Serene Wandering

After some enjoyable months of urban camping, we were ready for some open landscapes!  During the last week we have appreciated our rural respite through California into southern Oregon.

We saw power production areas in southern California including mirror collection and wind turbines.

We were amazed at the amount of traffic in this desolate area between Las Vegas and Los Angeles!  We were even more amazed when it came to a crawl.   Fairly soon we saw a sign that indicated a California inspection station two miles ahead.  I had forgotten about the inspection station when I had stocked up on groceries the day before!   After creeping along for two miles, we came to the station and they were not stopping anyone.  The good news is we got to keep our produce!

 

We spent one night at Success Lake – a ways north of Bakersfield. It was so rural at the lake that there wasn’t cell or data service (tolerable for one night). We loved our view from our campsite the next morning.

The hills surrounding the lake were very green and I saw a number of these large white birds on the lake.  Our birder friend Mark says it is a white pelican.  Thanks Mark!

The next day we traveled to a park between Fresno and Yosemite. Our primary reason for being here was to spend time with Aloha and Bob, our camp hosting partners from last summer at Farragut State Park. It was terrific to spend a couple days with them both at our place in the park and then at their home near Fresno.

Elko even got to spend time with his friend, Yukon!

As a bonus, we really liked the RV park where we stayed! Park Sierra is a co-operative – built, occupied and maintained by Escapee (SKP) RV club members – a group we belong to. The park was beautifully designed to embrace the natural landscape and the friendly residents and cooperative spirit were very appealing. We aren’t looking for an RV home in central California, but if we were ready to consider such a thing – Park Sierra might be the place.

Our next stop was Minden Lake, north of Sacramento.

This campground was uninspired but the lake on one side and the agricultural fields on the other satisfied the current rural preference.

The last time we drove this route was in November of 2014.  We took pictures of the historically low water levels in Lake Shasta due to the extended California drought.

Although still considered to be in drought condition, the wet winter and spring have the lake and surrounding areas looking much better.

 

We also remember seeing these “State of Jefferson” signs and billboards from our last drive through the area. In fact, the original State of Jefferson efforts to carve out a new state from northern California and southern Oregon began in 1941!  Currently there are 21 counties in northern California that have submitted, to the California legislature, their intention to separate and form their own state – The State of Jefferson. If ignored or disallowed, they plan to sue California for lack of representation.

We crossed the border into Oregon and came to the familiar Emigrant Lake County Park in Ashland, Oregon.  While setting up, Randy realized he “knew” our neighbor.  Bill Gehr writes technical articles for Trailer Life magazine and Randy reads them every month. They talked shop for a while.

We are in the same campsite as our last stay here in November 2014 and took these pictures from a similar vantage point. This lake is looking good too!

Our main reason for coming to Ashland was to see family. My parents came down from Vancouver to meet us and we planned to spend time with cousins Guerin and Donna. Unfortunately, illness kept Guerin and Donna from joining us but we had a good time with my parents.

We went to the Ashland Shakespeare Festival but alas, during this year that William Shakespeare would be 400 years old, at one of the oldest Shakespeare Festivals in the country, we did not see a Shakespeare production. Totally a factor of what was showing when we could be here, we saw Dickens’ Great Expectations at one of the indoor theaters. It was terrific!

For you veterans of the Idaho Shakespeare Festival – familiar actress Sara Bruner is now here in Ashland. We didn’t see her in this play but the playbill indicated she is in two productions at the Ashland Festival this year.

We also celebrated Elko’s birthday!  We adopted him six years ago and now consider him to be eleven years old.   He is such a sweet boy- and a very easy traveling companion in this lifestyle.  Elko’s favorite thing to do is go outside and hang with his dad!  Happy Birthday Elko!

For the past week we have stayed at Oasis Las Vegas RV Resort.  Checking in here is more like checking into a nice hotel!

The park is situated between Las Vegas Boulevard and I-15 and is within two miles of The Strip. Our trailer is a “short pitching wedge” from the noisy freeway – literally 30 yards. There is a barrier wall so we hear but do not see the cars.  The noise from the freeway helps drown out the noise from the airplanes overhead because the Las Vegas airport is also close by!

The spots are tight, but doable, and the really crazy part is this huge lighted billboard 25 feet from our door.

