2023 Spring to the West – Page 2

April 10-13, 2023: The desert heats up

April 13, 2023April 16, 2023karenstark

Monday through Wednesday were in the upper 90’s, so we didn’t do much but lay low and try not to fry. I’ve decided that the hot dry weather in the Arizona desert will fry you, while the hot humid weather in Florida will boil you. Neither is an optimal way to die…. or survive, I guess I should say! But I do admit, the dry heat is much easier to live with!
Not a single spectacular picture from Monday. I don’t even know what we did. 🤷‍♀️. On Tuesday, we took Henry up to Apache Junction to the Ford dealer for an oil change. Usually Kenny is a do-it-yourself kinda guy, but Henry takes 13 quarts of oil, and that’s just a bit to manage when we’re on the road. So we went to town for the day. And found a taphouse. No kidding, you say. 😉 BruCo had lots of beers to choose from, and also made really good personal pizzas.

April 7,8,9, 2023: A Sunset ride, shopping, Easter, and other stuff

April 9, 2023April 11, 2023karenstark

Friday I took a walk around the RV park. There are some nice trails here and it felt good to get some muscles moving. This is the office building/entrance to the park. It really is a nice park, where all of the lots are owned by individuals and are not all crammed together. We are renting quite a small lot, but most of them are large enough for a park model and a spacious patio.

April 5 & 6, 2023: Kawi riding around Florence AZ

April 6, 2023April 10, 2023karenstark

Enough with traveling — it’s time to RIDE! With all of our chores done, Wednesday was our first day out on the trails. The weather was a little chilly in the morning (upper 30’s), so we didn’t leave the park until 10:00. Our destination was part of the Gila River trail. Rick knows the area, so we followed him. We had to take Kawi out on the paved road for a few miles. Our boys keep saying we need to wear these “stock” tires out so that Kawi can get bigger ones. Because bigger is better, right? 😏

April 3&4, 2023 – Happy Birthday in Arizona

April 4, 2023April 6, 2023karenstark

Yep – today is my birthday! 🥳 I keep singing the Beatles song:
“Will you still need me, will you still feed me, When I’m sixty-four”

April 2, 2023: Fighting the wind to New Mexico

April 2, 2023April 4, 2023karenstark

Sunday we got up before the sunshine to peel out. We were super stealth because we had not disconnected Henry from Nitro, so we were up and gone before anybody knew what even happened at 7:30. Sunrise wasn’t even until 7:45. 😏. Well, I did make some coffee in the percolator before we left, brought in Nitro’s’ slides, and then we were gone. But the problem with perc coffee and our really well insulated cups is that it takes HOURS for it to cool off enough to drink!🤷‍♀️. I usually let the pot cool a bit before pouring it, but not today. So I think we were in El Paso before Kenny drank any coffee.

April 1, 2023 – Our last night in Texas

April 1, 2023April 4, 2023karenstark

There were a couple of remarkable things that happened today that I am grateful for. We both woke up healthy, and we drove to our destination without incident. Usually we take those things for granted. But today we’re especially thankful for those remarkable things, because that’s about as good as it gets!

Last night was not as busy around the Offroad Park as I thought it would be. It stayed pretty quiet. I think today and tonight will provide a little more action. I told Kenny that the only good thing about being here on a Saturday would be the entertainment. We could go park at some of the big obstacles, chunky rocky hills, and just watch. But, we had about 340 miles to travel today, so we needed to get going. While we were loading up, our new neighbors’ dogs were woofing me. They had two female Rottweilers about two years old. I kept talking to the dogs and they kept woofing back, and finally I asked if I could come meet them. They were just doing their job…. but I really think they were telling me to come visit. They were sweet dogs. Not nearly as big as our male Rott granddog, but they were good girls and were wiggly-butts just like our Diesel dog.

March 30 & 31, 2023: Hidden Falls Adventure Park

March 31, 2023April 1, 2023karenstark

Thursday we got up and found the weather to be as if we were on the Oregon coast. The air was thick with fog and heavy mist that made everything dripping wet. But it wasn’t raining… just doing that wet misty thing like at the Pacific Ocean beaches. It was soggy-doggy outside. The forecast said it would be cloudy, but only a 20% chance of rain. Well technically, that was correct. It wasn’t raining. We were just smack dab inside the cloud! Well, we got up and moving anyway, loaded Kawi, stopped at the pooper dumper outer, and were on our way before 9:30. It was only a 30 minute drive or so to our next destination.

March 26-29 2023: Adventures in Texas

March 29, 2023March 30, 2023karenstark

Sunday we were up and gone by 9:30 to head west away from the nasty weather that was on it’s way to Louisiana. Our destination was Ratcliff Recreation Area in the Davey Crockett National Forest, just 140 miles away. That would leave 225 miles for Monday to get to Inks Lake State Park, west of Austin Texas. By 10:30 we were crossing the Toledo Bend Reservoir bridge. This is a huge body of water.

March 24 & 25, 2023: Natchitoches Louisiana

March 26, 2023March 29, 2023karenstark

Friday we had a pretty short drive ahead of us, just 150 miles west to Natchitoches. My friend from Louisiana taught me how to say that many years ago, and it isn’t what you think. It’s “Nach-a-tish”. Yes, really! It kind of comes out more like Nackadish. I need a Louisianan to tell me how to pronounce Worshestershire sauce, because they’re really good at eliminating syllables. I remember working with people in the south, and my name lost a syllable, and I was just “Kar’n. 😉

March 22 & 23, 2023: Checking out Natchez Mississippi

March 24, 2023March 29, 2023karenstark

Wednesday we pulled out of our parking lot and headed a bit northwest to Natchez Mississippi. In Washington State, we have a Natchez, and we pronounce it “Na-CHEEZE” and is definitely two syllables.. Here in the south, it rhymes with “matches”, or think “Natch’s”, so there is no “Z” sound at all, and if they could say it all in one syllable, they would. To get there, we followed I-12 west, then turned north on I-55 for awhile, then cut across over to Natchez State Park. It was a nice drive, about 220 miles. We were in Louisiana (Loozyanna) by 10:30.