Hello dear readers, I, Lady Wanderingwise, am so happy to be back on the keyboard!
Last month was such an education for us on both, maintaining a good relationship with your health network, and also how fabulous the friends we made in Arizona are.
Our primary reason for spending the month in Arizona was medical. At the beginning of the year, Dale had an MRI on his right knee and was diagnosed with a torn meniscus. He had the shot and hoped he’d be one of the lucky few where the tear heals itself. Toward the end of our stay in Alaska, it was pretty darn clear that was not going to be the case. He was in such pain that our exercise program diminished to nothing. It was not a good situation. I hated to see him in such pain, and I was NOT enjoying what was happening to my waistline….SO it was a VERY easy decision for us to change plans when the orthopedist agreed with a surgical solution, and that we could get it done in October. And then, while we were in town, why don’t we schedule those long overdue dentist checkups? Oh, and that nasty ingrown toenail of Dale’s, well maybe the doc he saw previously could fix it right this time. And while we are talking docs, maybe a trip to the dermatologist wouldn’t be a bad idea. Meanwhile all I needed was to complete my mammogram, and work on losing a few pounds to get those cholesterol and AIC numbers down a bit. The action plan to complete, and follow up complete, all these checkups kept us both quite busy!
What we had not counted on was arriving when Phoenix was still in its final throes of the longest HOT summer on record. We arrived on October 1, to 110 degrees. And all we can say is God Bless and MANY Thanks to the dear and generous friends we made in Trilogy. After a series of frustrating reservations for long term RV stays made and canceled and made and canceled, a dear friend offered his home for us to stay in for the whole month. What a blessing…we know that as happy as we are with our little home, when its parked, without shade, and the temps are that high, it works WAY TOO HARD to stay cool! So, we emptied the contents of the RV into his home, and paid to store it for the month at the same facility where we have our storage unit. How convenient! Easy for us to get to it, and it allowed us to go through the contents of the storage unit and eliminate and consolidate more items for the RV. Now that we’ve been in it full time for a few months, we know what will fit and what we really don’t need. Especially in the food and clothing categories!
And then there are all the fabulous people we couldn’t wait to reconnect with. How heartwarming to be welcomed by so many! It was so easy to fall back into our routines and social calendar. We ate well, we played well, we loved well. Special shoutouts go to Mae Blanchard, my impromptu morning walking partner – she got me back into the habit and I will forever be grateful! And to Teresa Spinelli and Jan Guzik, always up for a party and generously willing to offer their home to host it. To Pete and Karen Walsh – our special cribbage nights are always so much fun, and with Dale and Karen cooking, totally yummy! And of course, to Brian and Sandy Scheele, our golf, cribbage, happy hours, sports educations, dinners and general camaraderie will be cherished forever. Thanks for planning a trip to AZ while we were in town! And to all the many others we saw at parties, dinners, events or simply on the street, honestly, our hearts are overflowing. As much as we are loving our crazy new life choice, you all are a solid reminder of how special our time in Trilogy was. We are so happy to know that we could have it again!
But for now, we are both very happy to be able to continue our trip. And this time we are heading East! Due to the lateness of the year, we are taking the southern route, rather than the northern route we had previously discussed. First section is to make our way to Nashville for Thanksgiving. A family gathering there is more central for Dale’s nephews and their families to join together. So we are on a “slow roll” through Texas, Arkansas and Tennessee. And wouldn’t you know it, the route will allow us to visit and collect 5 more National Parks! I am so excited, dear readers, to share our travels this month! I am quite sure there will be enough going on that I will be able to write to you more than once a month!
We left Peoria yesterday and made it as far as Wilcox, AZ. Some sharp readers may remember that this is where we stopped on our way home from Florida so we could register our RV and drive it legally with license plates! And I know a few of you readers were with us when we visited the wine area there two years ago. We arrived in just the right time to stop at Apple Annie’s orchard and pumpkin patch. And how lucky we were, since both were shutting down for the season the very next day! We started well at the orchard and came away with a small handful of apples (three) because we only have so much room. By the time we made it to the pumpkin patch, we departed with 4 squash (acorn and spaghetti) and 2 loaves of pumpkin bread. I mean, they were buy 1 get one free, so what else were we gonna do? There’s room if we work real hard at it.
Today we drove over to Alamogordo. I started the morning with a walk around Wilcox (thanks again, Mae!) and then we headed east. Took a scenic bypass to get off the I-10, and through Hatch, NM – turns out to be the home of Hatch chiles! Who knew? There were chili peppers EVERYWHERE. I’m sure if we had more room we’d have stopped and picked up a few bags. Besides, they weren’t being offered at 2 for 1.
We added the first National Park today with a stop at White Sands NP. Located on the edge of the White Sands Missile Range, it’s a pretty remarkable phenomenon of the kind of sand people covet at far flung ocean beaches – right in the middle of the New Mexico desert. We didn’t go sledding, but opted for a short walk around the dunes in our bare feet. We expected painfully hot sand, but it was actually so cool and soft it was a real treat! Actually made me appreciate beach walking….for the day….and totally worth the stamp in the passport!
Tomorrow we are off to Roswell. I know it’s likely kitschy, but I have always wanted to visit. So stay tuned, dear readers, this is only the beginning!
Till next time,
Lady Wanderingwise
Weise's Wanderings 
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