We’re in Yuma, Arizona

 

February 1, 2015                                                                                                                   Lorraine’s report

Hello everyone….Go Seahawks….What a great day here for the game.  All this week, we have seen the “12” man all over town.  There are enough Seahawks around for us to make a big, loud “Go Seahawks” during the game and after. 

So another week has passed.  It was kind of a quiet week after the our big adventure with the “towing of the rig” last week.  So glad it was taken care of.  We have started cleaning out the rig, spring cleaning….Sometimes it’s hard to know what to keep and what to throw away.  Oh well, whatever.

So one day we went to see American Sniper.  What an intense movie!   I can not believe the sacrifice some men go through to serve their country.  And that Michael Moore, calling the guy a coward.  Man, he had never served our country, so they never knew what sacrifice, hardships and loneliness a person endures while the person is away serving our country.  It’s pathetic!!!

One day we went into Mexico with Brenda & Carl.  Chuck and I both have work that needs to be done with our doctor, Dr. Ramos.  We have been going to see him since we went on the road-2007.  It was nice to see they are doing okay, looks like his business is growing.  So happy for him and his staff.

One day we were busy so Chuck said we should go and eat, we had been busy all day.  We went down to a café, but there was a long line, so we headed over to Kentucky Fried Chicken.  We got in and who do we find, but Barb/Dennis, Rob/Norma and Steve/Sandy.  They had gotten in some time during the last week from Quartzsite, AZ.  Well, we ended up sitting at the table with Steve/Sandy, everyone was happy to see each other.  Talk about being in a small world.  Who knew when we left that we would run into them at the KFC for dinner. Pretty Amazing. 

So I just made us up some snack food for the game.  I do miss being with my sister, Thelma back home.  She is having a big Super Bowl party for Carl’s birthday party.  He always gets his party on Super Bowl Sunday.  Lucky him.  All the family gets together and has a big, fun filled time for his party.  So much food, it’s hard to taste it all with everyone bringing lots.

So now we just have to wait until the dentist  finishes up our appointments with the dentist.  Then who knows.  Chuck want to go back to Lake Havasu/Bullhead City.  And then we head back to be with Susy for her surgery.

So that is it for me.  Hope everyone has a good week.  Go Seahawks….

Hugs,

Lorraine 

 

2/1/15                                                                                                                                       Chuck’s report

It’s Super Bowl Sunday so most folks can figure out what I’m doing today, GO HAWKS!  We have decided to stay at our place and watch the game, that way I can hear/see it better and yell whenever I want to.  One good thing about the game being played in Arizona is we sure see lots of Seahawks fans around so maybe there will be a “12th Man” effect inside the stadium and help out the Seahawks.  Game starts in about 5 hours and by then Lorraine will have some snacks and stuff ready too, game day, yea.

Let’s see, last week we were towed or actually carried on a low boy trailer, into Yuma and they found our problem was a broken heater hose.  It was repaired and we were on our way to our planned stop at Yuma Lakes RV Park.  So far everything has been ok with the repair and no problems, we stopped before the engine temperature got hot so that wasn’t a big concern but you never know.  I washed most of the antifreeze off the coach and we’ve ran the car through a car wash but both still have that distinct smell so I’ve checked things out pretty carefully to make sure there isn’t another leak somewhere. 

Last Monday we made a run to Wal-Mart then sort of did honey-dos around the coach, there’s always something that needs to be fixed/repaired, just like in a sticks and brick house. 

Tuesday was our appointment with our dentist in Mexico.  We asked Brenda and Carl if they wanted to ride along and go to Mexico with us and they said yes.  Around noon we got in the car and headed over to the parking lot just this side of the border at Algodones.  We parked the car and waked into Mexico, once again there is no check point or anything, you go through a turnstile and you're in Mexico.  One thing that has changed over the years is there are more soldiers or guards carrying guns but they don’t seem to be stopping or bothering anyone but just the same, it shows heighten security over past years. 

Everyone knows about the issues of American citizens going into Mexico but Algodones is a small town that caters to the tourist trade.  The town is full of dentists, eye glass places, pharmacies, liquor stores, restaurants and of course the normal sidewalk dealers along the way.  But the town only exists for this, no big business or the like and I haven’t heard of anyone having issues there like in some of the big towns along the border.  Plus the tourists outnumber the rest of the folks in town and I’ve heard that lots of the owners and workers here live in the Yuma area.  So bottom line, we don’t feel unsafe going into Algodones.  

