South Dakota Update

We are back in South Dakota for the summer. Bob and I really enjoy being back here - it is such a beautiful area. When we first arrived at the end of April there was still a little snow on the ground and we had snow squalls on and off for a couple weeks.

Bob is working the front desk at the lodge and I am a concierge at the campground. Our managers are very nice and we’re enjoying working here.

We’ve been to visit the buffalo and the wild burros at Custer State Park. Have also made another trip to Bear Country. I just love the wildlife here and being able to photograph them. So I’ve posted some of our favorite photos that I have taken so far. You’ll notice since the weather is getting warmer the animals are losing their winter coats making way for the summer coats.

This was at a Ranger’s home at Custer Park. How would you like to find these guys sitting on your lawn?

Also – there are NO VEHICLES allowed next to this guy!

The wild Burrows at Custer State Park

Below are some of the wildlife at Bear Country

Reindeer napping – guess

he doesn’t mind the bird

on his back. Below – Mom

with her baby.

Below I’ve made an album of more photos. Just click on the “View Full Album” to see the rest.

View Full Album

We have quite a few more photos to post from our travels from New Mexico to when we arrived in South Dakota. I am just learning how to make the photo albums for our blogs, so I’ll try to make another album soon with those photos.

Hope everyone is doing well -

All Our Love,

Bob, Sharon and Toby

Advice From a Wolf

Advice from a Wolf: Trust your instincts, Be at home in nature, Keep your den clean, Stand "fur" what you believe, Stay on track, Howl with your friends, Be a Leader and Pack Life with Good Memories. Monday we left Meteor Crater RV Park and headed east towards New Mexico. We reached our destination of Ramah, NM late in the afternoon. The area we decided to stay in is not very populated and is off the beaten path, therefore, we’ve had no cell phone or internet service for the last couple days. We chose this area because as some of my friends know, I love wolves and there is a wolf sanctuary here that we wanted to visit. It is called Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary. The sanctuary is a non-profit and I believe, privately owned organization that cares for approximately 54 abused and abandoned wolves and wolf dogs. Since the wolves never lived in their own natural environment they cannot be rehabilitated and released back in the wild. They once belonged to people who either neglected or abused them or bought them as pets and could no longer care of them. The sanctuary is a safe place they will live for the rest of their days. Bob and I visited Wild Spirit Sanctuary on Tuesday and had a great time. To be able to see wolves so close was just awesome. They are so large and powerful, yet beautiful. It is so wonderful that the sanctuary is taking such great care of these wolves not only giving them the medical care they need, but also provide a place they can live and play for the rest of their lives without fear of abuse or neglect. Bob and I hope to come back maybe in October and stay at the campground they have at the sanctuary and possibly even volunteer there for a week or two. It was definitely a great day and we enjoyed our visit with the wolves.

"Take It Easy"

Yesterday, Saturday, April 11, we left Surprise, AZ and headed north through Arizona. The further north we drove the colder it got. We drove through Flagstaff which was very windy and having snow showers. Of all things – snow, we had never driven the RV through snow, but thank goodness it didn’t stick to the roads or get very slick. After driving through Flagstaff we stopped about 35 miles outside of town and stopped in Winslow. Do you remember the Eagles song “Take It Easy”? It had the line: “standing on a corner in Winslow, AZ”, well that is where we ended up. Not actually on the “corner”, but at an RV park 20 miles from town. The weather is different than what we have been used to. It was very windy and the temperature dropped down in the 30’s last night, compared to the 80 and 90 degree weather we had been used to. We did drive into Winslow and stood on the corner. There are also parts of Route 66 that you can still drive on today. So there is lots of memorabilia around that is reminiscent of the days when the main road was Route 66. Today, Sunday we drove about 5 miles past the RV Park and visited a meteor crater. Approximately 50,000 years ago a meteor fell from the sky and made a whole so large in the ground that it is now a National Monument Site. No wonder “Henny Penny” thought the sky was falling. Bob and I did a 1 hour walking tour around just a part of the top of the crater. I should mention that we were at an elevation of 6,000 feet, which is much higher than we are used to. We did notice the difference when walking, let alone being so windy at the higher altitude. Bob had to take his hat off as he almost lost it a couple times. When we got back from our sight-seeing today, Bob cooked our Easter ham, and we had baked potatoes and apple jack for dessert. Tomorrow, Monday, we are back on the road again to our next destination. I’ll fill you in where we end up. Enjoy the photos and we’ll post some facts and history about the “Corner” and the Meteor in our next post. Oh, if at any time you want to see the photos in a larger format, just click on them and they will enlarge for you. Hope everyone had a Blessed Easter. Lots of Love, Bob, Sharon and Toby

