Santa Fe, through Colorado to Glendo, Wyoming

Our stay in Santa Fe was way too short. One day of for exploring the area was simply not sufficient. The RV Resort we stayed at:

. . . has a small claim to fame. Parts of the Clint Eastwood movie, "Every Which Way But Loose", was filmed there.

Since our time was limited, we could only pick one of many areas to peruse. We chose the Historic Plaza area. The weather could not have been any more perfect. Here is a visual of our day:

ADOBE STYLE EVERYTHING

Parking structures

Hotels

Businesses

This is a window inside of a building that allows a view of the inner walls, showing

the adobe mud and straw mixture used to build the original structure.

LOCAL CHURCHES

The San Miguel Church, oldest church in the U.S.A.

Rosaries hanging on a tree inside a church courtyard

Beautiful church!

ARTS,WARES and THINGS OF BEAUTY

Ancient Safe

I know the reflection messed with this photo, but this exquisite

headdress had to be shared!

LUNCH

Double-Selfie 

Specialty of the area; FRITO PIE

THE HISTORIC PLAZA

The Plaza Park

Busker

Yay, flavored popcorn!

Smokin' Hot Fajitas

Oldest house in the USA

Located directly across the street from the oldest church in the USA

Hard to see this, but this is inside the oldest house, looking up at the roof.

It is merely mud and wood and straw. How did this not leak?

PLEASANT PORTALS

Built for very short people. No problemo for me!

We were up and on the road again Friday morning. No photos from that drive as it was drizzly the whole way into Colorado, and a ton of construction that brought us down to one lane each way most of the time. 

It was strange to see more Texas license plates on the road than Colorado ones, beings how we were actually in Colorado. Made me wonder if they were people fleeing Texas due to the floods or rushing to get back home.

By the time we made camp in Fountain, CO (just outside of Colorado Springs), we were just able to get plugged in and hooked up before the torrential downpour started, along with some great thunder and lightning.

We phoned ahead to confirm our site for Saturday in Scott’s Bluff, Nebraska and found out they were all full up. All of the other RV Parks nearby were flooded so they were jam packed. Good thing Mark thought to phone ahead!

Well Nebraska, we’ll have to catch you another time. We are re-routing through Wyoming and made reservations for Glendo Lakeside RV Resort for the night.

Unfortunately, my iPad (with all of my music) wasn't cooperating with the RV speaker system today. Lucky for Mark (good luck? bad luck? lol)  I sang to him every time I saw something that reminded me of a song. Here are a few examples;

He got us up before the chickens because he wanted to miss the Denver rush hour. When we got on the road, this is what we saw . . . 

So I sang to him, "Looks Like We Made It", by Barry Manilow

(Giant plywood buffalo) I sang "Flat Buffalos, they make the Rockin' World Go Round" 

- my own tweak on Fat Bottom Girls by Queen

I sang, Harmony by Elton John, of course.

I sang, Come Together by the Beatles

(Here come old flattop, he come grooving up slowly . . . )

I sang, Long and Winding Road by Paul McCartney

(Brass cowboy and horse) I sang, Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys by Waylon Jennings

There were oh so many more. I bet he'll try to fix my iPad before tomorrows drive!!!

Here are a few more pics from our drive today. Snowy mountaintops.

(sorry about the bug guts)

Snow fences. For those who are unfamiliar, you will see these in flat areas where they typically get a lot of snow. These fences are put up to stop the snow from drifting across the highway.

MILE HIGH STADIUM

If you look really closely next to the white patches, you will see prairie dogs standing upright!

And we are tucked into place for the night at Glendo Lakeside RV Resort in Wyoming.

So much land. Fresh air. BeaUtiful!

Now it is time to put some steaks on the barby and chill for the evening. 

On the Road Again!

I had planned my final days prior departure down to the minute. Taking off in the RV for 4 months is a big chore.  Pulling everything from the house that would be needed and packing all that up. Then loading all of the packed items into the RV (out of breath). Once all the packed items were inside the rig, it all had to be unpacked and put away. (gasping)

Plus, the house needed one last cleaning. There were items that needed to be covered for protection. All outdoor furniture needed to be put into the garage.  Things needed to be shut off. Bug traps laid out. Caretaker notified of needs. Security patrol notified . . . and the list goes on and on.

