Waking Up Hurley Travels With A Quick Recap

     I didn’t really break up Hurley Travels, it just took a year-long vacation.  (Something close to a quote from The Eagles Reunion Tour, right?)  I’ve had a hiatus to consider how, or whether, this personal corner of the world should carry on.  The decision --- I’m not ready to call it quits at Hurley Travels just yet.  It’s still fun to take a look back in the blog history every now and then, especially since my recollection abilities are just a little fuzzier than they used to be. If you get my drift.  Time for a wake-up call!
     So what’s been happening?  We’ve been busy with living, doing whatever happens to us retired folk.  There are many distractions, from house projects to travel to hobbies to family to family history, or just foolin around.  During this blogging break I did occasionally mull over the moments that I’d want to add to the blog.  Some of those posts are still stuck in my head, I guess.  But don’t worry…there won’t be any novelettes written in these pages. I thought I’d have some fun with a sample of the past year in photos and keep the rhetoric simple. Here goes with the high spots:
     Summer 2015:
     --  The Cleveland Irish Fest with our friends, Mike and Suzanne Flynn, was a super weekend in July of song, reminiscing, tattoos for the ladies, tshirts for the guys and refreshments of our choice.

        ---  Jerry and I went into the farming arena last summer.  Well I guess it was dipping maybe one toe into that arena.  We grew two kinds of tomatoes and two kinds of peppers in containers in our back yard. Actually, the plants produced a good many veggies and they were delicious.  We especially liked the cherry tomatoes’ juicy flavor.  And we could share them since our plant was plentiful.  There was also an added bonus.  Marti did  a fabulous job of canning the peppers and we had spicey treats for a while after.

  

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      Indiana State Fair, August 2015:
     --- Krissy and I had a lot of fun lapping up  all the State Fair offerings.  We visited with horses, pigs, llamas, goats, rabbits and other appropriate animals.  We perused the handmade quilts, clothes and artwork submissions. And it wouldn’t be right if you didn’t visit the farm equipment.   And, of course, we had to try enough fried food to last us another year. 

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   Jerry’s Birthday, September 2:
     ---  It’s always fun for Tim to get his Dad out acting like a kid.  On Jerry’s birthday Tim talked him into taking a spin on one of their ATV’s. These pics remind me of how our roles reverse as we and our children get older.  Jerry made a quick trip around the yard and had us all laughing, of course.

   

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Our Wedding Anniversary, September:
     ---  September 30th was our 15th wedding anniversary.  We decided to explore around home for the day, find totally new places to experience.  In this picture I'm standing outside Mama Irma’s Peruvian Cafe in Fountain Square.  I can’t remember our exact menu choices, but everything was tasty, fresh and fun.  The waiter helped us to get a good sampling for our first Peruvian food.
    Then, with our tummies full, we took a tour of two downtown Indy spots.  The art gallery in an old branch bank was new to us and we saw some interesting local artists’ work.  Then, we also roamed through the Midland Antique Mall for a dose of old treasures.

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November in the Southwest, 2015:
     ---   What can I say about the chance to visit our good friends, Jerry and Dee Thomas and Mary Jo Wallen.  We decided to make this trip to the Southwest by car, taking our time and stopping at a few old favorite places.  Besides, Jerry wanted to see Lucas, Kansas, again – the Grassroots Art Center of the world. (In our minds anyway!)
     We did notice the difference on this trip in hotels rather than in a motorhome, with your own bed and your stuff.  But we found good stopover places, especially our three days in Santa Fe. One very important stop was in Albuquerque, New Mexico to see Mary Jo. We’ve been friends for soooooo long and it’s always good to get some face-to-face time. 
     Then, we arrived at our November spot with Jerry and Dee, and special four-legged buddy, Jaxon, in Congress, Arizona.  We had about three weeks of doing whatever; sometimes just looking at the beautiful desert scenery out our back door.   The evenings were filled with laughing and sharing. Always a treat to have time with these nice people and other special RVing friends there at North Ranch.  I have somehow missplaced the photos from New Mexico-Arizona 2015. So I’m  going to do some flashbacks.  These oldies are fun anyway!  

