Parked for the winter.

We arrived in Gold Canyon on November 1^st of 2004 to join the flock of Snowbirds descending from the Midwest and Canada. Gold Canyon is an unincorporated area located at the very southeastern edge of the Phoenix sprawl known variously as The Valley of the Sun…The Salt River Valley…or simply The Valley. The Canyon Vistas RV Resort is our winter home. It is a luxurious upscale park with all the amenities (minus a spa) that the word resort implies. From our site we have views of the beautiful Superstition Mountains. Since the resort butts up against open desert land we can hear the eerie howls of the coyotes after a kill and view the silhouetted Saguaros at sunset.

A survey of the license plates of the rigs in the park, quickly told us that a smooth adjustment to the snowbird life would require dusting off all our social skills. One learns to tactfully sort through a big mix of people that includes not only the cultural divide of the Blue and Red states, but Germans and French speaking Canadians.

The playing of board games are social events and we have been initiated into the world of Jokers and Pegs and Mexican Train. These games appear to be played only in RV parks, have numerous regional variations, and are usually played men vs. women. The social graces mandate that one be skillful enough to make clever chit chat while crushing your opponent.

A walk around the park makes one thing abundantly clear: most RVers personalize their site with all sorts of stuff such as wind socks, flags, wind chimes, plants, sculptures, stuffed animals etc. The Christmas holidays brought out elaborate light displays and decorations.

To our shame and social humiliation, our site is devoid of any adornments that show the world what we value or who we think we are. We are currently meditating on how to rectify this glaring deficit … maybe a personalized name plate would be a good start.

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