North Woods Get Away

We've been busy since we returned from Oklahoma. Before we left on that trip we put an offer on a cabin in the Show Low, AZ area and the close of escrow was on 9/8. So between all the paperwork for escrow and purchasing needed items for the cabin, it took most of our time. We took possession on the 8th and was busy getting everything set up the way we wanted it.

We had found a place where the furnishing were included, which was quite nice, so not too much was needed. Although we did find out some things were not what we wanted, so needed to replace, such as all the TV's which probably dated back to the 60's and boy were they heavy. Here is the living room with a nice fireplace which we tested out last night. After our first trip to the cabin, we figured out what we needed for a total AV system because there are speakers built-in through out the cabin. It only took us all day Thurs. and most of Friday to get the system up and running. Needless to say, we are not AV specialists. It's still not totally correct (unable to get the surround sound to work properly), but it works fine for what we need at this point.

Here's Jim enjoying our fire pit we put on the deck. We wanted a cabin with a built-in fireplace on the deck, but we settled for purchasing a fire pit. It works great.

 There are walking paths where we take our daily walks. At over 6300 feet, I'm puffing but still beautiful place to walk around.

Here's the front of the cabin.

Jim replaced all the outside lights today. The previous ones were quite rustic and cheap. So here are the new ones on the garage.

 From our back deck there are plenty of trees, mostly secluded except when golfers are teeing off on the 9th hole. We look out at the 9th tee box and can see a little down the 9th fairway.

 We ordered a cord of oak firewood that will be delivered tomorrow, so here is Jim stacking up our current inventory so we can get the new cord stack beside it.

 Here's the back of the cabin.

I believe we have most of our projects done, so tomorrow we can sit back and enjoy. The main reason for this North Woods Get Away is to get out of the Tucson summer heat. There's about a 20 degree difference in the two places. But we will be set up for cold weather also if we wish to come up. It's already getting cooler as last night it got down to 36 degrees. As I'm writing this I am being warmed by a blazing fire in our deck fire pit. Hopefully we have most our project completed on this trip, so the next time we come up we can go out and explore and enjoy the area.

Trip Home

We were hoping to finish with Newell on Wed., but as usual it always takes longer than expected. So had time to do a little more walking. Here is another old building in Commerce.

We finally got on the road at 12:30pm on Thurs planning to make it to Amarillo. Of course we had the coach washed, so created all this rain on our trip. It seems as if the road always goes right through the  middle of these storm cells.

We had sun, rain and rainbows.

 Even though the sky was so black, the rain wasn't too bad.

 Yes we went right through the middle of this rain.

We got into Amarillo at 7:30pm, fueled up and parked at the Oasis RV Park for the night. Got up early the next morning and was on the road at 5am (Tucson time) for a 750 mile trip to Tucson. Got to the shop around 4:20 after a uneventful but raining in spots (especially at Benson where we experienced at downpour) trip. Got the coach put away and was home by 5:30, always glad to be back but looking forward to the next trip.

Passing Time

The coach is in the service bay getting worked on and they have completed many of the items we had for them to repair, but still a little ways to go yet before they are complete. Yesterday we discovered that the front passenger tire had a big bulge in it, so added replacing the front tires to our list. It's day 2 of sitting around waiting for them to finish. Yesterday we took a 5 mile walk down into Miami and stopped at Walmart to pick up a few items.

Today we went for a 2 mile walk and found this vintage gas station turned into Dairy King in Commerce, which is just north of Miami. At lunch we walked back down there to enjoy a great cheeseburger, fries and a whole lot of local history from the owner. Of course, this place is right on old Route 66.

 Walking through downtown Commerce (a whole 5 blocks long) we found this big building the size of the whole city block that is a flea market.

 It was just rows and rows of junk (sorry - antiques). Yea there was a lot of junk, but there were some nice old pieces also. I think there was a little bit of everything in that place.

 Even an old wood burning stove.

Did you know that Mickey Mantle grew up in Commerce, OK? 

