Part 1 Getting Caught Up-Finishing up 2017

December 11-31, 2017

I had started this as soon as I posted the last post but due to two new laptops in two different Verizon statement cycles we've been very limited with our wifi. Needless to say this has put me way behind, again. We do hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and are enjoying 2018. We sure have been enjoying our AZ winter, think we picked the right place to be this winter.

One of the best things of this lifestyle is the friends we've made all over the country. As winter approaches our full time friends, for the most part head, to warmer places. AZ, TX & FL are the favorite places to winter. Since going full time we've enjoyed winters in TX and AZ. We've not done FL yet but in early 2019 we'll finally make it there for a little while.

Moved to site 81, much nicer and

we can use the sewer..sh*t don't flow up hill

Our arrival at Pioneer RV Park near Anthem AZ was the start of some fun times. Our friends Ingrid & Al of Live Laugh RV stayed here until January 1st. To say we had a fun time with them is an understatement, we were sorry to see them head out on the first. We shared a number of meals including fish fry's, elk (that Al got on his recent hunt) and a variety of other tasty meals. One day the boys went shooting at the nearby gun range, Ingrid and I braved the holiday crowds and went of search of things on her list. We walked some nearby trails, tried to get our exercise (steps) in with hopes of keeping our waistlines from expanding too much over the holidays, but with some awesome cooks it's hard to do. When Januaray 1st came around we were sad to see them leave but know we'll see them again soon.

We all got the memo to wear National Parks shirts

We visited the Scottsdale Farmers Market a few times. Great pot stickers.

Claudine (left) and her helper of Claudine's Lebanese Kitchen. She'll make special dishes for Dave, things he hasn't tasted since his grandmother passed away many years ago. If she's got Bakalava it's the best at this market.





Big produce vendor who comes every week from CA, great produce and some unique things.

Carefree AZ just east of Cave Creek has a wonderful Carefree Sundail Park which they decorate for the holidays every year. We picked an appropriately cold evening to go look at the lights. Nice they had some huge fireplaces to get warmed up by.

Trying to stay warm, one of the fireplaces is behind us. 

One of the reasons we come here is to spend time with our son David, daughter in law Laura and Jim who's like a son to us. David was suppose to have his gall bladder removed on 12/13, the doctor was sick so it was postponed till 12/20. They removed two gall stones the size of golf balls, to say he wasn't feeling chipper on Christmas is an understatement. We held dinner at our place instead.

It was as good as it looks. Thanks Jim!!

Just out the back of the park is access to some trails, while not the most scenic we enjoy walking out there some evenings. We've seen some of the wildlife and enjoyed a few sunsets.

The last day of the year Dave and I took a 10.5 mile hike on the Black Canyon Trail, it was an in and out trail which we picked up nearby on New River Rd. The trail was mixed variety, at times it's a hiking trail and sometimes it follows some of the "roads" out here. What a great way to end 2017.

Goodbye 2017

Until next time...

Fun Times to Disappointed

October 26-December 10, 2017

Highlights

We enjoyed Thanksgiving with our son David and our daughter in law Laura, Davids best friend from VT, James, and one of Laura's classmates Pratchie who is from India. Pratchie was looking forward to typical Thanksgiving. Well there's nothing typical in our holidays, the home is on wheels, the turkey was deep fried...the rest of the dinner was more typical. Delicious food and good company made for a wonderful afternoon with the kids. Deep fried turkey has become our go to Thanksgiving dinner, so delicious.

We've enjoyed some great hikes at Cave Creek Regional Park and Spur Cross Ranch Conservation area.

Go John & Overton Trails

Hiking into the Tonto National Forest to see some petroglyphs.

We've had friends stop in for visits.

Our friends Alex and Paul came for a stay at Cave Creek Regional Park, they were fortunate to get the vacant host site next to us for their stay. I think someone got a little cold while they were here.

Great friends who've become like family, always fun and trouble when we get together.






Friends Paula and Steve from our place in Port Aransas TX stopped in for a few nights.

The jello keeps jiggling


Since we arrived we'd been scheduled on weekends and had only seen the kids once (Thanksgiving) since they are busy with work or school during the week. We spoke to our supervisor about all the weekends and were assured this would change once all the Spur Cross hosts arrived. When we received our January schedule and saw we were once again scheduled for all the weekends we decided it was time for us to move on. We were disappointed in leaving but we have certain rules we now live by, the most important being if we're not happy it's time for us to leave.

