Travels in Our Airstream

Friday, April 29, 2011

2011-04-29T19:32:00.009-07:00

Well, here I am back trying to update again. Last Friday we went into Johnson City and visited the LBJ National Building, it had a really interesting display plus we watched two videos, one on Lady Bird and one on LBJ. It is amazing all things he accomplished as President and she was such a strong supporter of the environment.

Saturday we didn’t do too much, some laundry and getting ready to head out in the morning, then around 6 p.m. we went into Johnson City and got fuel and picked up a pizza for dinner. The weather continued HOT with highs in the low 30’sC (92F).

Miller Creek RV Resort, Johnson City, TX

Sunday was another HOT day all day, we headed north and east and ended up for the night at Fern Brook RV Park in Longview, TX. It is a new park and very nice with long paved pull thrus and was $29.70 – Good Sam price. We sat outside for a while after we got set up as we figured it would be the last chance for quite a while. All of Texas is so scorched and dry from the high temperatures and lack of rain, on the way out this morning we talked to Paul, owner of Miller Creek RV, and he said he was beginning to think they would never get rain.

Fern Brook RV Park

Monday we headed northeast again and as we entered Arkansas what a difference – everything was wet with lots of flooded areas, sure would be nice if they could send some of their moisture south to Texas!

Entering Arkansas

We ended up stopping in Brinkley, AR for the night, about 40 miles east of Little Rock. The RV Park was behind Motel 6 and boy was it wet, a lot of the spots were completely flooded but we did manage to find a fairly dry one.

Brinkley RV Park on Monday Night

Another couple came in behind us and said they were heading to Little Rock to visit their son and he had called and said they were having severe storms and tornados in the Little Rock area – oh great! Out came the TV and got tuned to the weather channel and talk about scary as it seemed the storm was heading for us. Fortunately, it went to the north a bit and we got a torrential downpour with high winds for about 15 minutes, then the rain settled in to just a good downpour. We were lucky that there was no hail, although we spent a very tense evening wondering what would happen and ready to run to the washrooms for shelter if we needed to. The tornado siren did go off once but not for long – needless to say not the kind of evening we want to repeat!

And On Tuesday Morning

Yesterday we drove from Brinkley AR to Effingham IL and talk about flooded land the whole way with the area along the Mississippi River totally flooded, at one point the water was just about over the interstate. I know we have had lots of rain at home but I hope it isn’t as bad as here.

Entering Missouri

Flooding Along Mississippi River

Large Cross at Effingham IL

Last night we stayed at Camp Lakewood in Effingham, a nice park with long level pull thrus and the Good Sam rate was $25. It was another warm day with temperatures in the low 70’s, and was partly cloudy and sunny all day, a good driving day when it isn’t totally sunny.

Camp Lakewood

Today’s drive was mainly overcast with a couple of rain drizzles, but we must say the interstate between Effingham and north of Indianapolis leaves a lot to be desired! Talk about construction and rough roads!! When we entered Indiana we got back on Eastern time so finally are the same time as home again.

Entering Indiana

Tonight we are at Fireside RV in Auburn, IN, this park isn’t all that great but it is open year around so is usually our first night out and our last night coming home stop. The cash or cheque price is $27.45 and the wi-fi is the pits so I don’t know if I will be able to get this posted.

The temperatures have been warm until today, but comfortable. I thought today was going to be much cooler so I put on long pants for the first time in more than 5 months and boy do they feel funny! As it turns out the temperature was in the mid 60’s all day so I could have done one more day in capris. There are storm warnings out again for tonight, great, another tense evening. I think the high for tomorrow will only be in the low 50’s – a great welcome home as we hope to be in London tomorrow night. It has just started to rain but we will keep our fingers crossed that we don’t get any wicked storms.

I couldn’t post this on Wednesday night as the internet was non-existent, same as yesterday so will finish up now.

We had a good trip yesterday from Auburn to London, we hit a spot of rain just before Lansing but other than that it was a good drive. It was quite windy but it was a tail wind for us so no big deal. We arrived in London around 3:30 p.m. and got settled in for the night at Can-Am RV. We went out for dinner with Pat, who works at Can-Am, and her daughter Christine, we went to Swiss Chalet so were happy to get a good dinner there after almost 6 months.

This morning it was cold and raining when we left London but thankfully we ran out of the rain after about ½ hour and the sun was shining when we got to Kincardine but it has still been a chilly day. Then the fun started – moving back into the cottage, we are part way there but still lots more to do tomorrow. Unfortunately my back is still killing me so John has done all the loading and lifting and I have put stuff away as he brings it into the cottage.

I have an appointment with a chiropractor on Monday morning so sure hope it helps, then I have an appointment in Kitchener in the afternoon to get a lymph drainage massage so hopefully I will feel much better after all the attention!

Tomorrow night we are going to the Erie Belle for dinner with Alison, Bob, Mike & Margie so it should be a fun evening and will be great to see our friends again after a long winter away.

Next weekend we are going to our daughter Nan’s for dinner and are really excited about seeing our family again, it is a long winter with only phone calls. Unfortunately Mike & Franneca can’t go on the weekend but we will see them on Monday so are also looking forward to that. That is the one downside about being away all winter, we really do miss our children and grand children.

This will be the end of my blogging for the summer, it is just too hard to think of something to say, but I do thank everyone who has been following our trip this winter and wish everyone a very great summer.

And so ends more great gifts of days and we look forward to more good days to come.

Friday, April 22, 2011

2011-04-22T15:10:00.007-07:00

Happy Easter everyone, hope you have wonderful holiday.

This is the Welcome to New Mexico Sign

and the Welcome to Texas

The weather has continued hot and humid with highs each day in the 90’s, it certainly doesn’t make me feel too energetic! Our site backing onto the river is really nice and there are lots of trees behind us, one being a large live oak tree with branches almost on the ground.

There are no wildflowers here in Hill Country this year as they had a very dry winter. It is disappointing but we are so thankful we were here last year to enjoy the bumper crop. Here are some pictures of last years' beautiful wildflowers.

Tuesday we went to San Marcos, home of Premier and Tangier outlet malls; sure lots of shopping to be done there!! There were only a few places I wanted to go to so I did that while John patiently bided his time waiting for me. It was then off to the Olive Garden for a yummy lunch and a day wouldn’t be complete without a stop at Wal Mart. By the time we got home we were glad to come in, turn on the a/c and relax.

Wednesday we toured the Lyndon B. Johnson ranch and Texas White House as it was known when he was President. The Johnson’s donated about 600 acres of their land, including the house, to the National Park on the condition that the house would be their private residence until they had both passed away. Lady Bird passed away in 2007 so the house and a couple of the outbuildings are now open for tours. We toured the property in 2008 but the house wasn’t open for tours at that time so there is now more to see and it was interesting to do the tour again. LBJ raised Herefords and at the livestock area they had a mother and a two month old calf in a pen and a bull that was two years old and weighed 1900 lbs.

Bull

Calf

And Mom

At the hangar we saw the plane he used to travel back and forth between Washington and Texas,

as well as a number of cars he owned, and it was at the hangar we started the tour of the house.

When he became president there were no private telephone lines in this part of Texas, they were all party lines, but he had 72 private lines installed into the house so he could carry on his work as he would in Washington. There were phones everywhere in the house with one installed on the leg of the dining room table – talk about always being on call!! Guess he would have loved the cell phones of today. There were also TV’s everywhere, usually 3 in one place and when in residence he had them on all the time.

After the tour we went into Fredericksburg where we both got hair cuts then went to HEB and picked up a cooked chicken and potato salad for dinner.

Yesterday we drove north to Marble Falls and I got a pedicure, sure felt good. A quick stop at HEB and we were back home around 3 for a quiet rest of the day.

We are heading into Johnson City shortly so I had best get changed and ready to go.

And so ends more great gifts of days and we look forward to more good days to come.

Monday, April 18, 2011

2011-04-18T17:42:00.000-07:00

We are now in Johnson City, Texas and will be here for a week. We have had four long days of driving through nowhere Arizona, New Mexico and Texas but the weather was good until Texas when we hit the Texas winds.

Saturday night we enjoyed our rib dinner at the Roadrunner Café at the park in Fort Stockton. It was really funny, we were parked beside another Airstream in Fort Stockton, we don’t see a lot of them on the road and to be parked beside another one two nights in a row is unusual. John and Nancy are from Birmingham and were heading to join an Airstream Caravan in Carlsbad, NM. What was really funny all 3 Airstream fellows are Johns!

Driving into Texas from New Mexico it was really hazy, it turns out there were a lot of wild fires to the west of Fort Stockton and the town of Davis Mountain was pretty well burned out and hundreds of animals killed in the fires – how devastating! I think they are now under control but it is so dry here it wouldn’t take much for a fire to start.

Yesterday we arrived here and were totally beat, we lost an hour on Friday when we left Arizona as Arizona doesn’t do daylight saving time and then we lost another hour on Saturday when we left New Mexico and Mountain Time – 2 hours in 2 days is hard on the system!

Today was a very quiet day, my back is still really sore so I wasn’t up to doing much except laundry. Just after I started the laundry John came to tell me we were moving to a site along the river so he got the trailer moved while I did the laundry. Today was 30C+ (90F+) and it is supposed to be like that all week so he thought it might be a bit shadier and cooler by the river. I DO NOT like temperatures that hot but will just have to suck it up, I know if I was home with 4C I wouldn’t be happy either!!

We have a few things we want to do in the area and I want to try and find a massage for my back so it will keep us busy for the week.

And so ends more great gifts of days and we look forward to more good days to come.

Friday, April 15, 2011

2011-04-15T20:50:00.000-07:00

Wow, it’s really has been a long time since I’ve blogged but I guess we haven’t been doing anything too terribly exciting.

We really enjoyed my sister’s visit in March and managed to do a lot of touring, we took her to California to see the sand dunes and the Salton Sea, did a trip to Algadones, Mexico for some shopping, went to the Ghost Town in the middle of nowhere, the old Yuma prison etc. The time flew by while Pat was visiting so hopefully next year she will come for a couple of weeks.

The day before Pat arrived we lost the water pump on the truck so we had to rent a car for a couple of days while we went to Phoenix to pick her up then arranged to get the pump replaced, always something to keep life excting!

The weather has been really nice and two weeks ago today Yuma set a new record high temperature of 101F – a little too hot for my liking but fortunately it cooled back down to more reasonable temperatures.

We had the trailer in storage for four months, since we moved into the new house, so Monday was the day to pick it up and get ready for our trip home. We parked the trailer in front of the house on Monday and spent the day loading up the things to take home – always a fun time! Somehow I managed to do my back in again so am now living on Ibuprofen to keep moving, not fun and if it isn’t better in the next couple of days I will try to find a massage therapist to see if I can get some relief. John had arranged for the Mexicans to wash the trailer on Tuesday afternoon so we moved it onto a site in the RV end of the park until we left yesterday morning. There were still a few things to move but the main thrust from Tuesday afternoon was to summer-ize the house and that was finally done yesterday morning, now we will be waiting with fingers crossed until we get back in the fall to see if everything was done okay.

Tuesday night our friends Sharon & Bob had a nice little get together for us and invited some of the neighbours and friends, a great time was had by all and Sharon had enough snackies that we didn’t have to go home & make dinner – how good was that! Wednesday night we went out for dinner with Sharon, Bob, Carolyn (yes, another Carolyn!) & Gary, we went to a place for fish & chips but believe me they came nowhere the fish & chips at the Erie Belle, but the company was fun.

We have arranged with David, next door, to keep an eye on our place while we are gone and keep our cedar trees watered – can you believe it, we have the only cedar trees in the park in Yuma but are surrounded by them in Kincardine. Sharon inherited my plants so it will be interesting to see if they survive the summer there. David is also going to build a small wall in front of the house to keep the gravel off the road and build a path of paving stones from the front to the back patio, should look nice.

We finally pulled out of Yuma about 11:30 Thursday morning and had a good, boring drive to Benson AZ where we stayed at one of our favourite parks – Cochise Terrace. The one drawback to Cochise Terrace is that they don’t have free wi-fi but they say they will have it by the fall – time will tell. It was a windy day and when we got to Benson the wind was still howling so not a night for John to grill so we had a pasta dinner and an early evening.

Today was a gorgeous day and the wind had died down so we had a great drive to Almagordo, NM. We stopped in Wilcox AZ for fuel and there was a 34’ Airstream parked in the plaza but we didn’t see the people who owned it, then we caught up with it in a rest area in New Mexico. John talked to the fellow (another John) and it turns out they are from London ON and bought their trailer from Can-Am and were heading for Almagordo. To make a long story short they are parked beside us tonight and in talking to them we realized that they had been at Country View Motel & RV park last spring when we were there and John had met them just as they were leaving – talk about a small world!

Tomorrow we plan on spending the night in Fort Stockton TX and have dinner at the Roadrunner Café in the RV Park – they have an excellent rib dinner for $7.95, hard to beat that. Last year when we were there the wi-fi was the pits so don’t know what it will be like now. From there we are planning on going to Hill Country Texas for a week, then head for home. I will try to be better at keeping this updated while we are on the road and take some pictures to go with it.

And so ends many more great gifts of days and we look forward to more good days to come.

Friday, February 18, 2011

2011-02-18T10:02:00.003-07:00

Again, a couple of weeks have gone by in a flash, I don’t know where the time goes.

Two weeks ago Sunday we had gone to the inside Arizona Market (they now have an inside one and an outside one), and Sears is right across the road so when we left the market John wanted to run into Sears and get a screw driver so I went in and decided to wander through the grill section to see what, if anything, was on sale. Lo and behold if the grill he had wanted wasn’t on sale, $100 of with an additional 10% off so of course we grabbed it. They only had 2 left and both of them had been put together so it was a very slow trip home with it in the back of the truck, but we made it safely taking little used roads and going real slow. John really likes his new grill and it is almost as nice as the Napolean at home.

We finally got to see The King’s Speech and what a good movie it is, we thoroughly enjoyed it. We had received a $10 gift certificate for Logan’s Roadhouse from the place where we bought our new mattress so went there for dinner after the movie. We went to Logan’s a couple of years ago and said we would never go back the service was so bad and the food wasn’t great, but with the gift certificate in hand back we went. The service still wasn’t great and John’s steak was tough but my shrimp were good, I don’t think we will go back again as there are too many other good places to go but it certainly wasn’t as bad as a couple of years ago.

On the same day as we went to the show I went to the Ladies Luncheon here in the park and won another prize, this time a tea towel and some bag clips. That same day our daughter Kelly won $5,000 in the Heart and Stroke calendar daily draw, her sister had given her the calendar for Christmas so how lucky was that! Now it would be nice to see Nancy win one of the draws also.

Last Wednesday our new solar shades for the south side of the house came and we are real happy with them. We got a burgundy colour that looks really nice with the house, most people get the beige so ours are really different but look nice. We only had a 3’ drop put in the section at the bottom of the deck steps so we still would have access to outside the patio area and John could get at the grill. It also lets in some sun but there is also lots of room to get out of it if we don’t want to sit in the sun. We do need new shades on the two back sections but that will have to wait until next year. We bought some new chairs and side tables for the patio so that area is now all done.

Last Saturday night we went to the burger dinner here at the park with the couple across the street and another couple who have bought a place here in the park and will be moving in around mid March. The burgers were really good and after dinner we went back to Sharon & Bob’s and sat out until it got too cold to sit out any longer. When we came home it was only 7:20, dinner at 5 sure makes for a lonnnnnng evening when you aren’t used to eating that early! Last night we went to the spaghetti dinner and were home before 6, I call it the eat and dash dinner because as soon as people are through eating they head for home, no socializing done at these dinners!

At dinner last night we sat with our neighbours on the north and they asked when we were leaving and were disappointed to hear we would be still here when they are ready to leave as they were hoping to put their 5th wheel on the road for a day or two to load up before they leave. It is allowed here as long as you leave it hooked up to the truck, but they are so long they would block our driveway where we park our truck. John told them it would be no problem, we could park the truck on the other side for a couple of days and then we could block their driveway for a couple of days when we are loading up, a good deal for both.

David next door came in to the hall last night and got take out for his mom and him and when I came home he was just heading out to take his dog for a walk and I had a good laugh as Mitzi was red all around her mouth from licking out the spaghetti container.

John is enjoying his new bike, the frame is a bit small but he managed to get the seat elevated and the handlebars in a comfortable position so it is better for riding than his fold up bike. Maybe some day he will be able to find another good deal with a larger frame but for now this one will do and the price was right.

Today is the annual fashion show and luncheon so I am looking forward to it as it is usually a nice time, I hear they are serving chicken cesar salad and strawberry short cake.

The forecast is for rain tomorrow and today is overcast and cooler but we aren’t complaining as it still beats the weather back home. This week has been really nice with temperatures in the mid to high 70’sF, just perfect as far as I’m concerned.

A pretty sunset last week

And so ends more great gifts of days and we look forward to more good days to come.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

2011-02-05T12:16:00.002-07:00

Yes, we are still alive and in the land of the living. I find it very hard to write something when we aren’t doing anything exciting; when traveling it is easy to write about where we are and what we are doing, but now we are like anyone else living in the same place and carrying on a normal life.

We took part in the parks Garage Sale two weeks ago, and hooray, we managed to get rid of everything. We were out just before 8 a.m. and it was quite chilly until about 10, people were arriving wearing gloves it was so cool but it did warm up nicely. Sharon & Bob, across the street from us, had put an ad in the paper re the garage sale as they had a lot of stuff they hoped to get rid of and their ad sure brought in a lot of people from outside the park which helped us. We sold our lazy boy chair and towards the end we still had two bar stools left, plus some odds and ends when a gal came along and bought the bar stools. She had a friend with her who gave us a brochure for Helping Hands and she said if we wanted she would take away anything that was left over. The gal who bought the stools came back about 45 minutes later to pick them up and her friend took the few things we had left, so we were real happy to see everything gone & not having to deal with the leftovers.

We had a few good laughs out of people, John had two saw horses out for $1 each and a fellow came along and looked at them, thought his friend in Washington might like them and tried to call him to find out if he would like them, but couldn’t remember his phone number. Anyways, after much dithering about he decided to buy them – all of this for $2! Another lady was looking at the humidifier we had out, it is one that sits on the kitchen counter and the fellow we bought the house from needed it as he got nose bleeds from the dryness. Anyways, it was towards the end so John told the woman $0.25 for it and she still couldn’t make up her mind and ended up walking away. A couple of minutes later her husband came back to get it and asked me how much so I said $1, he said he though it was $0.25 but I said my price was $1 and he paid it, sometimes it doesn’t pay to procrastinate about things!! Another lady spent five minutes asking questions and dithering about a ceiling light, another item that was at that point going for $0.25, but she did buy it with our assurances that it worked and the only reason we were selling it was because we had replaced it with a track light. People like this made the morning fun!

Last week our friends Jim & Linda came over from Desert Hot Springs, California for a couple of days and we had a great visit with them. On Wednesday we went out to Lake Martinez to show them the lake and look around. There are some absolutely gorgeous homes out there and then there are some pretty tired looking places, a little bit of everything. We had lunch at a restaurant/bar there, Jim & Linda treated us to an awesome burger, an absolutely huge burger that serves 4 and was it ever good – thanks again guys.

We will have to go again sometime with another couple who would like to split a burger! After lunch we drove farther out from the lake to the National Wildlife Preserve and went through the visitor’s centre, then came back through the Dome Valley where it is all farmland, not something you expect to find in the desert.

We had a real cold snap here this week and the pool was even closed for 3 days. On Wednesday night/Thursday morning it went down to 28F and a lot of people had their plants killed by the frost and it looks like the trees got frostbite also. Wednesday and Thursday the temperature didn’t get much past the mid 50’sF during the day but it is now warming up again. I really won’t complain though as they had a rough weather week back home so our little cold snap wasn’t all that bad. On Wednesday afternoon we went downtown planning on seeing The King’s Speech at the theatre but when we got there the lineup was huge and it was cold and windy so we decided to wait and go another day, that day still hasn’t come but we will go soon.

This morning a fellow came from the insurance company to take pictures of the house and he was telling John that his brother lives in Tucson and because of the cold weather they have run out of natural gas, now that would not be nice! I was just checking the Tucson News and it seems like there were about 15,000 homes that lost their gas supply and now Southwest Gas must turn off all the meters in the service area, then repressurize its system before turning all those meters on again. Workers have to enter each home to turn customers’ meters back on and can only do that when someone is home and they expect they won’t get them all back on until Tuesday, wow, what a mess that is.

Yesterday when John was out for his bike ride he saw a Giant bike for sale in the area he calls Little Mexico, so when he came back he took the truck over to check it out and came back with a new, to him, bike for $25. It is in good shape but sure needs to be cleaned up so I know how he will be spending his time for the next while. He loves doing stuff like that so is in his glory and will end up having a nice bike when he’s done.

Time to get some lunch then head out to fight the crowds at the grocery store.

And so ends more great gifts of days and we look forward to more good days to come.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

2011-01-18T15:12:00.001-07:00

It has been a week since I posted a blog so I am doing a bit better with my updates. It is hard to write when there isn’t much to write about, it is not as exciting being in one place as it is being on the road and seeing new places and discovering new things.

I haven’t been doing a lot as my back has still been sore, one day it seems to be a bit better then the next day worse again – very frustrating, but yesterday I went for a massage and today it is much better so I have my fingers crossed that it is on the mend now.

Last Tuesday I finally talked to my brother in Australia on Skype and thankfully they are fine and not affected with the flooding, I certainly was relieved to hear that. I watched a video of some of the flooding in Brisbane and it was incredible to see how quickly the water rose and washed cars away, and a friend sent us pictures of some of the rail lines north of Brisbane and what the water had done to them. I certainly feel sorry for all the people affected by it.

