Settled in at Picacho

Since the last post, I spent 13 days in Chandler, a suburb of Phoenix, living at Jill and Erez's home, helping with the grand girls and the day-to-day activities of them.  Jill was in Asia on a business trip through her work (Intel) and as such left a big hole in logistics with getting the girls to school in the morning, picking them up after school, making sure they have something to eat before their next activity of the day, either soccer or dance.  Some days the after school routine started at 3:10 with picking up the youngest right from school and she eating her 'snack' while I drive her on to dance rehearsal.  Picking her back up anywhere from 8:00 to 9:15pm.  Wow.   Doesn't leave much time to be just a kid.

During the day I did some cleaning, laundry, run errands, grocery shop, etc. - just glad I was able to help out.  I also worked on a couple of quilts - projects I took on the road but never did, so I did some quality sewing.  Dave remained in Benson at the RV, he had lots to keep him busy like washing and waxing the RV before it goes into storage for the winter, some repairs and a few modifications.  He drove to Chandler one day to install a new security light system on Jill's house to enable to the walkway to light when taking out the garbage.  But, it was a long drive for him - almost 3 hours - and he did not want to be on the road after dark.

Pache did not care that I was gone for 2 weeks

Buddy stayed in the chair, by the door, waiting
for me to come home - the entire 2 weeks

1st day home - they were all over me, content

Our plans were to continue on our 'summer' trip once I got back from Jill's, which was October 29th, but after a few days we decided to pack up and get to Picacho.  Made a couple of trips there (90 miles one way) to move some clothes and food, etc., and then yesterday did the last clean out of the tanks and headed out.  Since it was a short trip we opted not to hook up the car to the RV, I followed him.  Got the cats into the park model, we still have not seen much of Buddy - he is so scared - and we hope in another day or so he'll start to make more of living.  Right now his world consists of the underneath of the bed, he spends all the daylight hours there but at night, he's right beside me on the bed.

To recap the summer trip - we traveled 5,916 miles with the RV, which is the most we have ever done in one season of camping.  We camped (spent at least 24 hours in one town) in the following states:  Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin again, Missouri, Kansas, Texas, and New Mexico and back into Arizona.  With that said, we also traveled through these states but did not spend the night (our criteria):  Utah (2 times), Colorado (passed through Utah back into Colorado then into Wyoming on one drive), Illinois, Oklahoma, Wisconsin (we passed through from Minnesota into Wisconsin and back into Minnesota then we spent the next 6 weeks in one spot in Minnesota).

Some of our favorite memories of the trip were the time we spent in Dolores, Colorado; the beautiful pristine wilderness area while in Grand Marais, Minnesota and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area; and the time spent in Alamogordo, New Mexico in the mountains above.  And of course, seeing our family and many friends while we were in Ohio which was the longest staying put in one space - 7 weeks.  Now on to planning next summer's adventure!