Week One: Tucson

Hey Friends!

Hard to believe that week one of our Airstream Life adventure is in the books! It’s been a quite a learning curve for Steve and me.

Saturday: Arrival

We arrived without incident at the KOA campground in Tucson, AZ on Saturday the 28^th of May. We were given a campsite and got situated. However, the campsite we were assigned wasn’t the most pleasant location in the campground but we thought we’d give it a go. We set up the Airstream and were surprised that the neighbors “stinky slinky”, aka black/grey tank disposal was right by our patio. This was our first surprise at campground life. After almost having heat stroke setting up…it was 100 degrees… we did what we do best- we went out for Indian food at Indian Twist and enjoyed the wonderful air conditioner (I actually got cold!) and some deelish food. After a wonderful meal we headed back to the campground and explored the new digs. The KOA has 2 pools & hot tubs, lots of scheduled activities and is very pet and family friendly. We collapsed into bed exhausted from all the packing, traveling, setup and HEAT!

Sunday: Relocating

Sunday morning we took a stroll around campground and found some other sites that were much more to our liking. We asked in the office if we could relocate and were given a green light. We moved our Airstream to a different site and are soooo much happier. We have a view of a park with a pond and water fountain out the back windows and on both sides of the Airstream we have fruit trees! We have more grapefruits than we could possibly eat and lemons. How fun! Even better, the neighbors “stinky slinky” is obscured by a very large flowering bush. J

Sunday after getting set the Airstream set up again, we did some grocery shopping for the week. We worked on getting wifi and then spent some time in the pool and hot tub. It was a delightfully restful day.

Monday: Memorial Day

Monday was Memorial Day. It was definitely a different holiday than we have had in the past. The campground did their part to make it honoring to those who have given their lives for our freedoms. Steve and I went for a hike out among the cacti. Click here to see the neighborhood. When we got back to the Airstream we had a snafu! Our door handle broke off on the inside while we were in it. There was no way to open the door from the inside without the handle! After a moment of panic (for me, not Steve) I opened the window and called out to the neighbors to please come and open our door from the outside. They were around and willingly did so. Steve spent the next several hours investigating how to fix this problem. All the mobile RV mechanics were not available due to the holiday and the local RV dealers were closed as well. So…we searched Airstream groups on Facebook and YouTube to see if we could fix it on our own. Steve was able to determine the mechanism in the door and a work around solution just in case it happens again! Click here to see the video of how he fixed it. I am so thankful that he is mechanically inclined! We headed back to the pool to refresh ourselves after working in the heat, took a bike ride, rested on the patio and then called it a day.

Tuesday: Goals

Steve and I have some goals for our time in Tucson. I really want to be able to run more. The campground is one mile around the perimeter, so I have decided to run/walk that mile every morning until I can just run it…and then to run it more than once is my goal. Steve is game to do this with me, so we got up Tuesday morning and started that journey.

Steve began his new contract as a hospice nurse on Tuesday as well. He left for work and I headed to the showers for a long hot one. However, the water only got warm but I was able to take a long one. When I got back to the Airstream and attempted to blow dry my hair the power went out in the Airstream. Yikes! I had to get someone from the office to come and help me reset the breaker and our power surge protector. Lesson learned… no blow dryer when the air conditioner is going. It’s too much power being drawn at once.

Another one of my goals is to push into writing during this season and I had some time to do that. I worked on a story and when I have some things polished I will share them with you. When Steve got back from work we ate dinner and headed out to Eegee’s for a fruit slushy that is a local treat. Steve got strawberry and I had pina colada. It was refreshing to sit out on the patio by our Airstream and enjoy the cold treat. We took another bike ride in the cool of the evening before calling it a day.

Wednesday: Where’s the Water???

Wednesday brought a new challenge…the KOA park had no water! What!! No water and 99 degrees outside… It was rough to say the least and I had a moment where I was like…I’m done…take me back to Prescott and my home. But, it was just a moment and although I was a cranky pot most of the afternoon/evening it did pass. I couldn’t make dinner without water so Steve and I got some falafel sandwiches at an Arabic Middle Eastern restaurant. Then we spent the cool of the evening on our patio enjoying the moment.

Thursday: Laundry Day

Thursday dawned with the promise of a new day. Steve and I did our trek around the campground before he left for work and then I set off to do our dirty laundry. Our neighbors from Louisiana were headed up to Flagstaff today and then on to the Grand Canyon and the Big 5 in Utah – Bryce Canyon National Park, Zion National Park, Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, and Capitol Reef National Park. I chatted with them a bit and then wished them safe travels. Today was also a clean up the camper day and I set to work tidying up the Airstream. As I am typing this it is 100 degrees outside…Wowza!! I have never lived in heat like this and it’s an adjustment. I am learning to do things in the morning and evening, the hours of 3-6pm are the hottest. The heat just seeps in everywhere. Thank God for air conditioning and shades!

Friday: Pop Goes the Breaker

Happy Friday to everyone! We are almost through our first week of Airstream life. Yesterday was a super long day for Steve. He wasn’t finished with charting for his Hospice job until after 9pm, needless to say we didn’t really do much last evening. Hopefully he won’t have as long a day today, but when you are learning an entire new job in 4 days, long days are bound to happen. I discovered today that you can’t run the air conditioner and the microwave at the same time, or the breaker gets thrown. I went to the shower house and took a nice long, hot shower and then blew dry my hair there as well. That little bit of personal care felt so, so good.

Pray with us?

I am really pressing in to prayer about this season. We have 63 more work days here and 13 more weekends. We want to make the most of this time in Tucson and not miss out on any divine appointments. Please pray with me! Tomorrow is Saturday and Steve and I will be on a hike in the morning, do some errands in the afternoon, and relax in the evening. Steve has Spiritual Direction appointments on Sunday throughout the day. I will update you all on the weekend in next week’s blog.