The Beginning of summer? (04/20/25)

 

Paul and had already decided to head to Massachusetts this summer- our son is there, and we still have lots of friends and my family there. We don't drive all the way back very often anymore, but I sometimes fly on my own.

So, it was time for a longer visit.

With all that in mind we decided to leave for the summer on April 3rd. That's a full two months before we usually leave Arizona.

We made the most of our time with Liz and Randy before leaving,  getting in one boating day and a couple of pool days.

Just before we left, we went out to dinner to celebrate 75 years of marriage. 25 years for us, and an impressive 50 years for them.

Paul also finished one of his projects that he was working on in his spare time- a stained glass window for the trailer. It came out awesome.

I sorta promised Paul that we would stop and see new things along the way to MA,  and not make a beeline for the coast. By leaving early, we will have plenty of time to explore. We also needed to be in Green Valley, AZ for a week in April to pick out flooring, cabinets, granite etc for the new house.

While we were there we took a drive up into nearby Mt. Wrightson wilderness in the Coronado National Forest. This area is on the migratory path of an  incredible amount of birds, including hummingbirds.

I saw two New to Me varieties of hummingbirds-

The Rivoli Hummingbird

and the Broad Billed.

I didn’t get to spend too much time looking because Paul couldn’t find a spot to park the dually so he dropped me off at the visitor center. I can’t wait till we live here and can spend more time bird watching.

Of course, I put up my feeders as well, and in addition to hummingbirds, we were visited by Hooded Orioles, both the male (pictured) and the female.

Leaving Green Valley, after a short visit with friends in Sierra Vista, AZ,  we landed  just outside Las Cruces New Mexico. The nearby Organ Mountains- Desert Peaks National Monument has some hiking we were interested in. We drove up to the Dripping Springs (note to self, it is barely dripping) area and did two hikes. The first was 3 miles, to Boyd.

The story behind this building is that Dr. Boyd agreed to rent this area from the owner at the time, Eugene Van Patten, for $25 a year, but shortly thereafter, refused to pay, and refused to leave. Van Patten sued him, but in the course of the court battle it was discovered that Van Patten had described the area incorrectly, so his homestead patent was actually for a different area. He got it straightened out, and was still owed all the rent from Boyd, but trying to collect it  for 13 years forced him into bankruptcy and he ended up selling the area to Boyd for a dollar.  Very Strange.

The other hike we did was a 1 mile hike to La Cuerva, the Cave, which is really just a rock shelter. Apparently I deleted all my pictures of it, oh well, I guess that tells the story of how interesting it was.

Next up on our journey was Mayhill New Mexico, which is near Cloudcroft. This is one of those spots we like to stop for a day or two to do some exploring and hiking. The Lincoln National Forest has a lot of hiking trails, but with only one day, we chose the 3 mile loop, Little Apache Trail. I really enjoyed the smells of the forest.

Of course we also stopped several places to watch the wild horses.

Our final visit with friends for this leg of our journey was in Abilene Texas where we spent a few days with friends Wil and Gayle. While showing them pictures of our house project on the big screen, Gayle became our own version of Vanna White…

After a couple of days and lots of camaraderie, it was time to move on from Texas to Oklahoma.

The Holidays and Beyond (2/22/25)

 

Back home after our adventure, we had just enough time to get ready for the holidays. Our friends Brad and Marilyn from Canada arrived in their RV for a few weeks, and our daughter Jess came for Christmas, bringing our soon to be son in law with her. A fun time was had by all….

One of the highlights for me was the night we went out to the bars the night after Christmas and Justin, who is the lead singer in a band, sang a Karaoke song, just for me. Very cool.

As soon as the holidays were over,  as hard as it is to believe, we got busier. We left in the rig mid January, with our first stop being Mesa, where we spent two weeks visiting my brother and his wife, who were staying a park model for two months, at one of our favorite RV resorts.

We managed to see other friends and family while we were in the Phoenix area as well.

