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Hello,
 It has been way to long since we wrote on this blog and I do apologize.  We have been headed east and have made it home after a lot of traveling.  I am not sure where we left off but I will give you a run down for the last week or so. We left our friends Steve and Yvonne  and went to Camp Verde, AZ, between Phoenix and Flagstaff and stayed in Distant Drums Rv park. We travelled the hilly and narrow roads around Jerome, Cottonwood, Sedonna, and Prescott, seeing all the sites that Katrina and Jeff (our neighbors) had told us about. What wonderful sights!!  We took the Verde Canyon railroad trip and it was exciting. A young man actually proposed to his love while we watched. cute.   We then started our way towards home, up thru Flagstaff onto Rt 40 and across to Albuquerque, NM  and met up with friends from Taos. They had to come down off the mountain into ABQ and we decided to meet them there. What a great visit with Ray and Bev Keen. (he and I had gone to school together) we then continused across rt 40  to rt 44 and up towards Tulsa,OK. and on to Springfield, MO and onto rt 60 and stayed overnight in Mt Grove.  Continued to the KY boarder onto rt 57 to Paducah, KY.  The bridge over the Missouri river was closed so the detour took us from MO, Illinois, and into KY over three rivers and in only 14 minutes. Narrow, small bridges that Linda was (me to0) pretty nervous driving the rig across.  Paducah is where the national quilt museum and Handcocks of Pd are located.  We had been there last year and wanted to see it all again in better weather but it was again cold and overcast, but it was fun.  We left  there and headed east on Kentucky parkway (rt 69 I think) across to Lexington, up rt 71 towards Cincinnati; stayed in a state park that wasn't open in Wilmington, oh(only three other people there and they were tenting); continued in the rian for a few hours; . thru Columbus, Akron and onto Rt 80;  and made it to Rimersburg, Pa, where we set up in Paula Conner's mothers yard (the only place that was flat and wide  enough to get into).  It was a great site.  We visited with our great friends Rick and Paula on Thursday nite and then visited with other folks on Friday.  Friday nite, their kids and our friends Brianna and Jeremy, drove up from greensburg, Sarah and her son Conner came and we all went out to eat at a local restaurant.  We all  went back to Rick & Paula's and had a nice visit.  We left Sat AM and drove thru heavy rain to Palmyra, Pa and saw Tim, Jamie and the kids on Sat nite.  We had planned on staying Sunday, but the weather wasn't looking good so we took off for home around 10 am.   We drove all the way home in rain. We got mixed up while looking for fuel and ended up in New Jersey and finely found an exit that took us across the Geo. Was. bridge and onto rt 95.  I don't know what the tolls were and at that point I didn't care.  We made it home about 7:30 and it was down to 35 degrees. Glad we made it home before much later, as it went below freezing.  We unloaded just what we needed and called it a nite.  We awoke to 3"s of slush/snow and rain.  What a mess but we were home.  We parked it cleared up and we completeted unloading, winterizing the rig and even got it backed into it's parking spot by mid afternoon. This is just a rough writting of where we went and how it was this..
 I do have to say that it was a GREAT winter!!!  We were able to meet up 4 times with our friend Steve and Yvonne Barnes from BC ( Tuscon, Picacho, Mesa,and Indio)  it is always a blast with them.  Thanks Steve for all the great places that you drove us to(even though Linda was on the floor alot of the time.  She doesn't light heights and steep drop offs).
We met a whole new family at Picacho Peak RV Resort!!  Folks just opened their arms and took us in as one of their own.  Dave and Virl( our AZ mom and dad, Sandy for getting me started with darts, Norm for giving me darts and sparking my intrest in music, Dorothy for telling us to just get involved early in our stay, Frank for the silversmithing lessions and constant positive attitude, horse races and much more, Ed and Bernie for taking us around the peak and up to the mine, Jim and leigh for going to Pinnacale with us, Sarah for all she did with events and keeping us informed, Ed for letting me help with moving you rig, neighbors all around for just being the great family you are. I know that I have missed a lot but we do miss you all and we will be back!! 
 I do want to say a huge thank you to Jeff and Katrina Smith here at home for watching our place and keeping the snow removed!!   Jess, we love you and all you did with keeping the house together and the huge task of mail room attendant.  Our winter travels would be impossible without you all!!!   So for another winter thanks to all and we will let you know when we start another blog.  Russ and Linda

