Sun, Sun, and Sun!

Things are going well and we are getting back into the swing of RV Park life. Ken is spending two days a week (Mon & Thurs) in the rock shop and enjoying every moment of it.


I, on the other hand, am just enjoying being back in Arizona and doing as little as possible. However, I have started an exercise regime which will help me out on those long hikes in the desert and up those awful hills when/if we ever get the chance to go out caching again. I have noted many caches in the Mesa, Chandler, and Gilbert areas, but still have to work out a time that we can head out that way to hunt them.

In the meantime, we are just enjoying the sun and mid 60 days (cold 40s nights). Yep, the rain is gone and there is nothing but sun, sun, and more sun.....oh yeah, a little wind too (what else is new).

Should anyone wish to write us, our site number has changed, so here is the new address:
50 W Oro Viejo Dr #167
Queen Valley, AZ 85218

Our phone number at the coach is 520-463-0198. Remember, while in the rv park, we have NO cell phone service, so PLEASE use the coach land line because we have no idea how long it could be before getting out of the area and checking cell messages.

More later and hopefully soon, I will post more pics from around the area.

Wind, Rain, and Sun

After our arrival in QV on Wednesday the 2nd, we heard reports of several storms heading for California that would bring lots of wind, rain and even snow our way. That rain didn’t come until late Saturday the 5th. When the rain arrived, it poured hard and didn’t quit until sometime late Monday night. The washes were running full and some roads were flooding and even closed. Flagstaff got lots of snow which revitalized their ski season. They are now hopeful about the chance to keep their ski season open until late April. If they don’t get a sudden warm up and have the snow melt, they should be able to stay open for quite a while.

Saturday the 5th started out cloudy and windy. It was cold enough to have our heater running and neither of us really wanted to go out and do anything. So I spent the entire day sorting through tons of pictures on an external hard drive and getting most of them labeled. The pictures I have on the drive go back to 1999. What a job, and I'm still not done!! I am using a program called Picasa to sort, organize, and label all of my pictures. I can ‘batch re-name’ them which really saves time. The program is also great for doing simple edits on pictures, like crop, straighten, brighten or sharpen the contrast.. I have cleaned up and fixed many, but still have lots more to do.

Sunday, after listening to wind and rain all night, we woke to find our phone dead (land line). Because there is no cell phone service in the park, we drove out to the highway so I could report the problem and was told that they would dispatch service right away and have it fixed by 7 that evening. We were going to go to church, but thought we should be at the coach in case Qwest needed to talk to us, so we came straight back to the coach and waited. At 1 pm the phone repairman called and said he had the problem fixed. As it turns out the line was being affected by all of the heavy rain, and we weren't the only ones in the park having problems. Because it was so nasty outside, we stayed in and played lazy for the rest of the day.

Monday was another day of rain, rain, and more rain. At 9 am we braved the weather and went to the park’s weekly coffee social. The park is full and so was the activity hall! Couldn't believe how many folks were willing to brave the rain and come up for coffee and a donut. While there, we get reports on weekly activities and up-coming events and tours. Plus it is a great time to visit with old (and meet new) friends. It rained all day long and didn’t quit until sometime late in the evening. Ken spent the rest of the day in the rock shop and I was mostly on-line.

Yea, Tuesday the sun was shining and the skies were clear. Ken went for a long hike checking one of the hills behind the park for a place to hide a cache. He is excited about the history of an old plane crash that happened back there and wants to hide a cache in the vicinity. Anyhow he was gone most of the day which gave me a chance to go through the back closet and some of my bedroom shelves. It is amazing the amount of “stuff” a person can accumulate in such a small area. I was able to toss a bunch of junk and get other “stuff” put where it really belongs. Oh yeah, it got up to 65 today!

Today was another beautiful day. We took a drive out on the back road and the dips were still full of water, but dispersing fast. Also did a mile hike checking on one of our very elusive caches (named Marky 34) in the area because the latest cacher to look for it couldn’t find it. We could have driven the Jeep in to it, but we just got it washed and we didn’t want to muddy it up. The walk was good for us and we quickly found the cache and saw that it was just where it is supposed to be and in great shape.

We are well and happy and hope every one else is the same!

Arizona for the Winter

Once again, we are back in sunny Arizona--well, it's sunny now, but there is supposed to be a storm coming through this weekend, and the temps will drop down in the 50s with rain, wind, and more rain. That is still better than the “freezing” temps we had in Salem.

