We left Yuma today. The main reason we went back to Yuma was to pick up my prescriptions at the Marine Corps Air Station and to wait for our mail to arrive.
After a few days at Del Pueblo RV Park, we noticed Pepper was urinating in her sleep so we took her to the Vet. She donated some blood and urine for testing and all looked good. Turns out her bladder muscles are not as tight as her puppy days. (Don’t worry Pepper, we all know what it is like getting older.) She is doing pretty good for thirteen. We bought her little purple and pink panties and all is well.
Then the CRUD snuck up and knocked me out. All I wanted to do was sleep. I drank ALOT of fluids and had soup forever (well, for two weeks anyway). After two and half weeks I felt ready to get back on the road.
Lisa was not untouched by illness, she had a cough for two weeks before we arrived in Yuma and it was still going strong. She went to the emergency clinic, took a Z-Pack for five days and it seems to have calmed her cough down.
Needless to say we were all three happy to see Yuma in the sideview mirrors (since RV’s don’t have rearview mirrors) and thrilled to be on the road.
So off we went down I-8W, hello California.
Thanks for the welcome.
Lisa took the wheel on CA-86N passing the Salton Sea to CA-111N. We switched again continuing West on I-10 past the windmill farms.
Palm Springs, Home to the Oldest Windmill Farm in the U.S.We’ve never seen windmills like this before
Took CA-62 through Yucca Valley to Black Rock Campground, Joshua Tree National Park.
Pepper is so excited to be back in nature again. So many new smells to explore, other dogs to meet and people who stop and say how cute she is. Lisa is happy to see acres and acres of Joshua Trees and to get her Joshua Tree National Park Stamp in her National Park Book. I’m just happy for the view, clear blue skies and to be at 4,000 feet elevation – closer to the stars.
Our CampView From the Park Towards Yucca ValleyYuccas Beginning to BloomHappy Campers
We ended the day with grilled brats, asparagus, yellow crook neck squash and a glass of wine.
Lisa was able to get a couple of nice bird pictures.
Western Scrub JayCactus Wren
We always appreciate hearing from you in the comment section, we would like to know your name (email is optional). Goodnight to all, wishing you the best.
We are at Catalina State Park and today it is pouring rain and snowing in the mountains. Even with the wet and cold we are enjoying the breathtaking views.
Shout Out to the Big Horn Sheep Up There SomewhereOur View of the Catalina Mountains
Since we have been offline for awhile I’ll recap a few things we have been up to.
While we were in New Mexico we received a call from our realtor letting us know we had buyers for our house. We were so excited because we thought it might take 6-12 months. On 18 November we closed on the house becoming true nomads on wheels. We have been dreaming about being “Full Time RVer’s” for the last three years and here we were.
We left New Mexico and headed back to Bisbee and Sierra Vista Arizona. We were lucky to get a site at the very popular RV Park Apache Flats at the base of the Huachuca Mountains on the Fort Huachuca. It is a beautiful park with views of the mountains and the San Pedro Valley. Weather wise we still had freezing weather at night and it snowed!!! I’m not sure when we will find shorts and sandal weather.
Snow at our Apache Flats Site
View of the Huachuca Mountains
It was great to visit with some of our friends but due to a maintenance appointment in Tucson we did not have time to get with everyone we wanted to see. We plan on returning to Sierra Vista next fall to be able to spend more time with our friends.
After leaving the Sierra Vista/Bisbee area we went to the Tucson KOA to keep our appointment at Lazy Days RV. We had some annual maintenance completed and replaced the microwave. The microwave had a dangerous problem of not turning off when we opened the door. Very scary!!! Of course we had breakfast at Sunny Daze Cafe while there.
Lisa flew out of Tucson on 18 December to visit her family in Dallas for the holidays. She had a wonderful visit except for the tornado barreling through the North side of Dallas coming very close to her Mom’s house. That night was spent sitting in the hallway with her Mom and big Sis for 1/2 an hour. Pepper and I were very happy to pick Lisa up at the Tucson Airport on the 28th far away from tornado alley.
During Lisa’s absence, I moved from the KOA to our current location, Catalina State Park. This park has been a favorite of ours since our early RVing days. We would recommend it to anyone. For a great Park review read Nina’s at Wheelingit. Our first site was one that backed in and only had neighbors on one side. This area has a wealth of wildlife, Coyotes, Javelina, Mountain Lions, Bears, Big Horn Sheep (transplanted in the last few years) and many other critters. One animal we try not to surprise at night are skunks. Of course, Pepper wants to chase those. I shudder at the thought of a Skunk with a hair trigger. UGH!!! It is also a great place for Bird Lovers.
Campground B Site 12 Next to Hiking Trails
Western Meadowlark near site 12
We planned on leaving on 2 January to boondock near Blythe or Quartzite, but due to El Nino the weather is no better or worse than here. So we are going to wait out the rain at Catalina SP and head towards Yuma on 11 January.
5 January Picture of the Catalina Mountains
5 January
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Connie and I left Tucson on the 11th of November, destination Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge for the annual Festival of the cranes. We were invited by our good friends Vickie and Carl Becker to join them for the festivities. I knew it would be cold there at this time of year, but not as cold as it turned out.
We arrived at the RV park on Saturday. Someone once wrote a review of the park that stated the best thing about it was location, location, location. And they were absolutely correct. Bosque Birdwatchers RV Park lacks some amenities, but what it lacks is made up by being only 1/2 a mile or so from the entrance to the Refuge.
Hard to believe with temperatures in the low 30s at night, but there were actually tenters every night.
Connie and Pepper enjoyed a very relaxing week while Lisa enjoyed the festival and the birds.
Lisa tried to learn some knew things about birds and photography, we are not to sure how much learning took place, only time will tell.