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   Christmas, 2015

     ---  We enjoyed having family and friends at our home at Christmas time!  Below are a few of those smiles that add joy to this time of year.  First, Granddaughter Caroline with her cousins, Lila, Jude and Ava Chamberlain gathered to create this beautiful moment. 

     ---  Then I'm adding a totally clowning, jiggly pic from the other Christmas event.   Captured below are my nephew Alan with Krissy (adult cousins in the back), and a few of the youngsters in the Niehaus clan. In the front are my sister Linda’s grandchildren:  Eli Marcum, Madison May, Annabelle Marcum and Madelyn Marcum. 

     ---  Lastly for the holiday photos: My sisters and I - Nancy Hurley, Linda May and Marti Fleetwood.   We ate to our hearts content, played cards, shared stories and presents and loved our family time.

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     Caribbean Cruise with My Sis, January, 2016:
     ---  Lin and I took a seven-day cruise to Cozumel, Mexico, Belize City and Roatan, Honduras in January.  Saw beautiful undersea sites snorkeling, road a submarine 100 feet down, and toured the fascinating Mayan Ruins.  The Caribbean Princess food was fantastic and we had a fabulous time on our sisters cruise.  Even played some bingo and musical trivial pursuit on the ship!

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     Sunny February Visits in Florida:
     --- We escaped the cold for a couple of weeks in February.  It was nice to visit Margie (Hurley) in her new home near Orlando. We got to meet her special friend, George and let them show us around their local area.

   Then we made our way west to the gulf coast to see Karen again in Clearwater. We were just in time to help Karen adjust to her retirement. In fact we were there for her first Monday away.  And I think she got into it very quickly!  She's now excited to have more time for biking, walking and movies with her Dad.
This Florida escape had another special ingredient. Jerry escorted all of us ladies wherever we chose to go, to good restaurants, for drinks at waterview spots, to shop in quaint places, listen to music or walk on the beach.   

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March through May, 2016, More Momentos:
    ---   I’ll bring this year-long post to a conclusion  with comments on a pleasant birthday I had in March.  Krissy and Darrell (her special friend) created a fantastic meal of baked Tilapia, asparagus with hollandaise sauce and rice with almonds and served Jerry and I at Krissy's place. There was even a special creamy birthday tart with berries.
  Krissy and I are still enjoying her gift of yoga lessons together.  Mother’s Day and Krissy’s May birthday would be worthy additions to this year’s recap. They all go into our memories vault forever.

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    Well, that’s enough for one helping of Hurley Travels.  I have to go check on Jerry now to see what he might have up his sleeve.  There may be some surprises here in the future.   Hello to everyone from both of us.  Thanks for taking the time to stop by Hurley Travels.

  

  Nancy Hurley

Copyright (c) 2016, Nancy Hurley

Returning to Sidewinder Road

There are places in our lives that draw us back.   You know, a beautiful park, a comfy chair, a favorite walking path, a soft beach,  or even a peaceful corner of the local library. I hope everyone has a few of these places.

Most rvers that we know could make a short list of the chosen places they return to, or hope to at some time in the future.  The desert area off Sidewinder Road, west of Yuma, Arizona, is one of our spots. Why?  It’s the multitude of openness, the escape from the hustle and bustle and the view of the surrounding mountains and desert. There are stupendous sunsets, too.

So, here we are… back again.  We’re enjoying the peace and scenery at Sidewinder Road. Can you see Ferd and Ole Yeller off in the distance on the left side of this photo? I took this shot on a walk in the evening.

Knowing that some friends were probably  parked here was another bonus for this stop.  They are across from us in the photo. 

As anyone drives down the road they see groupings, or individual rvers, who picked a temporary home and are sharing this vast space. We can have as much company or privacy as we choose, and just hang out for a while in the warm climate.  Civilization is just close enough;  any kind of shopping, eating or entertainment is available by traveling about 15 miles into Yuma.  We are fond of the rumble of the train that runs by in the distance occasionally.  People go out to play on the trails or to do geocaching or hiking in the area. And sometimes a neighbor passes by on the way into town or to take the turnoff a few miles down the road to the Algodones, Mexico border crossing.  

