Sun City through June 9 and trip North

On April 1 we made it back to Sun City, prior to them closing the park to incoming guests for Covid.  We were able to park in the same site that we were in Oct - Jan 1.  

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We did weekly visits to the house and visited with a few friends prior to leaving June 9.  One couple came back to the Park, after leaving in March as he needed a lung transplant.  We helped them get settled and then we enjoyed walking Jethro, their black lab, while he was going through 2 weeks of  evaluations.  

We stayed until the house reached the pre drywall phase to make sure all wiring and plumbing was in the right place before they drywalled.  Here are some pictures of the process:

Due to Covid we could not do Easter Service, so a person in the park played Amazing Grace and then some additional songs while everyone did their social distancing and sang to celebrate Easter.  We also needed to start wearing masks to go to stores, so I made some with items I had in my sewing materials.  

We walked our 3 miles most mornings until the weather got hot, even getting up at 6:30 to be out walking by 7:30, didn't work as it was getting warm early.  So we switched to bicycling 6-9 miles.  Before we left the temperatures were getting about 114, setting records for April, May and June.  The best part of our walks were capturing the blooming cactus.

By staying in Arizona later than normal, we also were able to see Saguaro cactus bloom.  

On June 9, we decided we would head home, so we dropped the trailer at the place where we will store the motorhome and then traveled about 300 miles a day stopping at Blake Ranch, Tonopah RV, Susanville RV park and River Park RV north of Grants Pass.  We would not go back to River Park as they said we could get satellite, but they put us in another spot and could not access it.  

On June 13 we arrived back in Chehalis where it was cold and still raining, but a nice change from the hot weather in Phoenix.  

Winter in Yuma

We arrived in Yuma and was there until April 1.  This winter in both Phoenix and Yuma was wetter than normal, but still so much nicer than Oregon/Washington's weather.

We had an invite to our friends 70th birthday party up in Sun City which worked out great, as we were going to fly to Seattle that weekend to also be with Craig's Dad to celebrate his 90th birthday.  It was great that our friends in Graham let us stay with them and invited our friends from Estacada to spend the night with all of us.  Weather was cold and snowy, and we were glad to be back in Yuma.

Bob's BD party:

Dad's Birthday - taken with Mother and his friend from middle school:

Once back in Yuma, our old neighbors, Pastor Lyle and Donna, had a visit from their kids from Canada.  The kids/grandchildren sang in church and then they gathered that afternoon for a music jam  with selected friends.

Life in the RV park in Yuma is pretty quiet.  Just meeting up with friends and we got together with family a few times.  One cousin and her husband who lives in Yuma, and my aunt and her family come down to Yuma for the winters so we met them for lunch a couple of times and went and saw them at the RV lot they were staying in before they left the beginning of March.

In February we helped our friends with the walk through of their new home.  They are on the same street where our home is being built.

Also had a great treat, two gals I worked with from the Seattle area, came for a visit so we had lots of catching up time since they were in Yuma overnight.  They both now live in the greater Phoenix area, one lives only a couple of miles from our new home.

We had quite a surprise one evening as we started feeling the motorhome shaking while we were watching TV.  Thought it was the wind, but soon discovered it was an earthquake.  No damage, but the epicenter was about 50-60 miles and it was over a 5.0 earthquake.  Of course in reading up on earthquakes, we found out how many shakers they have in AZ, but most of them are not significant.

By March 16, evertything was becoming very quiet in the park.  Most of the Canadians were leaving and most activities were shut down.  The first confirmed corona virus was reported in Yuma on March 20 - so immediately all restaurants started shutting down.  Paper products were flying off the shelf and they started restricting the number of people in stores.  We felt pretty safe in Yuma, and by the time we left the confirmed cases had expanded to 10.

The house got off to a slow start, but they are still working on it.  They reported they were digging trenches and putting in the plumbing lines, so we will take a look once we get to Sun City.

We had lots of beautiful sunsets in Yuma, which we will miss as this was the last year we will be staying in Yuma for the three months during the summer.

Time in Sun City - Oct 14 - Jan. 1

We arrived into Sun City at the Paradise RV Resort on Oct. 14.  This will be our 4th fall staying here for the three months.  After the park moved sites on us 4 times before we arrived, we actually ended up in a North facing site that was primarily all paved.  Great location!

We met up with our friends who were having their motorhome worked on in Avondale area and went out and toured a 55 plus community in Buckeye and the model homes from various builders.  I had toured before, but everyone was quite impressed with the area.  Within a week our friends purchased a home that was under construction but it took us another month to decide, but we decided to have a home built in the same community that will be gated.  Also, the HOA fees include them taking care of the landscaping in the front and 60' of side property, which will allow us to continue to travel in the motorhome.  We won't close on the house til the end of Sept. 2020, and then we'll have to buy furniture and appliances before moving in.

The home below is the same style and color as ours will be.  The one with the light pole shows the mountains that our outdoor sitting area will somewhat face.

Most of the 2 1/2 months we were in Sun City we kept busy with the home and all the selections we needed to make at the David Weekley design center - cabinets, flooring, countertops, sinks, lighting, smart home wiring, etc.  But we did have time to tour the (very small) Penske Museum on one outing with friends.

We also helped out one of our friends in the park who found out she had bladder cancer and we kept her little dog "Bella" while she was in the hospital and on her cancer treatment days.  We also walked her in the afternoons and evenings while our friend was recovering.

Craig made it out a few times to the Driving Range, but that was the extent of his golfing this year.

We also were able to meet up with some of our friends and had a couple of people over for dinner.  It's nice knowing people from Washington who now live in the area.  We also participated with three other couples in a monthly wine party.

The group of friends we met at Paradise over the years, are a great social group of people, so again we participated in the various get togethers throughout the two 1/2 months that various people host every year; a Welcome back party, After Thanksgiving party and New Years Eve party.  Also, a couple of nice Happy Hour get togethers.

We attended three Christmas performances in the Phoenix area;  Went to Dream City Church for their yearly Christmas performance, attended a concert of "5 Browns" as part of Arizona Musicfest which was 5 siblings playing 5 grand pianos on stage, and then we attended another Jim Brickman concert.

We drove to Las Vegas this year on Dec. 22 and spent 5 nights in a casino hotel close to our nieces home who hosted Christmas.  It was great having our nephews family from Portland this year along with my brother and his wife.

Niece and Nephew and spouses

Great Nieces and Nephews

On Jan. 1, we said our goodbyes and drove to Yuma where we will spend time til April 1.