Monday, January 14, 2013

Visiting Family & Re-connecting With Friends

 

It figures that once we arrived in the Phoenix area that the weather would take a change for the worse. We arrived to nice temperatures of 70 degrees during the day to about 47 degrees for a night time low.

Then mother nature figured out where we were and decided to send Phoenix the coldest cold spell it has had in over 20 years! The high is about 45 and lows are down to 27 degrees at night. It is suppose to get warmer by this next weekend. We can move all around the country trying to find the best weather, but I guess she just wants to remind us who is in charge!

As we were traveling to Arizona we got a call from some friends of ours whom we met at an RV-Dreams Rally in Tennessee two years ago, Steve and Joan. They are fultimers also and are traveling back from Florida along I-10 and headed in our direction.  They overtook us in Tucson and they were planning to stay a few nights in the Phoenix area as well. We made plans to meet up with them for lunch.

We met them at their hotel and we visited for a few hours and got caught up with their work and travel adventures. They worked up in Oregon last year and told us about opportunities that led to us workcamping at Big Bear Lake this summer. Steve and Joan has been away from their rig for about 3 months and have been visiting family in the southeast. Now they are headed back to their rig in Las Vegas and are getting ready for their next adventure at Lake Meade. I think they are ready to get “Home”. We had a great lunch and really enjoyed catching up. You can read their blog at FOSJ

This past Thursday Max and I rode over to Lost Dutchman State Park to hike a short trail loop. We want to get back to hiking as much as we can and figured we would start off on a short loop. We also want to test out Max’s knees and particularly her left knee that has the torn ACL. We bought her two hiking poles to help her navigate. She say’s she is more comfortable going up hill and that the downhill sections makes her knee very unstable. The poles seem to help her and we take our time,  she did really well!

Here are a few pictures along our hike. It was a cloudy day but the temperature was a nice 65 degrees but the cold front was on its way.

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The state park is only 10 minutes from us so we may go back for some more hiking when it warms back up.

Friday we drove into Sun City to meet up with a couple that we met two years ago in Tennessee. Harris and Jan. They also have a Mobile Suites and we have been comparing notes on issues and improvements we have done every once in awhile. They are staying at the Paradise RV resort in Sun City. It is only a few blocks from Maxine’s mothers house and we have always wanted to check it out.

Harris and Jan gave us a tour of the facilities and we were quite impressed. It is more of a park model community but there are still lots of RV’s in there. There are so many activities that it would be impossible to get bored there. We are looking for a place for that inevitable time when we do not want to travel so much.

It was great catching up with what Harris and Jan have been doing since last we met and we had a fun afternoon visiting with them. We will probably get together again sometime before we leave the area. Thanks Harris and Jan for taking the time to show us around. See you soon.

Friday night we visited with Max’s mom and we just spent the night there, rather than driving an hour back to the rig, just to come back again on Saturday. On Saturday Max’s sister Betty came over and we all took mom on some errands and had a nice lunch at Applebee's.

Saturday night  we spent at Max’s sisters house and visited late into the night. Sunday after breakfast we went to Thunderbird park which is a small city park that has a few miles of hiking up the mountain. It is only about 3 miles from Betty’s house.

It was only about a 3 mile hike but it was a cool 45 degrees but at least it was sunny.

Starting up the trail. Betty, Max and Randy

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Betty and Max enjoying sister time

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Over looking a neighborhood that has a lake and canals running through it.

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At the summit!

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We had a fun weekend visiting with friends and family. The next few days we will be spending them at home and getting caught up with chores so when the weather warms up we can go back out and play!

Enjoy your day!

7 comments:

owensontheroad said...

Nice looking hike! Very nice that you are by family. We are enjoying that too :) We'll all be happy when this cold snap goes away. It was 27 this morning here!

Mike and Terri said...

We were wondering how Max's knee is doing. The hiking poles are a good idea.

Always fun to catch up with RV Dreamers. Hope Mother Nature gives you a break and sends you some warm days.

gypsygirl said...

I know what you mean about the cold weather following you. We are in Quartzsite and it is 24 at night and bitter cold today with the wind gusting at 30mph. Hopefully by the weekend the weather will warm up for the opening of the "Big Tent". Back home in NC it is 80.

Catherine, Jo Beth and Grace said...

Mother Nature is always showing us who is boss. We are having a pretty good cold snap here in Texas. Looks like a nice place for a hike.

Dan and Tricia said...

Looks like a great hike even with the cool temps! It sure is warm here in FL! We are oh so loving it but know that it can change in a heartbeat!

Anonymous said...

Where are you guys staying in Phoenix? We are in Gold Canyon. Bob and Janet

Unknown said...

Looks like you had a great hike, on a very beautiful day!