A tin cup or a gilded goblet, a hut or a castle, wobbly bicycles or a Bentley -- to wherever and by whatever means, my love, our journey is splendid, our cup is full.
I'd made plans earlier this year to fly up to Sequim, Washington in early March for my mother's 90th birthday. My two brothers and my sister would be there and we'd have a good reunion -- I think that the last time we'd all been together with Mom was when we celebrated her 80th in Santa Fe at my brother's.
My sister called me in late February to tell me that Mom had had a small seizure and we'd probably need to review her living situation -- she still was living by herself in her house. We decided to temporarily put her in assisted living, and decide the permanence of the arrangement when we all got up there for her birthday.
To make a long story short, we had a great birthday party for Mom at my sister's place in Seattle. Since I'm the retired one, and have (theoretically) more time than my sibs, after I flew in on the 8th, I drove over to Sequim (on Washington's Olympic Peninsula) and brought Mom back to Seattle. One of her high school classmates from Butte (who is a retired Seattle doctor), and her nephew Al (he's the redheaded one) came and joined us all as we celebrated her 9 decades.
We discussed the situation with her and we all decided that the assisted living arrangement was the best alternative. I took Mom back to Sequim, and we spent a few days doing her taxes, and moving some of her items to her new place. The bigger question was what, when, and how to take care of all of the rest of her things and the sale of her house, which was now sitting vacant.
I returned to Yuma, and after some discussions between Mandy and me -- and with my brothers and sister -- we decided that it would be better to address the issues now rather than later this year. We packed a few things, grabbed the GPS, fueled up the Honda, and temporarily left Yuma's sunshine behind and headed for the Northwest.
Fortunately we had time to stop for long-overdue visit with our good friends, Randy and Lori (and their daughter Natalie) in Vancouver (WA). Lori also showed us her newest pets -- miniature horses!
We also made time for quick tax-free visits to REI, Performance Cycle, and the Columbia Outlet Store in the Portland area.
After arriving in Sequim, we spent about a week boxing and packing things at Mom's house, getting her more permanently set up in her assisted living situation, renting a storage for the items that we all wanted to keep, and getting most of the items move to storage. We also spent time visiting with Mom daily, and taking advantage of the great meals at her facility.
Our hope is that our week of work would allow my sister to get Mom's place on the market this spring, and we'll see what happens in this interesting real estate market.
We didn't have time to take many other pictures, but we did snap a few along the way --
We caught a pretty good view of Mount Shasta as we zoomed by
We've always been pretty impressed by the windmills just west of Palm Springs -- but no wind this trip -- they were all still!
This was our first view (and transit) of the new Tacoma Narrows bridge connecting the Kitsap Peninsula with Tacoma -- it will get heavily used this summer, as there is a planned closing of the Hood Canal floating bridge for about 60 days.
We thought this was pretty interesting -- an old Huey being trailered to its new home. The guy had Army stickers all over his truck, so I suspect that he's probably a veteran on a labor of love.
Mandy managed to catch this interesting view as we were following him down the I-5 at 75 mph . . . . . .
So, after 3300 miles of dodging California traffic, and enduring Oregon and Washington rain, we're now back in Yuma, enjoying the last of the spring cycling here, and slowly getting ready to leave for points east. Our current plans are to hit the road around the 20th of April. We'll make a short drive to the Phoenix area and leave the motorhome there for a day or two while we make a quick run up to Flagstaff for Mandy's yearly visit with her cardiologist. We'll then head east on I-10 for central Texas and a visit with our sons and their families for a week or two -- and for the upcoming birth of our sixth grandchild. Our son Brian and his wife Christy are expecting their second child -- a girl (Gillian) just after the first of May.
After the festivities of welcoming another family addition, we'll turn north, bound for South Dakota's Black Hills. We will be working at Custer State Park, just south of Rapid City, for the summer and enjoying the biking, hiking, and scenery of our adopted state until the end of September. Barring unforeseen circumstances -- and realizing that plans more than 5-6 months out are cast in jello -- our plan is to wander south after our Black Hills stay, going to Red Bay, Alabama for some additional work at the Tiffin factory, and then leisurely head west, with a stay-over in Texas, on our way back to Yuma for the 09-10 winter season.
Speaking of "winter" in Yuma, here are a few flower pictures that Mandy has been collecting over the past couple of weeks, as things bloom out here this spring. Hopefully we'll be able to follow the spring season north over the next month, and see all the variations of flowers that are starting to bloom across the west.
Well, better late than never with an update --- with lots of friends through here, and lots of January activities and good weather, we've just been procrastinating on sitting down and getting an update out.
