Our Winter Camp
Tucson
We were in “winter camp” at Voyager RV Resort for 4 ½ half months (11/1/21 to 3/14/22). Our original plans were to leave at the end of February and go to the redwood forest near Santa Cruz, California, for two weeks in early March. However, when we learned that Brenna’s due date was March 18, we revised those plans and planned to leave on March 14, rescheduling the redwood forest until early April.
We had many adventures and activities in Tucson, so the format of this blog has been altered from a daily log to the monthly highlights. We had lots of one-time requirements to take care of and used much of November and part of December to accomplish them.
November
We arrived at Voyager on Monday, November 1st. Within minutes of our arrival, we were invited to Happy Hour at 4:30 at the 5th wheel of Don and Janet Dart (full-timers from Washington state). We did not make it to that happy hour, as we were pursuing a storage unit for our extra “stuff”.
When we sold our house in Jesup, everything that we owned had to either be Sold, Given Away, Thrown Away, Stored or Taken with us. We did a lot of the first three, then had a ten by ten foot storage unit. Everything else went with us. We soon realized that we had too much stuff with us, and when we arrived in Tucson, we were eager to “ditch” some of it. We thought that we could get a storage unit near Voyager, but those were not climate controlled, so we searched around and found CubeSmart on Speedway Blvd. We signed up for a ten by fifteen foot unit that night and made a first “deposit” of storage stuff.
There were many places we wanted to visit on our journey, but could not, because the Chevy Equinox could not manage the rough roads. We rented jeeps twice (Ouray, CO, and Escalante, UT), rented side by side OHV’s four times (Black Hills, Yellowstone, Ouray and Red River, NM), took jeep tours three times (Red River, NM, Cannondale, UT, and Zion, UT) and just didn’t go to other places that we wanted to. When we bought the Equinox (February 2019), we really wanted a Jeep Wrangler, but had sticker shock at $45,000. Now we were convinced that we really needed to trade-in the Equinox for a Jeep. Martha pursued this, long distance, with dealerships in Tucson, Phoenix and Los Angeles, even drafting Greg and Brenna to test drive a Jeep in LA. So, when we got to Tucson, we had an appointment at Larry H. Miller Jeep on Wednesday, November 3rd. Our goal was to buy a Jeep Wrangler, Rubicon version (outfitted for mountainous off-road driving) in the color Snazzberry (only available in 2021). They did not have a Wrangler Rubicon in Snazzberry on the lot, and we would have had to wait on future vehicles to get one. However, they did have a Jeep Gladiator Rubicon in Snazzberry. This is the Jeep Wrangler with the pickup truck bed. The wheel base is 18 inches longer but the seating room is the same. With the truck bed there is comparable storage to a four door Wrangler. We had been intrigued by the Gladiator and decided that this would be perfect, so we drove it off the lot that day, only $10,000 more than when we had sticker shock. Well – YOLO!
We spent the rest of that week getting acclimated to Voyager and Tucson and did make it to the daily “happy hour”. It seems that multiple neighbors had been coming to Voyager, for the winter, for years, up to 10 or more, had always stayed in campsites nearby, on 9th and 11th streets, and referred to themselves as “the hood”. We became the newest members. We became friends with Don & Janet, Jerry & Marcia from Michigan, Donny & Sharon from Wyoming, Tom & Jennifer from Washington State, Don & Joyce from Illinois, Barb from Illinois, Kendra from Idaho and Vic from Calgary, Alberta. Don & Janet were full-timers in a 5th wheel, Jerry & Marcia drove their 5th wheel from Michigan each winter, Donny & Sharon used to live in an RV, but now lived in a house in the Cove (next to the RV Park), Tom & Jennifer lived in a park model in the RV Park, Don & Joyce left a trailer and truck at the RV Park and flew in each winter, and Barb and Kendra each lived in a park model. Over the winter this group grew as more friends arrived, culminating with the largest group size in February.
Now that we were acclimated and part of a group, we had to leave. As related, we left lots of stuff in a storage unit in Jesup, so we went to get it. We flew from Tucson to Jacksonville via Dallas-Fort Worth on November 10th but, were grounded in Dallas. Our Dallas to Jacksonville flight was delayed by storms, then cancelled with electrical failures and the crew running out of hours (all at 2:00 AM). American Airlines put us up in the Dallas Westin for the night but, wouldn’t retrieve our luggage. We tried to fly out the next day on the 11th but, could not get a flight until the 12th; two nights with no clothes (we did buy some at Wal-Mart) or CPAP – Walt was hurting. He could really empathize with the unruly passengers who had to tolerate the terrible state of air travel. We did go have a great meal at Benihana Japanese Steakhouse.
