Putting down roots with travel hopes for the future

I'm finally making an updating post for this blog now that we have sold the motorhome and built a home in AZ at a 55+ community between Tucson and Phoenix. CAn't believe we've been in our home for over a year now. Glenda had been wanting to put roots down again for some time but I resisted until we had a chance to visit and stay at Robson Ranch in Eloy, AZ. They have all the amenities we were used to at the RV resort in Gold Canyon that we visited each winter for the last 6 years. The community is right off I-10 in a rural area but when you come through the gates you're in paradise. We did do some traveling with our friends the Wandering Camels in Feb and March of 2020 then Covid hit which sent us back to Gold Canyon. That's when we got serious about settling down. 

We went through some models and stayed in a Villa home for 3 nights before pulling the trigger. So glad we did since the base price of our home has increased $90,000 from signing papers to the current time. 

We have a 1200 sq foot home with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. A nice patio facing north and a 1 1/2 car garage. We now have a golf cart to get around the community and we've integrated into the activities. Pickleball for me and line dancing and aerobics for Glenda. 

We're looking at trading our small car that we pulled behind the motorhome in for a mid size truck with hopes of continuing some traveling in the future. Maybe a small TT to take advantage of leaving for cooler places in the summer. A few photos of the inside of our home. 

These are random photos from my Google phone before switching to an Apple phone. We have landscaping now. 

We're looking forward having friends visit and stay with us. Our daughter Heather, SIL Paul and grandson Aiden came for a visit last May. They got to check our the community pool, ride in the golf cart and see the golf course. Then we had Steve and Debbie McCormack(fast and loose) and Hurley stay over night when they were passing through and visiting his mother in Surprise. So glad they could all come and check the home and community out. 

Eloy AZ is the sky diving capital of America. We can see the jumpers almost every day from our back patio as they land. We even went to the airport there to watch the National Sky Diving Championships. 

I try to download some additional photos from my phone to the laptop and make another post soon with much better photos and show you some areas of the community and our home. 

Sorry for the long, long lag time in posting. Thank you for following us on our journey. 

We're in Arizona now but.....Synopsis on the way to Arizona

We've been in Gold Canyon, AZ since Oct 1. We're settling in at the RV park and enjoying our down time here. Waiting for our Canadian friends, Ron and Patsy to arrive next week. Looking forward to hiking, playing cards and drinking some great beer. We've had the motorhome washed and I waxed it and did some additional minor maintenance after our summer travels. Enjoying seeing friends here that we've gotten to know over the last 5 seasons. We really had a good trip back here after our visit to Glacier NP.  My last post outlined our time at Glacier NP but after we left there we headed south through Idaho and Utah. We stopped at an RV park near Cascade, MT first for  couple nights and enjoyed the peace and quiet there. Then it was on to Heise, ID where we stopped for a few nights. While there we attended an evening dinner and performance at the Mountain River Ranch. They have young performers dressed as cow boys and girls that do a little skit before taking horse drawn wagons to the dinner site. 

The dinner was very good and served chuckwagon style. Then after the dinner the young folks that did the skit put on a great fun audience participation show. The performers were very talented. They all could sing, dance and play several different instruments.

WE spent one day exploring the Grand Teton NP. The Tetons are south of Yellowstone NP. We had a fun day hinking and ended with a trip over to Jackson Hole, WY.

Antler Arch at the square in downtown Jackson

A view down the street in Jackson

We hiked in Grand Teton NP to a cool waterfall

After our time in Idaho it was time to move south toward the Salt Lake City area. We have friends in Heber City and we knew the State Parks in UT were the kind of place we wanted to stay at. We made a reservation at Jordanelle SP just north of Heber.

Our site at Jordanelle....it wasn't the one we reserved and had to move because the other site was too small and unlevel. 

While visiting SLC you have to make a trip to Temple Square where the Latter Day Saints temple is located. 

A view inside the Tabernacle

In the Visitor's Center

Then it was time to have some fun with Ruth and Kelly and their boat on the Jordanelle Lake.

We only stayed 3 nights at Jordanelle but we were having so much fun and the area is so beautiful we had to stay a little longer so we moved to the south of Heber to Deer Creek SP. WE had a great view of the lake and all kinds of space. This is our kind of RV living.

WE took a drive to Sundance Ski resort and rode the chairlift to the top of the  mountain. They have a café there so we had lunch before heading back down.

The day before we left we had dinner at Ruth and Kelly's house and met some of their family and grandkids. We had a wonderful visit and so glad we had the opportunity to see them again. 

We continued on south to Hurricane, UT and the Sand Hollow SP. Wide open spaces and if we could have gotten a site higher up we could have had a view of the Sand Hollow Lake. It didn't matter the overall views and openness was more than enough. 

We took a drive to Snow Canyon SP and did some hiking in a very short slot canyon. The temps were pretty hot so the shade and coolness of the canyon was enjoyable.

