Dear Readers of our Blog,

I guess I have more or less retired from blogging.  Thought I should let you know and thank you for visiting this from time to time.  Blogging has become more work than fun for me so retiring, well semi-retiring, seems like a good idea.  Call me anytime at 602-565-5860 if you would like to know where we are.  Or look for us on Facebook - we've both been pretty good at posting occasional pictures of our travels there.

I'll still post here on occasion.

Here's a little recap of where we've been the past few months:


Our trusty annual Rand McNally that's taped together and pretty worn by the end of each year.
(The little jog over to CA was by car, not RV)

By the time we reach Prescott on October 22nd, we will have been out on the road 173 nights since our May departure. 

* 80 camp locations, moving an average of every 2 days.

* Stayed at 19 different Walmarts/Sam's Clubs

* 27 states

* About 7,500 miles, moving an average of 43 miles per day

* Longest stretch - Columbus, NE to Tucson, AZ - 1,225 miles in about 28 hours.

* Longest stays - Lorton, VA for sightseeing Washington DC and Salem, MA just because we liked it there so well. 

8 nights in each.

* Best campsite - a city boat launch pier in Westfield, NY on Lake Ontario.  Free and beautiful.

* Best museum - hands down, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland, OH.  We were there from opening to closing time and would have gone another day too if we'd had the time.

* Best bets - city tours, trolley tours.  We did at least 2 dozen.  Always well worth the money and time.

 

 

Still loving our RVing way of life!  Next trips are already being planned.  Time in Phoenix area this winter, maybe Quartzsite in Jan., Kartchner Caverns in Feb., then a big long trip north through Canada and all around Alaska for 2013 summer. 

 



Memorial for Beth

One of our favorite RVing and Ski Club friends, Beth Miller, chose to end her life with a jump at the Grand Canyon on April 26th.  She and Dick would have been with us at the Pine gathering and were very much missed.  We all drove down from Pine to Phoenix for the beautiful memorial service that her family held at the Franciscan Renewal Center.  We are all wishing Dick well and hoping he will be joining us at next year's annual gatherings.  These are some of my favorite pictures of Beth over our camping years, the most recent from our March annual weekend at our favorite McDowell Mtn. Park.  Some of us knew she was struggling with depression and had some serious challenges in her life and are sad that none of us realized the devastating extent to which these were affecting her.  May we all be attuned to the sufferings of our friends and willing to offer a hand of friendship and understanding.  We miss you, Beth! 

  

Hoedown at the Porter's Pine Waterin' Hole

Great long weekend with our "Same Time Next Year" AZ RVing buddies.  Betsy & Carl hosted this year at their incredible Waterin' Hole, conceived and entirely built by Carl.  We had 7 RV's in their driveway and yard, happy hours and dinners together at the Waterin' Hole, and a fun "Swap Meet" where we all shared our cast-offs. 

Coffee Buddies

I meet with an interesting group of guys most mornings about 6am at the Wild Iris in Prescott.  We gather around a large coffee table surrounded by overstuffed chairs and read the Wall Street Journal, Arizona Republic, and the Prescott Daily Courier and discuss all sorts of topics.  We are "legends in our own minds" in coming up with unique and effective solutions to most of the world's problems! The other morning I asked them to pose for a group picture so that I wouldn't forget what they look like while Sally and I are away on our next 6-month RV adventure.  Standing (L to R): Allen, Tony, me; seated:  Brad, Jim, and Mike.

Family visitors from Nebraska

The end of March and beginning of April were a time for family members to visit us in Prescott. Grandson Josh and his girlfriend Erika flew out from Omaha in 80 degree weather just in time to arrive in Prescott for a record snowfall and a high temperature of 37 degrees on the day of their arrival. Talk about a welcome!! We had great fun during their visit with day trips to Sedona (where Josh swam in 37 degree water at Slide Rock State Park) and Jerome. We also took them to the Grand Canyon and rode on the Grand Canyon Railway. Fortunately, the weather improved vastly the day following their arrival and we all had a great time.


Just a couple of weeks later daughter Cindy, son-in-law Tom, and granddaughters Taylor and Hannah arrived also from Omaha. Fortunately the weather was far better for their visit. We enjoyed taking them to Out of Africa and the Blazing M Ranch for dinner and a great evening show. As with Josh and Erika, we went to the Grand Canyon on the railway. The girls really enjoyed a scenic horseback ride on their last day in Arizona. We were thrilled to have all of the kids here but as usual, the time went too quickly.

Musical Instrument Museum - The MIM in Phoenix

We LOVED this!  Spent about 3 hours roaming this huge museum and it wasn't enough time.  We'll go back for more.  Room after room of fascinating exhibits.  Headsets automatically begin a series of 3-4 short videos as you approach an exhibit, arranged largely by geography.  You see the musicians and and hear the instruments.  In another room, you can play bells, drums, harps, ukuleles, gongs and more.  Another room is for artist's instruments like one of John Denver's guitars, Elvis Presley's guitars and so much more.  My favorite was one of the 2008 drums that the Chinese played at the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics.   