We had planned accordingly so there would be no last minute panics or frantic rushing around, mostly on my part.

However, you can’t plan for everything. Wednesday night the tooth pain came. I went into the dentist on Thursday and was advised I needed a root canal. Fortunately their root canal guy would be in on Friday, so I snagged his last appointment; what you’d call bitter sweet; Yay I could get this taken care of prior to our trip; and Boo because I’d rather birth to a litter of Great Danes than have a root canal.

Friday when I got there, they found I needed not one, but two root canals. Oh Bugger. Ended up spending 4 hours in the dental chair (there were complications) and then Saturday I was laid up in pain and drugged up with pain meds. This left me with two days to do four days of work. 

Since Monday was a holiday, I was back at the dentist first thing Tuesday morning to have my permanent crowns put on. To save time, and because I figured if there were no nerve roots; there’d be no pain, I declined nitrous and/or Novocain. Everything was going well. Tiny little drill pulling out temporary filler. Then I heard the sound of the big drill; the one I call the “Jackhammer” – before I had time to react, I could feel my body go limp and my eyes roll back in my head. Yep, I had passed out! Not my best moment. There was no pain.  Plain old fear had cold-cocked me. But . . . as my head rolled to the right I jerked, like you do when you fall asleep sitting up and revived myself. Due to the "dark splatter protection eye wear" they had me wear, the dentist thought I had simply nodded off. LOL

I came away from the experience looking super chill AND I was done a good half hour sooner than expected.

Gotta say, being back in the rig feels like we never left. Please tell me it wasn’t all a dream! We DID by a house 3 months ago, right!?!?

Don’t know if it was the weather pattern or the route we took, but it was Dorothy -Toto windy out. A couple times we were literally lifted off of the road and put down in the lane next to us. Fortunately there was no one next to us when this happened!

The poor bugs were really having a time of it as well. I have never seen so many bug-casualties in my life. Visibility was pretty low on the windshield due to their little squashed bodies piling up and we actually had to tilt our heads to see between the collecting carcasses. As we were miles from anything, we pushed on to the nearest gas station, however far it may be. Using the wiper fluid would have side-lined us for sure; merely smearing the already gooey glass.

One would have thought things could not get any worse, until a truck hauling hay flew past us. The hay stuck to the bug guts like they were glue. We looked as if we had been tarred and feathered!  When the hay finally blew away, we had lovely swirled bug guts – very artistic; rather looked like bug-gut-Spirograph. 

When we arrived at what claimed to be rated the best RV Park in New Mexico, we gave a wonder to whom had done that rating.

This was the view from the front of our rig:

We were, however, greeted by a very friendly native.  

I believe he was a Texas Horned Lizard.

According to Park Rules, we were not allowed to leave/enter the premises between 

10 pm and 6 am. Here is the sensor alarm hanging with skulls on a pole. 

Intimidation? LOL

And I can only assume that these old cop cars were also meant to deter? 

Can you see the mannequin dressed in a cop’s uniform in the driver seat? 

So scary. Heehee

Funny place.

When we went to set up for the night we discovered our power steps weren’t working. I told Mark to restart the engine and they would probably pop right out. 

He didn’t want to do this while everything was hooked up. So instead he flipped through the owner’s manual; got on-line and read articles; made a phone call to his fix-it guy; went outside and did some ‘fiddling around’ – I don’t even want to know how he managed to get battery acid in his mouth. (Oh my head)! Then he gave up, at least until after dinner, when he fiddled again until it was bedtime.

One thing I had forgotten about were freight trains running through the middle of your mind all night long. Last night, they not only rolled on through, but they blew their whistle continually as they did so. Really? Is that necessary? Do you think there is ANYONE who cannot hear them coming for miles beforehand?

