Later, Sedona!

Crescent Moon Park and Cathedral Rock
(photos are by Al; our neighbor
at Crescent Moon - click to enlarge)

Last day of work today. Hurray!! If we never see another apple for the rest of our lives, it will be fine with us. From the picking, to the lifting, sorting, lifting, moving, lifting AND lifting again....we are sore and tired.
This afternoon we will pull in the slides, hitch up and position ourselves for driving out early tomorrow morning.
Later, Sedona!

Rolling outta here in 2 days, 19 hours, 38 minutes!

Volvo is repaired and shined up

Isn't she beautiful?

Jeep is ready to be towed, trailer
in the background cleaned and ready

We are ready to leave Sedona in the red dust behind us.
During our time here, we have seen all kinds of weird insects, such as the 'stick' bug? Who ever heard of such a bizarre creature? It truly looks like a stick! About 6 inches long (like a stick), but has very spindly legs (ew). We finally spotted a javelina the other day, unfortunately, he was laying dead alongside the highway.
The tarantula outside our trailer was something I don't care to see again. (luckily, Lupe' came along and stomped on it for me.) The scorpions I can do without, and the very large flying 'things' (yuk).....oh yes, and the skunks! No thanks!
We have loved seeing all the deer, elk and antelope we've spotted on our jeep rides. What gorgeous animals!
Then there are the birds. Quail are in abundance in this area and so fun to watch! We've spotted a few roadrunners, a red tailed hawk, northern cardinals, and last, but not least, all the hummingbirds.
Sedona is truly an incredible area with it's red rocks and awesome hiking trails. This has been our first workamping experience and we feel truly blessed to have had the opportunity to be here.
But, as blessings are, we are also excited about moving on and seeing what other possibilities lie in store for us.

Apples, Apples and more Apples

As we have discovered, 'other duties as assigned', can mean absolutely anything. In our case, this week we have been assigned to 'do apples'.

Henry spent a couple days picking apples, while I was assigned to sorting and boxing. We both spent yesterday sorting and boxing, as the pickers were getting ahead of the sorters. What a circus!

We now have almost 200 cases of apples ready to be sold. Which, by the way, that is another of my 'duties'...to sell them to the local grocery stores. No problem, I've got 70 cases set up for delivery this Friday.

I guess the hard part about 'doing apples', is the standing all day on concrete in a 42 degree cooler, lifting boxes that weigh between 40-45 pounds; and in Henry's case with the picking, it would be the repetitive motion of picking with an apple bag hanging around your neck that will contain the 40 pounds of apples when full. It's been a tough week.

But, there is one major advantage! We only have 4 more days and we will be on our way, down the highway, and hopefully will never have to see another apple, ever again!

14 days, 12 hours, But who's counting?

We have been busy the past 3-4 weeks preparing for our departure from Sedona. Our Jeep needed a tow bar so we can tow it. (Eek. we are gonna be long going down the road.) Our truck needed a new spoiler, which ultimately meant new running lights as well. Remember this?

Our $600.00 'ouch'. (that darn log) Always have your partner watching. Never let others engage in a conversation with you, when you are hitching, unhitching, parking, etc...anyway, it's repaired and looks new again. My husband can fix anything!

There's been more that has been keeping us busy, but I can't recall it all right now. I've been working more days at the market....and now the apple orchard is ready to be harvested. Yesterday, the guys picked 76 cases of apples and that doesn't begin to put a dent in the trees that are ready to be picked. Henry and I are not the least bit disappointed that we will be gone before the majority of the 'apple picking, sorting, boxing and delivering' begins. It's a lot of hard work, and really requires about 10-20 more people, but the company won't hire temporary staff to help. Pay minimum wage to get the apples picked so you can sell them, or let them fall to the ground and rot? Seems like a no brainer to me, but am glad it's not my problem.

As we leave Sedona, our first stop is Wichita for the truck rally. We will spend a week there, then make our way through Ft. Smith, Arkansas, Memphis, and Nashville. We plan to spend some time at each place, as we want to take in the Grand Old Opry, maybe see Graceland in Memphis. The only deadline we have is South Carolina before Oct. 19th....and we are hoping our daughter will be able to get the time off work and meet us there. After spending a week in South Carolina, we will head north to Michigan to visit Henry's brother. Those are our plans at this point, but like Val says, "The beauty of fulltiming is 'you can always change your mind and choose an alternate destination.'

The Volvo is ready to roll. She's cleaned up, oiled, and whatever else Henry does to keep it looking good and running well. It's anxious to get on the road again, too!