On the Road, Again !

Hello & greetings from Tucson and our last nite here in Voyager RV Resort. Wow, it's been over 4 months in the Arizona dessert and the weather is getting much warmer, a lot drier and the sun stronger. Time to move on.

Our time here has had many ups and downs. We lost Laurie's brother suddenly in November and after dealing with his affairs we headed here to recoup and deal with the sorrow. While we got to see our girls, son-in-law and grandkids when we were back in Massachusetts, we missed not seeing them during the holidays. We celebrated Christmas with our Voyager "family" and Laurie's cousin and her husband live here in Tucson and we have spent time with them too over the past months.

We got to spend New Years in a remote dessert area west of here near Gila Bend and joined 15 other families in an old fashioned campout complete with roaring campfire, pot luck dinners and good plain fun. Long time friends and fellow co-worker Ray Anderson and his wife Becky invited us to join their group campout and we bought along Bob & Betty (fellow campers, travel companions and good friends) and enjoyed a few great days in the dessert.

Back at Voyager we settled into our winter activities of golf, fun band, painting and staying out of the cold and snow. We had visits from Gene & Lynn (our partners from the Alaska adventure); Jim & Jodi (fellow lot owners from Emerald Pointe); Walter & Pat (friends from PA, Mallards & LIRR) and long time friends for 30+ years, Jack and Gail flew out from Florida and visited for a few days of fun and golf and catch-up.

We made some new friends this year as well and did lots of exploring again in the local area. Laurie again competed in the talent show and her guitar playing is much improved and has become a serious pastime for her. My golf handicap still hovers around 18 and I enjoy the company of a great group of golfers from varying walks of life who have fun playing and being together.

The local air base has a fabulous air show and we were fascinated by the many daring aerial feats of the USAF Thunderbirds and the Academy students who jumped out of a C-17 at over 5,000 feet and free fall to 2,500' before pulling the parachute cord. The reach speeds of over 200 mph.

We caught up on some doctor and dentist visits, got the dent fixed on the Honda and a recall done on the coach. We visited way too many restaurants, ate way too much food but did manage to keep up our exercise routines. For the most part the weather this winter cooperated with moderate temps and none of the white stuff the east coast experienced. There was a lot more rain and the dessert now blooms with fabulous colors and great expanses of green.

We head out tomorrow morning and will continue exploring this great land of ours. We actually have no special route planned like Alaska last year. We will stop in Mesa, AZ this weekend for a big flea market and the Organ Stop Pizza, then onto Page and Lake Powell for some exploring. Beyond that we plan to be on Long Island by late July for an extended visit with family.

We'll wander the USA. Watch these pages for reports on our exploits.

Till we talk again,

Gene & Laurie