Finally We Leave Paradise....

We have been anxiously awaiting our departure date of 5/1/13 from Paradise RV Park in Sun City, AZ.  We've made some good friends while there, and will no doubtedly return, but we just need to see some different scenery after almost 18 months there.  We will always be grateful that we weren't on the road somewhere when Dick had his strokes on May 19, 2012 but he's doing very well now and we're very anxious to get back to seeing this great country of ours.  It was a valuable lesson last May and we will no longer take things for granted.

I will try to publish this blog once a week, probably on Sundays, so if you would like to follow along that would be great.  It won't be a fancy blog, and is done mostly for our use in keeping track of people and places we see along the way.

We will spend our first two weeks in Cottonwood, AZ about 80 miles north of Phoenix (tough travel day....LOL!) We are members of Thousand Trails and have some 'free' nights each year so will use some of those to do some housekeeping chores in cooler weather than Phoenix.  We like the little town of Cottonwood as it has some interesting history, some good restaurants, and it is close to Sedona and Flagstaff.  Unfortunately, internet service at the park is a notch above terrible so I won't post anything until after we leave there on 5/15.

Update.......5/16/13

We left Wednesday morning (5/15) as planned.  We had a very nice two weeks there where the weather was almost perfect and we accomplished all of our housekeeping chores......grout tile cleaned, leather furniture cleaned & conditioned, wood oiled, cabinets organized, and Dick's outside projects also accomplished such as washing & waxing the rig, cleaning up the car and many more.  We got some 'R&R' in too with a day in Flagstaff to see the granddaughters and daughter-in-law who was home for a visit, a trip to two to Sedona, a nice visit with a friend we met in Rapid City, SD in 2011 as he was passing through Cottonwood on his way north ultimately to Alaska and some good food as well.  Trip Advisor hasn't steered us wrong very much and the same was true in Cottonwood for good 'eats'.

Wednesday night we stayed at a Travel Center (truck stop) outside Grants, NM.  It was just a pull in for the night and out this morning so even though we checked a couple of Casino RV Parks in that area, we opted for sleeping amongst the trucks....LOL!

Thursday we made our way through Albuquerque and Raton, NM before hitting the CO line.  We got an early start and just kept going so ended up for the night in Fountain, CO at a KOA.  They aren't our usual RV Park (too expensive) but it was convenient and decided to splurge for tonight.

Murphy is enjoying the change of scenery and all the new and different 'smells'.  He's feeling much better and we hope that continues.

We'll be in Westminster, CO for a couple of nights starting tomorrow.

Catch back up with you on Sunday..........

The red mountains around Sedona