Celebrate! Celebrate!

This week David and I celebrated a milestone: our 3^rd anniversary of full timing! We left Richmond, VA on June 14, 2017 and we had no idea what a wonderful life awaited us. We have traveled over 50,000 miles and have stayed in 171 sites. Our adventures have taken us to many breath taking places in states as far away as Alaska. We have visited many of our gorgeous national parks and national monuments  throughout the U. S. as well as many “off the beaten path” locales. Along the way, we have made many life-long friends and we thoroughly enjoy spending time with them when our paths cross. Our full timing lifestyle continues to amaze us and offer us a full range of experiences.

The past few months have posed some challenges that I’m sure none of us could have anticipated. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, we decided that it would be best to find a campground where we could hunker down for a while. We settled in Camp Verde, AZ, about an hour and a half north of Phoenix, for two months. During that time we, like many of you, made many adjustments to our normal routines. We learned how to order groceries online and do drive up pick up, we started wearing masks when we were out and about to protect those around us, and we began a weekly video chat with family. The time off the road also gave us the opportunity to do some spring cleaning and reorganizing, rig maintenance, and some reading and painting. We also got to catch up with some friends, Dianne and Gary, who happened to show up at the same campground. We had a great time with them and hope to see them again soon.

While in the Camp Verde area, we went to Sedona and hiked among the famous red rocks.  Even though the coronavirus restrictions closed some of the more popular and busy trails, we found other great hikes to do. The Broken Arrow Trail was one that we liked because it ends at a fabulous overlook called Chicken Point. This hike is 3.2 mile out and back and has many wildflowers and great vistas along the way. Chicken Point offers a 360 degree view of the valley below and the surrounding red rock mountains.

In addition to the hiking trail, there is also a 4×4 jeep road that goes to Chicken Point. Usually there are a lot of private jeeps and jeep tours that go to Chicken Point. Fortunately for us, we only saw one jeep while we were up there since all the jeep tours were suspended due to the pandemic. This overlook was very beautiful and peaceful so we found a spot nearby and enjoyed both the scenery and our picnic lunch. Many hikers have rated this as one of the best hikes in Sedona and we could certainly understand why.

On our way back, we decided to add a side hike to Submarine Rock, an enormous rock formation that looks like a submarine.

You can hike up on top of the rock and walk around on it. From that vantage point, you have expansive views across another amazing Sedona valley. We had a great day exploring some of the Sedona area.

These crazy times have caused us to appreciate the flexibility that you have when traveling full-time. Our last minute decision to stay in the Camp Verde area proved to be perfect for us. We are excited to see what our future adventures hold.