Up on the roof

Today was another wonderful weather day.

It must be easy to be a weather forecaster here in Arizona.

Everyday is mid 70's, sunny, with no chance of rain.

Teresa and I had another long walk through the resort, and stumbled upon another open house.

We toured some coach houses, where you can park your RV in a covered port, with an attached house.

There were some very nice houses, but not something we are interested in just yet.

Still, we had a hot dog lunch, including wine and beer, and a great singer provided some fun entertainment.

Those are the Superstition Mountains

Later in the afternoon, Teresa headed off to the laundromat while I scurried up on our roof.

I noticed that some of the caulking was getting kind of old and brittle, so I decided to tackle part of the chore of scraping out all the old stuff, in order to reseal the seams with new caulking.

Teresa came home, just as I was coming down the ladder, as I had enough fun for one day.

She mentioned that this laundry room was the cleanest and largest she had seen to date.

Hopefully, tomorrow if I get the roof resealed, we can venture outside of this nice resort.

Enjoying Canyon Vistas Resort

We enjoyed a nice relaxed morning of coffee and talking in the brilliant Arizona sunshine.

After lunch we decided to walk around the resort. 

We noticed they had some open houses on park models, so we spent an hour or so with a sales lady.

She said that eventually, most of these parks will be converted to all park models.  That was news to us.

We continued touring the grounds, and chatting with folks from all over the US and Canada.  We even found one couple that lives in our hometown of Regina, Saskatchewan.

We arrived back to our rolling home, in time to enjoy an adult beverage as the sun was setting.

It was another wonderful day in the desert.

Gold Canyon AZ

After another great night of sleep, we woke to blue skies and sunny weather.

I think the high was in the mid 70's today, but it feels much hotter than that in the sun.

We had an easy drive from Tucson today, in fairly light traffic.

The views in Arizona are wonderful.  It seems there is a mountain range every time the highway turns.

After only a couple of short hours, we arrived at Canyon Vistas, a Cal-Am resort.

We got set up, and immediately neighbours started welcoming us to the neighborhood.

In fact, we went for a short walk to see the pool and hot tub, and never got back to our rig for nearly three hours.

Why ... because we met so many wonderful folks that could tell we were new, and were anxious to share their secret hikes and spots we must see.

Well, as you can tell, the next two weeks at this resort will probably go by pretty quickly ... LOL.

Mission San Xavier

One of the neat things about travelling, is finding out about the history behind the places we visit.

Such was the case today, when we visited the San Xavier Mission.

This mission was built in the early 1700's, and is one of the best preserved missions for its age.

As you can see, it was a beautiful day for touring. 

Our tour director told us stories of looting, squatting, and even earthquakes.

This mission is an active church today, and yet somehow has retained much of it's originality.

After our tour, Teresa and I stopped at a large RV dealer and looked at a few more motorhomes. 

We seem to be gravitating towards a Tiffin or Winnebago product.

Tomorrow is moving day.  We are heading to Canyon Palms for a couple of weeks, just east of Apache Junction.

Hopefully we will stumble upon a gold nugget in the Superstition Mountains to buy the RV of our dreams.

I drove a $200,000.00 Motorhome

I felt like a kid going back to school this morning. 

My RV driver course started at 9 am, and if Teresa and I were to have our coffee time together, that meant setting the alarm.

After our coffee, and giving Teresa a big smooch, I was on my way to class.

I promptly walked up to the front of the class, and gave the teacher a nice red apple !!

I can heartily recommend the RV Driver Confidence Course.  They have some really great tips on how to drive one of the big rigs.

But, the best part is you get to drive one of their diesel pushers.  It was a little intimidating for sure, but with the techniques they teach, I felt comfortable enough to get behind the wheel.

This is the kind of motorhome I got to drive.  A Berkshire diesel pusher valued at over $200 grand.  The instructor chuckled at me, and said " If you break it, you buy it. "

Oops, those air brakes are pretty sensitive !! 
I hope the instructor's nose prints come off the windshield.

In the end, I learned that with training and practice, anyone can learn to drive a 40 foot motorhome. 

And I even have the paperwork to prove it !!



Kicking some tires

Life here at the Lazydays resort is pretty sweet. 

We have full hookups, fast wifi, cable TV, and they offer free courses.

One of the courses I signed up for tomorrow is entitled " Driving your RV with confidence."

After a two hour classroom lesson, we get to jump into one of their Class A motorhomes, and give 'er a spin.

This resort has two pools and hot tubs, two laundromats, a dining room and a cafe.  They even have propane BBQ's for anyone to use.

This morning we both enjoyed the breakfast buffet, complete with coffee and juice for less than $5.00 each.

This afternoon, we checked out a bunch of fifth wheels, and motorhomes.  It was a lot of fun, and we were both pretty excited thinking about our next rig.

On the way home, we popped into the Camping World which is also on site, and bought a couple of things we needed.

We still have quite a few things we want to see in the Tucson area, but so far we are very entertained right here !

Desert Museum and a Short Move

There is something about Tucson that is very enticing.

Originally, we were only going to spend a few days here, but we just committed to another four days, and even then, we are going to be busy.

Lazydays, originally in Florida, have opened a second location here in Tucson.  They had an online deal where you pay for two days, and get the second two days free.

This was perfect because we had more to see, and also, we want to take their RV driving course, and browse larger rigs.

This morning, after coffee and showers, we headed to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.

Wow, a person could easily spend a whole day here, and in fact some people take more than one day to see everything.

A handler showing us a Barn Owl

This museum has over 300 animals and over 1200 plants.

We thought it's a museum, we will be inside right ??   Wrong !!

