Another Sunny Day

Yesterday was a lovely day, around 74 degrees. I was in need of a pedicure and saw two places in the town of Benson so off I went. I sure missed my pedicure buddies (Deb and Tina), we usually chat through the whole thing but I managed just fine.

We also went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch, the place was real crowded so we thought it must be good. We had a short wait but it was worth it.

We played a cribbage match and I won 3 out of 5 and I guess I should mention that Richard won the last 2 matches.

Last night a guitarist was playing at the club house but we decided not to go. Tonight from 8-11 they are having a New Year's Eve party with kareoke (sp?) and several people have asked if we are attending. Richard asked if they had a bar since it would take a lot of libations to get him to sing kareoke, can't you just picture it? Maybe I could even get him to "wiggle dance".

I am going up to the water aerobics class and we are going to wash the motor home today. We hope everyone has a happy and safe New Years Eve.




Until next time,
Gloria

Living in the Desert

I could get used to living in the desert during the winter months, but not in the heat of the summer.  Yesterday morning it was 27 at 7:00AM, at 10:00AM it was 41 and Gorgie was in the pool doing water aerobics (at that time of the day it was the warmest place in the park).  By noon it was short sleeves weather and in the 60’s, there hasn’t been a cloud in the sky since we got here.  This morning it’s 25 as I type this but it’s supposed to be in the 70’s today.

We took a drive into town and looked around,not much there.  Then we drove down to St. David (7 miles), to our next stop in our travels to check out that park. We are going to like it there as well.

Valley Vista where we are now is a typical desert RV park, gravel, a few trees, and full hookups including cable TV.  But the staff and guests are very nice, and eager to visit.  The park is not crowded and there are lots of empty spaces, they say that by now it is normally full, but not this year.

 

 

Our site is very comfortable.

 

 

 

 

There are lots of empty spaces.

 

 

The night sky is something else, there are more stars visible here than I have seen in many years.  The headlights of the cars and trucks along I-10 as it snakes out of the Dragoon mountains about 15 miles away, into the San Pedro Valley where we are is something to see (I’ll have get a picture of that).

More Later, Rich

The Theme of Our Trip

Everywhere we have traveled the weather has set new local records, and not the way we would like to see.  I suppose the fog in the Central Valley of CA. wasn’t any record to them but it sure was the foggiest I ever drove through.  In Desert Hot Springs they set a record for the most rain for the dates we were there.  And the most snow in the hills since the 40’s.  So when we got to Tucson I thought we were through with all that, nope, they have more rain than is usual for this time of year; now record setting cold temperatures.  The last two nights it went down to 27/28 degrees.  In Benson where we are going today the temp this morning was 15.  The good news is that it is sunny and the daytime highs are supposed to be in the upper 60’s and the 70’s later in the week.  We’ll see if it’s us that’s bringing this weather down here. 

Last night Dad took us to an excellent Italian restaurant, “Michelangelo’s”.  It was without a doubt one of the best Italian dinners I have had in a long time.

 

 

A good time was had by all.

 

 

Dad and Marge were wonderful hosts and we want to thank them for all they did for us.

Thanks Dad and Marge

Today we move on to new adventures and new unexplored places.

More Later, Rich

Twas the Day After Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas with Dad, Marge, Annie and Bob.  They took us to a fancy resort (Westward Look Resort) for dinner, and it was a wonderful time.  They had a special holiday meal that was perfect.  The view out the windows took in almost all of Tucson, (I bet the lights at night are spectacular).

Today the girls are planning on taking in a movie.  And the guys will just sit around and tell lies.  Tomorrow will be our last day here, and we need to do some shopping. On Sunday we travel to Valley Vista RV Resort in Benson, AZ for a one week stay.  It’s hard to believe but we have been on the road for a month already, time flies when you are having tooo much fun.

More Later, Rich

Merry Christmas

We are having a wonderful Christmas here in Tucson at my Dad and Marge’s house.  Bob and Annie arrived on time and we have had a couple of great days visiting and catching up.  Today they have made reservations for us to have Christmas Dinner at a local country club.

Yesterday we went to dinner at the local Stuart Anderson’s Black Angus Restaurant.  A very good time was had by all.

