1168 October 19, 2024 Payson, Arizona

We were up early. It was cold last night but we had no snow.

I walked a short while in the campground. It was a small space and there wasn’t a lot of walking room.

We left for Payson, heading south. As we approached Flagstaff, there was snow on the roadsides and the mountains.

Shortly after we passed through town and began to descend in elevation, the snow disappeared.

We drove several hours first on the interstate and then through forest.

We arrived in Payson around lunchtime.

We saw several people walking by our RV and stopping and pointing. They lingered there awhile, and we thought is a little odd. Later in the afternoon, I went out to walk. A woman saw me and came to talk. She wanted to know if our rig was new. She said that until this year, her husband and she had owned a similar Tiffin. He suffered a stroke this spring and they were forced to sell. They now travel in a smaller van. She said that her husband loved his Tiffin. When he saw us pull in, he just had to come and look. When Tim and I talked about it later, we were reminded how fortunate we are to have our health and to be able to travel and explore the way we do. Life is short.

We spent a quiet and uneventful day.

The sky was weird tonight.

We did venture into town this evening for dinner at La Sierra Mexican Restaurant. After our meal, we were chatting and I mentioned to Tim that I had been watching the family next to us. A couple with three teenage boys. The boys seemed to be happy and they seemed to get along well. Tim looked over and saw that the father was wearing muddied work boots. Tim reached over to the man and told him that he had a beautiful family. The two men shared stories of hard work and raising boys and the rewards and stresses of each. This guy was working 16 hours a day at two jobs and missing his family. He did a bunch of side work and eventually, he was able to start his own business. The mother helps to do the paperwork and payroll and bills. We had a lot in common with this young family. We are on the other side of all that now…but we did it too.

We had a delicious meal.