We finally got to Jacksonville, rented a 20 foot U-Haul truck, drove to Jesup, loaded our stuff (with the help of Jesup Mover Paul Brown) and drove to Savannah. In exchange for a discount, we had offered to pull a trailer with another person’s belongings behind our truck, to Waco, TX, but the U-Haul location could not find that trailer – what a mixup. We spent the night in Macon, visited with Walt’s Dad, his Brother, Roger and Sister-in-law, Sandy, in Chattanooga, and spent 3 ½ days driving to Tucson, mostly on Interstate 20. We spent nights in Meridian, MS, near Fort Worth, TX and in El Paso, TX. We also discovered Buc-ee’s gas stations in Calhoun, GA, Leeds, AL and near Dallas, TX. We arrived back in Tucson on November 15th after spending $800 for gas.
We unloaded most of the U-Haul truck into storage and some items, for Brenna, into a ten by six trailer. We left Tucson on November 21st to drive 500 miles to Los Angeles. We off-loaded Brenna’s items and spent the night at their condo in Culver City. On the 22nd, we drove north to the central California coast to the town of Cayucos, to spend Thanksgiving with Brenna, Greg, Greg’s parents, Matt & Georgia, and Greg’s sister Sara. We had a really good time and did a little bit of sightseeing at Montana de Oro State Park (https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=592) for a great hike on the coast, the Monarch Butterfly Grove in Pismo Beach (https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=30273) and the Elephant Seal Rookery near San Simeon and the Hearst Castle (https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=26424). We returned to Tucson, with a one night stay in Indio, CA, ready to regain some normalcy and get on a schedule with our life at Voyager.
December
Voyager RV Resort has an enormous number of activities and clubs. You could stay busy all winter without leaving the property. We started to get involved with these in December, but once again, other issues interfered. We took the motorhome to Freedom RV (https://www.freedomrvaz.com/) for the two year annual service plus some warranty items. The motorhome was in the shop for the week of December 6th. We could have lived in it, staying on their lot, but with two dogs, we decided to rent a VRBO. We stayed in a nice little house in the Palo Verde neighborhood, northeast of downtown and the University of Arizona. The house had two rental units, one in the front and ours in the back, formerly the enclosed back porch. It worked well even though the bed was too soft. However, after the week, all the work had not been completed and the service center was waiting on an inspector from the extended warranty company. So, we had two more days in the shop during the week of December 13th. We did stay in the motorhome at the service center one night. The biggest item was to replace a slideout motor that was failing.
We also began to establish medical service relationships in December. Walt had been bothered by sore knees since June, so he had an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon. X-rays showed some damage in the right knee, but none so serious to warrant any invasive treatments. He received a steroid shot that brought some relief. Martha has an inherited issue with bunions on her feet, with the right foot being the worst. The bunion, on the side of the big toe had pushed all the toes to the right. These toes were pushing on the inside of shoes and making fitting shoes difficult. The podiatrist said that the condition had progressed to the point where the big toe could be corrected, but the other toes would not respond to treatment and straighten out. So, she opted for surgery so that she could fit into shoes. She spent Christmas recovering.
Brenna and Greg came to visit Tucson, on their way to hunting in west Texas, over Christmas. Greg did his PhD work at the University of Texas – Austin and his PhD advisor owns a ranch in the Texas hill country. They spent January to April 2021 there while their condo was being remodeled. In fact, they got marred there on March 19th. They also normally go there in November and to a Nature Conservancy reserve in west Texas over Christmas, to hunt deer and feral pig. Greg then butchers and prepares the meat. They have a large freezer in their condo and store all this meat. So, they don’t buy meat but, eat a lot of venison and feral pig. Greg had gone to Texas by himself in November, and they went together in December. They had rented an Airbnb in the Jefferson neighborhood north of the University of Arizona. We had a nice Christmas with them, had great Mexican take out from the Guadalajara Grill on Prince Street (https://guadalajaraoriginalgrill.com/). We had Christmas dinner from Honey Baked Ham (https://www.honeybaked.com/). With Brenna being six months pregnant, they were very concerned with possible COVID exposure. If they do go to restaurants, they make sure that they can get patio seating. We also met Brenna and Greg’s friends, Jeff and Katie. They work for the University of Arizona and are a convenient visit for Brenna and Greg on their way to/from Texas. Brenna and Greg returned from Texas just before New Year’s and we enjoyed visiting with them again.
