Places We Have Called Home In 2020

Home Is Where We Park It – Escapees North Ranch, Congress, Arizona

May 10, 2020

Temperature 82 Degrees

Remembering Mom on Mother’s Day

Worship at Colts Neck Reformed Church

It Really Does Rain In Arizona

Today was Mother’s Day and my thoughts immediately turned to my mom who is no longer with us.  She wore a smile no matter the challenging circumstances that she faced.  It defined her and made her who she was, a ray of light in an often dark world.

I remember oh so well the hours we sat and played Mexican Train the last summer we spent together.

I was so thankful that I was able to celebrate my last birthday with her.  She could cook, and oh could she bake.  Mom, thanks for the memories that I hold of you and our time together in my heart.

Today being Sunday we went back to our home church for worship.

Instead of a message for children, they featured The Cherub Choir singing He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands.

They had different children at different times in different locations singing and illustrating the song with their hands.

He’s Got The Whole World 

In His Hands.

Since it was Mother’s Day

pictures were shared of Mom’s past and present who have been and are today a part of the congregation.

Pastor’s Message was from the Book of Esther.  He challenged each of us to remember this faithful woman who rose to the occasion during extremely challenging times.  He challenged us to be like her, willing to be faithful to God and to be his ambassador no matter the time or place we may be living in.  He asked us to consider During these challenging times what is God calling you to do for him?  How can you share His love for His people?  What role is God asking you to fulfill today in this divided and fractured world we are living in?  Can you deliver a box of food?  Check on a neighbor?  The possibilities are endless.

The rest of the day was spent napping, playing Mexican Train and hey guess what . . .

it really does rain in Arizona!  Late afternoon we had a storm roll through complete with thunder, high winds and driving rain.  The temperature just before the storm was 89 degrees but within 30 minutes it dropped to below 75 degrees.  However, after the storm passed it bounced right back up again to were it had been.

OK, plant lovers everywhere help me identify this.

This is the plant I have in my small turtle planter.   Barbara told me it is a succulent but what in the world is that?  How big should it get to be?  How long do they typically live?  Anyone?

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  It was a causal, relaxing day that was fulfilling in every way.  Word on the street is that the excessive heat of the past week has broken and temperatures should be back to a more normal level.  Meaning somewhere in the vicinity of the 80’s during they day and the 60’s at night.  How sweet.

On the lighter side.

Thanks again for joining us today.  Hope your day was as great as ours.  Keep those comments and suggestions coming.  Keep safe.  Wear your mask – if not for yourself then for someone else.  Remember, six feet apart or you could end up six feet under. Wash your hands often.  Catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Elvira and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before.

See you on down the road!

 

 

Places We Have Called Home In 2020

Home Is Where We Park It – Escapees North Ranch, Congress, Arizona

May 9, 2020

Temperature 95 Degrees

The Countdown Has Begun

Another great day where we are living.  The sun is shining, the sky is clear, but the heat is still on.  Wish I could send some of this heat to all those in the Northeast who have frigid temperatures and snow on the ground.  Then again, I’ll take the heat any day to the snow that you have.  I’m, hopefully, done with snow if not forever at least for a good long time.

Simple breakfast this morning of cheese potatoes, juice and a big tall glass of ice coffee.  Oh, of course there was the early morning muffin.  You can’t begin a day without a muffin.

The perfect place for a swim on a hot day.  This, of course, is Watson Lake which unfortunately is over an hour away.  No swimming for us.  Not even an opportunity to dip one’s toes in its nice cool waters.

 

The countdown has begun.  We have five days before we are on the road again.  I’m going through my punch list and making sure I’ve got all my bases covered.  I still have the reinforcement of the slide shelf to finish and that’s about it for me.

I’m having the Victron Battery Monitoring Gauge installed this Tuesday.  This will allow me to get an accurate idea of the actual amps that the residential refrigerator uses.  Plus, when we do boondock I can monitor the time to empty of my batteries.  This way I’ll know when I have to run the generator and for how long.  Or if I can get away with running off the batteries for at least one full night with no generator.

I’m also going over my departure check list and making sure it is accurate.  Believe it or not though in some sense the breakdown procedure we’ll use is similar to our last rig yet in another sense it is very different.  This is one area were I need to be very thorough or I could end up doing something stupid or leaving something behind.  Both of which I’ve done in the past!

I’ll be honest I really look forward to being back on the road again.  Yet, leaving the safety and security of the known for the unknown that stretches out in front of us is a bit daunting.  It’s been like this forever.  The issue is compounded by the fact that I just don’t have enough seat time with Elvira.  The jitters, however,  usually go away after the first thirty minutes or so of being behind the wheel.  Also, as the days, weeks, months and miles add up I’ll be a lot more relaxed.  It just takes time.  But I wouldn’t trade this lifestyle for anything else right now.  The freedom to travel, the lure of the unknown, the excitement of new discoveries is what motivates and moves us.

Yes, we played some more Mexican Train.  I can’t honestly say who won today.  We’ve played so many games we’ve both lost count of who is ahead.

That’s about it for our day on The Road of Retirement.  We’re counting the days.  We’re looking forward to discovering yet another new part of this great country of ours.  We’re giving thanks for the untold blessings that are ours.  We’re healthy, definitely not wealthy, and the jury is out on wise!

