparks.  She's going to turn the heat on for us Monday morning and tell the neighbors to get their junk cars out from in front of our house!!!  She says she has cleaned up our front yard and some of the back yard but left me some things to do!!!  She is very good to us.  We couldn't ask for a better neighbor. 

I Have a Much Better Appreciation for Stained Glass Art

Stained glass art lesson number two was all about putting the foil edges around the individual pieces.  I have four pieces of glass in my project and it took me two full hours to put the edging on. Tedious and exacting would be my description of what we did today.  My new friend, Lona, says she's going to finish the lesson on Friday but doubts very seriously if she will do any more next season.  The jury is out for me.  It's fascinating and I see others' beautiful work, but, I don't know.  Is it for me? I've got all summer to think about it.   

The temperatures today were much cooler - low 80s.  We did not turn on the AC!!!   Yay!!!  It was uncomfortable at times inside, but outside in the shade it was very nice.  The wind was not as awful as predicted, but it was a bit breezy.  Rain is forecast for tonight and we could see clouds building up west of us as the sun set.  Tomorrow we are expecting a high of 68. What a change from earlier in the week.

The desert is in bloom.

We had one of the shed contractors stop by today.  It was a bit weird.  We told him what we wanted and then he told us what we really wanted.  It was a bit bizarre.  His quotes are decent, so we will keep him in mind for next November.  

We went into town to one of the few restaurants there - a Mexican establishment that everyone says is great.  Maybe if you eat meat, but for vegetarians, not so much.  The meal was less than optimal.  Their version of a vegetarian taco is shredded lettuce, some tomato, and guacamole. Won't be going back.  

Maggie did well with our absence tonight.  No signs of her manic behavior when we returned.  Then again, the AC was not on. She spent most of the day outside watching for critters behind our RV.  

Not Much Happening Today

It was a bit cooler today - only 90.  I remembered to close all the windows and vent fans before turning on the AC after lunch. You would be proud of me!  The wind was a bit breezy today - enough to take down the awning.  Tomorrow and Thursday it is supposed to be very windy so Roger postponed the new tire installation until Friday so we don't have to take the RV out in the wind.  

Rog and our neighbor, Joe, worked on our water spigot this afternoon.  We've had a drip and the park maintenance folks said "everyone's does.  It has to do with the back flow preventer."  Well, after putting a bucket under the spigot for three days and collecting over 3 gallons of water, Roger decided he had to fix it.  Living in the desert we are water conscience and can't believe these folks don't care. The palo verde tree on our lot got a nice drink today!  Anyway, Rog picked up parts at the hardware store yesterday and he and Joe fixed it this afternoon.  The new back flow preventer worked with no drips and we should be all set now.  

Maggs and I got our long morning walk and this evening I invited the Lona (the lady who is taking the stained glass class with me) to walk with us. I am hoping to get her out and moving about.  She sits in her RV all day quilting or crocheting. We had a nice visit and and short walk.  

We are on about plan C for our yard now.  Tomorrow a guy who builds sheds will be coming out to tell us what he can do and what we need to do to prep for one.  

That's it for today.  All's well.  

OMG it's HOT!!!

Ninety eight degrees today according to our little thermometer. Even Roger couldn't sit outside all afternoon and had to come in to cool off.  We went into town this afternoon and the truck thermometer was registering 96.  The RV air conditioners have trouble keeping up due to poor insulation, sliders not in tight, etc.  I'm sure they would have done better today, though, if I had closed the ceiling vent fan when I turned on the AC units. We didn't notice it until late in the afternoon - we just knew it seemed awfully warm in here when we got back from our jaunt into town.  Now that the vent is closed, it seems to be cooling off a bit better.  Go figure.  

Even Maggie is not liking this heat.  She does her business and turns right around and heads for home.  I did not argue with her today or yesterday - I didn't want to be out there, either. We did sit out back for a while this evening and she sat in my lap at full alert watching a round tailed ground squirrel going up and down a tree, taunting her.  

We didn't post last night - last day in the data billing cycle and we just weren't sure how much data doing the blog uses - even with no photos.  That's ok, though, because nothing happened yesterday at all.  I did some laundry, but that was about it.  I even had a conversation with a woman in the laundry room! Much more pleasant environment when that happens.

