Getting Ready to Hit the Road

We are busy, busy, busy getting ready to hit the road for our annual snowbird travels. As much as we want to be spontaneous and not make too many plans here we are with "plans". So I thought I would share with you what we plan to do. Last year we had such a great time traveling up and down the "West coast of Arizona" that we are going to do much of the same. The elevation there is lower so it's warmer as well.

Here is what we have planned so far:

We will be departing on Sunday Nov. 25th and plan on a slow drive to Indio, CA (we have 8 days to get there).

Our first stay is in Indio, CA at Indian Waters RV Resort. We are there for a week Dec. 2 to 9.

From there we travel to Colorado River Oasis in Ehrenberg, AZ. This place is right on the Colorado River hence the term "West Coast of Arizona". We'll be there from Dec. 9 to 23.

The next stop will be at Desert Pools RV Park in Desert Hot Springs, CA. We are meeting some friends for Christmas and New Years. We are here from Dec. 23 until Jan. 9.

Next stop will be at Emerald Cove RV Resort in Earp, CA. This park may be in CA but the only town is Parker, AZ. So again we are right on the River.. We need to be here so Gorgie can get her hair done in Lake Havasu City.. We'll be there from Jan. 6th til the 20th.

From there we go to Pilot Knob RV Park in Winterhaven, CA. This is really Yuma, AZ just on the CA side. Our stay here is from Jan. 20 to Feb. 3rd.

Then it's back to Colorado River Oasis in Ehrenberg ( we really like this place).. This time from Feb. 3 to 17.

Our last planned stop will be for a week at the Ridgeview RV Resort in Bullhead City, AZ. This is across the river from Laughlin, NV ;~)..... We'll be there Feb. 17 to 24.

From there we will wander toward Tucson to see my Dad and visit the Benson, AZ area but we have no formal plans yet.

I hope you can follow us on our adventures.

More Later,

Rich

 

 

Posted with Blogsy on my iPad

Test Post Using Blogsy

This a new app I downloaded to my IPad, we'll see how it works.

We had a beautiful sunset out our back door the other day.

I intend to do a better job keeping up with our blog this year, last season I struggled.

More Later,

Rich

 

Posted with Blogsy

Staying in Touch on the Road

Gadgets

We have acquired lots of devices to stay in touch while we travel around. First there is the old trusty laptop that is starting to show it’s age by slowing down like the rest of us, but is still a necessary piece of equipment. We do all our banking and bill paying with that. Then we both have IPad2’s that are great for reading email, news, web browsing, and blogs. I have not learned how to post to the blog or do other computing stuff yet so the laptop is not out of a job yet. Then there are the IPhone4’s we each have one of those too. You should see Gorgie she can use both at the same time. In the mornings with a cup of coffee she can play her word games, and read the Columbian online edition at once.  These devices are all connected to the internet with the Verizon MIFI 4510L, it has a built in router, we can both be online at the same time with no problems, of course the IPhones don’t always need to be connected to the MIFI but upgrades and some downloads go faster if they are. Oh and let’s not forget the little dumb phone that is now our “house phone”, (we don’t have wired phone at home anymore). We don’t get many calls on that, and it will go away soon enough.

Sunset on the Colorado River

Gary and Melissa visited yesterday afternoon, we met them in Texas last winter, they are staying in Quartzsite and dropped by to say hello. They are very nice people and it was good to see them and their new puppy “Tucson”. Thanks for coming by Gary and Melissa.

 

 

Rainbow yesterday morning

We had some clouds the night before last, no rain, but we spotted this rainbow shortly after dawn, lovely, lovely.

Today we are sitting out looking at the river enjoying the sun and basking in the 80 degree temperature. Life is good, we miss everyone and wish you all could be here with us.

More Later,

Rich

Burros, Coyotes, Happy Hour, and Water Skiers.

We are just about to pull out of Emerald Cove RV Resort. This is a huge park with 800 RV sites set along the banks of the Colorado River. The riverside spots are reserved for their own members and rightly so. We have had a site just one row off the river and there is access across the street so we could see the water and all that goes on there.  It is strange to watch water skiers do their thing in January, this river and this park are slammed during the summer months.  Our weather has been wonderful with cool nights for sleeping and temperatures in the 70’s during the day and sunny, it was 78 yesterday.

