February 14 to 20, 2008

February 14 to 20, 2008

Quartzsite, Arizona to Hemet, California

 

Thursday ; Quartzsite, Arizona to Palm Springs / Desert Hot Springs, California

Happy Valentine's Day

Today was cloudy and chilly. Rather odd ! This morning Joanne presented me with the most touching Valentine's Day card I've ever received. Thank you, my love. We departed Quartzsite heading west on Interstate 10. Just before crossing into California we stopped at Flying J to refill with diesel. The closer we got to Palm Springs the more menacing the clouds looked. We went to 3 RV parks in Desert Hot Springs before we found one with 2 vacancies. And even then, we're in an overflow area with only partial services. After getting set up and having a late lunch we all went to soak in the park's hot tubs fed by underground hot springs. Afterwards I needed a nap.

Joanne and I had a light, early supper, then we went into downtown Palm Springs in the Dickinson's van, to Village Fest, held every Thursday evening during winter. We attended Village Fest a few times last winter. About a 6 block stretch of Palm Canyon Drive is closed to traffic and becomes a pedestrian mall filled with craft vendors, food vendors, produce vendors, artists, musicians, street performers, etc.. We had to take the Dickinson's van downtown because I didn't want to try to unhitch our truck from the trailer while we're here for a few days. The trailer's "house" battery is dead. I don't think there's enough power left in it to raise and lower the front of the trailer for unhitching and hitching. I'll buy a new battery next week in Hemet.

We wandered slowly up and down Palm Canyon Drive. Erbon's leg problem is not improving. An evening of walking was pretty difficult for him. Joanne and I didn't purchase anything but Erbon and Lorraine did. Upscale pastries, upscale coffee, upscale bread ( everything about Palm Springs is upscale ! ) some oranges. Erbon and Lorraine had not had supper. Never take a man to a street festival on an empty stomach ! Since Erbon and Lorraine had not had supper, we went to a New York Jewish deli for a late, light supper / snack. Joanne and I had been to Sherman's Deli last year for lunch. Tonight we had a great, late night snack / light supper. I had a bowl of sweet and sour cabbage soup, and a chopped liver sandwich. Joanne had a bowl of chicken noodle soup, and a beef brisket sandwich. MMMMM ! Very New York ! Very Jewish !

 

Friday ; Joshua Tree National Park

Today was sunny and mild in Desert Hot Springs, sunny, cool, and windy in Joshua Tree National Park. This morning we drove into Desert Hot Springs so that Joanne could shop at her favourite thrift store. As much as I protested and resisted, I have to appreciate that once again she bought me 2 pairs of expensive casual pants, one never worn, for $5 a pair. I still wonder why never worn pants end up in thrift shops out here in the playground of the rich and famous. From Desert Hot Springs we headed over to Hwy. 62 for the drive north, then northeast to Joshua Tree National Park.

At the town of Joshua Tree we stopped at the Joshua Tree National Park Visitor Center, then entered the park at the West Entrance Station. We drove to Keys View, a 5185 ft. elevation viewpoint looking over the Coachella Valley from Palm Springs to the Salton Sea. The wind was so strong we couldn't stand near the edge of the viewpoint for fear of being blown over the edge. We explored the park by road, stopping for a picnic lunch at Jumbo Rocks. It was too cold and windy to enjoy the picnic. We continued exploring by road, heading east through the park, stopping late in the afternoon for a short hike around the Teddy Bear Cholla Garden. We continued east through the park, stopping at Cottonwood Spring to see the palm oasis, just before leaving the park through the South Entrance Station. I napped in the back of the Dickinson's van all the way back to Desert Hot Springs.

 

Saturday ; Today was sunny and very warm again. I guess yesterday's weather was an aberration.

This morning we went to the Thousand Palms Oasis / Coachella Valley Nature Preserve just a short distance from our crappy RV park. Erbon and Lorraine did some birding. Lorraine, Joanne and I went for a short hike through the fan palm oasis and through the desert to another fan palm oasis nearby, viewing birds, lizards, and studying the fan palms closely. They are very interesting trees. We returned to the first fan palm oasis, Thousand Palms Oasis, where Erbon was waiting for us. His sore leg prevents him from going on hikes, even short ones. We had a lovely picnic lunch, sitting at a partially sunny, partially shaded picnic table under a fan palm. We ate, listened to birds, and viewed birds. Erbon and Lorraine are avid birders.

After lunch we drove over to Flying J, Erbon refilled the RoadTrek's fuel tank, then we drove east on I-10 to Casino 29 in Indio for a free performance of a Chinese Acrobat Circus. Today was Chinese New Year. Casino 29 had the grand opening of their new noodle restaurant, and presented a free performance of a Chinese Acrobat Circus in their large show theatre. It was a great performance. Thank you, Joanne. She has become very good at finding free or low cost activities in the areas where we are. After the show we returned to our RV park and went for a long soak in the mineral water hot tub before having a late supper.

