Off to Santa Fe
May 2016

The winter season at SKP Saguaro ends about 15 April, but we didn’t get on our way to Santa Fe till the end of May. This time we took the truck sans travel trailer so that we would be forced to stay at the house and deal with getting it on the market. We talked to Denise De Valle at Varela Realty and her sales partner Nena Martinez and signed some papers about the sale of the house. Their first instructions were to get it emptied out. Completely. Yikes!

Back to Benson for Our Trailer
June 2016

So after just 2 weeks it was back to Benson where we hooked up the new Arctic Fox and headed back to Santa Fe. We managed to get a few easy things sold (the loom, my guitar making supplies and most of the furniture), but we struggled with the massive amount of ‘stuff’ that remained. Denise must have told me 3 times to call a local guy named Danny Booher who ‘has a small shop in Santa Fe’. I kept putting off the call because I thought ‘what can a guy with a small shop do to help us clear all this crap?!’ Well I should have called sooner because what Denise didn’t say was that Danny works with 2 ladies who are miracle workers! When we finally struck a deal on getting things done they ended up taking 4 days to literally clear everything out including the weight station and the treadmill. They were relentless.

Suddenly the house was ready to show and 8 days later we had a buyer. As I write this on 10 Sep we’re waiting for the final papers to arrive in Benson for us to sign and return to the title company. We might actually be former house owners pretty soon!

Of course things usually have a hiccup when you think they’re going swimmingly. I managed to get sick shortly before we were going to head back to Benson. Some kind of respiratory bug- complete with a fever- that knocked me flat. I ended up in urgent care at Presbyterian where they said “Hmmm… we think you’re sick, but we haven’t a clue what it is”. I received a prescription for some antibiotics and thought ‘what are these going to do for a virus?’, but after about 6 days I had to admit I was feeling better. So it was a guess on the doctor’s part, but it was a very good guess. We finally got on the road on 20 August before my eye appointment in Tucson.

The whole time we were in Santa Fe the temps that were in the 100s every day. The AC on the Arctic Fox (13.5 kBTU) just couldn’t hack it. It ran from about 9 each morning till after dark each afternoon/evening without cycling. I even bought and installed a digital thermostat hoping it might operate the AC differently than the bi-metal thermostat originally supplied. Could have saved the $$$. The temps seemed completely out of character for Santa Fe at 7,000′ elevation. What a year!

Benson
August 2016

Let me tell you that August is not a great time to be in southern Arizona for any living creature other than a bug or a snake. Even the cactus weren’t looking all that happy. But Mrs. B’s favorite (and only) little boy had a different take on the weather that wasn’t altogether complimentary. The local UPS guy called it ‘toasty’ but I likened it to Dante’s Inferno.

So far we’ve limited our outdoor living to an early morning walk for the dogs to take care of business, then another walk a couple hours later – before the sun gets too high – for more exercise before they go in and hug the AC. Summer in Arizona is a different way to live. Most of those that stay here every summer are up at 4-5 AM so they can take care of chores, then hang out inside, go to a movie, go shopping… wherever it’s cool. That’s followed by opening things up after the sun is down so the inside of the RV doesn’t start smelling like a locker room.

This makes the 4th year we’ve missed the travel season thanks to the house. Hopefully we can get out a bit this fall and look at something besides the same-old same-old. But first comes closing on the house… 5 days to go! Yee-haw!!

We’ll be returning to Santa Fe again so Celia can see her doctor, but we’ll probably take our time returning to Benson.