On the lighter side.

Thanks again for joining us today.  Hope your day was as great as ours.  Keep those comments and suggestions coming.  Keep safe.  Wear your mask – if not for yourself then for someone else.  Remember, six feet. Wash your hands often.  Catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Elvira and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before.

See you on down the road!

Places We Have Called Home In 2020

Home Is Where We Park It – Escapees North Ranch, Congress, Arizona

May 7, 2020

Temperature 98 Degrees

Short, Sweet And To The Point

The temperatures being what they have been in the last couple of days oh how I wish this was real so that I could dip my toes in.

What happened today?

Not much.

Got up.  Had a cup of coffee and a muffin.

Later on I had a bowl of Frosted Flakes and an English Muffin for breakfast.  I also had a glass of juice and another cup of coffee.

With the temperatures rapidly on the rise I closed up and turned the front AC on.  It’s really working hard these days.  So glad it is brand new.  The back one is also working great.  I will, however,  have to install a Soft Start in each in the coming month.  Problem is the darn units are so expensive.  But, they are definitely necessary for the prolonged life of each unit.

I read a few more chapters in my new book.  Barbara did some work on the computer.

Ham and Swiss cheese sandwiches for lunch.  I also had some Frito’s and a glass of ice coffee.  Much the same for Barbara.  She, though, had a diet coke to drink.

I made some calls regarding the replacement of our current converter/inverter.  I thought I had a vendor that would do it.  They even gave me an estimate.  However, when I again contacted them about the install date they stated that they only do complete solar installs.  Really?  Why didn’t you tell me that in the beginning.  I needed a new vendor.  Well, I found a well respected vendor in Texas who will do the work when we pass through in August.

No day would be complete without a marathon session of Mexican Train.  We mixed it up a bit today in that we started from the middle and worked down, then starting in the middle again we worked our way back up.  You would think we would be tired of this game by now, but not really.

Eight more days and we are on the road.  Oh, how sweet that sounds.  Don’t worry we’re going to play it safe.  We have a couple of Escapee Parks already picked out where we can again hunker down if we have too.

Come supper time and we shut the AC off so that Barbara could make a special chicken dish of hers.  Oh, it will be nice to be back on 50 amp so we can run more than one appliance at a time.  But you know what?  The dish was delicious and so it was worth turning the AC off.  Hey, the temperature was down at this point to a nice, balmy 85 degrees.

So there you have it the sum total of our very normal, very hot, very uninteresting day on The Road of Retirement.  Some days are just like that.

On the lighter side.

Thanks again for joining us today.  Hope your day was as great as ours.  Keep those comments and suggestions coming.  Keep safe.  Wear your mask – if not for yourself then for someone else.  Remember, six feet. Wash your hands often.  Catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Elvira and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before.

See you on down the road!

Places We Have Called Home In 2020

Home Is Where We Park It – Escapees North Ranch, Congress, Arizona

May 6, 2020

Temperature 100 Degrees

Once Lost But Now Found

A Little Bit of This and That

We feel like we are living in a ghost town.  We are one of only a handful of rigs still in the park.  Soon enough it will be our turn to leave as well.  Nine days and our slides will be in, the jacks up, and our wheels will be rolling.

Let me say right up front today was an easy but hot day.

The bottom temperature is the temperature in the shade.  Since we are on 30 amp and we can’t run both AC units getting the inside temperature any lower that 85/86 degrees is just not possible.  But not to worry we are really comfortable with the oscillating fan we have set up in the front of the living room.

These are the extra keys for our first rig which my son Paul now owns.  We have been looking for these keys for the past five months.  The first reason being of course, they are now his as the owner of the rig and we wanted him to have them.  The second reason being, the key for our lock box was on this key ring.  Where were they?  Alongside my driver’s seat in a little cubby hole that mounts to the wall.  I just happened to see them when I was cleaning today.  Once lost but now found.

Since it was just too hot to work outside I began reading a book I’ve been carrying around for the past year.  Barbara in the meantime has been working on the computer.

We also turned on The Message on Sirius XM The Message.  This is one of our favorite stations to listen to during the day when we are confined indoors.

Lunch for me today was this delicious Italian Seafood Salad and blackened catfish nuggets.  The salad has all kinds of seafood in it including large chunks of crabmeat.  I was in seafood heaven.  Barbara wants nothing to do with seafood so it is all mine!

I don’t believe we are going to need these again for a good long time.  Believe it or not, these two small heaters are all we’ve ever needed in order to keep warm, even when the temperatures dropped into the 20’s and 30’s a few months ago.  They have served their purpose for now so it’s off to the outside storage locker for them.

Like I said an easy day today on The Road of Retirement.  It is just going on 7 pm and the temperature has finally dropped to 90 degrees.  At midnight it will be in the mid 60 degree range.  Then tomorrow we are in for more of the same as today.   Do we still want to live in this area?  In spite of the heat the answer is still yes.  

On the lighter side.

Thanks again for joining us today.  Hope your day was as great as ours.  Keep those comments and suggestions coming.  Keep safe.  Wear your mask – if not for yourself then for someone else.  Remember, six feet. Wash your hands often.  Catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Elvira and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before.

See you on down the road!