Where does this road lead?

At 7PM on December 4th Jane called and asked Sandy if she would like to accompany her to Denver for a few days. They would be leaving at 8AM the next morning. Sandy thought about it for a couple of minutes and said "sure, what else do I have going on to keep me here. It's time for another adventure." Poor Dave, guess I will just have to survive on my own (Pizza Hut here I come).

On Friday the 7th while Sandy was gone, I made a trip to a Flea Market out by Apache Junction. The place is advertised as having over 1600 vendors. That may be a stretch, but there sure were a lot of them. It was both a mission to pick up a gadget up for a friend and a sight seeing trip. Now John has his needs filled for a few years. (3 items for $2.00 and 114 miles-- what a bargain!) But then, what are friends for.

Sandy and Jane came back today (12-8-07). They had a good time, and Sandy got to see some snow. It must have made her feel like she was back home in Minnesota. Her daughter's home is in the mountains west of Denver and a large elk herd grazes regularly all through the area. One evening the house was surrounded by elk--what a sight to see!

Last year when Sandy and I went to San Diego we spent a night near Dateland, AZ. Dates are grown there including the delicious Medjool variety. We bought some then and wished we have gotten more, so Sandy and I decided to take a short drive back down to Dateland and pickup some more of those good dates.

On the 12th, Sandy and I drove up to Wickenburg. On the way up we stopped at Lake Pleasant Campground to check it out for the future. They have good paved sites and also have a boat landing where I might be able to try out the Port-A-Boat. We then continued up to Wickenburg and had lunch. From there we decided to run up to Prescott, but on the way Sandy spotted Stanton Ghost Town on the map, so off we went following the GPS. When we pulled off the highway there was a sign "Primative Road - Mininum Maintenance". That should have been the first clue. The road looked pretty decent to start with until we got to Stanton. We did not find much of a ghost town, but there were lots of campers looking for gold. Turns out there are gold claims around the area north of town going towards Yarnell. As we headed towards Yarnell we saw some signs “CLAIMS FOR SALE”.
"Where does this road lead?" "Where does THIS road lead?"
After Sandy had several near heart attacks, I decided I should stay clear of the shoulder.
"WHERE DOES THIS ROAD LEAD?"






We finally made it to Yarnell and back onto a real road. Had we started our journey at the other end of the road, I'm sure we would have abandoned that trip and stayed on the main highway.

On the way back home Jane called and said they had just picked up a new puppy. It is a Standard Poodle, 4 months old and weighs 50 pounds. So the next day we stopped over at their house to check out the new puppy. He came with the name of MoJo.





That evening Ron and Jane came over for supper and we had some more discussion on MoJo’s name. It seems there is a sexual connotation to MoJo so now it's a hunt for a new name. Friday we went back to Jane's and continued the mission of picking a new name for "The Dog formally known as MOJO". Many names were discussed such as Jack, Montana, Rocky, Winston etc., but no agreement was made.

On the 15th, Sandy and I went for a ride up I-17 to Flagstaff. The temperature in Flagstaff was 29 degrees at 1:00PM and they had about 1 1/2 feet of new snow, so I got to see snow for the first time this year. We sure had a nice view of Humphreys Peak (12,633 ft) coming up the I-17.













On the way back we took highway 89A through Sedona, Cottonwood and Jerome.










On Wednesday the 19th we flew into the Twin Cities to spend the holiday season with family and friends. Minneapolis has quite a bit of snow. After we got settled in we went to eat at TGIF’s. When we came out into the damp cold, Sandy said “now I remember why we went south for the winter” and it was only 20 degrees outside. (warm by Minnesota standards)

On Thursday Sandy and I went down to Dave's former company and took some treats for their morning break. We had a good visit with everyone. In the evening we met up with Dale and Mary Jane for supper at The Green Mill and ended up spending 2½ hours visiting. We're hoping the roads will be good for traveling but we've had freezing rain and snow.

Blogging in the DESERT!!!

Some Blog in the DESERT!!!








While some read.





It’s been a couple weeks so we guess it’s time to update the Blog.
We spent the 16th & 17th of November in Benson, AZ to do a little sight seeing. We toured Kartchner Caverns which are about 89 miles southeast of Tucson. The caverns are still alive because of the precautions taken when developing for tourism. Two tours are available. We took the one that is only open from October 15th to April 15th. Bats return to this part of the cavern to give birth and raise their young (pups) during the rest of the year. This is a cave that is well worth the time to see.
Later we went down to Tombstone and took in the sights. And, of course, we had to take in the "Gun Fight at the OK Corral". Admission included a small museum so we spent some time going through it. Just after we got started going through the museum a guy in costume came over and spent the better part of an hour giving us a private tour and colorful insight on the local area.

We felt he appreciated someone taking the time to read about the historical events and artifacts rather than running in to just to see the show. He provided a whole new perspective on the harsh and often cruel life of the lawless wild days in the old western mining towns. We think we saw him a few days later on TV narrating a short on the Encore Western Channel. You now, all them Cowboys look alike. We then spent some time walking around the streets and old buildings of Tombstone.


On the 18th we headed up to Cave Creek Recreational Area Campground just north of Phoenix to visit our friends Ron and Jane. Cave Creek Campground is a county park with lots of space between campsites. They invited us to their home for Thanksgiving to have dinner with their family. Thanks to Ron and Jane for inviting us to share a great dinner with some great friends.


In the evening you can watch the sun set and listen to the coyotes howl. Then in the morning, we watch the sunrise. Yes, Heather, there is a sunrise (private family joke) and watch the Quail and an occasional coyote run through in the brush.


