My Trails

I saw this on Facebook.

I have started migrating north. Right now I’m camped ten miles south of a little town called Ash Fork, AZ. The nights have been a little cold but the days have been perfect. I was the only one camped on this forest road until yesterday when a class A motorhome parked about a half-mile away.

I road Honda into Ash Fork two days ago. The town was created when the railroad established a siding in 1882, and later received a boost from the famous Route 66. After interstate 40 bypassed the town in the 70’s the town never recovered. The town still celebrates Route 66 with nostalgic old cars on buildings and establishments with themes from the 50’s era, but it will probably fade away in years to come.

I found a Family Dollar on the edge of town and bought a Gatorade for my return ride. On the way back to camp I checked out a couple other forest roads but found no good camping spots on them. I’m going to move on on Monday or Tuesday. It seems good to be traveling again.

It has been a busy time for me in the last few weeks. I drove back to Mesa from Tucson and stowed my motorhome at an RV park, flew back east for a whirlwind visit with my kids and grandkids, and worried all the time I was gone about Mom after a serious illness landed her back in the hospital.

I had a wonderful time visiting with all family in PA and NY. I have some great kids and grandkids. They all made me feel so welcome and all went out of their way to spend as much time as their busy lives could allow. I thought it was going to be another year before I would meet my newest granddaughter, but Karen, Jen, and Dave would not hear of that and bought me a ticket for a flight home.

All of Karen boys were in Pittsburgh while I was there. Zack graduates from college this year, Nate will follow next year, and Noah will be a senior in high school this fall. It really makes me feel old when I realize that at any time they could make me into a great grandfather.

I got to see Lucy compete in a gymnastics meet where she took several ribbons and trophies for her work on the bars, balance beam, and floor exercise. Good job Lucy! One day we all went to the movies in Bradford – lots of fun.

Dave had to work most of the time while I was there, but Lisa being a teacher had a few days off during spring break and it allowed me to spend more time with Lily and Harper. Harper was not feeling well the first days I was there so it took her a little longer to warm up to me. When a little one doesn’t feel well all they want is their mom. I wish I would have taken pictures of all the family while I was there but I didn’t. I’m not sure what I was thinking. I guess I wasn’t.

I have been spending the last week in Tempe, parked at my brother Daryl’s house. Mom is still very weak and having a little trouble finding all the words she would like to use, but she is getting better each day.

I will head north tomorrow to a cooler spot in Arizona. It will be close to 100 this week, and although people actually live here in the summertime, I don’t want to. I still want to stay close to town for a couple weeks to make sure Mom continues to improve, and then I will likely migrate further north.

L