MERRY CHRISTMAS 2011

December 18 to 24, 2011

Sunday ; < sigh > I spent the morning tediously editing / correcting the typo on my Christmas e-cards ... one by one ... before the recipients viewed them. I managed to get about half of them corrected before they were viewed. The other half of our family and friends thinks that I can't spell < sigh >. Actually, I can spell very well, thank you. It's typing I can't do !

This afternoon I installed Mexican bricks as "pave stones" to close the 1 foot by 10 foot gap between the carpeted concrete floor in the Arizona room and the concrete floor / wall of the storage shed / workshop. Late in the afternoon our next door neighbour, the lady from Thailand brought over another plate of freshly prepared Thai food. WOW ... her Thai food is great ! Tonight she brought us a couple of spring rolls, some peanut sauce for dipping, and ... a couple of melted cheese between thin flaky dough thingies that are like the Thai version of Mexican quesadillas.

At 6 PM we went to the weekly Sunday ice cream social. Joanne and I ended up at different tables. She was "selling" Kaydee to a woman who might be interested in adopting her.

Monday ; Today was supposed to be another day dedicated to minor maintenance and "home improvement" projects. I spent way more time chatting with friends and neighbours than working. Taking a bag of garbage to the dumpster took me an hour and a half. HA HA HA ! I did get some work accomplished including planting four prickly pear cacti ; three in front of the shed, and one by the rear side fence between an agave and an Aloe Vera plant. The purple prickly pear with the long needles certainly did "bite" me in the finger. I suppose planting cacti is an acquired skill ! Now I want a huge, honkin' ocotillo in front of the shed as the "masterpiece" of my cactus garden.

This afternoon I took Kaydee over to the Miller's for a visit so they could see how much "transformation" has taken place in the last ten days. The Miller's actually initiated the rescue of Kaydee a few minutes before we came along and joined in the effort. They are as pleased as us to see Kaydee becoming a "happy ending" story.

It's almost 6 PM, Joanne is out shopping somewhere, and I'm procrastinating wrapping Christmas gifts, a task I have been putting off for a few days already. Wrapping gifts by myself always reminds me of my wonderful mother-in-law, who always helped me wrap gifts. I miss her !

Tuesday ; Los Algodones, Baja California, Mexico

Well, we had a very productive day in Mexico today. I was in desperate need of a haircut and beard trim for Christmas, so ... off to Mexico we went ! First stop was our dentist's where we made appointments for cleanings and examinations with our dentist, and an appointment for a periodontal examination for me with my periodontist, in two weeks. Then off for a $3 haircut and beard trim for me. Excellent work ... gracias, Fabiola. While I was getting a haircut Joanne was off shopping at the mercado. We wandered around from farmacia to farmacia comparing prices on medications I needed ( or wanted ... hey, it's Mexico ! ). We got all the meds I needed or wanted and then we headed over to Meyer Optical, the new optical place in town, for free eye examinations and free glaucoma testing. We had coupons for both. We have previously dealt with Best Optical once and Algodones Optical many times. Both were very satisfactory. But today at Meyer Optical we got better eye examinations than at the other places. By the time we were finished getting our free examinations it was getting late in the day and they were near closing time, so there wasn't time to order glasses. I had planned it exactly that way.
I wanted the examinations without feeling obligated to immediately buy glasses. I wanted to evaluate and compare before buying glasses. But ... based on the superior eye examinations, and the competitive pricing, we will return there in two weeks to order new glasses for Joanne. Her prescription has changed considerably since she last got glasses about five years ago. Mine has stayed the same since I got glasses two years ago. I'm undecided about whether or not to buy new glasses. I got a pretty significant scratch on one of my lenses a few months ago.

From Meyer Optical we headed back towards the border making a final farmacia stop for meds, and a stop at The Purple Store to buy Creminos, Nugs, and Coconugs. The line up to cross back into the United States was .. non-existent ! I don't recall that ever happening before. We thought that this close to Christmas there would be a lot of gringos down there buying booze for the holidays and there would be a long border crossing line-up / delay. Going down there late ( after lunch ), and consequently crossing back late ( after 5 PM ) like we did today might be the way to go to avoid the horrendous border crossing line-ups that can exist in mid-afternoon.

When we returned home, our next door neighbour, with his big dog Ardee ( for Red Dog ) joined us for a pack walk around the dog park with Bo and Kaydee. Kaydee has developed enough self-confidence that she actually growled at the big dog when he sniffed her where she didn't want to be sniffed ! HA HA HA ... you go, girl !

Wednesday ; This morning while Joanne went to morning water aerobics, as she does five days a week, I went to the clubhouse to attend a Tai Chi demonstration. I'm contemplating joining a ten week Tai Chi program that will start here on Wednesdays in the New Year.

This morning we included Kaydee in Bo's weekly obedience training session. Good girl, Kaydee ! She follows cues from Bo excellently ! BO, SIT, STAY ... KAYDEE, SIT, STAY ... BO, COME ... KAYDEE, COME ! Well done, pack, good dogs !

We went shopping. So what else is new ? HA HA HA ! We ordered a screen section for the front patio. Again ! Let's hope this place does better work than the last one ! We went to a "farmer's market" at Gila Mountain United Methodist Church in The Foothills. It was more of a flea market than a farmer's market. We had lunch, bought groceries, and refilled with diesel at the new Fry's "super store" in The Foothills. I picked up a special order that was waiting for me at Al's RV Service & Supplies. I returned the defective door knob and bought some other hardware at Wally's World.

Back at home I enjoyed the fine late afternoon weather and brilliant desert sunset while sitting in the Arizona room with the dogs, working on the computer and doing some online Christmas shopping and bill paying while Joanne went off to join the group wandering around the park singing Christmas carols. Chacun à son goût, je suppose. In the evening I retrieved, printed, and reconciled the monthly MasterCard statements before we went to put the solar covers on the pool and hot tub, a job Joanne volunteered us to do nightly for the next two weeks.

A neighbour back home at Riverside RV Park Resort sent us a picture of our lot, covered lightly in snow, with one of our two new little Douglas Fir trees decorated with Christmas ornaments. HA HA HA ... thank you, Janet.

Thursday ; Goodbye, Kaydee ! And Merry Christmas !

Kaydee went to her new home today. DAMN ... letting her go was harder than I thought it was going to be !

There is an RV club / social network called Wandering Individuals Network ... WIN ... for single RV'ers. One of the residents of Kofa Ko-op is a member, and is currently attending the WIN Christmas boondock rally out in the desert behind the VFW on Hwy. 95 a few miles north of Yuma. And there she met a man who was looking to get himself a new dog for Christmas. So ... Carol Mae was right. It really does "take a village" to rescue a dog. HA HA HA !

Around noon there was a knock on the door. As I grabbed and picked up the dogs, Joanne opened the door and there stood a man and a woman. He said he was looking for the dog that was available for adoption. We initially misunderstood their relationship. We thought they were a couple. They weren't. He was shopping for a new dog. She was a friend tagging along to give moral support. As they entered our trailer, Kaydee leaped out of my arms. BAM ... onto the floor from the height of my chest. I was so embarrassed !

To make a long story a bit shorter ... before driving over here to see Kaydee, they had visited the Humane Society of Yuma. There were no dogs there that were particularly appealing to him. But ... he and Kaydee hit it off pretty well. So ... Kaydee now belongs to a single man. Her new home will be in Quartzsite, Arizona. Ron gets a new dog for Christmas. Kaydee gets a new home for Christmas. "God bless us, every one !"

Joanne began work on painting the shed door today. A previous resident had painted ... symbols and icons ... on the back of the shed door, visible when the shed door is open into the Arizona room. And she had her visitors / guests sign their names and visit dates, etc., turning the door into a huge "guest book". Yeah ... that's nice ... but dark brown paint looks nicer, thank you !

Somewhat thanks to Kaydee, we ran out of dog food tonight. We had to make a late evening "emergency" run to PetsMart. WOO-HOO ... Bo's never been to PetsMart at night ! Between where we parked the truck, and the door of the store, Bo peed four times. "MY PETSMART !"

Friday ; What a day ! I've had a disagreement / misunderstanding / falling out ( by
e-mail ) with a friend. I hope that can be repaired. And if that's not enough ... Kaydee's back !

The following paragraph has been heavily edited, censored, and rewritten. What a ***** ! What an ******* ! ! ! Twenty eight hours and he's returned Kaydee to us. By tying her up to Bo's outdoor tie-out and ... taking off without even leaving a note, while we were out walking in the dog park for about 15 minutes. What a **** ! ! !

This morning I went to Big O Tires and had a screw in metal valve stem installed on the trailer's spare tire. Now all twelve truck and trailer tires have screw in metal valve stems. Finally ! And Bo appreciated going for a drivey.

After lunch I napped with Sully and Bo while Joanne went shopping for some advertised specials at Food City, the "Mexican" supermarket in Yuma. Around 4 PM Judy and Terry came by with Spanky for our regular daily pack walk around the dog park. When we returned from the pack walk, and I was climbing back over the brick fence into our back yard ... HUH ? ? ? ! ! ! ... there was Kaydee ! To say that we were all stunned would be an understatement. And then, to discover ... < sputter > ... that he was gone without even leaving a note, well ... yeah ... we were "gob smacked" ! ! !

An hour later there was a message from him on our voice mail. From our perspective, his rationale lacked merit. I typed a lot more, but deleted it. Perhaps enough said ! Welcome back, Kaydee !

In the evening we went to see the Christmas lights displays on 55th St. in The Foothills, a street renowned in Yuma for its Christmas light decorations. Very impressive !

Saturday ; Christmas Eve ; Today I remember my father, who died on Christmas Eve sixteen years ago. Ever since his death I have felt melancholy on Christmas Eve.

This morning we went to the Kofa Ko-op Christmas Eve potluck brunch. This afternoon we installed the new section of front patio screen. "Lace on" installation was no problem. What a difference good quality workmanship makes !

After our daily pack walk, Judy and Terry joined us in our Arizona room for a Christmas Eve drink of eggnog and rompope, a Mexican liqueur known colloquially as Mexican eggnog. Bo and Spanky were both asserting dominance, and being somewhat "bad" dogs.

At dusk we went for a stroll around the RV park to view the luminaries lining the roads, one at each lot, a Christmas Eve tradition here at Kofa Ko-op. Joanne had Bo on his retractable leash and I had Kaydee in Sully's sling carrier over my shoulder. She fits in the sling carrier really well.

Upholding her family’s tradition Joanne prepared tourtière ( French Canadian meat pie ) for Christmas Eve dinner. Thank you, my dear. HA HA HA ... Kaydee loooooves Christmas fruit cake !

DSK

December 11 to 17, 2011

Sunday ; This morning we walked with Bo and Kaydee over to see the Miller's who helped us capture Kaydee two days ago. We wanted them to see the amazing transformation ! We visited with them for awhile in their lovely back yard. They are from the north end of the Okanagan Valley in BC ( we're from the south end ).

