Off We Go for the Summer

This year we left Tucson in early June. We went from Tucson, with the saguaro and other colorful, high-desert plants, to Flagstaff where it was cooler and up in the pine trees (our first overnight), and then thru the Painted Desert, with all the oranges and reds with a hint of purple. What a wondrous country!! And that was just in Arizona.

We entered Monument Valley where it was cool and overcast with not many photo ops, but it was good for driving. We made our way thru Mexican Hat and Blanding on our way to Moab, where we spent our second night. We stayed in a beautiful campground with red rock spires on one side and high alpine mountain views (the La Sal’s) on the other side. The next day we decided to take a scenic road thru Castle Canyon on our way to Grand Junction. Castle Canyon was carved by the Colorado River and again we saw beautiful red rock formations, some with desert varnish, rafters and kayakers on the river, and a lot of nice campgrounds for small rigs – none of them big enough for us unfortunately!

We spent three nights in Grand Junction and visited with our son and family. It was so good to see them, even for such a short time. Then we were on our way to Breckenridge for the Colorado Model A club’s week-long regional meet. We got a chance to catch up with old friends and chat with some new ones too. We saw a lot of beautiful Model A’s from all over the country. It is also our club’s 50th anniversary this year. The banquet culminated all the festivities with very good food and a concert by the Queen City Jazz Band – what a treat!

Sara and her kids joined us for part of the meet and then we stayed an extra 5 days in Breckenridge to spend time just with them. We parked at the Tiger Run RV resort, so had an indoor swimming pool to use in addition to all the outdoor activities. The kids especially liked the Alpine Slide.

After our time in Breckenridge, we traveled to Brush to spend time with Judy and Bob, Sue, Jim’s other sister and his Mom. We had a great time with all of them; we hadn’t seen Sue or Mom since last year, so it was good to catch up with all their happenings. Mom is doing much better and she is now residing in the assisted living facility in Brush. Judy and Bob were such good hosts!

Now, we’re in Ft. Collins and were able to ‘hook up’ with our friends from the Bay Conspiracy, Ray and Chris. We’re staying at a very nice, and quiet KOA, where they have all kinds of activities available (paddle boats on their small lake, a nice swimming pool, a playground, fishing, and much more). There even is a robin’s nest with baby chicks in the tree, right outside our window and bunnies running around the grounds! We had Shannyn, our granddaughter, with us for a few days, so she had a lot of things to choose from to keep her busy. We really had a good time with her.

On a sadder note, we lost our last two ‘old ladies’; our cats, Frosty and PiLin, were 20 years old and finally their organs just started shutting down. We now are down to Callie, our 5 year old Tortoise Shell cat. She is a joy and a character!

Starting the Year’s Travels at Quartzsite Again

This now seems to be an annual start to our travels each year – the Bay Conspiracy and friends invading Quartzsite!! This year five rigs left from Tucson and then we met some other friends while we were there. Fortunately, we didn’t spend as much money this year as last year (no motor home purchases). As always we had a great time partying with our friends after a day of wandering around and shopping.

Since Quartzsite is so close to California, we decided to continue west to visit JoAnne’s brother and his family. We had a great, but short, visit with Dale and Debbie. Debbie’s folks were so gracious to let us park on their Christmas tree farm, just steps away from Dale and Debbie’s house. There we were among the pine AND palm trees and right next to an orange grove full of all the ripe sweet oranges we wanted. It was great to spend time with them and to get to know the kids again. It had been several years since we had seen them and they are all grown up now!

Visitors, Visitors, Visitors

Well, we have been telling everyone to come to visit, and this year several people did just that. And we were so glad they did. We so enjoyed a quick visit with our friends, the Yutzy’s early in the year. A few days later we finally got together with our friends from Green Valley whom we hadn’t seen for over a year.

Then a few days after our return from California, Jim’s sister, Judy, and her hubby, Bob came for a visit and to attend the Tucson Gem Show. We got to go to the show with them – what an eye-opening experience!! There are many venues all over town where the vendors display their goods. We spent about 6 hours and only visited two of them; it was overwhelming! Judy and Bob ended up spending more time in Tucson than they had planned – they bought a new-to-them motor home. They had some modifications made to it and a few needed repairs. Of course, everything takes longer than the dealer says it will, and several things did not work correctly the first time. It was a little frustrating for them at times but it was great for us having them around a little longer.

Our friends, Dick and Jane, also came to stay at the Voyager for a time. We had met them last summer in Denver. We had a good time visiting with them; they taught us to play Mexican Train, a domino game, and now we’re hooked. We look forward to meeting them again later this summer.

Sara and the kids came for a visit in early April during Shannyn’s and Sara’s Spring Break from school. We took them to the Desert Museum (one of our favorite places) and then to Sabino Canyon, where the kids had a lot of fun playing in the stream. We took a picnic lunch and spent several hours there. Sara wanted to visit with a friend who lives in Phoenix, so went met them at the IKEA store. It is a wonderland of shopping. Of course, there were visits to the pool, general playing, and dying Easter eggs. We had so much fun.

More Short Trips

In between our visitors, we managed a few shorter trips. In February, we traveled to Phoenix with our friends, Fran and Bob (Moochie’s servants), to see the Chihuly glass exhibit in the Botanical Gardens. If you’re not familiar with Chihuly, he makes amazing glass shapes and displays them in very unusual ways. In this particular exhibit, he placed his glass shapes all over the botanic gardens among the plants. It was spectacular!! The next day we visited our round dancing friends, the Chaffee’s.

In April, Fran and Bob, and Judy and Bob, and we travelled to Albuquerque for the Good Sam Rally. We had never been to a Rally, so since it was so close, we decided to try it out. We met in Truth or Consequences (Judy and Bob had left Tucson earlier), spent the night there and arrived in Albuquerque the next morning. We were parked on the Balloon Fiesta grounds, along with over 3000 rigs and new friends. They parked us on the grassy field, so it was very nice. The weather was very changeable, from overcast and rainy to fairly warm. Layers of clothing was required attire. The rally was 5 days of shopping at the vendors booths, attending seminars, looking at various RV’s, and eating. And every night there was entertainment. We saw Neil Sedaka (what a show he put on!!) and the Osmond Brothers (three of the brothers – another good show). They also had Rita Coolidge and a couple of 50s and 60s rock and roll/do wop bands. But, we were so tired, we didn’t get to those shows.

At the end of the rally, we parted ways: Fran and Bob headed back to Arizona and Judy and Bob and we went to Taos for a few days. Judy and Bob did some sight-seeing while we visited JoAnne’s uncle. Then Judy and Bob headed back home to Colorado and we came back to Tucson and started to get ready for our big summer trip.