Headed Home to South Dakota

Wednesday -  Today I start packing, because I am going to Sioux Falls for the weekend to see Katie, Jordan and the boys. Hooray! Gary went out after our morning meeting to talk to some of the RV parks we want to sign up. I did all the laundry, so it was caught up for Gary when I will be gone.  I finished my Rvillage ads that are due for this week and then went outside for an hour to recharge my Vitamin D, before heading home to the cold weather. After Gary was home, we finished up the work for the day, had supper and went to Ash Wednesday Mass at 7:00.  Home to bed.

Thursday - the morning flew by and we left to drive to the airport in Mesa.  Gary dropped me off at the airport at 3:00, a little early for my 5:30 flight, but he was going to stop at two RV parks near Florence on the way back home.  At the airport, there was a large group waiting at the check in area - about 10 minutes later they finally opened up the lines to check in for the Sioux Falls flight.  At that point, I could go on up to the gate, because I had my boarding pass and just a carry on bag.  We took off on time and the flight went by quickly - we love this connection - direct flight, about two hours and fifteen minutes long. Katie picked me up in Sioux Falls, she came in to the airport with my winter coat to wear home.  (It was 80 degrees when I left Arizona, 9 degrees when I arrived in Sioux Falls.) It was different to see snow on the ground again.  Of course, the boys were already in bed asleep when we got to their house, so we visited a little and then off to bed.

Friday - two precious little boys came down to wake me up - how fun it that!  They are staying home from daycare today to play with Nana.  We started the day by reading books and playing games before breakfast, then more fun after cleaning up the dishes.  I watched the movie, "Pocahontas" with them - the first time I have seen the whole thing.  They shared many observations as we watched, they are so sharp. Lunch was fun and then they went down for their nap.  I had thought I was going to nap a little too, but did the dishes and caught up on emails and some reading.  They were up when Katie came home, so then I went and ran my one errand to the eye glass office, to get a scratched lens replaced. Then back to the house to visit and play.  Kathy came over for the evening to visit and see the boys. What a great day!
Gary was home working in the morning, then went and spent the afternoon and evening with Dan & Connie at their house.

Sam let me sleep with Simba, he has his puppy

Saturday - the boys came down again and woke up Nana.  This morning I had to get ready to go to an appointment at the RV dealer's to talk about an ad for Rvillage. It really helped that I knew the manager, we had a nice visit.  Back to Katie's, we all went in their vehicle to run errands.  I was pretty acrobatic crawling up in to the Land Cruiser to sit in the back seat between the two car seats. But we had fun.  It was a cold day, but very sunny - we saw people out in short sleeves, they were so glad there to have it be warmer.  My first visit to a Costco store, I can see why people like it - there seems to be more selection than the Sam's Club stores.
Back home for lunch, then Diane came over to visit.  How nice to catch up with these friends - I do miss seeing them.  That night we stayed home, Chinese for supper and played games.  We went to bed early, we will be going to early church AND daylight savings time begins during the night.  We had to spring forward.
Gary worked on Rvillage calls and bookwork, went to Mass and then to Dan & Connie's for supper.

Sunday - up for 7:30 Mass at Holy Spirit.  There was a light crowd, Fr. Samson said they all had come the night before.  The boys were good in church, so the reward was to go to Bagel Boy for breakfast. Yumm.  Sam gobbled down a chocolate muffin and I had pumpkin.  Back home, we all went outside, it was a warmer day, and Katie and Jordan took the Christmas lights down off the roof. The boys rode their little bikes and I made sure they stayed on the sidewalk and were able to turn around on the driveways.  Inside again, I gave the boys the super heroes costumes we had bought for them.  We now have Spider Sam and Hulk Riley.  They especially liked the shields - which are what Captain America has.  Lunch time and then I went to Larry & Gretchen's house to see them and Kathy and Steve.  We had a great time catching up - the time went quickly.  I went back to the house and then we went over to Jim & Linda's (Jordan's folks) for a birthday supper for Jim.  The boys brought him birthday balloons, one SpiderMan and one Monster's University.  A nice evening, it was fun to visit with Jim and Linda too.

Hulk Riley and Spider Sam

The Super Heroes with Nana

Monday - today I fly back to Arizona.  Up early to get packed and to ride with Jordan and the boys to Citibank to daycare.  It was hard to say goodbye to all of them.  Mary Jo from my office at the Diocese, picked me up there and we went and met Chuck for breakfast.  He was excited to tell us that he had a new grandson, born on Sunday and they were going to drive to Lincoln for the day to see the new little guy.  We had a very nice visit, they are such good friends.  Mary Jo took me with her back to the Diocese office where I was able to visit other co-workers.  It was fun to see everyone and spend a little time visiting each office.  Then it was time to go to the airport, so Mary Jo gave me a ride.  My flight was on time again :) and I was headed back to warm weather and my hubby.
Gary picked me up at 2:30 when I arrived, we stopped and had lunch, then headed home for the Junction.  I was tired after getting up early and traveling.  With the time change on the weekend, I was up at 3:30 Arizona time, so it had been a long day.