Hopefully they will finish up on the RV tomorrow so we can start heading back on Thursday. Yesterday the weather was beautiful in the low 80s with a bit of humidity. But today it's overcast, in the mid 80s and humid, so not so pleasant. It's calling for possible thunderstorms, but so far none. Maybe later today.

Repair Time

We took off Friday afternoon for our every other year trip to get the RV serviced. The first leg of the trip brought us to Las Cruces for overnight, then on the our favorite restaurant!

The Big Texan in Amarillo.

 This time we were able to get a table in the balcony for a view of the whole restaurant.

Then on to Miami, OK to get all the issues taken care of on the RV. We even accumulated more issues on our drive there. I don't think there is a time where everything works properly (well, life would be boring if it did). Hopefully we will only be here a couple of days to get everything fixed, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Beat the Heat

This last Saturday promised to get to 108 degrees in Tucson, so we decided to get a bit of relief and head up to Mount Lemmon. Packed the little grill, ice chest and snacks and headed for the mountain. We drove around just looking at cabins for awhile, went to see Jim's cabin he sold there, which looked about the same. Then settled in for a late afternoon of enjoying the scenery and cooler weather.

We stopped at a picnic area just down from Summerhaven, got all set up to sit back and relax and enjoy. But it just became a little cool with the stiff breeze. We even put on light jackets, but just not comfortable. So packed up and headed farther down the mountain.

We found a perfect spot where it was the perfect temperature and hardly any people, so set up the ice chest and grill. Settled back with a glass of wine, then Jim proceeded to grill the best brats we have had (anything to do with eating in the beautiful forest?). Of course we finished our great meal with S'mores.

It was so pleasant just to get out of the heat and enjoy the outdoors. We need to do this more often.

Monsoon is Here

You know not much is happening when my post after over two months is about the monsoon season in Tucson. But I always especially enjoy that first storm of the season. It must be something about the refreshing smell of the first rains, the replenishing of moisture to our arid landscape and the cooling down effect (especially after such hot temps lately).

Saturday brought our first storm with only 4/10 of an inch of rain, but is a promise of more moisture to come. But it also brings higher humidity, but you can't have one without the other. I recorded about 25 seconds of the rain for everyone's enjoyment (hope this comes through on the post, never attached a video before).

The storm cells always bring high winds, which blows all the debris from the bushes and trees straight into the pool, which Jim was trying to keep cleaned out.

After the storm we are blessed with rainbows - I should find 2 pots of gold with two ends of the rainbow (it's almost a double rainbow).

 Since we haven't been wine tasting for awhile, Jim got an itch to go the Willcox to find that perfect bottle of wine. So Sunday we took off mid morning to hit the wine trail. We stopped at Golden Rule Winery and found a couple of good wines, then on to Zarpara Winery, Pierce Winery and finished at Pillsbury Winery where we found several more good wines. So we came home with more bottles for our ever growing cellar. As you can see Jim is wearing his Cops & Rodders T-shirt showcasing his Shelby Super Snake.

After an enjoyable afternoon tasting wine, we stopped at the Silver Spur Restaurant for a mesquite grilled steak before heading home.

Visit to Mom's

It's been awhile since we traveled back to Fond du Lac, WI to visit Jim's mother, so a month ago we booked a flight for April 7th thinking the weather would be half way decent. Well it turns out, a winter storm decided to show up. We woke up to snow yesterday morning and it snowed off and on through out the day. We joined David and Carol for lunch then off to visit with mom. Then Carol put on a wonderful dinner at their home for the rest of the family.

When we were ready to leave for the hotel last night, this is what Jim had to do.

This morning we awoke to bright blue skies and 20 degrees. Today Carol has planned a lunch at Mom's place with part of the family. 

We will gladly be flying out tomorrow morning at 8am (only because of the weather) to get back to some nice warm temps. I'm not used to the cold and I do not have the appropriate clothing nor do I wish to acquire either.