Gratitude

"you can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending" - unknown

Bear Lake, UT

What a long strange trip it's been.... 30 days, 2,600 miles, 13 different stops, 7 states, 2 people, 1 dog and a bus. What an epic journey my wife and I (and the princess puppy) have been on so far. We have been so blessed with this opportunity to enjoy the spoils and beauty of this incredible country and we are doing all we can to embrace each opportunity along the way. The odyssey to this point has been beyond anything we had hoped for, full of natural wonders, challenging moments and new adventures. We have felt ourselves growing during our travels and we do our best to wake each morning with grateful hearts, open minds, and limited expectations. We have not yet missed our old life, other than the friends and family we left behind, and we have quickly found happiness in our new home, new community and with new friends. I came across this quote the other day and thought it spoke well to our current condition and how we made our way here. "if you want to fly, give up everything that weighs you down" - Buddha. It rings so true and aptly frames the path that has brought us here to Mesa, AZ.

We had left Bear Lake, UT on September 9th after three rather chilly days along its crystal blue shores. The days were bright and sunny, but the temperatures never climbed above 45 degrees. The lake itself is massive, stretching more than 18 miles north to south, over 5

miles across at its widest point, and its deepest, darkest depths reaching down more than 200 feet. The waters of Bear Lake are a mesmerising turquois-blue, a result of huge limestone deposits suspended in the water, which create the most enchanting and picturesque vistas. Despite the beautiful mountains and the tranquil, inviting waters, the temperatures were just cold enough to keep us from braving it for a swim. Perhaps we will have better luck on our next visit.

The road out of Bear Lake saw us traveling along US 89 over Bear Lake Summit, at 7,818 feet, followed by a long 40 mile descent into the Salt Lake basin

along the Logan Canyon Scenic Byway.

Bear Lake, UT

The ride was once again spectacular with the Logan River cutting through steep rocky mountain faces wrapped with towering white pine forests. The river itself is a fly fisherman's dream, something straight out of a scene from A River Runs Through It. Never ending cascades and rapids, and around each bend rested another series of massive boulders, hiding deep cool pools that were surely filled with fatty, old trout! I wouldn't likely have been smart enough to catch a single fish, but it sure was fun to imagine the hunt. The road itself was slow traveling, mostly 35 to 45 mph and filled with endless twists and turns making the drive one that required lots of focus, thus limiting our ability to fully appreciate the scenery. But momentary glimpses of the rushing river caught through openings in the trees provided just enough visual candy to reassure us we were passing through a little piece of heaven.

Our destination that day was Farmington, UT and yet another Cabela's parking lot. Farmington is a small city about 20 minutes north of Salt Lake and is nestled into the base of the Wasatch Mountain range. Our plan was to spend 2-3 nights there and explore the trails and waterfalls offered up by these famous Olympic hosting mountains. Having never

spent any time in the greater Salt Lake area, we were both anxious to get out and put some miles on our shoes. We set out early the following morning on a sunny, clear day, headed for the Adams Canyon trail with the goal of reaching the waterfall at the trail's end. The hike was harder than I had anticipated with most of the 1,400 feet elevation gain occurring over two quarter mile sections of the trail. Although not technical, the trail did climb rather quickly and the energy we had stored up was easily drained from our legs, particularly as the temperatures rose into the 80's. All told, we hiked just over 4 miles, climbed 1,400 feet and got to spend a few moments of the day under the base of a 50 foot falls.

The hike itself was nice and the falls were

Adams Canyon Falls

well worth the effort, but the highlight was that Molly was able to enjoy it with us. It has been a bit of a challenge to this point with Molly as many of the places where hiking is available have restrictions on dog access. Also, at this point in Molly's life, her heart is much greater than her stamina so we have to be selective about which trails to bring her on. That, combined with the hot temperatures have meant we either skip the hikes or leave her home, so this one was just a bit more special having her along.