 

Sunday ; Palm Springs to Hemet, California

Today was a sunny and warm, beautiful day. Gee ... last night we were awakened by some jerk in a 40 foot diesel pusher motorhome pulling into the site beside us after midnight. His engine was so loud and vibrated so hard it made our trailer shake. And a park assistant manager was standing beside the door of our trailer screaming instructions at the driver. It's bad enough that some people are so incredibly self centred that they pull into RV parks with extremely loud units after midnight, but it's even worse, in my opinion, that the RV park allows arrivals that late. Most RV parks that we've been to, and we've been to literally hundreds, won't accommodate arrivals after 9:00 P.M.. What a bunch of self centred, Southern Californian jerks ! Joanne has always maintained that the only problem with Southern California is that it’s inhabited by Southern Californians !

This morning we left that dump of an RV park and headed west on Interstate 10, then south on Hwy. 79 to Hemet. We arrived, registered, and got set up in our sites at Golden Village Palms RV Park, an extremely nice luxury RV resort. We stayed here last year for a week. The only way we can afford to stay here is to use coupons for half price for the first week. Well ... our first week is our only week. We can't afford this place at regular price. Erbon and Lorraine are in a site about 3 streets over from us. This is a huge resort with over 1000 RV sites. After dumping the waste holding tanks, disinfecting and refilling the fresh water tank, and having lunch, we spent the rest of the afternoon in the pools and hot tubs. There are 3 heated pools and 3 hot tubs in the resort's pool area. It's reminiscent of luxury all inclusive resorts in the Caribbean that we've been to. After the sun set and it began to cool off, Joanne walked to the shopping mall across the street to do grocery shopping.

Erbon and I spent much of the late evening driving around in Lanoire searching for a working, open access Wi-Fi signal. We found a poor one in the mall across the street in front of Staples. We found another poor one at Motel 6 just down the road. Finally I just drove around our RV park until I found a working, open access, slow but reliable signal, and we got our online work done.

 

Monday ; Today was sunny and very warm again. A few sites over from us there is a grapefruit tree in an RV site. There is a ladder under the tree. I took that to be an implied invitation, so this morning I walked over and picked some fresh grapefruits. In our site there is a kumquat tree, laden with hundreds of kumquats. Too bad ! Kumquats are as useless as ... well ... kumquats !

This morning I installed the Xtreme Vent I purchased recently in Yuma, on the bathroom grey tank's vent pipe roof cap. Unlike most projects, this one went extremely well. The Xtreme Vent came with an exceptionally well done installation instruction sheet. We spent the afternoon in the swimming pool and hot tub, chatting with Erbon and Lorraine, and others. Late in the afternoon we went to this park's weekly social hour, followed by "soup supper". We sat at a table of eight. Besides us and the Dickinson's there were a couple from B.C. and a couple from Michigan. Small world ! The B.C. man was one of 4 siblings who owned the flooring supply business where we purchased the vinyl sheet flooring when we had the carpet removed from the trailer and replaced with vinyl sheet flooring in Vancouver a couple of years ago. We bought our flooring from his older brother. The Michigan couple arrived one day later than us, and left one day later than us, from the dumpy RV park in Desert Hot Springs. They were parked just a few spots over from us.

After supper, everybody except me wanted to go shopping to the 99¢ Store in the mall across the street. While Joanne, Erbon and Lorraine shopped, I sat in the truck with Bo and worked on my computer.

 

Tuesday ; Today was cloudy and mild. A bit of rain fell overnight. Yesterday I awoke with a sore, stiff hip. I thought it would resolve itself during the day. It didn't. Last night it became quite severe. And today I continued to be in severe pain. Erbon and Lorraine suggested it might be a pinched sciatic nerve. I'll do some Internet research on that tonight.

This morning we all went shopping. First stop was an RV parts dealer. Erbon needed something. They didn't have it. Next stop was Wal-Mart for a "stocking up" of supplies before heading down the Baja. I couldn't walk. I had to use one Wal-Mart's electric carts. I suppose I'll have to eliminate my prejudice that suggests that those things are for the exclusive use of FUS women. No ... that's not feline urologic syndrome ... that's fat, ugly, stupid. HA HA HA ! I bought a new "house" battery for the trailer. It wasn't really pool and hot tub weather today, so this afternoon I napped, hoping that resting my hip would improve it. It didn't. Yesterday I used some of Erbon's pain relief / muscle relaxant medication, but it didn't seem to help much, and if I use medication like that for more than about a day, my colitis flares up. After napping Joanne helped me install the new battery in the trailer. She did all the fetching. Our neighbour back home, Stu, phoned to discuss my lost batch of January mail. It wasn't in Yuma. It hasn't been returned. Perhaps it's lost forever. It won't be the first time that's happened to a batch of my forwarded mail !

Early in the evening I got online, downloaded my investment updates, and did some research on pinched sciatic nerve. Well, the description of pinched sciatic nerve symptoms matches my symptoms to a "tee". I had intended to spend the evening updating my investment analysis files, but the pain in my hip and thigh became excruciating. I went to bed right after supper, reading and snoozing, hoping that rest would alleviate the pain.

