Moab Magic - So Happy To Be Back !

Portal RV Resort
Moab, UT
August 7,8 and 9, 2015

We arrived early enough last Thursday to get our home and outside space all set up. Our  back-in site has plenty of room behind Belle to set up the x-pen so we can enjoy the shade and a nice view of the meadow together. 

Friday we were up early and heading to Poison Spider. We met Harald and Teress (who were on their homeymoon from Switzerland), along with Mike, Lisa and Pearce (from Las Vegas) and Dee. Harald has waited 20 years to get to Moab...what a fun and excited guy!  He had rented a jeep and was eager to play!

 Memories in the making...Teress snaps a picture of Harald.

L - R...Joe, Dee, Teress, Harald and Mike

We were most impressed as Pearce (13 years old )drove out of Poison Spider with his dad spotting.

With Dee spotting, we have taken Pearl up Wedgy several times but this was our first time going down.  Maybe someday we will traverse this obstacle without having to be spotted.  Oh, thank you Dee not only for the spot but the photo as well.






Saturday we were off to Metal Masher where we met Amit, Coral and his dad Alex (who were here from Israel) and Scott, Stephanie and their pup Jada (from Nevada) along with Dave, Dee, Harald and Teress for another fun day!

Dave and Amit led the group followed by Coral and Alex...

Coral (driving) and his dad in a rental jeep...

Scott and Stephanie

Stephanie drives Rock Chucker with Jada...

Dave leads the way to Widow Maker...

and yes, we all followed! Harald is in for a huge surprise !

Widow Maker...a piece of cake for Dave and Scott. Then the strap came out...first Coral, 

then Harald and yep...we went next ! 

And Dee makes it look so easy !

The ride across the rim was the prettiest I have ever seen it...

Looking down on Hwy 313...

The Monitor and The Merrimack

Lunch with a view...

Amit and Dee sharing stories...

Alex, Scott and Joe checking fluids in Dave's buggy.

Coral, Alex (in front of Joe) and Joe 

Jada

Whew...our first two days back in Moab were packed FULL of fun and very, VERY nice folks.

Until next time, 

HAPPY TRAILS!

Last Post for Tucson This Year...Heading to Moab!

Tucson/Lazydays KOA
Tucson, AZ
August 3, 2015

Whoopee...was my reaction just now as I typed the date for this post. I can't believe it is August already! I love making plans! And I LOVE it when the wheels are rollin'! We should be heading north on Wednesday as Joe's stitches will be removed in the morning...

These dark clouds moved in about 4:30 pm last Tuesday.

Our biggest news in the past few days have been the storms. Lightening and winds have made for interesting late afternoons. In fact, last Tuesday, the wind was so bad it blew over a power pole behind the KOA and we did not have electricity for 2 days. Thank goodness for the generator! 

The puppies x-pen has blown over several times this past week along with chairs, bikes and plants. The huge pot of geraniums that were sitting on the table were face down behind the bus :(.

I found my watering can (weighted down with rocks) about 5 sites up and have yet to find a big black pot we keep by the door.

The puppies and I enjoyed the trimming of the palm trees a day or so before the storm. These palms are King Palms that grow to about 50 to 80 feet tall depending on which variety. The leaves (fronds) grow 6 to 10 feet long.  There were also clusters of berry like produce cut from the trees.

Another tree that seems to grow well here is the olive tree, however, they haven't fared very well with the winds we have experienced lately. Lots of broken limbs and even a couple uprooted in the park here. It seems strange to me that olive trees even grow here...when I think of olives, I think of the Mediterranean. 

I did read up on the health benefits of olives. They are good for you and you only need to eat 6 to 10 a day to reap their benefits. Guess what we bought at the store? We now have green and Kalamata (which is really a black olive even though it is dark purple) olives in the fridge. The nutritional value of black and green is mostly the same. And I did read that canned black (ripe) olives may contain chemicals that artificially turn them black. That's a bummer, because I really do like them!  

If you have been to the Lazydays KOA and return, you will notice a big change. Two separate rows in the middle of the park will be covered in solar panels. It should be finished in October.

The rendering below came from www.rvbusiness.com. This is a first of it's kind Power Parasol allowing some light in, and safe to park and grill under.

Yep, that first MH in the picture is Belle! Ahh, the magic of photoshop.  The picture of Belle was used in a survey the KOA sent out last winter to allow RVers to comment on whether or not this was a good idea. We were quite honored!

With the snow birders gone, this is what our back-in row has looked like the entire time we have been here. Most of the folks pulling in for a day or two prefer the pull-thrus. That is fine by us!


The rest of the pictures were taken along the highways and byways somewhere between Montrose and Tucson...

Until next time, let the good times roll!