Sunday ; Sunny and cold. Joanne cooked a chicken stew in the Sun Oven today. After we ate supper she declared it to be "underwhelming". < shrug >
After our morning two lap walk around the dog park I headed to Arizona Market Place
( the local flea market ) to pick up the carpet dash cover that I had ordered for Obie
( the SUV ). It's very nice looking. All three of our vehicles have carpet dash covers.
I like them. It allows me to throw things like sunglasses up on the dash, and they don't slide or roll all over.
Back at home I did some routine household chores before lunch. After lunch I removed the radio from Obie ... yes, yes ... AGAIN ... before Joanne left to do some Christmas shopping at ... WOO-HOO ... Harbor Freight. HA HA HA ! While she was gone
I completely rewired the car radio's wiring harness. Yes, yes, I know that is sort of OCD, but ... you know ... I really detest sloppy workmanship and Obie's radio wiring harness was VERY SLOPPY ! It didn't come that way from the factory. It was the result of an after market radio installation. As soon as Joanne returned home
I reinstalled the radio in Obie's dash. Hopefully for the last time.
Late in the afternoon we did another two laps around the dog park, then I went bicycling. BRRRRR ! We ate our underwhelming chicken stew while watching Downton Abbey. I did some online financial work, and posted my weekly journal to my blog while Joanne sewed a patch onto the pair of my jeans that I tore while doing repairs to the kitchen sink drain plumbing.
Monday ; Sunny and cold again.
After our two lap walk around the dog park this morning we took Obie to Perez Automotive in Somerton for diagnosis and estimates. Joanne drove Obie. I drove Lanoire. Our friend Gail came along. After dropping Obie off in Somerton we drove back to Yuma, to the Goodwill Thrift Store. Both Gail and I had things to return ...
< sigh >. Joanne and I bought a Christmas gift for Bo, and a Christmas gift for Joanne. Next stop was Dave's Auto Glass & Upholstery to drop off the sun visors from Obie for reupholstering. Kind of expensive, but we could not find any good sun visors in the junk yards that we visited. We had lunch at Church's Chicken, then on the way home we stopped at Peanut Patch to buy some fresh peanut butter.
Back at home I napped then we removed the fifth wheel hitch from the bed of the truck. I watered our plants and gardens. Except for the four remaining Cholla Cacti. I am not going to water them any more, and will probably remove them all before the end of this winter season. I did some maintenance work inside the trailer while Joanne wrapped Christmas gifts in the Arizona room. We did another two laps around the dog park, then I went bicycling.
For supper Joanne baked a large piece of Chinook Salmon, then smothered it in a cream sauce made with Crema Casera and Parmesan cheese. MMMMM !
Tuesday ; Sunny and cool.
This morning after our two lap walk around the dog park we headed in Lanoire to Somerton to pick up Obie, and estimates for repairs, at Perez Automotive. The total amount of the estimates for repairs is not as much as I thought it might be, so I'm pleased about that. I made an appointment to drop Obie off next week, and leave it there for a week, to have the most important repairs done, some steering and suspension work. Joanne returned home in Lanoire, and I drove Obie to pick up clipper blades that I had taken in for sharpening, and to refill Obie with fuel before returning home.
Joanne had lunch ready by the time I arrived back home. After lunch we returned Lanoire to her parking spot in the park's storage yard, and we headed in Obie to the Humane Society for our regular Tuesday afternoon shift of dog walking and cat cuddling. By the time we were finished our shift I was feeling pretty tired, mostly from "wrangling" a difficult to walk German Shepherd. When we returned home, and took Bo for our late afternoon two lap walk around the dog park, Bo and I quit after one lap. Joanne did the second lap by herself.
Supper ; appetizer / "amuse-bouche" was tortilla chips with Joanne's great, fresh guacamole. Main course was marinated, barbecued, thick steak and baked potatoes served with Crema Casera and fresh cilantro ( grown in the back yard by Joanne ) on top. Dessert was a slice of "chocolate filler", a chocolate cake / bar / loaf baked by Joanne a few days ago. Well ... at least we eat well ! HA HA HA !
Wednesday ; Los Algodones, Baja California, Mexico
Cloudy and cool, light rain in the evening.
This morning we headed out to Los Algodones. Our friend Gail came along with us. Our priority in Mexico was to get pedicures. This was only my second pedicure. My first was a bit more than a year ago, in Nuevo Progreso, Mexico, south of Texas. It was great. And today's pedicure was even better ! I consider it a Christmas gift to myself. Joanne and Gail were also very satisfied, although getting a pedicure is a fairly routine treat for themselves.
After our pedicures we went for lunch to our favourite "restaurant" in Los Algodones. Joanne had tres tacos, as did Gail. I had a plata de pollo asado con arroz y frijoles
( barbecued chicken platter with rice and refried beans ). Great meal, as always at that place. After lunch we walked through town to the southwest to Pharmacia Veterinaria Safari to buy some pet medications for Bo. I bought a year's worth of heartworm medication, a couple of small bottles of ear drops, and a package of two dewormer tablets. On our walk back into town we stopped at a mercado ( grocery store ) and bought some Zuko drink mix packages. At a dulceria ( candy store ) we bought some liquor filled chocolates. At a panaderia ( bakery ) we bought some pan dulce
( pastries ). Gail browsed and compared prices at three different pharmacies. She bought some liquors as Christmas gifts. Our wait time at the border crossing was fifty minutes, not so bad considering the length of the line up.
Before driving back to Yuma we stopped at the "secret" and somewhat remote pet cemetery where Sully is buried, and placed on his grave some "special" rocks that we had collected during our summer travels in B.C. We drove back to Yuma, arriving back home at Kofa Ko-op at 5 PM. We took Bo out for a quick bathroom break, then headed to The Foothills to view a car cover for sale. It did not fit Obie. By the time we arrived in The Foothills shortly before 6 PM it was already dark. A few minutes after we arrived back home around 6:30 PM it began to rain lightly.
While Joanne prepared supper I went out to our storage shed / workshop and wrapped Christmas gifts.
Thursday ; Cloudy and cool.
This morning was taken up with routine chores. This afternoon we went out to run some errands. First stop was Miracle Ear, a hearing aid "store", for a free hearing evaluation. I'm worried that a "free" hearing evaluation at a hearing aid business might lack objectivity, and may be akin to a time share sales pitch, but ... ! There was a power failure affecting much of Yuma today, and the hearing aid store was without power for much of the day, so when I arrived they advised me that my free hearing evaluation scheduled for today was cancelled and would have to be rescheduled.
Next stop was Harbor Freight, just to use a couple of "no purchase required" free item coupons. Got a package of twenty-four AAA batteries and an LED flashlight. Last stop was the 99 Cent Only Store. Joanne needed a few items. She shouldn't bring me along to the 99 Cent Only Store. I enjoy impulse shopping there too much. HA HA
HA !
After we returned home I had a brief nap before we took Bo for our regular late afternoon two lap walk around the dog park. After that I went bicycling at dusk. Joanne did laundry.
Friday ; Cloudy becoming clear, cool becoming mild.
After our morning two walk lap around the dog park Joanne left with our friend Gail for a day of grocery shopping. I did some reviewing and purging of old "paper work". After lunch I did some review and rearrangement of my clothing in the camper. I replaced the batteries in some battery operated lights over the bed in the camper. I figured out what materials I need to buy to repair a broken leg on our "portable" solar panels frame.
In the evening I worked on monthly computer file maintenance and backup. And
I reviewed a bunch of monthly meeting reports from our RV park back home in BC. My goodness ! There's something wrong with those people ! I surely am glad that we keep ourselves isolated from that nonsense.
Saturday ; Christmas Eve
Today is the 21st anniversary of my father's death. Christmas Eve always has that sad memory for me.
Cloudy and raining in the morning. Clearing, windy, and chilly in the afternoon.
By design, we had a lazy day today. Twice we went for a two lap walk around the dog park with Bo. I went bicycling. BRRRRR ! We read the newspaper in bed. Joanne made tourtière ( French Canadian meat pie ) for supper, as she always does for Christmas Eve dinner. And in the afternoon she baked peanut butter chocolate chip cookies from scratch. Bo and I helped by ... napping. HA HA HA ! In the evening we watched the 1954 Bing Crosby movie White Christmas. First time we've seen it. Sure beats watching It's A Wonderful Life. HA HA HA !
DSK
Sunday, December 25, 2016
Sunday, December 18, 2016
December 11 to 17, 2016
Sunday ; Sunny and warm.
This morning I installed new trailer wiring on Obie. Shortly after we bought Obie a couple of weeks ago I had cut off the tangled, mangled mess of trailer wiring that was on the car.
This afternoon Joanne went grocery shopping by herself. I remounted the living room mirror in the fifth wheel trailer. After ... < having to think about how old Harvey is > ... eighteen years, and about a quarter of a million kilometres of travel the mirror fell off the wall. Where it had been mounted by the manufacturer with ... < sputter > ... double sided tape ! What brilliant factory engineering ! Using double sided tape to mount a mirror on the wall of a trailer ! By the way ... double sided tape that had been applied ... or so it looked ... by a retarded eight year old !
I did some Water Pik maintenance. The hard water here left deposits in my Water Pik bowl and I had to clean that off using CLR ( Calcium Lime and Rust remover ). And
I had to glue repair the Water Pik nozzle that I broke when I dropped the Water Pik machine. < sigh > I've been on such a losing streak lately ! Well ... except in the stock market. < snicker >
After Joanne returned home we went to the storage yard and washed the camper. We didn't finish. In the few weeks that the camper has been in the storage yard, the road grime, and especially the bugs on the front, have been baked on by the intense desert sun. DARN ! Should have got to that job sooner ! We stopped working on the camper at 5:30 PM in order to allow ourselves a half an hour before darkness to go for a two lap walk around the dog park ( more or less ) with Bo. He usually lasts for one full lap, which allows him a daily opportunity to have a "fence fight" with the free roaming pugnacious little Pug that lives across the road from the far end of our dog park. It's amazing how brave and ferocious two little dogs can be when they have the safety of a chicken wire fence separating them.
After our walk Joanne did our Christmas decorating. Thank you. I have been suffering pretty severe depression recently, and putting all of our very special ornaments on our little tree boosted my spirits a bit.
Monday ; Sunny and very warm. Joanne made a wonderful beef stew in the Sun Oven today.
My morning was taken up with making phone calls. I dislike "phone work".
Just before lunch we did a two lap walk around the dog park. After lunch we did some cleaning work inside Elsie the truck camper, and late in the afternoon we finished cleaning the exterior of the camper, scrubbing bugs and grime off the front, and cleaning all the windows. I did some maintenance work on the radio in Obie the SUV ... again. We finished the Christmas decorating, mounting exterior lights on the patio, and interior lights in the Arizona room. I sharpened all the kitchen knives in Harvey the trailer and Elsie the camper. I cleaned Bo's ears and administered some ear drops because he seemed to be suffering an ear ache in one ear when I cleaned it. We cleaned the range hood fan filters in both the trailer and the camper. And ... we walked another two laps around the dog park just before dusk.
Tuesday ; Sunny and very warm.
I was recruited by the Humane Society of Yuma for a special assignment this afternoon. I was a "dog handler" for a photography club that came to the Humane Society for an afternoon of photographing cats and dogs. Joanne came with me to the Humane Society for a regular Tuesday afternoon shift of cat cuddling, but she spent some of her time being a "cat handler" for the photographers. I was hoping that the photographers I was going to be working with were going to select little fluffy dogs for me to take out of the kennels and bring into the play yards and "handle" for photography, but ... NOOOOO ! Of course, they selected the largest, ugliest, most unruly, unneutered male pit bulls they could find, because ... "his face is so ... dramatic". Yes, yes ... it certainly is. Tonight I am exhausted from two and a half hours of "wrangling" big dogs.
I did a lot of exercising today. Two laps around the dog park this morning, two laps late in the afternoon, bicycling at sunset, and of course, an afternoon of dog wrangling. Late in the morning we visited with a couple of neighbours who dropped by while we were in our Arizona room. In the evening I did a bit of online Christmas shopping. Joanne did laundry. DARN ! My ear plugs and spray canister of Nitroglycerin were laundered again ! Got to remember to empty my pants pockets !
Wednesday ; Sunny and very warm. Joanne baked a cake in the Sun Oven today.
Immediately after an early lunch I left for a day of running errands by myself. Joanne cleaned the interior of Lanoire the truck. I took clipper blades for sharpening. I bought a couple of drive belt "O" rings for our evaporative / "swamp" cooler back at home in BC. I went to quite a few different automotive service businesses to discuss maintenance / repairs required on Obie the SUV. I bought a steering wheel cover for Obie at Pep Boys.
Before I left to run errands, and after I returned, we walked two laps around the dog park. I went bicycling at sunset. We went out for supper tonight at Famous Dave's Barbecue. Great meal ! Except ... HMPH ... for the barbecue sauce bottle lid malfunction ! Oh, well ... another shirt ruined. Good thing I buy most of my shirts for no more than a few bucks at thrift shops. HA HA HA ! After returning home after supper we spent the rest of the evening watching the three hour season finale of Survivor.
Thursday ; Mostly cloudy, warm, very light drizzle briefly in the evening.
Joanne took Gail for a "girls' day out" of shopping. I repaired the kitchen sink drain plumbing, and cut / trimmed two Cholla Cacti ; one in the dog park behind our rear fence, and one in the flower bed against our north side front yard fence. Trimming / cutting down Cholla is an extremely difficult ... and painful ... job. I still need to dispose of the cuttings, another difficult job. I'll probably do that on Saturday. And ... I will probably continue to slowly work on cutting down the two Chollas in our front yard, branch by branch, until I can dig them out of the ground and eliminate them. Note to self ; don't plant any more Cholla Cacti. And stop watering the ones that I already
have !
In addition to getting some of the barbed Cholla quills in my knuckles, I got one in my lower lip. No, no ... I don't know how that happened ! But it sure hurt like hell when Joanne pulled it out with tweezers ! The picture below is a photo of my shin after pulling a batch of Cholla quills out of my leg.
Friday ; Happy 63rd Birthday to our friend Laszlo
A desert storm ; warm, very windy, sky obscured by blowing sand / dust.
This morning we headed southwest to the village of Somerton, to check out an automotive repair facility that a neighbour recommended. Somerton is a "Mexican" village ( in the United States ... there are many ) with lower overheads, so cheaper labour rates. After a brief discussion with a "service writer" at Yepez Auto, I arranged to return Obie on Monday and leave it until Tuesday to get some estimates for repairs. On our way back home we stopped at Wal-Mart on Avenue B and did some shopping before returning home for lunch.
After lunch we undertook what proved to be a very difficult job. We chopped up the Cholla Cactus "branches" that I cut down yesterday into smaller pieces, loaded them onto a plastic tarp, and hauled them from the dog park, over our rear fence into our back yard, then through our yard and out to the street, and down to the end of the street where we dumped it in the dumpster. Four large loads ! Very tiring ! Very painful !
I sorely regret planting Cholla cuttings four or five years ago. I still need to cut down and dig out two Chollas in our front yard flower beds. When we were finished I went to nap with Bo and Joanne went shopping to The Foothills.
After napping I wrapped Christmas gifts, did some maintenance on Lanoire ( the truck ), and took Bo for a two lap walk around the dog park. Bo and I finished our walk, and Joanne returned home, just at dusk. I went bicycling. Tough to breathe with all that dust blowing around.
After a late supper we went over to visit Laszlo and Gail, at Gail's invitation to come over and have a piece of Laszlo's birthday cake.
Saturday ; Sunny, chilly in the morning, mild in the afternoon, cold in the evening.
After this morning's two lap walk around the dog park we headed out to the Goodwill Thrift Store for one of their infrequent 50% off everything sale days. Our friend Gail came along with us. Joanne bought a couple of tops. Gail bought some clothing for Laszlo. I bought twelve t-shirts, and a GM car radio. Joanne and Gail spent quite awhile searching for me when they were finished their shopping. First I was in a change room, then in a long line up at a check out counter ... < shrug >. We went to Burger King for a late lunch. On the way home we stopped at Lowe's, who had neither what I needed nor what Joanne needed.
Back at home ... HMPH ! The car radio doesn't fit in Obie, and the wiring harness socket is incompatible with Obie's radio wiring harness plug. DARN ! I did some maintenance in the camper. I remounted a clothing peg unit that I accidentally ripped off the bedroom wall in the trailer a few days ago. I did a cosmetic repair underneath the front overhang of the trailer. I used rubber roof membrane to repair the cracked fibreglass panel. I repaired the leaking kitchen sink drain ... for about the third time in as many days ! Hope today's "Plan C" methodology works better than Plan A and
Plan B did ! We walked two laps around the dog park, and I went bicycling.
We had a somewhat unusual four course dinner tonight. First course was home made mushroom soup that Joanne made at home in BC a few months ago with freshly picked Shaggy Mane mushrooms. Today she added a bit of Crema Casera to the soup. MMMMM ! Next was a fresh, steamed artichoke served with a seasoned dip.
MMMMM ! Then stuffed, baked Portobello mushrooms served with a Kumato ( brown tomato ) and basil salad. MMMMM ! Finally, Christmas fruit cake we bought in Canada before we left. I ate my fruit cake with a glass of egg nog. MMMMM !
DSK
This morning I installed new trailer wiring on Obie. Shortly after we bought Obie a couple of weeks ago I had cut off the tangled, mangled mess of trailer wiring that was on the car.
This afternoon Joanne went grocery shopping by herself. I remounted the living room mirror in the fifth wheel trailer. After ... < having to think about how old Harvey is > ... eighteen years, and about a quarter of a million kilometres of travel the mirror fell off the wall. Where it had been mounted by the manufacturer with ... < sputter > ... double sided tape ! What brilliant factory engineering ! Using double sided tape to mount a mirror on the wall of a trailer ! By the way ... double sided tape that had been applied ... or so it looked ... by a retarded eight year old !
I did some Water Pik maintenance. The hard water here left deposits in my Water Pik bowl and I had to clean that off using CLR ( Calcium Lime and Rust remover ). And
I had to glue repair the Water Pik nozzle that I broke when I dropped the Water Pik machine. < sigh > I've been on such a losing streak lately ! Well ... except in the stock market. < snicker >
After Joanne returned home we went to the storage yard and washed the camper. We didn't finish. In the few weeks that the camper has been in the storage yard, the road grime, and especially the bugs on the front, have been baked on by the intense desert sun. DARN ! Should have got to that job sooner ! We stopped working on the camper at 5:30 PM in order to allow ourselves a half an hour before darkness to go for a two lap walk around the dog park ( more or less ) with Bo. He usually lasts for one full lap, which allows him a daily opportunity to have a "fence fight" with the free roaming pugnacious little Pug that lives across the road from the far end of our dog park. It's amazing how brave and ferocious two little dogs can be when they have the safety of a chicken wire fence separating them.
After our walk Joanne did our Christmas decorating. Thank you. I have been suffering pretty severe depression recently, and putting all of our very special ornaments on our little tree boosted my spirits a bit.
Monday ; Sunny and very warm. Joanne made a wonderful beef stew in the Sun Oven today.
My morning was taken up with making phone calls. I dislike "phone work".
Just before lunch we did a two lap walk around the dog park. After lunch we did some cleaning work inside Elsie the truck camper, and late in the afternoon we finished cleaning the exterior of the camper, scrubbing bugs and grime off the front, and cleaning all the windows. I did some maintenance work on the radio in Obie the SUV ... again. We finished the Christmas decorating, mounting exterior lights on the patio, and interior lights in the Arizona room. I sharpened all the kitchen knives in Harvey the trailer and Elsie the camper. I cleaned Bo's ears and administered some ear drops because he seemed to be suffering an ear ache in one ear when I cleaned it. We cleaned the range hood fan filters in both the trailer and the camper. And ... we walked another two laps around the dog park just before dusk.
Tuesday ; Sunny and very warm.
