Full Time RV Travel Fun

Saturday, May 21, 2011

2011-05-21T13:25:00.000-07:00

We were in Thermopolis, WY late April, 2011

While in Thermopolis, WY we visited the dinosaur museum:

We drove around town and took some pictures.

This mountain points to the mineral hot spring

Every time we went out for a ride, I'd forget my camera so this is really all I got and should have taken photos of the Worlds Biggest Mineral Hot Springs! It's pretty amazing.

We left Thermopolis, Wy on schedule; can't remember the date. Here's some photos of the mountains along the way on our way to Red Lodge, MT.

While we were in Red Lodge, it snowed all three days.

We went to a handball tournament and dinner in Billings, MT

Russ Whitten and Russ' friend Kim

The last day we were there some wild turkeys came walking down the street in front of Russ' house.

We arrived home on time and are now in Lake Sawyer RV Park in Black Diamond/Maple Valley, WA till May 31st. Then we'll be going out to our house in Graham till we can get it rented again.

April 26, 2011 Tuesday

2011-04-26T18:14:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our favorite son!! Jack's birthday is tomorrow. Email him a quick happy birthday! macksja@gmail.com

Today we pulled into Eagles RV park in Thermopolis, WY. It's cold here! Chuck's Uncle Al lived here and we used to have so much fun when we'd visit him. We remember the rodeos every summer where the bars stayed open 24 hours a day, we remember asparagus picking and brought back grocery bags full, we remember the hot tubs, the hot swimming pool and so many more memories of Uncle Al.

April 19th we pulled into Dakota Ridge RV Park in Golden, CO. We spent a couple night in Golden as it's just so nice sometimes to not have to be on the road right away the next day. We went for burgers that night for supper, I got a quilt washed and he had someone come and wash the RV.

Then on the 22nd, we left Dakota Ridge RV Park around noon (so far to date we have driven 3607 miles)
It was so sunny and pretty. It had rained a little bit in the morning but nice by the time we had to leave.

We arrived on the 22nd in Wellington, CO at our friends beautiful home out on the prairie. They live on 40 acres of prairie with a beautiful view in all directions. What a wonderful 3 day weekend we had with the Buschmanns eating, Barry's a wonderful cook, sightseeing, spending a wonderful day with their family coloring Easter eggs and having an Easter egg hunt. We have never felt so welcome!!

Chuck spent some time with Barry at a glider hanger watching the glider planes take off and land and while the Buschmann's family rode their dirt bikes on their homemade track, Chuck and Barry watched them have that fun.

Lorrie Buschmann

Barry Buschmann

Lorrie Buschmann

I can't believe I didn't get more pictures of their house and their gorgeous property and views! Lorrie, when you read this, send me some pix of your views and house!!

We had a marvelous marvelous time with our dear friends. We've known them since we, the 4 of us, were young and just dating. What memories we have and what fun we had catching up on what we've done over the last 40 years!

I'm going to take a picture of this wonderful gift they gave us but will have to do it later. You won't believe it! It was very hard saying good bye to my little sister. Thank you Lorrie and Barry for a wonderful time!

Sunday, March 13, 2011

2011-04-19T18:20:00.000-07:00

I found this in my list of posts and saw that it had never been posted.............so here it is. It's an oldie but a goodie.....maybe some of it has already been posted but since there's some photos here, I'll post it old or new....................................

Well, this time, it's only been 12 days since I last posted. Am I getting better about this? I have pretty good connectivity today so I really want to catch everyone up on what we've been doing.

St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner........check out these recipes:

http://www.bettycrocker.com/search/searchresults?sr=2&st=7&term=St.%20Patrick's%20Day%20recipes#/?term=St.%2BPatricks%2BDay%2Brecipes&pi=1&mr=20

Not everyone likes green beer. I think there's one or two there using Bailey's Irish Cream and there's a soda bread recipe! Think you have to scroll way down for that one.

Ok, so the last time I wrote it was March 1st. We were at the Rio Bend RV and Golf Resort and had been for about two weeks. My class went super well. Zumba was well received. The first class brought a lot of women that just wanted to see what it was all about. Seemed like there were about 14 dancing and a few watching. One class day I had 18 there! But 6-8 was about normal. The ladies seemed to be determined to learn the steps and it gave me the feeling they thought it was a dance class so I didn't ruin things for them and I didn't tell them that they were actually working out. One lady thought we danced to only about 5 songs! That is a great compliment being we we dance to 15 and stretch to the 16th! Sure made me feel good to think the time flew by for them.

We were workampers. Working and camping. Which we decided we didn't like doing so we lasted about a month and then just had to quit. I really really miss my class and the ladies I made friends with. The class meant a lot to me but Chuck working so hard made none of it worth it. And then they started working me in the kitchen which I really hated. It was something we wanted to try and do for a long time so now we tried it and found out workamping isn't for us.

The water tanks Chuck had to paint as part of his workamping duties.

golf course at Rio Bend

Rio Bend golf course

We loved El Centro. We found all 4 Burgers and Beer restaurants that are in the US. One in AZ, one in El Centro, CA and one in Palm Springs, CA. We tried them all. Wonderful restaurants with great food. We did a little sightseeing while here. I'll post some photos.

When we left Rio Bend and the El Centro area we headed for Banning, CA. That was the 10th. We had no idea this beautiful park was up in the mountains. Well, that's not entirely true. We knew it was at 3500 foot elevation but guess we didn't think how we would be getting up that high. It was something else. Gorgeous scenery and switchbacks but very very scary when you sit up so high in a motorhome.

We will be leaving this park, Silent Valley, tomorrow morning. I hate to tell you that I am so scared to drive down that mountain highway with those horrible switchbacks, so he's going to drive me down in the car and I'll wait for him to go back up and bring the motorhome down. Pray he makes it ok. He says I'm being silly.

Mountain highway up to Silent Valley RV Park

Another view of the Mountain Highway

We went up the mountain yesterday to the 6000 foot elevation to a little quaint town called Idllwild, CA. We loved spending the day going in and out all the little shops and seeing the artwork and crafts of the area. He bought a tshirt and we had a latte. Great warm day up there.

The day before we spent in town, Banning. We went to WalMart to restock the supplies and food.

This park has over 800 RV sites! It is so huge, they have a tram to take you to different parts of the park. Like the adult clubhouse, the lounge, the restaurant and either of the two swimming pools, or the store or maybe the shuffle board courts. It's not very busy this time of year. The restaurant seems to have some pretty good food but we haven't eaten there. We went for a nice long walk last night.

Silent Valley RV Park Restaurant, Lounge and store

Us at Silent Valley

Beautiful view while driving up the mountain

April 19, 2011 Tuesday

2011-04-19T12:17:00.000-07:00

I just added some links on the left for those interested in road conditions. I had always wanted to do this but kept forgetting so there are many many roads not commented on that I could have been doing. From time to time, I will update them.

Road to Green River, UT hwy 70

Road to Green River Hwy 70

Today we left Green River, CO. We stayed at Shady Acres RV Park and had planned going to dinner at a local restaurant but being we were on foot, we changed our minds when the wind started to blow and the skies turned dark with threatening clouds. We were on foot because he didn't want to disconnect the car from the RV. Not a hard task but not fun either when it was absolutely necessary that we go out to eat. It did get stormy out there so we were glad we didn't go. We would have been caught in the middle of it on the way home.

We had left St. George, or rather Harrisburg, UT yesterday morning a little early but we had over 200 miles to drive. We hadn't stopped for fuel since Bullhead City, AZ so didn't fill up till this morning to the tune of $299! The park wasn't expensive at about $35 for full hookup, cable TV and free wifi. But all winter long, we've been staying free or only $1 a night so this, even though sounds cheap, was hard to swollow.

The trip so far today has been uneventful traveling in and out of some beautiful scenery and even quite a long tunnel. It's starting to snow now at Arrowhead ski area. We're climbing all the time hoping to get over Vail pass today before the temps drop. The roads are very wet with flurries. Really pretty. Exit 168 on interstate 70.

We stopped for lunch, cheese, crackers, pickled herring, hummus, at a rest stop a little while back.

Vail Pass, CO

Snow collecting on windshield

Vail Pass, CO

Ok, going over Vail pass right now and it's snowing quite heavily with very wet roadways. Visability is pretty good but not perfect. Snow is building up on the windshield. I know many of you are sick of winter and would rather not see more snow but look at it this way, it's here and not there! It feels like Christmas. Do they ever have summer in Vail? Of course, it's only April.

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We have made it over the pass. The snow started sticking and was turning that dirty color but we trudged along till we made it over the top. It's pretty slow going but we're taking it easy. The RV seems to not mind the temps.

Highway 70 East through UT and CO

2011-04-19T11:45:00.000-07:00

We found Highway 70 from about 13 miles before Glenwood Springs, CO, the road was not the best. The scenery was gorgeous following the Colorado River and there was even a long tunnel but it was slow going and narrow for an interstate. For those 13 miles from mile post 120 to 133 there was no lane changing if you are over 13,000 pounds. Speeds were bout 45-50.

Highway 243 out of Banning, CA

2011-04-19T11:40:00.001-07:00

Highway 243 up to Silent Valley RV Park is quite a ride. Narrow with switchbacks but beautiful sights! A little scary for most. Many many RVers, big and small, have frequented this park. We saw other large motor homes as well as UPS trucks and semis traverse this road. A little bit too narrow for me.

California Hwy 40 going south

2011-04-19T11:20:00.000-07:00

From Barstow, CA to Needles, CA on highway 40 going South, the road was bad in the right lane. Most everyone, but RVers, drove in the left lane. We had to drive with out tires on the shoulder.

April 16, 2011

2011-04-16T16:07:00.000-07:00

I might repeat some of the information I already posted so bear with me. Does it really matter anyway?

March 28th at 9am we left Rio Bend RV and Golf Park and headed for Bullhead City, AZ. We were at Ridgeview in BHC in January and returning now. It's where I showed the ladies Zumba but didn't really teach a class. Anyway we've driven 2494 miles since we left home at this point.

The two weeks we spent in BHC were nice. It wasn't quite so windy this time and I was so busy with my jewelry and the internet, Zumba, etc. I only played cards a couple times. The ladies at this park are really really nice. It's really considered the end of the season so lots of the ladies I knew were already gone; heading home.

We did go to one casino but didn't win anything. We ate out quite abit and loved Buffalo Wings. We went there a couple times. There's still lots of construction going on through Casino Drive, just FYI. We only made it to the VFW once and had planned to go back to eat on a Saturday night but never made it back. We've become such home bodies, really. I attended one Zumba class which wasn't one I liked so I didn't go back. I just practiced and made up a couple routines on my own at home.

A couple we met in Texas last year happened to pull in beside us. What a small world, huh? This is happening more and more. We went to dinner with them once.

April 11th we left BHC heading for Harrisburg, UT. We thought it was St. George, then was told the park was in Hurricane, UT but it's actually, Harrisburg. We stopped for fuel; $267. We left BHC about 7:30am and arrived at this park at about 2:30 (3:30 mountain time so we lost an hour) What a nice little park. We had heard it was a bit run down but it has new owners and it's excellent! The clubhouse looks brand new and the park is well maintained. The pool is huge but we're not really pool people so we haven't tried it. There was cinnamon rolls and coffee in the clubhouse along with a craft sale this morning. Last night was live music, free to us, and tonight is a meatloaf dinner with all the fixings for $6.00 each with live entertainment at no extra charge.

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Harrisburg, UT RV Park

Harrisburg RV park. Us facing you.

First we went to Silver Reef across the road which is an old mining town and the first place where silver was found in sandstone. There's only one place in the United States where silver is found in sandstone and this is the place. The old Wells Fargo Bank is still standing. If you're interested, here's a couple link to learn more about this old mining town. We loved it and found it quite interesting. It's just across the road from where we're staying. http://www.utahtravelcenter.com/cities/silverreef/history.htm http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ut-silverreef.html

Then we took a day trip to Kolob Canyon. What a wonderful drive. Lots of scenic beauty and lots and lots of hiking trails. Here's some links to this part of the Zion Nat'l Park: http://www.utah.com/nationalparks/zion/kolob_canyons.htm OR http://www.utah.com/nationalparks/zion/kolob_canyons.htm

Kolob Canyon, UT

The next day out we went to Zion National Park. The drive is so beautiful and from April through October, I think it is, there are no cars allowed beyond the Information Center. You hop a shuttle that runs continuously all day every 10 minutes. There's several of them going up. There's approximately 8 stops along the way and you can hop on and hop off anytime you want to see the different formations at those points.

Zion National Park

Links for this park: http://www.nps.gov/zion/index.htm AND http://www.utah.com/nationalparks/zion.htm

If you ever travel out this way, these parks are a must. A little spendy at $25 a day but we had a senior pass which got us into all the National Parks for free. It's so nice that the Gov't didn't close down or we would have missed these beautiful parks.

The next time out we went to Bryce Canyon. We had to travel back through Zion National Park to get there and traveled through a mile long tunnel. Link: http://www.eastziontourismcouncil.org/zion-tunnel-escort.htm

The park is so completely different from Zion Nat'l Park. There is a shuttle in this park, too, but it isn't running as early in the year as Zion Nat'l Park.

1 mile tunnel

We stopped for a late lunch at Ruby's Inn. Quit a bit of history there, too. http://www.rubysinn.com/. Here's some photos of the canyon.

Bryce Canyon, UT

Top of the World

Bryce Canyon, UT

Red Rock Canyon, UT on the way out of Bryce Canyon

Red Rock Canyon, UT

Hope you enjoyed the photos.........more next time. Tomorrow, the 17th and it's a work day as we leave bright and early Monday morning for heading north into Colorado.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

2011-04-14T11:05:00.000-07:00

I found a post, see the date above, that I thought I posted but it didn't get posted because I needed to add photos and THAT didn't get done. So here is the post from March 27th.
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Happy Belated Birthday to Randy!! His birthday was the 26, I think it was. Coming up is Tyler's 18th birthday on April 13th, and Jack's 37th birthday on the 27th! (Since then Happy Birthday to Tyler, yesterday)

To catch up to-to-date, we left Rio Bend RV and Golf Resort on the 10th of March. Boy, we felt bad bailing on them but we just couldn't do it any longer. It was a definite learning experience for us. We learned we are NOT workampers. Such easy work but you have that "employee" feeling and that's what we retired away from. What were we thinking? At least I got a month of teaching Zumba experience under my belt. That was the best part.

The park had a Mardi Gras parade and potluck but we really didn't attend. The music was supplied by a DJ and CDs but wouldn't play anything anyone wanted and couldn't veer off from his line up for some reason. We left when the polkas started. I have to say the people were very friendly there at that park and for the most part we had a good time. I think my last post had some pictures of the park.

I got to attend a Zumbathon at the Riverview Mall in El Centro.

The day we left was a hot day in the desert - 88 degrees but when we left it was a comfortable 73 degrees.

We headed for Silent Vally, CA up there in elevation about at the 3500 foot level. The road up was really really scary! Switchbacks on my side of the road for the most part and when they were on his, you know he sits on the opposite side so when he was on the outter lane he was still inside so wasn't looking over the canyon below. There were guard rails, sure, but we sit up so high they wouldn't do you much good. I was a nervous wreck and really hated it.

Silent Valley RV Park

Trip up the mountain to Idyllwild, CA

Road up to Silent Valley

It really is a beautiful park but I didn't sleep to well knowing we had to make that scary trip down the mountain. One day, in the car, we made a trip up farther to Idyllwild, CA and it was a really nice day. Lots of little shops there and quite quaint.

