Jan-March 2018

It's been a while since I've completed a post.

Not due to lack of material but rather a lack of time.

My day job has been keeping me extra busy the last few months, the

day job becoming the day and night job at times....

Now that the year is closed, the budgets done, some of the special projects cleared

off of the plate,  I can take a breath (sort of) and get back to work on my

second job...   posting on this blog.

Since our last post we have continued our seasonal migration south and

are now back in our usual wintering grounds...  the Arizona Desert.

Our Travels January 5 thru March 4 2018

After spending the holidays at Ron & Maxines home, we headed south to

the Orange Grove RV Park in Bakersfield.

We love this place because of the delicious oranges just waiting to be picked throuout

the park. 

We met our friends Rob & Pat here along with Ron & Maxine.

Look at this big, sweet, & juicy globe of liquid sunshine!

After a few days we departed with the gang to hook up with more friends at

Lake Havasu State Park where we spent a week.

While there, they had a gathering of VW Busses.

There were over 500 of these great machines of all vintages.

Having owned two of them myself in my younger days it was a lot of fun.

This view below is inside from the rear of a bus that the owner called

inside the genies bottle.

On our morning walk at LH State Park

Next stop was Quartzsite for our annual get together with dozens of other RV's

from our old Montana Group, and of course to see the RV Show.

We spent almost two weeks here dry camping.

Again...  The morning walk.

And happy hour for both 2-legged and 4-legged creatures.

And the usual (ho hum) beautiful sunsets.

While at Q I had my Blue Ox towbar serviced by the Blue Ox Factory team that

always come to Q.   For $30 its a real bargain and brings the tow bar back to spec.

Next... with a couple for several free nights in hand - we headed south to Yuma

and the Fortuna Del Oro RV Park for 5 nights.

While in Yuma we enjoyed the Lunar Eclipse.

I was able to shoot these pictures laying in bed and taking the pictures out

of the window next to my head.

LazyBoy Photography for sure.

Lunar Eclipse at Totality

While in Yuma a group effort created Pizza on the Grill.

Now we were into early February and we headed east to Tucson and

Gilbert Ray Campground.

Its first come first serve here, and a one week limit so the sites turn over

frequently enough that one can usually find a spot if you are patient.

The setting sun lights up the Tucson Mountains just east of Gilbert Ray.

Tucson is just on the other side of these peaks.

Since it was February - that means The Gem Show!

This was one of the hundreds of tents scattered about in venues all over

the city.   This area of tents featured all sorts of African gems, jewelry, and art.

After our week in Gilbert Ray, we headed up to Oro Valley and Catalina State Park.

One of favorites, it is located about 15 miles N of downtown Tucson.

Its been very busy all over Arizona this winter so since we did not have reservations,

we could only get a couple of nights in a regular campsite, and then

moved to overflow for several more.

The setting sun lights up the Santa Catalina Mountains which lie to the east of the valley.

A large Coyote - part of a pack - that ran in front of the bus one morning.

We usually see Coyotes while here so it is not good to leave small dogs unattended outside,

even for a minute.

We did a bit of hiking on the wonderful trail system in Catalina SP.

And Rob & Pat cooked us a wonderful meal of Roast Beef, 

Robs special pan Gravy, and Yorkshire Pudding.

It's a rough life

Mashed Potatoes, peas, and curried cauliflower rounded out the meal.

Desert was chocolate dipped Strawberries.

Next stop was Tombstone.

While I stayed behind and worked...  the outlaws hit the town!

Soon we found ourselves back in Gilbert Ray a couple of weeks after we left there before.

While there we visited the Mission San Xavier del Bac.

Founded in 1692 it was one in a chain of Spanish Missions established in the Sonoran Desert.

The mission served the dual purposes of converting the local native population and

also to give the Spanish a Colonial Presence in the northern Sonoran Frontier.

A pair of vagrants outside the mission.

Now it is early March.

After Gilbert Ray we headed north to Picacho Peak State Park

which is located about 40 miles north of Tucson next to I-10.

One of the things that I love about PP are the great sunsets.

Picacho Peak Sunset

Today - Sunday Morning March 4 Rob, Kate, and I,  took a hike up the Calloway Trail.

The cool weather and refreshing breeze made the trek all the more pleasant.

Kate among the Saguaros

At the top of the trail we sat on a bench and Rob took a picture of us looking at the

mountain off in the distance that our new house will be built upon.

Oh...  did I say "Our new house"?

While at Gilbert Ray we signed a contract for a new home to be built on

Dove Mountain in Marana, Az about 20 mi North of Tucson.

Its a wide open floor plan, lots of windows and sliding doors opening to the outside

to make the great outdoors an extension of the home.

Model of the new home

The home will be on a cul-de-sac in a smaller development of about 70 homes

on 3 streets that all end in a cul-de-sac.  

There are only 12 homesites on our street.

The subdivision, called Boulder Pass at Dove Mountain,

is part of the larger Dove Mountain Master Planned Development

We purchased the absolute best lot in the development - with million dollar view$

Located on the slopes of Dove Mountain will will have 100+ mile views with

no future development to block those views.

Facing WNW we will have fantastic sunsets!

Part of the view from the back of the lot

Below, the main road that leads up to Boulder Pass.

Next to our development is the Ritz Carlton Golf Club which is the host each February to

  WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship which is an invitational tournament that

hosts the top 85 golfers in the world.

The house will be started any day and is scheduled for completion around Sept 1st.

Below is the view from our hike this morning.

Our homesite is on the slopes of the first dark ridge in the distance,

which is about 40 miles away

The yellow arrow points to approximately where our house will be located

We can see Picacho Peak from there so it would be visible from here.

The second line of mountains behind that is where Catalina State Park is located,

and behind that is Mt Lemmon (9,100') where you drive up to and leave the desert behind

and enter pine forests, and a whole new climate zone.

Tomorrow it's off to Lake Pleasant Regional Park in the Northwest Phoenix

metro area for 11 nights and some Baseball Spring Training Games.