Monday, December 15, 2008

Update and Christmas Greetings!

I figured it was about time to do an update. We left South Dakota the 19th of October for warmer climates and take a few months off. As you know, Bob and I fell in love with South Dakota this past summer. Bob and I made quite a few friends this past summer and for our first workamping experience, we were very greatful to everyone that helped us. We will also miss the buffalo and all the amazing wildlife. We will being going back next summer though, as there is so much yet we want to explore.
We'll take you on a journey of where we have been so far. We left SD at 8 am on the 19th and drove through Nebraska and for our first night stayed at a campground in Sterling, CO. Thought we would stay longer than one night, but there was a snow storm predicted so we moved on the next morning. When we left in the morning the CO sky was so gray and the weather was gloomy all day. On night 2, we stayed just over into the New Mexico border in Raton. Still very cold and the man at the campground told us that the bears sometime come out into the campground at night - Toby was not happy with that so again we moved on the next day.
On day 3, our next stop was Elephant Butte, NM. It was beautiful and WARM. The temperatures were in the 70s and 80s. Now we're talking - our kind of weather. We ended up staying in Elephant Butte for almost 2 weeks. It gave us a chance to recharge our batteries (ours not the RV) and soak up the much needed sunshine. Elephant Butte is a small city between with Truth or Consequences being very close by. There is a park nearby that has a small scale version of the Vietnam Memorial Wall with memorials and monuments of all the wars called the Veterans Memorial Park. It was very touching and beautiful. Bob and I had the opportunity to see the Vietnam Wall many years in Washington, D.C. and the park in NM was an exact duplicate.
After leaving NM we traveled to Arizona and planted roots in Tucson for 2 weeks. Tucson was pretty neat. We went to Old Tucson Studios which is a movie set where a lot of western movies and western TV shows were produced. Spent the whole day there and they even had a western shoot out show and traveling medicine man show. Very impressive!
Also while in Tucson we had the opportunity to meet with 2 couples from the Workamping group we belong to. Bob and I met Jaimie and George and Jim and Sharon at the campground Jaimie and George were staying at in Tucson. Jaimie and George have many years of workamping experience and were so nice to us. Jaimie has written and has published many books on the RV lifestyle which has helped us very much over the years and gave us the courage to do what we are doing. We also had lunch with Jim and Sharon, and they also have quite a few years of traveling experience and they were so nice to share their experiences with us.
Jaimie and George invited us to a parade in Tucson called the "All Souls Procession". This was a parade that reminded me of a combination of Halloween and Mardi Gras. It is a parade in which people celebrate and mourn people in their lives that have died. The first parade was organized in 1990 by a local artist that was mourning the death of her father. It was really pretty amazing all the costumes and the work that is put into this parade every year.
After leaving Tucson we headed to Phoenix, AZ. We stayed at a RV resort in Goodyear which was only about 5 miles outside of Phoenix. Bob and I really liked the Goodyear area. The campsite we had was very large and the weather was amazing. Nice and warm, no humidity. The resort also had a hot tub which we were able to use. We also had a chance to meet another workamping couple - Kimbery and Jerry. They were staying in the same resort and they have been on the road for a few years now too. What a nice couple, they showed us around Phoenix and we were able to spend some time with them before they had to head to CA to manage a Christmas tree lot. We have chatted on and off with them before via e-mail and we follow each others blogs. It was pretty amazing, we had so much in common and felt like we had known them a very long. We really do appreciate their friendship and the time they spent with us.
There was a pretty large Walmart in Phoenix. We had never seen one that big before. We were able to stock up on some groceries before we left - sometimes you don't know where you are going to end up, so it's best to make sure you have plenty of groceries - just in case. I was pretty sad to leave to Goodyear, I really loved the area and the resort we were at. Bob, Toby and I had a very nice Thanksgiving. We made our own Thanksgiving dinner and just enjoyed the day and the weather and gave "thanks" for the opportunities that have been provided to us. We have job leads for February and March will hopefully come back sometime during the winter.
We left Phoenix on the 30th of November to reach our current destination - Quartzsite, AZ. It is a pretty amazing place. Quartzsite is a very popular RV destination for the winter. There is a huge RV Show in January and many other types of shows through out the winter. It's hard to describe - but there is like many tents and buildings that sell anything and everything here. It is like a town that is basically a huge flea/craft market located in the middle of the desert. It's pretty amazing. Bob and I are staying here atleast through January and part of February. We are hoping the jobs we applied for work out so we can back to Phoenix area for 2 1/2 months before heading back to South Dakota. We have friends that we worked with in SD, coming to stay in the campground we are at. They are a great couple, also helpful during our first workamping summer, and we are happy to have them as friends and are very excited to see them.
Bob and I are enjoying the holidays very much this year. It's the first time in a very long time that we have been able to truly appreciate and enjoy the true meaning and the spirits of the holiday season. We are very glad that we have made this change in our lives and very much value the people we have met along the way. We also appreciate the love and support of family and friends back home that have kept in touch with us and support us in our journeys. Enjoy our photos and I'm sorry this is so long - I will try very hard to post a little more often.
We want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a safe and healthy Happy New Year!
With Much Love,
Bob, Sharon and Toby