The last week has been pretty quiet, John has been looking for a new grill but so far he hasn’t decided on anything; I have given up going out to look with him as it is frustrating watching him hem and haw about them. He is the one who uses it so it is his decision what he wants, just wish he would decide!

We are looking at shades for the new patio area as it is too sunny without them, John was out looking yesterday and is waiting for a call from someone to come out and give us a quote.

Yesterday when I got home from my massage just as I came in the back door there was a knock at the front and it was Bob across the road saying to come over for a drink, I said it sounded good but didn’t know where John was, turns out he was already there. I went over and they had a few other people there so it was nice to meet new people and visit, a very nice time.

I had an e-mail from Larry T. asking how we decided to come to Yuma so thought that I would put a bit about that in my blog. For some reason I have always wanted to visit Arizona but being the uninformed Canuck that I am thought that all of Airzona was warm (hot even) in the winter – NOT!

We left London ON on January 1st, 2006 heading for our first visit to Arizona. We had gone to London on Dec. 30th and moved into our new Airstream with plans to leave on the 31st but is was snowing pretty good that day so decided to wait until the 1st. On the 2nd of January it was 70F going through Indianapolis but we did know that was unusual for that part of the country. The next night we stayed in Springfield MO and again it was nice weather, we even turned the water on in the trailer.

A few days later we arrived in Alburquerque NM and again the weather was beautiful, in the high 50’s and low 60’s during the day but cold at night (I just checked my diary and it went down to 21F one night) – brrrr! We spent a week there thinking this was usual for that part of the country but were told that it was an unseasonably warm winter, worked for us though as we enjoyed our time there and found it a very interesting city with lots to see and do. Even Sandia Peak, which is a huge ski area there was green instead of snow covered! Had we been there a year later we would have been buried in snow up to our ying yang, apparently a far more usual winter for that area!!

From there we headed south to Arizona with no particular destination in mind, but the night we stayed in Deming NM on the way to Arizona we had an e-mail from our friends in B.C. who said they were heading to Yuma and had just made a reservation there at Desert Paradise RV from Feb 6th to March 6th, so we called and managed to get a spot there also at the same time. That is how we found Yuma.

When we arrived in Arizona we stopped at Benson and stayed at a really nice park there, Cochise Terrace. We were there almost 3 weeks and really liked the park and area, we were about 45 minutes east of Tucson and within touring distance of Bisbee, a gorgeous old mining town, Douglas, Tombstone, Chiricahua National Monument, Coronado National Monument, etc. There was so much to see and do in the area but the big drawback was the weather – it is a higher elevation there so the temperatures didn’t get much above 60F during the day, and it got very cold at night, not warm enough to spend a winter! Boy, are we learning that all of Arizona isn’t the hot climate that we thought it was!

From there we spent a week at Gila Bend, out in the middle of nowhere between Casa Grande and Yuma, but did day trips into Phoenix, Aljo, another old mining town, Petroglyph Park, Organ Pipe Cactus National Park and other interesting sites.

We arrived in Yuma in early February and really liked it, the weather was warm and sunny every day!! Yuma has the most sunlight of any place in the states and great temperatures, it isn’t as hot as Florida or the Rio Grand Valley in Texas but it isn’t humid, there are no bugs here and overall the weather seems to be more consistent day to day. One evening we did a dinner cruise on Lake Martinez and our friend Janet put it perfectly when she said she never imagined being on a lake in the middle of winter, in the middle of a desert and enjoying such beautiful weather and a gorgeous sunset.

We ended up staying here until late March, then went to Lake Havasu area for a week, then to Kingman for 5 days and then on to Williams for about 10 days. From Williams we did the Grand Canyon a couple of days, went to Sedona, did a steam train ride through the Verde Canyon and visited lots of ancient Indian pueblos – a fascinating area. The only problem with that area is the weather, our first morning in Williams around the 8th of April we got up to find the park covered in snow! Fortunately it was gone by mid day and after that the weather was beautiful. After that we spent a few days touring the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest before leaving Arizona to head home.

We have found Arizona to be a fascinating state, it has so many different faces and so much to enjoy. Not being big city fans we have no desire to spend time in the Phoenix area but would like to spend a few days there sometime to do the Apache Trail and other interesting things in the area. We did spend a couple of weeks in Casa Grande the next year on the way to Yuma so did see some of the Phoenix area from there. We also spent a week in Tucson a couple of years ago but prefer the smaller cities with less congestion.

So that is how we found Yuma and why we keep coming back. Our next problem was finding a park we like, we spent two winters at Desert Paradise RV park but found the sites very small and tight, it was built before trailers had slides, and there was a huge issue with trains as the rail line is just north of the park and there is a level crossing there. It is a very busy rail line with lots of trains and the trailer would literally shake when they went by and the whistles from the crossing were extremely annoying, especially the second winter there. The next two years we spent at Del Pueblo, which was far away from the trains but south of the marine/air base so lots of air traffic, but at least they moved faster than the trains! We didn’t find the park very friendly so last year decided to try Mountain Cactus Ranch and really like it. Again, the rail line isn’t far away, but farther than at Desert Paradise so the trains aren’t an issue, the people in the park are very friendly and the lots are huge, we have never seen a park in this area with lots this big. So this is where we are and we are really enjoying it.

We just had the fellow from Time Warner here checking out the internet and he seems to think our wireless router is the problem – great!! Guess we will have to get out and look for a new one as we need wireless with all our electronics that need the internet.

I think I have rambled on enough for one day so will go and get some work done.

And so ends more great gifts of days and we look forward to more good days to come.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

2011-01-11T15:24:00.005-07:00

I didn’t realize that is has been so long since I did a posting, where oh where does the time go! Last week was my sister-in-law Carol and our son-in-law Carls’ birthdays so a belated happy birthday to both of you and hope you both had a gooder!

My back is still sore so I am trying not to do so much but that is hard to do when there is always something beckoning at me to get done. We have accomplished quite a bit since the beginning of the year – the brick wall across the back, the wall at the front expanded and the patio enlarged has been done and we are very pleased with the result.

John's New Grilling Area

Expanded Patio Area

Expanded Front Wall

I found a rocker/recliner exactly like we have in the cottage so am happy to have a real comfortable chair again. We have found a new futon mattress, now we are waiting for it to come in and are hoping it will be here in the next week or two. I found a comforter set and matching valance for the bedroom and am real happy with them and think they look really nice.

John has been busy, and as always, he seems to have lots of projects to keep him busy and out of trouble. He is enjoying his morning bike rides with the guys and most days there are 5 or 6 of them who go.

Last Tuesday we went to see True Grit and quite enjoyed it, the young lady who played Maddie certainly did a fantastic acting job. We went to Chilli’s after for dinner and it was very good.

Thursday night we went to the spagetti dinner here in the park and it was delicious and the price was certainly right at $4/person. They had such a good turnout the cooking people didn’t get any spagetti as they had run out of food by the time they got to eat – not good! The only problem we have with the park dinners is that they are so early, at least for us, at 5 p.m. and everyone just eats and runs, not much socializing done except with those near you during the meal.

Sunday we went to Daybreakers’s for brunch and it was good but I think we will go back to Brownie’s Café next time as it is equally as good and a bit cheaper.

Today was the monthly ladies luncheon so I went to that and had a good time. Everyone brings either a salad or desert and it was surprising how much variety there was. They had a trivia game after lunch and at the end draws for prizes and I won the final prize of a very pretty Cyclamen plant, it looks real nice on the kitchen windowsill.

Today is cool with a north wind but it is supposed to be quite warm by the end of the week, I don’t care if it is cool as long as we don’t get snow! Another snow storm has hit in the east, there sure have been lots of snow storms this winter. I have been watching the weather in Australia and the flooding is horrendous, I am hoping to talk to my brother on Skype and see how they are doing, hopefully they aren’t being flooded but it looks like there is a good sized lake and dam near them so don’t know how they are faring – they live on the Gold Coast and aren’t far from Brisbane.

And so ends more great gifts of days and we look forward to more good days to come.

Happy New Year

2010-12-31T11:29:00.001-07:00

Tis the end of another year and my they do seem to fly by very quickly – remember all the dire predictions for New Years day 2000, sure seems like a long time ago now and of course none of the terrible things happened.

The 80th birthday party we went to last week was fun but the weather didn’t co-operate, it was cool and rainy but fortunately we were out of the rain on the covered patio and just dressed warmly. Corrie served a fabulous turkey dinner with all the trimmings – very yummy!

On Christmas Eve we entertained our first dinner guests in our new home, the meal was good and we had a great evening with Diane & Ben.

Christmas day was nice and Santa was very good to us, we just had a relaxing day until it was time to go out for dinner. Our Christmas dinner was a disappointment, there were 11 of us and the company was great but the meal and service left something to be desired - Ed sent his steak back because he couldn’t even cut it. John also had the steak and said it wasn’t very tender but wasn’t as bad as Ed’s. I had prime rib but had to ask for the onion rings that were supposed to come with it, no one got them at our table until I asked. For sure we won’t be going back there again! That’s twice this year we have gone out for special meals and have been disappointed – our Thanksgiving dinner in Kincardine was not what we expected but again the company was good so that helped make the evening not a total waste.

This week has been busy but nothing too exciting. On Tuesday our daughter Nancy had the family Christmas dinner at her place so we talked to everyone on Skype, it was fun to see them all and chat with them, we wish we could have been there but sure like the weather here better!

There seems to be lots to do around here so I am sure we won’t be bored for a while. When we moved in here there were 8 locks on the two set of doors and keys galore, John has replaced all the door handles and we are now down to 4 locks, and one key does them all – sure is nice not having to try to figure what key works what lock!

I went to aquafit on Monday but passed on Wednesday because it looked like it was going to pour rain, turned out it didn’t start raining until about 11:30 so I could have gone.

Yesterday John put an extra shelf in the pantry and in the cupboard above the dryer for me, I don’t know why they make such large cupboards with only the floor in them and so much wasted space but it seems to be a fairly common thing. Yesterday afternoon I went out and got some baskets for the pantry and sorted out the food in there, now I should be able to see what I have and find what I want fairly easily – much nicer than it was.

I felt fine when I went out yesterday afternoon but came home with the worst backache I have ever had. This morning I woke up feeling nauseous and crappy so guess I have picked up the flu that is going around. My niece had the 24 hour flu the day before Christmas and my sister had it on Christmas day so I am hoping this is also a 24 hour bug and soon gone! We had planned on going to the show this afternoon and then out for dinner but that won’t be happening today if I don’t feel any better later.

Yesterday we had a major cold front come through and it is supposed to last for about a week, they are calling for highs in the high 50’s for the next week and lows near freezing. On Wednesday John went and put some anti freeze through the trailer just to be on the safe side. I heard they were calling for snow in the Phoenix area, hope they keep it there!

Kel sent me an e-mail this morning saying she doesn’t know what we are up to because I don’t blog every day now, but it is hard to write something every day when there isn’t anything happening, just the normal day to day stuff. I will try to do better and do a post a couple of times a week, but am not promising anything for sure.

We wish everyone a very happy and prosperous New Year and for those who are traveling, we wish you safe travels and, as Peggi says, never drive faster than your guardian angel can fly!

And so ends more great gifts of days and we look forward to more good days to come.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-22T14:27:00.006-07:00

We are getting spoiled, yesterday we got a beautiful House Warming floral arrangement from our kids and their families – many thanks, it really brightens up the kitchen!

We are into our third cloudy day, what’s with that! Monday was just overcast but yesterday we had some rain and today have had more rain. I was able to go to the pool for aquatics this morning before the rain started and it wasn’t too bad but it has really cooled down since then. I guess we won’t complain though as long as we don’t get the rain like California is getting.

We think we are at a point where we feel like this is home now, there is still a lot of stuff to do. but it is becoming ours. John got a quote on extending our patio and putting the wall across the back, from the Mexicans who do a lot of the brickwork in the park, so we will get that done early in the new year.

This afternoon we are going to an 80th birthday party & dinner, I am sure Corrie isn’t too happy with the rain and cold as she was probably planning on having it outside.

I finally have some pictures to post and I’m sure there will be more later.
Kitchen

Living Room & Kitchen from Front Door

Kitchen & Living Room from Back Door

Living Room

Looking in from Front Door

Looking to Back with Laundry Area on Right

Larry, I have put an e-mail link on my blog if you would like to e-mail me, I would love to chat with you. I also welcome e-mails from other readers.

In case I don’t do another post until after Christmas, I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a happy and safe holiday season.

And so ends more great gifts of days and we look forward to more good days to come.

Monday, December 20, 2010

2010-12-20T09:09:00.001-07:00

Wow, this has been a very busy week and not one I would like to repeat too often. On Monday we went to Arizona Power to have the electric account switched over to our name on the 15th. We weren’t sure what hoops we would have to go through to have that done but it was real easy, they did a credit check while we stood there and we had the account set up and were out the door in less than 10 minutes, great.

Our next stop was the insurance place where the previous owners had their insurance, we got a quote from them then went to Wal Mart, in the same plaza, to pick up some stuff. Then it was off to J C Penny’s to check out their sale on towels, etc. I can’t remember where else we went but it was a day of running around.

On Tuesday we went to an insurance place here in the Foothills for an insurance quote and ended up going with them as the quotes were pretty well the same and at least this place is closer. We know other people who have their insurance through them and are happy with them so here’s hoping they are okay, and even better, that we never have to make a claim. Again, the rest of the day was a blur.

Wednesday morning at 8 a.m. we met Stan & Jackie, the folks we bought from, at the DTO office to sign over the ownership, at a cost of $7.00. They wanted to stop at the house to finish a couple of things but as we pulled into the trailer they stopped and handed us the keys, so we came right down here. John decided to go for his morning ride with the guys and while he did that I emptied out the kitchen cupboards and washed them out so I could start moving my stuff.

The last 3 days are a blur of moving, cleaning, more cleaning and on Thursday shopping for stuff we needed. On Thursday we checked out the storage area again and realized there was no way we were going to get the trailer in to the spot we had been assigned so it was off looking for another spot. We checked a place that had no spots left but had a storage area in the Foothills (where we are) and had a spot there. It was too late to check it out on Thursday but John went out first thing on Friday morning and took it as it is the only spot they have left. It is in a secure area so hopefully there won’t be any problems.

Yesterday we finally got the trailer emptied and the fridge washed out and turned off so now it is ready to head for storage on Monday morning.

I started this Saturday morning and it is now Monday morning so I am going to quickly finish this off and get it posted.

Saturday and Sunday were more days of cleaning and picking up things we need. John spent about 3 hours on Saturday cleaning one bathroom and then about 3 hours yesterday cleaning the other one. We bought new towel racks so he has one installed and a couple more to go, as well as a new toilet paper holder in my bathroom as the current one is under the towel rack, hence, hidden by the towel.

Yesterday I vacuumed the front deck and moved a lot of furniture down to the patio, it now looks a lot cleaner and less congested. The back deck is a total disaster but we have stuffed piled up on it for the garage sale as well as an exercise bike. So much of the stuff in here that we don’t want is just plain junk but there are a few things that can go in the garage sale. We sure have been giving the garbage dumpster here a good work out.

I didn’t get to the pool at all last week so am off this morning, John only got in two bike rides last week so he is off this morning for his ride. Today we are moving the trailer into storage so don’t know how much will get done in here today.

My sister and niece sent us a beautiful Christmas floral arrangement and it looks, and smells so nice sitting on the coffee table. Again, many thanks Pat and Serita.

Larry, yes I do go to the Hair Loft so say hi back to Jean & Kim and I hope Kim hasn’t had too many bad drives with the weather.

I hope to post some pictures in the next couple of days.

And so ends more great gifts of days and we look forward to more good days to come.

Friday, December 10, 2010

2010-12-10T20:47:00.002-07:00

Another week has flown by and me thinks it is time to catch up on the blog.

Last week I had an e-mail from a gal who is a writer for Airstream Magazine and Airstream's newsletter saying she would like to interview us about our travels and our Airstream so that interview happened on Monday morning – hopefully it will come out okay and I didn’t sound like a real dufus! Becky was really nice and easy to talk to so I think it went okay.

Last Sunday we went to Brownie’s Café for breakfast then checked out the new market. The existing Arizona market was taken over last year by new owners, there have been a lot of changes, one of those changes being a lot of vendors who haven’t returned this year. We had heard that a lot of them have gone to the old Mervyn’s store so we decided to check it out, and there are quite a few of them there now but the prices have increased with their new location (I suspect they are paying more for rent now). We wandered around but didn’t open our wallets as there was nothing we really needed. We have also heard that some of them went to the swap meet near the airport so will have to check that out some time also.

Wednesday I finally made it to my first aquafit of the season and really enjoyed it, I went again today so hopefully will make it most of the time for the rest of the time we are here. Now that Liz, the leader, is back and the weather is warmer it will be busy, I will have to get there early to get a spot!

Wednesday afternoon we stopped and bought a new mattress so that is done, it will be delivered on the 16th so for sure we will be sleeping in our new place on Thursday night!
Yesterday we did a trip to Mexico, I had e-mailed and made a dental appointment so we went early enough to shop for glasses before heading for the dentist. We ended up buying 2 pairs of glasses each, John got two pair of reading glasses and I got a new pair of glasses plus a pair of polarized sun glasses, total for four pairs $520 – how can you go wrong as I couldn’t buy one pair for that price at home. We both got free eye exams and he told me the same as the optometrist at home had told me last summer about the change in one eye so I know I am getting the right prescription. By the time we got through at the dentist – we both had our teeth cleaned but had to wait a while for our appointments, our glasses were ready so we got them fitted and headed out. John bought me a nice curio cabinet for our new house and we bought a litre of Kaluha for $8.50 plus John bought a new belt and I got a purse. We waited about 10 minutes to clear customs, so all in all it was a good morning.

We stopped at Wal Mart on the way home and did something we haven’t done in years, we got lunch at McDonald’s; we were both starving and it was handy so we broke down and did lunch there. After picking up a few groceries we finally made it home for a quiet rest of the day.

The weather this week has been wonderful, hot and sunny during the day but cooling off enough at night to make it nice for sleeping, what more could we ask for!

Today we were invited to a surprise 80th birthday party on the 22nd for one of our new neighbours, should be fun.

There was a nice sunset tonight and I took a picture of the Christmas lights on the trailer across from us.

Once we get moved in I will take pictures of our new place and post them. I think next week will be busy so I don’t imagine I will do a post until next weekend, but hopefully by then I will have some pictures.

And so ends more great gifts of days and we look forward to more good days to come.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

2010-12-04T12:04:00.002-07:00

Another week has just sped by, why does the time seem to go so fast!

We have had a busy, exciting week – we have bought a manufactured home here at Mountain Cactus Ranch.

Last winter we looked around but didn’t find anything that we liked and that we felt was well priced but that changed on Monday. I had noticed a new “For Sale” sign on the weekend and the house looked really nice and the price was right so we called on Monday and asked if we could see it. When we walked in we knew this was it, if we were ever going to buy something, as it is in immaculate condition. It has a nice lay out with the master bedroom and bath in the back and the second bedroom and bathroom in the front, with the kitchen and living room in the middle and it also has a washer & dryer, and there is tons of storage space. We have room for company if anyone wants to come and visit! All the furniture is included, including the patio furniture, as well as a new 36” Sony flat screen TV. They have bikes they are leaving so John is happy that he will have a regular bike to ride rather than his fold up one. The house faces east so the south side gets the morning sun, there are decks on both sides and Jackie and Stan (the owners) say that in the late spring the deck on the north side is nice as it is cooler there.

We thought about it all day Tuesday and on Wednesday morning went back and took another look then made them an offer, done deal! We take possession on Dec. 15th so are really excited. The only thing I want to do right away is a new mattress so we went looking on Thursday and found what we want so it will be delivered on the 16th. Of course the other challenge was finding storage for the Airstream for the winter but that is now also looked after, it will be in covered storage for the rest of the winter but we now have to decide what we are going to do about it as it is too much of an asset just to use to travel back and forth in the spring and fall, but that is something to worry about when we get home in the spring.

On Tuesday night we went to friends for happy hour and were telling them we had looked at the house, and as they have a home here we asked them a lot of questions and they were very helpful in helping us make a decision. On Wednesday we stopped to tell them we had bought it, and thank them again for their help. In the spring we had asked them if we could store my golf clubs in their shed for the summer so on Wed. I asked them if we could leave them at their place until we move and have our own shed to put them in. The look on their faces was hilarious, apparently they had no idea who belonged to the golf clubs and had been asking everyone they knew if they had put them there, Ben had gone through the pockets to see if there was any ID but had only determined they belonged to a lady, so we solved their dilemma.

On Thursday morning when John went for his bike ride his fellow riders already knew we had bought the house, guess Stan had been talking to a few of them and even the guy from another park knew – sheesh, how news travels!!

Yesterday when I went for a walk I stopped to chat for a couple of minutes with people we know from Alberta who will be our neighbours a few doors down and they asked us to join them for Christmas dinner, there will be about 14 of us going to a local hotel for dinner. They went last year and said it was good so it should be fun.

Yesterday we were out for a bit and on the way home stopped to take a couple of pictures of our new house and while I was taking the pictures the lady across the street came out and asked if we were the new owners. She seemed very nice and friendly, that is what we like about this park, most of the people are really friendly.

Yesterday I did laundry and for some unknown reason decided to try the laundry at the end of the road rather than driving over to the one I usually go to, boy was that a mistake. When I went in it didn’t look too bad but by the time I was ready to dry there were only 2 dryers available so had to wait to dry the 3rd load and the whole place wasn’t nearly as nice or as clean as where I usually go so next time I will go back to the original place. Boy, I can’t wait to have my own washer and dryer!!!

We have had a bit of cooler weather this week but it has started to warm up again although today is quite overcast. I haven’t started the aquafit yet as it has been too cool in the morning but hopefully it will start up soon and be warmer in the morning. Liz, the gal who led them last year, has just come back and I was talking to her the other day and she is hoping to get started again in the next week or so but like me she said it has been too cool in the morning to get excited about it.

