A Friend and Quiet Time in Mesa

Tuesday we had lunch with a man John hadn't seen in over 51 years. We met Fred at a local Olive Garden to catch up on lives over the past half century. There sure was a lot to talk about. John and Fred are two of a dozen youth who attended 12 years together in Castle Rock schools. Fred wasn't able to attend the group's 50th reunion in 2011, so there was a lot of catching up to do.



Other than that good visit, it has been pretty quiet here in Mesa. Winter has finally arrived (temperatures from 40 to 62 degrees), we've had rain, and we've spent a lot of time at home. It is too cool for John to sit outside and carve and I have finished all my current projects in the pottery studio.

So, what are we doing? Both of us have been doing some writing about genealogy and I have been doing a lot of online genealogy research. If you have seen the ads for Ancestry.com, you have seen people talking about the green leaves that show when there are possible family information in the program's files. Right now our family tree includes over 2500 people and there are those green leaves all over the place. It can keep me busy for days, if I have the patience to keep at it. Right not, John is focused mainly on writing a history of his father's life.

I also have plenty of time of clean house (yuk, not my favorite activity, but sometimes it is necessary) and do end-of-the-year filing and record shredding.

We also enjoy watching the birds that are hunting for food around our RV. There is a large family of gamble's quail in the neighborhood.



We also see and hear several noisy cactus wrens.

Arizona weather

For the past week, the weather here in southern Arizona has been just beautiful--daytime temperatures mainly in the 80s, nights down to the 60s. It is comfortable to sit outside in the shade and easier to sleep at night. Last night, we didn't even need any air conditioning, just opened some windows and turned on the Fantastic Fan.

With such weather, we couldn't procrastinate any longer. We knew we needed to wash the RV. In Colorado, we were too busy. When we got here, it was too hot. We'll do it as soon as the weather cools down, we said. So this was the week. Monday morning John started on the roof about 8 am. Before lunch, it was all done. He washes the big spaces, I use a smaller brush around all of the edges and seams. Then we wiped it down with towels to remove the hard-water spots.

It looks great. No more dead bugs on the front. No more mud spatters. It shines, maybe not like new, but it does shine. That's done until right before we leave here.

Eating and Cleaning

Through our years of RVing, we have owned a number of small gas grills. I don't know how many. I do know we always bought the cheapest we could find at the local big box store. None of them were great and the most recent was truly a pain. John had trouble with hot spots and flare-ups. No matter how low he turned the heat, any drip of grease caused a flare-up and charred our food.

We finally broke down and bought a better grill. The Montana Owners Club web forum surveyed readers about the grill they liked and the Weber Q won, hands down. Saturday we bit the bullet and spent $150 instead of $25 for a grill. Sunday, John used it to cook our rib-eye steaks and was delighted with the good job it did. He was so impressed, that yesterday we cooked some hamburgers and brats. Again, a good job.



In addition to properly cooked food, I appreciate it because there is a drip pan below the grill that will be easy to empty. The cheap ones held the fat in the bottom and were awful to clean (my job).

This has been the good news. But not everything is fun and games. For 5 months, we were traveling. I did only the minimum necessary cleaning inside the RV to keep it half-way decent. I don't like to clean house and the fun of traveling is a good excuse to do as little as possible. But now we are parked, not traveling, not volunteering, no obligations. It is time to do our spring and fall house cleaning. This week, I have mopped, dusted, polished, shined. And it really looks good inside.

As soon as the temperatures get down into 70s or low 80s, we will work on the outside.

Alaska -- Day 45

Who goes to Alaska and spends a day cleaning and working on the computer? That's what we did today. This is our home and sometimes we need to take care of it. When we were recreational RVers, we would start a trip like this with a newly cleaned trailer, inside and out. We were getting away for a while, so we didn't want to do ordinary, every day activities if we didn't have to.

Today we live in our RV and we didn't start the trip with everything cleaned up. Because we drove through lots of dust the past couple of days, we needed to vacuum and mop the floor. Then John started cleaning the ceiling fan and tops of some cupboards. We are in much better shape, now. And you know what? It feels good to do normal, every-day tasks.

Because of the cost of using our broadband internet card in Canada, we have been depending on free wi-fi in RV parks. Since we haven't had a secure connection, I haven't been monitoring or updating our finances. I keep all our financial accounts in Quicken and update them online. Almost all of our bills are paid automatically, on line. Since we are now back on US territory, we can use the broadband card again, and I have had lots of work to catch up on.

It started raining sometime during the night and kept it up till about noon. When it stopped, we walked around the campground for a while, then drove into town (all of 3 or 4 blocks) for fuel and to do some shopping.