Tuesday - morning meeting, unpacking, laundry and emails.  In the afternoon, we drove in to Tucson for some sales calls.  A beautiful, warm, sunny day - it makes it easier to go out and about for sales calls. Home for supper, then we went to Mission night at Santa Catalina.  Tom Booth, a well known Christian music singer, was the speaker.  He did a nice job and sang a few of his songs.  Afterward we visited with Deb & Joe for a little while, then home.  Happy Birthday Joe and Jeannie!

Join the network and find us!  You don't have to be an RVer.

February Ends - March Is Here

Wednesday -  Our mornings are all the same now - group meeting call early, then making contacts for sales calls.  We needed to get out for exercise, so we went and walked with Deb today.  Beautiful sunshine - another good day to be out.  We stopped by the house of the neighbor that was next to us in our motorhome park in January. Larry and Pat bought a house in Saddlebrooke, moved in on Feb. 1 and he had back surgery ten days later (it was planned).  We visited with them, he was recovering very well.  Back at the house, Joe was home, so we had a nice visit.  Then back to the Junction (home) for the night.

Thursday -  today, back to the dentist for my permanent crown.  They wanted to make sure it fit right, so they put it in with temporary glue.  Bummer.  So, I made the appointment for Monday to get it finished.  Picked up groceries on the way home and back to work on client appointments.  Tonight we went to our Junction neighbors, Wally and Jan's for supper.  Had a great visit and meal.  New friends we will keep in touch with after we both go our separate ways this summer!

Friday - Work and laundry in the morning.  Gary left to pick up Dan from a doctor's appointment, I stayed home and worked on ads for Rvillage.  I'm learning alot about copying and pasting graphics from websites and creating something that looks like the customer's website.  I will get faster as time goes by, but it takes me longer now.
Tonight, Joe & Deb and Lisa & Jeff are coming for supper, so I cleaned, shaking rugs, vacuuming the carpet and dusting.  It needed to be done, company coming always makes it happen!  Jeff ended up not coming, he had pulled muscles in his back moving furniture.  We gave Lisa the tour of our home, she had never been in a motorhome before.  My new crown came off during supper, but otherwise a nice evening with family and friend.

Saturday - March came in like a lion here, it rained all day!  Chilly and windy too!  But they needed the rain here so much.  I called the dentist and they met me at the office in the morning to put the crown back on.  The exposed nerve was very sensitive to cold and air - a yawn that morning sent me up the wall!  They glued it back on with stronger temporary glue - Monday it will be done finally!
Back home, it was a great day to get caught up on paperwork, emails and financials. We hibernated and watched a movie that night after supper.

Sunday - today we went to Mass at Santa Catalina at 9:00.  Back home, we had breakfast, then went for a drive on I-10 to get names of businesses to visit for ads. Making the loop, we headed back home, stopping for errands as we got closer to home. At Trader Joe's, we bought a very healthy basil plant to keep at Deb & Joe's, to use for salad recipes. Yumm! Tonight we were invited to Lisa and Jeff's for supper. She fixed a new Chicken Ranch Pasta dish and Chicken Enchiladas.  Very good. After our busy day and good food, we slept very well.

Spring in the Desert

Iris blooms

Monday - work, then off to the dentist office - this time in Tucson. (the local office is not open on Mondays)  Finally, my crown is permanently glued on and I pray I am done seeing a dentist for a while.  I ran a few errands while I was in town, I had several returns to make. Back home, we finished our work day and enjoyed the evening sitting outside until the sun went down.

Tuesday - meeting calls in the morning, then we visited with the new motorhome neighbors that pulled in the day before.  A nice couple from Nevada - we may stop by to see them on our way to Oregon.  At 11:00 we went over to Jan's for lunch - and to meet and visit with a couple (she works with the husband) that lost their only son, 19 years old, on Christmas Eve.  He and his girlfriend were driving back from a ski trip and went off the rode and down a cliff on the Salt River Canyon rode. They both were thrown out of the car, she survived with many injuries, he did not.  Jan thought it would help them to talk to someone that had been through losing a child, hopefully we did help them. It brought up a lot of the pain again that we felt and still feel at times, of losing Mike.  But, talking about him is healing for us also.  When we were done there, we had a meeting with our park manager and got her and the park signed up on RVillage.   That night, we visited with Jan and Wally about our meeting with the Teschner's and had an impromptu supper with them.  (You know you are comfortable with friends, when you can just get together last minute, visit and eat leftovers!)

