One Whole Month... already

They say that time flies when you’re having fun.  Well, I think the fun was over when we left AZ.  As you know we headed out early to miss the snow storm over Donner Summit I-80 West, which we did, and arrived home 1 month ago today.   As promised we had 1 day of sunshine at home before the 24 hour snow dropped a few inches on us here at 2453’ elevation.   Unloading the 5th wheel didn’t take long at all this season as we left most of our belonging in AZ at our newly acquired “gently used” home away from home.  After a little more cleaning we took the “wheel” to an RV Dealer in Rocklin (about 30 miles from here) and signed a 120 day consignment agreement with them.  We’ll see how it goes...

We have been continually visited by several small herds of deer, and Don celebrated his 76th as grandson’s Kenny and Austin gathered lizards.  Sun kept shining and we enjoyed one of Kenny’s baseball games, and then had Everett, our 23 old body building grandson, come up for some of the hard heavy work around the place.  He removed several large “dying” bushes in record time and took hundreds of trips to various burn piles as I raked the remains from 6 months worth of winter winds.  Later Ev helped Don remove the 5th wheel hitch from the pickup... by himself, as Don supervised.  Such a deal.

Although most of our days have been filled with YARD WORK, we did squeeze in geocaching (Don) and pickleball and hiking for Nancy.  Fortunately we finished most of the yard work and burned 3 large “burn piles” before Easter when the family joined us for our traditional brown paper bag Easter Basket hunt, more lizard gathering, ATV riding and lots of fun and food.

Hey, when did you get home?  There's no
water in the bird bath and we're thirsty!!!

Happy 76 Grandpa Don (with Kenny & Ev)

Austin liked the "blue belly" best

but Kenny thought this little guy was real cute.
Now who do you think is cute?

Kristine plays hooky from work and joins Nancy

on an 8 miler along the American River to Folsom Lake

Sophie (our team mascot) thought
78 degrees was a little too hot.

A beautiful oak tree...

California Poppies

A Flotilla of Turtles which everyone
photographed!!!

Lots of wildflowers, including wild Iris.

Dropping the 5th wheel at the RV dealer's lot…
another sad moment.

A happy moment, Kenny on second...

and later trying to strike out the opponents.

Lots of "piles"

Ev as a giant fork lift gets most with one grab!!!

The next day is a burn day, so

Don strings out the hoses and lights 3 piles on fire...

Looking better...

Ev had a hard time finding his basket, which
I hid in the ole truck in a large paint bucket next to
lots of "junk".

Don & Richard ready to eat Peeps, waiting

for Austin to find his, last, which was hidden
in the crawl space!!!

Some unique "hairy" eggs appeared in our baskets.

Lizards in captivity also enjoyed the day!!!

Bittersweet as We Leave AZ

We left AZ a day earlier than planned to get over Donner Summit (I-80 at 7325’) before the forecasted snow storm hit.

Although we’ve made this journey many times,  it was somewhat bittersweet and maudlin, to say the least, since this was probably the end of our RVing Adventures, which began in 1971 with a 67 Chevy 3/4 ton camper special truck (which we still have) and a 10.5’ slide in Chinook Camper, with 2 young children and one Dalmatian in tow.  As many of you know, we purchased a park model residence at Canyon Vistas RV Resort in AZ this year, in January (see blog Feb 1) so we will be taking a new direction... as we continue to “wander free”.

The first 2 days of our trip home were wind and rain free with glorious skies and pleasant vistas in every direction, which I hope you’ll enjoy as you follow along via the photo gallery, as we travelled thru Wickenburg, and Kingman AZ before crossing into Laughlin NV via NV 68, then North on NV Hwy 95 to our first nights stop in the parking lot at “Terrible’s Casino” in Searchlight NV.  Day 2 took us along Hwy 95, thru Las Vegas and many favorite haunts, like Goldfield and Tonopah, all the way to Hawthorne.

Tomorrow we’ll make the final leg of this journey and the final journey with our 5th Wheel in tow - as we head for Reno NV and take I-80 west to our home in Colfax CA.  

Blogging entries will continue in CA as we once again take up our “family and friends fun and frolic” adventures.   See you later...   

Ocotillo bloom in Wickenburg as we head

for our favorite restaurant.

Hwy AZ 93 offers interesting

and varied scenery all the way to Kingman.

Hwy 68 to Laughlin NV is also one of our favorite roads,
but it's a steep downhill as it heads for the Colorado River!!!

Cocktails anyone…  We're at Terrible's in Searchlight NV

Las Vegas "traffic" at 8:15 a.m. Sunday morning…
the only way to go!!!

Hwy 95 all the way to Hawthorne with some

interesting places to visit "Area 51"
at Amargosia Valley

like "get out of Jail Free" - a geocache!!!

The scenery continues thru a variety of ole
mining towns...

like Goldfield

Boundary Peaks (on the NV/CA border)
reach up to12,000' and show
us a little snow.

March... “ing”

March 3rd, good friend from my weaving days (Shiomi), who is also a hiking, kayaking and pickleball friend arrived in the Phoenix area with her friend Sharon for a quick visit.  We had fun playing pickleball (although they were in the Phoenix area to play in a Tennis Tournament) for several hours before grabbing a quick lunch before they headed northwest via car for their Journey to the Sacramento CA area.

Then “Memories from the Past” - It was Nov 1958 when I attended the Kingston Trio concert at Woodrow Wilson Jr High School in San Jose CA... a year after I graduated from High School.  I purchased from them their first record album... which I brought to AZ with me this year, as they were in town.  I had taped by ticket stub to the album back in ’58 and when I asked for their signatures they told me “you know, this is the original album for the Kingston Trio”.  I said I know and I was there...   This concert was also great (even though the original group from ’58 has been replaced over the years with newer members as others “passed” or became quite ill.  Bob Shane (80 years old today-and on oxygen) still pops up at a concert now and then (as he did here in Phoenix) and has a great influence over the group today.    The trio now consists of Bill Zorn, George Grove and Rick Dougherty (my favorite).  This time I got all three signatures and a date on my album cover from those who have carried on the name of this fantastic style of music.  The original Kingston Trio singly-handedly revolutionized folk and pop music in America.  

A few days later a group of us met on the Bocci Ball Courts for a fun round-robin game for a couple of hours under the direction of Geo-caching friends, Bill and Kathy Mattish.  After “awards” were presented to “winners and losers”, an even larger group gathered at their RV for  “finger food”, “beverages” and “fun stories”.  Everyone is in panic mode now as friends start to leave the resort and it’s a mad dash to get in one last visit with all our fabulous AZ friends from throughout the US and Canada. 

Now it’s time to prepare for the close of our AZ Home, repack the 5th wheel and head home in a few days… 

Left, Jerry and wife Linda, Coleen across from hubby Curt
and Roe across from Tom, hidden by Curt!!!

At the other end of the table, Frank across from wife Anne,
Dick across from Phyllis, etc...

Kingston Trio, one more time...

hard to get good photos in the dim light.

Nancy with Bill Zorn and 

the "well autographed" album.

Bill Mattish (right) gets flack from friend Rod

Bill's wife Kathy, coral Bermudas provides winners and losers
names to Bill 

sometimes there was a "roll-off" to settle the tie...

Larry and Neal graciously accepted their awards!!!

The second annual "CV Quilters, Carvers and Creative Crafters Showcase"
was a hugh success - over 800 people attended.

A few of my favorite quilts...

And a rainbow sunset...