Since leaving Santa Ana NWR in Alamo, TX, on May 1, we had driven 6,203 miles when we crossed into Alaska. I wonder how many more miles we will put on before we get back to Colorado, and then Arizona, in September and October. We plan to take the Alaska Marine Ferry from Haines, AK, to Bellingham, WA, in August, so we won't drive nearly as many miles on our return trip.

Cleaning Day

We live in a very small house that doesn't require a whole lot of cleaning (though more than I am really interested in doing). But for the past three months we have been parked next to a dirt road that leads to a dirt levee that has been under construction most of that time. So this week we knew we had to wash the outside of the RV. And let me tell you, it needed it. Just take a look at the roof. John took this picture after he had washed about 1/4 of the area.



The top of our RV measures about 35 ft by 8 ft. It took over an hour to scrub it. Whew! Glad that job is done for a while. When John finished the roof, we both worked on the sides. Now it looks loved again.

Fun, Then Work

Last week cyber friends Art and Connie came over for lunch. They, too, are full-time RVers and we follow each other's blogs. They just settled in Mesa for a four-month work camping assignment. We first met them in person in April 2010 when we were all in Texas.

Wednesday we spent almost four hours talking, sharing experiences and information and laughing--we laughed a lot. It was a good visit.



But life can't be all fun and games. Since the day we arrived here in Mesa, we have intended to wash the roof and sides of the RV. We were just waiting till it cooled down enough. Then till it warmed up enough. You know how it is with good intentions, don't you?

Finally, Saturday came and the temperature was supposed to be in the upper 60s, with sun. After our 3-mile run, we got out the soap and the hose and the rags. First we washed the truck and John polished it.



Next came the RV. I use a small brush to clean around all the seams and trim. John went up on the roof first, to wash it off.



The water here in Arizona--and it many other places that don't have snow runoff as the source of the city water--has many minerals in it. We have noticed that the commercial companies that power wash RVs and park models wipe the surfaces dry so the water doesn't leave a scum. I didn't use a ladder and rags to dry the RV, but I did use the window squeegee to clean off most of the excess water. The rig looks great now.

We are really glad we finally carried out our good intentions. But we were exhausted at the end of the day.

It has been very cool here, at least for Phoenix. I have shown pictures of two figures that some residents here have outside their park model to entertain those driving by. Sometimes these figures wave "hi," sometimes they are eating or cleaning the windows. This week they are wrapped in towels to keep warm. We just love them.

At the Corner of Apatite and Bornite

Life is good at the corner of Apatite (Apatite is a group of phosphate minerals) and Bornite (Bornite is an important copper ore mineral) in Valle del Oro (valley of gold). Most of the streets here are named after minerals and I sure don't know how to pronounce many of them. I'm glad we live at a corner that seems rather simple. So, what is life like here? We have some wildlife. In addition to lots of small cottontail rabbits, there are Gamble Quail






and doves.



Last week it rained. We looked out the window and wondered what these doves were doing. We finally figured out they were taking a bath in the falling rain! I guess there aren't any bird baths or ponds anywhere nearby.



Once in a while we have to take time for routine housekeeping chores. One day we washed the outside of our RV.



I've always wanted to learn how to make things out of clay, so I quickly signed up for the first basic pottery class I saw. Here is my work area, before the class started.



And this is the small plaque I made. It then had to dry for a week or more and wait to be fired. This week I applied glaze and now I wait for that to be fired.



Lots of park model owners decorate for the various seasons. Here is a Halloween arrangement.



These two black figures sit in front of a park model and are fun to watch. Last month they were waving "Hi!."



Next, the man was washing windows and the woman was pointing out where he missed some dirt. Right now, the woman has her arms full of packages and the man is sitting with his hear buried in his hands. I have been remiss in taking pictures since the one above. I will try to get some more before the end of the year.

Last year John carved two walking sticks from Agave flower stalks. He wanted to make another one this year, but since it is illegal to go pick them in the wild, he had to look around the park to find one in somebody's yard. Finally, last week he found one and the park model owners didn't want it. So we cut it down, then took the parts he didn't want to the dump area. Here you can see the flowering top of the stalk in the bed of our truck.



And here the two pieces of stalk cleaned off. He only kept the skinny portion.



Yesterday we attended the community Thanksgiving dinner at 3 pm with several hundred of our closest friends. Actually, 880 people signed up and the kitchen staff cooked 500 pounds of tukey breasts in addition to legs, baked stuffing and made gravy. Everyone who attended brought side dishes. I took pumpkin chiffon pies. Here is a view of part of the crowd.



And here is our table, right after the food was served.



We had a great time and left stuffed with food. We really miss being with family, but it good to be able to celebrate this holiday with other snowbirds.