Its March 19, and this is Linda writing.  Russ has done such a great job, doing the posts most evenings, so its time for me to participate.
Checked on the blog to find that the last post was on March 12.  Let me see if I can do a little update. 
We did do the tour of the MIDWAY but we did not go out to Point Loma.  The tour of the MIDWAY was amazing.  Walking through the aircraft carrier (I asked Russ if it was a ship or a boat, and that's what he called it), it was huge, so much larger than anything we had on the Shipyard.  I remember, as a kid, going on different boats/ships, on some holiday, and they seemed big, but nothing compared to this.  It was a beautiful day, and we were directed by one of the tour guides (all, naturally, retired NAVY, and many pilots who landed on the MIDWAY), to go to the Captains Bridge. We could see everything along the San Diego harbor and across to the Shipyard on Coronado Island.  On Coronado Island, there are two current carriers, the VINCENT and the REAGAN.  (Now I'm wondering if I have the correct names on those).  Anyways, it was a wonderful tour, well worth the time and the money. 
So since then, we were able to again meet up with our friends from BC, Yvonne & Steve.  Russ and I were deciding where to go on the start of our way back east.  Yvonne suggested Indio, CA.  They have been on an extended trip around Canada and the US and will be 'crossing over' around the first of April, so, since we met up with the in Tucson and Picacho, AZ, I thought they had travelled further north in CA.  Well, they hadn't, but were only about 150 miles from us, so that's where we went.  Yvonne and Steve have been travelling for a few years, and do some serious travelling, and are good travellers.  They decided that we needed to go to Idylwild, CA.  What a great spot, other than the road it takes to get there.  It was route 74 or 79, and curved back and forth (they are called 'switchbacks')
without guardrails.  Shortly into the trip, I had my head on my lap, and stayed that way until we got the Idylwild.  It is a beautiful little town, about 6000 feet up, but fortunately still in the 'valley' surrounded by other taller mountains.  The weather was beautiful and it was a great day wandering around with our 'buds' from BC.
Sunday, we left for Camp Verde, which is back in AZ, and north of Phoenix.  We wanted to spend time in Sedona, Jerome, and Prescott.  Monday, we drove up to Jerome and then onto Prescott.  Jerome is an old copper mining town.  Years ago, there were 15000 people living there, and now it has basically become a tourist town.  Lots of artsy shops, with views for miles, all at about 6000 feet.  Of course, more windy roads, where I spent most of my time with my head on the center console.  I do not enjoy winding, twisting roads that are barely on the hill they climb.  After the mining stopped, the town kind of died, and the remaining folks tried to give it a 'ghost' town name.  We had lunch at the 'Haunted Hamburger'.  I think it was just Russ & I at the table but folks have supposedly seen 'ghosts'.  I don't know why they would drive up those winding roads.
We travelled down the other side of the mountain to Prescott (Preskitt to the locals).  Nice little town, for just wandering around. 
Tuesday, we went to Sedona, which is another beautiful area, very 'artsy' and upper scale.  We stopped at a few of the shops, but found a quilt shop!!!!   Yeha!!!  Great shop, nice ladies, great material, and I not have a quilt kit for a wall hanging.  Naturally, a AZ design of  Kopellis and such.  I'm looking forward to working on it.
So that's it for now, but we did go on a great train ride of the Verde Canyon Railway.  Fun, great ride.  but more about that later.  Now we are in Alburquerque, and I may learn to spell that while we are hear.
We are still have a wonderful time, but now that we are heading EAST.  See you all soon
love-linda

March 12 smiles

we went to the San Diego Zoo and Balboa park today.  The zoo is huge so we took a narrated bus tour thru all the exhibits and then got off and walked most of the zoo. really neat animals and if they come out some special shots of the Polar bears.

we then walked to Balboa Park and wondered around for the afternoon. The wandering is free but they charge for most of the museums and exhibits and I didn't want to pay for "art" stuff I wasn't that interested in.  We had great weather and it was warm but not to hot.