The last day, so I didn't have to ride down that mountain with him, he drove me down the mountain to a Zumba class. Then he went back up, hooked up the car and drove down. I met him at the bottom after class. Worked out really well and being in class took my mind off worrying about him driving that horrible road.

March 1, 2011 Tuesday

2011-03-01T19:25:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe how fast the time just flies by! I did not mean to wait so long before posting again!! Where does the time go, yet it doesn't seem like it when you're living it.

We rolled into El Centro, CA Rio Bend RV and Golf Resort right on time and were welcomed very warmly. I have to say I was proud to say "I'm here! The Zumba instructor has arrived!" We chose our site, Chuck couldn't have picked one farther away from the clubhouse, we're in site 390 which is about 3-4 blocks from where the Zumba class is held. Oh well, I can drive the car up there. Which I do.

We walked around the park and drove around the area the first couple days and then met with the manager on Monday the 15th, think it was. Chuck got his assignment and we figured out the best time to hold Zumba classes. I wasn't given much choice: 1pm or 2pm Wed and Fri........I didn't like either but at least I could sleep in! LOL We decided on 1pm since it could be cooler at that time than 2pm. Could be.

Chuck's assignment was painting!!! I thought, "Oh boy, this is not good!" And it wasn't. He spent his first three working days painting! He is NOT a painter and completely hated it. I had to go in to the office and tell them that it's just not working out. I couldn't stand to see Chuck going off at 8am three days a week to paint...........it was painting the water tower!! Can you believe that? He was miserable! The saying that if Mom ain't happy, ain't nobody happy, isn't just a Mom saying, believe me! When I told them, it wasn't working and that we'd have to be leaving, they wouldn't let us.

They offered Chuck a job in security.......which is what he applied for, duh! The only thing is we work different days now. Me, Monday 8am Zumba class, Wdnesday 1pm Zumba class, and Friday 1pm Zumba class while he's working Friday, Saturday and Sunday 10-4pm! I think that's enough time off together.....most of Monday, all of Tuesday, most of Wednesday and all of Thursday. It's just that my 1pm class kind of ruins the whole day. Chuck is being such a wonderful sport in doing this for me so I can teach Zumba. My passion and my love and hey, I've lost 7 pounds!!!! What a guy, huh? He seems to like this work better but really, would rather not be working at all and that will be the stipulation next time. You learn the hard way sometimes.

We've been to town, El Centro, several times. They have a wonderful mall and lots of strip malls. What more can you ask for? They have two theaters but the closest casino is 40 miles away!! We spent Valentines days there playing the slots and we had dinner. One day we went to Sonny Bono Wildlife Preserve and went back to Slab City. We were there last year. We had lunch at our favorite restaurant in Niland, CA. A tiny tiny little town that even has a Zumba class three times a week!!

Saturday, the 26th, I attended a Zumbathon at the Imperial Mall!! What a fabulous Zumbathon! Zumba is International Latin rhythm dances and what better place to experience Latin dancing. About 99% of the population here are Latinos from Mexico. The ladies here are amazing dancers. There had to be at least 15 instructorsat the Zumbathon, we all didn't get a chance to lead a routine, and there were around 75-100 dancers! A Zumbathon this year is for the American Heart Association.

Rio Bend RV and Gold Resort

This is the Rio Bend Office and behind this building is the Cafe where I hold the Zumba classes

This is looking out the left side of the RV

El Centro is in the valley. There's is lots of agriculture around here with beef being their number one and lettuce number 2 product produced here.

The RV sites across from us, looking out the front, is the last row of sites in this park. I think there are 500 sites here with many that live here fulltime.

Salvation Mountain in Slab City, CA

across the street from where we had lunch in Niland, CA. See the donkeys hitched up in front of the corner store?

Red Rock Marina at Salton Sea. A real sea that is saltier than the ocean but is evaporating at a fast rate. There is no outlet or inlet to the sea.......only rain water feeds it. The framers around the area grow grasses just for the water fowl, which I should have taken a picture of, but didn't.

There's Chuck again with the Salton Sea in the background.

Oh this is our new rugs we bought while in Yuma

This is the Zumbathon, Party Hearty, in the Imperial Mall Food Court.

What a truly fun fun day. 2 hours of dancing.

More later...............

2011-02-09T17:49:00.000-08:00

February 9, 2011 Wednesday

We arrived at Pilot Knob RV park on the 1st as scheduled. The weather has been wonderful while here so far with just a few windy days and only a couple chilly days. Chilly here is 50 degrees. We're lucky to not have the freezing temps our family and friends are experiencing in WA, MT and MN.

Since coming here, we've been to the casino about twice. That's not like us at all but the plan was to meet some friends there on Super Bowl Sunday to watch the game so we went over early to get our players card. Well, you aren't given $10 to play with without playing with it! LOL We did just that, lost it in about two hours and then went on home.

We wound up not meeting at the casino for the game but had our friends come over here. The day was beautiful so we sat outside for awhile till the sun was shining on the TV screen and the game was at half-time. What a game, huh?

We met with these friends on Monday in Algadones, Mexico for lunch. We picked up a few more RXs and more alcohol and had another wonderful day in Mexico. We picked up a couple tshirts for Ethan, some cigs for Jack and a little bracelet for Ethan's sister.

I've been beading bracelets when I can and enjoying learning new stitches and techniques. I went to a beading class in the clubhouse both Weds we've been here. I haven't been to the clubhouse for any card games because I'm too busy beading or practicing Zumba.

We'll be loading up and getting ready to leave tomorrow. We leave on Friday morning for El Centro, CA and Rio Bend RV and Golf Resort where we'll do some workamping. I'll be teaching Zumba fitness and Chuck will put in 18 hours a week helping in the security department and/or maintenance. We'll be there through the end of March. We are really looking forward to all the benefits that come with our easy work. Should be fun.

Will come back and update when more happens and maybe I'll have some photos then. I keep forgetting to bring my camera when we go someplace.

January 30 2011 Sunday

2011-01-30T16:21:00.000-08:00

Excuse my typing..........I have no comma on this keyboard anymore.

The last time I posted was about January 15th and here it is the 30th. I said I wasn't going to wait so long but then our travels really haven't been all that interesting anyway.

Don't remember what was posted last or where we were or what we did but to refresh your memory.......I played lots of cards in Bullhead City AZ at the Parkview RV Park and taught a few Zumba classes. We ate at a few too many buffets and got buffeted out! You saw our day in Oatman with the little donkeys and our day at Hoover Dam.

January 19th we left Bullhead City (a total of 1604 miles from home) and drove 50 miles to Parker and back to Emerald Cove RV park. We only spent about 6 nights there. That's where we were at Christmas and New Years and where we were when we visited Hoover Dam. Our next stop was in Quartzsite AZ dry camping in the desert.

Colorado River Emerald Cove RV Park.

closeup of a wall in the Oatman Hotel restaurant

Oatman Hotel restaurant where we had lunch

We pulled into our favorite BLM desert camping area called Plamosa about 2pm and found the perfect spot! We met our neighbors....Richard and Karen from WI......We went to the Grubsteak where Phyllis and Stan told us to go when we were visiting with them in Parker AZ......we met them 3 years ago at an RV show in Tacoma and finally met up with them on the road this year. The second night we went back to the Grubsteak with Richard and Karen. That night we had a campfire under a beautiful star filled sky. The next night we had another campfire with Richard and Karen and their neighbor Chuck and Terry from CA. The weather was great the whole time we were there. 70s for sure every day and sunny warm. Think yesterday was supposed to be 80. (1642 miles driven so far) We went to the Big Tent RV show looking for rugs but didn't find anything we liked.

Quartzsite BLM land...pick up truck is our friends Richard and Karen

Across the road in the BLM land area

January 29th

We decided to leave Q and head to Tucson to pick up some lounge chairs we bought from a man selling them on an Alfa yahoo group. Couldn't go wrong paying just $50 each. The plan was to head to Tucson...pick up the chairs....spend the night and the next day head to Yuma. mileage when we left....23396 at 7:20 am. It was a long trip so we left early. While on the road...Richard called to tell us he found a set of our keys!!! Ok...change of plans. We got the chairs...which are wonderful BTW....and headed back to Q instead of spending the night in Tucson and went back to Quartzsite for our keys. Only about 100 miles out of our way......2148 driven so far.

Tonight we're in the RV Peddler lot....not completely dry caming as we have water and sewer this time. Early in the morning they are going to check our jacks for us and see what's wrong with the dash panel......there's nothing wrong with the jacks.

February 1st we're scheduled to be in Yuma at Pilot Knob RV park and just a few miles from Algadones Mexico.

Will write more then.

Feb 12th the plan is to be in El Centro CA at the Rio Bend RV and Golf Resort in El Centro CA. I am going to teach Zumba there through the end of March.

2011-01-15T14:52:00.000-08:00

January 7, 2011

Hoover Dam Nevada and Arizona border

Construction of Hoover Dam began in 1931 and the last concrete poured was in 1935. Hoover Dam is multi purposed. It was used and is used for flood control, storage and delivery of waters for reclamation of public lands and other beneficial uses. The water storage and river control provides downstream projects to enable residents of the Southwest to irrigate million acres of some of America's richest crop lands and nearly half a million acres in Mexico. These lands grow a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, cotton and hay throughout the year, generating millions of dollars for local economies.

It supples the water needs for more than 20 million people in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Tucson and other southwester cities, towns and Indian communities in Arizona, Nevada and California.

Not to mention the low cost hydroelectric power for use in those three states. Hoover Dam alone generates more than 4 billion kilowatt hours a year which is enough to serve 1.3 million people.

This project was originally estimated to cost $165 million and was repaid with interest to the Federal Treasury through the sale of Hoover Dam power.

What we learned was that they worked 24 hours a day 363 days a year. They got 2 vacation days a year and it took only the 4 years to build. It measures 726.4' high, 45 feet across at the bottom and 1244 feet across at the top. It took 3.25 million cubic yards of concrete. The first shift of the day poured a layer, the second shift moved the slips up and so on and so on. The wall was built in massive blocks.

Lake Meade side of the dam

Turbines

You can see the size of the turbines....see the man walking down below?

Turbine building one on each side. The one you see is on the AZ side and the one in the bottom of the picture, you see just the roof, is on the Nevada size of the river.

Colorado River

Bridge dedicated to Pat Tillman, killed in action and O'Callahan, a politician

We walked across this bridge........actually about halfway across. Quite scary! It's also a highway so traffice no longer has to drive over the dam.

January 13, 2011

Then we spent a day at the Golden Nugget Casino. There was a chili cook-off in the parking lot.

We went to Joe's Crack Shack's seafood buffet that day and eat ourselves silly! We ate all the crab, shrimp, mussels, clams that we wanted. We waddled out of there and played the slots till about 5:30pm that evening still feeling stuffed with too much food! We lost, just in case you're interested, but we never bet more than $20 or so.

Looking towards the clubhouse (red brick on the building) from our front window.

Looking to the right out our front window

Friends from Billings visited us....their rig across the street from us.

Diane and Dick Emmons, Billings, MT
We've been friends for 40 years!! It was awesome to spend 3 days with them.

January 15, 2011 Saturday

Our GPS took us on this road to Oatman, AZ today. Can you say "cheap GPS"? don't buy cheap! 11 miles of this crap!

Chuck feeding the donkeys

they just keep begging and will come up to you and grab the bag of carrots if you're not careful

Baby about 3 weeks old

Oatman, AZ where dockeys rule!! This is Route 66 that you see here.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring! Stay tuned for more updates in a couple days!

We are having a wonderful time this year. The weather has been a little colder than normal but we're expecting 70 degree days this coming week.

Don't know if I mentioned, but I teach Zumba in the clubhouse on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and attended a class last week, Zumba toning, on Thursday. I will be going to a class on Tuesday, a regular Zumba.

I've been playing pokeno and 65 in the clubhouse in the afternoons and evenings but for a few days I had a cold and didn't do much. That was before our Hoover Dam outing.

2011-01-11T21:28:00.000-08:00

December 26, 2010

Colorado River

I tried to update the blog about a week ago but it wasn't working properly so I got really behind.

We spent a day on the Colorado River in our little portabote. That was fun and as you can see the water was calm, it wasn't sunny but it wasn't cold either.


Emerald Cove RV Park

Emerald Cove is where we were staying. And this picture is of one of the river channels.

We found the VFW in Parker and spent some time there the Tuesday before New Years. Then we went back New Years Eve to hear the karaoke and music but it was all over by 8pm so we went back to our park and listened to the karaoke there till about 10pm. Just couldn't make it till midnight! On Sunday they had what they call a meat draw where you buy chances to win meat. Every half hour you buy tickets for the next draw and they did it about 6 times. We won a free lunch, two free drinks, a free breakfast, 2 whole chickens, a bottle of sparkling champagne and ham hocks and beans for soup! It was an awful lot of fun.

While at this park, we went to the show Christmas day to see True Grit and went one other time to see The Little Fockers. We spent that one day on the river, lots of relaxing time watching TV, reading and I did some beading.

We left the park on January 5th and headed to Bullhead City, AZ which is where we are today, the 11th of January.


New Years Eve at the VFW in Parker, AZ

January 11, 2010 Tuesday

It's been pretty windy in Bullhead City but it always is. We did have two beautiful days with no wind and lots of sun. Warm weather, in the 70s, is supposed to be coming.

I teach a Zumba class on Tuesdays and Thursday mornings but have been down with a cold so didn't make it today, the 11th. I should be able to get back to teaching on Thursday.

Some good friends from Billings arrived on Monday. They are just starting out learning how to travel this way in their 28' 5th wheel. We went out to dinner at the China Buffet and got caught up on all the Billings gossip. Today they went off to WalMart and check out a car museum while we went to the post office to get our mail. It's been so awesome to see Diane. We've been friends for 40 years!

It's sad but tomorrow our friends leave for Quartzsite, AZ. We'll be heading down there in a few days and are supposed to meet up with them again for the Big Tent show, which is an RV show.

Jack Ass Flats golf course at the RV park

Emerald Cove RV Park, Earp, CA


Emerald Cove RV Park Earp, CA

More next time.................Tomorrow we're going to check out Hoover Dam and Friday we want to drive up to Las Vegas for the day.

December 25, 2010 Saturday Christmas Day

2010-12-25T19:45:00.000-08:00

December 21st we were in Daggett, CA at the Desert Springs RV Park We had supper in the little bar and grill that is on the park grounds. Fun little place with really good burgers. Cost for the night was $27.00. Nice clean park.

When we left Daggett on the 22nd it was raining. It had rained all night and we heard there were mudslides and flooding in California and in AZ where we were heading. We also heard they were expecting hail to come through Daggett so we left earlier than expected to stay ahead of the bad weather.


Road to Earp, CA This is probably the worst of the flooding we saw.


their drain system, called a wash. You can see there's no flooding here either

We fueled up in Daggett, CA $270 and had driven 1169 miles from home.

This first video is driving into Parker, AZ

This video is driving into the Emerald Cove RV Park.

We arrived Emerald Cove RV Park right on schedule. $165 for 14 nights. Can you imagine what a hotel would cost? We spent the day setting up, relaxed, enjoyed the warm weather and went to bed late. They go by AZ time here and we were still on WA time.

The 23rd, we were up as usual; the day was bright and sunny. Went to a b o r i n g line dancing class but what do you expect after Zumba? Met a couple ladies interested in Zumba-ing with me on Monday. We'll see if they show up. I think I'll go to a Zumba class in Lake Havasu City in the evening on Monday.

Anyway, Chuck washed the car and RV while I was gone.