I was recruited by the Humane Society of Yuma for a special assignment this afternoon. I was a "dog handler" for a photography club that came to the Humane Society for an afternoon of photographing cats and dogs. Joanne came with me to the Humane Society for a regular Tuesday afternoon shift of cat cuddling, but she spent some of her time being a "cat handler" for the photographers. I was hoping that the photographers I was going to be working with were going to select little fluffy dogs for me to take out of the kennels and bring into the play yards and "handle" for photography, but ... NOOOOO ! Of course, they selected the largest, ugliest, most unruly, unneutered male pit bulls they could find, because ... "his face is so ... dramatic". Yes, yes ... it certainly is. Tonight I am exhausted from two and a half hours of "wrangling" big dogs.
I did a lot of exercising today. Two laps around the dog park this morning, two laps late in the afternoon, bicycling at sunset, and of course, an afternoon of dog wrangling. Late in the morning we visited with a couple of neighbours who dropped by while we were in our Arizona room. In the evening I did a bit of online Christmas shopping. Joanne did laundry. DARN ! My ear plugs and spray canister of Nitroglycerin were laundered again ! Got to remember to empty my pants pockets !
Wednesday ; Sunny and very warm. Joanne baked a cake in the Sun Oven today.
Immediately after an early lunch I left for a day of running errands by myself. Joanne cleaned the interior of Lanoire the truck. I took clipper blades for sharpening. I bought a couple of drive belt "O" rings for our evaporative / "swamp" cooler back at home in BC. I went to quite a few different automotive service businesses to discuss maintenance / repairs required on Obie the SUV. I bought a steering wheel cover for Obie at Pep Boys.
Before I left to run errands, and after I returned, we walked two laps around the dog park. I went bicycling at sunset. We went out for supper tonight at Famous Dave's Barbecue. Great meal ! Except ... HMPH ... for the barbecue sauce bottle lid malfunction ! Oh, well ... another shirt ruined. Good thing I buy most of my shirts for no more than a few bucks at thrift shops. HA HA HA ! After returning home after supper we spent the rest of the evening watching the three hour season finale of Survivor.
Thursday ; Mostly cloudy, warm, very light drizzle briefly in the evening.
Joanne took Gail for a "girls' day out" of shopping. I repaired the kitchen sink drain plumbing, and cut / trimmed two Cholla Cacti ; one in the dog park behind our rear fence, and one in the flower bed against our north side front yard fence. Trimming / cutting down Cholla is an extremely difficult ... and painful ... job. I still need to dispose of the cuttings, another difficult job. I'll probably do that on Saturday. And ... I will probably continue to slowly work on cutting down the two Chollas in our front yard, branch by branch, until I can dig them out of the ground and eliminate them. Note to self ; don't plant any more Cholla Cacti. And stop watering the ones that I already
have !
In addition to getting some of the barbed Cholla quills in my knuckles, I got one in my lower lip. No, no ... I don't know how that happened ! But it sure hurt like hell when Joanne pulled it out with tweezers ! The picture below is a photo of my shin after pulling a batch of Cholla quills out of my leg.
Friday ; Happy 63rd Birthday to our friend Laszlo
A desert storm ; warm, very windy, sky obscured by blowing sand / dust.
This morning we headed southwest to the village of Somerton, to check out an automotive repair facility that a neighbour recommended. Somerton is a "Mexican" village ( in the United States ... there are many ) with lower overheads, so cheaper labour rates. After a brief discussion with a "service writer" at Yepez Auto, I arranged to return Obie on Monday and leave it until Tuesday to get some estimates for repairs. On our way back home we stopped at Wal-Mart on Avenue B and did some shopping before returning home for lunch.
After lunch we undertook what proved to be a very difficult job. We chopped up the Cholla Cactus "branches" that I cut down yesterday into smaller pieces, loaded them onto a plastic tarp, and hauled them from the dog park, over our rear fence into our back yard, then through our yard and out to the street, and down to the end of the street where we dumped it in the dumpster. Four large loads ! Very tiring ! Very painful !
I sorely regret planting Cholla cuttings four or five years ago. I still need to cut down and dig out two Chollas in our front yard flower beds. When we were finished I went to nap with Bo and Joanne went shopping to The Foothills.
After napping I wrapped Christmas gifts, did some maintenance on Lanoire ( the truck ), and took Bo for a two lap walk around the dog park. Bo and I finished our walk, and Joanne returned home, just at dusk. I went bicycling. Tough to breathe with all that dust blowing around.
After a late supper we went over to visit Laszlo and Gail, at Gail's invitation to come over and have a piece of Laszlo's birthday cake.
Saturday ; Sunny, chilly in the morning, mild in the afternoon, cold in the evening.
After this morning's two lap walk around the dog park we headed out to the Goodwill Thrift Store for one of their infrequent 50% off everything sale days. Our friend Gail came along with us. Joanne bought a couple of tops. Gail bought some clothing for Laszlo. I bought twelve t-shirts, and a GM car radio. Joanne and Gail spent quite awhile searching for me when they were finished their shopping. First I was in a change room, then in a long line up at a check out counter ... < shrug >. We went to Burger King for a late lunch. On the way home we stopped at Lowe's, who had neither what I needed nor what Joanne needed.
Back at home ... HMPH ! The car radio doesn't fit in Obie, and the wiring harness socket is incompatible with Obie's radio wiring harness plug. DARN ! I did some maintenance in the camper. I remounted a clothing peg unit that I accidentally ripped off the bedroom wall in the trailer a few days ago. I did a cosmetic repair underneath the front overhang of the trailer. I used rubber roof membrane to repair the cracked fibreglass panel. I repaired the leaking kitchen sink drain ... for about the third time in as many days ! Hope today's "Plan C" methodology works better than Plan A and
Plan B did ! We walked two laps around the dog park, and I went bicycling.
We had a somewhat unusual four course dinner tonight. First course was home made mushroom soup that Joanne made at home in BC a few months ago with freshly picked Shaggy Mane mushrooms. Today she added a bit of Crema Casera to the soup. MMMMM ! Next was a fresh, steamed artichoke served with a seasoned dip.
MMMMM ! Then stuffed, baked Portobello mushrooms served with a Kumato ( brown tomato ) and basil salad. MMMMM ! Finally, Christmas fruit cake we bought in Canada before we left. I ate my fruit cake with a glass of egg nog. MMMMM !
DSK
Sunday, December 11, 2016
December 4 to 10, 2016
Sunday ; Sunny and warm.
Had a very productive day today. Mounted some battery operated closet lights on the inside of the front door panels of Obie ( the SUV ) as substitutes for the non-functioning courtesy lights in the car. Did a very important repair required since last spring on the fifth wheel trailer's fridge. Removed, repaired, and reinstalled the radio in Obie. Washed Lanoire ( the truck ). Lots of road grime from over two thousand miles of driving from BC. And it was getting baked on by the desert sun. The longer it sits in the desert sun, the more difficult it is to wash off.
Walked two laps around the seven acre dog park. Twice ; once at noon, and again at 5:30 PM. Went bicycling at dusk. We covered the swimming pool and hot tub at 9 PM for the first night of our week long commitment to do so.
Monday ; Sunny and warm.
Spent most of today running errands and shopping. Left home this morning with a large load of recyclables, and took them to a local recycling center. Drove to "Home and Farm" to look for a drive belt for our evaporative ( swamp ) cooler back home in Keremeos. They didn't have what I need, but gave me a referral to another business that might. Next stop was Harbor Freight, made almost inaccessible by construction. Parked quite far away and walked back to the store. AND ... < sigh > ... they didn't have what I was there for. Story of my life ! Next was grocery shopping at Food City ... WOO-HOO, pan dulce ... then a late lunch at Rally's. Bad attitude in the staff member who served us, and food not very good, very unusual for Rally's. I guess every business has its bad days. Having been an employer for many years, I can guarantee ... the bad attitude jerk who served us won't be working there two weeks from now. He'll be fired, or more likely, quit in a huff. Last stop for the day was Pep Boys where we bought an expensive set of front seat covers for Obie.
As we were driving back home the radio in Obie began to fall out of the dash. HA HA HA ... guess I had better not apply for a job as a car stereo installer. HA HA HA !
I spent the rest of the afternoon removing and reinstalling the radio in the dashboard ... again ! Hope I did it better today than I did yesterday ! While I did that Joanne cleaned our patio and Arizona room. We took Bo for a two lap walk around the seven acre dog park, then I went bicycling at dusk. After supper we watched Teen Mom OG. HA HA HA HA HA ! What a pathetic bunch of losers. They should all get off reality TV which has provided them with a living for the last eight years, since they were "Sixteen and Pregnant", and get real jobs. And that includes their parents as well !
Tuesday ; Sunny and warm.
We slept late this morning. I took care of some routine household chores before lunch, then after lunch we went to the Humane Society for our regular Tuesday afternoon shift of volunteer dog walking and cat cuddling. First dog I walked was a beautiful female Belgian Malinois, great dog, intelligent, sweet disposition, responsive to obedience commands, so obviously trained. I took her to the large play yard on the Humane Society property and we played tennis ball fetch until I was exhausted. She wasn't !
I was very pleased to see her get adopted before the end of my shift. Good luck in your new home, Hope ! Be a good dog !
After we returned home I chatted with some visitors / lot renters who arrived a couple of days ago and were assigned to the lot across the street. We welcomed them here last year when they arrived on a week that we were the Welcome Committee. After supper, and watching Highway Thru Hell ( WOO-HOO ... the Coquihalla Highway in our "neighbourhood" in BC ) and Animal Cops Houston ( how depressing and disgusting ) we covered the swimming pool and hot tub. Nice evening, fairly warm.
Wednesday ; Sunny, cool.
This morning we headed to Yuma Fairgrounds for the annual Welcome Back Winter Visitor Bash, a trade show with many vendors offering goods and services of interest to ... well ... old people spending their winters here. Like us ! When we arrived back home at Kofa Ko-op we stopped at Laszlo's and Gail's to see how their recent trip to Las Vegas to attend an Andrea Boccelli concert went. The concert was great ... as expected ... and they had a great trip.
After a late lunch Joanne left to go shopping by herself for the rest of the day. I napped briefly with Bo then went to the storage yard to work on the installation of new propane tanks in the camper. Afterwards I took Bo for a two lap walk around the dog park. Joanne returned home just as we finished our dog park walk.
I went bicycling after dark. It was dangerous ! "Locals" heading home ... < ahem > ... south towards the border ... after a day of work ... were driving very fast, and running the stop sign at the end of our street. Don't think I should go bicycling after dark any more !
While Joanne had a phone chat with her sister in Winnipeg I barbecued Coho Salmon for supper. With Joanne's famous seven bean salad it was very good ! After supper we covered the swimming pool and hot tub, then watched Survivor.
Thursday ; Sunny and cool, chilly in the evening. BRRRRR ! I was shivering as we put the covers on the swimming pool and hot tub at 9 PM. HMPH ! Looks like I'm finally going to have to wear a jacket in the evenings.
This morning we drove north on Avenue 4E to the Arizona Market Place flea market where I ordered a dash cover for Obie. Then east on 32nd St. all the way to The Foothills. At Cactus Propane / Amerigas I had the camper's two new propane tanks purged and filled for the first time. We drove to the Fortuna Shopping Mall and while Joanne went to the 99 Cent Only Store I went to Al's RV Parts to exchange a propane hose, then to Foothills Shoes to pick up a pair of shoes that I ordered the day after Black Friday. When Joanne was finished grocery shopping at the 99 Cent Only Store we returned home for a late lunch.
I installed one of the two new propane tanks in the camper. One of the old propane tanks still has propane in it, and I don't want to put in the second new tank until the old tank runs out of propane, which should probably happen on our New Year's Eve trip to Palm Springs. Carol Mae came over for a brief visit with her new dog Kaydee, a small, young, female Chihuahua / Terrier mix ( maybe ? ) with dominance issues. She doesn't get along with most dogs, including Bo. When she met Bo today, they sniffed noses, Kaydee mounted Bo ... rather unusual behaviour for a young female dog ... then began snapping and snarling viciously at Bo. She behaves that way towards most dogs.
< shrug > Lots of work ahead for Carol Mae.
I did a teensy bit of gardening. We walked two laps around the dog park, more or less with Bo ... < rolling my eyes >. I went bicycling at dusk. Joanne worked on laundry and supper preparations. I barbecued a thick, juicy steak and baked potatoes. We slathered Crema CentroAmericana on our baked potatoes. WOW ! GREAT ! After supper I did some banking reconciliation, usually a very easy job, but ... not tonight. Eventually found the problem !
Friday ; Mostly sunny, mild.
We spent most of the day unproductively driving from junk yard to junk yard and searching for parts of Obie. We were surprised to find that at every junk yard we went to the scrapped vehicles have been picked over so completely that there is really nothing left worth salvaging within each one. Oh, well ! Joanne thought it was a pleasant outing of driving around to areas we hadn't been to before, and scrounging around amongst junked cars, an experience we've never had before. I suppose I have to admire her positive outlook on what I consider to be a wasted day !
Saturday ; Sunny and warm.
We attended the Humane Society of Yuma's "Welcome Back Winter Visitor Volunteers" luncheon. Afterwards we went to the Salvation Army thrift store and browsed, looking for a hooded sweatshirt for me. The rest of the day was lost / wasted to squabbling that started late last night.
DSK
Had a very productive day today. Mounted some battery operated closet lights on the inside of the front door panels of Obie ( the SUV ) as substitutes for the non-functioning courtesy lights in the car. Did a very important repair required since last spring on the fifth wheel trailer's fridge. Removed, repaired, and reinstalled the radio in Obie. Washed Lanoire ( the truck ). Lots of road grime from over two thousand miles of driving from BC. And it was getting baked on by the desert sun. The longer it sits in the desert sun, the more difficult it is to wash off.
Walked two laps around the seven acre dog park. Twice ; once at noon, and again at 5:30 PM. Went bicycling at dusk. We covered the swimming pool and hot tub at 9 PM for the first night of our week long commitment to do so.
Monday ; Sunny and warm.
Spent most of today running errands and shopping. Left home this morning with a large load of recyclables, and took them to a local recycling center. Drove to "Home and Farm" to look for a drive belt for our evaporative ( swamp ) cooler back home in Keremeos. They didn't have what I need, but gave me a referral to another business that might. Next stop was Harbor Freight, made almost inaccessible by construction. Parked quite far away and walked back to the store. AND ... < sigh > ... they didn't have what I was there for. Story of my life ! Next was grocery shopping at Food City ... WOO-HOO, pan dulce ... then a late lunch at Rally's. Bad attitude in the staff member who served us, and food not very good, very unusual for Rally's. I guess every business has its bad days. Having been an employer for many years, I can guarantee ... the bad attitude jerk who served us won't be working there two weeks from now. He'll be fired, or more likely, quit in a huff. Last stop for the day was Pep Boys where we bought an expensive set of front seat covers for Obie.
As we were driving back home the radio in Obie began to fall out of the dash. HA HA HA ... guess I had better not apply for a job as a car stereo installer. HA HA HA !
I spent the rest of the afternoon removing and reinstalling the radio in the dashboard ... again ! Hope I did it better today than I did yesterday ! While I did that Joanne cleaned our patio and Arizona room. We took Bo for a two lap walk around the seven acre dog park, then I went bicycling at dusk. After supper we watched Teen Mom OG. HA HA HA HA HA ! What a pathetic bunch of losers. They should all get off reality TV which has provided them with a living for the last eight years, since they were "Sixteen and Pregnant", and get real jobs. And that includes their parents as well !
Tuesday ; Sunny and warm.
We slept late this morning. I took care of some routine household chores before lunch, then after lunch we went to the Humane Society for our regular Tuesday afternoon shift of volunteer dog walking and cat cuddling. First dog I walked was a beautiful female Belgian Malinois, great dog, intelligent, sweet disposition, responsive to obedience commands, so obviously trained. I took her to the large play yard on the Humane Society property and we played tennis ball fetch until I was exhausted. She wasn't !
I was very pleased to see her get adopted before the end of my shift. Good luck in your new home, Hope ! Be a good dog !
After we returned home I chatted with some visitors / lot renters who arrived a couple of days ago and were assigned to the lot across the street. We welcomed them here last year when they arrived on a week that we were the Welcome Committee. After supper, and watching Highway Thru Hell ( WOO-HOO ... the Coquihalla Highway in our "neighbourhood" in BC ) and Animal Cops Houston ( how depressing and disgusting ) we covered the swimming pool and hot tub. Nice evening, fairly warm.
Wednesday ; Sunny, cool.
This morning we headed to Yuma Fairgrounds for the annual Welcome Back Winter Visitor Bash, a trade show with many vendors offering goods and services of interest to ... well ... old people spending their winters here. Like us ! When we arrived back home at Kofa Ko-op we stopped at Laszlo's and Gail's to see how their recent trip to Las Vegas to attend an Andrea Boccelli concert went. The concert was great ... as expected ... and they had a great trip.
After a late lunch Joanne left to go shopping by herself for the rest of the day. I napped briefly with Bo then went to the storage yard to work on the installation of new propane tanks in the camper. Afterwards I took Bo for a two lap walk around the dog park. Joanne returned home just as we finished our dog park walk.
I went bicycling after dark. It was dangerous ! "Locals" heading home ... < ahem > ... south towards the border ... after a day of work ... were driving very fast, and running the stop sign at the end of our street. Don't think I should go bicycling after dark any more !
While Joanne had a phone chat with her sister in Winnipeg I barbecued Coho Salmon for supper. With Joanne's famous seven bean salad it was very good ! After supper we covered the swimming pool and hot tub, then watched Survivor.
Thursday ; Sunny and cool, chilly in the evening. BRRRRR ! I was shivering as we put the covers on the swimming pool and hot tub at 9 PM. HMPH ! Looks like I'm finally going to have to wear a jacket in the evenings.
This morning we drove north on Avenue 4E to the Arizona Market Place flea market where I ordered a dash cover for Obie. Then east on 32nd St. all the way to The Foothills. At Cactus Propane / Amerigas I had the camper's two new propane tanks purged and filled for the first time. We drove to the Fortuna Shopping Mall and while Joanne went to the 99 Cent Only Store I went to Al's RV Parts to exchange a propane hose, then to Foothills Shoes to pick up a pair of shoes that I ordered the day after Black Friday. When Joanne was finished grocery shopping at the 99 Cent Only Store we returned home for a late lunch.
I installed one of the two new propane tanks in the camper. One of the old propane tanks still has propane in it, and I don't want to put in the second new tank until the old tank runs out of propane, which should probably happen on our New Year's Eve trip to Palm Springs. Carol Mae came over for a brief visit with her new dog Kaydee, a small, young, female Chihuahua / Terrier mix ( maybe ? ) with dominance issues. She doesn't get along with most dogs, including Bo. When she met Bo today, they sniffed noses, Kaydee mounted Bo ... rather unusual behaviour for a young female dog ... then began snapping and snarling viciously at Bo. She behaves that way towards most dogs.
< shrug > Lots of work ahead for Carol Mae.
I did a teensy bit of gardening. We walked two laps around the dog park, more or less with Bo ... < rolling my eyes >. I went bicycling at dusk. Joanne worked on laundry and supper preparations. I barbecued a thick, juicy steak and baked potatoes. We slathered Crema CentroAmericana on our baked potatoes. WOW ! GREAT ! After supper I did some banking reconciliation, usually a very easy job, but ... not tonight. Eventually found the problem !
Friday ; Mostly sunny, mild.
We spent most of the day unproductively driving from junk yard to junk yard and searching for parts of Obie. We were surprised to find that at every junk yard we went to the scrapped vehicles have been picked over so completely that there is really nothing left worth salvaging within each one. Oh, well ! Joanne thought it was a pleasant outing of driving around to areas we hadn't been to before, and scrounging around amongst junked cars, an experience we've never had before. I suppose I have to admire her positive outlook on what I consider to be a wasted day !
Saturday ; Sunny and warm.
We attended the Humane Society of Yuma's "Welcome Back Winter Visitor Volunteers" luncheon. Afterwards we went to the Salvation Army thrift store and browsed, looking for a hooded sweatshirt for me. The rest of the day was lost / wasted to squabbling that started late last night.
DSK
Sunday, December 4, 2016
November 27 to December 3, 2016
Sunday ; Cloudy and cool, light rain around supper time.
