Tucson KOA Resort

"And whatever you do, whether in word or in deed, do it all in Christ Jesus giving thanks to God the Father through Him." Colossians 3:17

I was looking forward to this site; it had great reviews. We were going to settle here for over a month and we got a much cheaper monthly rate! This was going to be our home base through the holidays. They had activities for the kids here. I couldn't wait to not move and rest and just heal.

Looking back, I would not call this time restful.

We left Las Cruces thinking that everyone else was going to lock the fridge. The failure to do it resulted in a new gallon of milk falling from the top shelf and busting the bottom of the container. The entire jug flooded the carpet, floor under the cabinets and down into a basement compartment. I only heard about this via the walkie-talkie as I drove to fill up gas at the station. I drove to the RV and all the slides and compartments were out, the whole brand new roll of paper towels that I had just replaced before we took off was gone and laying in disarray all over the floor. What a mess. We cleaned and Jordan mopped it and then we continued on our way to Tucson.

The countdown was on for the soured stench of milk to bomb the inside of our RV. Sigh.

Our RV is in the middle facing the camera. We were in site #1480.

Here is our RV from the back. The Catalina Mountains are in the background.

I dropped Michael off at the airport at 4:30 AM to go to work in Wilmington for the week. I went to the grocery store and thankfully all the other carpet cleaners were out of order except for the one I needed - the spot-cleaner. They also had a cleaning solution that had enzymes. Thank you Lord! After my internet search, enzymes seemed to be the key I needed to clean up the milk. I spent hours cleaning the small amount of carpet that we have. I let it dry during the night and then I spent a few hours cleaning it again in the morning. I was planning on cleaning the carpets at this site anyways, so I was thankful that if this spill had to happen, it did at this site. With sandspurs, sand dunes, three children, a shedding dog and 2 bunnies, the carpet doesn't have the same color as it did when we started this adventure.

It took 45 minutes to stand in line to return the carpet cleaner. Because it took so long, I went to the closest hardware store instead of the planned Home Depot to get cleaners for the rest of the RV. I walked in and the first guy to help me was clueless, but almost right away another man came over and said that he worked for this particular company and knew the chemistry behind it and I needed this particular product with these particular enzymes to break down the milk enzymes! He said to keep it wet for 24 hours or more to let it work. Thank you God for that man and sharing his knowledge with me. I went at it when I got back to the RV and sprayed often under the cabinets and the slides and in the compartment underneath the RV. Asher tilted the RV for me and for two days we were the people with the weirdly leaning RV. Humbled.

Caleb was so very sweet to give me this note!

I awaited the horrible smell to smite us, but it never did. Thank You God!

Instead, due to the perfectly ripe citrus trees (grapefruit, orange and lemon) planted all over the park, I only got wonderful smells up my nostrils! THANK YOU! The citrus fruit was one of our very favorite things. We could go out and pick bags of fruit for free and then eat it or make it into grapefruit, orange juice or lemonade! Michael's favorite drink in the world is fresh grapefruit juice. In fact, he squeezed 2.5 gallons worth of grapefruit juice when it was time for us to leave.

Lord, thank you so much for ripe and fresh fruit!

After the RV was cleaned up, we met up with Chelsea and Max at Catalina State Park where they were staying. We had a picnic at their site and headed on a hike to a spring.

This was our 3rd stop on our U.S. RV adventure where we were able to meet up with these guys from Washington. Max is a really tall and fun 8 year old.

There were a lot of saguaro cactus here!

Max spotted a baby tarantula. Cute? Maybe not, but I am glad we got to check him out.

A creek is such a great place to play especially in the desert. Everyone gets so surprised when there is actually water in a creek.

The state park was serene, but I am glad that we booked the resort. We enjoyed the amenities such as community propane campfire cauldrons, pickleball, 2 hot tubs, 2 heated pools, r/c track, flowers (that hummingbirds liked too) and a pond. Since the cauldrons were on after 4 PM it was easy to bring our smore stuff over and roast them! Asher and I learned how to play pickleball when some really nice people lovingly took the time to teach us even when the courts were full. The heated pools were actually really warm and steamy. I have never been in a pool that was so nice to swim in even after sitting in the hot tub. Asher's r/c car had broken months ago, he tried to fix it repeatedly even with epoxy, but each time the test drives proved the fix wasn't good enough. Jordan used her r/c car and the boys got to use the KOA r/c cars.

The kids and I enjoyed feeding the fish at the pond. They even got to see a couple of turtles once! Each week there was a new schedule of events for the kids. They loved the tie-dying, breakfast and ice cream socials, walks, a movie, crafts, train rides and more. Jordan loved bringing her bunny on the family walk and another girl brought her chinchilla named Charlie. I was so glad that they could do these activities, especially with other kids.

Since Asher's r/c car was broken and there were some r/c car stores in Phoenix, just 2 hours away, we made plans to go there one day. I also added going to a park, and touring a candy company. Asher talked me into letting them go to a trampoline park too. Right before we were to go I called the r/c car places and none of them sold parts for his car since they were all hobbyist stores primarily and his was a toy car and not hobby grade. This news coupled with racing out the door, not getting all of our stuff for school to do on the way, and the fact that if there was a minute of traffic we were going to be late for our tour, I turned around and headed home. We tried again another day. It went much better.

Our first stop was a picnic and playground at Margaret T. Hence Park. The highway went right underneath this delightful park and you would not know it. The kids could climb up into these desert animals. We could have stayed here all day long. It was hard to leave and so we were late for our Cerretta Candy Tour.

