Feb 26, 2021 - February update: Tucson

Even though we haven’t gone camping yet, we are going to be able to go soon. For those who didn’t know, we left Tucson June of last year with plumbing and electric issues. With no progress in these areas when we arrived January of this year only partial success. So, we found two other workers and we are almost done. We can actually turn on a light in the front hall and not trip over mud boxes. My sister, our friends Winkie and Woody came to help this week. Mike fed us all week and picked up all the supplies we needed while we painted. Jeff...

Feb 21, 2021 - RV Gas and Repair Costs -10 Years Down the Road

If you think full-time RVing is a way to avoid the cost & maintenance of a home... Well, you're half right. Your rig is gonna need some TLC if you hope to avoid sitting on the side of the road, in inclimate weather, waiting for a tow. There's also a cost of operation that goes along with owning any vehicle or camper. Things wear out, things break, and these "hidden" costs (a common question from many would-be rvers) are the subject of this entry. We recently reached the 100,000mi mark on the odometer of our 2011 GMC Duramax. As I signed...

Feb 19, 2021 - An Invasion of Sorts

Hummmmm….Hummmm…What is that humming noise coming up behind me, I thought, as I was cycling along a non-motorized trail in Oro Valley. Ah, yes, yet another E-bike passing me by along the trail. We are wrapping up a two week stay at Catalina State Park in Oro Valley. We’ve been here several times and love this state park for its proximity to hiking and cycling. In previous years, we encountered just a few E-bikes along the bike trail. However, this year we’ve noticed quite an increase in the number of E-bikes on the trail and in the...

Feb 17, 2021 - Battleship Arizona Memorial in Scottsdale

Today the VDO Photo club went to the USS Arizona Memorial Gardens at Salt River. The memorial honors the crew of the battleship USS Arizona that was sunk during the attack of December 7, 1941. Each of the 1177 crewmembers killed is represented by a lighted post, surviving members are represented by a short post without the light. The posts are arranged in the exact shape and dimensions of the ship. The ship was 97 feet wide and 608 feet long. There is an actual part of the Arizona on display in the relic room.

Jan 31, 2021 - Evolution of a Utility Trailer

The Evolution of our Utility Trailer Living in an RV full time, while liberating, has its limitations, (especially in a truck camper). One such limitation, is space. Back in 2015, we decided it was worth investing in an 8x12 utility trailer. We decided on a trailer for a couple of reasons: A trailer is a couple thousand dollars cheaper than a "custom utility truck bed", and offers more square footage and variety of usage options. The trailer's original purpose was as a garage for a couple of newly acquired motorcycles... As time passed,...

Jan 26, 2021 - A New Year but Not Much New

So, we’re into the New Year, however, not much is new and not much has been happening. We’re still in Benson trying to keep busy. Art has been taking care of some small projects on our new rig, which, by the way, we’ve named “Roadie.” The latest project was to put up curtains between the cab and coach which will help keep the coach area it cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. That project took longer than expected as we tried to find the right curtains and curtain rods. You have no idea how many iterations we went thru to find a...

Jan 10, 2021 - Goodbye 2020, Hello 2021

Art and I want to wish all of our readers a Happy New Year. It certainly has been quite a year and something that will be analyzed in upcoming years from every possible angle. Although, as expected, we didn’t do much traveling, we did get out for five months and things turned out pretty well. So, with another year, comes another new blog. I hope you’ve enjoyed our posts and thank you for following along. We are now going into our 13th year on the road. You can still access our previous journals by using the drop down menu located on the...

Dec 28, 2020 - Almost New Year

Only three days left until the end of 2020! It certainly has been a crazy year and it hasn’t been easy. We got back to our lot in Benson on Sunday after five weeks hanging out in state and county parks in the Phoenix/Mesa area. With temperatures hovering around 70 degrees, we were able to enjoy being outdoors – sunny days eating our lunches outside, biking, hiking and watching the sunsets. It will be tough adjusting to way cooler temperatures in Benson. I’m almost tempted to pack up and leave again after the holidays…maybe head back to Mesa...

Dec 21, 2020 - Memories and Smells

Are there any smells that bring back memories for you? Maybe it was the smell of freshly baked bread your mom made. Maybe it was the smell of an old paperback book that you picked up at a bookstore and enjoyed reading. How about a newly-opened can of Playdoh, which, by the way, is a trademarked smell. How about Vicks VapoRub and its menthol smell that permeated the air when mom spread it under your nose or on your chest to help clear congestion from a cold. Scientists say that the sense of smell is very closely linked with memory more than...

Nov 30, 2020 - A stop on the way to CA

We've been here before also. It is a winter stop for hundreds of full time RVers and so-called rv snow-birds. This time it was only a stop of one night. This town is located halfway between Casa Grande, AZ (our last stop) and Desert Hot Springs (or next stop). Here we boon-docked. Just parked in a open desert with no electric, water, or sewer hookups. Parking is free. There are literally hundreds of other RVs parked here and spread across the desert. You just pick a spot, park, and setup your rig and enjoy. We did make a nice wood...

Nov 29, 2020 - Another visit with Sue's brother, Ken Nov 16-29

This is a good holding spot before our planned trek into California for the winter. Also we wanted to spend Thanksgiving Day with Ken. Twice a day we took a walk with Billy and Ken's dog, Huck, around the open desert land that surrounds Rover's Roost RV Park. The dogs get a chance to be off leash running freely about. Huck is a Labrador Retriever and naturally an excellent ball chaser. Billy, not so much. However, following Huck's example he has become pretty good at it although naturally being a hunter of mice, rats, and other vermin he...

Nov 26, 2020 - Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to you, our dedicated blog followers. We hope that, despite these trying times, you were able to enjoy the day. Art and I decided that after being back in Benson for five weeks with nothing going on, we needed to get away and do something. We decided to spend some time in state and county parks where we could be outdoors and do some cycling and hiking. We spent four days in Gilbert Ray County Park in Tucson and are now in Catalina State Park in Oro Valley for eight days. We dusted off our bicycles for a couple of rides...