 

 

Bob, Annie,Gorgie,Dad, Marge, and Me

 

 

 

 

They have a nice Arizona style back yard.

 

 

 

It was 62 and sunny in their back yard, not that I’m trying to make anyone feel bad that we are enjoying such nice weather, well maybe a little jealous.

The weather is changing here today, it’s supposed to rain for the next two days, this morning it’s cloudy so we’ll see what happens.

We do want to wish everyone a very

Merry Christmas

Gloria & Rich

Tucson

We arrived in Tucson yesterday afternoon.  We had a very nice visit with Dad and Marge, we went out to dinner and returned to their house and played 10,000. They are fun to play games with.

Bob and Annie are driving to Seattle to catch their flight to Tucson because the flight out of Portland was cancelled.  He said the freeway was a mess but that traffic was moving along.  They get into town at about 4:15 this afternoon if all goes well.

The storm that dropped all the snow in the northwest is here now and it is raining and it will likely rain for the next few days.

 

 

South Forty RV Ranch

Tucson,AZ

 

 

More Later, Rich

We Travel to Tucson Today

Well I did it, we were supposed to be in Tucson on Sunday not Monday.  Dad called yesterday afternoon to see if we were in town, heck I was sitting in the sun reading.  I called and told South Forty RV we would be a day late, I hope Dad didn’t have something planned, I feel bad.

This has been a comfortable place, a nice place to spend a night or two but not a destination.

 

Some of our more permanent neighbors have gotten into the holiday spirit.

 

 

More Later, Rich

Frost in the Valley of the Sun

I’m sitting in the MH enjoying a cup of tea and a cookie or two, the sun is coming up, and I can see that the roads and picnic tables are frosted over.  That won’t last long, I’ll wait it out.  The weather is supposed to change, last night on the news they said the storm from the pacific northwest is headed our way so there is a chance it may rain, gee we came all this way to escape that.

Speaking of watching TV I bought a digital converter box with the coupons that Kevin got for me (they won’t ship them to PO boxes).  I hooked it up while on the road and boy does it work good.  Here in the Phoenix area it picked up 29 stations, and the quality of all of them is outstanding.  As good as cable.

Yesterday we decided to stock up on meat and some other supplies so a trip to the local Costco store was made.  I programmed the GPS to take us there using all local roads and no freeways.  What a treat we drove through some newly developed areas with brand new (and mostly empty) shopping centers, and lots of new homes.  But the best parts were the agricultural fields with lots of cotton.  We stopped at one of those new malls and found a very good restaurant, “The Native New Yorker”, and we both had the Philly Cheese steak sandwich, very good too.  The rest of the day was spent reading, and looking around at the scenery.

The trip to see Gloria’s cousin had to be canceled, because he wasn’t feeling up to company.  We’ll try to come up in January some time.

 

 

 

Another day in the sun

 

 

 

More Later, Rich

Buckeye Arizona

We drove to Buckeye yesterday (about 240 miles), through some very scenic desert landscapes. It was a pleasant drive, it took 5 hours to get here, just right.

This park is really nothing special but the sites are level (gravel), they have 50AMP power, the people are friendly, and the sun shines. It isn’t far off the freeway so there is that traffic in the background, but it didn’t disturb our sleep. We sat outside and played cards (cribbage) until the sun started to go down.

 

 

Guess who kicked butt, he,he.

 

 

Speaking of sunsets we had a beautiful one yesterday evening.

 

 

 

Sunset at Leaf Verde RV Park

 

 

 

Today we are going to try to see Gloria’s cousin who was recently involved in a motorcycle accident. We called yesterday and he was in the process of being discharged from the rehab center and going home. He is still in a great deal of pain and we don’t want to impose.

We will surely have to explore the local area and see what is around here. There is a Western Horizon resort not far that we will probably check out for a future visit, maybe next winter.

By the way I have updated the map on the right and was able to put the pin almost exactly at our site in the park. Enlarge the map and you can zoom in, then click satellite view and see a picture of the place.

More Later, Rich

Travel Day

Just a short post today.  We went to lunch in Palm Springs yesterday and what a lovely town.  We found a place on Palm Canyon Drive that made some of the best home made burgers we had ever eaten.  Why do you find these places when you have to leave?