This afternoon we went shopping ( so what else is new ? ! ). First stop was Yuma Park N Swap, a.k.a. the Dog Track Flea Market. What a busy place on Sunday afternoons, typically "family day" for Mexicans. Yuma Park N Swap is more the Mexican flea market and Arizona Marketplace near Kofa Ko-op is more the gringo flea market. Joanne bought produce. I bought hardware and a case of Awesome cleaner, about a year's supply. Then it was over to the Indoor Marketplace, the newest and more "upscale" flea market
( as "flea markets" go ) to buy myself a new fanny pack. Last stop was Lowe's for yet more hardware.

This afternoon we trimmed everybody's claws. First Kaydee, then Sully, then Bo. Kaydee tolerated it without complaint, as she has tolerated everything so far ... except trying to clean around her eyes. She won't allow that. Joanne is eager to take her to a veterinarian to have her eyes checked.

We had a lot of neighbours / visitors come by today to see our Arizona room and Kaydee. Word travels fast in this park. We went on a pack walk with Bo, Spanky, and Kaydee. She follows the two males well, and takes her cues from their behaviour. At this evening's ice cream social, while Joanne made an announcement about finding a new home for her, I stood in the doorway with her showing her off. She's a pretty cute little dog. Alas, there were no takers ... yet. But we will persevere. I have decided to do everything I can to ensure that she is transformed into a "gringo" dog.

Monday ; This morning I trimmed Kaydee's feet ... and legs. I started out trimming just the feet, but ... the more I trimmed, the more there seemed to be that needed trimming. Now she looks a bit goofy, long hair on the body, skinny toothpick legs.

This afternoon our friends Lynn and Micha and their dog Gypsy came over for a visit. They have a winter home in The Foothills. Just as they arrived, the weather turned very cold. We took the three dogs for a pack walk around the dog park, then went inside the trailer to have some tea and escape the cold. By the time our visit ended a couple of hours later, the sun had returned and it was warm again. That was an odd weather phenomenon !

As Lynn and Micha left with Gypsy, Judy and Terry arrived with Spanky. Again we took the three dogs for a pack walk around the dog park, then Terry & Judy spent the rest of the afternoon visiting with us in the Arizona room. Bo and Spanky have become good friends.

While Joanne did laundry, I did our Christmas decorating. Now as she prepares supper and I type this, we're listening to Christmas carols play on the CD / DVD player. Dreaming Of A White Christmas ! ? ! PHHHHHTTTTT ... I don't think so ! ! ! I had to wear a long sleeved shirt today and I was unhappy about that ! HA HA HA !

Tuesday ; Wow ... heavy rain ! In Yuma ! ! ! How rare is that ? ! ?

This morning we took Kaydee to the Humane Society of Yuma's Spay & Neuter Clinic. Our new SKP friend Carol Mae had pulled some strings with her contacts there to arrange for their veterinarian to examine Kaydee's eyes. He diagnosed Kaydee's eye problems as simply an infected "trauma injury" consistent with being ejected out of a slow moving vehicle ... and landing on her face ! He prescribed an ophthalmic antibiotic / antifungal ointment ... which is proving to not be very easy to administer to her ! That diagnosis would also explain the inflamed gums that she had when we first rescued her. That gum inflammation has receded somewhat over the past few days. Poor girl was likely dumped out of a slow moving car at the front gate of the park, which is where we first saw her at dusk on Friday evening, and landed on her face ! The veterinarian examined her teeth and estimated her age at 4 to 5 years. I had estimated it at 3 years, so ... why don't we average it out and declare her to be 4 years old ? !

Thank you very much, Carol Mae. As a small gesture of our appreciation for the assistance she provided by arranging for the veterinarian examination, I gave Carol Mae the ceremonial privilege of being the first to administer eye ointment to Kaydee. HA HA HA ... that proved to be such a difficult task I'm not sure it was all that much of a "privilege".

This afternoon I took Bo over to our neighbour Sharon's for a trial run of him pulling a stroller with a small dog and a cat in it, for tomorrow's Christmas parade in the RV park. HA HA HA ! Bo was confused. "Why am I harnessed to this stroller ? And why do you expect me to pull it ? What do I look like ? A little reindeer ? ? ?" HA HA HA ! Good dog, Bo, pull that sled !

While Joanne went Wal-Martin' I gave Kaydee a haircut. SHEESH ... there's not much of her left after all that hair was cut off ! She's pretty scrawny !

Wednesday ; We have new next door neighbours ... from Oregon. The woman immigrated from Thailand not too many years ago. This morning she showed up at our door with a steaming hot plate of freshly prepared Pad Thai for our breakfast. How unusual ! MMMMM ... how wonderful ! Not your typical North American breakfast but ... great taste ! Sure beats porridge !

Sully thinks that F-16 fighter jets, with afterburners on, doing aerobatic manoeuvers over our RV park, is very disruptive to his nap time. HA HA HA ! Well, at least we didn't have a Cobra attack helicopter make a forced landing ( that's pilot speak for "crash" ) on our road, as happened yesterday in a different area of Yuma. Ya gotta love sharing your living space with the Marine Corps Air Station !

This afternoon we gave Bo a bath in preparation for tonight's Kofa Ko-op Christmas parade. After a pack walk around the dog park with Bo, Kaydee, and Spanky ... first time all the way around the dog park with Kaydee off leash ... we went to the regular Wednesday afternoon "happy hour / appetizers potluck". Afterwards it was time for the parade. Our neighbours Sharon and Susan had their bi-level pet stroller all decorated, with Sharon's cat on the upper level and Susan's dog on the lower level and Bo towed it as an ersatz reindeer. HA HA HA ! The parade route was up and down every street within the park, more distance than I had imagined. The parade route and pace were a bit too much for my sore knee and for Bo. Neither of us is as young as we used to be. Good dog, Bo, well done !

When the parade was finished I found Joanne standing by the clubhouse with Kaydee in her arms, chatting with residents from the other side of the park from where we're located. Joanne was "selling" Kaydee to Nancy and John. Their Lhasa Apso died at some point in the not too distant past, and they seem just about ready for another dog. We invited them back to our Arizona room where we sat around for awhile visiting, giving them a chance to get to know Kaydee. I am hopeful that after they sleep on it, they will decide to adopt Kaydee.

Thursday ; It's now been 24 hours since Nancy & John visited with us to meet Kaydee, and we haven't heard back from them. I guess they've decided not to adopt Kaydee. We're disappointed !

Today was a day dedicated to minor maintenance projects. One of the things I was going to do today was install a new passage set ( door knob ) on the door between the Arizona room and the storage shed / workshop. When I tore open the blister pack that the passage set was packaged in, it ( the passage set ) broke ! Maybe they could make those blister packs more difficult to open ? ! ? I bought the passage set at one of the flea market vendors and I expect their position will be "no refunds or exchanges / all sales final".

Kaydee's eyes have improved a lot in the last couple of days. The ophthalmic ointment is obviously working very well. Now we have discovered that she has inflammation / infection between her toes. I guess walking in shit for the dog's entire life, without bathing or hair trimming, will do that ! ! !

Friday ; Once again ... < sigh > ... we spent most of the day running errands and shopping.

This morning our neighbour across the street ( Sheila from Vancouver, BC area ) was trimming her cactus garden and offered me some cactus cuttings to transplant.
YES, PLEASE ! ! ! She gave me two agave cuttings and three prickly pear cuttings. WOO-HOO ! Along with my recently acquired Aloe Vera, these will be the beginnings of my cactus garden.

After a long, slightly boring day of running errands and shopping, we went out in the evening with Sheila & Ramon, and Judy & Terry, to have dinner at Mi Rancho, a Mexican restaurant, to celebrate Terry's birthday.

For the first time since we got her a week ago, today we were able to clean Kaydee's face around her eyes. She did not resist at all. It's obvious that she was in a lot of pain around her face, and no longer is, thanks to the eye ointment. Poor baby ! Despite being ( probably ) four years old, her intellectual, emotional, and social development levels seem to be those of a four month old puppy, not a four year old adult dog. Her sore / injured gums have healed, and her sore / infected toes are healing nicely. She's a very sweet, cuddly girl ! Who follows Joanne around as if they are attached by a string.

Saturday ; This morning I planted two agaves in the back yard. My cactus gardening has begun !

In the afternoon I demolished a large, heavy shelf attached to the front of the shed. I think it was a planter shelf. Then ... I installed new entry steps on the trailer. WHEW ... tough job !

This evening we went to the Tamale Festival in Somerton, a small town a few miles southwest of Yuma ... as close to Mexico as one can get without actually crossing the border. It was disappointing and we left without even eating a tamale. The only other tamale festival we've attended was in a suburb of Palm Springs. I guess we're "spoiled gringos". There's a world of difference between a tamale festival in Palm Springs and one right on the Mexican border in a little border town.

On the way home we decided to stop at Arby's to have roast beef dip sandwiches for supper. Arby's was closed for a staff Christmas party < sigh >. BAH ! HUMBUG ! Very late in the evening I worked on preparing and sending a Christmas e-card. I was tired, and rushing, and I sent it with a typographical error in the greeting. BAH ! HUMBUG !

While I was working on the Christmas e-card, on the sofa with the computer on my lap, Sully was cuddled right beside me. Joanne was also sitting on the sofa, with Kaydee on her lap. When I was previewing an e-card with cats meowing Christmas carols ... HA HA HA ... Kaydee's head was tilted at 45 degrees as she tried to figure out how / why Sully was meowing Christmas carols out his ass. HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA !

DSK

December 4 to 10, 2011

Sunday ; I recently purchased an oscillating multi-function power tool at Harbor Freight. WOW ... what an excellent bougainvillea trimmer it is ! HA HA HA ! I trimmed the bougainvillea, then trimmed it some more, then more, and more, and then ... HA HA HA ... dug it out of the ground. Goodbye ! It was neglected, overgrown, and out of control ! After digging it out I removed the decrepit trellis that was attached to the Mexican brick fence.

This afternoon we did a backyard obedience and toadstool agility session with Bo. Joanne baked a cake for this evening's ice cream social. And she worked on cleaning / refurbishing our "new" vacuum cleaner, a bigger job than it first seemed. I reinstalled seven snaps that broke when I removed the snap-on vinyl walls. And we began to install the new front patio screen section that we had custom made, but we didn't get very far when one of the grommets came apart and fell out. We'll have to return it to Specialty Sewing Senter to have that fixed < sigh >.

I installed a couple of long extension cords in the Arizona room and the shed / workshop, securing them along walls and over doors with clips. Half of the electrical plugs in the Arizona room and half in the shed / workshop don't work. And there is a spot in our main electrical panel where a breaker has been removed. I think the Arizona room and shed were initially wired by an electrician from < ahem > "south of here". And I don't think the wiring was done to building code. When I installed a new motion detector light fixture recently I found that the wiring was ungrounded, typical of wiring in Mexico. I surmise that the missing breaker and non-functional outlets mean that at some point some authority required that one of two breakers feeding power to the Arizona room and shed / workshop had to be removed.