And so ends more great gifts of days and we look forward to another good tomorrow.

Friday, November 26, 2010

2010-11-26T19:41:00.000-07:00

Another few days have flown by, I don’t know where the time goes but it does seem to fly by really quickly.

On Wednesday the guys were here shortly after 8:30 to wash the trailer and truck and my, what a difference it makes as they sure were dirty! After they finished John started polishing and he now has both the truck & trailer all polished and shiny – have to put on sunglasses to look at them!!! As I said to a friend in an e-mail, John is like the energizer bunny – he just keeps on going - I sure do wish he would pass some of that energy on to me!!

Yesterday was American Thanksgiving, we are lucky that we get to celebrate two Thanksgivings, our Canadian one in October and the American one in November. There was a dinner at the park but we didn’t go, somehow I just can’t get excited about eating a large meal at 2 in the afternoon so instead we cooked our own little turkey with all the trimmings.

Yesterday was quite cold and windy so I didn’t venture far and John only did polishing where he could be in the sun. Today was much nicer but still a bit on the cool side, however, we aren’t getting freezing temperatures and snow or rain so I am not complaining.

This morning I did laundry, I am trying to get on a Thursday schedule but wasn’t sure if the laundromat would be open yesterday so waited until today to do it. It turns out it was open yesterday, but not staffed. Late this afternoon we went to Fry’s and picked up a couple of groceries then got a pizza from Da Boyz for dinner.

Tomorrow is my sisters birthday, happy early birthday Pat. She and a friend are going to Quebec for a week and leaving early tomorrow morning so I called her a while ago to wish her a happy birthday as well as a happy holiday.

We have nothing planned for the weekend, I will probably bury my nose in a book and relax.

And so ends more great gifts of days and we look forward to another good tomorrow.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

2010-11-24T12:06:00.004-07:00

There hasn’t been much happening to write about. On Sunday the temperature took a dive and although it was sunny we only had a high of about 63F (16C), a bit cooler than normal. I don’t like temperatures in the 80’s so I would rather have the cooler weather than hot and humid.

Kel, Tim and Cara had a good trip to Ottawa and didn’t get the snow that was forecast so had a good drive back and forth, I was glad to hear from her that the trip was fine.

Our friends on Vancouver Island sent us a couple of pictures of all the snow they are having there – glad it’s them and not us! You guys should hurry up and come south where there isn’t any snow!!

Vegetables Growing in the Yuma Area

On Sunday we stopped to see our friends from Calgary, it was nice to catch up with them again. They are in another park so we don’t see them too often but it is nice to catch up once in a while.

We have been out doing a bit of shopping, we went to Marshall’s and John got a pair of Clark shoes for $29 and I got a pair of Naturalizers for $25, how can you argue with those prices! I have been looking for a new vacuum, I bought a Dirt Devil Featherlite last fall and didn’t like it at all, I felt like all it was doing was blowing the dirt around. Today I found what I was looking for, a Shark Navigator, it has had really good reviews so here’s hoping it is a lot better.

The showerhead started leaking this morning when I had my shower so that was another thing on the list – seems like there is always something!

I went out this morning and got my bar bells for the pool exercises so am now all ready to go. I am not sure if I will get there on Friday as we might go to Mexico that day to see about glasses and the dentist.

Tomorrow we get the truck and trailer washed and they sure do need it – they are totally filthy.

Our Home at Mountain Cactus Ranch

And so ends more great gifts of days and we look forward to another good tomorrow.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

2010-11-20T18:46:00.000-07:00

I guess I missed doing a posting yesterday, probably because there isn’t really anything exciting to write about.

Yesterday was cleaning day and I am happy to say we are now nice and clean for a couple more days but it doesn’t take long before it needs to be done again.

John went out and did some running around looking for bits and pieces but I opted not to go – Lowe’s, Home Depot etc. aren’t high on my shopping places!

Today I did three loads of laundry so that is caught up again for a bit, I want to try to get on a Thursday as laundry day routine so hopefully that will work out. The laundromat has put in a lot of new machines so hopefully when it is busy machines will still be available. After the laundry we stopped at Fry’s and picked up a few groceries then it was home again.

This morning before we went out to do laundry we noticed our friend Diane was across the road at Betty’s so we went over to say hi. During the conversation we mentioned that we were surprised the couple from Gravenhurst weren’t here yet as they left about the same time we did. Later, when we got back, Betty came over to tell John that she had just heard that Marvin had had medical problems when they were in Laughlin and they had to go home, not a nice thing to hear. Hopefully he will be okay but don’t know if they will be able to return this winter.

The fellow whose shed John had stored his bike in last spring hasn’t arrived yet either, but fortunately he gave John a key to the shed so John got his bike out this afternoon and it is now ready to get some use. John has missed his bike rides since leaving Kincardine and is looking forward to getting in the groove again. I hope to start water aerobics next week, have to find some water bar bells first so hopefully I can get them on Monday.

This afternoon I did the same as yesterday after I finished cleaning – I sat outside with a good book and enjoyed the sun and warm temperatures.

As you can see it has been a couple of quiet days, just the way we like.

Our daughter Kelly and her husband and daughter were going to Ottawa today to see our grandson who is going to University of Ottawa. Looking at the weather they could be in for a bit of snow so hope they have a safe trip. Our granddaughter is hoping to go to the U of O next fall so they were going down so her brother could giver her a tour of the university.

And so ends another two great gifts of days and we look forward to another good tomorrow.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

2010-11-18T22:06:00.000-07:00

The weather today was wonderful, sure hope it lasts!

This morning we headed over to Time Warner to pick up the internet modem, when arrived there were a lot of cars parked so we figured it was really busy but much to our surprise, and pleasure, it wasn’t the least bit busy so we were in and out in record time.

Our next stop was Wal Mart, I wanted to get a pedicure, hair cut and pick up the rest of the groceries. While I was doing that John went to where he gets his hair cut and then when he got back to Wally World he noticed that the TV we bought two weeks ago was $50 cheaper, drat. But, to make a long story short, he got a refund of $54.70 so we are happy campers. Due to all the running around re the haircut and TV John never did get to wander around the store at all but I am sure he will find lots of opportunity to do that over the next four months!

By the time we got home it was almost 4 p.m. so too late to get into any major projects today, guess I will just have to wait until tomorrow to start cleaning. Everything is totally filthy so tomorrow will be the day to make the inside at least look nice and clean and shiny again.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another good tomorrow.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

2010-11-18T21:46:00.003-07:00

We have arrived at our winter home in Yuma – hooray! We arrived here about 2:15 p.m. and were glad to see the end of the road days, the trip here was 4120 km (2559 miles) so we have covered a lot of ground!

Today’s drive was good and we got 15.1 miles/U.S. gallon, not too shabby, especially considering the last two days we were driving right into the wind so were only getting around 10.5 miles/U.S. gallon. The drive through Tucson was good but I am always glad to get through there, it is so stretched out and takes a long time to get through. We waved to Bob & Denise as we passed Casa Grande, would have loved to stop and say hello but at that point we just wanted to get to Yuma. At least we had a nice visit, although brief, when they stopped to see us in Waterloo at the end of October.

Picacho Peak Near Casa Grande

Cotton Fields

A Double Dome

Lots of Saguaros

Looking Down the Road

We saw this trailer at a park in Gila Bend today and think it is the same one we were parked beside a couple of years ago in Alamogordo (I don't imagine there are too many trailers like it around!)

Once we got set up we sat outside and enjoyed the warmth and sun along with an icy cold beer. Around 5:30 we headed over to Fry’s to pick up a few groceries then picked up a pizza for dinner at Da Boyz Pizza – it was really yummy!

Tomorrow we have lots to do but number 1 will be picking up a modem from Time Warner so we can get the Road Runner internet set up and working.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another good tomorrow.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

2010-11-18T21:27:00.003-07:00

Today was another gorgeous day with a high of 72F (21C), it was nice to be able to wear capris and a short sleeve top again.

We had a good drive from Alamogordo to Benson, AZ and are now at Cochise Terrace RV Resort. We have stayed here a few times and it is a nice resort but I forgot that the internet is Tengointernet, not a freebie, I just checked it out and it appears that we can get a 4 hour freebie to try it out so will wait until after dinner to try it as I don’t want to waste time between now and after dinner.

White Sands Outside of Alamogordo

And We Crossed into Arizona

Usually the sunsets here are stunning so I am hoping we will get a nice one tonight, it seems kind of hazy looking out so I’m not sure what that will do for the sunset.

The trailer is disgustingly dirty, we will have to arrange to have the Mexicans wash the trailer and truck as soon as possible! The first couple of days will be busy getting organized, I need to do a major grocery shopping, we both need haircuts and I need a pedicure. And of course, first and foremost is a trip to Time Warner to pick up the parts for internet while we are in Yuma.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another good tomorrow.

Monday, November 15, 2010

2010-11-15T16:48:00.003-07:00

Today was another nice day but windy, fortunately the Airstream isn’t a high profile RV so the wind doesn’t really bother us or knock us around.

We took I-40 from Tucumcari to Santa Rosa, then picked up Highway 54 south to Almagordo. Highway 54 was good most of the way but there was about a 100 km (60 miles) stretch where it wasn’t real great and no shoulders. There was very little traffic so that was a help during the rougher part.

Driving Through New Mexico

We were going to stay at Edgington RV Park in Alamagordo, it is a Passport America Park and we had stayed there two years ago and it was quite nice but when we got there it was pretty well full. We had passed the Boot Hill RV Resort a couple of miles back so turned around and went back there, a good move, as it is a really nice park and for one night we got the PA rate of $13.25 – how good it that!! There is free wi-fi here and long pull thrus, a really nice park.

Boot Hill RV Resort

We are back in the part of the country we love with mountains, mesas and lots of nothing for miles. The mountains here are really pretty tonight with the sun and shadows and blue sky interspersed with dark clouds, very pretty!

The high today was 58F (14C) and tomorrow is supposed to be sunny, warmer and no wind, how good is that!

Tonight I will make dinner inside, linguine with Alfredo sauce and shrimp, that way we don’t have to worry about trying to grill in the wind. Another quiet evening is in store, and probably an early evening, as again we are tired after another travel day.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another good tomorrow.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

2010-11-15T09:00:00.001-07:00

Today was another travel day and we traveled through four states on Highway 54 starting in Kansas, then Oklahoma, Texas and ending up for the night in Tucumcari NM. The morning started out drizzly but after about a half hour the sun was out and it was sunny, but cool, the rest of the day. The high today was 51F (10C) but it was pleasant in the sun.

Highway 54 was busy through Kansas but the traffic thinned out considerably when we got into Oklahoma but lots of transports. As Al of the Bayfield Bunch said, you have to keep those tires rolling along here. The day was mostly driving through the plains and we saw 6 or 7 very long trains and a couple of huge feed lots – could smell them long before seeing them!!

We saw a lot of these trucks running the railway tracks

Driving Through the Plains

We arrived at Mountain Road RV Park in Tucumcari about 3:30, having lost an hour when entering New Mexico – we are now on Mountain Time so 2 hours behind home. I decided to do a load of laundry when we got here so that I wouldn’t have to be running out to do laundry as soon as we get to Yuma. This is an okay park for overnight, the site is just barely long enough for us not to have to unhook. Certainly no “it” factor here, but for an overnight it is fine.

While the load was washing I came back and vacuumed and dusted then went back and stayed until it was dry. There were two other couples in there and in chatting it turned out the one fellow had a birthday today – he is 87 years old and still driving a See Ya Motorhome – good for him!

John grilled steak for dinner – yummy. I don’t know why but driving days are always so tiring, and I don’t even do the driving! Anyways, it will be an early night for us.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another good tomorrow.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

2010-11-13T20:30:00.001-07:00

We didn’t get a real early start this morning as it was too cold to want to get going! John finally started getting us hooked up around 9:15 and then he went over to get propane but they owners were out until 10, so we waited for them to return so we could get our empty tank filled. So, by the time we got on the road it was about 10:30.

Crossing the Missouri River - Again

We had a good drive today, went around Kansas City and picked up I-35 to Emporium KS where we picked up the Kansas toll road. We took the toll road to Witchita, about 100 miles, and it cost us $12.25 – YIKES, a three axle trailer is expensive on those darn toll roads and bridges!! The trip through Witchita was great and we arrived at Pratt KS around 5 p.m.

We are at the Evergreen Motel & RV Park, not the greatest place but it has full hookups and free wi-fi so at least we check our e-mail and surf the net. There is no cable TV and the antenna is only picking up one channel so we are limited in what we can watch, but that doesn’t bother me at all as I’m not a great TV fan anyways. The park is full which surprised us until we realized they are all hunters, guess this hunting season and this is a good area for hunting.

No pictures today, not a lot of interesting scenery - lots of farmland.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another good tomorrow.

Friday, November 12, 2010

2010-11-12T19:19:00.000-07:00

Today was as forecast, a wet miserable day and much cooler. John was off this morning to get the differential oil changed and it turned out to be an effort in frustration before it was finished. When they said it was ready he got in the truck and found there were 3 quarts of oil left over, seeing as it takes 8 quarts and that is what he had bought it took him a while to convince them that it wasn’t filled and to get it back up and recheck the dip stick – guess what it wasn’t full!! They then put in the rest of the oil and he got out of there but not before he was pretty ticked off, it sure leaves you hoping you never have to return to this dealer for work again.

I had a very quiet day, reading and on the computer – not very exciting.

Tonight we went to Applebee’s for dinner – very good and it was nice not to have to cook. We were seated at a table beside a couple with 4 very small children, between the ages of 1 and 4 I would guess, and we couldn’t believe how well behaved they were, I told the parents that when they were leaving.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another good tomorrow.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

2010-11-12T11:32:00.003-07:00

Today is Remembrance Day and we remember those who fought to give us freedom.

Today is also John’s sister Barb’s birthday, happy birthday Barb and we hope you enjoy your dinner with friends tonight.

Today was much cooler with a high of 53F (11C) but it was mostly sunny so not a bad day at all.

Independence MO is the hometown of Harry S. Truman and his home is a National Site so we thought we would drive down and check it out. We had toured the National Site in Johnson City TX for LBJ and found it very interesting so we were hoping to find the same for Truman – NOT! We went to the National Site office and were told that we could get a tour of the house at 4:30, the last one of the day, so we passed on that as it was only 11:30 when we got there. They had a video that we watched and what a disappointment, the video barely recognized that he was President of the United States, except to say he missed his home when he had to be in Washington, and it was all about the house he lived in. There was no mention of any of the things he accomplished while President or what the world was going through at the time – extremely disappointing!

We drove around a bit but Independence seemed like it has seen better days although we did see this church and the spire was really different – we think it is a Mormon Church. Also there were some pretty trees with their leaves still on and we saw one really nice looking hold home.

Church Spire

Pretty Older Home

Missouri River at Independence MO

Casino On Missouri River

Back in St. Joseph we did a bit of shopping then came home, not a real exciting day but nevertheless an enjoyable one. The rain has started and tomorrow is supposed to be cool and rainy – oh joy! Fortunately tonight’s dinner was left overs so John didn’t have to go out in the rain to grill.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another good tomorrow.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

2010-11-11T08:11:00.005-07:00

Today is my brother Art's birthday, happy birthday Art and hope you are enjoying your cruise.

Weather wise today was another nice, mainly sunny, day but not as warm as it has been - the high today was 63F (17C) so still not too bad.

We headed out this morning with our first stop at Mr. Dodge to see about getting the oil in the differential changed but when they quoted a price of $29/quart, and it takes 8 quarts, John said thanks but no thanks. John wants to use Amsoil Severe Gear Oil as it is supposed to be the best so we stopped at a few auto parts places to check out the cost and couldn’t find it for less than $22/quart so we gave up on that.

We wanted to check out a couple of the historical sights but the Patee House Museum which looked interesting was closed, open on Saturdays only. Okay, on to the next one which was open, this was the St. Joseph Museum which include the Glore Psychiatric Museum and the Black Archives Museum, it cost us $5 as we had a coupon for one free admittance and it was certainly worth it.

The Glore Psychiatiric Museum was really interesting but my heart bled for any person who was committed to one of these institutions, what torture they put them through. The pictures tell the story.

They had one patient who liked to swallow small objects and when they operated on the person this is what they found (a listing of the contents and a picture). The person died on the operating table.

Hydra Therapy

Restraints

Restraining Chair

Utica Crib

People were kept like this for months or even years at a time

Where the word 'Bedlam" came from

The Pony Express started here in St. Joseph and lasted for all of 18 months. The museum had pictures of all the riders for the express and where they were from and there was one from Prince Edward Island. There was also this fellow, George Washington Perkins, wonder if he was a distant relative!

When we got home John got on the internet to check out the oil for the differential and found a fellow about 15 miles from here who sold it for $11/quart – wow, what a difference. He gave us directions to his place so we headed out to pick it up and then on the way back stopped at Mr. Dodge and made an appointment for Friday morning to have it changed.

This evening is another quiet one, dinner and reading or watching TV.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another good tomorrow.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

2010-11-09T16:54:00.000-07:00

Boy, I hate repeating myself but today was another spectacular day – sunny with a high of 21C (72F), wow, that’s not too shabby for November!

Today we drove across Missouri, from the Mississippi River in the east to the Missouri River in the west and are now in St. Joseph, MO. The trip today was good, we drove Highway 36 all the way and it was a divided 4 lane highway with little traffic – just the way we like it! The only down side to the drive was that there were no rest areas, truck stops or picnic areas the whole way, we had to get off the highway once to make a quick stop.

There are no pictures today as it was pretty well the same countryside we have seen for the last four days – lots of farm land with small towns along the way.

We are at Beacon RV Park in St. Joseph and will be here for a few days. The park is quiet but rather old infrastructure and uneven sites, on the positive side the owners were very friendly and helpful and the wi-fi is excellent, worth the price of $1.50/night.

Tomorrow will be an exploring day, hopefully I will have more to write about and some pictures so stay tuned. The weather is supposed to be sunny again but cooler – oh well, I knew this great stuff was too good to last!!

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another good tomorrow.

Monday, November 8, 2010

2010-11-08T20:29:00.002-07:00

Today was another absolutely gorgeous day, lots of sunshine and a high of 20C (70F) – nothing to complain about there.

We headed into Hannibal today to see what there is to see, as usual this time of year most of the attractions are closed – i.e. no river boat cruises, etc. so we drove around Hannibal for a bit and checked out the historical district – nothing that drew our attention there. We stopped to take a picture of the statute of Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn and climbed up the first section of steps to the old Mark Twain Bridge across the Mississippi, this bridge was replaced in 2000 and the structure across the river was demolished but the original part in Hannibal has been preserved.

Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn Statute

Old Mark Twain Memorial Bridge

Mississippi River at Hannibal

We then found the shopping malls and stopped at J C Penney where I managed to find a couple of long sleeved tops on sale, then it was on to Wally World for a couple of things we didn’t get at the last stop.

We decided to take Highway 79 back as it runs along the river and is named the “The Little Dixie Highway of the Great River”, an interesting name. There was another lock along this section of Highway so we detoured off to check it out but there was no viewing section and no barges in sight so we carried on. We then found a lookout with a nice view of the Mississippi and then a couple of miles down the road we ran into a detour which took us a long way back to the main highway (and no, Kelly, I was not using the GPS for this!!). So much for the scenic drive all the way home!

View from Lookout

Looking Across to Illinois

We finally got home and I decided to do a couple of loads of laundry while John got us hooked up, the laundry cost $3.50 to wash & dry two loads, sure a difference from Green Acre in Waterloo where it cost $8.00 for the same things.

While I was taking the laundry over I noticed a new trailer had arrived, it was from Ontario and was a Smart Car pulling a VERY SMALL tent trailer, quite the combination! Just chatted for a minute and they are from north of Toronto and are heading for Austin, TX, sure hope they get nice weather as I think it would be very cold in the tent trailer if they hit temperatures like we had last Saturday night.

John grilled burgers for dinner and I made coleslaw, an easy but good dinner. Tonight is web surfing and watching TV.

We have no cell phone service here so I haven’t been able to talk to our children, hopefully tomorrow we will have some service.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another good tomorrow.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

2010-11-07T20:14:00.006-07:00

What a difference a day makes, the temperature last night didn’t go below freezing and we woke up this morning to brilliant sunshine – now this is more like what we are looking for!!

We enjoyed the two hour gain in time and this morning we didn’t rush to leave as we were only going 305 km (189 miles). We arrived at Cozy C RV Campground at Bowling Green MO about 1:30 after a quiet drive through central Illinois. We were on I-72 for most of the trip and there was very little traffic, sure do like these kind of days. Cozy C is a nice little campground on Highway 54 just east of Bowling Green, it has very long pull thrus and at this time of year it is quite quiet, only about 6 other RV’s here. The wi-fi isn’t very good, sigh, but I am kind of getting used to that, don’t know if I will be able to post this tonight, I might have to add the pictures later.

Crossing the Illinois River

Court House at Pittfield IL

A Single Windmill

Crossing the Mississippi

When we were checking in I asked the owner about things to do in the area and he mentioned the lock on the Mississippi River at Clarksville was interesting. Now, we had no idea there were locks along the Mississippi but after setting up we headed to Clarksville to check it out and found out that there are 28 locks between Minneapolis/St. Paul and St. Louis and the one we visited was lock no. 24.

We lucked out as there was a barge heading south so we got to watch it going through the lock, it turns out this lock is only 600’ long and the barge was 1200’ so they had to break the barge into two groups to pass through the lock separately, this is called a double lockage and can take up to two hours. We watched the first half go through but didn’t wait for the second half as we wanted to be home before dark but it was very interesting to watch. As the barge was approaching the lock another barge went out and pushed it into line for the lock, the current is so strong the it tends to push the barge away from the lock. There was another barge waiting to go north so it is still a busy time along the Mississippi. I was chatting with a couple of the workers and they said the boats are lowered about 4-5’ in the lock – it doesn’t seem like a lot but I guess it really is.

