Boise, ID to Sumpter, OR
(Quite long, 7 minute read) Wow, 100 days since we landed in Boise. Hard to believe. Thanks Uncle Jerry for letting us park in your driveway! We haven’t done as much as we hoped to do because of the pandemic, but we got to spend some great time with family and friends. We weren’t planning on spending so much time in Boise, as we were expecting to go up to Northern Idaho to see my brother and up to the Lowman area to visit with our good friend, Dean. My brother is an essential worker and asked us not to come this year as he did not want to possibly expose us to the virus or visa versa and Dean was able to come to Boise, so we were able to see him here. Would have loved to go up there, but we decided not to because of all of the fires in the area. Some days the smoke was so bad in the valley that we couldn’t see the mountains.
I got to spend time with my BFF Tammy, and she taught me how to make potholders. I taught her how to use the knitting loom and how to make a mask holder, so that it doesn’t pull on your ears. I made one for her and each of her 2 daughters. They liked it so much that she ended up having to make 7 more. Well, only 6 because I gave her the one that I made when I was learning her how to do it. We also spent one day yard selling, and I got a brand new pair of tennis shoes for only 5 bucks! She felt bad that I only got one thing, but I assured her that new shoes for 5 bucks was just enough!
We also went to Parma and Fruitland with my mom. Tammy had never been to The Honey Store, so we had a road trip. Got some great local honey and also found a farmers vegetable stand and got a ton of fresh veggies.
Spent at least one day each week with my mom. We went to the Star Bi-Mart a few times and won some cool prizes. Mom won a shop vac and I won a pair of Game Cameras. Both of these were valued at around $100. I also gave mom a haircut and a perm. Believe me, if I had known that I’d be giving her a perm, I would never have cut her hair so short. Oh well, we had a great day laughing at all of my challenges. Mom did some canning and let me help her a little bit, it’s been a long time since I’ve canned stuff. Good thing mom knew what she was doing.
Visited with my friend Tina a couple of times. We had lunch in the park one day and I stole tomato plants from her when we got home. I ended getting about 6 plants. Not sure what types they are, but two of them have a dark fruit, almost black. They are really interesting and I can’t wait until they are big enough to eat them. I have 4 pots with tomatoes in them, so I’ve named them (because my original one from last year was already named Mater, and I didn’t want the others to feel bad.) The biggest one is named Tom, it’s loaded with blooms, but no fruit so far. It’s grown at least 6 inches since I transplanted it. The other two planters are May and Toe. (Can you see where I am going with this?) It’s Tina’s fault really, because she suggested Tom. They are going to be really happy in Arizona. Lee bought me a greenhouse at the neighbors yardsale, so they will have a nice warm home until it gets too cold be be out at night.
Had 2 yardsales at Jerry’s house and got rid of a ton of stuff. Mom came by and was the cashier. Believe me, I could not have done it without her. I had so much fun. Took me back to my thrift store days. Had one guy come by the first one 3 days in a row and he showed up to the second one as well. Paid all in $2 bills. Lots of them.
Went to the thrift stores here in the area. I can’t tell you how much nicer the stores are in the Treasure Valley than they are in Mesquiet. Bought far too much craft stuff, but it will hold me through the Winter.
Found a painted rock from the local rock group Boise “Rocks”!, so I joined the group and posted a photo of the rock. This of course just made me want to paint rocks again, so I went to Home Depot and bought a bag. Jerry gives me a hard time because I bought rocks, but I told him there weren’t any around, not like out in the desert. I painted some and hid them, but never heard whether they were found or not, so the next group of them were hid and I took a photo of them and posted where I left them. Got feedback on all of the photos, but only one was found and she said she was going to rehide it. I also painted a Tic-Tac-Toe set with Ladybugs and Flowers. This one was found and I was actually asked it I could make one to sell. Kind of flattering.
Spent an entire day loading up the truck with treasures found here in Boise. I am looking forward to unloading it in Beaver Dam as I have a new glider loveseat that will get used almost daily. I was able to get some outdoor fabric from the craft store on clearance and I’ll be making new cushions for it with my new sewing machine that I got at the thrift store. I got enough fabric that I can make all of my outdoor furniture match.
We weren’t able to go to the Nascar race inVegas in September, but even though we were disappointed, we at least got to see the March race. Thousands of people never even got to see one this year because of the cancellations due to the pandemic. After the race was cancelled we decided to stay in Boise a little longer because it was still over 100 degrees in Beaver Dam.
Lee took the truck in to have it checked over and get a tune up because it had no power. The mechanic tried to get information from the computer and found that something had shorted it out. Turns out that it was a part from a phone charger that fell off in the cigarette lighter and shorted it out. He had to reset the computer to factory settings. What a difference that made. It actually has enough power to get on the freeway without punching it. It’s like a whole new truck. We even got almost a mile and a half a gallon better mileage. Sweet! Definitely recommend Bench Auto in Boise if you need some work done.
We left Boise and headed for Cousin Steve and Denise’s house in Sumpter, Oregon. It’s beautiful here. Pine trees as far as the eye can see, and I am assured that we will see some Deer and possibly Elk. Lee told Steve that he feels like he is at the Ponderosa and is expecting to see Little Joe at any time.
Gave them a camera with great zoom, so be expecting to see some great photos. Steve is going to help me begin learning the guitar, so look out Beaver Dam neighbors, it`ll be music night, every night.
Well, I’ve rambled on enough, so until next time, stay healthy and happy!