Anyway, Lorraine had her appointment before mine so I found a barber and got a $5 haircut before my turn in the chair.  Lorraine had her exam and yearly cleaning and he found two caps that he recommended be replaced.  Then it was my turn.  I had a broken tooth and wanted him to repair it plus get my yearly cleaning as well.  He did a quick check of the broken tooth and said I needed to have a cap so he did the prep work and fitted me with a temporary cap and will install the final one on our next visit.  He didn’t have time to do the cleaning so will do that next time too.  But I did have him do a quick exam to see if there were any other obvious problems and he found a large filling that was cracked and suggested doing another cap next time, shoot.  So on our visit this week we both will be prepped for new caps and will have to make one more appointment to have the final work done.  That next appointment will determine how long we stay in the Yuma area before moving on. 

Carl and Brenda walked around town while they were waiting for us to finish our dental work then we got in line to return to the US.  Now this is a lot different than going into Mexico for sure.  First off all, there is a line to get to the border, this time we were in line for just under an hour.  Then you have to show your passport and talk to a border patrol guy and declare what your trip was for and what you may have brought back.  I guess I don’t understand why the long wait as most of the folks sure don’t appear to be either illegal or carrying illegal drugs with them, most are going across for dental work and medicines and probably don’t pose much danger to our country. 

Later that evening we went over to Mike and Linda’s coach, along with Brenda and Carl, and had a good visit.  We were all staying in the same park but both Carl and Brenda were leaving the next day and we were leaving on Thursday. 

Wednesday we saw Carl and Brenda off, they are headed to the other side of town to a RV park we’ve stayed at before, Fortuna De Oro.  Later Lorraine and I headed to town to see the movie “American Sniper”.  We both enjoyed this very moving movie and I must admit I said a few bad word about Michael Moore afterwards.  He is the one who called snipers cowards, wonder just what he did during his service to our country – Oh, that’s right, he never served! 

After we got back, Lorraine made fried chicken and hot potato salad for our dinner, yum.

Thursday morning we got ready for travel and headed out to our planned stay here at Cactus Gardens RV Park.  This one is part of our membership with 1000 Trails/Encore and they have a special for a week’s stay.  Once we got checked in and set up, Lorraine started doing some spring cleaning and cleaned out some drawers in the back.  I found a few things to keep me busy as well and before we knew it, it was dark and time to eat once again. 

Friday we got busy around the place again, I removed all the caulking from the shower door and prepped it for replacement.  Lorraine finished up with laundry, good to go for a few more days.  We also took advantage of the weather to spend some time outside in our chairs, reading a book was my excuse but mostly just enjoying the 75F temperature and lots of sunshine. 

Then we went back to the Arizona Swap Meet, I wanted to trade in some of my paperbacks at a book store there.  Lorraine also wanted to get a shirt from one of the vendors there too.  We did happen to see Sharon there and met TJ’s sister and BIL who were with her but never did see TJ. 

Later we headed out for dinner, we were going to a diner up a couple of exits but when we got there we saw a large crowd waiting to get in so we went with plan B, KFC buffet.  They have a nice buffet here, all the different kinds of chicken, salads, fruits, rolls and even desert.  Plus they are partnered with A and W so we had their root beer.  We walked in the door and were surprised to see our Canadian friends Dennis and Barb standing in line.  Even more surprised when we saw Rob and Norma and Steve and Sandy just in front of them.  They had two empty seats at their table so we sat with them and had a nice visit with all, lots of laughter and good natured ribbing along with the buffet.  They are all staying at Fortuna also so we hope to make a trip over there to see them at their place this week. 

After we got back, I finished caulking the shower door, wanted to make sure it had enough time to dry, figured overnight should do it. 

Saturday morning we just chilled out for awhile until I suggested we go for a drive or something.  When I asked Lorraine what she wanted to do, she reminded me that we hadn’t been to the Cocoaph Casino this trip.  I told her we were doing just fine without it but guess where we ended up?  Yep, happy wife, happy life, as they say.  We stopped by Penny’s Diner on the way back and once again had a good meal there although we were surprised how empty it was this time.  But the food was good as usual and it was nice to have a quiet atmosphere while we ate.  Later we watched a DVD movie I picked up from Wal-Mart called “Killing Season”.  I have not heard anything about this movie and it was in the $5 bin but we both thought it was a good one, John Travolta and Robert DeNiro were the main actors and they both were good.  Way better than one we watched a couple weeks ago called “Boyhood” and it was highly advertised but was a big bust for us. 

