Places We Have Called Home In 2020

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

March 29, 2020

Temperature 69 Degrees

Keeping Busy

Another great morning to awake to.  A bit chilly but the sun was shining bright and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.  This morning had all the makings of another fantastic day.  Which is exactly what it turned out to be.

I regenerated the water softener.  I also checked all the hoses and filters, and made sure the water pressures was still in proper limits.

Inside I decided to lubricate the pull and the track for the front curtain.  It had been sticking as of late.  We like to open it first thing in the morning because the sun rises right in front of us.  I always love to sit and watch the sun come up with its promise of another wonderful new day given us by God.

Later in the day Barbara made Pizza for lunch.  She used the Make N Bake Pizza Kit from Papa Murphy’s.  This was our first time with this brand and we both agreed while not New York Pizza they were really good.  We’ll buy them again if and when we have the opportunity.

Of course we also played another round of Mexican Train.  I believe we’re going to have to dig out some playing cards in the coming days.  We’re both beginning to see dominoes in our sleep!

Every day now, despite the ban on travel, rigs have been leaving the park.  I suppose most, if not all of them, are leaving to return to stick and brick homes.  Still, I just don’t get why anyone would put themselves at risk by traveling right now.  I’m sure your house  would still be there at the end of the month.  Isn’t anyone taking this virus seriously?  I’m beginning to understand why it is beginning to soar out of control in Arizona.  Even more disheartening is that the majority of cases are in the age bracket 18 to 39.  Come on people, its time to wake up and take this seriously.

Yet another day is in the books on The Road of Retirement. We both agree it is strange for us not to be going places every couple of days.  We’re so used to being out and about visiting attractions, parks, and museums.  This forced isolation is tough for both of us.  However, we’re not going to complain especially in light of what others are suffering through.  We’ll just take it in stride knowing that sooner or later we’ll be at it again.

On the lighter side.

Thanks for checking in with us today.  We always enjoy your company and your comments.  Catch your 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

March 28, 2020

Temperature 65 Degrees

Keeping The Chill Away

Stocking Up For The Duration

It Doesn’t Look Good For Arizona If You Ask Me

Can you believe thirty two degrees?  That was our temperature when I got up this morning.  Absolutely crazy.

On such a cold morning nothing is better than sitting in front of the fireplace.  OK, a little imagination is needed here.  This little heater is enough to warm the living room of Elvira, while our other heater we use in the bedroom.  We just close the door between the two areas and each area is kept warm and comfortable.

Today was the day.

We had placed a grocery order with WalMart and our pickup time was today at 4 pm.

While the concept of a grocery pickup is a good one in this day and age there can be some issues.  See the two cans on the top of this stack?  We ordered four of these.  What we received were the two huge cans on the bottom plus the two small cans on the top!

This is just part of the staples that we were able to purchase.

The two drawers in our freezer are absolutely full.

We’re working now on filling the refrigerator.

We’ve started stuffing goods in every nook and cranny.  And this is just the start.  We have another order coming this week from Amazon.   When all is said and done we should have enough in house for a minimum of a month.  We even have enough toilet paper for the next month.  Maybe, just maybe we’ll have to go out on occasion for items such as eggs or milk or bread but that is it.

On the way home we stopped to pick up subs from Jersey Mikes for supper.  All we had to do was call ahead, give them a time we would be there, and they were waiting for us.  In and out in just about two minutes.

We both agreed it felt good to get out.  We had not been anywhere other than our walks around the park for the last week.  But we also agreed it was even better to get back home.  Want to know the first thing we did when we got home?  You got it!  We scrubbed our hands hard and long.

What we saw while we were out completely unnerved the two of us.  No one was practicing any type of social distancing.  No one was wearing either a mask or gloves.  Including the employees of the stores we went to.  My gut feeling, based on what we witnessed, is that the worse is still to come for the state of Arizona.  I sure hope, however, that I am wrong but I don’t think so.

