Los Algodones

Yesterday we ventured across the border for lunch and margarita's, and they were as good as we remembered them.

One of the pictures we took is the blog header, we thought something with both of us would be fun to share.

 

 

 

  Ahhh sweet

 

 

 

The weather was cool and windy so the crowds were not bad, and the line was short to get back into the USA.

There are always people begging or trying to sell you some Chiclets, so this time we gave them a buck and took some pictures.

 

 

 

                                                                                                 They are very small about four feet tall and always looking for a handout. You only see women and children.

 

                                                                                             

Well we had a good time, bought some junk, and brought back lots of memories.

More Later,

Rich

Yuma

Our drive down on Christmas Day was not bad at all. Very little in the way of traffic, the weather was nice, not a bad way to spend the day.

The name of this RV park is Pilot Knob (named after a local rock formation), it is actually located on the California side of the Colorado River in Winterhaven. It is in the desert, the wind blows often and the nights are cool. We went for a walk yesterday, south from our site for about a mile. We could see the border in the distance from where we turned around, lots of rocks and sand.  There are plenty of birds though and we have the hummingbird feeder out. We have had as many as three hummers on the feeder at once, never have we seen that before.

 

 

 

   Some of our neighbors had lights on their rigs including the rig next to us.

 

 

 

We are only here for a bit over a week and then we are off to Tucson to see my Dad.  After a couple of days there, it is Texas and the Rio Grande Valley for our next stay.  This is going to a new adventure, since we have never visited this area before. The name of the park there is The Kenwood RV Resort, LINK .

More Later,

Rich

Christmas Greetings

Merry Christmas everyone!

Gorgie and I wish everyone peace, love, & happiness.

 

 

Our little Christmas shrine, small but nice.

Gorgie and Rich

Café des Beaux-Arts

Yesterday was going to be a day of running some errands and getting a date shake.  Well one of those errands was going to be a trip to the Apple Store in Palm Desert.  We were somewhat concerned about the road conditions because of all the flooding, but other than having to find our way around some closed roads and driving through sand that had been washed onto the road it was a non-issue.

Apple is located on El Paseo Drive in Palm Desert, think Rodeo Dr. in Beverly Hills.  Block after block of high end stores like Gucci, Tiffany, and the like.  So here we are in the “Pod Racer” with Mercedes, Porsches, and Bentleys, and I parked it in front of a high-end jewelry store.  Window shopping was a fun experience, and we talked about what fun Gloria could have with Dusty and Heather shopping here.

Our plan was to go back to Tyler’s for another of their great burgers.  As we were driving down El Paseo we spotted “Café des Beaux-Arts” (pronounced café day bowzar), check out this link  http://www.cafedesbeauxarts.com/ .

I made a Quick turn and found a parking space and in we go.  The place really had a French bistro feel to it, although the waiters all spoke spanish.  Gorgie had a Tahiti salad and I had the shrimp crepes,  boy were they good.  A spur of the moment decision turned out to make our day.

 

Tomorrow is still our travel day, so things to do.

More Later,

Rich

Stormy Weather

In my last post I wrote that all the storms coming into California were pretty much staying on the west side of the mountains and we were only getting showers.  Well Tuesday night and all day Wednesday that all changed.  It rained so hard that it woke us up during the night, we developed a small leak around the slide and I had to tilt the motorhome slightly  to keep the water out.  We spent the day yesterday inside reading and playing cards.  The local TV stations were showing the flooding and damage the rain caused, lots of road closures, and washouts.  All told we had over 4 inches in less than 24 hours.

 

This morning we woke up to sunshine, clear skies, and snow on the tops of the mountains, pretty.

 

 

 

 

 

The storms are over and the forecast calls sun and warmer temperatures (70°) or higher, just like we want it to be.

By the way Gorgie did go to the pool for water aerobics during the storm. She came home looking like a drowned rat, but had a good time anyway.