The weather has been ok the past week, we’ve had a couple cloudy days with a bit of drizzle one night.  But for the last three days it been really nice, highs in the 70s and lows in the 50s.  We do have the heater on at night but both air conditioners running during the day.  Ah, Arizona weather in the winter, hard to beat it.  We’ve talked about going to South Texas for one winter just to compare but just haven’t made it so far. 

Our travel plans for after here are not very firm yet either, depends on our dentist visits as to when we leave.  But we are planning on heading North a bit, Lake Havasu or even Bullhead City for a couple of weeks.  We’ve been there before but this time we plan on checking our some places to live when we decide to get off the road, whenever that may be. 

Guess I’ll see what pictures Lorraine has taken this week and pick some to add here.  Oops, just checked and most of the pictures she has taken were with her phone instead of the Nikon so don’t have many to add.  I’m still having issues downloading pictures from her phone to my computer so that’s why I don’t add some of them too. 

Just a couple sunset pictures. 

  

 

Thanks   Chuck

 

913

We’re in Yuma, Arizona

 

January 26, 2015                                                                                                                  Lorraine’s report

Hello, and thanks for stopping by.  What a week it has been.  Whew…what we have survived in all our travels in this motor home.  Quartzsite was once more fun, loved seeing and catching up with all the people that showed up.  Many thanks to all our Q friends for just being “you.”

So we left Q, on our way to Yuma, when  Chuck smelled antifreeze, and the coach was starting to heat up.  He pulled over and was on the phone right away.  He arranged all the tow truck stuff.  There was a long wait for the tow truck driver to show up.  From 10:30 until 3:15.  Maybe you can imagine what it felt like to sit and wait, hoping everything was okay with the rig. 

And when the tow truck driver finally came from east of Yuma, another wait to load it up on the “low boy” trailer. The low boy was barely big enough for him to put the rig it; looked like 3 inches on each side.  It was hard for me to watch the driver pull out.  And the driver was going the speed limit-70 mph.  Way to fast for me.  With the wind blowing that day, the truck driver could feel how it was doing, so he slowed down.  The rig bounced up and down, and every which way.  When we stopped, the driver asked how I did with watching it being towed.  Chuck had told him I closed my eyes, but I told him I prayed it would make it into the shop the entire way. I don’t know what that bill was, so grateful we didn’t have to pay for it.

Thank goodness the people at Rush Truck Stop were so kind and got us in so we didn’t have to spend another night.  That road was on a major through fare for all the truck drivers,  working for other companies, so it was very much traveled.  Chuck slept very little that night.  I took a sleeping pill and pretty much “passed out”.

So after surviving that crisis, we made it on into Yuma Lakes, where Linda/Mike and Brenda & Carl were parked.  But on the second night here, there was noise that kept on all night long.  It was a loud, cannon type noise that went off every minute or two the entire night.  Another long night with nothing to stop it.  They said they used the noise to keep the wild boars and such out of the fields.  Some one forgot to turn it off, I think. 

In spite of all of this, we still like to do what we are doing.  Don’t know when or where we will be finished with RVing. 

So yesterday was Ashley’s birthday, and the 29th is Carl’s.  Want to wish each of them a nice birthday.  Hope they have an awesome day… Hugs to all.

Until next time,

Lorraine

 

1/26/15                                                                                                                                   Chuck’s report

Last week at this time we were having a good time in Quartzsite, spending time with all the folks there.  Sunday morning our friends from Minnesota, Dave and Sandy, were traveling through on their way to Los Angeles and stopped by for a quick visit.  The last time we saw them was back in Minnesota early summer last year.  Although another year has pasted by, they both seem to be younger, don’t know how they do that but whatever, it looks like it works for them.  Thanks for stopping by, even for a short time. 

Later I set up the outside television so we could watch the Seahawks game.  Green Bay was visiting Seattle with the winner heading to the Super Bowl.  I must admit, I lost hope for them to win in the third quarter even though Green Bay was only up 9 points.  Seattle was playing as poor as I’ve seen them play in the past few years, nothing they did seem to work except for a fake field goal for their only score. 