We did start to do some local exploration in December, visiting Saguaro National Park, both east and west units (https://www.nps.gov/sagu/index.htm). The east section (Rincon Mountain District) of the park was only about 10 miles from Voyager and extends from the east Tucson suburbs up into the Rincon Mountains. There is a nice scenic loop drive, Cactus Forest Drive and many trails. We took the dogs on the Mica View trail and really enjoyed it. Walt hiked the Cactus Forest Trail from the north to the south sides of the scenic drive and back. Unfortunately, he overdid it, and his knees began to suffer again. We also visited the west section of the park (Tucson Mountain District) and drove the unpaved scenic loop drive (Hohokom Drive and Golden Gate Drive). We visited the Visitor centers at both and bought the obligatory refrigerator magnet and other souvenirs. We also drove the Catalina Highway up to the summit of Mt. Lemmon. Mt. Lemmon is on the north side of the Tucson valley and is visible from all points of the valley. The road is a 26 mile drive, in the Catalina National Forest, that takes you from 2,500 feet elevation all way up to 9,100 feet elevation, the highest point in the area. Above 6,000 feet there was snow and many people out playing in it. There is a ski resort at the top along with Summerville, a small unincorporated community near the summit.
January
Now that we were past transporting storage items, celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas and Martha’s surgery, we started to get involved in Voyager activities, many to choose from. They have a hiking club that takes area hikes on Tuesdays. Walt hiked with them in early November, and wanted to do more hikes with them, but his knee problems returned. This group is serious about hiking and sets a pace that is too fierce for Martha and for a hobbled Walt, so he did not reconnect with them. Hopefully, he will maximize that resource in 2022-23. We did do some more relaxed pace hiking with couples in our happy hour “hood” on Fridays. We hiked several Pima County Parks (https://webcms.pima.gov/cms/one.aspx?portalId=169&pageId=248450) trails in the foothills of the Tucson Mountains on the west side of town, specifically Painted Hills and Sweetwater and in Saguaro East.
Tucson is a FANTASTIC location for cycling. Pima County has developed a series of bike trails, called the LOOP (https://webcms.pima.gov/government/the_loop/), totaling over 130 miles, that circumnavigate the city of Tucson and also heads out to the Oro Valley, Marana and south Tucson. To circumnavigate Tucson is 54 miles and uses the river valleys (washes) for the route. These are paved trails, about 15 feet wide with a center line that pass through the Julian Wash on the south side of Tucson, across the Harrison Greenway in the east, through the Pantano Wash in the northeast, in the Rillito River wash in the north and the Santa Cruz River wash in the west. There are limited sections where the trail follows local roads but, a cyclist is mostly separated from auto traffic. The trails have a slight slope with the highest point in the Harrison Greenway in the southeast and the lowest point at the junction of the Rillito and Santa Cruz rivers in the northwest. Voyager is 1 ½ miles south of the Roy Schoonover trailhead on Kolb Road. Walt would ride to the trailhead and then on the loop, but Kolb Road was so rough that he eventually would carry his bike on the car to/from the trailhead. Over the winter, Walt was able to ride all of the loop except the Santa Cruz wash and Martha rode most of it also. They’ll complete the full Loop next year.
Martha connected with the “nimble fingers” group that focuses on sewing and crafts. She would meet with them two days a week to crochet and share experiences. Walt really enjoyed the lap pool, a twenty yard heated (86 degrees) course. He bought pool toys (fins, pool buoy and kickboard) and would swim about 1500 yard two to three days per week. A very popular activity at Voyager and many 55 plus RV parks is Pickleball, played on a smaller tennis-like court with a wiffleball and wooden paddles. You can almost always hear the “thunk” of the wooden paddle on the wiffleball when you pass by the main activity area of Voyager. Walt took lessons in January and was a regular for several weeks until his knee problems forced him to lay out of this activity.
We connected with Walt’s aunt and uncle, Joyce and Rich Stienstra and cousin, Barbara Leighton and her husband, Mark. Joyce is Walt’s father’s youngest sister and Barbara is their daughter. Barbara and Mark had vacationed several years in Tucson, buying a condominium, then two more condos as investments. About four years ago, they realized that they would rather live in Tucson than in Michigan, so they sold the condos and bought a house. They then convinced Barbara’s parents to join them from Michigan. We met Joyce and Rich for brunch at First Watch (https://www.firstwatch.com/) on the north side of Tucson and really enjoyed the visit. Several weeks later we met Barbara and Mark at El Charro Café (https://www.elcharrocafe.com/) near the Lowes Ventana Canyon Resort. Again, a great visit catching up on family and activities.
Walt became involved in the “setup crew” at Voyager. This is a group that does the table and chair setup for the ballroom when there are parties, dinners and shows. The group is mostly older men and meets at 6:00 AM on Saturday and Sunday to setup for Saturday coffee, Sunday church and on weekday afternoons for activities such as dances and shows in the ballroom. The setup is relatively quick due to great organization and then the group tends to sit, drink coffee and trade stories.
