January's Done

January 22 - 31, 2025

Tombstone, Arizona

Our summers on the road included smoke whenever we were in the west. It became it's own season and a consideration for routing. Prior to our fulltime travels, living in SoCal, fears from drought and fires were a part of our reality. 

Before we got on the road I wrote a post about that reality Holding My Breath As the Wind Blows. All these years later I'm holding my breath miles away.

About the same time the Palisades Fire in Los Angeles County is seeing slow containment, a new fire breaks out in the Santa Clarita area. Where most of our kids and grand kids live. Normally it is Ezra and Elliott's family we are concerned about, living on the mountain, surrounded by forests and canyons. But M and M's family live on the "edge" of the suburbs near dry hills and canyons, and Oliver's family is only a few miles away. 

The Hughes Fire starts in the middle of these family locations and grows fast and far. More high winds means it can go in either direction, threaten any of them. 

We're in contact throughout the day and watching the fire maps. By afternoon M and M's house is in the pre-evacuation area, with the evacuation perimeter 10 houses away. Their cars are packed, plans are made. We wait.

Before the next morning dawns the evacuations are all lifted. A fire that doubled in size in a couple hours weirdly seems to lose momentum and crews are able to get it controlled. It's sitll windy so we're beyond grateful.

Being California, the following week there are flood warnings and several feet of snow in surrounding mountains. 

At Ezra and Elliott's house - yay moisture!

We're excited that another of our high school pals and his wife have moved to the area. Marc and Vicky rented a house in Sierra Vista to spend a year "trying on" a new place before buying. Smart! We have them and mutual friends Donne and Anna over for dinner one evening - great fun and of course we all insist we must do it more often!

Also of course, I fail to get any photos. But it really did happen :-))

A little yard maintenance, breakfast in Bisbee with Jeff, craft group, a Rebecca trip to Tucson, NFL playoff games (go Chiefs!), and January is done. No need to comment on how fast it flew by, it was that way for all of you too.

Tucked in "behind" Tucson's downtown is this wonderful maze of artisan shops and eateries.

One of those places you need to leave bread crumbs to find your way back to where you started - so many cute, artsy, shopping options.

The restroom signs are so fun.

One of over 100 murals in Tucson, I love this (hard to capture) historic depiction. 

On the walk to our favorite Cafe a la Carte a couple blocks away there's more wall art.

Not as friendly as others, I still like this furry guy in the nearby parking lot.

PJ's maiden voyage is coming up for Super Bowl weekend. A long drive to and from Kingman on both sides of the event, we'll have two nights of moochdocking to live in our new traveling home. With good friends, food and fun, it should be a great "first".

M and M having Disney fun.

Oh Henry I wish I had those glorious curls!

The youngest, Cassidy, is getting so big, and so cute!

Oliver shows great restraint waiting for the first bite.

Random. Ridiculous. Heart-Breaking. Life

 January 15 - 21, 2025

Tombstone, Arizona

The first two years of this blog are pre-fulltime travels. Looking back I found a lot of random life to blog about as well as all the preparation for our big adventure. I "met" many of you during those first years, some sharing the same preparations, others just ahead of us, a few seasoned road-veterans. Most of us have come off the road at least part-time, and I'm glad that so many continue your blogs or at least FB posts to keep us all in touch. 

At the end of 2019 we shifted to having an Arizona home-base with plans to travel 8 months a year. First COVID and then health and repair issues changed our reality to part-timers, grateful for the security of having a house to return to. 

Feels like I'm back to random-life blogging :-))

I'm not sure yet what we "are" now, but that little white RV in our lot keeps me motivated for more adventure. 

Inside the house we look and feel a little different with the arrival of new furniture. I hear of many people waiting weeks or months for shipments, but we were fortunate that the pieces I chose were in the the local warehouse making our wait one of days instead. Yay!

After Jeff and I move out the four pieces that were our huge and heavy 3-recliner sofa, I camp one evening before the delivery.

I'm happy with the change to a charcoal couch you can lie down on and having a coffee table again. My electric recliner is much more comfortable than the previous chair. Although I was disappointed I didn't find an orange one!

After one night of sleeping on the floor Tessa approves of the new couch, and sleeps there every night like she did on the old one. The priority of course.....

Although we are scary-dry, so far without our usual big puffy white clouds to break up the clear blue skies, it's consistently cold with lows below freezing most nights. Not cold like much of the eastern half of the country, but we know it's Winter! 

Our winters have their own beauty.

During summer monsoons arroyos like this rage with water. Usually for hours, not days. These haven't felt moisture for months.

Looking back, we've always had amazing January sunsets.

In addition to capturing beautiful colors, our 2-year old dual pane windows were a great investment that make a big difference in our comfort.

It is ridiculous that grown, semi-intelligent, adults become so vested in the outcome of games played by millionaires moving a weird shaped ball up and down a 100 yard field. 