It is really bright at night but we have blackout shades so it really hasn’t effected us. We see some light residue through the skylight in our shower but not enough to bother us.  So, why are we staying in this crazy park for a whole week?

We are here in Las Vegas for the Mountain West Basketball Tournament and wanted somewhere close to the venue with good security for Elko and the trailer since we would be gone so much.

At least there is a Dog Park for Elko to enjoy since he had to spend way too much time alone this week.

We decided that we weren’t going to try to do anything except the tournament  because 20 games over 6 days is a lot of time away from Elko and the trailer. Actually we only went to 14 of the 20 games – exhaustion (and guilt) settles in, even as a spectator.

The highlight of the week was when great friends Kent and Pam rolled through town for a couple of days on their way south! They joined us for four games on Thursday.

The low points were when both the mens’ and women’s Boise State teams, each seeded #3, LOST their first round games. We were not unique though – the same thing happened to Air Force, San Jose State and Wyoming, although their seedings weren’t as high.

The San Diego State fan base was here in force and so was their Aztec mascot.

We remember seeing him a couple years ago, or a previous incarnation of him, at a December football game in Boise. He was dressed like this even though it was about 12 degrees that night. His fortitude, or foolishness, was impressive.

We just had to shake our heads at the women coaches who wear these high, high heels while working the game. Usually the head coaches had more sense but we noticed the assistants wearing shoes such as these over several of the women’s games. Very strange – and probably not very good for the lovely hardwood floor.

Coming to the tournament was something I had wanted to do for a long time but couldn’t ever justify taking a week off work to do so. Now that we’ve done it, or will have “done it” after the Men’s Championship game this afternoon, we are glad we came but won’t likely come again.   Next time we’ll just stay in Arizona and take in a few more Spring Training games.

Tomorrow we leave here and head west into California. We will make a couple of great family stops in Oregon and Washington before heading back to Boise for April. We count our blessings every single day!

After staying a month at each of our last two stops, the four nights we spent at Sunflower Resort in Surprise, Arizona – northwest of Phoenix – went by in a flash. Sunflower Resort is a terrific park combining the things we loved about the Yuma park and the Tucson park –  lots of activities, music around the pool, very clean and tidy. If you like snowbird parks (and I guess we do) Sunflower is a good one.

Elko loved the dog park and wanted to go there every day – at least once! On the way to the dog park we noticed a Boise State banner so made a point of stopping to chat when we saw them out.

They were Darlene and Don from Kuna, Idaho – and their daughter  had taught with our good friend and Kuna teacher, Cindy!   Always a small world out here!  Darlene and Don are the stage managers for this year’s Sunflower drama production.  The play this year is “Drinking Habits” and Don invited us to attend the dress rehearsal so the actors could see how things played off an audience. The play was delightful and we enjoyed our free afternoon show!

We sat with Jean, age 93, who lives in the park full time and told an interesting story. She met her “husband to be” in November 1942, just two months before he was shipping out to the war in Europe. Although they wanted to marry , his father would not allow it. After a couple of years, he was injured in a tank explosion and spent time in a hospital in France. When he came back to the US in 1945, they were married. Jean’s husband passed away in 2001 after 55 years of marriage. We have met many interesting people at these snowbird parks!

We met Gerry and Kathy at the park in Tucson and spent some time with them there.  We “snowbirds of a younger age” found we had quite a bit in common.  They too were coming to Surprise and we got together a couple more times. Hopefully we’ll see them again sometime down the road.

And the reason we came here ….spring training! We enjoyed two Mariner’s games – one win and one loss.  Both days the established players played a few innings and then gave way to those who are trying to make the team.

Fun times! We are blessed!

After a very pleasant month in Tucson, we leave here tomorrow. We are headed to the Phoenix area to see a couple Mariners’ spring training games and then on to Las Vegas for the Mountain West Basketball Tournament. But first, a look back on our stay in Tucson and things  we haven’t mentioned.

I once named a blog post “Our Own Private Idaho” because there were several Idaho folks on our campground loop in northern California. Well, I could have titled this one “Our Own Private Ada County.” (For non-Idahoans – Ada is the county encompassing Boise and surrounding communities.) We were very surprised to so see many Ada county license plates in a snowbird park in Tucson. We learned that the RV club,  Rolling Eagles, spend a few months here each winter.

