Year 1 Day 20: It’s All About The People

One of the main reasons we love to travel is it gives us the opportunity to meet so many wonderful people.  Our ten years of sailing around the world really restored our faith in mankind as everywhere we went, we met people who were kind, generous and just plain nice.  Before we sailed, we had a rather biased perspective having watched all of the horrible things that the 24/7 cable news shows focus on.

We discovered that while there is evil in the world, the vast majority of people are very considerate, kind and are just trying to make the world a better place for their families and future generations.  This discovery has had a major impact on us and we now view things with a fresh perspective given our firsthand experience with reality.

Given how polarized the US has seemed to become given the current political situation, we are anxious to see if this has impacted how people interact and discover what concerns they have and what they are doing about it.  We have hope that our faith in mankind will be maintained.

Our first set interactions at our first boondocker’s stop has been wonderful.  Our host, Richard, decided to join Boondockerwelcome.com so he could pay his good fortune forward and help others enjoy life and experience living in the Arizona desert.  He has been so kind, generous and interested in helping in anyway possible.  To return his kindness, we hosted him and his former wife, Utta, to dinner.  While no longer married, they are still the best of friends.

Mary Margaret spent last night whipping up her delicious spaghetti sauce and then letting it steep overnight in our Quarter Acre pot.  Utta brought a killer salad she tossed together once she and Richard arrived. We enjoyed their company very much as we got to know them over a nice bottle of wine that Richard brought.

As anticipated, the meal was fabulous and was only outdone by the companionship we all shared.  We ended up getting a tour of Richard’s house, which they both had decorated beautifully.  Each room had its own theme and each room was filled their beautiful artwork that they had painted and furniture that Richard has built.  Utta is a very talented artist and while Richard modestly denies it, he is also!

We ended the night sitting outside overlooking their pool and the stars in the dark sky, while the girls talked and laughed and Richard and I enjoyed some scotch and some Cuban cigars.  It was a great end to a great evening.

This is the view of Richard’s backyard which is an oasis in the desert.

This is the back part of his beautiful house.

This is where we are able to park the Beast (which my cousin Bill has suggested we name LeuC).  We are able to plug into 30 amps of power and hook the hose up to Richard’s water.