This morning I finished installing a new bicycle tire tube, reinstalled the tire and wheel on the bicycle, and finished servicing the bicycle to prepare it for a season of use. We spent the rest of the day working on Obie, our "new" car. I did maintenance work ... it has been neglected and needs a lot of TLC ... and Joanne did cleaning work. Her job was much more difficult than mine. This was a really filthy car, owned by an a*****e who obviously had no pride of ownership, and put no effort into maintaining the car. We are both tired and sore from a long, hard day of physical work.
For supper I made omelettes, prepared with Crema Casera, a Mexican cream
I purchased a few days ago, and had never cooked with before. WOW ! What stupendous omelettes ! My long ago deceased Aunt Lena would be proud of my "cooking with cream" prowess. HA HA HA !
Monday ; Cloudy and mild.
I spent the day working on fifth wheel maintenance and ... satellite dish drama ! With a teensy bit of vehicle maintenance and gardening thrown in for good measure.
Tuesday ; Sunny, cool, very windy.
This afternoon we went to the Humane Society of Yuma for our first volunteer dog walking ( me ) and cat cuddling ( Joanne ) shift of this winter season. I walked dogs for a couple of hours, then went to the cat wing and cuddled cats for another ten minutes or so until Joanne was ready to leave.
This morning I had been whining and moaning at Laszlo and Gail about my satellite dish drama, including a very unsuccessful "live chat" session with Shaw Direct Technical Support. When we returned home from the Humane Society at 5 PM there was a page of today's newspaper stuck on our door showing a classified ad selling what I need to make our satellite dish work again. We don't yet know for sure ( at 9:30 PM ) that Laszlo and / or Gail put the newspaper page on our door, but ... it must have been them. We'll find out tomorrow. I immediately phoned the ad and made arrangements with the seller of the satellite dish equipment. We rushed out to The Foothills, and met a very nice couple from Smithers, BC, who sold me the part that I needed, at a fair and reasonable price. THANK YOU SID ! Gee, it's nice to do business with a fair and reasonable and honest Canadian !
We chatted with them for half an hour or so, and by the time we returned home it was 6:30 PM. I cooked a large, thick Halibut fillet for supper, the second of three packages of Halibut we bought in Prince Rupert, BC on our way home from Haida Gwaii last August. We have been experiencing anxiety over these remaining two packages of Halibut after discovering a couple of weeks ago that the first package was rancid ! BUT ... tonight's ( too ) large serving of Halibut was superb !
Wednesday ; Los Algodones, Baja California, Mexico
Sunny and cool.
This morning we headed out at 10:15 AM for our dentist appointments in Mexico at
11 AM. We drove north on Ave. 3E to Interstate 8, west on I-8 across the Colorado River into California, then a short distance south on Hwy. 186 to the border crossing at Los Algodones, Baja California, Mexico. We parked and walked across the border into Mexico, arriving at our dentist's office right on time. I was seen by Dra. Lilia Camacho, my periodontist. Joanne was seen by Dr. Armando, a relatively new dentist in the office. Since it was not a very busy day today my periodontist not only conducted a periodontal examination, she also did my cleaning, with the hygienist that should have done the cleaning acting as her assistant. My bill was $45. Joanne had a dental cleaning by a hygienist, then when Dr. Armando conducted an examination, she pointed out to him that she had a problem with an old filling that was breaking off and falling out. Well ... that was because there was a cavity underneath the old filling.
Dr. Armando had time to fix it today. Her bill was $45 for the cleaning and examination, and $60 for the cavity / filling repair.
When Joanne's filling repair was completed we headed to Tere's, our regular hairstylist ( and pedicure ) shop in Los Algodones. We both got haircuts ; $5 for Joanne, $3 for my haircut, $2 for my beard trim. Very good haircuts for both of us. My beard trim is a bit short. I guess she ( the hairstylist ) was going for the Mexican telenovela star look. More like stubble than a beard. On an old, fat gringo with grey whiskers, I just look like some kind of skid row bum. HA HA HA ! Joanne's mouth was frozen and she didn't want to remain in Mexico for lunch. We bought some pan dulce at the panaderia to take home, then crossed the border about 1 PM ... NO LINE UP ! ... and drove back to Yuma.
Back in Yuma we washed Obie, our new “winter beater” SUV, at a car wash on 8th St. then drove down Avenue B to a ( Mexican ) used tire shop to buy a used tire. Obie came with an exploded tire ( on the car’s “fancy” alloy wheel ) in the rear cargo area, and the spare tire ( on a regular steel wheel ) in use on the car. It took me three
( Mexican ) used tire shops until I found one that had the right size tire. Bought a fairly decent Goodyear Tracker tire, $25 mounted on the rim and installed on the car, with an additional $5 for balancing. By the time we arrived back at home around 2:30 PM Joanne was ready for a late, small lunch. After lunch I installed the Shaw Direct triple satellite LNB that I bought last night onto our satellite dish and ... WOO-HOO ... we have television service again !
At 6 PM we headed out with Laszlo and Gail, in Obie, for all you can eat salad, spaghetti and meatballs at a local restaurant. We went out for dinner that early so that we could be home in time to watch Survivor, but ... I screwed up time zone adjustments again. Yuma is on Mountain Standard Time, and our satellite TV service is on Keremeos, BC / Pacific Standard Time. I thought Survivor was going to be on at 7 PM local time ( 8 PM BC time ). DUH ! It was on at 9 PM local time ( 8 PM BC time ).
It's good to have our TV service restored !
Thursday ; Sunny and cool. Joanne cooked our first Sun Oven meal of the season, a beef roast marinated in a "Southern Barbecue" slow cooker marinade.
Today I did maintenance work on Elsie ( the truck camper ) and Obie ( the SUV ). Joanne cleaned Harvey ( the fifth wheel trailer ) and did laundry. We walked two laps around the seven acre dog park with Bo. I went bicycling at dusk. BRRRRR ! Chilly once the sun sets.
Friday ; Mostly sunny, windy, chilly.
Today was a long day of running shopping errands in The Foothills. This morning we headed to the far east end of The Foothills, to the semi-annual Helping Hands Yard Sale at Gila Mountain United Methodist Church. I was looking for some stuff for Obie, and I found what I wanted. I bought floor mats, front and rear, for Obie the SUV, as well as some needed tools and office supplies. Joanne bought a new set of cutlery for Harvey the fifth wheel trailer. And Harvey's old cutlery will get moved to Elsie the truck camper. I have no idea what the plans are for the cutlery that is currently in Elsie. HEY ... not my department. HA HA HA !
Next stop was Al's RV Parts for a few items ... and free donuts ... on their monthly 15% off everything sale day. We refilled Obie with fuel across the street at Fry's Fuel Bar, then began heading back west towards home. We stopped at Southwest Exchange where I had a spare key cut for Obie. We drove to The Foothills Wal-Mart mall where we had lunch at Del Taco before going Wal-Martin'. Last stop before heading home was Wally's World for an assortment of automotive parts and household supplies and hardware. It was after 4 PM by the time we arrived back at home.
We walked with Bo for two laps around the dog park before it got dark. BRRRRR ... chilly ! While Joanne prepared supper I reorganized my "to do" priorities. We watched a couple of episodes of My Cat From Hell on TV while having supper, then after supper we watched Doc Martin. Late in the evening I did month end bank statement balancing and investment file updating and analyzing.
Saturday ; Sunny, windy, chilly. Joanne cooked a chicken stew in the Sun Oven today.
Today was filled with routine chores and maintenance. I took a propane tank to be refilled. I remounted the spare tire underneath Obie. I went to the office and paid our November electricity bill. I took photos of Obie. I downloaded the photos to my laptop and "processed" them. I sorted and put away laundered clothing, some in the trailer, some in the camper. I auger cleaned the shower drain in the trailer. I took Bo for a two lap walk around the dog park. I went bicycling. Joanne gave Bo a bath. I helped Joanne repair the camper's sleeping bags.
DSK
This morning I finished installing a new bicycle tire tube, reinstalled the tire and wheel on the bicycle, and finished servicing the bicycle to prepare it for a season of use. We spent the rest of the day working on Obie, our "new" car. I did maintenance work ... it has been neglected and needs a lot of TLC ... and Joanne did cleaning work. Her job was much more difficult than mine. This was a really filthy car, owned by an a*****e who obviously had no pride of ownership, and put no effort into maintaining the car. We are both tired and sore from a long, hard day of physical work.
For supper I made omelettes, prepared with Crema Casera, a Mexican cream
I purchased a few days ago, and had never cooked with before. WOW ! What stupendous omelettes ! My long ago deceased Aunt Lena would be proud of my "cooking with cream" prowess. HA HA HA !
Monday ; Cloudy and mild.
I spent the day working on fifth wheel maintenance and ... satellite dish drama ! With a teensy bit of vehicle maintenance and gardening thrown in for good measure.
Tuesday ; Sunny, cool, very windy.
This afternoon we went to the Humane Society of Yuma for our first volunteer dog walking ( me ) and cat cuddling ( Joanne ) shift of this winter season. I walked dogs for a couple of hours, then went to the cat wing and cuddled cats for another ten minutes or so until Joanne was ready to leave.
This morning I had been whining and moaning at Laszlo and Gail about my satellite dish drama, including a very unsuccessful "live chat" session with Shaw Direct Technical Support. When we returned home from the Humane Society at 5 PM there was a page of today's newspaper stuck on our door showing a classified ad selling what I need to make our satellite dish work again. We don't yet know for sure ( at 9:30 PM ) that Laszlo and / or Gail put the newspaper page on our door, but ... it must have been them. We'll find out tomorrow. I immediately phoned the ad and made arrangements with the seller of the satellite dish equipment. We rushed out to The Foothills, and met a very nice couple from Smithers, BC, who sold me the part that I needed, at a fair and reasonable price. THANK YOU SID ! Gee, it's nice to do business with a fair and reasonable and honest Canadian !
We chatted with them for half an hour or so, and by the time we returned home it was 6:30 PM. I cooked a large, thick Halibut fillet for supper, the second of three packages of Halibut we bought in Prince Rupert, BC on our way home from Haida Gwaii last August. We have been experiencing anxiety over these remaining two packages of Halibut after discovering a couple of weeks ago that the first package was rancid ! BUT ... tonight's ( too ) large serving of Halibut was superb !
Wednesday ; Los Algodones, Baja California, Mexico
Sunny and cool.
This morning we headed out at 10:15 AM for our dentist appointments in Mexico at
11 AM. We drove north on Ave. 3E to Interstate 8, west on I-8 across the Colorado River into California, then a short distance south on Hwy. 186 to the border crossing at Los Algodones, Baja California, Mexico. We parked and walked across the border into Mexico, arriving at our dentist's office right on time. I was seen by Dra. Lilia Camacho, my periodontist. Joanne was seen by Dr. Armando, a relatively new dentist in the office. Since it was not a very busy day today my periodontist not only conducted a periodontal examination, she also did my cleaning, with the hygienist that should have done the cleaning acting as her assistant. My bill was $45. Joanne had a dental cleaning by a hygienist, then when Dr. Armando conducted an examination, she pointed out to him that she had a problem with an old filling that was breaking off and falling out. Well ... that was because there was a cavity underneath the old filling.
Dr. Armando had time to fix it today. Her bill was $45 for the cleaning and examination, and $60 for the cavity / filling repair.
When Joanne's filling repair was completed we headed to Tere's, our regular hairstylist ( and pedicure ) shop in Los Algodones. We both got haircuts ; $5 for Joanne, $3 for my haircut, $2 for my beard trim. Very good haircuts for both of us. My beard trim is a bit short. I guess she ( the hairstylist ) was going for the Mexican telenovela star look. More like stubble than a beard. On an old, fat gringo with grey whiskers, I just look like some kind of skid row bum. HA HA HA ! Joanne's mouth was frozen and she didn't want to remain in Mexico for lunch. We bought some pan dulce at the panaderia to take home, then crossed the border about 1 PM ... NO LINE UP ! ... and drove back to Yuma.
Back in Yuma we washed Obie, our new “winter beater” SUV, at a car wash on 8th St. then drove down Avenue B to a ( Mexican ) used tire shop to buy a used tire. Obie came with an exploded tire ( on the car’s “fancy” alloy wheel ) in the rear cargo area, and the spare tire ( on a regular steel wheel ) in use on the car. It took me three
( Mexican ) used tire shops until I found one that had the right size tire. Bought a fairly decent Goodyear Tracker tire, $25 mounted on the rim and installed on the car, with an additional $5 for balancing. By the time we arrived back at home around 2:30 PM Joanne was ready for a late, small lunch. After lunch I installed the Shaw Direct triple satellite LNB that I bought last night onto our satellite dish and ... WOO-HOO ... we have television service again !
At 6 PM we headed out with Laszlo and Gail, in Obie, for all you can eat salad, spaghetti and meatballs at a local restaurant. We went out for dinner that early so that we could be home in time to watch Survivor, but ... I screwed up time zone adjustments again. Yuma is on Mountain Standard Time, and our satellite TV service is on Keremeos, BC / Pacific Standard Time. I thought Survivor was going to be on at 7 PM local time ( 8 PM BC time ). DUH ! It was on at 9 PM local time ( 8 PM BC time ).
It's good to have our TV service restored !
Thursday ; Sunny and cool. Joanne cooked our first Sun Oven meal of the season, a beef roast marinated in a "Southern Barbecue" slow cooker marinade.
Today I did maintenance work on Elsie ( the truck camper ) and Obie ( the SUV ). Joanne cleaned Harvey ( the fifth wheel trailer ) and did laundry. We walked two laps around the seven acre dog park with Bo. I went bicycling at dusk. BRRRRR ! Chilly once the sun sets.
Friday ; Mostly sunny, windy, chilly.
Today was a long day of running shopping errands in The Foothills. This morning we headed to the far east end of The Foothills, to the semi-annual Helping Hands Yard Sale at Gila Mountain United Methodist Church. I was looking for some stuff for Obie, and I found what I wanted. I bought floor mats, front and rear, for Obie the SUV, as well as some needed tools and office supplies. Joanne bought a new set of cutlery for Harvey the fifth wheel trailer. And Harvey's old cutlery will get moved to Elsie the truck camper. I have no idea what the plans are for the cutlery that is currently in Elsie. HEY ... not my department. HA HA HA !
Next stop was Al's RV Parts for a few items ... and free donuts ... on their monthly 15% off everything sale day. We refilled Obie with fuel across the street at Fry's Fuel Bar, then began heading back west towards home. We stopped at Southwest Exchange where I had a spare key cut for Obie. We drove to The Foothills Wal-Mart mall where we had lunch at Del Taco before going Wal-Martin'. Last stop before heading home was Wally's World for an assortment of automotive parts and household supplies and hardware. It was after 4 PM by the time we arrived back at home.
We walked with Bo for two laps around the dog park before it got dark. BRRRRR ... chilly ! While Joanne prepared supper I reorganized my "to do" priorities. We watched a couple of episodes of My Cat From Hell on TV while having supper, then after supper we watched Doc Martin. Late in the evening I did month end bank statement balancing and investment file updating and analyzing.
Saturday ; Sunny, windy, chilly. Joanne cooked a chicken stew in the Sun Oven today.
Today was filled with routine chores and maintenance. I took a propane tank to be refilled. I remounted the spare tire underneath Obie. I went to the office and paid our November electricity bill. I took photos of Obie. I downloaded the photos to my laptop and "processed" them. I sorted and put away laundered clothing, some in the trailer, some in the camper. I auger cleaned the shower drain in the trailer. I took Bo for a two lap walk around the dog park. I went bicycling. Joanne gave Bo a bath. I helped Joanne repair the camper's sleeping bags.
DSK
Sunday, November 27, 2016
November 20 to 26, 2016 ; Quartzsite to Yuma, Arizona
Sunday ; Quartzsite to Yuma
Cloudy and warm in Quartzsite. Raining and cool in Yuma.
HUH ? RAIN IN YUMA ? ? ? How odd ! It started raining right after we ate lunch, about halfway between Quartzsite and Yuma. And while we only drove about fifty miles or so in the desert rain, it made both the truck and camper very dirty !
This morning we left the Hi Jolly BLM campground a few miles north of Quartzsite and drove south on Hwy. 95 into Quartzsite. I wanted look for an item at the flea markets.
I didn't find it. BUT ... HA HA HA ... we bought almost thirty bucks worth of stuff on impulse, most of it a "scratch & dent" vendor. Lots of marinades for use in Sun Oven cooking. Some cosmetics and toiletries. Unusual salad dressings, that sort of stuff. After shopping we continued south on Hwy. 95 towards Yuma. We pulled off the road into the desert to have lunch. As soon as we resumed driving after lunch it began to drizzle, and continued to drizzle lightly until we reached "home" at Kofa Ko-op SKP RV Park in Yuma.
We arrived "home" at 4:15 PM and got quite a lot of work done in the yard and Arizona room before it got dark at 6 PM. It got dark at 5 PM yesterday in Quartzsite because we forgot to change our clocks and watches when we crossed from California / Pacific Time Zone into Arizona / Mountain Time Zone. DUH !
The trip from Keremeos home to Yuma home was 3635 km. / 2272 miles.
Monday ; Sunny and warm.
We slept late and got a slow start to the day. Today and the next few days will be mostly taken up with "arrival" chores. Opening up the Arizona room, getting dust covers off the furniture, folding and storing the dust covers, rinsing outdoor furniture, etc., etc., etc. This afternoon we took Bo to the veterinarian to have him examined regarding a few problems that have persisted for about six months, and may be multiple problems or may be one problem with multiple symptoms. As I feared and expected ... we spent two hundred dollars to find out ... absolutely nothing ! ! ! After the veterinarian we went grocery shopping, then returned home and barely had time for a quick lap around the dog park before it got dark.
Tuesday ; Sunny and very warm. By the way, today I removed the thermometer I had mounted last spring on a shaded spot under our front patio. It read to a maximum of 120° F / 50° C. At some point this summer ... the top blew off. HA HA HA ... just like in the cartoons !
Today was another day of "arrival" chores. Joanne finished removing all food items from the camper, and stored them temporarily in the Arizona room. When we move the fifth wheel trailer to our lot, probably tomorrow, all of it will be moved into the fifth wheel trailer. < sigh > Lots of work ! We removed and stored all of the Arizona room's "solid" vinyl walls, turning it once again into a screen room. We disinfected our five gallon water jug. Joanne cleaned the interior of Elsie the camper. I worked on cleaning and maintenance chores. I worked on getting my bicycle ready for use. When I inflated the tires, the rear tire tube exploded. BAM ! Sounded like a gunshot !
Twice we went for walks around the dog park. We are trying to do that twice per day for needed exercise. I did some online and phone work shopping for a used vehicle to buy. I watered all our plants and gardens. A lot of our cactus plants have died, apparently due to heat and / or lack of water. < shrug > HEY ... they're cacti. Aren't they supposed to be able to tolerate high heat and no water ?
Wednesday ; Sunny and warm.
Our plan for today was to remove the camper from the truck, store it in one of our two storage spots in the storage yard, then move the fifth wheel trailer from our other storage spot in the storage yard to our lot 52. Instead ... we bought a car !
We have been looking for what would be described in Canada as a "winter beater". To use down here during the winter season as ... well ... our "winter beater ". HA HA HA ! And that's exactly what we bought. A scruffy, old, 1997 Oldsmobile Bravada SUV. It's the "same" as the Chevrolet Blazer or the GMC Jimmy. The Oldsmobile Bravada was never sold in Canada, so my Canadian readers won't recognize it.
I found it last night online. I made arrangements by e-mail and telephone to view it late this morning. We drove to where the buyer lives, viewed the car, I took it for a test drive with the buyer, and ... bought it. We left it with him until Friday so that I can buy insurance for it before completing the purchase transaction and registering / licensing it with Arizona DMV.
Before returning home we went grocery shopping at Food City, the Mexican supermarket. In addition to buying quite a bit of fresh produce, we also bought a lot of meat, and a turkey. We're not cooking it tomorrow for American Thanksgiving, but wanted to buy a turkey while they're cheap.