24th - We took a ride to Quartzsite, AZ to figure out where we'll boondock (that's camping with no services) in January. We're meeting some Billings friends there around the middle of January. We found an RV parts store open and bought a couple items he needed. It was a beautifully sunny day for a ride and about 69 degrees.

Called and talked to Pat, Chris, Penny and Brian to wish them all a Merry Christmas.

25th Merry Christmas!!

Another beautiful sunny warm day! We drove back to Lake Havasu City (about 35 miles) to see the movie True Grit. A very interesting version of the old movie. We both liked it and ate too much popcorn. We love movies and have been watching a few more here at home today.

Highway 95 south going through Lk Havasu City

Parker Dam near our RV park

looking through fencing on top of Parker Dam

Got to talk to my favorite son!! Jen is in Canada skiing so can't call her. I really enjoyed talking to family Christmas eve and our son, Jack, today.

Tomorrow I will probably have to catch up on some laundry. We always start our Sunday with coffee and the Sunday paper.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

December 20, 2010

2010-12-20T12:05:00.000-08:00

Tri Mountain RV Park, Ridgefield, WA
December 16, 2010

RV Park of Portland, December 17 and 18, 2010 Actually Tualatin, OR

December 18th, when we were in Tigard, OR, I attended a Zumba fitness workshop and am now officially an instructor. Had the very best time ever but how could I not. The energy in that room was amazing!

Gina Grant, Zumba Instructor and one of the originals

December 19th we left the Tirgard/Tualatin, OR area and headed south on I 5, Sunday morning. It was sunny but pretty cold by our standards.

At this point, we've driven 177 miles from Lake Sawyer RV Park in Maple Valley, WA

We were pretty worried about the mountain pass on the OR CA border called the Siskiyous but they turned out to be warm, slushy and not so bad. We wanted to get through there as we heard another front was coming through bringing lots of moisture.

We drove as far as we could after getting over the mountains but it turned out to be dark by the time we got to the RV park for the night. Not the best park.

This park might have been avoided if we had found it in the daylight. Not our usual RV park choice but hey, it was dark and we were tired and it was raining.

looking out our side window


Looking out to the right from our windshield. Can anyone say "Ma and Pa Kettle"?

It's actually run by some really nice men, very friendly and I think in the summertime, it would be a great place to go fishing and sightseeing. But a good lesson on how not to choose an RV park in the dark.

We left this morning heading to Gustine, CA and had to stop for fuel and coffee. Fuel was $274.00 but we drove 389 miles since leaving Lk Sawyer, Maple Valley, WA

We love these truckstops! They have everything! Even showers! They really cater to the trucker nicely and the coffee is super strong and wonderful!

TA (Travel America) Truckstop, Redding, CA

We will be getting to our next stop we hope before dark but this next park has a website, be a little leery if they don't. Last night the Trail In had no web site. The website looks super nice and clean. www.santanellarvpark.com

December 17, 2010 Friday

2010-12-17T10:47:00.000-08:00

It's 10:40 am and we're leaving Ridgefield, Wa heading to Tualatin or Portland RV Park. Tuallatin, Portland and Tigard all kind of run together.

The sun is shining and it's such a pretty day. It was a little cold last night and there was frost on the car windows.

We had an amazing meatloaf dinner at Jen's last night, Grandpa got to spend some quality time with his grandsons while Jen and I were at her Zumba class. She is an amazing instructor and should be very successful! Her partner, too, they work very well together and compliment each other. You wouldn't even know those two were new instructors........very professional and had an amazing class. Thank you Jen and Tanya.

We're about ready to hit the road..........more later.

Tomorrow is the big day but I don't want to talk about it or think about it.

December 16, 2010

2010-12-16T11:36:00.000-08:00

Left Lake Sawyer RV Park about 9am. Cloudy but yet sunny and a bit cold.

Stopped in Fife for fuel: $220 to fill up which will get us to the CA border. Should have to fill up at least two more times. We use diesel which costs a bit more than regular.

Lots of semis on the road but about the normal amount. Then, of course, they disappear when you take a picture! Still sunny at mile marker 44 on I 5 South.

Pixie and Frank love to travel!!

Will be there real soon at Tri Mountain RV Park in Ridgefield. Will give Jen a call so we know when she's home to go over there. It's 11:36 am right now.

Heading South in the AM

2010-12-15T10:30:00.000-08:00

Gifts are bought, packages wrapped and mailed, tanks are full, prescriptions filled, that's important you know, tires are checked, GPS loaded with necessary park info, mail taken care of, bills paid, chassis checked, seeyas said and we're ready to roll!

We leave sometime in the morning tomorrow heading to Ridgefield, WA (Tri Mountain RV Park) to see Jen and I'll take in one of her new Zumba fitness classes tomorrow night. We'll say our "seeyas" and be on the road again Friday morning heading to Portland. (RVPark of Portland)

Tigard, Or is our destination for a workshop on Saturday for me and then we'll leave Tigard Sunday morning.

We'll be going south on I5 and will be listening to the weather to make sure the Siskiyous are passable and if not, we'll cut over to the coast and take Hwy 101 south.

Pictures coming soon!

2010-12-14T14:36:00.000-08:00

New Update!

Picture of the desolate Lake Sawyer Park

Taken out our kitchen window

We leave Lake Sawyer RV Park on Thursday, today is Tuesday, (see my last post for our schedule for the next few months) and will head south to Ridgefield, WA and we'll be staying at Tri Mountain RV Park in Ridgefield right on I 5 and about 5 minutes from Jen!

I'll take in her Zumba class Thursday night, say our goodbyes, and we'll leave for Tigard, OR. Friday morning. We'll stay at the RV Park of Portland for two nights, leaving Tigard, OR. on Sunday morning.

The weather has been really weird with a tornado in Salem, OR. today, just 100 miles south of Jen. Last night we had winds that blew in every direction and the whole park has been without power since 1am last night. Good thing we have a healthy generator.

We can't wait to get out of this weird weather. We've been known to take the rain with us, however, so let's hope we don't this time.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone. I won't be getting Christmas cards sent out this year!

2010-12-07T22:21:00.000-08:00

Update

December 7 and 8 - take the motorhome to Frieghtliner for a safety inspection

December 16 - leave Black Diamond and stop by Jen's in Ridgefield, WA

December 17 - leave Ridgefield, Wa and arrive Tigard, OR

December 18 - Zumba workshop

December 19 - leave Tigard and head south through California
and cut across at Bakersfield

December 22 - arrive Earp, CA Emerald Cove RV Park - our favorite park
Christmas dinner and New Year's Eve party, karaoke in the bar

December 25 - Merry Christmas

January 1 - Happy New Year

January 5 - leave Earp, Ca arrive Bull Head City, AZ

Januray 19 - leave Bull Head City, AZ arrive Quartzsite, AZ
Dry camping (boondocking) for 1 week. Take in the BIG TENT RV show, meet friends from Billings, MT

January 31 - leave Quartzsite, AZ arrive Winterhaven, CA Pilot Knob RV Park
have lunch and shopping in Algadones, Mexico a few times (this is where we went into Mexico with the Missionaries last year)

February 1 - 15th - leave Winterhaven, CA arrive Casa Grande, AZ

February 15 - 22 Casa Grande, AZ leave and head ??????

Might not get into Texas this year as we think we'd rather go west and spend some time in southern California

This is all tentative right now but hopefully will work out this way.

We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

2010-11-30T13:08:00.000-08:00

Fulltime RV Travel blog will become active again soon!

Here's an update on our winter travels for 2010-2011.

Week of December 12 - taking the rig to Freightliner to have it inspected for the road

December 17th - leaving Lake Sawyer RV Park and the Maple Valley area

December 17th - arrive Tigard, Oregon

December 18th - Zumba workshop

December 19th - leave Tigard, Oregon and head south.

We're heading towards Earp, CA and hopefully will be there around December 22nd at the Emerald Cove RV Park. That's my favorite park where I first sang karaoke.

Stay tuned for more updates.

2010-09-22T08:39:00.000-07:00

RV Travel Fun Update for family and friends

Thought I'd answer your question: aren't you going south this winter? Sorry to say the answer for now anyway, is no. Chuck has taken a part time job which suddenly turned into a full time job when another sales person quit. He committed to a full year but keeps saying he can quit any time he wants. He seems to be enjoying being needed and getting back into the HVAC world. The income isn't bad either.

Jack has a full time job himself finally. He'll start his new job on Monday, the 27th, as a Trailer Mechanic for a company in Renton. He's very excited about that.

I don't do too much to keep busy. Having trouble with the transition of being a retired wife with a retired husband to a retired wife all by herself but I've never had trouble before so it shouldn't be long and I'll be finding fun things to do again. Right now, with Christmas coming, I'm working on what to make for who. Anyone want to go to lunch?

It's About Time I Update This Blog for the Family !!

2010-09-08T19:34:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd spend some time updating our travel blog because we have 11 followers, mostly family I think, that are probably wondering what we've been up to since returning back to the Great NW.

We spent a few weeks in Black Diamond, WA at the Lake Sawyer RV Park when we arrived in April. While there, I went down to Jen's to spend time with the boys. I must say teenagers are different but actually these guys are very easy to supervise. I loved spending time with them and my time with them went way to fast. In fact, I haven't been back down there since and I'm ashamed to admit that.

When I got back home to our area, Chuck had moved the motorhome to the RV park in Sumner, WA. Seemed strange to leave from one park and then come home and find your home in another park. We really love the little community of Sumner but the rent just got way to expensive for us. The rent went up and we had to pay for electricity. I know, boo hoo, everyone has to pay for electricity. But that's not true. We don't in the park we're in now.

While in Sumner, we did lots of walking. The little town has very beautiful with old quaint homes and lots of sidewalks and places to walk. Just one little mile away was shopping and restaurants! We were walking 100 miles a month while there!

I found a Zumba class just blocks from the park and spent a month going to classes. I really really miss that class and the girls. If you've never tried Zumba fitness, make sure it's the basic class not the gold when you do...... you won't believe how much fun those classes are. You won't believe how fast the time goes so you're never watching the clock wondering when you can go home. It's awesome and one day I WILL return to a Zumba class someplace. It wasn't easy to leave the girls and all my friends there. An instructor actually cried when we said good bye and she gave me a Zumba Tshirt!

We spent 3 great months in Sumner, WA and we really miss it. Not the park but Sumner. The park doesn't have a clubhouse and everyone seems to work, so there was no socializing for me and I kind of got bored.

When they decided to raise our rent $75 a month, we decided that we just couldn't do that. That would make our rent over $500 a month including ele. $500! That's a huge chunk out of our fixed income.

Back to Lake Sawyer and Black Diamond we went on August 1st. I love it here but it took Chuck some time to get used to not having good reliable power. We only have 30 amps here, whatever that means, but we do pop a breaker now and then when the heat pump comes on. The walking isn't as good around here but there's still plenty of good destinations. Just not as safe and no sidewalks like Sumner. We have to walk along a highway but there is a bike lane so the shoulders are nice and wide and there's the beautiful lake! We now live in a very wooded setting like camping! You can't dislike this area at all.

Just a couple miles away is great shopping........well, I should say a few not a couple, but there's grocery shopping, banks, restaurants, Pier 1, Dollar Tree, drug stores, health clubs with Zumba classes, HOme Depot, and the cutest little town of Black Diamond only 2 miles away. I found a Zumba class there but it was a gold class and much, way too much too easy. I didn't even break a sweat!

This park is part of our membership park system so we only pay about $175 a month AND FREE electricity! We pay nothing else. No water, gas, electricity, garbage bills! Nothing! Peak season ends on the 15th so we pay only $1 a night for three weeks instead of two and then $150 for the 4th week instead of the 3rd. We have a little grassy spot, a picnic table and a place to park the cars. What more can you ask for?

I've been spending lots of time in the clubhouse working jigsaw puzzles with my friends. We have taco Tuesday and eggs, bacon and pancakes on Saturday morning. I think all this ends soon with the coming of fall, though. I love working on the puzzles, having a cup of coffee and spending time with my friends. Many will be leaving, heading south for the winter soon so I'll be alone again except for any travelers that come and go during the winter. I've made so many friends it's wonderful; hard to say good bye but wonderful.

A couple friends I met last year at this park and on the internet have returned one last time just recently. We would normally see them in AZ or TX but we're not heading south this year.

You're probably wondering why we're not going south for the winter. Well, we decided to stick around, help Jack out a little, be some support for him, be home for the holidays, save a little nest egg and then head south next year with lots of extra spending money! Chuck was hired part time at his old office which was going to work out perfectly but their only sales person in Tacoma quit so they asked him to work full time. He thinks he can do it for awhile but not sure he wants to commit to long term. We'll see what happens. It seems funny (weird) to be home alone all day again.

Forgot to mention that in June we spent two weeks at the ocean. We went to Copalis Beach, near Ocean Shores, and had a fabulous time. (in the RV) We had many walks on the beach, went to town shopping and eating. We had an old old friend come visit us. We found a guy that Chuck went to Dunwoody with way back in the early 60s on Facebook and we found out he was in the Portland area so on his way east, he stopped by to spend an night with us in Copalis Beach. We had a great time reminiscing. We hope to see him and little Boe, his tiny little dog, again next year when he's out this way.

Speaking of Boe, it was real interesting when it came time to bring Boe into the RV with our two cats. They spent their time in the bedroom. Frank was scared to death!

Well, that's really about all the news and it should catch everyone up. I will try to post more often when there's actually something to tell you. Maybe I'll get some pictures taken.

2010-04-13T10:19:00.000-07:00

Left Sundance, WY a few days ago and headed for Billings, MT. We stayed at a park towards the east end or at least on the east side of downtown Billings. The park was Village Trailer RV Park and was really nice with paved roads and level sites. It was small but the sites were generous.

We visited with my long time friend Diane Emmons and her husband. They had us over for burgers and salads and lots of "catching up" chat. Dick, her husband is really into old cars that he builds and shows. He's built a 1932 and a 1934 car but don't ask what kind. One was black and one yellow. Beautiful cars. They still own a chevy convertible that they've had since they got married. They're in their 60s, too, so they've had that car for a long long time and it has very few miles on it and is in pristine condition as all their cars are. He's obsessed! But was a great hobby. They travel around showing their cars and have many tropheys. We hope to meet up with them in AZ next winter.

Then we spent Sunday driving around our old stomping grounds and saw all the places we used to live. Wow! that's 40 years ago we moved there! There was a lot to see from the houses we rented and bought along with the churches where the kids were baptized. Such good memories but scary to think it's been so long ago.

We spent the rest of the day getting ready to leave on Monday. We heard the weather was changing for the worse in Red Lodge so we didn't take the RV up there. Chuck drove up early Monday morning and got the new tabs for the RV and came right back so we could get on the road. We wanted to get as many miles behind us as we could. Now we'll be pulling into Covington a day early but I am happy about that since I need to drive down to Jen's on the 16th.

We spent last night, Monday night, at rest stop 242 in Washington on the west side of Spokane. We wanted to get beyond Spokane to avoid the morning traffic. We were on the road by 8:30 or so. It was raining but it didn't rain hard or for long. We're about 109 miles from Seattle right now so getting closer and closer to home all the time.

We'll be at Lake Sawyer RV Park till May 1st when we'll move back to the River Park in Sumner, WA. Funny feeling to be back where it all started. We should be here through the summer and will make a decision then as to where we'll be going this fall and winter. There's so much yet to see in California and we never got to Colorado or Utah.

We traveled through about 16 states and stayed at 23 different parks. What a great winter we had.