HAPPY EASTER!!

Bob and I have finished working at baseball spring training. As I had mentioned earlier, we worked in the concession stands as cashiers. It was quite busy at times but fun. We did get to see some of the endings of the games if our work shift ended early. It was pretty cool watching a real baseball game. The Surprise Stadium is the home stadium for the Kansas City Royals and the Texas Rangers. The teams that they played against were the Colorado Rockies, San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres, LA Dodgers, Oakland Athletics, LA Angels, Cleveland Indians, Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners, Arizona Diamondbacks and the Chicago Cubs. One day we were watching the end of a game and one of the players from the Colorado Rockies was at bat, and when he hit the ball the bat broke in several pieces. It’s a good thing the Rangers pitcher was fast at ducking because he would have most certainly been hit in the face as the piece of bat flew over his head. Then it was neat to see some of the players hit home runs and listen to crowds in the stadium cheer and people chase the ball trying to catch it. I have attached some photos of the baseball field and some other attractions around the stadium. I took the photos on the day Bob and I had orientation and training, so sorry you’ll see an empty field. There was really no place to put my camera on a work day - I’ll have to try and think about doing something different next year. Bob and I really enjoyed our time there and we would like to go back again next February. If our plans go well the manager at the stadium said we were welcome to come back next year.

I know I don't update our blog as often as I should, and I'll try to do better in the future. Today we hit the road again to start another new adventure. Tomorrow I'll post and let you know where we are - I promise. Bob, Toby and I wish everyone a very blessed Easter.

Quick Update

It is hard to believe that we are in March already - where did February go? We are doing well and our jobs at the baseball stadium are going great. We're having a good time and the weather in Arizona has been wonderful. The temperatures have been fluctuating in the mid 70's to low 80's the last couple weeks. We will post photos in the next couple weeks so you can see where we've been and what the stadium looks like. Until next time, Sharon, Bob & Toby

Just thought we'd bring everyone up to date on what we've been doing since the holidays. Bob, Toby and I are doing great. After leaving the Phoenix/Goodyear area we went to Quartzsite, AZ for 2 months. Quartzsite is a very small town where there is a major RV show in January and the town just overflows with people and RV's. Our friends from South Dakota arrived the beginning of January and they stayed in the same park as us. The four of us worked miscellaneous jobs on and off until we left Tuesday, Feb. 10 to head back to the Phoenix area to work at the baseball spring training camp until the beginning of April. All four of us are working the baseball spring training camp. We are going to be working in the concession stands as cashiers. I've nevery been to a real baseball game before, so we hope to be able to see part of the games and take photographs. While we have not endured the snow storms and cold as some of you are, our weather has not been great either. The weather has been unusual from what we're told that it should be warmer than it has been. We've had many nights in the low 30's and days in the high 60's. While that sounds like a heatwave to some, for us it is cold. We are defintely looking forward to warmer weather soon. It is hard to believe that it will be a year in April since we started our traveling/workamping adventure. We have not regretted our decision and have had so much fun seeing so many parts of the country. Bob and I look forward to many more years traveling and exploring. We've been so fortunate to meet a lot of nice people along the way and we look forward to meeting more as our adventures continue. Until next time, we hope everyone is well and we'll post again when we are able. All our Love, Bob, Sharon & Toby

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