Fourteen rigs from the group were present this year including someone I knew – the former Meridian teacher Bobbi Brown, now Bobbi Rees. She, and her husband Bill, hosted breakfast for the Rolling Eagles and invited others, including us, to join the fun.

Of course where there are lots of Idahoans – there are lots of Boise State gear and banners – we fit right in!

In many ways snowbird parks like these are playgrounds for the active retired – and we barely scratched the surface. There are sports, exercise, educational, wood-working, jewelry making, writing, singing and so many more activities. There are classes and seminars to attend including the weekly AppleMac class that was my very favorite activity in the park. There is even a very large model train course that enjoys daily use.

Randy really, really enjoyed getting reacquainted with his old past time – golf. He went twice a week with the group here. He even parred the Tin Cup hole at the Tubac golf course – made famous in the Kevin Kostner movie, Tin Cup.

The most enjoyable aspect of this park, in our opinion, is the entertainment. There is a concert or performance every Thursday and Friday night – at least in the month of February that we were here. We went to all but one – not sure what happened there!

The highlight was international performing guitarist, Pavlo, who was amazing.  He calls his music Mediterranean due to his Greek roots but it sounded wonderfully Latin to me.  You may have seen him on one of his PBS specials.

At the Pavlo concert, we sat next to this couple from Indiana who had a son named “Randy Joe” also born in 1958 – it was kind of strange!

 

We saw Las Vegas performer and impressionist Robbie Howard – who can sound like dozens of well known singers. We saw an Arizona country western group Mogollon, and a local high school’s exceptional Mariachi group.

We enjoyed comedian Dick Hardwick, honky tonk pianist Mario Carboni and the University of Arizona pep band- all right here in the park.

We saw the Arizona Pep Band once again, in action, at an Arizona Wildcats Game. Going to a basketball game, to see one of college basketball’s premier programs, was one of the things we wanted to do while we were in Tucson. When I set about getting tickets in early January, the only tickets left for any game in February were singles. To get two seats together, I had to go to a 3rd party vendor and pay more than twice the regular ticket price. – The only game that had even that availability was on Valentine’s Day evening – so that is what we did.

It was quite impressive to watch a program with such an illustrious basketball pedigree. Prior to the game starting, the digital ribbon banners extolled their impressive history: 69 NBA draft picks, 28 All Americans, 28 Conference Championships, 18 NCAA Sweet 16 appearances, 11 Elite Eight, Four Final Four and One National Championship. Once the game begins, the crowd remains standing until the opposition scores. They repeat that at the beginning of the second half. A less than impressive feature was the crowd shouting “sucks” as each opponent was introduced. A little classless – for an otherwise class program

Our final excursion was a drive up to Kitt Peak National Observatory – our country’s only national observatory – established in 1958. There are 24 telescopes on the mountain, but only a few are government funded and operated including the 4 meter Mayall reflector and the world’s largest Solar Telescope. Most seem to involve a university consortium and some operate remotely.

We went to an evening event where we spent time at the visitor center and learned how to read the night sky.

Then we went out and observed the constellations with the naked eye and binoculars. The final hour was spent viewing various stars and nebulas through a telescope. The highlight was seeing Jupiter and four of its 67 moons!

Even after a month, there is much in the Tucson area we have not had time to do. Spending time here again in the near future is a distinct probability.

 

We visited Mission San Xavier del Bac, also called the White Dove of the Desert, and heard the story of  Jesuit priest, Father Kino.   He began the mission in 1692 and served for 33 years.   After the Jesuits had a  falling out with the government of Spain, Franciscan priests  arrived and oversaw the  mission.   It was they who began building the mission church  that still stands.   San Xavier mission faced neglect with Mexican independence but continued.    After the Gadsden Purchase brought the area into the United States, restorative efforts were made without any government involvement.

A duplicate of this statue of Father Kino is one of two supplied by Arizona for Statuary Hall in the Capital Building in DC. The second is of Senator Barry Goldwater.

Father Eusebio Kino, Jesuit priest, was the man who started it all.  As a young man in Italy, the future Father Kino suffered a life threatening illness and vowed that, if he lived, he would become a priest. He did live and studied for years in preparation. He was deemed gifted in mathematics and cartography and dearly wanted to serve in China. However, he followed the wishes of the Jesuit priesthood and went to New Spain.

