North to Montana 2016

We agreed to work in Montana again for the summer at the 7th Ranch RV Camp, where we had worked the year before.  Great bosses, a great park and amazing things to see and be closer to family for another summer.

Apr. 14 - Thursday  We took a different route this time, planning to take just a few days to get there due to a forecasted snow storm in Colorado.  The first morning we drove northeast of the Junction on Hwy 77 to Globe, then Hwy 60 through the Salt River Canyon to Show Low.  The elevation drop and driving up out the canyons were 6-8% grades, so we unhooked the car and I drove separately until we arrived in Show Low.  The canyon is very pretty and we stopped several times for the overlooks.

The road bridge at the bottom of the Salt River Canyon

An overlook view of the canyon

We stopped to have a lunch break in Show Low and then continued on Hwy 61 to St. Johns, on up Hwy 191 until we turned east.  Here we went over into New Mexico through Zuni Pueblo to Grants, NM.  This was planned to be our stop for the night, but it was only 5:00 PM so we decided to go on.  We had been watching the weather forecasts and the reports said that Denver and most of Colorado would have a severe winter storm beginning on Friday night and through the weekend.  So we decided to push forward and landed in Las Vegas, NM for the night.  There we stayed at the Elks Lodge in one of their RV sites.  One of our longer days of driving, 570 miles.

The next morning we got up early and hit the road.  The weather forecasts still predicted snow, so my Captain decided we would try to get through Colorado that day, destination Cheyenne,WY.  We got on I-25 and proceeded north.  We hit Denver at 12:30 and sailed on through with stops only for gas.  We arrived in Cheyenne at 2:30 and stopped.  We checked the forecast again and Cheyenne was to get snow overnight, so we went on thinking Casper would be better.  As we left Cheyenne there were light snow flurries, then rain as we went on through Douglas, WY.  Nearing Casper, the forecast again showed snow overnight.  We really did not want to have to scoop three inches or more of snow off the motorhome the following morning, so we decided to go further.  The forecast said Buffalo, WY - one hour north of Casper was just outside the storm swath, so we landed there.  The wind really picked up for the last hour drive, but we were glad to land in Buffalo with dry ground.  We stayed at an RV park there.  After setting up, we went out and found the brewery for supper and to celebrate our safe travel on I-25 of 710 miles that day!  This was clearly one of the most miles we have traveled in one day, and not normal for us, but we accomplished getting north of the storm and wasn't too hard on the driver.

Mar/Apr '16 in AZ

March flew by as we worked and enjoyed our time in Arizona.  We never got out and hiked again this season.  Gary was on his feet whenever he worked and we kept busy on our time off. I continued to work at World Market on Wednesday mornings and usually over the weekend at Miraval.

A friend gave Gary some boards and we decided to use them to add trim to the outside windows that had none.  We had talked about painting the outside trim a different color, so this was the time to do it.  We borrowed the tools we needed for the project from others in the park and got the job done.  I picked out the paint color and the work began.  Gary did the high places and I finished everything on the bottom.  I had great help on the deck area from Jody, our neighbor.  The weather was perfect and the project got done.  We are really happy with the results and it really updates the look of our winter home.

Before

Before

After

After

We gave notice to our employers at the end of March that we were going to be leaving.  I was finished with World Market the end of March.  Gary's hours ended in the plumbing area at World Market and they moved him into the bookkeeping area for the last weeks.  I finished with Miraval April 7 and then worked to get things ready to move back into the motorhome.  It was nice to know everything we owned did not have to go back into the motorhome with us.  We knew what clothes we would need and supplies. Like all snowbirds it was interesting whittling down the groceries we had, I was able to leave some staples at the house.  Everything in the refrigerator and freezer had to go with us or be eaten before we left.  Our neighbors were in the same boat - we had several meals together cleaning out the freezers!

We were able to pull the motorhome right up to our front steps to make things easier on the last two days.  I had things we needed to move gathered inside the house and it just took time to put everything in their places in the motorhome. We vacuumed the house, wiped out the refrigerator, turned it off and unplugged it.  Turned off the water, put reflectix in all the windows and set the air conditioner at 85.  Then we gave our farewell hugs to friends and hit the road.
 

