Travels in 2008, and 2007

Pause mode

19 Sep 2008
Yuma, AZ

Well, it's that time of year. The fun and games are on hold; the quiet life resumes; the blog entries are few and far between.

But you can still email me! We love to hear from people - and continue to watch everyone else's blogs!

See ya.

Pugsley, Annie and Frog on the RV lot in Yuma.

 
Emmie's new cage structure - she kind of likes to explore it. She is hiding behind the open door, where you can't see her. It's too bad she doesn't have any toys....

The eagle has landed - or was that The turkeys roosted?

13 Sep 2008
Yuma, AZ

Well, we're back....

This is the earliest we've ever hit a winter destination, I think. On our way here we discussed whether we really want to live in the Hill Country of Texas instead of Yuma. Hmmmm. This may take some thinking. And if the elections go bad, we may decide the west coast of Australia is even better!

It's supposed to be 104 degrees today, but it cools off nicely at night - clear down to 74 last night. Must be Yuma. [But it's a dry heat!] We are the only ones in the neighborhood that have returned, of course. Even Bert & Mikey are gone for a week or two.

The house is in fine shape - except for the piles of large dead bugs and spiders - today is housecleaning day, methinks. We don't have water till Monday, other than the cooler of drinking water I'll pick up today. The playhouse is still nicely wrapped up - in spite of the numerous wind, sand and thunderstorms we've been reading about all summer. Yuma has a monsoon season, in addition to brutal summer heat.

The cable internet wasn't connected until midnight last night - forgot to call ahead - but that's okay. We'll struggle along with this hookup at the coach. We couldn't go rescue Frog from storage until midnight, when the insurance was valid again, so that's on the first list for today.

 

So, welcome back.

Thank you....

Arizona - the circle begins to close

9 Sep 2008
Saint Johns, Arizona

I've been neglectful lately; I'm sorry. But I'm not sure anyone notices anyway, y'know?

We spent a couple of weeks in Albuquerque doing absolutely nothing. No sightseeing. No road trips. No big restaurant explorations. No collections of new photos. The biggest achievement was my walking every morning for a mile or two. Consistently! [No, I haven't taken off all the weight I swore I was going to before fall. But I'm still trying.]

 The RV park had a Labor Day potluck that we attended. We met some of the neighbors -- many of them are living there full-time, and have been for years! There aren't near as many RVs on the road as last year; more people are just parking and sitting. The price of fuel has definitely hit everyone's pocket.

We finally moved on into Arizona, after stopping overnight in Gallup. We should go back there, methinks. It appears to be the center of Indian arts and crafts. We made it through with no expenditures! We really liked the RV park there, btw. It apparently had a real off-the-wall owner until a year ago or so. We met some fun neighbors over peach cobbler at the campground grill later that evening.

The Petrified Forest National Park just out of Holbrook, Arizona was fascinating. We parked near the south entrance - there is a small "rv park" there for free! - unhooked and drove up through the park and the Painted Desert area. We did a couple of short walks. The park is HUGE! I think they were trying to fit in as much land as possible, with artifacts missing for many miles; but the scenery is interesting. Kind of similar to South Dakota's Badlands. However, having said that, there are amazing quantities of petrified trees just littering the landscape around every corner They don't worry a lot about theft of the larger items - anything larger than a breadbox is so heavy you couldn't lift it - but the little stuff disappears rapidly, according to their brochures.

"Did You Know?
Petrified wood at Petrified Forest National Park is almost solid quartz, weighing in at 168 pounds per cubic foot. It's so hard, you can only cut it with a diamond tipped saw! "

The art deco Painted Desert Inn was our favorite stop along the way. It was built way back when in the 30s and 40s and fell into disrepair and was resurrected a couple of times. It is in my favorite architectural style. I want to move in!

We threw darts at a board and decided to head for the high country after leaving Holbrook. Lyman Lake State Park is terrific. The lake is a little low right now, but the facilities are nice, the people friendly, the walking/hiking trails terrific. Life is good.