 

Wednesday ; Today was cloudy and mild with intermittent drizzle. This morning my hip and thigh pain had diminished. I am convinced that it's sciatica, a pinched sciatic nerve. Obviously rest helps it and activity hurts it. I decided to spend at least one day, probably more, doing as little as possible, hoping that rest will resolve the problem. I had planned a full day of errands. Most of them had to be postponed. Joanne took care of some of them.

I spent most of the day in bed, resting my leg. That resulted in a lot of improvement. Joanne ran errands. She returned the trailer's old battery to Wal-Mart for a refund of the core fee. She took a propane tank for refilling. She did grocery shopping. She took Erbon and Lorraine to Lowe's. In the evening I sat at my computer desk, with no discomfort in my hip and thigh, and updated my investment files.

I had to send a one page fax to our Baja caravan company. Gee whiz ... this RV resort charged $3.50 to send a one page fax to a toll free number ! I stepped outside after supper and our next door neighbour was taking photos of the total eclipse of the moon. I didn't even know there was going to be a total eclipse of the moon tonight. Ignorance is bliss, I guess !

 

DSK

February 7 to 13, 2008

February 7 to 13, 2008

Yuma to Quartzsite, Arizona

 

Thursday ; Imperial National Wildlife Refuge

 

Whew ... another long, tiring, day out. This morning we drove over to The Foothills and picked up Erbon and Lorraine for a day trip outing to the Imperial National Wildlife Refuge. We drove about an hour north on Hwy. 95, then northeast on the Martinez Lake Road to the Imperial National Wildlife Refuge. On the way out to the Imperial National Wildlife Refuge we saw some military parachutists practicing. I know that the U.S. military national parachute team practices near Yuma. That must have been them. They're called the Golden Nighthawks or something like that. We spent the day exploring the Imperial National Wildlife Refuge desert area mostly by road, and one long hike. We went to four scenic overlook areas. Erbon and Lorraine viewed birds at each one. We had lunch at a picnic area. Lorraine, Joanne and I hiked around the Painted Desert Trail, about a mile and a half, taking a little more than an hour. Tough hike. But worth it. The desert is beginning to bloom. Hopefully, it will be in full bloom when we travel down the Baja. Erbon's sore leg prevented him from coming along on the hike.

On the way back from the Imperial National Wildlife Refuge we drove into the rather eclectic little RV community of Martinez Lake. We drove Erbon and Lorraine back to their RV park and visited briefly with them there. We returned to Kofa Ko-op and picked up Bo at the Huggard's, who looked after him for the day. He was exhausted. Must have had a tough day playing with Emma.

 

Friday ; Today was sunny and hot. Of course, now that we've left the RV park with the swimming pool, swimming pool weather has arrived ! This morning we prepared for departure from Kofa Ko-op SKP Park. We said our goodbyes to Tom and Ruth-Anne, Sandy and Peachy, and Mischa and Lynn. Bo said goodbye to Emma and Gypsy. We drove to our new park, Adobe Village in The Foothills area on the east side of Yuma. Erbon and Lorraine are in the park "next door", Sunset Palm.

After lunch we took Lorraine shopping to Arizona Market Place. Lorraine bought some stuff, as did Joanne. I bought some neat "guy stuff", and an "Xtreme Vent" for the trailer. I was going to install it next summer, but now that I see how easy it's likely going to be to install, maybe I'll do it in Hemet, California in a couple of weeks. Mind you, I've had plenty of other projects that appeared to be easy before I started them, then turned out to be quite difficult once I actually started doing them After Arizona Market Place we went to Peanut Patch to buy some fresh peanuts and peanut butter.

We invited Erbon and Lorraine to come over for a barbecue supper. Today was definitely barbecue weather. They brought over some steaks, and we provided the rest.

 

Saturday ; Happy 4th Birthday, Bo

Whew ... another sunny, hot day. The kind of day that makes me want to stand outside staring up into the sunny, blue sky, and try to remember what it feels like to unload trucks in the freezing rain. Nope ... can't remember ! HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA !

This morning Erbon and Lorraine came over and we left for the Yuma Park & Swap flea market over at the Greyhound racing track. First I had to refill Lanoire with diesel. Then we stopped at the Post Office to pick up our batch of January mail. The line up inside the Post Office was way too long for me, so we'll return on Monday, hoping for a shorter line up of customers waiting to be served. We walked around the flea market, buying some "guy stuff" ( of course ) for me, pet products, cosmetics, and a knee brace for me in a damaged package for two dollars. I have a perfectly good one already, but I can't resist buying a $20 product for $2 if I have a use for it.

After the flea market we went to Wienerschnitzel for lunch. Erbon and Lorraine had never had chili cheese fries, the Mexican version of Quebec's poutine. HA HA HA ! Back at Adobe Village, Joanne did laundry, and I read, then napped. Hey ... traipsing around a flea market on a hot day is tiring. Late in the afternoon, Erbon and Lorraine came over for a "Happy Hour". They presented Bo with the edible birthday gift they bought for him at the flea market. We chatted, and ate tortilla chips and fresh guacamole, until we all decided that we had eaten too much to want supper.