All of the folks we have become friendly with are from Minnesota, North Dakota or Colorado.  The woman in the laundry room was from Colorado, as well.  We haven't seen any Canadian plates in the park - wonder if it has to do with someone from out of the country leasing?  Don't know why that would be, though.  I'm sure there are others we just haven't run into yet, but it seems weird that so many come from those states.  

I had my first two-hour stain glass making lesson today.  Not sure it's gonna be my thing, but who knows?  Of course, I poked myself with a sharp edge while trying to break the glass and had to have a band aid!  Leave it to me to be the klutz of the class.  I cut the glass to a pattern and used a grinder to shape the pieces so they fit together.  Wednesday we learn how to put that beading around the pieces and then Friday we solder it together.  I'm doing a four piece butterfly.  It just may look like one when I'm done.  

We went into Florence today and rented a post office box and got library cards.  We also wandered around a hardware store in town that "everyone" says you have to go to.  It's a city block wide and just full of anything you could possibly want.  It was fun wandering through there.  We stopped at a yard art place to get something to bring home to our neighbor and found a piece for the side of the garage as well.  I can tell when we get back in November we will be down there often!  Colorful Mexican pots and metal flowers and animals, and wall decorations.  It was so fun and not buying one of everything may be an issue.  

This afternoon I started on getting things ready for home - turned on the internet, started the trash pick up, made a vet appointment and texted my haircut lady!  Important stuff.  Also got us a hotel room in Las Vegas for Sunday night.  It was a pretty full day for me, but Rog was a bit at loose ends this morning while I was gone and this afternoon while I was taking care of business.  I think the heat was getting to him, so there was nothing to do outside.  Supposedly things are supposed to start cooling off - about the time we leave :-)

Trip to the Safeway Was the Excitement For Today

We got up early - pre 7am.  Rog says he saw the sunrise this morning.  I definitely wasn't up that early.  Anyway, I managed to get Maggie a trip around the park before it got hot and then Rog and I headed for the grocery store (~15 miles).  Today was another record breaker for the month.  It got to 96 I think.  

Maggie seemed to be less stressed when we returned after being left this time. She still "talked" to us and let us know we had left her, but her behavior wasn't manic as it has been lately.  I guess we will have to work our outings around when the AC goes on and off from now on if we can.  It does look like we have three more days of this heat and then it is supposed to go back to normal temperatures of low 80s. That will be nice.  

Roger went up to the main building (library, pool tables, large TV and sitting area) this afternoon and played some pool - this was after an hour's nap in the chair out back in the shade.  I stayed inside and read and answered emails. Maggie was with me and was a bit restless but settled down eventually.  

Every time we sit outside and stare at our lot we change the plan somewhat.  I know eventually we will have to come up with one that we go with - as in "Is that your final answer?" We've all summer to work on it.

Our plan as of today is to head for home next Sunday - a week from tomorrow.  We've been gone four months as of today.  It's ~800 miles and Las Vegas is about half way, so will stay over night there and then get to Sparks on Monday, 27th.  Without the RV we will go straight home and not have to stay at the Marina!  

I don't think we have plans for anything tomorrow - will have to think of something.  

A Lazy, Hot Day

Maggie and I got started just a little bit later this morning - maybe 20 minutes - and when she decided shortly after starting our walk that she didn't want to go, I had no problem with that. It warms up pretty fast and today was 94, so I wasn't in any hurry to get out there in the sun.  We turned right around and came home after she did her business. 

One of our neighbors came over mid-morning and we then walked up to the activity center and I signed up for lessons for stain glass work for next year.  She and I are the only ones in the class.  It could be fun.  After she and her husband came and visited for about an hour.  They are from Minnesota and this is their first full winter here.  They had their shed built and a patio put in this year.  Nice folks.  Everyone seems to be nice.

Well, I take that back.  Right behind us is a berm that runs the length of about seven sites down to an access path to the walking path that circles the park.  The berm is around what we are guessing is a drainage area for hard rain or maybe even a septic area and is pretty steep.  Well, Rog takes Maggie out in the mornings and has been walking along the top of the berm to that access path. This morning one of the site owners about 3 sites down from us strung up rope from his RV across the berm and hooked it to a tree.  He did this on both sides of his lot.  He hung a sign "This is not a path."   Hmm.  OK.  Why didn't he just stop Roger and say he didn't like him walking behind his RV and ask him to stop?  Rog went down to the office reported it and got a lecture about not walking behind sites, but Management did go talk to the guy and his rope barriers came down right away.  The guy's RV is hanging out over his property line and he lets his dog out to run in the drainage area without being leashed and he complains about someone walking 10 feet behind his property line.  Oh, well.  Always one in the neighborhood!