Dam at Clarksville

Barge Approaching Lock

Entering the Lock

Front of Barge Going By Us

Now They Are In The Lock

They've Been Broken - You Can See the Gate Between the Barges

The First Half Exiting the Lock

Looking Down on Barges In the Lock

Tug Waiting to Enter Lock

Today we had a high of 70F (20C) – sure can’t ask for much better than that for the 7th of November and apparently it is supposed to be like this for about 4 or 5 more days, we sure won’t complain if it stays like this!

Five years ago today we were in an accident on I-95 at Rocky Mount NC, we lost our trailer, two people were killed instantly but John and I weren’t hurt; the Lord was looking after us big time that day and we are so very thankful that we survived and continue to enjoy traveling in our Airstream and finding all these new and wonderful places to visit and enjoy.

John grilled salmon for dinner tonight – it was very yummy and it was a great night for grilling.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another good tomorrow.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

2010-11-06T20:32:00.003-07:00

Okay, this weather isn’t what we wanted – we woke up to a temperature of 23F (-4C) this morning, not what I would call fun. Both the truck and trailer had thick coats of frost adorning them this morning, guess though we can look on the bright side and be thankful we didn’t get snow like they did in Kincardine! Fortunately we were only going about 400 km so we didn’t rush to get on the road, even so John’s fingers were VERY COLD by the time he was finished getting us ready to go. Fortunately, tonight isn’t supposed to be as cold.

Frost on Truck & Trailer

Today’s drive was pretty, we cut across Indiana to Illinois on Highway 24 and picked up I-57 to Champaign where we stopped for the night at D and W Lake RV Park. We were here many years ago and it is a good overnight stop, nothing too fancy but full hook-ups and you get one day free internet. The internet is nothing to write home about but I guess it is better than nothing. We gained an hour today when we entered the Central Time Zone, then we gain another hour tonight with the end of daylight savings time – can we say BONUS!!

Indiana Country Side

Colourful House we Passed

Entering Illinois

D and W Lake Park

We decided to unhook when we got here and head to Wally World to stock up on supplies, it looked like it was a fairly new store and it was quite busy but we got everything we needed, as well as picking up a cooked chicken for dinner and getting a new TV for the trailer. We are really pleased with the TV, it is a 22” Vizio and the picture is really sharp, I am sure we will quite enjoy it. We haven’t had TV since we left Kincardine on October 17th so it is a treat to have it again.

There Was a Pretty Sunset Tonight

Tomorrow we head for Mark Twain country, should be interesting.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another good tomorrow.

Friday, November 5, 2010

2010-11-06T06:19:00.001-07:00

We are finally “On the Road Again” and it is nice to be heading south, enough of this cold weather!!

Yesterday we went from Green Acre Park in Waterloo, where we had been for the last 2-1/2 weeks, to Can-Am in London. Our toilet was leaking so we wanted to get that fixed and we needed a couple of new things (girls talk for I don’t know what it was we needed!) for the Hensley Hitch. We spent the night there so we could head out early this morning.

The sun was shining when we left London but before Sarnia we had a good rain mixed with a bit of snow – YIKES, let’s get outta here! The bridge plaza in Port Huron was a zoo and there were even a couple of idiots who had got in the wrong lane so were going the wrong way, then trying to cut into another lane – scary when you have a 35’ trailer behind you. We probably waited about ½ hour & it was our turn with Mr. Customs – we hit a really nice fellow and were through in no time, thank you very much sir.

The rest of the day was mainly overcast, with a few sunny breaks, and we saw a high of 40F (5C) at one point near the Michigan/Indiana border but most of the day the temperature was around 35-37F (2-3C) so a pretty chilly day.

There were lots of dead deer on the highway, at one interchange there were 5 of the poor things and I saw one running along the side of the road just before Indy, sure glad when he turned away from the road!

We are at Fireside Resort in Auburn, IN for the night, it is a former KOA and is open year round so we have been here many times coming and going as it is a good shot from here to Ontario. As usual the wi-fi isn’t working so I will try again in the morning and get this posted should the wi-fi be working.

And so ends a great gift of a day and we look forward to another good tomorrow.

Saturday/Sunday - July 31/Aug 1/10

2010-08-15T11:45:00.002-07:00

Kelly & Pat got up early and went for one last walk on the beach before heading for home while Nan & I decided to catch a bit more sleep.

We were on the road about 9:30 and had a good trip home. We stopped in Portsmouth and I bought John an iPad, nice to buy it there with no taxes!

On the way home we stopped at Quechee Gorge and the girls & Pat walked down into the gorge while I stayed up and walked over the bridge to see it. They said there was quite a steep climb up and down and with my knee giving me grief we figured it was better for me stay up on terra firma.

We stopped and took pictures of this old covered bridge.

We stopped Saturday night near Saratota Springs, NY then on home on Sunday. Serita picked Pat up at Limeridge Mall in Hamilton, which saved us about an hour’s driving time by not having to go into Brantford, then we arrived back at Nan’s in Bolton about 5:30. John was already there, as well as Tim & Derrick to pick up Kel and Carl, bless him, had dinner ready for all of us – yummy chicken, sausage, potatoes, salad etc. It was nice to have a home cooked meal again!

As soon as we ate John & I headed for home, arriving about 11:30, it was so nice to sleep in my own bed again!!

We had a great trip and I think we all enjoyed it and I can’t imagine anyone would say we didn’t do enough shopping!!! A very nice summer holiday!

Friday, July 30, 2010

2010-08-15T11:12:00.005-07:00

Today was another sunny, warm day – a great day for our visit to Boston. We were up at 6 a.m. to be at the Amtrak station to catch the 8:15 train to Boston. It was a good ride in and we got there about 10:15 and had to be back at the station to catch the 5:40 train back to Saco.

We picked up a trolley tour and did pretty well the whole tour of Boston before getting off to do a harbour cruise. After the cruise we walked over to Faneuil Hall and stopped for a bowl of yummy clam chowder for lunch, then walked to the Statute of Paul Revere and toured the Old North Church, then on past Paul Revere’s House to a pick up stop to get back on the trolley and back to the train station.

It was interesting to see the planes flying into Logan Airport, which is the only airport in the heart of a city. They were very low flying in over the harbour.

I will let the pictures show what we saw.

All in all it was another great day but very tiring. (Kel & Nan on the train home!!)

We got back to the hotel, ordered pizza for dinner, ate and pretty well crashed.

And so ends a great gift of a day and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

2010-07-29T20:16:00.002-07:00

It rained a bit during the night but we awoke to bright sunshine and enjoyed another hot, sunny day.

This morning our first stop was the train station at Saco to buy our Amtrak tickets for our trip into Boston tomorrow. From there we headed to the outlet malls in Kittery, which is just on the New Hampshire border.

Boy, talk about a busy place and a weird outlet mall – the road runs between the shops and there are 4 or 5 different areas so you have to keep moving the car. Our first stop was fine and we had no problem finding a parking spot but that was not the case at the next area we wanted to stop – it was a flipping zoo and we couldn’t find a parking spot so drove around a couple of times and headed to the next one. Fortunately we got a parking spot there and managed to find some really good bargains at the Columbia Sportswear outlet so left there happy.

Our next stop was Best Buy but they didn’t have the iPad I wanted so it was on to downtown Portsmouth. We stopped at Albacore Park and saw the Albacore submarine, a submarine that was used during WWII; we didn’t take the time to do an actual tour of it but did check it out and agree that there was no way any of us would be able to sail on something like that.

We got downtown and finally managed to find a parking spot so we could walk around a bit. We went to the Portsmouth Discovery Centre and watched a video on Portsmouth then the lady at the centre recommended we tour the Moffatt-Ladd House which was built in the 1790’s. It was a beautiful home and we really enjoyed the tour.

Portsmouth Brewery Sign

Loved the Name of This Pub

From there it was a stop at Wal Mart then back to Biddeford for dinner at the Olive Garden, which was very good, then back to the hotel around 9 p.m. We sure do seem to put in long days!!!

It is now time to hit the sack as we have to be up at 6 a.m. to be at the train station in Saco in time for the 8:15 a.m. train. I think another long day is ahead!

And so ends a great gift of a day and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

2010-07-28T20:21:00.005-07:00

And the gorgeous weather continues although today was a bit hotter and more humid than yesterday, but thankfully there was a nice breeze.

Our first stop this morning was a quick run into Wal Mart to get water plus a few other things we wanted. From there it was off to Old Orchard Beach and the mini golf, what a blast that was and yahoo, I got 3 holes in one; and wow, I was the only one to get any holes in one – just pure luck!!

Next it was a stop at Tim’s for a coffee then on to Prout's Neck and then Cape Elizabeth where there are twin lights. Unfortunately we couldn’t find a way to get close to the lights but managed to get pictures of them from the Lobster Shack where we had lunch. It was a nice lunch sitting at a picnic table overlooking the ocean and after we ate Nan & Kel walked down on the rocks a bit. We drove around the cape looking at the houses and wow, are there ever some beauties!

View of Old Orchard from Prout's Neck

Prout's Neck Post Office

Nan & Kel on the Rocks at Cape Elizabeth

The Twin Lights

We came back to the hotel and Kel & Pat changed into their bathing suits and we were off to Biddeford Pool, a beach the girl on reception here at the hotel told us about. I didn’t bother with my bathing suit as I hadn’t really been too impressed with the beach at Old Orchard Beach but the one today was much nicer, with very little seaweed, and the water seemed a bit of warmer so I sort of wished I had put on my suit, on the other hand it was much cooler at the beach as it was after 5 when we got there so it was just nice sitting there. Nan doesn’t have a bathing suit and hasn’t been able to buy one so we kept each other company on the beach while Kel & Pat swam.

From there we drove around Biddeford Pool and Fortune’s Rock, once more oohing and aahing over the beautiful homes overlooking the ocean and we had to listen to the girls bemoaning the fact that they don’t have rich parents with a nice house on the ocean – poor them!

Biddeford Pool

Fortune's Rock

Back again to the hotel and after a quick change we went to Restaurant 99 for dinner and had another yummy meal.

I don’t know how the days can go so fast but they just seem to fly by, guess time flies when you are having fun! Again, by the time I get this finished I will be ready to hit the hay!

And so ends a great gift of a day and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

2010-07-27T21:15:00.008-07:00

We are so lucky that the weather has been behaving and we are enjoying such beautiful sunny, warm days – sure hope it continues but it would be nice if it just cooled off a tad.

This morning we were out of the hotel before 9 a.m. and went to Freeport, home of L L Bean and all their stores, as well as tons of other outlet shops. I wandered around the women’s section of L L Bean then went to Starbucks and used the internet on my iPod Touch and enjoyed a coffee while the others shopped. Kel came back and met me and we went to the L L Bean Home Store, then met Pat & Nan and it was off to the L L Bean outlet store. My, oh my, what a lot of L L Bean stores and I didn’t buy a thing!!

We left Freeport shortly before noon and headed south to Portland where we were going to do the mail boat cruise, a 3 hour cruise of all the islands outside Portland. We finally found a parking spot and then walked about 8 blocks to the pier where we bought our tickets for the cruise, then went to a restaurant for a quick lunch – two of us had clam chowder and two had seafood chowder – all of it being totally delicious.

The cruise was fun with lots of beautiful homes and boats along the way and the mail boat stopped at about 5 islands to unload supplies and passengers as well as picking up new passengers. We sat in a covered area until about the last hour when the sun wasn’t as strong so we could comfortably sit out front in the open.

Bug Light

Old Fort

One of Many Boats We Saw Today

Golf Carts Lined Up At Dock Waiting for Owners to Return

Other Views from the Boat

Once off the boat we worked our way back to the car with tours through a few shops to cool down in their air conditioning as it was still really hot.

Statute of Lobster Man

We then headed for the Portland Head Light, the oldest working lighthouse in the U.S. It is an absolutely gorgeous lighthouse and the keeper’s house, which is now a museum, looked beautiful.

Just a Small Cruiser Going By Portland Head Light

From there we went to Old Orchard Beach where we had dinner at the Clam Bake, it was a huge place where we ordered our food then picked it up when our number was called. Nan, Kel and I had fried clams with French fries & coleslaw and Pat had Haddock & chips and we all agreed that our meals were delicious.

From there it was a quick tour through the Gift Shop then down to the beach, just as it was getting dark, for a walk along the beach. The mosquitoes chased us back to the car after about half an hour but the rising moon over the water was spectacular, a bright orange orb rising up in the sky. Of course, guess who didn’t have their camera with them!

We got back to the hotel shortly after 9 p.m. so another long but fun day. Pat did laundry and Nan & Kel spent some time computering so I am now getting this done when they all have gone to bed as Nan was using my computer earlier.

And so ends a great gift of a day and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Monday, July 26, 2010

2010-07-26T19:23:00.006-07:00

We are so lucky with the weather as today was another gorgeous, sunny day although it was hotter than I like but guess that is better than freezing cold and wet.

We had breakfast at the hotel as it is included in the price, then headed out for a day of touring. Our first stop was the Lighthouse Shop where we enjoyed browsing through the store and, good heavens, we all found a couple of things that we just couldn’t live without purchasing!! We then drove to Kennebunkport where we admired all the gorgeous houses and got our first glimpse of the ocean. We found a parking spot and walked a bit along the waterfront where we took some pictures and drank in the scenery.

Kennebunkport

We toured in a southerly direction along the coast enjoying the scenery, even though there were throngs of other tourists doing the same thing – imagine that at this time of year!! We eventually arrived at Perkins Cove, a small community along the coast with the usual tourist shops, and gorgeous scenery. We parked the car a couple of blocks away from the tourist stuff (the only place we could find a parking spot!) then walked down into the cove. There is a pretty walkway along the ocean, Marginal Way, and we enjoyed the walk along it and the scenery.

Views from Marginal Way

We returned to the cove where we had a delicious lunch on a covered patio looking over the ocean, then wandered through some shops in the cove and took pictures. I managed to hold onto my money while wandering the stores there but a couple of our group managed to find something that sparked their attention.

Perkins Cove

We came back to our hotel, relaxed for a few minutes then headed to Pine Beach at Old Orchard Beach. The tide was out when we got there so it looked kind of yucky with the seaweed on the beach but we all went down and waded in the ocean for a bit, but Pat was the only truly brave one who actually went for a swim. She and Kelly then walked further down the beach while Nan and I just sat and enjoyed the scenery and watched our belongings.

It was about 8 when we got back to the hotel so we ordered a pizza to be delivered for dinner and it was delicious. We have had a brief chat on Skype with Art in Australia and I am now trying to get this done before I crash.

And so ends a great gift of a day and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

2010-07-25T20:13:00.005-07:00

This morning I woke up to comments about how loud I was last night, my sister & Kel both seem to think I was doing some serious snoring but Nan said she didn’t hear a thing so I am taking her word and not believing the other two – tee, hee! (I couldn’t figure out when I woke up about 5:30 why Pat had a pillow over her head but didn’t think too hard about it!!). Anyways, I have never laughed so much first thing in the morning and I have promised them I will try to do better tonight and be much quieter.

Nan & Kel Loading the Car this Morning

We were on the road by 9:15 and it took us 9 hours to drive 300 km, needless to say we did some stops along the way. The drive through the White Mountains in New Hampshire was beautiful and we stopped in the Franconia Notch National Forest and walked to The Basin, what a pretty walk and so nice in the woods. The Basin was very interesting and it was so tempting to just jump in the water and cool off! Of course it is all posted “No Swimming”.

Pictures from The Basin Walk

The Basin

Views of the White Mountains

We went to North Conway in New Hampshire and had lunch and spent a couple of hours shopping at the outlet mall there as well as a stop at the L. L. Bean outlet. We all found some good bargains so it was a very profitable stop for us. On Kel’s recommendation we went to the Christmas Tree Shop, which is like a dollar store and again found some bargains there. I have never seen or heard of the Christmas Tree Stores but will stop again if I ever come across another one in our travels.

After a very scenic drive on the back roads of New Hampshire & Maine we arrived at our hotel, Comfort Suites in Biddeford Maine about 6:15 and got checked in then headed out to find something for dinner. We ended up at Applebee’s where we had a great dinner for a great price, I was the only one who has been to Applebee’s but now they all say they will go again as we really enjoyed it.

After dinner we walked over to Kohl’s for a quick look around – no spending there, then stopped at Target where there were a couple of items bought. Then it was back to the hotel to finish unpacking etc., get caught up on e-mails and I want to get this done before going to bed, which will be soon as I am wiped.

And so ends a great gift of a day and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

2010-07-24T19:14:00.001-07:00

We got away from Nan’s just after 8:30 and were at Kel’s just before 10. We are taking Kel’s car so reloaded our stuff into it and were on the road by about 10:15 a.m.

Entering Quebec

We had a good drive and arrived in St. Johnsburry, Vermont about 7 p.m. The drive through Montreal was quite good and we had mostly nice weather with just a couple of short downpours along the way.

We got checked into our hotel room and then headed out to Goodfellows Tavern for dinner, the gal on the hotel desk recommended it and we had a great dinner and not too terribly expensive.

We are all tired so probably will be hitting the hay shortly. Tomorrow we only have about 300 km (185 miles) to travel so will do some sight seeing and shopping along the way.

Friday, July 23, 2010

2010-07-24T19:10:00.003-07:00

We woke up this morning to a completely flooded lot, this is the 3rd time in three weeks this happened, needless to say we are getting kind of tired of this. When we left this morning we had to wade through water half way to our knees to get to our truck.

We left about 11:30 to go to Kitchener where I had an appointment for a lymph massage, then we met my sister Pat at our son’s house and John took Pat & I to Bolton to our daughter Nan’s where we all spent the night. Nan, Pat and I are leaving here in the morning and going to Kel’s where we are heading out on an 8 day trip to Old Orchard Beach, Maine. Should be fun, with 2 sets of sisters and a mother, two daughters and aunt/sister combination.

And so ends a great gift of a day and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Saturday, May 8, 2010

2010-05-08T10:25:00.002-07:00

I don’t know how many times I have been going to catch up and then start on something else and never get back to doing the catch-up – oh, such a busy life!

We spent three days in Sarnia after crossing the border and the time just flew by, sure don’t know where it goes. On the Wednesday night John’s brother and sister-in-law invited us for dinner so we had a great visit and a yummy dinner of grilled ribs that Doug did.

Looking Across the St. Clair River to Port Huron, MI

The Bluewater Bridge Between Sarnia, ON & Port Huron, MI

On Thursday we took the trailer to Can-Am in London, our Airstream dealer and had them do quotes on some work we want to have done. We arrived early on Thursday afternoon and got away again about 11 on Friday morning. We ran into a friend from Bobcaygeon who had his trailer in for some work so on Thursday night the three of us went to Swiss Chalet for dinner – sure beats cooking!

Friday was a gorgeous day so we got the trailer parked in a pull through site and started unloading it and getting stuff transferred to the cottage. Thankfully we got a lot done as Saturday and Sunday were not nice days, some rain and cooler.

Friends of ours took delivery of a new 5th wheel and truck in the last month so they arrived on Saturday to try RVing for the first time. They didn’t have great weather for their first time out but they did seem to enjoy it so we hope they have many happy miles and days of RVing. On Saturday night six of us went to the Erie Belle for dinner and then we came back to our place for a visit, a very nice evening and it was so nice to finally have GOOD fish and chips again!

A Wind Surfer in Kincardine

This week has been busy, Tuesday we were in Kitcener/Waterloo for the day and wouldn’t you know it, it was the nicest day this week!! Darn, as I am having trouble finding enough nice weather to get laundry done, I have a washing machine but hang the clothes out to dry. We stopped at our son’s and had a nice visit with him and our daughter-in-law and we are looking forward to seeing them again on Sunday.

Today is wicked – very RAINY, COLD and WINDY, sure hope it clears off later but I think it is to be cold and wet for a couple of days yet, not nice.

Tomorrow we are going to our daughter Nan’s for dinner and all of our children and most of the grandchildren will be there so we are looking forward to seeing them all again as it has been a long time. Our grand daughter is going to Leadership camp this weekend so she won’t be there, hopefully we will see her sometime soon.

We will stay overnight at Nan’s and then on Monday go to Kitchener from her place as we have a doctor’s appointment in the morning then are meeting friends for lunch.

I will sign off and this will be the end our winter journal. We really enjoyed our seven months of travel and were fortunate to see a lot of new territory and meet a lot of new friends as well as renew friendships with folks we haven’t seen in a while. We traveled 24,275 km (15,075 miles) and 13,170 of those kilometers (8,195 miles) were pulling the trailer, and we stayed in 34 different RV parks. Now we have the summer to plan our trip to Arizona next fall!

Monday, April 26, 2010

2010-04-27T08:27:00.000-07:00

I didn’t get around to writing anything yesterday as there was nothing to write about – it was a VERY WET, CRAPPY day. I got the laundry done and that was about all I accomplished, it was just a real quiet relaxing day listening to the rain pour down.

We were really glad that we hadn’t bothered to unhook the truck as John would have got soaked hooking us up again. I put a pot roast in the slow cooker for dinner – yummy and that was our day.

It rained off and on all night but had stopped when we got up this morning and within about 15 minutes of leaving the park the sky cleared and the sun came out – yeah. It was a pretty cold day though, especially for us who aren’t used to the cold, I think I saw a high of 15C (60F) but with the sun it was pleasant but there was a very chilly wind.
We stopped in Davidson MI to replace the brake controller, when we had the new one delivered to Yuma John was told that he could replace it with a better model within a year so after driving from Yuma to Michigan we realized that it just wasn’t doing as good a job as it should so we stopped and got the upgrade that they said should be better with the triple axle and wow, what a difference it made. We are really glad we did the upgrade and we also got a new bar to replace the one that had got bent so we should be good on all counts for a while.