2010-04-09T09:13:00.000-07:00

Mountain View RV Park and Campground was wonderful!

We spent the night at this little park in Sundance, WY. Guess I told you. It was a chilly night but we just cranked up the heat and were snug as a bug in a rug.

We were on the road by 8:20 this morning and it has been uneventful so far. Nice to travel through areas we've traveled through so many times over all the years we've lived in Montana and Washington.

We're just a few miles out of Buffalo, WY right now and went through a little squal......snow and blowing snow but poof, it's done gone.

Just had coffee and another Wall Drug donut! Only one left! Oh no!

2010-04-08T17:10:00.000-07:00

Getting settled in in Sundance, WY at Mountain View RV park and campgrounds. Awesome place!

We here and settled for the night. A pizza is in the oven and we'll have a good night's sleep. We opted for Sundance instead of Gillette because the wind kicked up and made it difficult to drive. This is a really nice park and the owners are exceptionally kind and friendly.

This is much easier to keep posting this way then waiting a few days. But then, I don't have any pictures, either.

We'll be leaving bright and early in the morning and heading for Billings.

2010-04-08T14:57:00.000-07:00

Wall Drug, SD donuts ROCK! Bought 1/2 dozen......2 chocolate, 1 vanilla, 1 maple and two plain! Awesome!

Stopled for donuts. Back on the road and think we'll only get to Sundance, WY tonight. We found a really nice RV park. Can empty tanks, refill water, watch a little TV and relax for tomorrow trip.

Called my best friend in Billings so will get to see her Saturday. Happy Birthday Diane! Her 60th is tomorrow!

The only pass that looks bad today is LookOut pass but it'll be a few days before we get there. Will keep you posted.

2010-04-08T10:46:00.000-07:00

Al's Oasis buffalo burgers were the best!

We had our buffalo burgers, fries and onion rings. On the road again heading for Wall Drug and a donut!

Weather is gorgeous! Sunny and warm. I took a couple pictures but didn't downloadd them.

2010-04-08T08:39:00.000-07:00

Traveling along and almost home!

I know I haven't done well with keeping you posted on our travels. It's supposed to be a fun thing to do and it really became a drag so I quit!
We are now going down I90 heading towards Wyoming for tonight. If we make it that far, ok, if not, that's ok, too. I must get a donut at Wall Drug (those carbs I don't mind consuming) and we would love to have a buffalo burger at Al's Oasis. We'll see what happens. If you've never had either of these, you must the next time you travel through SD.

To all that followed along, I say thank you so much. I don't remember the last time I posted but it was probably sometime while we were in Texas.

Texas is a wonderful state and so much to see and do, we'll have to go back next year. We saw a neat parade in Fulton, TX and attended an oyster festival. We saw South Padre Island and the islands farther north. We spent a day in the sun at the beach, spent time wondering through museums and even got back into Mexico, even though we found out we shouldn't have gone the day we did.

Our travels north were uneventful through TX, OK and KS and IA. We had a glorious time in Mpls staying at the Mystic Lake Casino RV park. We ate too much and did a lot of running around to see family but it was all worth it and the time went much too fast. We spent a week in Chuck's home town of Westbrook, MN and again, had a wonderfully fun filled time with friends and family.

Today is our travel day as I mentioned and we should get to Billings, MT tomorrow sometime. We have friends to visit there and will leave about Sunday heading to Red Lodge, MT to visit another friend.

We hope the mountain passes are passable! We keep an eye on the weather and highway cams. It'll be good to be home but yet, it's just another stop along our way. We'll be on the road a few times during the summer to see more of our own state of WA.

I'll keep posting and might even find it fun again to post a few photos. Boy, you get lazy when you get older but maybe it's not laziness. Maybe it's just knowing that you aren't obligated anymore.........you can do what you want when you want! LOL

Check back in a few days...........

Kathy and Chuck

2010-03-05T06:58:00.000-08:00

Matamoras, MX border crossing.

Alfonso, the Mexican escort that took us to the market on the bus.

An update, finally............

We left Brownsville last Monday, the 1st of March, and headed to Rockport. We did some really fun things in Brownsville, like going into Matamoros, MX and riding one of their buses to the market, eating a terrific lunch there, visiting the zoo and taking in the Charro Days parade. Great city.

The day we left wasn't such a great day for some reason just kept going wrong. The park we were leaving was actually a mobile home park and the let RVs come in and fill in the empty spaces. Well......the streets were tight and the corners were sharp turns. We had a little trouble getting out but Chuck's a good driver and after backing up a few times, he made it out ok.

We arrived at this park, Bayview RV park in Rockport and the people in the office must have been new or something. They acted like they didn't know we were coming and we had made reservations a month ahead. They hemmed and hawed until they finally gave us a spot. We disconnected the car, which I drive and follow in, and took off down the really bumpy rutted road. They really need to grade these roads.

We found the site that was assigned to us but it had a sign on it that said occupied! Not good driving a 40 foot montster and you can't turn around all that easily, the roads were bad and the office way at the other end of the park. This is a beautiful park otherwise; so many great trees and the sites have lots of room. Anyway, I jumped in the car and drove back to the office. In the meantime, Chuck called the office and they told him to just go take a spot and let them know which one we took. Well, in the meantime, they gave the site he chose to the people coming down the road! I didn't like it anyway as it was muddy there. The drainage problem they have here is huge.

So while he was choosing another site, the office gave me site 507 so I drove back, found Chuck, and we drove around again to find 505 from site 200! There was an impossible turn into that part of the park coming from the direction we were coming from so AGAIN he had to go down and around and back up and come back. THAT spot was impossible for us to get into and a man over there even suggested we not try it. It was up a slight rise and looked too short. SO! We chose 505 across from 507 and I went back up to the office and told them which site we took. They seemed to be ok with that.

This site, I'll have to get some pictures, is a really great site! I can see the clubhouse and it's only about a block away, if that far. Getting out of here might be interesting, though with that tight turn. We'll make it.

On Tuesday we went to check out the town of Rockport. What a cute little seaside town with little shops I want to get back to see, some art galleries and a park or two, a museum and a mansion we could visit. OH! an aquarium that's free!

Wednesday Chuck woke up with a cold and has been miserable and I'm taking vitamin C and Quercitin to combat it. If I get it, maybe it won't be as bad as his. Anyway, we rode our bikes into Fulton where there's an oyster festival going on. It's about 4 miles from here so we did an 8 mile bike ride that day. The festival started yesterday, Thursday, and we're wanting to ride our bikes back later today if the weather looks good; which it doesn't.

Yesterday, we drove into Corpus Cristi mainly to find the Best Buy to drop my laptop off to get fixed again, and then drove out on Padre Island and Mustang Island. There's a camping area on the beach we heard about. It's a first come first serve basis but there were spots available yesterday if we were interested. The only thing is, the weather has to be pretty good or it's pretty cold and windy there.

On our way home, we stopped at Joes Crab Shack and had a wonderful lunch. He had a shrimp po boy and I had 3 crab cake sliders! The food was amazing and so good. I had string onions and he had the french fries.......nothing was greasy.

It was hard to say good bye again to my laptop but I didn't have much choice. One day the D didn't work and the next day the 3 didn't work. Of course, everything worked when the Geek tried it. This is the third time it's in for the same problem. One more time, and they said it's considered a lemon and will be replaced. They will call when they get it back and will send it to whatever Best Buy we are near. Maybe someplace in Mpls. Then I have only about 20 or less till the warranty is up to get that one more time in. Not that I would do anything dishonest..........

Well, I'm going to download some photos and see what happens. Google has changed things a bit and won't let you put too many pictures on one page. Let's see what happens.

Ok, it only let me download two on this post so the check the next few posts for more photos.

2010-03-05T06:00:00.000-08:00

This is the market we had Alfonso take us to in Matamoras, MX.

Here's the bus we rode. That's Chuck.

This doesn't show the condition of the bus very well. There's graffiti all over the inside, the seats are all torn and they only run along the sides not in rows like we're used to in the US. The roads are so bumpy and you really bump along.

Brownsville, TX to San Padre Island

2010-02-24T17:56:00.000-08:00

We went to San Padre Island, a long skinny island along the Texas coast. The first photo is the causeway going over to the island.

You can see it wasn't a beautiful day but we went anyway.

Chuck was so excited to see the Gulf of Mexico! He had to get out and see it close up.

Pictures are a little out of order. This is driving on the Causeway. A little rainy.

Driving around we found these pelicans resting on the dock.

There is this statue of Jesus at the water's edge with the names of people that have died at sea on each of those placks.

We saw these huge pipes along the beach and this tractor. Chuck found out that at least once a year these huge pipes are put into place so sand can be sent down to the beach from a beach that higher up and doesn't get washed away. At least ONCE A YEAR! What a project.

I have this thing about birds and these seaguls were flying really really close so I tried to get their picture. You really can't even though they seemed to have been floating up there. He was a lot closer than it looks.

This is a beach restaurant that was closed for obvious reasons. It was cold and it's winter!

We drove through town and these places were interesting to me.

Look at this store! The shark mouth is the door!

Today we went to Blanco Chico beach.

The road ended right on the beach as you can see straight ahead.

We didn't get out of the car today. It was very windy and cold.

On the way home, we found the local VFW. Boring place but we had a beer and some popcorn. We went to the Sunrise Mall to walk and have lunch in the food court but found the theater. We decided to have more popcorn for lunch and saw "Shutter Island". Very good movie. I really liked it and the acting was outstanding. It leaves you drawing your own conclusion. Hope that's not saying too much. You gotta see it.

When we got home, we walked for about 1/2 hour since we didn't get much walking done at the mall.

Don't know what we'll do tomorrow but I kind of home we stay home for a day. There's a Saturday market and a Charro festival this weekend. I'd like to make some spaghetti sauce and I've been wanting to make some english muffins, work on my blogs and knitting.

Eidenburg, TX to Progreso, MX

2010-02-24T17:30:00.000-08:00

Here's the Lazy Palms RV Park in Eidenburg, TX. We're right down that street. You can see it's a large park with wide open spaces.

Getting closer to our motorhome. This park was really nice but the closest store was over 20 miles away and when it rained, there was mud everywhere.

Here's another view of the park.

This is our motorhome. Not a good picture. I guess I should have gotten out of the car.

We decided to make a trip into Progreso, Mx on a nice sunny day. It was so fun.

The middle of the river is the US and Mexico boundry so right in the middle of the International Bridge they posted this sign. We had to get in the picture.

This is the bridge. The Mexican people were on the right outside the bridge railing sitting in the dirt with their hat stuck through the rungs of the railing begging for money. I don't think I got a picture of that but it was so sad.

I had to get a picture of the military presense in Mexico. We haven't even hardly gotten off the bridge.

We walked up one side of the street and down the other until we found a nice place to have lunch. We chose the La Fagata. Here we are waiting for our food. We each had the lunch special and 5 margaritas between us and the bill came to $21!

They still had their Valentines decorations us and I thought it was pretty and colorful I had to take a picture. Or two.

The man in the lower right corner was a really nice guy. Didn't realize he got in the picture. His wife is Italian and her family comes from the same area ours does so we had a little bit to talk about.

You know how some restaurants put up funny bumper stickers?

This is the place we had lunch. The streets were still quit muddy and there were huge puddles everywhere.

One of the plazas we just had to walk down to see what was out the other end. It wasn't in town, it was kind of like seeing how they really live. Not pretty.

We had a great time and were so glad we went. While walking down the street, of course, you're approached by many many vendors but this one little boy came up to me and my heart melted. He was about Ethan's age, 3-4 and was selling bracelets for $1.00. Of course, I bought one from him. I did that in Algodones, too, only it was this cute tiny little lady that reminded me of my Grandmother so I had to buy something from her.

We left in the afternoon and decided we had another great day in Mexico.

2010-02-15T13:58:00.000-08:00

Rio Grande River between US and Mexico. Photo taken between Benson, AZ and El Paso, TX.

Mexico across the river.

Del Rio, Texas

Practically right across the street from the Three River's Park was Lake Amistad. A huge lake and quite a draw for fishermen.

One day we went for a 4 mile hike to the lake. Chuck thought it was funny to have me crouch down in this cactus patch. Like "Where's Waldo"! LOL

Another beautiful sunset from our motorhome at Three River's Park in Del Rio, TX.

From Three Rivers RV park in Del Rio, we spent last night, February 14th, in Zapata, TX. I didn't put it on the map. Guess I forgot. We were at a park on the lake Falcon and next weekend there's to be quite a famous fishing tournament held there.

It was a real friendly park so too bad we weren't going to spend more time there. When we pulled in the weather was 79 degrees! YES! B e a u t i f u l ! I put on some shorts and my sandals right away. I don't know when I'll get the chance again and it was a good thing because when the sun went down, it got really cold again and really windy again. We had to pull in the slides as we really were a rockin'. Forecast is for rain till about Friday and temps in the 60s.

It can't rain, there's not a cloud in the sky and the winds seem to have stopped. People walking by have jackets and hats on, though, so it's still not all that warm out there.

This is Lake Falcon from the road as we left Zapata, TX. Another very large lake. Maybe that's why there's a fishing tournament here.

We arrived today at Lazy Palms RV Park and Ranch outside of Edinburg, TX. On the map, it's between Del Rio and Brownsville, TX.

This is a very large park with lots of grass and lots of room. I'll get some pictures taken and hopefully if the weather gets nice and warm again, I'll get some of us outside around our site.

We really really hope to find lots to do here in Edinburg, TX. There's already more to do in the clubhouse and this park is so big, there's lots of walking and it's terribly flat with no hills. We know there's a theater close by, WalMart, lots of history, shopping, museums, shopping, restaurants, geocaching, shopping and did I mention shopping?

If I can get online and stay online, I will be posting more often. Yeah, right, I've heard that before!

2010-02-09T16:30:00.000-08:00

I found this web site with much better photos than I posted for Lake Havasu City, Quartzite, Slab City, etc. Check it out: HERE

I have really gotten lazy about posting. We did have some trouble getting online or should I say staying online and I ran out of wifi time at the last park.

We are now in Del Rio, TX at Three Rivers RV Park. The lady, owner here, sounds just like Reba! I love her. She's awfully nice and such a cute little lady. I've got some pictures from the last few days but will have to download them tomorrow.

We drove around the first day here and found out there's nothing here! LOL We do have a WalMart and a small mall where there's an Applebees, Ross, a few little stores and a JC Penney. The theater is in this mall and we plan to go see the new one with Mel Gibson. It's that or a chic flick and Chuck won't go there.

We got to meet another couple I knew from an online RV group. They work at this park and I got to see my old friend Jerry, who I met in that online group, they're from the same area in WA that we come from, and we spent some time together while at Lake Sawyer RV Park in WA last summer. Really neat people. We plan to get together tomorrow for coffee, Chuck won't go but that's ok. We'll take in the movie in the afternoon.

I've been designing and working on different crochet and knit patterns. I worked up 12 new filet crochet patterns and submitted them to Crochet Designs web site. I already have several there they sell for me.

We've done a lot of walking and try to walk for an hour everyday. We'll be here till Sunday and then move on to Zapata, TX for one night and then Eidenburg, TX for a week before heading to Brownsville.

OK, Minnesota, enough with the snow. We would like to head north mid March. Can ya stop snowing ?

2010-02-02T18:42:00.000-08:00

We have been in Benson, AZ for 4 nights now. Today is Tuesday and we will be here till Friday. While here, we've done some geocaching. This one was in a very very old cemetery in Benson. We really enjoyed it, actually, and took lots of pictures and I'd love to go back and do some rubbings of the stones.

