October in Arizona

Friday we connected with friends. We met Fr. Bob at a Starbucks in Phoenix and shared stories of his and our summer travels. John assisted him at St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Coolidge two years ago. They discovered a mutual love of trains. He loaned John some neat old railroad books and John gave him two railroad pictures. It was good to see him again.



From there we drove to the Sheraton Hotel where the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona was holding its annual convention. Before the meeting, we had a chance to talk to two Tucson friends, Nina and Laura, who we first knew in Granby, Colorado. We enjoyed having time to catch up with them.

October is a good month at Valle del Oro. Though daytime temperatures can be very warm, it cools down after the sun goes down. That is the time to go for a walk or a bike ride through the resort. And it is really nice to do that when so few people have come back for the winter. We almost never encounter cars on the roads where we walk or ride. That will change, especially after Thanksgiving.

We enjoy all the activities that begin here as the population grows for the winter, but we also enjoy the peace and quiet when the place is practically empty. (Not enough to spend the summer here, however.)

This week we were finally able to reserve the site where we are parked for January and February. When we made our reservation last year, we weren't sure whether or not we would be volunteering in January, so we only reserved October through December. We have decided to take all winter off, so we came planning to extend through February.

Horrors, everything in the park was already reserved for those months. We kept checking back every few days until someone cancelled. Now we can stay in the same site for 5 months. You better believe we have already made our 5-month reservation for next year.