Up close

From steps to steps

Feb 2016

Early February, we met Bob & Larae Zwart and friends at St. Anthony's Greek Orthodox Monastery outside of Florence, AZ.  We had heard about how beautiful and interesting it was and this was our chance to see Bob & Larae before they left AZ.

In the summer of 1995 six monks arrived in the southern Arizona desert to establish the Monastery from Athos, Greece. They started construction and progressively built all the buildings now used on the grounds.  The monastery is dedicated to St. Anthony the Great, the father of monasticism.  There are chapels dedicated to Saints Seraphim of Sarov, Demetrios of Thessalonica, John the Baptist, George the Great Martyr, Nicholas the Wonderworker and Panteleimon the Healer.  The main church is dedicated to Saints Anthony and Nectarios the Wonderworker.    www.stanthonysmonastery.org

Greek Orthodox Monestary

Beautiful grounds at Monastery

Day visitors are allowed to see the grounds from 10:30 AM to 2:30 PM seven days a week.  We met for the visit at 10:30.  Their requirements for visitors are that men must wear long pants and long sleeved shirts, women must wear long skirts, long sleeved blouses and scarves covering their heads.  Shoes and sandals must be worn with socks at all times.  As it is warm in Arizona most of the time, the monastery provides skirts and scarves for the women, if needed.  We ladies did borrow skirts they offered and we all had brought long sleeves, socks and scarves of our own to wear.  The men in our group enjoyed laughing at our outfits.

Ladies in monastery garb

The gardens at the monastery are beautiful and lush, they have orchards and olive groves.  The chapels and buildings were built with beautiful, ornate wood ceilings and carvings and furnishings brought over from Greece.  The icons we saw were amazing in their color and detail.  We enjoyed the tour and highly recommend it for others.  Afterwards, we all met at the Mount Athos restaurant in Florence for a great Mediterranean lunch.

St George Icon

Chapel interior

Amazing woodwork - hand carved in Greece

February was spent working at our jobs, meals and Happy Hours with friends and family.  We met several times to play cards and dominoes.  The weather was a little cooler at the beginning of February, but each day got better - and we knew it was cold and snowy back home.  No complaints!

Sunset reflection

Back yard flowers

Lyn & Diane stayed with us again on their return from San Diego and we had two great days with them before they headed home.

We continued to do projects to make the house better for us and decided to remove the ramp that was the entrance up to the deck the former owner had put in.  The boards on the ramp continued to warp from the sun and rain, so we ordered a step unit of fiberglass to replace the access to the deck.  Gary tore the ramp off and found the framework underneath would work to raise and use for the deck area.  He did a great job putting it all back together and we re-carpeted that end of the deck to match the other area.  The steps came a week later and he set them up and installed the railings to finish the project.

Ramp before

Carpenter at work

Finished project!

Dec/Jan in AZ & Friends

December flew by as we worked our two jobs each.  As I continued to look for furniture, I found a couple small storage tables/cabinets for the kitchen and bedrooms and an armoire for our bedroom.  Gary trimmed the trees back in the yard before they dropped all their leaves and put the weed control down.

Tree trimming

We talked about getting an artificial Christmas tree for the house, but decided to wait and get one on the clearance sales.  I put our little motorhome Christmas tree up on the wall and found other decorations to add to make our home festive for the holidays.  We visited friends and family when we had time and enjoyed entertaining a few times at our house.
We both worked Christmas Eve, but then went over to Wally & Jan's for supper.  Their son Dustin and his daughter Emme were visiting for the holiday.  Christmas Day we joined the Saddlebrooke group at the Komar's.  We enjoyed visiting with our family via Facetime when they were all together.

Christmas decor (and college football)

January slowed down a little for us.  I continued to work at World Market, just on Wednesday mornings and had that day off from Miraval.  My Miraval schedule settled down to about four days a week, but were never the same each week.  Gary worked about 28 hours a week with different time schedules on the days he worked.  January 7 we sat and watched snow fall, covering the ground for that day, gone the next.

