Back in Arizona

Hope every one had a great Thanksgiving, but for now we wish you all a wonderful Christmas season!

It’s been a little longer than usual since our last posting, but I hope to get back in the swing of things to keep you all updated on what we are up to.

Since my last post, we have accomplished lots of things, but are now back in Arizona preparing to fly back to Salem, Oregon to spend Christmas with our kids, grandkids, and great grandkids.

We left Arizona last June 5, which was later than our normal departure.  Temperature was 97 when we left AZ, but while in Laughlin Nevada, it hit 105.  We stayed in Laughlin till the 10th of June and spent all of our time geocaching.....even made it over to Oatman, AZ for some touristy stuff and more caching.

After we left Laughlin, we stopped in Rachel, Nevada.  This quaint little town is right in the middle of the Extraterrestrial Highway, and is well known for a lot of eerie sightings along with some late night fly overs.  Our reason to stop there was to go off roading and caching.  We spent three nights dry camping next to the Little A'Le' Inn and had some fun trips off road.  One day, we made it a very tricky road to high in the mountains where a Phantom Jet crashed.  There was a cache there, so we had fun finding it and viewing what was left of the jet.  The views from the top of the mountain were amazing.

We left Rachel on the 13th of June and made it to Hawthorne, Nevada where we spent five nights.  We were hoping to visit some friends while in the area, but they had already left, so we spent our time there caching and taking in the sights.  We took one full day and drove up the back way into Yosemite (over Tioga Pass).  Normally when we come through Hawthorne, the road over Tioga Pass into Yosemite is still closed because of snow, but this year being later, they had it open.  We had a wonderful day in the park, but the highlight was going to Glacier Point and looking down on Half Dome.  We could see many hikers climbing the dome, but we were just as happy to view it from afar....that climb up looked very treacherous!

Our next stop was Reno/Sparks, Nevada for 3 nights.  We always stop here while on our way home in order to visit relatives and spend some quality time with Ken's aunt and uncle.  We had a wonderful time with them and our cousins.  Little did we know that this visit would be our last with Ken's uncle Francis.  Shortly after we left Reno, he suffered a heart attack and was placed in a care facility for rehab and healing.  However, he slowly declined and passed away in October.   We feel so blessed that we were able to have such a wonderful visit with him in June.

The whole time we were in Reno, the temps were in the 80s which was wonderful after being in triple digits for so long.  Once leaving Reno/Sparks, we spent one night on the road, then made it into Prineville, Oregon and parked the coach at the Crook County RV Park.  It was sunny and 80 when we got to the park, but that afternoon, after leaving the coach in Prineville, we drove the Grand Cherokee home in Salem to pick up camping supplies.   From Sisters all the way to Salem, it did nothing but rain, we even hit some snow up on the summit, but back to rain all the way into Salem (it was 64 in Salem).  We quickly loaded what we needed into the Cherokee, then spent the night (the 22nd) in Salem.  The next morning, we fueled up and headed back to Prineville.  Thankfully, on the east side of the mountains, there was no rain and temperature was back to 65.  Once back in Prineville, we drove Jeep down to the river and found one site not in use and quickly put our names on the tag and set up a couple tents to hold it until we could move the coach there.

We moved the coach to our site on June 25 and dry camped till July 7.  We were  joined by our best friends, Rod & Lynda and another couple Darryl & Kathy.  We all had a great time doing a whole lot of nothing but eating, visiting, and some hiking.  Temperatures ranged all the way from high 50s to low 70s but we had a fun time enjoying what sun we did get and the campfire with our friends.


When we got home on July 7, our lazy days were over.  We spent time cleaning coach and getting stuff resettled in house.  Once that was done, we spent the next couple months working on house:  First, we replaced the front door.  Second, we replaced the back sliding door, then Ken stripped the old popcorn ceiling stuff off and re-textured the ceiling with a "paint on" type of texture.  Things were looking really nice, but we soon decided the living room and dining room needed repainting......All of this work was done up to the time we were scheduled to take off to Alaska for our annual fishing trip.  However, before we did go to AK, we decided to replace the huge living room window.  We ended up ordering a new window and scheduled it to be installed after our Alaska trip.

Our Alaska trip was Sept 4-12.  We drove to SeaTac on the 3rd, spent the night, then flew to Yakutat on the 4th.  Had cold wet weather most of the time fishing, but we successfully caught our limit each day.  One day, while cleaning our fish on a small rocky island, we spotted a sick & dying Octopus.  We ended up pulling it further up on land and left it along with our fish remains for a couple beautiful Bald Eagles that were watching us from the nearby tree tops.  Those Eagles, and some other birds, had quite a feast after we left.  After fishing only 6 days this year, we ended up with 3 full boxes of Salmon Filets, plus some in a 4th box.....about 175 lbs worth.  The fish we got this year were much bigger than what we caught last year.  We caught less fish, but they weighed out more (yay).  We did look into buying some Halibut Filets, but they wanted over $800 for 50lbs, so we passed on that.