We were about 5 miles from the border in Michigan when a pickup passed us, John was watching it come up on us and thought it looked like his brother’s truck and sure enough after he had passed John realized it was his brother. Doug didn’t realize he had passed us and was two lanes over waiting to go through customs but we couldn’t get his attention, then we pulled away from customs just ahead of him so John managed to finally get his attention. We pulled over at the first opportunity and had a chat and he invited us for dinner on Wednesday night so we are looking forward to getting caught up with him and his wife as we haven’t seen them since last August.

Customs was a breeze, a couple of questions and it was have a nice day, sure do like when that happens. We are now set up at Country View Motel & RV in Wyoming and will be here until Thursday when we want to go to Can-Am and get some quotes on having work done on the trailer over the summer.

By the time we got set up we decided it was too windy to grill so we headed back to Sarnia and Swiss Chalet for dinner, we haven’t had Swiss Chalet since November in Victoria, B.C. so we did enjoy it. Nan & Carl had given us a Gift Certificate for Christmas so we used that tonight – thanks for the great dinner Nan & Carl!

I’m not sure when I will get this posted as the internet here is $5/day so I still haven’t decided whether to pay for it or not – the joys of RVing in Ontario – Ontario parks sure are way behind most RV parks in the states – they charge way too much for way too little!!

There is no cable TV here but our TV is working fine on the antenna so the problem in the states was definitely that it doesn’t have a digital tuner. They are going to be required here in Canada next year so I guess we will be looking out for a new TV before we head out in the fall.

Okay, I popped for 3 days of internet so will post this.

And so ends two more great gifts of days and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

2010-04-24T17:49:00.002-07:00

Here I am back again after a few days, I don’t know where the time goes but it flies by and when we haven’t done anything very exciting it is hard to find something to write about.

On Thursday we drove up to Bardstown with a stop at Abraham Lincoln’s birthplace. Well, at Lincoln’s memorial the visitor centre and memorial building were closed for renovations so we didn’t see too much, sure wish they would put a CLOSED sign out so that people could avoid the drive to see nothing!

Bardstown had a neat downtown and a lot of museums, all of which were more than we were willing to pay. We parked downtown and walked around and through a couple of shops but there was nothing that caught our interest so we headed home.

When we got back we decided to check out Mammoth Caves and thought this was where we had toured a cave many years ago. When we arrived at the Visitor Centre we realized we hadn’t been there before so went in to see what tours were available. As it turns out this is National Parks Week and we could get an introductory tour of Mammoth Cave for free – we sure weren’t about to say no to that. The tour was starting in about 5 minutes so I hurried out to the truck to put on my running shoes and leave my purse in the truck as I had been told no purses were allowed on the tour. I was just grabbing my camera and case when John came along and told me that there were no camera bags allowed either – go figure! Needless to say neither of us took our cameras as we weren’t about to hike through a cave for an hour with them swinging from our wrists.

The tour was very good and as always, the guide turned out the lights for a couple of minutes, it is hard to imagine how black dark is!! This is the first cave we have toured where there weren’t stalactites and stalagmites so it seemed quite different from that point of view.

On the way back to the truck after the tour we chatted with a couple of women and lo and behold shortly after we got home they pulled in to a small motorhome across the road from us, they had come in after we left in the morning so we hadn’t seen them. We ended up chatting again for quite a while and they had a tour of our airstream, they offered to trade rigs but we politely declined the offer.

Friday morning was pretty quiet then in the afternoon we decided to go to Glasgow and do a final Wal Mart shopping and I also wanted to get a much needed pedicure. On the way home we stopped in Park City to fill up with the cheapest diesel fuel we had seen - $2.869/gal. We then drove by Diamond Cave and yes, this is the one we toured about 14 years ago and sure enough the rv park is still across the road, sure made us feel better to figure out where we had been so many years ago.

This is election time in this part of the country so the landscape is covered with election signs but the ones we found most interesting were the signs to vote for so and so for County Jailer – sure would like to see that job description!

Somewhere during the day we had heard there were tornado warnings out for this area for Saturday so we decided to head out on Saturday morning instead of sitting around waiting for a tornado to come through the area, so when we got back on Friday John got us hooked up and ready to pull out in the morning.

This morning dawned bright and clear and it was sort of why are we heading out, but, oh well we’re hooked up so let’s go. We had a good drive to Auburn, IN with very little traffic through Louisville KY and Indianapolis, IN and we had nice weather until about the last hour when it was overcast and then rained. We are now at Fireside Resort at Auburn and when we were checking the woman mentioned the tornados in the Bowling Green KY area, okay, we’re sure glad we left that are as Cave City is only a bit north of there.

We arrived about 4 this afternoon and the rain had stopped about the time we arrived but it has just now started to pour again, at least we are cozy and dry in our little home on wheels and will enjoy a quiet evening. Again, we don’t have cable TV so might even watch a movie tonight for something different.

Today we lost another hour and are finally back on Eastern Standard Time - the first time we have been in the same time zone as home since last September!

And so ends three more great gifts of days and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

2010-04-21T19:20:00.007-07:00

Today we broke a week long record – we had no rain! Today was another gorgeous, warm sunny day – sure hope the weather continues like this for the next few days.

We had a great trip from Tupelo to Nashville along the Trace with very little traffic and lots of flowers along the side of the road. For years when coming through Tennessee and Kentucky at this time of the year there are thousands of little red flowers along the roadside and we never knew until today what they were – turns out they are crimson clover and they are so pretty. We stopped at a lot of turnouts along the Trace today so it was a leisurely drive but we did get to Nashville around 1:30 in time to miss rush hour traffic.

Crimson Clover

Fields of Flowers

Along the Trace

This sailboat had just come under the bridge over the Tennessee River and had to lower its mast to get under the bridge.

Then we watched this tug with the barges, it was six barges long and we had no idea how many wide it was but it was quite amazing to watch it go by.

Tennessee was in full bloom and all the trees have their spring leaves but Kentucky is just coming into bloom, still it is real pretty.

Dogwoods In Bloom

Alabama/Tennessee State Line

Life On The Trace and Old Trace

Merriweather Lewis of Lewis and Clark fame died along the Trace and is buried there so we stopped to see his monument.

Downtown Nashville

We are at Singing Hills RV Park at Cave City, KY and will be here until Sunday. This is a Passport America Park and doesn’t have an “it” factor but at $14/night with full hook-ups and wi-fi we aren’t going to complain. There is a nice Phaeton Motorhome beside us and the fellow was talking to John for a bit and gave him a new set of leveling blocks and refused any money for them, now wasn’t that great of him. He is part of a Ministry, not sure what that is all about, so John will make a donation to the Ministry in appreciation.

There is no cable TV here so guess we will be on the computer and reading in our spare time.

Tomorrow we plan on touring the area a bit so we are hoping for a nice day and good weather.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

2010-04-20T20:35:00.005-07:00

Here it is catch up time again, last night we couldn’t get on the internet hence no blog but at least tonight we seem to have fairly decent wi-fi.

Monday morning it rained briefly about the time John was hooking up but fortunately he didn’t get soaked, just slightly damp. We had rain off and on for about the first hour of travel then the sun came out and it turned into a beautiful day. We were mainly on back roads, no interstates, going to Vidalia LA so it was a nice peaceful, pretty drive.

We arrived at River View RV Resort shortly after 2 p.m. so had a nice relaxing afternoon.

Our Site at River View RV Resort

This is a really nice park right on the bank of the Mississippi River looking across to Natchez, MS and you can see the tugs pushing the barges up and down the Mississippi River, they go a lot faster heading down towards the Gulf as they are going with the current but they are a lot slower heading up river against the current. This is a Passport America Park so it was $20.05 for the night with a nice paved pad.

After we got set up we walked for quite a ways along the walkway on the top of the levee hoping to see some river traffic but all was quiet at that time. We found a swinging bench under a shade so sat for a while but still no river traffic so gave up and walked home. On the way back we did see a red fox along the path in front of us but he was too fast for me to get a picture.

This is a picture of the riverboat casino at Natchez - for any Greg Isles fans you will have read about the casino in his books. Unfortunately this was as close as we got so not the greatest picture.

We came back and sat outside and all of a sudden I could see the top of a tug so we grabbed our cameras and made a dash for the levee but it was traveling downstream and moving pretty quick so I had a hard time getting a picture.

Going Down River

Later we heard this one going up river and again dashed over to take a picture but it was getting dark so again not a great picture. We were surprised at how little river traffic there was as the last time we were at River View (6 years ago) there was constant traffic – guess a sign of the times.

Going Up River

This morning it rained briefly just before John went out to get things put away but it only lasted a couple of minutes then cleared off and turned into another gorgeous day, warm day.

We picked up the Natchez Trace about 40 miles east of Natchez and had a nice drive to Tupelo. The Trace was in pretty tough shape just west of Jackson and for a bit after Jackson then it got better and was a good drive the rest of the way to Tupelo.

The leaves have just come out on the trees, the Dogwood is in bloom, there are lots of patches of red clover along the side of the road and the flowering shrubs are beautiful making everything very pretty and springy – my favourite time of year.

Flowering Shrubs

Right after Jackson we drove for 8 miles along the Ross Barnett Reservoir, a 33,000 acres reservoir created from the Pearl River. There were a lot of fishing boats on the reservoir as well as a few fisherman casting from the shore, we wondered what they were catching!

Ross Barnett Reservoir

We stopped at an Information Centre to pick up a brochure of the Trace and a map of Mississippi and there were two elderly dollies manning the centre, the one was real chatty and said she was 91 years old, imagine! The other one was probably about the same age but she was very hard to understand when she talked, they sure wanted to visit so it was kind of hard to get away from them but they were a really cute pair; John figured we were probably their only customers for the day!! We read later that the Information Centre is run by the local Chamber of Commerce and staffed by volunteers.

Part of the Original Natchez Trace

We arrived at Campground at Barnes Crossing in Tupelo about 4 and have a nice long pull through site with good wi-fi. This is a strange park, the sites are on all different levels but at least we have cable TV and wi-fi. At $29/night it is kind of pricey but on the other hand there aren’t a lot of parks in the area so you take what you can get. There is another park that is Passport America but they don’t honour the PA from March to May and they have no wi-fi so we picked this one as they are both about the same price. We sat outside and enjoyed the late afternoon sun for a while before coming in for dinner. John is now watching TV while I am getting caught up with this.

Tonight's Site at Campground at Barnes Crossing

And so ends two more great gifts of days and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

2010-04-18T18:30:00.004-07:00

We have just enjoyed a couple of quiet days and haven’t done anything very exciting. Yesterday morning it rained off and on then cleared up in the afternoon so we won’t complain too hard.

Our Site at Northshore RV

Our View of Lake Livingston

Someone Was Flying This Neat Kite Yesterday

I did laundry yesterday so that is out of the way for another week. The internet has been really hit and miss here at the trailer so I took my computer and iPod over to the laundry room and logged into the office and had a good signal so got a lot done while my laundry was doing.

When I came back from the laundry I sat outside and read for quite a while – a very quiet, lazy day.

Today we woke up to rain again but thankfully by noon it had stopped and partially cleared off. Early this afternoon we took a run up to Livingston and fueled up and picked up a couple of groceries, diesel was $2.829/gal ay HEB, the best price we have seen for a while.

When we got back I put the groceries away and did a few inside chores then sat outside with my Kindle for a while. John has the truck ready to hook up in the morning but can’t do it tonight as we are really on a down slope here so no way can he get it hooked up and leveled off again.

I have the inside ready for travel so we should be able to make a quick get away in the morning, now we just have to hope it isn’t raining for John to hook up. We have a reservation at River View RV in Vidalia LA for tomorrow night, it is now a Passport America Park so will be $20 for the night, I do like that!

There are still wild flowers along the side of the road, it will be interesting to see how much farther east we go before we lose them – they sure are pretty.

And so ends two more great gifts of days and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

2010-04-18T18:30:00.001-07:00

We have just enjoyed a couple of quiet days and haven’t done anything very exciting. Yesterday morning it rained off and on then cleared up in the afternoon so we won’t complain too hard.

I did laundry yesterday so that is out of the way for another week. The internet has been really hit and miss here at the trailer so I took my computer and iPod over to the laundry room and logged into the office and had a good signal so got a lot done while my laundry was doing.

When I came back from the laundry I sat outside and read for quite a while – a very quiet, lazy day.

Today we woke up to rain again but thankfully by noon it had stopped and partially cleared off. Early this afternoon we took a run up to Livingston and fueled up and picked up a couple of groceries, diesel was $2.829/gal ay HEB, the best price we have seen for a while.

When we got back I put the groceries away and did a few inside chores then sat outside with my Kindle for a while. John has the truck ready to hook up in the morning but can’t do it tonight as we are really on a down slope here so no way can he get it hooked up and leveled off again.

I have the inside ready for travel so we should be able to make a quick get away in the morning, now we just have to hope it isn’t raining for John to hook up. We have a reservation at River View RV in Vidalia LA for tomorrow night, it is now a Passport America Park so will be $20 for the night, I do like that!

There are still wild flowers along the side of the road, it will be interesting to see how much farther east we go before we lose them – they sure are pretty.

And so ends two more great gifts of days and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Friday, April 16, 2010

2010-04-16T21:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was not a nice day weather wise, it was very overcast when we got up and sprinkled off and on all morning, not a day for checking out the wild flowers!

In the afternoon we decided to head up to Marble Falls and get some groceries so we made stops at Wal Mart and HEB (Here Everything’s Better). We had just got into the truck when the sky opened and it POURED all the way home. Sure glad it waited till we were back in the truck or we would have been soaked! Fortunately it had pretty well stopped when we got back so John got us hooked up and ready to go in the morning.

Going up to Marble Falls Highway 281 is a four lane highway and about half way up there was some old fella driving about 30 mph in the left lane, a couple of people barely missed him as you sure aren’t expecting someone to be dawdling along in that lane. On the way home didn’t we see the same old fella heading south and again dawdling along in the left lane in the pouring rain when the visibility was greatly reduced, we wonder if he made it home safely and without causing an accident. Certainly some older people SHOULD NOT be driving!

Today dawned overcast and cool and looked like it could pour rain at any time. Fortunately John managed to get finished and get us on the road before the rain started. It never rained very hard today, but lots of little showers and drizzle.

We drove through a lot of small towns today with some narrow one way streets but John navigated them very well, there was no nail biting on my part. We had a good drive to Northshore RV Resort on Lake Livingston and the closer we got the better the weather got, by the time we arrived here it was 80F (25C) and the sun was shining brightly – oh yes, we do love this kind of weather!!

The first site we got here was really uneven, imagine concrete pads that are at least 2” off from side to side! We walked back over to the office and the gal there said to pick any site we wanted so we did and are now level side to side with no problem but front to back is another story. I can hardly reach the door handle from the patio as John had to jack it up so high in the front to get level back to front - LOL! Guess that is what happens when they develop a park on the side of a lake.

The next problem was the internet, I’m not sure if it is fixed, guess I will find out when I try to post this. I went to the office and the gal reset the modem a couple of times and before dinner it was working, will see now if it still is.

We do have TV tonight so John is happy, he is watching Gladiator, I will probably read as I have seen it a couple of times already.

And so ends two more great gifts of days and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

2010-04-14T18:03:00.002-07:00

Here I am a couple of days behind again, but there hasn’t been anything exciting to post about.

Yesterday morning it was very overcast and looked like it could rain, plus the forecast was for showers, so we decided to drive to New Braunfels and then back to San Marcos as Nan wanted some stuff from Bath and Body Works if we were back that way. As it turned out the sun came out shortly after we got on the road and it turned into a nice day with a high of about 74F (22C).

I had hoped to walk around the old square in New Braunfels but it was all roped off and construction going on, so much for that idea. We ended up heading north to San Marcos with a stop at Olive Garden for lunch and Camping World. There sure wasn’t anything at Camping World we wanted to pay their price for; we find it a very expensive place to shop!

At the Prime Outlet Mall we went back to the Columbia Sportswear place and each got a couple of things there, then I did a quick run into Bath and Body Works to pick up some stuff for Nan and a couple more things for me and then it was time to head home.

We had a light dinner after a late lunch and a quiet evening of reading seeing how our TV doesn’t work.

This morning John was out of here shortly before 8 a.m. to go to Marble Falls to get the car seat repaired. I didn’t expect him home much before 12:30 so figured I had lots of time to do some cleaning and read my morning news on the computer etc. Just as I was about to start the cleaning around 10 a.m. he returned home, turns out he drove all the way up there to have the guy figure out he didn’t have the right material to fix it – grrrrr!!! When we were there on Monday he said he had the material so needless to say John wasn’t a happy camper as it is about 25 miles each way.

Today was pretty overcast and dull so we decided when he got back to have a lazy stay at home day. I got my new phone this afternoon so after getting it activated I spent time getting it all set up again, fortunately my contacts were backed up on the Verizon site so I didn’t have to sit and put them all in again. Tomorrow we will have to find a FedEx drop to send the old one back.

Tonight the park had a meatloaf dinner, it was $3 each and was a good meal with meatloaf, garlic mashed potatoes, beans and rolls. Desert was chocolate cake and chocolate brownies – I got my chocolate fix for a while! Dinner hour here was more to our liking being at 6:30, sure beats the 5:00 dinner time at most parks in Arizona but like any other park dinner it was a case of eat and run, nobody sticks around to socialize.

This is one of the few parks that doesn’t have cable TV but there are about 5 channels you can get off the antenna but we haven’t been able to pick up anything. After checking everything out we figure our TV is analogue and not digital and can’t pick up the new DTV signals that the US instituted in 2009. We are surprised as we bought the TV in 2005 so figured it would be okay but we can’t pick up any signals, and the antenna and cable seem okay, so we figure that is the problem. There is a modem or something we could get but for the few times we might need it we haven’t decided if it is worth the money. It doesn’t bother me in the least not to have the TV as I am quite happy to read instead.

And so ends two more great gifts of days and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Monday, April 12, 2010

2010-04-12T19:20:00.005-07:00

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day, lots of sun with a high of about 22C (74F), my kind of weather!

Our Trailer & Looking Down the Road

Paul, the owner of the park, had had his truck seat repaired in Marble Falls last week so John asked him where he had it done so we headed up there this morning to check out Ed’s Classic Upholstery. We got a quote and John made an appointment to get his seat repaired on Wednesday morning. We stopped in Marble Falls for lunch then headed out in search of wildflowers.

We drove almost back to Johnson City, then picked up a rural road that went to the village of Willow and boy, were we in luck, as the flowers along that road were totally awesome. I will post some pictures and you will notice a butterfly having a lovely feast in a couple of them. The wildflowers came right to the edge of the road in spots and they looked like a thick purple carpet going along the side of the road, I am sure the pictures don’t really do them justice.

We chatted for a few minutes to another couple from the Dallas/Fort Worth area who were also checking out the wildflowers and taking pictures and he said he has never seen them right out to the edge of the road like they are this year, guess all the winter rain had one good benefit – the wildflowers.

There seem to be a lot of goat farms around here and at one point we came across a goat feed lot, and oh yes, there were also cows – hundreds and hundreds of goats and cows and the smell was absolutely vile, I don’t know how anybody could live in proximity of that smell but on the other hand maybe it is the smell of money to them!

At one point this cow meandered across the road in front of us, no fencing in that area!

We came back along the road that borders the LBJ Ranch, which was known as the Texas Whitehouse when Lyndon Johnson was president, then on home. All in all it was a nice day and we certainly enjoyed the beautiful wildflowers.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

2010-04-11T18:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we woke up to overcast skies and expected it to rain but fortunately it cleared off in the late morning and was a beautiful day, but quite windy – hey, we’re in Texas!

I did laundry in the afternoon and John went out and got fuel, that was the extent of our busy day – hah, hah. I sat outside for quite a while and read – nice and relaxing.

For the last three days I have charged my phone and by the next morning it is dead so I thought it best to visit a Verizon store and have it looked at, I figured I probably needed a new battery but thought it was a bit soon to have it go as I just got the phone in November. We decided to go to San Marcos and do the Verizon thing as well as go to the outlet malls so after a nice drive through the country we arrived in San Marcos. Fortunately we went to Verizon first as the tech there told me he needed to keep the phone for 2-1/2 hours to get it charged then check it out. Well, okay, how do we get to the outlet mall from here.

There are actually two outlet malls side by side, one is the Tanger Outlet Mall and the other is the Prime Outlet. We did the Prime one first and my first stop was Bath and Body Works, wow did they have a good sale going so I stocked up on some stuff there. Then it was a stop at the Columbia Clothing outlet where I got a pair of shorts and a top and then to a Cosmetic place where I got a real deal on my Estee Lauder makeup and perfume – I am one happy person tonight!! We went over to the Tanger Outlet Mall but there was nothing too much there, I wandered through the Kitchen Store but that was about it.

On the way back to Verizon we stopped at Best Buy to check out the new iPads, heck it is just a huge iPod Touch and the Touch is much easier to carry around, I sure won’t be changing any time soon. I did get a gift card for the App Store and John got one for iTunes so we are now good to go with those.

Back at Verizon the fellow told me that my charging port was not working so they would be sending me new a new phone – they didn’t have one in stock so it should arrive here by FedEx on Tuesday (fortunately it is still under warranty so there is no charge). Of course I didn’t have the address of the park with me, but they had charged my phone and as I had called the park a couple of days ago to make the reservation I still had the number in contacts so I was able to call them to see what their address was so I could tell the fellow at Verizon – he must have thought I was a real nut bar!!

Today we woke up to overcast skies and a bit of a drizzle, not real wet, just kind of yucky but by the time we got to San Marcos it was dry, but still overcast. We hit the drizzle on the way home again so we aren’t complaining about the weather and the wind had died down by this morning so it was a not too bad day weather wise.