We also hiked around on the sandstone and lava beds in the park. The history and geology of the area is amazing.

We had a couple night of full moon which happened to be a super moon. So bright and the light enhanced the landscape as we took our evening walks.

Red rock and blue water

We then decided to drive north to Cedar City and then on past to Cedar Breaks NM. We didn't realize that it was so much higher than where we were in Hurricane. We climbed about 7000 feet and the temps dropped about 40 degrees. We got our of the car and headed to the gift shop for a additional layers of clothing.

The landscape is similar to Bryce Canyon NP

We hiked from the Visitor's Center to Spectre Point on the Supreme Point trail about a 500 foot drop and our to a cool viewing area. Then we hiked back up and over to the Alpine Pond Trail. Such a diverse landscape.

Alpine Pond

We were having so much fun and so much to explore we ended up extending our stay at Sand Hollow SP from 4 night to 11 nights.

We had originally planned to divert over to the Las Vegas area to see our granddaughter but the temps there were going to be over 100 degrees so we opted to change that and move to Kanab, UT.

We  stopped at the Crazy Horse RV Park for 3 nights. Enough time to see some of Grand Staircase Escalante NM and then a day trip to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Something we've wanted to do for a long time. We were not disappointed.

We stopped at the Visitors Center and got a map then took the easy trail to Bright Angel Point for spectacular views. Then we had some lunch and hiked the Bridle Trail to the North Kaibab Trailhead. WE decided to do part of the hike down into the canyon but we got about 1/2 mile down and thought we have to hike back up too. So we stopped and trudged our way back up. We didn't want to take the same trail back so we diverted to the Transcept Trail along the rim back to the Visitors Center for a total of 8 miles that day.

We continued our trek south the Meteor Crater RV Park between Flagstaff and Winslow, AZ. Winslow is a town we've heard so much about from friends so we had to make a trip there to STand on the Corner. From the song by the Eagles....Take it Easy.

It was so much fun having our picture taken and actually seeing the corner where a girl my lord in a flat bed Ford slowed down to take a look at me. We also stopped for a late breakfast at the La Posada Hotel and the Turquoise Room.

Our friend Debbie recommended the Green Chile Arizona Eggs...They had a nice heat from the chiles and a kind of grits layer under the eggs. 

We were walking down the street and noticed a little barber shop in an alley. I've been needing a haircut so I looked at the sign and it just so happened the barber was sitting outside. I asked how much and he said $14. I said you got time, he said absolutely. He gave me a great cut. We had a nice conversation and I noticed he had several antler trophies on the wall. Hence the name of the barbershop Antler Barbershop.

One last time on the corner

Before we headed further south we took a drive to The Petrified Forest NP. It's basically a drive through the park of about 40 miles one way. We made several stops and did some walking through some of the view points.

Blue Mesa

Time to move further south to Cottonwood, AZ and stay at Dead Horse Ranch SP. We were here before about 3 years ago and enjoyed our stay then. We got a nice back in site and did some hiking on the many trails in the park. 

We were pretty close to Prescott Valley and the Orchard Ranch RV Park. We have friends that moved there a couple years ago. KEn and Sue were our RV park neighbors at Canyon Vistas. Sue teaches line dancing at the park so we contacted them. Letting them know we were in the area. They mentioned that they were having a line dancing social their park and invited us to come. Glenda was thrilled.

Glenda doing her thing 

The next day we got together again and took a drive up to Jerome, AZ. A historic mining town. They basically only have tourist shops and a wonderful visitors museum. We had lunch at The Bordello of Jerome. As you would expect a mining town in the 1800's would have several establishments for ladies of the evening hence the Bordello of Jerome.

The original building of the Bordello

We had to get a shameless selfie of course

Then a final group photo

Well as I said we're back at Canyon Vistas RV Resort. The motorhome is nice and clean and we're set up for friends and family to visit. Enjoying some Pickleball and line dancing. Attended a happy hour with music and getting our daily walks in.

Our site #319

Glenda and I did our first hike on the Lost Gold Mine trail the other day and ended up with about 8-9 miles due to a missed turn. We needed the exercise.

Our friend...Gargoyle Rock

Ran into these ranch cattle on the trail...we made a little detour

The land of the Saguaro

Saguaro and Cholla

The pro hiker

Our sunsets for the next few months. 

I know I didn't cover everything and it was a bit short on description but I think you get the idea. We had a wonderful trip to see family this spring and summer and then a fun adventure to pick up our last 2 states for our total of 48 states now. We loved our stop at Glacier NP and visit with friends in UT and AZ. Not a lot more to say right now. Spending some time with our son and his wife in Mesa in between our activity here in the RV park. We'll be here until Feb 1 and begin a new adventure with our friends Faye and Dave. After that who know what we'll do. Life in Jell-O.

Thanks for following along.