on the way back to the rv park we found a VONS food market so stopped to resupply. California is quite expensive but they gave us a discount card like Fry's and a lot of the other stores have so it was a lot cheaper.  when we got back to the Rv I got a message that the truck was done. A day early !! I got the rental gassed up and went and got the truck. The girl at the Ford garage was great. they had everything done, tires rotated, pressures where I wanted them, oil and filter done, turbo hose and pipe, clamps and more fixed. I am so glad that I have the extended warrantee. 
 got back and we had a great steak dinner on the grill. Called and left a message for Dean, our friend from home, that is out here working for the shipyard.
I got a message the Joey Paradis  had called so I called him and we had a great chat. He and I talked about  thoughts about a future garage he is thinking about. I do hope that he and Brenda can visualize offsetting the garage  from the house. If YOU (I know they read this blog) have the back follow the existing retaining wall out back, you will get more sun, less trees to cut, and will break up the front view so it has more "curb appeal". love ya both.
We  are planning to head north then east towards Prescott, AZ on Friday AM.
 hope everyone is well and ready for a great summer.
 tomorrow we plan on touring an aircraft carrier and then go to the beach and Pt. Loma

March 9 California

Hi all, We made it safely to California. 
 We said our goodby to Dave and Virl this morning and headed to CA, we took rt 8 from Casa Grande and made it to Gila Bend and got fuel and found the Cactus Shop we had been told about. what a place, all kinds of lawn art, plant pots, cacti, and everything in between. the shop is for sale so they had a great sale going on. We got a few things we just had to have and back on the road. I had heard that there was some mountains between AZ and CA and we found some small ones and they are beautiful. we drove along the border of Mexico and saw the new huge fencing. we did our part, but didn't see anybody running across the desert heading north.  Just after getting into CA (just west of Yuma) we saw huge sand dunes with all kind of 4 wheelers and sand buggies flying around and over them. what a neat sight. this is the Imperial Sand Dunes.  We decided to stay in El Centro so we would have a short haul to San Diego in the morning. only about 120 miles. we called Mission Bay RV park and they have room for us so we feel better as we had heard that most of the parks were full. We settled into the Reo Bend RV and Gold Resort and went wandering around the park. It's pretty nice, with a small lake right across from our site. The Golf course is right along the river and has a very pretty view and a small good snack bar. we got two huge chicken quesadella's for $6 each and sat on their patio overlooking the course. Chatted with some park folks and got very hot. The sun was out and unlike Picacho Peak, there is humidity here and we are not used to it. The pool looked inviting so we suited up and went for a dip and just sat in the sun and relaxed. we were told to go to the snack bar patio around 7pm to see a great sunset. we went about 6:45 and the sun was almost set but still pretty. while standing there we met a couple from south eastern Minisoooota. That is how Minnesotans pronounce it, but I guess they think I have an accent too. we spent alot of time talking and walking around with them. they had just come from San Diego and offered some suggestions. nice folks and a good evening. back in the rig, had some leftover Quesaella and trying to catch up on Blog, Facebook and general communications.  Just so you all will know, We talked to Jeff S. at home and all is well and no snow for a few days. about a foot on the ground and it's still cold.  jeff explained that it has been a very cold winter and when he said that 5 degrees F. is feeling warm, I am so glad we are in 70 to 80 degree weather.  As I type this, it is still 64 degrees at 8:45 at nite and we have the windows and door open.  I LOVE being retired and able to take these road trips. 

Virl saying goodby and showing off her pink slippers

 Sand Dunes and riders

 Linda sitting in the shade of our rig

 The small lake across the street from our site #10

 Sun setting over the golf course

March 8th sad

well we packed up the RV and got ready for travelling mode. We leave here in the AM and head towards San Diego, CA . Expect to spend one night on the road and into SD on Monday and find a place to stay. 
 Today was a emotional day, as we spent alot of time saying goodby to some of the nicest people we have met. This park has been like a family and everyone seems to know, help and enjoy everyone else. The folks across the street, Dave and Virl have been like close family and Linda has started calling Dave "dad" and he loves it as much as she does. They have taken us under their wing and we have had so much fun and shared so much with them. Frank and Phyllis our other neighbors and we will miss them as well. Ed, Bernie, Dorothy, Sandy and the rest of the group will be missed too. We will come back here!!  We hope any of them will come to NH and visit.
 We are looking forward to the rest of our journey and meeting new people and seeing old friends along the way. 
Its Linda.  Yes, this has been a fantastic place for us to spend five weeks.  We knew when we were here three years ago, that we would be back, and we are so glad that we have.  We are not ready to become winter Arizonians, but we do have a second home here at Picacho Peak.  We will be back.
We are looking forward to time in San Diego, and then our return trip back to New Hampshire, but we will not hurry.  Oh, I forgot to mention that we played 'Trivia' tonight, and one of our new friends had a White Mountains tee shirt one.  Don't know if she planned it (think it might have been) but we took it at that.  This has been a wonderful time for both of us.  But more adventures await us.  Who would have thought that that we could have so many new experiences at our age.  More to come.  Love to all, Linda & Russ