Roger spent the afternoon with graph paper and a pencil working on our site plan.  I read my book.  We took a short after dinner walk and stopped and visited with the Colorado neighbors on the way back.  Not a very active day, I'm afraid.

Tomorrow we are going to try another experiment with Maggie. We are going to go on our grocery run right after breakfast before it gets hot enough for the AC to be turned on.  We will see how she reacts to that.  I noticed this afternoon, while I was sitting on the couch reading, that the RV has a distinct vibration with the AC on - sort of like the diesel engine vibration that upsets her in the truck.  Maybe that is the issue and not the noise?? 

We have about used up all of our data on our plan, so we are having to curtail things like Roger watching You Tube and me working on geneology.  We need to conserve so we have enough for the blog and for doing business on the internet.  We will have to look at our plan very carefully and make adjustments before we come back next November.  We need to make sure we have a plan that gives us enough data as the WIFI here is expensive and unsecured and, I'm told, unreliable.  More homework to do!



  

Another Desert Adventure

I was sure I left home for the evening walk about the same time as I have been, but ended up in the total dark before I made it home tonight.  A bit scary.  Had Rog going crazy, too.   I had stopped to chat with someone who wanted to pet Maggie. While I was doing that Roger rode by on his bike.  Then my sister called and I walk slower when I'm talking and we had a long conversation and I probably wasn't paying attention to my directions. I guess those two things put me way behind time-wise.  It started getting darker and darker.  Rog is texting me "where r u?"  I told him I was at storage area but it turned out to be the nearby RV park I was seeing and I was still a long way from the storage area.  He turned around and rode his bike back looking for us but we were on separate paths (there's the 2 mile and the "shortcut" of 1.7 miles)  I have no clue which one either of us was on at this point.  I turned my flashlight on the cell phone on and waved it around in hopes he'd see me. Then I finally got to the storage area and waited looking for him while waving my light. He came out onto the road from another path on the other side of the storage area and rode right past as I waved and shouted. Maggie and I cut through the RV park at this point, as there are street lights, instead of continuing on the walking path.  In the meantime Roger went home and got the truck and found us walking down the main road towards home.  What a crazy evening.  Tomorrow I leave earlier and don't stop to talk!!

We went into Casa Grande today and had lunch with our friends, Mick and Laura.  Afterward Rog found a tire shop and made arrangements for the RV to get four new "shoes" next week so we will be ready for our trip to Florida in May.  We stopped for a frozen custard sundae and then I went looking for a map of Arizona.

We hadn't planned on new tires, but Roger noticed that the rear tires were wearing badly on the inside.  We think it is weight distribution thanks to Tony's calculations on weight on the axles.  Anyway, better be safe than sorry as we have 1,500 miles to Pensacola and then another 2,400 miles home - if we came straight home, which we are not planning to do.  

As you probably have figured out I am a bit directionally challenged at times.  Other times I know just where I am.  But, here, I know if I turn left out of the park I'll end up in Phoenix eventually and if I turn right I'll end up in Tucson.  There are small towns out here everywhere as it is a very agricultural area.  I am having trouble orienting myself with these towns and county and state roads, so I want a map I can look at.  A paper map I can study.  A visual description of where I am.

We stopped at a Walgreens after the frozen custard stop and I went in and asked the young (operative word, there) man at the check out where the maps were.  He looked at me as if I were from Mars.  I told him I was looking for an Arizona map.  He just looked at me as if I were crazy and said they didn't have maps in the store. I do think he thought he had heard everything now - some old lady wants a paper map, can you believe it?  

Later this afternoon, Laura texted me that she went to the Hertz Car Rental place and got some maps and I can get them next week when we go in to Casa Grande for new tires.  See, they do still make paper maps.

Maggie had another bad day while we were gone.  She was a wild woman when we got home and the door has new scratches in it.  We left the AC on as it was hot again today.  Hopefully she'll get over this soon. We feel for her, but can not think of anything else to do to help her.  

No plans for tomorrow.  

Awesome Sunset

At the beginning of the walk this evening

At the end

This sunset made for a great ending to the day!