From there we headed to Green Valley, south of Tucson. In the last year or so we have been looking at our next step, house wise, and Green Valley is on our short list for a location-specifically Quail Creek, the 55+ Robson community there. We booked a 3 night stay in one of their villas to see if we liked the “vibe” of the community. We have been here before and are pretty sure it’s where we want to be.

After meeting with our sales rep, he showed us the new lots that are now available- and we did a thing. We bought a lot before we even stayed in the villa! Our new house, once it’s built, will be on the golf course which we don't care about but it will afford us a great sunset view.

Decision made, we relaxed and enjoyed all the amenities in the complex.

We happened to be there the night of our 25th wedding anniversary, and were gifted by Robson, dinner for two at the resort restaurant.

We started with a shot of our favorite sipping tequila, Fortaleza before enjoying an awesome dinner.

We were given a golf cart for our use which was great because driving the dually everywhere would not have been fun. It didn’t even fit in the driveway of the villa!

After a quick stop in Phoenix for doctor appointments, we were back home the second week in February.

The Winter Blast pyrotechnics event is Presidents weekend every year and this time Paul’s brother Tom and his wife Sue were coming with their RV club.

We parked our rig at the site so we could relax and enjoy some time with them.

Once they left we had about a week to unpack, spend some time with Liz and Randy, and of course, take Paul out for his standard birthday celebration.

And then….. it was time to leave for Los Angeles for our daughter’s wedding.

"Blink" (06/12/24)

 I swear that’s what happened- I blinked and the first half of 2024 flew off, never to be seen again. Overall, the last 6 months have been spent going back and forth from the house in Lake Havasu to El Paso, Phoenix, and several places in between.  It seems that anytime we were home, we had company either coming or going. Always a fun time, but also a whirlwind. We were lucky that our friends Liz and Randy had their rig parked in our yard for the duration- they shared hosting duties, cooking, and held down the fort whenever we were gone.

So, without further ado, here is a brief (ha, I can pretty much guarantee it won’t be brief) synopsis of how the first 6 months went.  I write this post now because are on the road for the summer, in the camper, and that’s the stuff I really want to write about but I have to get this over with .

January

 

Pretty much the first thing we did in January is buy a 2023 Ford Bronco. We actually have one on order but it doesn’t seem like it will ever show up, and Paul got tired of waiting. This one is very similar to what we ordered, but also was used, with about 10,000 miles on it.

Every January brings with it the Havasu Balloon Fest, and this year was no different. What Was different is how we attended. We elected to take the boat out before sunrise, so we could watch the balloons go up from our position on the lake.

The weather was absolutely perfect, and watching the sunrise from the lake was a real treat. Randy had made breakfast burritos for us all so we ate breakfast while waiting for the balloons.

Inside Bridgewater Channel, near the London Bridge, the balloon pilots like to perform “touch and go” or “splash and dash”.  They lower the basket down to the water’s surface and then take off again.  Very cool to watch!

The weather for this event can be very iffy, but this year it was perfect.

Part of our running back and forth to Phoenix was for several minor surgeries for Paul- in January he had his first cataract surgery.

February

February brought more minor surgeries for Paul, which meant more trips to Phoenix.  Every time we went to Phoenix or El Paso this winter, we were also looking to check out places for our next home. We knew Lake Havasu was not going to be our Final Home, and when we don’t feel up to boating anymore, we will probably move. Our next place is likely to be in a 55+ community, so we are checking them out when we can.

Every once in a while the 4 of us have a date night, dressing up (much) more than we usually would. This time the excuse to dress up was mine and Paul’s 24th wedding anniversary. I think its very cool that next year, when we celebrate our 25th, our friends Randy and Liz will be celebrating their 50th.

Winter Blast (a fireworks festival) also occurs in February. In keeping with the Balloon Fest idea, we did things differently this year. Usually we book an RV spot at the site of the fireworks so we can either come and go as we please, or stay there for a few days. This year we didn’t. 