Late in the evening I drove slowly around our RV park with the computer on the console beside me, searching for a private, unsecured access Wi-Fi signal. Just an RV'ers trick I learned about a year ago in Palm Springs. HA ... found one ! I parked the truck back in our site, grabbed a folding chair, and walked back to where the Wi-Fi signal was. It was a very slow signal, but I managed to send and retrieve e-mail.

 

Sunday; Happy 59th Birthday to my sister, Sharon

Today was sunny and hot. This morning I walked over to where I found a Wi-Fi signal last night, hoping that our Wi-Fi phone would work there. It did. I phoned my sister to wish her a Happy Birthday. We only spoke for a moment and lost the connection. Erbon and Lorraine drove their RoadTrek over to our site. I helped Erbon do a few minor repairs on it. Joanne helped me wash our truck. It was quite dirty, and salt stained from being driven through the surf on the beach at the Sea Of Cortez at El Golfo de Santa Clara.

After lunch we gave Bo a haircut. His hair was really long ! We usually cut his hair in December and June, but December and January were a little cooler than usual, so we delayed giving him a haircut. I trimmed my beard. We walked over to the park next door and visited with Erbon and Lorraine until it was time for ice cream social. Both their park and ours have a Sunday evening ice cream social. Joanne and I joined Erbon and Lorraine at the ice cream social in their park. Very generous servings of ice cream in their park !

We returned to our trailer for a late, small supper. While Joanne prepared supper I phoned my sister again. The Wi-Fi signal that I was "stealing" / using was very slow and weak, so the Wi-Fi phone worked poorly.

 

Monday ; Today was sunny and hot. Woo-Hoo !

****ing Post Office ! ! ! ! ! This morning we picked up Erbon and headed off to do errands. Lorraine stayed at the RV park to do laundry. I dropped Joanne off at Wal-Mart, and was supposed to pick her up there an hour later. Erbon and I drove to the Post Office where I was going to pick up my January batch of mail. The line up today was at least as long as it was on Saturday. I waited over 20 minutes to get to the front of the line, and then ... < sputter > ... my mail wasn't there ! It seems as if once per winter we have a batch of mail go astray. Our next door neighbour in Keremeos, Stu, probably mailed the batch of mail to us on February 1. It probably arrived here in Yuma on about February 4. And it probably got "returned to sender" this morning before I got to the Post Office. Most Post Offices will hold General Delivery mail for 30 days, but Yuma seems to hold it for only 1 week. I suppose that's understandable, given the huge numbers of Snowbirds here who use General Delivery.

This afternoon we took Bo for an obedience training reinforcement walk around our RV park. We noticed a fifth wheel trailer that was the same year, make, and model as Harvey. We walked closer to take a look when Joanne noticed that it was the identical rig to ours ... that belongs to neighbours of ours in Riverside RV Park Resort in Keremeos. We stopped and visited for awhile with our neighbours from home, Dave and Joy. They have been here all winter. And they have already reserved their site for next winter. And they have reserved a site for other neighbours of ours back at Riverside, Terry and Marlene. They should just rename this park to Riverside RV Park Resort South. HA HA HA !

We invited Erbon and Lorraine to join us for dinner at Famous Dave's, our favourite Yuma restaurant. Great dinner ! Famous Dave's portions are ... well ... generous, to say the least. And I didn't mention until everybody was already stuffed that I had 2 coupons for free desserts at Famous Dave's. So we all shared two huge desserts. It was a bit of an overindulgence for all of us. As we were waddling across the parking lot, back to the truck, Erbon made a comment that I think would be a great t-shirt slogan for Famous Dave's. "I damn near died at Famous Dave's". HA HA HA HA HA !

 

Tuesday ; Los Algodones, Mexico

Another sunny, very warm day, temperature about 80 degrees, with a light breeze. Our day trip down to Los Algodones had some successes and some failures. We picked up Erbon and Lorraine at their RV park next door to ours, then headed for Los Algodones. Even before we got to the dentist's office, Erbon bought himself a leather belt. We arrived at the dentist's office for Erbon's and Lorraine's 11:00 A.M. appointments for cleanings and examinations. The receptionist advised us that they were behind schedule and we should return at 12:15. Okay ... we went shopping and sightseeing. We guided Erbon to our favoured hairstylist / barber shop, left him there to get a haircut, and took Lorraine for some medication comparison shopping. We checked prices at about half a dozen pharmacies. We bought Teddy's thyroid medication, at a stupendous price ! Lorraine couldn't find exactly the medication she was looking for. We picked Erbon up at the barber's, and headed back to the dentist's. Joanne and I left Erbon and Lorraine there, and went comparison shopping to the four currency exchange businesses in Los Algodones.