Tomorrow we will be going to Yuma to visit with ten friends for the afternoon.  Karen and Mickey Bennett, Kaaren and Bill Payne, Jan and Chuck Moore, Ron and Sharon Mead and Jack and Jeanne Albers are all good people who share the rving lifestyle. They are in this area of the country for various amounts of the winter.  Each of these returners could tell their own tales of time spent at Sidewinder Road. 

How fortunate we are to have the opportunity to come back here as we move along in our journey. 

Thanks for visiting Hurley Travels.  Stay safe!

The Arizona Beat Goes On…

This winter in Arizona continues to be active and interesting.  We moved back to the Thomas’s lot in Congress at the North Ranch Escapees RV Park about a month ago.  Our friends, Dee and Jerry Thomas, once again, are the nicest hosts you could imagine.  And there are more friendly folks that keep coming into our lives here, sharing their activities.  It’s about time that I blogged about it.  Where to start?

First, our music fests…..Several times during the month groups of friends have been involved in Jerry Thomas’s version of “Name That Tune.”  He uses his iPad Pandora app through his home stereo to play pieces of selected songs for us and we try to guess the artist and the song.  This sounds pretty simple and, perhaps, uneventful, right?!   Not with this group.   Somehow it turns out to be hilarious!  People of a variety of ages, musical preferences and personalities seem to shake it up.  It doesn’t matter how it develops into our evenings of laughs.  It just does.   There’s a lot of wrong guesses, half guesses, “I knew that” responses, etc.  Maybe it’s one of those times when “you just had to be there.”  Whatever this particular combo has been, the results are good times with tunes!

And, of course, there are the food events to talk about over these past few weeks.   The TBird Café in Peeples Valley on Highway 89, about 13 miles up the mountain from Congress,  is now on our list for great pizza and atmosphere.  On this visit we’ve had two yummy evenings there, one when Dee’s sister and brother-in-law were visiting from St. Louis and the other for Jerry T’s birthday. Again we were pleased to be included by our North Ranch friends, Val and Tom, Rick and Marla and Barb and Bill.  The TBird Cafe is a family-owned place with scrumptious wood-fired pizza or other menu selections. Hopefully, there’s enough drive-by and local business to keep them operating for a long time.  Our gatherings of six or ten of us at this small, friendly café were memorable and we’ll be there again, I’m sure.

While I’m on the topic of food, we’ve been introduced by friends to a few restaurants and entertainment in nearby Wickenburg as well.  Recently Jerry and Dee took us to a local, family-owned hamburger joint called Screamers where we had truly outstanding handmade hamburgers in the vintage diner.   And last Saturday was Bill DiLenge’s birthday at the western-themed restaurant, Tumbleweeds.  The eight of us were in time for the $2.00 Margaritas. The entertainment for the evening was a western/country guitar player singing Johnny Cash, Waylon and Marty Robbins-type selections.   Again, the camaraderie for Bill’s birthday party was exceptional.

And there was the delicious elk feast, too.  We were happy to be included in the local gathering at Jim and Linda William’s lovely home here in North Ranch to sample Jim’s elk from his hunting trip in Northern Arizona  They fed elk burgers, elk sausage and a crockpot dish that Linda created to about 20 happy and hungry people.   Jerry and I liked all three types of the elk, probably putting the crockpot dish as our favorite. It was tender and juicy.  Of course, everybody pitched-in with the accompaniments.  One of those contributing was our friend, Barb Slott, who just returned from a trip to South America (along with Bill, but he was sick for the elk dinner).  Barb whipped up several batches of Pisco Sours, a drink she learned of on their trip. The smooth concoction similar to a Pina Colada includes lime juice, simple syrup, Pisco and ice in the blender.  Many of us enjoyed them tremendously and had to have the recipe.   Of course, there have already followed a couple of additional occasions for blending them, too.  Thanks Barb.

