Apricity West 4

March 29, 2024 - Friday  

Rich started preparing to depart on Monday - remove wheel covers, pick up patio rug, check tires, stow away as much as possible inside the rig, etc.  Then we went to Terri and Jim’s for afternoon laundry, music, storytelling, reminiscing while waiting for Jim to finish up remote work in his studio. Since he’s the bartender, we put him right to work making cocktails for our last time sitting in the backyard. It was fun to hear his journal entries of the weekends we’ve been here in February. We covered a lot of ground this year in Tucson and neighboring areas. If we ever need an alibi, we can refer to his journal for exact times of our whereabouts! 

 

March 30, 2024 - Saturday

Since tomorrow will be a busy day packing up, we are having Easter dinner today - Jim’s mother joined us. Always a brightly colored table to display our last feast. 

We will miss this precious slice of paradise in the desert. Pictures don’t do it justice.

Terri prepared a salad, spiral ham, potatoes au gratin, and roasted asparagus. Delicious!

On top of that, she made scratch brownies which Jim embellished with ice cream, chocolate syrup, and a cocktail cherry on top! We wrapped up the day with a mini-concert of songs we have been working on religiously. It was probably our best showing so far - good thing because it was our last chance to get it right. Terri is singing more now and sounds terrific. Next year we will be doing harmonies for sure. 

 

Marilyn stopped over - I love this sweatshirt from Quartzsite.

We see Jeep Wranglers all the time as they are a popular “toad" for RVers. The mystery was why they have rubber duckies lined up on their dashboard.

According to Google:

The act of placing a rubber duck on someone's Jeep-called Jeep "ducking" and/or "Duck Duck Jeep"-began with one person, named Allison Parliament, from a small town in the Canadian province of Ontario. She unknowingly started a movement of kindness, fellowship, and recognition with that first rubber duck she placed on a Jeep.

Allison's reason for perching a little yellow duck on a Jeep Wrangler just like hers that she saw in a parking lot was simply to bring herself a small sense of joy after a frightening verbal and physical encounter with someone earlier in the day. Two years later, that single gesture has morphed into the Jeep ducking craze that has swept throughout the Jeep enthusiast community in the United States as well as in nearly a dozen other countries around the world.

 

March 31, 2024 - Sunday  HAPPY EASTER 🐣✝️

With rain in the forecast, the outside is all picked up and little by little we are securing everything inside. A tradition has been to go to Omar’s Cafe at TTT Truck Stop with Terri and Jim before we say our sad goodbyes. The meal was delicious and we went back to our tiny home and sat inside to recap Jim’s journaled March adventures. It became evident that there certainly is a theme to our ventures - FOOD! We invited Marilyn to join us and there are always connections - Jim and Marilyn are both alumni of Oregon State University.

 

T & J presented us with a gift bag filled with surprises - 4 pack of wine, a bottle of Antica Formula vermouth, a hummingbird yard decoration with a small bell, 4” flour tortillas, cool stickers for our new water bottles. We will miss them terribly🥺

April 1, 2024 - Monday  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NORA 💕

Rich’s daughter, Nora, is celebrating her birthday in Encinitas, CA with a long time dear friend. 

 

Destination Deming, NM for 2 days - we drove through Texas Canyon which is always jaw dropping to see the upcrop of ginormous boulders. 

Entered New Mexico and the Mountain Time Zone (now only 2 hours difference from back home) and crossed the Continental Divide [a separation of the drainage of watersheds (rivers) to the Atlantic (including Gulf of Mexico) vs. Pacific Oceans] - all in just 3.5 hours.

 

Trucks lined up on the other side doing construction work - grinding the old pavement to make ready for the new. 

We got all set up before the rain started, but it is windy and cold. In the process, I set the clock on the microwave. When Rich came inside, he was trying to set it. Ummm - what are you doing? I already did that. Well, turns out that the fuse blew and after testing it, we think the microwave/convection oven is $hot! Will test again in Fort Stockton in case it is a power thing here. Eighteen rigs came in today - that’s a lot.

 

One of our friends here, Dennis, is in Las Vegas celebrating his 80th birthday with 14 family members from as far as Alaska and the Caribbean! We are sorry not to see him, but so happy that his family is with him for this special occasion. 

 

April 2. 2024 - Tuesday

Much nicer weather today, so we sat outside watching rig after rig pull out. Then one pulled in right next to us - a brand spanking new Winnebago Class A Via which he just picked up in Dallas yesterday. On his way here, he was hit with high winds and hale - you guessed it - 3 pings in the windshield they just installed before pick up. He and his wife have been renting RV’s for years and now that he retired, they bought this one which he is driving home. 

A woman walking her dog asked Rich about his Berkshire sweatshirt. Turns out that Terri and Jeff are from Toland, Massachusetts - just 1/2 hour away from Lee! They have a log cabin on 60 acres and have raised the chickens, goats, etc. until he retired from the Fire Department and they decided to RV. After doing nothing productive for a while, they decided to go to RV Tech School so they could work while on the road. So as soon as they pull into a park with their sign on the truck, customers are knocking on their door which gets to be overwhelming. 

Fran and Rich came over this afternoon for a visit. Good to see them and have a lively conversation. They have a DVD collection of close to 1000 movies and view them systematically (alphabetically). Fran is a self proclaimed "yarn-aholic" and crochets all shapes and sizes of critters to co-sign at the Art Center.  

She has a kit to do this cute platypus:

John and Geri pulled in late in the afternoon, followed by Dot and Harvey. We missed them - did a lot of catching up on life at North Ranch and what to expect in Mason, TX. 

 

April 3, 2024 - Wednesday 

Destination Ft. Stockton, TX for these three RV’s. We have reservations at Ft. Stockton RV Park where Rich was a manager; they are staying at Hilltop RV Park. We hit the road at 7:30 and had smooth sailing until road construction into El Paso. It slowed traffic a little, but not a big deal. 

 

View of Mexico from Interstate 10:

Entering Fort Stockton - iron figures on the hillside:

By the way, our microwave is officially shot!

 

April 4, 2024 - Thursday

Destination Mason, TX for a Total Eclipse party. Bill Strickler used to live at North Ranch and invited several friends from there to his ranch. He and Linda have been planning it for a year, so I sure hope the weather cooperates. But it will still be a party with great people!

When we got on this 2 lane road, the speed limit dropped to 75mph! 😳

We saw cattle, pigs, sheep, donkeys, goats, deer and a lone llama along the way. The wild flowers of Texas were like a carpet on the side of the road - blue bonnets and  Indian paint brushes. Mesquite trees are in full bloom.

Bill and Linda built a party pad under 5 oak trees which are in the same root system. 

Harvey attending to Rascal on a sprawling tree limb. Zoom in to read the sign❤️

It was a lovely gathering of the ten of us, and a leashed cat and 2 small dogs following the shade (84 degrees) into the dinner hour. We all went to our respective habitats for an hour to have dinner and then went back to the party pad with our instruments - it’s a late night tonight as sunset is at 8pm. Music was in the air. It was so good to play music with Harvey again - and the harmonicas too. 

 

I will share all of the beauty of this property and visiting animals in next week's blog.  

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