Crank it up

Gee, what a difference a month can make!  We put this blog to bed four weeks ago yesterday and, poof, now it's rising up from its slumber as a new chapter begins.  About 5 weeks from now we will be back in Old Airy Zonie, once again.  Time to don our Snowbird Persona and crank this blog back to life.

We will maintain dual blogs for the foreseeable future.  The Daily News blog is a great venue for just about everything that's happening in our lives.  This blog is going to be a tad more "Arizona Specific."

We are already very excited about being about to be Double Dipper Snowbirds this season.  How good is that?  This trip promises to be a whole lot more fun that the last trip which was 100% all work and no play.  We can promise you there will be a lot of play in the upcoming trip.  There's stuff we will have to do to the property but it won't be as all encompassing as the Nov-Dec. trip was.

It's exciting to know, for example, that our internet connection is there waiting for us.  The power is live and turned on and ready to roll.  The propane tank and heater and waiting for the turn of a valve and the click of a switch.  This time we will be able to tow the Nissan down, too.  We'll take our bicycles, river gear, hiking stuff, cast iron inventory, BBQ and a whole lot more.  YAAA--WHOOO!

One of the biggest potential joys of being in Arizona this spring is the possibility of a gang-busters whitewater rafting season.  There's a HUGE snowpack sitting in the High Country down there right now.  If a tropical storm doesn't come along with a big warm rain and wash all that snow off, the runoff season in the Salt & Verde Rivers will be one to remember for a long time.  There are a ba-jillion rafting, canoeing and kayaking possibilities for this upcoming high water season.  We're really looking forward to it.

It should be a pretty danged good wild flower year, too, so the hiking possibilities are very exciting.
I've already put in a call to Max C. the manager of the Verde River Greenway to see if we can volutneer to update the canoe guide we prepared in early 2007.  Nancy McC. and I spent some time in the Middle Verde but the water was SOOO darned low we didn't get much accomplished.  Maybe we can remedy that this year during her Spring Break. 

We have also set the stage for some potential volunteering at Montezuma Well National Monument and we will be doing some advance legwork in that regard before we head south.

As you can already see, this blog really needs to come back to life to chronicle our prep and ideas for the Arizona trip.

The Snowbirds are BAAACK!