Burley, ID to Boise, ID
We had an awesome time in Burley. Keith and Marsha took us to one of their favorite camping spots, Lake Cleveland, which is on the same mountain as the Pomerell Ski Resort. It’s a pretty little Lake that has some great camping spots. They also took us by the Elk Farm just outside of Declo. I’ve never seen so many Elk in one place.
Another day we went to Minidoka Dam and saw the flags hanging from the dam. It was an awesome sight. We also visited the Lake Walcott State Park. It’s a nice park with a tent camping section and a campground for RV’S. On the way there we saw a doe running in the fields and on the way back we saw one standing in the middle of the road. She walked up the hill, then was kind enough to pose for some photos.
Then we headed for Rupert to check out the food trucks on the square. But had a slight detour when we saw a small shitzu running down the middle of the highway. We stopped and he jumped right in the car when Marsha opened the door. He snuggled right up to me after I gave him some water to drink. Luckily he had a tag with his name and address on it so we were able to take him home. His humans were not home, so we left him with a neighbor. I made a couple of phone calls to the number listed to let them know that we found him and again to let them know where we left him. Kind of sad that they never even called back to thank us.
The 4th of July festivities started a day early in Burley and poor little Dinky Dawg was trembling so bad I was afraid that he would have a stroke or something. I gave him some of his homeopathic calming drops which helped a lot, but I hated having to drug him. We were really dreading the 4th, but I saw a post on Facebook that showed how to wrap a scarf around him to calm him. It worked so good that I never even had to give him any drops. We were able to stay outside for the entire night. And oh what a night! Fireworks for almost 3 full hours. Marsha and Keith live next to a field so we were able to watch the entire Valley. We were even able to see the city of Burley’s fireworks show from their front yard. It was the best 4th of July that I’ve experienced in years. I was so glad that Dinky Dawg wasn’t stressed and that we were with such great friends.
It was sad to leave, but it was time to head to Boise because after all it’s been 336 days since we left!

Jackpot, NV to Burley, ID
Had a great time in Jackpot. Did a little gambling, ate at the restaurant a couple of times, but mostly just stayed in camp and enjoyed everyone that came down. Marsha and Keith came from Burley and spent a few days. Lee and Keith went for a ride on the RZR and got some great pictures of Jackpot from on top of the mountain. Marsha and I spent most of our time just catching up after not seeing each other for the past year.
Jerry came from Boise and also spent a few days. We met some people from all over the country and visited with them while practicing social distancing.
One of the neighbors was going to get rid of a small gas BBQ and just gave it to us. It was pretty dirty, but after some massive cleaning we were able to use it. Nothing tastes better than food cooked on a bbq. One of the best parts of the trip was getting all 8 days in the RV Park comped. Sweet. Gotta love Cactus Pete’s. You get 3 nights in the RV park for every night they comp you in the hotel.