Emerald Cove RV Park

We can hear from time to time the sounds of wild burrows braying, and coyote’s howling during the night. They are close, but we never wandered out (it is very dark here) to try to find them. But we have seen plenty of evidence when we have gone for walks outside the park.

We have been seeing these signs along the road to the park.

Warning us to be on the lookout for wild Burros. When we were coming back from a daytrip to Lake Havasu we were greeted by this proud Mamma and her offspring.

 

The other day we were out for a walk and wandered by the pool area when we heard a lot of laughter coming from the bar so we had to check it out.

It was funny to watch a bunch of septuagenarians getting a little tipsy and loud.

We had a couple of $1.00 beers and enjoyed their company.

It is very often breezy or even windy here in the desert, so on a recent trip to Quartzsite We picked up this device, a Grill Guard. It sure makes a difference, it makes the grill hotter even when the wind isn’t blowing. The BBQ dinners are better than ever, and no more excuses for not cooking out.

Well today we are packing up and heading out, it is a moving day. We are headed back to Colorado River Oasis in Ehrenberg, AZ a drive of only 50 miles, tough day. We have thoroughly enjoyed our stay here and will surely return.

 

Sunset at Emerald Cove

More Later,

Rich

Emerald Cove RV Resort, Earp, CA

The Colorado River

We have moved 50 miles north of Ehrenberg and we are still on the Colorado River, on the California side just north of Earp.  We don’t have a riverside spot but we are only one row off and we have a good view out our front window.  The scenery is much different here, the river is still as there is a dam downstream, and the water is just the most beautiful blue you can imagine.

 

RV’s backed up to the river

This place is huge, there are 800 sites so the place has lots of people. There are two pools with a bar between, happy hour is at 4:00 PM. They serve very good lunches also. There is a restaurant that serves breakfast and dinners, only one choice but it changes every day.

The area across the river has some lovely homes.

We have been enjoying the warm days and sunshine, sitting outside, playing cards and going for walks. This is really a nice place.

The river is so blue.

Yesterday we did the 50 mile drive to Quartzsite to go to the rv show.  What a zoo, very crowded, had to park out in the desert and walk back to the “big tent”. But it was fun and we saw some very nice rv’s, but we didn’t buy one. The wind came up and that made the drive back to Parker very interesting. It was almost like a snowstorm only brown, with drifting sand across the road, and reduced visibility, our first sandstorm driving experience.

Quartzsite RV Show

It has taken a couple of days to finish this post, I keep getting distracted living the good life.

Sunset at Emerald cove

More Later,

Rich

 

Life on the Colorado River

We have been coming to the Colorado River Oasis every year since we started coming south for the winter, and we love it here. We left the Yuma area early on Wednesday morning hoping to score a river front site and the strategy paid off, so for the next two weeks we have a view of the river and an enormous “yard, and scenery” to enjoy.  Since arriving we have sat out there reading, playing games and visiting with our neighbors, what a life.

We left this guy behind at Pilot Knob.

He and his buds were constant visitors.

This morning I went outside and took a couple of snapshots of our site. Please don’t be jealous but the afternoon temperatures have been in the upper 70’s, OK go ahead and be jealous.

 

Our very own palm tree.

Sunrise on the Colorado River.

We are on the Arizona side of the river in Ehrenberg. There isn’t much here but a post office, and Pilot truck stop (fuel is about 30¢ cheaper per gallon in AZ). Blythe is just on the other side and while it’s bigger, still not very large. Groceries there are expensive too. We plan on continuing to enjoy the riverfront, and plan a visit to Quartzsite in the next day or two.

Living the good life,

More Later,

Rich

New Years Eve 2011

     Here we are at the end of another year. We are so lucky to have had such a great year, and we are sure next year will be just as wonderful. We wish all of you a Very Happy and Safe New Year.

     This past week we have had a great time enjoying the weather down here in Yuma, sunny, and warm with daytime temps in the mid 70’s, right now it’s 76 and we are sitting outside reading.

Earlier this week we went to Los Algadones, Mexico for lunch, margarita’s, some shopping, and a Mexican haircut.

 I had some perfect shrimp in garlic sauce dish.

 It was gone quickly, and there were 10 of those large Camarones too.

Yummmmm!!

