Home At Last

After a  very long 3 months and 2 days, we moved to 30689 S. Wandering Way on Thursday afternoon.  The gravel was delivered and spread in the morning.

Terry, and his brother Phil, packed a driveway for the trailer, secured things to move 6 blocks and hooked her up.  I didn't get a picture of the trailer creeping along with a 31 ft. antennae on the bumper.

It was wonderful that Phil and Connie were visiting.  They even stayed over an extra day to help.

We enjoyed sunset and several very 'happy hours'  on our first evening at home.  Our neighborhood is very quiet, peaceful and beautiful!

Here's the setting sun across the street.  There's a view of the mountains a little to the west.

There's a pretty old Mesquite tree in the back corner of our lot.  When I was digging out it's base that had been covered in the lot leveling, 2 neighbors came out to help. Together we made quick work on a back breaker  job for me alone.  It's so nice to have such a close neighborhood!




Each year the community celebrates it's history with a Fiesta, Parade and Craft Show in March.  My Line Dance group was in the Parade.  I enjoyed watching it all.

On Tuesday morning Terry will have surgery to repair the torn ligaments and tendons in his ankle.  We have great confidence in his surgeon in Peoria near Phoenix.  If all goes well he should be getting back to a new normal in 3 months or so.  We are hopeful we can return to Silver Falls, OR in August.

Getting Closer

It's been a 'hurry up' and 'wait' month plus.  The trenches were finally dug for our sewer, electric and water lines on Feb. 13.  The lines are in place and the 'rough-in inspection' will be on Monday.  Here's Terry on site.

We ordered our crushed rock to cover the lot yesterday and it will be ready to deliver when the trenches are covered and the inspections are done this coming week --- we hope!  Then at last we can 'hook-up' on our own 1/4 acre of Arizona.  It will be a delight to leave the gravel parking lot crammed with RV's that has been home base for the last 3 months.

I did have a fun morning at the annual Wickenberg historic celebration-Gold Rush Days Parade the weekend before our trenching.  The parade featured the 'Mountain Men' actors, the Wells Fargo Stage Coach, (a true original) and the women long distance trail riders group among many others.

While we were waiting for our last Yavapai County Permit to clear the Land Use Review Team an unusually big snow storm came this far south.  It was lovely on the mountains and in the park on the cacti.  Prescott, where the County offices are located got about 18 inches of snow.  All the offices there were closed for a few days while they dug out and we waited a bit longer.

It has been a long slow process getting this far on our lot plan to have 3 RV hookups and a shed eventually.  Someday we might add a house or a small manufactured home.  But for now it is a delight to be a part of this very active community a few months of the year when we are not traveling or volunteering.  We are so close now to our dream of having a 'home site' while living in our little travel trailer.

In Slow Motion

Our life here at North Ranch is moving slowly forward, not unlike ourselves.  Our ankles are healing slowly.  My shuffle is almost gone and Terry is sporting a compression boot and needing lots of rest still.  But we are making progress on getting our lot ready for the RV and guests.

The back retaining wall is built and it is leveled for correct drainage.

The front loader added the extra soil we needed. ( Wish you had been there to watch, Emrys!)

Our long time friends and new neighbors, Bud and Elaine hosted a beautiful Christmas meal for the neighborhood.  It was great to share the holiday with them and meet our other neighbors. We had great food, lots of laughs and Bingo with prizes!!!  Then the weather took a dive and we had snow on Dec.31.

Just a dusting that was gone in a few hours.  It didn't stop the New Year's Eve Dance that included lots of line dancing, waltzes and polkas.  We even did a line dance (Alabama) to the polkas!  Fun!  I ignored my ankle and shuffled through a few dances I admit.

I mentioned my church, Yarnell Presbyterian,  in the last blog and here are some pictures of it and the view across town to the hills behind it.

The town of Yarnell has become an antique, shopping and diner destination with a very active community center too.  Only 3 miles downhill on the Prescott highway is gorgeous, Peeples Valley.
Here are some photos of that area yesterday after it snowed overnight.

On Saturday Bud and Elaine braved a cold wind to help me get the permit post up for the electric hookups.  Terry's Info Box from Amazon, and Bud's saw, drill and sledge made quick work of the job.  Elaine patiently threaded the tie downs, mounted the Velcro lid tabs and took the photo of  'the finest permit post North Ranch ever saw'.  What a team!

Our progress is slower than we had hoped, but the days fly by and before we know it the sun is setting!

Frosty Mornings

The Park meadows are covered in frost nearly every morning now and it is as thick as snow.  It covers the browning ferns and sparkles on the young firs.  As the sun catches the crystals, we have a land of a million twinkles.  It's lovely, but too chilly for me.  Arizona is definitely calling!

It is hard to believe that November is here and we will leave  for Arizona on Dec. 1.  Jane, my sister, came to spend Halloween night in the Park and we stayed at one of the old Girls Camp Cabins.  The cabins are one of my favorite spots.  They are dotted up a fern and fir covered hillside and seem to be part of a hobbit land.  It was wonderful to wake in this mysterious place!

The morning fog you see here is freezing now and adds a layer of ice to all the trees tall and short.