Late in the afternoon we attended the weekly ice cream social. One of the park's residents announced that they had dug out some Aloe Vera plants and they were available for the taking. After the ice cream social I went over there ( in the dark, with a flashlight ) and picked one out, which I immediately transplanted ( in the dark, with a flashlight ! ) where I had dug out the bougainvillea. Wish me luck. When it comes to desert landscaping, I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing !

Monday ; Another day mostly dedicated to shopping and running errands ! First was PetsMart. WOO-HOO ... Bo loooooves shopping ! Then Smart & Final for advertised specials on groceries, and Harbor Freight for advertised specials on "guy stuff". Lunch at Burger King, a brief stop at the Post Office ... nah, forget it, line up waaaaay too long ... Lowe's to return an item for a refund, last minute cancellation of our plan to attend a dog show, and Specialty Sewing Senter to have a defective grommet replaced on the new front patio screen. Final stop was Direct Connection, a local satellite TV provider. Yeah ... I don't think so ! Next year we'll just bring along our Canadian satellite TV service.

Back at home we began ( for the second time ) installing the new front patio screen. Again, we didn't get very far before discovering a problem < sigh >. First it was a broken grommet, now it was a missing grommet < sigh >. It's still hard to find good Manuel labour. HA HA HA ... sorry ... border town bigot humour ! I guess it's back to Specialty Sewing Senter tomorrow.

While we were working on the front patio screen section, our friends Terry & Judy came by to ask if Bo could go on a pack walk with Spanky, now a daily activity. We were too busy at that moment, so we didn't go but sent Bo off with them. Bo has no problem going for a long walk around the dog park with them.

When I turned on my computer late in the afternoon there was a phone message from my sister. My brother-in-law is home and recuperating. I'm hoping and expecting that he will follow in his father's footsteps and be a long term cancer survivor.

Kofa Ko-op did some major changes to their Wi-Fi system today, hoping to improve the very poor performance. My early assessment is that there is no improvement. I don't subscribe to the common theory that the problem exists here at the park level. I think that's the "spin" from the service provider who has grossly "oversold" their service in the area. This park's Wi-Fi problems are similar to the problems that existed last year down the road at Rancho Bonitos RV Park.

Tuesday ; The weather has been a bit cooler than it should be for early December.

This morning we headed over to Yuma County Fairgrounds for the "Welcome Back Winter Visitor Bash". Many local vendors had booths set up outside on the fairgrounds.
I bought a "Wednesday & Sunday" subscription to the Yuma Sun newspaper. On the way there we stopped at Specialty Sewing Senter and had the missing grommet installed on our new front patio screen section. Afterwards we went to Albertsons to buy a few grocery items, then over to the Post Office ... again. The line ups at the Yuma Main Post Office are ridiculously long ... always ... but I've learned how to use the self-serve machine in the outer lobby.

After we had a very late lunch at home Joanne began to clean the storage shed / workshop above eye level. Up to eye level was already done. From high shelves she pulled down three very large, very good condition ( like new ! ), probably very expensive screen sections that attached to the "roofed RV port" before it got turned into a screened Arizona room. We surmise that attaching these large and heavy screen sections to the "RV port" roof must have been too difficult, and so the "RV port" was converted to a screened Arizona room. What a lot of money somebody invested in those screen sections, and they've been sitting up on high shelves in the shed for ... a lot of years, apparently. What a waste of money ! And we were perplexed about what to do with them. We contemplated trying to sell them through the White Sheet, a local bargain newspaper, but decided to just put them in the clubhouse beside the bargain table and hope that they can be used by someone else in the park.

While Joanne went with Bo for a pack walk with Judy and Spanky, I refurbished the swamp cooler. A few minutes of time, and less than $5 worth of parts, and it's as good as new again.

After talking to a neighbour who is receiving "over air" TV signals using his trailer's roof top antenna, I tried again using Harvey's antenna. When I tried a few days ago, all I could receive were two Spanish stations. Same thing today ... until ... I decided to disconnect the VCR player and run the antenna cable direct to the TV. BINGO ! Eleven digital channels, four analog channels. Excellent reception on eight of the eleven digital channels, excellent but somewhat intermittent reception on three of them. And, of course, one of the three is CBS, the network with the two shows we want to watch on a weekly basis, Survivor and Amazing Race !

This afternoon I took some photos of those dangerous Devil's Claw / Horse Crippler plant things that we occasionally find in the desert dog run.

Wednesday ; Well ... today was the day of "broken" ! I broke a new switch that I was installing on the furnace, I broke the flexible blade on my flush cut saw, and I ruined the blade on my new oscillating multi-function tool < sigh >.

This morning we climbed over our back fence and did a great obedience session with Bo in the dog park. Good dog, Bo, well done. We rewarded him with a large beef rib bone from last night's dinner. I did a minor eavestrough repair job then began to work on installing a new switch on the furnace. That job ended when I broke the switch ! And so it went with my work projects for the rest of the day.

We went to the late afternoon happy hour / appetizers potluck. Afterwards there was a ... performance ... by some of the park’s resident musicians. Joanne stayed. I went home.
I needed a “success”. I replaced all the stove top igniter assembly components. I have been acquiring all the necessary little parts for a month and a half from RV dealers from Penticton BC, to Yuma, Arizona.

We spent some time in the hot tub, my first time in the hot tub since we arrived 2½ weeks ago. I was trying to ease the extreme pain I’m experiencing in my left hip the last couple of days. This evening we watched Survivor on our own TV for the first time since we left home on November 1. Afterwards I went over to a nearby neighbour, one of Joanne’s morning pool aerobics buddies, to help her with a computer / Wi-Fi problem.

Thursday ; Well ... today was our second "bad day" in a row ! Our priority this morning was to install the new section of screen on the front patio, our third attempt at this installation. The previous two attempts were thwarted by grommet problems. We got the lace on screen section half installed when ... AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH ... another grommet popped off ! As we were removing the screen section to take it back in for a third time to have a grommet replaced ... another grommet popped off !

After lunch we took the screen back to Specialty Sewing Senter. I was pretty steamed up ! While I was having a heated discussion with the manager his wife came over ... listened to our discussion for a few seconds ... stuck her long fingernail underneath one of the grommets and ... POP ! Off it came ! To shorten this story ... we left with our money back in my pocket ! ! !

We went to RV Connection to pick up the last of the special order items we were waiting for. This is the third time that I have been delayed a looooong time ( like 20 to 30 minutes ! ) at RV Connection by ineptitude at the computerized cash register or credit card terminal. And it's always when a man from the sales floor steps behind the front counter and one of the front counter women steps aside. The sales floor men are idiots at the front counter. Why don't they just stay out from behind the front counter and let the competent women behind there do their jobs ? ! ? I will no longer shop there as my first choice for RV supplies. I'd rather drive out to The Foothills and deal with Al's RV Service & Supplies.

This afternoon I worked on refurbishing the furnace. While we have installed two Wave catalytic infrared radiant heaters as our primary heating source, we have decided to refurbish the furnace and keep it installed as a "back up" and "quick heat" system. The furnace heats the interior of the trailer faster than the Wave heaters, so we want to use it to heat the trailer quickly when necessary, then switch to the Wave heaters. I didn't finish the furnace "refurbishment" today because yesterday I broke the new switch I was installing to bypass the thermostat and allow us to turn the furnace on and off manually.

After Bo's and Spanky's daily pack walk in the dog park, Judy and Terry came over and visited with us in our Arizona room for awhile. Bo and Spanky have become very good "pack members" and "pack walkers". Today I gave Bo a beef rib bone in the Arizona room while Spanky was visiting to test whether Spanky would try to take it away from Bo and whether Bo would "resource guard". Spanky did not try to take it away, and Bo did not "resource guard". Eventually Bo left the bone, and Spanky quickly grabbed it, but only after Bo had abandoned it. Bo was unhappy about that, and looked to me to "solve the problem", which I did not do, but Bo did not try to take it away from Spanky. Everybody passed their tests with flying colours. Good dogs !

Friday ; This morning we headed to The Foothills to go to the Helping Hands Yard Sale on the large grounds of the Gila Mountain United Methodist Church. It's a huge, annual fund raiser and ... WOW ... what a lot of stuff ! I wonder where they get it all ? We bought some tools, an end table for the Arizona room, and two step stools to help us get into the dog park over our back fence. Next stop was Foothills Hardware, then the brand new Fry's to buy diesel and groceries. WOW ... what a great new grocery store ! Bought some interesting items for supper tonight. A seasoned Mahi-Mahi fillet and some Portobello mushroom caps stuffed with spinach and Mozzarella cheese. Barbecued it all for supper tonight. It was all ... horrible !

After Fry's we went to Al's RV Service & Supplies to order a part, then Wally's World for some hardware items, then home for a very late lunch. Should have gotten an earlier start this morning ! After lunch I worked on ( finally ! ) finishing up the furnace refurbishment project, including installing an "on / off" switch to bypass the thermostat, and resealing the exterior wall fresh air intake and exhaust vent assembly. Joanne worked on cleaning the old fridge in the shed / workshop. I noticed as the sun was setting that it was a pretty sunset. I suggested we take Bo for a walk and go outside the park to view the sunset. As we came back into the park we came across a perplexed couple trying to figure out what to do about a little stray dog running around. With their help we captured it. PEEEEEUUUUUWWWWW ... what a stinky little dog ! ! !

Say hello to KD ( for Kofa Dog ). She's a sweet little Lhasa Apso. Who cleaned up rather well ! BUT ... it's been a long, difficult evening getting her cleaned up. After getting her cornered and capturing her on the park's shuffleboard court, I picked her up in my arms and ... what a stench ! We carried her home, took her into the workshop, and spent an hour and a half cutting filthy mats off her, especially around her anus where the mats were filled with feces and dried diarrhea. YUCK ! But ... we got the worst of it all cut off her then took her inside for a bath. During this ordeal she was scared but docile. Except when we tried to clean around her eyes. Her eyes bug out, and seem sore / sensitive to touch. I think she has glaucoma or some other eye disorder.

After a bath we wrapped her in a towel and she settled down on the sofa. After we had our horrible supper we put a harness on her and took her and Bo for a walk. She walks well on a leash and "pack walks" well with Bo. By the time our walk was over and we returned home she had dried out and looked ( and smelled ! ) a whole lot better than a few hours earlier. She spent much of the evening wrapped in a blanket snuggled beside Joanne on the sofa while Joanne continued to cut mats off her.

We're undecided whether to take the easy route, and simply take her to the local SPCA / Humane Society as a stray, or invest some time and money in cleaning her ( more ), grooming her ( more ), maybe taking her to the veterinarian to have her health and eyes checked, then attempting to find an adoptive home for her here within the park. Now that she's clean, doesn't stink, and is cuddled beside Joanne on the sofa ... she's sort of sweet ! I think we'll keep her until at least Monday.