Our original plan was to purchase the pesos we need, for our Baja trip, in San Diego. The caravan company recommends buying pesos at Costco in San Diego. But Costco won't take traveller's cheques. So we would have had to find someplace in San Diego that would cash traveller's cheques, hopefully without a fee, then go to Costco to buy the pesos. We decided to buy pesos in Los Algodones if we could find a decent exchange rate, and they would accept traveller's cheques. I had already done some exchange rate "shopping" by Internet and phone. All four of the currency exchange businesses in Los Algodones had the same exchange rate, and it was very good. The only better rate that I had found was in San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico, when we were driving down to El Golfo de Santa Clara recently. Only one of the four places in Los Algodones would accept traveller's cheques. We decided to buy pesos there today, to avoid having to do it in San Diego, which would be a lot more running around. And we didn't think the exchange rate in San Diego could possibly be much better. When we got to the place where we were going to buy pesos, I wondered if there was any possibility that the exchange rate was negotiable. What the hell ... everything else in Los Algodones seems negotiable. I doubted it would work, but I made an offer, and they accepted it. Woo-Hoo ! So we bought our pesos, at the same exchange rate that I had seen available down in San Luis Rio Colorado.

We returned to the dentist's office at 1:00 P.M., hoping that Erbon and Lorraine would be finished about that time. They had not yet been in to see the hygienists and dentist. They were not pleased ! Their appointments had been for 11:00 A.M. and at 1:00 P.M. they were still waiting. In disgust, they decided not to wait any longer. I'm disappointed in Dr. Camacho, and I doubt that Joanne and I will return to him in the future.

We went for a late lunch at El Paraiso. As always, it was very good. Large margaritas and good food, sitting outside in the sunshine, music playing. Erbon was annoyed by the constant barrage of walking vendors strolling amongst the tables, hawking their wares. But that's just part of the Mexican culture when gringos are sitting at an outdoor café . After awhile, you learn to just keep saying "no, gracias", and tune them out.

After lunch we continued shopping and sightseeing. We bumped into Ed and Lori, friends of ours from SKP B.C. Okanagan Chapter 33. We bought Mexican pastries,of course. Erbon and Lorraine finally found the medication they were looking for, at a good price. Joanne bought Cremino chocolates, and Coconugs chocolate bars. While Joanne and Lorraine browsed, Erbon and I were trying free samples of tequila and other liquors. I bought a bottle of < ahem > Mexican eggnog. I negotiated an excellent price on four cartons of duty free American cigarettes. Each person is allowed to bring one carton per month back into the United States. Lorraine bought a small hand woven mat for the entrance doorway of their RV. We wandered back towards the border around 3:30 P.M. The line up was horrendously long. We went back into town and found a place to sit, rest, and drink fruit smoothies. We returned to the border at 4:45 P.M.. The line up was still horrendously long. It took us an hour and a half to cross the border. I don't think Joanne and I will ever try going down to Los Algodones again in January and February.

The "Snowbird" pressure on Yuma and Los Algodones in January and February is too great. Long line ups at the border, dentists' offices that can't keep on schedule because they're trying to squeeze too many clients in per day, all the RV parks are full ... !

 

Wednesday ; Yuma to Quartzsite, Arizona

Today was sunny and very warm. By late afternoon a strong wind had started to blow. This morning a Yuma RV dealer provided coffee and doughnuts in our RV park, and brought in a few RV's to show. While preparing for departure I had a coffee and a doughnut and took a look inside a very nice Class B Plus little motorhome. We pulled out of our park, joined up with Erbon and Lorraine, stopped to adjust tire pressures before leaving Yuma, then headed north on Hwy. 95. Goodbye, Yuma ! We had a great couple of months. See you in a couple of years. Well, actually, maybe we'll stop back in Yuma for a day after coming out of the Baja.

We used our new CB radio to talk occasionally with the Dickinson’s as we drove. We liked it ! The desert from Yuma to Quartzsite was very green, for a desert. And it appears as if the desert plants will be blooming soon. We arrived in Quartzsite, found our way to the High Jolly short term, unserviced, free campground on BLM ( either “Bureau of Land Management” or “Boomers with Lots of Money” ... HA HA HA ) land just north of town, parked our rig, and jumped into the Dickinson's RoadTrek to head back into town for an afternoon of flea market shopping. First stop was Beaudry's RV. I had noticed an ad for a marketing promotion they were having today at their Quartzsite location. Free food ! How fortuitous ! We just happened to be right near Beaudry RV, right at lunch time, and we all felt like shopping for a new RV. HA HA HA ! And it was a pretty good lunch, too ! We browsed the flea markets for awhile. I bought a tool ! Erbon bought a tool ! Welcome to Quartzsite ! Joanne bought some gifts. Lorraine bought a gift. Erbon bought an RV accessory. I say again ... welcome to Quartzsite. As we were leaving town to return to our campground, I noticed a windshield repair business. The Dickinson's new RoadTrek got a stone chip in the windshield recently, and a crack line was just beginning to spread out from the stone chip. Erbon dropped Lorraine, Joanne and me back at our rig, then returned into town and got his windshield repaired.

We spent the last part of the afternoon sitting outside in the sun, munching on tortilla chips and guacamole ( yes, again ). I drank a couple of "Mexican eggnogs". OH ... < smacking lips > ... WOW ! Lorraine joined Joanne and me on a desert walk with Bo. Erbon's sore leg problem appears to be getting more serious. We invited Erbon and Lorraine over to our rig for supper. They're at a disadvantage. Their RoadTrek Class B motorhome / camper van is too small to invite guests over for dinner.

