Navigating the pandemic the best we can as fulltimers

Just a quick reminder, we have started a YouTube channel. It’s certainly in its infancy stage for sure and will be going through some growing pains but go check it out and we would appreciate it if you would subscribe while there. Here is a link. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWqRmO1rO4cu3rFANF1iG6Q

(** We will just randomly scatter some pictures in this update of some of the things we see during our daily routine at this point **)

We have made the comment before that the fulltime RV life style is a pretty darn good one but it’s not always a bed of roses and this is one of those times.

Don’t get us wrong, we still have it darn good compared to many many MANY people in the world right now with everything going on so we really have no room to complain. And we really aren’t complaining I guess, we are just communicating some of the bad that can come along with the fulltime life style.

Nothing has changed at this point as far as where we are currently hunkered down, we are still at Palm Creek Golf & RV Resort in Arizona and still have reservations until the end of April. And we contacted the office to see if we could even extend our stay through May if need be, the answer was yes.

So for us even though hanging around in Arizona into May isn’t necessarily a pleasant thought because of the heat we at least at this point have the peace of mind that we will not be asked to leave like so many other RVer’s have been around the country with no idea just where they will go next.

(** OOOPPPS. Things have changed, we have now extended our stay here in Arizona through May and have pushed our first reservation in Oregon back until June **))

Yup, a lot of campgrounds around the country received notice from the state they are in to close down and many of those campgrounds gave notice to the people staying in them to pack up and leave while others said they could stay through their reservation dates and then would need to leave and some campgrounds told their campers they could stay in place even beyond their reservations if they wanted to because they were not allowing new campers to come in. For those campers that have conventional homes to go back to it’s an inconvenience but really a pretty minor one but for those like us that are full-timers, well that’s another story.

 

 

 

As the Coronavirus plot thickens around the country it makes it hard to decide exactly what to do. Because unlike most years we have been on the road as we mentioned in previous updates we actually have reservations at a number of stops around the country throughout the summer and no one knows when things will settle down and get back to some sort of normalcy to where we will feel comfortable traveling.

As we ponder our options we think about how we will feel being around larger crowds when or even IF restrictions are lifted this summer. And if having that nagging feeling of “are we being safe” or “are we being scrutinized as we pull into a campground” is even worth it this summer.

And some of the campgrounds we have reservations at are not cheap because they are located near touristy areas so why go pay high prices only to be stuck at home and not be able to see what we went there to see.

The girls on what ended up being their last outing together before the shut down.

Obviously safety is the biggest concern but the thought of going through the motions of breaking camp, traveling and setting back up again ONLY to have to stay home because of quarantines or stay at home guidelines and then repeating that over and over and over again all summer isn’t a pleasant thought either.

It’s not often “if ever” that we have envied people with sticks & bricks homes since we hit the road going on 8 years ago now but I will admit, this just might be one of them LOL!! I can assure you that if we had a chunk of land somewhere right now we would be there sitting this whole thing out.

Our daily routine has changed some since our last update. The Pickleball courts have been closed down completely here at the resort and the nets have been removed so even though we had already stopped playing with others weeks ago out of caution we now can’t even go down as a couple and do drills.

The Pickleball courts are off limits.

 

 

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And even though golf is still allowed in the state of Arizona Sun Resorts as a whole has decided that the golf courses at ALL of their resorts would be shut down, so no more golf UNLESS we decided to go outside of the resort to play because every other course in town is open.

It makes no sense that Sun Resorts shut down the golf course to protect the residents because if you think about it now if people want to go play golf they will go outside the walls to play at public courses and be exposed to more than they would if they were to stay inside the resort to play. And then they will come back into the resort and be around residents.

I would understand it if Sun shut down courses in states that all courses were shut down in and leave courses open in the resorts in states that still allow golf but doing a blanket one rule fits all thing makes no sense. Oh well, that’s just one more thing we can’t control so we won’t dwell over it.

The resort has even gone as far as taping off any area that congregating might happen AND they closed every dog park in the resort. That’s a little over the top as well I think but they are concerned that people touch the gates to open them and the virus could live on the gates for days, therefore causing a possible hazard.

This dog park isn’t even fenced so why tape it off?

 

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Another pavilion by one of the many dog parks and the Corn Hole Golf boards. Of course everything is shut down.

One of the many pavilions, this one is by the tennis courts. Taped off of course.

Well here is an idea, chain the gates OPEN and tell people to leave their dogs on a leash at least that way the dogs could do their business on grass. Oh well, again, we don’t control that AND we don’t have a pet so we just listen to the complaining LOL!!

Diane is getting a dog fix on one of our rides.

Getting ready to go shopping or a bank robbery?

 

 

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So now our days normally consist of Diane and I doing a 3 mile walk after breakfast, then Diane normally bails out and I normally go for a second 3 mile walk. Then we kill the rest of the morning with whatever followed by lunch and then we both head out for a bike ride.

I think before long as the days get hotter and because I normally get up a couple hours before Diane I will start getting my “alone” walk in first and then do one with Diane.

The rest of the afternoon is filled with, well whatever pops up, reading, a little TV, more bike riding, a nap or whatever until dinner time.

After dinner we have started taking walks on the golf course, because it’s closed “for golfing” it’s a nice place to get a walk in on something other than asphalt or pavement. Plus there are a couple duck families and a little more wildlife that we enjoy watching.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok, so things aren’t very exciting but like I told Diane, at least our highlight of the day isn’t stepping out onto our balcony to sing along with our fellow quarantined neighbors LOL!! Like I said before, we have it much better than many many MANY people around the world.

As you can see from some of the pictures above we do have some things of beauty to look at during our walks with different cactus and flowers blooming around the park. And because we walk every day we get to see them during all of the stages.

And we have enjoyed stopping in to check on a couple baby hummingbirds every morning, basically from birth right up to the day they both flew away. We in fact got to see one of them takes its first training flight!!

And speaking of babies we have been keeping our eyes on a couple baby owls that are nested up in one of the Palm trees along our walk.

These two are still in the nest at this point but we imagine they will be flying off soon.

Then we now and again will take a walk or bike ride across the street from the resort to check on a few Borrowing owl nests and without fail we almost always get a peek at an owl or two.

Of course with more time on our hand’s we spend more time eating instead of playing Pickleball and that’s going to catch up here pretty soon if I keep making things like stuffed French toast and cheese cakes in the Instant Pot and Banana Bread in the Instant Pot. Or making visits to a great little bakery just up the road that we found out about LOL!!

Fresh Walnut / cranberry bread from Sa Morz Bakery

 

This was maybe the best stuffed French toast I have made and I’m sure the bread had something to do with that.

 

 

**Above in the pan is a Banana bread and right above is a cheesecake**

Leo & Lucy. The owners & operators of Sa Morz Bakery

Ok, as we sort of inserted earlier we have now extended our stay here in Arizona through the month of May and pushed our first reservation in Oregon back to June.

As you can see from the pictures, we are in a nice spot with at least some freedom compared to being hunkered down in small campground with no place to go AND we now have no neighbors on either side of us for a long way AND we are backed up to a field so no neighbors there either. For being in a resort we are not boxed in at all. Our RV is social distancing LOL!!

The view out our rear window. Part of why we moved to this spot when we switched to the 5th wheel.

And we are lucky that a few friends have decided to hang around longer this year like we have so we have people to visit with “from afar” and a few friends are year around residents here so of course we get to chat with them during our bike rides and walks so we are far from lonely.

That’s it for now, everyone stay safe.