(click the picture below, then again in Google Photos to spin)
Monday, August 21, 2017
Monday, August 7, 2017
Scenics
The boys and I are starting to get more used to desert riding. First lesson: Stay on the trail.
The flowers are pretty, but the company they keep is a bit prickly.
We drove up Mt Hopkins to the Whipple Observatory gate and found a nice looking rattlesnake. Kenrick takes a pic from a safe distance.
Looking east towards Mt Wrightson and the rising moon from the back side of the Whipple road.
Sunday, July 30, 2017
Looking for Jellybeans
A couple of Saturdays ago we took a hike up to Josephine Saddle from Madera Canyon.
Paxton and Anya started dragging their feet about halfway up, so I stole an idea from our friend Troy B in Indiana and told them I would award jellybeans for anything odd or unusual or cool that they spotted along the trail. It's amazing how many interesting things suddenly appear when there's some sweet motivation! And lots of not so interesting things; "Dad look! A tree! Is that worth a jellybean?" "No Anya, it's just a tree."
Here's some of the things that did merit a treat. Clockwise from the top left: A green beetle, a pretty flower, woodpecker holes, strange burn patterns, a big beetle (dead), an odd growth on the end of a twig, and a brown lizard (the first of many)
Also, a very twisted tree
And a burned out trunk
And Mt. Wrightson in the clouds
After a while, all the jellybeans in the world just won't make your legs go. Come on Anya, just a little ways further!
Everyone did a fine job. We're going to make hikers out of this crew yet!
Paxton and Anya started dragging their feet about halfway up, so I stole an idea from our friend Troy B in Indiana and told them I would award jellybeans for anything odd or unusual or cool that they spotted along the trail. It's amazing how many interesting things suddenly appear when there's some sweet motivation! And lots of not so interesting things; "Dad look! A tree! Is that worth a jellybean?" "No Anya, it's just a tree."
Here's some of the things that did merit a treat. Clockwise from the top left: A green beetle, a pretty flower, woodpecker holes, strange burn patterns, a big beetle (dead), an odd growth on the end of a twig, and a brown lizard (the first of many)
Also, a very twisted tree
And a burned out trunk
And Mt. Wrightson in the clouds
After a while, all the jellybeans in the world just won't make your legs go. Come on Anya, just a little ways further!
Everyone did a fine job. We're going to make hikers out of this crew yet!
Saturday, July 22, 2017
Progress
Roof is covered and windows are set, plumbing and electrical is almost done, HVAC ducts are run: it's starting to look like a real house!
Friday, July 21, 2017
Downpour in the Desert
When it rains, it pours.
I've thoroughly enjoyed experiencing the monsoon season for the first time - watching the thunderstorms dancing on the mountaintops, seeing the dry washes awash with flood water, and smelling the desert as it turns green with the rain.
I've thoroughly enjoyed experiencing the monsoon season for the first time - watching the thunderstorms dancing on the mountaintops, seeing the dry washes awash with flood water, and smelling the desert as it turns green with the rain.
Monday, July 17, 2017
First Day of School 2017
Paxton and Anya are in the same school for the first time! First day jitters quickly give way to excitement and anticipation of what's ahead. The date came a little early this year as we get started on a modified year-round schedule. Probably okay, as these two were definitely not handling being cooped up in the rental house and were starting to drive their mother crazy.
Looks like it will be a great year.
Looks like it will be a great year.
Monday, July 10, 2017
Transition Part 2
Week three of our adventure, still living out of suitcases...
I checked in at the new office after we arrived in Tucson and worked a couple of days, but then we hit the road again and headed north for a couple weeks of vacation.
Tuesday night, on our way to Flagstaff.
Wednesday morning, somewhere in north eastern Arizona, near the Four Corners.
Colorado!
And Hotchkiss Convention, our home for the next four days.
It was a very special four days.
Next stop, Idaho Falls. It's always great to stay with Grandpa and Grandma, sorry we couldn't stay longer.
Parma Convention next, where we pitched our tents under the shade trees next to my brother and his family.
Sunday afternoon and week five of our journey means it's time to head back south. It's hard to say 'home' just yet because we're feeling a little disconnected at the moment.
We took some time to see Andrea's bother in Oregon (state number nine: check!) and then stayed a couple nights with her brother in Boise. It was good to see both of them and their families.