Once we were back at home I did some maintenance chores and prepared the camper for removal from the truck tomorrow. Joanne cut and repackaged meat, then did laundry. We took Bo for a two lap walk around the dog park. Actually, Joanne and
I walked two laps around the dog park. Bo sort of meanders around keeping an eye on us, more or less, but he no longer has the desire / stamina to walk laps around the dog park.
After supper I spent a frustrating, long evening online trying ( and eventually
succeeding ) to purchase vehicle insurance.
Thursday ; American Thanksgiving
Sunny and warm. Tough, busy day today. Not all of it went well.
This morning we completed our preparations for removing Elsie ( the camper ) off Lanoire ( the truck ). We drove to the storage yard in the RV park and removed Elsie, then installed the fifth wheel hitch into Lanoire and hitched up to Harvey ( the fifth wheel trailer ). On the way back to our lot we stopped at the park's air compressor station and adjusted the air pressure in all of the trailer's tires. We parked haphazardly in our lot then went into the Arizona room to have lunch.
After lunch we fussed and fiddled with the positioning of the trailer. It needs to be positioned very precisely, to ensure the door opens exactly where it should, in the cut out in the patio roof. Once I got the trailer positioned exactly where it needed to be Joanne went to work on inside chores and I worked on outside chores, connecting electricity, water, and sewer before extending the slides and unhitching the truck.
I worked on a burnt out tail light problem on the truck, then got "side tracked" by an extremely foul odour in the trailer's water system. This last summer was the third time the trailer was left parked in the storage yard during the brutal summer heat, but the first time we've had this foul smell in the water system. I spent a long time trying to figure out the problem and the solution. I think the tank of fresh water that I left full over the summer was well water with minerals that "soured" over the summer. I drained the freshwater tank, and will strongly disinfect it over the next few days.
My next priority was to connect the satellite dish and get the TV working. I failed. Another job that took up a lot of time. And I still don't know what the problem is. I have suspicions, but will need to do some more "troubleshooting" ... probably on Saturday ... to figure out the problem ... and solution. < sigh >
We did not attend the communal ( American ) Thanksgiving dinner. Joanne is so disgusted by the American people electing a sexist, racist, bigot as their President that she wants to avoid socializing with Americans as much as possible this winter season. And I have forty-two years of good reasons to "stand by my woman". I barbecued Coho Salmon from Haida Gwaii for supper. It was good !
Friday ; Sunny and warm.
We spent most of the day on the purchase of our "winter beater" 1997 Oldsmobile Bravada. And NO ... NO ... it did NOT go well ! ! ! ! ! Enough said ! < gnashing teeth >
Nevertheless ... the car is now sitting in our driveway, titled, registered, licensed, and insured. This is the first time we have had to deal with the distinctly American concept of vehicle "title". And hopefully it will be the last !
Saturday ; Cloudy and warm.
This morning I checked and refilled fluids in Obie ( Oldsmobile Bravada ), our new "winter beater" car. Then we headed to "The Foothills", the Yuma "suburb" to the east, for some delayed Black Friday shopping. While Joanne went to "The 99¢ Only Store"
I went to Foothills Shoes to buy a couple of pairs of SAS shoes at the ( extended ) Black Friday special sale price. I only wear SAS shoes ... for about twenty-five years now ... and they are so outrageously expensive that I have taken to buying them only on "Black Fridays" ( the big shopping day after American Thanksgiving ). After finishing shoe buying ( me ) and grocery buying ( Joanne ) we went to Burger King for lunch, then Fry's for a few more grocery items. On the way home we stopped at Southwest Exchange so that I could buy a replacement bicycle tire tube.
Once back at home my priority was satellite dish troubleshooting. By cannibalizing parts from Laszlo's satellite dish and installing them on my satellite dish I was able to determine that I will need to replace our satellite dish's old dual satellite LNB with the newer triple satellite LNB. I had an extra satellite dish back home in Keremeos, a new dish with the triple satellite LNB ... and I sold it ! DARN ! Getting the triple satellite LNB that I need down here will be difficult and expensive. DARN ! ! ! And in the meantime ... I’m paying for satellite TV service that I’m unable to use. HMPH !
We took Bo for a two lap walk around the dog park, then I worked on replacing my bicycle’s blown tire inner tube. It was dark by the time I completed that project, so I still need to inflate the tire and install it back onto the bicycle tomorrow.
In the evening I worked on bill paying and accounting. Certainly has been an expensive month so far !
DSK
Cloudy and warm in Quartzsite. Raining and cool in Yuma.
HUH ? RAIN IN YUMA ? ? ? How odd ! It started raining right after we ate lunch, about halfway between Quartzsite and Yuma. And while we only drove about fifty miles or so in the desert rain, it made both the truck and camper very dirty !
This morning we left the Hi Jolly BLM campground a few miles north of Quartzsite and drove south on Hwy. 95 into Quartzsite. I wanted look for an item at the flea markets.
I didn't find it. BUT ... HA HA HA ... we bought almost thirty bucks worth of stuff on impulse, most of it a "scratch & dent" vendor. Lots of marinades for use in Sun Oven cooking. Some cosmetics and toiletries. Unusual salad dressings, that sort of stuff. After shopping we continued south on Hwy. 95 towards Yuma. We pulled off the road into the desert to have lunch. As soon as we resumed driving after lunch it began to drizzle, and continued to drizzle lightly until we reached "home" at Kofa Ko-op SKP RV Park in Yuma.
We arrived "home" at 4:15 PM and got quite a lot of work done in the yard and Arizona room before it got dark at 6 PM. It got dark at 5 PM yesterday in Quartzsite because we forgot to change our clocks and watches when we crossed from California / Pacific Time Zone into Arizona / Mountain Time Zone. DUH !
The trip from Keremeos home to Yuma home was 3635 km. / 2272 miles.
Monday ; Sunny and warm.
We slept late and got a slow start to the day. Today and the next few days will be mostly taken up with "arrival" chores. Opening up the Arizona room, getting dust covers off the furniture, folding and storing the dust covers, rinsing outdoor furniture, etc., etc., etc. This afternoon we took Bo to the veterinarian to have him examined regarding a few problems that have persisted for about six months, and may be multiple problems or may be one problem with multiple symptoms. As I feared and expected ... we spent two hundred dollars to find out ... absolutely nothing ! ! ! After the veterinarian we went grocery shopping, then returned home and barely had time for a quick lap around the dog park before it got dark.
Tuesday ; Sunny and very warm. By the way, today I removed the thermometer I had mounted last spring on a shaded spot under our front patio. It read to a maximum of 120° F / 50° C. At some point this summer ... the top blew off. HA HA HA ... just like in the cartoons !
Today was another day of "arrival" chores. Joanne finished removing all food items from the camper, and stored them temporarily in the Arizona room. When we move the fifth wheel trailer to our lot, probably tomorrow, all of it will be moved into the fifth wheel trailer. < sigh > Lots of work ! We removed and stored all of the Arizona room's "solid" vinyl walls, turning it once again into a screen room. We disinfected our five gallon water jug. Joanne cleaned the interior of Elsie the camper. I worked on cleaning and maintenance chores. I worked on getting my bicycle ready for use. When I inflated the tires, the rear tire tube exploded. BAM ! Sounded like a gunshot !
Twice we went for walks around the dog park. We are trying to do that twice per day for needed exercise. I did some online and phone work shopping for a used vehicle to buy. I watered all our plants and gardens. A lot of our cactus plants have died, apparently due to heat and / or lack of water. < shrug > HEY ... they're cacti. Aren't they supposed to be able to tolerate high heat and no water ?
Wednesday ; Sunny and warm.
Our plan for today was to remove the camper from the truck, store it in one of our two storage spots in the storage yard, then move the fifth wheel trailer from our other storage spot in the storage yard to our lot 52. Instead ... we bought a car !
We have been looking for what would be described in Canada as a "winter beater". To use down here during the winter season as ... well ... our "winter beater ". HA HA HA ! And that's exactly what we bought. A scruffy, old, 1997 Oldsmobile Bravada SUV. It's the "same" as the Chevrolet Blazer or the GMC Jimmy. The Oldsmobile Bravada was never sold in Canada, so my Canadian readers won't recognize it.
I found it last night online. I made arrangements by e-mail and telephone to view it late this morning. We drove to where the buyer lives, viewed the car, I took it for a test drive with the buyer, and ... bought it. We left it with him until Friday so that I can buy insurance for it before completing the purchase transaction and registering / licensing it with Arizona DMV.
Before returning home we went grocery shopping at Food City, the Mexican supermarket. In addition to buying quite a bit of fresh produce, we also bought a lot of meat, and a turkey. We're not cooking it tomorrow for American Thanksgiving, but wanted to buy a turkey while they're cheap.
Once we were back at home I did some maintenance chores and prepared the camper for removal from the truck tomorrow. Joanne cut and repackaged meat, then did laundry. We took Bo for a two lap walk around the dog park. Actually, Joanne and
I walked two laps around the dog park. Bo sort of meanders around keeping an eye on us, more or less, but he no longer has the desire / stamina to walk laps around the dog park.
After supper I spent a frustrating, long evening online trying ( and eventually
succeeding ) to purchase vehicle insurance.
Thursday ; American Thanksgiving
Sunny and warm. Tough, busy day today. Not all of it went well.
This morning we completed our preparations for removing Elsie ( the camper ) off Lanoire ( the truck ). We drove to the storage yard in the RV park and removed Elsie, then installed the fifth wheel hitch into Lanoire and hitched up to Harvey ( the fifth wheel trailer ). On the way back to our lot we stopped at the park's air compressor station and adjusted the air pressure in all of the trailer's tires. We parked haphazardly in our lot then went into the Arizona room to have lunch.
After lunch we fussed and fiddled with the positioning of the trailer. It needs to be positioned very precisely, to ensure the door opens exactly where it should, in the cut out in the patio roof. Once I got the trailer positioned exactly where it needed to be Joanne went to work on inside chores and I worked on outside chores, connecting electricity, water, and sewer before extending the slides and unhitching the truck.
I worked on a burnt out tail light problem on the truck, then got "side tracked" by an extremely foul odour in the trailer's water system. This last summer was the third time the trailer was left parked in the storage yard during the brutal summer heat, but the first time we've had this foul smell in the water system. I spent a long time trying to figure out the problem and the solution. I think the tank of fresh water that I left full over the summer was well water with minerals that "soured" over the summer. I drained the freshwater tank, and will strongly disinfect it over the next few days.
My next priority was to connect the satellite dish and get the TV working. I failed. Another job that took up a lot of time. And I still don't know what the problem is. I have suspicions, but will need to do some more "troubleshooting" ... probably on Saturday ... to figure out the problem ... and solution. < sigh >
We did not attend the communal ( American ) Thanksgiving dinner. Joanne is so disgusted by the American people electing a sexist, racist, bigot as their President that she wants to avoid socializing with Americans as much as possible this winter season. And I have forty-two years of good reasons to "stand by my woman". I barbecued Coho Salmon from Haida Gwaii for supper. It was good !
Friday ; Sunny and warm.
We spent most of the day on the purchase of our "winter beater" 1997 Oldsmobile Bravada. And NO ... NO ... it did NOT go well ! ! ! ! ! Enough said ! < gnashing teeth >
Nevertheless ... the car is now sitting in our driveway, titled, registered, licensed, and insured. This is the first time we have had to deal with the distinctly American concept of vehicle "title". And hopefully it will be the last !
Saturday ; Cloudy and warm.
This morning I checked and refilled fluids in Obie ( Oldsmobile Bravada ), our new "winter beater" car. Then we headed to "The Foothills", the Yuma "suburb" to the east, for some delayed Black Friday shopping. While Joanne went to "The 99¢ Only Store"
I went to Foothills Shoes to buy a couple of pairs of SAS shoes at the ( extended ) Black Friday special sale price. I only wear SAS shoes ... for about twenty-five years now ... and they are so outrageously expensive that I have taken to buying them only on "Black Fridays" ( the big shopping day after American Thanksgiving ). After finishing shoe buying ( me ) and grocery buying ( Joanne ) we went to Burger King for lunch, then Fry's for a few more grocery items. On the way home we stopped at Southwest Exchange so that I could buy a replacement bicycle tire tube.
Once back at home my priority was satellite dish troubleshooting. By cannibalizing parts from Laszlo's satellite dish and installing them on my satellite dish I was able to determine that I will need to replace our satellite dish's old dual satellite LNB with the newer triple satellite LNB. I had an extra satellite dish back home in Keremeos, a new dish with the triple satellite LNB ... and I sold it ! DARN ! Getting the triple satellite LNB that I need down here will be difficult and expensive. DARN ! ! ! And in the meantime ... I’m paying for satellite TV service that I’m unable to use. HMPH !
We took Bo for a two lap walk around the dog park, then I worked on replacing my bicycle’s blown tire inner tube. It was dark by the time I completed that project, so I still need to inflate the tire and install it back onto the bicycle tomorrow.
In the evening I worked on bill paying and accounting. Certainly has been an expensive month so far !
DSK
Sunday, November 20, 2016
November 13 to 19, 2016 ; Coarsegold, California to Quartzsite, Arizona
Sunday ; Sunny and warm.
Well ! Now wasn't that a bit of an odd day ? Joanne watched fourteen consecutive hours of "90 Day Fiancé" on TLC. I, showing much more restraint, watched only five consecutive hours of it. HA HA HA !
Obviously, we didn’t accomplish much today. I did some regular chores. I took Bo to the dog park. With much anticipation by both of us, I cooked Halibut for supper.
I bought three packages of flash frozen Halibut in Prince Rupert, BC, about three months ago. The three packages cost about fifty bucks ! So ... fifteen bucks or more per package. Tonight I cooked the first package. And as I was cooking it, I realized ... < sniff, sniff > ... it was ****ing rancid ! ! ! I was not pleased ! And we’re certainly worried about the other two packages ! HMPH ! That was at least fifteen bucks worth of fish into the garbage !
Monday ; Sunny and warm. Gee, the weather is nice here !
Late this morning we headed north on Hwy. 41 about twenty miles or so to the town of Oakhurst, to buy bread and milk at Vons. We headed back "home", south on Hwy. 41, and just before reaching SKP Park of the Sierras, we stopped to have lunch at Chukchansi Casino. MMMMM ... buffet lunch at ( what used to be ) our favourite casino buffet restaurant. This was our first meal at Chukchansi Casino since it closed a couple of years ago and reopened this year. The buffet restaurant is still pretty good, but not quite as great as it had been in its previous incarnation.
Once back at "home", parked in our assigned site, we walked with Bo down to the dog park. Literally "down". This park is built in the Sierra Nevada foothills, on a very hilly piece of land. From our site is "down" to the dog park, and "up" to walk back to our site. We spent quite awhile at the dog park, because ... we are leaving tomorrow morning.
We spent the evening watching multiple episodes of TLC's new series "Outdaughtered", a new generation clone of "Jon and Kate Plus 8".
Tuesday ; Coarsegold to Bakersfield, California
Sunny and warm. L.A. smog enveloped us today as we were leaving Tulare, about 170 miles north of Los Angeles !
This morning we prepared for departure and left SKP Park of the Sierras around
11 AM. Before leaving I experienced more cell phone drama, trying to connect with a man in Palm Springs who is selling a car that I am interested in buying. The cell phone reception at SKP Park of the Sierras was not good, and I wasted a lot of expensive cell phone minutes on dropped calls, and misdialed calls, and "telephone tag", etc.!
We drove south on Hwy. 41 to Fresno ( methamphetamine capital of the world ! ), then south on Hwy. 99 to Tulare, to shop at our favourite Mexican supermarket, Vallarta. We initially stumbled upon this wonderful Mexican supermarket many years ago on its grand opening weekend. We exited the freeway looking for groceries, got directions to a supermarket that we never found, and while trying to get back to the freeway found Vallarta on its second or third day of business. Now it's a mandatory stop for us when we're driving south along this route.
As soon as we entered the store we headed to the panaderia to stock up on pan dulce, including a large piece of tres leches ( three milks ) cake. Their tres leches cake is wonderful ! Then we had lunch at the in-store Mexican lunch counter. I had the platilla de tres tacos ( una carne asada y dos pollos ) con arroz y frijoles especial, and Joanne had the costilla puerco en chile verde especial, pork ribs stewed in green chile sauce.
I had an extremely small taste of her meal. WHEW ! Tongue numbing ! Probably not meant for gringos ! HA HA HA ! Especially since we noticed ... hundreds of customers in this large supermarket, and we were the only gringos ! HA HA HA !
After lunch we headed for the meat counter / butcher counter. Mexican grocery stores always have excellent meat counters, staffed by butchers to provide service. No shrink wrapped meat on styrofoam trays here ! We bought some taco meat ; marinated, seasoned beef of a texture halfway between ground beef and stewing beef. I bought myself some ceviche de jaiba ( crab meat salsa ) at the fish counter. Joanne bought herself some smoked pork chops. We bought fresh produce ; cilantro, avocadoes, Mexican squash. Then we wandered up and down all the aisles, stocking up on some of our favourite Mexican products, like a particular brand of tomato chicken noodle soup mixes with different types of pastas. It was after 3 PM by the time we finished our grocery shopping and got back on the road.
We stopped again at the city of Delano to shop at Wal-Mart. After our Wal-Martin', as we were loading our groceries into the camper, I watched a real disgusting scene unfold one aisle over from us in the parking lot. In the amount of time it took to put away groceries, just a minute or two, I watched a couple loading their purchases into their truck. The woman discarded two soiled tissues onto the ground beside their truck, and the man crushed and discarded two beer cans beside their truck. Then ... < sputter > ... he puked in the parking lot, they had a good laugh about that, he reached inside the truck, popped open another beer and began to drink it. Nothing like washing the puke taste out of one's mouth with a bit of the "hair of the dog", n'est-ce pas ?
And you wonder why ... with the exception of Palm Springs ... we generally dislike Southern California ? And Southern Californians ? ! ?
We continued south on Hwy. 99 until we were almost at Bakersfield. We stopped for the night at a Flying J at 5:15 PM, just as it turned dark. SHEESH ! I guess we haven't stayed at a Flying J in a long time. Hundreds and hundreds of commercial semi-trailer trucks, all with their diesel engines and reefers running non-stop, no apparent RV parking area despite the Flying J guide book showing that this station has a large number of "RV parking spots". I parked in the car parking lot of the Denny's Restaurant that was part of the Flying J Travel Center. The loud, "white noise" hum of the trucks, the diesel exhaust fumes, and the smog, gave me a headache.
Wednesday ; Bakersfield to Barstow, California
Cloudy, a bit windy, a bit chilly ... a bit stinky. We can smell the smog ! ( Bakersfield )
Sunny, very windy, chilly ! ( Barstow )
This morning we refilled with freshwater and dumped our grey waste tank at the Flying J before departing. We drove into Bakersfield and found our way ... not that easy ... to the Basque area of town where Joanne wanted to have a Basque family style lunch at a restaurant that she had read a review of. And as the review had stated, it was a lovely little restaurant in a grungy building in a decrepit area of town. Even at its best,
I consider Bakersfield to be one of the two armpits of California. The other is Fresno.