Linda and Barb (above) have also become beading pals recently and helped me to expand my creations.  There’s a group that gathers twice a week in the clubhouse here at North Ranch and I decided to see who and what it was all about.  Everyone there welcomed me, asking if there was something I would like to learn. Linda showed me a few tips on making memory wire bracelets.  Then, last week Linda brought all the supplies for another project.  She and Barb shared their expertise on making beaded serving utensils. They are impressive and fun to make.  My beading juices are flowing thanks to these ladies at North Ranch.

 

Moving right along, we were invited on a boat outing last week on Lake Pleasant, about 30 miles north of Phoenix.  Friends of Jerry and Dee’s that we met a couple of years ago, Kris and Mark Kelley, put together this event.  More nice people!  (To the left are Kris, Mark and Dee in a “hat” pose during our cruise.)

We took off about 11a.m. for a six-hour jaunt on a comfy, 45-foot pontoon boat in the sunshine.  Our guide and boat captain, A. J., was an interesting young man who owns this lake tour business. He entertained us with information on Arizona, the fishing in the lake,  the terrain, wildlife and a variety of trivia.

Our group of ten included Kris’s sister and brother-in-law visiting from Rhode Island and two more of their old friends originally from Michigan, now living in Arizona.  I got a kick out of Harry, who repeated that he wasn’t sure that he was returning to R. I. after this vacation.   There was interesting conversation and excellent scenery as we explored the numerous coves of this beautiful 10,000-acre lake surrounded with desert cacti and mountains. 

And finally, I have a few more comments on some fun festivities here at North Ranch this past weekend called La Fiesta.  On Saturday the festivities began with a parade, exploded with a bean bag baseball tournament, all complimented by several other events, such as a cake-baking contest, hand created woodcarvings, baskets and jewelry and vintage cars and local fire engines on display.  Again uproarious fun took place just because of people who know how to enjoy whatever.

So, let’s talk about the Bean Bag Baseball tournament!  Several people that we’ve met here at the park joined a team.  But of course, we were cheering for the Minnows team that included Jerry and Dee and Rick and Marla.  In this type of baseball, the point is to get on base and score runs  by tossing the bean bag into the holes on the board (reminds me somewhat of the corn hole game). Of course, the game is designed for us old folks to take part. As you can see from the photo on the left, the bean bag is tossed through a hole in the board, determining how many bases or a foul or out.  If the player gets a hit, they walk to the bases where they sit down until time to advance or three outs.  You see, it’s really just like “real” baseball.

So don’t think there’s any less competition or rivalry or the elements of any team sport!  Above you can see the bases loaded with Dee, Rick and Marla.  Meanwhile, Jerry T. was in the batter box and hit (tossed) a grand slam home run.  Wow! 

On the right you can see Marla showing her batting technique (tossing technique, that is).  It was an exciting morning as the Minnows demonstrated their hand-eye coordination and teamwork, advancing through to the final game. That championship game was close and had some pretty tense moments….then the Minnows were victorious!!! (See celebration on left.)  Congratulations to all the teams for another good day on the field of play!

On that upbeat note I think I’ll stop with our current Arizona adventures!  Again, many thanks to Jerry and Dee for being such good friends and social organizers. We appreciate them and all these nice folks here in Congress.

We are planning to move along somewhat southerly soon.   Stay tuned for more news.  Thanks for visiting with us at Hurley Travels.  Stay safe.