Once back in Salem we continued working on the house and had the front window installed.  Things were looking really good, but we had to quit and leave the rest of the work (mostly trim work) until the summer when we get back from our winter in Arizona.

We scheduled our yearly coach service/maintenance for Oct 17.  We go to Cummins' in Coburg, Oregon for all our work which usually takes a half day to complete.  This time, they found an oil leak in motor, so had to replace a seal which took much longer than expected.  We had reservations for camping in Newport (17-22) and were antsy that it would be dark when we got there, but actually lucked out and made Newport's South Beach State Park at 6:20 pm and got into our site just before dark (whew).  The next day was a gorgeous 72 degree day.  Ken & I took a very long walk on the beach, then later that day Rod & Lynda pulled into their site.  That was our last nice day for the whole weekend.  Even though it was cold, wet, and windy, we had fun spending our time going out eating, shopping, and best of all just visiting.

The next week was a rush to get the coach ready for our trip south to AZ.  We left on Oct 29 and made it to the small town of Likely, CA where we pulled into the fire station's parking lot for the night.  The next day, we made it to Reno/Sparks, Nevada.  Since we weren't towing the Grand Cherokee, we rented a small car so we could drive out and visit our aunt and cousins.  Our uncle had just passed away on Oct 24, but since we couldn't make the funeral, we wanted to spend some quality time with our aunt.  We did have a sad, but nice visit with her before spending a quiet evening with our cousins.

We headed south on Nov 1 and ended up staying the night at a very small RV park south of Beatty, Nevada.  We were back on the road early the 2nd and pulled into our site in Queen Valley, Arizona around 4:45 pm.  The next few days were spent cleaning the coach and getting everything settled.  Our first gathering of residents was on Nov 5 for the first coffee of the season.  It's so nice being back in QV and seeing all of our old friends.  We love the 80-90 degree weather too!

Since our arrival in Queen Valley, AZ, we have gone on several Jeep rides with the Rough Rider group and have been eating out with many other friends in the area.  Right now, we are getting ready to fly back home to Salem to spend Christmas with our family.  When Christmas is over, we will load up our Grand Cherokee and drive it back to Queen Valley.

For now that should catch everyone up on what has been happening, and I do hope to keep this up better in the future.

Where Did The Winter Go?

Yikes, May arrives tomorrow and whole winter is gone….. Where did it go?  What did we do?

We got back to Queen Valley at the end of December and immersed ourselves into “park life” so much that we lost complete track of time.  What posting I did do on a regular basis was on Face Book and some on Twitter.  Anyone can follow me on Twitter at: Cachinbird.  Only you who know me by name can ask to be my friend on Face Book.  As Ken says, our lives are an open book on Face Book (grin).

Every Monday morning we would get up early and go to the park’s activity hall for morning coffee/donuts and social hour.  During “coffee” we would get the latest updates of activities that either happened or were about to happen for the weeks ahead.  Sometimes we had guests from special interest groups come in and put on a show.  Mostly it was a time to catch up with everyone’s comings and goings in the park.

Ken was heavily involved in the Lapidary Shop again and would spend Monday afternoon and all day Wednesday & Thursday (every week) working on various projects in the “rock shop.”  He produced some gorgeous pendants of Jade and Mahogany Obsidian.  In some of his spare time, he produced some very pretty beaded earrings and necklaces/bracelets.  His work was much sought after and he sold lots.  While he was “out” I would catch up with friends & family on Face Book, Twitter, and Email along with reading some wonderful books.  Oh yes, there was something called “work” around the coach too.

Every Friday we joined a group of Jeepers (Rough Riders) on some wonderful and challenging drives through the back country near and far of Queen Valley.  We went to many old mines, the Salt River, and Coke Ovens.  We usually didn’t travel far, but the roads were so rough it would take us all day to make the drive.  We always planned a nice place to stop and have lunch.

This first picture is our group.  In the fore front is Ken letting air out of our tires in order to track easier over very rocky terrain.

 This picture is from the top of a hill over looking the Coke Ovens.

 This is our group having lunch near one of the mines we visited.

 This is one of our friends attempting some of the "rocky" terrain.

 Usually on Tuesday s (our free day) (weather permitting) Ken & I would take the Wrangler out to do some geocaching.  We would drive off on some challenging roads, but being by ourselves, we never put ourselves in any dangerous situations.  When out by ourselves we would “pack” our weapons and always had with us an Acer Emergency Beacon.  Even in relatively safe situations, you never know what can happen, and we were well prepared.