Today is going to be our last chance to get that date shake we have wanted, so we are going to venture out and fight the Christmas crowds, see if we can find our way around the road closures, to run some errands and get said shake. Christmas is still our move day.

I have updated our itinerary and the restaurants pages. Just click on the red titles above the weather banner to see.

 

More Later,

Rich

Rain in the Valley

It has been raining here the last two days.  Not the heavy rains and flooding that is happening to the west in the Los Angeles area but it has been wet and cool, not the 80 degree temperatures we were enjoying so much.

The posting has been neglected lately, mostly because we have a poor internet connection and pictures are so slow to upload that I have all but given up.

 We are down to our last few days here in Desert Hot Springs. It has been an enjoyable, time here Gorgie has read three books since we arrived, something she would never do at home.

We are off to Yuma on Christmas Day (poor planning on my part), it's only a three hour drive so not too bad.  We plan to go out to a dinner at the local casino.  Hopefully we will have a better conection when we get there so we can update Gorgie's iPad, and get some pictures on the blog.

More Later,
Rich

Viva Las Vegas

We rented a car and made a mad dash to Las Vegas, to join Pam and Steve at the Fitz.  They are fun to be with and we had a great time.  We left here on Friday and returned on Monday.

 

  The only luck we had was a $1558.25 Royal Flush on a 25₵ video poker machine.

 

 

 

 

 

   Guess who that lucky person was.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The drive up and back took us through some pretty, open desert country. Sure wouldn’t want to break down out there.

  We are now back in Desert Pools RV and having a wonderful time.  Yesterday we went to lunch at the Fisherman’s Market and Grill LINK for some of the best fish and chips in Palm Springs.  Last week we a couple of great burgers at Tyler’s in downtown Palm Springs  Link to reviews .  More adventures are on the way,  Watch here to see what we do next.

More Later,

Rich

80°’s

The post title pretty much sums up what we are doing.  It’s shorts and tee shirt weather, and is going to be for the next several days.  Gorgie has settled into her water aerobics routine in the mornings and I have met some very nice folks who like to chat.  Book reading and general goofing off is a great way to spend the day. We have done our shopping to reprovision the cupboards, I think a trip to get a date shake is in our near future.

We had the road grime washed off, I put on the solar screens, and the hummingbirds are feasting at my window.

 

This has been a wonderful start of our trip to the Rio Grande Valley.

More Later,

Rich

The Indio Tamale Festival

We went to the Tamale Festival in Indio yesterday, and had a great time.  We sampled chicken, cheese w/jalapeño, chili colorado, shredded beef, corn w/chilies, belgian chocolate w/raspberries & glazed walnuts, pumpkin w/currents & a jamacan rum sauce.  Sounds like a lot but we didn’t eat a whole one of each, we shared and they were small and only $3.00 each.  It was fun and almost like being in Mexico,  most folks were Hispanic and the entertainment was all in Spanish.

Santa has a bag full of tamales

 

 

 

       The line a Grandma Lupe’s was an hour and a half long.  We missed out.

 

 

 

    One of several entertainment stages.

More Later,

Rich

We Have Arrived

It was a long drive to get here. Other than the nervousness of getting over the pass it was not bad at all.  Of course traveling only 200 – 250 miles a day takes the fatigue out of it.  The two days in Bakersfield at the Orange Grove RV Park were our first in warmer weather.  Yesterday we pulled in to Desert Pools RV Resort for a three week stay.  The temperature was 72° and sunny.  How nice was that?  It will take a couple more days to get settled, (no hurry for us).

Today we are headed to the Indio Tamale Festival we had the strawberry tamales last year and are looking forward to them again.