Tuesday morning early found us on the road again.
By mid afternoon we'd made our way into Nevada and smack into a heat wave of epic proportions. 117 degrees in Las Vegas!
We managed to get all the way to Tucson that night, but it wasn't much cooler there. By Thursday the National Weather Service had recorded the three hottest consecutive days ever - 115, 116, and 115 degrees. Hot! (It has cooled down some since then, but today was the first day since we returned that the temperature didn't hit triple digits.)
Final tally since leaving Monticello: 10 states, over 4,300 miles!
Anyway, I went to work on Wednesday and Andrea started moving in to the rental house.
Good enough for the first day!
We also returned to some promising progress on the house. It's really good to see wood in the air.
The last couple of weeks have alternated between boring and busy. It's been too hot to do much outside during the day, but we did get up in the mountains one Saturday for a short hike and a break from oven in the valley.
We went out to the local golf course on the night before the 4th of July to watch the fireworks. It was a very pleasant evening.
This is my wife, who I love very much and who has made this whole adventure possible. You are beautiful Andrea, in more ways than one!
...and the rockets red glaaare, the bombs bursting in aaair...
Still a ways to go on the house yet, but trusses and roof got finished last week and I think plumbing and air start this week, so we are getting excited. I think we're going to like it.
Also last week was the start of marching band for Kenrick and Anthony with band camp continuing this week, so that's a big transition as well.
We heard today in gospel meeting that we tend to seek out familiar things for assurance and security. There haven't been very many familiar things in our experience these last seven weeks or so, but we're very, very glad for a familiar Spirit in our new Sunday morning and Wednesday night meetings and for a familiar love among our friends - things that have been an anchor to us in the past and that continue to comfort and encourage in our ongoing transition to the Southwest.
I checked in at the new office after we arrived in Tucson and worked a couple of days, but then we hit the road again and headed north for a couple weeks of vacation.
Tuesday night, on our way to Flagstaff.
Wednesday morning, somewhere in north eastern Arizona, near the Four Corners.
Colorado!
And Hotchkiss Convention, our home for the next four days.
It was a very special four days.
Next stop, Idaho Falls. It's always great to stay with Grandpa and Grandma, sorry we couldn't stay longer.
Parma Convention next, where we pitched our tents under the shade trees next to my brother and his family.
Sunday afternoon and week five of our journey means it's time to head back south. It's hard to say 'home' just yet because we're feeling a little disconnected at the moment.
We took some time to see Andrea's bother in Oregon (state number nine: check!) and then stayed a couple nights with her brother in Boise. It was good to see both of them and their families.
Tuesday morning early found us on the road again.
By mid afternoon we'd made our way into Nevada and smack into a heat wave of epic proportions. 117 degrees in Las Vegas!
We managed to get all the way to Tucson that night, but it wasn't much cooler there. By Thursday the National Weather Service had recorded the three hottest consecutive days ever - 115, 116, and 115 degrees. Hot! (It has cooled down some since then, but today was the first day since we returned that the temperature didn't hit triple digits.)
Final tally since leaving Monticello: 10 states, over 4,300 miles!
Anyway, I went to work on Wednesday and Andrea started moving in to the rental house.
Good enough for the first day!
We also returned to some promising progress on the house. It's really good to see wood in the air.
The last couple of weeks have alternated between boring and busy. It's been too hot to do much outside during the day, but we did get up in the mountains one Saturday for a short hike and a break from oven in the valley.
We went out to the local golf course on the night before the 4th of July to watch the fireworks. It was a very pleasant evening.
This is my wife, who I love very much and who has made this whole adventure possible. You are beautiful Andrea, in more ways than one!
...and the rockets red glaaare, the bombs bursting in aaair...
Still a ways to go on the house yet, but trusses and roof got finished last week and I think plumbing and air start this week, so we are getting excited. I think we're going to like it.
Also last week was the start of marching band for Kenrick and Anthony with band camp continuing this week, so that's a big transition as well.
We heard today in gospel meeting that we tend to seek out familiar things for assurance and security. There haven't been very many familiar things in our experience these last seven weeks or so, but we're very, very glad for a familiar Spirit in our new Sunday morning and Wednesday night meetings and for a familiar love among our friends - things that have been an anchor to us in the past and that continue to comfort and encourage in our ongoing transition to the Southwest.