After lunch we strolled up and down the street window shopping, lots of fancy shops and more upscale restaurants than we could try in the time we had here, besides we would go broke.

About a block to the west of this street the mountain goes straight up, there are no foothills, just straight up.  About a thousand feet up is the snow line, the contrast with the desert is striking.  Again the camera failed to show up for this trip as well.

As I said, today is a travel day, we want to be on the road by 9:00AM, the drive is about 240 miles to Buckeye,AZ.  We need to fuel up on the way.  I saw that diesel is $1.91 at the Flying J in Ehrenburg just over the border in AZ, but it is always very crowded and slow there, so I think I’ll fill up at the Love’s truck stop in Thousand Palms just down the road for $2.15 in the interest of not having to fight the crowds with the “Pod Racer “ (nickname for our car) in tow.

 

More Later, Rich

Desert Storms

Yesterday was another stormy day.  It prevented us from going or doing anything outside all day.  Except Gorgie who went to her exercise and aerobics classes.  The exercise classes are indoors and the pool is filled with that warm mineral water I mentioned before. 

We won $2,500,000 on the slot machines yesterday and we never had to leave the MH (computer games),  we wish it was real life.

The day before (Tuesday) it was nice and we went to “The Living Desert”.  It is a zoo and botanical garden.  They have exhibits of both African and North American animals.  The displays are very well done.  The botanical sections are of different desert locations and the plants that grow there, you would never know that there are so many different palms and cacti.  Sadly, the camera decided not to make the trip with us so there are no pictures to share, sorry.

When we drove out the front gate after Monday's storm this is what the hills looked like.

 

 

There’s snow in them thar hills.

 

 

That snow is not far away and only about a thousand feet above us.  We drove through those hills on our way to Joshua Tree last week.

On one of our drives we came close to one of the many wind farms around here and their size is impressive.

 

 

 

Giant wind machines.

 

 

 

I had always called these things windmills but around here they call them wind machines, go figure.

I was not able to post yesterday because the storm had reduced our wifi signal to almost unusable and not strong enough to upload to the blog, sorry.

Today looks like it’s going to be a lovely sunny day to have another adventure.

 

More Later,Rich

Rain-Rain-Rain

I sort of poo-pooed the weather prognosticators here yesterday morning. Boy did it rain here. They showed all the snow in the hills around the area. The Grapevine had about 8” and I-5 was closed, the same was true for I-15 from Vegas. Later in the day it had all melted. But that didn’t stop the TV stations from having their Storm Teams out and about. In Desert Hot Springs it just rained allot. There was flooding on the roads and we saw several stalled cars along the roads. They don’t have storm drains here so all the runoff has to runoff into the desert. I was concerned that would stall in the middle of on of those flooded areas.

We went to lunch at a good Mexican restaurant “South of the Border”, they were very friendly, and the storm had then all excited just like people get at home when it snows. The food was excellent too.

We saw that yesterday was the busiest day of the year for the postal service, so we just had to go there. The line was long but folks visited and it was our adventure for the day. The rest of the day we watched the storm, read, took a nap,and enjoyed each other.

By the way the ladies did do their water aerobics in the rain so that made Gorgie happy. This morning they are all going walking then doing their aerobics, she is in her element. We have extended our stay here by one day so we will be rolling out of here on Friday instead of Thursday so she will get an extra with the girls, nice to be able to be flexible.

More Later, Rich

Laundry and Wal-Mart

Sunday was a laid back kind of day.  We got all the laundry out of the way (not that Gorgie lets it pile up).  A walk was taken through the park and we made notes of the sites that we would prefer to have on our next visit.  I also took the laptop to the furthest one out to make sure the wifi worked (it did).

Our next adventure was to Wal-Mart.  We needed to get some groceries (this was our first major grocery shopping trip since we left home).  We noticed that fresh fruit and veggies at Von’s didn’t look that fresh, besides Wal-Mart is cheaper.  Gorgie wanted to make a bean soup this week that called for leftover turkey, so we found a breast and when we returned she made out some Christmas cards and I watched the turkey roast on the barbie while sitting outside reading my book.  I did crawl up on the roof to take a couple of pictures of the hills as the sun was starting to go down.

