10 Years

I'm a couple days late posting this. Life keeps getting in my way.

We left Billings, MT the afternoon of January 21, 2009 to begin our full time lifestyle. We were 72 feet long and ready for adventures.

We were trying to outrun a snow storm that was headed into Montana. I had suggested waiting til the next morning to leave but Jim knew that the roads would be far worse so we decided to head out and see how far we got. Our first night we spent in Bozeman, MT in a motel room. It was so cold we just wanted some place to get warm and get some sleep.

I was still in a wheelchair from a broken ankle and ruptured Achilles tendon. I could hobble a few feet and crawl up and down steps but most of the time Jim was pushing me in a wheelchair. 

This picture was taken at Covee Fort, UT. It was windy and cold but we were ready to visit new places.



We stopped in Las Vegas for a few nights and then headed for Apache Junction where we had reservations for a month at a park not far from where we are now. My sister and her husband were in Mesa and we wanted to explore this area. The RV park was okay but the sites were so small we barely fit. We decided to check out all the parks in this area and find one that we felt comfortable in.

We must have driven through 50 RV parks. When we drove through Santa Fe RV Park, there was just a feeling about this place. The sites were large and spacious. The park was kept in fantastic shape. And they offered a Passport America rate of $13.50 a night for two weeks. We took them up on that. 

We enjoyed our stay so much we put our names on a list for a permanent spot. Since pets were only allowed on the back row we figured it could be a couple of years or so before we were offered a site. Little did we know that one would become available that October. 

Now Site #34 has become our home base. Couldn't ask for a more perfect spot to spend the winters with the best neighbors in the whole world. 

We've had fantastic adventures these last ten years and I know we have more good times ahead of us.

Bloggerfest - Saturday

Any and all bloggers and non-bloggers in Q are invited to Bloggerfest. Come and meet other bloggers or learn how to make your own blog. 

 

Benihana's With Friends

I do not know how to use blogger because I have always used Live Writer and as you know, it isn't working. So who knows how these pictures are going to be placed.

Jim and I have not been going out very often to eat so we jumped at the chance to join good friends at Benihana's for lunch. These are some of the very first friends we made when we began our full time life style.

From left to right - Jeri, Delci, Freddy, Jan and Bill

 Terry gets his own picture. Jeri kept turning her head every time I took a picture. I forgot to get her attention.

 Four of our group had never been to Benihana's and were in for a fun experience. Our chef is cooking the eggs, vegetables and rice.

One of the really fun parts of lunch is the onion volcano.

After cooking the rice, the shrimp and scallops were cooked and then came my favorite part - the steak and mushrooms. Cooked to perfection and so tender.

Jan's birthday is next week so she was brought a dish of Rainbow Sherbert. We all got a taste of course. Happy Birthday Jan.

  

A good time was had by all and I'm really hoping we can all get together one more time before everybody takes off for parts unknown.

I'm really not sure how blogger is going to work out for me. I'm hoping this isn't the end for my blog but I'll let you know if I decide to throw in the towel.

Rocky’s Gotcha Day

AJ, AZ   High 64  Low 50

I can’t believe it’s been two years ago today that we went into PetSmart and Jim picked up this aggressive old dog out of his pen. He was malnourished, had a cancerous sore on his wide, almost furless, a big hole in his mouth and a really bad heart murmur. 

It didn’t take us long to fall in love with him but it took him a lot longer to learn to love me. Skitz was so patient with him and put up with his snapping at her for several months. It took him over a year before he would let me pick him up or even be willing to sit on my lap.

He is still totally Jim’s velcro dog. If Jim leaves him behind he whines the entire time he is gone. Sometimes he really gets on my nerves but there is nothing I can say or do to make him happy.

     

However, he has come so far. He no longer attacks people when they reach to pet him. Just don’t try to pick him up! He is still dog aggressive so we just keep him away from other dogs or make sure Jim has total control over him.

He is really stingy with his kisses but for some reason I seem to get more of them than Jim does. Don’t know why but I take what I can get.

He is the best traveling dog we’ve ever had. You put him in the truck and he’s settles right down and goes to sleep. He’s even happy in the truck when Jim is out working on the boat or doing something else.

He and Skitz have a wonderful relationship now. Well, I’m not sure Skitz thinks so because Rocky has a habit of climbing into the bed with her and sitting on her.

His heart is extremely enlarged and we have no idea how much longer he will be with us. So we appreciate and love each day as it comes. It’s not easy with two old dogs in the house. Rocky is on diuretics for his heart so he has to go out many times during the day and also a few times during the night. His hearing is slowly going away and even with the cataract surgery that he had before we got him, his eye sight isn’t the best. He gets four pills in the morning and five at night. He’s on almost as many meds as Jim is.

They will both be 15 this year.

Skitz has dementia (not real bad but she forgets where she is or what she’s doing there). Her back legs are also not working well so she has to be carried up and down the steps to go out. She is also almost totally deaf. I’m grateful they are not big dogs and we are able to take care of them.

As for Jim and I, we are doing nothing but doctor appointments. Hopefully by the end of the month we will have some answers.

However, we do have a fun outing planned for Tuesday and we are really looking forward to it.

Day Trippin’

Algodones, Mexico   High 66  Low 37

I finally got out of the house. It’s been so cold I’ve been hibernating. Paula was going to make a run down to Mexico and asked me if I’d like to ride along. So I said sure.

And I’m really glad I said yes. It’s about a four hour drive so that gave us a great opportunity to get completely caught up on our lives and solve all the world’s problems.

I was hoping to find some more roadrunners like we already have or some cute turtles. But I didn’t really see anything I liked. Paula checked out a couple of t-shirts but she didn’t find anything she wanted either.

By this time we were really hungry so we stopped at the Plaza to have lunch.

We were lucky enough to find a table in the sun because it was cold in the shade.

There was a band playing and this lady was dancing for tips.

We had a really good lunch. I have tacos with rice and beans and Paula had carne asada that she said was as good as it looked.

After lunch we headed to the Purple Pharmacy so I could get some prilosec and then we were ready to head back to the US.

This is only a small part of the line to get across the border that awaited us.

Things were moving slowly because of the Government shutdown. The Border Patrol agents were all working for no pay and there were only two of them. However, the line moved faster than I thought it would. It only took us about an hour. Paula was kind enough to do all the standing and let me sit as much as possible and I sure do appreciate that.

I had such a good time I think I just may have to do it again if Paula decides to head down that way.

Happy New Year -2019

AJ, AZ   High  48  Low 33

We are experiencing a rather “chilly” start to our new year here in Arizona. New Year’s Eve we had rain – a little over half an inch – which put a damper on any exciting celebrations we might have had planned. But since we didn’t have anything planned except a quiet evening with just us and the pups, the rain was not a problem.

My favorite mountains, The Superstitions, had a dusting of snow on them this morning once the clouds lifted.

I was looking back in my blog to see what the weather was like over the years. The following picture of the Superstitions is from January 1, 2015. It was also cold that year – high of 48 and a low of 28.

This cowboy was out for a leisurely ride. Notice the snow on the mountain in the background.

Rocky and Skittlez are enjoying the start of 2019 in their favorite manner.

An Arizona sunset

We hope that 2019 brings all of our friends and family a year of joy, peace and love