Dec 29th, 30th 31st - Wellton

We spent most of the day Friday with Francis and Nicole . We all went to Yuma and wandered around the GIGANTIC swap meet/flea market. It is mostly under cover - permanent roofs & sides made out of tarps. We all managed to find something to buy. We now have the obligatory name plaque and flags on our rig. Then we went to a place in Old Tucson for a hamburger as Marg had mentioned that Francis & Nicole had taken her there a few years ago. It was fun and food was good. Stopped for a while at the Paradise casino and showed Nicole how slot machines take your money (not her money!). Then a fairly quick stop at Wal Mart for some groceries and a drink at our place before we took them home.
Planned to golf on Saturday but there was a frost delay (!!!) so could not get a tee time. Sunday was also booked up. So Terry & I returned to Yuma on Saturday to finish going through the flea market and visited the other casino in Yuma. For some reason our TV antenna is not getting the local stations very well so in the evening we watched a video from the park’s “lending library”. On Saturday and today we discovered that the cattle feedlots near Wellton are a lot closer when the wind is from their direction!!
Quiet day today. We are going to Francis & Nicole’s for dinner tonight for New Year’s Eve. We leave tomorrow for Quartzsite.
Wishing everyone a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

On the road again - to Wellton

“Housekeeping” day on Wednesday (27th). I did laundry in the morning while Terry waxed the truck. He sprayed the diamond plate storage box with some chrome cleaner which was not the right thing to do. So our neighbor brought out some Busch aluminum cleaner which is magical. After working on the box and waxing the front of the 5th wheel, we went looking for the aluminum cleaner to replace what we used. Looks like it is only available by mail so we will be ordering some when we get to Quartzsite and have an address. Stepped out big time and went grocery shopping after dinner!
There was quite a rain and wind storm in Tucson last night and this morning. We left about 9 to drive to Wellton. Arrived here about 1:30, set up and went to find our friends Francis & Nicole. We had a few beers and chatted with them the rest of the afternoon. I just checked for an unsecured web address and obviously found one so am making use of it. I probably should find out what damage someone could do when I am on an unsecured network.!!

Dec 24th, 25th & 26th

We did make use of the ladder on Sunday to get the 5th wheel cleaned up. But we spent too much time chatting with neighbors to get at the waxing.
A couple 2 rigs over went for a bicycle ride about 9 in the morning and left their 2 medium to large dogs and their son’s dog in their motor home, left the door unlocked and did not take a key. One of the dogs ended up pawing at the door and locked it. It took 3 locksmiths and until 3 pm to get someone who could finally pick the lock.
I cooked a turkey (breast) dinner for Christmas and invited our new friends Ken and Jo to join us for dinner. It was very windy until about 1:30 so we did not get to play golf. We just relaxed and watched TV until it warmed up a bit and then sat outside with Ken & Jo until dinner time. Very nice day.
Today we went to the Desert Museum which is part anthropologic museum, part zoo and part desert gardens. The weather was wonderful - the truck thermometer read 78 when we left at 2:00 pm. We watched a free flying hawk show - they would swoop right over our heads as they moved from one perch to another. We stopped on the way home to get cloths for waxing the rigs and hardware to secure the ladder to the storage box in the truck. Our neighbor was just finishing washing his truck when we got back and ours had gotten dirty and really spotted when we went to Tombstone and got rained on so we washed it again before I fixed dinner.
We had our neighbors Andy and Nancy over for coffee and dessert to finish a very busy day.

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all

I kept getting dumped from my internet connection yesterday evening and thought my entry wasn't posted so tried again this morning and ended up with a duplicate which I just deleted. So I will take this opportunity to send a “MERRY CHRISTMAS” wish to everyone.

Dec 22nd & 23rd

We went on a tour of the Big Room at Kartchner Caverns yesterday. They only opened to the public in 2003 and they included a lot of discovery information in the tour. It was interesting and amazing that the 2 college guys that discovered the cave kept it a secret for 14 years so it could be preserved as much as possible. Then we went on to Tombstone, had lunch at Big Nose Kate’s (stained glass picture) and wandered through the town. It was sunny and not too cool. As we were driving from Kartchner Caverns to Tombstone, we saw Border Patrol checkpoints on the highways heading north. So of course Terry was nervous about getting through them on our way back. There was absolutely no problem, they didn’t even ask for ID. When I commented to Terry that he did not seem to have worried about the checkpoint while we were in Tombstone, he said “Of course not, it would be you going to jail, not me!”. Nice guy!
It was raining by the time we got back to Tucson. Terry got restless after we were back for about an hour so we went to a casino for a while. We drove to one and it looked too small so we went to another that was not a lot bigger. Didn’t do too well but then Terry won some money back so it wasn’t a disaster!
We played golf today on the par 3 here at the park. It was nice enough to play in short sleeves and was very nice to get out. Later we went to Lowe’s and bought a ladder so we can get the 5th wheel cleaned up. Our neighbors on either side are all clean and shiny so we figured we better get on the ball.

But we are still laughing....

