Back home.

Hello everyone.  Here is the last post on our latest adventures.  Oh my goodness it is amazing how fast these pictures loaded.  What has taken 30 minutes on the road took 1 minute here at home.

 My first picture to share with you is of the cactus in the corner of the RV park.  They had done some nice work around the park planting cactus and making it look quite appealing.  Beside the RV park was a pathway that wound around a plot.  We walked the path and noted signs around it that had interesting quotes.  It also measured how many feet one has gone.  Plus each post had the Caution sign.  We discovered that the business next door had made it. 

 I kept wondering about these holes in the dirt.  Snakes?  I came to the conclusion that they must be for Hares.  Bugs Bunny forgot to put out his mailbox.

 Below you see dirt with a pile of green stuff.  The green stuff are itty bitty leaves from the tree on the right that were being cut by ants and carried to their home.

The picture below was taken as we were driving to Katchner Caverns.  The caverns were discovered in the early 70's when two university students went down into a sink hole.  What is so cool is that these caverns have been kept in pristine condition.  Caves that were discovered in the 1800's, like Lewis & Clark, or the 20's, like Carlsbad, have had deterioration.  L&C has had much of it taken as souvenirs.   Katchner Caverns allows no cameras, cell phones, purses, etc..... It is very warm in there, so don't wear a jacket around your waist that might touch the inside.  They have special doors to limit air and condensation.  In fact, we went through a mist to keep lint from flying off our clothes.  It was beautiful in there.  Saw things that I've never seen in any other caverns.  But no cameras.  So no pictures for you. 

No cavern pictures for you, but here is a selection of what I've been crocheting.  The black thing in the back is a black scarf for Reuben.  He wanted black.  It's not finished because I need more yarn.  The rest you see are dish clothes or scrubbies.  Easy 2 hour projects.  Some of the scrubbies I have made larger to put sponges inside.

We had to put the 5th wheel into storage.  We parked it on our last morning in Benson, AZ.  I got to do one of my favorite things.  Climb up on the to of the 5th wheel!  Richard needed an extra pair of hands to put the cover on.  What took him 5 hours last year, took us together only an hour.  I don't know how he did it by himself.  Anyway, a train went by while I was up on the roof.

Fairbanks hasn't had much snow until we arrived.  Today's activity was to clean the driveway, and Richard took his Ural out for a test drive.  He came back too soon for me to get set up to take a good picture.  lol.

 And to conclude the pictures---your two hosts of the blog.  Leinen and Artie.  How are they doing?  Well, it was a pretty long ride for them in the belly of the airplanes.  Each airplane we rode on gave us notes that the dogs were on board and doing fine.  They were quite anxious to get outside when we arrived in Fairbanks.  Leinen has been shivering in the snow, so he gets to wear a coat.  Artie loves the snow and wants to walk for miles.  When we were in Arizona he loved the shade.  Artie has sniffed out the neighborhood here and make sure every bush has his scent.  Artie likes the bigger living arrangements so he can run around more.  But he also likes the fenced in dog parks on our travels.

 So----how do I feel about being home? 
Pros---Catching up on doctor and dentist visits.  Seeing friends.  Better wifi.  I know my grocery stores, and I know where to find things.  Don't worry about snakes or spiders.  I can walk the dogs without stressing out that Leinen is going to start making a racket at another dog.  Snow is pretty.
Cons---I miss the warm sun.  No Pool or Hot tub here.  No fenced in dog park.  This house is much harder to clean.  I'm cold. 

I'm happy to be home to connect with friends and sons, travel to VA, have David and Alexa for Christmas, then I'll be happy to get back down to AZ.