Roaming Free In An RV

Hello everyone! We (really Jennifer) got a bit behind on blog posts so we (both of us, really) apologize. Hopefully everyone follows us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter as I (Jennifer again 🤪) post more frequently there.

It is now the last day of April and we are wrapping up our time in the Phoenix area. We got here back in October and the first few months are a blur of working lots of hours with trying to adjust to the cooler then normal desert winter mixed in with lots of rain. We still got out and experienced new, fun activities so what have we been up to? Here it goes: a Vegas trip, a Chicago trip during the winter vortex, visiting with family and friends in Mesa, seeing snow in the desert in January and thanks to the snow/rain, lots of flowers in March, indoor rock climbing, visiting Tucson and Sedona and as always, hiking.

There are many, many things to love about the RV lifestyle and one thing is being able to do things on a whim. Back in October my Mom was going on a trip to Vegas with her sisters and since Brad and I were a quick 5 hour drive away, we thought, why not surprise her?! Every time I talked to my Mom I totally played it that I was so sorry we couldn’t see each other, yada, yada so when we knocked on my Mom’s hotel door she was beyond shocked to say the least! My Aunts and Dad were a big help to get the details all planned out and it was so fun to surprise her. We walked the Strip, gambled, and took my Mom to Red Rock Canyon, which she had never been before. I think that trip was probably the highlight of being in Arizona.

The winter was chilly (and rainy) in Mesa. Not chilly like Chicago by any means but chilly for the desert. We had a few nights that dipped into the low 30’s so we got out our heated water hose so we didn’t have to worry about our water freezing. In December for Christmas I really wanted to see snow so we found a place that had fake snow every night during the month of December. Fake snow falling for 5 minutes when it’s 64 degrees out isn’t a bad way to see “snow”. Little did we know that in a month, the mountains around us would be covered in snow. Everyone was saying that they hadn’t seen snow on the mountains like we did in over 20 years and in the Spring locals were saying the flower bloom was the best they have seen in several years. It’s pretty awesome that we got to experience both rare events this year, something we will definitely remember.

This year the two new towns were visited were Tucson and Sedona. We are grateful for the friends we made in California last year that suggested renting a car for little getaways. We have saved money and truck maintenance doing so and if you full time RV, it’s definitely something to look into.

Tucson is home to the University of Arizona and the Mission San Xavier del Bac, the oldest intact European structure in Arizona. The church finished construction in 1797 and has a unique history of abandonment and rebirth. We visited both sites along with going to a quint little museum called the Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures. The talent and patience these artist have for designing miniatures is amazing. They make their designs to scale and we saw a variety of skill from miniature houses to people, cars, doors and furniture.

Sedona we had driven through last year but we didn’t actually visit so it was nice to return and be tourists: checked out the shopping scene, drove up to Airport Mesa to see a pano view of the town, driving along Red Rock Loop Road and hiking Devil’s Bridge. Devil’s Bridge was a very cool hike as we saw awesome views the whole time and the last half mile was a little steep and rocky, making us work for the summit view. The bridge is the largest natural sandstone arch in the Sedona area and stands 54 feet tall, is 5 feet across and about 45 feet long. There is a line to walk across the bridge (yes, of course we walked across it) and trust me, it’s not as scary as it sounds.

We will have one more blog post about our time in Arizona as we have lots to report on for the next few months. Excited about our next adventure so stay tuned! ‘Till next time!