Arriving in 1671 he served the Pima Indians, teaching them a new faith and new farming techniques. He also advocated for them when they were abused as laborers in silver mines by the ruling Spanish.   Mission San Xavier del Bac  was one of 24 he established in the area.

Over the years, Father Kino explored and charted much of what is now northern Mexico and southern Arizona and southern California. He explored Baja California numerous times, determining that it was a peninsula – not an island.

The current mission building was begun in 1783 and has a varied history including earthquakes, lightning, and neglect. Some features, such as the right tower have never been completed. There were a number of restoration attempts over the years, including one that used concrete and was quite damaging as those repaired sections  retained water more than the natural material. The current effort involves artisans from around the world and proceeds when money is available.

The art and statues (56) inside, and the work done to restore them, are impressive. An interesting feature is that the priests incorporated European and native symbols and peoples to make the transition to Christianity easier for the natives.

Currently, the Mission is on the National Historic Register and sits on the Tohono O’odham San Xavier Indian Reservation. There is an associated mission school and Mass is celebrated on a regular basis.We took a tour of the Asarco Mission Mining Site – so named because it is within 10-15 miles of the San Xavier Mission, but the mining emphasis has shifted from silver to copper.  It is a 2 mile by 2.5 mile open pit mine. Blasting is utilized to diminish solid mass into boulders or rocks of less than five feet in diameter.

The very large trucks hold 320 tons of rock when carrying a full load to the mill.

This truck with its 170 ton payload and bulldozer scoop were retired in the 1970’s. Today’s vehicles and tools are so much bigger and more powerful.

Due to an unknown gas leak, we did not get to visit the mill but learned that the rock is broken up and ground repeatedly until it is a copper powder. Somewhere in the process the powder is soaked with various chemicals in large vats . Eventually the process forms copper sheets that are 99.99 % pure. From boulder to sheet takes 28-30 days.

There are a few other by-products of the mining process that are acquired and sold, but copper is the main emphasis. Asarco estimates there are 15 years left of active copper mining in this pit.

The future? Our tour guide suggested three probabilities. First, there is a layer of granite under the copper that may entice another company to purchase the site. Second, it may become a very large sand and gravel pit. Or third, if the area is retired, it is required that the land be returned to its natural state. Asarco once operated five open pit mines in the area. Two that are on the Tohono O’odham Reservation have been successfully restored.

In the meantime there is a 225 acre (170 football fields) Solar Farm on mine land in the buffer zone between the pit and their neighbors. It is able to provide power for half of the homes in the neighboring town of Sahuarita, population just short of 27,000.

It was an interesting outing , if somewhat sad. The desert around Tucson is beautiful and it was stunning to see such a very large scar cut into the landscape. Yet, copper is used in so many things in our world and 640 people work 24/7, 365 (366) days a year in the mine…. I would just like to go back in 16 years and see that the restoration really is in process.

Another interesting, and somewhat sad, outing we took was to the International Wildlife Museum.

It is the educational outreach and the international headquarters for the Sierra Club. Four hundred insects, mammals and birds from around the world are displayed in dioramas and exhibits. Cousins Lynn and Marilyn – have you seen this place?

Going in, I knew very little about taxidermy. In the museum exhibit, I learned that only the hide/fur/covering of an animal is used in its final presentation and that the inner structure is built and formed by the taxidermist. Randy said he already knew that but I had always thought the skeleton was preserved and used. Learning is growing!

The animals are beautiful and some are more than 100 years old. The museum states that no animals were killed specifically for the museum and were “donated by various government agencies, wildlife rehabilitation centers, captive breeding programs, zoos and individuals.”

As people who don’t hunt,  we had some mixed feelings about the museum. However, the animals were very beautiful and superbly displayed and maintained. We left impressed.

 

This week we went on the best hike ever! We went to Sabino Canyon, northeast of Tucson, and had a delightful day. We rode a narrated tram 3.9 miles up into the canyon. Not only was the narration pleasant and informative, but did you catch that we rode  3.9 miles uphill!

At the end of the road, we walked up the switchbacks another mile or so and then walked six miles down the Phoneline trail.  Love a hike that is mostly downhill!