Gorgie had the fish taco’s and they were yummy too.  Sorry no picture.

Perfect margarita’s

Then it was time for my Mexican haircut. Don’t I look better?

We went to the casino and Gorgie was washing her hands in the restroom when someone behind here said “don’t you think they should put more than one towel dispenser in these places?”, to which she said “they sure should”. She turned around to find, to both of their surprise,  Starla, it is a small world and you never know who you will see in a restroom, so always wash your hands.

 

The sunsets here are hard to beat as well, last night there were a few high clouds to add to our view.

The Ocotillo really stand out.

We don’t have any plans to welcome in the New Year except to watch the back of our eyelids, so if you have plans enjoy and have a

Happy New Year,

Gorgie & Rich

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

Everyone

This year we are in the Yuma, AZ area for Christmas. Officially we are in Winterhaven, CA, but there is nothing here but a gas station, Yuma is only a couple of miles east.

We are doing well and find it surprising that we have been on the road for almost a month now. In the park they are going to roast the turkeys in a pit, they have had a fire going all day and tonight they will wrap the turkeys (4), hams (2), and a beef roast (1). They get buried in the pit and they roast overnight, yummmm. Oh and by the way it’s supposed to be around 70° here.

We are in the Christmas spirit here with our Charlie Brown Tree.

We just had to decorate the motorhome and we chose a red theme We think you will like it as much as we do.

Finally Nick and Nora are enjoying the holiday season as well.

 

Merry Christmas everyone we miss you all and hope you have as wonderful a Christmas as we are,

Gorgie and Rich

Plans Do Change

We have been in St. David, AZ for a while trying to decide what to do. Do we continue on to the Rio Grande Valley as originally planned or do we stay in the Arizona/Southern California area.  While we really wanted to see our friends who are wintering in the RGV we decided to stay in the west this year, Sorry Pam, Harold, and all our other Winter Texan friends.

We really like this area a lot and enjoy the scenery, this park is not very busy and when Gorgie went down to participate in the aerobic exercise class she was the only one to show up,so she had to come up with an alternate plan. Well the mornings have been frosty around here, 60’s in the afternoons though.

 

 

 

 

 

Dressed for walking.

 

 

 

We also had a couple of rainy days that were well suited for reading and card playing.

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Notice the little rivers of water.

 

 

 

Somewhere I picked up a cold, not bad just some sniffles and a cough didn’t last long. I almost never get sick and all our cold remedy's were out dated, but I used them anyway.

A trip to Tombstone was taken for lunch one day and it was fun to go to that tourist trap.

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                     

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  They were having a special on final arrangements while we were there.

 

 

 

 

 

We leave here for the Yuma area on Tuesday and are going to make an overnight stop in Casa Grande to see Gary and Yvonne.

Life is good!!

More Later,

Rich

St. David Arizona

We had a great visit with my Dad and Marge in Tucson. They are doing well and are always good company. We went to the “Hifalutin Restaurant’ “  for dinner one night, and to a new place called “My Big Fat Greek Restaurant”, where Dad and I had some of the best lamb chops I have ever had in a restaurant. It was a short but great visit.

We are now in St. David, AZ at a Favorite Western Horizons Resort, called “St. David RV Resort” of course. There are not many rigs here right now and it is very quiet, we are enjoying watching the birds. It has been pleasant here and sitting outside reading in the warm sun is sure nice, although it rained yesterday but that will pass quickly.  Somewhere I have picked up a cold and I’m trying to shrug that off but it too will pass.

We were advised by Heather to get a Christmas tree, we went to town and found a “Charlie Brown” tree at the Ace Hardware and set it up on our steering wheel table.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are quite fond of it, and  find ourselves getting in the spirit of the holiday.

We are staying here until the 20th and then we travel to Yuma with an overnight in Casa Grande.

If you have to fight a cold, the Arizona sun is as good as it gets.

More Later,

Rich

On the Move.

This morning we are in Tonopah, AZ.  We stopped here at the Saddle Mt. RV park for the night.  This morning the temperature is 25° a very cold 25°. 