We use a handheld GPS and it took us to this area.

Chuck knew right away that that fence cap should not have a screw in it. So, wa la, there it was.

Chuck's been better at finding these things than I have but then I'm the one holding the GPS reading it and trying to figure out if we're even in the right area while he's looking and "finding".

This is the oldest cemetery in Benson and we couldn't believe it when we found many people died over 100 years ago!

This is me at the gate.

Look at this! DIED in 1896!!

I don't know if you can read this one.

I loved the wrought iron fences around many of the graves.

Chuck had a good time, too.

Another..........I hope you can read what it says. I can't!

We really enjoyed our day at the cemetery and from here we went to the VFW for a beer. The people were so friendly! We had a great time, had lunch and really good bloody mary's, too. Fun fun sunny day.

2010-02-02T18:01:00.000-08:00

What a glorious day in Benson, AZ. This was after we spent the afternoon at the VFW. We were drinking creamed chocotinies! So yummy!

Night fall looking out our window.

Ok, another day geocaching. This one was at a Veteran's Memorial. Guess who found it. Sometimes you find them stuck to metal so anytime there's a fence like this, you know it's probably a cache that's been magnetized and stuck to it.

We spent another day geocaching and out of 5, only found 1! You don't always have great luck. We went back to one of thos 5 and found it this morning. So 2 out of 5. One is at a pizza place and Chuck won't try again because it's not a public place. Another is in an alley and he's not comfortable there either. I'll have to go back and do those myself. The one real tricky one was at another cemetery where we had to figure out a puzzle to get the coordinates to find the cache. We have figured out the coordinates and now have to go back for the cache. Tomorrow's another day.

2010-02-01T17:40:00.000-08:00

We made a tourist trip to Tombstone, AZ. What a tourist trap! We took in a roping and riding show which was a pretty big disappointment.

Pictured below is a bull fight. The dogs were so cute! Jen I took these pictures for you. She announced that she was going to fight black and white bulls and then these little guys came running out. So darn cute. The nicest thing is that all the animals they use have been rescued! They train them and love them to death! Wish I could have gotten a better picture.

Here they were showing how the horses could stand on a little platform. Can't believe they charge $5 for this show. No more bad comments but lets just say Tombstone is a ripoff!

This is looking down the street of Tombstone.

These guys just love me! Here's another burro trying to get my attention. Remember the one in Oatman that grabbed my purse? This one wasn't going to do that........I was on to him!

This is actually where the roping and riding show was. Pictures are a little out of order. Sorry.

2010-01-29T13:04:00.000-08:00

The other day, while staying in Hauchuca, AZ, we decided to take a little ride to Bisbee, AZ. Bisbee was a copper mining town and over 100 years old. The houses were built in the hills but no roads were built to get to the houses so they decided to just put in stairs from the town to the houses, at whatever level they were on. Many people today still live there and to get home, get groceries home, etc. they have to climb as many as 30 stairs to get home! This first photo is a tunnel we had to go through on the way to Bisbee. The next photo is Bisbee showing the houses built on the hillside.

The main street through old Bisbee is very narrow yet just wide enough for a lane each way. The street is lined with original building dating over 100 years old and featuring many art galleries and antique shops.

I had to get a picture of the B in the hillside but it wasn't a good day for taking photos plus I don't know how to get a non-blurry photos sometimes. You see the B, kind of, in the hill in the photo below.

Below is the copper mine.

Here's a photo of just one of the sets of steps to houses above. This particular set of steps had a plaque on it calling it "1000 steps" but we're not sure why because we climbed them and there were 96 steps to the top. We also needed to climb them to find a geocashe which was hidden at the top. We DID find it.

This bar, St. Elmo, is the oldest and one of the first bars in Bisbee. It's the longest continuous operating bar in the state of Arizona, too. Of course, we had to have a beer in there. Chuck couldn't wait.....here he is waying at me. AND that's not a purse. That's a Europen shoulder bag! LOL

Here's another set of steps. I thought the house at the top along with the steps would make a good photo. We didn't climb these so don't know how many there are.

This next photo, the building with the columns, is the original sheriff's office and courthouse. It's beautifully preserved.

There's a Catholic church there with about 20 stain glass windows. This one is 25' high and there were two of them. The rest were about half that tall.

We were walking down the street heading to the 1000 stairs to find our cache, when a young girl approached us with a little flyer on lunch at the theater called Curtain Call Bistro. Soup, sandwich and dessert for $6.95. We told her we'd stop by later. And we did. When we walked in we wondered if we did the right thing. There were very few tables but they were nicely dressed in white cloths and had a lovely centerpiece. We were the only ones in there! A young man, who turned out to be one of the performers at the theater, gave us our menu and brought us some coffee.

This wonderful place is run by a man that studied cooking in France! We were in for a real treat! Coffee was served in a beautiful cup WITH a saucer! I had the ham and cheese on wholewheat and a bowl of chili. Chuck had pulled pork sandwich and bean with bacon soup. It was presented beautifully and garnished with sliced strawberries and melon. It was all excellent! Then it was time for dessert! A piece of chocolate cake served with whipped cream on top, a pool of pink cream and more strawberries! It was all lightly dusted with powder sugar.

All this for just $6.95! We wanted to return Friday night for their theater presentation and dinner but we weren't going to be in town. It was to be a comical one-man story about Bisbee. Would have been awesome! We saw the dinner menu........very French but oh so delectable. Wish we could have gone. All that for only $28 a ticket!

We stayed in this RV park for only three nights. It was called Quail Ridge. There wasn't much for me to do in the clubhouse but it was a perfect place for walking. It was one mile all around the park and I walked it a couple times. We left there this morning around 9am and are now in Benson, AZ. The last city in AZ for us. We'll be here for one week till Feb 5th. Then we'll be in Vado, NM for one night and Fort Stockton, NM for one night. We'll be in Del Rio, TX the 7th. We wanted to visit Chuck's brother, Mark, in Gonzales, TX, but he won't be home at all this year. From Del Rio, we'll head to Rockport, TX which is on the gulf. We can't wait to see that.

More later.............

2010-01-25T17:36:00.001-08:00

This is what it looks like out in the desert near Quartzite. This doesn't even look as bad or as packed as it really is. This is looking across the street as we were leaving.

We heard the weather was turning really bad so after about 3 nights out in the desert, we left for Apache Junction. AJ was pretty nice, actually. The weather the first few nights was really awful......something like 3" of rain in one day! There was lots of flooded streets as they really don't have storm drains. Their storm drains are actually called "washes" which become little rivers when it rains like that. We did wind up having some beautiful weather once those storms blew threw.

We left Quartzite just in time. That night of the worst storm, it hit even harder and worse than in AJ. There was even a tornado touch down in Blythe, remember just about 30 miles away.

I walked a few times in AJ. It was flat flat flat and the blocks so square you couldn't get lost. Nice easy walking and I walked over 2 miles each time. We visited the VFW one evening. We went to see Avatar while there, too. Fabulous movie but it would have been better if we could have sat even farther away then the back row. We went out to eat a few times and had breakfast in the clubhouse one morning.

While in Quartzite, we went to a huge huge RV show! Most of Quartzite is swap meet tents/vendors and not much else. A few restaurants here and there but not many grocery stores and the closest WalMart was in Blythe or Parker, both more than 30 miles away. Parker being a little bit closer.

Here, if you click on the map to make it bigger, you'll see where Hauchuka, AZ is. That's where we are right now and will be for three nights. Then, shown on the map, we'll be heading to Benson, AZ.

From Quartzite, we went to Apache Junction, shown on the map. We just pulled in about 1:30 today. The weather is gorgeous here today. There's so much to do around here and so much history. We'll have 3 fun filled days for sure.

2010-01-20T09:11:00.000-08:00

You can kind of see where we've been, where we are and where we're going.

We started in Bullhead City, went to Earp, then Yuma, Quartzsite and now Phoenix and are in Apache Junction. CLICK ON THE MAP TO ENLARGED IT.

2010-01-18T15:38:00.000-08:00

How can you not love Arizona? Look at yet another amazing sunset.

I love the reflection of the sunset on the motorhome.

Today is Monday, Martin Luther King Day, and the 18th of January. Just wanted to update everyone on what we've been up to.

The last few days at Pilot Knob we went back to Algodones one more time for some medications and for lunch. We got some Vodka, too. That doesn't seem to be much cheaper down there but a little bit.

Here we are at lunch in Algodones, Mexico. There's a couple in the background of my picture that took this for us. They sure were nice folks. We chatted with them for a little while.

Chuck took this one of me............

I took this one of him..............

We went to a MASA program in the clubhouse and for attending we got a free burger dinner. MASA is a medical transport insurance thing. We met a super nice couple at dinner and wish I could have met her sooner. They are from Ontario, Canada and that night her and I played bingo. Neither of us won anything. It was hard to say goodbye to her after such a short time we had together.

We left bright and early from Pilot Knob, which is Felicity CA, the resort book says it's in Winterhaven, CA. and is part of Yuma, heading for Quartzsite, AZ. We arrived here in the middle of the desert on BLM land.

This is what it looked like as we drove in. We are in the middle of a desert, actually, with thousands of RVers. It's so hard to really see what it's like and all the RVers but it's amazing how many are here for the RV show in Quartzsite.

This, above, is just across the road from us.

Jen, chocolatinis are wonderful! We added a little fat free cream after it was frozen and ready and blended it up so it's like ice cream! Try it!

2010-01-13T16:28:00.000-08:00

The other day we decided to go for a ride to Imperial Valley where they grow dates. We stopped for a famous date shake and it was amazing! So yummy. Along the road were these sand dunes I just had to take a picture of. This is ATV country!

Here's one of the date groves.

Another date grove.

Then we decided to find a cache as long as we were out. This one was in Slab City along the canal. We were told it was at the base of the tallest tree. We were ready to give up when we dicovered it under a branch that must have fallen from the tallest tree. But under the tallest tree for sure. Chuck found this one but let me open it up.

Here's what the cache looked like. Many use ammunition cans like this one. Along side on the ground is our gps and my notebook and a view inside the can.

When we signed the log we put the can back as we found it.......under bark and sticks.

Here's the tallest tree and you can see the fallen branch where we found the cache below the tree.

This is Slab City. It was a WWII military base but all that's left is many many concrete slabs. Trailers, buses, RVs, etc. have moved in and people live there now. Many of the people looked like they were still flower children and living in the 60s.

Many get creative. Why anyone would do this, I don't know, but do this they do.

In three different areas there were couches and chairs all in a circle around a makeshift stage and there were signs saying there was live music every evening at dusk. You can kind of see the row of couches, can't you?

Then there's a little, skinny little man, who said he's 77 years old that has been building and painting this monument to the Lord. It's taken him 12 years he said. My camera went dead but some nice people said they'd send me more photos. Around the right side he built a cave like thing using hay bales and adobe mud. Of course, everything is painted bright colors. We walked up the yellow stairs to the top where the cross is. He was very very proud of his work. We were a little scared to even go into the property but we were glad we did. He said he used to get about 10 people a day and now since he's been on Google, he gets 450 people a day coming in and taking pictures. He is so proud that people would come see his art work.

This is a truck the same little man decorated with whatever........It used to be a dump truck. Wish I had gotten a better photo.

Chuck and I were fortunate yesterday to ride along with a couple that do mission work down in Mexico. They didn't have to go far into Mexico to find the horrible living conditions. What we saw just blocks from the tourist attraction of Algodones, where we spent so much time having fun and money, is what you'll see in these photos. AND it's far worse than these photos can begin to show you.

Our first stop was at Anna's. This little gramma was left raising her daughter's children alone. I don't know how many there were but I saw about 5 little kids. There were two pit bulls on chains for protection. The chain link fence is their clothes line and the men in the mission group came along to measure for a new fence for Anna. The little kids were given snack bars and oranges and they ran up to Marylou giving her hugs and kisses. She's Mama and Jack is Papa to them.

I took the picture from the van. Many love their picture taken but I didn't like to let them see me taking pictures of their house.

This is just another area where there are the cardboard houses. This is a neighborhood. How does it compare to yours?

Another neighborhood.

The next place we visited was Gramma's place. These people have built their houses out of anything they can find. It is situated at the dump! When we got out of the van, the kids came running. They hugged Marylou and gave her kisses. We all peeled them a little orange and the kids sat and ate them. Marylou is the lady in the picture.

This is Ramona's house. Made out of wood and cardboard. She wasn't home the day we were there because she was out in the fields working. There were so many little boys and I only say that one little girl.

When you look inside these houses, the floor is the dirt of the desert, cardboard tacked to the walls and, of course, no electricity. I didn't look inside this house, it just didn't seem respectful even though she wasn't home, but Gramma took us inside her house and she did have mattresses. Wall-to-wall mattresses, not very clean and crumpled up blankets and clothes, none very clean. They wash everything by hand and have to carry water up a steep hill for drinking and doing the wash. Supposedly it is a natural spring so is supposed to be clean enough to drink. But what did we find on the hill right above the spring? You guessed it. The outhouse!!

This is the outhouse. You can see the bush behind with white plastic bags stuck in it. That's a tree that is growing below the outhouse as the outhouse is on top of a hill overlooking the clean water! ?

All the clothes you see laying around is the laundry that needs to be washed. It is piled up all over the place!

This little boy, the one in the striped shirt, is Jerry. Jack, on the left, kept teasing him calling him Joe and Jerry kept saying, "NO, that's my sista!" He spoke pretty good English because he works in town shining shoes. We asked him where is sister is and it was her turn to go into town and shine shoes. I didn't get the other little boys name. They told me, but I couldn't understand him. I would love to have taken Jerry home with me. A snappy dresser and so adorable!

Then all the other little kids came running. They LOVE to have their picture taken! Jerry had to get Mickey in the picture. They just got Mickey and they were showing him off. These little kids have nothing and yet laugh and play like they own the world!

Behind the boys is a new room being added on to Gramma house. I think it's another bedroom.

Below is a picture of Gramma and all of us in her kitchen. Yes, that's right. That's Gramma's kitchen. Open-air, wouldn't you say? They said she cooks on that barrel with wood and keeps burning her kitchen down so they don't put up the walls anymore. BTW, she's the lady in the red sweater and dark blue scarf on her head. Whatever she was cooking smelled wonderful!

Gramma is so proud of her house she invited us all in. Her house is two rooms of beds. The floor is dirt! She has a TV in the corner and doesn't understand why it doesn't work!

As we drove around, I took these photos. Sure makes you feel blessed with what you have.

The next photo is another area. Sorry, it's so hard to see. There's another cardboard house built back in the bushes.

After we left this area, we stopped at a veterinarian store/clinic. The couple that took us into Mexico have a dog with an eye problem so they ran in to make an appointment. $20 for the appointment, I might add. I took this picture while inside, which smelled really really bad. They had a peacock and some roosters outside in a pen. This guy was inside in a pen.

They took us to the brick making area where many of the men work. This is a stack of bricks. They make roof tiles, too.

They lay the bricks out to dry before firing.

This is the kiln where everything is fired.

From there we visited another family. The mom is the lady in green. The man with the cowboy hat in the doorway is Jack the missionary. This is a very nice house compared to Gramma's and Ramona's. The front is brick and you can see the tile roof. Her door is just what you see........blankets hanging there. They get very little rain but when it does rain, it's a huge problem. The other two ladies also rode along with us. I'm sitting in the van when I took this photo.