Cruising Along in the Sun ~~ February 2013

As you probably know, enjoying the sun and warmth is our simple goal for this winter. Since I last posted in early January, we are continuing our escapades with that goal in mind.  From Congress, Arizona, we traveled short distances to Quartzsite to Yuma and to Casa Grande. On our brief stopover in Q we were happy to see our rving friends, Mary and Elaine, Chuck and Jan and Ann and Mick. We had fun reminiscing with all of them. Our Yuma time was mostly consumed with my dental work just over the border in Algodones, Mexico. But we did have a chance to take a ride out to Sidewinder Road area where we've boondocked in past years, in the shadows of the Chocolate Mountains. There we found more friends, Karen and Mickey Bennett and Kaaren and Bill Payne, who welcomed our surprise visit to their winter parking spot and shared stories for the afternoon.
Then…..there’s the Caribbean! I (Nancy) took a plane ride east to Ft. Lauderdale in late January to join some friends for my first cruise. (Jerry had a solo week in AZ, about which he is still secretive!  I know it involved trying out his new Kindle and not making the bed, though. )
Karen, Connie, Patience, and Ed (Karen’s Dad, who we all loved having as our escort.) were superb cruising companions on the Ruby Princess, as we made our way to the Bahamas, St.Maarten, St.Thomas and Grand Turk. Oh, and we also had about 45 other friendly folks in Karen’s group of lawyers from the Clearwater Bar Assn. where she is the director. We all shared Karen and I discovered new Florida friends. 
I learned quickly from all my veteran cruise friends that you shape your own cruising experience. Actually, it could involve choosing to simply watch the ocean or an island go by.  The beautiful oceanic views, the variety of excellent entertainment and the assortment of feasts provide a super atmosphere for as much relaxation and as much excitement as one would choose to have.
The singing and dancing entertainment in the theater was one of my favorite activities onboard. There were also karaoke contests and an art auction, a magician and a comedian, a hilarious chefs demonstration or you could talk with the engineer about the workings of the ship….just to mention a few of the events. The spa is always open for pampering. There are movies on a humungous screen at one pool and music/games at another pool.
We had lots of fun off the ship, too.  Such as, exploring the Dutch and French sides of St. Maarten, the cable car ride to view St. Thomas from above, our market shopping for knockoff purses and the National Museum on Grand Turk that has relics of a 1500s ship that may be the Pinta.
Looking back, I would say that our evening meals together were another highlight. Our groups at dinner would share experiences of the day…getting kicked off a massage table at the nude beach, etc…..I met some fun, interesting people and the array of food choices brought something unique each night.  And our smiling and helpful international wait staff, from Thailand and the Philippines, even broke out in a song occasionally.
A special ingredient on this trip was the opportunity to spend time with Ed France. He is a vibrant and humorous gentleman that brings his individual recipe for life to the gathering. He shared the right combination of travel tales and sage advice,  had a few jokes to liven up the happy hours and was on the spot with his camera. What a joy!
As you can imagine, good photo ops were around every corner.   I chose a few of my collection for an album that is linked at the end of this post.
One more good thing….I did not get seasick!  Yay! On the other hand, I think I must have put on ten pounds from the yummy desserts and breakfast pastries. 
I can now understand why some people take cruises repeatedly. You can relax and let the captain do the driving. You just have to make your choices of what to do when.
For this group of old friends it was a great time for making memories. Thanks Karen, Ed, Patience and Connie for a special cruise!
So glad you visited Hurley Travels. Stay safe.

Caribbean Cruise 2013 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Holidays, Fiestas and Foolin’ Around in Arizona

There’s so much that can be said for our last few weeks in the vicinity of Congress, Arizona!  Let’s see….friendly, fun, relaxing, exciting, hospitable, generous and so on.  We had large doses of it all. 

Starting with Christmas….Who would want to go out in the desert to boondock for Christmas?  There were eight of us, four couples, and it was a blast!  We were invited by Jerry and Dee, Tom and Val and Marla and Rick, all friends at the North Ranch Park in Congress, Arizona, to go along for their “getaway.”  We took our motorhomes about 80 miles southwest, to one of their favorite BLM spots in the Bouse area, surrounded by the mountain views.   There we found a perfect parking spot, with lots of open, quiet, space with those special desert sunsets.  Of course, I can’t tell you everything that went on. There are things that happen in the desert that stay in the desert, you know!  But, let’s see, to summarize very quickly:….scrumptious pitch-in meals, atv geocaching adventures, jeep desert exploring, camp fires with Rick’s colorful additions, Jerry T’s iPad Pandora music contests with Tom and Val’s truck speaker system, Silly Al’s pizza, Quartzsite vendor shopping, our visit to the Bluewater Casino, Val’s birthday party, Marla’s rum balls, Dee’s pumpkin roll, fish fry night followed by a champion-sized breakfast in Bouse… and an abundance of burning doors.  Add to this mix the exceptional camaraderie and storytelling.  And there you have it --- a great formula for a nice Christmas in the desert.  (In the photo to the right, Jerry and Dee enjoy our group’s campfire.)