This morning it is actually raining, it’s a light rain but things are getting wet.  They get excited around here when it rains.  They have issued flash flood warnings and all sorts of weather alerts.  We’ll see.

Gorgie is worried that they will cancel water aerobics because of the rain.

More Later, Rich

Windy-Windy-Windy

The wind just whistles through here at times.  It started Thursday afternoon and blew all day yesterday.  If you click on the weather sticky on the right you get the weather report for Palm Springs, well PS is tucked in close to the mountains and somewhat protected.  We are in Desert Hot Springs (about 5 miles to the north), and directly in line with the mountain pass and gets the full force of that wind.  That’s why they put all those wind machines here.  The wind died down this morning and it’s warm and nice today.

 

 

Wind Machines

 

 

 

More Later, Rich

Joshua Tree National Park

Yesterday was near as perfect a day as anyone could want.  We set out to visit Joshua Tree in the morning and the maps said it was about 40 miles away from here.  Well, we set the GPS to avoid freeways, (not that there were any) but it took us on some local streets and that was nice.  I used my disabled veterans pass so we didn’t have to pay to get into the park.  This is a stunningly beautiful place. The desert is so different than what we are used to in the NW.  At the first place we stopped to get out and look around we were awed by the silence, there was not a sound to be heard.  A coyote crossed the road in front of us at one point, it just seemed to disappear in the brush, he was too quick for a picture.

 

 

 

My first Joshua Tree

 

 

We stopped at a picnic area called Quail Springs (did not find a spring), but it was a nice place for our lunch.  The rock formations here are incredible, who piled up all these rocks?

 

 

 

Lunch at Quail Springs

 

 

Reservations were not necessary to go on the ranch tour we wanted participate in.  The guide, Pam was very knowledgeable of the history and people who lived here.  These folks had to be some tough characters.

  

 

This is the house the Keys lived in (husband, wife, and 5 kids)

 

 

So of course I’m snapping away with the camera and the battery goes dead.  I have to get another battery.

We ended this perfect day with dinner at a place called Fisherman’s Market & Grill in Palm Springs.  The evening temperature was about 65 and we ate outside on the 12th of Dec. Isn’t it wonderful?

Click on this link to see all the pictures we took.

Link to our web album

More Later, Rich

We are soooo Relaxed

As I said before we are having the time of our lives.  We seem to fill our days with lots of small adventures.  Gorgie has been going to water aerobics every morning (kick, kick, kick) at the proper time and has made some new friends.  Yesterday we went to a clothing store she had heard about that sells swimsuits, you can’t be seen in the same suit every day you know.  Also the bottom of the pool is rough and she needed some aqua socks to protect her pedicure.  I’m so glad she is having fun.

 

This is where we are living this week.

Today we are packing a picnic lunch and heading to Joshua Tree National Park.  There is an old ranch in the park “Keys Ranch”, that the only way to see it is on a guided tour.  They recommend you make reservations to get on this tour.  Well yesterday I tried to call and they didn’t answer, I left a message and they didn’t call back so I hope we will be able get in on the tour.  I’ll take lots of pictures and post them here, or maybe I’ll put them in a web album and post the link so you can see them all.

 

More Later, Rich

Cabot Pueblo Museum

We went to town yesterday to run some errands and saw a sign for the Cabot Museum. We had been told that this was a place not to be missed during our visit, so we headed there. What a surprise, this man Cabot Yerxa built his castle completely out of materials he found in the desert. In all there are 30 rooms and they connect by narrow halls and stairs. It contains 150 windows and 65 doors, 17 of which lead to the outside.

The Cabot Museum in Desert Hot Springs,CA

The architecture is Hopi Indian style.

What an amazing man. We went on a guided tour and the guide told us his story.

I told you that Gorgie was going to do water aerobics, well she marched up there only to discover it started at 9:00AM, not 10:00AM. So today she is going to get there at the proper time. Isn’t wonderful when you get your times and sometimes the days of the week mixed up? We must be having a good time.