As anticipated yesterday, today was laundry day.  They have a nice facility but not enough tables for folding.  The cost was really cheap compared to Santee Lakes.  It wasn't air conditioned but with two open doors on opposite sides there was a bit of a breeze blowing through, but not enough.  Now, the weird part - there were four women in there for the hour and a half I was there.  Not one said a word to another.  They all sat glued to their phones and avoided eye contact.  Now, tell me, when was the last time you saw four women in one room and no one talked?  It was weird - almost Twilight Zone like.

Rog and I worked on some preliminary sketches and ideas for the improvements on the lot this afternoon.  We actually agreed on some stuff!!!  That was fun. It's a beginning for a long process.

Maggie was calm and quiet and almost sedate today.  We didn't turn the AC on.  It was pretty darn warm inside so we sat outside with a bit of a breeze.  We even ate outside this evening.  Temps got up to about 92 according to our thermometer.  Inside was a bit higher.  It was a test and I seem to be the only one who got grumpy.   She was so good that we unhooked her and she spent the afternoon just moving from one cool spot to another - until I told her it was time to go in for dinner and she hightailed it out into the desert. That's when I really got grumpy because she didn't stop to listen but just kept on going.  Took a while to catch her and get her under control. 

Tomorrow the AC goes back on.  It has to, anyway, as we are going out for lunch and tire shopping in Casa Grande and we can't leave her in the hot RV.

I'm sitting outside.  It's VERY dark!  Best go inside and get my shower.     

It's Official!

We paid the balance we owed on the lot, got it registered with the county, bought insurance coverage, and paid our annual co-op dues today.  We are done writing checks now until next November.  Thank goodness. We are now official "owners."  We still need to get a PO Box and a library card before we go.  

Trivia tidbit:  The insurance office we went to was once was a drug store and was the filming site of the movie "Murphy's Romance" with James Garner (as the pharmacist in the drug store) and Sally Fields.   Pretty cool building.  The office workers all had old style oak roll top desks.  They looked sort of funny with computers on them, though.

Our neighbors, Joe and Lucy, invited us to go to the hot dog feed with them tonight.  We figured we had better be sociable, so we took our cheese sandwiches and went.  We were amazed at the number of folks still in the park.  I guess the majority of those remaining plan on staying til April 1st before they head home. The event was well attended.  I can only imagine what a "social event" in the winter season would be like - not sure the room could hold everyone and the noise level must be horrendous.   We are now on the official "events" email, so will be able to keep up with the partiers - or not.  

We did meet neighbors from across the street - Lert and Lana. Seem like very nice people.  She's a crocheter and says she'll help me learn new things and she's just signed up for stain glass lessons next week.  I told her I would go up tomorrow and sign up, too.  She says she is the only one on the list so far. Could be interesting and fun and be in air conditioning next week! 

Maggie is still freaking out when we leave.  Not sure what to do about it.  We can't leave her in a hot RV this time of year.  The friends who visited yesterday left us a pheromone collar that is supposed to calm the anxiety.  Didn't work for them but we tried it anyway.   I don't think it did all that much for Maggs today, but maybe she would have been even more manic when we returned.  It takes about 10 minutes of sitting with her and petting her chest and telling her to "calm."  She knows that command and you can see her trying, but the anxiety just is overwhelming her desire to mind.  

Tomorrow I will walk with Maggs, sign up for stain glass lessons and do laundry. Rog will go to the fitness center and maybe ride his bike.  That's the agenda along with sitting in the shade with a book.

Sunshine and 92 today.  Hotter the rest of the week, then cool down to normal temps in the mid 80s the following week. 

Today Wasn't What We Planned,.....

..... but we are learning to go with the flow!

The money wasn't deposited in the checking account as expected this morning, so we couldn't write a check.  It's there now, so tomorrow will be our business dealings in town.  

We ended up in Coolidge, which is a little closer than Florence, at a Walmart.  Rog needed an inner tube for his bike tire and I needed cheap short-sleeved light-weight shirts.  I brought Spring weight shirts with me as I didn't expect such warm temperatures before we got home.  It's more than Summer right now.  It was 90 again today.  Anyway, I found a few cotton tees that will work for walks and just hanging out around the RV for the next week or so.  

Rog bought two inner tubes.  It's a good thing he did.  He fixed the flat on the front and then went to air the rear tire and it exploded when he did.  He got to change the second tire as well.  Lucky him, but now he's back in business.  

