Week Two – We are on the Move!

This week and a half has been so action packed we both are having a hard time believing that its really only been eight days!

We traveled farther than I think we expected, but that was primarily to escape the hot weather plaguing the southern parts of our country. As I write today, we are in New Meadows, ID. Just north of McCall, ID, it is the home of an old college friend of Dale’s, Jeff Pope and his wife Ellie. Ellie, unfortunately is not up here this weekend, but his two dogs, Truman and Mable, are, soo we get our dog fix as well as some great company!

Now, how did we get here?

We started, as planned, with a round of golf at Prescott Golf Club in Dewey, AZ. We drove from there to our friends Pete and Karen Walsh and set up camp in the front yard of their very lovely mountain cabin in Munds Park, AZ. We could really have not chosen a better AZ departure point. One night of rustic backyard bocce, one night of cribbage, a pub crawl through Flagstaff, and just time spent with two of the loveliest people we know. We also had the chance to visit Richard and Jeri Wilkes at their cute park model in the mountains!

From there it was time to get a couple of National Park Passport stamps under my belt. So we headed straight for Bryce Canyon. We have decided our wanderings will be along the backroads as much as possible, so it just turns out to be a lovely relaxing way to see the country. We camped for one night at Ruby’s, outside of the park, and found we could ride our bikes into the park. Such a great way to get a little exercise, get my passport stamped, see the canyon, and get back to enjoy the evening. Still no hiking into the canyon on this visit, but we will be back.

The next day we drove over to Great Basin National Park. The last time we had visited there was 2005! Little known, and lightly visited, it’s claims to fame are a cave tour (did that in 2005) and a scenic drive to the top of the peaks with a fantastic view down into the basin of Nevada/Utah, which we took…..in the RV….it was….breathtaking. And most importantly, I got another stamp in my passport! We ended the day in West Wendover, NV. A tired little gambling town just west of Salt Lake City where we donated to the local economy.

The next day we drove to the MIracle Hot Springs and campground, located just west of Twin Falls. Dale had booked us in one of the loveliest spots, there were ten total camp spots, all were taken BTW, and we camped under a beautiful tree. We paid the $16 to enjoy the VIP experience at the hot springs, then slept soundly enjoying temps cool enough we needed no AC. It was glorious, and a SUPER find.

Finally it was time to spend more than one night somewhere, so we headed toward McCall. I have been eyeing the new Trilogy they are building in Kuna, just outside of Boise, and the last time we drove by to check it out they were still just putting in roads! Dale was patient enough to drive by again, and so, of course I needed to tour the model homes. As beautiful as what we owned in Peoria. Maybe a place to land one day? Ahhh, its WAY to early to tell! We spent the last three nights at Waters Edge Campground in Cascade, ID (just south of McCall). This whole area is simply beautiful. Large lakes, Mountains for skiing or UTVing, Golf courses (yes, we played….kinda but the views were so spectacular that we have to blame our lackluster performance on being distracted!). Its pretty darn close to shangri-la. As one would expect though, very touristy. Anyway, we are spending our last night here parked in Jeff’s driveway, sharing tacos with Jeff’s neighbors from Alaska. Since Alaska is where we heading this summer we are looking forward to a fun and informative evening!

Can’t wait for Week Three, its shaping up quite well!