 

DSK

January 31 to February 6, 2008

January 31 to February 6, 2008

Yuma, Arizona

 

Thursday ; Today was sunny and warm. MMMMM ... those pan dulce we bought in Holtville yesterday are the biggest and best Mexican pastries we've ever had. And I've had a lot of Mexican pastries. HA HA HA !

I got a late start this morning. I was sick. While I got myself started, Joanne went shopping to the Arizona Market Place. After lunch we both went shopping. Well, actually, all three of us ... Bo came along. Bo loves shopping. We returned to Arizona Market Place for a few things I needed, then went to PetsMart. WOO-HOO ... PetsMart shopping ! And flea market shopping ! Bo loves shopping at the Arizona Market Place even more than Joanne does. HA HA HA ! Then it was over to Checker Auto Parts, Lowe's, and finally, Albertsons for groceries. Back at Kofa Ko-op we spent the rest of the afternoon in the dog park. Bo played with Emma, Gypsy, Bea the Boxer, and a couple of Boston Terriers. Bo's buddies !

For supper I barbecued some Carne Asada ( Mexican marinade ) beef. After supper we watched Celebrity Apprentice.

 

Friday ; Today was a beautiful, sunny, warm, perfect "June 18" day. A great day for a Margarita party. Last night I received an e-mail from Erbon and Lorraine, who arrived in Phoenix yesterday evening in anticipation of picking up my trailer suspension parts order for me this morning. What neither they nor we were aware of, being ignorant Canadians, is that the Super Bowl is in Phoenix this Sunday. And the RV park nightly rate for Super Bowl Weekend was $160 per night ! ! ! ! ! < CHOKE > Because they only wanted to stay one night, they managed to get a site for $42, still considerably more than average for an RV site in a place like Phoenix. This morning as they were checking out, the person who had a reservation on their site for the Super Bowl Weekend was waiting for them to vacate their site. It was Willie Nelson ! And his decrepit old diesel belching, marijuana reeking, tour bus cum motorhome. HA HA HA !

We were watching with eager anticipation this morning to see if any sites in this park became vacant. Between 8:30 A.M. and 11:00 A.M. four rigs left the park. And their vacant sites were immediately filled. One of those sites went to our friends Sandy and Peachy who moved here this morning from another park. We are very concerned about the lack of available RV sites in Yuma right now. Erbon and Lorraine are arriving here tomorrow. Joanne and I argued all day about what is the best strategy tomorrow morning to try to ensure a site for Erbon and Lorraine. I had a phone conversation with Erbon around suppertime and we came to a consensus about tomorrow's strategy.

This afternoon was the park's Margarita party out on the gazebo patio beside the clubhouse. What a great time, out in the beautiful sunshine, visiting and chatting, drinking Margaritas, and munching on "pot luck" finger foods. I taught a magic trick to Monica, and another one to Pat, as a reward for each of them for being such good sport "stooges" for me during my magic show. Pat's performance of the magic trick I taught her was ... well ... pretty pathetic. HA HA HA ! But Monica mastered her trick, and spent much of the afternoon performing her trick for small groups of her friends, with much uproarious laughter. I guess a few Margaritas didn't hurt.

We took Bo for a play session in the dog park with Gypsy. What a funny pair ! They play "tug of war" with Bo's Christmas gift, a rope with a ball on it. They each grab one end, and tug. Gypsy is bigger and stronger. But Bo is way too determined to let go. He sits down with his butt on the ground, digs his feet in, clamps his jaws down on his end of the rope, and Gypsy drags him around the desert, making deep furrows in the sand like Bo is a plow. HA HA HA HA HA !

I spent the evening reconciling January's bank statements and updating my investment files.

 

Saturday ; Another perfect "June 18" day. I was up early this morning, in anticipation of Erbon's and Lorraine's arrival. And I slept poorly, worrying about the lack of available spaces in this park, and indeed most RV parks in Yuma at this time. Fortuitously, about 5 minutes before Erbon and Lorraine arrived at 8:30 A.M. a rig pulled out of the unserviced "boondock" section of the park, creating a vacancy. WOO-HOO ... a site for Erbon and Lorraine. Upon their arrival, they attempted to purchase an Escapees membership, and therefore become eligible to stay here at Kofa Ko-op. There was an administrative problem that took awhile to resolve. I had a bit of aconfrontationwith the woman working in the registration office, trying to convince her that every problem has multiple solutions. I think it was an embarrassing introduction to the Escapees organization for Erbon and Lorraine. The problem was simply and easily resolved with the assistance of one of the park’s permanent residents who is an Escapee VCR ( Volunteer Club Representative ), and able to sell memberships on behalf of the Escapees organization.

We spent the morning and afternoon visiting with Erbon and Lorraine, as well as Sandy and Peachy, Tom and Ruth-Anne, Lynn and Mischa. I hosted an “Ontario Happy Hour” at our site.