We don’t have phone service here (no signal) so I did talk to our oldest daughter and son on the way home from San Marcos and my sister for a couple of minutes, but will have to wait until we are somewhere where we have phone service before we talk to our other daughter and I still could chat with my sister for a while longer. Oh technology!! I am not a real phone talker but do like to talk to the kids and my sister on the weekend so it is frustrating when I can’t do that.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a nice day so we can get out and get some pictures of the wildflowers.

And so ends two more great gifts of days and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Friday, April 9, 2010

2010-04-10T08:27:00.001-07:00

Today wasn’t real sunny but not totally overcast either, a good driving day. Today’s drive was pretty boring, the south west end of Texas is pretty sparse with no scenery to speak of, the only saving grace today was that the landscape was all so green, usually when we have made this drive it is brown and dull but not today.

Fredericksburg was a real zoo when we drove through town, it looks like it will be a good place to stay away from this weekend!! The wildflowers are beautiful but I didn’t take any pictures as they don’t seem to turn out well when taking them while in motion.

We arrived at Miller Creek RV Resort shortly after 3 p.m. and my how it has changed; Paul, the owner, has done a lot of work in the last couple of years and the park looks really good and is very busy. The gal who checked us in told us he has opened up some sites across the creek and turned the silo there into a washroom, she said it is the largest RV washroom in Texas so we will have to drive in there and check out that new part. The park was given a 5 Star Ratings in 2009 by Woodalls, needless to say they are very proud of that.

Next weekend is Wildflower Weekend so it will be really busy here and I guess that is why Fredericksburg was so busy, although I recall that it is always a busy little place. The gal in the office said she had been told the best place to see the Wildflowers was the Willow loop out of Fredericksburg so we will do that early next week. She also said that the wildflowers here are the nicest in memory because of the terrible winter they had, guess something good always come out of something bad!

I think tomorrow and Sunday we will stick close to home then do our touring starting Monday, tomorrow I have to do laundry so that will take some of the day to get it done.

And so ends two more great gifts of days and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

2010-04-10T08:18:00.003-07:00

We woke up this morning in Deming to a temperature of 38F (4C), that sure isn’t something we have been used to lately!! Needless to say the furnace came on real fast and we were toasty warm in no time.

Our Site at Deming

We were on the road shortly after 9 a.m. and stopped for diesel in Deming – it was $3.199/gallon – GULP!! We stopped at a rest area just west of Las Cruces and I took a few pictures of Las Cruces in the valley below and one of the Roadrunner at the rest area and a sign there (just for you Margie!).

El Paso TX was the usual horrid drive with heavy traffic for the 20 miles through the city, man, I hate going through there and heaved a sigh of relief when we had cleared it. From there to Fort Stockton was a long, boring drive with little traffic, the long and boring gets to you after a while but I sure do like the little traffic bit. We stopped just east of Van Horn for fuel and it was $3.019/gallon, much better than this morning, and I hope it gets cheaper as we head east.

South West Texas

We lost another hour today, yesterday we lost the hour because Arizona is one of the few states that doesn’t do DST so when we crossed into New Mexico we were on DST and then today, about 135 miles east of El Paso, we crossed into the Central Time Zone, hence another hour lost. I think it will take a few days to get our bodies used to this!

Tonight we are at Fort Stockton RV Park and have just come back from having a delicious rib dinner at the Roadrunner Café here in the park. We found this gem a few years ago and always make a point of stopping here if we are in the area as the dinner is delicious and the cost, including desert, a bottle of wine and the tip was $30 – a great deal. Right now I can’t get the internet, hopefully I will be able to get on later but if not I will have to wait until tomorrow to post this. I was on for a few minutes and downloaded my e-mail and even sent one but since then I can’t get a thing – oh well, I have a good book to pass the evening with since we can’t pick up any TV channels either. Guess this is what you get when stopping in the middle of nowhere Texas!!

Our Site at Fort Stockton RV Park

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

2010-04-07T20:20:00.003-07:00

Well, we’re on the road again and so far the drive has been good with not a lot of traffic.

Yesterday we got away from Yuma around 10 a.m. and had a good trip to Casa Grande. When we got to Sundance 1 RV Park in Casa Grande we discovered we would have to unhook as we were too long to fit into their pull thrus – grrrr!!

Our Site at Sundance 1 RV Park, Casa Grande AZ

We were just getting ready to head into town, we figured we might as well take a quick tour around if we had to unhook, when Bob and Denise came by. We chatted for a few minutes and said we would see them shortly. We headed for the Palms Resort to see if we could say hello to a couple from our home park in Kincardine, we found their RV but they weren’t home so we left them a note saying we had stopped by and would see them at Green Acres. We made a quick stop at Fry’s to get some wine to take for dinner and get diesel then it was back to the park to Bob & Denise’s.
They have a beautiful park model that they just bought a couple of weeks ago, It is a really nice layout and has a nice living room, something that a lot of the park models don’t have. We sat outside and visited until it was time for dinner then moved inside and enjoyed a wonderful roast beef dinner – thanks so much Denise & Bob for a great meal and a super visit! We hope we see you in Kincardine this summer.

We got away from Casa Grande about 9 this morning, on the way out of town we had to wait for a train at a level crossing, it had 143 cars with 3 engines on the front and one on the back – talk about a LONNNNNNG train! We had a good drive to Deming, NM and the drive through Tucson was great and there wasn’t a lot of traffic. We stopped in Wilcox at Subway for lunch, gotta love those $5 footlongs that we split, and arrived in Deming around 4:30, that was the time after losing an hour when we crossed into New Mexico. We will lose another hour tomorrow when we get to Texas – wow, 2 hours in 2 days takes a bit of getting used to.

It was cool today with a high of about 17C and tonight we have the furnace running – hopefully it will warm up again in Texas.

Picacho Peaks ( You can see these from miles away)

We were really surprised at all the snow covered mountain tops we saw today from Tucson east, we have never seen so many snow covered peaks at this time of year. On the other hand there was a lot of wildflowers in the desert today, something else we have never seen before, so even though the drive was long and pretty boring there were some things to brighten the day.

Snow Covered Mountain Peaks

Wildflowers

And so ends a two more great gifts of days and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Monday, April 5, 2010

2010-04-05T11:34:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to do a short update as we are returning our internet modem this afternoon in preparation for our departure tomorrow morning.

Saturday morning John headed out early to see if he could find a fabricating shop to straighten the hitch bar and after much searching, and finding everything closed on Saturday, he found a place that was open and a guy who said he would give it a try. Thankfully, he got it straightened so we are now good to go tomorrow and we will probably order a new part when we get to the park in Texas where we are going to spend a week. Our new brake controller was delivered Saturday afternoon so John now has that installed and just has to calibrate it tomorrow once he gets the trailer hooked up and on a flat surface.

Late Saturday afternoon we made a quick grocery run to Fry’s and Wal Mart but I think I will still have to make a quick stop when we are out today.

Yesterday was a pretty quiet day, I did a lot of reading and started getting packed up for the road but there was a lot of stuff I didn’t want to do until after we had dinner last night.

We were sitting outside about 4 yesterday afternoon, I had been reading and John had just sat down when the ground started to rock and roll – real scary when you literally see the truck bouncing up and down and the trailer awning going nuts! We realized real fast that there was an earthquake some place close and we sure were feeling it and it lasted about 45 seconds – seemed like forever. We heard something crash inside so I came in, which wasn’t easy with everything bouncing around, and found the pepper mill had been shaken off the table. I turned on the TV and the earth quake was south of El Centro in Mexico, at first they said it registered at 6.9 but by last night they had upgraded it to 7.6, a pretty good earth quake! We heard last night that one person had been killed but they were still waiting to get to the scene to determine what all damage had been done. We felt a few earth quakes here a couple of years ago but nothing as bad or as long as this one, I can’t imagine what it would have been like in places like Haiti!

This afternoon we will return the internet modem, get fuel and propane, do some last minute shopping and then we are going to go out for dinner tonight - I’m looking forward to that.

And so ends a few more great gifts of days here in Yuma and we look forward to getting on the road again and our trek home.

Friday, April 2, 2010

2010-04-03T09:28:00.001-07:00

Happy Easter to everyone, it looks like it will be a nice weekend back in Ontario so we hope everyone enjoys the nice weather on this Easter weekend.

It has been another uneventful few days, but as usual we have enjoyed them. On Tuesday we went to Janet & Dave’s for our final visit of the year as they are leaving on Thursday. We ordered a pizza for dinner so had a nice visit with happy hour snacks then a good pizza, what more could we ask for. We are looking forward to seeing them next winter down here in the sunny southwest.

Tuesday the temperature was 92F (30C) so I wasn’t in a real fast moving mode, I really don’t do well with high temperatures like that and even Janet, who loves heat and humidity, said she was almost moving in reverse that day. Thankfully there was no humidity to deal with.

Wednesday was our son’s birthday, hope you had a great day Mike! It was a nice day and not as hot, I was going to do some cleaning but the forecast was for high winds so I figured it would be a waste of time to do it as I would have to do it again after the wind as the dust blows through any little crack when it is windy, now that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. The wind started in the afternoon and in the early evening the temperature dropped like a stone, 10 degrees in less than an hour. We had to turn the furnace on in the evening to take the chill off! We went to Wal Mart for a grocery fix but other than that we didn’t do anything too exciting.

Thursday was cloudy in the morning and they were calling for rain but in the afternoon it cleared off and was beautiful. Our smoke detector was beeping, time for a new battery, so while John went out to get that and do a couple of other things I took advantage of his absence and cleaned, nice to have that out of the way for a few days again.

Today was another beautiful day, it was my last day for aquafit (I think) so I said my goodbyes to everyone and see ya next year. After lunch I headed out to do laundry and the place was just about empty, sure no problem getting washers and dryers today.

When I got home John said he had found a problem, oh no! He was greasing the Hensley hitch and lo and behold, one of the bars is really bent, we have no idea how that happened but it isn’t good. Tomorrow morning he is going to try to find a fabricating shop and hopefully they can straighten it out, if that doesn’t happen he will have to call the manufacturer in Michigan on Monday morning and get them to send us a new bar and we know from experience that if we pay about $22 in shipping we can have it in 2 days but hopefully it won’t come to that. We have also been waiting on a new brake controller from them but thankfully that arrived this afternoon so he also has that to install. As he said, he should have started the greasing earlier in the week – isn’t hindsight great!

Right now we are planning on stopping in Casa Grande on Tuesday night to visit friends so hopefully we won’t have to cancel that, it depends on how he makes out with this bar tomorrow morning.

Ben & Diane stopped by to say goodbye today, they are heading out at 5 tomorrow morning so we wished them a safe trip and a wonderful summer. Two trailers behind us left this morning, and one left Thursday morning, so the park is starting to look pretty empty and a lot of the park models homes look closed up for the summer. There are a few people who live here year round but most people are seasonal so I imagine it is pretty quiet, and hot, here during the summer.

And so ends a few more great gifts of days and we look forward to a couple more wonderful days here in Yuma.

Monday, March 29, 2010

2010-03-30T09:59:00.000-07:00

Catch up time again, the time slips by but there isn’t too much exciting to write about.

On Thursday I did the usual, laundry, and it was much quieter than the week before so I got it done as quickly as possible. John did some running around while I was doing the laundry and arrived back just in time to help me fold it. We came home, put the laundry away and I read for a while – not a very exciting day.

Friday afternoon we went to the market, I hadn’t planned on going again but figured out I was just about out of my Avon face cream so wanted to get another jar so off to the market we went. I got my cream and another sun visor and that was the extent of my purchases. John ordered a new brake controller for the truck so hopefully it will be here before Easter and he will have a few days to get it installed.

Saturday I did a good cleaning as our house on wheels needed it badly. Diane & Ben came over in the afternoon for happy hour so we had a nice visit with them. They head back to Edmonton on Saturday so we wanted to have one last drink and visit with them before they leave. The rest of the day was reading and relaxing and we ordered a pizza for dinner.

Sunday my energy level was pretty well zero, I didn’t have any ambition at all so I spent most of the day reading and on the computer. John wanted to go to the market again and I didn’t need anything so he went and I stayed home. I did go for my walk but that was about the extent of my ambition.

The park is quickly emptying, John did his bike ride by himself this morning and there were only 6 at aquafit so a lot of people have headed for home.

Today I needed a hair cut so we went to Wal Mart and while I was getting sheared John got the oil changed on the truck so we are good to get home with that now. We stopped at Fry’s, CVS Pharmacy and Lowe’s on the way home so it was about 5 by the time we got back.

And so ends a few more great gifts of days and we look forward to more wonderful days here in Yuma.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

2010-03-25T09:56:00.001-07:00

What nice days we have been enjoying, warm and sunny during the day but it cools down nicely at night so it is good for sleeping.

On Monday while I was at aquafit John noticed that the people behind us were having their carpets steam cleaned so went over and asked the fellow if he would do our bedroom carpet (that is the only carpet we have). Because it isn’t a large area no one will make a special trip to do it but because he was already in the park the guy said okay, so I came home to a nice clean carpet – thanks John.

In the afternoon we went to a place that replaces/repairs truck seats to see about having something done with the truck. John has worn out a large piece on his seat where he slides in and out, so something needs to be done about it. They quoted us $158 to have it replaced with what is there but there was another couple there and he told us he had had friends have theirs done at a place in Somerton for a lot less so if we gave him our phone number he would call us and let us know the name of the place. He did call later with the name and address so we will check it out.

When we left there John dropped me off at Beall’s while he went to Lowe’s and Pepboys. Beall’s was very busy as it was seniors discount day but I did manage to find a couple of tops, which was what I was looking for. The rest of the day was quiet and uneventful.

On Tuesday we met Janet & Dave at the Crossings for lunch, their special on Tuesday and Thursdays is wings so we split a large order of wings and they were very good. After lunch Janet and I went to Wal Mart where I got a badly needed pedicure and she got a manicure. We spent the rest of the time shopping until we met up with the guys again. As always, we had a fun afternoon together.

Today I went to aquafit and John went for his bike ride. The ranks are thinning out, quite a few of the gals at aquafit are leaving this week and some of John’s riding friends are leaving, I think by the time we leave here we will have to lock the gate behind us – tee, hee!

This afternoon we went to Somerton to check out the seat repair and the place there was considerably less than the one in Yuma so we will probably get it done there, we’re just waiting to hear if he has the material on hand.

On the way home we stopped at Wal Mart for a couple of things then on home where I sat outside and read for quite a while.

And so ends a few more great gifts of days and we look forward to more wonderful days here in Yuma.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

2010-03-21T17:18:00.001-07:00

Oh, have I ever gotten behind in my blog, but on the other hand there isn’t really a lot of interesting things happening to write about.

Monday morning Liz, the aquafit instructor, was away so we did the exercises on our own, it was quite funny with everyone trying to remember what all we did, but we did manage to do them and as usual had some good laughs. Some of the gals were saying that Liz won’t be here until January next year so I suggested we should get her to tape one of the sessions so we have something to work with in the fall.

Monday night we went to Ben and Diane’s and had a wonderful dinner and evening. There were 12 of us so lots of good conversations going on and the meal was scrumptious – cold turkey, salads, veggies and dip as well as some yummy appetizers and mini cream puffs for desert. Everybody made a contribution to the dinner so it made less work for Diane.

Tuesday was cleaning day and Janet & Dave came for dinner so after the cleaning it was getting things ready for dinner. It was quite hot on Tuesday so we cooked a ham and then I made potato salad, coleslaw, deviled eggs and a tossed salad with cherry pie and ice cream for desert. I don’t think anyone went away hungry! As usual we had a good evening and lots of yakking.

Wednesday morning Glenda, the real estate lady here in the park, called and said she had just gotten a new listing and wanted to know if we would like to look at it. I said, sure, we could meet her at 10:30 to take a look so that John could get in his bike ride first. It meant I would miss aquafit but knowing Liz wouldn’t be there again didn’t make it a big deal. The park model that had been listed was nice but didn’t flick our bicks, so to speak. It was a bottom of the line model but nicely kept and furnished. It was a very weird setup as they had added a “cool room”, not an “Arizona room” and the “cool room” was very small, it had room for a washing machine and a long table that the lady used for quilting and that was it, sort of a useless room. And, they were asking way too much for it as far as we were concerned.

Wednesday afternoon one of our neighbours stopped by for a visit, which we enjoyed, then after she left we went out and mailed a parcel and stopped at Wal Mart, and that was about it for the day.

Thursday was HOT and laundry day. I went over around noon, which usually is a good time and not busy, but this week it was packed, I wonder if a lot of people were doing laundry before heading out. By the time I got home I was drained from the heat so got everything put away and headed for the pool to cool off.

While I was doing the laundry John took the blinds off the back bedroom window and cleaned them all up and cleaned all around the window, then took the fantastic fan apart and cleaned it. He said he would rather have done the laundry than what he did!! Still, he wasn’t interested in a swim to cool off – silly man!

Right after I got back from my swim Glenda called to say that a new single wide manufactured home had arrived and wondered if we would like to see it – why, of course we would. It is a really nice home, but that was the problem, it was more like a home and way too much money for us; always fun to look at them though.

Just for clarification, Park Model Homes here in Yuma are homes that are 400 square feet or less and then most people add a deck and Arizona room as they are quite small without that. Manufactured homes are anything over 400 square feet (the one we looked at was 802 sq. ft.,) and most of the manufactured homes here in the park have a deck and some also have an Arizona room

Friday I went to aquafit and again, no Liz, so we managed to work our way through another time without our leader, it sure makes us appreciate her more! Her daughter has been here visiting so she was enjoying a visit with her but apparently we will be back to normal on Monday – yeah!

We went to Brown Bag Burger for lunch and then to the Arizona market. I had wanted to buy a couple more tops and they had been 3 for $25 so I was waiting for the price to come down and by golly they were $5 each on Friday – needless to say I got a couple!

Saturday was a pretty quiet day, I didn’t do a lot but did manage to finish a book that I was reading. We took a run over to Desert Paradise in the afternoon to see if Jim & Sonia were still there and say goodbye but they had gone - I thought they had said they were leaving on Saturday as they have to get back to Calgary and then fly to the Dominican on the 25th for their granddaughters wedding there.

Today we went to Brownie’s for breakfast then stopped at a couple of places before going to Fry’s for groceries. Fry’s had some really good sales on so I picked up a few extra things that were on sale but not on my list.

We have had a good weekend talking to friends and family, something I always enjoy and it is nice to keep in touch.

And so ends a few more great gifts of days and we look forward to more wonderful days here in Yuma.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

2010-03-15T12:41:00.000-07:00

Where does the time go, it just flies by and it’s hard to imagine that in a couple of weeks we will be on the road heading home!

Thursday I did laundry and John did some running around while I was doing that then we went over to Del Pueblo to see if we could touch base with Irma & John as they hadn’t been home the last time we were there. This time they were gone so we were disappointed that we hadn’t got to see them. We stopped at Brenda and Steve’s for a minute just to firm up our dinner date for Saturday then came home and had a quiet rest of the day.

Friday morning John had an appointment for 7:30 at the Dodge dealer to get the new differential cover put on so he was out of here bright and early and didn’t get back until noon, what a fun way to spend the morning. He also had asked them to rotate the tires and when they went to check the pressure they determined that the valve caps were seized to the valve stems, not something we had ever imagined happening. Apparently they were aluminum valve caps and the salt from the ocean caused the aluminum to react with the brass valve stem and corrode – not good!! Now what do we do as the Dodge guys had no clue.

Meanwhile I had a rotten day not feeling well, probably spent 75% of the day in bed sleeping and the rest laying on the couch reading – a real write off of a day for me. Poor John even had to figure out what he wanted for dinner and make it as just the thought of food made me feel worse.

Saturday I felt much better so was thankful for that. John went out to try to figure what to do about the tires and went to Big O Tires where they said they could fix it so he arranged to be back on Monday morning to have them done.

Saturday night we met Steve & Brenda at Texas Roadhouse for dinner and had a great dinner and visit then they came back here for a while – a nice evening.

Today we went out for a bit and looked around at park model homes to see what there is and at what cost. We want to stay at this park so looking at ones for sale in other parks isn’t an option and we aren’t even sure we will buy one but it is always fun to look around.

Ben and Diane had invited us for dinner tonight, they were doing a turkey dinner for about 16 people but cancelled it this morning until tomorrow because of the wind. As it turned out the wind died down in the afternoon but with that many people you have to do it outside and the wind could make it quite uncomfortable so I don’t blame them for postponing. So instead we are having steak and shrimp so we will fare just fine.

And so ends a few more great gifts of days and we look forward to more wonderful days here in Yuma.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

2010-03-10T18:22:00.000-07:00

We have had a couple of quiet days and a couple of busy ones but all of them nice. On Saturday we went to the Peanut Patch and looked around and I got a huge cup of ice cream for $1.50 – boy it was good. John passed as his tooth was kind of sensitive so he didn’t want to irritate it with something really cold.

From there we went to the market and wandered around for a bit then a quick stop at Wal Mart and then on home where we had a quiet evening.

Sunday morning wasn’t too bad but then the wind picked up and by early afternoon it had clouded over and we knew we were going to get a storm. We had asked Jim & Sonia over for a drink so it was another inside happy hour and visit. Just as they arrived it started to rain and it really poured, with lots of thunder and lightning and even some hail just to make it exciting. Fortunately it was small hail so no damage done but poor John just cringes when it is hailing. I had put a pot roast in the slow cooker in anticipation of a bad grilling day so we had a nice dinner.

Monday was aquafit in the morning and we just kind of loafed the rest of the day other than a quick run to Fry’s for a few groceries.

Tuesday John left about 9 to pick up Dave and go to Mexico to get his tooth finished. Right after he left the wind picked up and it really blew hard all day, I had planned on doing a major cleaning while he was gone then a long walk but I passed on the walk as I didn’t really want to eat dirt while walking. So my day consisted of cleaning, talking on the phone to a friend and reading – tough life!