More Later,

Rich

Orange Grove RV Park Bakersfield, CA

We spent the last two nights here in Bakersfield surrounded by groves of oranges.  Yesterday we had fresh squeezed juice and boy was that good.  Here is a LINK to the park.  We spent most of the day sitting outside reading in the sunshine, it was a comfortable 64°.  Today we are moving into the desert at Mojave, CA for one night, at Sierra Trails RV Park LINK a drive of only about 60 miles but it is over the Tehachapi pass and into some dryer weather, it may shower here and we can’t have that.

 

 

 

   Orange Grove RV Park

 

 

 

We are due into Desert Hot Springs on Saturday and the weather looks even better there.  I don’t think I’ll have an internet connection until we arrive there, so.

More Later,

Rich

Winter Wonderland

Sunday’s drive south to Seven Feathers was an easy drive.  There were showers off and on but nothing too bad.

Debbie and Jerry drove down in their Beamer to have dinner with us and see us off, thank you very much that was nice. They stayed in the hotel because their motorhome is being repaired.

The drive from Canyonville to Redding was another story all together.  Luckily the road was mostly free of snow but there were a few patches of frost and ice here and there.  That section of I-5 is difficult enough with it’s twists, turns, climbs, and downgrades with perfect conditions let alone snow and ice.  We have seen a small amount of snow on the side of the road before, but this time it was a lot. The roadside snow lasted almost all the way to Redding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Excuse the dirty windshield, we got sprayed pretty good by passing vehicles.

We spent the night in Redding at the Redding RV Park,  a nice enough place for one night.  I bought a Passport America membership and staying here only cost $15.40.

Today we continue south to Patterson, CA for one night then on to Bakersfield for maybe two nights, (Gorgie wants to do some laundry).  When we get to the Palm Springs area the Indio Tamale Festival is going on and we are looking forward to the strawberry tamales.

More Later,

Rich

Almost time to go!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner.  The expected 26 guests dwindled to 15 mostly due to weather, Dusty and Jedd had freezing pipe problems that were bursting as it started to thaw.  Kevin's family couldn’t get out of Walla Walla because of the freezing rain over there.  We sure missed them, but we had a wonderful holiday with those who came.

  

A good time was had by all,  we missed everyone who couldn’t make it. 

We pull out of here in the morning, and it looks as though we will have a window of opportunity to get over the pass on Monday.  Right now the pass is requiring chains to get over, but the forecast looks good for Monday afternoon, we’ll have to keep our fingers crossed because there is a new storm coming in Tuesday afternoon.

 

More Later, (From the Road)

Rich

Getting Out of Town

We are experiencing an early winter storm here, snow, and freezing temperatures.  I was going to put up a picture of our snow but it rained all day and washed it away.  More is expected tonight and it may not get above 32° during the day tomorrow.

Anyway our plan is to travel to Seven Feathers in Canyonville, OR, on Sunday and if we need to wait for the weather to improve before we can get over the pass and into California we’ll wait it out there.  We have a couple of extra days in our plans just in case.  Debbie and Jerry are going to follow us as far as Canyonville so we’ll have company that far.  It should be clear sailing once we get as far as Redding.  I don’t care how many times we do this we still get excited about the start of a new adventure.

More Later,

Rich

Snowbirds to The Rio Grande Valley

We are almost ready to take off for our winter adventures.  The last of our preparations are well underway.  Thanksgiving dinner will be a blast and we are so looking forward to it.  This year we are expecting about 25 folks.

This year we are stepping out of our box and will be traveling to Rio Grande Valley in Texas (RGV), for at least a month.  Our good friends Harold and Pam are wintering there and so we are going to join them. Here are our plans as they stand right now, of course everything can change at a moments notice.

11-28-10 Seven Feathers RV Resort, Canyonville, OR

11-29-10 Redding RV Park, Redding, CA

11-30-10 Kit Fox RV Park, Patterson, CA

11-31-10 Orange Grove RV Park, Bakersfield, CA

12-2-10 Sierra Trails RV Park Mojave, CA

12-4-10 Desert Pools RV Resort, Desert Hot Springs, CA (Palm Springs)

12-25-10 Pilot Knob RV Resort, Winterhaven, CA  (Yuma)

1-3-11 Tucson, AZ at Dad’s

1-6-11 Deming, NM

1-7-11 Clint, TX

1-8-11 Alpine, TX

1-9-11 Del Rio, TX

1-10-11 Zapata, TX

1-12-11 Pharr, TX  for a month or so.

