WANDERING WITH THE WRIGHTS    

November 21, 2021

We like to say that we make plans and then we wait and see what God has in mind (frequently different than ours).  We actually love living this way.  We feel we need plans to have something in mind for down the road but we love God stepping in and adjusting those plans - guess whose plans are always right for us - Yep God's.

So I ended the last blog with the following "I hope we haven't bored you to death with all the pictures - and as I said things are going to slow down some.  We are slowly heading to Palmdale, CA to do a SOWERS mission project and Jerry will be able to visit with his family that he hasn't seen in three years before returning to Benson, AZ our winter home right before Thanksgiving."

Well God turned us a different direction and everything worked out beautifully.  We did miss seeing a few people - Betsy & Britta in California but other than that His plans worked out beautifully.

We had just finished up almost two weeks at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta so decided to stay on Old Route 66 for awhile and found ourselves in Winslow, AZ

A really nice small town and of course had to have our picture taken Stand-on' on The Corner

Built in tribute to the Eagle's song "Take it Easy" 

Jerry and Teddy by Flatbed Ford

Glen Frey, founder of the Eagles

Walking back to the coach we saw an alleyway with the 

It is dedicated to all Veterans 

During this time frame we had a couple of personal blessings

My cousin and our neighbor for over 21 years, Lauri & Shaun became grandparents for the first time.

Kayla and Jerrad had a beautiful baby girl named Huntley - so happy for all of them

And our oldest grandson, Calvin, turned 18 - he has been accepted to Northern IL University and will be starting in the spring - could not be prouder of him!!

Another picture of Calvin all dressed up for a wedding with his Father Chris and his Grandma Becky  Love the bow ties 

We then spent a little over a week in Camp Verde, AZ  

From there it was an easy drive up to beautiful Sedona, AZ

A very modern home 

Jerry giving our home a bath

We were able to have lunch with our good friends Stu and Julie who live in Payson

The delightful couple we stayed with in Camp Verde.  They used to have a motorhome and traveled about six months out of the year but due to health reason's have had to come off the road - so they generously offer a place to park to others in the area.  We so enjoyed visiting with them and getting to know them.

Our motorhome parked next to their home

We were able to take a scenic train ride into the Sedona area also

We were way back by the caboose - this is the engine way ahead of us

They served a delicious box lunch onboard

We had seats inside but spent most of our time outside enjoying the beautiful scenery 

Our last sightseeing while in Camp Verde was at the Montezuma Castle

Southern Sinagua farmers built this five-story, 20 room dwelling sometime between 1100 and 1300.

It occupies a cliff recess 100 feet above the valley.  It is now, unfortunately badly deteriorated, it once was an imposing five-story apartment like building with 45 rooms.

This picture is a diorama of what it was like

We then traveled over to Tempe, AZ to visit some very important people to us - 

unfortunately I didn't always to remember to take pictures!!

We visited with a friend from many years ago - Dave VanHook and Susan

My 2nd cousin and her boyfriend and son - Heather, Jason and Jimmy

Next Time We Must Take Pictures!!

This is a picture of a dear friend that I hadn't seen since sometime in the 80's.  She went through some rough times with me and was always such a loyal friend and great support.  We had lost touch until her son found my son on Facebook and we all reconnected.  While we were in Tempe we visited Sandy at her beautiful home in Mesa and had a wonderful lunch - but more importantly reconnected and shared many old memories.  

And then after almost 3 years since his birth we got to meet Connor, Jerry's great nephew.  

This guy is incredible - he was 1.2oz at birth, was in the NICU for many months but thanks to his amazing parents, incredible doctors and nurses and lots of prayers he is thriving.  

Now we are prejudice but we think he is darling and he is as smart as a whip.

He obviously has good taste as he really likes his Uncle Jerry

And then the highlight was having a wonderful afternoon with Jerry's sister, Deena and brother-in-law Tim (Connor's grandparents).  Their daughter Ali and of Connor's parents Scott and Sara (Sara is the photrapher).  Tim and Deena came in from California!

We arrived back to our winter home in Benson, AZ on November 1st, 3 weeks ago today.  It was so great to see our friends here and to get back to sitting still for awhile after all of our traveling since leaving IL the middle of August.  We are back serving on a variety of volunteer committees that we love and enjoying all the park has to offer.  They had a wonderful tribute to all of the veterans here on Veterans Day.

We have a lot of talented people here in the park and the knitters and quilters made 12 beautiful throws for the veterans.  Names were pulled out of a hat to see who would receive one.

If you still send us Christmas cards, this is not a solicitation, but if you do you can mail them to us here in Benson if you like:  600 E Saguaro Drive  Lot 9  Benson, AZ 85602

We started this blog telling you how things change - another change is that we might have told you we planned on going to Alaska this coming summer and would not be back in IL - however, plans change and we are putting that trip off for a year so we will be back in Park City from approximately mid-June til mid-September.

And last but certainly not least we wish each and everyone one of you a Happy, Healthy and Wonderful Thanksgiving,