Meteor Crater

Today we drove up the road to Meteor Crater! This was an interesting and fun time, with lots to do. We walked around, took pics, read about how the crater was made (by a meteor!), and even ate lunch! A friendly couple took a photo of us, and I took lots of pics of the crater, rocks, etc..

I made this panorama from shots I took. Please click it!

Then we drove on up to Holbrook, AZ, where we're staying at the fine KOA.

Here are some pics of some of our friends. Bob and Leatha are from Far Horizons.

We visited Bob and Patti in Gilbert, AZ.

We visited John and Leilani in Sun Lakes.

Just South of Flagstaff

Hi there!
Michael, Maddy, Eddie, and I are here in our li'l Navion in a crummy campground called Munds Park. If you're in the area, miss this one. It's dirty, roads are gravel, they gave us a tiny corner bit of a site, and there are loud kids (and adults) and little else. Urgh. It'll serve us for overnight, but it does get to us when they charge so handsomely for such a puny and yucky place to park the rig.

We've really enjoyed our first 3 days on the road. Here's the synopsis:
Monday: packed up, did laundry, and moved the pets into the rig, slept in the li'l Nav for the first time.

Tuesday: Drove up to AJ's on the NW side of Tucson, had pizza, and then headed out. Everything worked great. Drove on to Mesa, AZ to Mesa Regal RV Resort, where we paid for 3 nights. This was a splendid park, reminding us a lot of Far Horizons in Tucson. Most of the people are there just for the winter, and so many were in the process of leaving, or had already left. Roses bloomed everywhere!

Wednesday: Bob and Patti O. picked us up and showed us around their beautiful neighborhood at Gilbert, AZ. What a great time we had! We had delicious pizza (We could eat pizza every meal; honest!) for lunch and then a homecooked turkey breast with all the fixins for supper. They drove us back early in the evening. Michael enjoyed catching up and sharing memories with Bob, while Patti and I giggled and oohed and aahed over the decorating in the model homes we toured. Beautiful place and there were a couple of houses I could stand to live in. ;)

Thursday: John and Leilani D. picked us up and took us for dinner at Iguana Mack's near where we were... Chandler AZ, I think. Afterward we went back to their home for delicious chocolate cake! We had enough chicken with Jack Daniels sauce and chicken linguine broccoli that we will be feasting tonight, too! It was fun to see those 2 again and to chuckle about things, both professional and personal. I got to see John's computer setup where he does all his Photoshop work, and smiled to see that he has the same monitor, keyboard, trackball, and tablet that I use!

Friday is today and the drive was easy around Phoenix and up here. We stopped at Michael's choice -- McDonalds! We also made an errand to Walmart where we picked up some supplies, including a floor lamp for the RV. I just hate the standard very-hot lights that they put in all RV's and so .. this is a good solution. There actually was room for it, too!

Here's a pic of a party we attended at Harold & Kathy's back in February. During the party, Harold and I went out back to take a couple of pics of the sunset!

Random Firings

I've taken LOTS of photos in Tucson, and will strive to get them put into galleries before I die, but, in the meantime, here are a few glimpses through the viewfinder:

On January 21, it snowed! I got these photos the next morning. The mountain shot is looking north to the Catalinas. Aunt Dots was visiting when this rare event occurred. This is the first snowfall IN Tucson since 1978, they said.

On 2/18, the Hardy Hikers went up toward Mt. Kimball on the Finger Rock trail. What a fun day that was! There were outstanding vistas and ... magic beans!

We went to the Grand Canyon with the Hiking Club on 3/11-14. On Monday, a band of us hiked down into the canyon. The first photo came from my hike down. The second is Michael and me outside the lodge where we were singing .. and eating!... with the group.

We're getting set to head out on Tuesday, and are hoping to spend the night in the Navion tomorrow night with the pets for the first time. Before that, though, I'm going to be moving all my important stuff from the big computer into my portable HD and into my laptop. First is the financial stuff. This kind of thing gives me hives, but it makes no sense to bring the big box back to Bloomington this time.

Picacho photos

Hi! I know that it's been an age since I wrote in here. I've been too busy having fun to write about it! I have a few pics to share with you today!

These are from our 2/28 hike to Picacho Peak. I really wish that I had some pics of me (or someone from the group) scaling one of the many cables that we had to use to climb up to the peak. And I do wish that I had some way to show how really monstrously huge this mountain is. Anyway.. here's what I have:

Here's an "everyday" pic of me getting set to walk with Maddy. This was 21 March. That's my Sox hat from Dave, by the way! :)

And here are some pix from 24 March. We were out with Lew and Margaret at Saguaro East, where we enjoyed a marvelous sunset!

We're doing really well. Michael just got his latest MRI report which shows no visible tumor in his brain. So while we know that the cancer is still there, it is not progressing to a point where it can be seen, so that's wonderful!

We've been taking the last couple of weeks to get set for our trip back east. Stocking the new RV with linens, dishes, pet supplies and such has been a fun adventure in hunting/gathering, and has us very excited about hitting the trail again.

Our plan is to head north to Phoenix, where we'll visit some friends. Then we're going to go either to southern Utah or straight to Texas, where we are going to see more friends and tour around some areas we have never explored. We are going to take an entire month to get home, so don't look for us in Indiana till after the first week of May. I WILL be blogging, once we get on the road, with my laptop computer.

