Saturday, January 20, 2018

More From McDowell and Some Exciting News


We are still hanging out at McDowell Mountain Park in Fountain Hills, AZ. It’s been a really fun, busy and social winter here so far. My arm is finally back to normal but I don’t intend to let anyone draw blood from me anytime soon.

Jim is still loving his new mountain bike. We guess it’s because it actually fits him well and is lighter than any bike he’s had in the past, but he is flying up the hills and riding more than ever. I am biking a lot, too, but also doing the Friday Fitness hikes. Last week I joined a dozen others for a very nice hike of almost 12 miles on multiple trails, through a wash and around some interesting rock formations.

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The wash was hidden behind these rocks, so we had a bit of scrambling to get there.

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That is Kevin in the front who leads these hikes.

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This was my birthday week, and I feel like we celebrated for days. Had dinner with camp hosts John and Sandy one evening at La Mai, an excellent Thai restaurant in Fountain Hills, happy hour at the visitor center with the volunteers and other campers the next night, and movie day (The Post) followed by dinner at La Botana, a new restaurant just across from Fountain Park.

Leslie, Doug, Alex, Ellen, Jim, and Susan.

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What a great view from their patio.

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And we really liked the food and giant margaritas.

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On my actual birthday we did a bike ride, followed by Black Forest cake made by Sunaree. I should have taken a photo because it was a beautiful cake but it got cut and eaten very quickly. It was vegan and had chia seeds in it, which made it healthy, right?

Randy, Ellen, Jim, and new friends Gary and Patty.

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And now for our big news. As some of you know we put our name on the wait list at Jojoba Hills Escapees Park back in September 2016. We moved to number one on the list last month but turned down a lot since we knew it would be a few months before we would even get there, and we were hoping for a more desirable site. Last week we got another call, this time for site 821, which is on the Rim Road and has no neighbors in the back or on one side. We decided to become members, so when we leave here next month we will head to southern California.

Terry and LuAnn were kind enough to take some pictures for us.

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What a treat to have a shed to store bikes and other stuff.

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It will be strange but nice to have a place to call home after over 9 years on the road. During the past couple of years we’ve grown tired of moving around so much but don’t feel ready to commit to buying a house or condo, or even renting, so we decided this would be a way to have a place we can go whenever we want for as long as we want, and still travel. Having a secure place to leave the Lazy Daze, we are even hoping to do some non-RV travel for a change of pace.

Bring a co-op park, members are expected to volunteer in some capacity, something we are actually looking forward to. Especially Jim, since he is getting tired of cleaning up after cats at Fearless Kitty.

And speaking of cats, sweet Pauly with the head tilt got adopted this week, and Cheeto had a meet-and-greet yesterday so we’re hoping he also found a home. We took care of a room with four crazy kittens this week but it was hard to get photos since they move so fast.

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Cute and very vocal Pinta would not leave Jim alone.

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We are in the planning stages of a trip to the Canadian Rockies, arriving there in mid to late August hoping to avoid some of the crowds, although I understand it’s still very crowded in September. I’ve gotten some ideas from a couple blogs so far and definitely want to spend time in Banff, Jasper, and Yoho National Parks, but if anyone has campground recommendations or ideas for some less popular places we should visit please let us know.

28 comments:

  1. I’m really enjoying your stay at McDowell. How nice to have a weekly hike planned by someone else to look forward to. Happy Belated Birthday! You sound like David in having a birthday WEEK. And why not is what we say. The site of your big news looks really nice. I think your plan for a home base where you can leave your rig whenever you want to do something else is a great idea. I seem to have read at least one or two other bloggers have done that at Jojoba Hills. It must be a very nice place to attract so many. Looks like your site has some nice views and no neighbors on two sides is pretty amazing. Great luck!

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    1. The Friday hikes have been fun letting someone else plan the route. Last year we worked at Fearless Kitty on Fridays so I never got to participate.

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  2. Congratulations on your new basecamp. I hope you enjoy it tooooo much.

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    1. Thanks, we're looking forward to a little down time.

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  3. Congratulations! That place is so very nice with so many wonderful people. Your site looks beautiful and huge!
    More good news about the kitties. So glad people are adopting them.

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    1. We've always enjoyed the times we've stayed at Jojoba so we are looking forward to being part of the community.

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  4. Congratulations!
    Don't think you will regret it....looks beautiful!

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    1. The nice thing is if we find it isn't for us we can just give up our membership and get our money back.

