Thoughts on a windy, rainy day

Old Glory is standing straight out

As I sit here writing this we are sitting happily in our trailer, which is being buffeted by very high winds and occasional rain. A strong storm from the Pacific has worked its way through Southern California and is now paying a visit to the desert Southwest.

My “easy” hike was cancelled as there was more than a 30 percent chance of rain, which is the break point for “no or no go” on the hikes. Instead I packed up our chairs and table and stored it back under the table as the winds kept blowing the chairs and table over.

One of our neighbors left for Texas today and you can slowly see the park starting to thin out as people find their way home.



All hatches secure

Instead I spent my energy at the fitness center and then spent the day doing relatively nothing. Joan got her hair done. I did walk over and pick up our mail and checked on the arrangements for having visitors.

No worries though as the weather is expected to quickly turn back warm by the first of the week and hit 90 by the end of next week. I did capture a beautiful rainbow out the back window of our trailer.

One of the things we are currently mulling over in our minds is the travel plans for next winter. While we really love this place, and may well return, there are other adventures that are whispering to us as well.

A double rainbow (look to the left of the vivid one)

We really want to take the trailer into California, but the more research we do the more we find how expensive it is to camp there. The parks that have the perks we like (cable TV and wifi) are advertising rates $50 a night and up. That’s almost hotel rates for parking your vehicle and doing all the work.

So we may book for three more months here next year (the cost here is less than $20 a night) although there is about $2 a day for the enhanced cable and wireless Internet that we have to add to the cost. Still much, much less than California.  We can cancel without penalty with 60 days notice so that gives us plenty of time to decide.

A close up of the rainbow

What we may do is come here a little earlier next year, stay three months and then take a quick tour of California and the Northwest on our way back to Michigan next year.

Right now we are planning to store the trailer in Flagstaff because the weather is more moderate in the summer than Tucson and it should be a little easier on the interior and exterior of the trailer. Flagstaff’s climate is similar to Michigan’s summer temps and storage is pretty cheap there. Storage is actually less than hauling the trailer home and then back again.

So while the trailer continues to bounce in the wind, we bid you a good night and a great day tomorrow. We had hamburgers for dinner tonight.