While we are in the United States, we're within a few miles of Mexico, and there are many Mexicans living on this side of the border. Near Kofa Ko-op are residential developments with lots of Mexicans. There are many nearby homes where multiple dogs live outdoors, with little to no attention. Mexican "culture" and "attitudes" towards pet dogs are extremely different than that of middle class white America ( and Canada ). I think she's a "Mexican" dog. And I would like to see her become an "American" dog !

Saturday ; What irony ! ! ! Yesterday we rescued KD in the Yuma, Arizona Escapee RV park on December 9, 2011. Today Joanne realized that exactly seven years ago to the day ... we rescued Bo in the Summerdale, Alabama Escapee RV park on December 9, 2004 !

We slept late this morning, a well deserved rest. Joanne spent the rest of the morning cuddling with KD on the sofa ... while she slowly isolated and cut off more mats of hair. KD has now had a lot of hair cut off her, yet there's still plenty left ! She has quite lovely, long hair. This afternoon Joanne finished cleaning the fridge in the shed / workshop, then we plucked and cleaned KD's ears. I doubt that she has ever had that done to her. The insides of her ears were very dirty and matted with ear "fluff" hair.

Late this afternoon we went to Yuma's historic "downtown" to attend a performance of Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol" by Desert Pointe Productions at Historic Yuma Theatre. It was great ! When we came out of Historic Yuma Theatre, the sidewalks were packed with people waiting for Yuma's annual Christmas Electric Light Parade to come by. So ... we sat down on the concrete border of a large flower garden ... and watched the parade ! The apparently endless parade ! We watched for about an hour and a half, then left to go have supper. The parade wasn't finished yet. HA HA HA ... from now on, when we go to parades, I want to have a five year old with us. HA HA HA ... watching the parade beside us was five year old Alaina ... she proudly spelled it for me. What enthusiasm ! She was SOOOO impressed when I told her we live up north "in the land of ice and snow" near where Santa Claus lives. HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA !

I told her that as someone who lives "in the land of ice and snow" where there is lots of snow on the rooftops for Santa to land his sleigh, I always wondered where Santa landed his sleigh down here in the desert. Alaina explained that Santa just lands his sleigh on the ground, and since the houses have no chimneys, he just comes in the front door. "He has keys for every house !" HA HA HA HA HA !

We shopped for a few advertised specials at Walgreens then went for supper to Eat Asian Super Buffet. First time there for us. T'was a very nice Chinese buffet restaurant. What a great "date night" the entire outing was. When we got home, Bo and KD were very glad to see us. Sully was just pissed off at being left alone for six hours with two dogs !

DSK

November 27 to December 3, 2011

Sunday ; Joanne spent today cleaning, sorting, and purging the storage shed / workshop. And she's not finished yet ! But things certainly are coming together nicely on lot 52.

This morning I did a "toadstool agility" session with Bo. HA HA HA ... good dog, Bo, well done ! This afternoon I worked on installing clamps on the more than 30 feet of propane hoses to the new heaters. I'm not finished yet !

This evening we went to the weekly ice cream social, then watched Amazing Race.

Monday ; Today we remember Toby the cat, who died 7 years ago, while we were WorkCamping at Trout Lodge up in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri.

The cleanup continues. The storage shed / workshop is almost done. And today I finished installing clamps on the new heaters' propane hoses. All that's left now to finish the heater installation job is to replace the Wave 6 heater's wood mounting strips. Initially I used cheap Douglas Fir because that was all I could get at the time in Oakhurst, California. Now I have bought oak, cut it, drilled it, and Joanne is staining it. In a few days I will remove the Douglas Fir and replace it with oak.

Late this afternoon just as we were preparing to take Bo for his daily walk around the perimeter of the seven acre dog park, Sully expressed a desire to go outside. So while I walked around the dog park with Bo, Joanne stayed with Sully as he explored the dog park / desert right behind our lot. We now enter the dog park by simply climbing over our back fence. Sully was interested in checking out the cholla cactus behind our back yard. Joanne wouldn't let him. Now he's pouting !

Tuesday ; This morning while Joanne went to Wal-Mart I installed a new motion detector light fixture on the exterior front wall of the storage shed. There had been one there already, but when I went to adjust it a few days ago, it crumbled like a potato chip. The intense desert sun here bakes plastic light fixtures, I guess.

This afternoon I had my inaugural nap on the sofa in the Arizona room. With Sully and Bo, of course. While we napped Joanne planted herb gardens, using about half a dozen large flower pots that were in the storage shed. Good luck with growing herbs out here in the desert, my dear ! Actually, they probably will grow alright. She's positioned the pots on a large shelf on the front wall of the storage shed, and it's shaded from direct sunlight for most of the day by the trailer and the screened front patio.

This evening I ( finally ! ) completed the catalytic radiant heater installation job ! I removed the Wave 6 heater, removed the Douglas Fir mounting strips I had made, installed the now stained oak strips I made, and remounted the heater. Bring on the cold weather !

Wednesday ; Today was sunny and very warm, perhaps the last for awhile. Starting tomorrow the weather is forecast to be cooler and windy.

This morning I did an obedience session with Bo. He has been a bit of a "bad dog" lately, and needed some "reinforcement" regarding who's the "leader of the pack" ! Neighbours are dropping by, curious and interested to see our Arizona room, which has been hidden away behind its vinyl walls for at least the last four years. We spent much of the morning chatting with neighbours.

This afternoon we went shopping. Main destination was Harbor Freight, a "guy" store, to buy some advertised specials. But ... they were out of stock of most of the items I was interested in. We stopped at an air conditioning service business, looking for a few little items I need to refurbish the swamp cooler. I got the items I needed, and learned what I needed to know about the operation of swamp coolers. I don't anticipate we will ever use lot 52's swamp cooler, but I'm too anal retentive to leave it non-functional for the sake of a couple of bucks worth of parts. We went to Specialty Sewing Senter to pick up the new front patio screen section we had them make for us.

Back at Kofa Ko-op late in the afternoon we attended the regular Wednesday Happy Hour & Appetizers Potluck. Our television reception in the trailer ( using the park's cable TV ) is very poor, so I went to the clubhouse in the evening to watch Survivor.

Thursday ; Today was mostly overcast, a bit cooler, and a bit windy.

This morning we went shopping to Arizona Marketplace, the large flea market nearby.
I needed some hardware. Joanne bought fresh produce. This afternoon Joanne went shopping by herself while I napped with Sully and Bo. Sully is obviously of the opinion that I'm not fulfilling my obligation to nap with him often enough.

This evening we went to Arizona Western College's Christmas Gala. It took us a long time to drive to and find the venue, Cibola High School. When we finally got there ...
< sigh > ... we discovered that the venue had been changed to Kofa High School's Auditorium. Needless to say, we were a bit late. The concert featured the Arizona Western College / AWC Community Band, AWC Chamber Singers, AWC Youth Choir, Yuma Civic Orchestra, and Yuma Chorale. The concert was ... okay. It served to remind me what an "orchestra snob" I am and how much I miss the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa.

Friday ; I just got off the phone with my sister ( at 6:30 PM ). My brother-in-law's prostatectomy surgery yesterday went as well as could be expected. He was on his feet today. Might be able to go home Sunday. Way to go, Bud ! Our best wishes for a speedy recovery. Begone, ye evil cancer !

This morning we headed to The Foothills to shop at Al's RV Service & Supply. Today was a "Welcome Back, Snowbirds" customer appreciation day sale with 15% off everything in stock. I have been wanting to replace the trailer's entrance steps for a long time now, and I wanted to check if they had a replacement step assembly. I knew it was unlikely because there are so many different sizes and configurations of RV step assemblies. But ... lo and behold ... they had one step assembly in stock and it was the right size and configuration. WOO-HOO ... I bought it ! Just what I needed ... another big job on my "to do" list !

After lunch I went to the clubhouse to help out with a computer project. The park is getting a new Wi-Fi configuration and all users must be identified by their computer "name". Volunteers were needed to help those who did not know how to identify their computer "name".

We met our new next door neighbour, a woman from Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC ... and her cat. We went to the late afternoon TGIF happy hour. It was not very well attended this week, perhaps due to cool weather.

Saturday ; We spent the entire day running errands and shopping again. I'd like to spend less time shopping and more time working on home improvement projects.

First stop was Salvation Army Thrift Shop. Fifty percent off again today. Then Goodwill Thrift Shop. Same 50% off story. We bought an excellent vacuum cleaner ... for $7.50 ! We ran around looking for an upholstery shop that was difficult to locate, and when we finally did find it they were unable to do the folding chair repair we need done < sigh >. We went to Food City for some advertised specials. WOO-HOO ... avocadoes were 4 for $1.00 ! Sure beats paying $4.69 per avocado in Penticton !

We had a very late lunch at Subway then headed over to Lowe's for more hardware shopping. Then the Dodge dealer. The money I saved on the vacuum cleaner got spent on a hubcap for the truck. GEEEZ ... $67 ! Oh, well ... that beats the Penticton Dodge dealer's price of $90 !

As we arrived home our friends Terry and Judy came by asking if we would go for a walk in the dog park with them and their new dog Spanky. Bo and Spanky met a few days ago and have become “pack walk” buddies. Spanky was recently adopted from an animal shelter in the Vancouver, BC area. He has some insecurities that are diminished by socializing and “pack walking” with Bo. While we were walking in the seven acre desert dog park, Joanne picked up a gruesome looking desert plant thing on the back of her shoe. Terry identified it as a Devil’s Claw / Horse Crippler. YIKES ! Appropriate name !

In the evening we went to the clubhouse to see a Christmas concert by Rainbow Station, a local children’s choir comprised of children from four to fourteen years of age. And we had an opportunity to express our condolences to Betty, who has just returned to the park after visiting family in Massachusetts. It’s the first time we’ve seen her since her Quebec born husband Reynald / Ronnie died this spring. We will certainly miss our friend Monsieur Labrecque.

DSK

November 20 to 26, 2011

Sunday ; Today was sunny and warm. Of course !

This morning I did a "dog agility" session with Bo utilizing the concrete "toadstools" in the back yard of our new lot. I'm not clear on what these concrete toadstools' purpose was / is, but for now, they can be a dog agility course. HA HA HA ! I think they were likely flower pot stands.

This afternoon we entertained our first visitors on lot 52. Our full time RV'ing / Escapee friends Glenn and Rosi came by to visit. We phoned them yesterday, knowing that they would be in Yuma for a few days at the same time as us on their way eastbound. We had a lovely visit with Glenn and Rosi, whom we see about every two years or so. And we were very pleased with the social versatility of our yard. We started our visit in the back yard, on the Mexican bricked patio, some of us sitting in sunlight, and some sitting in the shade of the storage shed / workshop. We used one of the concrete "toadstools" as a patio table. As the sun moved westward, we moved to the screened front patio, again some of us sitting in the screen diffused sunlight and some in the shade of the trailer.

Monday ; Sunny and warm again today ! Joanne worked on cleaning the truck using some "detailing" products left over from last summer's trailer exterior cleaning. I began to work on removing the vinyl "snap-on" walls on lot 52's screen room / Arizona room / casita. I sprayed each snap with WD-40 then pried the snaps open with a special GM prying tool left over from our previous GMC truck. The vinyl walls were filthy. I took the sections of vinyl panels I had removed from the front / west wall and cleaned them in the back yard. The screen walls of the Arizona room are also very filthy. There will be a lot of cleaning to do !