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  5. If you are in the Revelstoke vicinity this summer, check out some of the Provincial Parks and Forestry campgrounds, both north and south along the Columbia.

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  6. Wow, that's big news! Congratulations—your site looks beautiful, and I know of at least two excellent neighbors that you'll have there. :-) Looks like you had a fun birthday week!

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    1. Yes, we will have some excellent neighbors! Unfortunately they will be leaving on their big trip a few days after we arrive.

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  7. How exciting!! Congratulations on your lot at Jojoba!! You certainly do have lots of space...sweet! Eight year must be when we start to get road tired. We are heading back to Boulder City, NV in March to look at houses/property. We are very excited to find a town we both feel very comfortable in with six different huge areas for hiking all within no more than an hour. Also, tons of mountain biking trail right in Boulder City and a paved 34 mile loop. And every store we need is just up the road in Henderson and Vegas has a wonderful airport. But Boulder City is out of the crowded area. We are looking forward to getting another motorcycle and do some trips on the bike again. We will keep our MH and still travel frequently, especially back east. We want to keep the MH on our property.

    The Canadian Rockies are spectacular!! We loved Jasper. A small quaint town and the NP campground is awesome. Pie shaped sites looped with amazing spacing. We arrived Sept 7 for ten days. So much mind blowing hiking, not to mention the elk love the park so rutting season is great. Banff is a very busy, crowded town with upscale stores. The NP campground isn't as nice with all sites pull ins along the road. Great hiking, though. Our trip took us to Glacier (we stayed on the east side), Waterton (Canadian Glacier), Calgary, Edmonton, Jasper, Banff, and then back to Glacier (east) for two more hikes. Check out our blog posts and let us know if you have any questions. I have several books and info that you can borrow. We'll be in Tucson for a month starting Feb 1.

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    1. I have read all of your blog posts from Canada and got some great ideas. Thanks!
      We look forward to seeing what you find in the Boulder City area since we're still searching for just that right place. Hope you will have an extra RV parking spot on your property :-)

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    2. This our favorite hike in Jasper...not to be missed!!
      https://ohtheplacestheygo.wordpress.com/2014/09/19/sulphur-skyline-hike/

      This is our favorite hike in Banff. A long one but sooooo worth the effort!
      https://ohtheplacestheygo.wordpress.com/2014/09/22/plain-of-the-six-glaciers-hike/

      If you can stop at the east side of Glacier, this hike is amazing and an easy 10 miles. Only a 1,000 ft elevation gain in five miles...almost flat.
      https://ohtheplacestheygo.wordpress.com/2014/09/27/iceberg-lake-hike/

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    3. Thanks for the hiking recommendations!

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  8. May you live happily ever after at Ho Ho Ba. It has (almost) everything you need...pickleball courts, lap pool, weight room, friendly neighbors, and, most importantly, breweries with generous happy hours a few miles down the road in Temec. I'd be there too if hiking opportunities were closer (oh wait, they wouldn't allow old Goldie, would they?) I think it's a good fit for you guys, even if it's transitional. You have nothing to lose and that's hard to come by these days.
    Congrats
    Box Canyon Mark

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    1. Ho Ho Ba isn't perfect but we needed a change, and as you say we really have nothing to lose. Hope to see you soon!

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  9. Your site at Jojoba looks awesome!

    I recognize those boulders you had to scramble over...looks like it was worth the effort!

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    1. I do think we got a good site for the first one. We can always move in the future if something we like better comes up.

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  10. Congratulations on your new home base. Escapees parks are really nice and so many good folks there. It will be a good change of pace.

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  11. We have found having a home base works better for us too. We are ready to go when we are all rested up. Happy birthday. It looks like a great spot.

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  12. That's a beautiful site at Jojoba! Those fitness hikes take you into some really beautiful areas. Looks like another fun winter at McDowell.

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    1. We always enjoy our time at McDowell. In fact we're here another month and I'm already feeling sad to be leaving.

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  13. Although we didn't want to pressure you while you were deciding on Jojoba, we are thrilled with your decision. For us, for now, it is the perfect solution, with so many amenities. Knowing that if our plans change tomorrow we get back our initial outlay of cash is a definite plus. Not much to lose on this deal. Looking forward to having you two as neighbors. See you soon!

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    1. We're hoping it will be the perfect solution for us, too. And if all of our neighbors are like you two, it will be great!

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