We took Bo, Emma and Gypsy to the dog park for a play session. We decided to go out for dinner, and take Erbon and Lorraine grocery shopping. Our first restaurant choice, Texas Roadhouse, had too long a line up, so we went to Hometown Buffet. Hey ... pretty good ! Although ... I thought it was very odd that a Mexican wedding party was having dinner there. I guess I never expected to see a bride in a gown at a buffet restaurant. At Fry's ( grocery store ) we tried to buy admission tickets to this weekend's Renaissance Fair, advertised as available at Fry's. None of the store clerks, nor the store's on duty manager, knew where the tickets were located. They didn't know what the price was, even if they could find them. And they didn't know what the selling procedure was, even if they could find them and knew the price. Pretty unimpressive !

 

Sunday ; Today started out sunny and warm, but the afternoon became cloudy, cool, and windy.

This morning we wanted to go the Renaissance Fair at West Wetlands Park. We invited Tom and Ruth-Anne. They didn't want to go. We invited Sandy and Peachy. Sandy wanted to go, Peachy didn't. We invited Erbon and Lorraine. Lorraine wanted to go, Erbon didn't. So we went with Sandy and Lorraine. We had been to a Renaissance Fair a couple of years ago, in Apache Junction just east of Phoenix. We thought Yuma's Renaissance Fair would be similar. Well, I guess it was sort of similar, but a lot smaller and a lot more amateur. But we had a good time. There were many vendors, but most of them were selling medieval era costumes that would mostly be of interest only to the Renaissance Fair / medieval era re-creationists. There were a couple of free stages. We wandered around the vendor displays. We had a lunch that was an interesting marriage of cultures. I hada Cajun seasoned catfish burrito. We attended four of the free stage performances. A folk music quartet, a great juggler / horrible comic, a Celtic music duo, and another juggler / comic. The second juggler / comic wasn't quite as good a juggler as the first, but at least his "shtick" wasn't as obnoxious. As the afternoon wore on, and the sun disappeared behind clouds, the temperature dropped, and the wind picked up. By the time we returned to Kofa Ko-op, it was a "desert storm", with poor visibility because of blowing sand.

We attended the park's regular Sunday evening ice cream social. We chatted for a couple of hours with Erbon and Lorraine, and Sandy and Peachy.

 

Monday ; Today was sunny and mild. This morning I drove over to RV Connection to pick up the inner bearing and race I had ordered for the trailer. That now completes my collection of spare suspension parts for the trailer. It's quite a sizeable inventory ! When I returned to Kofa Ko-op, Joanne took the truck and went shopping with Erbon and Lorraine to Wal-Mart and Walgreen's. I took a propane tank for refilling, visited with Tom and Sandy, paid my U.S.$ MasterCard by phone, and took Bo to the dog park for a play session with Gypsy.

After lunch I visited with Erbon and Lorraine until it was time for Lynn's surprise birthday party. Today was Lynn's 59th birthday. Her husband Mischa, and Ruth-Anne conspired to have a small surprise birthday party for Lynn. We had birthday cake and ice cream in their trailer. Afterwards I did the 78,000 km. inspection on Lanoire.

Erbon and Lorraine came over for supper. They brought a garden salad and a bottle of champagne to celebrate their arrival here in Yuma, our friendship, and our upcoming trip to Baja California, Mexico. We drank champagne and munched on tortilla chips with Joanne's fresh guacamole while Joanne prepared pizza. We spent the evening chatting, and laughing. Sandy came over for awhile, having returned late from another day of dental ordeal in Los Algodones.

When I went to pay for my propane refill late this afternoon I was advised that we will have to vacate our site on Friday morning. The leaseholders ( permanent residents ) of our site are returning. And since the park is full, there isn't another site to move us to, so we'll have to leave. We're paid until Thursday morning, so we'll probably depart then.

 

Tuesday ; Mardi Gras ( Fat Tuesday )

Today wassunny and warm. This morning Erbon and Lorraine joined us and we set off for some "guy stuff" shopping before heading across the Colorado River to Bard, California for date shakes. We shopped at Yuma's Bargain Warehouse, a discount warehouse of "guy stuff". I was looking for two items, Erbon was looking for one item. They had none of what we wanted. We went to Checker Auto Parts. Erbon was looking for two items. He got one of them. We drove to "old downtown", and Tuesday's weekly Farmer's Market. We wandered around, buying a bit of produce, and browsing through all the other vendors' stalls. Erbon bought some of that superb glue that I bought a few weeks ago. A stray male pit bull ran over and got into a disagreement with Bo. And Bo’s response was “okay, pal ... let’s do it !” Stupid little Terrier ! I had to grab the pit bull by the collar and haul it away. Three times ! Twice it returned. Each time I took it further away. At the best of times, I'm reluctant to handle a pit bull. I'm particularly not eager to manhandle a stray pit bull, without using a leash, grabbing it by the collar, and hauling it in a direction that it doesn't want to go. Even though I've had a lifetime of experience with dogs, both personally and professionally, I'm not comfortable around pit bulls, and I’m not shy about expressing my opinion about pit bulls. The only good pit bull is a dead pit bull !

