2013/2014

We have decided not to travel south this winter. We will be staying home attending to family matters, we will miss all our snowbird friends.

We plan to travel next year. See you all then.

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Teeth Grinding, White Knuckle, Hold on Tight

We wound up our time in Indio with the Coachella Music Festival. Not that we attended but we watched tons of young folks who descended on the RV Park for the weekend, there were hundreds of them in our park alone. They warned us that it might get noisy and a bit rowdy. Well I must say they were all well behaved and didn't bother us at all. It sure was fun watching.

We stayed an extra day in Indio because there were some very high winds, a semi was blown on its side right there in Palm Springs, roads were closed and there was so much dust in the air we couldn't see the mountains. It looked like there would be a break on Wednesday so we headed out early, well we probably should have waited another day, it was a scary drive, the wind blew us all over the road. But we made it to Bakersfield with only a sore jaw from grinding my teeth.

We are now in Chowchilla for the weekend at a very nice resort that has a golf course makes us wish we golfed again, a lovely place. Here's a link www.thelakesrv.com

We don't want to admit it but our winter snowbirding is officially over and we will be home soon enough. We plan on pulling into town on April 27. Deb and Jerry are going to join us for our last two nights at Seven Feathers in Canyonville. I'm going to go through some pictures and put them up here to close out the season.

More Later,

Rich

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Spring break with Kooper

We had the pleasure of having our grandson coming to Palm Springs to spend his spring break. This was actually the first time he flew by himself, having to change planes once on the way down and twice on the way home, he did a good job too.

He sure is getting tall he's already the tallest in the family. We wanted to show him some of the local sights so we went to "The Living Desert", for a day and we all enjoyed that, they have animals and plants from desert climates all over the world there. Two things we wanted to do had to be cancelled, the Aerial Tram (it was too windy), and Joshua Tree National Park (car problems). Kooper and I fixed the car but it was too late to go.

He really enjoyed downtown Palm Springs and we went to eat there several times it's also a great place to people watch.

Las Casuelas for some great Mexican food.

Lulu's California Bistro, we had a sidewalk table good food and good people watching.

Also downtown was Fisherman's Market & Grill wonderful seafood, we all had the freshest grilled shrimp. They have another restaurant in Palm Desert that we had lunch at a few days earlier.

We didn't always go out to eat here Koop and I are BBQing a couple of steaks.

 

Here's Koops.

And don't forget we went to In-N-Out Burger.

Again we had a wonderful time and hope he can come back next year.

 

More Later,

Rich

 

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Morning on the Colorado River, and guess who's coming for dinner.

We stopped for just one night in Ehrenberg on the Colorado River. It's spring here and it sure is lovely.

 

We drove here from Casa Grande yesterday and we wish we could spend more time, but guess who's coming for a visit.

Well he's not bringing his guns but he is on spring break and his mom surprised him with a ticket to Palm Springs. We are looking forward to showing him around and seeing some of the local sights. He arrives at PSP this afternoon so we must be on the road shortly.

More Later,

Rich

 

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Catching up, changing plans, and enjoying Casa Grande

It seems as though this year we have more plan changes than ever before. The plan was to stop at Casa Grande for one night and then travel on to Colorado River Oasis with an over night stop in Tonopah, AZ. Well we like this place enough that we decided to stay an extra two days and then go to CRO, so I walked up and paid for an additional two days.. Then during happy hour yesterday we were talking, and decided to cancel CRO altogether and just stay here. So this morning I will be walking up to the office to ask for more time. Then we will stop at CRO for an overnight on our way to Indio.

We just had a wonderful two week stay at St. David. The only problem is the very poor Internet connection there, we were barely able to get on line let alone post to the blog. The weather was pleasant and we enjoy the quiet night and all the stars.

The last Wednesday of our stay Annie and Bob flew down to spend a few days with us, we rented a casita for them to stay in and they said it was very comfortable. Thursday we went to Bisbee for the day, and took the Lavendar Jeep tour. We had never gone on this trip before so it was new for us too. Dorothy really knew her way around all the narrow streets and told us all about the history of the town.