All told, we would spend two nights in Farmington and we thoroughly enjoyed our time there. There's something about mountains and mountain towns that truly speak to me. The ability

to look out your door and be struck by the natural world with such wonder and awe feels like home to me. As much as I love the green forests and cool lakes of Wisconsin, these mountain states have a stronger pull on my soul.

By Saturday morning, we were anxious to get back on the road as the warmer temperatures of Arizona were calling us. So as the sun

Cabela's Farmington, UT

broke the tops of the Wasatch Range, we found ourselves back behind the wheel and on our way to Cedar City, Utah, heading south on I15. The choice again for the night was another freebee, Walmart baby! I hope you guys are starting to see a theme developing here, because it truly is a great way to travel across the country. Any time we can spend a "free" night between destinations it's a huge win. So far this trip, we have spent 29 days on the road, 10 of which have been at free boondocking locations. it sure helps to keep your budget in line when you can find a clean, safe, comfortable and free place to spend the night. All total, we spent $597 on site fees over those 29 days. Of that, we could have easily saved another $200 had we been more seasoned travelers. We overpaid at a number of locations because we didn't realize rates were different for cash vs. card and failed to notice rate changes. Long story short, it you are diligent, thorough and willing to adventure off the grid a bit, you can easily keep you nightly rate average under $20 a night. In fact, you could get down under $10 a night with a bit more work and research and that's a pretty good rate for traveling across the country.

After the quick stop over in Cedar City, we were burning rubber early, headed for Valley of Fire State Park in northeast Nevada. This little known park is truly a gem and doesn't get

half the notoriety it deserves. In fact, I found this state park to be much more impressive than a number of national parks that we've visited in the past. This place is an incredibly barron, dry, hot geologic wonderland filled with bright red sandstone rock outcrops tucked into tan surrounding mountainsides. This is a land of such erie and haunting beauty, reminiscent of the unique rock features one might see at nearby Arches National Park, with rivers and layers of multicolored rock built up over millions of years. Reds and oranges form waves of color that shroud the entire landscape for as far as the eye can see. And our site for the evening was as unique as our surroundings. We secured a site at Arch Rock campground, inside the park, and found

Valley of Fire

ourselves swaddled in amongst an outcropping of huge, red rocks. If anyone is familiar with the famous Ayers rock of Australia, that is what this site felt like. Certainly not the same in stature, but incredible red monsters climbing out of the sand were just the most fascinating location to spend the night. Before 9:00 am the next morning, we had hiked over 5 miles in

the hot morning sun, visiting elephant rock, fire wave trail, white domes and rainbow vistas before heading out of the park towards Mead Lake. What a great stop. Very few visitors, incredibly unique landscapes, lots of wildlife and tons of hiking opportunities. I would highly recommend everyone make the effort to visit if ever in the area.

Arch Rock campground - Valley of Fire

From Valley of Fire, we only had two more stops before making it to Mesa, AZ. The first was an RV park on Mead Lake, just outside Las Vegas. The park was nothing special, certainly not as nice as some of the places we had stayed, and the pricing was way on the high end of the scale. But the location? Wow. Out our window we had an unobstructed view of the massive Mead Lake reservoir and that made up for all the other shortcomings. We only spent one day there, but with temperatures hovering in the upper 90's, we could not have picked a better location to cool off. The waters were calm and refreshing and a perfect way to recoup after a few days in the sweltering desert.

We had one more stop left on the journey and our options were pretty limited. Funny thing is, there just isn't a ton of parks or campgrounds once you get south of Vegas. Guess the baron desert isn't the best place to park a camper, but we managed to find a little hole in the wall called Dazzo's RV Park. Now, I would not say that this place qualified a "park", more like a parking lot than a park. It was basically a gravel pull out along the highway, 75 miles from the nearest anything. It was obvious that the maintenance budget had been depleted with everything being faded, rusted and tired. But, we were tired and ready for a stop and for $15 a night we got a quiet spot with water, sewer and electrical hook

Dazzo's RV Park

ups. The surprise of the stay was the little restaurant on site that was famous for its Chicago Dogs and pizza. Those who know me well know I love pizza and this place was wonderful, one of the best we've had in a long time. And if that isn't reason enough to stop, the owner himself serves up your pizza with his .45 strapped right to his side. Quite a unique little hole in the wall.