Mid January we had our first overnight guests!  Dear friends Lyn & Diane stopped on their way from Sioux Falls to their winter spot in San Diego.  The first day Gary had to work, so I went with them to visit the Desert Museum.  The museum is one of the top sights visited in Arizona.  It is a great place to learn about the animals, night creatures and plants of the Sonoran Desert.  Finishing there, we met Gary at the Thunder Canyon Brewery for supper.  We took them on a desert hike on the Honey Bee trail, drove by the mines near San Manuel and stopped to explore the Ore House pub in historic Oracle.  We spent our evenings and mornings sitting on our deck and had a chance to have them meet all of our friends at the Junction.

At the Ore House with Lyn & Diane

Largest saguaro on the trail

Desert trail view

Late January another visitor from the North!  Jean Klein called and said she wanted to get away from the cold and came down to visit.  She enjoyed the warm weather and we took her out on a hike and showed her the area.  She and I went and explored the Tucson Botanical Gardens where they have beautiful desert flowers, bushes and cactus types from all over the world.  We picked Gary up from work and had a bite to eat and refreshments at the San Carlos Grill.  One day we ran errands, had lunch at the brewery and stopped at some interesting shops.

Beauty at the Botanical Gardens

Jean and the pink mountains

Happy Hour with friends

We really enjoy having our house, because now we do have room for guests to stay with us.  Our home is set up so the guest room and bathroom are at one end of the house and our room and bath are at the other.  It was great to see friends more than once a year as it had been with our travels.

November '15 - Back to AZ

Back in Sioux Falls, we spent two days with Katie, Jordan and the boys and had an early birthday party for them. 

Veggie Tales Larry (Sam) & Bob (Riley) birthday boys

Wednesday morning, Nov. 4 we left Jan's and headed the south.  This time we drove west on I-90 to Murdo and then south on Hwy 83 all the way down to McCook, NE.  We stayed in their city park.  A long day, but good start for our travel.  We won't go that way again, many parts of the highway were rough for the motorhome.
Day Two:  We continued south on Hwy 83 all the way through Kansas.  At Liberal, KS, we turned on to Hwy 54, which took us through Oklahoma, Texas and in to New Mexico. This highway was better until we reached Dalhart, TX, then it became very rough with no passing lanes until we crossed over into New Mexico.  Reaching Tucumcari, we stayed at the Elks Lodge there in their camping sites.  456 miles today.
Day Three:  we traveled on to Lincoln, NM to visit my cousin Ginger and Winston.  We continued down Hwy 54 to Carrizozo, then down Hwy 380 past Capitan to their home.  We stayed two nights and had a great visit.  We were invited to join them for the Lincoln Historical Society's Volunteer Appreciation Night.  It was really nice to meet all the people who have worked so hard to keep the history of Lincoln NM and Billy the Kid preserved.

Nov. 7 - we left Ginger's and moved on.  Hwy 380 back to Carrizozo, then south on Hwy 70 thru Alamogordo to Las Cruces.  There we got on I-10 and landed at the Elks Club in Willcox, AZ for the night, 349 miles.  Attended Mass and had a great dinner at a super Mexican Restaurant. Sunday, Nov. 8 -  we drove all the way to our park at Oracle Junction.  Hurray, we are back safely!

At the "Junction" as we lovingly call it, we were able to park our motorhome in the RV site next to our house, making unloading it much easier.  Jan and Wally were already back from their travels.  They opened up the house before we arrived, turned the refrigerator and hot water heater on and were ready to help us unload and set up.
You may remember that we had remodeled the house the year before, completing the painting and cleaning before we left.  At that time, we had no furniture - we had slept on an air mattress and sat in our bag chairs to eat.  So, we needed furniture.
When we were sitting in Sioux Falls late October, I had watched Craiglist in Tucson, particularly to find a round table dining room set for us.  Luck would have it that there was an estate sale not far from Catalina the end of October, that had the perfect set and other furniture.  I spoke with the seller and she agreed to hold the dining room set and a few other items for me.  I called our dear friends, Wally & Jan and they agreed to go look at them and pay for them.  Jan called and said it was perfect and I ended up buying the dining set, two lamps, card table and chairs, set of pans, silverware, and a folding round side table.  When I spoke with the seller initially, she wanted me to buy her bedroom set, but the price was higher than we wanted. Jan said the bedroom set was beautiful and considered buying it herself.  The seller lowered the price again while they were there, but we said no.  Then we arranged for Gary's brothers to go and pick up the furniture in their pickup.  The day before they were going, I called the seller to make the appointment and she begged me to take the bedroom set and lowered the price again.  We decided if it really did not work, we could sell it, so we agreed on that as well.