By 5:30 am we were all awake. Are there volume controls on train whistles? Because I am pretty sure the train conductor turned his whistle to “deafening” on that 5:30 am pass-by. I didn’t realize Mark and Cotye had gotten up and gone into the living room (probably because I couldn’t hear anything but the train whistle). As soon as the whistle stopped, I heard loud banging that sounded like a very angry person at our door! First, my heart stopped, then when I recovered, I jumped up to see what was going on. Turns out Mark was pounding on the roof to scare off a bird that was pecking on the rig. Probably a good thing we don’t travel with a shot gun, huh? Not sure who'd have gotten the first bullet, the bird or Mark.

Before heading out for today's trip, Mark telephoned a nearby repair shop to arrange for repair of the power steps. We unhooked, unplugged, pulled up the jacks, tucked away our gear and started the rig – SURPRISE – the power steps were working again. Moral of this story; “I told you so!” Oh wait, I meant to say, "Men should try listening to their wives" . . . but it was the "I told you so" words that popped out of my mouth.  

Today we had a wind free, and fairly bug-gut free drive. It was even overcast so no sun glare. Only negative; it was a very long drive. What I don’t understand is why long travel days wipe us out so badly! All we are doing is sitting while we travel. Yet when we put in a lot of drive hours, we all three are completely buggered by the time we finally get settled in somewhere.

Here are a few pics of today’s drive:

Our first tee-pee sighting of the trip.

Some very cool rocks . . .

And I had no idea, but I think you can actually see Minnesota from New Mexico. I mean that is snow, right?!

That’s all for now.  I need to make dinner before we fall asleep for the night!

The Squash Bottom Gang!

Have you ever been so excited, that you felt like you had a whole zoo full of animals, jumping on a trampoline inside of your stomach? Well, multiply that by approximately 10 zoos and that is how I am feeling. 

It’s all good until I open my mouth to talk and a screeching baboon noise emerges!

Today we signed the final papers on the house. Tomorrow we move in. I can hardly breathe as I type this.

As Mark already brought Hercules, the Cargo Trailer, here from Colorado we are good to go. After it is emptied, he will be sold. 

The Tumbleweed and Toad are safe for now. We’ll be back in the Tumbleweed for travels over the summer.

We have also added a golf cart to the family. He has been dubbed the "Tadpole." Although it's not a lily pad, he does have his own little garage, which I am sure he will come to love.

Since we sold everything except our bed and some memorabilia, our house will be quite empty, but I don’t care. I am so anxious to stretch out my legs. Have some privacy.  Be able to spin with joy and not bruise myself from head to toe. (I’m a spinner).

No more cooking dinner as I simultaneously have a conversation with Mark who is sitting on the throne.

No more having to cram clothing into a drawer so tightly that when you open it, the clothes pop out like those giant spring worms in a prank peanut can.

No more CLUTTER!

No more laundromats.

No more washing dishes by hand.

No more having to unload the oven of items stored inside prior to using it.

No more having to walk Cotye to the “dog park” every time he needs to relieve himself. Did you know we have been doing this since we rescued him? 

I am sure he thinks this must be a family thing. When we are in the loo, he too comes in to watch us. (Hahaha) 

Cotye is going to LOVE his new backyard. And there are no cacti back there; only in the front yard!

I am hoping he (and I) don’t freak when it is time to pack up the house for the summer and hit the road again for 3 months. Mark may have a tough time getting us BOTH back into the rig!

I shouldn't bash RV-ing. I really do love it as long as we are on the move. 

There is a freedom and unfathomable beauty in life on the road that is something you have to experience to fully comprehend.

I love that every time we relocate and “set-up” I can have the whole place sparkling clean within 30 minutes.

The hardest thing for me to get used to, but the most convenient, was that I never had to pack for our next destination – everything we owned came with us wherever we went!

Nope. Very glad we are not giving up the RV Life. A split life will be perfect for us.

This summer we will be loading up the Tumbleweed and heading to Minnesota. It will be a BIG summer for Cotye. He gets to meet all of his Minnesota rellies; including many 4-legged cousins. PLUS he will have to stay with someone else while Mark and I travel to Hawaii for our youngest son’s wedding.

Cotye has never been separated from us. I am afraid he will think he has been abandoned like he was before we rescued him.