Sunset - another view

February - Week 3

Wednesday -  First, a phone call meeting and then Deb & I went in to Tucson for errands. Sam's Club, then Trader Joe's, a return to Kohls, and necessities from Walmart.  We had a lot of fun visiting while shopping - much better than going by yourself!  Deb dropped me home and I put things away and then worked on the computer.  Wonderful pizza leftovers for lunch.  Gary ran errands and worked on business paperwork.  We sat outside late afternoon and were home that night.

Thursday - Today is the famous Tucson Rodeo Parade and Rodeo (La Fiesta de los Vaqueros!).  We went with Deb & Joe, although they drove separate because Deb's sister and brother-in-law were arriving sometime today.  We watched the parade, the nation's largest non-motorized parade.  All the exhibits were drawn by horses, mules or ponies.  Over two hundred entries, so it lasted a couple hours.  When it was done, about fifteen street sweepers followed, cleaning up the "deposits" from the day.
Deb left to go home and Joe, Gary and I went to the grandstand for the rodeo.  We walked around the grounds, stopping at some of the booths to register to win wonderful things and bought t-shirts to commemorate our attendance this year.  We enjoyed rodeo food, bacon wrapped sausages and grilled, marinated chicken on sticks.  Once in the grandstand, we enjoyed watching the professional riders in the rodeo. (My first rodeo!)  First class entertainment!
We headed home when it was over and got back to Deb & Joe's right after the Sioux Falls family members arrived.  It was fun to see Marjean and Mike and they were glad to be here where it is warm.  We stayed for supper and enjoyed catching up with them.

Fun ride

Two cowboys

Friday - I went out for an early morning walk - need to keep burning calories.  Listened to our daily work call as we are getting closer to getting started and we are excited to share this with you soon! - the site should be live early March.  Gary stayed home and I went to the "Goose", the local thrift shop, to find treasures.  Not much luck today.  Then picked up groceries and got home in time for my work call.  Sat outside in the afternoon - yes again, and we were home that night.

Saturday -  Today we are getting out of town.  We packed and headed northwest to visit friends.  We stopped in Florence for lunch, it's our anniversary today - 28 years.   We ate at the Mount Athos Restaurant, a Greek, Italian, American food place.  It was very busy, apparently a destination type of place on a nice day.  We split a Gyros plate, plenty for the two of us, with a gyros sandwich, Greek salad and fries.  A nice treat!
Then we headed on to Apache Junction.  We were visiting Bob and LaRae Zwart at the Lost Dutchman Mobile Home Park there.  Bob and LaRae come down every year for January and February and have their own park model they live in.  Park models are small, very much like a motor home or camper for square footage, but they added on an "Arizona Room", so they have more living/entertaining space attached to the "house".  With the walls and roof enclosed and the space heaters they have added, we spent the entire evening there, for supper and playing cards afterward.  Two couples they spend time with came over and we had a very enjoyable and laugh-filled evening and a great meal.  We stayed overnight, sleeping on their hideabed couch.
Sunday AM, they took us out for breakfast and then we went to Mass at St. George's Church in Apache Junction.  A large church, they have three Sunday AM masses and ours was totally full.  As we drove to and from church, we were amazed at the number of "snowbird" parks there in Apache Junction.  But now that we have enjoyed the weather these months, we understand why they are all here!

We went back to Bob & LaRae's, changed in to our shorts again and then they took us on a fifteen mile drive northwest to Tortilla Flats.  This is a small tourist destination up through the Superstition Mountain passes and was a stagecoach stop years ago.  There were shops, a restaurant - famous for having dollar bills totally covering all the walls and partitions there, and an outside patio area with live country performers.  Bob and Gary (of course) visited with people they knew from South Dakota that were there.  After the drive back in to town, they took us to the Ranch Market, a store that sells discounted fruit, vegetables, candies, nuts, etc. Quite the bargains there.  LaRae buys fruit and vegetables there cheap, freezes them and transports them back home to South Dakota in a small freezer in their van.  Good thinking!
That night we drove back home, stopping at the Cadillac Chapparal to meet Deb, Joe, their guests and other friends from Saddlebrooke for supper.  This way Mike and Marjean had a chance to meet all the friends Deb & Joe have here.

Monday - Back to work.  Gary and I each have meetings to listen to and be part of.  We spent the day working on business items.  Wow the time goes fast when you are concentrating on learning again!  By 4:00 I was done - ready to be outside.  Gary and I went for a walk and then invited our neighbor, Jan, over for refreshments.  Her husband, Wally, was working late today.  Jan just finished three days of downsizing things in their motorhome and storage shed, to prepare for them hitting the road in May.  We had a great visit, we certainly have been lucky to once again find good friends as we travel!