But with about 5 minutes to go in the fourth quarter, Seattle turned it up a notch and everything they needed fell into place like writing a script.  They scored, recovered an onside kick and then scored an unbelievable two point conversation for a three point lead.  Green Bay marched downfield and scored a field goal to tie the game and send it into overtime.  The rules for overtime state both teams get one possession unless the first team scores a touch down or gives up a safety on their first possession.  Seattle won the coin toss and elected to receive the kick off to start the overtime, a few minutes later they scored a touchdown to end the game.  A most improbable win considering the way they played for the first 3 1/2 quarters but they won and go on to play in the Super Bowl again this year. 

That evening New England won their game against Indianapolis, sort of a blow out.  So the Super Bowl game coming up this Sunday will be Seattle against New England, my prediction at the first of the year.  Here’s hoping Seattle can get one more win this season and win back to back Super Bowls. 

Sunday night was also “hat” night at our nightly get together.  All the folks who have been camping with our group before are supposed to wear their Quartzsite hats and any people there for the first time are introduced and welcomed into the group.  This year there was only one new couple, Ronnie and Kathie from Texas, nice folks who said they enjoyed themselves and will probably return next year. 

Monday morning I had an appointment for a mobile tech to service our Hydro Hot diesel burner.  This system supplies heat for our hot water and can be used to heat the coach using small, radiator type exchangers when needed.  But because it burns diesel, the yearly service requires changing out the fuel nozzle and filter and cleaning the soot form the burn chamber.  The tech is the same one that did repairs on our system when we were in Las Vegas back in early Nov. so this time all we needed was the annual service, everything else seems to be working fine.

Later we headed over to the “big tent” for the first time this year.  This is a tent they set up each year for RV week and have vendors in and around it to attract all the RVers in the area.  The tent opens on Saturday but we try to wait until after the weekend so the crowds might be down a bit but it’s still pretty crowded.  After all, there are over 100,000 rigs parked in and around Quartzsite for RV week according to reports. 

We returned to our rig after walking most of the vendor row and Lorraine got our contribution ready for the evening gathering.  We got a call from our friends Jim and Annie, letting us know they were at one of the RV dealers and asked if we wanted to come over for a visit,  so of course we did.

Jim and Annie were in the process of purchasing a new rig so we got to see it and had a good visit with them.  We met these fine folks back in San Diego when Lorraine was having issues with her liver and have made it a point to see them whenever we are anywhere near them.  I am still so grateful to them for helping me when Lorraine was in the hospital the first time I met them and they’ve been just as nice to us every time since, good people!

We made it back to our gathering a bit late but still had a good visit before it got cool and we headed to our rig. 

Tuesday morning we picked up Richard and Patsy and drove into Blythe, California.  I had to order some parts for our coach and didn’t want to fight the crowds at the Post Office in Quartzsite so had them shipped to Blythe.  Richard had to make a Post Office and Fed Ex stop and the gals wanted to stop by a grocery store too. 

After we got back, Lorraine and I walked over to the Big Tent again, we wanted to finish our tour of all the vendor areas.  We knew our friends from Canada were in the area somewhere so I called and found they were at the Big Tent too so we made arrangements to meet with them.  It was good to see Dennis/Barb, Rob/Norma and Steve/Sandy even though it was a short visit. 

Later we drove over to see Jim and Annie again, this time we brought lunch for them but they had to do some paperwork for their new rig and had to leave so we told them we would see them later that afternoon after they got back.  After they got back, we drove over to see them and had our lunch for dinner and wished them well as they transferred all their stuff from the old motor home to the new one.  I would have volunteered to help move their stuff but we were leaving the next day, bummer. 

Tonight was our last night with the group at Quartzsite so we stayed a bit longer at the gathering and had a great time. 

Wednesday we got everything ready for travel, pulled out and hooked up our tow car.   We went by and said our “so longs” to the folks who were left and headed out for Yuma, about 70 miles South.  We got about 30 miles or so when I began to smell engine antifreeze and noticed the engine temperature start to rise so we found a wide spot and pulled over.  Sure enough, we had antifreeze all over the back of the coach and all over the car, shoot. 