1-12-11  We have changed our destination in Texas.  We will be staying at The Kenwood RV Resort in La Feria, TX   Link to Park   (edited 11-22-10)

Plans after this are not yet formed but we will probably back track through Arizona and wind up in Indio, CA to meet up with Debby and Jerry around the 15th of March. So follow along and we will post our adventures right here.    (2979)

More Later,

Rich

Planning for the upcoming travel season.

I don't know if anyone is reading this or not, but we are starting to make some plans for what has become our annual snowbirding adventures.  We have made our first reservations and they are for Desert Pools RV Resort in Desert Hot Springs, CA.  We like this place because of it's natural hot springs that fill the pool and the three hot tubs.  It is in the Palm Springs area, that we enjoy very much.  We will be there for three weeks.  Then we will move to Indian Waters in Indio, CA, a drive of 26 miles.
This year we plan to travel further than before by visiting the Rio Grande Valley in Texas for a month.  Our friends Pam and Harold are wintering at Texas Trails RV Resort in Pharr, TX, so we will be joining them there.
I'll try to recap our summer in a future post, so keep watching.

When we got Home

When we got home there were a few things we discovered about the differences between RV living and house living.

 

1. You can’t flush the toilet with your foot (well maybe you can)

2. You don’t have to lift on the handles to open the drawers.

3. There are no holding tank gauges on your bathroom wall.

4. You can run your microwave, toaster,coffee maker, etc. at the same time without blowing the breaker.

5. There is no steering wheel in your living room.

6. You look out your window and NOT find your neighbor 10 feet away.

7. Much fewer golf carts driving up and down in front of your house.

8. The whole neighborhood doesn’t get together every evening for happy hour.

9. You have the same neighbors all summer long.

10. Snow and ice is still possible.

11. Spring rains are on the way, as is the possibility of floods

12. You won’t need your A/C for several months.

13. People wonder how/where you got that tan.

14.That you have already started making plans to go back south next fall.

15. That the contents of your RV will surprisingly fill half the available space in your house, garage, and workshop. How did I fit all those clothes in the RV and why did I take them all? Where did all that stuff come from anyway?

16. It takes longer to clean the house than the RV.

17. Plus you have to mow the lawn, weed the flower beds, remember to put out the trash and recycling on certain days.  But the newspaper is delivered to you!

18. We can’t hear each other from opposite ends of the house.

We pulled into the driveway at about 1:30PM on Tuesday and we have not stopped since. We have been busy catching up with family and chores around the place.  On Wednesday we had a nice dinner with Heather, Kevin, Kolton, & Kooper at our favorite steakhouse (The Old Country Kitchen).  It was sure fun to see and visit with them.  Gloria saw her sisters and I had lunch with brother Bob.  Today we are going up to DuPont to see Dusty and Jedd’s new house, and go to dinner with them.  In between I have changed the oil in the lawn mowers and mowed everything.  There were no issues with the house and the hummingbirds were happy and well fed thanks to Bob and Annie who checked on the place and picked up our mail on a regular basis. The yard was in good shape thanks to Forrest and Gail who came over and mowed twice before we got home, it wasn’t too bad.  We want to thank everyone for all the help you gave us without you we wouldn’t have been able to live our dream life on the road, Thanks so Much! Maybe by October I’ll be caught up around here.  My intent is to publish this blog once or twice a week to let folks know what we are doing.

More Later, Rich

Almost Home

We expect to be home this afternoon.  The coach was serviced at Southern Oregon Diesel yesterday morning and it was after noon by the time we hit the road, we didn’t want to drive through Portland rush hour(s) traffic so we stopped at the Blue Ox RV park in Albany.  This is a nice, clean, quiet, & well kept park.

