REJUVENATED BY THE WARM ARIZONA SUN:))

Sooooo happy to see a big bright sunny day shape up this morning.  Two days of sitting in the house was not good, physically or mentally.  Yes, we here at the Bayfield Bunch are definitely warm sunny day people for sure:))

So nice to get back out for our quiet & sweeping panoramic desert walk again this morning.   

 

Some readers have suggested we leave the Sunseeker here in the States & save ourselves a pile of money in sales tax by not taking it across the border.  Definitely a good idea from a financial point of view for sure.  A storage facility in Michigan or Kelly’s Mother’s place in Spencerport NY.  Briefly thought about that of course, but one of the reasons for going with a smaller RV is for shorter trips in Canada this summer.  With Kelly’s retirement, or maybe I should say ‘semi-retirement’, we are hoping to get a little Canadian travel time in for a change.  Kelly can also use it to visit her kids over in Cambridge.  Idea was to have something comfortable enough for her to drive & stay in while visiting.  Also, do not like the idea of a vehicle just sitting for 6 months at a time & especially not a motor vehicle.  Our rig is also our guest house if someone comes to visit for any length of time.  And, our Jeep is not nearly big enough to carry Kelly, Pheebs & I with all our stuff between Bayfield & Congress or wherever the rig would be stored.  No, we just have to bite the bullet & pay the taxes.  We have already allowed for that.  And besides, we much prefer to have the RV on our own property at all times as opposed to an inconvenient & far away storage facility somewhere.  That was an important factor when we were looking for a house & property here in the southwest the past few years.  Gotta be enough room for our rig or we were not interested.  Our RV is part of the family & we like to keep it close by………10-4:))

Had ourselves a mighty fine weather day so Kelly busied herself cleaning the rig & loading some stuff for next month’s trip home.  I did the same except for the cleaning part.  After today our shed is looking a little less confused & cluttered.

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A former neighbor gave us a big bucket of sunflower seeds before departing the area a couple months ago so I spent some time planting handfuls of Sunflowers.  Only hope of them growing is if Arizona happens to have a wet summer, which of course is probably not going to happen.  Even if some of the Sunflowers make it, we won’t know if they did until we get back in the Fall.

Browsing a few Blogs this morning I see some of the northwest Bloggers are already on the road home.  Also noticed some of the fellas I know are beginning to feel the early inklings of ‘Hitch-Itch’.  And, I’m one of them.  It always stirs whenever the winds of travel begin to gather.  I generally like to be out on the road going somewhere.  Problem is, whenever I get to where ever it is I’m going I’m never content for very long to be where I’m at & I’m itching to get going somewhere else again.  This winter was an exception with the house.  Because it was something so different for a change, I managed to keep busy & content myself for months on end.  Really did enjoy that but already know next year will be different again.  We still have a lot of ‘new places’ to see & go.  After all, that’s been our whole idea behind having a comfortable southwest home base & a smaller rig.  Still very much looking forward to more boondocking, hiking & exploring, but just for shorter periods of time.  Weeks not months anymore:))

By the very nature of their design I’ve always thought 5th wheels have some of the nicest layouts I’ve ever seen.  Recently retired & only a month away from traveling full time, Tammy & Art with their dogs Effie & Cooper will soon be on the road with their big Avalanche 5th wheel.  Drop on over & check out their gorgeous new 5’ver digs.  "IT'S GOOD TO BE US".  You can feel the excitement:))

I was moved by a paragraph in Sue’s recent post at THE MOHO AND OTHER TRAVELING TALES.  Her feelings about a dear friend who recently passed away made me once again think about why some of us keep our blogs going day after day or week after week.  In part, I left Sue the following comment that may explain why some of us do….. “I have always written my blog as more of a journal although it did start out as a travel blog. I think this is a fine place to get one’s feelings out whether they be happy, sad, glad, or mad. When we lost our dogs I could have maybe made a passing comment about it but they were an important part of our life & my heart wrote about their passing & the emptiness after. I think writing from the heart with honesty is a healthy way to express feelings & emotions with readers & friends.   Maybe you should just sit down & simply write a story about Bel. As hard as it may seem, you will feel better in the end for doing that. And your story may help someone else out here through a difficult time in their lives as well. We Blogger folks have a great opportunity to help others through our writings. And I may add, our photos as well. You have some nice one's again. Like the Joshua Tree header photo for sure plus the Swans & the Horses. Keep your feelings in your writing & keep your photographer's eye on the beauty surrounding you. Your writings & photography will help people more than you know”.

 

GROANER’S CORNER:((  I was with a friend in a cafe' when a noisy car alarm interrupted our conversation.  "What good are car alarms when no one pays any attention to them?" I wondered aloud.
"Some are quite effective," my friend corrected me. "Last summer, my teenager spent a lot of time at the neighbors'. Whenever I wanted him home, I'd go out to the driveway and kick his car."

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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.