Well, after all that travel and all those miles, we finally made it to our winter resting spot in Mesa Arizona. When we first began this whole adventure we have full intentions of moving to a new locations every week or two, with a rare time or two where we might spend three to four weeks in one place. With all that, we most definitely were not looking at retirement communities as an option of any kind. I mean, here we are, a jet setting couple in our mid thirties (um thirties plus or minus a few years, or ten, or maybe more) so we needed

excitement and adventure on the main course.... Well, with all the Covid craziness gripping the country we thought it might make sense to sit tight until some normalcy returned to societal thinking. Too many places had shifting policies, never knowing what was and wasn't available or even open. Quarantine at this place, but not at this place, but don't write it down because it could change tomorrow.... Anyways, things seemed like

Mesa Regal RV Resort

they might be easier if we found a place to call home for a few months and so we started looking. We stumbled across Mesa Regal while looking for part time work opportunities and thought it looked interesting. 4 pools, 18 tennis and pickleball courts, bocce ball, billiards, dance halls, wood shop, bars, restaurants.... the options are endless. We arrived at Mesa Regal at 3:00 pm on Wednesday September 16th and by 6:00 that evening we were official members of the daily water volleyball club, knew all the people in the pool, had new nicknames, and were clued in on many of the resort's opportunities.

Now, there are many words that I could use to describe Mesa Regal and the people that call it home, but "retired" and "retirement" are not part of the vocabulary. Most that we have met are in the 60's, 70's and 80's, but they do not act their age (and that is meant as a huge compliment). Most start their day at 5:00 or 5:30 AM to avoid the heat and never stop moving. Out walking,

the crew of Mesa Regal

biking, running, tennis, kickboxing, aerobics, etc., all before 8:30 am. From there, it's water bikes, golf, sewing club, wood shop, metal shop or some other club. Pool exercises, laps or just floating around the pool with some rum concoction until volleyball starts that evening and then out to dinner, out for drinks, out dancing, hosting cards or game night.... it just doesn't end. These people are completely exhausting, like a thousand Energizer Bunnies constantly moving with the intention of missing nothing. They have found the fountain of youth and they drank the whole damn thing! It is amazing. For us, we were not ready for that. In the 14 days we've been here I can honestly say I was ready for bed by 7:00 every night! I've had to fight each evening to stay awake until 8:00, and it has not been easy. I mean, we play pickleball each morning with an 86 year old guy that kicks our butts. He stands still, places the ball anywhere he wants and makes me chase it all over the dang court. Then he sits there and smirks at me, kinda like he enjoys watching me run around like an idiot. There is no moss growing on these rolling stones and it is without question what makes this place special. We have already met a few people who we know will be lifelong friends and that has made the entire journey worth the effort. Parks and mountains and adventures are all memorable and exciting things, but friendships and relationships are the only treasures that stay with us and for that we are forever grateful. Much can change, but we both believe we have found a home and we can't wait for what lies ahead.

In the end, we are both giddy as school kids. We have the entire fall ahead of us with so many new and exciting things to come. We have new friends and friendships to grow and we can hardly believe that these are our lives. We wake each morning with smiles on our faces (even at 6:00 for pickleball, ugh!) and we pinch ourselves before bed. We have hiking and biking trails to explore, dances and holiday and concerts to enjoy, and visits from our girls in a few short months (can't hardly wait to see them both again). So much to do, so much to see, and so little time to sleep. It's time to start drinking from that fountain, otherwise I'll never be able to keep up!

"we don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing" - unknown

Valley of Fire State Park

Mesa Regal RV Resort

Valley of Fire State Park

Valley of Fire State Park

Valley of Fire State Park

Valley of Fire State Park