Ely, NV to Jackpot, NV We had a pretty good week in Ely. We didn’t have the best of weather, lots of wind, but one day was nice enough that we actually got to play tourist. We visited the Ward Charcoal Oven State Park and the Cave Lake State Park. We got 2 more passport stamps, which brings us up to close to 10. Only 5 more and we will get a free annual Nevada State Parks pass.
We’ve been in Ely several times and I just discovered the Ace hardware store the day before we left. I was wondering where everyone shopped for necessities. 2 Family Dollar stores, a thrift store and a Ridley’s grocery store were the only places that we were aware of.
As mentioned before, we try to travel on Tuesday’s. Normally this is a good day. Not a lot of traffic so we don’t have as much stress. But today was different. We had a semi pass us on a two lane highway. Wasn’t in much of a hurry, just kind of moseying along. I pointed out to Lee that there was a car coming towards us, so he had to almost come to a stop to let the semi get in front of us. Seriously! Your job is to get back in your own lane as quick as possible, not scare the crap out of the guy you are passing.
Had some rain and lightning just before we got to Jackpot. Glad that it passed over us before we got parked. Didn’t need any more adventures in Jackpot. Having a blowout a year ago and sinking to the tops of our trailer tires in a sink hole in September was enough adventures to last a lifetime. We were beginning to think that we should just bypass Jackpot all together.

Duck Creek Village, Utah to Cathedral Gorge State Park, Panaca, Nevada
We spent 3 wonderful relaxing days in Duck Creek.  We can never thank Carol and Carl for letting us stay in their little piece of heaven.  The altitude was over 9900 feet, but the days were warm enough for shorts.  I don’t think that I have ever been up that high for any extended period of time before. 
Learned that things like lotion and mayo seem to explode at that altitude if you don’t remember to get it away from the lid before opening it.  Had a funny accident with a bottle of mayochup.  It squirted all over and just wouldn’t stop.  Soo funny now, but oh boy, what a mess!
We saw some awesome scenery, saw some deer, chipmunks, tons of different species of birds and even saw a horned toad.
Thomas from the old homestead in Beaver Dam, AZ came up and visited with us on Monday.  He left Beaver Dam for cooler temps in Cedar City, UT a month before us, so it was nice to see him again.
We were lucky to find a spot here since the Nevada State Parks just opened up for camping yesterday and are only allowed to have 50% capacity.  It’s funny, we stayed in this park last year, in May and we are in the exact same spot this year.  It’s so beautiful here.  I would recommend that you Google it to see all of the beauty the park has to offer.