This sculpture is by the same artist, Peter Toth that did the sculpture that is in Ester Short Park in Vancouver.

More Later, Rich

Desert Pools RV Resort

This is a really nice place.  The folks here are so friendly, and nice.  There are a lot of things to do, Gorgie is talking about doing water aerobics and maybe water volleyball.  Today the wind has come up and boy is it blowing, I’m glad I don’t have to drive in it, wind is worse than fog.  We played some miniature golf and pool today so far.  We went and picked up some things at Wal-Mart and mailed some things off.

  

It didn’t take us long to relax, after being so uptight from our problems on the way down we were ready to just veg out for a day or two.  Maybe we’ll go to the pool in a while and try out the mineral hot tubs, they have three, one is 98 degrees, the next one is 100, and the third is 105.  I saw a man get out of the hottest one and he was as red as a lobster, I don’t think I’ll get in there.

Mineral Pools

 

Landscaping in front of office

The mini golf pro

I guess I need to get back to this relaxing stuff.

 

More Later, Rich

We Have Arrived

Yesterday we had (happily) an uneventful day of driving, It was longer that we like (335 miles) and 8 hours, but we made it.  We stopped for lunch at a local diner in Boron, CA, home of the mine for Twenty Mule Team Borax.  In fact the name of the road was Twenty Mule Team Road.  What a friendly place maybe we can stop here on the way home.

The drive started out very foggy, and stayed that way until after Bakersfield.  That made for some tense moments but it was early (7AM) so traffic was light.

After lunch I wanted to run the Pod Racer for a while so we went into the local museum and talked to the lady inside she has been in Boron since 1932 what a nice lady.

It would have been great to visit longer with her, I bet she has some stories to tell.

Driving through the San Gorgonio pass there were rows and rows of windmills almost like a cornfield.

Last night we went for a walk and dropped in on the Sat. night Chicken and Steak dinner not expecting to eat but they said they had an extra.  So Gorgie ran back to our rig to get plates and silverware and a bottle of Sweet Valley wine. We shared with some folks and the wine was a hit.  Dinner was OK too.

Right now we are off to breakfast (omeletes in a bag) I’ll let you Know.

 

More Later, Rich

Valley Fog

We started our Friday in a dense fog. Once again I fell in behind a Wal-Mart truck and watched the fog line for about 40 miles. As we gained some altitude and the sun burned off some of the fog driving became much easier. We had driven about 90 miles when the warning lights came on AGAIN and the engine stalled. We were able to pull well off the road onto the shoulder. I was able to restart but the alternator light remained on. I crawled under to see if I could do something and the pulley for the belt tensioner came off in my hand. Well, we called for another tow and had to wait for an hour and a half for him to get to us. The tow was over 50 miles all the way to Fresno. Good Sam had called and made arrangements (so they said) at a place called Dan Gamel RV. Well it took them 45 minutes to find who said they could work on it, when they did he said that he thought we would drop it off and they would look at it some time next week. They didn't even have a tech on duty. The tow truck driver suggested we take it to Cummins-West. That sounded like a good idea to me so off we go. I had to call for authorization to get towed there and I told GS what I thought about that place anyway they said OK.
Well, the folks at Cummins were the opposite of the RV place. They went out of their way to get on the job immediatly and replaced the tensioner and belts. The tech stayed late to complete the job, by this time it was getting dark and not wanting to drive in the dark they let us stay in their lot. We backed up to the building and plugged into a 50 amp outlet. They gave us the combination to their gate so we were able to go to an Applebee's for dinner, and we will be able to let ourselves out this morning. But the fog is bad again. The plan is to drive the 330 miles we have left to get to Desert Hot Springs today a long day but doable. Wish us luck...

More Later, Rich

Santa Nella

Thursdays drive was very foggy. We woke up to 32 degree weather and sunshine which helped the fog stick around most of the day. Today looks like more of the same. We stayed in Santa Nella last night which is rather non-descript. There were 3 TV stations and all but one were in Spanish and we didn't feel like watching the Simpsons so we played some cribbage and Richard was the champ, (2 out of 3). Today we are headed for Bakersfield for the night and then Saturday we will arrive in Desert Hot Springs where we will land for several days.