We went to a rehab facility next and it just didn't seem right to take any photos. It's a lock-down facility; you ask for their help which is completely free, you are there for 90 days and there's no leaving. While you're there, you help out as much as you can and when you're better and the 90 days is up, you help some more. We met some really nice people that had a bad start in their lives but have turned things around and are truly wonderful people.

Friday, January 8, 2010

2010-01-08T18:22:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I haven't posted since New Years! I can't remember what we did on the 1st but we were still in Earp, CA at Emerald Cove RV park. I think we pretty much stuck around the RV and park. We went for a bike ride in the park in the evening to kind of to say good bye to the park. Here's a photo going down the road from one park to the next.

We left early on the 2nd, heading for Winterhaven, CA and also, really close to Felicity, CA. We pulled in to Pilot Knob RV Park around 12:30 I think and took a spot up close to the clubhouse. I like being close to the clubhouse since I spend so much time there. I took a day or two getting used to the park and to find out what fun things there are to do. This is the park where we're staying till the 16th:

I started a new puzzle in the library and have had lots of fun chatting with those that help with the puzzle. That's a great way to meet people.

The clubhouse has a whole corner for quilters. They make 600 quilts a year and donate them to charities and some are given to the poor people in Mexico. The lady right next door goes into Mexico with clothes and things for the families she sponsors. I asked to ride along next time. I don't know if she'll let me take pictures, but I will if it's allowed. It's called Carboard City and the people are very very poor, have large families and almost nothing to their name.

I've also played pokeno several times in the evening with the ladies and have helped in the quilting corner. I like to cut the fabric into squares and I iron some fabric now and then for them. I'm not into sewing.

I did get out my machine one day while Chuck was at the dentist and did some mending. That was actually kind of fun.

Yup, Chuck went into Algodones Mexico to get some dental work done. He went in on Monday the 4th to have an exam and was in the chair for around 3 hours. In that short a time, they ground down and got 7 teeth ready for crowns. All in one day!!! He went back Tuesday by himself. I didn't want to sit and wait so I spent the day sewing and cleaning. Believe me, that was way more fun! His first day, on Monday, I did spend some time shopping by myself in Algodones so didn't need to do more. Wednesday we both went back so he could get his his crowns and a bridge put in place. That only took a little bit of time. So we went for lunch. That's a 5 tooth bridge and 4 crowns in three days!! The work is beautiful.

Wednesday was Chuck's birthday, too, so he was ready to celebrate with a bloody beer or a margarita after leaving the dentist and believe me he deserved it after what he went through. He couldn't eat for 1/2 hour so we found our favorite restaurant. Open-air ~The Parieso. Think that's how it's spelled. It's such great fun, great food and you always meet so many new people. Here's a few photos of the table of men that invited us to join them and we spent the afternoon with. He had a great birthday.

Our first day out geocaching in this area found us a flat tire. The roads are pretty much dirt/gravel; hey this is a desert here. Chuck was not happy with me since it was all my idea. HE wanted to go shopping. So because it was Sunday we couldn't go back to the place we originally bought the tires, Discount Tires, as they're closed on Sunday, we had to go to WalMart. New tires now so we can do more geocaching. We have found 8 different ones so far.

Today, the 8th we went out geocaching again and found a few more. Here's some photos:

Today, the 8th, while out we visit a museum, The Center of the World museum. Seems Felicity was dedicated as THE authentic center of the world and they erected a pyramid around it. http://historyingranite.org/ Wish I would have gotten a picture of the pyramid. Maybe we'll go back. The web site shows many of the pieces or artwork sandblasted into the granite. Close-ups! Beautiful stuff.

Michael Angelo painting in granite! Georgeous!

This is me and it's facing away from the church and towards the granite monuments.

After we left the museum is when we did some geocaching. One was called "Jack and Jill" so we figured there would be some hill climbing. Yup! Clear up the side of a rock mountain! BUT we made it. Chuck got to the top first and found the cache. I didn't know I could do that. Seemed straight up on the rocks....seemed like it. Here's a picture of the so called hill we climbed. There was quite a walk from the car to the hill and then the climb and then back to the car. We forgot water! Reminded me of the cartoon where you see the guy crawling on his stomach saying "wateeerrrr!"

This is tired Frank........zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz or is it purrrrrrrrrrr?

Happy New Year!

2009-12-31T10:55:00.000-08:00

Today is New Years Eve day! We have a prime rib dinner to go to tonight with drinks and dancing in the clubhouse and/or karaoke in the bar. This is the life, huh? Just a matter of a few steps to the clubhouse or bar for us.

I've got some pictures to post but haven't downloaded them yet. Will do that soon and hopefully when we have better connectivity.

We went out geocaching yesterday and out of two we looked for, we found one! Yes, our first cache find. I forgot the camera so didn't get any pictures but will remember it next time. It was a cookie tin with lots of trinkets in it. We could take something and leave something, sign the log book and put it back. We left a Schucks receipt from Puyallup, WA but didn't take anything. There was actually lots of little trinkets in there. I saw army men, candycane pen, frig magnets; things like that. Then when you find a cache, you go online to geocaching.com and post your find. We're keeping our own personal log, too. Maybe we'll get out today if I can drag him away from the TV.......football, you know.

We're having nachos for lunch with a beer! The sun is shining and it's prettier outside than it is....the wind is picking up but it sure is nice in the sun.

So HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Monday, December 28, 2009

2009-12-28T17:01:00.000-08:00

Here's a sunny day in Earp, CA. We played a little cribbage outside that day, yesterday, and went for a nice long walk.

Here's another beautiful sunset. I take these pictures from the LR in the RV. Gorgeous!

This last one is Frank and our Christmas tree. Jen took a picture of his sister when she was just a kitten and was peeking out from inside the tree. Frank maybe could have done that then, but now, he's almost as big as the tree. He's a big big 21 pound boy!

We have tickets to a prime rib dinner in the clubhouse on New Year's Eve and then a dance afterwards. Can't wait. Then we leave this park on Saturday and head for Winterhaven, CA to the Pilot Knob RV park. Chuck has a dentist appointment in Algodones, MX for Monday. Crowns are $250! What do you pay in the states? Root canals are $250-$350! Xrays and first exam are free. Will keep you posted on this. Winterhaven is just a hop, skip and a jump from the border. We'll park on the US side and walk over.

Sunday Geo Day !

2009-12-27T17:28:00.000-08:00

We went out geocaching today. We took our GPS Navigator and our laptop and headed to Rio Mesa Drive! We came really close to finding it, whatever "it" is; we know we did but really need the hand-held GPS that's on it's way to us right now. When we do find it, we're supposed to sign the log and put it back for the next person to find.

We'll go back after we receive the hand-held and after learn how to use it and I know we'll find it then. It was fun today without the hand-held so I KNOW we're going to love this new hobby.

I went up to the clubhouse today to get myself out and away from this laptop. All I did was move from one chair to another but it felt good to get some fresh air and a little bit of a walk going up there. Got to socialize a little and got 1/2 the puzzle done. Whoever started it will be a little surprised. I went for a 20 minute walk before supper, too.

Last night I went up to the clubhouse to listen to the country band that was playing. Great music but I got bored so went over to the bar for karaoke. Chuck stayed home to watch football. Seems to be his favorite pastime now. In fact, there's a game on right now and, of course, there's the Vikings game tomorrow night. Anyway, had a glass of wine and enjoyed listening to all the people sing. I did not sing. Haven't gotten up the nerve just yet.

Maybe I'll get some photos taken tomorrow. Not sure what we're doing but might go into Parker just to walk around town.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

2009-12-26T15:41:00.000-08:00

We went to Quartzite the other day to check out all the venders but it was a little cold and windy so we'll go back another time.

We found several nice places to try boon docking in a few weeks when we need to do that. We think it would be fun to try and hey, it's free! We did sign up for the Gold Pass from the Nat'l Forest Service Parks so we can get into all parks for free now. And the BLM land where people boon dock is either free or like $5 a week or something. Of course, you don't get anything.....no water, electric, sewer or TV. We'll need to make sure our propane tank is full, our water tank is full and will use the satelite dish for TV and the generator if we need too.

So we stopped for lunch at Sweet Darlene's cafe and had burgers. Here we are waiting for our food.

These photos were taken today during our warm spell and after our bike ride.

Here's a sunset from a couple nights ago.

Monday, December 21, 2009

2009-12-21T13:53:00.000-08:00

Boy, can't believe it's been over a week since I last posted but I've had lots of computer problems and connectivity problems. Sometimes it's not fun!

Since my last post we went to Davis Dam and

Grapevine Canyon, both just outside of Bullhead City, AZ.

It was a pretty little canyon, extremely windy, but very pretty with lots of petroglyphs all over the place.

Here's Chuck and I being silly:

December 19th, we moved from Bullhead City, AZ to Earp, CA. We are now in the Emerald Cove RV Resort. We spent about a week here last year and it's where I sang karaoke for the first time! We got here around 1 o'clock Saturday and were early enough to get in on a wonderful steak dinner and some fun in the bar. I din't sing karaoke; not yet! LOL

I'll get better pictures of our motorhome and site in the next couple days. It so nice here. NO WIND!! Yea! But we are having a cloudy chilly day today. Yesterday, Friday, was beautiful an I'm sure it'll come back. We'll be here till January 2nd. We have a ham dinner at the clubhouse for Christmas day and a prime rib dinner and dance on New Years!

This resort has breakfast every morning in the clubhouse, card playing most of the day, bingo and line dancing a few times a week, dinner almost every night, tomorrow night is Phylly cheese sandwich. They eat a lot here and the prices are so cheap!

We might go up to the bar for the Monday night football on TV. There's hot dogs, chili dogs, chicken wings, wine, beer and quarterly drawing for prizes. I really think Chuck will want to stay here. He likes to watch important games with no interruptions.

More later. Maybe I'll be able to get online and it won't be a week again before I get back.

We're having a wonderful time. From here on the 2nd, we go to Winter Haven, CA to a resort called Pilot Knob and is really close to the MX border. We park on the US side and walk over. We'll be there for 6 days and maybe more. If they can't accommodate us, we'll move to another park.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!

Merry Christmas!! Everyone!!

2009-12-13T13:54:00.000-08:00

Forgot to show you our little Christmas tree. I could NOT get a picture of it that wasn't blurry. Must be because it's a fiber optic and was blinking? I don't know but I apologize for the blurriness.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Sunday December 13, 2009

2009-12-13T12:25:00.000-08:00

We had a really fun day on the 11th, which would have been Friday. We left here heading towards Oatman, AZ to visit the little mining town. Here's some pictures along the way. We took old route 66. Which Chuck remembers him and his family took back in 1959 when he was 15 and his Dad actually let him drive. They drove a 1959 Ford. They being, Carl and Hilma and Chuck, Millie, Mark and Grandma Anderson. Follow along.......we saw some beautiful scenery. This first picture is right outside of Oatman, AZ.

These next ones are IN Oatman, AZ. The first one is the greeting committee. These burros roam the street all day long begging for carrots. We didn't know about the carrots yet. This little guy actually grabbed ahold of my purse because they've learned that ladies will put the bag of carrots in their purse. Smart little guys. BUT, he grabbed ahold and wouldn't let go. I was quite the specticle, believe me. But then wouldn't you be if you were yelling, "Chuck, he won't let go of my purse! Let go! Let go! Chuck!" All it took was a tap on his head, by Chuck, and he let go. In this picture, he hadn't attacked my purse yet.

This is the one that grabbed my purse. I must have taken this during the grabbing.

A few of the shops along the main street. They usually have a reinactment of a old western shoot-out but we missed seeing that.

These next two pictures are for Jen and Jack. Grandpa Bloch always told us that a male donkey was called a jack and a female was called a jenny. Here's proof! Sorry kids, just had to show you. These are restroom doors. Aren't they funny people.

This is the Oatman Hotel

Just Main Street (Route 66)

Looking back at Route 66

We headed out of Oatman staying on Route 66 and went to another small mining town called Chloride, AZ. I forgot to take pictures there but that's where we found the Route 66 rug and I bought a mug. This is Frankie who just had to get in the photo.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009 Bullhead City, AZ

2009-12-09T18:45:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, December 8th, we went shopping at the local outlet mall in Laughlin, NV and got some Christmas shopping in. The weather was beautiful but still a little chilly.

After shopping we went to lunch at the Avi casino which is outside Laughlinand on an Indian Reservation.

Today, the 9th, I went to line dancing up at the clubhouse and met a few more nice ladies. Chuck worked on the tire monitors and checked for some resorts for the end of January. I had to take a little nap and then we had penne pasta and meat sauce for supper. It's 7pm and I'm going to go work on some crochet projects that I've been wanting to try and maybe knit on my lace shawl.

Tomorrow we could be out sightseeing.

Favorite Tastefully Simple Recipe

2009-12-06T14:34:00.000-08:00

Here's one of our favorite recipes:

Jar of Tastefully Simple Sweet Pepper Jalapeno Jam
1 block of fat free cream cheese
crackers

Warm the jam just slightly in the microwave an pour over the block of fat free cream cheese that's been placed on a plate.

My husband's favorite meatloaf:

Tastefully Simple Jalapeno Jam Meat Loaf

(TS = Tastefully Simple)

Ingredients
1 lb. ground beef
1/4 cup TS Sweet Pepper Jalapeno Jam
1 tsp. TS Garlic Garlic™
1 egg
2 Tbsp. ketchup
1 Tbsp. TS Onion Onion™
1/2 tsp. TS Seasoned Salt
1/2 cup unseasoned breadcrumbs

Directions
Gently combine all ingredients. Place in loaf pan; bake at 350° for 1 hour. Top with additional Sweet Pepper Jalapeno Jam. Makes

If you're interested in Tastefully Simple products, please email this consultant; tsfood4u@comcast.net. I am not affiliated with the company but she is who I order my TS products from.

Sunday, December 6, 2009 Beautiful Day!

2009-12-06T14:00:00.000-08:00

The sun has been trying all day to peek through the dark threatening clouds. It makes it once in awhile. The temp is supposed to be in the 60s with the wind returning; it's just now starting to pick up and it's 3:30pm. After our walk, we had a few snacks and will finish up the Zatarans for supper. There was an ice cream social today but we opted for a walk. Better for us as they were serving banana splits! They had church service this morning and at 2pm was pokeno, some kind of cards. There's poker and other card games tonight at 7pm. I think the Amazing Race finale is tonight, though.

On the street where we live.

Our side yard.

Our back yard.

The Anderosa ~ hiding behind the tree

Western sky......tried to get the sun rays

Went for a walk to the river today, Chuck

Laughlin, NV Casinos on the other side of the river.

Park on the river ~ our walk destination

Chuck in the river park

Kathy ~ on our way back home ~ Laughlin, NV casinos in the background ~ over the river

Saturday, December 5, 2009 1298 miles so far

2009-12-05T09:52:00.000-08:00

When we got to Bullhead City, AZ, we've gone 1298 miles so far and spent about $500 (39 cents a mile)on gas and $70 (17 nights) in camping fees ($4.11 a night). Not too bad!

Yesterday we walked around the different casinos and were completely mesmerized by all the flashing lights an bells dinging. We registered at one casino just to try our hand at the penny slots and get the discount on the buffet. We lost $5.00 and quit! Big spenders. We weren't sure what we were doing so decided it was a good idea to stop. Duh! Neither of us like the feeling we got while in there. Like a fish out of water.

We were going to go to Avi, we think an Indian casino on the Needles highway but there was an accident and they were turning everyone around. We'll go another time. They have a 99cent breakfast, of course, you have to register there, too. We heard they have the best buffet so we need to try that out before we leave.

