Spring 2017 has SPRUNG!

Visitors from Washington in early March 2017 were friends Ron and Nancy.  Ken and Ron had a super time reminiscing about "the good old days" in the WSP! 

In mid-March, multiple families in our Escapee's Prospectors & Metal Detectors group headed for the 2017 Escapade in Tucson, AZ. Attendees included 2652 individuals in 1000 RVs.  We enjoyed the week-long event that included multiple classes on every topic an RV'er could ever dream up!  Among courses we attended were use of our smart phone/camera, the up-coming August 2017 solar eclipse, and household items for cleaning.  There was great evening entertainment and a shopping "mall" set sup with RV'ers needs.

Our Gold group had a table at the ROW...a place to recruit new members and interpret our club's activities.  Here Rich, Roger & Ken talk with an interested Escapee member.

Amy, Peggy, and Joanne also take a turn covering the booth in the ROW.  

Upon arriving back in Arizona City, our friends Ray and Mary hosted the 2017 Annual Meeting of the Southeast Monaco Neighborhood Watch.  We had a great attendance with many new members joining us for the speaker presentations and a barbecue dinner.  Here a local deputy from the Pinal County Sheriff's Office updates us on current issues in our region.  We also were joined by two US Border Patrol Agents that presented an update on their activities in Pinal County Arizona.  

The following day Joanne flew from Phoenix to Santa Rosa, CA and then continued to the Babb home in Healdsburg, CA.  This day, daughter Michelle was released from the U. of CA Medical School Hospital in San Francisco.  She was coming home for recovery after having her kidney removed. Joanne became the "nurses aide" for a couple weeks.  Of course all the family would have loved to have been there to support Michelle.  (Note Melissa and family in Portland, OR skyped with us...a great encouragement to Michelle.)

Justin (Michelle's son and my grandson) along with friend Sara were visiting from Portland.  We enjoy a neighborhood barbecue that Michelle's husband Tommy organized.  Here Tommy's aunt shares a beautiful and delicious "get well" cake...we all loved it even though Michelle was up in her bedroom sound asleep during the festivity!

Michelle's very first outing was to her son (my grandson) Adam's track meet in Santa Rosa.  Adam did terrific...won an event and had a personal best that afternoon!

Mom and Michelle were cuddled up in lots of layers as it was CHILLY.  However, our cheers were definitely warm and effective!

Here's a selfie we took at the Santa Rosa Airport the day I departed.  This is officially the Shultz Airport!  Both Snoopy and Lucy were available for photos.  Friend Nancy had been visiting just to the south and now joined me to fly back to Arizona for week's visit.

Here Ken, Nancy and I visit the Olive Farm in Queen Creek for lunch and then a short course in Olives 101!  We had been here a few years back and lots had changed.  This area has a major population boom so the farm looks entirely different.  They also have advanced equipment for making their many olive oil products.

We had a delightful Easter Sunday buffet with Ken's sister and brother-in-laws at Robson Ranch in Eloy.  Following this gourmet brunch we had one of those amazing coincidences!  There is a street with model homes for prospective buyers so we decided to tour this area.  Upon entering at the visitor area the greeter was none other that one of our Gamma Phi Beta sorority sisters of OSU days!  It had likely been 50 years since I'd seen Shelby (center) !   Certainly I had no idea she lived only a few miles from our Arizona home.

We left Arizona City April 24th and visited friend Gerry in Congress as well as "cousins" Sharon and Ivan from Cave Creek. The next jog was to Las Vegas for a couple days and  then on to Pahrump, NV to see Rich and Peggy as well as get my annual hair cut from Angel!  The journey north included a couple nights in Fernley, NV as we prepped for heading for the days ahead at Rabbit Hole, NV where we would literally be "off the grid".  In the photo above, we are looking at the Rye Patch Reservoir near the area where we turn west off  the interstate.  Would you believe only a few months ago this reservoir was almost DRY!  The amount of water that has come in 2016-17 is amazing.

The beauty of this Rabbit Hole area is just indescribable!  We are about 1 1/2 hours west of Winnemucca.  Some days there were zero vehicles driving by and other days maybe one or two.  The quietness is amazing.  We do have "friends" out there...we saw several groups of wild horses...the little colt was so cute!  At least once a day we drive a couple miles to the top of mountain where we can get cellular/Internet service.  This keeps us connected!

My 39++++++ birthday was celebrated with friends Tilly and Dave prepping a delicious dinner.  Somehow when you have a modern RV being "off the grid" would obviously look like luxury to the pioneers who went through this area maybe 150 years ago.

The weather this May has been varied...really warm to really cold (even some snow!)  We still had a great time with the Smiths and friend Rich.  By May 18th we headed on north to our Oregon home.

AND...did we ever get a surprise here!  After cleaning out the front of the farm shop we finally got to the back where our boat was parked.  We had been told by friends and family that the snow and rain here had been phenomenal!  We NOW are believers.  Our boat...stored all winter INSIDE  the shop...was TOTALLY full of water.   Welcome Home!!!  To get a better view of the surprise, click on this UTube:  https://youtu.be/Xro9pDolC0k