The desert scenery was beautiful and this bird sang a lovely song.

At the end we saw a very unique cactus, called a cristate saguaro. A formation such as this is rare – about 1 in 30,000.

After our long morning of hiking DOWN we went to Lucky Wishbone – one of those local restaurants Randy use to go to when he lived in Tucson as a teenager. He said it tasted the same!

A very different nature experience happened when we went to Chandler (south of Phoenix) for a visit with Randy’s brother, Tim and his wife Yvette.

Because the weather was warm and dry,  Elko was going with us, and we anticipated being gone 12-14 hours, we took the opportunity to shampoo our carpets before we left.   Some parts of our life are still very normal!

We enjoyed our day with Tim and Yvette very much. We had a good dinner and then concluded our evening with a scorpion hunt in their backyard.

Randy and Tim had their scorpion lights (black light type) which really make the scorpions glow so they are very easy to see.

The scorpions were on the walls, on the ground and in the palm trees. They found 32 in about an hour! It was surprising that there were so many scorpions out so early, but there has been record heat in Arizona the last two weeks so perhaps that is why. Tim and Yvette have noticed a lot of scorpions in their yard (they live in a subdivision) the last few years. They aren’t sure whether there really are more, or maybe the scorpions were there all along and they just weren’t aware until Tim was stung a few years ago.

It was a very pleasant visit – scorpions and all!

After we told the scorpion story to some new friends here in the Tucson RV park, they too wanted to go on a scorpion hunt. After about 30 minutes of searching the outside wall and nearby ground,  we found only one scorpion. Tucson is generally 5-10 degrees cooler than Phoenix so maybe the scorpions won’t be here until next month when we are gone.  What a shame…

During our month in Yuma, we settled into a nice comfortable routine. Leaving there February 1st  we moved to Tucson, a city we are familiar with, but to an RV park we hadn’t yet seen. Rincon Country West is a mega, 55+ park, with 1100 lots and lots of activities and entertainment. Most people here come from cold northern states and return seasonally year after year.

We love this sign posted around our new park – Only You Can Prevent Speed Bumps!

We have spent the last ten days trying out and settling on what park activities are going to be part of our new routines. Mine will include aerobics, line dancing and the Apple/Mac class.  Randy’s routine will include biking, pickle ball and golf. Elko has his same routine of eating, sleeping and walking no matter where we are – some places just have more interesting places to walk.

One day we went for a walk in a desert mountain park . Elko likes those days best!

 

We will certainly continue our routine of exploring.  There is so much to do in the Tucson area that we will not get it all in – even in a month. So, here is a sampling of what we’ve done so far:

Randy ate Sonoran Hotdogs, a regional culinary wonder. Think hot dog wrapped in bacon with beans and jalapeño sauce…It didn’t sound good to me so I had tacos.

We went to the Arizona Historical Society Museum which highlighted the three cultures that combined to make Tucson unique. These include the original peoples, the Tohono O’ogham,  formerly called the Papago.   The Mexicans/Spaniards came to the area in the 1700’s. Finally, Europeans/Anglos began arriving in 1854 when the lands that eventually became Arizona and New Mexico joined the United States by means of the Gadsden Purchase.

A few displays at the museum really caught our attention.

First was a 1923 Studebaker “Big Six” Touring Car.  Costing $1575, this model car was used by sheriffs in 12 of 14 Arizona counties.   When Studebaker became aware of their cars’  law enforcement use on Arizona’s rough roads, the company used that information in their advertising.   In 1925 they introduced a six cylinder vehicle with a lighter chassis  – the “Sheriff’s Special.”

Another exhibit highlighted Geronimo, an Apache who wreaked havoc in the southwest. His people were the last American Indians to live as a free people. Geronimo surrendered for the final time in 1886.  In 1905, at Theodore Roosevelt’s invitation, Geronimo marched at the front of Roosevelt’s Inaugural parade. Roosevelt said Geronimo was the “greatest, single-handed murderer in American History and I want to give the people a good show.” Yet, when Geronimo pleaded to be allowed to return to native lands to die, Roosevelt denied the request.

A third exhibit of interest focused on Congressional Medals of Honor,  how they are awarded and Arizonans who have earned them.   Although I forgot to document who was awarded the older medal, the second Congressional Medal of Honor shown was awarded to Marine Corps Major Jay R. Vargas for heroism and sacrifice in Vietnam.