Friends from Minden, NV are in the area for a few days and we had a small window of time to see them, so with today being open, they came from Casa Grande with their two dogs for an hour or so to visit.  We hadn't met the pooches before - they are recently adopted.  They are so sweet.  All dogs behaved very well.  It was a nice visit and we hope to get together sometime in April when we are all back in our respective homes.  
Maggie and I did our perimeter walk this morning, but I'm tired this evening.  I've been trying to do the walk morning and evening. We just did a quick short excursion after dinner - long enough for her to pee. 

The sun just set, so we can probably turn off the AC and open up the place for the evening and it will still be nice and comfy.

A Most Peaceful Day

Maggie and I walked around the park today - twice.  Rog went up to the fitness center to ride the bike (his has a flat) and do some weights.  Rog dumped tanks.  Other than that we sat under our awning and enjoyed the view while reading.  We did have to chase Maggs a couple of times.  She's now bolting when we open the door to go out.  She's after those critters.  We have to leash her before we go outside.  Hope she gets over it soon.

Today we turned the A/C on after lunch and didn't go anywhere. Maggie did have a little freaking out minute.  I really think it is the fan and noise (it is VERY NOISY) of the A/C that's getting to her.  The last few days we've turned it on as we left for errands so maybe she is also associating it with us leaving.   She spent the afternoon outside with us watching the open areas and stayed calm.  She never napped, though, but kept a watchful eye on the desert.  

It was relaxing and peaceful today.  I told Roger that it was the first day in a very long time I felt totally relaxed.  It did feel good.  

I ordered a book from Amazon about the flora and fauna of the Arizona Sonoran Desert so I'll know what I'm seeing. Unfortunately, I had to ship to home (timing and no USPS delivery here) but I'll have it with me in the Fall.  This morning I spotted a bird I had never seen and had to come back and look it up. I did get a picture of one later this evening I think it is the same kind as I had a fuzzygraph of yesterday or the day before.

Sunshine and 85 today.  A wee bit cooler than yesterday.

Tomorrow we take care of the final business of the purchase - I hope.  It'll be a busy day.  

More pictures from this evening's walk about:

A view from the back of the RV

Cholla Cactus

Phainopepla
A silky flycatcher
How do you pronounce it?

A friend along the path. The seashells
don't exactly fit in, but it's kinda cool!
Maggie wasn't sure what to make of it.

The well groomed path.

Cactus wren

The bottle/can tree, again.

We are in OUR site

We moved into OUR site this morning before it got too hot.  It's a weird feeling knowing it's ours -  but an enjoyable one.  Don't know how long the honeymoon will last but I'm thinking right now that it will be quite a while.  Right now the place is gravel and sand, but by this time next year it's gonna be great. 

We have met several neighbors who have come over to congratulate us on our purchase.  One guy two sites over I think may be a good buddy for Roger.  They have a lot in common in addition to both being born in Detroit and being Navy vets.  The couple seem very nice, very helpful, and she has already talked me into joining her doing stain glass work next Fall when we return. 

We LOVE having our biggest windows facing the desert and not the RV park.  It's so relaxing.  Rog commented at breakfast that it was Saturday and we didn't have multitudes coming and going and kids riding their bikes, and scooters past as they yelled and screamed at each other. A traditional Saturday occurrence at Santee - one that always set us on edge.I think he is very happy with the decision to make this our winter home.  He's even being sociable!  The real test will be next winter.  

We've gotten tips already from several folks about how to go about getting all the approvals for improvements, what we should think about while planning our site and where to go for groceries and hardware.   It's gonna be pricey, but worth it to do what we want as far as sheds, landscaping, shade structures, etc.  We won't be doing it half-assed.  All that will happen in the five months we will be here over the winter. Everyone is bailing out about now and it's much too hot already for laborers to be out there toiling in the sun.  

It was close to 90 again today and poor Roger had to set up the utilities on the sunny side of the RV.  He kept having to take breaks to sit down and have some water.  

Friends, formerly from South Lake Tahoe, are now full-timers in their motor home.  They winter in Casa Grande, which is about 45 minutes southwest from here at the intersection of I-8 and I-10.  They came by early this afternoon to see what we had gotten ourselves into :-)  It was nice to visit as we hadn't seen them in almost a year.  We have a lunch date with them in Casa Grande next Thursday.  