There were over 2,000 cranes at the refuge and over 4,000 geese. Most of the geese are Snow Geese with a few Ross’s and Canadian thrown in.
Two Snow Geese in flight
Geese lifting off shortly after dawn
A young Snow Goose
Snow Goose
Sandhill Crane parachuting down
Sandhill Crane
Two Sandhill Cranes in flight
Sandhill Crane being chased by a Snow Goose
Great Blue Heron
Besides birds and good friends both San Antonio and Socorro New Mexico have some good eating. We ate at a few of them including the Buckhorn and San Antonio Crane in San Antonio. The Buckhorn is “famous” for having a hamburger that beat Bobby Flay in a throwdown a few years ago. While the San Antonio Crane is a small Mexican restaurant with good sopapillas. In Socorro we ate at Sophia’s Kitchen, El Camino Restaurant and Lounge, Socorro Springs Brewing Company and Bodega Burger Company. Good eating at all of them.
On Saturday Connie and I were able to meet one of our favorite bloggers, Lynn from winnieviews. As we prepared for full time RVing the posts on Lynn’s site really helped. Lynn was working at the visitor center but still managed to spend about 10 minutes talking to us.
We had some fantastic news this week, the house has sold. we are over the moon happy that we don’t have to worry about anything happening to it as we traipse around the country.
We would love to know who are leaving comments. You DO NOT need to leave an email address even though the box is there. We would like a first name – but again that would be optiuonal.
Headed out of El Paso today for Deming, NM. Thankfully we only wanted to go as far as Deming, the winds rose fast and it would have been very hard to continue on. Traffic in El Paso was easy since we followed sage advice Connie’s Aunt Nikki gave her “Drive between 10:00 A.M. and 2:00 P.M. to miss the Mad Rush in the San Francisco Bay Area.” We applied her advice and glided through El Paso. We did see a big rig brake in front of us and start swerving to the left. With disbelief we saw this yellow 18 wheeler heading against traffic on the highway.
Whoa, you’re going the wrong way.
OMGosh!!! Then we realized it was actually moving with traffic and being towed. WHEW!!! When we were closer we did see small flashing red lights on the trucks grill. You would think they would have REALLY BIG RED LIGHTS. I’m sure the truck driver and us were not the only folks freaked out. Even the rest stop Roadrunner took a second look.
“What the heck?”
We did luck out once we arrived in Deming. We found a new restaurant the “Rancher’s Grill”. The steak was some of the best we have had in a long time, and the salad bar was fantastic.
Rancher’s Grill Deming, New Mexico
The restaurant is easily accessible with plenty of parking in the back for an RV.
RV parking at Rancher’s Grill
We rode out the windy day at an Escapees Park “Dreamcatcher RV” in Deming. It is a quiet park with level gravel parking, clean restrooms/showers, and friendly people.
Tuesday, April 29th
We woke up this morning with howling winds – surprise, surprise! We also woke up to missed phone calls from ADT (our home security system). The house alarm went off around midnight, and we both missed the call. So did our good friend Matthew who is our contact when we are away. When ADT could not get in touch with any of us they had the local Sheriff check and secure the house. The Sheriff report said the front door was wide open but nothing seemed to be disturbed. Maybe the wind blew the door open or someone was scared off by the alarm. Big sigh of relief as we decided to head straight home with out any other stops.
The sign may not be a deterrent!
The winds were still blowing hard, but Connie handled them like a champ. Lisa has stopped at a restaurant in Lordsburg, NM every year on her way to and from Dallas. Connie was nice enough to forego breakfast (we each had a banana) so we could eat at one of Lisa’s favorite restaurants. Kranberry’s is a nice place with both American and Mexican food on the menu. They have some pretty good baked goods, too. Like brownies, cobblers, sticky and cinnamon buns. (I know it seems like all we did was drive and eat. Yep, pretty much.) If you are ever driving through Lordsburg we highly recommend stopping in for a bite to eat.
Kranberry’s Restaurant 1405 Main St. Lordsburg, NM Exit 82 off of I-10
After a great lunch, we continued on I-10 west past Wilcox and then turned off on HWY 191 South towards the house. Arizona Lizards were back in the familiar landscape and dry conditions of the desert. Ahhhhhhhhh. That means the house was not far away.
Highway 191- nice quiet two lane country road.Definitely back in ArizonaArizona even looks great through dirty windows
We made it home in time to enjoy a quiet evening without the thought of another windy days drive!
Wednesday, April 29th
Up and about early. We have a lot to accomplish by the time the Auctioneers arrive on the 26th of May to start tagging the items in the house. We made time for breakfast at the Morning Star Cafe. This is one of the places we will definitely miss once we leave Arizona.
Morning Star Cafe 10428 East Hwy 92 Palominas, AZBrenda and Matthew Pratt Great restaurant owners and even better friends
Once home from breakfast it was time to assess the property and see the changes that were taking place.
The weeds are already taking over!The backyard is seriously overgrown!Palm trees need a trimmingThe Ocotillo is in full bloom
One of the first tasks to take care of – getting rid of a heck of a lot of splattered Texas bugs from the front of the RV. Connie usually does this, but today Lisa and Pepper took it on (not that Pepper was a lot of help). While Pepper supervised, Lisa scrubbed away (er, Pepper was slacking off and sleeping) and Connie started working in the yard.
Scrub, scrub, scrub
Once the front was shiny and clean we put the window Magna Shades in place to help keep the sun out and the curtains from further deterioration.
Magna Shades helping make the RV look spiffy
It was great to get back to the house and find another lizard soaking up the sun.
Giant lizard guarding the entrance to the house
That is all for now. Will post more in a few days.
Arizona Lizards 