FROM ONE HOT PLACE TO ANOTHER

Lots has happened to the wandering Hartnetts since our last blog.  We stayed at the rental house in Sedona until July 31st.  During the last few weeks we did a lot of sightseeing -- including Bearizona (a drive-through wildlife park in Williams AZ), Montezuma’s Castle (cliff dwellings from the 1400s), and other ancient Indian settlements, such as Montezuma Well and Tuzigoot.  There is much to see there, but not a lot to do in the town.  We now know why they call Sedona “Slowdona."  Being there that long gave us a good taste of the area and we made the decision that we don’t want to live in Sedona.  It is certainly beautiful, but not for us. 

We decided that we wanted to go back to Texas (the Boerne area) to see if it might be the place for us to settle down.  We had good memories of it from when we were there in May.  We left early on Sunday (we got in the habit of getting up very early because it started to get light about 4:30 a.m.) for the long drive.  We spent the first night in  Roswell, NM then drove into Boerne Monday afternoon.

So far, so good.  We are really enjoying it.  The people we have met are just great and the food, just what we like.  We have had 3 meals here -- Mexican, barbecue and hamburgers.  We think we died and went to heaven.   Our eating habits are why we must always be close to a gym.  

The best news is we found a house to rent.  It is called a “casita” which sits on 10.5 acres in the hills, about 6 miles north of town.  It is adorable and has great air conditioning.  The woman that owns it lives up the road about a mile and is so friendly and helpful.  She recommended that we join the YMCA in town -- I told you we need to exercise.   It is a very nice, fully equipped facility with friendly people running it.  We also “joined” the brand new Public Library.  It has only been open two months and is light, airy and full of books.  We are starting to feel at home already. 

Well, we must get down to what you are all thinking about -- the heat.  Yes, it is hot.  Yes, it is summertime and it seems to be hot almost everywhere.  Sedona was surprisingly hot.  The people down here think it is humid, but after Hilton Head, we don’t feel it at all.  In fact, I think is it 103 right now and we just sat outside at a diner for our hamburgers at 2:00 p.m.  They had fans on and it didn’t seem that bad.  Of course, we would like it to be a little cooler.  Everyone says that it is an exceptionally hot summer.  Also, they are in the most severe drought they have experienced since the 1950’s.  We think that if we like it now, we will love it when it cools down and they finally get rain. 

We are very optimistic, but have not made any decisions.  We will get settled in and then maybe start looking at some houses.  The  cost of living is very low here.  Also, the 100 year old town (a “real” town with old buildings fully occupied, not abandoned, like some places we have been in the last year) is actually growing and prosperous.

America White Bison - Bearizona

Adult Black Bear - Bearizona

Baby Wolf - Bearizona

Black Bear Cub - Bearizona

Matt on hike

Even Judy went for a hike

Montezuma Well

Judy at Montezuma Well

Some of the reasons we didn't like Sedona

More reasons

Cute carton -- is that about the Hartnetts?

Longhorn seen from our hotel room in Boerne

A DAY IN THE LIFE . . .

Chapel Built in Red Rocks

Matt likes to hike on Bell Rock

One of Matt's hiking trails

Lynx just walking around in yard

Matt in RV7

Matt and Judy not far from "our house"

Judy at Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon

We don’t have a lot to report, but you might find it interesting what we do to wile away our time. 

We joined a fantastic gym (part of a Hilton Hotel spa) and have been using it almost daily.  Part of the membership was an hour with a personal trainer.  We both used that time to learn more about the strength training machines.  Two days a week we do those machines, along with either an elliptical machine or an exercise bike and floor exercises.  I have really gotten back into swimming.  I swim 60 laps (in a 75 foot pool) three days a week.  The days I swim Matt goes hiking in the red rocks.  He enjoys it for the exercise and the beauty of it.  There are endless trails here in Sedona and it is a very popular activity.  We both take walks periodically.  I think we are finally getting used to the altitude.  The first few days we were out of breath with the least amount of exertion. 

At least one day a week we try to go somewhere or do something fun.  One day last week we drove up to the Grand Canyon.  Imagine being able to be there in less than two hours.  As you all probably know, it is a spectacular place.  One day we drove to Prescott where Matt went to a shooting range and I went shopping.  One day we went to a chapel built in the red rocks then down to two wineries and had tastings at both.  Tomorrow we are going to the old mining town of Jerome. 