We spent the afternoon running errands. The first, and most important, was going to the Bank Of America to get a cashier's cheque to pay for lot 52 tomorrow. I had removed a section of damaged screen from lot 52's front patio and we went looking for a specialty sewing company where we could have a new patio screen section made. The first place we went to was too expensive, and could make a section that large only with a seam in it. I didn't want that. The second company was about half the price, and could make the screen section without a seam. What a busy place ! About half a dozen motorhomes parked in their parking lot getting custom sun screen window covers made and installed.

We refilled with diesel at Barney's, bought some RV parts at RV Connection, a local RV parts store, and special ordered some RV parts I have been looking for since home. We shopped for hardware at Lowe's. We bought groceries at Fries, including a turkey for $5.85 ! We had chili cheese hamburger, chili cheese hot dog, chili cheese fries, and milkshakes for lunch at Wienerschnitzel. HEY ... Joanne's choice, not mine. We went to CVS Pharmacy to buy some advertised specials, but ... Joanne was looking at specials advertised in last week's expired flyer !

Back at home we had the last of our whole what perogies for supper. What a stupid idea ... whole wheat perogies !

Tuesday ; < YAWN > It's almost 11 PM and I'm tired ! It's been a big day !

Today was Kofa Ko-op's weekly lot transfer committee meeting. We paid for, and now own lot 52. YIPPEE ! ! ! We've been on the park's waiting list for almost six years ! And it was worth the wait ! We're quite enamoured with lot 52 !

BUT ... what a lot of dirt ! It's been three or four years since the previous owners have been down here. The screen room / Arizona room / casita ( take your pick ! ) has been closed all that time. And blowing desert dust has a way of finding its way in ! After paying for the lot right after lunch we were given the keys and entered the Arizona room and storage shed / workshop. YIKES ! We spent the rest of the day cleaning. The previous owners sold the place to us "as is". It's kind of like that TV show "Storage Wars". We discovered all kinds of interesting things in the Arizona room and storage shed. Including a large American flag and a bible. Just what I always wanted ! I wonder if there is any "American picker" value in a Bullwinkle Moose wall clock that runs backwards / counter-clockwise. HA HA HA!

Wednesday ; Today was day two of cleaning the Arizona room, the storage shed / workshop, and the yard. It will take a lot more than two days to get this place cleaned up !

Late in the afternoon I left the cleaning work to Joanne so that I could resume the installation of the Wave heaters. The Wave heater installation project still has quite a few "loose ends". I didn't get much accomplished on that before it was time to wash up and head for the regular Wednesday afternoon happy hour & appetizer potluck. We sat around for quite awhile afterwards chatting with one of the very few remaining founding members / original residents of this park.

Thursday ; American Thanksgiving

WHEW ... the cleanup continues ! We're actually beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. In another day or two we should be able to actually begin using the Arizona room. The entire day was dedicated to continuing the cleanup.

Had communal Thanksgiving dinner tonight, And despite a great variety of excellent food ( turkeys, mashed potatoes, and gravy supplied by the park, everything else potluck ), I'm dismayed and ( obviously ) annoyed by the "eat and run " mentality at this RV park. Slow down ! Actually chew your food , people ! And what's the hurry to rush off after swallowing your last bite ? ! ? GEEEEEZZZZZ ! ! ! ! ! Sit around and visit for awhile ! Isn't that part of the Escapees "sharing and caring" motto / concept ? Isn't that part of "communal" dining ?

Friday ; Well ... after four long, hard days of cleaning efforts, our Arizona room is habitable. And it looks very nice. We are very happy with what we've got here ! There is still a lot of work to do, but the initial cleanup of the yard and Arizona room is complete. We're now working on the initial cleanup of the storage shed / workshop.

This afternoon while Joanne continued the cleaning efforts, I went shopping for hardware and supplies. And fresh peanut butter at The Peanut Patch. MMMMM ! After I returned home I resumed working on the "loose ends" of the catalytic radiant heater installations. HMPH ... still lots of "loose ends" to deal with.

Saturday ; Another sunny, warm day. Almost every day in Yuma is sunny and warm, so I should only comment on the weather when it's not sunny and warm. This morning we went to Kofa Ko-op's potluck brunch. Afterwards we headed out for a day of running errands. We shopped at the Salvation Army and Goodwill thrift shops. We went to the Indoor Marketplace ( flea market ) and bought some new kitchen knives ... and I got a free flu shot ! Thank you very much Sunset Community Health Center. Down here a flu shot normally costs $32 to $40 ! We went to the Post Office < sigh > and then to Fry's for some groceries.

Back at home we cleaned up the screen room's swamp cooler. Why would a screen room need a swamp cooler ? It was covered and wrapped with two layers of rotting tarps, and a lot of rotting ropes. There was a lot of sand and debris under it and inside of it. Cleaning it was a bigger job than we had anticipated. Joanne thinks having a swamp cooler, a poor man's air conditioner, on a screen room is ... just plain stupid !

In the evening we attended the 26th Annual Ken & Betty Borland Holiday Pageant & Friendship Tower Lighting. Now there's a mouthful ! It was at the Ray Kroc Center baseball field. There was about an hour of variety entertainment, mostly youth dance groups, but also some choirs, followed by the ceremonial lighting of Friendship Tower and the arrival of Santa Claus. I guess ... down here ... kids don't expect Santa to arrive in a sleigh. He arrived in something that looked more like a golf cart, one of the more popular modes of transportation around here. HA HA HA !

We finished the day with an all you can eat buffet at KFC. OOOOO ... Joanne's favourite !

DSK

November 13 to 19, 2011

Sunday ; Coarsegold to Frazier Park, California

Today was sunny and mild, a nice day to resume travelling. We left SKP Park of the Sierras this morning and headed south on Hwy. 41 to Fresno, then continued south on Hwy. 99. We needed to stop for groceries before lunch, as we were out of lunch fixings. We decided to take an exit into the city of Tulare to look for a grocery store. Right off the exit ramp there was a large shopping mall with a Mexican grocery store named Vallarta. And today was its Grand Opening.

WOW ! ! ! What a great Mexican grocery store ! As soon as we walked in the door my eyes bugged out at the sight of the huge panaderia ( bakery ). I sent Joanne off to shop for other items while I shopped in rapture for pan dulce ( Mexican pastries ). She returned in a few minutes all excited about the in-store fast food restaurant. MMMMM ! ! ! Tamales, tacos, tortas ... you name it, they had it ! AND ... she had already picked up a small tres leches ( three milks ) cake. Today's lunch special was ... barbacoa de borrego combo con arroz y frijoles ( barbecued lamb combo with flavoured rice and refried beans ) < salivating again as I remember it many hours later >. MMMMM ... that's for me !

We decided to complete our shopping before having lunch in the store. WOW ... what an outstanding butcher section ! We bought some lovely fresh beef liver and carne asada
( marinated minced beef for tacos ). At the fish counter I couldn't resist getting myself a tub of ceviche de pescado ( Mexican style seafood salad ). After browsing through the entire store, and putting many items in our shopping cart, none of which were on Joanne's grocery shopping list, we returned to the lunch counter. Joanne ordered a tamale con puerco ( pork tamale ) and an aqua fresca ( fresh squeezed fruit juice ), and she shared my borrego ( lamb ) platter. I've eaten more lamb in the last five weeks than I've had in the prior ten years. We had lunch, paid for our groceries ... 50 bucks and not a single item from the shopping list ... and headed out, continuing south on Hwy. 99.

Our objective for today was Bakersfield. We thought we would arrive in Bakersfield in time to do some Wal-Mart shopping before dark, then head over to Camping World to boondock in their parking lot overnight, and shop there in the morning. We arrived in Bakersfield a little earlier than we had expected so we headed to Camping World first. I was looking for seven items there. They had ... none ! We headed over to Wal-Mart, stopping to refill with diesel on the way. The new Bakersfield Wal-Mart has the largest grocery section I've ever seen in a Wal-Mart. After we completed our Wal-Martin' I left Joanne in line to pay and I left the store to walk over to a nearby Walgreens. By the time we met back at the truck, it was dark. Bakersfield's Wal-Marts do not permit overnight parking, and we didn't want to head back to Camping World to boondock there because we had already finished shopping there, so ... we headed out of town and continued south on Hwy. 99.

It soon merged with Interstate 5. Our "plan B" was to boondock overnight at a rest area on I-5 near Lebec, less than an hour south of Bakersfield. < sigh > The rest area was permanently closed. Unsure of what "plan C" was going to be, we continued driving south. Didn't really have much choice, the traffic was bumper to bumper and moving fast ! Within minutes, at the next freeway exit, was a Flying J. How fortuitous !

MMMMM ... tres leches cake after supper !

Monday ; Frazier Park to Cabazon, California

Today was sunny and mild. Of course it was mild. We were in the Mojave Desert !

I have just lit the new Wave 6 catalytic infrared radiant heater for the first time !
WOO-HOO !  < singing > I can feel the heat ... I can feel the heat !

This morning we departed the Flying J and headed south on Interstate 5 for just a few miles then east on Hwy. 138 into the Mojave Desert. We skirted along the north side of the San Gabriel Mountains, bypassing the northern parts of Los Angeles on the southern side of the San Gabriel Mountains, until we reached Interstate 15 where we turned south heading into the northeastern corner of Los Angeles suburbs. WOW ... heavy traffic !
I-15 to I-215 to I-10 to Camping World in San Bernardino. Camping World didn't have what I needed ( again ! ) but ... they directed me to a nearby hose fabrication business where I could likely get propane hoses custom fabricated for the two new heaters.

Just a mile or so down the road, and into the city of Loma Linda we found Alternative Hose. It took me and a service technician about an hour to figure out and find all the different fittings that would be required. It was a lot more complicated than I thought it would be. And expensive ! But ... WOO-HOO ... he and I finally got it all figured out and he found all the correct fittings and connections. While he made the hoses I returned to the trailer for a late lunch.

By the time I had finished lunch the hoses were complete. I spent the rest of the afternoon in their parking lot installing the hoses and completing the installation of our new catalytic infrared radiant heating system. I finished, got cleaned up, and pulled out of their parking lot at 5 PM just as it turned dark. Congratulations, Daniel, on a job very well done !

We headed east on Interstate 10. At Beaumont I saw a Home Depot so I took the next exit. I needed some hardware. And while backtracking to the Home Depot there was a Bank of America so we were able to withdraw some cash. Some days just go better than others, don't they ? We continued eastbound on I-10 to Cabazon, just before Palm Springs. We spent the night in the RV overnight parking lot of the Morongo Casino.

Tuesday ; Cabazon, California to Quartzsite, Arizona

MMMMM ... what a toasty warm night we all had ! The trailer's new heating system is excellent !

