Time Really Does Fly

Our New Home

Since last I wrote on my blog a lot has happened; We bought a small home in Gilbert, AZ .Settlement was in April 2012. We had a few items in storage back in Asheville, NC  delivered when we got the news that my sister needed surgery for her cancer.





The Carcinoid Cancer specialist was in Louisiana.
We packed up the RV and headed to New Orleans stopping in Dallas to pick up my niece. The surgery went well and Sue came back with us to recuperate for a few weeks. We had just sold our beloved Alfa Gold diesel pusher when we got the call from a friend to come to Texas to manage his RV Park. We left our new home for a year and a half.

Liam

Our dogs Liam and Tazzy were troopers though all this upheaval in their lives. They both love rving and exploring. Unfortunately our handsome Liam passed away at the ripe old age of 15.


Upon our return home, Joe underwent major back surgery to remove a screw that was in his spine from his previous back surgery11years earlier. That surgery lasted over 12 hours. After his recovery, we decided that we wanted to get a smaller RV to escape the Phoenix, AZ summer heat. We searched for nearly a year before we bought a 2008 27 foot Winnebago Aspect with only 18,000 miles on it.

 Our first trip, the summer of 2016 was to Utah. We had no agenda, no time limits. Click on pictures to enlarge.

    

Cliff Palace

Window Rock-Navajo Nation, AZ

Grand Canyon North Rim

Natural Bridges NP

Zion NP

Three Sisters-Monument Valley

 

Grand Canyon North Rim

Arches NP

Natural Bridges NP

Lone Pine, CA

Our Motorcoach at Boulder Creek RV Resort

After a long day in Yosemite & Joe's terrifying treck down the Tioga Pass, we pulled into a great RV park in Lone Pine, CA (Boulder Creek RV Resort - in the middle of nowhere). While Joe set up, I took Tazzy for a walk. As we were walking I noticed a familiar face -  It was Sharon Frank - Remember, she & husband Larry came to visit us at Coyote Valley. Small world!
We left the next morning- we had a deadline to meet - We wanted to visit Evan in Las Vegas before we had to be at Alfateers Service Center for maintenance & upgrades to our motorhome on September 27th,

Sharon on Swing 

Mountain View at Lone Pine, CA

Yosemite

Entering first tunnel

Exiting last tunnel

After leaving Coyote Valley RV Resort, we headed to Yosemite National Park. We set up camp & got a good nights sleep. .                                                                                            
 The next day we were off to Yosemite with the dogs. After going through several tunnels, we finally started descending into the valley

Yosemite Valley

Only bear we saw in Yosemite

When we left Yosemite we decided not to hook up the car until we reached the bottom of the Tioga Pass.  We went from an elevation of over 9000 feet down to 3000 feet. The views were incredible, but I didn't get to take any pictures because I was driving the car. It was a pretty harrowing experience for Joe, driving a 40 foot, 37 thousand pound bus down a steep winding 2-lane road. Joe's knuckles were white by the time he got to the bottom of the pass. We pulled into a cafe to let the breaks and Joe cool down before hooking the car back up & moving on.

More Day Trips



Carmel Breakfast Cafe

Joe Leaning Against Clock Post in Carmel



Some other places we recently visited:

Carmel-By-The-Sea:

We had breakfast at a small cafe called From Scratch before taking a stroll downtown. The road down to the beach is steep & winding
The views are gorgeous!





Natural Bridge



Santa Cruz...again:

We visited Santa Cruz again with friends Sharon & Larry.

The waves were really high! Surfers were out in droves catching some great rides.







Day Trippin'

After 5 days of fun & relaxation, we started our 2 day trek back to Coyote Valley RV Resort (CVR) and get back to work in the cafe. I've been making some wonderful baked goods and breakfast on Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings. We try to take advantage of our days off to explore the Central California area. We've taken day trips to:

Monterey:

Fisherman's Wharf, Cannery Row Shopping District & these guys remind me of the Tut-Tut's in Thailand.

Moss Landing:

Caught this seal waving to the dogs...

OMG!! The boardwalk is sinking from all that weight of so many seals sunbathing.

Santa Cruz: Downtown Santa Cruz reminds me of Asheville - very eclectic & hippy..ish. Lots of shops, cafes & restaurants.

The beach (aka: Surf City USA) is another story. Its rugged coastline attracts many surfers & there is a memorial plaque near the lighthouse to all the surfers who lost their lives in search of the perfect wave.

Dogs are welcome to play in the water & run on the beach. Our dogs decided to just observe.

Till next time...

FIRE!!!

WOW! As I was walking Tazzy around the park the other night, I noticed smoke billowing in the distance above the clubhouse. Soon, a crowd of people started gathering around the fence line - There was a brush fire headed our way. The wind was picking up as it usually does every day around 4 to 5 pm. Sirens started getting closer & then a helicopter flew by just as the fire trucks pulled into the RV park - We all thought it was the local news copter, but then it flew back around with a hose dangling from beneath. A loud siren went off & water started spewing out over the fire. After about a dozen attempts the fire was out - No one was hurt & no rigs were damaged. Yeah! That was enough excitement for one night.

Alfa RV Rally

Six days after we arrived at Coyote Valley RV Resort, we took off for the Alfa Rally in Pahrump, NV - We made our plans to attend this rally months ago. So, we had to back-track our way almost 500 miles through California, because, guess what?... there's no shortcut through Death Valley! Go figure! Once we turned off on to Death Valley Road I swear we didn't see another vehicle all the way up to Pahrump, NV - It was kinda creepy! We did pass the sign to Zzyzx Road - What kind of name is that? So, I looked it up online & here's the link in case you're interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/zzyzx.

It was pretty exciting when we pulled into the Treasure Island RV Resort. There were already hundreds of Alfa Rigs lined up in rows like soldiers. Once we got registered, parked & set up we took a walk around the resort. The pool is two-tiered with a waterfall, a spa and a Tiki Bar.

We had a great time at the rally - We learned a lot of helpful info about our Alfa at the workshops and had the Alfateer Service Center tweak a few things on our coach. There were dinner parties, games & prizes, an ice cream social and a pet parade. The best part was talking to all the other Alfa owners & getting to tour the interior remodels of at least two dozen motorhomes. We got some great ideas and input - Now we know what improvements we'd like to make to our home on wheels. More to come....