Soon we were all back in Congress settled into our individual lots/homes in time to celebrate a new year.  Again, Dee and Jerry opened their arms to make this a very nice evening.  The four of us joined in at the North Ranch clubhouse party, with music, dancing and neighborly revelers all around, ringing in 2013 on east coast time first of all.   Afterwards, a small group of us gathered at the Thomas home to celebrate the actual 12-high in Arizona.  (Side thought: Having celebrated in the eastern time zone most of my life, it’s been interesting over our rving years to learn that people do celebrate when the ball drops in Times Square, even if it’s 10:00 pm where they are at the time.  Then, of course, there can be celebrations in whatever time zone follows.   Makes sense to me.)

After the holidays, there are the bowl games, of course. More reasons to gather and enjoy one another, right?! Our next opportunity was the Thomas’s Fiesta Bowl party.  Jerry and Dee organize an annual party at their garage for this event, inviting 25-50 of their closest friends from the neighborhood.  Since they have a nephew attending Kansas State, some of us joined them in cheering for the Wildcats.  But, of course, in this area of the country there’s a big crew of  Oregon fans.  We enjoyed getting involved with installing the big-screen TVs and decorating their garage (on the lot where we were parked).  Yes, in the spirit of good sportsmanship, we even helped Barb hang the Oregon Ducks paraphernalia. (Photo to the left is Barb in the front row for the game.)

This bowl party was what I’d call a winner!  The Thomas hospitality combined with good conversation, good eats, friendly rivalry and enough score changes to keep our game of chance exciting.  Of course, everyone knows the outcome, with the Oregon Ducks victorious.  But regardless of whether you were a Wildcat, a Duck, or just there for the party, there were happy folks all around.   

But wait! The games aren’t over yet.  By the time the Notre Dame v. Alabama game was set to begin, Jerry and Dee had their 62” TV in their newly installed cabinetry in their home, and the four of us were settled in to see the Irish become national champs. What?! was that!!!  Oh well, we found distractions from the debacle of a football game.  There’s always Jaxon, the wonder dog, who greets us warmly and entertains us with his special serenades.  We found time too for refreshments, sharing travels and whatever came to mind, including our iPad apps and latest Kindle reads, etc, etc….No boredom here.  The game was soon forgotten.

And lastly for this post, I have to mention our enjoyable time on the offroad trails around the Congress/Wickenburg area.  Bill and Barb invited us to come with them and Jerry and Dee to roam through some of their favorite areas in our Jeeps and atv.  Well, the company was again excellent and so were the surroundings -- Rolling through the hills and valleys covered with every kind of cacti, palo verde trees and desert shrub, swishing along the riverbed, stopping to explore by foot inside slot canyons and mine ruins, soaking up the views of bright blue sky and saguaro everywhere.  Among several interesting aspects of our time out on the trial today was meeting a landowner.  Bill introduced us to his friend from Montana who owns about 20 mining claims and 200 acres, partially in the area we were traversing.  It was interesting hearing from this desert landowner as to the “adventures” that go with the territory.  Such as, the people who tear down his property signs and bulldoze their own paths onto his land. 

Below - Dee and Jerry found a nice flat rock to wait for the rest of the crew to return from a hike. 

And then, to rehash the events of the day…the six of us had exceptional chili-burgers and beers at the Arrowhead Bar & Grill in Congress.   What a super day!

As anyone could gather, we’ve been very blessed with good friends sharing this time over the past month or so.  We felt so welcome.   Thanks is all we can say!  

I’m attaching an album of more scenes from these recent Arizona happenings.  If you’d like to take a look, click on the slide show button below:

Arizona Fun Dec 2012 - Jan 2013 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Stay safe and keep smiling! Talk to you later.