We began going to dances (Friday night, New Year’s, Valentines, etc…) and shows. There were weekly shows, mostly cover bands that were really fun. Some of the themes were Paul Simon Tribute, the Chicago Experience, Bourbon Street Bash with Mr. Boogie Woogie, and One of these Nights – Eagles Tribute. We also went to Friday night dinner shows that included dinner and a band.
The last weekend of January, we returned to Los Angeles for a baby shower for Brenna and Greg. Rebecca flew in from Washington, DC, to be with us also. We stayed in an airBnB in Inglewood, about 2 miles from Brenna and Greg’s condo and about 1 mile from SoFi Stadium, the home of the NFL Rams (it was the weekend of the Rams vs 49’ers Conference Championship game). On Saturday, Rebecca and Walt met Sara Pauly in Altadena, just up the hill from Pasadena and hiked on the Lower Sam Merrill trail (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Merrill_Trail) from the Cobb Estate to Echo Mountain. In 1893, the Mt. Lowe Railway and Incline (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Lowe_Railway) opened to transport tourists from Pasadena to the Echo Mountain House, a magnificent 70-room Victorian hotel. Alongside the hotel were an astronomical observatory, car barns, dormitories and repair facilities, a casino and dance hall, and a menagerie of local fauna. Built by a group led by Professor Thaddeus Lowe, an industrialist and civil war balloonist (http://www.thaddeuslowe.name/MLEchohouse.htm), the incline and hotel welcomed Angelenos to the hotel, called the White City, and on the Alpine division railroad beyond to the base of Mt. Lowe and the Alpine Tavern. Seven short years later in 1900, the hotel burned, and financial issues prevented it being rebuilt. In the 1930’s, the Alpine division railroad and the Alpine Tavern were demolished by floods. The remains were all bulldozed, only the foundations remain and the property reverted back to the National Forest. It was a 2.5 mile uphill hike and then the same downhill. Walt felt that the downhill was the most difficult as his knees struggled with the pounding.
We met in downtown LA for dinner and drinks, first at a brewhouse and then at the Grand Central Market (https://www.grandcentralmarket.com/), and met some of Brenna and Greg’s friends. Walt finds LA to be a remarkable place, so full of energy and so many landmarks that regularly appear in the books that he reads and the movies and TV shows that both Martha and Walt watch.
On Sunday afternoon, we held the shower in the Culver City town park. Sara Pauly and Greg’s cousin Clare help arrange it and there were many neat activities, such as decorate a onezie (baby shirt), advice to the baby, coloring alphabet book, etc… The tacos were good also. There were probably about forty people attending and we all had a great time.
There were a lot of arrivals in the ‘hood’ in January: Phil and MaryJo from Colorado, Joe and Arlene from Washington state, Jim and Jan, our next-door neighbors from Ohio. Scott and Janet from Illinois, Scott and Terese from California, Kevin and Evelyn from Oregon, Larry and Nancy from Minnesota, Steve and Doreen (not sure where from) and Jim and Terri from Minnesota.
February
The first of February brought the last of the ‘hood’ members including Ray and Kathy from British Columbia, John and Diane from Wisconsin, Dennis and Karen, full-timers from Florida, and Jeff and Julie from California (though like us “South Dakotans”). Hopefully, we have mentioned everyone.
We continued to hike on Fridays, cycle on the LOOP, crochet (Martha), read books (Walt – yeah Voyager has a library – as does Pima County) and visit at Happy Hour. We had several memorable ‘hood’ activities: two cornhole tournaments and a Super Bowl party. Happy hour and the activities were held in vacant campsites amongst all our rigs. Everyone would bring lawn chairs, food and drink. The cornhole tournaments (one was actually in March) involved random team selections and would take about five hours to complete the double elimination tournament. Everyone was very encouraging, and we had great times.
March
Most Voyager “snowbirds” stay until the end of March, but we needed to leave in mid-March to be able to be in Los Angeles for Brenna’s due date. We continued our activities but started to wind down and pack up. To be able to travel with the new Jeep, we had to get Blue Ox towing gear (https://www.blueox.com/) installed (baseplate, wiring harness and braking system) by Tucson Drive Line and Balance and figure out how to best pack our gear in the new Jeep. We had put lots of stuff into storage, so our configuration worked well. We also finished making medical service arrangements deciding to utilize the services of the Banner/University of Arizona Health system. We both had full checkups, scheduled future appointments for the fall and had prescriptions filled. We also found a dentist. By mid-March, we were ready to hit the road again for two months on a swing through California and Oregon and then travel to Colorado for our summertime Camp Hosting positions at Steamboat Lake State Park in Colorado.