Monday the 31st, we got up early in hopes of leaving Salem before the traffic got bad. At 6 am, Ken made a run to Safeway for some dry ice and found out the morning fog was freezing, and the streets were a sheet of ice. After considerable thought, we decided to wait in hopes things would thaw……well they didn’t, so ended up leaving on icy streets at 8:30. The fog and 28 degree temperature stayed with us all the way to Eugene. It was incredible to watch our radio antennae become a blob of ice as the fog froze to it. We watched the ice build and break off several times during that ride to Eugene.

Once in Eugene, we stopped for breakfast and I got on the Internet, via my cell phone, (how great is that??) and viewed the road cams on the Siskiyous and Willamette Pass to see which way we could/would travel. The Siskiyous looked good but we really didn’t want to go that way. Willamette Pass was packed snow and required chains from mile post 52 to 70. However, vehicles under 10,000 lbs, not towing, and with traction tires could go through without the chains. Since the worst area was only 18 miles and was only packed snow, not ice, we decided to head over highway 58 and through Willamette Pass. Thankfully, just south of Eugene the fog disappeared and we had sunny skies from there on.

Willamette Pass was a lot easier than we thought it was going to be. The snow was packed hard and covered with gravel which made great traction. The only trucks we saw were parked, either chaining up or unchaining, after they crossed the summit. Because of the hazardous weather warning, not many people were traveling that way, so we had most of the road to ourselves. At the summit, the temperature dropped to 18 degrees, but it still was sunny and clear. I took a couple pictures after we crossed the summit. These are taken through the Jeep windshield and not the greatest shots, but you can see how pretty things were.

Look, peaceful solitude...






This truck is unchaining after crossing the summit.


The rest of the day was uneventful. We drove through Chemult to Klamath Falls where it was 21 degrees. The lake was a sheet of ice, but the road was clear with lots of snow in the fields. We had snow all the way to Susanville, but roads remained clear. We arrived Susanville at 5 pm and stayed the night. It was New Year’s Eve, but we were way too tired to stay up and watch it come in. Plus, it was way too cold to go out anywhere (18 degrees outside).

Tuesday, January 1, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! We were up really early and on the road at 6 am. Temperature was 20 degrees, but the further east we went, it bounced between 12 and 18...brrrrrrr. We drove on through Reno (20 degrees) and east to Fernly where we fueled up at $3.01 a gallon. As we traveled further south, snow was less and less, and finally gone a little south of Goldfield around Scotty’s Junction (Death Valley area). By this time, the temperature was in the 40s. Again, we took the side trip through Pahrump (west of Las Vegas) and this time stayed the night in a really nice motel. At 5 pm, It was 45 degrees...it was so nice we actually went out to dinner and enjoyed the evening (we didn't even need our coat).

The hotel where we stayed in Pahrump had a great buffet breakfast for its guests. There were scrambled eggs, sausage, pancakes, bisquits & gravy, along with fruit, toast, cereal, and a variety of drinks. We ate at 6 am and were heading out of town by 6:30. The day before, we did some geocaching from Beatty to Pahrump (found 11). Today, we started caching just outside of town and all through west Vegas on the old Las Vegas Boulevard to Jean on I-15. Even picked up a couple more caches near Searchlight. Even with picking up 32 caches, we still made it to Searchlight (north of Laughlin) before Noon. We fueled up there at $3.09 a gallon.

We quit caching at Searchlight because we still had a long way to drive to reach Queen Valley and wanted to get there before dark (didn't happen). Just south of Wickenburg, we cut across to I-17 then went off on the 101 east. We made great time until getting caught in 5 O’Clock traffic in the Scottsdale area. It took us an hour and 20 minutes to get from the Cave Creek exit (Cave Creek Rd) on 101 to exiting on the 202 near Tempe. After exiting on the 202, the traffic was much better, but still heavy. As we neared the end of the freeway at Power Road in Mesa, the going was much faster. Before going on to Queen Valley, we stopped for a bite to eat in Apache Junction, then fueled up at $2.97 a gallon. Also, we stopped for groceries in Gold Canyon and finally got to the coach at 7:30 pm.

It didn’t take long to get coach aired up to move the slides out, but unloading the car took a while (we were very loaded). In fact, we didn’t finish unloading until the next morning (Thursday).

Today, Friday the 4th, after running some morning errands in town, we are totally settled in and ready to get back in the swing of QV living. It is sooooo nice to be baaaaaacccccckkkkk!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!!