Tucson Snowbird 2017
SNOWpocalypse….

We settled down for the holidays after our quick return from the desert in late October (see previous story “Another Big Rockies Clockwise Loop”). It was a brilliant move to leave the Moonbeam in Arizona while we journeyed north for an 8-week holiday break at home in Idaho. The winter came in normal, from what we understood as ‘Idaho normal’. Then December arrived. We thought we may have been living at 6000 feet in the Colorado Rockies. The snow piled high and the Boise locals started referring to the winter as the “Snowpocalypse”.

We shoveled plenty of snow and were patting ourselves on the back for our brilliance in not having to find our trailer in the snow and looking for some dry pavement to escape south. It would not have happened. As it was, we found a break in a series of early January storms and tried to time our departure to make the AZ basketball season opener on 5 January. On our first attempt to depart town, we got only 5 minutes down the freeway towards Mountain Home and saw enough buffoonery and semis and cars, trucks, and boobs in the snowbanks off the freeway that we decided we could try this again tomorrow. So, we retreated, had a drink and another night at home and ventured out again the next day and were treated to dry roads and a quick trip down to our overnight stay in North Las Vegas. A crazy ingress to the Holiday Inn Express with 3 dogs and 3 birds. Hit the road early on Saturday, trying to make the evening Pac12 game in Tucson. We made it. But, it was ugly. Since our Moonbeam was parked against the rectory garage, there was some work to do to get it moved into position for the winter snowbird operation. And, since the Moonbeam had allegedly been down to Mexico and up to Michigan while we had left it there (pulled by a Hyundai piloted by Father Paul Coury), there was some concern about the systems. Well, we got it moved, but dented the rear garage fender/bumper while we were all watching the garage instead of the tree on the other side of the garage. We also managed to get the Moonbeam in place and then not properly chalk it. Of course it slipped off the hitch requiring some ingenious maneuvering of blocks of wood and Lego blocks to get it back on the hitch so we could avoid complete embarrassment. Father Paul observed the entire operation and I think decided this was too much work, this RV thang. Our marriage survived, primarily because we had to be nice in front of our priest-friend.


The winter stay was exceptional — again. The priests treated us like family and we were often dinner guests; sometimes 3–4 times a week. Even if not dinner, we made the evening cocktail hour for the 5:30pm NBC News with Lester Holt. As far as trailer systems go, we had made some improvements as we winterized before we left the Moonbeam in the priest’s care over the holidays. We purchased a battery tender that kept the batteries topped off while we were up north (we were connected to 110V power while in ‘storage). I had also cut down our old Temper-Pedic memory foam mattress and carved it into twin beds customized for the shape of the Airstream outer walls. We had also scrapped the winter project from the previous year. I had customized a table that wasn’t sturdy nor mobile enough for our use, so we punted and went without a table and used our recliner side trays and TV trays when necessary. We had also added another set of awnings over the previous springtime that really were helpful in the Tucson sun.






The move home in early March included a trip to Borrego. Mom and Dad were enjoying their last days in their desert secret spot and Mary and Tim were there for the same weekend as us. We got a nice spot in the American Legion RV park but it was sure windy that weekend. The first pictures are of our American Legion RV spot — a great and inexpensive full hookup option in Borrego. Mom and Dad decided to follow us home when we departed. We headed north up 395 and stayed the evening in Hawthorne, Nevada and made it home the next day. Two long days from Borrego was not too bad. Total trip home for Moonbeam was another 1350 miles. With the Snowbird Ops for another 60 nights, we’ve now accumulated 15,616 miles and 186 nights. Ready for the next adventure!



Father Tom Santa visited for about a week during our stay and we got a chance to confirm our upcoming European vacation travel plans. Kelly’s bike traveled with us and she spent some time going to/from her office on her bike. The picture above shows Scud in a very relaxed pose outside the rectory garage — probably waiting for her favorite priest to return home from services at the Catalina parish.

The route home through Borrego and then up to Hawthorne, Nevada. A long two-day drive from Borrego, but all went well and Mom and Dad made good time with us pulling slow (60ish). They stayed at a motel in Hawthorne and we stayed at Whiskey Flat RV Park (photos below of the American Legion Borrego and Whiskey Flat Hawthorne).





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