We’ve arrived at our home for the winter. We will be here until April, 2020. Our address here is Greg and Diana Jones, 14794 S. Avenue 3E, Space 145, Yuma, AZ 85365. Our South Dakota address is still our official mailing address, but if you need to get something to us while we are down here it would get to us quicker if you use the Yuma address.
I’ll post more pictures of the resort in a later post. I think we are going to be very satisfied here. We’ve been working with our boss cleaning the kitchen and we both like her. Management here is very hands on and we are considered part of the resort staff. The resort is very well kept, sites are large and most have a shade tree. I feel like we have more room than we did in Mesa.
Things may change once everyone gets here, there are just a few of us right now. But, the park seems neater and cleaner. Granted it’s a smaller resort but no sites have overgrown plants and patios aren’t overloaded with the things people should get rid of, it might be easier to enforce neatness in a smaller resort.
We are actual workkampers here – we don’t see a paycheck, we work 12 hours each per week, there is no time clock, they know that most workkampers give more than what is expected of them, and in exchange we get our site, $200 toward our utilities, free DSL Wi-Fi hookup and cable TV, half price meals and free admission to all events. Our site is right next to the building where we will be working, not blocks away. Most workkampers are in the same area. We’ve met our neighbors and think we will enjoy them.
Our jobs will be quite different from what we have ever done. The café where we work serves breakfast and lunch only, no happy hour. Greg will be working as a grill cook and I will be working in the food prep area making soups and salads. We’ll see how warm it gets in the kitchen even though it is air conditioned. I’m thinking it can’t be nearly as warm as working an outside patio area like we did in Mesa.
I haven’t done a post since June, I hope I remember how! Most of our updates this summer came through phone pictures on Facebook. We had a fantastic summer spending time with all the kids, grandkids, great grandson and the rest of our family and our friends. A plaque on the counter next to our dining table says, “The best things in life are the people we love, the places we’ve been and the memories we’ve made along the way”. That is so true, not a day goes by that I don’t think about how lucky we are. I know every mom probably says this, but I am just in awe when we visit the kids – we may not have done everything in life right, but we nailed the kid thing! The amount of knowledge and community involvement that we see from them in addition to being great parents – makes me proud! I’m so glad that technology now allows us to keep up with what’s happening in their lives as we travel.
Our first stop after we left Kansas was the Corral RV Park in Dalhart, TX. We’ve stayed here before. It’s a nice park and easy to get to.
Us in one of the large pull through sites. Not a lot of amenities but we don’t need them for an overnight stay.
Texas has lots of wide open spaces.
Those spaces are broken up by some beautiful scenery from time to time.
The next day we are on the road again, New Mexico has some pretty roadside sunflowers.
Part of our route was on old Route 66 in Santa Rose, NM.
Scenery is starting to change in New Mexico.
Starting to see some cacti.
And, some mountains.
Our destination in New Mexico is the Route 66 Casino.
We’ve stayed at this recently finished campground a couple of times while it was under construction. We enjoy it here.
Our stay was just overnight and we are back on the road bright and early because storms are predicted for today.
We hit rain just as we were coming into Arizona.
Meteor Crater RV Park was our destination for the night. It is on the road to a popular tourist attraction, a large crater made by a meteor. The park is behind this gated area next to a gas station and convenience store. We’ve never been here before so we were a little leery at this point as to what was on the other side of the gate. It was pouring down rain when we arrived so we were hoping it was decent because we were going to stay no matter what.
The park is actually very nice.
It is a bit out of the way – note, the cattle crossing sign.
Next morning we are headed into Phoenix and noticed there is snow on this mountain. The gray cloud behind it enhances the look of snow, but there is definitely quite a bit of snow up there.
We’ve been this route before, but this 18 miles of steep downgrades always bothers me. Greg and the motor coach always handle it well but I spend quite a bit of time holding my breath.
When I remember to take pictures, there is some pretty scenery on the way down.
The flag on the mountain made me smile.
We’ve made it down 3000 feet at this point, about 4000 to go, we should be seeing Saguaros in the next 1000 feet.
The trip into Phoenix has some pretty overpasses.
At this point this mountain seems like it will never end!
Spotted the first Saguaro, we are below 3000 feet.
Seeing lots of Saguaros now, getting close to our destination.
Hello Phoenix! traffic looks mild at this point but its deceiving, not sure which is worse – traffic or mountains.
Phoenix does have some pretty walls and medians.
This storm passed up by, from a distance it was pretty looking at it from our dining area window.
Heading into Yuma we have more mountains. When we get down to Yuma, we will be only about 150 feet above sea level.
