Surprise – we are alive and well. We haven’t blogged in over a year, sorry about that. We have had wonderful adventures in Alaska, Montana, Florida 2017-19. We’ll update you on our adventures in separate blogs, I promise.
We’ll begin with our super summer and fall in West Yellowstone, MT. Y’all know we love Montana, Wyoming but especially Yellowstone. We started our work camping adventure in 2011 working at Homeroom at Madison Crossing in West Yellowstone. It was a great job. Beautiful merchandise, delightful co-workers who have become our treasured friends, Andie, Pam, Leah, Kathy, Diane, Dan and Jonell, Gary, Grant. However, this summer we wanted to do something different.
The summer of 2019 would find us work camping at Yellowstone Holiday Resort and RV Park located 13 miles outside of West Yellowstone on beautiful Hebgen Lake. This was our first time being camp hosts. We wanted to take a rest from straight retail. Our jobs included reservations, greeting guests, renting boats and fishing licenses, a little housekeeping, informing guests what the area had to offer. The resort has 16 cabins, 10 of which had a full bathroom and small kitchen and 6 with just beds and a table.
Our housekeeping duties included cleaning each cabin after the guests departure. We only worked housekeeping a couple of times a week. It was not hard or gross. The guests usually supplied their own linens. We did offer linen packages. The best part of the linen packages was that the linens were sent to a cleaning service so we just had to bag them up.
Our Manager, Vickie Barta, was great to work with. She was in the middle of a 5 year contract with the owners. She had a lot of experience having managed a gazillion (just kidding) Forest Service campgrounds in Montana for many years. In other words, she knew what she was doing.
The three work camping couples, Kathy and Steve Dresch, Rodney and Susan Campbell and Deborah and Len Hair plus two single fellows, Tim (Vickie’s brother) and Jim Haynes, were fun and easy to work with. On non-windy nights and even some windy nights, we sat around our campfire. Many times, we would go to the Happy Hour Bar located about 2 miles up the lake for dinner or just for a drink or go into town for our favorite pizza in the whole wide world at Wild West Pizza. We sure had a lot of laughs this summer. 
Not a lot of hiking.was done. Partially because we only had 2 days off and usually we had rain on those days and the bugs were horrible. However, we did take a few adventures with Rodney and Susan who were off the same days as we were.
The drive up to the top of Sawtell Mountain, in Island Park, Idaho is kind of scary. But at the top there are beautiful views of the area. We also did a hike to Bechler Falls in Yellowstone NP but is located in Idaho. 
The ride to Bozeman is one of our favorites and we made several trips for shopping and dining. Susan and Rodney joined us for a trip over to Jackson and a visit with our friends Dan and Jonell and Al and Karen who were working for Luton’s Resort. We met Dan and Jonell and Al and Karen while working for Amazon.com in Kentucky a few years ago and have remained good friends. When the opportunity arises, we try to get together. While in the Tetons we stopped at Schwabacher Landing for some beautiful pictures of the mountains. A stop at the Grand Teton Distillery in Driggs, ID was a must do for some potato vodka and raspberry moonshine!
Tom and I did take a short overnight trip to White Sulpher Springs MT – not far from Bozeman. It is a tiny town but is known not only for its hot spring
but for dozens of “barn” quilts. A barn quilt is a quilt design painted on a large board and hung on a barn. There are many barn quilts trails throughout the United States and Tom and I have been on many of them. There is a criteria and requirements that must be followed if the barn quilt is to be a part of a quilt trail. In Hot Springs, the quilts are not hung on barns but instead displayed by the street or driveway. Yes, I did take a lot of pictures.
While waiting for the rain to stop we, of course, had to find the local brewery.
2 Basset Brewery in White Sulphur Springs has excellent beer. 
One incredibly crazy thing we did while in Montana, crazier than usual that is, was to drive to Missoula, MT and pick up a 5-month-old adorable, cuddly goldendoodle puppy. We both fell in love with his gorgeous big dark brown eyes. We did not discuss getting a brother with Finnigan and it was quite a shock when he figured out this affectionate, rambunctious, bull-in-the-china closet puppy was staying and was his new brother, (we named him Mr. Duffy). Anyone who knows Finnigan k
nows he is not a cuddly, affectionate dog unless you have treats or a ball. He is kind of cool. Well, that has changed. He now comes up to be petted and sometimes won’t leave your side. He and Duffy get along great. Big brother,
little brother. They love to run and wrestle with each other. They really are a hoot and we are so happy that Duffy is a part of our family.
