Thursday, February 25, 2016

Safe at Home!

We arrived home this afternoon after several days on the road. We spent 3 days in Willcox, AZ visiting an old Navy buddy. We had a great time with JD and look forward to more visits with him.

We visited Apple Annie’s, tasted a little wine, and found time for a DQ while in Willcox.

We then drove through Douglas, AZ planning to stay in Bisbee but I missed the road to the RV park and the next place to turn around was 16 miles later. RV Parks in Tombstone were full so we continued on to Cochise Terrace in Benson where we have stayed many times. It is a real nice park. Very clean. Our stay included tickets for a free meal the first night. It was served in their clubhouse and was very good.

After a 3 day stay we moved back to the Elks Lodge in Casa Grande for one day to again visit Clyda's cousin Rod and his wife Clara Lynn. Their daughter Nikki came down from Mesa and we all went to dinner. Really nice to see Nikki.

We then moved on to Quartzsite with a stop at RV Pitstop to get a propane tank re-certified and filled. With that accomplished we found a spot on Plamosa Road for the night. The next day we moved on to Kelbaker Road on old Hwy 66 between Needles and Barstow. We have stayed here before but this time there was a lot of wind so we spent little time outside.

The next morning we drove to Bakersfield through Tehachapi where the California poppies on the western hills were unbelievable. Huge patches of orange on the hillside. We stayed with Budd and Brenda for 2 days. Always fun to spend time with them. The ladies beat the guys BADLY in Sequence as usual but us guys got back at them playing Jokers and Marbles last night.

Today we drove home via Santa Maria with all the hills so green. Unless we get rain soon it will be it's usual brown before long.

Sorry, no photos tonight.

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Happy Valentines Day!

We moved from Jack and Judy's property on Monday, Feb 8th to the Elks Club at Casa Grande. We have been here many times before but it is a convenient place to stay, and cheap, while we visit Clyda's cousin Rod and his wife Claralyn. We had dinner at their house Monday night.

Tuesday we bummed around Casa Grande and had dinner at Culvers which meant we also had a frozen custard for dessert (Eat your heart out Budd and Brenda). It was good.

On Wednesday afternoon we moved to the old Pinal Fairgrounds 7 miles east of Casa Grande for the 3 day gourd festival. We camped with friends Jim and Michelle. Michelle is the “gourder” in the group. I have done a few gourds but am no where in her class.

The weather was perfect, warm and sunny. Evenings required only a light shirt to ward off the chill. We camped right near the festival grounds which was great as we could come and go as we pleased.

One building contained all the “juried” gourds. Those submitted for judging and another had booths for sellers. 

 Gourds supplied by Wertz farms.
 Juried gourds






Story teller given as a prize (Clyda really wanted this but no luck) 

 

There were food stands between them and music on the stage throughout. We ate lunch from the available food which was of a great variety and all very good. A very enjoyable few days.

Today we moved on to Willcox, AZ and the Elks Club. We are here to visit an old Navy buddy of mine, JD. I made contact with JD through my other buddy Gary in Oregon. JD will come by the RV tomorrow morning.

After a few days here we will move on. Where? We don't know at this time. We do plan to be home by the end of the month however.

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Clyda is here.

I moved over the mountain (hill) last Tuesday afternoon to Jack and Judy's lot South of Bouse. They weren’t here as they were in San Diego helping her father clean out some stuff from his house. I got parked by myself which isn't real easy as I needed to back in next to their shed without hitting utilities, etc.

On Wednesday morning I drove to Parker to the Safeway store for groceries. I had last shopped in Las Vegas except for a few items from the local store in Quartzsite. The one thing the Quartzsite store does have is a good butcher shop and good meat. I bought 2 small filet's and BBQ'ed them on Friday night for Clyda's arrival dinner.

On Thursday I did laundry all morning and gave the rig a good cleaning in the afternoon. Friday morning I drove to the Phoenix airport and picked up Clyda after her 1 hour plus flight. We stopped on the West side of Phoenix for lunch before driving back.

I had filled up with diesel on the way to Phoenix and again when I got back and using the Gear Vendors Over/under drive at 75 MPH (posted speed) I got almost 22 MPG. Not bad!

Since Clyda has been here we haven't done much as it is really cold with a bite to the wind. We also had a wind, rain, lightning and hail storm Sunday night.

Today we went in to Quartzsite for lunch and so Clyda could do some shopping. There is not much there right now. Most vendors have left already. They did not have a good year as the weather didn't cooperate and many Canadians stayed away due to the difference between our and their dollar. For every US dollar they spend it costs 1.5 Canadian dollars. That is a steep price to pay.

Tomorrow the guys will go ATV riding and the ladies will go to a quilt show.