Saturday - December 6, 2008

Wow, today was one of those quiet, at home days where nothing exciting happened. It was a lovely day with lots of sun and temperatures in the low 70’s’sF.

We didn’t move too fast this morning, but today John did manage to dust the outside of the trailer, work on hiding wiring for the cable TV and internet, putting lighting around the patio etc. and I vacuumed, dusted and then sat outside and enjoyed the lovely day while reading.

A fellow from Comax B.C. stopped this afternoon and chatted for a while and I walked around the park this afternoon – a start to my exercise program. John went for a bike ride late this afternoon but due to the fact it was getting dark he kept his ride quite short. Hopefully he will get in a longer ride tomorrow.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to tomorrow although we have no great plans, will just see how the day unfolds.

Friday - December 5, 2008

Today was another beautiful day here in Yuma with a high in the mid 70’s and some wind, certainly not hard to take!

We left shortly after lunch to go to the Yuma market, not just a fruit & veggie market but a market that sells every from A to Z. The market is open Thursday to Sunday and is a fun place to browse. Today I got a new supply of t-shirts but that was about it for the market. From there we went to Sew Masters and ordered wheel covers for the trailer then on to the RV store for some light bulbs – real exciting eh?

On to Yuma Palms Mall where we went into a couple of stores but found nothing too exciting. I needed some stamps so we stopped at the Post Office in the Hallmark store which we have found to be far less busy than any other postal outlet in Yuma. I needed some stamps and couldn’t believe it when the gal told me that they only had $0.69 stamps and I needed $0.72 so I would get the $0.03 stamps for free, the same for international stamps so I ended up getting $0.34 in free stamps – could you ever imagine this happening with Canada Post!!!!!

By the time we got home it was too cool to sit outside so I came in while John did some fiddling around outside. We are now through dinner and it will soon be bedtime – where or where does the day go!!!

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to tomorrow although we have no great plans, will just see how the day unfolds.

Thursday - December 4, 2008

This morning it was pretty overcast and cool but it did get sunny by about 11 a.m. and we had temperatures in the mid 70’s – sure do like that.

I forgot to mention yesterday that John filled the truck at $2.169/gal for diesel – sure do like that price!

John again spent the day washing and cleaning the outside, the truck is now nice and clean, the trailer is clean and shiny and WE CAN SEE OUT THE WINDOWS! I got out the crystals and the Christmas decorations as well as sorting out my clothes so I can get the winter clothing put away for a few months.

I walked over to the office about noon to get some quarters for laundry and mail a couple of cards then walked by the laundry room and lo and behold it was pretty quiet so I came back and got the laundry loaded up and headed over. I got there just before it got busy again so was lucky to get it done so early as last year I usually went around 4:30 when it was quiet. It is $0.75/load to wash and $1.00 to dry – a good deal I think. I enjoyed sitting in the sun with my book while doing the laundry, such a tough life.

I took a few pictures on my walk today:

Main Lap Pool



Volleyball Court



Tennis Courts



Neighborhood Centre and Small Pool





Our Trailer



Two days here and I am totally frustrated with their internet as sometimes it works fine then other times it is as slow as molasses in January, so about 3 o’clock we headed over to Time Warner to sign up for their internet again this year. We were really surprised when we walked in and got waited on right away as usually there is a long line of people waiting to get served, so John is now in the process of trying to get it all set up again. It is a good deal at $29.95/month (no taxes) and works really well (or at least it did last year). On the way home we made a quick stop at Wal Mart for a couple of items I forgot to get yesterday.

It is time to think about starting dinner, so I had best get at it. And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to tomorrow although we have no great plans, will just see how the day unfolds.

Wednesday - December 3, 2008

Our first day in Yuma was a beauty, lots of sunshine and warm temperatures – sure do like that!! The high today reached about 78F (25C), as far as I am concerned that is about perfect.

This morning John headed out to get a haircut and pick up some supplies for washing the truck and trailer. While he was gone I got busy with the cleaning and was about ¾ done when he arrived home after about 3 hours. When I was finished I had my shower then went out and sat in the sun with my book for about an hour, then we headed out to get groceries.

It was about 6:30 p.m. by the time we got home so had to scurry around and make dinner.- we are now cleaned up from dinner and enjoying a bit of TV before heading for bed. I didn’t even get my camera out of its case today, so no pictures, hopefully tomorrow.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to tomorrow although we have no great plans – oh yes, hopefully we will get to Time Warner and sign up for Roadrunner Internet as the wi-fi here in the park is pretty slow and aggravating.

Tuesday - December 2, 2008

It was much easier to get up this morning with a temperature of about 50F (10C), sure beats yesterday mornings temperature! It was about 10 a.m. when we got on the road and we had a good drive to Yuma with most of it being on secondary highways. There were a couple of rough spots but on the whole it wasn’t too bad. It was partly overcast most of the day but we don’t mind that on a driving day.

We opted to take Nevada/California Hwy. 95 down to Interstate 40 then go across to Arizona 95 through Lake Havasu, rather than having to cross the Hoover Dam. To go across the dam would probably be slow, plus they would go through the trailer etc. – who needs that hassle! Last year we let “Alice” (our GPS) guide us and she sent us down US 95 in California from I-40 to Parker – never again as it was the worst road we have ever been on. Today she tried to send us that way again but we opted to drive a bit further and go through Lake Havasu where we knew the road was pretty good.

Lake Havasu



Along The Colorado River Between Lake Havasu & Parker









And for Dave - Emerald Canyon Golf Course





Boondockers Outside of Quartzsite



I took a few pictures on the way but mostly it was pretty boring. The drive from Quartzsite to Yuma always seems so long and boring – not much for scenery today with it being overcast.