I should have asked if the candy was going to be made at the time of out tour. Nope, they had been making the candy all day until an hour before our arrival. The tour was very short and only had a hard-to-hear masked woman describing the candy being made with all the machines that were not working. The best part was the free samples. We took home some chocolate covered marshmallows that we enjoyed on Christmas.

We spent the rest of the day at Urban Air and there was not a time limit. They had a blast on the indoor zip-line called the Sky Rider, pictured above. I watched lots of kids go on this ride and they would scream, yell, make various noises. I loved hearing this little girl that just giggled the whole time. Lord, thank you for a picture of joy!

They got some great exercise jumping and climbing!

The kids loved walking up these posts and jumping off over and over and over again.

It was a great day and a late night!

What is there to do in December in Tucson? Winterhaven's 72nd annual Festival was one of the main events. This neighborhood was built for Christmas lights. The neighborhood collected $25,000 and 45,000 pounds of food for the homeless.

Yep, even trolleys filled with people rode through this neighborhood.

The blow up silly cacti made me laugh. This was my favorite decorated yard for this desert neighborhood.

We attended the Christmas Eve KOA Potluck. The main dish was smoked ham from the KOA BBQ restaurant. We brought Rice Krispy Treats. Many people brought some kind of baked bean dish. It was a very delicious meal!

Other than reading the Bible, how did we celebrate Christmas in an RV in 2021?

With decorations!

Video calls with family!

And lots of presents!

Jordan (and with some help from Caleb) was so very sweet and gave Michael and I this for Christmas...

We went on our first date since March! The kids watched a movie and had pizza, Jordan did the dishes and they all got ready for bed while we were not too far away down the road. I had a hard time going without them. Like Jordan predicted, they were fine. My fajitas were so very delicious!

This year ended in a bang and a big dose of humility when the kids and I got in a car crash after I failed to yield. The other guy's car was totaled.

Humbled.

Praises: all were able to walk away, our car still worked, the guy was supposed to get a new car that day, but it didn't work out. I am so glad he got a new car (a Jeep) later. We also have a Jeep on order.

The most amazing text that I got from the guy that I hit was this "Met a man, my Uber driver yesterday. We immediately started to talk about the Lord. He is from NC on a mission for his church. Seems like God is putting me in certain people's paths that I need to start pursuing. Remember when we were talking about our purpose or his reasoning? Well it is starting to become more clear now. He wants me to give my all to him. 100% burdens and all."

Only God can do that. He made something good out of something bad. How big is God! Thank You!

After the holidays, Greg and Adrienne flew here to be with us for a week! It had been 6 months since we had seen them at Edisto, SC in June. Preparing for their visit included getting our Covid boosters. The kids got their first Covid vaccine. We did it together as a family. The nurse was the best shot giver in the world. I did not feel the needle at all and we were all in and out in 10 minutes. No tears. The kids and Michael had sore arms the next day and that was it. I felt crummy for a day had a sore arm and then I was better. I am thankful.

We picked up Nana and Gramps from the airport and... well... they had to sit in the back... since our door was squashed... because of me. So very humbling.

It was great getting to show them around the resort. We had a nice BBQ at their cabin and s'mores at a cauldron fire. The next day, Michael, Caleb and I headed to the airport while Asher and Jordan got to have special time with Nana and Gramps.

Caleb got to go on his first airplane rides to Phoenix and then to San Diego, CA. This is where he picked for his 10th birthday trip. He really enjoyed the airplane trips. I on the other hand sweated and had to try to keep from hyperventilating. I really don't like heights. We survived the flights!

I really enjoyed hanging out with Caleb! He picked a great place to visit. I laughed and really enjoyed our whale watching boat trip. The sun was so lovely and the pod of dolphins was so delightful! We did get to see a whale out in the distance several times, and even a silhouette of its tale! The San Diego Zoo is really quite special and fun. We laughed with the silly parrot and saw so many of God's amazing creatures.

I know this truth, but my body doesn't seem to listen. How can I do this better? I am only getting worse. My sleep was terrible the month leading up to this. Lord, please help me.

I love this kid!

These dolphins were jumping right by the boat!

We made it back! Greg and Asher picked us up from the airport. We got back to the RV smelling like homemade cookies - chocolate chip and butterscotch chip, Michael's favorite! So nice! But best of all, we got to enjoy Greg and Adrienne for a few more days! Michael (and the rest of us) got his mother's cheese enchiladas and they were good! We were able to enjoy Saguaro National Park together. On the way home, we stopped and to experience an Arizona food together! At El Guero Canelo Restaurant we got the special for the day, two Sonoran hot dogs and a drink. Everyone ate them, even Gramps, and they were bacon wrapped, had grilled and fresh onions, tomato, mayo, mustard and jalapeno sauce. What a special and much needed time with family!

We came to Tucson, AZ to be able to go to Saguaro National Park. We ended up going twice to the east half of the park and once to the west. We did a scenic drive each time. We also enjoyed the nature trail at both and other short hikes and overlooks. It was neat to see all the saguaro cacti.

They are older than I thought they would be. I also would not have guessed that its skeleton is like a woody tree. When alive the inside acts like a sponge and after it rains it swells. The ranger said that it is unknown why they begin growing arms, where they grow arms and what determines the number of arms.

A Teddy Bear Cholla (Choy-a) Cactus

An ocotillo plant.

Thank you God that Greg and Adrienne got to go to the National Park with us!

Here are a few more memories made while at Tucson...

We drove past the Davis-Monthan AFB, Tucson, AZ, the largest aircraft boneyard in the world with more 4,400 aircraft. All the planes face in the same directions and all the propellers are turned to the same position.