Maggie - oh dear.  Poor thing was major stressed out this morning.  Roger left in the truck and RV while Maggie and I walked to the new site.  She freaked out and tried to follow Roger who had to go around a block or two to come at the site at the right angle to back in. Once he was out of sight she tugged at the leash to go the way he did.  Her ears and tail stayed down for hours as we got settled in.  Then.... she discovered that there are hundred of holes in the area behind us for the desert critters - mostly chipmunk size ground squirrels of some sort.  This afternoon when we would open the door she was out like a shot and heading for the desert. Hopefully she won't learn the hard way that she should keep her nose out of those holes.  No telling what's living in there. She's been so good all winter staying right at the RV.  It's going to be a while before we can even think of not leashing her before we go out the door.  She's having fun, though.  Her ears are alert and her nose is to the ground when we go out for a walk.  

I Got Slightly Lost On This Evening's Walk

Maggie and I headed out for the walking path after dinner.  The sun was low, the temperature cooling off (we hit 90 today), Roger was doing dinner dishes.  Seemed like a perfect time to see if I could walk the entire path in one trek. (It's said to be slightly over 2 miles all the way around.) Maggie seemed willing, even anxious, to get out and move, so off we went.

We got past the spot where we normally turn around and come back in the mornings, and she was willing to keep going, so I figured why not keep going.  Well, on the other side of the park from where we started, the path seemed to veer off in different directions.  All of them had a sign that said "Path," so I wasn't too concerned.  We kept getting further and further away from the RV park and the sun started setting. Roger had commented earlier that there were palm trees at the entrance to the park (that's how he finds the driveway), so I kept my eyes on them and headed that way.  I ran into a fence.  Barbed wire.  Hmmm.  I could see RVs in the distance, people with their dogs in one area, but I couldn't find the end of the fence.  I was getting a bit nervous as it was getting dark so I texted Rog what was happening so he knew where we were.  I reversed direction and started back the way we came.  Maggie decided she didn't want to go that way.  Great.  Had to drag her a few paces to get her to come with me.  FINALLY we found a cutoff to the park near the front entrance (where I thought I was going in the first place).  I texted Roger we were back in the park and would be home soon.  All's well that ends well.  

In the meantime, though, Roger got on his bike and started to come towards where I texted that I was.  The roads here are gravel.  Big gravel.  Not your everyday puny stuff.  Where the cars go it's pretty compacted, but at the edges and around the corners the gravel is very loose.  He spun out and unceremoniously ditched the bike.  People came out to check to see if he was ok. That was nice.  He was.  He didn't fall - only the bike.    This is not a good place to ride.   Maybe on the trail - if you take your GPS with you!

We had a pretty busy day.  We met the salesman at noon, signed a bunch of papers and got instructions for getting some of them notarized and then where to take them to file with the county. That will all happen Monday, hopefully, when we will pay the balance on our site.  Have to wait for Schwab to put the money in our checking so we can access it.  

Then it was a trip to find groceries.  I mentioned in a previous post that we were out in the boonies.  Well, the nearest grocery store is a Safeway 15 miles away.  It's fairly new and in a small shopping center with a couple restaurants, a bank, and a service station.  I can see next winter having to plan ahead for food a little better than I usually do so we aren't running into town all the time.  It's quite a trek.

We are moving to our site tomorrow morning.  They are going to go ahead and let us on it even though they don't have their money yet.  It was too hot and we were too busy to do it this afternoon.  The plan is an early move before it gets too warm.  

Right now our thoughts are that we will stay about two weeks while watching the weather at home.  We need to rent a post office box, sign up for a library card, visit some friends in Casa Grande, and just get to know the park and the area a little bit before we leave.  We will leave the RV here and pick it up the end of the month when we head to Pensacola.  

There's a fitness center, a woodshop, a pool, a stain glass studio and we are told, enough activities in the winter to keep us busy all the time if we want to be.  I think I saw today there will be an ice cream "social" on Sunday.  Rog will probably start riding the bike at the fitness center as he now has a flat tire and even with a good one, it's very difficult on the roads.  Rog is loving the heat - me not so much, but it's not cold and damp that's for sure.  The mornings and evenings are just lovely.

Maggie is having some separation anxiety when we leave her in the RV.  She was having no problem in Santee or Yuma, but yesterday and today when we left we came home to one wound up dog.  She had scratched the door, knocked over the recycle, and pulled placemats off the table.  It took 15 minutes to calm her down once we got home.  So what is different?  The only thing we can think of is that we have been turning the A/C on when we leave so she won't get hot.  It is noisy.  She doesn't seem to mind it when we are here, though.  We really don't know what is up with her.  We are going to have to see what happens.  It's like when we first got her except she's not peeing on the carpet.  