Having Basque family style lunch at the Noriega Hotel has been on Joanne's "bucket list" for a few years already. The Noriega Hotel was established in 1893. And has been owned by the same Basque family since 1938. There is no real "hotel" left. The upper floors are a monthly rental rooming house / "flop house" of questionable repute. The main floor is a bar and ... family dining room. Three very long tables with place settings on each side of each table. Open for lunch and dinner six days a week. Menu changes each day, each meal, repeating weekly. Wednesday lunch is beef brisket slowly stewed in a Marinara style tomato sauce, and breaded veal cutlets smothered in cream gravy. There were twelve diners for lunch today, all men except for Joanne. Service was "family style". Food is brought to the table in large serving bowls or platters, everyone helps themselves. First course was a Basque cabbage soup. With baked beans on the side, to be added to the soup. Then a garden salad. Freshly baked sourdough bread. Homemade red wine. Then the brisket ( quite good ) and the veal cutlets ( excellent ). A side dish of Spanish rice. We were seated at the head of the table, as the special Canadian guests. The other ten men were locals and regulars. We were seated beside an elderly man a bit older than us who didn't say much as he had recently had a laryngectomy, and across from him was his forty-something year old son, a commercial pilot. The old man was a retired crop duster pilot. The two of them, mostly the son, “coached” us throughout the meal, advising us what we were eating, and how best to appreciate it. They were eager to show off the Basque specialties. They even asked the server woman if she would bring us a sample of their famous pickled beef tongue for us to try. We tried it and liked it. We placed thin slices of the pickled tongue on sourdough bread, drizzled a little of the pickling juice onto the bread, and ate it like an open faced sandwich, with small bites of blue cheese as a “chaser”. It was quite good ! < whispering > Joanne passed on the blue cheese. The meal was finished off with ... a very dry, sliced cheese called “Hard Jack”, served on sourdough bread slathered with home made apricot jam. That’s more of a breakfast item, but they wanted us to experience it as one of their cultural specialties. Lunch was an excellent experience in ethnic dining !
We left Bakersfield heading east on Hwy. 58, climbing higher and higher into the Tehachapi Mountains. The smog got thicker and smellier the higher the altitude. And ... as before ... as we crested the summit of the Tehachapi Pass, the sky became clear blue as far as the eye could see, and we began the long descent down into the Mojave Desert. The high ridge of the Tehachapi Mountains is like a barrier fence keeping all the smog on the west side of the mountains.
AHHHHH ... the Mojave Desert. Feels like home. We stopped at Kramer Junction to refill with diesel. But ... we encountered a malfunctioning diesel fuel pump, and extremely poor customer service in trying to deal with it, so ... we left with only $28 worth of diesel purchased. NOTE TO PILOT FUEL TRAVEL CENTERS ; CLEAN UP YOUR ACT ! TEACH YOUR STAFF SOME CUSTOMER SERVICE SKILLS ! ! ! We continued east on Hwy. 58 until reaching Barstow, where we completed refilling with diesel at Flying J, then found a spot in their parking lot to boondock overnight.
Thursday ; Barstow to Palm Springs, California
Sunny and chilly in Barstow. Sunny and warm in Palm Springs. We did not have a very good day today.
This morning we refilled our freshwater tank and dumped our waste holding tanks at the Flying J before we left. Flying J has increased the cost of using their sani-dump stations from $5 to $7.50. We're not pleased.
We drove a couple of miles northeast on Interstate 15, then turned south on Hwy. 247. At Lucerne Valley the highway turned east for awhile, then south again. We reached Hwy. 62 at Yucca Valley, and followed Hwy. 62 west, then south to Interstate 10 at Palm Springs.
When we arrived at Palm Springs we drove east on Interstate 10 to the Monterey exit. As soon as we left the freeway and were on Monterey Ave. we pulled into a large shopping mall with a Wal-Mart and a Bank of America. We needed to phone the seller of the car we wanted to buy, we needed to withdraw cash from the Bank of America in order to pay for the car, we needed to buy a few items at Wal-Mart, and it was time for lunch.
Frustratingly, I once again experienced cell phone drama. I could not get a TracFone network signal where we were parked. Dead phone ... in the middle of Palm Springs urban area ! ! ! I walked over to the Bank of America and had to beg for the use of a phone to make a short, local call. You would have thought that I had asked to sleep with their sister ! Eventually, with the assistance of a manager ... < rolling eyes > ...
I was allowed to use a phone.
WELL ! ! ! It was 1:30 PM. I had told the car seller that we would be arriving in Palm Springs and phoning him about "mid-afternoon". And ... < sputter > ... the ******* ***** had sold the car an hour before I phoned ! ! ! ! ! I was angry ... and pissy and crabby for the rest of the day !
We had lunch in the camper in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Joanne went shopping in
Wal-Mart while I napped for half an hour. We headed downtown to the Palm Springs dog park. Now THAT should cheer me up ! When we arrived at the Palm Springs dog park behind City Hall ... < sputter > ... IT WAS CLOSED ! **** ! ! ! For three months ! For reconstruction ! Re-opening on SUNDAY ! **** ! ! !
Beautiful reconstruction though ! Looks like a golf course instead of a mud pit, which is what parts of it were looking like last time we were here ... last April. I wonder how long it takes, with lots of dogs romping in it on a daily basis, to get from looking like a golf course to looking like a mud pit ?
We drove through downtown to shop at Revivals, our favourite Palm Springs thrift store. Probably our favourite thrift store anywhere ! We browsed there for awhile, until I bought three shirts and Joanne bought a bathroom scale ( which we have to haul all the way back to BC next spring ) and fleece "pyjamas" for Bo ... < rolling my eyes >. We finished there about 5 PM and contemplated staying downtown for the regular Thursday night Village Fest street fair and market which starts at 6 PM. But ... we were both pissy and crabby, and couldn't come to an agreement / "get on the same page". Had a lot of that today !
Because Palm Springs is surrounded by mountains which block the sunlight, it was dark at 5 PM. We left downtown and drove through rush hour traffic in darkness to
Aqua Caliente Casino. We got ourselves parked in their RV overnight parking lot and went inside the casino to pick up our New Year's Eve concert tickets. The box office was closed. Oh, well ... we'll just pick them up on New Year's Eve before the concert. We returned to the camper to prepare and eat supper. And continue to be pissy and crabby !
Friday ; Palm Springs
Sunny and warm. < shrug > Of course ! We're in Palm Springs !
Our only plans for today were to have lunch at Sherman's Deli and to attend a classic car auction. That left a lot of free time for ... < shrug > ... whatever struck our fancy !
As we were eating breakfast this morning we watched a drug or stolen merchandise deal take place. We were parked in Aqua Caliente Casino's overnight parking lot for RV's and semi-trailers. A semi-trailer pulled in and manoeuvered around beside and behind us so that its trailer rear door was blocked from view. The driver climbed out of the cab, walked quickly to the back of the trailer and very quickly opened the door.
A pickup truck came rushing into the parking lot and stopped behind the truck. The pickup driver jumped out, and the semi-trailer driver began to pass him boxes out of the back of the semi-trailer. The pickup driver threw them into the box of the pickup and roared off. The semi-trailer driver quickly closed the trailer door, jumped back into the cab of his tractor, and left quickly. Whole thing took no more than a minute or two !
In twelve and a half years of travelling, through three countries, we have only seen this kind of illicit deal happen three times. Twice was in Palm Springs ! Once was in Tucson, Arizona.
We left Aqua Caliente Casino and drove southwest down Ramon Road into the Palm Springs "suburb" of Cathedral City. I knew there was a dog park in Cathedral City similar to the Palm Springs dog park and I wanted to find it. Yesterday I had "hyped up" Bo as we were approaching the Palm Springs dog park, then we arrived to find it closed. I felt guilty for getting him all excited about the dog park, then not being able to deliver. I didn't know where the Cathedral City dog park was, but I thought the staff at PetsMart would know. So ... we drove to PetsMart and asked. They weren't sure ... blah, blah, blah ... yeah, thanks for nothing ! We got poor / vague directions. We browsed and bought a couple of cans of dog food for Bo as a treat.
We drove south on Date Palm Drive and eventually stumbled across the Cathedral City dog park. In the dog park was a young woman with two large dogs. Bo romped with the two dogs, then I, Joanne, and Prince, one of the other two dogs walked four laps around the dog park. Bo didn't join us. Too hot ! HA HA HA !
We left the dog park and began to drive west on Hwy. 111 through Cathedral City. We stopped at the Cathedral City location of Revivals, the same thrift store that we shopped at yesterday in downtown Palm Springs. It's a two location business operated by a gay men's organization. Which might explain why it's so extremely well organized, and has such terrific clothing and fashion sense. Today was Cathedral City's 35th Anniversary, so the Cathedral City location of Revivals had a 35% discount on all clothing. WOW ! GREAT ! I bought four brand new leather belts, three brand new pairs of pants ( two pairs of Brooks Brothers ), and a brand new storm jacket. About four hundred dollars worth of clothing for a little under fifty bucks ! I love Revivals ! I don't know why, but much of their clothing is brand new, with retail price tags still attached. I think the expensive Palm Springs clothing stores give them "last season's" leftovers. Which more often than not, are in sizes that fit me !
We drove downtown and parked between Sherman's Deli and the Palm Springs Convention Centre. We walked back to Sherman's Deli and had lunch. Let me pause here to remember and salivate. HA HA HA ! I had a bowl of borscht and a hot pastrami sandwich on sourdough bread. Was there any doubt ? HA HA HA ! Sherman's is not a cheap place, but sometimes you just got to bite the bullet and pay the piper ! HA HA HA ! After lunch we walked over to the Palm Springs Convention Centre to attend a couple of hours of the three day long McCormick's Classic Car Auction. Six hundred classic and collectible automobiles auctioned in three days ! Seven million dollars worth ! ! ! Each car's auction lasts two to three minutes. BOOM ! It's gone ! Next car please ! Not for the faint of heart. Not for me, other than as a spectator. BUT ...
I surely would have liked to have that 1962 Ford Galaxie 500 convertible ! In the same factory colour as my first car, a 1962 Ford Galaxie 500 Country Sedan station wagon.
We left the car auction about 4 PM and walked back to where the truck was parked. We drove north out of Palm Springs downtown to Interstate 10, then east on I-10 to the far east end of the Palm Springs area, to Spotlight 29 Casino. We have boondocked here many times in the past. It's an excellent boondock spot, with a large, quiet, secure RV overnight parking lot, separate from the commercial truck parking lot.
By the way ... Spotlight 29 Casino was developed and originally owned by Trump. He went bankrupt here, and it was taken over by the Indian Band whose land it is located on.
Saturday ; Palm Springs, California to Quartzsite, Arizona
Sunny and warm.
This morning we drove a short distance from Spotlight 29 Casino to Love's Travel Center and refilled our fresh water tank before getting onto Interstate 10 and heading east. About halfway to Quartzsite we stopped at a rest area and had lunch. Before resuming driving I had a brief nap. Just before crossing from California into Arizona we stopped in the small city of Blythe ( commonly referred to amongst the full time RV community as "Blight" ) to buy some bread. The grocery store we stopped at was Mexican, so we didn't buy a loaf of bread, we bought some bolillos ( Mexican "subway" style buns ). And some pan dulce, of course. HA HA HA ! Well ... what did you
expect ? This morning for breakfast we finished the last two empanadas from Vallarta in Tulare.
Shortly after crossing from California into Arizona we arrived at Quartzsite about 4 PM. We refilled with diesel at an ARCO fuel station that made us jump through an annoying series of hoops to get their posted "3¢ cash discount". We have never experienced a fuel station try that hard to avoid giving a discount that they post out on the freeway to entice customers. We drove north on Hwy. 95 a short distance to the Hi Jolly BLM
( free ) campground out in the desert, arriving about 4:30 PM. We took Bo for a long walk in the desert and by the time we returned to our camper at 4:55 PM it was dark ! HMPH !
While Joanne prepared a couple of foil packets of sausages, onions, and squash, and another packet of tiny potatoes, I lit a campfire using scrap lumber that I hauled over 2000 miles to use as firewood. HA HA HA ! I cooked supper to perfection over the open fire. Joanne "smashed" and creamed the tiny potatoes. AHHHHH ... campfire supper !
DSK
Well ! Now wasn't that a bit of an odd day ? Joanne watched fourteen consecutive hours of "90 Day Fiancé" on TLC. I, showing much more restraint, watched only five consecutive hours of it. HA HA HA !
Obviously, we didn’t accomplish much today. I did some regular chores. I took Bo to the dog park. With much anticipation by both of us, I cooked Halibut for supper.
I bought three packages of flash frozen Halibut in Prince Rupert, BC, about three months ago. The three packages cost about fifty bucks ! So ... fifteen bucks or more per package. Tonight I cooked the first package. And as I was cooking it, I realized ... < sniff, sniff > ... it was ****ing rancid ! ! ! I was not pleased ! And we’re certainly worried about the other two packages ! HMPH ! That was at least fifteen bucks worth of fish into the garbage !
Monday ; Sunny and warm. Gee, the weather is nice here !
Late this morning we headed north on Hwy. 41 about twenty miles or so to the town of Oakhurst, to buy bread and milk at Vons. We headed back "home", south on Hwy. 41, and just before reaching SKP Park of the Sierras, we stopped to have lunch at Chukchansi Casino. MMMMM ... buffet lunch at ( what used to be ) our favourite casino buffet restaurant. This was our first meal at Chukchansi Casino since it closed a couple of years ago and reopened this year. The buffet restaurant is still pretty good, but not quite as great as it had been in its previous incarnation.
Once back at "home", parked in our assigned site, we walked with Bo down to the dog park. Literally "down". This park is built in the Sierra Nevada foothills, on a very hilly piece of land. From our site is "down" to the dog park, and "up" to walk back to our site. We spent quite awhile at the dog park, because ... we are leaving tomorrow morning.
We spent the evening watching multiple episodes of TLC's new series "Outdaughtered", a new generation clone of "Jon and Kate Plus 8".
Tuesday ; Coarsegold to Bakersfield, California
Sunny and warm. L.A. smog enveloped us today as we were leaving Tulare, about 170 miles north of Los Angeles !
This morning we prepared for departure and left SKP Park of the Sierras around
11 AM. Before leaving I experienced more cell phone drama, trying to connect with a man in Palm Springs who is selling a car that I am interested in buying. The cell phone reception at SKP Park of the Sierras was not good, and I wasted a lot of expensive cell phone minutes on dropped calls, and misdialed calls, and "telephone tag", etc.!
We drove south on Hwy. 41 to Fresno ( methamphetamine capital of the world ! ), then south on Hwy. 99 to Tulare, to shop at our favourite Mexican supermarket, Vallarta. We initially stumbled upon this wonderful Mexican supermarket many years ago on its grand opening weekend. We exited the freeway looking for groceries, got directions to a supermarket that we never found, and while trying to get back to the freeway found Vallarta on its second or third day of business. Now it's a mandatory stop for us when we're driving south along this route.
As soon as we entered the store we headed to the panaderia to stock up on pan dulce, including a large piece of tres leches ( three milks ) cake. Their tres leches cake is wonderful ! Then we had lunch at the in-store Mexican lunch counter. I had the platilla de tres tacos ( una carne asada y dos pollos ) con arroz y frijoles especial, and Joanne had the costilla puerco en chile verde especial, pork ribs stewed in green chile sauce.
I had an extremely small taste of her meal. WHEW ! Tongue numbing ! Probably not meant for gringos ! HA HA HA ! Especially since we noticed ... hundreds of customers in this large supermarket, and we were the only gringos ! HA HA HA !
After lunch we headed for the meat counter / butcher counter. Mexican grocery stores always have excellent meat counters, staffed by butchers to provide service. No shrink wrapped meat on styrofoam trays here ! We bought some taco meat ; marinated, seasoned beef of a texture halfway between ground beef and stewing beef. I bought myself some ceviche de jaiba ( crab meat salsa ) at the fish counter. Joanne bought herself some smoked pork chops. We bought fresh produce ; cilantro, avocadoes, Mexican squash. Then we wandered up and down all the aisles, stocking up on some of our favourite Mexican products, like a particular brand of tomato chicken noodle soup mixes with different types of pastas. It was after 3 PM by the time we finished our grocery shopping and got back on the road.
We stopped again at the city of Delano to shop at Wal-Mart. After our Wal-Martin', as we were loading our groceries into the camper, I watched a real disgusting scene unfold one aisle over from us in the parking lot. In the amount of time it took to put away groceries, just a minute or two, I watched a couple loading their purchases into their truck. The woman discarded two soiled tissues onto the ground beside their truck, and the man crushed and discarded two beer cans beside their truck. Then ... < sputter > ... he puked in the parking lot, they had a good laugh about that, he reached inside the truck, popped open another beer and began to drink it. Nothing like washing the puke taste out of one's mouth with a bit of the "hair of the dog", n'est-ce pas ?
And you wonder why ... with the exception of Palm Springs ... we generally dislike Southern California ? And Southern Californians ? ! ?
We continued south on Hwy. 99 until we were almost at Bakersfield. We stopped for the night at a Flying J at 5:15 PM, just as it turned dark. SHEESH ! I guess we haven't stayed at a Flying J in a long time. Hundreds and hundreds of commercial semi-trailer trucks, all with their diesel engines and reefers running non-stop, no apparent RV parking area despite the Flying J guide book showing that this station has a large number of "RV parking spots". I parked in the car parking lot of the Denny's Restaurant that was part of the Flying J Travel Center. The loud, "white noise" hum of the trucks, the diesel exhaust fumes, and the smog, gave me a headache.
Wednesday ; Bakersfield to Barstow, California
Cloudy, a bit windy, a bit chilly ... a bit stinky. We can smell the smog ! ( Bakersfield )
Sunny, very windy, chilly ! ( Barstow )
This morning we refilled with freshwater and dumped our grey waste tank at the Flying J before departing. We drove into Bakersfield and found our way ... not that easy ... to the Basque area of town where Joanne wanted to have a Basque family style lunch at a restaurant that she had read a review of. And as the review had stated, it was a lovely little restaurant in a grungy building in a decrepit area of town. Even at its best,
I consider Bakersfield to be one of the two armpits of California. The other is Fresno.
Having Basque family style lunch at the Noriega Hotel has been on Joanne's "bucket list" for a few years already. The Noriega Hotel was established in 1893. And has been owned by the same Basque family since 1938. There is no real "hotel" left. The upper floors are a monthly rental rooming house / "flop house" of questionable repute. The main floor is a bar and ... family dining room. Three very long tables with place settings on each side of each table. Open for lunch and dinner six days a week. Menu changes each day, each meal, repeating weekly. Wednesday lunch is beef brisket slowly stewed in a Marinara style tomato sauce, and breaded veal cutlets smothered in cream gravy. There were twelve diners for lunch today, all men except for Joanne. Service was "family style". Food is brought to the table in large serving bowls or platters, everyone helps themselves. First course was a Basque cabbage soup. With baked beans on the side, to be added to the soup. Then a garden salad. Freshly baked sourdough bread. Homemade red wine. Then the brisket ( quite good ) and the veal cutlets ( excellent ). A side dish of Spanish rice. We were seated at the head of the table, as the special Canadian guests. The other ten men were locals and regulars. We were seated beside an elderly man a bit older than us who didn't say much as he had recently had a laryngectomy, and across from him was his forty-something year old son, a commercial pilot. The old man was a retired crop duster pilot. The two of them, mostly the son, “coached” us throughout the meal, advising us what we were eating, and how best to appreciate it. They were eager to show off the Basque specialties. They even asked the server woman if she would bring us a sample of their famous pickled beef tongue for us to try. We tried it and liked it. We placed thin slices of the pickled tongue on sourdough bread, drizzled a little of the pickling juice onto the bread, and ate it like an open faced sandwich, with small bites of blue cheese as a “chaser”. It was quite good ! < whispering > Joanne passed on the blue cheese. The meal was finished off with ... a very dry, sliced cheese called “Hard Jack”, served on sourdough bread slathered with home made apricot jam. That’s more of a breakfast item, but they wanted us to experience it as one of their cultural specialties. Lunch was an excellent experience in ethnic dining !
We left Bakersfield heading east on Hwy. 58, climbing higher and higher into the Tehachapi Mountains. The smog got thicker and smellier the higher the altitude. And ... as before ... as we crested the summit of the Tehachapi Pass, the sky became clear blue as far as the eye could see, and we began the long descent down into the Mojave Desert. The high ridge of the Tehachapi Mountains is like a barrier fence keeping all the smog on the west side of the mountains.
AHHHHH ... the Mojave Desert. Feels like home. We stopped at Kramer Junction to refill with diesel. But ... we encountered a malfunctioning diesel fuel pump, and extremely poor customer service in trying to deal with it, so ... we left with only $28 worth of diesel purchased. NOTE TO PILOT FUEL TRAVEL CENTERS ; CLEAN UP YOUR ACT ! TEACH YOUR STAFF SOME CUSTOMER SERVICE SKILLS ! ! ! We continued east on Hwy. 58 until reaching Barstow, where we completed refilling with diesel at Flying J, then found a spot in their parking lot to boondock overnight.
