Sunday ; Today was sunny, windy, and warm. Joanne cooked a large, plump Foster Farms chicken in the Sun Oven today. Those Foster Farms chickens aren't cheap, but they sure are good. Especially when cooked in the Sun Oven !
Well ... it took until almost 6 PM, but we finally trapped and captured Siemen in our Arizona room. Bad kitty ! Another twenty-four hour "escape" ! Hans and Peta were very relieved to have him back ... again !
Joanne went shopping this morning and finished buying the ingredients for our cooking classes and dinner for sixty people at the upcoming Escapee Roadrunner Chapter 7 Spring Rally out in the desert in a couple of days. I did some landscaping work. Probably a bad choice of priorities, but ... ! I also did some maintenance work, but none of the Guasave accident repairs that I should be doing. Yesterday I bought a new type of fiberglass repair kit. Today I used it to repair some damage on our travel satellite dish. I wanted to try the new fiberglass repair kit products on the satellite dish before I use them to repair the damage on the trailer's lower side skirt caused by the exploding tire. The repairs on the satellite dish turned out well, so I'm confident about using the kit to repair the trailer damage.
In the evening we went to the regular Sunday evening ice cream social, then watched Amazing Race..
Monday ; Sunny and hot again. WOO-HOO !
This morning we did some routine pet care ; trim nails, clean ears, dispense medications. Joanne baked a couple of zucchini loaves in the Sun Oven. They're for our Wednesday evening Haystack Dinner at the Escapees Roadrunner Chapter 7 Spring Rally.
This afternoon I phoned some local welding shops and arranged to bring the trailer in tomorrow for an estimate on repairing the stress fractured trailer steps mounting bracket. I did Guasave underpass accident repair number three of eight. I removed the bedroom roof vent lid and operator arm, and installed a new vent lid and operator arm, then installed a new roof vent cover. The trailer used to have what's known as MaxxAir covers, but I bought a different "clone" brand. We prepared for departure tomorrow.
Tuesday ; Kofa Ko-op to SKP Roadrunners Chapter 7 Spring Rally
Today was sunny and hot. We woke early this morning so that we could be ready to depart for the Escapees Roadrunners Chapter 7 Spring Rally reasonably early as we had some errands to run on the way. It was not meant to be !
As we prepared for departure we ran into a plumbing problem. Specifically a toilet problem. It took me two hours to solve < sigh >. By the time we left Kofa Ko-op we were already two hours behind schedule ! Not a great start to the day !
I had phoned three different local welding companies regarding the broken trailer steps bracket. My plan was to take the trailer to all three companies on our way to the rally and get estimates from each, as well as assess each one's "creative problem solving skills". I never got to the second and third. The first one's creative problem solving skills led to a collaborative solution that I believe is very workable. They will custom fabricate a "U channel" bolt on bracket for me that I will drill and install myself. Welding the existing broken bracket is not feasible. Welding under there would likely set the underside of the trailer floor on fire !
I finished at the welding company, we refilled Lanoire with diesel at Barney's and headed out of Yuma westbound on Interstate 8, across the Colorado River into California. The Escapees Roadrunners Chapter 7 Spring Rally is out in the desert off Ogilby Road, about 30 miles northwest of Yuma. We arrived at the rally site and parked beside Hans and Peta. There are more than 30 rigs at the rally, and over 60 people. Too many people, too much noise, for my tastes.
We visited and chatted, had ( way too early ) communal dinner, and sat around a campfire in the evening.
Wednesday ; Today was sunny and hot out in the desert at our rally site, temperature up in the 90's. Too hot for many of the almost seventy attendees. The group is a bit too large. Too crowded in the "tent" shelter. Too noisy as well. Not just me who thinks that.
Today was "our "day at the rally. This morning I conducted a Sun Oven Banana Nut Loaf cooking class. I had two batches of banana nut loaf batter / dough prepared by class attendees under my supervision, then placed them in the Sun Oven. The class attendees were able to repeatedly wander by and watch the loaves baking in the Sun Oven. After an hour and a quarter, they gathered around and watched me remove two gorgeous, perfect banana nut loaves from the Sun Oven. Well done, Daniel.
In the afternoon I helped Hans with a difficult "home improvement" project on his new motorhome. That inspired me to do one of my repair projects while we were out here in the desert. I needed to do some fiberglass repair work on the trailer's street side / driver's side lower skirt where there was some damage from the tire that exploded recently on our last day in Mexico. It was easier to work on that side of the trailer without the constraint of the fence in our yard at Kofa Ko-op. So ... using the new fiberglass repair kit I recently purchased, I repaired the damage. Well done, Daniel. Maybe tomorrow I will paint the repair.
Late in the afternoon we ( me as the "front man", Joanne behind the scenes ) conducted our Haystack Dinner cooking class. That got half a dozen or so people helping us prepare Haystack Dinner for almost seventy people. During the actual "cooking" time, I entertained the large, hungry group with an impromptu magic show. Blew one routine horribly ! Oh, well ... they're old people, they'll forget the "flub" soon. HA HA HA !