Some photos from my crazy evening walk I hope you like.  Even lost I had to stop and take them.  You will be sick of my desert pictures soon, I'm sure.  Between Maggie pulling on me while I'm trying to take them, and the little tremors from my Parkinson's, I just can't seem to get really good focus with the iPhone.  Maybe we will take the tripod and the good camera out one evening before we leave and get some professional shots. 

Someone has started a bottle tree.  

The sun is just starting to set.

I was looking into the sun so have
no idea what kind of bird that is on the branch.

We Did It - Bought an RV Site

Yes we did - and it was an easy sell for the guy.  We pretty much had made up our minds as we've been knocking the idea around for a month or two, had scouted the sites available (listing on their website), and knew which section we wanted.  When Eric (salesman and owner and developer) told us he had just sold two sites on the outer road we panicked.  The one we wanted had been sold a week or so ago but the guy backed out. So, we told him we didn't need to look at any others.  That's the site we wanted.  He was taken by surprise - he didn't have to go through his whole spiel.  I got the impression he thought we were just listening to him because it was part of the "special" we got when we booked.  We gave him a deposit so he wouldn't sell "our" site to the person he was showing around next.  We close tomorrow at noon. 

Here's our thought process for actually doing this:

 - We aren't getting any younger and we don't know how long we will be RVing and having fun instead of it being work.  
 - We like Santee Lakes very much, but they have priced us out, as well as the other annoyances mentioned earlier in the blog.    - There is nothing equivalent to this set up in Southern California that we could afford.
 - We still want to "winter" in a warm climate.
 - We haven't seen any 55+ community that wasn't crowded with park models on small sites.  
  - We have a place to go every year now.
  - When we stop taking the RV in winter we will probably put a park model on the site. 
   - It's a real estate investment - we hope.
   - We've always liked this area and after boycotting Arizona for five years, we are back.
    - The park is rural.  It backs up to natural lands and the sites are quite large.
    -  It's a co-op so it can't be sold to new management.  We are the management (theoretically). 

So, we have taken the plunge.  Now we have a piece of sand and gravel that backs up to natural settings (the view from the back window).  It's a very large site - 60x70 feet.  We can landscape (with approval) and make it ours.  

I took these pictures tonight on our walk.  The empty lot is ours.  You can see where the electric boxes are at the back of the site - those are the site boundaries.  Right now the sites on both sides of us are sold but unoccupied.  I've also taken pictures of other sites that have been improved and will give an idea of what can be done with it.  We will wait until next November and will start the improvements - a shed, patio, landscaping, etc.  By this time next year we hope it will be beautiful.   We can put a washer and dryer in the shed after we get it plumbed and electricity run to it.  They have a nice laundry room and it's cheap, but I'd rather have my own.  

Our site looking from the road facing ENE.
The shadow is from a saguaro across the street. 

A little different angle.  That palo verde tree is on our site.

Taken from the berm at the back of site towards road.

Maggie on the berm behind the site checking out the "back 40".
There's a 2.5 mile walking trail back here that circles the park. 

Some people have really made their sites very nice, but like in every subdivision there are some with no improvements.  The lighting this evening and my photos don't do some of them justice, I'm afraid.  Maggie wouldn't walk far enough with me tonight to the area with some really nice paved, rather than concrete, patios.  She does not like walking on the gravel.  With the way our site is situated she won't have to  - we will take our walks without having to go on the road.  

Anyway, it's a done deal and we now can think about a landscaping design.  We will probably move to our site tomorrow after "closing."  We will likely stay until the last week of March and then be home by the first of April.  We will leave the RV here and pick it up again the first of May as we head for Pensacola.  

The sunset is incredible again tonight.  The moon is bright and it so quiet.   

Yuma to Florence, AZ

We are settled in at Desert Gardens RV Park just outside of Florence, AZ.  We will be here at least a week.  It is located east of Casa Grande by about 40 minutes, south of Mesa,  by about an hour, and north of Tucson by about an hour and a half. We are out in the desert for sure!  

It's a super nice park with large sites sitting in the middle of the Sonoran desert.  There are lots of saguaro cacti in the park and surrounding it.  It really is pretty here as you can see from the photos Rog took on our walk this evening.  

Tomorrow we meet the sales person and we are seriously considering ownership of one of the larger sites that back up to the desert.  I never thought I would find myself thinking about buying a hunk of Arizona desert, but it just might happen.  Stay tuned.

