March – April 2014 – The Great Homecoming

The only thing better than traveling on the other side of the world is coming home. There really is a friendly face there to meet you at the Los Angeles airport after a 14 hour flight (thanks Jeanne) and it feels amazing to have choices beyond 10 blouses and 4 pants – 5 months. I took the travel clothes and put them waaaaaay back in the closet; didn’t look at them for quite a while. We departed Bakersfield, CA in mid March for San Diego and Yuma, AZ.

David, always abreast of new products coming on the market, noticed that a new Keystone Montana Fifth Wheel model had come on the market, while we were gone, that would be “interesting” to see – just take a look – have another data point. That is code talk for buying a new rig. Driving into Yuma, there was a Montana dealership along Highway 8, and David was sure it would provide a couple hours entertainment for a couple of lookie loos.

A deal was struck and locked within 24 hours. Viola! We have a new home! Little did we realize that March and April represent the “end” of the season in Arizona. The snowbirds are gone, and remaining inventory must be disposed of before the new season brings the latest models. We love the new rig which has all the features we enjoyed about the old one, functional kitchen and lots of storage, and improvements we wanted like a coat closet as you come in the door and two sinks for easier bathroom sharing. With our old RV and new RV side by side, we moved our belongings from one RV into another, which took several days.

The only regret was we were only able to be in the rig for a few weeks before our summer adventure began.

Our purpose of checking out Arizona was to visit the Over 55 RV parks with amenities like concerts, classes, and resort facilities so we can spend some months in the winter in the south if our overseas travel desires move to summer. Prior to putting our new RV in storage in Denver, we spent two weeks in Cherry Creek Reservoir in SE Denver. David hosted a poker game in the RV with his poker buddies and lost his $10 ante. We also hosted a family gathering: see photo of our grandson Jonathan enjoying s’mores.