Far Horizons Resort, Tucson, Arizona

We have been in Tucson, Arizona since November 12th and are really enjoying the weather and activities at the resort. Who would have thought a 55 and over resort would have so much to offer and so many people to interact with? There are a lot of people here that live here at the resort but there are also "Snowbirds" who move south during the winter months and north during the summer months to be in a more constant temperature/weather range.

I feel like I am in the Air Force on assignment again with all of the different license plates around us in the Tucson area.  Most of the plates are from the northern most states as well as from Canada.  We see plates from Washington State, New York, North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Oregon, Ohio, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Tennessee, Colorado, Northwest Territory, Ontario, and Alberta. Military planes fly over a lot. Even the A-10S that are being retired, going to the boneyard soon.  We do see the newer fighter aircraft as well as some of the ones I used to work on while I was in the Air Force. Davis-Monthan Air Force Base is located here in Tucson.

We have found there are other 55 and over resorts here in Tuscon and the Phoenix/Mesa area so we are looking into those as well, but we will most likely return to the Tucson area again next year since we are trying to figure out where exactly we want to retire. We don't want to deal with the snow and freezing weather in our golden years. We want to have stores nearby and places to go, and people our own age to hang out with who want the same things as we do. 

Enjoy the pics!

New Years Eve 2023

Our site since 12 Nov 2023

The Laundry Room where I spend a lot of time!

Prep for one of the street meals

The Bike/Walking Trail

The Bike/Walking Trail

Christmas time in Tucson

A10 Flyover

Walking Path

Bike Path next to Walking Path

Just wondering if Shaun Fisher has been here?

Beautiful view

"Road Runner, Bella's after you!"

All cottages in a row

The houses behind the resort

Beautiful Mountains

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Wapakoneta KOA

We stayed at the Wapakoneta KOA during the summer of 2023, mid-May through the end of October while my Wife Deb worked at St. Rita's Hospital in Lima, Ohio. We were impressed with the Customer Service Skills of the staff and their ability to handle almost anything that came up or come their way. The Wapakoneta KOA staff handled everything with a smile and followed up to make sure campers were happy and had a great time. A special shout out goes to the Managers, Kevin and Karen for a successful summer along with their staff, Pat & Ken, Larry & Mary, and to Ryan who hired these people to take care of the campground.

The campground has small sites width wise but that doesn't stop people from camping there.  In fact, they have half a dozen campers that are seasonal who enjoy staying at the campground during the summer.

 One thing that I will remember about this summer at Wapakoneta was a fly getting into my ear while I was sitting on the bench in the K9 Camp area. I heard a buzzing sound and the next thing you know there was a fly in my ear. I tried to shake it out, Q-Tip it out, and finally decided to just drown the thing by pouring water into my ear. Once I figured out that I wasn't going to get it out, I went to the Wapakoneta Urgent Care, and they couldn't get it out either. I then went to the ER at St. Rita's and after a couple of nurses and doctors tried to get it out, they couldn't get it out either.  So, I was sent to an Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) Doctor. They were finally able to get it out with a suction tool that the Urgent Care nor the ER at St. Rita's did not have.

We enjoyed the Pool during the summer and the large area in the back of the KOA where we could walk our dogs and kids could play in the playground area.  The game room was a treat too. Although I did spend about $25 trying to win a stuffed animal which I finally won.  When I took it back to the RV with me our dog Bella figured it was hers and took it. She loves her stuffed animals.

Below are a few pictures of Wapakoneta KOA.  Enjoy.

Cross Creek Campground Resort (CCCR)

We spent most of the summer at Cross Creek Campground Resort (CCCR) which is next to Alum Creek State Park near Delaware, Ohio. We stayed from June 3rd through August 25th, 2022, on the same site full time. We took car trips back home to Dayton, Ohio area frequently to visit friends/relatives who live in the area.

Everyone who worked at the campground was very friendly and helpful.  We all enjoyed our stay, including our three dogs.  Molly, our mixed lab we got from a shelter as a pup didn't make it through the entire stay though. She was diagnosed with cancer before we left Wilmington, NC to come back to Ohio. You can read more about Molly at her Tribute Memorial Site if you wish.

