I’m back! And eager to go adventuring again.

My next trip starts tomorrow, May 27, but first let's back up.

From March 20 to May 16 I was back at Pancho Villa State Park to complete my two-month volunteer commitment. My time was spent on the usual tasks – serving as campground host, staffing the visitor center, thinning out cactus, and working to re-start/re-energize the Friends group. The weather was mostly delightful, in spite of the (in)famous New Mexico Spring winds. Those windy afternoons were spent hunkered down to read or get some of my writing work done.

A major highlight was the nearly daily visit of a bobcat. Each evening he/she came through the park looking for water. One alert camper had a camera nearby as the bobcat meandered through his campsite. And, yes, Cat was safely inside by 6 p.m. each day.

After arriving back home, a flurry of activity commenced: Jeremiah to service for engine tune up, transmission and brake services. When that was done, I moved my motorhome to the RV dealer to take care of some maintenance and repairs to the “house” portion.

As I was sitting in the showroom waiting for the work to be done, Scot (the salesman I bought Jeremiah from) came by and invited me to follow him to see a motorhome that came in a couple of days ago. I stepped into a 29’11” 2007 Aspect. It was love at first sight. Within a couple of hours, I had decided to trade motorhomes. The next day my friend Hilda and I were back to finalize the sale and move personal items from Jeremiah to “Jeremiah the Second” (Jeremiah 2 for short).

Both motorhomes are built on a Ford 450 chassis and except for length and number of slides they look quite a bit alike.

Basically, here’s the difference between motorhomes

Jeremiah: 26’7”, corner bed, dining area slide-out

Jeremiah 2: 29’11”, bedroom slide-out with queen-sized bed, dining slide out, full-width bathroom, upgraded cabinets.

So the past two days (Sunday and Monday) were spent figuring out where to put my things. Not an easy task because the layout of cabinets, etc. are totally different.

Tomorrow, May 27, Jeremiah 2 makes its inaugural trip. My friend Hilda will be joining Cat and me for the first week. We are meeting up with four other Winnebago owners at the National Park at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon (May 28 – 30) then driving to Moab, Utah, for three days (May 31 – June 2).

On June 3, Hilda will be coming back to her home in Albuquerque and I will continue south. My first stop will be Flagstaff where I plan to tour my college alma mater (Arizona State College; now Northern Arizona University). From there I’ll go to Phoenix and Prescott. I’ll be home June 18.