A new RV!

When we got to Tucson, we had some goals we hoped to accomplish before we left. One was to get a cottage here. And the other was to sell our big RV and to get a new much smaller one. And we accomplished that goal just yesterday!


And here she is, in front of the one we just traded! We got a really good deal from the people at La Mesa RV, and are very happy about this

We got an Itasca Navion with a beautiful green interior, 23' long and just over 10' tall. It'll fit into our garage! We did the walk-through yesterday with Jonny, and learned that this RV has most of the good bells and whistles that our big RV had. It drives like a van, carrying a Mercedes diesel engine which they say will get us 18-20 mpg.

When spring comes (about the first of April), we'll head out in this new RV, leaving our Honda here in Tucson (probably). Then, when we return to Bloomington, we'll get a new car to use there. (no more towing, unless we just want to)

On Tuesday, I went hiking with the club, as usual. Well, that's the end of the "usual" stuff. We went up Picacho Peak -- an enormous challenge for me. It involved scaling walls that were practically vertical rocks, outfitted with cables which we were able to use to pull ourselves up. I don't know if my arms will ever recover from the soreness.

The trail drew blood from 4 of us: John was trying to get a squirrel to eat a nut out of his hands and was bitten by a squirrel. Then, on the way down, Judy fell about 30 feet down a precipice, but was ok, suffering just a couple of skinned knees. In all this excitement, as we were working to get her and her pack up, John walked on my pinky finger, mangling the tip of it. And then Donna got into a cactus spine. We got down, bedraggled and exhausted. But, evidentally, some of the others were not as tired as I was, because Donna, Dale, and Cheryl went hiking again yesterday! :O

Now it's time for me to get to work with my classes. Gotta catch up!

Computer set up!

There! There I am with my NEW computer desk! LOL actually, my new desk is being built. This is the desk that I built by piling lumber onto a pair of filing cabinets!

The good news is that I finally got my computer set up in our cottage. And, after replacing my keyboard, it works! I don't know what happened to the old kb in the move, but it had stopped working.

I'm behind on my email (25 in the inbox, cf. to my goal of 10 or fewer) so if you're expecting one from me, hang on! I'm also behind with my classes, because I had to set all this up and send lessons today, so if you're waiting for me to comment on your work, hang on for that, too! :D

I've gotten several compliments on the cottage. Yes, Sis, it is small and I expect it'll be quick to clean. We still have the vacuum over at the RV, so I have not cleaned here yet. ;)

Our new cottage

Hi there! I've gotten too many emails from our friends and family wondering if we're ok, since I've not written in the blog. Well... yes! We're fine, actually. Michael's been feeling quite well, having recovered after the last round of chemotherapy. The way it works is that he feels horrible from day 1 (when the chemo round starts) till about day 10. Then he begins to feel better and better through day 28... and then day 1 hits us again. His MRI was good, showing no new booguns. He'd be hiking with me, if it were not for his knees. Since he tore them up last May, he's been unable to walk long distances.

I am doing well too. The shingles have healed nicely, leaving me painfree and just feeling really lucky to feel good again!

We are both very busy with all kinds of things, but mostly with moving! We bought a little cottage here at the Far Horizons Tucson Village and .. here it is!

The guys are still working on our deck and the skirting, as you can see. The deck is being stained in a tan color that, at certain times of the day looks like the same color as the skirting of the cottage.

We're also awaiting our computer desk, which Lee will be building in our front alcove. (That's why you see all the stuff stacked in that alcove now.)

We love our neighborhood! We're really enjoying being close to our neighbors, near the dog walk, and near the walk to the Pantano River Park and the Market.

Oh.. and did I mention that we have a view of the Catalina Mountains out our front windows? :)

A big day for us

We just got back from a big (for us) afternoon. At this stage of Michael’s chemo (day 5), it’s really tough to get him motivated to do anything; I sort of have to force him. So I forced him out of the house and we went to Subway, got a sandwich, and took it over to Udall Park where we went to a little shelter and ate. The day was lovely – 70-something and beautiful sunshine.

Then when we were on the way home, Lew and Margaret, some of our friends here, called, inviting us to one of their favorite haunts for a snack. Sure! We had a really fun afternoon with them.

So tomorrow we’ll have some sort of SuperBowl party – Michael and me! Maybe I’ll go and fetch some KFC and make some nachos or something. I just hate that Temodar. It makes Michael feel so puny, and when he feels puny, so do I!

At least the shingles are loosening their hold on me. The pain is much less, and the lesions are just about gone. After 2 weeks, it's about time!

I went on a grueling hike yesterday with some of the folks from the park. It was the Babat Du’ag trail. Here are my pics from last year’s hike. It was not as cold this time, and there were just 5 of us. The other difference is that we did not actually see the MacDougal. I am younger this year... not! And the final difference is that this time it was very very difficult for me, as weak as I’ve gotten. But I made it up… and back down! YAY me!

A great day!

Right now, I’m enjoying a beautiful sunset after a wonderful day. Michael and I went to Sabino Canyon, taking the tram up to the last stop, then having the picnic lunch that we’d brought from Subway. After we took the tram back down, we went to Coldstone Creamery and had ice cream. :)

Here are some shots from our day!