Beaver Dam, AZ to Duck Creek, UT. Well, it’s finally time to start heading back home to Idaho. It’s been a little over 9 months since we left. Hard to believe. We would have started back a lot sooner, but the Corona Virus shut down all the campgrounds, so we felt we were better off staying put. That is until the average high temperature for this past week was around 106 degrees. Hot, hot, hot and just darn HOT! And on top of all that, we decided to bring the new toy hauler trailer with us so we could bring the UTV.
Now for most of you taking out the trailer isn’t that big of deal. Throw in a few clothes, stock up on food, load the family up and take off. Not so for full time RVers. We aren’t planning on returning until September which is over 3 months away, which means that we need to bring our important stuff with us. High temps mean that you can’t leave anything in the trailer that will melt, blow up or just be ruined in excessive heat.
Went through just about everything in the big RV and got rid of a ton of stuff. Put stuff next to the dumpster (where everyone knows it’s ‘free stuff’) for an entire week. This is what you do when there are no thrift stores open anywhere near you. Neighbors got a ton of great stuff. Spent a week loading up necessities into the small trailer (did I mention that it was 106 degrees).
Finally moving day. Had to load the Side by Side RZR UTV in the trailer and put the bikes in next to it. Tight fit, but we made it work. Still had stuff in laundry baskets because temps over 100 degrees seem to just sap your strength. The poor little trailer was just packed to the gills. Flashbacks of leaving Idaho in the big trailer kept haunting me. Only took a couple of hours to get most of it put away once we got here.
Had a slight hiccup and almost ran the truck off of the road, a little over correcting and wallah, you need to stop and take a breather. Luckily, no major issues unless you count a cupboard coming open and dishes and pantry items flying out and breaking everywhere. We had breadcrumbs Everywhere. Worse part was that it got in the basket that had my printer and Dish Wally in it. Thank goodness that I had a can of canned air to blow it all out. Also got a hole in the wall from the bicycle pedal when the UTV slid sideways. Good thing I know how to patch drywall, as I’ll be using that skill to repair the hole.
We really enjoyed our stay in Arizona and will look forward to returning in the fall. Met some great friends and had some new adventures.
The first leg of our journey brings us to Duck Creek, Utah. Beautiful little Village in the mountains outside of Cedar City, UT. Our friends Carl and Carol invited us up to stay on their property for a few days. It’s beautiful here. And so cool. High temp today was about 77 degrees. Going to get down into the 40’s, so Mater, the tomato plant is coming back inside at night.
We took a ride in the RZR and saw some beautiful scenery. We even saw a deer standing alongside the trail. It was awesome. We are going on another another ride tomorrow. It’s a lot different riding in the Mountains as opposed to riding in the desert, but just as dusty. Dinky shook the dust off of himself and there was a cloud of dust coming off him. But he loved it!

Beaver Dam, Arizona. Wow 163 days since my last post. Hard to believe that we have stayed in one place this long. Predicted temperatures for the coming week are for the upper 90’s. Hot, hot, hot. Normally we would be in the planning stages for heading back to Idaho for July and August, but, as you know, the country is shutdown. We had hoped to stay in the Nevada State Parks that are located along US 95 for the next couple of months, but they are closed for camping at this time.
We are in a safe place here in the Arizona Strip and can stay here indefinitely, so we don’t have that worry. The rent is reasonable and the neighbors are great, but most of them are leaving to head north on the 30th of this month. A lot of them have already left and once this next wave leaves we will be only 1 of about 10 people left in our part of the park. But on a positive note, no waiting for the laundry and I will be able to hang the clothes on the line again, without having to worry that someone else wants to.
I have spent the last month sorting through all of the stuff that we have in our storage bays. It’s funny to look back on all the stuff that I thought we would need that we have never used. Still keeping the winter clothes because, hey, you never know where life will take you.
I have my little garden, so I get to dig in the dirt every now and then. Kept my tomato plant and 2 of my petunia plants alive since July and my Cactus plants alive for over a year! I have a pretty little garden spot that will have “rock flowers” in it when I take the live plants with us when we leave. Hopefully the next tenants will enjoy it.
We have made some awesome friends here and are looking forward to seeing them again next year. We like this little part of Arizona, but I definitely want to spend more time seeing the state next winter. It’s been nice staying put, but I sure miss the excitement of a new place. Dinky Dawg would be really bored with our walks, but luckily there is a lizard under almost every bush.
We have our RZR 800 and have taken a few trips to see the local off road sites. There is a place called Thelma & Louise where people have left their brassieres and other garments on the fence. You really have to see it to believe it. We also went to 3 Corners, where Arizona, Nevada and Utah meet. I had been in 2 states at once, but never 3. Pretty cool. Lee and Jerry took an all day ride to a place called Little Finland. The pictures were awesome, but I don’t think I would want to go because it was too long of a day. Dinky Dawg absolutely loves the side by side because he gets to be off leash for a while (mom can’t pull him away from those lizards as easy).
Miss Bristol loves it here and roams the park once the sun goes down. She gets really mad when we make her come in at bedtime. I think she might have a boyfriend. Dinky Dawg was having play dates with the other pups in the parks, but hasn’t got to have any since the lockdown, but they do get to have a little sniff during our daily walks.
Stay tuned for our next adventure….

