Jan31
Posted on Jan 31 by Ruth Davis
It’s been a great stretch of stories between the monastery in Willcox and the Texas Coast. We started the trip with an RV fill up at the gas station and someone had left $23.00 on the pump for us! We drove a good day from Willcox, into New Mexico, to Las Cruces. We enjoyed delicious middle eastern food near the university, restocked at Walmart, and checked out the largest red chili and the Recycled Roadrunner art. We visited the old settlement of Mesilla, with the oldest documented brick building in New Mexico. And, even though we were both tired and could have easily stayed home, we drove out to White Sands National Monument, about 30 miles out of town, for a guided sunset hike. White Sands is like nowhere else I’ve been, and I’ve seen sand dunes. It is so white, it is like snow. But it feels like sand. And you can see it for miles and miles. I imagine it is blinding and very hot in the summer. After two full days and nights, we...
Jan17
Posted on Jan 17 by Ruth Davis
We pulled out of Phoenix on Friday and enjoyed the wide open desert drive south to Patagonia Lake State Park. Finally, we were back on the road. The campground was full, but quiet, and there were birds and trails, and we even went on an avian boating tour. And at the east end of the campground there was a bench overlooking the lake, with a half dozen seed and hummingbird feeders hanging from trees, and suet cakes and loose seed spread on a tray. Marika was in heaven. We stayed for three nights, sleeping late, reading, and relaxing. On Monday, the morning of our traveling day, instead of rushing to get on the road, Marika went birding at a nearby riparian area, and Cody and I took a walk to the birding bench. I talked with a camper about re-learning the joys of reading, and how she’ll be retiring in three years, and she wrote down the name of my book to download on her Kindle. Instead of our usual nine o’clock departure, we didn’t pull out...
Jan03
Posted on Jan 3 by Ruth Davis
It’s our last Wednesday in the Big City. We were originally going to leave today, but after a great day at the river with friends, I got the head cold crud last week, and Marika got it on Saturday. So we’ve been laying low and resting, versus getting out and taking care of everything we need to do to get ready. On New Year’s Day we lounged in our pajamas, watched the Rose Bowl parade, then we walked a new labyrinth. I made some veggie soup in the Instant Pot and we relaxed the rest of the day. I was still getting tired after the smallest efforts, and I started to freak out about everything that needed to happen for us to leave. And so we changed our Wednesday departure to Thursday and cancelled plans to meet up with a friend. But I still felt anxious. I realized that I needed another extra day, so we cancelled our Thursday night reservation in Patagonia and even got a refund for that night. And suddenly, I felt that three days...
Dec20
Posted on Dec 20 by Ruth Davis
Two weeks ago we drove the RV and car down to Tucson for a long weekend. The impetus was an invitation to make red chili tamales with Esther and Jessie, co-hosts with us at Fool Hollow Lake this past summer. Esther makes them every year with her family, and we were invited to learn how. We drove the easy two and a half hours south on Thursday and pulled into Catalina State Park, set against the back of the majestic Catalina Mountains. It is part of the Sonoran desert, with mesquite trees, cholla cactus, and, of course, the stately saguaros. Years ago, camping in the desert would have been my last choice of spots, but I was so overwhelmed with being in the Big City that I was actually thrilled to be in the browns and grays and tans of the winter desert. It was cool, and quiet, with good space between the other campers, and only fifteen minutes from Esther and Jessie’s house. After we leveled and hooked up, Marika hung her bird feeders and...
Dec06
Posted on Dec 6 by Ruth Davis
It is finally winter in Phoenix, with early morning temperatures in the 50’s. I wore a sweatshirt and long pants for the first time this week. But, while I love the cooler temperatures, the sky is obscured by a thick brown fog because the warm air above keeps the cold air trapped with all of the city pollution. So I’m hardly outside to walk, and it’s now too cold to go swimming. My body has gotten bigger, softer, stiffer. And this is how I know it’s time to move on. We’ve been here since October 5th, and we’ve taken care of everything on our Big City lists: I’ve worked with my amazing Mac clients, Marika has “near-perfect” distance vision without glasses, we’ve had at least one meal at each of our favorite restaurants, and have discovered several new places to add to the list. We got the solar system and TV antenna fixed on the RV, and got a new transmission pump in the car for towing, and my new glasses should be a done deal next week....
Nov09
Posted on Nov 9 by Ruth Davis
It’s been quite a week. Last Thursday we woke up at 5am to get ready for Marika’s second cataract surgery. When I walked to the bathroom, the bedroom carpet was sopping wet. I hadn’t spilled my water bottle, the bathroom itself was dry, yet the floor behind the bathroom was drenched. We turned off the main water supply, took showers in the RV Park bathroom, turned a fan on to dry the carpet, and went to the surgi-center. On the way there, I left a message with a mobile RV repair place, hoping to schedule an afternoon appointment. The surgery went fine, we got home and still hadn’t heard from the RV guy, so we booked with another company. He said he’d be here at 1. When I took Marika’s bandage off her eye at noon, it didn’t look at all like the first eye did. Instead, it was filled with bright red blood. I checked the post-surgery papers to see if this was listed as a normal thing and it wasn’t. So I called the surgi-center,...