I got into the pool here at the campground at least once after a hot and frustrating day of cleaning up after a Great Dane who had diarrhea, so I could cool off and rest.  I planned on getting into the pool more before we left and was hoping Deb would get into it as well. Pool always got pretty crowded during the weekends, so we pretty much only got in during the week when there weren't as many campers at the campground.

We still had our cherished campfires, cookouts, and walked the dogs a lot. We still enjoyed the amenities of home like TV, Movies, Internet, and Music.  After all, the Motorhome is our home.  It goes with us wherever we go except for when we have to travel via air for vacation away from the Motorhome.

We had to stay in a hotel when our rear AC unit died after a storm passed through right about our second weekend at the campground while we were having heat indexes going over 100 degrees. We did go back to the Motorhome during the first weekend since it cooled off but ended up back in a hotel after the weekend when the heat wave hit again.

It took a shipment of 4 AC units to finally get a good AC unit to replace the original AC unit that died. The time frame went from around June 14th up until July 25th to finally get a good serviceable unit in place in the bedroom of the Motorhome to keep it cool. Felt sorry for the AC repairman climbing up and down on the roof each time only to find out the new AC unit he just installed didn't work.  The second unit he put in actually worked for 5 days but then died. We went out and bought one of the portable floor AC units that vent through a window so we wouldn't have to go stay in a hotel again.  While that helped, it wasn't really like the AC should be when both the AC units on the roof are running. Since we couldn't vent the portable AC unit through any of the Windows in the back of the Motorhome, we had to put the portable AC unit next to one of the sliding windows in the cab to cool the living room area and close all the vents from the roof AC unit in the front so the air would blow through the open vents in the back of the Motorhome.

After all was said and done, the AC repairman sent me a picture of the bad AC units telling me he was calling it "Smith Tower".

We had put up our dog fence and had expanded it out to the edge of our site before we were told we had to take it down.  We were told we were allowed to put it up temporarily for training purposes but had to take it down when training was over.  We were told everyone who had fences were told the same thing.  It was disappointing though, to see when other people came in, they put up fences and weren't told to take them down so we said something and was told those people would have to be told to take them down as well.

Overall, we enjoyed our time at Cross Creek Campground Resort despite the fence issue.  We just tied our dogs to the torch stakes so they could sit out by the fire with us, and they seemed to be happy with that.  The ideal situation would have been to be able to use the fence so our dogs could roam freely on our site, but people are afraid of our big dogs.  I guess they think they will jump the fence and come get them, but deep inside they are the same as the little dogs and wouldn't hurt anyone, unless of course someone were to attack us, and they could see we were in danger.

I was impressed by one young lady who I nicknamed "Barefoot Blacktop Walker". No lie, when it was close to 100 degrees this girl was walking barefoot on the blacktop.  I had to ask her if it burned her feet and of course she said no.  I told her she must not have any feeling in her feet.  I bet she could walk on burning coals like you hear about and see in movies.  I only saw her with a pair of shoes on once, and it was just before she left for school.

Below are pictures we took while we were at Cross Creek Campground Resort. Enjoy!

Pics of the dogs enjoying the campground.

Lebanon/Cincinnati NE KOA Holiday

We stayed at the Lebanon KOA between May 30th through June 3rd for the first time since it became a KOA before moving off to Columbus, Ohio for Deb's contract during the summer of 2022.  It was called Cedarbrook Campground the last time we stayed there years ago.  We actually had a monthly site there one summer when it was called Cedarbrook and we had our Cougar Fifth Wheel we pulled with our F350 Dually Super Duty Truck.

While the layout of the campground remained the same, some of the sites were replaced with cabins and a couple of more shower houses/restrooms were added.

Several sites have been upgraded to concrete slabs/patios along with amenities for them to be part of what makes the campground a KOA Holiday.

There are still some employees working there who were there when it was Cedarbrook.  All of the employees were very friendly, courteous, and helpful. We would definitely return to this campground to stay for future visits.

Below are pics of this campground.