On the Road Again

As Willie Nelson sings, "On the road again, I just can't wait to get on the road again." That is what we were saying in the hot, very hot, Phoenix valley. And Friday, we did just that.

But just look at this great sunset we had the night before we left.

Here we go, leaving our site in Gold Canyon.

So now we are parked under this great maple tree in much cooler Flagstaff.  We will have four nights here before heading east.

The exercise room in our resort has been closed because of Covid 19.  It opened the day before we left.  Note the shrink wrap that closes off some machines for social distancing.

To mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day, the end of World War II in Europe, these historic war planes flew over Phoenix on May 8.  We watched them from the upper deck of our neighbors Tom and Jody's house.

John completed this beautiful wooden intarsia door topper for our home in Arizona.

Our plans for the summer are to travel--safely we hope--across northern Arizona and New Mexico, then north up I-25 in Colorado, spending time in areas where our family lives. We will slowly head west again, across Colorado and Utah, then back here to Arizona in the fall.

Cooler Altitudes

It has been hot, really hot for Colorado and Wyoming, for the past two or three weeks. After getting settled at Peter D's RV in Sheridan we decided it was time to go somewhere cooler. That means going up, and up, and up.

Yesterday we drove up into the Big Horn Mountains west of Sheridan. We have been in this area before and we knew there was good hiking at those higher altitudes. We drove west on highway 14 as it wound it's way up into the mountains. And it really is a winding road. Look at the view of the road on our GPS.

The scenery was great as we went from 3800 ft at our campground to 8600 ft where we parked the truck.

We drove until we reached the Black Mountain Road. We decided to check out the Black Mountain Fire Lookout so we parked at the beginning of Forest Road 222, hiked one mile to the trailhead, then headed up the trail.  The road wasn't too steep, though it was rocky.

There were green meadows along the way.

It was steeper and even rockier on the trail. We finally reached a place where we could see the fire lookout station. (It is on the top of the rocks to the left of the dead branches.)

By then, we had reached an elevation of 9100 ft. We have been below 7000 ft for over a year so we settled on this view of the lookout, rather than climb another 400 ft and still have the steps to the lookout to go.

We talked to a couple coming down from the lookout. They said it was very hazy and smokey at the top and there wasn't much of a view. We could confirm that by looking out from the trail.

The hike back down was also hard. See how tired I was?

Probably thanks, in part, to the smoke from wildfires, we had a pretty sunset last night.

On our last day in Canon City the focus was on the funeral of our sister-in-law Diane. Because she had lived in the community almost all her life and was active in school and civic affairs, the family arranged to hold the service in the largest church in the area. John was the officiant. After the service and entombment in Mountain Vale Cemetery, once owned by his and Tim's father, we drove to our trailer in Pueblo West and headed to Cherry Creek State Park near Denver.

There were some interesting and really attractive cloud formations during our time in Pueblo West.

While at Cherry Creek, we celebrated our daughter-in-law Liz's 50th birthday. We took dinner to their house. She had a special birthday wine glass and there were 5 candles on the cake we brought.

We also saw a beautiful sunset while at Cherry Creek.

The park also has a few mule deer.

At the end of the week we headed north, hopefully headed to our major destinations of Glacier and Grand Teton National Parks.

Birds and Sunsets

We are enjoying our time at Potter's Creek COE in Texas. Each campsite has a picnic table with a roof over it for shade. I think these roofs are popular not only with the campers, but also with the sparrows. From the sounds of things, every one has a sparrow nest in the top of the roof, just like ours. The black area in the photo is the entrance to the nest.



We could hear the babies going "cheep, cheep, cheep." We also see the daddy sparrow, sitting on the roof and talking. Is he telling the babies, "Mom will be here soon with the food"? Or is he saying, "Mom, hurry up. They're hungry."? Surely he isn't saying, "be quiet" is he?



There are also lots of these beautiful barn swallows in the campground.