More later,
Gloria

Red Bluff California

We drove to Red Bluff today with no problems.  The coach is running great.  It did take a while to get over my paranoia and relax but it ran great.  It has always been short on power but that's why we routinely get 10-10.5 MPG, besides we are not in any big hurry to get anywhere.  We just pull in behind the semi’s going up those long hills to get over the passes.

We stopped for the night at Red Bluff RV Park, clean and friendly, with good 50 amp power and free wifi.

They are serious about going slow here.

As you can see this is a nice place.

Today was 250 miles and tomorrow will be about the same. I did not make any reservations so we’ll see where we stay.  I called to move our arrival day at Desert Pools, CA out to Sat. instead of Thurs. and they were OK with that.  It sure is nice to be able to be flexible.

More Later, Rich

On The Road Again

Yesterday afternoon Keith from Southern Oregon Diesel discovered that he had installed the wrong fuel filter on our coach, that was causing it to suck air and prevent it from starting.  I’m glad he was honest enough to admit his mistake.  I am impressed with this company and everyone who works there.  They were professional, and knew what they were doing.  Mistakes happen.  We rolled out of there at about 3:30 and returned to Seven Feathers to do some laundry. 

This morning we are going to pick up where we left off three days ago, I’ll call and tell Desert Pools we will be two days late (we had an extra day in our travel schedule).

By the way this is what it looks like riding in the coach while being towed.  Not our favorite place to be.

 

More Later, Rich

Status Update

We decided to stay in Canyonville, OR until Monday morning since we were afraid to drive the motor home with the warning light still lit. First thing Monday Richard contacted a place called Southern Oregon Diesel. He explained our problem and they said they could fit us in. SOD is located in Roseburg which is approximately 30 miles north of Canyonville. We decided I would drive the tow vehicle behind the motor home rather than hook it up and add more weight. We had our radios and Richard said he could tell the motor home was not operating at full power but it seemed to do ok. We had to climb a hill about half way and the motor home would not do more than 10 mph so we turned our flashers on, crossed our fingers and limped our way to the shop. They were able to diagnose a crankshaft sensor problem and within about 4 hours they replaced the sensor, fuel filters and air filter. We took it for a test drive on the freeway and it did great until we took the exit (a mile away from the shop) where the engine died. We were uanble to get it started again so called the shop and they came over, checked it out and could not determine the problem. We have Good Sam roadside service so we called for a tow truck.

Sitting at the stop sign we had to direct traffic around us which gave us something to do while wating. A Sheriff finally came and asked what the problem was, we told him and said a tow truck was on the way. We had been given an ETA of an hour for the tow truck and it had already been an hour so he made a phone call and withing 5 minutes the tow truck arrived. By this time we had been sitting there for 3-1/2 hours (good thing we have a bathroom available). Now it gets even more interesting........A woman and man get out of the tow truck (she is driving) and said "No wonder nobody else wanted to come, I hate motor homes". Now this woman looked as though she could hook up a harness and pull the thing with brute strength, she was big, rough, tough and filthy dirty. Now he was much more docile with only a couple of teeth but quickly did everything she told him to do. This gave us a warm and fuzzy feeling. especially as the sheriff rolled his eyes. Since we were the first vehicle at the stop sign, they first had to pull us back so they could get in front of us without blocking traffic which they did successfully. Our owners manual said in bold letters never to tow the vehicle without first disconnecting the drive shaft because it would ruing the allison transmission. We reminded them of that and they said "oh, but we are only going a mile". Well, we insisted they unhook it and they did but weren't real happy about it because by this time it is dark. We also reminded them that the rock gaurd in back needed to be lifted so it wouldn't get ruined. That is when I looked at her and said "we are your worst nightmare". We got hooked up and Richard and I rode in the motor home as it was towed, now that was a different experience. The owner of the shop showed up and guided the driver to an area near the shop where we could hook up to water and power. We got settled, went and had some dinner and went to bed. They came out this morning, checked for more engine codes, which there are none and we are now waiting for a bay to open in the shop so they can do more tests. Since it won't start and the drive shaft is disconnected they will need to pull us into the shop. We will keep this updated as we know more.

Gloria