Every Sunday we go to the Sedona United Methodist Church.  Next to our wonderful church on Hilton Head, this is the friendliest we have found.  We stay after the service each week for a “coffee” hour and have met some very nice people.  It is fun to talk with them to see why they like living here.  On July 3rd, we went to a function at the church.  It was a fried chicken dinner then a play about the origin of "Old Glory".  Afterward we all sang patriotic songs. 

One day two of Matt's  friends flew into the Sedona airport from Tucson and took him for a ride.  They both have home built aircraft, one has an RV6 and the other an RV7.  They are built from kits purchased from Van’s Aircraft in Oregon.  They have been in business for about 25 years and there are over 1500 aircraft flying.  Our good friend in Aiken, Dick Healey, is building an RV12 right now and hopes to have it flying before the end of the year.  Matt is interested in buying one when we finally settle down.  He won’t build it himself, but may buy one from his friend who has built four RV7s and has one for sale now.  He said it would be hard to buy a plane now, when you don’t live anywhere.  Need to settle someplace with a neat airport and hangars.

I have started playing bridge on Fridays -- a hard habit to break.  I go to the local Elks Club where the Sedona Bridge Club meets.  It is “duplicate” which is not my favorite, but at least I can play some.  It will never take the place of my great bridge groups on Hilton Head. 

We are enjoying all the wildlife here.  A lynx walked through our backyard and I saw it again the next day on my walk.  Matt saw a coyote on his hike yesterday.  We see many Quail families, consisting of the two parents and about a dozen babies.  They prefer to walk than fly.  You can see a parent in the front, then the babies, then another parent.  If they are in the middle of the street, you’d better stop because they won’t fly away.  Lots of rabbits on the golf course, which may explain the coyote and the lynx.

I have now dragged Matt down to my level.  Those of you that know me well, know that I love to watch trials especially on CourtTV.  Well, I’ve been watching the Casey Anthony murder trial.  Matt has really gotten into it also.  We sat around a lot of last weekend watching the closing arguments and discussed it thoroughly.  We were disappointed with the verdict.  What a shame that beautiful little baby didn’t get “justice.”  If Casey didn’t kill her, who did? 

A few comments on Sedona -- it’s hotter than we thought it would be.  We are anxiously awaiting the monsoons that everyone keeps talking about.  There are lots of people here with long, gray ponytails driving a Subaru.  There are many places to buy beads, have “readings”, study UFO’s, etc.  The California crowd is very much in evidence.  It is a place with lots of tourists and part time residents.  Also, we think that most people here are not of our political leaning -- not that there’s anything wrong with that. 

Many of you have been asking if we have smoke from any of the wildfires.  Thankfully, the answer is no.  But, today we have dust as a result of a dust storm yesterday in Phoenix that made all the national news.  

No decisions have been made so far, but we’re enjoying life. 

Maybe some day I'll figure out this blog site -- the pictures are at the beginning, not the end.  This has happened before, but not all the times -- how come?  Anyway, enjoy them. 

Till next time. 

ARIZONA

We found the most beautiful place in the world with the most perfect weather.  Now we will see if we can live here. 

I digress, when last we spoke we were in Lubbock, Texas, getting ready to go to Arizona.  Well, we did.  We spent two days driving to Tucson (we did see some smoke from the wildfires in the distance) where we spent a week at a beautiful Embassy Suites.  The first night we were there we went to our friends from Canadair days, Frank and Diane Barker’s beautiful home in the Catalina Foothills for a glass of wine.  They then took us to their clubhouse for a dinner out on the veranda with fantastic city views.  We really enjoyed having a meal outside with a cool evening and not a single bug to interrupt our dinner!  It was a great introduction to Tucson. 

The next day we drove up to a development introduced to us by our friend Walt Fraser, called Saddlebrooke.  It is about 25 miles Northwest of Tucson.  We spent at least half of the day looking at model homes, lots to build on, and talking with the salesperson.  No, we aren’t going to build, but this is a good way to learn about the area and the houses.  This salesperson is one of many we are dragging into our “process.”  Saddlebrooke is huge -- over 5,000 homes.  In our opinion, the best part of the development is their clubhouses.  They have fantastic fitness centers, pools, tennis courts, restaurants, etc.  We fell in love with the one at The Preserve. 

Sunday, after going to a local church, we met with another realtor and looked at several houses in Oro Valley.  The rest of the week we just rode around and looked at areas.  We decided that Tucson wasn’t for  us.  We have three sets of friends there and really wanted it to work, but we don’t think it will. 

One day Matt met his friend, Warren Gretz, that we knew in Denver (haven’t seen him since the 80’s, but last year they started communicating by email -- I call them “pen pals”).  They went flying in Warren’s RV6 experimental airplane, which he built.  It is similar to the one Dick Healey is building in Aiken. 