Well, we made it. 365 days ago we left snowy Boise headed off to our new life in our Travel Trailer. We have learned a lot in the past year and overall had a great adventure. When Lee first suggested this lifestyle I was hesitant because I couldn’t imagine not going to work 5 days a week. My mom and dad built a strong work ethic into me and the thought of a life of total leisure was so foreign to me I pushed back for several months before I finally took the plunge. Am I happy with my decision? Yes. Definitely.

We traveled a ton of miles and tried to spend every holiday in a different city. We spent 13 major holidays in 13 cities throughout Idaho, Arizona and Nevada. We traveled in the states of Idaho, Oregon, Washington, California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah. Luckily, we were not abducted by any of the Aliens that invaded Area 51. Thank goodness that we got out of there 2 weeks before they landed! But seriously. I’ve got to say that staying in the State Parks was my favorite part of the Journey. After staying in the areas where our families live.

We got to spend some time with Miss Peggy Sue and Caz in Apache Junction, AZ. We had some great times with them and got to know them a lot better. I am so glad that she is Lee’s sister, because that makes her my sister, too! It was hard to leave them, but we had to head off to our next adventure.We spent a couple of weeks in Burley boondocking at Marsha and Keith’s house, which was really nice after being away from friends and family for so long. I love spending time just sitting and talking with Marsha. Dinky Dawg got over his fear of Max and the two of them were unstoppable!

We made a new friend in Jackpot, Theresa, that lives in Mesquite. She spent an afternoon helping us find this trailer park when we met up with her again in October. We also made a new friend in Michelle, when we lived next to her for 6 weeks in Emmett. Hard not to become friends when you see each other so much in a small trailer park!

I got to meet a bunch of Lee’s cousins, Matt, Mary, Mike and Cindy. Tina, Tammy, Bill and Steve all came by to visit us at our trailer. Saw a bunch of people we knew when we went to the LDG. It was really great to see and meet everyone.

We went all the way to northern Idaho and spent a couple of weeks with my brother, Bruce. Tried hard to convince him to pack it all up and come with us. He turns 62 on the 23rd, so he’s kind of thinking about it.

We spent 2 different weeks at the race track in Las Vegas and got to catch up with all of our Nascar friends. We even had a chance to catch up with Rebecca and Ken that we met in Mesa, while we were in Vegas.

But one of the best stops was being close to my mom for most of the summer. It was great resuming our Tuesday Bi-Mart dates. We even boondocked in front of Jerry’s house for a week.

Luckily we didn’t encounter too many problems along the way. A flat tire on the trailer heading into Jackpot in June and we sank into a sink hole in Jackpot heading back out in September. My Mom recommended that we stay away from Jackpot, as it doesn’t seem to like us anymore! Good advice, Mom.

We have landed in Beaver Dam, Arizona, which is about 8 miles from the Nevada border and 8 miles from the Utah border. It’s a quiet little town, but the RV park we are in is a busy little place. Coffee on Tuesday, Crafts on Thursday and Sunday and the girls go to the gym on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Had my first taste of it this morning, and as you can tell I have survived (well at least my fingers are not too sore from the workout). I think we are really going to like it here. Tiny town, but close enough to the city that we can get just about anything we need.