Bisbee is built on the side of some very steep canyon walls.

 

Here is the view from the top of the hill, there are still houses above but there are no roads and everything has to be carried up by hand..

There is some very interesting art on the sides of some of the buildings.

Friday we took Annie and Bob to Karchner Caverns and then to Tombstone for lunch at Big Nose Kate's. We didn't take the camera because we would have had to leave it in the car. But we all had a great time.

 

Here is a picture we took when we went a week earlier. Real touristy with gunfights in the street.

One of the reasons Annie and Bob came down was to surprise Dad and take him out to dinner for his 89th birthday.. We went Mr An's a teppenyaki grill where they cook at your table, it was very good.

That just about brings you up to date with what we have been doing lately.

Here's a picture of us guys Annie took when we dropped them off at the airport.

More Later,

Rich

 

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San Pedro River Valley

We are in St. David, AZ at the Western Horizons resort here, it is a favorite stop for us. The nights have been frosty but the days are in the 70's and there is some hot weather on the way, like the upper 80's.

We sure liked our stay in Casa Grande, we met some very nice folks there.

Dennis, Linda, and Malcome.

Frank, and Milton.

We stopped in Tucson for a couple of days to visit with my Dad, and Marge. It was a great stay as always and we had a good time.

 

We went out to the El Corral restaurant and had a wonderful steak grilled over a mesquite fire, if we lived here it would become a favorite.

St. David is 66 miles from Dad's and a 1000 feet higher in elevation so it's cooler here.

 

Last night we went for a walk to try and see the comet, well we didn't see the comet but the moon sure was awsome. I think we were too early.

More Later,

Rich

 

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Casa Grande, AZ

We always question the pronunciation of Casa Grande the name is Spanish of course but many folks (we think) miss and say Casa Grand. Anyway it is a small city about halfway between Phoenix and Tucson. In the past we have only stayed here for one night either going or coming to/from Tucson, this time we are here for a week.

We stopped for a night Saddle Mt. RV in Tonopah, AZ, someone asked what was in Tonopah, well not much but they do have some pretty sunrises.

 

We are here for only a week then we are off to visit my Dad, then a couple of weeks in St David, AZ.

Yesterday we went to Eva's for some Mexican food, and a couple of Cadillac Margaritas. Those are 16 ounce glasses by the way, yumm. The food was pretty good but not great we would go again if only for the drinks.

We need to stock up one groceries while here, so yesterday we went to Wally World and Monday we plan a trip to Chandler to visit Mrs. Costco.

Gorgie has been going to exercise class in the morning and we have enjoyed the sunshine and 70+ temperatures.

More Later,

Rich

 

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Plans are always changing

One of the best parts of the way we travel is that we have the freedom to change our plans for any reason and at any time we want. Our "schedule" said we were going to Wickenburg, AZ for a couple of days, well the weather changed and it turned cold and they even had some snow. They don't call us snowbirds because we flock toward any amount of snow and cold. No sir we migrate away from that stuff. So we called to cancel and the nice lady there said it was "colder than a well drillers back". So we headed south again along the Colorado River toward Ehrenberg. Then the wind came up, so we stopped 50 miles short at the Blue Water Casino for a night and boondocked for two nights because it blew so hard. There are worse places to get stuck. This morning it's calm and we will finish our drive and stay at Ehrenberg for one night and then head out for Casa Grande.

 

Life is good in the desert.

More Later,

Rich

 

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Hight Times Along the Colorado River

This past week has just been a blast. We have been playing card games with Bill and Donna, Bill and I played poker a few times up at the club house. There was a Valentines dinner on Thursday, the meal was forgettable but the people were not.

Clockwise from Gorgie are Donna, Linda, Ken, Bill, and me.

They had a renewal of vows ceremony that Bill and Donna participated in.