Thursday ; Barstow to Palm Springs, California
Sunny and chilly in Barstow. Sunny and warm in Palm Springs. We did not have a very good day today.
This morning we refilled our freshwater tank and dumped our waste holding tanks at the Flying J before we left. Flying J has increased the cost of using their sani-dump stations from $5 to $7.50. We're not pleased.
We drove a couple of miles northeast on Interstate 15, then turned south on Hwy. 247. At Lucerne Valley the highway turned east for awhile, then south again. We reached Hwy. 62 at Yucca Valley, and followed Hwy. 62 west, then south to Interstate 10 at Palm Springs.
When we arrived at Palm Springs we drove east on Interstate 10 to the Monterey exit. As soon as we left the freeway and were on Monterey Ave. we pulled into a large shopping mall with a Wal-Mart and a Bank of America. We needed to phone the seller of the car we wanted to buy, we needed to withdraw cash from the Bank of America in order to pay for the car, we needed to buy a few items at Wal-Mart, and it was time for lunch.
Frustratingly, I once again experienced cell phone drama. I could not get a TracFone network signal where we were parked. Dead phone ... in the middle of Palm Springs urban area ! ! ! I walked over to the Bank of America and had to beg for the use of a phone to make a short, local call. You would have thought that I had asked to sleep with their sister ! Eventually, with the assistance of a manager ... < rolling eyes > ...
I was allowed to use a phone.
WELL ! ! ! It was 1:30 PM. I had told the car seller that we would be arriving in Palm Springs and phoning him about "mid-afternoon". And ... < sputter > ... the ******* ***** had sold the car an hour before I phoned ! ! ! ! ! I was angry ... and pissy and crabby for the rest of the day !
We had lunch in the camper in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Joanne went shopping in
Wal-Mart while I napped for half an hour. We headed downtown to the Palm Springs dog park. Now THAT should cheer me up ! When we arrived at the Palm Springs dog park behind City Hall ... < sputter > ... IT WAS CLOSED ! **** ! ! ! For three months ! For reconstruction ! Re-opening on SUNDAY ! **** ! ! !
Beautiful reconstruction though ! Looks like a golf course instead of a mud pit, which is what parts of it were looking like last time we were here ... last April. I wonder how long it takes, with lots of dogs romping in it on a daily basis, to get from looking like a golf course to looking like a mud pit ?
We drove through downtown to shop at Revivals, our favourite Palm Springs thrift store. Probably our favourite thrift store anywhere ! We browsed there for awhile, until I bought three shirts and Joanne bought a bathroom scale ( which we have to haul all the way back to BC next spring ) and fleece "pyjamas" for Bo ... < rolling my eyes >. We finished there about 5 PM and contemplated staying downtown for the regular Thursday night Village Fest street fair and market which starts at 6 PM. But ... we were both pissy and crabby, and couldn't come to an agreement / "get on the same page". Had a lot of that today !
Because Palm Springs is surrounded by mountains which block the sunlight, it was dark at 5 PM. We left downtown and drove through rush hour traffic in darkness to
Aqua Caliente Casino. We got ourselves parked in their RV overnight parking lot and went inside the casino to pick up our New Year's Eve concert tickets. The box office was closed. Oh, well ... we'll just pick them up on New Year's Eve before the concert. We returned to the camper to prepare and eat supper. And continue to be pissy and crabby !
Friday ; Palm Springs
Sunny and warm. < shrug > Of course ! We're in Palm Springs !
Our only plans for today were to have lunch at Sherman's Deli and to attend a classic car auction. That left a lot of free time for ... < shrug > ... whatever struck our fancy !
As we were eating breakfast this morning we watched a drug or stolen merchandise deal take place. We were parked in Aqua Caliente Casino's overnight parking lot for RV's and semi-trailers. A semi-trailer pulled in and manoeuvered around beside and behind us so that its trailer rear door was blocked from view. The driver climbed out of the cab, walked quickly to the back of the trailer and very quickly opened the door.
A pickup truck came rushing into the parking lot and stopped behind the truck. The pickup driver jumped out, and the semi-trailer driver began to pass him boxes out of the back of the semi-trailer. The pickup driver threw them into the box of the pickup and roared off. The semi-trailer driver quickly closed the trailer door, jumped back into the cab of his tractor, and left quickly. Whole thing took no more than a minute or two !
In twelve and a half years of travelling, through three countries, we have only seen this kind of illicit deal happen three times. Twice was in Palm Springs ! Once was in Tucson, Arizona.
We left Aqua Caliente Casino and drove southwest down Ramon Road into the Palm Springs "suburb" of Cathedral City. I knew there was a dog park in Cathedral City similar to the Palm Springs dog park and I wanted to find it. Yesterday I had "hyped up" Bo as we were approaching the Palm Springs dog park, then we arrived to find it closed. I felt guilty for getting him all excited about the dog park, then not being able to deliver. I didn't know where the Cathedral City dog park was, but I thought the staff at PetsMart would know. So ... we drove to PetsMart and asked. They weren't sure ... blah, blah, blah ... yeah, thanks for nothing ! We got poor / vague directions. We browsed and bought a couple of cans of dog food for Bo as a treat.
We drove south on Date Palm Drive and eventually stumbled across the Cathedral City dog park. In the dog park was a young woman with two large dogs. Bo romped with the two dogs, then I, Joanne, and Prince, one of the other two dogs walked four laps around the dog park. Bo didn't join us. Too hot ! HA HA HA !
We left the dog park and began to drive west on Hwy. 111 through Cathedral City. We stopped at the Cathedral City location of Revivals, the same thrift store that we shopped at yesterday in downtown Palm Springs. It's a two location business operated by a gay men's organization. Which might explain why it's so extremely well organized, and has such terrific clothing and fashion sense. Today was Cathedral City's 35th Anniversary, so the Cathedral City location of Revivals had a 35% discount on all clothing. WOW ! GREAT ! I bought four brand new leather belts, three brand new pairs of pants ( two pairs of Brooks Brothers ), and a brand new storm jacket. About four hundred dollars worth of clothing for a little under fifty bucks ! I love Revivals ! I don't know why, but much of their clothing is brand new, with retail price tags still attached. I think the expensive Palm Springs clothing stores give them "last season's" leftovers. Which more often than not, are in sizes that fit me !
We drove downtown and parked between Sherman's Deli and the Palm Springs Convention Centre. We walked back to Sherman's Deli and had lunch. Let me pause here to remember and salivate. HA HA HA ! I had a bowl of borscht and a hot pastrami sandwich on sourdough bread. Was there any doubt ? HA HA HA ! Sherman's is not a cheap place, but sometimes you just got to bite the bullet and pay the piper ! HA HA HA ! After lunch we walked over to the Palm Springs Convention Centre to attend a couple of hours of the three day long McCormick's Classic Car Auction. Six hundred classic and collectible automobiles auctioned in three days ! Seven million dollars worth ! ! ! Each car's auction lasts two to three minutes. BOOM ! It's gone ! Next car please ! Not for the faint of heart. Not for me, other than as a spectator. BUT ...
I surely would have liked to have that 1962 Ford Galaxie 500 convertible ! In the same factory colour as my first car, a 1962 Ford Galaxie 500 Country Sedan station wagon.
We left the car auction about 4 PM and walked back to where the truck was parked. We drove north out of Palm Springs downtown to Interstate 10, then east on I-10 to the far east end of the Palm Springs area, to Spotlight 29 Casino. We have boondocked here many times in the past. It's an excellent boondock spot, with a large, quiet, secure RV overnight parking lot, separate from the commercial truck parking lot.
By the way ... Spotlight 29 Casino was developed and originally owned by Trump. He went bankrupt here, and it was taken over by the Indian Band whose land it is located on.
Saturday ; Palm Springs, California to Quartzsite, Arizona
Sunny and warm.
This morning we drove a short distance from Spotlight 29 Casino to Love's Travel Center and refilled our fresh water tank before getting onto Interstate 10 and heading east. About halfway to Quartzsite we stopped at a rest area and had lunch. Before resuming driving I had a brief nap. Just before crossing from California into Arizona we stopped in the small city of Blythe ( commonly referred to amongst the full time RV community as "Blight" ) to buy some bread. The grocery store we stopped at was Mexican, so we didn't buy a loaf of bread, we bought some bolillos ( Mexican "subway" style buns ). And some pan dulce, of course. HA HA HA ! Well ... what did you
expect ? This morning for breakfast we finished the last two empanadas from Vallarta in Tulare.
Shortly after crossing from California into Arizona we arrived at Quartzsite about 4 PM. We refilled with diesel at an ARCO fuel station that made us jump through an annoying series of hoops to get their posted "3¢ cash discount". We have never experienced a fuel station try that hard to avoid giving a discount that they post out on the freeway to entice customers. We drove north on Hwy. 95 a short distance to the Hi Jolly BLM
( free ) campground out in the desert, arriving about 4:30 PM. We took Bo for a long walk in the desert and by the time we returned to our camper at 4:55 PM it was dark ! HMPH !
While Joanne prepared a couple of foil packets of sausages, onions, and squash, and another packet of tiny potatoes, I lit a campfire using scrap lumber that I hauled over 2000 miles to use as firewood. HA HA HA ! I cooked supper to perfection over the open fire. Joanne "smashed" and creamed the tiny potatoes. AHHHHH ... campfire supper !
DSK
Sunday, November 13, 2016
November 6 to 12, 2016 ; Grand Ronde, Oregon to Coarsegold, California
Sunday ; Grand Ronde to Canyonville, Oregon
Today started out cloudy and mild, but the sky cleared as we drove.
We did quite a bit of chores this morning before leaving the Spirit Mountain Casino RV parking lot. First we drove over to the sani-dump station and dumped our waste holding tanks. Then over to the freshwater refill station to refill our fresh water tank. Then over to the casino's Travel Center fuel station to refill Lanoire with diesel and refill a one gallon container with fuel for our little generator.
We drove a mile or two back to Hwy. 22 and headed east to Hwy. 99W where we turned south. As we entered the small village of Rickreall I noticed a sign advertising a Sunday farmer's market and decided to stop and take a look. Rarely do we stop at a farmer's market without finding something worthwhile. And today was no exception. Two elderly ladies were selling ... WOO-HOO ... freshly picked, wild Chanterelle mushrooms. I have seen Chanterelle mushrooms only in pictures. And have read about how wonderful they are. Today was my chance to find out. And I wasn't disappointed !
After buying the Chanterelles we continued south on Hwy. 99W to Corvallis where we found our way ... with a bit of difficulty ... to PetsMart to use a 15% discount coupon that expired today, to buy some dog food. And ... in the same mall as PetsMart there was a ... wait for it ... WOO-HOO ... panaderia ! Si, si, we bought muchos pan dulces. We ate lunch in the shopping mall parking lot before hitting the road again.
From Corvallis we headed a bit more east, on Hwy. 34, back to Interstate 5, and then continued south. At Eugene I saw a Cabela's ( massively huge sporting goods store ) and was certain that Santa wanted to get some stuff at Cabela's ( tax free ... still in Oregon ! ) to put in my Christmas stocking. HA HA HA ! To get to the Cabela's which was on the opposite side of the freeway was rather difficult, requiring taking the next freeway exit and manoeuvering around a series of complicated interchanges to head back north, and then exit again and manoeuver around another series of complicated interchanges to get to the mall where Cabela's was located. Getting back onto the freeway heading south afterwards wasn't exactly a piece of cake either ! AND ...
< sniffle > ... I didn't find what Santa was looking for. So ... to console myself, I bought four fishing flies. HA HA HA ! Cabela's fishing flies are much better quality than that cheap shit I buy at Surplus Herbie's in Williams Lake, BC . HA HA HA !
Our destination for today was the Escapees RV park at Sutherlin, but when we arrived at Sutherlin there was still about an hour of daylight left, so we continued driving south, heading for "Plan B" ; the Seven Feathers Casino at Canyonville. We arrived at Seven Feathers Casino at 5:05 PM, at dusk, and after selecting a parking spot in their RV parking lot we immediately took Bo for a walk. By the time we finished our walk at 5:20 PM it was completely dark.
We put Bo into the camper then Joanne and I went to explore the casino. We wandered around the large casino, and after checking out the buffet restaurant decided we would like to have dinner there tomorrow evening, so we'll spend two nights here. We returned to the camper where we shared supper preparation duties. Joanne cooked shredded Brussels sprouts with onions while I sautéed Chanterelle mushrooms, then breaded and fried a couple of Cutthroat Trout fillets that I caught in the Similkameen River at home a month or so ago. The Chanterelles were exquisite ! And the Cutthroats were pretty good as well ! Very nice supper !
Monday ; Seven Feathers Casino
Cloudy and mild. Today was a lazy, leisurely day of a few chores and lots of relaxing.
We slept late. After a slow start to the day I did a teensy bit of preventive maintenance on the truck. We drove across the street to the casino's Travel Center and refilled with diesel. We drove to and through the casino's upscale RV park. That's not where we are. We're in the casino's free overnight parking lot for RV's. "Casino camping" ! We refilled the camper's fresh water tank from a spigot in the dog park at the freeway rest area sponsored by the casino. We drove into the nearby small village of Canyonville and bought a few grocery items.
Back at the casino RV parking lot I did some work on the computer, including reconciling October's month end financial statements. Joanne gave herself a manicure, and worked on Sudoku puzzles. We went with Bo for another one of today's many leisurely dog walks. We found and identified mushrooms. I read and napped.
Late in the afternoon we went inside the casino to gamble. Last night we had joined the casino's Player's Club, and our cards were loaded with $5 of "free play" each. To access the "$5 free play" one had to load a real dollar into a slot machine. SO ... we each loaded a dollar into a slot machine and played until our $5 free play was used up. My one dollar became $3.58 and Joanne's one dollar became $7.11, for total winnings of $8.69. HMPH ! Pretty good ! Enough to pay for one of our two dinners at the buffet restaurant, which is really the only reason we stayed here today.
We had dinner at the buffet restaurant. Surprisingly ... it wasn't all that good ! Casino buffet restaurant meals usually range from very good to stupendous. This one was ... one notch below mediocre. < shrug > Oh, well !
We returned to our camper in the almost empty RV overnight parking lot to find that some a*****e from California had parked right beside us, and was running his generator with the exhaust pipe right below my bedroom window. What would inspire this California a*****e to park right beside us in an almost empty, huge parking lot ? ! ? And you wonder why we generally dislike Californians ? ! ?
Tuesday ; Canyonville, Oregon to Red Bluff, California
Today started out partially sunny and mild, became very foggy as we drove, becoming sunny and warm in California.
Today was a day that just didn't go well. Nothing really significant, but a lot of petty annoyances. This morning we prepared to depart the Seven Feathers Casino RV parking lot and drove across the street to their Travel Center to refill our fresh water tank at a water spigot at one of the fuel islands. The fuel island that I chose had a malfunctioning water spigot, so that by the time I got the camper's water tank refilled,
I was soaked. Before leaving the Travel Center I turned on our cell phone and discovered a message waiting on voicemail.
The message was from an RV storage facility in Okanagan Falls, BC. It was important to me to return the call, because that particular storage facility had referred me to a customer 3½ years ago that turned out to be my most lucrative trailer towing client ever. I tried repeatedly to return the phone call using our cell phone, without success. HMPH ! International dialling drama ! After wasting fourteen minutes of our expensive "pay as you go" cell phone minutes, I abandoned the cell phone. I drove back to the casino's RV parking lot and attempted to make the call using Skype on the computer. HMPH ! Internet connection drama ! By the time I gave up on the computer / Skype attempts, I had wasted a total of an hour trying to return a phone call ! ! ! I was mightily pissed off and stressed out when we finally hit the road.
We continued southbound on Interstate 5. We stopped in Grant's Pass to finish our Oregon tax free shopping. While Joanne went shopping at Dollar Tree and Wal-Mart
I connected to the Internet using a Wi-Fi signal from a nearby McDonald's, and finally returned the phone call.
We continued southbound on I-5 to our planned destination for today, an Oregon state park between Grant's Pass and Medford. We were hoping for a pleasant, warm afternoon, with a campfire. When we arrived at the state park, we were surprised by how expensive their overnight camping fee was, and chose not to stay. We continued south on I-5, and into California.
At Redding we found our way, with considerable difficulty, to Win River Casino. As soon as we arrived at their RV parking lot, a security guard on a golf cart approached us to advise that their overnight parking fee was ... wait for it ... $26 ! Are you ****ing kidding me ? ? ? Goodbye ! ! !
We stopped for the night, about an hour after darkness, at a rest area north of Red Bluff. We made and ate supper. We took Bo for a walk, and realized ... the place was spooky. There were ... shadowy figures skulking around in the darkness. We felt unsafe. I decided to leave. We drove about another ten miles south to the city of Red Bluff and found our way to a Wal-Mart parking lot. Much better than the rest area.
I raised the camper's roof top TV antenna, plugged the TV into the inverter, and we watched election coverage on a local NBC station. How disgusting !
Wednesday ; Red Bluff to Coarsegold, California
Sunny and warm. It's like summer time here in central California !
Joanne slept poorly, and very little. She was upset and disgusted by the results of the election. And consequently felt depressed all day today. And fatigued from little sleep !
We left the Red Bluff Wal-Mart parking lot this morning and drove a very short distance to an ARCO AM / PM fuel station to refill with diesel and refill the camper's fresh water tank. As I was refilling Lanoire with diesel, the rocket scientist in front of me drove away from the pump with the fuel hose still in his truck's fuel filler. He ripped the hose right out of the fuel pump ! Then stepped out of his truck, hollered an obscenity very loudly, got back into his truck, and drove away. < shrug > Welcome to California !
When Joanne went inside to pay for the fuel purchase, she was charged an additional 35 cents for using a debit card. Are you kidding me ? ! ? HMPH ! That is NOT allowed in Canada ! Merchants in Canada are prohibited from "upcharging" customers for the use of credit or debit cards. Welcome to the good ol' U.S. of A. !
We continued southbound on Interstate 5. We stopped for lunch at a rest area on the north side of Sacramento. After lunch we drove through Sacramento, and at Stockton we switched from Interstate 5 southbound to Hwy. 99 southbound. On the short connector road between the two freeways we stopped to shop for a new fly fishing rod and reel ( for Santa to bring me ) at Bass Pro Shops. Didn't find what I wanted !
We drove a long distance today. And spent most of the day listening to election analysis and commentary on NPR ( National Public Radio ). A couple of hours before our planned destination ... SKP Park of the Sierras near Coarsegold up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, we saw a billboard advertisement for ... WOO-HOO, WOO-HOO, WOO-HOO ... CHUKCHANSI CASINO ! My favourite casino ! A mile or two away from the Escapees RV park, it closed two years ago, embroiled in controversy. Two disagreeing factions of the Indian Band that own and operate the casino. We were VERY glad to learn that Chukchansi Casino has reopened. We decided to boonodock overnight at Chukchansi Casino instead of at the SKP park as we had initially planned.
At Madera we turned east on Hwy. 145, then about half an hour later, as it turned dark at 5:15 PM, we turned south on Hwy. 41 for the uphill, winding, mountain road drive to Chukchansi ( and SKP Park of the Sierras ). We arrived at the casino about 6:15 PM. Joanne immediately began to prepare supper, earlier than we usually eat dinner. She was tired and despondent. She is REALLY upset by Trump's victory. We ate supper then went into the casino to see if it had changed and ... of course ... to check out the buffet restaurant. My favourite casino buffet restaurant ! OKAY ! LUNCH ! MONDAY !
We returned to the camper. Joanne washed dishes and went to sleep at 8:30 PM !
Thursday ; SKP Park of the Sierras
Sunny and warm. What a perfect "June 18" day !
This morning before leaving the parking lot of Chukchansi Casino we made a complaint to Security about the dog that was tied up to the fifth wheel trailer parked beside us.