We are looking forward to seeing everyone and catching up on what’s been going on.

   We climbed up the hill behind the Seven Feathers Resort to get this picture.  This was taken after all the overnighters had left, believe it or not the place gets really full by evening, but one climb was enough for me (we are just to the left of the laundry/shower building) click on the picture to see a larger image.  I have also added another page to the blog that has our itinerary with links to most of the places we stayed at, it’s just above the weather sticky.

Keep looking at the blog I’ll post again after we get home.

It’s time to get ready to hit the road and it is pouring outside, figures doesn’t it.  We have mostly avoided driving in the rain but that just reminds us of the Northwest.  We are glad to be back in the green, but we did enjoy the sun and dry.

More Later, Rich

Holed up in Canyonville

We pulled in to the Seven Feathers RV Resort Friday afternoon.  It was a mostly uneventful drive.  We left Redding at about 10AM and with a fuel stop in Weed we went over the pass at about 1PM, all the frost on the road that we could see in the ODOT cameras had melted.  Jerry and Deb spent one night here with us then pushed on home Saturday morning.  We stayed again last night and will be moving on to the parking lot at Southern Oregon Diesel in N. Roseburg later this morning to wait for our 8:30AM appointment Monday to have our oil changed and have them look things over.  It shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours then we will press on home.  We’ll likely lay over somewhere so we don’t have to negotiate Portland rush hour(s) traffic.

Keep reading the blog as I will post more about our return.

More Later, Rich

On the Road

We spent the Easter weekend in Bakersfield waiting for Jerry and Deb’s appointment at the Cat dealer.  The good news is that they said there wasn’t anything wrong, and on the drive north they did not have any issues.  We spent one night at Flag City RV Resort in Lodi, CA LINK, a nice place just off the I-5 freeway.  The last two nights we have been at JGW RV Park in Redding, CA LINK.  We decided to stay another night to let a storm on the pass go by.  So today we make the assault on the summit.  We are leaving here at 10AM so we hit the pass in the early afternoon and let the frost melt before we have to deal with it.

 

 

 

 

 

We have been enjoying the spring flowers along the way, although I expect there won’t be as many after today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is an interesting tree stump covered in ivy, looks like some creature out of a Dr. Seuss book.

We have had a good time playing cards, cooking some great meals, and spending time together.

Tonight we expect to be at the Seven Feathers RV Resort in Canyonville, OR. LINK, for a two night stay, because we have an appointment at Southern Oregon Diesel to have our rig serviced on Monday morning.  We expect we will be home on Tuesday afternoon.  We will have been gone for over 19 weeks and let me tell you time has flown by, it doesn’t seem like it’s been that much time away.  Now we are getting excited about seeing everyone as soon as possible.

Time to hit the road.

More Later, Rich

Adventures in Travel

We want thank everyone for being good sports about our April Fools joke.  It certainly had it’s desired effect, and some of you did a really good job getting back at us.  We laughed all day and I still have a grin on my face .

We spent the night at the Shady Lane RV Camp in Barstow, CA.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The drive from Vegas to here wasn’t too bad even if it was a bit windy.  Jerry and Deb have developed some mechanical issues in their motorhome,  They keep losing air pressure to their air brakes (not a good thing).  This being a holiday weekend they can’t have it looked at until Monday.  So today we are going to the Orange Grove RV Park in Bakersfield LINK , to wait for their Monday 7 AM appointment.  This will put us a couple of days behind in our homeward journey, but may be a good thing because maybe the winter storm heading for the Siskiyou pass will have passed by then. So we should have a report on Bakersfield soon.