Sunday, July 9, 2017
Transition
We spent the month of June on the move. Literally. The transition from Illinois to Arizona has been an adventure covering many miles and filled with many new experiences. We're not done yet.
The last week of May started with the arrival of the moving crew and mountains of boxes. Those boxes were quickly filled will all our stuff and stacked from floor to ceiling. We started learning how to live out of a suitcase.
Four and a half days after the movers arrived, everything we owned except for what was in those suitcases had been successfully compressed into the 54 foot van and headed to storage. We won't see it again until the middle of July.
Whew, that was a busy week!
We spent one night on the floor, a couple of nights in a hotel and then hit the road on Memorial Day. We'll miss our little white house in the forest. It served us well.
Caravan!
We took our time getting to Arizona and made a few interesting stops along the way.
Ice cream treats in Branson Missouri!
We spent a day at Silver Dollar City outside of Branson and had a great time riding rides, eating interesting food (alas, we waited too long to get chips-on-a-stick), watching old-world craftsman work their magic, and taking in a music show.
The crew, after their first experience with a 'real' roller coaster.
We were anticipating longer lines later in the day, so we rode this coaster first thing in the morning. Paxton and Anya really had no idea what they were in for, but we were all strapped in and ready to go before they really had a chance to think too much about it. I think it was a bit of a shock. Paxton is still smiling in this picture, but he was done with the big rides for the day. Anya is smiling because she wants to go again. She did. Every ride. Some of them twice!
The next day found us in Oklahoma at Darryl Starbird's National Rod and Custom Car Hall of Fame Museum. It's in the middle of nowhere, north and east of Tulsa, but worth the detour.
Where else but Texas?
Plum tuckered.
In the dusty little town of Santa Rosa, New Mexico is an attraction called the Blue Hole. Who wouldn't want to stop to see that? Turns out it's a 80 foot deep natural hole in the ground full of clear blue (cold!) spring water and a convenient rock ledge for jumping in.
So we did.
Friday. Welcome to Arizona!
We stopped by the construction site on the way into town and this is what we saw. I guess some progress is better than none, which is about what happened during the month of May, but it looks like we've got a ways to go yet.
Talley so far: 1570 miles and six states. We're not done yet...
The last week of May started with the arrival of the moving crew and mountains of boxes. Those boxes were quickly filled will all our stuff and stacked from floor to ceiling. We started learning how to live out of a suitcase.
Four and a half days after the movers arrived, everything we owned except for what was in those suitcases had been successfully compressed into the 54 foot van and headed to storage. We won't see it again until the middle of July.
Whew, that was a busy week!
We spent one night on the floor, a couple of nights in a hotel and then hit the road on Memorial Day. We'll miss our little white house in the forest. It served us well.
Caravan!
We took our time getting to Arizona and made a few interesting stops along the way.
Ice cream treats in Branson Missouri!
We spent a day at Silver Dollar City outside of Branson and had a great time riding rides, eating interesting food (alas, we waited too long to get chips-on-a-stick), watching old-world craftsman work their magic, and taking in a music show.
The crew, after their first experience with a 'real' roller coaster.
We were anticipating longer lines later in the day, so we rode this coaster first thing in the morning. Paxton and Anya really had no idea what they were in for, but we were all strapped in and ready to go before they really had a chance to think too much about it. I think it was a bit of a shock. Paxton is still smiling in this picture, but he was done with the big rides for the day. Anya is smiling because she wants to go again. She did. Every ride. Some of them twice!
The next day found us in Oklahoma at Darryl Starbird's National Rod and Custom Car Hall of Fame Museum. It's in the middle of nowhere, north and east of Tulsa, but worth the detour.
Where else but Texas?
Plum tuckered.
In the dusty little town of Santa Rosa, New Mexico is an attraction called the Blue Hole. Who wouldn't want to stop to see that? Turns out it's a 80 foot deep natural hole in the ground full of clear blue (cold!) spring water and a convenient rock ledge for jumping in.
So we did.
Friday. Welcome to Arizona!
We stopped by the construction site on the way into town and this is what we saw. I guess some progress is better than none, which is about what happened during the month of May, but it looks like we've got a ways to go yet.
Talley so far: 1570 miles and six states. We're not done yet...
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