So, before we arrived that day to our house, Jan and Wally took the air mattress bed down and were beginning to set the new bed set up.  We helped them finish putting it together and then brought in our Sleep Number base and mattress that we had brought back with us from Katie's.  We got the bedroom put together and brought in a few more things to get us through the night and then enjoyed relaxing and having supper with Jan & Wally.

Our first sunset at the Junction

Over the next week, we cleaned the house, moved everything from the motorhome in and then cleaned the motorhome for it to sit in the storage lot, which is located in our park at the Junction.  We were careful to set mothballs around the tires and in the outer bins to keep pack rats from moving in.  At the house, we continued to get things put away and set up for living there.  We brought the recliner in from the motorhome, but still needed other furniture for the living room.  I continued to watch Craigslist and we found a nice recliner loveseat and side chair.  We ordered a nice TV stand and had things set up pretty well.

At the same time, we were applying for jobs for the season.  We found out the stores do not want you to come in - they want you to fill out the application on line and then they will call you.  Gary applied at Home Depot and a few others on line and talked to places in Catalina, like the new Tractor Supply store.  I applied on line at World Market, Tuesday Morning, Big Lots, Family Dollar and a few others.  We also found out about a job fair the Miraval Resorts was having and applied for a few jobs with them.  We went to the job fair day and had good interviews, they said we would be called.  Gary also called UPS and got hired for the holiday season again as a driver helper.  I finally went one morning and walked in to Tuesday Morning, Big Lots and World Market to see if there were openings.  The first two said I would have to be called, but at World Market, the assistant manager took me back and I had an interview right then.  She reviewed my application on line and had the store manager visit with me.  Later that day I received a call that they wanted me!  I started with them the week before Thanksgiving.  That same week, Home Depot hired Gary and Miraval Resorts called and hired me.  All part time jobs, so the juggle began.

Both Home Depot and World Market allowed us to give them the days we were available, so we managed to mesh our jobs through the holiday season.  It was a little interesting making it work with one car, we had a lot of help with rides from our friends when our schedules conflicted.  Gary was done with his UPS job the week before Christmas and my hours were cut back at World Market after the end of the year.  My job with Miraval Resorts was as a part time spa receptionist.  They had great training and provided a uniform for me.  I sat at the spa desk with one or two other gals and checked in the guests for their spa services and helped guests set up their appointments over the phone.

My lovely Miraval uniform, our loveseat and dining set

Deb & Joe were able to join us on Thanksgiving day, it was nice to be with family.  Friday afternoon, I joined the gathering for the holiday meal with our Saddlebrooke friends at the Smith's.  Gary worked with UPS that afternoon and did not make it.

On the few days or evenings we were home together, we enjoyed sitting on our deck in the sun and watching the sunsets.  We continued to work on our new home, finding the right places to put everything and finishing little projects.

October 2015 - Harvest and Duluth, MN

The sugar beet harvest has begun.  We worked nights this year, 8:00 pm to 8:00 am.  Those who had worked the night shift before said it was easier - we weren't sure.  Both of our pilers start inside a building, so that was not different - we still had all the building lights to work under.  The good part about working nights was that the first night after we had picked our ground crews, we had time to talk with them about the machine, about their jobs and truck safety.  Then we turned the machine on at midnight and the trucks started coming.

Piling beets in the buildings

To prepare for being up all night, we had tried to stay up later the nights before we began and tried to sleep in longer.  That was hard to do, but probably helped a little.  I covered all the bedroom windows with foil to block out the daylight and used earplugs every night to block out the noise. (Gary had no problem with that)  Every morning we came home, showered and ate supper before bed and then ate breakfast before we went to work each night.  It just seemed to work better that way, then we had our coffee/caffeine before we were staying up all night.  We usually went to bed about 9:30 a.m. and tried to sleep until 5:30 pm.  After a few nights of twelve hour shifts, that was not difficult to do.