And yet.

The Detroit Lions' loss is devastating to me. More so than any loss my Steelers have ever suffered. I was just so rooting for this incredible Lions team to finally get their shot at the Super Bowl, that when they lose their playoff game I don't even want to watch anymore games, even the Super Bowl. Ridiculous. Real.

So sorry dude.

Alas the Ravens' loss (sorry Pam and John) perks me up some (also ridiculous), and I'm ready to see which two teams go to the big game. We'll be joining our high-school pals in Kingman again so even more to look forward to. A gathering of ridiculous adults, what could be better??

It's calmed down, but the fire danger in SoCal continues. Most of our kids and grands live there. Henry and Cassidy and their folks were two blocks from the evacuation area of one fire, and the others are surrounded by dry canyons subject to high winds, just miles from the northern perimeter of two other fires. It's not a new concern in those areas, but given the recent devastation it's much worse this year. I can't wrap my head around the loss of entire communities - miles of homes and businesses. It's heart-breaking whether you're a famous wealthy person or a store-clerk barely getting by. The hateful "observations" of those who don't see that are as ugly as any looting. 

Henry in quiet, beautiful contemplation. 

Cuddle-bug Cassidy

Reese's big-girl moment :-)

Penelope up close with Mom, Reese up close with "Bear" (arriving in April). Priceless.

2025 Begins

 January 1 - 15, 2025

Tombstone, Arizona

While they are relatively close to the devastation, our family remains safe from the Los Angeles fires, and so far out of the path of the current winds. They remain vigilant. 

January 1, any year.

A number on a calendar with such weighty expectations. 

We actually wait for the number to arrive to begin lofty changes in our lives, create health goals, adjust attitudes, commit to more, less, bigger, smaller, always better versions of ourselves. Often the planning to do so lasts longer than the application of said changes.

The ideal us.

It seems the older we get, the less we set ourselves up to fail at these well-intentioned ideals. Whether experience or apathy, the changing of the year doesn't seem to have the same power it once did. 

The real us.

Living in the Now. Being grateful. Recognizing joy. Throwing pixie dust. These are more likely to be on our "lists" this year. 

Cheers for success with all of them for all of us!

January is usually our coldest month with signs of Spring often showing up sometime in February. This year started out looking like we'd just skip Winter. Enough of us whined about it that Mother Nature eventually granted our wishes and brought the freezing temps and strong winds and even some snow. I, for one, appreciate her efforts and am hopeful there's more of the same to come. The 2025 Farmers' Almanac says we're supposed to have a wet winter-season. So far Mother and Farmer are not communicating as we are dry, dry, dry here. We're only two weeks in so there's time for predictions to become reality. Fingers crossed!

24 hours later the white fluff still finds some white stuff to explore.

Rebecca's home includes a short ski run early in the day. When I drop her off a few hours later it's all gone.

Speckled Italian Cypress against slate skies.

It doesn't take much to change the feel of our arid desert, short-lived as it is.

Only five years-old, our couch needs replacing. Need might be a stretch, but I need a change in seating options for our living room. And weirdly, I love shopping for furniture! A trip to Tucson finds me what I'm looking for only to find out after the great hunt that they no longer deliver to Tombstone :-(( 

Grilled lobster and asparagus salad at Wildflower helps this seem less of a wasted trip!

I'm surprised to find Ashley's also has a location in Green Valley. A small town between Tucson and Tubac, I've never been and had incorrectly assumed it was a small community with little commercial options. A phone call confirms they will deliver to Tombstone so a few days later Rebecca joins me for more fun shopping.

Even better, they have the same pieces I wanted at their other store (not always the case) so it's a quick stop to give them my money. Less than two weeks to deliver - yay!

With no great eateries in our "town" of Sierra Vista, it's a treat to find a delicious Mediterranean option in Green Valley. We enjoy excellent food and service at Brindis Bistro's tiny indoor space, attached to a large (but too cold this day) dining patio. 

On the rare occasions I see the sun rise, they are never this amazing!! What an awesome way to start the day.

The skies put on a show in every direction.

After this auspicious beginning, the day is surprisingly "regular".

Several years of owning and living in an RV, we're familiar with how everything works. Changing RVs means we're no longer familiar with how everything works! I have a short list of items that aren't working, or just as likely that I don't know how to work, so I'm off to Camping World in Tucson with a morning appointment.

For years I bragged about the service at the Tucson Camping World, but post-COVID that service declined significantly. As a result we took the coach to a local shop with mostly good experience.

Since we bought PJ at said CW, I make the service appointment there with fingers crossed. I'm happy to say they've restore my positive opinion!

Tim fixes two of the items in the parking lot before doing a work order (and before an invoice is created). Then when the technician is delayed on another job he fixes the step that won't stay out when the switch is on. Turns out it's a fuse for the switch located in an obsure (of course) place that he quickly replaces. No charge, have a nice day, let me know if you need anything.......lovely!