A female Golden Retriever, she howled all night and barked all morning. It appeared as if the fifth wheel trailer was vacant from the time we arrived yesterday evening shortly after 6 PM until we were leaving this morning shortly after 10 AM. Last night she snarled at Bo and I as we walked by, but this morning I was able to slowly gain her trust and she allowed me to approach and pet her. I was so pissed off at her being left alone for at least sixteen hours, tied on a short leash to the trailer's steps, that I contemplated stealing her.
We drove the very short distance, just a couple of miles, from the casino to SKP Park of the Sierras, the most beautiful of all the Escapee RV parks, in our opinion. We checked in, settled into our assigned site, then spent the rest of the day relaxing. I napped after lunch. We sat outside in folding chairs in our site enjoying the fine weather. We took Bo to the dog park where he met old and new friends. We walked. We went to the clubhouse and checked out the bargain table and the library.
In the evening we binged on cable TV ! HA HA HA !
Friday ; Remembrance Day ( Canada ) / Veteran's Day ( U.S.A. )
LEST WE FORGET !
Sunny and warm. Another lovely "summer" day up here in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of central California.
This morning we had a private and personal Remembrance Day "ceremony" on our RV site, observing a minute of silence "to remember" at precisely the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, followed by us together reciting the poem "In Flander's Fields".
We drove north about twenty miles or so through the village of Coarsegold to the town of Oakhurst to refill with diesel and buy some groceries. Surprisingly, the price of diesel was higher in Oakhurst than it was in Coarsegold. But by the time we had arrived in Oakhurst Lanoire ( the truck ) was so low on diesel that we didn't even have enough to make it back to Coarsegold. I bought twenty dollars worth of diesel in Oakhurst, then refilled the tank completely as we passed through Coarsegold on our way back to SKP Park of the Sierras. While in Oakhurst we refilled our five gallon water jug and replenished groceries at Vons.
When we arrived back home we were having a late lunch when our friends Joe and Alene, and their sweet little Dachshund Lucy came by for a visit. Joe and Alene live here during the summer, and are our neighbours across the street at our winter home at Kofa Ko-op in Yuma, Arizona. We visited with Joe and Alene and Lucy and after they left we drove to the clubhouse. Joanne went into the laundromat to do laundry and
I took Bo to the dog park. There were more dogs there this afternoon than yesterday. Bo met and played with old friends Parker and Callie, and new friends Autumn, Chloe, Buddy, and Jack.
For the third day in a row, Joanne remains extremely upset and "off the rails" by the election results.
Saturday ; Sunny and warm. Another very lovely day.
This morning a grey, long haired, female cat showed up in our site, to sit up high and look down on the main road below us. Joanne went outside, and slowly, with considerable patience, convinced the cat to come over to her. Once the cat was confident and comfortable with Joanne, she was eager to be loved up. And she was very vocal. The cat, not Joanne. HA HA HA ! Eventually I went outside and joined in the cat love ups. I miss having a cat, so it was a very pleasant experience to spend some time loving up this cat. She hung around for quite awhile, just "talking" to us and following us around as we did some work outside in the yard and around the truck and camper. As Joanne was petting the cat she discovered a couple of mats in the cat's long hair. So ... she got a pair of small scissors, and cut the mats off. HA HA HA ... we wonder what the cat's owners are going to think when their cat returns home with two small "bald spots" where Joanne cut out the mats. HA HA HA !
We decided, somewhat on impulse, to give Bo a haircut this afternoon. He was in need of a haircut. It had been our plan to give him a haircut soon after our arrival in Yuma, but ... decided that doing it here, today, made sense. After giving him a haircut we went to the dog park and joined in today's daily "dog party". Everyone there was very surprised to see how different Bo looks after a haircut. HA HA HA !
I barbecued a huge, thick steak for supper. With tiny potatoes barbecued, "smashed", and smothered in cream. MMMMMM !
DSK
Today started out cloudy and mild, but the sky cleared as we drove.
We did quite a bit of chores this morning before leaving the Spirit Mountain Casino RV parking lot. First we drove over to the sani-dump station and dumped our waste holding tanks. Then over to the freshwater refill station to refill our fresh water tank. Then over to the casino's Travel Center fuel station to refill Lanoire with diesel and refill a one gallon container with fuel for our little generator.
We drove a mile or two back to Hwy. 22 and headed east to Hwy. 99W where we turned south. As we entered the small village of Rickreall I noticed a sign advertising a Sunday farmer's market and decided to stop and take a look. Rarely do we stop at a farmer's market without finding something worthwhile. And today was no exception. Two elderly ladies were selling ... WOO-HOO ... freshly picked, wild Chanterelle mushrooms. I have seen Chanterelle mushrooms only in pictures. And have read about how wonderful they are. Today was my chance to find out. And I wasn't disappointed !
After buying the Chanterelles we continued south on Hwy. 99W to Corvallis where we found our way ... with a bit of difficulty ... to PetsMart to use a 15% discount coupon that expired today, to buy some dog food. And ... in the same mall as PetsMart there was a ... wait for it ... WOO-HOO ... panaderia ! Si, si, we bought muchos pan dulces. We ate lunch in the shopping mall parking lot before hitting the road again.
From Corvallis we headed a bit more east, on Hwy. 34, back to Interstate 5, and then continued south. At Eugene I saw a Cabela's ( massively huge sporting goods store ) and was certain that Santa wanted to get some stuff at Cabela's ( tax free ... still in Oregon ! ) to put in my Christmas stocking. HA HA HA ! To get to the Cabela's which was on the opposite side of the freeway was rather difficult, requiring taking the next freeway exit and manoeuvering around a series of complicated interchanges to head back north, and then exit again and manoeuver around another series of complicated interchanges to get to the mall where Cabela's was located. Getting back onto the freeway heading south afterwards wasn't exactly a piece of cake either ! AND ...
< sniffle > ... I didn't find what Santa was looking for. So ... to console myself, I bought four fishing flies. HA HA HA ! Cabela's fishing flies are much better quality than that cheap shit I buy at Surplus Herbie's in Williams Lake, BC . HA HA HA !
Our destination for today was the Escapees RV park at Sutherlin, but when we arrived at Sutherlin there was still about an hour of daylight left, so we continued driving south, heading for "Plan B" ; the Seven Feathers Casino at Canyonville. We arrived at Seven Feathers Casino at 5:05 PM, at dusk, and after selecting a parking spot in their RV parking lot we immediately took Bo for a walk. By the time we finished our walk at 5:20 PM it was completely dark.
We put Bo into the camper then Joanne and I went to explore the casino. We wandered around the large casino, and after checking out the buffet restaurant decided we would like to have dinner there tomorrow evening, so we'll spend two nights here. We returned to the camper where we shared supper preparation duties. Joanne cooked shredded Brussels sprouts with onions while I sautéed Chanterelle mushrooms, then breaded and fried a couple of Cutthroat Trout fillets that I caught in the Similkameen River at home a month or so ago. The Chanterelles were exquisite ! And the Cutthroats were pretty good as well ! Very nice supper !
Monday ; Seven Feathers Casino
Cloudy and mild. Today was a lazy, leisurely day of a few chores and lots of relaxing.
We slept late. After a slow start to the day I did a teensy bit of preventive maintenance on the truck. We drove across the street to the casino's Travel Center and refilled with diesel. We drove to and through the casino's upscale RV park. That's not where we are. We're in the casino's free overnight parking lot for RV's. "Casino camping" ! We refilled the camper's fresh water tank from a spigot in the dog park at the freeway rest area sponsored by the casino. We drove into the nearby small village of Canyonville and bought a few grocery items.
Back at the casino RV parking lot I did some work on the computer, including reconciling October's month end financial statements. Joanne gave herself a manicure, and worked on Sudoku puzzles. We went with Bo for another one of today's many leisurely dog walks. We found and identified mushrooms. I read and napped.
Late in the afternoon we went inside the casino to gamble. Last night we had joined the casino's Player's Club, and our cards were loaded with $5 of "free play" each. To access the "$5 free play" one had to load a real dollar into a slot machine. SO ... we each loaded a dollar into a slot machine and played until our $5 free play was used up. My one dollar became $3.58 and Joanne's one dollar became $7.11, for total winnings of $8.69. HMPH ! Pretty good ! Enough to pay for one of our two dinners at the buffet restaurant, which is really the only reason we stayed here today.
We had dinner at the buffet restaurant. Surprisingly ... it wasn't all that good ! Casino buffet restaurant meals usually range from very good to stupendous. This one was ... one notch below mediocre. < shrug > Oh, well !
We returned to our camper in the almost empty RV overnight parking lot to find that some a*****e from California had parked right beside us, and was running his generator with the exhaust pipe right below my bedroom window. What would inspire this California a*****e to park right beside us in an almost empty, huge parking lot ? ! ? And you wonder why we generally dislike Californians ? ! ?
Tuesday ; Canyonville, Oregon to Red Bluff, California
Today started out partially sunny and mild, became very foggy as we drove, becoming sunny and warm in California.
Today was a day that just didn't go well. Nothing really significant, but a lot of petty annoyances. This morning we prepared to depart the Seven Feathers Casino RV parking lot and drove across the street to their Travel Center to refill our fresh water tank at a water spigot at one of the fuel islands. The fuel island that I chose had a malfunctioning water spigot, so that by the time I got the camper's water tank refilled,
I was soaked. Before leaving the Travel Center I turned on our cell phone and discovered a message waiting on voicemail.
The message was from an RV storage facility in Okanagan Falls, BC. It was important to me to return the call, because that particular storage facility had referred me to a customer 3½ years ago that turned out to be my most lucrative trailer towing client ever. I tried repeatedly to return the phone call using our cell phone, without success. HMPH ! International dialling drama ! After wasting fourteen minutes of our expensive "pay as you go" cell phone minutes, I abandoned the cell phone. I drove back to the casino's RV parking lot and attempted to make the call using Skype on the computer. HMPH ! Internet connection drama ! By the time I gave up on the computer / Skype attempts, I had wasted a total of an hour trying to return a phone call ! ! ! I was mightily pissed off and stressed out when we finally hit the road.
We continued southbound on Interstate 5. We stopped in Grant's Pass to finish our Oregon tax free shopping. While Joanne went shopping at Dollar Tree and Wal-Mart
I connected to the Internet using a Wi-Fi signal from a nearby McDonald's, and finally returned the phone call.
We continued southbound on I-5 to our planned destination for today, an Oregon state park between Grant's Pass and Medford. We were hoping for a pleasant, warm afternoon, with a campfire. When we arrived at the state park, we were surprised by how expensive their overnight camping fee was, and chose not to stay. We continued south on I-5, and into California.
At Redding we found our way, with considerable difficulty, to Win River Casino. As soon as we arrived at their RV parking lot, a security guard on a golf cart approached us to advise that their overnight parking fee was ... wait for it ... $26 ! Are you ****ing kidding me ? ? ? Goodbye ! ! !
We stopped for the night, about an hour after darkness, at a rest area north of Red Bluff. We made and ate supper. We took Bo for a walk, and realized ... the place was spooky. There were ... shadowy figures skulking around in the darkness. We felt unsafe. I decided to leave. We drove about another ten miles south to the city of Red Bluff and found our way to a Wal-Mart parking lot. Much better than the rest area.
I raised the camper's roof top TV antenna, plugged the TV into the inverter, and we watched election coverage on a local NBC station. How disgusting !
Wednesday ; Red Bluff to Coarsegold, California
Sunny and warm. It's like summer time here in central California !
Joanne slept poorly, and very little. She was upset and disgusted by the results of the election. And consequently felt depressed all day today. And fatigued from little sleep !
We left the Red Bluff Wal-Mart parking lot this morning and drove a very short distance to an ARCO AM / PM fuel station to refill with diesel and refill the camper's fresh water tank. As I was refilling Lanoire with diesel, the rocket scientist in front of me drove away from the pump with the fuel hose still in his truck's fuel filler. He ripped the hose right out of the fuel pump ! Then stepped out of his truck, hollered an obscenity very loudly, got back into his truck, and drove away. < shrug > Welcome to California !
When Joanne went inside to pay for the fuel purchase, she was charged an additional 35 cents for using a debit card. Are you kidding me ? ! ? HMPH ! That is NOT allowed in Canada ! Merchants in Canada are prohibited from "upcharging" customers for the use of credit or debit cards. Welcome to the good ol' U.S. of A. !
We continued southbound on Interstate 5. We stopped for lunch at a rest area on the north side of Sacramento. After lunch we drove through Sacramento, and at Stockton we switched from Interstate 5 southbound to Hwy. 99 southbound. On the short connector road between the two freeways we stopped to shop for a new fly fishing rod and reel ( for Santa to bring me ) at Bass Pro Shops. Didn't find what I wanted !
We drove a long distance today. And spent most of the day listening to election analysis and commentary on NPR ( National Public Radio ). A couple of hours before our planned destination ... SKP Park of the Sierras near Coarsegold up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, we saw a billboard advertisement for ... WOO-HOO, WOO-HOO, WOO-HOO ... CHUKCHANSI CASINO ! My favourite casino ! A mile or two away from the Escapees RV park, it closed two years ago, embroiled in controversy. Two disagreeing factions of the Indian Band that own and operate the casino. We were VERY glad to learn that Chukchansi Casino has reopened. We decided to boonodock overnight at Chukchansi Casino instead of at the SKP park as we had initially planned.
At Madera we turned east on Hwy. 145, then about half an hour later, as it turned dark at 5:15 PM, we turned south on Hwy. 41 for the uphill, winding, mountain road drive to Chukchansi ( and SKP Park of the Sierras ). We arrived at the casino about 6:15 PM. Joanne immediately began to prepare supper, earlier than we usually eat dinner. She was tired and despondent. She is REALLY upset by Trump's victory. We ate supper then went into the casino to see if it had changed and ... of course ... to check out the buffet restaurant. My favourite casino buffet restaurant ! OKAY ! LUNCH ! MONDAY !
We returned to the camper. Joanne washed dishes and went to sleep at 8:30 PM !
Thursday ; SKP Park of the Sierras
Sunny and warm. What a perfect "June 18" day !
This morning before leaving the parking lot of Chukchansi Casino we made a complaint to Security about the dog that was tied up to the fifth wheel trailer parked beside us.
A female Golden Retriever, she howled all night and barked all morning. It appeared as if the fifth wheel trailer was vacant from the time we arrived yesterday evening shortly after 6 PM until we were leaving this morning shortly after 10 AM. Last night she snarled at Bo and I as we walked by, but this morning I was able to slowly gain her trust and she allowed me to approach and pet her. I was so pissed off at her being left alone for at least sixteen hours, tied on a short leash to the trailer's steps, that I contemplated stealing her.
We drove the very short distance, just a couple of miles, from the casino to SKP Park of the Sierras, the most beautiful of all the Escapee RV parks, in our opinion. We checked in, settled into our assigned site, then spent the rest of the day relaxing. I napped after lunch. We sat outside in folding chairs in our site enjoying the fine weather. We took Bo to the dog park where he met old and new friends. We walked. We went to the clubhouse and checked out the bargain table and the library.
In the evening we binged on cable TV ! HA HA HA !
Friday ; Remembrance Day ( Canada ) / Veteran's Day ( U.S.A. )
LEST WE FORGET !
Sunny and warm. Another lovely "summer" day up here in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of central California.
This morning we had a private and personal Remembrance Day "ceremony" on our RV site, observing a minute of silence "to remember" at precisely the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, followed by us together reciting the poem "In Flander's Fields".
We drove north about twenty miles or so through the village of Coarsegold to the town of Oakhurst to refill with diesel and buy some groceries. Surprisingly, the price of diesel was higher in Oakhurst than it was in Coarsegold. But by the time we had arrived in Oakhurst Lanoire ( the truck ) was so low on diesel that we didn't even have enough to make it back to Coarsegold. I bought twenty dollars worth of diesel in Oakhurst, then refilled the tank completely as we passed through Coarsegold on our way back to SKP Park of the Sierras. While in Oakhurst we refilled our five gallon water jug and replenished groceries at Vons.
When we arrived back home we were having a late lunch when our friends Joe and Alene, and their sweet little Dachshund Lucy came by for a visit. Joe and Alene live here during the summer, and are our neighbours across the street at our winter home at Kofa Ko-op in Yuma, Arizona. We visited with Joe and Alene and Lucy and after they left we drove to the clubhouse. Joanne went into the laundromat to do laundry and
I took Bo to the dog park. There were more dogs there this afternoon than yesterday. Bo met and played with old friends Parker and Callie, and new friends Autumn, Chloe, Buddy, and Jack.
For the third day in a row, Joanne remains extremely upset and "off the rails" by the election results.
Saturday ; Sunny and warm. Another very lovely day.
This morning a grey, long haired, female cat showed up in our site, to sit up high and look down on the main road below us. Joanne went outside, and slowly, with considerable patience, convinced the cat to come over to her. Once the cat was confident and comfortable with Joanne, she was eager to be loved up. And she was very vocal. The cat, not Joanne. HA HA HA ! Eventually I went outside and joined in the cat love ups. I miss having a cat, so it was a very pleasant experience to spend some time loving up this cat. She hung around for quite awhile, just "talking" to us and following us around as we did some work outside in the yard and around the truck and camper. As Joanne was petting the cat she discovered a couple of mats in the cat's long hair. So ... she got a pair of small scissors, and cut the mats off. HA HA HA ... we wonder what the cat's owners are going to think when their cat returns home with two small "bald spots" where Joanne cut out the mats. HA HA HA !
We decided, somewhat on impulse, to give Bo a haircut this afternoon. He was in need of a haircut. It had been our plan to give him a haircut soon after our arrival in Yuma, but ... decided that doing it here, today, made sense. After giving him a haircut we went to the dog park and joined in today's daily "dog party". Everyone there was very surprised to see how different Bo looks after a haircut. HA HA HA !
I barbecued a huge, thick steak for supper. With tiny potatoes barbecued, "smashed", and smothered in cream. MMMMMM !
DSK
Saturday, November 5, 2016
October 30 to November 5, 2016 ; Keremeos, British Columbia, Canada to Grand Ronde, Oregon, U.S.A.
Sunday ; Sunny and chilly.
Today Joanne did our final ( large ) load of laundry before departure on Tuesday. I did a final preventive maintenance on Lanoire ( the truck ) ; adjust the air pressure on all seven tires, and top-up all fluids. I ran the bathroom and range hood fans all day to dehumidify the house, and will keep them running until we depart. Running the fans continuously has a tendency to make the house a bit chilly, because the fans are expelling moist indoor air and cold ( but dry ) outside air is being drawn into the house.
I finished the monthly medical travel records keeping that I have been keeping for Gord to submit to the Saskatchewan Workers' Compensation Board. I gave Marcie her second and final lesson in cleaning and treating Ozzie's ears to prevent a recurrence of the horrendous ear infections that he had, that took me about five months to "cure". Our neighbour / friend Jeanine came over and visited with us this afternoon. I returned a book to the clubhouse library, and selected some books to replenish my personal supply of books to read.
I did my regular weekly investments summary review and analysis. I posted my weekly journal to my blog. We ate supper ( home made cream of celery soup ... Joanne has to use up fridge contents that wouldn't be allowed across the border ) while watching Downton Abbey.
Monday ; Hallowe'en ; Cloudy, mild, no wind, a fairly nice fall day.
We both worked all day on departure preparations. And now ( 6:30 PM ) we're ready to go tomorrow morning. The minivan is winterized. My beard and moustache and eyebrows are trimmed, I look somewhat civilized again. HA HA HA ! All yard furniture is stored. The dog has had a bath. The DAMP RID containers are all filled and ready to be arranged around the house tomorrow morning to absorb moisture during the winter. Month end bank and investment statements are retrieved and printed.
I'll reconcile them while travelling. Ink cartridges have been removed from the printer. A book that Joanne just finished reading has been returned to the clubhouse library. We went to the dog park with Bo, and then a long walk in cold drizzle ... YUCK ... around the RV park. And Joanne has just finished a long phone call with her sister.
Tuesday ; home to Omak, Washington
Mostly cloudy, cool, a few drops of rain in the morning.