He is now going on 9 months old and probably weighs in at 60 pounds. We hope he stops growing soon. The Yellowstone Holiday Resort closed the first of October and we said goodbye to our new friends and old friends. Everyone was headed in a different direction. Steve and Kathy to upstate New York to visit family and friends then on to Rolling Ridge Resort in Clermont, Florida. (that’s where we met them and where we usually spend the winter near the kids). Len and Deborah had a work camping job in Georgia. Rodney and Susan went to northern Montana for the sugar beet harvest where they worked for a month then went on to Zwolle, Louisiana, to visit with family. (Rodney and Susan will be joining us in Skagway this summer and we can’t wait to travel with them.)
Now it was our turn to leave. Tom put me on a plane to Orlando where I spent over a week with the kids. Annabelle loaned me her room and she got to sleep on the blow-up mattress in the office. Thank you, Annabelle. I had a wonderful time. Annabelle and I got to bake and we made and decorated Halloween cookies and we made our own Crazy Jim’s Pizza Crust and it turned out delicious. We are really hoping Annabelle will be able to fly out to see us. There are direct flights from Orlando to Phoenix and San Diego.
Just about every Monday when we stay in Florida, I attend my quilt club, Clermont Quilters. I was so pleased I was able to attend a meeting. Annabelle and Alison went with me. The gals are so nice and I just cannot get over how many projects they complete. The “show and tell” at the end of the meeting has a long line of “show and tellers”. They do such beautiful work. I wish they had a Facebook page so you could see all their projects. They inspire me and I miss them so much when we travel.
Well, you are probably wondering what Tom was doing while I was in Orlando. He was traveling to Yuma, Arizona where we are wintering and he had a great time without me.! He spent a couple of days with our friend, Pat McClary, (we worked with Pat in Skagway the summer of 2017) who was working at Wonderland RV Park, in Torrey, UT right outside the gates to Capitol Reef National Park. 
He did a couple of hikes and took some awesome pictures.
Thad, Tom’s son, was supposed to accompany Tom on his travel from Montana to Yuma, AZ, but had a catastrophic roof leak at his shop in Superior the day before he was to leave and was unable unable to join his Dad for the trip. The highlight of the trip for Thad was to have been a stay at Best Friends for Life Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah. They were scheduled to stay two days. The facility has only a couple of campsites and Tom was able to stay in one of them. He couldn’t believe how big the facility is. It is over 3700 acres devoted to animal rescue, health, adoption and more. They have over 1600 animals, not just dogs and cats but rabbits, horses, pigs, birds. There is a memorial wind chime garden for deceased animals, Angels Rest and Angles Overlook. You can order a wind chime and have it placed there in memory of your pet. We plan to stop on our way to Alaska next spring. While in Kanab, he was pretty close to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon so he hopped on over there and had a “grand time”. He’s hoping we can visit it together next spring. He likes it better than the south rim.
We like Sedona, AZ, having stayed there on our way out west. Tom was able to snag a site at Distant Drums RV Park where we stayed on the way to Yellowstone for a couple of days. He was checking out some campgrounds for possible work camping positions in the future. As I said, we really do like the area. The only drawback is it gets a bit colder than we might want.
Tom finally made it to Yuma and got all settled in at Westwind RV and Golf Resort. Dan and Jonell, encouraged us to come as they stayed here last season and thought we would enjoy it. They are one site away from ours. We love it. Not only is there NO humidity to speak of and No Bugs! It is nice to sit outside and enjoy the evening. The park has over 1,000 sites and over 60% of the guests are Canadians. They are super friendly and like to start cocktail hour about noon!
We get a free site because Tom and I do a little work camping 3 days a week. We like our site and I created a “secret garden” to relax and have a quiet place to sun and read.
Tom is in guest services/security and rides around in a golf cart assisting guests to their sites and making sure all is well in our community. I work the same three days in the mailroom, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I work 16 hours a week. Tom works 24 hours. We also get a voucher to spend on site – the restaurant, for entertainment, golf, items in the pro shop, concerts. Dan and Jonell work two 10-hour days in the pro shop and they also get the same voucher. We have another friend, Bob Miller, (also a friend we met at Amazon) who is here. His job is to clean the floor in the ballroom. Yes, we have a ballroom. The ballroom can seat around 375 comfortably. We went to a concert last Saturday of the “Beach Boys”. They are one of many Tribute Bands that will perform here this season. They did a lot of Christmas tunes as well as Beach Boy favorites. We have tickets to see the Bee Gees, John Denver, Linda Ronstadt and I think one or two others.