More Later, Rich

We are NOT coming home

We have decided to become full timers, to live the life of vagabonds just traveling around the country.  We want to meet lots of new people, see places we have only dreamed of.  We don’t care if we sell our place for a loss, money and “things” are no longer important to us.  The weeds, lawn, home repairs are a thing of the past for us.  We knew this might be coming and put it off as long as we dared, but a life choice had to be made.  Of course we will visit the NW during the dry season to see you all, but the rest of the year we will follow the sun. 

April Fool

Actually we have been stuck in Las Vegas for the last two nights riding out a wind storm,  and blow it did.  The winds were about 45 MPH with gusts over 65, these high profile rigs don’t drive well in that kind of weather.  Today we are going to Barstow, CA and try to miss some snow that is in the forecast for the mountains.  We may have to wait out a storm going over the Siskyou’s (sp) or we may come up the coast.

Anyway we have to get ready to travel.

More Later, Rich

Greetings from Indio

We have  spent the last two weeks here in Indian Waters RV Resort, the same place we started back in December.  We enjoyed the area so much that when Debbie and Jerry decided to join us, we knew this was the place we wanted share with them.  This is absolutely the best park in the WHR system, others are fun but this is nicest looking and best maintained.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We pretty much settled into a routine of water aerobics for the girls, hot tub for the guys, games, happy hours and eating good.  Sorry but I was having so much fun that I just kept putting off posting, sorry for not sharing.

One of the adventures was a trip up to the top of the San Jacinto Mountain.  It was summer 80°, to winter 40° in about 12 minutes.  Dangling 1000’s of feet in the air from a wire is always exciting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                           View from the Palm Springs Aerial Tram

We had a nice lunch up there and the view is to die for.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  I

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sadly today is our last day here and we are going to the Sunday Brunch at the Fantasy Springs Casino, then we have to pack up since we are heading toward home.  We hope to swing through Reno to see Pam and Steve’s new place.  We are not looking forward to getting into winter driving, there is a possibility of some snow on the way and in the passes so we’ll see we can always wait out a storm for a day or two.  It’s hard to believe that we have been on the road for over four months now, time flies when you’re having fun.

More Later, Rich

Last Post from Yuma

Today is our last day in Yuma.  It has been a somewhat stormy two weeks here, but there have been plenty of nice days as well.  The forecast for Indian Waters in Indio, CA is for temps in the 80’s.  Deb and Jerry are on their way there to meet up with us on Monday.

Yesterday evening I finally went out and took a couple of pictures of “Pilot Knob”, the rocks that this place gets it’s name from.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The rigs that are parked in the foreground are boondockers, some of which have been there all the time we have been here and possibly for months.  It just isn’t our style to live without water, sewer, or electricity.

Donna, (of Bill and Donna) called this morning and they are in town, so we are going to meet them for lunch at the “Chile Pepper”.  I’ll have to add it to our “Restaurants” page.  So we are off to meet them.

More Later, Rich

Haircut in Algodones

Yesterday we returned to Algodones (which translates to cotton by the way), to pick up some prescription meds for Forrest.  I think Gorgie really wanted to have another margarita .  And have one we did, along with another good lunch of shrimp, this time we swapped and I had the shrimp taco’s and

Gorgie had them sautéed Vera Cruz style.

The main reason for returning was to go to the cheap pharmacies here, this is a good deal for folks needing meds at a reasonable cost.  You are allowed to bring back a 90 day supply and they are supposed to be for yourself.  The border patrol asked Gorgie a few questions but I was just passed through.  This along with dental, optometry, and other medical services is why hundreds of seniors go here every day.

Well margaritas, shrimp lunches, meds, cheap souvenirs, are not the only reason to go to Los Algodones.  There are also barber shops.  Gorgie drug me into one for my annual Mexican haircut.  I must admit I was overdue.  Gorgie even had her put gel in my hair.

 

 

 

 

  Needing a haircut

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                       

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Getting my hairs cut

                                                            

 

 

 

Not bad, huh?