I feel like I should not put anything on this blog until it actually happens!! We are not in Benson AZ. We are in Tucson.
We drove to Benson yesterday, took one look at the RV park which was situated within sight & sound of the I10 freeway and near a railway track and decided that we did not want to stay there for a month. The wind was blowing and it was COLD as well. So we drove back to Tucson and found a different spot but only for 8 days (one week and one free day). It froze last night - luckily we knew it was forecast and disconnected the water hose. It was sunny today and warmed up nicely so we took advantage of this park that lets you wash vehicles at your spot and we washed the truck. Nice neighbors on both sides. It is a large park with lots of activities and amenities but a lot of the activities are suspended because of the holidays. There is a 9 hole par 3 golf course that belongs to the park so we will be checking it out. We are also going to go to Tombstone, the Karchner Caverns and the Desert Museum while we are here. I will include some pictures from these attractions in the near future.

No Spanish required

I was more correct than I knew when I said everything with my green card gets messed up. The immigration office in Phoenix said they could not stamp my passport - that I was out of their jurisdiction with my Washington address. I told them that I had received the information from their help line and we would not have left Spokane if I had received correct information. They very grudgingly apologized for the incorrect information that I had received and totally ignored my suggestion that someone educate the help line staff.
So Mexico is out for this winter. We will be moving to Benson, AZ (near Tucson ) on Wednesday. We made a reservation for a month at a park that we picked out of the campground book and checked on the internet. Hope it is OK!!
We went to a swap meet/flea market in Phoenix on Saturday. It is held at the Greyhound racetrack parking lot and is HUGE. But it is mostly new stuff now, unlike many years ago when it was like a lot of yard sales packed in one spot. We left about ¾ of the way through after we passed the same or similar items several times in different locations.
Since we had enough excitement today with the immigration office, we tackled the laundry this afternoon. The weather has cooled off considerably with some wind and rain Saturday night so golf is not the activity of choice right now. There is a reasonably priced golf course near the RV site in Benson so we are looking forward to getting to know it rather well.

Mesa - Dec 15th

Please don’t give up on our blog - it is a little boring right now!
We like the new park. There is a section with no permanent residents where we are located and we have chatted with quite a few neighbors. We went to “movie night” last night and saw “The Devil Wears Prada”. We were going to play golf today but I have a cold and thought I would run out of energy part way through the game. We will have many opportunities to golf so no use getting out there and not enjoying it.
I have an appointment with immigration in Phoenix on Monday morning to get my passport stamped. When we got here on Wednesday, I checked with the mail box center in Spokane and the letter from Homeland Security that I was waiting for was there. We decided to spend the money to have it sent UPS overnight for arrival today (Friday). When we were at the movie last night, someone from the mail box center called and said they goofed and did not get the package to UPS on Thursday. So they are sending it today with Saturday delivery. Seems like everything to do with this green card gets messed up.

Still waiting in Mesa

We are still in a holding pattern waiting for something to happen with my green card.
We played golf again at a wicked little 9 hole course. The holes were short with only 3 par 4s but it was challenging. Again, the course wound between houses. It had narrow, sloping fairways and quite a bit of water. We played with another couple who have wintered in Arizona for many years and had coffee with them later.
We will be moving to a different park tomorrow - still in Mesa. We hope there will be more non-permanent campers to give us a chance to meet more people. Residents here are friendly but you don’t say much more than “good morning” as you pass. The weather has been great but not always warm enough to sit outside. People in “park model” homes here have Arizona rooms which are sometimes totally closed in and mostly located behind parking areas so are not conducive to visiting as you walk by.
The picture is looking down our “street”. The large palm at the end is still in the park and we are not at the end of the street so this gives you an idea of the size of this place.

December 9

We do not have wifi at our site here but there is a large computer center with wifi and broadband. The wifi is not working well so I am using broadband and love it. There are also about 50 computers here that you can use - very nice facility. Right now I am using our laptop and Terry is checking RV parks & prices on one of the park computers.
We took a drive yesterday to check out Fountain Hills where we lived for a short time about 25 years ago. It has grown into a huge city with a new freeway providing access. Unfortunately for our wallets, there is also a casino on the Indian reservation there. Honest, we did not know it was there when we went for the drive!!!
We finished the bike ride up and down all the streets in the park yesterday afternoon. The last street is 22nd. I forgot to check the mileage on the bicycle odometer when we finished but will try to do so before our next ride and let you know just how big this place is.

December 8 - Mesa Regal

The weather remained warm and we played golf yesterday. A strange little course - it wound between houses and across roads. Not just across a residential 2-lane road but across (and back) a divided, 4 lane street and frontage road. We crossed a road one time, played one par 3 hole and then went between houses and across a road for the next holes. We played the first 9 holes with another couple from Alberta who winter in Mesa so that made it even more fun.
The park had a “Country Store’ yesterday morning in the hall & patio. Many vendors set out their goods for sale - quite a few vendors were people who live in the park and have handmade items - cards, embroidered Tshirts, woodcrafts, etc. Some very nice things and we bought a few items.
As if walking 18 holes wasn’t enough exercise, we went dancing last night here at the park. There was a very nice band that played classic music - waltz, fox trot, swing, latin, polka. It was a fairly “formal” format with a lady posting the next 10 dance types on a board and the band playing 2 or 3 songs for each type. We were not aware that it was BYOB so we were good and drank water instead of coming back to the rig to get something else to drink.
Many people in the park (and at previous places we stayed) have a lot of Christmas decorations up outside. On some of the streets in the park, people will all have one same decoration - usually a painted wooden item and on one street Christmas banners that hang on poles. Very festive and wonderful at night with all the lights.