We also went to a completely different type of museum, The Arizona Sonora Desert Museum – which is really more of a desert zoo.

We saw snakes and tarantulas.

A coyote and sleeping javalinas.

We saw toads and so many desert animals – all the while hearing the unique “song” of the cactus wren.  It was once described to us as the cranking sound an old engine made   – you know it when you hear it!

One of our favorite exhibits was an aviary for hummingbirds.

We also saw a museum program on raptors. It highlighted falcons, owls and Harris Hawks, the latter being the only bird of prey that hunts communally.

The Arizona Sonora Desert Museum is a “must do”  when visiting Tucson.  Another “must do,”if you are here at the right time, is the Rock and Mineral show. There are currently dozens of venues around the city.  We chose a venue that was close by which was a combination of wholesale and retail sellers and a bead and jewelry market.  It was an interesting afternoon but we live on wheels so we don’t need rocks to carry around!

We will continue to explore around Tucson – exploring will always be part of our routine!

 

We have enjoyed our month at Fortuna de Oro RV Park.   Fortuna is  a 55 and older park with many daily activities and weekly special events.  It is easy to stay busy here and I did.  Randy chose to spend more leisure time but still enjoyed golfing, pickle ball and bocci ball.

Fortuna de Oro caters well to the clientele.   There was a car show with many old beauties from the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s.   We even saw a 1964 Ford Falcon Convertible like the family car that was “mine” when I first went off to college and met Randy.  Maybe we belong to this “back in the day” culture after all!

The park also sponsored a terrific show by Jay and the Americans. I didn’t think I knew the group but once they started singing, I recognized many of their songs such as Cara Mia, Just a Little Bit Closer, Only in America and This Magic Moment.

The group currently has three of the original “Americans” and is on their third “Jay”.  The first Jay lasted only a short time while the second was with them through much of their successful recording years.  Second Jay retained the name of the group when they disbanded.  Upon his  bankruptcy, the Americans bought the name back for $100,000 and reformed with a third Jay.   They had connections with many recording groups and musicians in the 60s and 70’s and had entertaining stories to tell.  They were instrumental in launching Neil Diamond’s career when Neil brought them the song, “Sunday” to record.  Although he originally said he was too shy to perform,  Jay and the Americans encouraged and helped Neil to  record it himself. (Thinking of you Cindy Berg!)

The lead guitarist from the USA Band accompanying them looked so much like our guitar playing friend John Sloan, especially in profile,  that we went up and talked with him after the concert.

Outside the park we had more musical experiences from back in the day.   We saw Elvis performing at a local diner for $10 a ticket.  Who knew he too winters in Yuma and gives bargain performances.  We learned then that we are a decade too young to be true Elvis fans.  We knew chorus lyrics – but not every word, of every verse, of every song like everyone else in the room!

Continuing with the Elvis theme – We enjoyed dinner in an “Elvis Room” at a local pizza establishment with friends from our RV park neighborhood.

These folks are all from Canada and regularly spend five winter months in the US.  Randy golfed with the guys numerous times and we had a few group dinners and happy hours.   It is fun to make new friends on the road.

Our next door neighbors at the park also became friends.  Peggy and Myron are from Wisconsin and we hope to visit them when we head east next summer.  We went with them to Lutes Casino, “Where the Elite Meet.”  The building dates back to 1901 and is part of the Historic Downtown area.    During the 1950s, the billiard hall casino came into the Lute family as collateral for a failed loan.  The restaurant/bar (but not a casino) is an eclectically decorated place and Lute’s signature meal is a hotdog-hamburger.  Randy and Myron tried it and approved.

We also explored more of Yuma’s historical places from back in the day.  We went to the Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park.   This depot was a supply hub for the southwest during the Apache Wars.

A few old and rehabilitated buildings  remain.  Some hold exhibits  including old vehicles and a section of the plank road through the sand dunes in the Imperial Valley west of here.

This house served as home or office for a variety of territorial government officials but was originally built in 1859 as a riverside home by steamboat captain George Alonzo Johnson. Built for his bride, this is the first, and thereby oldest, adobe house built by an Anglo in Arizona.