There are lots of activities, golf being one of them. We are not golfers but who knows? There is a fitness center that is open to all residents and Tom has been going almost every day. I go to Yoga at least 2 times a week but try to go 3 times.
If you like to sew, there is a building where you can bring your machine or hand work and work on projects two days a week. They even supply an iron and ironing board. I have not gone yet because I really don’t have any projects going at this time.
Monday nights there is a potluck dinner. We also have block parties. There are shuffleboard (leagues) paddle ball leagues if you are into lots of competition. There is a volleyball court but I haven’t seen anyone play yet. They have a really nice woodworking area and a lapidary room. They have art classes and I did attend a pour and paint class. My picture turned out pretty good. Not sure what I will do with it, however.
There is a ceramics club and I have been going (not the real kind where you create something out of clay). It’s fun and the ladies are very pleasant. So far, I made a pretty chip and dip bowl. I am now working on a piece of yard art (you all know how much I love yard art) and a plate.
Westwind has a dance every Friday night with live bands. We’ve gone a couple of times. Tom’s doesn’t dance very much but I like to go. Our neighbors, Don and Kathy, from Canada, love to dance so I will sit with them in the future if Tom doesn’t want to go. Don and Kathy are crazy. Kathy has invited me to play cards or Mexican Train dominoes and we laugh our heads off. One of my yoga instructors plays cards and I have been invited to pay with them. It is a crazy time .
Y’all will love this, on the night of the full moon every month, there is a “Howling at the Moon” party in the desert. Hundreds of people set up to tailgate. There is live music and a bunch of crazy people dancing and howling at the full moon as it rises. Of course, we went with a group and we howled along with the rest of the crazies. My video will not upload so you will have to take my word that it was a “howl”.
Down the street from us is the Marine Corps Air Station, Yuma. Lots of interesting planes and helicopters fly overhead. We are also close to the Army Proving Ground. We drove out to the proving ground and did a hike in the painted desert. The Painted Desert located in the Imperial National Wildlife Refuge is locate adjacent to Proving Ground. It is a short but interesting trail. All the time we were out there we heard guns and bombs in the distance. I kept telling Tom to “duck”. From there we drove up to Quartzite. We had lunch at Silly Al’s Pizza and had a super delicious pizza. We plan on coming to Quartzite in January or February for the HUGE swap meet.
We are very close to the Mexican border. The town is Los Algodones. You can get any non narcotic prescription drug on the market without a prescription at probably 75% off the price in the US. You can even get your teeth fixed. With over 350 dental offices you can have them pulled get implants, fillings or even cleanings by the dentist for $25. If you need glasses, Los Algodones is the place to go. I got two pairs of progressive lens glasses for $250 with an exam. I actually had a prescription but, heck, the exam in Mexico was free, so I had another exam. Good thing was he came up with the same prescription as what the doctor in Yuma came up with. Whew! The same lenses and frames in the US for 2 pairs of glasses was $750.
Two weeks ago, our good friends, Lou and Mike Shelley, surprised us with a visit on their way to see their kids in Northern
California. 
We were so thrilled to see them. Their son, Aaron, works for Apple and they make several trips a year to visit him and the grandkids. Shana, Aaron’s wife is a schoolteacher. On their way to California, Lou and Mike texted us and said they hand visited Borggeo Springs and we might want to check it out.
Last week we drove to Borggeo, Springs CA – a couple hours away, to see the desert sculptures. There are sooo many sculptures and we got a lot of pictures. Well worth the trip.
I don’t know if any of you will remember my Christmas Cookie Decorating Parties. Well, I made dozens of Christmas Sugar and Gingerbread cookies and invited a bunch of ladies here in the park to come over and decorate.
Yes, we had wine. We even had an” ugly” decorated cookie contest. It was a great time and we got to meet new people.
Tom, Finnigan, Duffy and I wish everyone a
rvinglife2gether 
Great post! We’ve been sampling beers on our trips to Mesa, so we can pick out the perfect one for the growler!
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Getting nostalgic as I am reading about your adventures in Jim’s & my favorite spot (the desert southwest, alas too far away for us). I remember well Yuma, Los Algodones & our dry camping in the Quartzsite desert. We also ‘set up’ our goods for sale at the giant flea market. (its a bit smaller these days, but still fun). Enjoy your time there (sounds like you are) you will remember it with fond memories forever. Have a very Merry Christmas & happy New Year.
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