Tuesday - Laundry today,  I washed the sheets and then hung them out on the clothes lines to dry.  It did not take long.  Morning meetings and work on the computer, the day flew by again.  It was cloudy and cooler most of the day, so we weren't as tempted to be outside.  The sun came out about 4:00 and we took advantage of it.  Home in the evening, I sauteed the zuchinni, summer squash, peppers and onions Deb had got for me at the church "market on the move" on Saturday.  Yuum!

Sundown shining on the mountains

A strange sunset, but beautiful

Month of Celebrations - Feb Week 2

Wednesday - Happy Birthday to Gary and Gerry! Gary, Gerry and Lisa went to the shooting range for target practice.  I went in to Tucson for errands - Sam's Club, SteinMart, Big 5 Sporting Goods and Walmart stops. Gary, Dan and Gerry went out for lunch to Sammy's, a small Mexican place in Catalina. That night we all went out for supper to the Oracle Inn, a steakhouse/bar in Oracle to celebrate Gary and Gerry's birthday, and Harriet's birthday on Sunday. The group stopped at our place for refreshments on the way.  Good food and a great celebration!

Thursday - Dan, Gary and Gerry went to the Pima Air and Space Museum, the girls went to the Tucson Gem Show, and I went to the dentist to get my temporary crown. Not fun! That night, our motorhome neighbors behind us, Wally and Jan, invited us over for refreshments. We ended up visiting all evening - we have a lot in common and had a great time with them. Wally and Jan will be hitting the road for full-time RVing in May.
Gary here:  The Pima Air & Space Museum is a must see for anyone even remotely interested in aircraft, military aircraft and space travel.  Plan to spend most of the day, there are literally hundreds of planes on display both inside and outside.  Take the tram tour, as it is the easiest way to see the outside displays with narration. You can browse the inside displays on your own. Definitely a lot to see and absorb, very fun!!!

Friday - Valentine's Day!  After morning chores, I went and joined Deb for a long walk in Saddlebrooke.  Gary stayed home and worked on motorhome projects.  After I was back, we sat outside most of the afternoon reading and enjoying the sun.  Joe called and invited us over for supper, Deb made a great chicken and dressing casserole for our supper.

Saturday - We were up early and went for a grocery run, then drove around the neighborhood area of Catalina.  Most of the time we just see the businesses along the highway, there are many homes in the hills behind.  We were back home and late morning we had new motorhome neighbors move in beside us.  We saw there license plates said Iowa, and they are from Sioux City!! Who would guess??  We sat outside again in the afternoon, reading and enjoying the warm sun.  Later, we went and picked up my cousin Terri and her husband, Arn, who arrived in their 5th wheel camper and camped at the Catalina State Park.  We took them to the San Carlos Grill (locally owned and one of our very favorites in Tucson!!) for supper and then went back to their camper for a nice visit.  Terri and Arn sold their RV Park in Butte, MT last fall and had been spending the winter in Florida.  They were traveling back this way on their way back to Montana to pack up their belongings from the mobile home they lived in while in Montana and to close on the sale of the park.

Sunday -  we went to Mass again at St. Helen's in Oracle.  We are enjoying the small mission church there and the people are so friendly.  Afterward we came home and had a bite to eat, then went to the Honey Bee Trail Park for hiking.  We took the south trails this time, hiking down through the washes and up over the desert hills.  A very nice day, again.  After we were home, Gary helped Wally hitch up his car on the dolly, they are leaving for a few days to visit friends.  We sat outside and were home rest of the day and evening.

Monday - we were having our first supper guests this evening, so I went and bought groceries for the menu. (It seems we are always running to the grocery store!!, but with our limited space and refrigerator, we buy less - so have to go more often!)  I cleaned house and did laundry, Gary caught up on all the paperwork.  We pulled our table out and put leaves in - the first time we have done that on the road.  Gary went over and borrowed folding chairs from the community room here, so we were set for company.  Deb & Joe came over and we had a great time.  I tried a new recipe for Greek burgers, we had tomato/cucumber salad and crumb top apple pie for dessert. (I was past due on making Gary's birthday pie)  Joe brought ice cream to have with the pie, that was a treat for us.

Tuesday -  we have been sleeping in a little, but that is changing now that we have business meetings to listen to every day.  I went to Deb's mid-morning and we did a long walk with Krista.  It was good to get out and stretch the legs.  Afterward, I came home and worked on my projects around the house.  We sat outside late afternoon and then drove over to Oracle for a pizza supper at Nonna Maria's, the nice Italian place there.