From "old downtown" we drove over to Sun Gardens Date Farm. We bought a variety of date products, and 4 large date shakes. MMMMM ! ! ! I bought pitted whole Medjool dates, to eat stuffed with peanut butter. MMMMM ! ! ! Joanne bought pitted, chopped dates to use in baking. Erbon and Lorraine bought dates rolled in nuts, and fresh dates, and ... well ... I'm not sure what all they bought. It was a lot ! I shared my date shake with Bo. Of course !

After we returned to Kofa Ko-op I napped for awhile, then visited with friends and neighbours before this afternoon's Mardi Gras party at the clubhouse. It was very well attended, by almost everyone in the park. There was plenty of food and drink, and camaraderie. Afterwards Erbon and Lorraine came over to our trailer to co-ordinate plans for tomorrow. Joanne and I are taking Tom and Ruth-Anne on a day trip to El Golfo de Santa Clara in Mexico. It’s about 2 hours south of here, and is the northernmost town on the Gulf Of California / Sea Of Cortez. Erbon and Lorraine’s Mexican vehicle insurance is not effectiveyet, so they can’t drive their vehicle into Mexico yet. They are going out first thing in the morning to try to find us an RV park that has 2 vacancies, that we can move to. Joanne and I are paid here until Thursday morning, and must vacate the site we’re in on Friday morning. Assuming Erbon and Lorraine find us a site tomorrow, we’ll leave here Thursday morning.

 

Wednesday ; Today was another beautiful day. This morning Erbon and Lorraine left Kofa Ko-op, heading about 10 miles east to The Foothills to try to find us 2 serviced sites in any of the 4 RV parks there. They found themselves a serviced site, starting today, and another serviced site for us in the park "next door" to theirs, starting Friday. So ... all's well that ends well !

We departed this morning, with Tom and Ruth-Anne, for a day trip to El Golfo de Santa Clara in Mexico. We drove about 25 miles south to San Luis, Arizona, and crossed the border into San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico. All day long Joanne’s skills as a navigator were ... poor, to say the least. Oh, well, everybody has “off” days. For the first half an hour or so into Mexico, the area was agricultural, thanks to the irrigation of the Colorado River. But then the landscape turned into desert waste land, much like West Texas. After about an hour of scruffy desert, we reached the Gulf Of California / Sea Of Cortez, and the little fishing village of El Golfo de Santa Clara. It was not at all what we expected. We thought it would be a quaint, prosperous little fishing village, with a long wharf, with shrimping boats tied up. Not at all ! No wharf. Just a lot of really beautiful, wide, soft sand beach. No shrimping boats. Every family in town seems to own and operate a little fishing skiff called a panga. It was an economically poor town. Lots of poverty evident. But then again, what seems like poverty to affluent “norteamericanos” / gringos might just be the norm in little Mexican fishing villages. It seemed to be the fishing “off” season. The pangas were mostly up on the beach, or in the yards of the houses. People were repairing boats, and repairing fishing nets. Everybody smiled and waved. There were skinny dogs of all sizes roaming freely everywhere. All the roads in town were soft sand. They all led out onto the beach. The pangas are launched by hauling them on roller trailers onto the beach, then into the water. We drove out onto the beach. We drove along the beach. I shifted Lanoire into 4WD mode, and hadto drive quite quickly through the softest sections of sand to avoid just sinking in and bogging down in the sand. I veered off into the water for a few seconds, just to allow Lanoire to “experience” driving in the Sea Of Cortez. She has had her wheels dipped in the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Gulf Of Mexico, and now, the Sea Of Cortez. HA HA HA ! Joanne says she refuses to wash the salt water splash marks off Lanoire. HA HA HA ! We walked on the beach. We collected unusual and pretty shells. We saw a dead stingray in a tidal pool.

We drove into the only RV park in town, and asked some people there for a restaurant recommendation. They sent us to a little “hole in the wall” place as they called it, with good food. We found our way there, and had a very nice lunch. It was, indeed, a little “hole in the wall” with good food. Joanne and I each had the “comida del dia” ( lunch of the day ), a bowl of wonderful, home made soup, with 3 fish tacos made with a local fish called corvina. I don’t know if there is an English word for corvina, since the staff in the restaurant did not speak English. After lunch we drove around town, sightseeing. We stopped at a bakery, and bought some pan dulce. Betcha didn’t see that coming, eh ? HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA !

After a bit more driving around, we headed back north for the border. Halfway back to the U.S. we had to stop at a Mexican military checkpoint. A couple of kids in uniform, brandishing machine guns, unable to speak any English, who wanted us to get out of our truck so that they could search for ... I don’t know ... drugs, I guess. In the city of San Luis Rio Colorado, while trying to find our way back to the border crossing, Joanne navigated me onto a one way street, in the wrong direction, during rush hour traffic ! We finally got ourselves back to the border crossing, and crossed into the U.S. uneventfully.

Back at Kofa Ko-op we dropped off Tom and Ruth-Anne, and picked up Sandy and Peachy to go out for dinner. We had dinner at Texas Roadhouse, a local steak house. It was okay, nothing special. We had a pleasant time chatting with Sandy and Peachy.

 

DSK