Chocolate Milk and Quail

When I stopped in Albuquerque last week, Michael gave me four stouts.  Two of the stouts were from Michigan and made by New Holland Brewing, one of my favorite breweries.   Two of the stouts were from Albuquerque by Boxing Bear Brewing and have earned assorted awards including a 2024 Silver Medal at the American Beer Festival.  It's called Chocolate Milk Stout and actually does contain cocoa nibs added to the brewing process.  I wasn't sure that I was going to like that, but the effect is quite subtle.  The milk part is from added lactose which adds both sweetness and mouthfeel.  All in all, an excellent stout.  

Tonight, as we were eating grilled burgers and asparagus, we had visitors performing the balance beam on our rear fence.

Planes, Buses and Pick-up Truck

When we moved to Arizona a few weeks ago, I drove the U-haul truck, and Julia drove her Subaru.  That left my Dodge Ram back in Wisconsin at a friend's place.  I could have towed it behind the 20' U-haul, but I just didn't feel comfortable doing so.  Plus, it gave me an excuse to take a solo travel trip to retrieve my beloved truck and see some of the country. Spoiler Alert:  there are no photos from this trip.

On Monday, I drove to Sky Harbor airport in Phoenix (Julia drove the Suburu back home) and boarded a cheap flight ($120) for Chicago.  It was about $300 more to fly directly into Madison.  I maneuvered my way through O'hare until I found the regional buses.  Eventually, I boarded a Van Gelder bus that made stops in Rockford, Beloit and Janesville before burping me out on the outskirts of Madison, Wisconsin.  My step-mother-in-law picked me up and dropped me off at my truck in Lodi.

I finished emptying and cleaning out our storage unit, made a stop at the bank, and was headed to Iowa.  In Cedar Rapids, I helped my mom with some business, and then she joined me on the road to Omaha, where she planned to spend several days with her cousin.  I continued on and spent the night at a cheap motel in Kearney, Nebraska.  On the next morning, I rolled through the rest of Nebraska, a desolate stretch of eastern Colorado, and ended up at an even cheaper motel in Albuquerque.

On the next morning, I had breakfast with Michael where we exchanged stout beers for future consumption and ate some delicious New Mexican food.  It was the first time that I've met MFH.  While it was a short visit, I hope we get to hang out again sometime.  

Then I was back on the road for probably the most scenic part of the trip, driving through the El Malpais National Monument.  I made mental notes of trails and campgrounds that I want to take time exploring.  After that it was down, down, down from above 7000 feet to the Sonoran Desert of my new home.  I was back at home with Julia and Callie by late afternoon.  

This morning, with no other remembered entanglements to Wisconsin, we are settling into our house.  On this morning's walk through the nature preserve, we encountered a new animal that was kind enough to pose with Mount Lemmon in the background.

Encounters with Nature

 Arizona is decidedly different than Wisconsin.

Our home is in the Sonoran Desert--literally.  During the past week, we've had encounters with scorpions, packrats and javelinas.  

First, I'll show the "cute" picture of the pack of javelinas that blocked our path during our morning stroll through the nature preserve.  

These javelinas were the second encounter that we had this morning.  They very lazily walked across our path and into the brush.   Didn't really give us even a glance.

Our first encounter about twenty minutes earlier was less fun.  There were two javelinas off the trail about 10 yards.  A male javelina left the female and joined us on the concrete path, staring at us from less than ten yards.  Okay, no problem.  We'll just back away.  Nope, he started trotting towards us.  Apparently they can run over 35 mph if inclined.   We decided to go off trail and circle around both animals.  As soon as we turned our backs, the male began to run faster at us.  I  turned around and started yelling loudly and waving my arm.  The other arm was attached to Callie, and javelinas don't like dogs.  Fortunately, the javelina was puzzled by my behavior and stopped following us.  No pics of that guy; I was a little busy. 

We discovered the packrats when I went to open the built-in gas grill on the back patio.  The packrat was just as surprised as me, given that no one had been living in our house for six months.  That resulted in another trip to Home Depot where I bought a couple of rat traps that were much, much bigger than the mouse traps that I'm used to.  The first night brought success.  The second night--not so much.  This will likely be an ongoing battle.  We covered up the grill openings as much as we could with heavy duty wire fencing, and aluminum plating, where possible.  

The final matter to be addressed was with the scorpions.  I bought a black light and have been venturing around the house after dark, discovering several of the little buggers each night.  Those that I found "went away."  I bought some spray that I will apply around the exterior foundation to discourage entry into our home.  

That's all the news from this corner of the Sonoran Desert.

First Monsoon Storm

 

Late afternoon yesterday, the clouds started to gather in the southwest.

 

 In the middle of the night, we heard thunder, saw flashes of lightning, and then it rained for about 30 minutes.  That wouldn't be any big deal in Wisconsin, but it felt pretty special here in the desert.  

On our morning walk, without breaking stride, Callie lapped from the occasional puddle of water.

 

Settling In

 We unloaded the U-Haul truck last Friday and have been busy unpacking and crossing off to-do lists. None of the major cell carriers have good service in our neighborhood, which is between two mountain ranges. 

The internet (fiber optic) was installed today, and that will make things much easier. Calls (WiFi calling) stopped getting dropped immediately, and I can write a blog post without timing out. 