We plan on Skyping him nightly to let him know we are still around.  Still, I worry. 

He was a runner when we first got him. It would be horrible if he ran away again because we were gone.  I saw a gadget on-line (I am a gadget junkie) where you can get a GPS device for his collar, with a phone app, so that if he does run, you can track him. I think I will go with that and make sure his “sitter” has the app too.

Funny story; when Mark and I began hitting open houses, one of the first homes we looked at was on a street Mark said was called “Squash Bottom”. My reaction; “Ew! I could NEVER live on a road called “Squash Bottom!”

Throughout weeks and weeks of house hunting, he continued to refer to that street as “Squash Bottom” until one day I happened to look up at the street sign and found it read “Squash BLOSSOM!” Twit.  

Well guess what; out of all the streets in that giant housing development, we ended up buying a house on Squash Blossom! Yet, since we had been calling it Squash “Bottom” for so long, I have THAT stuck in my head and whenever someone asks for my address, guess what I tell them? UGH! LOL - - - Oh well, I guess we are going to be known as The Squash Bottom Gang!

The description of our home is ranch-style. There is a master suite and a guest suite with a media room separating the two. There is a living room, wet bar, powder room, kitchen, dining room, laundry and a 2 car garage plus a golf cart garage. Pretty basic, but we love it. We have two outside patios, both have views of the Catalinas. Lots of work to be done, but the process will be fun.

Here are a few pics of the nakey-newness. More to follow as we get the house “dressed up”. 

Back Patio

Side Patio

View from the Kitchen Garden Window

Living Room (Staged)

Dining Room (Staged)

I actually forgot to take picks after they removed the "staged" furniture but you get the gist. More to follow as we make progress! We get the keys tomorrow!!!

HOME ALONE!

Mark is in Colorado. The cargo trailer is hooked up to the truck and the guys are on their way back to Mesa. Meanwhile, back at the Tumbleweed (RV), Cotye and I spent our first night home alone.

Things went pretty good.  Cotye, who NEVER barks, decided to show off his vocals last night when the neighbor shut their car door next to our rig and I about fell off the couch. I guess that was a good thing, not the falling off the couch part, but the ferocious bark part. Two reasons; now I know I have a VERY strong heart, and secondly; I found out that Cotye is very protective while Mark is away.

Mark (a.k.a. daddy) is the one that usually takes Cotye on his looooong walks. So when he and I headed out for the first time, it was so cute to see him prance at the slowest pace possible cuz mommy’s knees go slow. He kept looking back at me with a huge smile on his face. I couldn't tell if he was laughing at me, or enjoying my company. Either way, he is just so dog-gone sweet.

When daddy walks him, they use a path on the outside of the RV park and walk a long, long ways. Well, mom can't walk long distances AND mom likes the safety of being inside the RV Park. So, instead I take him to the dog park. 

I think a dog designed this dog park. There are trees everywhere, some of them have tennis balls stuffed inside their tree knots for the dogs to find. There are loops and ramps and houses and, of course, fire hydrants; all kinds of fun things any dog would love. Green green grass, in Arizona, is like gold! Lots of room to roam, plus a small dog and a large dog water fountain! Frisbees are tucked into Doggy Parking signs. So much fun, even for the two-legged people on the other end of the leashes!

It took a few tries, but I finally got Cotye to go up on the ramp. I had to do it first to show him it was okay.

Hee Hee Hee

I love this picture. He got up on the tippy-top of the ramp before he looked down. When he saw how high up he was,his eyes bugged out. You can see the whites of his eyes and I clicked the pic just before his jaw dropped! 
After the long walk to and from the park, plus all the playing we did, I wore him out and he wore my knees out, so he is napping and I am stretched out, icing the knees. 

Actually, a nap does sound nice. I might even get some sleep without Mighty Mark walking around “rocking the boat”.  <wink>

Our Second Car is a WHAT?

So, today it was 63-degrees F outside and we are freezing.  Driving thru the RV Park, we were amazed to see people stripped down to shorts and tank tops, splayed out like fishes drying in the sun.