We then drove to Prescott, AZ (pronounced “preskit”).  We were on our way to Sedona, but couldn’t get a room until Sunday, so thought we would just stop in Prescott to bide our time.  Well, we were favorably impressed with the town.  It has a great old historic downtown with lots of stores, restaurants and a beautiful courthouse square.  We even had a beer in a bar, The Palace on Whiskey Row, where Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday used to sip a cool one in between gunfights.  One evening we went to a concert on the square where people bring their chairs and the whole family listens to music.  Great fun.  We drove around looking at areas and fitness facilities, then met with a realtor.  We like the town, but didn’t really pick out a place we would be interested in living yet.  The weather was wonderful -- dry, and cool in the morning and evenings. 

Sunday, after visiting a church in Prescott, we took the scenic drive to Sedona over some mountain passes and through the historic copper mining town of Jerome.  The views and vistas were fantastic.  We got up to 7680 feet.  We came down into the Sedona valley and couldn’t believe what we saw.  The red rocks are everywhere and colors that are hard to describe (and don’t come out that well in pictures).  We just love it. 

Monday we met with a realtor recommended by Walt Fraser.  He is supposed to be the best in town.  After a long discussion on why we should buy and live in Sedona, he showed us 5 homes.  He knew we aren’t buying immediately, but wanted us to see what you got for your money here.  Some were more interesting than others.  It is easy to get a good view as the town is surrounded by mountains and it is almost all National Park land.  The town is fairly small with lots of tourists, but there are some surrounding towns, such as Oak Creek and Cottonwood, that are not as busy and have fabulous views.  At the realtor’s suggestion, we went up one of the mountains to the Enchantment Resort for a sunset drink.  Unbelievable views of the red rocks and valleys with the shadows ascending the rock cliffs as the sun goes down.  We recommend this place for our big buck friends, as it is very pricey.  You won’t catch us staying there, but it is amazing and you don’t even have to fly to France to see it.

Today we looked at some homes to rent.  We decided the best way to judge an area is to live in it for a few months.  We found a great house with wonderful views, so we took it from June 13 to July 31.  The house is located in the Sedona Golf Resort and there is a large Hilton complex there.  The advantage of the Hilton is they have a spectacular spa with lap pool, tennis courts and fitness center that is very reasonable to join on a monthly basis.  It will be good to stop staying in hotels and eating every meal out at restaurants.   We will take this time to learn the area and see if this is a place we could live in.

We are going back to Prescott tomorrow for a few days to check out some things, then will come back here Monday to move into our temporary digs. 

An interesting fact -- Arizona does not go on Daylight Savings Time -- so it is always Mountain Standard Time.   Right now, it is the same as Pacific Time.  Sunrise here is around 5:00 a.m.  We get up so early that we can’t stay awake at night.  We have been sleeping so well -- is it the fresh air or the lack of stress from owning a boat?

Stay turned to the next blog to see how we like beautiful Sedona.

We love hearing from all of you and hope you either stay dry, cool, warm or whatever, depending on what part of the country you are in. 

Sedona, Arizona

Judy and Matt at Enchantment Resort

Matt at Rental House

View from Master Bedroom at Rental House

View from area of Rental House

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

LBJ's Schoolhouse

Matt at outhouse at LBJ's original birthplace

LBJ's Air Force One (Jetstar)

Self-Explanatory

Texas Hill Country

Matt with our new Suburban, named Bubba or Big White Whale (BWW)

Well, it’s been nearly two weeks since we sold Monkey Business and we continue to be amazed at our luck in selling her so quickly.  We have fond memories of our time on her, but are glad she has a new owner. 

We have moved on . . . our new trusty Suburban has taken us well over 2,000 miles so far.  We left St. Simons Island, GA, on May 13th and got on I-10 on the way to Texas.  We made a concerted effort to cross the mighty Mississippi ahead of the flood waters heading for the Gulf.  We did not see any flooding, but the rivers were up to their banks.  As we entered Texas, it was interesting to see the first exit across the state line -- #881 -- that means it is 881 miles from there to El Paso -- showing how big a state Texas is -- and that’s just east to west.  From north to south it is even further. 