Most of the museum is outside.  There are walking paths, an aviary, and animal displays.

We took photos of mountain lions, bears, beavers, otters, and an assortment of birds, but the photos did not turn out that great.

I think our favorite display was the enclosed hummingbird display.

Those little critters would dive bomb us on the way to a feeder or back to it's shelter.

After many miles and many hours, we reluctantly headed back to our rolling home.

Ahhh .... time for refreshments.

We meet a fellow Blogger

We had a very enjoyable day today. 

Of course, every day is wonderful when you are following your dreams, but some days are still better than others.

When we announced we were headed to Tucson, one of our most faithful readers who always comments, got in touch with us to meet up in person.

We were quick to say "you bet", and made lunch plans for today.

Jo is a wonderful, down to earth RV'er, that is living life the way she wants to.

She is fortunate enough to have a winter home here in Tucson, and a great little place up in the mountains to escape the hot summers.

Jo has a Class C like ours, but does not get a chance to use it as much as she would like.  Sounds familiar, doesn't it ?

We chatted away for a couple of hours, like old friends, and parted ways with hugs and promises to keep in touch.  Such fun.

When we got home, we changed into some hiking clothes and hit the trails around our park. 

This is not like any terrain this prairie boy has ever seen.

Nor, this city girl.

As we passed these two saguaros, we wondered if they mate for life ... LOL.

Tucson, AZ

As today was a travel day, Teresa and I cut our coffee break in bed down to an hour ... LOL.

We said our good-byes to all the wonderful staff, and hit the road to Tucson.

We had a stiff wind on our backs, and it felt great to be flying down the highway, with the engine barely working.

The terrain was constantly changing, and soon we saw our very first saguara cactus.

I am sorry, but it looked so hilarious to see these huge and impressive cacti towering above the landscape.

These magnificent plants are found only in Arizona, Mexico, and a small area in California.

They take up to 75 years to grow their first arm !!  They can live to be over 150 years. 

We are excited to see these bad-boys up close and personal.

We quickly found our campground, Justin's Diamond J RV Park.  They are a Passport America park, so our rate is $15.00 per night.

We have a busy few days planned while we are in this neighborhood, there is just so much to see and do.

Plus, this campground has a trail that leads to the western Saguara National Park. 

We just might need to hire an event coordinator !

Last day at Huachuca City

We both slept like logs last night.  In bed before 10 pm,  and awake a little before 8 am.  Nice !

We have coffee in bed every morning, but this mornings coffee time was almost two hours !!

You would think we would be "talked out" by now, right ?? 

Not so, we chat about family, travelling, rigs, and future dreams.

We have met some really nice folks here the last couple of days, and wish we would have met them earlier.  Oh well.

Tomorrow we are heading towards Tucson for a few days, before making our way towards the Phoenix area for a few weeks.

We have really enjoyed our stay here and would highly recommend the Tombstone Territories RV Resort.

Tombstone ... The Town too Tough to Die

We had a great time today in Tombstone.  Did you know that in it's hay day, it was larger than San Francisco ?

This town had a very wild side to it, back then. 

The town got it's name from a miner.  When he set out for this territory, his friends said he was more likely to find his own tombstone, than to discover silver.

Teresa had a great time shopping all the local stores, and even made a few purchases.

Everyone told us to have a drink at Big Nose Kate's Saloon. 

And you know, we always do what we are told !

Another interesting stop was the Bird Cage Theatre.

We had no idea why it was called "Bird Cage".  Well, guess what ... it was a bordello where the women were in cages above the floor, enticing the men.

This saloon has over 100 bullet holes in it from over the years.

And finally, no trip to Tombstone is complete, without a stop at the Boothill Graveyard.

Here lies many victims of shoot-outs, murder, hanging, and a few drownings.  I think we only saw one natural death.

And that ended our tour of Tombstone for today.  We left a couple of activities undone, for the next time we visit this tough town.





Touring Bisbee

One of the must do's for anyone in this part of Arizona is a tour of the old mining town of Bisbee.

Teresa and I had heard of a great little restaurant there, so we decided to have a small breakfast at home, and enjoy a lunch at the Bisbee Breakfast Club.

They serve breakfast all day, and that is exactly what we ordered.  This restaurant is very popular with the locals, because of the large excellent meals with very reasonable prices.

We couldn't even finish our meals, and we were starved when we arrived.

The block that this restaurant is on, has some neat old buildings and cars.

As you can see, the weather was beautiful today.

One thing we noticed was how friendly the locals are, this is kind of an artsy town now.

After our amazing meals, we took a stroll through the Old Bisbee District.

They have a lot of antique stores, a person could spend hours here.

After window shopping, we enjoyed the half hour drive back home, noticing how blue the skies were today.

Ah, but is was not all fun and games today.  Teresa had mounds of laundry that needed taming.

After a couple of hours, she could finally see the end of the tunnel, and I can finally put on a clean pair of socks !!

A Great Day in the Sun

Teresa woke up with a huge smile on her face.  She is very happy to be sitting still for a whole week.

Yep, we are making the newbie error, of trying to see it all our first year out.

And truth be told, we knew that, but we just couldn't figure out which stops we would put on the chopping block.

I guess we will continue to figure things out as we go along.

We both have a great feeling about this park.  It just has a great vibe.

The sites are HUGE !!  Like most parks in Arizona, it is landscaped in a desert theme, to conserve water.

I got busy today, and washed and waxed the car and the rig.  I was so tired by the end, I could barely move my arms to eat supper.

Teresa took a different approach, and today was her resting day, while tomorrow she will be a human dynamo. 

I saw her to-do list, and nearly collapsed just reading it ... LOL.