Not Much of a Farmers' Market

The farmers' market was a bit of a dud today.  Some produce at two different stalls - all with grocery store stickers with the produce number.  Nothing seemed to be locally grown. Didn't even look at it once we spotted that.   There were, of course, jewelry vendors and some clothing vendors and a few others.  We just walked up the street on one side and back on the other without being tempted to buy anything.  As you can see, there weren't many customers.  

We noticed on the bulletin board here that this week is the "last" of everything - bingo, bunco, bridge, aggravation, etc. Snowbirds are pulling out every day.  I think that those left on the first of April will be on the road heading home that day. This place will be pretty deserted - as will most of Arizona.   

We did have a very good pizza at a nice Italian place and then we checked out some antique stores.  The problem with going in them is that you really need to know what is good stuff and what is junk.  I guess if one were a collector of something in particular then it's different. I told Rog I wanted to find a painting or print I could take to the Roadshow and have them tell me it was worth a fortune.  Didn't see anything I thought would fill the bill.  Oh, well.  

Very Artsy Bike Rack

All I need is a bike!

After fueling up the truck for tomorrow's journey and stopping at the ATM for some cash, we came home and both of us had short naps, did two loads of laundry, and I caught up on entering expenses in the "checkbook."   We are ready to hit the road tomorrow.  Yuma really doesn't do much for us.  It's not a particularly nice looking town - it's all sprawled out with seemingly no focus except for the area around Old Town, the Territorial Prison, and the Colorado River Crossing Park.  

Weather was warmer - mid 70s with a breeze.  Lots of sunshine today.  

Park Models but No Swap Meet

No famous Yuma Swap Meet today.  Closed on Monday and Tuesday.  Oh, well.  Probably would have found junk to buy that we didn't need or really want. But, we did find a huge RV parts junk store up the road from us. Everything you would ever want for your RV - the place was full of Chinese knock-off RV parts.  It was fun to wander through it and I did buy some collapsable storage bowls. 

After seeing so many parks in this area with park models in them we decided today to look at park models just for fun. We've seen them in other parks around the west as well - mostly in Arizona.  There's a CAVCO dealer a few miles away and they had about 10 different single wide models, two double-wides and a weird single and a half model.  Very interesting and fun to go through. Fortunately there were no pushy sales people and we just wandered around and through the models - all basically the same with slight floor plan and decor color variations.  We don't see one in our future quite yet.

We had lunch out and satisfied my sugar/chocolate cravings with a dessert - brownie with ice cream.  I should be good for a while now, I hope.

We spent the afternoon discussing our next move and what's next for us.  We now have reservations in Florence, AZ on Wednesday for a week.  It's a co-op park which means the sites are "owned" by the community and are leased by individuals. We got a special rate for a week by agreeing to listen to a sales pitch.  What got our attention was that it is out in the Sonoran Desert and the sites are very large.  We spent hours this afternoon talking about "what if we like it?"  Will keep you posted on that. Their website: www.desertgardensrvpark.com   

We have friends in nearby Casa Grande and we are anxious to visit with them while we are in the area next week.  

The clubhouse here in this park has a small library and I went down there yesterday to exchange some books we have read for any I might find of interest.  While I was in there I noticed two humungous quilts hanging on the walls but I didn't get a close look as there were lots of people in the room playing some weird peg board game called "Aggravation."   From where I standing, though, the quilts were very impressive.  I went back today to get photos of them to post.  Two women were sitting in the room working on a community jigsaw puzzle when I walked in and I inquired about the quilts.  Was it a community project? If not, did one person do them?  How long did it take?  Etc., Etc. The response - "Oh, management bought them a couple of years ago from Walmart."  I went over to get a closer look at them - sure enough - made in China - tags still on them.  I didn't take photos.  

Tomorrow we plan on going to Historic Downtown Yuma for lunch and to a Farmer's Market.  We did this the last time we were here and had a great pizza, bought some small prints in an art gallery, and bought a shirt at the market.  So, maybe tomorrow I can find something to spend my allowance on.   

Still watching the winter weather at home and we are in no particular hurry to get back to it.  

Cool today and breezy - it never made 70 degrees.  Sunshine and 80 predicted for tomorrow, though.  


Miss Maggie likes the yarn in the new blanket I'm making.  She probably thinks it is for her.  Is it soft and warm!