This morning we pulled out of the Morongo Casino's RV parking lot and drove over to their Travel Center to buy diesel and use the RV dump station. Today we were heading to Quartzsite, Arizona to attend a three day Escapee Roadrunners Chapter 7 rally, boondocking out in the desert for three days. We needed our waste holding tanks to be very empty, and our freshwater holding tank to be very full. While I refilled the truck with diesel, Joanne went over to check out the RV dump station. Fifteen bucks ? ! ? I don't think so ! ! ! We're not sure why the Morongo Casino would charge such an outrageous fee for the use of their dump station. Last year it was free. Our suspicion is that it might be to discourage the borderline homeless from living in decrepit RV's in the casino's free RV parking lot. There seems to be quite a bit of that happening in California. AND ... very unfortunately ... we also see evidence of homeless people living in cars in Wal-Mart parking lots.

We headed east on Interstate 10. Soon we were passing through Palm Springs. On the east side of Palm Springs we stopped at Flying J in Thousand Palms and used their RV dump station. HMPH ... five bucks ! Used to be free at Flying J until Pilot bought them out two years ago. Continuing east on I-10 was somewhat like driving across West Texas or Manitoba and Saskatchewan in Canada. Interstate 10 from Palm Springs, California to Phoenix, Arizona is a few hundred miles driving in a straight line on flat ground through the Sonoran Desert. One could set the cruise control, tie off the steering wheel, and take short snoozes !

We entered Arizona and soon thereafter reached Quartzsite. We stopped in town to refill a water jug, then headed about ten miles south of town to the Roadrunners Chapter 7 rally site out in the desert in the middle of nowhere. By the time we arrived it was late afternoon, taking into consideration that we had passed from Pacific time to Mountain time. DARN ! Forgot the time change ! We had had a late lunch in California, and now we were eating a communal dinner in Arizona about 3 hours after lunch !

We had ( early ! ) dinner, played some silly games ( standard Escapee rally fare ! ) then spent the evening socializing around a campfire. As always seems to be case, it was us and some other Canadians who lingered around the campfire long after everybody else left to go to bed ( around 8 PM or so ! ).

Wednesday ; Escapees Roadrunner Chapter 7 Rally near Quartzsite, Arizona

What beautiful Sonoran Desert weather. Brilliant sunshine, temperature way up in the 70's.

Day two of the Roadrunners Chapter 7 Rally started with a communal breakfast. followed by socializing around the campfire. Many of the rally attendees went to the town of Quartzsite for the rest of the morning to browse flea markets and ... ? I spent the rest of the morning sitting around the campfire with a small group chatting dangerously about U.S. politics, military policies, and most dangerously, the U.S.'s continued detention of "suspected terrorists" at Guantanamo Bay. I don't think I made any new friends. Joanne was a bit pissed off at me for engaging in sensitive discussions like that. HEY ... doesn't the U.S. Constitution provide for freedom of speech ?

The "scavenger hunt" scheduled for the afternoon was cancelled. After lunch I napped with Sully, then puttered around a bit doing some minor maintenance. Joanne and I took Bo for a long off leash walk and obedience training session out in the desert. Late in the afternoon we rejoined the rally group for a communal dinner followed by a campfire. When I was asked yesterday by the rally organizers if I would perform magic around the campfire, I ( perhaps unwisely ) offered to also read an excerpt for my journal. A "day in the life" type of story around the campfire. Tonight around the campfire I read my journal from February 15, 2009, the day we went to see the La Quebrada cliff divers in Acapulco, Mexico. Yeah ... that went over like a lead balloon ! When I read that same story to the Okanagan Chapter 33 members, it garnered a few laughs, and even a few "ooooohs" and "ahhhhhs". Tonight ... apparently nothing but boredom and contempt ! I'm embarrassed !

Thursday ; Escapees Roadrunner Chapter 7 Rally near Quartzsite, Arizona

Another sunny warm day in the desert. This morning started with a potluck breakfast. Early this afternoon I had a phone discussion with the lot transfer committee at Kofa
Ko-op and finally received the authorization I had been waiting for, to pay the amount we owe to the current owner of lot 52. Only after he confirms receipt of the amount we owe him directly can we pay Kofa Ko-op the amount owing to them, and conclude the lot purchase transaction. While we will likely be able to move onto lot 52 tomorrow upon our arrival, we won't be able to conclude the purchase transaction until Tuesday at the earliest. Until then, we will have to pay to rent what will become our own lot in a few days. HMPH !

We drove to the Post Office in Quartzsite to purchase a money order and send it to the current lot owner. Of course ... I should have known ... an attempt to purchase a U.S. Postal money order in that large an amount by a non-U.S. citizen would result in the suspicion that I must be a terrorist. We've only been in the U.S. for 17 days so far this season, and I'm already really sick and tired of how we have been treated by U.S. government agencies. I stood in line at the Post Office, then filled out forms, then watched the postal employee enter the information from the forms into his computer, for a total time in the Post Office of an hour and a quarter ! I'm beginning to gain a greater appreciation for why so many Canadian Snowbirds drive across the U.S. as quickly as possible to spend their winters in Mexico !

This evening we had a communal pizza dinner followed by a charity auction of donated items. WOW ... this group raised over $1300 auctioning off items donated by the attendees. Each attendee made a contribution. We donated a basket of "Canadiana" food products, mostly B.C. Okanagan / Similkameen products. Afterwards we sat around a campfire socializing. I was going to perform a magic trick, but before I had an opportunity to do that, one of the old fellows ( age 80 ) brought out his guitar and played and sang sad, old cowboy songs around the campfire. I brought Sully over to the campfire and he very happily snoozed on my lap, wrapped in a blanket, just his head poking out facing the fire.

Friday ; Quartzsite to Yuma, Arizona

Today was sunny and warm. Great ! This morning we prepared for departure and left the SKP Roadrunners Chapter 7 rally site out in the desert, and headed south on Hwy. 95 to Yuma. We arrived at Kofa Ko-op, paid for four days of site rental fees to rent what we consider to be "our" lot, and got settled in. I'm a bit miffed at the four days rental fees, but ... life goes on, I guess.

We're glad to be "home". We're excited about getting lot 52. I have plenty of work to do on the trailer to occupy my time for the next four days until we can actually do anything on the property.

We had lunch, I napped briefly with Sully, then we went to a TGIF social hour in the clubhouse. We chatted with old friends and new neighbours. After supper we headed down to "The Big Curve" Shopping Center. I dropped Joanne off at Albertsons to do some grocery shopping, and I went across the street to Lowe's to buy some hardware I needed. After we returned home I went to the clubhouse to get online and send an important e-mail. There is some sort of a problem with the park's Wi-Fi system, and most computers are unable to get online. I borrowed a computer from some visitors from Golden, BC, whose computer had successfully connected to the Wi-Fi signal, and I used it to send my important e-mail. I then chatted with them until very late in the evening.

Saturday ; Another gorgeous weather Yuma day, sunny and temperature way up in the 70's. We got up early this morning to participate in Kofa Ko-op's yard sale. We set up a little table and set out half a dozen or so items that it's time to get rid of. < sigh > None of them sold < shrug >.

Joanne did a lot of laundry today. I worked on minor maintenance chores on the trailer. And, of course, socialized a lot with friends and neighbours. Late in the afternoon we headed over to the Ray Kroc Center ( baseball stadium ) to see the Colorado River Crossing Balloon Festival Glow. We watched the hot air balloons that are here for the annual Colorado River Crossing Balloon Festival be inflated and tethered in the baseball field. We had never seen hot air balloons be inflated before. It's interesting. After dark, they would all simultaneously light their burners, creating a great hot air balloon "glow" exhibition. When that was all done we watched the balloons be deflated. Very cool !


DSK

November 6 to 12, 2011 ; SKP Park of the Sierras, Coarsegold, California

Sunday ; This morning we left the parking lot of the Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino and drove just a mile or two to SKP Park of the Sierras. We were very disappointed to discover, upon our arrival, that there were no vacancies in the park for the next two days. WOW ... didn't see that coming ! We decided to stay two nights in their boondocking area ... without services. That wouldn't normally be a big deal, but we've already spent five cold nights boondocking without a furnace. All of us, especially Sully, are tired of being cold at night. And despite five days of driving south, there's been no change in the weather. The day time and night time temperatures are the same here as they were back home, 2000 km. north !

We got parked in the boondock area and I went to work looking for the cause of no lights / no 12 volt power in the dinette / living room slide. It took me all of about 30 seconds to discover the problem once we got the slides extended. Underneath the living room / dinette slide are two coiled electrical cables. One brings 120 volt AC power to the slide and one brings 12 volt DC power to the slide. They're both coiled because they have to move in and out with the slide. The 12 volt cable was ... rotten ! Thirteen years of being exposed to the elements including road grime just rotted the cable and wires within. I wonder if the 120 volt cable is also rotten ? Or soon will be ? Obviously I don't have any 12 volt coiled cable, so I did a good but temporary repair. I cut the coiled cable at both ends, and spliced in two lengths ( + and - ) of regular automotive wiring. I attached the spliced in wiring to the cut coiled cable with wire ties so that the new wiring will not just droop and drag on the ground when the slide is retracted and we are travelling. Being able to solve at least one of the trailer's current ( pun intended ) problems gave me some satisfaction.

We had a late lunch and I napped briefly with Sully before Joanne and I went to the clubhouse for this park's regular Sunday afternoon ice cream social. We ate some ice cream and socialized for awhile, then I stayed in the clubhouse to get some ( much ! ) online work done. I reactivated our U.S. cell phone ( easier said than done ! ) and I posted my weekly journal to my blog. And dealt with a lot of incoming e-mail, most of it spam !

While Joanne prepared supper I drove to a nearby service station to buy some fuel for the generator. We can persuade the furnace to function occasionally and briefly, but the failing fan blower motor seems to suck an extreme amount of power and runs down the trailer's "house battery" fairly quickly. So we're going to have to run the generator for an hour or so at least a couple of times each day until we're in a serviced site.

After supper we went to the clubhouse and watched Amazing Race on the TV there.

Monday ; We damn near froze overnight ! We're boondocked, without services ... no electricity. Up in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Our furnace only works intermittently, and even then only when we manually switch it on and off. In this park's boondocking area we can't run our generator between 10 PM and 8 AM, so ... BRRRRR ! ! ! When we arrived yesterday morning we were told that we could expect to have a serviced site on Tuesday. Today things changed, and now the earliest we can expect a serviced site is Wednesday. **** that ! We're outta here tomorrow morning ! After we damn near freeze for another night ! ! !

This morning we drove into Coarsegold to run some errands. I dropped Joanne off at Vons to buy some groceries. I went to O'Reilly Auto Parts to buy some automotive wiring, then True Value Home Center to buy some hardware. On the way back to Vons I saw a tire shop so went in and bought another screw in metal valve stem, this one for the trailer's spare tire, the last of seven truck and five trailer tires that I am converting to screw in metal valve stems.