We live in a beautiful area. I missed mountains so much.

Yeah, it’s hot, but early mornings are pleasant, and that’s my favorite time of day. 

Adventure in Moving

 

End of Day Two.  Currently in Amarillo, Texas.

Going, Gone

They were the perfect couple for our Scamp and ready to take it on their own adventures. 

We are relaxing on the spacious front porch of my brother-in-law’s cabin. It’s pleasantly cool with a view of  the lake. Scott expects to join us next week. 

Things are Fluid

As readers know, we are winding down our time in Wisconsin.  The latest news is that I will probably part ways with the Brew Hut on Saturday morning.  Looking at the state title, I've owned this Scamp for 8 years, and it's treated me well on many trips.  It has made it to eastern California, the Texas Gulf, the Outer Banks, and the Michigan's Upper Peninsula.   No complaints.  I bought it for 9k and will be selling it to a couple from western Wisconsin for 6k.  They are excited to be the next owners, having missed out on three previous attempts to buy a Scamp.

We thought hard about towing the Scamp to Arizona.  I'm going to have to make a separate trip for the truck anyway.  In the end, the long tow and the cost of storing the Scamp in Arizona made that idea less attractive.  I'm not giving up camping/traveling.  We have a plan, and it involves a downsize.  More on that  later after getting settled in Arizona.

The timing could be better.  We had hoped to stay in the Scamp until our house closing, but the Scamp's buyers are still working and have a wedding planned for that next weekend. So...we will be moving up to Julia's brother's cabin in northern Wisconsin for a week before returning to Madison to complete the closing.  

One last beer at Tumbled Rock Brewery

One last free ferry ride (Wisconsin River)

One last sniff of real grass

Saying Goodbye to Wisconsin and Friends

We've called Wisconsin home for over fifty years.  With the house inspections in our rear view mirror, it's full steam ahead for our move to Arizona in the latter part of July.

This past weekend, we went to a music festival in Milwaukee called Summerfest.  The primary purpose was to say goodbye to our friends Dave and Ruth, who live in a northern suburb. There wasn't any particular band that we wanted to see.  It was just an excuse to get together.   

 

Milwaukee skyline

The Romantics

Friends since sixth grade

Close friends

Dave lived a few doors down from me in the sixth grade. We've never been best friends, but he's the only guy from high school with whom I've stayed in contact.  When we took an organized bike ride together across the state of Wisconsin during the late 80's, he met his wife Ruth.  I stood up in their wedding, and Julia and Ruth both became very good friends. 

Dave and Ruth have both lived in the Milwaukee area for their entire lives and have no plans to ever move away.  I hope they will come visit us in Tucson, but I just don't know. Hasta luego, Dave and Ruth.  

Just before our Tucson trip, we booked a different campground close to the Wisconsin Dells area.  Things are much better maintained here, but it's pretty far from services and still gets really busy on the weekend. That gets us through to July 12th.  After that, we will spend ten days moving between a couple of county campgrounds that still had openings.  The U-Haul truck is reserved.  Adventures ahead!

 

Hot Dog!

Growing up, I never liked hot dogs. Brats? Yes. Hamburgers? Yes. But hot dogs? Don’t they make those from pig lips, intestines, and sawdust?  Anyway, that’s what I always thought.  I don’t think I’ve eaten a hot dog since I was nine.

Today, my world shook a little bit when I had my first Sonoran Hot Dog at La Reina in Tucson.  We pulled into a worn strip mall. And there he was.

This is a one man operation, open 365 days per year. You place your order at the cart, pay the man, and then head into a small air conditioned dining area, where you grab your cold drink. The man then brings you the hot dog and heads back to the cart to cook up some more in the 105 F degree heat. 

This is not your ordinary hot dog.

For $4.50, you get a toasted, buttered bun, sausage, bacon, beans, roasted onion, tomato, raw onion, mayonnaise, mustard, jalapeño sauce, and a big roasted hot pepper. Washed it all down with a Dr. Pepper.  To be honest, I could barely taste the hot dog. We will be repeat customers.

Accepted Offer

Well, we are committed now. We put in an offer on an Oro Valley home. After some back and forth, we have a contract, contingent on inspections. In Wisconsin, doing an inspection means hiring a house inspector. In Oro Valley, there are additional specialty inspections for termites, roof, HVAC, and sewer. If the inspections go well in the next two weeks, it is full steam ahead with the closing set for the third week of July.

Without locating the house for the internet, I will say that we are close to trails, pickleball and have mountain views of the Catalina and Tortolita ranges. I’m pretty excited about it. It’s a single family house, single level house with a walk-in shower. The back yard is walled/fenced for Callie’s enjoyment.  We definitely downsized and stayed within our budget, but the house has high ceilings and still feels spacious. Julia likes the house, and I like the outdoor space, so we are both satisfied.

This morning on our six mile walk, we spotted three javelinas. I managed a photo of one, but the other two were romantically involved behind the brush.

This afternoon, we stopped in at Dragoon Brewery for a hazy IPA.

With our business on the house done for the most part, we headed over to The View for burgers and music. It was nice to sit outside in the shade with a moderate breeze and cooling temps (98).  The View is the golf club restaurant at the Sun City in Oro Valley.  We looked at some homes within that community, but decided against it. Our new house is in an all-ages neighborhood.

Those old folks have some nice views though.