Haystack Dinner preparation had a couple of problems, with the cooking of the rice and the cooking of the cheese sauce. BUT ... while imperfect, the dinner was still pretty good. Almost seventy people got served quickly. There was lots of food, lots of people had "seconds" there were even some who got "thirds". Almost everybody seemed satisfied. A few weren't, but ... being a retailer for a long time taught me that you simply cannot make all of your customers happy all of the time. Dessert was great. The banana nut loaves cooked today in the Sun Oven were a huge hit. The zucchini nut loaves cooked by Joanne a few days ago, as well as the sugar free, gluten free, everything but the kitchen sink free dessert Joanne made, seemed to satisfy everybody. No, I'm wrong. One person complained about the raisins in the "everything free" dessert. I would like to say "well done, Daniel" but it was really a case of ... well done, Joanne !
As a very special treat, our friend Larry had set up the TV in their motorhome so that we could watch Survivor tonight. AND ... while we watched Survivor, his wife Carol Mae took care of washing the dishes and cleaning up the huge mess left behind by supper. Our friend Terry took care of the difficult job of cleaning the cheese sauce thickly burned onto the bottom of one of the pots we used. Thank you to all !
Thursday ; Whew ... about 100 degrees today out here in the Sonoran Desert ! Pretty hot for
mid-March !
After communal breakfast this morning we had a "desert car rodeo". Driver blindfolded, navigator giving verbal instructions, driving around a marked course. Joanne navigated for Hans. Terrible. Hans navigated for me. Terrible. Carol Mae navigated for me ! Terrible ! I navigated for Carol Mae. Terrible. Our Kofa Ko-op next door neighbour John navigated for me. Pretty good. John seemed to be the champion navigator. Anybody who did the course with him as the navigator did pretty well. He and another driver came in first place.
I did some maintenance chores this afternoon, including exercising our generator and painting yesterday's fiberglass repair. Using my machete, I opened our last three coconuts from Mexico, saving the coconut milk for cooking, and sharing the fresh coconut meat at this afternoon's Happy Hour before supper. Communal dinner was a nicely prepared chili, followed by a lengthy "charity auction" and the rest of the evening around the campfire. Joanne's 92 year old friend from water aerobics Eilene was brought out from Kofa Ko-op for the auction, bearing a lemon meringue pie she had baked earlier in the day. It sold at auction for $350 !
Friday ; SKP Roadrunners Chapter 7 Spring Rally back to Kofa Ko-op, Yuma, Arizona
Another very hot day ! This morning I ... at this point, I invoke the privilege granted by the 5th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. HA HA HA !
We said our goodbyes to the rally participants that would not be returning to Kofa Ko-op, including Hans and Peta. We left the rally site, drove south on Ogilby Road back to Interstate 8, then east on I-8 back to Yuma. We did not return directly to Kofa Ko-op. We drove out to The Foothills to shop for more repair supplies at Al's RV Service & Supplies. They had another 15% off everything sale today, including items that were not in stock, but ordered and paid for today. Fair enough ! I ordered and paid for a new bathroom skylight, the last significant item I need to repair the Guasave accident damage.
We returned home to Kofa Ko-op, backed into our site, had a late lunch, then got set up in our site. Carol Mae came over to talk to me about a "problem dog" in the park. I assured her I could and would help solve the problem. The dog was recently adopted from the Humane Society by a resident of Kofa Ko-op. It has not worked out well, and the dog will be going to a new home a week from now. In the meantime, I will work with the "problem dog" twice a day to minimize the problems.
Carol Mae, Joanne, I, Bo, and Charlie went for a pack walk around the dog park. Charlie is not much of a problem ... for me. The pack walk was brutally hot so we finished with a brief rest break in our Arizona room. I look forward to working with Charlie, and making his remaining week here relatively problem free and stress free, for both him and his current owner.
We went for the late afternoon communal turkey soup supper. Kind of a hot day for soup supper, but ... it's near the end of the season, and the leftover turkey from communal meals ( like Christmas dinner ) needed to be used up ! Dinner was finished early enough that there was still a bit of daylight left, so before it got dark, I ... at this point, I once again invoke the privilege granted by the 5th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. HA HA HA !
Saturday ; Another sunny, very hot day.
This morning I went for a behavioural pack walk with Charlie and Bo ... and Spanky. Good idea ! Good challenge ! Spanky is very dominant. Charlie is aggressive with dominant male dogs. Judy managed Spanky. I managed Charlie. Bo chased lizards in the desert. Everybody did fine !
After the morning behavioural pack walk I ... at this point, I once again invoke the privilege granted by the 5th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. HA HA HA !
Joanne went grocery shopping. I worked on some landscaping projects. I spent much of the afternoon once again working on a toilet / black tank problem. It was interrupted by my afternoon pack walk with Bo and Charlie and other dogs. Just before dusk, and with the assistance of an RV accessory I borrowed, I solved the problem. Gonna have to buy myself that RV maintenance accessory !
DSK
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