We had dinner in and when we found out what time it really is here, we went to bed as it was later than we thought. Sometimes along the CA/AZ border you find they may not be using the time for the time zone they are really in.

This morning I've been doing laundry and cleaned out a few drawers in the bedroom. I need to organize the pantry big time! That'll be next. After we go for a ride and get some groceries.

It's very overcast today and very chilly; about 48 degrees, but no wind! woo hoo! We're going for a walk and I'll download some photos later.

Thursday, December 3, 2009 GO DUCKS!

2009-12-03T07:29:00.000-08:00

It's 7:15 or so and we're getting ready to head out and get on the road to Bullhead City, AZ. I sure hope there's no surprises today like yesterday.

Ducks play their Civil War game today. They have a chance to go to the Rose Bowl. The family, the kids especially, are all excited about that. Dan, our son-in-law, played for the Duck back in and around 1989-1992 or so. Go Ducks and the best of luck to you.

I will try to get some photos taken today and will be back later. Have a great day.

Photos from today:

Going through Laughlin, NV on our way to Bullhead City, AZ which is just on the other side of the Colorado River.

We're settled in and watching the Ducks on TV. Will post some photos tomorrow of the park and us.

December 2, 2009 Bakersfield, CA

2009-12-02T18:40:00.000-08:00

We had a very interesting day for sure. We really needed that GPS! Me, being the navigator, am not that good with maps. We totally missed an on ramp and picked the worst place ever to try to turn around! It was so bad, in fact, he had to disconnect the car!

This street turned out to be a cul-de-sac with deep drainage gutters around the whole thing; paved and normally would be ok for a car, but going as fast as we were, not really fast at all, and driving this huge rig, we rocked so bad you wouldn't believe it! Things were flying out of the upper cupboards and the noise was huge! The poor cats just huddled together with panic stricken faces. You'd think we have never done this before!

No photos today..........maybe tomorrow

We found our park in Bakersfield, CA and will be on our way again tomorrow heaing for Bullhead City, AZ.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

2009-12-02T09:13:00.000-08:00

This is a potty/coffee break right before the Siskyous.

First time we saw blue sky right before the Siskyous.

Pixie enjoying the sun. She likes to ride up front. Better than shot-gun!

UPDATE!! Found the GPS cable in the van we left back at home but it will be sent to us UPS soon. Found my camera in my box I took to Jen's for the time I spent there.

We left Ridgefield in somewhat of a fog......not us, the weather. It was chilly but we were too excited to notice. We were off!

First night we spent in Myrtle Creek, OR, Tri City RV Park. We stayed there in January on our way back home from AZ. Still a very nice park and has easy access and easy out. We walked own to the Country Inn bar and grill for a burger.

On our way out of town the next morning, we stopped for gas at the 7 Feathers Gas Station an got a really good cup of coffee. This was December 1, 2009. We were headed for Redding, CA but arrived too early so went on to Orland, CA for the night.

Thought I'd try showing you the RV park listing.

The park we stayed in Orland was the Old Orchard RV Park. Bad internet connectivity and had to use the satelite dish for TV but had a good nights sleep. Spent way too much time on the phone with Dell about this laptop. Now, after twice being sent back to Dell to be fixed, the first time the keyboard, the second time the harddrive, now the keyboard again AND the camera. They said they'll replace it but I still haven't gotten that verified nor the process going. I think Dell hung up on me but I will take it back to Best Buy and they'll send it in for me and work with me on where to send it when they get it back. I will never buy another Dell anything.

We had our coffee and were on the road this morning about 8:45. Here's Chuck getting things ready so we could leave.

More later; either tonight or tomorrow. The sun is shining and the temp is suppose to be in thef 60s in Bakersfield.

Monday November 30, 2009

2009-11-30T13:05:00.000-08:00

We are on the road. We left Rigefield, WA about 10:15 this morning. Not to many things forgotten. Can't find the charger for the GPS an can't find my camera. Hmmmmmm We need a new GPS anyway but not a new camera. So it'll be a little while before I can post any photos.

We're heading south on I-5 an have gone through Portland, Albany and are 35 miles from Roseberg, OR. We decided to spend the night at an RV park in Myrtle Creek, OR. That's about 350 miles for the first day out.

November 29 ~ T day! T is for Travel

2009-11-29T21:13:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is finally our day to get out on the road and head south. It's been a long time coming and so exciting for us. It should be exciting anyway but this year seems a little different. Last year it was more like a 6 vacation and this year is a 5 month vacation. I'm sure once I get going, I'll be fine.

More tomorrow!

November 27, 2009

2009-11-27T20:58:00.000-08:00

It's in count down time for sure now!!! Only 3 day to go till we leave!!!! We have reservations made and we'll be hitting the road on Monday.

Come along with us..........follow along and see what we see. I'll be posting photos and letting you in on all our fantastic travels and friends we meet.

November 8, 2009

2009-11-08T13:59:00.001-08:00

Beautiful Sunday! NOT! It's cloudy and raining again or should I say yet. We've had nonstop rain for days now. We have 18 DTG (that's days to go) till we leave and we are getting more excited everyday.

The slide motor crapped out again so we invested in a center mount motor and it works great. We had the old motor fixed for a backup for the bedroom slide. Alfa is known to not have the best slide motors. We're working on repairing the canopy over the slide......actuallly it's all fixed but we need help putting it back up and my weany arms just aren't strong enough to do that. HELP!! We bought tire monitors to make sure we stay on top of their air pressure and think that's about it for now. We're looking at a coffee table sold by Camping World but we're not sure about that yet till we can see it. We'll be investing in some tire covers for sitting in the hot sun! Can't wait for that.

Many of our friends have already headed south and I love hearing from them. We hope to meet up with each and every one of them soon.

I'm packing up more for storage and making room for what we'll need for the next few months in warmer weather and that means more room for my knitting machine, sewing machine and yarn supplies. I have to find a laundramat for washing the quilts.

More later..................

October 29, 2009 Thursday

2009-10-29T13:20:00.000-07:00

Changes changes changes - sort of - Chuck's last fulltime day at work is Friday, tomorrow, and then he'll go part time and be on-call so to speak, like before. It doesn't change our target date for leaving on Thanksgiving.

We've developed a small problem that is baffling even Chuck, who is an expert in this sort of thing. Our furnace it seems, is not made for this weather and not liking it anymore than we are. Guess it's a heat pump so should get that right. Anyway the temps drop into the 30s at night and it causes "no heat" syndrome and it gets a little bit chilly in here. If the room drops 5 degrees below the set temp, the gas will come on but 5 degrees below is 60 degrees! The poor heat pump is rebelling and wants to head south to warmer climes, too.

This morning it was a little chilly in here I got up about 10 am, so checked the thermostat and it was 65 degrees in here! I switched it over to gas till it warmed up in here and the furnace went off; hence being satisfied as they say in the industry. Then I switched it back to electric heat or the heat pump. Waa Laa the electric furnace kicked in and is now working and doing it's job again.

When it's sunny, not often here, this is Western Washington, I open things up and let the sun shine in. That really helps but we don't see the sun all that often around here. Not enough, anyway. This'll be the last week I'll be on my own during the day to keep this place running alone.

Rent is due so I will be giving notice. We only need to give a 2 week notice but will anyway.

Today we have 29 days till we leave. My laptop is still being worked on. This will be it's third keyboard. One more time and they said they'll just replace the laptop. But the next failure has to happen before April 20th, 2010 while it's still under warranty. I just can't wait to get it back. I miss my games, my connection to the outside world on a daily basis; minute by minute, basis.

That's it for this time. Back to my creative plan to design more "stuff". Check my other blogs to see what I've been up to and what's been keeping me busy.

www.knitandcrochetpatternchat.blogspot.com
www.artsandcraftsdotcom.blogspot.com

October 24, 2009 Saturday

2009-10-24T17:01:00.001-07:00

Photos will have to come later. My laptop decided to be stubborn again so it's back in the shop. Funny how you need a keyboard to even use one of those things! LOL This is the second time and it's only 6 months old! Won't tell you the brand.

Anyway, it's Saturday, October 24th. We have finally made a decision. We will be leaving this park November 26th, Thanksgiving! Woo Hoo!! I can't believe we even made a decision. I can't tell you how thrilled I am. Living in this park is pretty boring. There's no clubhouse and no place to work on a puzzle or just sit and chat with someone over a cup of coffee. I really miss that little bit of socializing.

Chuck is still working but his two month commitment is winding down. He is going to hang around till they tell him to leave! Are we used to that extra spending money? Uh ha, you bet! And it was nice to pay the property taxes without touching the saving account. So he will hang on there for as long as he can.

The plan could change, but I don't think so. We left Thanksgiving last year for our Odyssey south and what an odyssey it was! If you followed our blog last year, www.andersontravels.blogspot.com, you know how much fun we had. What wonderful memories.

So I'll make the pies again and we'll set forth to Ridgefield, Washington to our daughter's home for Thanksgiving dinner. After pie and doing dishes, we'll be on our way. Stay tuned.

I'm planning on a small budget synopsis when soon so those that wonder if living this way is really cheaper, can see that it can be.

October 18, 2009 Sunday

2009-10-18T20:49:00.000-07:00

I'm having a Tastefully Simply online catalog party if anyone is interested in fast, easy and exceptionally tasty foods along with wonderful recipes.

The ordering is open till November 14, 2009.

SHOP HERE OR HERE OR HERE OR HERE OR HERE

Have fun shopping and KNOW that you will be amazed at all the wonderful tasty treats and recipes
you'll find.

Kathy

October 4, 2009 Sunday

2009-10-04T14:56:00.000-07:00

Life is very weird! Chuck's been working long hours; most days 12 hours. He's been gone all weekend and all last weekend. So many hours and it makes this lifestyle very interesting for both of us.

I still am keeping busy with line dancing, shopping, cleaning and just keeping this place going, cooking, knitting, reading, blogging, playing scrabble and other games, and facebooking. Is there such a word?

This park is really nice. I'm getting used to this lifestyle rather quickly. The small size of this motorhome doesn't seem to bother me and for sure, it makes cleaning a breeze. Now, to figure out how to clean the white leather couches. Well, off white, but is picking up dirt and/or dyes off clothing or something.

I've kept Frank's nails short so he doesn't scratch the leather. That started to happen, so if I promise him treats, he lets me clip away for a little while at least.

One big thing I've learned about living like this is not having an address. I do happen to have one here for this month and next but when you are really on the road and don't have an address, believe me, it feels weird.

I'm glad we tested the waters last winter before jumping into this. That's a really good idea. Even maybe it would be a good idea to rent a rig or a couple different ones and try them out before you buy. We're not sorry we bought this rig but it took a couple before this one to get the one we like.

We didn't buy into the myth that living in an RV or on the road is cheap. It sure is saving us some money and does cost less than living in OUR house. It's something you need to figure out for yourself. Everyone's expenses vary greatly. You still have a lot of the same expenses and don't forget to include insurance, yearly license fees on your rig along with the home expenses. You could sell your house but if you're just testing the waters, I wouldn't recommend doing that for awhile. It feels good to know that if you don't like this lifestyle, you have a home to go home to. We kept our house, put lots in storage and got rid of lots. We rented it out . Unfortunately or maybe fortunately, because of the economy right now, we couldn't sell.

We're still here and our plans haven't been decided on completely. Chuck will continue to work, his commitment was for two months, and then we'll see if we can head south around mid November or maybe even Thanksgiving again like last year.

More later..............

September 16, 2009 Wednesday

2009-09-16T18:33:00.000-07:00

Here we are already into September.....well into September.

We have more than one full month under our belts as fulltimers and that month was very trying and made us wonder if we did the right thing.

We rolled into Lake Sawyer RV resort in Black Diamond just in time to get the last site that a 40' motorhome would fit comfortably. Our first week was wonderful learning the resort, meeting people, going to an all you can eat pancake breakfast and Taco Tuesday. We spent many hours out in the little boat cruising slowly around the lake. It was wonderful.

Then the second week our little motor was stolen right off the boat. Sad here. Very sad and that ended our little slow going around the lake. The boat was put away.

The third week our son was assaulted while waiting at a bus stop in downtown Renton. We haven't seen the police report but heard there was a fight near him and he became an innocent bystander. This injury put him in Harborview for a week with a brain trauma. Very scary for us all. He was released and recuperated with us for the next few weeks.

He has improved greatly but still suffers from severe headaches. He's back to visiting friends and his little boy. No more bus rides for awhile, I hope.

We had planned on moving to an RV park in Sumner but had to wait a few weeks for a site to open up. We finally arrived here last Saturday, September 12th, I believe.

This place is very roomy with a double carport, storage shed, a little bit of grass and wide streets. We live only about 1 miles from the nearest shopping so I've made that trip a few times getting in some walking exercise. There's also a WalMart nearby and lots of other shopping, library and restaurants. I do miss my friends at Lake Sawyer and miss the clubhouse and dinners with others. Today I found a Latter Day Saints church with a family history office. I spent about an hour there today.

Chuck has taken a job so I'm here by myself most of the time. I am staying busy with my knitting, reading, computer games and email, genealogy, walking and cleaning. Like usual.

That's it till September ends............

August 13, 2009 Thursday

2009-08-13T21:06:00.000-07:00

I finally have my puter back! Fixed for free but it was so new there shouldn't have been anything wrong with it in the first place. That's the way it goes. It's working great and I'm so happy to have it back.

We're still at Lake Sawyer RV Resort in Black Diamond, WA. Should be here another two weeks it looks like. It's a really nice and quiet place but I am almost ready to move on. I've worked a few puzzles in the clubhouse and we've been out on the boat but the last three days or so have been rainy and cool so we pretty much have stayed inside.

What do the kids say:

Rain rain go away, come again another day!

I'm trying to make my blog interesting, I really am............

There once was a girl from old Spanaway
Whose blog was just a bit ok
She tried really hard
To make it avant-garde
But it seemed to be only blase! (what's with the underlining? I can't turn it off!)

I'm trying.............trying to be more creative and interesting.

August 8, 2009 Lake Sawyer RV Park, Black Diamond, WA

2009-08-08T17:44:00.000-07:00

We've been in the Lake Sawyer RV Park for one full week. We've found it to be a nice quiet little park with a gorgeous lake and a beautiful setting all around. Between Maple Valley and Black Diamond and Black Diamond and Auburn........beautiful wooded areas. There's also plenty of shopping and restaurants close by. Couldn't ask for any more.

Here's a photo of my husband digging into dessert. We just had a wonderful crockpot roast beef dinner with french green beans and wild rice. Dessert is German Chocolate cake. You can see how hard it is to keep a motorhome neat and tidy but we love our new little home.

Pixie, sorry about the eyes, wasn't going to take a nap until she knew for sure she'd get no roast beef. There's always a chance!

What do you think Frank is doing? Doesn't he look a little guilty? Hmmmmmm maybe hoping for someone to drop a bit of roast beef his way.

I'll try to post more photos from now on. I know photos are more interesting than reading a bunch of boring stuff.

August7, 2009 Friday

2009-08-07T10:07:00.000-07:00

We've been in the Lake Sawyer resort in Black Diamond, WA for a week now. We are falling into this lifestyle very quickly and find it comfortable and relaxing. I have lots of time to knit and crochet, paint, read and now have even enjoyed cooking. What makes this lifestyle so different when it comes to cooking? I had lots of time before, too. There's something about it.

I need to get a few photos taken so I can post our RV and you can see how we've been living this last week.

It was nice and sunny and even a bit too warm a week ago but has now changed to barely making it to 70 and cloudy. Glad I brought some warmer clothes.