Afterwards there was a bluegrass/gospel concert put on by the Haining Family, and they were actually very good.

We were joined on Thursday by some good friends Ken and Linda, who we met four years ago here in Colorado River Oasis. They are sure nice folks.

We all went to Quartzsite and had lunch at the Grubsteak Saloon, they have some good fish and chips there.

 

Yesterday evening we got together and played what else, cards. I laughed so hard my face hurt.

This post has taken me a week now to compose, every time I turned around there was something else I wanted to add or there was another picture to add, so I'm going to finish up now.

On our last evening in Ehrenberg Linda asked if we had ever launched Chinese luminaries of course we had not, well she had some, and after the sun set we all went down to the river. They are balloon shaped crepe paper that you carefully unfold and place a parrafin block on the bottom of and light.

When they get warm enough they lift off into the sky like a hot air balloon.

We all launched them and what a thrill to watch them rise into the sky and join the moon.

This had be one of the best highlights of our trip this year, what a great time with good friends.

 

Sadly we had to move on and are now in Bullhead City, AZ for a week. We are in the Ridgeview RV Park just across the Colorado River from Laughlin, NV. It rained here last night and is still raining as I type, so I guess we'll have to find some indoor activities today ;~).

More Later,

Rich

 

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Travel Plans Continue

We are at the green dot not much here but desert and farming here along the Colorado River.

We have made some changes to our travel plans this year, some because Gorgie returned home for two weeks, and some because we wanted to. Here is a list of our plans for the rest of the season, subject change of course. Looks like we are halfway into our travels.

Winter 2013 Trip Plan

Here are our travel plans for the balance of the season.

1- Feb. 3 to 17 Colorado River Oasis Ehrenberg, AZ

2- Feb. 17 to 24 Ridgeview RV Resort Bullhead City, AZ (Laughlin, NV)

3- Feb. 24 to 27 Desert Cypress RV Wickenburg, AZ

4- Feb. 27 to March 7 Casa Grande RV Resort Casa Grande, AZ

5- March 7 to 9 Dad's place

6- March 9 to 23 St. David RV Resort St. David, AZ

7- March 23 to 24 Dad's place

8- March 24 to 26 travel to Ehrenberg

9- March 26 to April 2 Colorado River Oasis Ehrenberg, AZ

10- April 2 to 16 Indian Waters RV Resort Indio, CA

After Indian Waters we will head toward home, staying at some favorite spots along the way. The exact route and stops will depend on the weather and our mood at the time. We plan on being home in Brush Prairie between April 26 & 28.

More Later,

Rich

 

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A Long Awaited Update

It's not because we didn't do anything interesting, or didn't have anything to say, I was just lazy.

We had a great time with Bill and Donna at Pilot Knob.

We played lots of card games, and enjoyed the sunshine. They introduced us to a couple of new games. A couple of trips to Algodones, MX for souvenirs and some really good shrimp lunches. A few meals at some fine restaurants, a couple of trips to the casino sure makes for a wonderful time with good friends.

We visited Lutes Casino for burgers one afternoon, this place has been around since 1902. They once had an illegal casino that was accessed through a trapdoor, and the name has stuck. The house special was a burger patty and two fried hot dogs on a bun, they should have named it the widow maker, sure was good.

Sunday morning we parted company and traveled up to Colorado River Oasis in Ehrenberg, AZ, on the same road we took going south.

On a Sunday morning there was almost no other vehicles on the road making the drive enjoyable.

We are here for two weeks, the weather is very nice upper 70's every day although they are calling for some cooling on the weekend.

Yesterday we went over to Quartzsite, I was looking for a patio mat but struck out. There were few booths selling their wares compared to past visits so it was a disappointment.

On our walk yesterday evening we were treated to a gorgeous sunset.

 

This park is really a nice place, and popular too.

This morning Gorgie was off to her exercise class before the sun came up, now that is dedication.

More Later,

Rich

 

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