Mesa, AZ - sunshine and warm!

What an enormous amount of totally unusable land exists in Nevada, California and Arizona! We drove many, many miles through nothing - not even fenced for cattle. Always mountains to go through and around on our way from Bullhead City to Mesa, AZ. We went through Las Vegas on the way to Bullhead City and did not even stop. It is not a town that you want to be sightseeing in when towing a 36 foot fifth wheel. The housing on the outskirts of Las Vegas is unbelievable - miles of closely spaced multi-family units.
We decided to stay in a LARGE RV park for at least a week. We get the reduced PA rate for a week and then can decide what we want to do depending on the status of my green card. There are so many activities but it is hard to take part for one week only. We are going to go dancing tomorrow - we love dancing so are looking forward to it.
We rode bikes today around the park (1.6 miles) and up and down most “streets” (7.1 miles) before our butts said it was time to stop. It was 78 degrees today - so nice. But cooler weather is forecast and it is cool at night. We ran out of propane last night and it got pretty cool in the rig.
We have a friend in the Phoenix area that we have not seen for many years (Chuck Kambouroff). We got hold of him on the phone today and it turns out he is in Edmonton, Alberta. He will be coming back here on Monday so we will get to see him.
Diesel has been less expensive in Nevada. Has been as low as $2.59. When we crossed the border to California when we left Bullhead, it was $3.79. We were happy that we had enough fuel to get back into Nevada where we paid $2.63.

Leaving Pahrump for Bullhead City

We ended up not golfing on Sunday as it was still too cool. So we did a bit of shopping and a bit of gambling. I won enough money to cover my losses for the previous day and the next day. We decided we better get the heck out of Nevada before we both develop a gambling problem!!!
We are in Bullhead City right now. I found out on the trip back from Canada that my “green card” has been expired for 2 years and no one noticed on our several trips to Canada in the last 2 years. I didn’t even know that it had an expiration date! So I had to e-file for a new card which I did today. Now I have to wait for a notice for an appointment to appear in person in Spokane to be delivered to our PO box in Spokane and then forwarded to us. Then I can make an appointment in Phoenix to have my passport stamped to allow travel while my new card is being processed. But I still have to show up in Spokane to finish the application. What a pain!! It may delay our trip to Mexico a bit.
We met the nicest couple here in the park today. Out for a walk and started talking to them as they had the same make of 5th wheel as we do. We ended up spending at least 4 hours with them - first at their place and then at ours. This is one of the greatest parts of traveling!

Pahrump, NV

We are at Terrible’s Casino and RV Park in Pahrump (do you see a pattern here?). It is a really nice place. There is a 7 acre lake/lagoon for the use of the RVers in the park. There are paddle boats and kayaks as well as catch and release free fishing. Our spot is right on the lake. The pictures with this entry were taken from our site. Unfortunately the weather is still unusually cold and the water hose freezes up each night. We went for a bike ride around the park yesterday afternoon and my hands were cold. But we are going golfing today. The reduced “twilight” rate starts at 11:30 which sounds odd until you realize that it does get dark before 5 pm. Our tee time today is noon so the pace will have to be good for us to finish before dark. We took advantage of the inexpensive buffet for lunch yesterday and spent some time (and money) in the casino. So Terry went back to the casino last night and won enough to pay for our golf. This is a P.A. park with 3 days at the reduced rate so we will decide tomorrow whether we will stay here longer at the regular rate or move on.

Traveling in CA and NV - Dec 1

No, we did not get our money back!
It is time to introduce you to Wanda. This is our affectionate (??) name for our GPS navigation system. She told us the way out of Reno and Terry did not believe her so we had to take a couple of extra turns to get going the right way. I suggested that we listen to Wanda in the future. But, when she said to go on 120, there was a sign that warned long semis not to use the road so we decided not to go that way. I also did not want to use any “black” highways on the map. So why did we listen to Wanda when she sent us on a highway that was not even on the map? The highway was 168 (I think) that went from 395 to 95. It climbed from 2500 feet to over 7000 feet in less than 25 miles. One corner said slow to 15 MPH. Then there was a single lane section where we met the 3rd car of the trip. Luckily we met a double trailer hay truck near the beginning of the road so we figured if he could make it, so could we. But, we did not estimate our fuel consumption correctly to allow for the steep hills. The warning light came on about 29 miles from the next gas station. The computer said we could go 33 miles and we put 33.65 gallons in our 34 gallon tank. We decided to stop for the night in Amargosa instead of pushing on to Pahrump, AZ which is where we want to stay for a few days.