PS; Jeff S. we have left a couple of messages to see how things are going and hope you haven't passed out snow blowing our driveway. we will try again soon. Russ

March 1st

Well I am back. It has been a little while since we have posted anything but wanted to let you know what we have been up to.
I have have been taking a silver smithing class,here in the park, and have had a ball. The man that ownes the business and is the instructor is from Colorado and is a great guy. He has Parkinson's so he can't do the work that he has been doing for over 20 years and wan't to sell his equipment, supplys and everything that gose with it. I was all ready to buy it, a great price, but was worried that he would really miss it. If I bought it , I would have loaded it up and when we left, it would be gone. I had hoped that someone from the park would buy it so he could continue working with it and helping folks learn from him. I knew that another neighbor had shown some interest so I spoke to her about it and after talking with her, she went right over and bought it all. She is going to have him give lessons and help her and also be able to use anything he needs. I am so happy for them both.  I may just order some supplies and things I need when i get home , so I can continue learning and do some of the projects I would like to make. here is a couple of pictures of the things I made.

 A ring for Linda

 A temporary wedding band for me. My gold original ring hasn't fit in years so I made this size 15 to fit me for now.

 This is a small pendant that I made from a piece of Turquoise I found when hiking around the mountain behind the RV

 This is a Tigers eye necklace that I did for my first piece.

  
 The weather here has been absolutly beautiful, with sun, temps in the high 70's and 80's with a light breeze. The people in the park are all wonderful. We are part of a big family, and everyone helps one another, always stops to chat and really enjoys the fortune that we all feel for being able to live the lives we do. We have made some lifelong friends. The couple Dave and Virl, that live across the street, have taken us like their own kids. we share meals, happy hour and just really enjoy time together. I play darts two nites a week, and have become the "sleeper" from away as I sometimes can really shoot. most of the time I just have very good luck.  I did get a pin and lots of hugs for getting my first "hat trick" the other evening. A hat trick is three bullseyes with three consecutive darts.  we have attended two potluck dinners and have been asked for both recipes. a Tortilla soup, and my pulled pork special.
I am kind of rambling, but am just writting as I think of stuff.  Yesterday Linda and I went to Oro Valley.  It's down toward Tucson about 15 miles, and as were getting there we drove by Dove Mountain, where they just held the big professional golf tournament last week. we are continually amazed at the beautiful landscape in every direction. Mountains, cacti, flowers and clouds. everything seems so defined. kind of like three dimensional in overdrive. the picture can never show the true beauty!!  we do love it here, especially as there is no snow and cold is 65 degrees.  we ate at a Mexican cafe that was really nice, found a great quilt shop and i bought some South Western fabric that I liked. not sure what Linda can do with it, but I wanted it. we got home and the wind was picking up and as we have been told, that when it blow, it really blows. we picked up the chairs and outside stuff and made sure that we were ready and I am glad we did, as it blew very hard during the nite. the camper was a rockin!! here is a couple of pics before it all started.

 Why would anyone thing this scene would predict a storm?

 This one might let you know something was coming.
 Last nite was a windy nite. This morning I got up and went out and saw that we hadn't lost anything , but did walk around and help neighbors retieve lawn chairs, tablecloths and other items that hadn't been fully secured. we walked to the clubhouse for coffee and after a little bit it started to rain. Boy did it rain, and blow. they haven't had rain in over two and a half months and need it, but way to much to fast. water runs along in every ditch, gully, low spot and detente. it stopped in about an hour and  is all gone.  still overcast but about 60 degrees. the sun will be out tomorrow!
 we have alot more things to do while here an know we will never get to everything in the next week, before we head towards San Diego, CA but we will have fun trying.  got to run, as people are out and things to do.
ps  for those that know about the work I have been doing on the new ordnance for town. it made it to the ballot and we have voted and mailed our ballots back to the town. I hope everyone else votes they way I did.   Yes!!! for the Rights based Ordnance.

