Finally!

 We are home!

Retracing our route back through New Mexico, with a rest stop in City of Rocks State Park,

and a long boring drive through west Texas, we took another break in College Station where we met up with hometown friends, Tom and Cindy.

Captain and his brother, Rex, totally enjoyed showing avid ‘Roll Tide’ fans around the A & M Campus.

Of course we could not be in C.S. on a Tuesday and not go to ‘book club’ at Carney’s.

Love these friends!

ABN will tell you, her favorite part of Texas is our friends and family, Republic Steakhouse in C.S, and H.E.B. grocery. Yes, she brought home some coconut shrimp.

And that is not the only thing she brought home from Texas. Our friend, Ann, is a Master Gardner and has a wonderful pollinator garden. We brought home a few monarch caterpillars and a grand idea about raising butterflies on our screened porch. Stay tuned!

We found it necessary to stay an extra day in C.S. as severe thunderstorms were predicted along our route. We arrived home on Tuesday before the next round of storms and tornados came through on Wednesday. 

We spent about an hour in the wine cellar but neglected to put glasses and a bottle opener in our emergency supplies.  Fortunately we had no damage at our house and only minimal in our town. Thanks to all who checked to see if we were okay.

We are happy to be home and looking forward to the next chapter in Living Richly. But for now, we will wait for the rain to stop and hope the Ohio River stays in its banks.

The Wanderer is now in semi-retirement. While she will be kept closer to home and will have less time on the road, we will continue our passion for travel in a different mode.

 

 

Move it or lose it

 is often advised for those of us in our retirement years. 

We chose to ‘move it’ in the Tucson area by hiking over rocks,

 

Alamo Trail in Catalina State Park

Honey Bee Creek Recreation Area

through washes,

Sutherland Wash in 2025

(as opposed to a wet 2023 season)

March 2023

and the many nice paths through Catalina State Park.

As well as following a turquoise line on the 2 1/2 mile Turquoise Trail in downtown Tucson where we saw a bunch of old stuff and statues.

And, of course, we shopped. Well, let’s say ABN shopped while Captain indulged.

An overwhelming choice of threads at The West needlework shop, which is a nonprofit run by volunteers.

Garden shop, too bad we had limited space in The Wanderer.

Boho District with lots of resale and thrift shops.

Arizona seems to be a mecca for healthy, active retirees. We love the state parks for camping and that is where we have formed friendships with folks who share our interests. At Catalina State Park we reconnected with Bruce and Nancy from Washington state

who we met during the pandemic when we had to practice social distancing. COVID Cronies

Bruce demonstrated his new Blackstone grill by preparing a wonderful dinner for us.

Now we are tempted to replace the Coleman we have onboard but have never used.

We experienced a Blast from the Past at Borderlands Brewery in downtown Tucson. Talk about a trip down Memory Lane! For once, we were not the oldest couple in a brewery. We had a great time people watching, listening to protest songs and other music from the sixties and remembering the turbulent days of our youth.

This was not a special event. Captain spoke to one of the band members who said they started playing at Borderlands 10 years ago. It continues to bring in lots of folks every Sunday afternoon.

We think we will be missed by our friends in Catalina State Park

We are now headed east toward College Station, Texas.

Greetings from the Desert

 

Yes, that is snow on Four Peaks.

In spite of less than perfect weather, we enjoyed our last stay in Lost Dutchman State Park outside of Apache Junction, Arizona. The temperature was a bit cooler than we expected, and then there were the cloudy, windy, and dusty days. We did not complain about the one day of rain that was so desperately needed.

Taking advantage of the pleasant days, we hiked and embraced all that nature had to offer.

A little stroll in the desert, Jacob's Crosscut trail.

Siphon Draw Trail

Sister, Mary, and brother-in-law Steve, at Phon D Sutton Recreation Area,

where some javelinas joined us.

One of daily morning visitors.

For us, an important component in living richly is cultivating friendships. We are blessed with good friends we have made as we traveled throughout the country. We met up with some of those friends during our stay near Apache Junction.

Paula and Rick from Oregon, Adele and Steve from Colorado

We joined them in a walk to raise funds for M. D. Anderson research.

Dinner at their winter home in Gold Canyon 

These friends joined us on a short trip down Memory Lane

 

While this is The Wanderer’s last trip to Arizona, it is not ours. We have reserved a vacation rental for next February!

We are now revisiting Catalina State Park near Tucson.

 

On the Road Again!

Our little town was spared the devastation of heavy flooding in our area in mid-February. We appreciate all of you who checked in to see if we were okay. Your friendship is priceless!

To escape the winter blast that followed the flooding, we left a day earlier than planned for our Arizona trip. Instead of our normal westward trek, we directed The Wanderer south toward Birmingham, and then west through, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and New Mexico. Limiting our mileage to roughly 250-300 miles a day, the journey from home to Arizona took ten days, including a couple of short breaks and sleeping mostly in parking lots.

 

One of our overnights was at the lovely, secluded Askew’s Landing campground near Edwards, MS. It begged us to go for a long walk, but due to the breezy 28 degree temperature we stayed in.

Stopping over in Captain’s hometown of College Station for a couple of nights, we had a nice visit with good friends. 

Three days later, our two day break was in City of Rocks State Park in New Mexico.

 

Finally we arrived at our destination! Lost Dutchman State Park, Apache Junction, AZ

 

In February we took our annual Memory Lane trip where we remembered ABN’s son, Darin.

Toasting Darin's birthday with his brother-in-law, Brett and wife, Shauna. 

For those of you who may not be aware, Lt Col J. Darin Loftis lost his life in Kabul, Afghanistan on February 25, 2012, three days after his 44th birthday.

He thought he had the prettiest mom in the 2nd grade!

With best friend and confidant, Beauregard. 

Best memories are those of him parenting. He was so good at it!

The love of his life.

First Car

If you did not have the chance to meet him, or if you want to hear his voice one more time, click here to view a short (about 5 min.) New York Times video documentary. 

Our memories include those of you who were with us during our profound grief.  We will never forget the outpouring of love that sustained us during those dark times.

We are taking a three week respite in Arizona before trekking the approximately 1500-1600 miles back to our home.