HEADING SOUTH IN THE FALL & NORTH IN THE SPRING…TWO DIFFERENT FEELINGS………………….

Sooooo nice to have our doors wide open by 7 a.m in the morning.  Sunshine streaming in, warmth in the air, mountains on the horizon, & happy little birdies singing in the trees.  A mighty fine start to to another great Arizona day:))

IT WAS A YEAR AGO YESTERDAY THAT LAURIE & ODEL STOPPED IN TO SEE US
We spent a pleasant half hour climbing around the Sunseeker this morning discussing ideas & plans for tweaking it out.  Had the tape measure & measured it’s overall length from bumper to bumper at 25 feet.  Also noticed the roof is fiberglass & not rubber.  Bonus.  And plenty of room up on the roof for 1 or two solar panels.  We have also been amazed at how much headroom we have inside.  Especially in the kitchen area.  More than we had in the Damon.  It was also nice discussing future travel plans.  I always like discussing travel plans:))

AND IT’S BEEN JUST OVER A YEAR NOW SINCE WE LAST SAW RV SUE & HER CANINE CREW
RETIRED ROD had left a comment about maybe having to wait for license tags if we register the rig here in Arizona.  Kelly was quick to get on the phone this morning with that question.  We were told by the Motor Vehicle place we would receive our tags right over the counter as soon as we registered our Class C.  No mailing, no waiting. 

In Canada we would have to pay the 13% sales tax right up front at the border.  We’re looking at a big chunk of change here.  Arizona has a tax as well but it’s done differently.  Looks like a lot less money up front with a decreasing sales tax annually.  Arizona is definitely the better way to go.  But here’s the big deciding factor for me……I like the colorful Arizona license plates/tags with the mountain sunset & silhouetted Saguaro Cactus.  Much nicer than the standard bland white & blue Ontario plates.  Do you think I have my priorities in a logical order……..:))

AND CAN ANYONE GUESS WHO THIS MAN FROM MARS WAS LAST YEAR?

HINT:  HE’S MARRIED TO THIS LOVELY LADY

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BY GOLLY, THAT MYSTERY MARTIAN IS NONE OTHER THAN FELLOW RV BLOGGER MIKE McFALL HIS VERY SELF:))
I reminded myself of a Rancher/Cowboy this morning as I mended some old wire fencing on the property.  Of course the only authentic cowboy thing about me is my interest in the lifestyle & my hat.  I wouldn’t know which end of a horse to climb on or which end of a gun to shoot out of but I’d probably do better with the gun than the horse:((  Neither one of those things have been a part of my life.  Well, not yet anyway………..

IT WAS ALSO A YEAR AGO THIS WEEK WE HAD THIS BIG ORANGE METAL MONSTER SITTING IN OUR BACK YARD
Darn, we just missed that California earthquake by one week.  Have never experienced an earthquake & would liked to have been camped out near Borrego Springs for that.  Quake’s center was just north of where we usually boondock at the Clark Dry Lake Bed.  Friends JOHN & NAN who we visited last week are still there & experienced it first hand.
 
AND IT WAS ONE YEAR AGO WEDNESDAY THAT WE OFFICIALLY WENT FROM BOONDOCKING NEAR CONGRESS ARIZONA TO HOUSEDOCKING IN CONGRESS ARIZONA
Reading KAREN'S post this morning I was reminded of something that I think many of we Snow Birds experience every winter about this time.  As much as we are itching to hit the road every fall for our southern destinations there comes a time in late winter when that itch reverses itself & it is once again time to head north & home again.

A NEIGHBOR’S SPRING CACTUS GARDEN THIS MORNING
Every trip south we have made I have always noticed that ‘turning point’ in the journey.  And in some cases it is an actual physical turning point.  I recall several times leaving our campsite in Borrego Springs knowing that was the starting point for our long journey home.  Pulling out of the desert making the left turn onto highway S22 I would often think…..this now begins our journey home.  And I have found with that turn for home, wherever it occurs, there comes a change.  It is a noticeably different feeling heading home in early Spring than it is heading away from home in early Fall.

SUNRISE ON GHOST TOWN ROAD
For me, the excitement level & that ‘feeling good’ mind set is much higher on our southward bound trip.  Always the adventurous unknown factor of roads & destinations not yet traveled.  Touching base with old familiar places.  Freedom to wander wherever, whenever.  But there comes a time in our southwest winter lifestyle when it is time to head for home once again.  And, strangely enough, I rather look forward to that as well.  I just don’t look forward to it with the same enthusiasm or sense of excitement that I do when heading south.
 
But, once that decision to head north is made then that is what I want to do.  The winter is over & is once again time to change hats & slip back into our Ontario lifestyle.  I think much of that has to do with the simple fact I am anxious once again for a change.  I look forward to that semi-annual change of scenery & I do enjoy being busy with the big Spring clean-up.  Even now, a month before we head out I can feel the stirrings inside.  I can sense the hitch-itch growing as another long journey looms on the horizon.  Another complete change of scenery, another change of lifestyle & activities.  And it is those changes that I so much look forward to each year.  It is those changes that keep the hounds of boredom from the door & it is those very changes that give me inspiration & motivation to tough out all the coming slow days in anticipation of the those once again faster exciting travel days ahead.

Our afternoon was so lazy I nodded off in a chair on our front porch listening to the birds in our Saguaros.  That groin pain in my right leg that plagued me most of the winter is completely healed up.  It’s totally gone.  But, the second source of pain in my right hip that cleared up a couple months ago after stopping my Crestor pills suddenly reared it’s ugly head yesterday while I was planting some Sunflower seeds.  Took a sideways step to the right & felt a slight but familiar twinge in my outside hip.  Bothered me for the rest of the day & has hindered my walking.  That short sharp jabbing pain in the outer hip about where a cowboy would carry his shooting iron, has stuck with me again today.  I must have just twisted something again………dang nab it!!

KELLY WORKING ON HER DEER PARK LODGE RESERVATION BOOK THIS MORNING
And it was one year ago today while having breakfast with PETER in the shadow of Vulture Peak that we received a cell phone call from our Real Estate guy in Prescott saying our offer on the house was accepted & it was a done deal:))

KELLY TAKES THE CALL FROM OUR REAL ESTATE GUY
 
PETER & I DISCUSSING THE PRICE OF POPCORN IN NORTHERN SIBERIA
GROANER’S CORNER:((  During a sermon a mother with a fidgety seven-year-old boy told me how she finally got her son to sit still and be quiet. "About halfway through the sermon, she leaned over and whispered, 'If you don't be quiet, the Pastor is going to lose his place and will have to start his sermon all over again!'
"It worked."
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- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)
- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.