Pioneer RV Park Site 81

We've relocated to a small (583 sites) rv park near Anthem 12 miles away. We got a great deal on a site for 3 months. While it's not our ideal kind of place we feel lucky to have found a place to stay for the season. Now we'll be able to spend the winter playing and enjoying ourselves with family and friends. Best thing about being here, our friends Ingrid and Al are in the same park until the first of the year, can you say party time.


Until next time...

West To NM & AZ

October 20-25, 2017

Friday

We were up and on the road by 8am for our 375 mile ride to Las Cruces NM. After a 7 hour uneventful ride we arrived at Leasburg Dam State Park. This is a small park with about 30 sites which less than 10 are reservable, water and electric (mostly 30amp but a few 50amp) and is about 15 miles north of Las Cruces NM.

 Site 19 water & 30amp






After setting up we took a walk on the Mollogum trail, their longest trail. The trail starts out above the Rio Grande river then winds its way down to the river to the park's day use area. We enjoyed the shaded walk along the river to the dam for which the park gets its name. This dam on the Rio Grande is a diversion dam and not used for flood control. Along the river is a canal which is used to divert the water to nearby farms. We saw lots of pecan orchards along the river, seems to be the biggest crop in the area. Our walk then returned us back to the campground and home. Just what we needed after sitting so long in the truck today.

 Rio Grande 1/2 mile below dam

Rio Grande, the dam is in the back ground

Behind the dam the silt has piled almost as high as the dam. The Rio Grande is a brown, muddy, silty river...one day we'll get our canoe on it.

The locks for the canal. I did a little reading and in El Paso there is another diversion dam there. Which explains why we saw lots of pecan trees when passing through there early.




Saturday

Not feeling to ambitious we took a ride into Las Cruces to check out their Farmers and Craft market. While there were lots of crafters there weren't too many farmers,  we did stock up on a few jams, had a not so good bagel for breakfast and picked up some local pecans and pistachios. Went back home and never did much. We lost an hour yesterday and tomorrow we loose another one, our bodies will be so confused.

Sunset Leasburg Dam State Park

Sunday


Another travel day, another  hour lost, 311 miles and we arrived at our friends Alex & Paul's home in Tuscon AZ. Our plan was to camp in their driveway, well that was not to be. After a few valiant attempts to back up their steep drive we regrouped and headed to Catalina State Park where we found a nice back in site, we're about 30 minutes away. Jello wiggling again.

 Catalina State Park Site B72







After setting up and relaxing for a bit we headed over to Alex & Paul's house for a visit and dinner. Great friends, good food and a beautiful evening sitting outside talking... before we knew it 7pm was upon us and Dave and I were beat, for us it was 9pm...almost bedtime. Thanks guys for a wonderful dinner and great company.

Monday

This time change is wreaking havoc on my sleeping, awake around 4:30 (which just 3 mornings ago was 6:30) and up at 5:30. We headed out to hike one of the trails here at Catalina State Park. We chose the Canyon Loop Trail rated an easy 2.6 miles. The trail takes you out of the canyon wash and up above the canyon where you hike among many familiar cactus, we enjoyed hiking again among the cholla and saguaros.

After our hike we headed for a visit with Alex and Paul. We decided to do some window shopping at the Lazy Days dealer in Tuscon.

Think this might be a fun way to travel, one of these days maybe.









Alex and Paul then took for an auto tour of Tuscon. We found some great views from Sentinel Peak.




Tuesday

Dave and I headed to Sabino Canyon, we missed the tram up to the top so decided to hike up instead and ride back down.

After a great hike we headed back to Alex & Paul for a drive up Mt Lemmon

One last group photo. Thanks Alex and Paul for a wonderful time. We can't wait to see you soon.








 Wednesday

About 9 we headed towards Cave Creek Regional Park. We wanted to get in early as we had dinner plans with friends in Phoenix. After getting set up, we checked in with our fellow hosts from 2 years ago.  We met up with Curt and Glenda, Steve and Debbie to introduce them to Chino Bandido's, a great visit with friends we hadn't seen in awhile.

 

Our host site this winter.










This post is so overdue but do to a lack of data I am way behind. Lots has changed since we arrived but that's a blog post for another day.

Until next time...