We had a great time at Desert Pools and the Palm Springs area, even if our stay was short.  Let me tell you about the Indio Tamale Festival.  The first time we went three years ago we were told that the best tamale’s were from “Grandma Lupe’s Authentic Tamale’s”, and the best were the strawberry ones.  Since we had already eaten some very good tamale’s we tried the recommended strawberry and was it good. Last year we missed the first day and after standing in line for over an hour learned they had sold out, bummer.  This year we were determined to score these coveted corn husk stuffed delights.  Well we stood in line for three hours and forty-five minuets, and we bought not only some to eat right away but also some frozen to take home.  After spending that much time in line we were questioning our sanity, we did meet some very nice people some of whom drove all the way from LA to stand in this line with us.  Last night we had some of those tamale’s and they were even better the ones from the stand, color us crazy but we will probably do it again.

Today we are going to my Dad’s for a couple of days then it’s back on the road.

More Later,

Rich

WINDY!!!!!!

We did it we beat the winds.  We have never traveled this far this fast, but we didn’t want to get stuck somewhere for several days.  So a mad dash was made for Desert Hot Springs, and we made it.  Just in time too. The winds were already picking up as we set up our rig.  The winds were 40 – 45 MPH with gusts to 65 all night long we even had to bring in our slide so the awning wouldn’t get damaged. There wasn’t the damage here like in the LA area.  We like it here so the extra two days will be enjoyable.  This evening we are going to Shanghai Reds for lobster bisque, and tomorrow is the Indio Tamale Festival . 

Gorgie is off to her aerobic exercise class and I am waiting for the RV washing crew to give our motorhome a much needed bath.

Morning views.

New snow in the hills from yesterdays storms.

I am already forgetting what day it is so that is a sure sign I’m in the travel mode.

More Later,

Rich

Running Ahead of the Storm

Posted from Sommerville Almond Tree RV Park, Coalinga, CA.

Yesterday we drove 350 miles in seven hours through some fog that was pretty heavy at times. That is way more than we like to travel in any one day.  The reason is an approaching windstorm, there will be 45 mph winds with gusts to 70 mph.  That would stop us from going any further for a couple of days and we want to get to Desert Hot Springs to have lobster bisque at Shanghai Reds Friday evening.  So today we are going to make another long run (311 miles), to try and beat this storm.  Todays forecast calls for more of that heavy fog.  We have always avoided Los Angeles and it’s legendary traffic, but today it can’t be avoided so here we go.  The best part of pushing ourselves will be an extra two days in Palm Springs, even if it’s going to be windy for a few days there too.

Day Two

Two days of nice driving weather finds us at Redding CA. I'm posting this on my iPhone.

Gorgie enjoying the sun in Redding

Seven Feathers RV

More Later,

Rich

Just About Ready to Hit the Road

We have finalized our route and itinerary to the Rio Grande Valley so here it is.

Return of the Winter Texans 2011/12

1- 11-27-10 Seven Feathers Casino RV Resort, Canyonville, OR 212mi. 877-839-3599

2- 11-28-10 Redding, CA (GS) JGW RV 225mi. 800-469-5910 $32-40

3- 11-29-10 Patterson, CA (P.A.) Kit Fox RV 209-892-2638 247mi. $38

4- 11-30-10 Bakersfield, CA (GS) Orange Grove RV 661-366-4662 217mi.$30

5- 12-02-10 Desert Pools RV Resort, Desert Hot Springs, CA 214mi. Res. # 37743

6- 12-06-11 (PA) Saddle Mt. RV Tonopah 218mi. 623-386-3892 $15

7- 12-07-11 Dad’s Tucson, AZ 157mi. from Tonopah

8- 12-09-11 Depart for the RGV, (PA) Low-HI RV Deming NM 224mi. 575-546-4058 $16

9- 12-12-11 KOA, Van Horn, TX 216mi. 432-283-2728 $38

10- 12-13-11 Marathon Motel & RV Park,(PA) Marathon, TX 130mi. 432-386-4241 $12.50

11- 12-14-11 Ft. Clark Springs, Brackettville, TX 204mi. 830-563-9340 $21.50

12- 12-17-11 Four Seasons RV, Zapata, TX 229mi. 956-765-4241

13- 12-20-11 Kenwood RV, La Feria, TX 866-786-4112 121mi.

The motorhome is ready to go, we have loaded almost all our “stuff”, and plan to pull out of here Sunday at about 9:30AM.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with our family, we are going to miss everyone very much.

