We’re Still Out There!

You may have been wondering, “what ever happened to the Spoerleins?” Well, after 6 months of not being able to access my website, I sort of stopped adding anything to it. I know I could have found another place to put it, (and did) but I just kept hoping that the old one would be accessible again some day. And I was right. One day not too long ago, for no apparent reason, I was finally able to get to the site again. Just as mysteriously as the loss of access. Oh well, I’m not going to even try to uncover the details. But to keep you up to date on our activities, you haven’t missed very much. We had a very uneventful winter at Sundance 1 RV Resort in Casa Grande. I learned how to do stained glass, attempted to teach myself how to rollerblade (don't ask), and Gary got tired of staying home so he started working.

Gwendolyn Goose

My biggest project for the winter was dressing our goose. You may remember when we stayed in the resort in Tucson last winter, I talked about a ceramic goose there named Gertrude who changed her clothes several times. Well, the idea stuck with me and now I can add “Fashion Designer” to my resume. My goose is plastic, her name is Gwendolyn and if you would like to see her silly costumes, here is the place.

Arizona’s Pine Forests

August 2001

I’ll bet that most of you did not know that Arizona has one of the largest Ponderosa and Pinyon pine forests in the world. From most of the pictures I have included you wouldn’t think we could support big trees like that. Before we left Cottonwood last fall, we took a trip toward Flagstaff looking for good camping sites. This part of the state is on top of the Mogollon Rim which is hard to explain. For those of you who don’t live in Arizona, the Mogollon Rim is an escarpment that runs east-west across much of Arizona. It is like a gigantic cliff wall that divides the Colorado Plateau from the low desert. It is quite amazing to look at, especially when you think about it running across so much of the state. If you are going from southern Arizona to northern, you will probably climb the Rim at least once. And we are not talking about a small climb. The altitude in Phoenix is around 1,000 feet. The altitude on top of the Rim is about 7,000 feet or more (it actually depends on where you are). With that difference comes a major climate change. It is still very dry, but because much of the rain and snow that we get in Arizona falls at the higher altitudes, there is enough water to support pine forests. Here are some pictures taken from the top of the Rim on Arizona highway 89A which runs up Oak Creek Canyon from Sedona to Flagstaff.

Doofy Dog

While we were staying in Cottonwood last summer, we saw one of the other park residents out walking the family dog just about every day. We had no idea what kind of dog it was until I finally searched the Internet for pictures of working dogs. I figured it was some kind of sheep dog and finally found some pictures that looked like this one. We named the dog Doofy Dog because we had never seen a dog with big poofy ear hair like this. It turns out that the breed is Briard which is a French sheep dog. Here is a picture. No offense to Briard owners everywhere, but what would you call this dog?

So, What Else is New?

An excellent question. Gary is working as a Security Officer, which means that since he is required to be licensed by Arizona, he will have a “guard card”. That allows him to be a Security Officer anywhere in Arizona. Now he'll be able to easily get a job anywhere in the state, should he want to. On the other hand, I have been frequenting the public pool and swimming laps to build up endurance. I plan to get certified as a lifeguard and water safety instructor. It’s something I enjoyed years ago and would also give me a certification that I can take anywhere.

Well, that is a reasonable update for the amount of activity we have seen since last August. Now that my site is accessible again, I promise to add more to it. I have some plans for trailer living insights, and more pictures as we get back into the great outdoors. See you again soon!