The new view

Friday afternoon we arrived at our new rental house in Gilbert, Arizona after a whirlwind of packing due to a move date that we advanced by almost three weeks due to the coronavirus. We didn’t want to have a problem leaving, so we packed the van and the car, loaded up the cooler with meatloaf sandwiches, apples, and other goodies, added sanitizer to be used at the motels. and hit the road. Three days later, we were here. A day and a half after that, our worldly goods arrived and are now sitting in the house and garage.

Yesterday morning I went out for a walk in my new world. It’s not the woman-in-the-middle-of-nature that I enjoyed at the park. It’s very different. But there are lots of paved walking paths like this and being out early, I didn’t see many people. It felt good to be outside walking after so many days of sitting. The sun had just come up and the day was lovely. Here’s a bit of what I saw. Excursions farther away will have to wait for now and hopefully for not too long. Until then, I’ll enjoy what’s here and keep exploring in the area. You’re welcome to come along for the journey.

Day 3 in (mostly) photos

We left Albuquerque on a cloudy, chilly morning but with a sky filled with clouds of all sorts.

How to show motion in a photo: take a shot out the side window while doing 80 mph. Do it very carefully and delete all unusable photos.

Day 2…keep on truckin’

Started from Springfield, Missouri at 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Signs of spring were everywhere: green grass, trees in bud or even with leaves, cattle grazing in green fields, even a long stretch of yellow forsythia.

Gas prices kept dropping, to as low as $1.43. Made filling up an absolute joy. Much of our drive takes us near or next to the iconic Route 66. I saw this gem on my first trip but couldn’t get a photo. I thought this frame gave a feel of an old time postcard.

Day 1 update and thoughts

Nothing like good friends when you have no beds or furniture on general.

Note to self: clean fridge more often! General note: cleaning a fridge isn’t fun at the best of times. Cleaning one when you want to just get done and on the road is excruciating!!

Having lots and lots of things you need to have someone pick up when there’s a shelter-in-place order is impossible. Garbage men will only take things in bags. (Ever tried bagging a hammock? Didn’t think so. Just know it does NOT work!) and the junk-picking-up companies aren’t now. Dear owner: things in the garage aren’t as bad as they appear. Really!

Bit of COVID-19 humor. My husband got this prize in the local grocery store Monopoly game. I challenged him to go back and try to redeem it.

Gas prices are amazing right now. Filling up for $1.79 a gallon doesn’t even hurt at all. 😊. There are a lot less cars on the road, even in St. Louis during rush hour, although it was still hectic enough. And the virus hasn’t had an impact on construction.

The sunset tonight was beautiful, an enormous orange ball. Unfortunately, it was right on the middle of the road for at least three days…or seemed like it. Eventually we went in a different direction, literally, but there was still beauty as you can see from this (very carefully taken) shot. Disclaimer: I’m not responsible for the smushed bugs on the windshield. Well, maybe I am in a way, but Hey, I didn’t force them to fly into the glass..

That’s it for tonight from Springfield, Missouri. After the last few days and six hours of cleaning this morning, the 7 1/2 hours on the road was pretty much just fun. 🤪. Bed is going to seem so good tonight and that’s where I’m headed. TTFN. More tomorrow.

Phew!

Long day (yesterday) but the most downtime for a long time while someone else works. 😁

Great moving crew

Van finally loaded and we’re off to overnight with friends.

Lovely dinner and friend time!

Cleaning up tomorrow and and heading for Arizona.

Bedtime

The adventure begins.

P. S. Anyone else getting forever-dry, cracked hands from all the hand-washing??

Because…

…it’s moving day and I need some bright beauty! 🤪😊

Monday non-walk and tales of travel

For many weeks, I’ve been doing a morning walk with Jo, but she’s taking a break and we’re getting ready to move, so we’re not having an official walk. Our city has a shelter-in-place order, but we’re still allowed to walk outside, but I don’t have time right now AND we’re getting the last snow we’re likely to see for a long time, considering we’re moving from the Midwest to Arizona. 🙂

But a few days ago I was at church, delivering some donations and I spotted these harbingers of spring. In our yard, the daffodils and tulips are up, but not flowering yet, so I especially rejoiced in these. I was hoping to get one last walk in the park, but it’s not to be. So enjoy these!!!