 

Mr. Turkey turned out very well, a good time was had by all.

More Later,

Rich

What Did I Do For My Summer Vacation?

Well it was a long, hot summer here in the pacific northwest.  We did some major cleaning and brush removal to the front of our property.  Gloria’s sister Gail helped with a lot of the work and she was a tremendous help. 

We took a couple of weeklong trips to the coast, Ocean Shores Washington is one of our favorite places.  This was our “home” park with Western Horizons.  WH sold the park and our contract to K-M Resorts, so we decided to buy into their system and pick up RPI to expand our options since it doesn’t look like WH will be around much longer.  These memberships help us control our expenses while on the road.

We celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary with a trip to Las Vegas.  We always stay at the Fitz on Fremont street and have not had to pay for our room in years.  This year I asked for and was given a suite, they picked us up at the airport in a limo, paid for all our meals and drinks for the five days we were there. Oh and they took us back to the airport in the limo too, sweet.

We have been running around getting ourselves and the motorhome ready for our winter migration south.  We leave here on Sunday after Thanksgiving (Nov. 27th).  This year we are returning to the Rio Grande Valley in Texas because we loved it there and have some deer friends we want to see who are already there.  We should be there before Christmas.  Deb and Jerry are going to join us again this year in their motorhome.  I’ll post our itinerary here soon.

More Later,

Rich

 

How to Find the Nicest People

For a while now we have been smelling diesel around the engine when we have stopped.  I had an appointment at Southern Oregon Diesel to have our rig serviced and the source of the smell diagnosed.  I had looked at the engine and I could not find anything. The other day we noticed that it was getting worse (drips under the coach). So yesterday we were pulling out for Oregon and I decided to pull into the rest area at Shasta Lake.  Well the fuel was pouring out. A decision was made to turn around and go to Cummins West back in Redding, that was the best thing we could have done. We lost several gallons of fuel in the 15 mile drive, the rear of the coach was covered, as well as the “Pod Racer”.  Just as we turned into their parking lot the engine started to miss, and I knew we never would have made it more than another 15 miles north and we would have had to be towed to a shop.

The nice folks at Cummins were able to get us in right away, the leak was found to be a fitting that had vibrated loose, and was simply screwed back on and tightened.  While there I had them do the service so I wouldn’t have to stop again in Roseburg.  If we had been towed to another shop we could have been at their mercy and had to pay whatever they wanted, probably more than the $285.00 Cummins charged. I had fears of the injector pump going out and that costs around $1700.00 plus 5 or 6 hours of labor.

That said we have sure been fortunate to find some very capable and honest people when we have had problems, so if you want to find some of the nicest people just break down in Redding and come to Cummins West.

We wound up staying the night in Redding at the Green Acres RV Park, and will be heading out shortly for the Seven Feathers RV Resort in Canyonville, OR, and then home on Wednesday.

Sorry I never thought to take any pictures.

More Later,

Rich

Long Time No Post

We have been plagued with poor internet service for a long time now, so posting was not an option or too slow.

We are currently headed for home and are in Patterson, CA for two nights then it’s off to Redding and then over the pass into Oregon early next week.

Debbie and Jerry are traveling with us and we have had some great times together. One of the highlights was a trip to Death Valley, there is sure some rugged scenery there.

Here is the lowest point in the US, (click on the picture to enlarge the sign).

The Sea Level sign was way up the side of the mountain.

They have an interesting museum with artifacts from the 20 mule team borax mining days.

Get up on a high spot and you can see forever.

There is wildlife down here this guy was looking for a handout.

Another trip we took was to the Salton Sea south of Palm Springs this is also an area below sea level but not quite as low. The Salton Sea is –227 ft. while Death Valley is –282 ft.

The Salton Sea is a lake with fish and birds. Everything was camera shy that day so no pictures, sorry.

Our Palm Springs stay was very enjoyable, as was Pahrump. A five day stay there was extended to eleven waiting on some weather to pass, we had hoped to see Pam and Steve in Reno but gave up that idea because we didn’t want to travel in what looked to be some winter weather (freezing temps, and the possibility of snow showers). So we headed west to extend our sunny warm weather for a few days. That brings us to the Kit Fox RV Park in Patterson, we are well off the freeway and we are enjoying the green hills, it’s good to see green again.

More Later,

Rich