The above describes what we did on a weekly basis, but there was always something happening in the evenings and on weekends.    We had geocaching events, park dinners/pot lucks, along with Branson style entertainment who came out to the park.  We also had dinner out with many friends at various restaurants and sports bars around Mesa and Apache Junction.  Our favorite Sports Bar was Native of New York where we had some great beer and wings.  Tuesdays and Thursdays, Native had all you want wings for .39 each (yum).   Weekends were our time to relax and maybe do our needed errands and town shopping.  So much depended on what the weather was like and this season it was usually very nice.  We literally had very little rain and some very mild temperatures.  Arizona is once again in a drought situation and desperately needs rain to raise the lakes and water tables.

Our biggest news of the season was the birth of two more great grand-children.  On January 26 our 7th great grandchild (a boy, Tristen Raymond Allen) and on April 15, our 8th great grand-child (a girl, Zoe Lavele Lopez) arrived.  We honestly don’t feel old enough to have 8 great grand kids!!  They are both so precious and we have yet to meet them in person.  By the time we get back to Salem, they will be so much bigger.

This picture is of Tristen and mommy just after birth.

 Here is Tristen at 3 months.  He is one very happy baby!!

This is Zoe and mommy just after birth.

 Here is another one of Zoe just after birth.  Look at all that hair.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We are back in Arizona after spending a very nice “dry” three weeks in Salem for Christmas.  We heard that for Oregon it was the driest December since 1877.  It was cold, but we had sun every day.  Could not have asked for better!!  It was not so in Arizona.  While we were gone, they got a lot of rain and the desert is nice and green!

December 4, we flew out of Mesa Gateway airport on Allegiant Air back to Eugene, Oregon. Our daughter and her husband were there to pick us up and take us home to Salem.  The flight was only 2 hours, 28 minutes and very comfortable.  I surely would recommend that airline to anyone wanting inexpensive and simple.   We spent the next few days getting our house ready for Christmas.  I put up and decorated a tree, while Ken put lights up outside.  While home, we did the usual stuff; shop, eat out, visit friends & family, shop, and eat out some more.  Yes, we had to also pack what we would be taking back to Arizona with us.  Since we didn’t tow the Grand Cherokee to Arizona with us, we were preparing to pack it up for our return trip.

Christmas Eve and Christmas day are times for love and family.  We spent both days with our family and loved every minute we were with them.  On Christmas Eve, we spent a couple hours with the Paveleks for food, drink, and lots of visiting.  From 8:30 to 11 we were at our daughters to watch the great grandkids open their gifts from everyone.  After the little ones were done, we spent the rest of the evening exchanging gifts with rest of family.  At 11:15 Ken & I were at church to celebrate the true reason for Christmas at Midnight Mass.  A long day, but so worth it!!  Christmas Day is when Santa visits the little ones very early in the morning, so we stayed home till Noon, then went back over to our Daughters for a wonderful afternoon and dinner.  It was a wonderful day!!

Two days later, we had the tree down and all the Christmas decorations put away.  Finally, on December 28, the Jeep was loaded, the alarm set, and all the services turned off.  We left Salem around 11:30 while the weather still was nice.  That night it was supposed to start raining.  We were fortunate to make it across the mountain pass while it was still clear and have a somewhat sunny drive to Susanville, California where we spent that night.

December 29, we left Susanville and made it to Tonopah, Nevada and checked into the Best Western for three nights.  Our plans were to geocache along highways 6 & 375 (known as the Extraterrestrial Highway) where over 1,500 caches are hidden.  We spent the next three and a half days caching and found all 1,500 caches, plus many more that weren’t part of the “ET Run.”   Most of that time, we were on dirt roads and we along with the Jeep were covered with dust.   Our poor “white” Grand Cherokee was a dirty brown inside and out.

For New Year’s Eve, we had dinner then spent the night at the Windmill Ridge Restaurant & Lodging.  It’s a wonderful restaurant and the rooms (cabins) are very nice.  Both of us were so tired from the caching that we didn’t stay up to see the New Year come in.  We were both sound asleep by 7:30 pm.

The next morning, January 1, 2012, we were on the road at 6 am.  Of course, when we crossed over the border from Nevada into Arizona, we lost an hour because of the time change.  Even with that, we were in Queen Valley by 3 pm.  It was wonderful to get off the road and back into our coach.  The work began when we started unloading the Jeep and trying to find a place to put everything.  Thank Goodness, we have two sheds here!

Since being back in Queen Valley, we are back into the swing of park life and trying to fit all the activities in.  It seems there is something going on every day and we really have to pick and choose what we really want to do.  Since we have been coming down so many years, we have done most everything, so this year we are taking things much easier.  Ken is still spending time in the Rock Shop, but not as much as in years past.  We plan on doing more off road trips and more caching and less group partying.  The weather has been wonderful since we got back.  The days are in the high 60s (low 70s) and the nights are dipping in the high 30s, so we’ve had the heater on a few times.  As for rain, we may or may not get some this next weekend, but that is just a possibility.

We wish you all a very Happy New Year!!!!