Our Christmas Card to You

I pray that you are doing well and that you are able to enjoy this busy time of year!!  We are now in our fourth year of living in a Motor-home full-time and our fourth year coming to Tier Drop RV Park in Wellton, AZ, near Yuma.  We enjoy the travel, but the things that we miss the most are our friends and family that we aren't able to be with!  We think about how times and even traditions have changed through the years.  Who could have ever imagined that we would one day be sending Christmas Greetings over the electronic highway?

This will be my 380th blog.  I believe anyone who has followed us here knows more about us than they really even care to know.  I'm thankful for this avenue because it also allows us to keep in touch with all of you.  We so enjoy seeing photos of you and your family and what you are doing even what you are eating!

We spent Thanksgiving in Las Vegas with my 91 year old mother and she is doing well.  We spent some of the time baking cookies. She gives them as gifts to her friends and if we play our cards right, we may even get to eat a few.

We helped Mom put her decorations up, too. We will be heading back up to Mom's for a week starting on Dec. 22nd.

The Park has a combination of RVs and what are called Park Models.  Everyone decorates and even though we are in the desert with no snow, it can look pretty festive.

Wish we could gather you all up for one big Christmas time of caroling! Praying that your hearts are lifted up during this wonderful time of year as you gather with loved ones!!

Love and Blessings,

Craig and Kathy

Wellton Living

 We are parked at Tier Drop RV Park where we have the motorhome parked for the winter months.  One of the things we love about this place is the great people and fellowship.  We even have our own little church with our own Pastor Lee and his wife, Vonnie.  A sweeter couple no one could find!

The Park owner also farms the land surrounding the Park.  This is looking across the field of Alfalfa to the oasis of the park.  They irrigate from canals full of water from the Colorado River that flows all the way down to Arizona.

We hung two Hummingbird feeders on the Palm tree and they were there drinking a short time after.  We have one that guards it and we named him, Squeeks, because of the noise he makes.

What a great view of the full moon a couple weeks ago.

The solar yard lights are up and working, too.

It was time to drive up to see Mom.  We hadn't seen her for a while and we were anxious to get up to Las Vegas.  It's about 300 miles and a 4 1/2 hours drive.

The drive up 95 north takes us through Parker, Arizona, and all along the Colorado River.  It's actually pretty mountainous going through the Parker area.

95 north also goes right through Havasu City and past Lake Havasu.  It has still been in the 90's and it's strange to believe that Las Vegas is usually about 10 degrees cooler than the Yuma area.

95 takes us through the desert and into California for a few miles and down I 40 before it turns back north again.

It had been windy in Las Vegas so the city looked pretty covered in dust as we came into town.

Mom is doing great at 91.5.  I brought along some rhubarb that was cut and frozen for us by a good friend, Chris, in Denver.  It didn't take us long to get the Strawberry/Rhubarb pies ready to eat.

Our friends, Ray and Midge drove down from St. George, Utah, for lunch and some of that pie.  It's always great to see them and their dog, Abby.

Ray, Craig, Minerva, Marcie, Midge and Kathy

Flowers right outside Mom's door. They do a great job with the landscape in her gated community.

 If it's Thursday, you will find Mom and her friends at the Dennis Bono Show at the South Point Casino.

We had a nice visit with Mom and helped her with a few things around the house. We will go back up for Thanksgiving.

We cut back through the open fields through Dome Valley the last stretch of the trip back to Wellton.

There are Military Bases in the area and three Helicopters flew over.

 An Egret sitting on the Crop Duster Landing field.

And then there's the sunrises.  We face east, so there's nearly a new show every morning.

I think this bush is called a Yellowbell.  We have been waiting for the grapefruit trees to ripen their fruit.

 We purchased a few landscape tiles and made a walkway to keep some of the dust out of the RV.

We miss our kids and grandkids, but life is good here.  We are watching the Cubs at their attempt to keep their dream alive of winning the World Series.

W Cubs Win!!

Blessings,

Kathy

Holbrook, AZ to Tier Drop RV Park in Wellton, AZ

My last blog left us in the Holbrook, AZ area.  We had the choice of going down through Phoenix or taking a "scenic" route down Hwy 60 through Show Low.  Wow, was it ever scenic with steep up and down grades for many many miles. 
As we started out the morning on Friday we were in pretty flat desert land.  Then we went through several miles that reminded us of the hill country of Texas.  I was interested to see the first town listed along the way... Snowflake.  By the time we got to the town it was in the hills and was a very clean and nice town.

Just down the road from Snowflake is Show Low. It's also a very fun and pretty looking town.  It's a place that would be easy to live in and is 180 miles northeast of Phoenix.

The trip past Show Low reminded us more of Minnesota with tall pine trees.

 We hadn't ever driven this route before so it was all a mystery when we started.  By the time we finished the trip we were out of breath because it was both breathtakingly beautiful and breathtakingly frightening driving our 34' rig pulling the Honda behind.

 As we were coming out of the steep mountains, we were happy to see the town of Globe.  We found a place to park the rig and had some lunch and recovered from the thrill.

We weren't finished with our descent into the Phoenix Valley, just yet.

What a contrast when you pass by the cotton fields around Casa Grande.  We spent the night at the High Chaparral RV park to see if we could visit Jim and Pat.  We got to know them last year when we worked at the Colorado State Park. 

 

 They picked us up at our park and took us to their nice home in Arizona City, AZ to have dinner with them and their good friends that are from Minnesota.

On Saturday morning, we turned west on route 8 and knew that we just had three hours to drive to get into our winter home in Wellton, AZ.   Wellton is 20 miles east of Yuma.

This is our fourth year to return to this Park.  There was a new place open just up the hill from where we stayed last year, so we decided to move into it.

Many of the "snowbirds" buy Park Models.  They are like a small 400 sq ft mobile home.  This park has a lot of Canadians and people from Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Colorado.  It's still very quiet as the season is just beginning.

There is a large part of the Park that is up the hill from us on gravel. It seems strange to only see one RV parked there.  It will be full by the end of the year.

We face east so with our sun shades on, we are able to enjoy the sun rising each morning.  It's still a bit on the hot side here... upper 90's.

We when checked in at the office they said they are taking pictures of everyone as they arrive this year.  I guess you could say, we were framed!

Even in this heat the flowers are looking very happy.
We have been enjoying walking again and having the pool all to ourselves.

So, here we are in Tier Drop RV Park.  We may be here until March?  Only the Lord knows.  We will drive up to Vegas to spend time with Mom leaving this Sunday afternoon.
Our prayers are still with those who have suffered because of the Hurricane and with our Nation as the struggles continue.

Blessings,
Kathy