One of the more interesting exhibits at the park was about the Colorado River and where the water goes – think Nevada, Arizona, California and a little bit left to Mexico.  These pictures show the Colorado river from the same site in Yuma before and after a series of dams were built to control flooding and provide water to the southwest.

We also visited the Yuma Pioneer Cemetery.   The cemetery was hosting a fund raising event for Saddles of Joy which provides therapeutic rides for special needs children.

The cemetery was divided into sections for Catholics, Yuma’s society folks and a variety of other categories.  I don’t think this group had a lot of clout.

Part of the event was storytellers throughout the cemetery representing people who lived back in the day and had stories to tell about their life and death in Yuma and the Arizona territory.  Actors were near where the grave sites were for their character.

This was Sheriff James T. Dana who was the sheriff of Arizona City from 1868 to 1871.  (Yuma had three names over time beginning with Colorado City, Arizona City and finally Yuma.)  He holds the unfortunate distinction of being the only sheriff ever killed in the line of duty in Arizona (while it was a territory and now as a state).

He was originally buried in the cemetery near downtown and his was one of many bodies who “surfaced” during the Colorado River flood of 1916.  Those bodies were reburied in the pioneer cemetery but are only marked with a “county” designation.  His remains are included in that group but his exact location is unknown.  It was a very interesting evening and one we’d gladly do again when we are next in Yuma since they highlight stories about different residents each year.

Tomorrow we are off to Tucson for the month of February.  We can explore places Randy remembers from when he was a boy there back in the day.

Friend, and blog post reader, Shari, requested a post on whether the decisions we made going into this lifestyle were the right ones for us, or would we do some things differently. So, this is for Shari – and hopefully it will be interesting to the rest of you too.

Those of you who know Randy may remember that for the last five years of his working life, he could think (and talk) of little else than retiring. So this lifestyle choice, which went from a possibility, to probability, to certainty, was thought out and discussed for years during car trips and over dinner.

Some decisions were huge – when to retire, to sell the house or keep it, what type of RV to have and where to have our legal domicile.

Some decisions were small – how were we going to make ice, will we get a washer dryer combo and how was I going to travel with my jewelry.

In the midst of it all, one decision was totally non-negotiable – traveling with a pet. Elko is part of our family and we never considered leaving him behind. He is with us for his duration – period.

Pets, especially our mellow old guy, are great conversation starters with people in campgrounds and we often remember people by their pet more than their names. Elko gets us outdoors when we might not want to go and brings a contentment to our lives that only pet lovers understand.

However, on the sad, sad day that we lose our sweet boy, we will make a different choice – for a time. Pets can limit where you can go, what you can do and how long you can be gone. National parks are notoriously “paw un-friendly” so our visits there are less than we’d like them to be. When the weather is warm and we leave for a time, we worry about the power going out in the park, or the air conditioner failing and Elko being too warm in this fiberglass box of a home. Randy had to figure out a warning method involving an extra cell phone and a temperature monitoring alert system (contact him for details.)

So, back to the big decisions….

We feel very blessed to have been able to retire at 55 (Randy on his 55th birthday and me 5 days after mine). Randy was unhappy in his job and, even though I was still a mostly happy teacher, we haven’t missed working at all. He had prepared the financial part of it and the Affordable Care Act made the last obstacle doable. (Yes, some of us like Obamacare!) Randy likes to say he can recommend retirement!

With advice from our realtor, we bought two rental properties and paid them off when we sold our house. We get rental income from the houses and also have options if we need or want to get off the road. We sold, or gave away, everything in our home except a few totes of sentimental items, stored at our daughter’s house.  We do not have a storage unit.

Where to domicile is an important legal decision. This involves where you vote, where you license your vehicles, where you obtain insurance and where you pay your taxes. Three states cater to full time RVers like us: South Dakota, Texas and Florida – all with reduced taxes, licensing, official mail forwarding systems etc. Randy figured out how we could get our mail and still stay residents of Idaho.  We just kept it simple because, in all probability, we’ll end up back there someday.  Most businesses and agencies will allow our mail forwarding address but, for those that won’t, we use our daughter’s address in Boise.

