Goodbye Buckeye, AZ!

Our first month has come to an end, time to reflect! Just thinking back to when we first left our little apartment, is an overwhelming thought. I miss family and friends so much! Our daily comforts have been interrupted and we’ve been taking everything day by day. So far, so good. Even with the minor hiccups that we’ve overcome, we’ve had a great experience here!

Keeping in touch with Family & Friends via Facetime/Video calls definitely help me get through my days. I guess during the early covid days, we were already not seeing anyone, and having virtual dates with everyone. So I guess you could say, it prepped me for this experience. Of course nothing beats face to face interactions but being able to see facial expressions while catching up definitely helps keep me feeling closer to ‘home.’

Our next-spot neighbor for our first week here made friends with Mike early on. Jerry & his wife Terri are the sweetest. Their family was just as wonderful to be around. Jerry had been wanting to find pickle-ball buddies for a while. He chatted it up with Mike and got us into it! We met with him and his daughter, Tiffany, on many occasions for a few fun games. We’re all beginners and it has been so much fun learning the game and all the rules together. We got along so well, they invited us over one evening for dinner.

Wanadingers! That’s what we had for dinner! What is a wanadinger?!? How do I even explain what this is… imagine a stick for roasting marshmallows, but with a thicker tip thats about 5-6 inches long. You get the Original Pillsbury Doughboy Biscuits and you slowly work the biscuit over the tip. Vicky (Terri’s sister) explained it best. “It’s like putting on a condom…” you want to be careful as you slide it on, and you don’t want it to rip. You don’t want holes in your wanadinger! haha! You then roast the biscuit over the fire until it slides off without sticking. Then you can fill them with anything! They had sloppy joe’s for savory, and a cheesecake filling with fruits for sweet! We had so much fun at dinner time with the them and their family. Jerri, Terri, Gary, Vicky, Debbie, Donna, Bubba, Tiffany, Mom & the two little kids were all so welcoming and such great company. And they also had the sweetest cat, Thunder! Being so far away from family, it was nice to be surrounded by a loving family for dinner one night! Jerri was so sweet, he had extra of the wanadinger tips that he made laying around, so one afternoon, he asked Terri to pick up a couple sticks, and he made Mike and I each a wanadinger stick! So awesome, so happy! That totally made my day! We can’t wait to share this with our friends and family who come visit! Thank you, Hall family, you will always be in our memories!

Group Photo: Gary, Vicky, Jerry, Terri, Debbi, Mike & Lily
Pickleball: Gary, Tiffany, Mike & Lily

It was a quick month! We got set up and settled in, did some home updates, visited a couple local outdoor attractions, tested out the oven with some baked goods, explored town a bit, learned how to play pickle-ball and made great friends!

Now we are getting ready to pack up and move to our next location! Camp Verde, AZ is just about 30 minutes away from Sedona and just a 2 hour drive from Buckeye. This will be our ‘first move’ from one RV park to the next. We have both of our checklists ready, for exterior and interior things-to-do and we are ready to see our new location that we’ll call home!

I am super excited for this next location as we will have both Family and Friends coming to visit us! I can’t wait! Mike and I love hosting, so this will be a busy, but fun month coming up! Ready or not ~ Sedona….we’re coming for ya!