Back at SKP Park of the Sierras, after lunch, I took the truck to the park's large maintenance barn and did an oil and filter change. Changing the truck's oil and filter ( and lubricating the tie rod ends ) myself has become an annual chore that I do here, saving myself some money. An oil and filter change, and lube, on a one ton diesel dually is a pricey service. The maintenance barn here has all the necessary tools and equipment for do it yourself oil changes, including used oil disposal.

After buying some hardware this morning I was able to finish the trailer wiring repair job I did yesterday, making it "weatherproof" and consequently roadworthy. Afterwards I joined Joanne and Bo who were at the dog park for the daily dog party, the highlight of this park from Bo's perspective. While we were there a small dog injured one of her front dew claws. I noticed her foot bleeding as she was playing. She didn't seem concerned. However, most of the old ladies who were in the dog park ( the daily dog parties seem to be a social activity for dogs and their women ) seemed to think that Bianca's bleeding dew claw was a "sky is falling" crisis. Initially I was unable to convince Bianca's owner
( because she had half a dozen old biddies telling her otherwise ) that the injury was not a crisis and did not warrant an emergency trip to the veterinarian. After she phoned the vet and was told there was no need to rush right down, but he would be happy to see her tomorrow morning ( KA-CHING ) she reconsidered my offer to first aid Bianca's torn dew claw. She came over to our trailer with Bianca, and I disinfected, applied salve, and bandaged with gauze. Exactly the same thing the vet would do, but I didn't charge a hundred bucks ! And ... the vet wouldn't have used all natural piñon sap salve made by an Apache medicine man ! I told Sylvia to remove the bandage and repeat the process in three days. Just like the vet would do in another three days, another hundred bucks please !

Tuesday ; SHEESH ... plan A to plan B to plan A !

This morning we prepared for departure, paid our small bill for two nights of boondocking, were about to leave ... when the park manager rushed over to tell us that a site was going to become available after lunch. We decided to stay.

While we waited for our site to become available I installed the new thermostat we got at Camping World in Burlington, Washington. First of all, it proved that the furnace problem is not / was not a thermostat problem. Secondly, this new thermostat was slightly defective, on the air conditioning function side < sigh >. I will return it to Camping World in Bakersfield. I reinstalled the old thermostat. There's nothing wrong with it.

After lunch we moved to our assigned serviced site. I spent much of the afternoon fiddling with the furnace and thermostats. At 4 PM Joanne took Bo to the daily dog party.
I finished up my work, cleaned up, and went over to join them. We met a woman ( and her dog ) who are going to be our neighbours at Kofa Ko-op in Yuma.

This evening we went to Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino for their Tuesday evening barbecue buffet dinner. MMMMM ! Before supper we swiped our player's club cards at the CHUK-CHING promotion. I won a $5 food voucher. How fortuitous !

Wednesday ; The weather has improved. The nights are still cold, but the days are sunny and mild.

I spent much of today working on preparing for the installation of the two new catalytic radiant heaters. Lots of measuring and figuring out routing of propane lines. I'm hoping that Pro Flame in Oakhurst can custom fabricate three propane hoses for me, and that I might even be able to get the heaters installed before we leave here Sunday. That's a pretty ambitious objective, but ... if things go well ... ! I had initially expected that I would require the services of a professional propane installer to have the heaters installed, but now I think I might be able to accomplish it myself, with a bit of luck.

I watched the late news on TV tonight, a local ( Fresno ) station. There was a story about a dispute between a travel center masseuse and a customer. Did they mean ... a truck stop hooker and a John ? ! ?

Thursday ; Today was mostly overcast but very mild, temperature in the mid to high 60's. We spent half the day in Oakhurst running errands, being sent hither and yon in my elusive quest to have propane hoses custom fabricated, and to find some other hardware. None of the three propane companies in Oakhurst were able to make the hoses I need, because each of them was missing one fitting or another. < sigh > I guess it will have to wait until Quartzsite, or maybe even Yuma. In the meantime, I can get all the holes drilled. The Pole Barn's tool cage has the large drill and hole saw bits I need, so I will do that before we leave here Sunday. And I will try to get the larger of the two heaters mounted on the living room wall before we leave here.

Friday ; Remembrance Day ( Canada ) / Veteran's Day ( U.S. )

Lest We Forget

Since we began travelling in June 2004, this is the eighth Remembrance Day / Veteran's Day we have been in the United States. Veteran's Day in the United States seems much less "important" than does Remembrance Day in Canada. Five times Joanne and I have observed a minute of silence at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month by ourselves. Once we attended a Veteran's day service at an RV park in Texas. The first year on the road I prepared and led a service in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri. Today we attended a Veteran's Day service at Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino. It seemed a bit odd to be observing this solemn moment in a casino. And the service itself was ... weak. Since this was the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the eleventh year a special 11-11-11 Veteran's Day pin was created. And the Chukchansi Casino gave one free to each patron who requested one. For that I express my appreciation to Chukchansi Casino. Thank you. During the service, while a bugler played Taps, an old bottle blonde bimbo nearby would not stop playing her slot machine, which made a lot of inappropriate musical noises. I stomped over and told her ( very nicely, of course ) to STOP ! What part of "a minute of silence" did you not understand, you stupid bimbo ? ! ? It's difficult for me to understand the stupidity of some people !

I spent the afternoon drilling large holes in the trailer to prepare for the installation of propane hoses to the two new catalytic radiant heaters. I borrowed a hole saw from the Pole Barn. I had to drill nine holes, all in very difficult to access locations in compartments and behind drawers and inside cupboards, etc. But it's done, and that was likely the most difficult component of this installation job. Mounting the larger of the two heaters on the entry wall is also going to be difficult. Hopefully I will accomplish that tomorrow.

We spent the evening at the SKP Park of the Sierra's Veteran's Day potluck dinner and dance. Great food, good company, nice music.

Saturday ; I spent the morning installing the larger of the two catalytic infrared radiant heaters on the wall just inside the entry door of the trailer. The job went well. While working on this job, I crawled up into the bed of the truck to get some tools from the tool chest in the truck when I saw ... HUH ? ... WHAT ? ... why the hell is Sully wandering down the road ? ! ? SULLY ... why are you running away from home ? I guess I can't work on the trailer with the door open, and walk away for a few minutes !

This afternoon I installed a 12 foot section of stair nosing as cosmetic moulding on the edge of the living room / dinette slide. And then, off we all went to the final daily dog party of our visit. Bo has such a great time playing in the dog park every day with all his California buddies. Just before supper I phoned my sister and we had a long chat.  Joanne and I send our best wishes to my brother-in-law who is battling prostate cancer.

DSK

October 30 to November 5, 2011

Keremeos, B.C. to Coarsegold, California

Sunday ; Today was chilly, with intermittent drizzle that slowed down our work preparing for departure Tuesday.

I did some further testing on the furnace / thermostat problem. I'm fairly convinced that the problem is the thermostat ... probably ... maybe. I searched through my bag of spare parts and found a 12 volt switch. I installed it on the "shoemaker repair" thermostat bypass wiring so now we can make the furnace turn on and off with a switch instead of twisting wires together and pulling them apart. I wonder if I'm going to have to explain to a Customs & Border Patrol agent on Tuesday why there is wiring coming out of a wall vent leading up to a switch attached to the side of the fridge with duct tape ?

Monday ; OW ... bad day in the stock market ! Hope it turns out to be just a dead cat bounce.

This morning I phoned Camping World in Burlington, Washington to find out if they have in stock the Dometic thermostat I want. They do. I've decided to change the thermostat ... even though today's testing indicated that the thermostat may not be the problem after all. I don't really like the thermostat that I installed 13 months ago and I want to change back to the factory original model. I did some further work and testing on the furnace / thermostat problem today. I was unable to establish electrical continuity in the wiring between the thermostat and the furnace. Maybe a wire melted ? Or was chewed by rodents ? All the wiring is in the walls and ceiling, and is impossible to trace ... or replace within the walls and ceiling. If a new thermostat does not solve the problem, then I'm faced with having to replace wiring ... and having to route it "outside" the walls and ceiling, probably along the top of the walls where they meet the ceiling. Perhaps I'm just getting ahead of myself and need to focus on one step at a time.

We went into Keremeos today and did our final shopping before departure. Back at home we completed all the departure preparations that could be done today. We're all ready to go. We're all eager to go !

After supper today, as I was getting myself some dessert, Bo was at my feet begging for his nightly Greenie. Since I was putting whipped cream on my dessert, and he loooooves whipped cream, I topped his Greenie with whipped cream. HA HA HA ! I handed it to him, he took it in his mouth, tilted his head back ... and swallowed ! OMG ... BO ! ! ! Too late ! Down his throat it went ! How the hell could he have swallowed an entire Greenie without chewing it ? ! ? I certainly feel guilty about that ! I hope it doesn't cause an intestinal blockage or some other problem. Bad Daniel !

Tuesday ; Keremeos. B.C. to Burlington, Washington

Homeland Security / Customs & Border Patrol ; keeping America safe one bag of rice at a time !

You ***ing pissant morons !

We departed Riverside RV Park Resort this morning and headed west on Hwy. 3. Not our usual winter departure route, we usually head east to cross into the U.S. at Osoyoos. Bo seemed to be feeling ill this morning, no doubt from swallowing the whole Greenie yesterday. As we travelled west on Hwy. 3 the elevation rose until Manning Park, then began a slow descent towards the Fraser Valley. By the time we reached the summit at Allison Pass in Manning Park there was a dusting of snow on the road sides and the temperature was below freezing, despite it being a sunny day. We stopped at a roadside rest area at Hope for lunch. The furnace would not light, even though the thermostat is bypassed. < sigh > It's really dead now < sigh > !

Not surprising, Bo was constipated this morning and when we stopped for lunch. After lunch, before leaving the roadside rest area, he was able to empty himself, and that seemed to ease / eliminate his discomfort / feeling ill. We breathed a sigh of relief.

As we continued driving after lunch I hatched an "outside the box" idea to solving our furnace problem. Maybe ... we should scrap the "gas fired forced air" furnace and convert to catalytic heaters ? ! We gave that a lot of thought throughout the day, and the idea is gaining favour !

At Abbotsford we turned south towards the border crossing at Sumas. Where we spent < fume > two hours ! ! ! The initial agent at the booth decided that we should be pulled over for a "7A check". Apparently this moron was of the opinion that we might be abandoning our home in Canada to sneak into the United States to remain forever. He and the other morons we had to deal with all acted as if we were the first Canadians they had ever encountered who were crossing into the United States with an RV for the entire winter. Once inside the building we had to wait for about half an hour while ***hole no. 2 made life miserable for another old Canadian Snowbird couple travelling in an RV, she in a wheelchair. When he was finished with them, and it was our turn, he asked stupid questions for ten minutes, then abruptly announced that his shift was over, he was going home, and somebody else would deal with us < FUME > ! Ten minutes later ***hole no. 3 started over. Same stupid questions ! Then he wanted to inspect the truck and trailer.
I was required to put Bo outside in a wire crate, and I brought Sully into the building with me. Joanne was not allowed to go outside the building to assist me with getting Bo and Sully. ***hole no. 4, who was assisting ***hole no. 3 with the inspection of the truck and trailer ( I think ***hole no. 4 was from Agriculture ) confiscated the contents of a small plastic container in the kitchen cupboard labelled "rice". The container contained ... rice ! But the "country of origin" wasn't listed, so in the garbage it went. Now don't all you Americans feel a whole lot safer knowing that our rice of mystery origin never made it into your country thanks to the tireless efforts of these outstanding public servants ? ? ?