We decided to drive in and sit in the grandstands. We were very happy we did it this way. We always knew we were missing the low altitude fireworks, but we didn’t realize how awesome they are and we thoroughly enjoyed watching them.

February wouldn’t be complete without Paul’s annual visit to El Paraiso Mexican Restaurant for his birthday, where they always make him feel special.

We closed out the month with a trip to California. Paul’s sister-in-law, his brother’s wife (also named Sue) was celebrating her 70th birthday with a 70s themed bash.

We had a smaller family party the night before, in a gorgeous suite on the ocean, a suite that Tom and Sue gifted to Paul and I for the night. It was incredible.

March

Usually the weather in March starts to warm up in Havasu, but this year it took its sweet time.  We got so annoyed with the lack of boating weather that we elected to have happy hour in the boat anyway- in the garage.

Another trip to El Paso was necessary but we broke it up by visiting our friends Tony and Marguerite  in Green Valley, and combined that with looking at more 55+ communities. The only picture I got of them isn’t great, so I am being considerate and not posting it, lol.

Back home, our activities included visits to the Desert Bar to meet up with friends (if you have never heard of the Desert Bar, check it out https://soos-ontheroad.blogspot.com/2014/02/whats-desert-visit-without-visit-to.html )

…and visits from Paul’s fraternity brother, Kirk, and his wife Karen.

The weather also finally warmed up enough to swim for a couple of days.

April

 April was a little different than usual. It started off with new visitors to the house. Robin and his wife Kim came to see us for a few days from their home in California. What is really cool is that Paul and Robin were boy scouts together (both made Eagle Scout) in high school, but they have not seen each other since then. Paul always talks about having helped Robin’s dad build his house when Paul was in high school- it was the beginning of his house building skills. They became friends on Facebook and Robin was interested in making the journey to Havasu. 

We had a great few days with them, and the weather even cooperated enough to take the boat out.

Soon after they left, we did too.  This was a special time for me actually. My brother Ray and his wife Dawn decided to retire, and within a week of their last day, they flew out from MA to spend 3 weeks with us in Arizona. 

 We spent the first two weeks in a resort in Mesa, AZ.  This place has RV spots and park models, so we were able to have our own space (we brought our 5th wheel), but be next door neighbors.

I would say they took to retirement like ducks to water....

After two weeks there we brought them back to the house for 10 days, where we continued their “education” with Side by Side trips, boating, floating in the pool, and Bocce ball. Oh, and we made ice cream one day too.

They liked the resort in Mesa so much that they booked it for next year already. Awesome!

It was a bonus for us that during their visit, our daughter Jess was able to come from California for the weekend, bringing her fiancé Justin with her. 

 It was great that Ray and Dawn were able to see Jess, and meet Justin for the first time.  We are always happy when Justin comes to visit- he pitches right in and makes himself at home.

May

Ray and Dawn flew back to Massachusetts in early May, a few days before Paul and I had to head to Phoenix, yet again, for more doctor appointments. We knew when we decided to settle in Havasu that we would have a 3 hour drive to our doctors at Mayo Clinic, but we are not willing to give up our doctors, so we live with it.

The rest of the month was relatively quiet- I had a low key celebration of my 65th birthday and spent some time on the computer making sure I had navigated all things Medicare correctly. Looks like I did, whew.

Now that Paul’s eyes have settled after his cataract surgery, I have to get re-acclimated to seeing him without glasses!

Memorial Day weekend is traditionally our last blast before taking off for the summer. My cousin Linda from Phoenix brings her friends for 3-4 days- and it is one wild and crazy time!

They bring all the food to cook dinner, leaving us to just provide breakfasts- nice and easy.

 

Most of the weekend is spent on the boat (along with a million other people) in the pool, and playing all kinds of games.  Of course, there may also be drinking involved.  It usually takes us a day or two to recover, but it’s all fun!

And now, we have left for the summer and I can resume my posts about our explorations