March 21st 2020

Definition: Oxford dictionary … noun … a person who participates in an activity only in their spare time

It had started yesterday, the “weekend warriors” had started to move in with all their equipment, toys, kids and noice. Now don’t get me wrong, I understand the desire to escape to the outdoors, especially right now with all the turmoil and the whole world grinding to a halt, schools, restaurants, social gatherings, all closed or cancelled. I also know that most likely by Sunday afternoon most will be packed up and headed back to their day to day lives and we will be settled back into our little quiet piece of paradise.

Our weekend neighbors are obviously country western music fans, we know this because they also must have hearing issues because in the coach with the television on last evening we could still hear their music, and Miss Laurie is not sure it even falls into the classification of music. And of course they need power to run the music machine so we have the roar of construction generators to power their rigs, not solar friendly here for sure, because we only a hour from Phoenix there are a lot more weekend warriors than we ever seen in Quartzsite which is two hours from Phoenix.

We are spending Saturday here in the middle of the warriors, but tomorrow we are hoping to go kayaking with Ray and Karen on Canyon Lake near Lost Dutchman State Park with temperatures in the seventies it should be a great outing, comments and photos to follow I’m sure

Everyone please be careful out there and stay safe!

March 20th 2020

The earliest spring in a hundred and some years … that may be so, but here in the Arizona desert it just seems like another day. It’s not a real warm day not like our family in Hamilton Ontario are experiencing, in fact our high temperature here today is the same as our family back in Ontario are getting. The difference really shows up on Saturday then Hamilton’s forecast high is 32f or 0c degrees and ours is 67f or 20c degrees, it is those crazy temperature swings that indicates while the calendar may be saying spring the thermometer doesn’t totally agree with it yet.

This is the main reason we are not rushing north, as full timers those 21f or -6c degree nights just don’t fall into the range of comfort we are looking for, oh we are aware that we will hit some cold night but if we can avoid another three or four weeks worth … I am thinking is the better choice. Hearing about all the snowbirds going north, gets everyone thinking they should follow, but most of the ones heading north now have sticks & bricks, that is the big difference, and as we look ahead what we would do back in Ontario? No this is the best choice for us, with a kayak in our near future, and it gives the world a couple of weeks to get their shyt all gathered up in one little pile.

We are aware that we will be in isolation or quarantine for two week after we cross the border so rushing back to the cold to do our 14 days in the cold is not our first choice. So we are choosing to enjoy a few more warm days in Arizona, today we are going to meet up with the Savino’s and do some hiking in the desert, we are looking to catching up with the winters adventures.

What a great day … I mean like really … we met up with Ray & Karen and ventured east on US-60 to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum near Superior Arizona. We toured a portion of the arboretum, which is divided up into different areas with many ranges of foliage and lots of wildlife, we had a picnic lunch and caught up on our winters adventures, and talked about upcoming travels for the summer and this fall. It seem crazy to be talking about fall travel on the first day of spring, but that is what we do now, it is all just thoughts and ideas for now, but it takes a few months to research items that we want to do and see, then it is just a case of linking them altogether to make an actual trip with a time frame and then finalize a plan.

It was amazing today that while the rest of the world are busy loosing their little minds, that there are still so many wonderful areas still open that give so many an escape from the reality. While the store and other indoor areas were closed, the rest of the park was open to be enjoyed. In fact I only noticed one crazy guy with a mask, and he only had it covering his nose … can you say wacko … just saying.