While waiting I also get an estimate for installing the levelers I want, as well as one for replacing the dinnette with recliners. Khalil is also amazing, making several phone calls to find what we need (levelers), as well as pointing out where I could save some money on the parts. Lovely again!!

In addition to the good service experience, taking PJ into town, and making stops for fuel and baked treats, on my own is easy and pleasant. I continue to be very happy we did the down-size. 

PJ in her new home base. Like in our driveway, I'm able to get her completely level. We'll still add the levelers for other locations, but for now it's another positive :-))

Elliott ready for the Target catalog.

Big-girl Reese shows off her adorable freckles.

Sweet Ezra cuddles with Frog the cat.

Lucky M & M visit the Rose Parade floats with Mom and Dad (the photographer).

HOHOHOliday Fun With Family

December 15 - 31, 2024

Tombstone, Arizona

Preparation for the holidays is only matched by the anticipation of our family's arrival. It's exciting and exhausting, and takes forever and happens in a flash. Ten days seems like a long visit until it's already behind me. 

Before their arrival on the 18th, we're delighted to have a visit with RV pals Lee and Tracy who are in the area after a couple years in our old stomping grounds of SoCal. It was a quick catch-up over a stop at the house and lunch in Tombstone, and we're looking forward to more opportunities in the new year. As well as I feel I know them, we've only actually met Tracy once, and this was the first time for Lee! Social media truly makes friends out of strangers :-))

Lunch and laughs at the Longhorn.

It's fun getting PJ ( the new RV) set up for her first guests. The beds seem hard to me so I'm happy a few days later when the family says they're just fine for good sleeping. There's a lot more inside storage than I first thought, although there are only 6 outlets in the whole unit which will take some figuring out. 

In addition to the auto-step failing to stay in the out position the furnace won't light. We always had a small electric heater in the bigger rig, and especially with our warmer temps it makes for cozy sleeping in PJ. I have an appointment to have both fixed in a couple weeks.

Eventually we'll get automatic leveling jacks added, but she sits perfectly level in the driveway so for home visits there's no rush :-)

It's a long drive straight through from the mountains above Los Angeles so I'm always relieved when the family arrive safely no matter the time.

As soon as they're in the house their little tree gets fully decorated. 

We spend lots of time outside in the beautiful weather with the littles riding their trikes and the three of us going to the playground. All seven of us see Sonic 3 at the theater, and after Christmas I take the boys to see Moana 2. I'm a movies-on-the-big screen fan and it's always a treat to share them with enthusiastic grand kids :-) For the first time in awhile there are multiple previews for films I'm looking forward to seeing!

Shirt-sleeves in December.

Hamming it up in the lobby.

Getting your hair dried on a wall - great fun!

Brian (Ezra and Elliott's dad, my oldest, our number one) has to work until Christmas Eve so I'm glad we have fast WiFi and space for him to set up his computer and phone. The rest of us play and eat, and repeat.

Silly cuddles are the best.

Started during their summer visit, Elliott adds to the custom table cover decorations. 

Whenever you're in the kitchen you feel like you're being watched!

The girls get some cuddle time of their own.

Before we know it Santa's on his way. Instead of cookies, this year the boys and I make edible Christmas trees for the big guy to enjoy with his milk. Ezra writes him a long note to which Santa responds with one of his own - he's been to their house and left some surprises! Lots of fun (and reduces the load in the car with four people and a large dog).

They did such a great job!

Christmas sunrise turns the whole world pink.

We start with what Santa left in their stockings.

I'm so happy Ezra is becoming a Harry Potter fan - they both got marauders' maps with wands.

The joy of Legos.

Nawma (me) failed on the shirt size, but Elliott still loves it and wears it all day :-)

For both inside and outside fun, red is his favoritist color.

Uncle Jeff happy with his gifts.

We're so happy to have this little family with us for the holiday.

The absolute best :-)))))

Ezra points out his position in the Christmas concert video from his school. Not that we could have missed his enthusiastic participation!

Honeybaked ham with augratin potatoes, Bill's sausage dressing, candied yams, buttered peas, deviled eggs and Hawaiian rolls make a delicious Christmas dinner which I can't believe I once again fail to get a photo of. Along with several pies we eat it for days :-)

With the rental car loaded up (so full!) they head out Saturday morning. After all the joyful chaos it's a sadly quiet weekend of un-Christmasing the house. 

Ready for a new year.

Our last sunset of 2024.

It's always a delight to see Reese and Penelope enjoying their gifts. And with Daddy joining in :-)

Penelope sets up her afternoon tea.

M & M hang with Santa.

Oliver on a holiday hike. His parents are probably there too :-)

 2025 is here. Not sure we're ready, but here we go!