 

 

 

On Wednesday we had the coach washed, deoxidized, and waxed.  Boy does it shine. When you touch the sides your hand just slips off.  They did a much better job than what we had done in Indio last December.  We have had a lot of cosmetic things done to the rig this year and it is looking sharp.  This summer I am thinking about doing some remodeling on the interior to make things more functional for how we have settled into traveling.  But that will be reason for another post.

We are wrapping up our time her in Yuma.  Debbie and Jerry are in route right now to meet up with us in Indio, CA on Monday for a two week stay.  Then we will be starting home.  Pam and Steve want us to stop and see their new home in Reno so weather permitting that is what we plan to do. 

And now a word from our sponsor,  I have been keeping some notes on the RV parks we visit, and some of the restaurants we frequent.  I have added a couple of  links to these pages at the top of the blog just under the title picture, just click on them to check out where we have been. It is a work in progress so keep checking as I update them.

More Later, Rich

Los Algodones and Laughlin

Time to catch you up on our adventures of late.  I told you about going to Algodones one day last week, well we didn’t go on the day I said because we wanted to eat lunch at a favorite cantina there and it was windy that day.  We did go the next day though, and we had a great time there.

 

 

 

  Paraiso Cantina in Algodones

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                       A very colorful place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Cadillac Margarita’s for all.

 

 

 

  .

 

 

                                                                                                                                  They even serenaded us on the way through customs.

 

 

 

Gorgie had the shrimp tacos and I had shrimp ranchero style, both were excellent. Oh and the Cadillac margarita?  We went back for a second after shopping .

There is lots of shopping and cheap souvenirs there, so we did our best to support the local economy. We like going there a lot.

 

I was going through a local paper and spotted an add for a bus trip to Laughlin, NV.  The price was just $40.00 each and included transportation, a room for one night, and a free buffet.  Sounded like a good time to us, so we called and made reservations to depart on Sunday morning.  Well when it was time to go it was raining buckets, the rain was coming down so hard I had a hard time seeing the road.  We limped along at about 35 MPH on the 75MPH freeway and were the last to arrive.  Well everyone on the bus gave us a cheer and we knew this was going to be an adventure to remember.  After we settled into the last two seats (last row next to the not recently cleaned outhouse), and looked around we saw this bus had seen many, many of these trips.  Oh well just relax and go along for the ride, and 4.5 hours later and very sore butts later we arrived at the Colorado Belle in Laughlin, NV.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                          http://buffalobustours.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t follow too close.

 

 

 

We weren’t winners but we made new friends and had a great time.  Oh and we won’t be taking any bus tours for a while.

More Later, Rich

What a Difference a Day Makes

The drive from Salome to Yuma is only 120 miles or so, but the elevation change is about 1800 ft.  From 2000 to 200 feet above sea level.  It makes all the difference in the world as far as temperature goes.  We were seeing temps in the 60’s in Salome and here it’s getting up to the high 70’s and yesterday it was 80, my oh my, we love it here.

We stopped in Yuma on the way down, ( we are actually in Winterhaven,CA just across the Colorado River), but everyone considers this whole area to be “Yuma”), to have some solar screens made for the coach.

Who is that masked man?

It really helps to keep it cooler inside without having to close the curtains, plus we can see out and passers-by can’t see in.  Now we feel like the big boys.

The latest additions to our yard art have been named.  Jeremiah is our reptilian companion, and the ants wanted to be called Snap, Crackle, and Pop.

  

Do frogs eat ants?

Not these ants!

We’ll do our best to keep them apart.

We booked a one night bus trip to Laughlin, NV just to see the sights and let someone else drive.  The cost was right just $40.00 each.  That’s for the bus ride, hotel, and a buffet.  Should be fun.

Tomorrow we plan to go to Los Algadones for lunch and stuff.  We are probably at our limit as far as what we can carry home but we’ll see.

Well I’m going back outside and enjoy the rest of this wonderful day.

More Later, Rich