A Friendly Day in Congress (AZ)

When people reach out to include you they make you feel so good.  That’s how things are going here for us.  We have been visiting with our friends, Jerry and Dee Thomas, at their place in Congress, Arizona , at North Ranch RV Park.  It’s an outgoing group of folks that make this their home for various amounts of time during the year. (These guys to the left are included in that group.  But, hold on. We’ll talk about this splendid vehicle later.)
This morning Dee invited a few girls to her house for Christmas cookie decorating. She baked Jerry’s great grandmother’s cookie recipe, about five dozen delicious sugar cookies.  Then Marla and I got to create designs with icing and sprinkles.  Part of the fun was licking the delicious icing off our  fingers, of course. The guys took care of various “projects” all day long, too.  There always seems to be a project or two.  But first and last, there’s lots of good conversation, discussing the how to’s and why not's of it all. 
As we move around the country we are blessed to encounter people that are outgoing and enjoy life. This afternoon, as we were heading back to the lot where we’re parked, we stopped to say hi to Marla and Rick and found we had a mutual friend from their hometown of Sheridan, Wyoming.
By the early afternoon we had shared stories, sampled cookies, tweaked motorhomes, shopped for Christmas groceries and retrieved packages and mail from the local post office.  We received Krissy’s Christmas baked goodies gift today.  We aren’t finished sampling the new assortment for this year. But I have  to say the lemon truffles are exquisite.  And Jerry still loves the spiced nuts.
And, oh yeah, there was even time today for Jerry (Thomas) and his brother, Tom, to relax and reminisce as they looked cool in their family heirloom truck, “Big Red.” This 1955 Dodge (in the photo at the beginning of my post) worked for the Thomas's in their RV park business for many years.  I think that this vehicle might tell a myriad of tales of these two with their Dad back in Ohio.  Memories!
Thanks for visiting Hurley Travels.  Stay safe.

Flashback Friday - Our First Winter in the Desert, 2004-05

Blooming white primrose spread over the deserts in Arizona and California where we spent a good deal of time in the winter months of 2004-05. Oranges, yellows and blues of all types of wild desert flowers paved the way along the road from Yuma to Quartzsite. The rains had showered just the right amount for a wild population explosion.  We had a colorful winter welcome to the southwest. Nice of Mother Nature to arrange for the beautiful array.

Besides the desert bouquets, we had several lifestyle discoveries. First, we learned a great deal about boon docking, using our solar panels to the utmost and our storage tanks efficiently.  It was fun practicing around Ogilby and Sidewinder Roads west of Yuma – wide, open space of quiet, sage and brush, surrounded by distant sand dunes and chocolate mountains -  land where RVers migrate each winter to settle intermittently on a piece of the desert.  When we got hitch itch in one spot we would move 20 to 50 miles or so to more Bureau of Land Management areas near Imperial Dam, Quartzsite or Blythe, California.  Learning where to get water and dump tanks wasn’t difficult at all. That’s another revelation we had out in the desert.  RVers are friendly and helpful folk. Most everyone we came across was ready to share; recommendations on parking, dumping, water, trash, restaurants, roads or whatever experiences they had. We found these fellow nomads offering to show us around, do some hiking or geocaching, take a trail to an abandoned mine in the hills or lend a hand with a repair.

After this introduction to desert living, we decided there was one aspect we wanted to take to another level. We were drawn to those trails we’d experienced on a limited basis in our Ford F550 truck.  Yes, we didn’t get too far off road in that monster.  It was super for traveling the highways with the 5th wheel or venturing a limited distance on the desert roads. But that’s all. And we were bitten by the off-roading bug.

The solution: Ole Yeller, our Jeep Wrangler, became a part of our entourage at that point. Of course, it was completely stock. And we also had a lot to learn about our new hobby.  But, some very patient and hospitable RVing friends took us out “4wheeling” anyway.  We snaked through slot canyons, paused for some fantastic mountainous views and enjoyed the camaraderie. That was all it took. We were off to the customizing shop in Phoenix.  And the story goes on from there in many directions and over many obstacles.

The winter of  2004-05 completed one year of the RV lifestyle for us. The season was eye-opening in many ways.

Thanks for stopping in at Hurley Travels. Talk to you later.