John didn’t get home until about 4 so had a long day but his tooth is done and he says it feels good. Apparently Dave didn’t mind all the waiting as he ordered new reading glasses and was able to pick them up before they left so he was happy he didn’t have to make another trip back to Mexico to get them. When John got home we made a quick run to Wal Mart to get some romaine and had a chicken cesar salad for dinner as it wasn’t a good night to grill with the wind howling.

This morning was cooler than usual and it was darn cold getting out of the pool after aquafit - I was glad to get home and jump into a hot shower. We met Janet & Dave at the Olive Garden for lunch – just love their soup, salad and rolls lunch, then Janet & I went our way and the guys went theirs. Janet & I managed to spend the rest of the afternoon checking out J C Penney, Target and Marshalls without doing a lot of damage to our wallets.

Tonight will be a quiet evening of reading and TV and hopefully the wind will die down tomorrow and it will be a warmer day.

And so ends a few more great gifts of days and we look forward to more wonderful days here in Yuma.

Friday, March 5, 2010

2010-03-06T10:20:00.000-07:00

We have had a few nice, but busy days. Our dinner at Olive Garden was very good and I even splurged and had desert – chocolate gelato, boy did we enjoy that and thankfully John helped me eat it as the serving was huge. We had a nice evening and enough leftovers for Wednesday nights’ dinner. On the way home we stopped at Wal Mart and walked around a bit to try and wear off some of the dinner.

Wednesday I went to aquafit then scurried around to get ready to meet Janet & Dave at 12:30 at Applebee’s where we all enjoyed a nice lunch and visit. John and Dave went off to do guy things and Janet and I headed to Beall’s to shop. We both managed to find a couple of things there, then it was walk over to Starbuck’s for an iced coffee then to Burlington Coat Factory, where I didn’t find anything that caught my eye. After having a big lunch the leftovers from Tuesday were just perfect for dinner!

Thursday morning I did some cleaning etc. then Ben & Dianne came over in the afternoon for happy hour. We had a nice visit then we all met at the hall for the spaghetti dinner, which was very good, and they asked us back to their place for coffee. They have a really nice park model and John had never seen the inside so it was a good chance for him to see it – he was impressed as was I. We met a few more people at the dinner so we are slowly meeting lots of people. The gal two seats down from me goes to aquafit and all of a sudden said to me that she hadn’t recognized me with my clothes on, that got a good laugh at the table.

Today it was back to Mexico to pick up my glasses and go to the dentist. I am really pleased with my glasses and John took in his reading glasses and had the lenses replaced for $39 and we picked them up after the dentist. His frames were fine but one of the lenses was scratched so he is happy to have a scratch free lens again.

I got my teeth cleaned, $35, and they did as good a cleaning as I would get at home. We were impressed with the dental office as it was spotlessly clean and they had more up to date equipment there than our dentist at home. They were using x-rays when doing John’s tooth and he said it was really neat how they did it, not like at home with the huge machines, they had the picture on a computer beside him so they could see it, not something we have ever seen at our dentist’s.

John had lost a huge chunk off one of his molars our last day in Canada in September and has been really fortunate that it hasn’t bothered him but it was time to have it fixed. The tooth was mainly filling already so they said they could grind it all down, rebuild it and put on a crown – cost $300 or he could have it pulled, not an option he really wanted to consider so he went for getting it fixed. At first he wanted to just leave it but I pointed out that it would probably start to bother him about the time we got home and then we would be looking at about $1500 or more to get it fixed there so it would be better just to get it done now. He told the gal he would go for fixing it and was back in the chair for about 45 minutes while they did it, now he has to go back on Tuesday to get the crown put on, but at least the worst of it is done. While he was getting that done I wandered around for a while, got my hair cut and bought vanilla for all my friends who asked me to get them some and another bottle of Kahlua for us.

Janet had mentioned that Dave wanted to go to Mexico but she doesn’t and I don’t care if I go back so we called them and Dave is happy to go with John on Tuesday morning and I will stay home.

Tonight is a quiet evening as we are both whacked.

I didn’t get this posted last night as my brother called me on Skype so by the time I finished talking to him I was ready just to hit the sack.

And so ends a few more great gifts of days and we look forward to more wonderful days here in Yuma.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

2010-03-02T15:07:00.002-07:00

On Saturday afternoon just as we were heading out to Wal Mart and Fry’s it started to rain and it really poured for about an hour and a half. We had our rain jackets so didn’t get too wet running in and out of the stores and the bonus of the rain was a beautiful rainbow – so we didn’t complain too loudly.

Sunday was a pretty quiet day, Diane came by in the morning and had a coffee and visit with us and then in the afternoon we watched the hockey game; boy what a nail biter that was, but yeah Canada and Sidney Crosby. In the evening we watched the closing ceremony so it was pretty well a TV day for us, not something that we usually do but this was a special occasion.

Monday was aquafit in the morning and then later in the afternoon we did another quick run to Wal Mart, other than that it was a nice quiet day.

This morning we headed off to Mexico as I wanted to check out glasses and we both wanted to see a dentist. We have made an appointment with a dentist for 10 a.m. on Friday morning and I will pick up my new glasses then. We bought another lantern, I got a bathing suit cover up and we picked up a bottle of Kahlua and that was our expenditure for the day. Now it will be interesting to see how we make out at the dentist!

Just as we got back to the truck in the parking lot a man standing beside his car said it wasn’t a good day for him, it turns out he had put the steering wheel lock on when they parked and now they were ready to go home and his key for the lock was back at their place in Yuma – not good!! We gave him and his wife a ride back to their park and they assured us they had friends who would drive them back to get the car, sure hope so as it would be a long ride for him on his bike!!

LakeConroyPenny had posted a note on my blog re Airstreams and no, Penny, I hadn’t seen the video but we have toured the plant and watched them being made. I agree with you about all the steps on a 5ver and we have a Hensley hitch so towing is a dream, we certainly wouldn’t have anything but an Airstream!

Today is our 48th wedding anniversary so we are going to go to the Olive Garden for dinner, I am sure looking forward to that. We have plans for tomorrow, Thursday and Friday so it will be a busy few days, but we are looking forward to them.

And so ends a few more great gifts of days and we look forward to more wonderful days here in Yuma.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

2010-02-27T14:33:00.000-07:00

Today was sunny until a bit ago and now it has clouded over, they are calling for rain this afternoon and then the forecast is for 15 days of warmth and sunshine – I sure do like that!

Wednesday night we had a great dinner with Janet & Dave at Texas Roadhouse and the ribs were really good – even better, we had enough left over for Thursday nights’ dinner. Next time we will split a large order of ribs between us as this time I had half a rack and John had a whole one – way too much. Fortunately the restaurant wasn’t really busy so we were able to sit and visit for quite a while after we finished eating. On the way home we stopped at Wal Mart for a bit just to walk around and help wear off dinner and it did feel good just to move around for a bit.

Thursday morning we had to wait for Time Warner to come out and look at our internet connection, the fellow arrived about 10:30 and obviously found something wrong as it works great now. He saw we have Macs so was asking us a lot of questions about them as he and his wife are in the process of having to buy a new laptop, we told him we wouldn’t have anything other than a Mac.

It was about noon when I headed out to do laundry, I find that is usually a good time to go and it turned out to be a really good time this week as there were only a couple of other people there when I got there and when I left there was only one other person in there, don’t know what happened but it was great not having to dodge around a lot of people. John dropped me off and then went to the market to wander around for a while and got back just as I was folding the clothes – great timing. The rest of the day was pretty quiet – reading and watching the Olympics on TV.

Yesterday morning was aquafit again so I got some of my exercise for the day. In the afternoon I went for a walk and stopped to chat with Ben & Diane for a bit, Diane had mentioned the baked potato dinner tonight (Saturday) to John but I wanted to stop and tell her we had been out too much this week already so would pass on it this time.

We went over to Steve & Brenda’s about 4 as we were going to an all you could eat fish fry with them. They had let the guard at the gate know we were coming so we got in with no problem, the only trouble was that we had no idea where their spot was so had a tour of the park before finding them! For a very expensive, elite park we were not impressed with the lot sizes, in fact some of the houses that are being built in there have their patio just about into the side of the house next door – not my idea of nice!!

It turns out dinner was at the Desert Hills golf course (we had no idea where we were going when they asked us to join them) where we have played before and we remember seeing the ad for All You Can Eat Fish & Chips on Friday nights, it was $10 each and very good (but still not as good as the Erie Belle). They had a drink special of iced tea and vodka that I tried and it was really good - and cheaper than John’s beer! All in all it was a good dinner and a nice time with Steve & Brenda. We drove to dinner so when we got back to their place we stopped at the office and they showed us around the pool, clubhouse, etc., very nice but not my cup of tea.

This morning was yard sale day here in the park so John went out and rode his bike around but he didn’t find anything to spend his money on. He was gone a long time so I figured he must have stopped to chat somewhere and he had, with a fellow from Gravenhurst. I can’t get too excited about yard sales as I figure I have enough junk of my own without buying someone else’s, so unless there is something in particular I am looking for I stay away from them. We are going to head out shortly to make a quick trip to Fry’s and Wal Mart in the hopes that later in the afternoon they won’t be too busy – probably dreaming in Technicolor about that!

And so ends a few more great gifts of days and we look forward to more wonderful days here in Yuma.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

2010-02-24T17:09:00.000-07:00

Well, another few days have passed with nothing too exciting happening. On Sunday morning we went to Brownie’s for breakfast and ran into Birdie and Jean, a couple we know from Del Pueblo, so sat with them and had a good visit. They went to Alaska last summer so it was nice to hear about their trip and apparently they lucked out as last summer was the nicest one in Alaska for years.

After breakfast we went to a couple of stores, then Wal Mart, and lastly a visit at the market so we were shopped out. I got a few things that I wanted at the market so was happy to get that done.

On the way home we stopped by Yuma Palms RV Park to see if we could find Steve & Brenda and boy what a place that is. We had to stop at the gate and the guy couldn’t find their name anyplace so finally opened the gate so we could go into the office and check there. I went in and after a lot of horsing around the fellow in the office determined they weren’t home and when I asked if we could drive around the park I was told no, that isn’t allowed. The fellow at the office said that residents are required to register their guests with the guard on the gate before their arrival, no spur of the moment visits to someone at this park! Needless to say, we were not impressed with the park and certainly wouldn’t be looking for a place there! When we got home John sent Steve an e-mail telling him we had tried to see them.

Monday morning I was off to aquafit, it was about 63F when I went down to the pool and then about half way through the clouds came in and the wind shifted direction and it got downright cold – it wasn’t bad in the water but sure was cold when we got out. It was down to 57F by the time I got back home and that’s about where it stayed for the rest of the day. We also got a sprinkling of rain so not the greatest of days but then it is still a lot nicer than home where they got snow.

Monday afternoon we went into the office and talked to Dee about a site for next year and she gave us a listing of the few they have left and three of those still are iffy as the people have until the end of the month to renew. We walked around and picked out a site, hoping that the people wouldn’t come in at the last minute and renew.

I need some bar bells for the aquafit so on Tuesday morning I went over to Cactus Garden RV Park where I was told you could buy them but they are sold out for the year, darn. Yesterday afternoon we headed to Yuma Palms mall to see if I could get them at Sports Authority and they didn’t have them either so I think I am out of luck until next fall. Fortunately, there is an extra set in a locker by the pool so I will just have to get there early to make sure I can get them to use until I can get my own.

While at the mall I checked out Kohls and was disappointed that they didn’t have any good buys there, then we went to Target where I did pick up a couple of things that were a good price. We noticed there was a RV show going on at the mall so stopped and wandered through some trailer, boy there was nothing there I would trade my trailer for. I kept running into a couple of other women and they were moaning about how bad some of the layouts were, we figured the kitchens were designed by men who had never stepped into a kitchen in their lives, let alone made meals in one!!

Today was aquafit again and a much warmer day for it. We were just finishing lunch when Steve & Brenda pulled up but only had a quick visit as Brenda had a doctor’s appointment. They aren’t impressed with Yuma Palms RV Park and won’t be back there next year. They have invited us to a fish fry on Friday night so that should be fun.

Just as Steve & Brenda were leaving Dee (the park manager) came along to tell us the people on the spot we had picked for next year had just come in and renewed, so that was out for us, but there were four other spots available. I jumped on the golf cart with her and John got his bike and we looked at the sites and picked D9 so then I went back to the office and got the paperwork to fill out. Thankfully we have a spot as they are going fast and I imagine most of the parks are filling up quickly.

We are meeting Janet & Dave for dinner at Texas Roadhouse so I had best get myself moving and ready to go.

And so ends a few more great gifts of days and we look forward to more wonderful days here in Yuma.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

2010-02-20T22:20:00.002-07:00

Here I am again, with nothing too new or exciting happening. Thursday morning John spent a lot of time messing around with the internet as it still wasn’t working as it should, he wasn’t a happy camper. He dropped me off around noon (I find that is a pretty good time) to do laundry and he went off to the market while I did the laundry. Other than having a couple of seniors moments and doing stupid things I got the laundry done and was just folding it when he came back to pick me up.

Thursday night the park had a spagetti dinner, they have it every other Thursday during the season with a pot luck on the other Thursdays. We don't do pot lucks so will pass on them! Friends here in the park had asked us to go with them then Gail came down about 4 and said they had to work at the dinner so to wait until 5:30 to come down and eat with all the workers, who it happens we know. While we were waiting for them a couple of people we have met since coming here were sitting right by where we were waiting and thought we had gotten the time wrong so were happy when we said that we had waited to eat with the workers. We helped with the clean up then went back to Don & Gail's for a while. They have a beautiful huge propane fireplace on their back patio, it has a wide slate top around it for sitting drinks on etc. and throws out a really good heat. Don has put a very large gazebo over it to keep the heat in so we were nice and toasty warm sitting there, not that it was really cold out anyways. All in all, a very pleasant evening.

Friday morning I went to aquafit and had a great time, there was another new gal there and both of us are challenged when it comes to coordination so we had a good laugh at ourselves and all the others there got a good laugh at us. Sure do like providing entertainment for everyone!!! On a serious note, it is a good workout and I do enjoy it. While I was working out John went back to TW and got a new modem to see if that is what our internet problem is and then spent a fair bit of time rewiring it all and moving everything (he sure can’t complain about being bored!!).

I woke up about 5 a.m. this morning and it was raining – what – this is Arizona! Fortunately, it had stopped before we got up and was a nice day although a bit cooler that it has been with a high today of about 70F (20C) – still not too shabby.

Our Nice Clean Trailer

This afternoon we had Don & Gail down for a drink and visit and had a good time. They are leaving on Monday for 10 days to 2 weeks on a trip into New Mexico etc. so we hope they have a great time. Shortly after they got here this roadrunner walked right by us – no fear whatsoever.

Dinner is over and I just talked to my sister who got back tonight from a weeks’ cruise in the Caribbean, they had a great time and good weather but I am always glad to hear they got home safely. My brother and his family are due home on Monday after their cruise so we hope they also have a safe trip.

And so ends a few more great gifts of days and we look forward to more wonderful days here in Yuma.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

2010-02-17T21:41:00.000-07:00

We have been enjoying gorgeous weather, nice warm sunny days and cool nights but the last couple of nights we haven’t even needed to turn the propane heater on during the evening – sure do like that!

I don’t know what all we have been doing but the days seem to fly by and we certainly aren’t bored! On Monday John had arranged for the Mexicans to wash the trailer and truck – what a great job they did. Then he spent the rest of Monday and yesterday waxing them – boy are we shiny now! He didn’t want to take the truck out until it was waxed so yesterday afternoon we finally got out to do some grocery shopping.

Monday morning when I went for my walk I stopped and had a quick visit with Ben and Diane, a nice couple who we met a couple of years ago who have a beautiful park model home here.

Yesterday I finally got on Skype and chatted with my brother in Australia for about an hour, it has been a long time since we’ve chatted so I enjoyed catching up with him again.

We have been having trouble with the internet since Saturday, it will work great then just cuts out (fortunately it behaved while I was on Skype yesterday) and we have to reset the modem and the airport express – a real pain you know where!! Finally, John got totally fed up with it this morning and got on the chat line with Time Warner and it turns out that it was probably a faulty splitter cable so when he went out on other errands today he stopped and got a new splitter cable and it seems to be working okay now so we have our fingers crossed.

This morning I went to aquafit and really enjoyed it, the lady leading it is really good and was very helpful to me being my first day and everyone was very friendly. This afternoon I went for my walk and ended up walking through a park model that is for sale here, then stopped at Gail and Don’s to invite them down for happy hour (Saturday works for both of us) and then stopped and talked to a couple from Gravenhurst. By the time I got back I thought John would have a search party out looking for me but he just asked who all I had stopped and visited with – guess he knows me well!!

And so ends a few more great gifts of days and we look forward to more wonderful days here in Yuma.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

2010-02-14T10:46:00.001-07:00

We have enjoyed another two beautiful Yuma days with sun and nice temperatures – we’ve had highs of about 70F (20C) both days, I think we are finally starting to dry out – LOL!

Yesterday we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast, it sure has been a long time since we’ve been there and we thoroughly enjoyed our meal. From there we went over to the mall and checked out Best Buy, Marshall’s – I got a new pair of shoes, and Sports Authority where I was looking for a pair of crocs for Kel, but had no luck.

It was then on to the Yuma Market and oh, was it busy. We split and went our separate ways and we weren’t there very long when I ran into Jim and Sonia, we had a great chat and they invited us over on Saturday for a drink. I met up with John at the agreed upon time having spent the great sum of $5, certainly I did better than John who emptied his wallet. A quick stop at Fry’s ended our shopping expedition and it was home to relax.

This morning I vacuumed again and finally got the floors washed, now we are clean again. I also cleaned out some cupboards and drawers and John worked outside most of the day until it was time to go to Jim and Sonia’s. We had a great visit, it was good to get together with them again and get caught up on our lives. They bought a park model at Desert Paradise last year and Jim has done a lot of work on it - laminate floors in the living room & bedroom and ceramic in the kitchen, bathroom and hallway – it looks really nice.

Dinner is now over and we are watching the women’s moguls, wow, there are some really good gals competing but my knees ache just watching them!! We don’t know what’s wrong but the internet isn’t working so I will get this posted whenever we get it up and going again.

And so ends a couple more great gifts of days and we look forward to another interesting day tomorrow.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

2010-02-11T20:59:00.000-07:00

We woke up yesterday morning and somehow thought we had morphed back to the Oregon coast as it was raining and the temperature was in the low 50’sF, a typical Oregon coast day!! It rained off and on all day and was cool – certainly not a typical Yuma day.

We decided to do some inside stuff so headed out as I desperately needed a hair cut and a pedicure – boy do my feet feel good again and I no longer look like a shaggy dog! We stopped at Fry’s and picked up a couple of groceries and by the time we got home it was after 5 – where oh where do the days go!

Today was a beautiful, sunny day, typical Yuma weather. John did some work outside and I did some more stuff inside then about noon we headed out to do laundry – there is no laundromat in the park so we went to one on South Frontage Road. Noon was a good time to go as it was busy but I got machines without a problem, so was happy, and at a $1.25/load it was reasonable. It is a fairly new laundromat so was nice and clean. John dropped me off and then carried on to get his hair cut and stop at Wal Mart and he arrived back to pick me up just as I was finishing folding the clothes – perfect timing.

When we came back we took a drive through the park and Gail was sitting outside so we stopped and had a visit with her, Don had gone out for fuel so wasn’t there but we will catch up with them soon for happy hour.
We have developed a wicked leak around the door in the last couple of weeks so when we got back John started trying to figure out where the problem is – hopefully he has located it and will get it fixed tomorrow. It is supposed to be sunny for the foreseeable future so hopefully it will be fixed by the next time we see rain. Actually, we are having the Mexicans come to wash the trailer on Monday so John is hoping that will be a good test of his fixing.

And so ends a couple more great gifts of days and we look forward to another interesting day tomorrow.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

2010-02-09T22:01:00.001-07:00

Today was a gorgeous day, sunny and warm but unfortunately I spent most of the day inside doing some major cleaning and still have some things left to do tomorrow. I will be real happy to see it all clean and shiny again!!

John spent most of the day outside getting things organized and put away, now, for the first time in 5 months we can actually see the back seat of the truck!

We left about noon and went to Time Warner to sign up and get the modem etc. for the internet, we are now all hooked up and it is nice to be in the cyberspace world again! We stopped at a couple of stores on the way home and including Fry’s but it was a zoo and I had left my Fry’s card in the truck so we left without buying anything. We saw a couple of good deals so will go back in the next couple of days and pick up a couple of things.

When we got home we picked up where we left off, John outside and me finishing a couple more things inside. Our next door neighbour came over and introduced himself and gave us a cauliflower and an extremely large radish he had got in California today, it will be interesting to try the radish. A few more people stopped to welcome us to the park and chat, it is certainly the friendliest park we have been in Yuma!

It is now bed time – where does the day go?

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another nice day tomorrow.

Monday, February 8, 2010

2010-02-09T21:30:00.005-07:00

These are Pictures from Saturday:
California Along I-5

Our Site at Kit Fox RV Park, Patterson (You Can See How Wet It Was)

This Funky Airstream Was at Kit Fox

Sunday turned out to be a nice day although it rained off and on all Saturday night/early Sunday morning. We checked the weather when we got up and it was only 28F in Tehachapi and seeing that it is at an elevation of 4000’ we decided not to rush leaving in the hopes it would warm up as we didn’t want to hit icy roads, as it was, it was 36F when we went through about 11 a.m. and the roads were wet so it probably didn’t hurt waiting. You can see from the pictures that there was lots of snow, and windmills, on the mountains as we went through. Once we got clear of there we hit sunny skies and had a lovely day the rest of the day.

