Wow, the winter season on the Road House is officially a wrap. We are back in Anacortes getting the Beach House ready for a three-month cruise to the Broughton Islands in British Columbia, Canada. I truly got so far behind on blogging that I finally decided just to skip ahead and write this winter season summary.

 

 

The winter/fall season started off with a mechanical issue that had us idling in Twin Falls for five days but once we got on the road again the Road House ran like a champ.

This season we were more stationary and spent longer periods of time in places but the big difference was how many friends and family we connected with or joined us along the way. It’s was certainly a social season and we made so many new friends especially during our 3 1/2 month stay at the Outdoor Resort Palm Spring (ORPS).

Our path was a zigzag across many states and some states we went thru twice. The “Birthdays Rendezvous” kicked off the season. Our friends the Millers glamped with us in Moab where we hiked at Arches National Park and Capitol Reef National Park. Tom and I have birthdays within days of each other and we have come to meet and celebrate all of our birthdays in late October. I love this tradition!!!

 

 

From Utah, we headed over Santa Fe New Mexico to rendezvous with our Boxer loving, RV buddies the Carmichaels. Good food, long walks and evening fires in the resort chimaera with these wonderful friends were highlights of our 12 days at the Santa Fe Skies RV Resort.

 

 

From there, we headed back to Mesa, AZ for a short stop to see friends and then on to Palm Springs, CA for the next three months. Our time in Palm Springs was really busy, yes mostly socializing…seems that is our new hobby!

My cousins June and Matt from Kentucky visited for a week over Thanksgiving and we had a blast touring the area with them, trying some new restaurants and playing silly games like “Redneck Life”. If I recall there was a fair amount of wine consumed as well!!

 

 

There were five more rounds of visitors during our time in Palm Springs. In between all of the fun visitors our time was filled playing pickleball and meeting new friends at the Outdoor Resort Palm Springs (ORPS). We really fell in love with this beautiful RV Resort, so much so that we bought a lot and will be returning again in November for at least three months. We also have some long time Portland friends who are now desert dwellers in the area so it was great to spend time with them.

 

 

 

 

We also did a road trip to Texas with friends in the car with no pets. Bentley and Sucia stayed home in the coach at ORPS with a their new BFF Serena. Yikes, no pets for a almost 2 weeks. Plus we stayed in a condo with a king sized bed – sweet!!! It was like a real vacation!!!! We explored Texas Hill Country, ate a whole lot of BBQ, spent a day exploring San Antonio. The grand finale was New Years Eve with friends in Austin where is snowed…seriously! It was so cold all the musically events in the waterfront park were cancelled but we saw all the fireworks from our warm hotel room in downtown Austin.

 

 

 

The zigzagging continued as we headed to Gold Canyon, AZ in March. We stayed at Gold Canyon Golf and RV Resort for a month where we had plans to meet up with some Washington boating friends. As it turned out, some new friends that we met at ORPS were also going to be in Gold Canyon at the same time – small world for sure!!

 

 

Another fun surprise was when our Portland wino/cooking pals, the Smith’s flew down for a long weekend and stayed in nearby Gold Canyon. Hiking, birding, good wine and some cooking filled our time together.

 

 

In April, all the smart folks started heading out of the state to cooler climates. We didn’t fall into the smart category and stayed another month in Mesa, AZ at the Tower Point RV Resort. I had planned to visit my Mom in Kentucky and attend a family reunion in late April so my flight plans were booked out of the Mesa Gateway Airport. I was feeling so smug about scoring an inexpensive, nonstop flight from Mesa to Louisville until the sustained 95 degree weather was forecasted. Seriously, round trip and nonstop for under $200…it really was a score!!!

To beat the heat, we took a few day trips to cooler regions of Arizona. We spent one day exploring the Flagstaff  area and another at the Tonto Natural Bridge State Park.

 

 

 

We also had fun exploring the nearby community of Gilbert where we really enjoyed the great farmers market, lively restaurant scene and the totally awesome nature preserve.

We now agree that we won’t be staying in Arizona or any place else that routinely gets in the mid to high nineties as early as April. Not that there was any lack of things to do but when it starts getting that hot, most everything that we enjoying doing, oh, like being outside isn’t that enjoyable.

 

 

On a positive note, I had a great week in Kentucky with family. It was a marvel to see that much green after months in the desert. Louisville is a beautiful city, with great restaurants and a lively arts scene. I did manage to eat some good BBQ while I was there too!!! Did I say that it was lush and beautiful with perfect 75 degree days??

Once I landed back in the land of HOT, we had a great 26th anniversary dinner in Gilbert with our friends the Millers, then we hit the road in search of cooler temps the next day. Out drive took us through Needles NV, Bakersfield Ca with a two day stop in Lodi CA for some wine tasting. Gotta have some fun along the way! After Lodi, we drove to Medford spent the night, then on to Portland where we stayed for 5 nights.

 

 

Our stop in Portland was a whirl wind of eating, drinking and more socializing. Are you are seeing the trend here??? It was great to reconnect with friends but our time went by all too fast and we didn’t get to see everyone we had hoped to see. Next trip through we will definitely stay longer. Portland feels so comfortable but doesn’t feel like home anymore despite having so many friends there.

 

 

So, here we are back in Ancortes with a long list of things to do to get the Beach House ready for the marine highway. Wally is all things mechanical right now while I am all about the provisioning, cleaning the exterior of the boat and getting all of registrations, tags and coast guard paperwork updated. We are jazzed to be cruising as far as the Broughton Islands in British Columbia this summer and will try to post whenever we have a decent cell connection.

 

 

Hoot Hoot…Our plan is to get off the dock the first week of June for a shake down cruise – so far all systems are GO!!!