The weather was dry and cool - perfect for the harvest for the first six shifts.  The beets coming out of the fields were dry, hardly any mud sticking on them, so our machines ran very well.  We kept so busy with trucks coming throughout the night - the time went by quickly.  The seventh night we were shut down - it had rained during the day and so we were off.  The Lord is good, I had been battling allergies or a cold making me all congested and miserable, so I welcomed the chance to sleep extra hours and heal.  Gary wanted to try and stay up all night to keep on schedule, so he went out for breakfast at 10:00 pm with the McLain's and then stayed up to watch movies during the night.  Then we both slept on Thursday before we went in that night.  Our machines were outside by then, so our crews had mud puddles to clean up while we waited for the trucks to begin coming again.  We worked Friday night and then we were totally done with harvest at 8:00 a.m. Saturday.  They shut the yard down again for the weekend because the temps were too warm (80's) and those who stayed finished the last trucks on Tuesday and Wednesday after a Monday night rain.

Night shift piling beets

We were tired so we slept some Saturday, then went to a laundromat and washed everything that had beet smell.  We slept regular time Saturday night, Mass on Sunday morning, rested and then drove back to Sioux Falls on Monday.  There were high wind gusts on Monday, but the wind was from the north so the Captain sailed our motorhome back with the wind behind us.

Back in Sioux Falls, we had three weeks to sit because we wanted to go to Duluth, MN on Oct. 30 to see Ben perform in his opera. (The Minnesota Opera had a single matinee performance in Duluth)  We spent our time visiting friends and family.  Gary had an RV inspection appointment in Mitchell, we attended Jared Ostermann's organ recital at Cathedral, baked football and Halloween cookies with the grandsons and had them overnight again in the motorhome.  Thank you everyone for your hospitality, we enjoyed seeing so many of you.

Oct. 30 we packed up the car and headed north to Duluth.  We drove all day and arrived late afternoon.  We checked in to our motel and went out for a drive before we met Ben.  We drove the Skyline Drive, which takes you through the upper part of the town, giving you great views of Lake Superior and the harbor.  We met Ben for supper and had a great time visiting and drinking good craft beer.

View of Duluth Harbor from Skyline Drive

Oct. 31 - Halloween.  After breakfast we went down to see the Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center and watch the large ships in the harbor.  We watched the Aerial Lift Bridge raise and lower for the ships to come and go.  After lunch, we went to the opera matinee, held at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center Symphony Hall.  We met Kelsey before in the lobby and then went in to our seats. This opera was "The Magic Flute", a comedy written by Mozart.  We had seen parts of the opera before, but the Minnesota Opera production presented this in a unique way.  They had a huge wall set up with doors that swung open.  The singers were harnessed onto chairs that hung on the wall doors - most of them sang their parts seated and strapped on.  A few of the singers did walk on the stage below.  It was very well done and very entertaining.  Afterward, we got to greet many of the singers and Ben.  We had supper with Ben and Kelsey and then they went to a cast party.

Aerial Lift Bridge

From the Visitor's Center

The William Irvin Ship Museum

Nov. 1 - after breakfast and Mass, we picked up Ben and Kelsey and drove up to explore the North Shore of Lake Superior.  The tree leaves were changing and we saw beautiful colors as we drove along the shoreline.  It was cool and overcast so we were not able to get out and take the hiking trails.  We ended up at Split Rock Lighthouse and enjoyed exploring there, reading about the history of the lighthouse and area.  We went down the outdoor steps to the beach below and stuck our hands in the lake.  We got some great pictures there.  Driving back, we stopped for lunch at lunch in Castle Danger at the Rustic Inn Cafe.  Good soup, sandwiches, pie and we discovered how good the Castle Danger Cream Ale is.  We also stopped and watched a large ship from the beach at Two Harbors.   Back in town, Ben & Kelsey loaded up their car and drove back to Minneapolis.  Gary and I went and visited the Bent Paddle Brewery, had supper and then bed.  Monday morning, we packed up and headed to Sioux Falls.

Split Rock Lighthouse and Keeper's House

Stairway down to the lakeshore

A great picture of the four of us

Fall beauty