Absolutely the most interesting bird I have ever seen, is also here. Since the first time I heard of the scissor-tailed flycatcher, I thought it was neat. Two years ago, when we volunteered at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge on the southern border of Texas, I finally saw one. I've seen several here, but didn't have a camera at the time. Just in case you have never seen one, here is a photo from 2012.



The sunsets here are also pretty.

What a Difference a Week Makes

Are we ever glad we made it to Mesa when we did. Last week it was cool but pleasant as we drove from Kansas to Arizona. Last Tuesday, we drove from Albuquerque, NM, to Holbrook, AZ. Then we came to Mesa on Wednesday. Today would have been a good travel day. But Monday there were winds gusting up to 60 along I-40 and in Show Low. Yesterday, the winds were 40-45 mph. And last night it snowed on the mountains up there. We are grateful we didn't have to sit out any of that weather in Holbrook.

Each day we are busy. Sunday we received a very warm "welcome back" from many people at the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany in Tempe. The church is another reason we really enjoy our winter home here in Arizona. John has installed towel racks for our bath towels. We have hung pictures, arranged things on our new shelves, prepared sunshields for the front and side windows of the truck, assembled the paper work so our son Eric can get our RV licensed in Colorado. We are beginning to feel settled.

To top it all off, we have had some really nice sunrises and sunsets. I took this picture out of our window Monday.

'Tis the Season

What season? The petunias are in full bloom here in Mesa.



But, despite the weather, Christmas is breaking out all over.

This inflated Santa and reindeer have gone flat.



But Santa and his helicopter are still going strong.



Even street signs are made into Christmas trees.



Cactus plants are sprouting all sorts of hats and decorations.





John thought this would be a good present under our tree.



Some displays are pretty complex.



Even golf carts are decorated.



Motor home mirrors make great places for Santa hats.



These two cacti remind me more of jester hats than Christmas.



Somehow, this one is more in tune with the season.



No matter what the season, the Arizona sunsets are spectacular.

Life in Arizona

We are getting settled into our Arizona life. We were delighted when we learned that long-time friends Dave and Kathy, who we met for lunch when we were in Colorado, were coming to see us here in Arizona. Friday they came for lunch and we showed them around Valle del Oro.



Arizona has the most beautiful sunsets we have ever seen. Thursday was one of them. Before the sun went down, we saw huge puffy white clouds to the east.



Then the rich colors showed up to the west.





The Superstition Ranch Market has incredibly inexpensive fruits and vegetables. Thursday, we made our second visit there. Halloween is coming and one of the cashiers was an M and M. Clever.

Alaska -- Day 64

Our main focus today was to have lunch with one of John's cousins, Ramona, who lives in Homer. We met them at the restaurant at Land's End, a resort at the tip of the Homer Spit. (The Spit is a long piece of land that reaches east from the town of Homer into the south end of Kachemak Bay.) Ramona and her husband, Todd, have lived in Homer full-time for about 50 years. After lunch, we followed them to their house, which has a beautiful view. I took John's picture with them standing on their deck.



This is the view of their front yard and the mountains across the bay. The RV at the bottom of the yard belongs to their son and his family. They are here for the summer.



This sign pretty much sums up Homer. Todd said there are something like 50 fishing charter businesses in the area.



Everywhere you look, there is something about fishing.















This is the small boat harbor. The tide was out.



The sea gulls love anglers and fishing boats. They find lots to eat there.



Not only have the campground owners here at Scenic View RV given us smoked salmon twice in the last 28 hours, last night the wife sent this plate of baked flounder. It was really good.



Here is what I saw last night at 9:30, about an hour before sunset, from the front of our RV.



While we were in Homer today, we visited the Seafarers' Memorial. It is in remembrance of those who have died at sea.



We saw this barge or ship in the bay. Todd and Ramona said it is used to ship LPG, Liquified Petroleum Gas--the kind we RVers use for heating and cooking.



We are parked nearly 50 miles north of Homer. Many RVers frequent RV parks on the Spit. Here is just one such park. We are in a much quieter place.