I called our roadside service and discussed the issue with them and they suggested it would probably be best if they sent a tow truck and towed us to a service center in Yuma.  They also called the service center and arranged for us to get service when we got there or as soon as possible.  The tow truck was coming from a small town to the East of Yuma and would take almost an hour to get to us.

We pulled over somewhere around 10:30 and the tow truck showed up at 3:15, 45 minutes later we were loaded on the truck.  I called our friends who would be traveling down the road later past and let them know we were OK and they didn’t need to stop as we were just waiting for the truck.  I didn’t get in touch with Gerald and Pat and as they drove by us, he saw it was us and started to stop but I waved him on.  Sorry I didn’t contact you before you went through but thanks for starting to stop and help.  If we had needed help, any of these folks would have stopped I’m sure.  I also called Richard who was still in Quartzsite and had recently been towed and asked him for advice and he offered to drive down to help if needed.  A big thanks to all these fine folks, glad we didn’t need help but really nice to know it was there if needed!!

The roadside service wanted to send a big tow truck and I requested they send one with a trailer big enough to put us on it vs using the normal hook type but they said they had already ordered the tow truck.  They did, however, give us the phone number of the towing company so I called them and explained our situation, told them how big (40”) and heavy (36,000#) we are so they sent the trailer (called a low boy) instead.  I know lots of folks who have been towed using the normal hook type trucks and suffered damage to their rigs so we were happy to have the trailer instead. 

This being the first time I’ve ever been towed (except with a rope and a buddy) I was interested in the process.  His trailer tips and he puts some lumber down to help keep us from dragging the rear end as the front was pulled up.  He asked me to stay in the rig and steer (with the engine off and no power steering of course) as needed to keep it straight.  There was about 3” of room on either side of the tires but he really seem to know what he was doing so we got on with no problems.  Like I said, I’ve never been towed but I thought he was really good at this. 

Once we got loaded on the trailer, he pulled to a more level spot and measured the height of the coach, didn’t need to run into a low overpass along the way for sure.  He decided to make a bit longer trip to avoid one possible low spot and away we went, we were following in our car.  I was surprised to see how much the coach bounced on the trailer plus he was driving 70 mph.  There are lots of dips and uneven road surfaces along this route and soon we noticed he slowed to to below 60 mph, a good idea we thought and the coach seem to ride more stable at a lower speed. 

We turned off to go to the service center while he continued on the longer route.  We were at the service desk when he pulled in and started to unhook the rig.  The service writer said they might be able to get to us on Thursday but more than likely it would be Friday before they could fit us in their schedule.  I went out to help unload the rig and once again had to get inside to steer as needed and once we were almost off the trailer, I had to start the coach and drive off the last little bit as it wasn’t just coasting down.  At the end, the driver came out with the paperwork and all we had to do was sign, the charges were all being paid by our roadside assistance service.  I don’t know what it cost but it probably was in the $700 – $1000 range, glad we didn’t have to pay for that. 

We were positioned at the end of the lot so we were able to drop our jacks and put out our slides.  We headed to Cracker Barrel for dinner then headed back.  The road alongside us was a busy thoroughfare for a lot of the large trucks heading to the vegetable processing area down the road.  These trucks ran until after midnight and they were noisy so we didn’t get our best sleep, what with wondering about the repairs and all the noise. 

Next morning I was at the service desk about 5 minutes after they opened but the service writer I had been working with was on the phone.  The other service writer asked if he could help so I told him our story and he got a repair tech right then and told him to check us out and get us back on the road ASAP, wow. 

The service writer, tech and I walked out to the rig and I showed/explained our problem.  The tech crawled under the rig and thought he could see a busted hose but couldn’t reach it without going through the floor in the coach.  So I opened the access hole and could see it was a busted heater hose, yea, nothing real major to fix. 

We got stuff put away and pulled in the slides then raised the jacks, ready to drive over to the repair stall.  The tech drove it over and started repairs, said it would probably take two hours.  I asked them to do some routine service and change out the large air filter for the engine while we were there so it took a bit over two hours.  We went out for breakfast and made a stop at a RV supply store then came back and waited for them to finish. 

We were sure glad it was nothing more than a busted heater hose that caused us to lose all the antifreeze but of course it was almost inaccessible so he had to work both from inside the coach as well as crawling under, better him than me I said. 