Parada del Sol 2012

Parada del Sol pictures

Double click on the picture for Picasa album

Parada del Sol

Scottsdale's annual Feb. Rodeo Parade - Parada del Sol.
Most beautiful horses I have EVER seen.

We rode bikes there from our RV park on Apache Blvd to make "parking" easy. Just chained them to the lampost behind us. Carried our light weight folding chairs on our backs. Lots of free space right on the street for parade watching right at Thomas & Scottsdale Rds. Lots of candy throwing for the kids at this parade.

Maricopa County

 We are loving being in the Phoenix area for this winter.  Have spent a week or two in each of the Maricopa County Recreation Area parks - Cave Creek, McDowell Mountain and Usery Mountain.  We love to have friends come out to visit or we go meet them in town for meals or movies or such.  At Cave Creek park we took advantage of the horse stables right in the park and had a guided sunset ride that was wonderful.

Lynn Farrell joined us for wine & dinner at McDowell Mtn Park

Sunrise over Four Peaks - one of my all-time favorite views.

Quartzsite, AZ

Here's a glimpse of what goes on in Quartzsite, AZ in January.  Lots of folks drive through on Interstate 10 and see many of the 100,000 or so RV's all parked out in the middle of nowhere in the desert and wonder "What the ...?"

We joined about 100 other RV's in a compound we call Boomerville.  It's members and members-to-be of an RV subgroup of the huge Escapees RV Club.  It's a great way to meet others who RV most-time like we do and many who full-time, living and traveling full time.

 The group is well organized, having done this for several years together.  There are lots of daily activities-hikes, jeep drives, pot-lucks, happy hours, tai chi, zumba, and trips into the tiny town of Quartzsite that is mainly enormous flea markets and vendor booths.

                      BOOMERVILLE

Now where was I???

Oh, I wonder if I will EVER get myself back to blogging regularly like I used to do...
So here is a little start with something current.
Slideshow here:
Wrigley Mansion Tour - Phoenix


We have been thoroughly enjoying ourselves the past month, moving every week or so among the Maricopa County parks around Phoenix - no snow or freezing temperatures!

A sad day in Prescott

This is just beyond my understanding.  The City of Prescott allowed a college student to design and build a bench in a city park.  She worked on it for weeks, at no expense to the city.  When she was near completion, they told her it was unacceptable and changes would be required.  She has graduated and needs to return home to MA so she formed a committee to complete the City's requirements for the bench.  The City ignored her committee and plans and destroyed and removed the bench without warning, in the dead of night.  Hundreds of people in town had contributed to the art in the bench and supported its completion.  I am astounded at the audacity of the City in handling it this way.  Actually I am sickened by the way they handled it.

Gregg's activities

Fishing in San Carlos, Mexico with Fred and Rick

They'd gone there to sell Rick's boat.

View from Fred's condo balcony - wow!

Joint efforts brought in 2 big Dorado that they had cooked for them for dinner at a local restaurant.

Another view from Fred's balcony - Wow again!

In March Gregg had skied in Flagstaff with Sheila.

...where they saw this guy that plays his sax as he skis!

Oh yeah, one of Gregg's favorite things to do - car shows with his brother Gary.

Prescott

Tsunami on the Square - annual June arts festival.  I love it!  So crazy.

OK, I've learned my lesson. I can't leave my blog for 6 months and then expect to catch it up in one day.  Can't be done.  This has taken 2 full days now to get caught up and it's a pretty sparse job of it, a little disjointed.  But better than nothing.

On a Prescott Walking Tour with Jackie - visiting Hotel Vendome's Ghost's room.

We Prescott Friends of Sherri miss her after losing her to Leukemia in March.  We added a paver for her in the Prescott State Centennial project at City Hall.

We "adopted" my daughter Sarah's cat KC, 16 1/2 year old really cool cat, for about 5 months this year.  She's now living with son Andy in Tempe.

Finally!  I've wanted a new front door for YEARS!  We finally stayed home long enough to get it done!  New house trim color too and the whole exterior got a power wash.

I took 3 Mural Tours this summer with these two Prescott mural artists, Maggie and R called the Mural Mice.  This one with a PEO group.  Our public art murals are INCREDIBLE!  Chock full of Prescott and world history, works of wonder.

Current public art project in a park in Prescott - very interesting controversy surrounding this one.  Hundreds of comments are on the newspaper website, protesting and defending this work.  It's amazing how volatile people can become over something like this.  Seems there are people in town who absolutely despise the public art and the young artists and students our town attracts.