Lately, we have not been doing much other than sharing some time with Ron and Jane. Ron and I have been spending some time working on their Lazy Daze motorhome installing See-Level tank gauges and a Link 10 battery monitor. We survived the big rain storm that dumped 3 inches of rain a couple days ago. Flash flood warnings were in effect overnight so we were glad to find ourselves firmly on solid ground in the morning.
We have made arrangements to fly back home for Christmas and New Years. We must miss the snow and cold. We're anxious to see family and friends again, but we'll also be glad to return to sunny Arizona again.

Dave and Sandy.

Well, we are finally in Arizona

Well, we are finally in Arizona. After leaving home on Wednesday the 7th of November, we had three one night stands. Or is it we stopped at three different towns before getting to getting to Amarillo, TX. The first three nights were at West Omaha, NE, Millford, KS and Enid, OK. Along the way we stopped to see a Pony Express station and Museum in
Marysville, KS. However, after driving around for about one-half hour to find a parking place for the motor home and walking four blocks to the museum, we found it closed for the season. Too bad because it sure looked like it would be interesting.
















Once we got to Amarillo we spent five days there and took time to see some of the local sights. On Monday we took a little drive along Route 66 thru town. It turned out there were about 90 horse statues placed through out the area. Each horse was uniquely painted much like the Snoopy statues in St. Paul a few years ago. Here are some examples:





On Tuesday we went to the “Panhandle Plains Historical Museum” with the idea that we would also go to the Palo Duro Canyon State Park. After spending 6 ½ hours in the museum we decided to go to the park the next day. This is the biggest historical museum in Texas. It was very interesting and well laid out. Anyone who enjoys history could spend the better part of two days there.




















On Wednesday we went to the Palo Duro Canyon State Park. This is the second largest canyon in the USA. Some areas are 2500 feet deep with beautiful red rock formations.
















We passed through Roswell NM, without seeing any UFOs. Last night we stayed in Alamogordo, NM. When we got up this morning we watched a covey of about 50-100 Quail scurrying through the desert brush looking for food. It was amazing how fast they move around and stay in their little groups.

Tonight we are staying in Benson, AZ about 40 miles SE of Tucson. We will spend a couple of days here before heading over to the Phoenix area to spend some time with our friends Ron and Jane.

By the way, Jane, we thought you said keeping up this blog would be a snap.

We have made the move and are on our way

Dear Family and Friends.

Dave and Sandy have an ANNOUNCEMENT.

This past year has brought some major changes to our lives. Dave retired on 12-31-06 (Sandy had retired in 1998) and in January we started a coast-to-coast trip of the southern US in our Lazy Daze Class C motor home. After our return to Minnesota on March 30th we started getting ready for a trip we had planned to the Pacific Northwest with our friends, Ron and Jane, from Scottsdale AZ. Between the two trips we made a life changing decision.

We had been looking for a smaller town home for the last couple of years with the knowledge that we would be spending our winters somewhere in warmer climates. With that in mind, we decided to sell our house and our Lazy Daze motor home shown below.















We put our town home on the market on June 12th and left for our trip to the Pacific Northwest on June 20th. Being aware of the slow housing market, we looked forward to a relaxing trip with our friends. Well, our house sold on June 28th with closing scheduled for August 31st. Upon our return home on August 3rd we had a lot of work to get done by the 31st. We had a huge moving sale and moved out of our house on August 29th with a lot of help from our friends. We wouldn’t have been able to do it without their help.















THIS IS OUR NEW HOME. We have gone from a 4,000 SF town home to a 450 SF motor home. It’s a 42 foot Tiffin Allegro Bus diesel pusher. For the past 2 months we’ve been very busy getting settled in our new small space and, so far, we’re still on speaking terms. We’ll leave for Arizona in early November and return to Minnesota in April. Jane, our friend from AZ, set us up on a blog site when we were with them on our summer vacation. We can make no promises, but we will TRY to update it every couple of weeks to keep you posted on our new life adventure.


Best wishes to all of you,

Dave and Sandy

SELLING OUR LAZY DAZE AND HEADING HOME

We left Spokane, WA on the 27th and made it into Redding, CA on the 28th. We spent the rest of the 28th, 29th and the morning of the 30th cleaning the RV and packing the GMC Envoy for the trip back. Ann and Rod from the LA area had bought the Lazy Daze before we left on the trip contingent on inspection at the time of delivery. All went well and they picked it up on July 30th.

Mount Shasta is just north of Redding and still had plenty of snow even though it was 100 degrees in Redding.

We Started for home after we made the deal. The Envoy was loaded to the gills. I even taped the tailgate handle so I would not absent mindedly open it.

Had to remove stuff to get to the cooler. I drove all the way home because if we moved the seat for Sandy to drive we knew we would

not get it moved back for me to drive.

We spent August 1st in a motel in Cheyenne, WY and when we turned on the TV they were reporting on the I-35W bridge collapse.What a terrible thing to have happened.

August 8th was a big day for us as we picked up our 42 foot Tiffin Allegro Bus from Kings Campers in Wausau, WI. 

This turned out to be our home for the next two years before we bought a house again. In that time we met many people who we are glade to call friends today. 

Having a chair to sit in is the only thing we miss in the RV we have today, well maybe Sandy misses the washer and dryer.

Here are a couple pictures of us starting to load up the Tiffin.

Now it's on to a new adventure, full-time RV'ing.

Until next time,

Dave and Sandy