If we have to be confined for an indefinite period of time we both agree we could ask for no better home than Elvira.  Although she has only been ours for just about a month with the changes we have made she is now a reflection of who we are and how we prefer to live.  Elvira is our home for the foreseeable future and we consider ourselves fortunate that she is.  She is far from perfect but what RV is.  We’ll continue to tinker, change, and upgrade as the months and years go by.  After all who doesn’t make changes to the place they love and call home.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  It was great to be out and about, even greater to get back to our safe sanctuary that we call Elvira.  Despite the current challenging times we are still in a very certain sense traveling along and singing our song.

On the lighter side.

Thanks for joining us again today.  We always appreciate your company and your comments.  Till 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

March 27, 2020

Temperature 54 Degrees

Baby It Is Cold Outside

Finding Things To Do

As I sit and write this it is a very cold fifty four degrees outside and the wind is howling.  Oh if we could only get back to Yuma.  But then again the cost of staying here is substantially less than there.  How much?  Our site is twelve dollars a day plus electric.  Yes, that’s for full hookup.  You can’t really beat that.

So we figured out where to put our heaters to keep us warm and comfortable.  It also helps that Elvira is so well insulated.

We’ve had this for three years and never knew it.

It’s the remote control for this heater.  Now, I don’t even have to get out of bed to turn it on in the morning.  I can turn it on, adjust the temperature and even set it to oscillate if I want.  Now how neat is that!

Speaking of discoveries, today I found this outlet back against the wall underneath our dining room table.  It’s right next to the printer shelf and my computer desk.   There is also another outlet that we knew about above the desk.  Outlets galore.

Speaking of outlets, I also thought it odd that I had an outlet by my night stand in the bedroom but we couldn’t find one on Barbara’s side.  Guess what I found today?  We changed our sheets on the bed today, which meant pulling the mattress out and away from the headboard.  There was the elusive outlet  on her side down by the floor on the slide wall   Imagine that.

What else did I do to keep myself busy?  I cleaned all the switches and switch plates.  I also cleaned the controls for our Fantastic Fans.

I took the vent screens down and cleaned them.

I pulled the return vents down for the A/C system and cleaned the filters.

I took my trusty screw driver and went around to just about every screw in Elvira and made sure they were all tight.  In some cases I had to replace a few.

I also emptied yet another bag that had been lying around.  I told Barbara it is now up to her to figure out where I put everything.  Then, if she wants she can rearrange to her hearts’s content!

While I was doing these odds and ends Barbara was on the computer putting together a grocery order at Walmart.  I give her a lot of credit.  It take’s a good deal of time to put an order together.  You find something you want, you think it is available, then you click it and it tells you out of stock.  It took her almost two hours to get it together but its done.  We’ll pick it up tomorrow afternoon.

So, am I bored. Nah, I continue to find things to do just about every day.  I have a number of projects planned for outside when the temperature goes back up next week.  I just have to remember to stretch things out – for like two months!

One more day finished on The Road of Retirement.  We’re getting by.  Still enjoying life and each other’s company.  Keep safe everyone and as always remember to wash those hands often and long.

On the lighter side.

Thanks for joining us today.  Always appreciate your company and your comments.  Catch you again 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

March 26, 2020

Temperature 57 Degrees

The Big Chill Is On

Just a quick update on what we’re doing and how we’re doing.

We’re doing OK right now.  We remain in self imposed isolation which we believe is the best thing to do at this point in time.

The Escapees Park that we’re staying at is no longer accepting new reservations for less than a month.  They stated that they want to save the sites for those, especially full time RV’ers, who need a place to hunker down for the duration.

We’re exploring options for either home delivery or pickup of groceries.  The skinny is that the local Safeway has everything that one needs.  They also have early morning hours for seniors.  We checked out online ordering and pickup at the Walmart which is 45 minutes away.  The problem is finding a slot for pickup.  It looks like they are about a week out.

The Big Chill is definitely on.  When we awoke this morning it was thirty five degrees with a daytime high expected to be no higher than fifty degrees.  We finally figured out the ideal placement of our small electric heaters and so we are warm and comfortable.

On the lighter side.

Remember Jake From State Farm?

That’s it for now from the two of us on The Road of Retirement.  We’re making the best of these times.  We continue to hold hands and hold each other tight.  Together we’re going to get through this.  God is still in control.

Thanks for stopping by.  We always enjoy your company and your comments.  Till tomorrow.