Phoenix & Pizza

Went to Phoenix yesterday to find a campground. Most were full; it's snowbird season here. We finally decided to go to Davis Monthan AFB in Tucson for a week or two. You can't beat the price of a military base RV Park & they are always immaculately clean - We still have more exploring to do in Tucson.

Have to say though, Phoenix feels like home to us. It's comfortable, we know our way around, and we have friends there. Evan will be in Phoenix for 3 weeks of training at the end of January, so we'll make our way back up there soon enough.

Tonight we ate at a place called Sauce. It's a casual, hip gourmet pizza joint. We got a thin crust rosemary-potato, feta, spinach & tapenade pizza. It was excellent!

We got Wii

Beaudry RV Park, Tucson, AZ

We made it to Tucson. It's beautiful here. The RV park is lined with orange, grapefruit & lemon trees; we just walk out the door & pick fresh oranges for juice every morning. Yum!

Fresh Citrus Fruit Trees Line the RV Park Roads

For Christmas we got ourselves a Wii Fitness Plus. Even though we walk the dogs four times a day we still needed some other forms of exercise, but with limited space in the RV we just couldn't figure out what to do. I saw a commercial for Wii & thought that would be perfect, and it is. We love Wii. It's fun & gives us both a good workout.

We hope everyone had a great Xmas.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

Warm weather eludes us...We can't escape it... Don't know if it's following us, but it seems no matter where we go it snows. We got 2-inches of snow this morning in Sierra Vista. We are waiting for the snow to melt before going to Tucson today.

Seasick

It is soooo windy today-35 mph. And, OMG, it's supposed to snow later today. What happened to that gorgeous weather we were having. The RV is rocking like a boat in choppy waters. We have a short in the hydraulic jacks so we can't lower them to stabilize the RV. We're getting seasick.

Tomorrow we will be moving to Tucson for a week. We should be able to get the jacks fixed while we're there. I guess we can't complain too much. The day before we arrived at Fort Bliss in El Paso they had 100 mph wind gusts. One of the trailers at the campground had blown over on its side.

The Great Escape

The weather in El Paso is wonderful, warm sunny days & clear chilly nights-perfect for sleeping.
Unfortunately, the city is a bit seedy for our tastes. The dogs don't care for it very much either - no matter where we walk them they get covered with hurtful spiky burrs. I spend a good half hour after each walk removing the stickers from there long fur & paws. After a week of this nonsense, we decided to take them to a local groomer for a shave & a haircut. We got a card for Pet Paws at the campground office & gave them a call. A man with a thick Hispanic accent answered the phone & told us no appointment was necessary, just drop them off. We found the shop behind a pawn & quick-cash store w/bars on the windows & doors. And, it wasn't just that store, every business & home in the area had black iron bars on the windows & doors. We decided to give it a shot anyway. After the owner unlocked the steel door, we pulled the reluctant dogs inside. The place was a mess & dogs in the back room were barking like crazy, but the groomer was nice enough & seemed to know what he was talking about. The dogs attempted The Great Escape when a young girl opened the font door to pick up her poodle. We recaptured them & forced them back inside. After we left, Joe & I just looked at each other like what the heck did we just do! I don't think Liam or Tazzy will ever forgive us for leaving them at that place.
We picked up the dogs about 3 hours later. They couldn't wait to get out of there & into the the safe haven of the car. They are clean & the long fur is gone, so it was well worth it after all was said & done.

While at Fort Bliss we visited the new Ironside Museum. Joe is standing by the same tank he was on in Vietnam.
Now we are staying at Fort Huachuca in Sierra Vista about 40 miles south of Tucson, AZ. Again, another beautiful campsite with mountain views. The weather is perfect; sunny days & chilly nights-Great for sleeping.

We took a day trip to the very small hillside town of Bisbee. Not much to see, mostly European style homes converted into shops & galleries -Very quaint.

Getting Up to Speed & Let the Journey Begin

Getting Up to Speed -

It all started with the purchase of a 13 year old 27' Class C Motorhome last spring. We took a whirlwind 3-week trip to the southwest at the end of April 2009. Loved it so much we decided to go full-time rving-we must be crazy! We put our Asheville, NC home up for sale thinking in today's market it probably won't sell it for at least a year-WRONG! It sold right away w/a quick settlement & the new owner also bought most of our furniture. The rest of our belongings were sold, given away or donated; what remained was put in storage. We traded up to a 2004 Tiffin Allegro 35' Class A Motorhome w/2 slideouts.

Let the Journey Begin!

We packed up the dogs & took off for Red Bay, Alabama, where Tiffin Motorhomes are built & serviced. A rear tire blew out shortly before we arrived . We were lucky we made it there in one piece. We stayed at the Allegro Campgrounds while our coach was serviced & repaired to make it roadworthy. That included all new tires, a tune-up, roof resealing & a new heater. We also went ahead & updated the kitchen.


Our next destination, Flower Mound, TX (just north of Dallas) to share Thanksgiving with Shelly & family. Next stop Austin. We loved it there; reminded us of Asheville. It was so cold in Austin it actually snowed one day.

Notice that cute dog in the window!

Looking for warmer weather, we went further south to San Antonio camping out at Fort Sam Houston. We took the Riverwalk tour & visited the Alamo.

Unfortunately, we brought the cold weather with us so we moved on to El Paso. Finally, beautiful sunny days. We decided to stay at another army base, Fort Bliss. We have outstanding mountain views. Until next time...

Fort Bliss RV Park