Some Stuff We Did Before Getting Back on the Road

 February 24 - April 1, 2022

Tombstone, Arizona

Time seems to fly no matter what's happening, or not happening, in our lives. In just a blink the first quarter of 2022 is behind us. Spring winds have risen up, the Mesquite are beginning to leaf, some evenings are warm enough to leave the windows open.....time to leave our winter abode and mosey on. 

Although the "house lazy" pretty much continued unabated for the last several weeks, we did do a few things, and had a few things done as well.

The last item on the rebuild was repairing the point of impact on the front exterior wall. The insurance company had included the new siding as well as painting the full length of the front of the house and porch. When the siding finally arrived after one wrong material, and four (!) back orders, our contractor had his painter out the next day. Mario did a great job over two days and now we look as new and spiffy on the outside as we do on the inside!

September 2021

Like it never happened :-)) March 2022

Since we've been sharing our house with a crew for months we figured we might as well keep them here a couple more weeks and remodel our main bathroom. This house was built in 1968 and the bathroom walls were metal paneling - so weird!! Even weirder was no drywall underneath, just metal over studs. So it was a complete new build except for the bath tub. 

I had all the materials including vanity, lights, mirror, shelves, paint, etc ready for them to complete, and in just under two weeks a new bathroom was born!

So happy with the new space!

When the bathroom was done the crew packed up everything, and for the first time in six months we have our garage back. Great to park the Jeep inside for the two weeks before it's time to head out :-))

Yay!

During the several updates we've done on this little house we've discovered several "interesting" construction techniques. When they removed the paneling around the slider in the kitchen we found more creative wiring for the back door bell.

I don't want to know.....

I have so enjoyed having son Jeff here the last two years. We always have intelligent and honest conversations on our trips into Sierra Vista. His sense of humor keeps us laughing. Tessa loves all the extra cuddles and play. When we return in the Fall, he'll be living in Vermont, and I'll miss him a lot. 

We didn't get any snow that lasted this winter, but one morning we did find a light covering after a 20 degree night with precipitation. Most of the season's storms skirted around us, and our area is very, very dry. 

Rebecca and I made another couple day trips - I so enjoy our girl-day adventures. One day I was excited to share the Mini Time Machine Museum in Tucson with her. It's a favorite where I always find fascinating teeny tiny treasures.

Mon Tresor - Paris clothing store

The table top is the size of the smallest round bandaid.

Italian Apothecary Desk - the drawer knobs are the size of seed pearls.

The Day of the Wedding - I love the delicate details. The lamp shade is smaller than a postage stamp.

One of the rooms at a vintage hotel circa 1900. The porcelain pot is the size of a pea.

Bird in a Cage - carved on a pencil tip!

Fun to find the characters in the Addams Family Mansion.

There's so much to see and enjoy in this unique museum, I highly recommend a visit when you're in the area.

On our Super Bowl weekend trip we got a crack in our windshield that spread quickly and meant adding a new windshield to the list of repairs to have completed before leaving. Victor at Windshields Arizona  took good care of us again. Like last time he ended up picking up the rig from Camping World for us and we picked it up from his place in Vail.

We've had great service at the Tucson Camping World over the years, but while they did eventually get things completed, the new staff were disappointing in their lack of attention to time commitments. We had the rig back two days before we pulled out for seven months of travel.

Without a doubt the biggest downside to not being fulltime is having to load the rig. I couldn't do it if we didn't have the rig at the house - I can't imagine having to schlepp all our stuff to a storage yard! Being able to pull the motorhome into the driveway with 30 amp while we load helps a lot. 

Unlike last year, I remember my purse :-)))))

I did make a few adjustments to our route to reduce the miles and fuel consumption, and we'll make other changes if we find it's necessary, but our fingers are crossed that the fuel cost increase doesn't turn into a fuel shortage while we're on the other side of the country! 

We are excited that waiting for us on that other side are our granddaughters who now live in Virginia!!

The sun sets on our last night in Arizona for now.

Our first stop is just 100 miles east to Rodeo, New Mexico. Time to dust off the camera!