We plan to keep up our blog for those that are interested.  Instead of talking about our adventures on water, we will tell you about our adventures on land and our process to locate where we want to live.  We really plan to “do our homework” finding the right place.  Some of the things we are going to do is check out the churches, medical facilities, if there is a Walmart/SAM’s in town, go to the grocery stores to check on the prices, get the “feel” of the town and see if it has a local small airport.  We will also try to get all the information we can from Welcome Centers and Chambers of Commerce, as well as talking with local realtors.  We are also checking out the weather.  Since we are looking at these places in hot times, we know that if we like them now, the rest of the year should be enjoyable.  Despite the temperatures in the 90’s, the lower humidity makes it much more tolerable.  The cost of living is much lower here than what we are used to. 

We first drove to San Marcos, the gateway to the Hill Country, for the first night in Texas.  We decided it wasn’t for us. 

The next day we went to Fredericksburg.  It is a quaint town founded by Germans in the 1800’s.   We have heard so much about it so had to check it out.  It reminds us of Aiken, SC with a Texas twist -- lots of cute shops and restaurants all within a few blocks.  We stayed in an inn on Barons Creek, which was wonderful and at a convenient location.  We really liked the town -- there is still a huge German influence with many Germans still living there, German food and stores.  Fredericksburg is the birthplace of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz and there is a National Museum of the Pacific War there.  The museum is located in the former hotel owned by Nimitz’s grandfather.  We met with a realtor who educated us about the area then took us for a tour.  We didn’t really see any neighborhoods that we were interested in at this time, but it is “on the list.”  One day we drove up to Enchanted Rock -- a billion year old pink marble dome rock of massive proportions.  There are some incredible views of the hill country from that location.  We stayed in Fredericksburg for 4 nights.  While there we drove over to Luckenbach, Texas to look for “Waylon and Willie and the boys." Didn’t find them.  (For you non-country music fans, that’s a song.) 

We then went to Boerne (pronounced Bernie) -- also a German town.  It is an even a very quaint town.  We liked it immediately.  We looked around on our own, then met with two realtors.  We found a community that is a town of its own (Fair Oaks Ranch).  It has absolutely beautiful homes well within our price range.  Some of its advantages is being relatively close to San Antonio -- a city that is one of the fasted growing in the U.S. with low unemployment, excellent health facilities and a fun place to live.

We then went north to Marble Falls -- didn’t like it at all, so left after one night and didn’t even look around.  Lake LBJ is there, but very industrial and you might get bored watching the power boat drag racing.

Our overall impression of the Texas Hill Country is favorable -- there are some beautiful views, lots of trees, rolling hills, etc. -- even though they are going through a severe drought -- imagine how much greener is could be.  We love all the friendly people.  We also saw fields with elk, antelope, llamas and, of course, horses and cows. 

We are now in Lubbock -- no, we aren’t looking for a place here.  We needed to come here to register our new vehicle, do some banking and visit cousins -- including Nora, a week old baby.  We got to experience a typical Texas wind/dust storm.  Winds were 30 mph with gusts to 50 and lots of dirt flying. 

We are off to Arizona to check out a few places.  We’ll keep you posted.  Hope this isn’t boring.

ONE OF THE TWO HAPPIEST DAYS

We have been off the blog for quite a few weeks as we took a “land break” for the month of April to relax and make plans for the future.  We enjoyed the month in a beautiful beach side villa thoughtfully rented to us by a good friend, Bev Mellon.  We visited all of our doctors and dentists and eye people and we both passed all of our exams and tests with flying colors, thank God.  We loved seeing our friends and joining our fellow members at St. Andrew by the Sea United Methodist Church.  We have been to quite a few different churches in our travels, but St. Andrews is by far the most welcoming and has wonderful people.

Before we headed north to Hilton Head Island from Florida, by auto, we had decided to shorten our boat adventure.  We felt that we had checked off the boat adventure on our Bucket List and figured that although the market for larger boats has improved, it could take as much as a year to sell Monkey Business.  We put her on the market and had some immediate results.  Initially we got a low offer, from a UK couple, that did not develop to an acceptable level and was rejected.  We  also had two other showings to people who were interested, but had to sell their current boat.  We then had a showing with a broker from Delray Beach who said he had the perfect client for the boat, but we did not hold out any immediate hope for that deal.  We were encouraged by the activity, but did not get our hopes up.

While we were visiting Hilton Head, the Delray Beach broker made an offer on Monkey Business on behalf of a Canadian buyer and the negotiations began.  We reached an agreement and the boat was surveyed and went through a sea trial in Brunswick, GA, in early May and was delivered and closed on May 13, 2011.  A little quicker sale than we anticipated, but we are very happy with the deal and the boat has a new, very experienced owner who will register her in Canada.

