This trip reactivated the Spanish in which I was once very fluent, but as most skills and abilities, use it or lose it; fortunately I retain sufficient fluency to get by but find I can read and comprehend it easier than speaking, attributable to the quick pace of most conversations. Good to know it is resilient, returning with practice.
Our week at Voyager RV Resort in Tucson is over and we are in Las Cruces. As usually happens when we fail to plan, we pay the price. So sure that we would leave the Voyager on Monday, we did not book for the week. We did spend a week here getting all the kinks and trinks fixed on the new motor home.
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| Entrance to Voyager RV Resort |
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Our new Discovery motor home with our HHR, tow car
Notice our shade tree, the palm in front! |
The Voyager is an adult resort, no kids running about loose nor splashing in the pools, it caters to snowbirds and all adult rigs. It really is a nice place offering everything one needs, of course at a price. Our spacein the premium shady area, the photo of our Excursion and HHR show the solitary palm tree which evidently is the shade. Is this false advertising? It is funny.
In addition to motor homes, coaches and permanent mobile homes, the resort has built ever so many small cottages that people can purchase for their winter homes. These cottages are smaller than our motor home, and yet serve the purpose for those who choose to spend the winter there and fly or drive to Tucson. I talked with a woman from Manitoba, Canada who bought one as a vacation get away. She said they spend at least a month there every winter and that she prefersit to a condo, feeling it is a bit more private. This photo shows three of the cottages across from our spot.
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| Cottages at Voyager with carports |
I have yet to do the Voyager evaluation online, but although they advised that if we extended our stay they would not prorate the days paid for to the cheaper weekly rate, we took our chances; they did not and we did stay a week not leaving until Thursday and thereby paying $150 more than we would have. Some might find this comical that I worry about spending extra when it could have been prevented; I can see it in faces when I say something is expensive. They look at me with almost a smirk, as if to say, :sure lady you just spent $150,000 and you are concerned about $50 but they don't know about my bag lady phantom, who haunts. (I shared her before we left on this trip to procure the new motor home...) I have learned other of my retired friends share her mystique too.
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| Saguaro is the tall single cactus on right |
We spent a day at the Saguaro desert Museum, driving and walking and looking at the magnificent saguaros that grow only in this Sonoran desert area. It was disappointing that my little Nikon camera battery died then, limiting my photo taking abilitities. There is something about seeing cacti now especially in bloom that fascinates me, likely a result of living in the north where none exist. Our neighbor in Newcastle, Bill McGrath grew many cacti and shared a spiny leaf or arm with us to plant out along our back fence where they thrived until we had an unusual frost. Cacti in bloom as the one above are alluringly beautiful.
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| Jerry along Octillo cactus at Saguaro Museum Lot |
In addition to reactivating my Spanish, Arizona reactivated my allergies. At first I thought I had a cold but after a couple days and a hint from a friend, I realized the runny nose, sneezes, and watery eyes were allergies, the likes of which I have not had in many years. The pollen from the trees, the dust and the breezy winds were not friendly to me. A trip to one of the many Walgreens to purchase Claritin gave a lot of relief. The winds spread the pollen and dust readily and do nothing for hairdos. This did not bother me, I settled for styling my hair in the morning and thereafter just let it blow, fortunately I have that kind of hairdo that takes little fuss and will settle back to where it needs to be. It was a balmy warm wind, a relief from the MN wintry wind chills.
The bartender at La Posta in La Mesilla, New Mexico advised that late March through April are allergy season in the area, when the olive trees and fruitless mulberries stir amidst the air. Bartenders are an amazing source of information.
Another tree that fascinated me in Arizona is the Ironwood, which is also native to the sonoran desert. As the name implies it is a very hardwood tree but thrives in the heat. I took many photos of this tree in various stages of bloom or not, in their intermediate leafing stage they are feathery in appearance. The bark on the younger trees is pale greenish but in maturity it is similar to old darkened iron. I learned that the cold spell that Tucson area experienced over this winter was fatal to some of the older trees, desert natives.
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Ironwood tree not leafed, may not have
survived the winter |
This has been a wonderful trip but one which has offered little time for blogging. I started this post on March 25 and just am finishing it in Texas, more than a week later, and in the third state. I have yet to share wonderful experiences from New Mexico.....well it is all good. Better to be so busily entertained that there is no time to write, I suppose, but the irony is that now I have the set up, the right computer laptop and no time. Ahh well, later the memories will flow.