Biosphere

Hi, Its Linda
We are just back from a 'winner, winner, chicken dinner' at the park and then a game of trivia.  Company at dinner was wonderful, and we met new people to the park from Michigan.  Dinner, not so great, but this is the first meal that has been sponsored by the park which was 'sub-par'.  Company always makes up for it.  Trivia was fun.  We were split up into 4 person teams, and there were probably ten teams.  Thirty questions later, and MY team won.  What a bunch of questions.  Did you know that Hallie Berry was the first black female to win an Academy award for best actress in the Monster Ball?  I don't even recall that movie.  It was fun, oh, and I made $5.00.  Its fun.
This morning Russ moved another couples' fifth wheel from one site to another.  They have decided to keep their camper here year round with the intention of purchasing a park model and making this their 'permanent' winter home.  It was entertaining, as it brought out a huge crowd.  We are very easily humored.
Yesterday, we went to Biosphere II.  Not sure if you remember it or not, but 8 people lived in this scientific experiment, where the ocean, the desert, farm land, mangrove trees, etc, were contained under huge glass domes, for two years.  This was in the early 80s, was proclaimed at that time to have failed.  There is much more to it, but the plan was for groups to spend 2 years at a time there, but only one group stayed for 2 years.  It was experiment that was hoped to prepare for life on other planets.  I remember when it was going on, and was interested in going when we realized how close it was.  By way of a 'flying crow', it wasn't very far from here, but there aren't many roads heading in that direction.  The ride was well over and hour.  The tour guide, a retired National Archive employee, was great.  We thought he had been involved much longer than the five years he had been there.  After the project 'failed', Columbia took over the site and then the University of Arizona.  Fortunately for that, as if they had not taken charge of it, Disney would have.  We found it amazing and glad we went.  We have more research to do, as it was a very interesting project.
Also it worked out well, as we travelled in areas we would not have normally gone through.
Russ is going to download some pictures of the Biosphere II.
Sun is out each day and we are loving it.  It  does surprise me though, that as warm as it is during the day, the nights are really cool, and it is cold getting up in the morning.  But it warms up quickly.
Thinking of you all as you shovel out the snow.........

Russ here,
 if you are interested in learning more about the biosphere check out  http://b2science.org .
the trip there was right thru the middle of the Sonoran  dessert and so different from anything we have seen.  Dad , I don't know if you have ever been there but you would want a privite tour as I know you would have tons of questions. they thought of everything!! they placed 5 inches of Stainless steel below the concrete floors so no contamination would leach thru and so that no oxygen would leach out. Such a great "starwars" plan and ideas. amazing!!!  We wondered why it's called Biosphere 2 and found out that Biosphere 1 is our existing world. kind of neat.

 ocean, with corral reef

 endless machinery rooms and they only had one mechanic inside the sphere

 the "Lung"

 the Lung  was used to compensate for the increase of pressure caused by the sun heating the inside air.

 This is a must see if you ever get anywhere near Tucson,AZ

Old Tucson

well, lets see where we left off. We have been either relaxing by the pool, sitting in the sun, sightseeing, attending activities in the park or just really enjoying ourselves . we are having a ball and are even talking about staying an extra week here.  well on to pictures and stories.
we decided to go to Old Tucson and drive thru the Saguaro National park on the way. We had been into the park area at sunset(we posted pics on an earlier blog) but wanted to drive the whole park. we had learned that we(Linda ) could get a lifetime national park pass for $10. I wasn't old enough. haha
we drove thru the "desert"  lots of huge and wildly different Saguaro cacti, and all sorts of other types. we stopped at the park entrance, got our pass and watched a video about the area. very interesting. the narrator told how the indians believe that the cacti are representative of past relitives and that if you looked closely you could see human forms in them all. so while looking at the pictures, see what you see for human shapes. don't laugh to hard.

we made it thru the park and to Old Tucson. Old Tucson is an old stage coach stop and has been the site of many movies. over one hundred movies have used this little old town for John Wayne,  the show High Chaparrell tv show and many more. we took the tour and learned alot. we took a train ride around the town and learned more.we saw a gun fight, medicine man show and much more. it was a really neat place to see, and we highly reccomend  it if your in the area.