We were wearing long pants, jackets and had our seat warmers on!  And it wasn't just us. This is Cotye’s take on the weather.

From what Joy, (one of my sister-in-laws) advised me, these are probably Minnesotans and they are not tanning, but thawing out! I guess that makes sense.

So, today we bought our second car.  Here is a picture:

Yes, it is just a baby. Maybe it will grow into a 4-seater someday. Second car; a golf cart. I guess I should have seen that coming. Then again I should have seen the gray hair onset too, but it still slays me.

Tomorrow we head to Mesa where we (Cotye and I) will stay at an RV park close to Mark’s Mom’s. Then, Mark and Lyle, (step-dad) will take their truck to Colorado to pick up Hercules (our cargo trailer) and bring it back to Tucson. Christmas! I have no idea what we kept, other than our bed, smart TV and Christmas ornaments.

Cotye and I will have 3 nights/4 days together alone. Late nights and hopefully late mornings; if not, I hope Cotye doesn’t mind being walked with me in my jammies…

Cotye, I promise to leave my lingerie in the drawer and wear my cutest jammies sets. Wait, do I still own lingerie? Never mind.

I gotta tell you, no offense to the husband, but I am REALLY looking forward to alone time. After almost a year of residing in these tiny quarters together . . . you have no idea.

Well, I suppose I should post this and head to bed. Tomorrow being a “bug out” day, we all need our rest.

Talk to you soon!

THE SECRET IS OUT!

1-10-15

Here comes another adventure and I am so excited to . . . oh, enough with the formalities,

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!  

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!  

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE! 

Yes, I know I am repeating myself but I have been holding this inside until all the inspections and appraisals went through….and now I can finally let loose and shout it from the roof of the Tumbleweed! Well, I might get shot at if I do that, so sticking with screaming out the window until it at least gets dark out. teeheehee 

WE DID IT, WE BOUGHT A HOUSE! 

This is why I have been slacking on the blog! We have spent hours and hours, and weeks and weeks, and months and - well just two months. But it has been an exhausting and disappointing process, until we walked into THE ONE.

Looks like the move-in date will be mid-February. So we are off to Mesa, where Cotye and I will stay with the Tumbleweed, close to Mom R., then Mark and Lyle will head to Colorado to pick-up Hercules (the cargo trailer) using their truck to tow him. It will be like Christmas opening that thing up. I have no idea what we kept!

When the guys get back, two of my sister-in-laws are flying into town, so with them, Mom R. and possibly two of the aunts, we’re heading to Tubac for their big arts festival for a few days! I’m sure we’ll have a lot of fun pics to share from that trip! That is almost as exciting as buying the house!

We may or may not sell the RV - possibly get a “fun-size” one for travel, instead of this “biggie-size” one for living in. We will still be seasonal travelers, however, May - September.  So the blog will live on. And when we aren't traveling, I am sure we’ll have plenty of adventures to share while in the “Saddle” (nickname for the new neighborhood).

We are moving into a golf community. The house has a 2 car garage, plus a cute little golf cart garage to match. We are located on a corner lot that is directly kitty-corner from the golf cart access road, right off the first hole. While Mark is putzing with his golfing, I will be taking art classes; all kinds – It is like living AT the country club! Exercise facilities and sports courts, pools galore – and beautiful restaurants and facilities. Too many amenities to mention.

The house is all beige inside. I’ll post pics after we get the keys. For now, I’ll just give you a little taste of the color schemes I am pondering upon for specific areas of the house.

Living Room Color Palette

Color palette for the powder room across from the bar.

Master Suite color palette

Color palette for the Guest Suite

And no cookie-cutter furniture this time around; we plan on hitting estate sales, flea markets, art shows – even refurbish some pieces if we find some good ‘bones’ to work with. It will be a fun process and I will share it with you every step of the way, from the before until the after. And then we will all sit back with a glass of champagne, breathe a collective sigh, and toast to a job well done, OR . . . instead of champagne, we'll pour a stiff one and toast to a job that needs to be re-done - by a professional! God forbid!!!

INTRODUCING, MS. IMA CHIN