After all the repairs were done we went back to the service writer to see how much it would cost.  Lorraine was standing next to him watching and while talking/laughing with him saw that he lowered the price while we there.  Guess it helps to be nice to the service writers, he lowered the hourly repair rate from $135/hr. to ONLY $90/hr. plus knocked off a couple items on the list as well.  Still a healthy bill but it could have been worse for sure. 

We were finished up by 1:30 then drove over to our planned campground, Yuma Lakes.  Alright, only inconvenienced two days and back to a more normal life.  While we were setting up we saw Carl, Brenda and Mike/Linda who were at Quartzsite with us and got here on time the day before while we were at the service center. 

Friday morning I pulled our reverse osmosis filter elements and had them checked at the place we bought them years ago.  They flushed and checked them and said they are still about 80% so no need to do a big day long back flush on them.  I purchased a couple of the other filters we use and drove back to our place.  

Later we headed out to visit the Arizona Marketplace, a big swap meet with lots of vendors.  This is a big draw for the RVers who come to Yuma and we usually go at least once every year.  Shortly after we got there I got a call from Richard, he and Patsy had driven down for the day and we met up with them at the swap meet.  After walking the different isles and seeing everything we wanted, we had a late lunch/early dinner with them before they drove back to Quartzsite.  Good to see you two, hope everything works out ok at your service in Phoenix this week. 

After we got back to our rig, Brenda and Carl stopped by for a visit.  We thought about watching a movie or playing games but just had a good, quiet visit, nice. 

Saturday Lorraine and Brenda took off on a shopping trip, I had a couple items I needed to work on and was trying to get one of our vent fans to work when Carl stopped by to help.  After checking everything I could with my limited electrical ability with no luck I decided to wait and tackle it another day.  Carl and I walked to the office to check on dinner that night (nothing here) then walked back to our rigs.  I was surprised to see that fan was running when we got back, I must have “fixed” it while moving wires and such.

After the gals got back from shopping, we decided to head over to one of the casinos for some slot play and have dinner.  We ended up at at the Q and we all had their Saturday night prime rib dinner special.  Lorraine was the only winner at the slots but everyone enjoyed the dinner and we had a good visit while eating too. 

Normally we write and publish our blog on Sunday but I sort of forgot to do that yesterday morning.  It was about noon when I called our friends who now live here, TJ and Sharon and suggested we drive to their house for a visit.  They were home and told us to come on over.  I’ve known TJ for years, used to work with him at the refinery back in Washington in fact.  We were surprised when a mutual friend invited them to our rig to watch the Super Bowl a few years back.  They have a lot here that supported two coaches and we’ve stayed at their lot while here three different years.  They have since bought and moved into a house but still own their lot and told us we could stay there if we wanted again this year.  Thanks for the offer but unless something happens and we need to be here longer than expected, we don’t think we will take you up on your kind offer this year. 

After our nice visit with them, we stopped for dinner at the Golden Coral buffet.  I don’t know if we’ve been to one of these before but it was a pretty good dinner, they had cooked to order steak at one station along with the normal salads and other foods and of course, the desert station too.  I think we both got our fill while there for sure.

The weather has been really nice this past week once again, highs into the mid 70s and lows dropping to the high 40s, not bad for January.  But it started raining last night, supposed to clear out today and get nice again this afternoon with only cloudy skies forecast for the next few days.  I think we can take that.  I have an icon on my laptop that shows temperature and weather conditions and have one for Kenai, Alaska, one for San Jose and one for Bellingham, Wash.  Boy does it rain often in Bellingham, ha. 

We still don’t have our travel plans set yet.  We can only stay here for a week using our RPI membership and may need to stay for a few more days after our time is up on Thursday.  We have a coupon good for three free days at a campground on the other side of town and may go there if needed, we’ll see.  After that, we are thinking of heading to Lake Havasu or Bullhead City for most of the month of February but nothing set up yet. 

I’ll add some pictures now and get this posted, Lorraine took a bunch of the rig being towed so I’m sure I’ll pick out some and add them here too. 

Dave and Sandy stopped by for a quick visit.  Ronnie and Kathie from Texas, the newbies at Quartzsite this year. 

  

The sunset one evening.  Lorraine and I standing in front of our coach. 

  

Another gathering of the folks at Quartzsite. 

  

Another evening sunset. 