God Bless America ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! And I say that will all the sincerity that an atheist can muster !

I should stop ranting now, and stop taking it personally ! It was incredibly painfully obvious that these morons were playing political / bureaucratic games to justify their existence and budgets to their superiors, who attempt to justify it to their superiors, who attempt to justify it to their superiors, and on and upwards it goes. "Look at the great work we do stopping these damn, old, rich Canadians from coming into our country and never leaving ... AND ... bringing mystery origin rice in with them. BUT ... of course, we need more staff and more money. It takes over an hour to process each one of those threats".

First and last time we cross at Sumas. The crossing at Osoyoos, where we normally cross, at this time of the year is almost non-stop RV's heading south, so the agents there do not seem to be inclined to play those kinds of stupid games, delaying every RV'er for one to two hours !

After finally leaving the border crossing, we drove for about an hour or so south to Camping World at Burlington, Washington. The furnace would not work ... at all !

Wednesday ; Burlington to Maytown rest area at Interstate 5 mile marker 93, Washington

With the furnace not working overnight we were pretty cold ! Especially Sully.

Today was another day that went pretty poorly, the second in a row.

We were up early this morning in order to be ready for our 8 AM service appointment at Camping World. The service writer noticed as he walked around the trailer with me that one wheel was missing the plastic hub cap and the bearing dust cap underneath. Well, gee whiz ... they were there yesterday when we left home ! The work I wanted done on the trailer should have taken about two hours so we were expecting to be out of there between 10 and 11 AM. It was not to be !

I had difficulty getting the work done that I wanted done, the way I wanted it done. A succession of heated discussions took place between me and the shop foreman, and eventually the service manager. The process was much more painful and difficult than it needed to be, for all of us. What part of "this is what I want done, this is how I want it done" do you not understand ? ! ? We finally left Camping World about 2:30 PM, way behind schedule.

We continued south on I-5, stopping about 20 miles south of Burlington at Angel Of The Winds Casino to refill with diesel and refill the generator gas can. It was there that I discovered that the empty generator gas can had blown out of the back of the truck
< gritting teeth > ! The delay at Camping World brought us to the northern edge of Seattle at about 4 PM, just in time for rush hour. The freeway rush hour traffic was bumper to bumper, stop and go, all the way through Seattle and Tacoma. We finally got through Tacoma about 6 PM after 2 hours of fighting freeway rush hour traffic. By then it was dark, it had begun to rain heavily, and fog was rolling in. It was obvious that we were not going to reach our planned destination for today ; Portland, Oregon. We drove for another half hour and stopped for the night at a roadside rest area.

This morning the furnace decided, quite on its own, to resume working. Nevertheless, this morning at Camping World we took a look at catalytic radiant heating systems. And ... lo and behold ... they are on sale this week at Camping World at a very good price. We made the decision that the dying / dead furnace is a good opportunity to convert from gas fired forced air heating to catalytic radiant heating. We had Camping World in Burlington, Washington phone Camping World in Portland, Oregon to ensure that the Portland store has what we want in stock. No sales tax in Oregon ! The Portland store has stock and put it aside for us to pick up tomorrow. I'm going to install a small catalytic radiant heater in the bedroom and a medium sized one in the living area. Unlike our current furnace which uses a great deal of 12 volt power to run the fan, and a great deal of propane to inefficiently create heat, the catalytic heaters use no power and much less propane. Conversion to catalytic radiant heating systems is the choice for serious boondockers. Which we're not, but I'm getting tired of using over $30 a week worth of propane during months like October and November. And I'm tired of how quickly our furnace can drain the trailer's house battery when we're boondocked overnight on cold nights when travelling in the fall and spring ... like last night and tonight ! So we're going to have to suffer for the next couple of weeks with no furnace or an intermittent furnace, but we're going to be happier in the long run after we install catalytic radiant heaters once we get to Yuma.

Thursday ; Maytown rest area at Interstate 5 mile marker 93, Washington to Seven Feathers Casino RV rest area, Canyonville, Oregon

Today was cold with intermittent rain. We have been travelling south for three days and the weather has not improved yet !

We left the I-5 mm 93 rest area this morning and continued southbound. We stopped at another rest area to use their trailer sani-dump station to dump our shower waste holding tank and refill our freshwater holding tank. We crossed from Washington to Oregon over the Columbia River. We stopped at Camping World on the south side of Portland and bought the two catalytic radiant heaters that we had requested be held for us. And we bought quite a bit of other stuff at Camping World. Today and tomorrow we will be shopping a lot, to take advantage of no sales tax in Oregon. We stopped for lunch at yet another rest area.

At Salem we stopped to refill with diesel and buy groceries, both at Fred Meyer. At Roseburg I saw from the Interstate that Home Depot and Lowe's were side by side, so I took the next exit and went back to shop for a couple of hardware items. Home Depot had one item that I needed and Lowe's had the other. We stopped for the night at Seven Feathers Casino near Canyonville. Whew ... lots of miles today !

In addition to the casino Seven Feathers has a large travel center with fuel and vehicle repair services, a very large full service RV park, and an extremely nice "RV rest area", a free overnight parking boondock area with a large restroom building, picnic shelter, fenced dog park, and security guard. Very nice ! Thank you, Seven Feathers / Umpqua Tribe !

Friday ; Canyonville, Oregon to rest area near Red Bluff, California

Today was a very long day, with a lot of miles driven, and a lot of shopping and errands completed.

This morning before departing Seven Feathers Casino RV rest area we drove over to the Travel Center where there was a commercial truck tire service shop. I asked if they could install two metal screw in valve stems on the trailer. I bought them recently in Penticton and was going to have them installed at Camping World in Burlington, Washington while the wheels and tires were off the trailer while the wheel bearings were being repacked. BUT ... < sputter > ... Camping World wanted to charge their minimum service charge of $59 to change two valve stems. I don't think so ! ! ! The tire service shop at Seven Feathers charged me twelve dollars ! And that included removing and reinstalling the tires on the trailer.

We left Seven Feathers and continued southbound on Interstate 5. In Grants Pass we found a Bank of America. I transferred the money to pay for lot 52 at Kofa Ko-op in Yuma into our Bank of America account. That was the final step of a somewhat convoluted process I have devised to get money into our Bank of America account without incurring any service fees. First I had our broker sell some U.S.$ investments and deposit the proceeds into our Bank of Montreal U.S.$ account. Then online I transferred the funds to our U.S.$ MasterCard account, essentially "overpaying" MasterCard and creating a "credit". Now that we're in the U.S. I went to the Bank of America, took out as a "cash advance" all the funds "overpaid" to MasterCard, and deposited that to the Bank of America account. MasterCard doesn't charge daily interest on the cash advance because my account was already overpaid by that amount. Voilà ... money in our bank account in the U.S. to pay for lot 52, no fees incurred ! Well done, Daniel ! Still in Grants Pass we refilled with diesel and did a lot of shopping at Wal-Mart. We had compiled a lengthy "buy in Oregon" shopping list.

We had a late lunch in the trailer in the Wal-Mart parking lot then headed back to I-5 and continued south. We stopped at a state recreation area to dump all our waste holding tanks and refill with fresh water. Three dollars please ! HMPH ! That costs nothing in Washington !

We stopped in Medford, the last city in Oregon southbound on I-5 to complete our shopping and errands. In Medford I went into Walgreens and completed our Oregon shopping while Joanne walked to a nearby grocery store with an empty five gallon water jug and refilled it.

Continuing southbound on I-5 we crossed from Oregon into California. I was hoping we could drive as far as Redding tonight, even though that would mean a couple of hours of driving in the dark. We found our way to the Wal-Mart south of Redding at Anderson. We have stayed there before, at least twice. Tonight we found the Wal-Mart parking lot posted "no overnight parking". Darn !

I was exhausted, we were hungry, but we had to continue driving. We drove another 10 miles or so to a roadside rest area. It was also posted "no overnight parking". Too bad ! I'm tired ! We're staying overnight ! I was influenced by the half dozen or so other RV's and half dozen or so commercial trucks already settled in for the night.

Saturday ; Red Bluff to Coarsegold, California

It's 9:00 PM. Joanne has just left to make the long, cold walk across the very large parking lot ( we're at the far end with the other boondocking RV's ) to Chukchansi Casino to check out their schedule of activities / events / entertainment for the upcoming week. I'm working on the computer, trying to overcome the sensation of feeling overwhelmed and a teensy bit defeated by a trailer that requires maintenance faster then I can provide it. I'm trying to convince myself that I'm feeling this way mostly because of fatigue, but ... tonight when we arrived here after a very long, hard day of driving, there was yet another problem with the trailer.

We left the rest area near Red Bluff this morning and continued southbound on Interstate 5. We stopped at another rest area to once again empty our shower waste holding tank and refill the freshwater tank. And a third rest area to have lunch. Soon after lunch we were in Sacramento. Well ... the freeway traffic through Sacramento on a Saturday afternoon was a bit more "civilized" than we've encountered in the past when driving through Sacramento. And there was less smog than before. I guess we've always driven across Sacramento on weekdays.

I was too tired last night to do our credit card accounting in the computer. I asked Joanne to drive for awhile today so that I could have a rest break from driving and work on the computer. She drove from the south side of Sacramento to Modesto, including crossing from Interstate 5 to Hwy. 99 through Stockton. Afterwards she said "it was the worst 45 minutes of my life". HA HA HA HA HA ... thank you very much, my dear. You did an excellent job of driving a 50 foot long truck and trailer combination on congested California freeways today.

We stopped in Modesto to shop at PetsMart. WOO-HOO ... Bo loooooves shopping at PetsMart. With the $3 birthday gift certificate Sully recently received by e-mail from PetsMart we bought Bo a package of new treats.

Realizing that Daylight Savings Time ends overnight tonight, and that SKP Park of the Sierras office is open only until noon on Sundays, we decided to drive further today than initially planned. So ... we drove all the way to SKP Park of the Sierras and a mile or two beyond to Chukchansi Casino. It was too late / too dark to attempt the rather difficult turn off the highway to SKP Park of the Sierras, and the office was already closed, so we would have just ended up boondocking there anyway. Might as well go to the casino ! Easier to get to off the highway in the dark, and an easier to enter and better lit place to boondock / park overnight.

After arriving at the casino and getting comfortably parked at the far end of the parking lot, we went inside the trailer to prepare a late supper, when I discovered ... < sigh > ... the lights in the living room / dinette slide ceiling would not work. There was no burnt fuse problem, so ... < bigger sigh > ... likely another wiring problem of some sort.

DSK