Up until the last couple of days, the weather here in Yuma has been pretty good -- days up into the 70's and evenings down into the low 50's. The wind has been a bit more constant, however, and has kept us from using our BBQ and patio very much -- all in all, though, much better than any other place in the continental US.
The bicycling has been great and we've been getting in some miles and getting stronger -- we got down here later this season than usual, and everyone else in the Foothills Bicycling Club got a bit of a head start on us in getting their legs and butts hardened up. We're making good progress, and having fun, and will be ready to do our "century" before we leave in April.
Our good friends, Jim and Yvette got to Yuma in early January, to work at Westwind RV Park and Golf Resort, just across the freeway from our location. We both decided that we'd just go up to the Quartzsite RV show for a day, rather than taking our motorhomes up for a week or so -- and we coordinated our day in "Q" with our friends Al and Claire, who were here for a week to take advantage of the Yuma ambience.
We jumped at the opportunity to be tour guides and organizers for Al and Claire during their week here, showing them the interesting places all around the Yuma area . . . . . .
Yuma Territorial Prison
Algodones, Mexico
The Flea Market
Seeing the Golden Knights Army Parachute Team
Just having fun
Later in the month, we went with Jim and Yvette for a hike up to Palm Canyon in the KOFA Wildlife Refuge between Yuma and Quartzsite. We took advantage of being in their 4 wheel drive pickup and took an additional side trip deep into the refuge, all the way back to the remains of the KOFA Queen Mine. There was some fantastic desert mountain scenery along the way, but we paid for it by getting several "Arizona pinstripes" on their pickup.
We also had an enjoyable hike with the bike club in the Imperial Wildlife Refuge along the Colorado River north of Yuma. We were familiar with the Painted Desert hike there, but our hike leader Carl took the group to another area very near the boundary with the Yuma Proving Grounds that was very interesting to see -- lots of wildlife (or at least signs of it), neat desert colors, and remains of old mining operations. Mandy's sister Penny and her husband Rex are going to be volunteers at the refuge next winter, so we'll be able to take the opportunity to see even more of this interesting area.
As I noted at the beginning, the weather over the past several days has taken a turn for the worse -- we had some pretty decent rain over the weekend, and this week looks to be colder and windier than usual. However, that will probably mean that the desert will be blooming in a couple of weeks as spring sets in for good, and that will be very enjoyable to see -- we're already getting our annual display of our wildflowers in our lot, and we anticipate seeing more in the desert in the coming months.
We're finally settled into the normal winter events here in Yuma -- for those of you who haven't been counting, this is our sixth winter here in the sun of the desert southwest, and we're still enjoying it as much as when we first arrived.
The main thing for us is getting back in shape cycling with our friends in the Foothills Bicycle Club (link). The club has "organized" rides four days a week -- with two days being relatively easy (20-25 miles, 13-14 mph pace) and two days of a more adventuresome type (30-60 miles, several pace groups depending on ability and inclination). Each month we schedule a century ride (100 miles -- or 100km), and we have several traditional once-a-year rides. We also "organize" several ad-hoc hikes into the surrounding desert areas, just to break things up. We don't forget about the fat-tire side of cycling either -- each week there is at least one mountain bike ride exploring the area. Its all pretty loosely organized, with the only rule mandating the wearing of helmets on the bike rides. The club has no officers, no published route maps, no sag wagons -- just folks who love to ride. We do have a website with basic information, and a ride calendar, but that's about it as far as organization -- and about all we've found we need.
Mandy and I usually don't remember to take our camera when we go out on a ride, but fortunately we grabbed it today for our Sunday short-and-easy ride around the foothills. Here is a couple of shots of the 40+ riders who were out having fun today.
Of course, there are a number of other things to keep us busy and occupied during the mild winter here -- Algodones, Mexico is only a couple of miles away, and we go there a number of times during the season for drugs (prescriptions!!), dental work, and just to enjoy the fish tacos and margaritas. All the merchants there get together and usually have a yearly party for all the "winter visitors" who keep their economy going.
The Quartzsite RV show and the associated gem and mineral show bring over 200,000 people to the surrounding desert in late January each year. We sometimes take the motorhome up and boondock in the desert for 3-4 days, and other years we've just driven up for a day of adventure -- its only 65 miles north of us here in Yuma, and if you're in the area, don't miss it -- its truly a unique experience.
Our good friends, Jim and Yvette have arrived here for the season, and we'll be joined this week by Claire and Al from Texas, and we all are getting together to spend a day in Quartzsite and -- bet you could guess -- a day in Algodones. We're also looking forward to doing some additional playing around -- probably some geocaching, and some local tourist stuff, as well as just having a good time with great friends. We will be bringing our camera on our events over the next week or two, and the blogging of that will be the "phase II" of our January in Yuma post -- stay tuned!!