  

  

One of the two fire pits set up most nights. 

  

Getting the coach on the trailer.  I’m trying to get out without a ladder on the right. 

  

All ready for travel.

  

  

On the road on the left, starting to unload on the right. 

  

  

Back on firm ground once again and no damage from the tow, yea. 

  

Some of the fields of vegetables grown here around Yuma.

  

  

  

Another evening sunset, this one from our site here at Yuma Lakes campground. 

 

Thanks   Chuck

840

We’re in Quartzsite, Arizona

 

January 18, 2014                                                                                                               Lorraine’s Report

Hello and thanks for stopping by.  Once more we are in Quartzsite.  Most of the year Quartzsite is just another small town people don’t even stop by to see or do anything here.  But during these few “special” weeks, Quartzsite becomes the capital of the RVing world.  If you can’t find it here in Quartzsite, well, they probably don’t make it for the RVing world, or it no longer exists.  And when we started coming here, it seems to me that a whole lot more people would come here to enjoy the experience. 

Well, this week Chuck was still suffering with his cold/flu, or whatever it is that he picked up.  As I said before, when he takes medicine, you know that he is really suffering.  And for him to take medicine without me urging him to take something is pretty unheard of. 

It was nice to be in Palm Springs to at least be by the people from Lewis & Clark, before we came here. Although we didn’t hear much about what they did everyday, at least they knew where we were.

And of course we did see Joe/Alice.  It’s always nice to go and visit with them.  I know that their family is back home in Bellingham, WA.  And I do know they miss seeing them, but soon enough, as they are headed back home. 

So it is nice to see a bunch of friends from all over.  We have enjoyed being with them, catching up on each other’s families and lives.  I guess that is what Quartzsite is all about!

So that is it for me.  I would like to thank you for stopping by.  Have a great week everyone…See you down the road,

Hugs,

Lorraine

1/17/14                                                                                                                                   Chuck’s report

Another nice week in the books, not a real exciting one because I’ve been fighting the flu and some days just don’t feel like doing much.  I don’t get a flu shot and normally that isn’t an issue as I don’t really get sick often but this time it almost got the best of me.  A couple of days we mostly just stayed in the coach, only going out to walk Misty a few times each day.

Last Sunday we watched the NFL game, Dallas at Green Bay (Green Bay won and will play at Seattle today), then headed to Morongo Casino to meet Joe and Alice for brunch.  We had a good visit with these two fine friends, too bad be couldn’t get to their place then head to Pala Casino like we had planned last week but I didn’t feel good that day and didn’t feel like having a good brunch or an hour drive each way either.  But this visit turned out just fine, we had a good champagne brunch and a better visit.  Joe and Alice will be heading back to Washington earlier than usual this winter so this may be the last time we are able to visit with them before they head back.  Have a great trip and be sure we will try to see you when we can.

Monday we headed to Costco and Wal-Mart to stock up before heading here to Quartzsite.  There are two small grocery stores here but with all the  RVers in the area, it’s tough to get supplies here.  While we were in Costco we found they had lots of vitamins on sale so we stocked up on the ones we take. 

Later we watched the first every NCAA football championship game, we were rooting for Oregon but Ohio played a great game and deserved to win.  Once again Oregon had a great season but came up short on their final game, bummer. 

Tuesday morning some of the Lewis and Clark folks left, headed to Quartzsite too but they are staying in a different area than we are so we’ll have to find them before we leave.  The winds picked up late morning and we both commented about it possibly affecting their drive, hope it didn’t.  Later we drove to Spotlight 29 casino for a final buffet before we left the area.  We had the lunch buffet and they were just putting out the dinner dishes as we left.  We tried our luck on the slots but no luck for either of us this time. 

Wednesday we got everything ready for travel and headed out to Quartzsite ourselves, only about a 3 hr. drive.  We were glad the winds had died down so we didn’t have any issues with that.  But some of the roads sure could use some maintenance, that’s for sure.  But all in all, it was a good, uneventful trip with one stop to get diesel once we crossed the state line out of California. 

We got to our park, checked in then drove to our site and got setup.  We were surprised to find the sites are fairly large, wide enough to put out our RV mats and park our car next to it too.  We were expecting 10 rigs to show up for our get together here, only two were here already.  But it wasn’t long before the rest started showing up and before long 9 were here.  Richard and Patsy, from Texas, were having mechanical issues and were unable to get here until Friday, shoot.  We did have a good 5:00 meet/greet and stayed out until it started getting cooler after the sun when down. 