We know that anyone who has owned a boat knows about the two happiest days of a boat owner’s life -- the day you buy your boat and the day you sell your boat.  We agree with that premise.  When you are done with an experiment, like living on a boat full time, you want the boat to go away.  We sure enjoyed our seven months aboard and have seen many beautiful places, but the lifestyle is a bit “flaky” and not really to our liking.  We are looking forward to establishing ourselves in a community.  Now we just have to find out where we want to live. 

We also retired our 136,000 mile 2003 Lexus, after we realized that our upcoming travel involved quite a bit of stuff to haul around and it would overwhelm the space in our four door sedan.  We traded the old road warrior for a Chevy Suburban.  This thing is so big it has a family room in the back!  We are surprised at the smooth ride in such a big vehicle.  It actually gets about 20 MPG on the highway, which is not much lower than the big Lexus at 23 MPG.  Mileage around town is not very good, but we only have one car and it is fun to drive and intimidate people in the motorized roller skates some of them drive.  We also feel a little more patriotic driving an American truck/SUV that was actually built in Arlington, Texas.  It looks great with our Texas plates on it!

We are heading to Texas to spend some time in the Hill Country around Austin and NW of San Antonio.  Beautiful country and we want to get a feel for the area.  After that, we will go over to southern Colorado and down to Santa Fe.  We will also take a look at the Sedona area of northern Arizona as well as visit some friends in the Tucson area.  Another period of moving around, but it is a great time in our lives to “See The USA In Our Chevrolet.”

We know this is a lot of news for you to digest -- imagine what it is for us!  We haven’t mentioned this to anyone because we didn’t want to jinx the deal and to make sure that it actually closed, but now you know.   

We will continue the blog for the foreseeable future, as some of you may be interested in our whereabouts and our travel experiences.  Until then, thanks for checking in and we hope you enjoy reading about the controlled chaos of our lives.

Our best to all,

Matt & Judy

Happy Birthday to Judy on her 60th!

Judy heading out to celebrate the six oh!

We are on Hilton Head Island celebrating a BIG birthday for Judy.  Hard to believe this child is now 60 years old!  She is as beautiful and youthful as when we met 37 years ago.  Maybe a little more wear from living with Matt, but not too bad.  See the photo of her getting ready to go to a celebratory dinner with some friends.

We are enjoying our "land break" and the weather has been wonderful.  We are looking forward to the Heritage Golf Classic here on the island the next four days.  Weather should be perfect and you can catch the action on CBS this weekend.


We have completed almost all of our doctor visits scheduled this month, and both of us have come through with flying colors, for which we thank God.  The visit has been great with seeing our former neighbors, fellow church members and all our good HHI friends.  We have missed everyone.

This is a short entry, but more to follow as we continue our travels in May.

Take care,

Matt & Judy

NEWS FROM THE LAND

As mentioned before, we decided to leave the boat in Florida and spend the month of April on land.  We have rented an oceanfront condo on Hilton Head and are having a great time.  The weather has been perfect.  We've been seeing lots of friends -- meeting them for breakfasts, lunches and dinners.  Everyone looks great and people say we do too.  I've already played bridge a couple of times and have  more games scheduled.  Matt is playing tennis right now with his "old buddies". 

The next two weeks will be filled with doctors' appointments.  We scheduled all our our annual checkups for these two weeks.  We hope to get all good reports -- we're not worried about anything, but as you get older you just don't know.  We both are feeling well, which we are thankful for. 

On our way here, we went by Aiken, S.C. to spend a couple of nights with our friends, Dick and Loretta Healey.   Dick, at age 80, is building an airplane in his basement.  Matt was most anxious to see Dick's progress and was very impressed. 

Back in the summer when we were packing up the house, I came across my mother's Army uniform.  I didn't want to put it in storage again then have it sit in an attic forever.   We found a brochure for the Aiken, S.C. Historical Museum which advertised that they displayed military uniforms.  We contacted them and they wanted Mother's uniform.  We took it up there in September and they said they would display it in the future.  We didn't know if they would or not.  Well, while we were in Aiken a week ago, we went by the museum and were pleasantly surprised to see it on a mannequin in a prominent location.  We were so excited and are sure Mother would be too.  I had given them a write up of her service and a 5 x 7 photo of her in the uniform.  They displayed both and even put a dark, curly wig on the mannequin to look like her.   

Matt at our condo

Hilton Head beach

My mother's Army uniform at the Aiken County Historical Museum

Pvt. Edith Marie Pinckley

This is short, but just wanted you to know what we are up to.  Until next time . . .