This is our last full day in Yuma, AZ. We leave tomorrow for another volunteer gig at a wildlife refuge north of Las Vegas, NV. We’ve been assured that the wildlife refuge staff and property get along with their neighbors. So, we’re good to go. We will be there until April and then move toward OR.

Our plan that we made in New Mexico while we were shivering for real from conditions we have tried to avoid since leaving MN 3-plus years ago was to spend the month of January someplace where it’s a lot warmer than New Mexico. That would be Yuma. Sure enough we have found warm weather this month. Right now it is shortly after noon time, and the temps are in the 70’s. OK, that objective was met.

The other objective was to start thinking more seriously of our future, what we would do and where would we do it. Experiencing snowbird communities is an option. We did, and we are definitely working on Plan B. These are old people here at the campground where we have spent January. Everywhere we go in Yuma, there are old people. The lines to get prescriptions filled at Walmart rival the lines waiting to get in to see Star Wars on opening day. And if you really want to be a part of the retirement community you really do need to join the shuffleboard-canasta-potluck crowds. It didn’t take us long to start looking in earnest for some volunteer gig.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s been a wonderful month and we are glad to have spent it in Yuma among all the other grey hairs. Because there are so many of us, there are lots of opportunities to see and do stuff. Every Thursday night there is a free jazz concert in the big shopping mall in Yuma. There are tours, entertainment, new things to see and do and taste that it has been a wonderful 4 weeks. And, yes, being in Yuma provided us the opportunity to see Star Wars and Revenant. Hooray! But we’re done. We’re ready to move on. And tomorrow is the day to begin our 16^th volunteer gig. It’s good to be needed and have a purpose. So, onward; no slowing down.