We bought our 2012 Montana Fifth Wheel (and truck) before we retired. That allowed us to pay for them while we were still making money and also to be sure we had any potential bugs worked out. We had owned a weekender fifth wheel previously and knew what we wanted in a live-in version. For several years we had seen the Montana 3400RL model at the Boise RV show and had decided it was the best for us. Randy found  this link a couple years ago (when he was still doing the blog) to a video about our trailer model.

We like this model because the living space is very generous – more than any motorhome we’ve seen. We went from a large house to a large fifth wheel but do not feel cramped unless it is rainy and cold and we can’t get outside for several days. Two things that were huge for me were a separate desk and a front closet. Those of you who know me well know that I don’t do clutter so I need a place for everything and everything in its place!

It seems that slightly more full timers own motor homes than trailers of any type. I think traveling from place to place, and setting up and taking down may be easier in a motor home but at this age and physical ability – we don’t have any issues with our set up. Randy generally does the outside work and I generally do the inside things and we double check each other. It is working.

The only downside to our situation is that our drive around vehicle is a big truck. Randy usually drives when we are together (a pattern established 35+ years ago) but when I have to park this big truck in a crowded parking lot, I grumble…. If we had a motorhome, we could have a little run-about car but towing a car involves a whole other set of issues that we don’t have to worry about. There is no perfect answer and we’ve met people with fifth-wheels that have gone to motorhomes and people with motorhomes that have gone to fifth wheels. Each have advantages and disadvantages. We are also seeing more and more toy hauler type fifth wheels – allowing people to bring motorcycles or ATVs or other toys – but the living space is less.

One decision we made, related to the fifth-wheel, was to buy a seven year extended warranty. The jury is still out on whether that was a good decision. Because it is SO much trouble to use the warranty when you live in your RV – it took 3 months to get our broken steps fixed – Handy Randy just fixes things on his own.

Most recently he fixed a hydraulic leak effecting our slides and leveling system.  Granted, most people probably can’t do that – but he can.    So we will ignore the extended warranty unless a major appliance or system goes down which can cost several thousand dollars each to replace. If nothing happens, we will have spent $2000+ to replace broken stairs.

Another big decision was how to stay connected in a way that is secure, robust and stable. Randy has an unlimited data plan on his android phone and we stream off his phone when we want to watch movies, sporting events etc. and project them onto our TV. We have a Verizon jet-pack that I connect onto with my iPhone, Mac, iPad etc. It is interesting that in different locales different combinations of thing work better or worse,  even though they are all Verizon.  Of course, these only work if we are in an area that has cell coverage.

As for the smaller decisions…..

We had new window shades installed throughout, and maybe this shouldn’t be in the small decision category because they cost $3000+, but we would do it again. They include a day shade which reduces the sun, while still being able to see out, and a night shade that is totally blackout. The greater benefit is that the trailer doesn’t get as hot or as cold using these shades.  These are our very favorite upgrade.

Randy changed hitch systems sometime along this journey to lighten our load and reduce strain on his back in the event the hitch had to be removed. Another benefit of this Anderson hitch is a much smoother ride!

Our TV service is through DISH satellite. It works very well and we have no issues except we are in the dark ages with our DVR. We can only watch or record ONE show at any given time because of the type of mobile satellite system we are allowed to have.

Absolutely yes to the washer-dryer combo – now that we have a quality one that is vented to the outside, rather than a ventless model. We would buy another unit tomorrow if this one died.

We bought a portable ice maker which we pull out every few days to make ice and store in ziplock bags. We don’t have to take up limited space in the freezer with a built in ice maker, or mess with ice cube trays.

My jewelry boxes were not coming with us so I found this two sided hang up version and it works just fine.

The decision we’ve failed at twice is what BBQ grill to own and cart around. We started out with a full standing camp stove with all kinds of heavy attachments that we already owned. We donated that to a YMCA group next to us less than a month out. Then we bought a Coleman Road Trip system which basically did all the same things but was smaller and lighter. After a year or so we set it, and all the attachments, by a dumpster and “donated” it to someone in the park who picked it up. It still worked fine, but was a pain to keep clean. Now we are on to the Weber Q – it doesn’t do anything but grill but so far so good.

I could go on and on with a dozen more decisions we had to make to do this but enough is enough! One size definitely does not fit all with any of these questions and answers, but we are happy with our decisions. Things may change down the road with age and time, but for now all is well.