Four Year Anniversary and Other News!
As of Sunday, June 27th it has been four years since I sold my house in Colorado and began my RVing adventure. I have loved visiting so many of the beautiful public lands around the west, especially during the first couple years before the pandemic.
With the beginning of COVID in early 2020, my travels came to a halt as was the case for most people. Thankfully, I have been in a good place in Southeast Arizona where life mostly went on as normal. Although I had every intention of keeping up my blog posts, being mostly stationary, I could not seem to break through the writer’s block.
After a long absence, I’ll bring you up to date since my last post. I continued as a volunteer host at the Cave Creek Canyon Visitor Information Center (VIC) near Portal, AZ through mid-October. At that time I left Portal and traveled to other parts of Arizona.
It was extremely hot and dry last summer and fall. In October and November, it was still too hot to camp without AC, so I mostly stayed in RV parks through December.
In January, I went west to Yuma and camped at Mittry Lake for a few days. From there I traveled about 70 miles north to KOFA National Wildlife Refuge for an annual meetup with friends from the RV Forum. This is the 4th year of our gathering. This year was different with social distancing and all. Plus the entire winter was extremely windy and it was quite cold there compared to previous years. It was not conducive to sitting outdoors, which made socializing difficult.
After being there ten days, I left for American Girl Mine Rd just across the state line into California. This is a convenient place to stay in order to go to Los Algodones, MX for my annual dental appointment.
From there I returned to the Tucson area, camping near Green Valley and also at the Pima County Fairgrounds on the east side of Tucson.
My interest in birding has continued and much of my leisure time revolves around visiting good birding locations, many of which are in southeast Arizona. While in Portal last year, I became friends with a local resident and expert birder. We had been acquaintances since I first volunteered here, as Alan also volunteers at the VIC. Over the summer, we started birding together and became friends. As we spent more time together we became closer and I realized what a special person Alan is. We fell in love with each other and decided to marry. On June 9th, we were married in a private ceremony in the Sonoran Desert west of Tucson. I never dreamed that I would meet such a wonderful person who is my soulmate! The last several months together have been wonderful!
In April, we met Alan’s son and daughter, who are also birders, in Gunnison, Colorado to view the Gunnison Sage Grouse, which is only found in a few locations and is an endangered species. From there we went to Kansas to visit a lek with Lesser and Greater Prairie Chickens.
Last fall, I had committed to hosting at the VIC for the months of May and June which brought us back to the Portal area. We will be here at least through mid-July. We don’t have definite plans beyond that yet. We do plan to continue to travel by RV and have many places we want to visit. We look forward to sharing our travels with you.
Deb's RV Travels 
Love the pictures of the owls. Take care and safe travels.
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Thanks Brian! Hope you have a great summer.
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Debra, Thanks so much for the blog that has your photographic touch. The pictures are great – and didn’t appear easy to me to get such great photos – shutter speed, etc. I really liked the pictures of the owls and the grouse.
Congratulations again on your marriage and finding your soulmate. I wish the two of you many happy travels.
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John, glad you enjoyed the photos, thanks for the compliment and also for the well wishes.
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Wow, I guess I have to get out more often. Congratulations on your happy union, Alan is a great person as well as a great birder. I know Alan was a veghead before, have you helped him eat more veggies. My best June birds, nesting vermilion flycatchers all three orioles nesting in the yard, Scrub Jay seems to be a regulatr, and my nesting Lucifer hummingbirds. Say HI to Alan for me. David, Portal
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Hi David, thanks for the great comment. Alan read it and chuckled. He has done very well with the veg diet. He eats whatever I prepare and tells people that he loves everything I make. And of course, I agree with you 100% that he is a great person and great birder.
Wow, I love all the nesting birds you have there! Very cool!
Debra
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Congratulations!!! I have followed along for a while now, but somewhat lost interest in my dream of full-timing due to health issues. I believe I have resolved that enough to pursue and am near retiring, but fear the glory days of full-time RVing is over. I hear stories of unappreciative RVers, closed boondocking sights, and otherwise difficult reservation processes. It gives me hope that you’ve managed and found your soul mate in the process. Again, congratulations and best wishes!
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Hi Cindy! Thanks so much for the congrats! And thanks for sharing your thoughts on the current conditions for full-time RVing. I’m glad your health issues have resolved enough that you may consider giving it a try. If you go I wish you great success in your travels. Ang I would love to hear how it goes.
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Congratulations Deb!
What wonderful news! I am so happy for you!
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Hi Carin, thanks so much! Hope all is going well for you.
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Oh my goodness, Debra. Not only marvelous bird photos but marvelous news about you and Alan. Makes me smile. It’s so good to hear about love. Congratulations to you both. Love the photo of you two as well.
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Merry Christmas. Hope you have a great 2023.
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Brian, thank you so much for your greetings and well wishes! Merry Christmas to you and your family and a Happy New Year!
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