Since Terry's military service was honored by the Park with a day off yesterday, we went to the Coast for lunch (only 2 and 1/4 hours).  The weather was perfect and the trip across the coastal mountain range was beautiful.  We ate at our favorite restaurant in Yachats, the LUNA.  The sea captain owner was there and he gave Terry a free meal in appreciation of his service.  What a kind gesture!!  Yachats was warm , sunny and gorgeous as usual!!

Our sunny daylong adventure seemed like a 2 or 3 day get-away and I got warm enough to enjoy the evening campfire on our return.  The fire was blazing, toasty warm and a fitting goodbye for our host friends leaving today.  We continued our plans for the Host Thanksgiving Potluck at the end of the month.    Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Returns and Reunions

We finished our Campground Host job on August 31 and spent 2 weeks on a return trip to Yellowstone.  The week before our trip I had a wonderful reunion with my niece, Leann and her family.  Leann has been living in Japan for 7 years.  She married there and now has 2 children.  I got to meet her husband and children at long last during her visit with my sister, Jane in Tualatin, OR.

Hywel, her husband, came from England to teach in Japan and is now working in a Japanese university.  Their oldest child, Emrys, is a busy, joyful 3 year old.  He's full of questions and a sponge for new information!

Lilliwen, is 15 months old.  She was just taking a few steps behind a push toy the first day we met.  By their departure 3 weeks later, she was hustling across the backyard grass to get the ball Emrys tossed.  How amazing!!!

My older sister, Ann, came with her son and his wife to enjoy time with Leann and her family too!  We took a waterfall hike at Silver Falls.

We had a perfect day to visit the Vista House on the Columbia River Gorge.  The view was really spectacular as the clouds lifted after a rainy morning.  Chris and Kirby were happy to be there.

I do think the Gorge is such a special, beautiful place.  We only saw a little evidence of last years' wildfires there.  I'm so glad I had family with me for a return visit.

Silver Falls State Park, OR- Year 2

The quiet of late fall and winter at Silver Falls is entirely different from the buzz of summer vacationers, hikers and bikers in the Park. In our 3 winter months last year we learned a little of the Park without the crowds, but it is amazing to be in the middle of the busy campgound in July.  Our job, as relief campground hosts, is really different too.  Our campsite in the tent loop is right on Silver Creek just beyond the covered bridge that leads to the cabin area.  The huge Douglas firs surrounding it add to the beauty.

We are on one end of a 50 site loop nearly full every nite with families and children.  This week a family reunion of babies, toddlers and preschool kids has invaded the area around us, but the weeks before were very pleasant.  On a particularly warm afternoon when Terry was outside resting, a neighbor brought over an ice cold beer to thank him for such a clean, well kept campground.  How nice is that?!!

The sites under huge fir trees are large and well shaded.  The photo below shows the road to our site past 23 other sites.

There are lots of beautiful ferns everywhere too.  Here's the entrance and the covered bridge near our site.

I might have mentioned last year that this park is called the 'crown jewel' of the state park system and it is truly special!

Our job in the campground is cleaning sites on the days that the 2 other hosts have off.  So on Mon. and Tues. we clean the RV sites and on Weds. and Thurs. the tent sites in the second loop.  We have had as little as 6 sites one day and 40 on another.  On Sun. Terry works as park mechanic like he did  last year and I have been a trail guide at the North Falls trailhead.  Of course, I was assigned to the one trail I hadn't been on, but my trainer helped me remedy that right away.

We are staying busy and learning more about the park and the Salem and Silverton area each day!

Our New Neighborhood-North Ranch

Our trip across country to Wickenburg, AZ was a real challenge for me.  Driving about 400 miles a day for 5 days taught me lots of new hand jive moves to Linda Ronstadt blasting on the CD player.  But I did it!  Just should have made my first trip about 40 years ago.  We unloaded our trailer into storage on a day that it was 107 degrees.  But it's a dry heat!  LOL.  We enjoyed the comfort of a motel for 2 days to recover!

The Escapee RV Park, North Ranch, where we purchased a lot is about 10 miles away.  We spent over a week there- glad to be back in our trailer home.  The  picture above is the Club House, with a Library, laundry and 2 activity rooms.  During our stay I enjoyed 4 Line Dance classes, 2 Beading Groups, giving and getting items at the Share Table, checking out books and magazines and we both attended the Ice Cream Social.  The classes go on year round but are much bigger in the winter.

The Park includes a campground next to the Club House and an RV village.  Here's a street view from my sunset walk.

Some owners have just a storage shed and gravel parking area on the smaller lots.

Our neighbors on both sides have nice homes on larger lots.

Someday we will add an RV storage port and tiny house combo to our lot.  For now we will grade and gravel it and get electric sewer and water hookups installed in the winter.  We will be happy to call it home until we can get a builder.  In the meantime Terry is having fun drawing tiny house plans and I'm learning about native desert wildflowers and shrubs.  It is nice to have 3 trees on the lot.  Here's a photo.  Our Oregon host friends who introduced us to Escapee Parks live right behind us.  We are so excited to be neighbors!!!

The mountain views all around the village are really nice as you can see below.  We especially enjoyed our coffee and tea watching the sunrise over the mountains in the cool breezes.  I had to wear long sleeves most mornings.

It was hard to leave our friends and  new neighborhood behind today, but Carlie is waiting for us at Silver Falls State Park.  We think she will keep us busy there.  It will be great to see our OR and WA family too!