My advice to any of you that are thinking of doing something like this is to Go For It! Do it before you get too old to enjoy it. People ask us how we can be retired at such a young age and our response is that we are not retired, we just aren’t working right now. We know that we can’t go forever with this type of life, but we are enjoying it as much as we can until we are forced to rejoin the working world. I can’t believe how the past year has changed us. Little things used to just set me off, but now I am much more tolerant of them. Lee and I learned early on that the most important thing is to remember that it’s “not personal” (when we snap at each other). It is just us blowing off steam. This has allowed us to quickly see past the situation and not let it fester. Believe it or not, we get along better now that we ever did when we lived in the big house. Exploring, learning and living has allowed us to just push aside petty differences. We have actually become better friends.

Overton,  NV to Beaver Dam, AZ
Not a lot of exploring in the past month, because we were focusing on finding a more permanent place to spend the winter.  We made an offer on some property in Overton, but we were not able to agree on a price, so we decided to keep looking. 
Couldn’t find anything else in that area, so we decided to look closer to Mesquite.  We lucked out and found a long term RV spot in Beaver Dam, Arizona.  Already loving it as there was a yardsale at one spot (got a patio table umbrella for 2 bucks, sweet) and free clothes at another spot.  Gotta love your first day in a new neighborhood that has 2 of your favorite things on move in day.
We went for a bike ride and met some of the neighbors, just wondering how I am going to remember all of their names!
We did do a little sightseeing before we left Overton.  We went to see St. Thomas that was buried under the water at Lake Mead when it was filled after the building of the Hoover Dam.  Sadly, water levels are so low that the town is now dried out.  It was cool to go see the ruins and to see a little bit of history.  We had a nice hike, although it was pretty hot.  Dinky Dawg just got plum wore out.  First time ever.
We ran into Mesquite and had lunch with Theresa, a friend that we met in Jackpot, NV back in June.  She was the reason that we found such a great place to stay here in Beaver Dam.
Our new home is awesome.  Friendly neighbors, a deep spot so Dinky Dawg can run around, trees (yes, 2 of them), hummingbirds and beautiful scenery.  Can’t wait to check out the area and see more of its beauty.

Las Vegas to Overton, NV
Wow, what a busy 11 days this has been.  We arrived in Vegas on Sunday of last week and stayed 3 nights at the Hitching Post RV park, since we couldn’t get into the track because of the heat until Wednesday.  Met up with some friends we met in Mesa in December and got caught up on all the news.  Did some shopping at the Sketcher’s store.  Buy 1 get 1 half off.  What a great deal.  Dropped Lee off at the barber shop and I went thrift store shopping (shocking, I know).  Cost Lee $30 for a haircut and beard trim?!?  Seriously?!?.  I got a shampoo, hair cut and style for $16.  Guess you need more schoolin for beard trimming.  🙂
Finally time to go to the track, hooray!  Checked in and we were only the 3rd RV there.  It is neat to watch all of the rigs pulling in.  Our friends from Vegas and Utah made it, but the ones from California couldn’t.  Had a great time catching up.  Watched 3 races, then sadly it was time to go home.  Gonna miss everyone, but we will see them again in February.
Had a grasshopper infestation, then some other smaller Beatles moved in.  Had a tough time keeping them off of my plants.  Watered everything really good on Wednesday, sat down to read my book, and when I looked up there was a snake in my tomato planter.  Stayed there long enough for me to take a picture of it then went on it’s merry little way.  Guess he just stopped by for a cool drink of water.
Spent Saturday morning at the Flea Market.  It was fun, but HOT.  Might have over done it a little since we still had the race to go watch that afternoon.   Drank about a gallon of water, which of course made us sweat more.  Thank goodness we bought the big generator that would run our air conditioner.  Bristol and Dinky Dawg survived the heat, but really appreciated that we left the generator running while we were at the races.
Moved back to the Hitching Post for a couple of days so we could get caught up on the laundry before our next adventure.  Weatherman said temps are still going to be in the 90’s for awhile, so we decided to stay in an RV park in Overton, NV (about $250 less than Vegas for the month). So if you are looking for us we are at the Fun in the Sun RV Park, until the middle of October.  So happy to not have to think about moving day until then, but of course, it just means that we bring out more stuff that has to be packed away when moving day does finally roll around.