Retirement sure isn't for Sissies! More Problems.

Wikieup, Arizona

Signal Road, BLM

Ahh, back to Arizona, finally after being sidelined in Las Vegas for 3 weeks due to an unexpected eye surgery for Steve (see last blog).

Leaving Nevada behind and looking forward to catching up on our trip.  Luckily we only had to cut out a few stops and we'll arrive in Surprise on time for our visit with Bunny (Steve's step-mom).

A new to us boondocking spot we've passed by many times but never stopped at was our first overnighter in Arizona.  Signal Road is about 10 miles south of Wikieup on Rt. 93 on BLM land.  It's a nice dirt road maybe a 1/4 mile that opens up to an area that would fit several rigs.  Decent privacy and cactus/bushes.  I heard NOT to go past this area through the gate without a high clearance vehicle and probably no trailer. Plenty of donkeys around too. 

Plenty of nice views out here.  Quiet and great Verizon.  I'd definitely come back to check out the area more as there are a couple of ghost towns out here.  Perfect if you have a razor or other ORV.

Morristown, Arizona

1899 Historic Hotel Campground

We normally stay in the same park as Bunny in Happy Trails, but the area has gotten more and more popular and expensive.  $750 for ONE week!  I could not find any room at White Tanks Regional Park (no surprise) but found the 1899 Historic Hotel that just opened recently.  We've driven past it many times before it was moved and turned into a campground.  $30 a night is a steal considering much further down the road in Wickenburg you can't find much under $80.

The place is meticulously clean and manicured.  Long sites with water but no electric.  There is a dump, bathrooms and shower.  Also an outside "cowboy shower" if you want to scrub-a-dub-dub under the stars.  It was a 30 minute drive to/from Bunny's each day.  Not convenient, but sometimes that's how it goes.

As par for the course this year, winter just didn't want to let go.  Temps have been in the 60s tops, and it rained 1/2 the time.  Plenty of wind too.

We spent our first couple of days getting some things done around her place and visiting with some friends.  We adore Kathy and Smitty.  He is such a fun guy!  And a sporty dresser too.

While we have been apart from Rick and Angie for almost a month, we did stop by to wish her Happy Birthday one day.   They have continued on from Las Vegas and were camped at Lake Pleasant.  We've enjoyed camping there before.  Nice place.

You can self tour the hotel upstairs.  They have done a great job restoring it but keeping it origianl as possible.

The Bar/Saloon where they host Murder Mystery Dinners, wine/spirit tastings, etc.  You can also rent it out for private parties or events.

The female group, Sisters on the Fly, were here in their vintage trailers having a good time.  They had carriage rides and a big BBQ cookout.  We were gone most of the days but did watch them here and there.

Steve cooked up a great Cornbeef and Cabbage dinner for St. Patricks Day.  It was delicious.

There were some pretty skies.  And since we had so much downtime, we watched many.  Steve only had a short time back to normal after his last eye surgery when things went bad.  Again.  We had to take him for an after-hours appointment when he noticed things going wrong with his vision.  Turned out his retina detached AGAIN.  We had to drive 2 hours each way for the surgery and the next few appointments.  To say he was very disappointed doesn't even come close.  There was nothing wrong with the last surgery it actually detached in a different spot where some fluid had accumulated.  Rare, but it happens.  Poor Steve.  So here we sit.  This surgery was a little more aggressive and his eye has had so much trauma that the recovery time could be up to 8 weeks.  We'll only know his progress week by week.  This also means 3 more weeks on his side as it begins to heal.  We also can't go home since he can't go over 1000' in elevation.  I feel so bad for him.  The doctors say it's a combo of getting older and bad luck.  His retirement sure isn't starting off too easily.

Once he could be upright, we were contacted by some RV friends that we hadn't seen in about 5 years.

Burt and Kat met us at State 48 Brewery in Surprise for lunch.  They were here to visit family and  remembered we are usually here in March. It was wonderful to see them again.  Thanks for reaching out!

Here are a couple of pictures of the Cowboy Shower.  Steve said it was nice.

It was very nice of the campground hosts to extend our stay due to Steve's surgery.  We were here for 16 days.  On our last day our friends from Placerville were driving past on their way to visit family in Texas.  Lucky us that they were camping a few days at Lake Pleasant so we met up for breakfast.  Yay!

Steve is only in 3 weeks but we were able to keep our reservation at Lost Dutchman State Park where we'd be catching back up with Rick & Angie.  My brother and sister-in-law will be arriving soon as well as Placerville friends Mike & Rose and Ron & Kathleen from Hawaii.  Both would be renting RVs.

We had a couple of days before the gang arrived so we drove down to Tucson to visit with Ruth & Dale to see their new home.  It's a really nice place and Dale grilled up some great burgers.  We enjoyed our visit as we weren't able to meet up the last few times.  

 

Dale had done a great job with the backyard cactus landscape.  I really loved some of the very different types he had.

Once again, we were grateful for the visits with friends as we wait for Steve to heal and get released.

We did have some fun time catching up with our kids.  Shane flew into Phoenix for an event and stopped by to visit and say Hi.  It was great to see him!

Our grandson, Jaxon, turned 4.

Our daughter Kaylee spent some time with hin too.

Alex and Brennan.

Brennan is our mischievous one.  For years he has hidden these five porcelain ducks my Mom has.  They sit on the TV stand with some of my Dad's old wooden decoys.  Funny thing is no one ever sees him do this, but he hides them in various places around the house for my Mom to stumble upon.  Apparently, he bought a bag of about 200, one inch duckies and hid them all over the place on their last visit.  At first when she found a couple she thought maybe they were Jaxon's.  Then they'd pop up in a cabinet, in a blanket, on her car seat and she knew it was Brennan!  She was finding them for weeks!

Silly boy.

As of this writing, we have a couple of more days in Lost Dutchman, then we'll camp for a few days with my brother while Rick & Angie head back to CA to get ready for our Alaska Trip!  Unfortunately, since we may still be here as late as mid April, we had to cancel our first 3 weeks of our trip while we head up to Alaska.  We had plans to spend a couple of weeks on Victoria Island camping with RV friends Steve and Dianne Colibaba.  Hopefully we can catch them on our way down.  We have to wait for Steve's next appointment on the 9th to see how his eye is healing.  If he gets the green light, we'll boogie back home as we have quite a bit to do before Alaska.