More later and hopefully a few photos.

August 2, 2009 Lake Sawyer Resort

2009-08-02T12:42:00.000-07:00

We left our house at 2:15 Friday, July 31, 2009. We arrived at Lake Sawyer Sunrise resort at about 3pm. It's really quite a nice park. It's large and looks to be almost 100% full. We got the last full-hook-up spot. How lucky is that?! We had planned to leave the house at noon, but of course, you always underestimate how long it'll take to do that last minute cleaning.

I think we did pretty good in deciding what to keep and what to put in storage but I know there'll be things we find that we didn't need. We will either make up another box or two of things to put in storage or we'll find the nearest GoodWill.

The weather has still been pretty hot but not 100 again. We're also lucky that our site is pretty much in the shade. The AC runs from early morning till dark.

We have a few appointments to take care of before we leave the park, August 14, and head for Montana, Colorado, and Minnesota to visit friends and family.

July 29, 2009 Wednesday

2009-07-29T19:16:00.000-07:00

Can't begin to tell you how excited we are to be in the final days preparing for our new life. The house is so cleaned out it is scary! Tomorrow I finish up the laundry so he can disconnect the washer and dryer and I start the final cleaning process.

Then we finish loading the motorhome and be on our way on Friday sometime. We have reservations at Lake Sawyer Resort in Covington, Wa and will be there for two weeks.

More later................

July 24, 2009 Friday

2009-07-24T20:03:00.000-07:00

One week from today we will officially be full time RVers! We can hardly believe it. This next week will be spent emptying the house complete, shampooing carpets, cleaning and loading up the RV. We've been planning this since January of this year and it's hard to believe the time is almost here.

The weather this coming week is supposed to break records so it won't be fun doing any work outside.

We'll be heading to Lake Sawyer Resort in Covington, Wa July 31st and spending two weeks there.

July 20, 2009 Monday

2009-07-20T22:22:00.000-07:00

Heading home from our daughter's tomorrow, Tuesday, so I can start making all the necessary preparations and phone calls so we can get started on our new venture.

July 31 through the 14th of August, we have reservations at Lake Sawyer Resort in Covington, Wa. Real ironic........we used to live about 1 mile from there when we lived in Kent. Always wanted to see what that resort was like.

Chuck has a few commitments to take care of workwise and then we'll be ready to head East to Montana to visit friends and on to Minnesota to visit family. Not the best time of year to be visiting Minnesota with their heat and humidity but I'm sure we'll live.

From there we'll probably head back here, check on the house and see kids and hang around till fall. Then we'll make our way back south to Southern CA and Arizona. It'll be fun to see if we find any of the friends we met last year.

July 18, 2009 Saturday

2009-07-18T10:27:00.000-07:00

I'm still visiting my daughter in Ridgefield, WA but will be home on Tuesday to get going on the "moving out" process. We are so excited to finally having everything coming together so we can begin our new life of retirment on the road.

I"ll update more as we go along.

BIG BIG Update! July 15, 2009

2009-07-15T14:19:00.000-07:00

We have a renter, a very good renter, that's very interested in our home. We're so excited! He would move in August 1st so that gives us the rest of the month to vacate and decide where we'll go first.

This is very exciting for us. I will keep you posted on our travels.

July 3, 2009

2009-07-03T20:17:00.000-07:00

The house has been listed on Craig's List to rent. Not a good weekend as it's the 4th of July weekend, but it's done so now all we have to do is sit back and wait.

We spent a little time cutting a heavy duty mat for the entry of the motorhome. I will take a picture tomorrow and post it. You know at the top of the steps on the inside, the carpet gets so matted and dirty. Now it's covered with a really heavy mat.

Tomorrow, I'll spend more time stocking the motorhome, change the sheets and do some cleaning.

Our weather has been hot but should cool off any day now.

July 2, 2009

2009-07-02T08:13:00.000-07:00

The house is pretty much staged and ready except for the final cleaning. Carpets are being cleaned; yesterday and today. It's going to be a hot day so the carpets should dry relatively fast. We should be able to list the house for rent any day now. We're not sure the holiday, 4th of July, will interfere or not. To list or not to list, that's the question right now.

It's been real interesting when it comes to cooking and/or just plain eating around here. Everything you want is in the motorhome so maybe some things have been packed too soon.

I'll have to start calling our insurance company and the utilities along with Comcast and the newspaper. We'll need to get a PMB real soon also. They have an excellent mail forwarding service at the same place as our storage unit.

The storage unit is almost filled. We're thinking in about a year or so we can start thinning that down and getting rid of more things as we find out that we really didn't need all that we saved. Eventually, getting that unit down to a smaller one and a cheaper one. I am starting to decide how to pay bills on the road and am opening accounts online so I can drop the paper statements.

Our expenses for this shift of lifestyle hasn't been much. We did change the oil in the motorhome to the tune of around $120, he did the work himself, $275 for a new fender, we'll need a couple flat under-the-bed plastic boxes, I would like to get some space bags and that's really about it for now.

When we leave the house for good, we'll be heading to Lake Sawyer Resort in Covington, WA. Our old stomping grounds.

July 1, 2009

2009-07-01T07:28:00.000-07:00

Frank doesn't love modeling my my latest creations; (Link) especially when they turn out ugly. No one else would model it for me! Can you blame them? LOL Even Picasso didn't paint a masterpiece every time!

The motor home is getting packed; what a mess we have in there! but the house is looking better.

Three bedrooms all staged and ready to show so today I work on the bathrooms and probably the utility room. Along with packing more into the motor home.

Peachy, our peach faced lovebird, is now in his smaller cage and he's ready to go. You can just barely see his head as he's sitting on the bottom. He's that little green thing with the orange or red head. Besides modeling, Frank, loves to visit Peachy. Yum yum, breakfast!

OMG! We are really getting close now!

2009-06-27T19:43:00.000-07:00

We are so close to going fulltime in our motorhome. It's getting very exciting. The house is almost completely cleaned out except for what we need to stage it for renting.

Cross your fingers that we get an excellent renter quickly. We'd love to be in Red Lodge, Montana the weekend of July 16th.

Yippie!!

June 26, 2009

2009-06-26T08:13:00.000-07:00

The storage unit is about 1/2 full and about all that's left is odds and ends to box up and then, of course, the last minute stuff and furniture.

We'll be hopefully listing the house early next week to find a renter. That will dictate our departure date.

It's getting exciting now but also a little scary at the same time. So many things yet to do and so many decisions to make. When I look around, all I see is lots of "stuff" that needs to be done something with. Plus a messy house that is in need of some cleaning! That is being ignored for now.

I work at the foodbank today which will take me away from my work here but should be able to get tons done over the weekend.

More later........................

June 23, 2009

2009-06-23T22:13:00.000-07:00

UPDATE....

We now have rented a storage unit and are starting to load it up with boxes and will take a load or two over everyday. No time for pictures today.

More next time.............

June 21, Happy Father's Day ~ Update for My Followers

2009-06-21T09:09:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day to all Fathers! What a wonderful day! The weather is great here and just how we like it. Cool, overcast and yet bright.

Have you ever seen such a mess?! Well, if you've ever done any moving, I'm sure you have. This is the way our garage looks today, June 21st, 2009. I won't take photos of the way the house looks. It's about as bad. I think it's time to get that storage unit and get the garage cleaned out, don't you think? It was supposed to happen this weekend but it might not happen till during the week sometime.

Today I need to continue to pack up the kitchen and the bathrooms. Everything else is pretty much done. Always need to go through clothes one more time. If anyone has any suggestions, please, I'll all ears!

My husband is getting the motorhome ready; changing the oil, making sure the slideouts are working properly and whatever guys do. I'm starting to load up and am trying to use up most of the canned goods as I believe they are much too heavy especially when you can use frozen veggies and we would rather have fresh fruits. I'm working on that now.

We have started to stage the house but you couldn't tell it with all the boxes and misplaced items. We're getting there and I'll come back and post photos again in a day or so.

Happy Father's Day!!

Kathy

June 19, 2009

2009-06-19T15:40:00.000-07:00

We're closer to getting out on the road and becoming fulltimers. Our motohome is almost ready and just waiting for an oil change and to be loaded up. The house is almost packed up. It's amazing how much "stuff" you acquire over only 4 years of living in this house.

Our original goal was to be gone by now and our next goal isn't going to be made either. That was July 15th. But, it will be close. I have a commitment at the local foodbank and need to continue to help out there through the month of July.

Closets are almost empty, the garage is loaded with boxes for storage and the kitchen is next to pack up. I should be taking pictures of our mess but if you've ever moved, you know what kind of a mess we're living in.

We still hope to go east before fall and visit family and can't wait to get back to some of our favorite resorts in southern CA and Arizona. Plus finding new ones to try out and all the new people we'll meet a long the way.

RV Travel at it's Best

2009-04-21T18:22:00.000-07:00

We have been cleaning our '05 Alfa See Ya motorhome and getting it ready for the day we will be on the road fulltime. There's so much to do around the house but that's not as much fun.

I've had some computer problems lately so that's why I haven't posted for a couple days. But I would need a laptop for traveling anyway, so that's what I got last night and I am back online with no problems.

I hope to figure out how to get the Google group thing figured out. My hope is to get lots of recipes and ideas from all you RVers out there that like to share.

Please feel free to leave a comment or become a follower. Check out my other blogs Arts and Crafts dot COM and Knit and Crochet Pattern Chat.

Going Full Time in Your RV is an Interesting Concept

2009-04-17T17:21:00.000-07:00

Going full time is a very interesting idea with many interesting decisions to be made. We didn't realize that. But even though it may be hard right now to sift through belongings and get rid of things, the reason and the outcome far outweigh the work. RV full time, here we come! Quartzsite, here we come! Arizona in general, here we come! Warm weather, here we come!

As we get closer and closer to our target date for going full time on the road in our RV, we're finding it harder and harder to pare down, clean out and say good bye. We've sold a few things that we didn't realize we would feel so much attachment to. Like his two Shopsmiths or my piano. Which I never learned how to play anyway but I am going to miss it's black beauty standing there in the living room. At least I won't have to worry about dust and finger prints anymore. It'll be someone else's worry.

He sold his recumbent bike. He made a trek on his bike from Bellevue, Washington to Westbrook, Minnesota way back in the early 90s sometime. He had so many wonderful memories from that trip and it was especially hard for him to watch it be driven away in the back of a pick up. How about our entertainment center and even the stereo!?

There are so many things that you don't even think about. We are purging and going through things a little at a time. We've made three piles or use three catagories. One is charity, one is storage and the last is take with us in the RV. Everything should be one of the three. We've done this before. We sold everything, quit jobs, turned in all our keys and left for Hawaii. Just go and find a new life when you get there. So this isn't really much different and you'd think it would be easier but we're also older. When we did that, we had no "storage" catagory but then we had a home we would eventually find. The only furniture we took with us, though, was our Grandfather clock which was built by my father-in-law and our refrigerator. I know that sounds weird but it was new and very expensive and we couldn't part with it at the time. However, it was left in Hawaii when we came back to the mainland.

Ok, that's history. We have a new and exciting life ahead of us. We should focus on that, right? And this time personal possessions will be put in storage for when we decide either the road is not for us or the we're no longer able to live like that.

The hardest part will be to rent out the house. That's a real scary thing to do but first, we're not sure we will like it on the road and second, the economy isn't good enough for selling it right now. Let's hope that changes soon.

We're packing up the garage this weekend, I hope. I've been saying that for quite awhile but I'm about done with the contents inside the house. There's still tons to pack up but I'm down to leaving what we need for living here until we leave and that target date is June 1st.

RV Travel on the Road Full Time

2009-04-13T15:34:00.001-07:00

Our full time RV travel is getting closer and closer. I've been trying to find unique and easy fun recipes to use. Not because of limited space or lack of cooking utensils or anything like that. I want to enjoy my travels, too. So the easier the recipes the better.

I discovered Tastefully Simple and all their extremely easy recipes. If you're interested, please check here. I am not a sales person and don't benefit in any way. Just like to share my discoveries.

If anyone is interested in sharing their easy on-the-road recipes, please email me and let me know. I do have a group started and will post that link when I figure out how that all works. I tried the the beer bread and it was wonderful! Easy, just add beer or any other carbonated drink and bake!
I can't wait to try more. I've heard the quiche is excellent and will try that soon.

Kathy

Planning Your First RV Road Trip

2009-04-02T14:19:00.000-07:00

RV Park Resort Orland, CA 2008

When we started planning your first RV travels we thought it was going to be easy. We bought our first motorhome (actually our 2nd but it had been years) and being we bought it used and it wasn't exactly what we wanted, we took some time to work on cleaning it up and updating it. Actually, that was fun, too. Allow time for getting the motorhome ready. It's best if buying used, to have it checked over completly. We didn't know but even tires have a use-by date, so to speak, and their age needs to be known. Have brakes and shocks checked for sure. Actually, anything you would want to have checked for the safety of a car, you would want checked for the safety of your motorhome. We were ready to go after almost a year of working on it. We already had our memberships at a few RV Resorts or parks so we thought we were ready to travel. Palm View RV Resort, CA

Not so fast. You want to be sure that you plan carefully for everything, but mostly the more important things. Things like insurance, prescriptions, physician information, and nowadays, your passport. Don't forget licensing. It helps to make great RV checklists before you start. Include as many things as you can think of or you can always research RV or camping checklists on the Internet.

When we first went out, we checked the internet for rest stops on the highway we knew we would be taking. They list them all.......all nicely numbered. You can find information there, too, on how long you can stay and if you're allowed to stay overnight. You really wouldn't have to worry about service stations, shopping centers, pharmacies, etc. if you have a GPS. Most list all those points of interest. And they list addresses, phone numbers and, of course, how to get there.

We do recommend having some sort of roadside service protection. We had to use it once when we had a flat tire on the vehicle we towed. And another important document to have is any service warranties you may have. Keep them handy and know how to use them. If you bought a new motorhome, then know your dealership info along with the warranty info. Know their phone numbers and names of contact people. You won't believe how helpful this information is.

Know what your RV insurance covers, too. Know your agents name and contact info. Call them ahead of time and discuss with them what you are planning to do BEFORE you leave town.

It all seems like a lot of work and it's not really the most fun part of an RV travel but once youget through it the first time, it'll be easy planning your next trip.

RV Travel Full Time

2009-04-02T09:03:00.000-07:00

I had problems with my computer yesterday and had to completely recovery or restore back to factory setting! Yikes! This computer is 10 years old so I had a lot of program installing and updating! What a time-consuming process. Full time RVing is the purpose of this blog and it will happen! RVing is something we want to do so bad and I can't wait to dive in and share resort reviews, recipes, tips and hints. I do have some resort reviews posted on my blog. Please check them out.

I will be back to post more today, hopefully. Thanks for being patient. I will be posting great info, tips, recipes and other content soon.

Kathy

RV TRAVEL TIMELINE

2009-03-29T12:52:00.001-07:00

Here's a peek at our preparation travel timeline:

Apri 1, 2009
Prepare to pay off the motorhome loan
Continue to prepare the house for renting
Check with insurance company for info on becoming fulltimers and changing insurance for the motorhome
Hire a rental management company to rent out the house
Check Good Sam Club for maps and travel help
April 15, 2009
Meet with management company and go over what is expected of both of us
Continue to pack up household belongings
Find a storage unit that will also let us store our extra vehicle
May 1, 2009
Start packng the RV in preparation for our departure

More will be added as we get closer to our target date.

First Day of Our Fulltime RV Travel Blog

2009-03-29T12:40:00.000-07:00