We arrived at Del Pueblo and will be here until late March – by then we will be ready to move on!! The trailer is filthy both inside and out and the larder and fridge are empty so the next couple of days will be spent rectifying those problems, as well as catching up on laundry. I did a real quick vacuum when we got here but the heavy duty cleaning starts tomorrow.

I just had an e-mail a while ago from my sister and she was discharged from hospital about 6:45 p.m. so that was good news.

And so ends another great gift of a day, please join us again to see what life in Yuma is like.

Monday - December 1, 2008

Wow, December already, where does the time go! This morning I woke up and without even looking at the clock knew it was 6 a.m., which is 8 a.m. home time, and when my sister was scheduled for surgery on her wrist which she broke last Monday (she is on blood thinners so had to get that under control before they could do the surgery). I was awake for quite a while worrying about her (me, being the person who always told my mother that worrying doesn’t change anything and is a waste of time!!!) Where was someone to tell me not to waste my time worrying? I finally went back to sleep but had really weird dreams so slept fitfully. When it was time to get up, I didn’t want to – the temperature was 26F (-3C), who in their right mind wants to get up with it being that cold!! We finally did get up but were in no hurry to get hooked up and on our way, John waited till it was at 32F (0C) to start hooking up so it was about 10:30 when we got on the road.

I thought the drive would be boring today but it was far from that, it was a pretty drive across the mountain to I-15 then some pretty scenery along the interstate. We entered Arizona after Utah (for about 26 miles) and went through the Virgin River Canyon – stunning scenery.

Once into Nevada we stopped at the Visitor’s Centre in Mesquite and the fellow there told us there was a lot of construction through Las Vegas on the interstate so suggested an alternate route. The route was nice except for about 25 miles where there was some construction, and if there wasn’t construction there should have been as the road was terrible. The good thing was that there was very little traffic and lots of nice scenery.

Today's Scenery













And We Drove Along Lake Mead









The high today reached 69F (20C) which suited us just fine. Tonight we are at Canyon Trails RV Park in Boulder City, NV and at 9:30 p.m. (Mountain Time) it is still 56 F (13C) – we are really glad to back into warm temperatures! Boulder City is actually on Pacific Time but seeing that tomorrow we will back on Mountain Time we are just continuing on in that time zone. John was in 7th heaven tonight, he actually barbecued dinner in his t-shirt, sure has been a long time since he has been able to do that.

I waited until about 9:30 p.m. Ontario time to hear how my sister is and having had no e-mail from my niece I called her. She said her mom had come through the surgery okay and hopes to be home tomorrow, I sure feel relieved to hear that.

And so ends another great gift of a day - do come back again to see what tomorrow brings.

Sunday - November 30, 2008

Today was another beautiful sunny day here In Utah with the temperatures depending on where you were – today we were in lower altitudes, therefore, warmer temperatures.

We decided to check out Zion Canyon today and found another beautiful, scenic national park. The drive there was through pretty countryside but nothing outstanding, there was a lot of traffic, don’t know where they were going to or coming from!!

The east road into Zion presented more picturesque scenery than the main highway, and once into the park we had a pretty drive and an interesting tunnel to traverse. The tunnel is 1.1 miles long and was completed in 1930, there are no lights in the tunnel but there are a few large windows that provide air vents and there are many twists and turns. We were okay to go through with the truck but anything larger requires an escort and our trailer could not go through as the maximum length is 50’ for a combined vehicle. A larger vehicle must pay $15 for a permit for the tunnel (which is good for two trips) and they don’t actually get an escort, all other traffic is stopped from going through at the same time as the larger vehicles have to travel down the middle of the tunnel. Once we excited the tunnel we were into a long descent with lots of switch backs and tight curves – I certainly wouldn’t even want to THINK about taking our trailer through there.

Tunnel Entrance



Virgin River



It Looks Like Ice But Isn't



And Of Course There Are Always the Interesting Rock Formations











Once into the canyon we went to the Visitor’s Centre and found out that there were shuttle buses running, these buses go to the end of the canyon and you can get off and on at any of the stops (and are included in the admission fee); the buses weren’t running at Bryce as they are done until spring so were surprised to find them running at Zion. We decided to take the shuttle as this would give John a chance to enjoy the views. We took the shuttle right to the end then got off to walk the trail to Temple of Sinawava, okay I thought I could walk the trail but after about ¾ of a mile, with no end in sight, I called it quits and John continued on alone. When he returned he said the view was disappointing so I hadn’t missed a lot. My hips were both kind of sore and stiff today so I decided not to over do it, how I miss having all my own parts and being able to walk as walking was something I always loved to do. Hopefully I will build my strength back up in Yuma so I can do the walking again.

The weather in the canyon was lovely, in the sun it was in the high 60’sF but cooler in the shady areas, still very pleasant.

We got off at one other stop but again it was a walk to see the view and we wanted to get well out of the canyon and park before dark so we didn’t do any other stops. On the way back I was talking to the shuttle driver and she said this was the last day for the shuttles and this is only the second year they have run in November (but only on the weekends). She said they were so busy on Friday and Saturday (Thanksgiving holiday) that it was like in the summer, traffic congestion galore! Parking areas and viewing pullouts are quite small and they all seemed congested today so heaven only know what they would have been like on Friday and yesterday. We also saw quite a few deer and some wild turkeys but couldn’t get good pictures through the bus window. The park is open year round and the shuttles start again the first weekend in April.

It was about 6 when we got home, so a long day. I had some left over spagetti sauce in the freezer so used it for dinner – a nice dinner of comfort food!

I am having trouble keeping my eyes open so will end this now; and so ends another great gift of a day and do come back again to see what we have done.