Thursday we drove over to one of the vendor areas here called The Main Event and checked that area out.  We must have been here enough as we just didn’t find anything we really needed or wanted.  We were walking through one vendor and happened to run across our friends Dale and Audrey from back home.  Dale and I worked at the refinery for years, I think he retired a few years before I did.  Also, they have been coming to Quartzsite longer than we have, I think he said for the last 20 years, wow.  It was good to catch up with them and have a short visit.

We did enough walking around that I had to come back to the rig and rest before going out to the 5:00 although they are changing the meeting time to 4:30 so we can be there a bit longer before the sun goes down and it starts cooling off.

Friday we headed over to a different vendor area, Tyson Wells.  This is one of the largest vendor areas and once again we didn’t find anything to buy except Lorraine did find a new straw hat.  We both noticed the prices are higher than before, there seems to be fewer vendors and the crowds aren’t as heavy.  Like I said last week, I’m surprised that there aren’t more folks here due to the lower gas prices if no other reason. 

After we got back to our coach we carried our chairs over and had a good visit with some of the folks here, just a quite, get acquainted again type, nice.  Richard and Patsy did make it in today too, good to see them after their long trip.  But it doesn’t seem the same without Mark and Sue from Louisiana being here, their names have come up a couple times.  

Saturday Lorraine had a shopping trip planned with the gals, they left at 10 and got back around noon.  I walked across the street and toured a couple new coaches at a RV place but found nothing to replace what we’ve already got.  I also found the place where they will check/repair our tow bar for us and was just walking back to our coach when Lorraine called to let me know she was home.  Once I got back I removed our tow bar and drove over to drop it off, they said they weren’t too busy and would be done within an hour, that’s fast.  Usually it takes a few hours as they are really busy but once again, surprising, they weren’t. 

We had made an appointment at a dog groomer we found to have Misty bathed and groomed at 3:00.  Patsy stopped by to visit just as I had to leave to drop Misty off and pick up our tow bar so she and Lorraine visited until I got back.

Once again Lorraine got food ready for our 5:00 and we went over to the meeting area.  Shortly after getting there I got a call from the dog groomer and had to leave and pick up Misty.  She didn’t really groom Misty but more like gave her a short haircut but she still looks much better.  I have not been able to bath her for the past two weeks and she really gets dirty when we are here in the desert so at least she had a good bath. 

We’ve been having two fire pits going after our pot lucks and folks split up between them and continue with our visits.  That is what makes our stay in Quartzsite so nice, shopping, food and visiting with friends.  We’ve been coming here since our first year on the road, back in ‘07, and a few of these folks have been here every year with us while others come for a couple years and others take their place.  We have sure met lots of nice folks here over the years.

Today we have plans to watch the Seahawks play, hoping they win over the Green Bay Packers.  The second game will be New England Patriots against the Indianapolis Colts.  Anyway, these are the Conference Championship games and the winners will play each other in the Super Bowl in two weeks.  My prediction at the beginning of the year was for Seattle to play (and beat) New England, hope to see that prediction come true. 

The weather has really been nice here for the past few days, maybe the best weather we’ve experienced over the years we’ve been coming.  The highs are getting into the high 60s and low 70s while the night time lows are dropping to the high 30s or low 40s, not bad for being here.  And we haven’t had much wind either, most years we experience heavy winds at least once or twice, it can be really dusty too.   

Our travel plans are not too exciting, we leave here on Wednesday and are heading to Yuma for a week.  While there, we are planning on going into Mexico for dental work and probably some medicines too.  TJ and Sharon, we’ll try to see you while we are there but we are going to be staying out at Yuma Lakes for the week.  Our plans from there are just smoke, nothing firm and for sure no reservations anywhere.  Tough life, have to find somewhere to stay down here in the nice weather.

On the drive from Palm Springs to Quartzsite. 

  

Back in Arizona again. 

 

We are staying at Rice Ranch, have full hookups here. 

  

With the RV America group, this is the evening get together. 

  

Its now dark and everyone has put on their jackets. 

  

  

  

 

That’s it for now,

 

Thanks   Chuck

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