Mountains At Tehachapi

We picked up I-40 at Barstow, CA, and there was a sign for Wilmington N.C. – 2544 miles – wow, that’s a long interstate!

We drove 435 km and stopped at Needles, California for the night. We stayed at Desert View RV Resort and it was a real nice park with hedges between the sites and the price was $33/night, not bad for California. Again, the internet was poor so I didn’t get my blog posted.

Our Site at Desert View RV Resort

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day, clear blue skies and a high of 68F, sure did like that! We had a good drive to Yuma, although it is pretty boring from Parker to Yuma and Quartzsite was pretty well dead although there are still quite a lot of trailers boondocking on the BLM lands.

Rock Formation Near Lake Havasu City

We arrived at Mountain Cactus Ranch about 2 this afternoon and are now all set up. Tomorrow we need to do some major cleaning both inside and out and go to Time Warner and get set up for internet as the park only has it at the office. We went out late this afternoon and got some groceries then went to Applebee’s for dinner – much easier than worrying about having to cook after a day on the road.

The people in the park here seem really nice, we were surprised by the number who stopped to talk and welcome us to the park while we were setting up.

After four days on the road we are both tired so it will be early to bed tonight.

And so ends a couple more great gifts of days and we look forward to another interesting day tomorrow.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

2010-02-09T21:29:00.000-07:00

It would be too much to expect two nice days in a row and we were proven right by a rainy, cool day today. It rained off and on all night last night but fortunately it did stop this morning while John was getting us ready to hit the road, so at least he didn’t get wet.

We had an uneventful day, with a wet drive, and when we got to Bakersfield we had about a 20 minute period of stop and go traffic due to an accident but nothing to complain about. We arrived at Orange Grove RV Park on the east side of Bakersfield around 2 p.m. It is a nice park and the rate was $33/night cash or cheque or $35/night using debit or visa so of course we paid by cheque.

Dave and Janet had sent us an e-mail last night saying they were here and will be until Tuesday so we are parked across the road from them. We went over after we got here and visited then Dave drove us to a grocery store (so we wouldn’t have to unhook) and we both picked up some cooked ribs and I got a salad, so we had a good dinner at their place and as usual a great visit.

We had had an e-mail from them on Tuesday night saying they were going to cut over to the coast to come south so would stop in Port Orford for a visit but we never heard from them. It turns out it was pouring rain when they went through so they just kept on going as it was too early to stop for the day. They had as rotten a drive down the California coast as we did – lots of wind and rain so they have been one day ahead of us coming here. We are looking forward to seeing them again in Yuma when they arrive for the month of March.

It has stopped raining at the moment and I’m not sure what the forecast for tomorrow is as the internet here isn’t working so we have no way of checking it except to listen to the news tonight. No matter we will have to take what we get but it would be nice if it is a sunny day.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another nice day tomorrow.

Friday, February 5, 2010

2010-02-06T06:15:00.006-07:00

Wow, we awoke this morning to a bright light in a perfectly blue sky, what a welcome sight, and the best part is that it lasted all day, which made for a nice day for driving.

I didn't bring in my camera last night so didn't have any pictures to post but here are some from yesterday. We had passed these old Airstreams at Humbug Mountain many times so finally stopped and took a couple of pictures. The smaller one has a very worn Wally Byam Caravan Club sticker on the front, we wonder if this is one of the trailers that went on the African tour many years ago. Gotta love the old Dodge! We have no idea who they belong to or why they are parked there but they certainly are in sad shape!!

And our last pictures of the Oregon Coast

Our Site at Willet KOA

We left Willet KOA about 9:30 and went south for about 15 miles on Highway 101 and then picked up Highway 20 east. Tim, at Port Orford RV Village, had said this was a good way across to I-5 and it was a pretty trip through to the interstate although there was lots of hill climbing – and coming back down, plus lots of little towns to go through. We drove for many miles along Clear Lake, a very large lake and a very touristy area, I imagine it would be a really busy place in the summer.

Clear Lake

The View Along Highway 20

All of a sudden we came around a curve and the mountains disappeared, it was really weird how fast they disappeared and we were then in very flat land, it reminded us of southern Ontario. We picked up I-5 north of Sacremento and will be on it until tomorrow when we head east at Bakersfield. All along I-5 there are miles and miles or orchards, vineyards and market gardening and everything is so green, and flooded from all the rain.

California roads certainly aren’t great, the interstate is pretty rough in spots but the traffic wasn’t too bad today. It was quite busy through Sacramento and Stockton but other than through those two cities it was not nearly as busy as we had thought it might be.

We are now at Kit Fox RV Park in Patterson, a very nice park and cheaper than last night but still more expensive than it should be, but then, this is Caifornia. We stopped about 3 this afternoon so it wasn’t a bad day at all.

Just before we got here we got back into mountains on the west side of the highway, it is really weird as the west is very hilly and when you look east it is all orchards – quite pretty.

We stopped at Williams to get diesel before getting on the interstate and it cost $3.099/gallon, fortunately it only took $25 to fill up and hopefully the next stop will be cheaper but that seems to be the going price most of the time from what we can see.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another nice day tomorrow.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

2010-02-04T23:21:00.000-07:00

Today was our day to depart Port Orford RV Village and start our trip to Yuma so, it was with sadness but see you again, that we said goodbye to all our new friends, we really do hope to be back this way next spring.

Yesterday was a totally miserable day, we woke up in the morning to torrential rain and it stayed like that until mid afternoon so we were really thankful that John wasn’t out in it hooking us up. I did laundry and walked around the park when the rain stopped but all in all it was a pretty quiet day.

This morning we woke up to quiet – hey, it wasn’t raining!! John actually got up early enough to go over for the morning coffee session that happens from around 7 to 8 a.m. – usually too early for us!! I even made a late appearance about 8 a.m. – I am sure they all thought that I had had an accident to be up so early – LOL! We were on the road by about 9:15 a.m. – just as it started to rain.

We had rain pretty well all the way to Brookings, that was disappointing as I couldn’t get any final pictures of the Oregon Coast. We stopped at Gold Beach and picked up a Dungeness crab for dinner – our last of these wonderful, tasty crabs. Right after Brookings the rain stopped so we had high hopes that this would be the end of it – how silly can we be!!

As navigator and co-pilot I had planned on stopping at Fortuna but when we got there the pilot thought it was too early to stop so wanted to carry on. Okay, I found another park around Legget that sounded not too bad so we headed for there. Well, never having driven in northern California before we were in for quite a surprise – Highway 101 south of Fortuna was very hilly, narrow at times and slow going – especially in the rain and with very few towns along the way. And rain it did, it came down in torrents and we had a few good gusts of wind – not what I would call a nice travel day. There was also lots of fog just to add to the fun.

By late afternoon we were getting low on fuel with no gas stations in sight. I might add that once in California the price of diesel was anywhere from $3.099 to $3.199/gallon so that wasn’t really making us happy. Now, to make matters worse, Alice - our GPS, had the wrong spot for the park we were going to check out and all of a sudden we were passing it and Alice was telling us it was still 10 km down the road – not pretty as there was no place to turn around!! At this point the pilot and co-pilot weren’t saying too much to each other as recriminations don’t do anybody any good so we were just silent!! Finally we came into Laytonville and there was a Chevron that a) sold diesel, b) we could get into and c) (best of all) the price was $2.999/gallon.

At this point we were on plan C – staying at the Willet KOA, and for anybody who knows us you know how much we dislike KOA’s, but at this point it seemed like the only choice. But wait, while I was in the gas station I was talking to a local lady who said there were a couple of RV parks about 15 miles south, okay we’ll check these out. Well, again, the first one was by us before we knew it was there but the second one was better marked so we pulled in.

It didn’t look really great when we pulled in but the owner said we could probably get in site 9 and not to have to unhook. Meanwhile, we are parked in front of the office and people are yelling at us as they can’t get by – what are we supposed to do as the road is narrow and there is no place to pull over and check in at the office. The owner told us to go ahead and park and either come back and pay or pay in the morning on the way out – at this point I noticed on the counter their price was $42/night but he did say they were a Passport America park. Well, we headed into the park to find site #9 and went into shock, we have never seen a worse looking park in our lives and we knew we wouldn’t feel particularly safe there, plus our bedroom window would be backing right onto Highway 101 – we don’t think so! Now, how do we get out of this mess? There was a fellow outside across from site #9 who told John there was a turnaround at the end of the park so we cautiously went on and did manage, just, to get turned around and get the heck out of there.

On to the Willett KOA and here we are – at a cost of $37/night which is a total rip but what can we do – it was pretty well dark when we got here so there was no way we were going any further.

We have now had a wonderful dinner of Dungeness crab and have managed to unwind after our long, stressful day on the road and the rain has even let up to just a few drops but we don’t expect that to last as the forecast for the next three days is for rain, rain and more rain.

And so ends a couple more great gifts of days and we look forward to another interesting day tomorrow, no matter what the weather is like.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

2010-02-02T15:28:00.003-07:00

February already, where on earth does the time go!!

We have had a few quiet days here with nothing happening to write about. Sunday was a really nice day so we spent time outside enjoying the sun, the forecast is for rain all this week so we have to enjoy the sun when it happens. The cherry trees in the front of the park are all out in bloom and look so pretty.

Claudia came over with her pictures from diving and we really enjoyed seeing them, we always think of the Caribbean when thinking about all the pretty underwater sea life but it is just as pretty here; now I look at the ocean and think about all the underwater beauty as well as the majesty of the waves.

Claudia and Gene were saying the large hoist at the dock isn’t working so they haven’t been able to get out fishing lately. It is an iffy business between the tides, weather and getting up and down at the dock and we certainly have gained a new appreciation for the fishermen from talking to them.

Sunday night we went to the Crazy Norwegian for dinner and had their special for the evening, fish tacos, yummy! The last day of the month is cake and ice cream at 6:30 here at the park to celebrate any birthdays or anniversaries during the month; well there weren’t any to celebrate but we had cake and ice cream anyways and a nice visit, although there weren’t too many people there. The cake and ice cream were a great finish to our delicious dinner.

Yesterday we went to Brookings to pick up a few groceries and just to get out for the day. It rained off and on all day and was a bit foggy at times but we had a nice day anyways. We stopped at Gold Beach and got a Dungeness crab for dinner, and as usual it was delicious.

Looking North Towards Humbug Mountain in the Fog

On the way home we went down to the dock, there wasn’t a lot happening but we saw this pelican sitting on the dock, when I tried to take his picture he flew off and landed on this boat, so I did manage to get a few pictures.

Pelican on the Dock

And Peeking Out from His Hiding Spot on the Boat

Today is wet and overcast but the good part is that it just rains off and on, not a steady rain all day - that is forecast for later in the week. We were going to leave tomorrow and spend a day in the Fortuna California area but the forecast is for rain all day Thursday so it wouldn’t be much of a day for touring around, therefore, we have decided to wait and leave here on Thursday and just make a straight run through to Yuma, arriving there next Monday the good lord be willing and all going well.

I must say we are looking forward to sun and warmer days although we have really enjoyed our time on the Oregon Coast and especially here at Port Orford and hope to return some time. We would like to return in the spring on the way home in another year or two and see what the spring is like here.

And so ends more great gifts of days here on the Oregon Coast and we look forward to another interesting day tomorrow, no matter what the weather is like.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

2010-01-28T16:00:00.007-07:00

Time for another catch up on our time here in Port Orford. Tuesday was a so-so day weather wise, it didn’t rain but it was pretty overcast most of the day. I spent most of my time reading Warlock, I just got lost in the story for the day so we didn’t do a lot of anything.

Yesterday was not a bad day, kind of overcast in the morning but it cleared off in early afternoon and was gorgeous. We went to Bandon as I wanted to go back one last time and wander around Old Town. On the way we stopped at Misty Meadows to get John some more Anitpasto and jam as well as pick up a few gifts. When we got to Bandon we had lunch, a yummy bowl of clam chowder, then wandered around some of the stores. We didn’t buy much but I did get a couple of pretty pottery bowls that were really cheap as well as some fudge. We were wandering through one store and they had a lot of Kitras glass so I was telling the owner that we were from where it is made and he went on at length about what a great company they are to deal with – nice to hear.

We stopped at another store after leaving Old Town, then on to the grocery store before starting to make our way back home. We went down to the north jetty and took a few pictures of the Coquille River Lighthouse, then to the beach for more pictures and then took the scenic route back out of Bandon with picture stops at a few more places.

Coquille River Lighthouse

We stopped at a pullout to take a picture and found this house down by the beach, I sure wouldn't like to have to do those steps all the time to get up and down!!!

Bandon Beach

Face Rock

When we got back to Port Orford we decided to go down to the dock and see if anything was happening there as our neighbours, Claudia & Gene, had gone out fishing so we thought we might see them coming back in. When we got there their truck and boat were gone so they had already come in but we saw a couple of boats heading in so got out and walked over to the lift area to watch them come in. Boy, was our timing good – we saw them unloading boxes of sea urchins off one of the boats and boxes of crabs off another. The people dive for the sea urchins and Gene told John that they get paid really well for them. There was another boat unloading crabs, one of the boxes they took off weighed 374 lbs – so I would say they had a good day as they took off at least 3 boxes and we know they get $1.99/lb for them. It’s interesting as they have a winch to lift the catch off the boats and unload the catch into large tubs, then the boats themselves move a bit further along the dock to get winched up.

While we were watching a boat come up we got talking to three fellows who were cleaning a steelhead they had caught in the Sixes River and were just at the dock to clean it. They had come from south of San Francisco for a few days fishing and said they had caught four steelheads but only kept the one and one of the reasons for keeping it was for the roe which they use for bait. It sure looked like a nice fish and I bet it was good eating!! There was also a seal swimming around in the harbour and it looked like a fair sized one.

Sea Urchins

Fishing Boat Being Hoisted Up

And Going on Its Trailer

California Fishermen with Steelhead

Boats Waiting to Come Into the Dock

Seal in Harbour

Crab Catch

After we got home we were talking to Gene & Claudia and they said they didn’t have a great day but didn’t do too bad either. They gave us some fresh ling cod for dinner and was it yummy, John put some lemon pepper and butter on it, wrapped it in foil and grilled it.

Today is another nice day so John decided to clean out the truck and I took advantage of his being outside to do a major cleaning inside, I even got the floors washed – something I just can’t get done when he is inside.

Gene & Claudia came back from another day of fishing and she said they again didn’t catch as much as they wanted but the wind had started to come up and the water was getting a bit rough so they decided to head in early before it got too bad. She was saying she used to dive but due to puncturing her eardrum a number of times has had to quit but she has an album of underwater pictures that she will bring over and show to me – should be interesting.

It is supposed to rain again tomorrow but we will see if they are right. We don’t have a lot planned for the rest of the day so I will probably start another book – tough life.

Tim is trying to get some grass cutting done while the weather is dry so as soon as he is finished he will fill propane tanks, we need ours filled so have it sitting out waiting.

And so ends more great gifts of days here on the Oregon Coast and we look forward to another interesting day tomorrow, no matter what the weather is like.

Monday, January 25, 2010

2010-01-25T15:09:00.004-07:00

I guess it is time to do a quick catch up again, although there hasn’t been anything exciting happening.

Saturday was a nice sunny day for a change, it was beautiful all day but of course about 9 p.m. the rain started again – it seems like it is impossible to have a day without rain here on the Oregon coast!

Saturday night was the parks’ monthly potluck and this month it was soup and salads. The soups were delicious, I had decided to take a tossed salad with mandarin oranges and walnuts and a couple of loaves of warm bread, one a French bread and the other sourdough. I’m glad that is what I decided on as it was the only salad and bread although there were also some rolls. Of course there were some yummy deserts to finish off, all in all a nice dinner with good company.

Yesterday it poured off and on all day, not a nice day to do anything and even to go to the dock, Battle Rock beach or Paradise Beach would have been a waste of time as with the rain it would be hard to see the waves, so we stayed home and vegged all day. For dinner John went and picked up a pizza from the Hard Rain Café, it was really good and we had a couple of slices left over for today’s lunch.

I downloaded Warlock by Wilbur Smith onto my Kindle yesterday so spent most of the day reading, although we also spent a fair bit of time on the phone catching up with the girls, my sister and some friends.

Warlock is the third book in Wilbur Smith’s Egyptian series and as always with his books, once I start I have a hard time putting the book down. It is probably about 1,000 pages so a fairly long read but I am really enjoying it. I also downloaded the fourth one in the series so will have that ready to read when I am done Warlock.

Today is very overcast, but not raining, it feels really humid because it is quite foggy. Last night they had heavy wind warnings on the TV for this area but thankfully they didn’t happen here. They had said there would be swells of 22-24’ today so we grabbed a coffee this morning and went down to Battle Rock Beach, the dock and Paradise Beach to see what the waves were like. There were some good waves, not as large as we have seen, nonetheless the ocean is always awesome to watch and I did get some pictures at Battle Rock and the dock. I will post them for you to judge how they were.

Looking Towards Humbug Mountain from Battle Rock Beach

Looking Back to Battle Rock Beach from the Dock

Port Orford Jetty and Waves Breaking Over the Jetty

Port Orford Dock

Once I am done posting my blog I will probably bury my nose back in my Kindle and enjoy more of Warlock’s thrilling story – Alison & Bob you would love this book!

And so ends more great gifts of days here on the Oregon Coast and we look forward to another interesting day tomorrow, no matter what the weather is like.

Friday, January 22, 2010

2010-01-23T10:53:00.005-07:00

Another quiet couple of days have passed since I last posted my blog but again there isn’t much to write about.

On Wednesday it was raining in the morning but we decided to take a run up to Coos Bay and do some shopping. By the time we were finished shopping the sun had come out and it had warmed up – bonus!

We decided to go over to Charleston and take the scenic route back. Last time we were there we took the Cape Arago Road as far as the lookout for the Cape Arago lighthouse but we didn’t go to the end of the road so this time we decided to check out the rest of the road. It’s a good thing we did as we had missed Simpson Reef that is home to all kinds of seals, sea lions etc. There were sea lions up on the rocks sunning themselves and all kinds of them in the water – fun to watch.

Sea Lions on the Rock

Sea Lions In the Water

We went to the end of the road and again got out and watched the ocean and saw a few sea lions swimming past there so it was a good day for seeing ocean wildlife as well as watching the waves. Now, if only we could see a whale!

View at End of Cape Arago Road

Paradise Beach

Thursday was a quiet day, it rained in the morning then was nice in the afternoon. We went down to the dock to watch the waves but they had calmed down considerably and the same at Paradise Beach. There was a beautiful sunset, I tried to get a couple of pictures - it was hard trying to catch it on the camera through the trees but we knew if we tried to drive to Paradise Beach we would miss it by the time we got there.

Sunset at Port Orford RV Village

Today was another quiet day, it was sunny this morning but then rained off and on in the afternoon with little bursts of sunshine in between. I got the laundry done but that was about it for the day. It has cooled down the last few days with highs of about 51F (10C) and lows of around 45F (7C) – we would be happy to see it warm up a bit again.

California is getting torrential rains, and snow storms in the higher areas, so we hope it gets it all over with before we leave here in a couple of weeks.

And so ends more great gifts of days here on the Oregon Coast and we look forward to another interesting day tomorrow, no matter what the weather is like.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

2010-01-19T16:56:00.002-07:00

Wow, what a couple of wild days we have had weather wise, lots of wind and rain.

Yesterday afternoon we went out to Cape Blanco then down to Paradise Beach to watch the waves that are just so fascinating to watch. It had rained in the morning but had stopped by early afternoon so at least we didn’t have rain to contend with when we went out. John walked down to the beach at Paradise but I didn’t as the wind and rain had done a pretty good job of beating the path up so I didn’t want to take a chance on it.

Monday's Waves

When we came back we walked around the park and stopped to chat with Claudia and Gene. They have 3 fishing boats here and have just had one revamped so are doing the final touches before taking it out. While we were talking the sky cleared off and the sun came out so I said something to Claudia about the blue sky and she said “oh yes, a sucker hole”. I thought that was a pretty apt term as shortly thereafter it was completely overcast and the wind came up and the rain came on. John had thought it would be a pretty good night to grill (that’s the sucker part of the blue sky!!) but he had trouble with the wind blowing the barbecue out, on the other hand he was lucky that the rain took a short rest while he was out grilling so at least he didn’t get wet!

I would like to thank Winchuck River Store & Electric Powered Kayak for telling me what happened to the Brooking Bears (see the comment on my January 17th blog) and it would be nice if Brookings’ could get their own bears as they certainly added pizzaz to the main street.

Last night was pretty crazy with the wind and we did quite a bit of shaking but it is nice and cozy in here while the weather is raging outside so we don’t mind it at all.

This morning was totally yucky – rain, rain and more rain although the wind had died down. High tide was just after 1:30 this afternoon so we thought we would again drive around and look at the sea and oh wow, what a sight it was. The waves were just pounding in at Paradise Beach and down at the dock they were crashing up on the dock and jetty like crazy – what a wonderful show they put on! It looked like the porta potty at the dock might have taken a bit of a ride in the wind – can’t imagine that that would be very pretty!!

Today's Waves

Luckily it stopped raining just as we got in the truck and while we were out there were lots of “sucker holes” with sunshine and blue sky, but we know that it isn’t going to last! The wind is coming up again so I imagine we will be in for another windy night, at least tonight we will be doing an inside dinner so John doesn’t have to worry about grilling. There was a lot of debris on the roads today from all the wind – lots of twigs, small branches and leaves and if the wind keeps up I am sure there will be even more tomorrow.

They are calling for five back to back storms so I think we are in for a few more wet and windy days so I am sure you will be getting real tired of storm pictures on my blog.

I just started The Devil’s Punchbowl by Greg Isles on my Kindle so will be picking that up when I get this finished.

And so ends another two great gifts of days here on the Oregon Coast and we look forward to another interesting day tomorrow, no matter what the weather is like.