This morning ... and afternoon ... we prepared for departure from home. Usually we are ready to leave home on November 1 around lunch time. But today we did not leave home until 3 PM. I ran into some problems with our park model manufactured home winterization procedures. Specifically, I had some difficulty with draining the water heater. I am going to have revise the procedures that I use in the future to drain the water heater to make it a quicker process.
Before leaving home we dropped off a large bag of recycling at the home of our neighbour / friend Jeanine, so that she can put it out for pick up on Friday, we said our goodbyes to Gord and Marcie, and we ate lunch in the camper while waiting for the water heater to drain. We both think that today was our final farewell to Gord.
We left home about 3 PM and drove east on Hwy. 3 into Keremeos where we refilled our five gallon water jug and made a small purchase at the grocery store so that we would have a purchase receipt proving that we were still in Canada on November 1, should it ever be necessary to prove to our travel medical insurer that we did not leave Canada before November 1. We continued east on Hwy. 3 to Osoyoos where we turned south on Hwy. 97 to the border crossing.
We crossed the border at 4:30 PM and it was the first time that we crossed the border at Osoyoos and were not subjected to an inspection by Agriculture. Do the Agriculture staff at the Osoyoos / Oroville border crossing only work until 4 PM ? The border crossing was easier and quicker than usual. The Customs & Border Patrol agent asked six sensible and pertinent questions ;
1. Where are you going ? Yuma, Arizona
2. How long will you be in the United States ? 175 days
3. Do you have any plants or fruits ? No
4. Do you have any vegetables ? No
4. Do you have any tobacco or alcohol ? 1 bottle of wine
5. Do you have any drugs or guns ? No
We arrived in Omak about 5:30 PM. By the time we had done a bit of grocery shopping at Wal-Mart it was dark and we decided to spend the night in the Wal-Mart parking lot. We took Bo for a long walk, then had an early ( for us ) supper about 7 PM.
Wednesday ; Omak, Washington to Memaloose Rest Area ( & State Park )
Gloomy and raining this morning in Omak. The rain stopped and the sky slowly cleared throughout the day as we drove.
We left the Wal-Mart in Omak this morning around 10 AM. We drove to the nearby Omak Fairgrounds to use their sani-dump station. The water was already turned off for the winter, so we were unable to refill our freshwater tank, but we did dump our waste holding tanks. We headed south out of town on Hwy. 97 which we followed for most of the day.
We stopped at Lincoln Rocks State Park to refill our freshwater tank. While I did that Joanne took Bo for a walk. She discovered a "fairy ring" of mushrooms. Well ... quite a few "fairy rings" of mushrooms, actually. We have seen pictures of mushroom "fairy rings" in my Mushroom Hunter book, but had never seen them in reality. I picked one of the fairy ring mushrooms, and tried to identify it using my Mushroom Hunter book later while we were having lunch, but I was unable to positively identify it.
We stopped in the picturesque small town of Cashmere, home of Liberty Orchards, producers of "Applets & Cotlets" fruit candy confections. We stocked up on enough of their products to last the winter. We'll stop and buy more for next summer when we're northbound next spring.
We refilled Lanoire with diesel in Ellensburg, Washington. The price of diesel fuel is quite cheap in the U.S. this year, especially so when compared to Canadian fuel
prices ! We drove more miles today than usual, so that we would be near the small city of The Dalles, where we will be meeting our 95 year old friend Eilene for lunch tomorrow. When Hwy. 97 crossed over the Columbia River, the border between Washington and Oregon, we turned west on Interstate 84 and followed the very scenic Columbia River Gorge, about a dozen miles past The Dalles where we need to be tomorrow at lunch time, to stop and spend the night at Memaloose Rest Area, adjacent to Memaloose State Park. When we arrived at the rest area, precisely at 6:15 PM as
I had planned, which is when it becomes dark, we took Bo for a long, leisurely walk around the very large rest area along the banks of the Columbia River. We all enjoyed that after a long day of driving.
Joanne made a wonderful supper of Maple Syrup glazed, baked Sockeye Salmon. MMMMM !
Thursday ; Memaloose Rest Area to The Dalles to Portland to McMinnville, Oregon
Sunny and mild. A very nice fall day.
We left Melamoose Rest Area this morning around 11 AM and "back tracked" about a dozen miles or so east on Interstate 84 to the city of The Dalles where our 95 year old friend Eilene lives. We arrived in The Dalles a bit early for our noon luncheon date with Eilene. Joanne needed to finish drying and styling her hair so we pulled into a shopping mall so that she could do that. While she dried and styled her hair ... I went browsing in the Goodwill Thrift Store that was in the mall where we had parked. Bought two pairs of pants. HA HA HA !
When we arrived at the seniors' residence where Eilene lives she wanted to walk to a nearby restaurant since the weather was so nice. So ... we walked a few blocks to the restaurant she chose for lunch. It's very impressive to us that at her age Eilene still enjoys going for walks like that. We had a pleasant lunch, then while walking back to her residence Eilene wanted to show us a local glass blowing artist's workshop and display store. What lovely blown glass art. I watched the glass blower and his assistant working for awhile, making blown glass flowers, then bought a freshly made blown glass Christmas ornament. All of our Christmas ornaments are special mementoes of people and / or places. This ornament will always be a reminder to us of Eilene.
After saying goodbye to Eilene we drove to the shopping mall across the street from where we had lunch, to shop at Walgreen's and refill with diesel at the Safeway Fuel Bar before leaving The Dalles. Diesel was quite inexpensive at the Safeway Fuel Bar. Could that be because it was 20% bio-diesel ?
From The Dalles we drove about an hour and a half west on Interstate 84 following the Columbia River Gorge to Portland. First stop in Portland was Camping World where
I bought a couple of repair items I require for our fifth wheel trailer in Yuma, Arizona. We searched for a PetsMart that Joanne had poor directions to, but I abandoned the search before we found it. We continued west on I-84 to downtown Portland where we went shopping at Trader Joes's. WOO-HOO ! Eighty-four bucks worth of impulse purchase exotic / gourmet food items. That should be enough Trader Joe's items to last us until our next Trader Joe's shopping trip in Palm Springs when we go there for New Year's Eve. HA HA HA !
We left the Trader Joe's store at 6:05 PM and were back on I-84 at 6:15 PM, just as daylight ended. A few more miles west on I-84 then we turned south on Interstate 5 for a dozen or so miles, then southwest on Hwy. 99A to McMinnville, arriving at the
Wal-Mart in McMinnville around 7:30 PM. From Trader Joe's in downtown Portland to the Wal-Mart in McMinnville was about an hour and a half of bumper to bumper, high speed, rush hour traffic. WHEW ! I certainly am glad that we don't have to drive to work any more in urban rush hour traffic every day.
We spent the night in the Wal-Mart parking lot where we were stranded two years ago for about twenty-four hours because of a truck dead batteries problem.
Friday ; McMnnville to Grand Ronde, Oregon
Mild temperature, extremely thick fog, not lifting until mid-afternoon. And it didn't lift very far. It rose to about tree top level, creating a cloud ceiling above fifty feet above ground level. Pretty tough IFR flying conditions !
We were a bit uncomfortable spending the night in the Wal-Mart parking lot in McMinnville last night. All around the periphery of the parking lot were cars with homeless people in them. And at every freeway exit and entrance ramp that we used in and around Portland yesterday afternoon were homeless panhandlers. In the past we have seen this kind of homelessness and panhandling in California, but it now seems to have migrated as far north as Portland.
We didn't drive very far today. Only about 50 km. / 30 miles. This morning while I was getting myself ready Joanne went into Wal-Mart to do a bit of our semi-annual Oregon tax free shopping. When she was done we drove across the street to check if Petco accepts competitor ( PetsMart ) coupons. They don't. We left McMinnville heading southwest on Hwy. 18 to Spirit Mountain Casino near Grand Ronde.
When we arrived at Spirit Mountain Casino we dumped our waste holding tanks and refilled our freshwater tank at the casino's RV parking lot's sani-dump station. How convenient ! We have been here once before, two years ago, to see a Penn & Teller performance. We selected a parking spot, then Joanne and I went into the casino to wander and explore. We decided we wanted to have a late lunch at the buffet restaurant. I did a bit of online work in the casino's Business Centre, where computers were available for use.
After a leisurely lunch in the Cedar Plank Buffet we returned to our camper and took Bo for a long walk and play session before we all went for a long nap. Joanne napped much longer than me and Bo. While she continued napping Bo and I went for another walk, then I puttered around with more computer work, doing some travel planning, reconciling month end bank statements and financial statements, etc.
Geeeeez, it was dark at 6 PM. And tomorrow night the clocks fall back, so on Sunday it will be dark at 5 PM !
Saturday ; Grand Ronde to Tillamook & return
RAINING ! ! ! Note to selves ; no more travel to Oregon coast in November !
This morning we dumped our waste holding tanks and refilled our freshwater tank then left Spirit Mountain Casino heading west on Hwy. 22 towards the Pacific Ocean coast. About 50 km. / 30 miles west we reached Hwy. 101 at the coast and turned north ... yes, yes, the wrong direction ... to travel about another 50 km. / 30 miles or so to the small city of Tillamook, and our goal for today ; Tillamook Cheese Factory. Long way to go for a grilled cheese sandwich. HA HA HA !
Tillamook Cheese Factory was crowded today. Must be a popular outing on a rainy weekend in November for the Portland crowd. Mind you ... this is the Oregon coast. Aren't all weekends in November rainy ? ! ? We decided against standing in the extraordinarily long line-up for the cheese sampling bar and went straight to the retail shop. We bought a large selection of cheeses, including freshly made, squeaky curds. MMMMMM ! ! ! After paying for our cheese selections we had lunch in their café ; their world famous “Tillamooker” grilled cheese sandwiches, with bowls of creamy tomato soup. Again ... MMMMMM ! ! !
After lunch we drove an alternate but equally scenic route back to Spirit Mountain Casino. Very tough driving on those wet, curving roads. There were fishermen in the streams by the roads. BRRRRR ... what miserably cold, rainy conditions in which to be fishing ! I don’t know if they were fishing for trout or salmon. By the time we arrived back “home” at Spirit Mountain Casino I was ready for a long afternoon nap.
After a late, light supper I went to the casino to use their free Wi-Fi in the Business Center for a couple of hours before returning home to set the clocks back before bedtime.
DSK
Today Joanne did our final ( large ) load of laundry before departure on Tuesday. I did a final preventive maintenance on Lanoire ( the truck ) ; adjust the air pressure on all seven tires, and top-up all fluids. I ran the bathroom and range hood fans all day to dehumidify the house, and will keep them running until we depart. Running the fans continuously has a tendency to make the house a bit chilly, because the fans are expelling moist indoor air and cold ( but dry ) outside air is being drawn into the house.
I finished the monthly medical travel records keeping that I have been keeping for Gord to submit to the Saskatchewan Workers' Compensation Board. I gave Marcie her second and final lesson in cleaning and treating Ozzie's ears to prevent a recurrence of the horrendous ear infections that he had, that took me about five months to "cure". Our neighbour / friend Jeanine came over and visited with us this afternoon. I returned a book to the clubhouse library, and selected some books to replenish my personal supply of books to read.
I did my regular weekly investments summary review and analysis. I posted my weekly journal to my blog. We ate supper ( home made cream of celery soup ... Joanne has to use up fridge contents that wouldn't be allowed across the border ) while watching Downton Abbey.
Monday ; Hallowe'en ; Cloudy, mild, no wind, a fairly nice fall day.
We both worked all day on departure preparations. And now ( 6:30 PM ) we're ready to go tomorrow morning. The minivan is winterized. My beard and moustache and eyebrows are trimmed, I look somewhat civilized again. HA HA HA ! All yard furniture is stored. The dog has had a bath. The DAMP RID containers are all filled and ready to be arranged around the house tomorrow morning to absorb moisture during the winter. Month end bank and investment statements are retrieved and printed.
I'll reconcile them while travelling. Ink cartridges have been removed from the printer. A book that Joanne just finished reading has been returned to the clubhouse library. We went to the dog park with Bo, and then a long walk in cold drizzle ... YUCK ... around the RV park. And Joanne has just finished a long phone call with her sister.
Tuesday ; home to Omak, Washington
Mostly cloudy, cool, a few drops of rain in the morning.
This morning ... and afternoon ... we prepared for departure from home. Usually we are ready to leave home on November 1 around lunch time. But today we did not leave home until 3 PM. I ran into some problems with our park model manufactured home winterization procedures. Specifically, I had some difficulty with draining the water heater. I am going to have revise the procedures that I use in the future to drain the water heater to make it a quicker process.
Before leaving home we dropped off a large bag of recycling at the home of our neighbour / friend Jeanine, so that she can put it out for pick up on Friday, we said our goodbyes to Gord and Marcie, and we ate lunch in the camper while waiting for the water heater to drain. We both think that today was our final farewell to Gord.
We left home about 3 PM and drove east on Hwy. 3 into Keremeos where we refilled our five gallon water jug and made a small purchase at the grocery store so that we would have a purchase receipt proving that we were still in Canada on November 1, should it ever be necessary to prove to our travel medical insurer that we did not leave Canada before November 1. We continued east on Hwy. 3 to Osoyoos where we turned south on Hwy. 97 to the border crossing.
We crossed the border at 4:30 PM and it was the first time that we crossed the border at Osoyoos and were not subjected to an inspection by Agriculture. Do the Agriculture staff at the Osoyoos / Oroville border crossing only work until 4 PM ? The border crossing was easier and quicker than usual. The Customs & Border Patrol agent asked six sensible and pertinent questions ;
1. Where are you going ? Yuma, Arizona
2. How long will you be in the United States ? 175 days
3. Do you have any plants or fruits ? No
4. Do you have any vegetables ? No
4. Do you have any tobacco or alcohol ? 1 bottle of wine
5. Do you have any drugs or guns ? No
We arrived in Omak about 5:30 PM. By the time we had done a bit of grocery shopping at Wal-Mart it was dark and we decided to spend the night in the Wal-Mart parking lot. We took Bo for a long walk, then had an early ( for us ) supper about 7 PM.
Wednesday ; Omak, Washington to Memaloose Rest Area ( & State Park )
Gloomy and raining this morning in Omak. The rain stopped and the sky slowly cleared throughout the day as we drove.
We left the Wal-Mart in Omak this morning around 10 AM. We drove to the nearby Omak Fairgrounds to use their sani-dump station. The water was already turned off for the winter, so we were unable to refill our freshwater tank, but we did dump our waste holding tanks. We headed south out of town on Hwy. 97 which we followed for most of the day.
We stopped at Lincoln Rocks State Park to refill our freshwater tank. While I did that Joanne took Bo for a walk. She discovered a "fairy ring" of mushrooms. Well ... quite a few "fairy rings" of mushrooms, actually. We have seen pictures of mushroom "fairy rings" in my Mushroom Hunter book, but had never seen them in reality. I picked one of the fairy ring mushrooms, and tried to identify it using my Mushroom Hunter book later while we were having lunch, but I was unable to positively identify it.
We stopped in the picturesque small town of Cashmere, home of Liberty Orchards, producers of "Applets & Cotlets" fruit candy confections. We stocked up on enough of their products to last the winter. We'll stop and buy more for next summer when we're northbound next spring.
We refilled Lanoire with diesel in Ellensburg, Washington. The price of diesel fuel is quite cheap in the U.S. this year, especially so when compared to Canadian fuel
prices ! We drove more miles today than usual, so that we would be near the small city of The Dalles, where we will be meeting our 95 year old friend Eilene for lunch tomorrow. When Hwy. 97 crossed over the Columbia River, the border between Washington and Oregon, we turned west on Interstate 84 and followed the very scenic Columbia River Gorge, about a dozen miles past The Dalles where we need to be tomorrow at lunch time, to stop and spend the night at Memaloose Rest Area, adjacent to Memaloose State Park. When we arrived at the rest area, precisely at 6:15 PM as
I had planned, which is when it becomes dark, we took Bo for a long, leisurely walk around the very large rest area along the banks of the Columbia River. We all enjoyed that after a long day of driving.
Joanne made a wonderful supper of Maple Syrup glazed, baked Sockeye Salmon. MMMMM !
Thursday ; Memaloose Rest Area to The Dalles to Portland to McMinnville, Oregon
Sunny and mild. A very nice fall day.
We left Melamoose Rest Area this morning around 11 AM and "back tracked" about a dozen miles or so east on Interstate 84 to the city of The Dalles where our 95 year old friend Eilene lives. We arrived in The Dalles a bit early for our noon luncheon date with Eilene. Joanne needed to finish drying and styling her hair so we pulled into a shopping mall so that she could do that. While she dried and styled her hair ... I went browsing in the Goodwill Thrift Store that was in the mall where we had parked. Bought two pairs of pants. HA HA HA !
When we arrived at the seniors' residence where Eilene lives she wanted to walk to a nearby restaurant since the weather was so nice. So ... we walked a few blocks to the restaurant she chose for lunch. It's very impressive to us that at her age Eilene still enjoys going for walks like that. We had a pleasant lunch, then while walking back to her residence Eilene wanted to show us a local glass blowing artist's workshop and display store. What lovely blown glass art. I watched the glass blower and his assistant working for awhile, making blown glass flowers, then bought a freshly made blown glass Christmas ornament. All of our Christmas ornaments are special mementoes of people and / or places. This ornament will always be a reminder to us of Eilene.
After saying goodbye to Eilene we drove to the shopping mall across the street from where we had lunch, to shop at Walgreen's and refill with diesel at the Safeway Fuel Bar before leaving The Dalles. Diesel was quite inexpensive at the Safeway Fuel Bar. Could that be because it was 20% bio-diesel ?
From The Dalles we drove about an hour and a half west on Interstate 84 following the Columbia River Gorge to Portland. First stop in Portland was Camping World where
I bought a couple of repair items I require for our fifth wheel trailer in Yuma, Arizona. We searched for a PetsMart that Joanne had poor directions to, but I abandoned the search before we found it. We continued west on I-84 to downtown Portland where we went shopping at Trader Joes's. WOO-HOO ! Eighty-four bucks worth of impulse purchase exotic / gourmet food items. That should be enough Trader Joe's items to last us until our next Trader Joe's shopping trip in Palm Springs when we go there for New Year's Eve. HA HA HA !
We left the Trader Joe's store at 6:05 PM and were back on I-84 at 6:15 PM, just as daylight ended. A few more miles west on I-84 then we turned south on Interstate 5 for a dozen or so miles, then southwest on Hwy. 99A to McMinnville, arriving at the
Wal-Mart in McMinnville around 7:30 PM. From Trader Joe's in downtown Portland to the Wal-Mart in McMinnville was about an hour and a half of bumper to bumper, high speed, rush hour traffic. WHEW ! I certainly am glad that we don't have to drive to work any more in urban rush hour traffic every day.
We spent the night in the Wal-Mart parking lot where we were stranded two years ago for about twenty-four hours because of a truck dead batteries problem.
Friday ; McMnnville to Grand Ronde, Oregon
Mild temperature, extremely thick fog, not lifting until mid-afternoon. And it didn't lift very far. It rose to about tree top level, creating a cloud ceiling above fifty feet above ground level. Pretty tough IFR flying conditions !
We were a bit uncomfortable spending the night in the Wal-Mart parking lot in McMinnville last night. All around the periphery of the parking lot were cars with homeless people in them. And at every freeway exit and entrance ramp that we used in and around Portland yesterday afternoon were homeless panhandlers. In the past we have seen this kind of homelessness and panhandling in California, but it now seems to have migrated as far north as Portland.
We didn't drive very far today. Only about 50 km. / 30 miles. This morning while I was getting myself ready Joanne went into Wal-Mart to do a bit of our semi-annual Oregon tax free shopping. When she was done we drove across the street to check if Petco accepts competitor ( PetsMart ) coupons. They don't. We left McMinnville heading southwest on Hwy. 18 to Spirit Mountain Casino near Grand Ronde.
When we arrived at Spirit Mountain Casino we dumped our waste holding tanks and refilled our freshwater tank at the casino's RV parking lot's sani-dump station. How convenient ! We have been here once before, two years ago, to see a Penn & Teller performance. We selected a parking spot, then Joanne and I went into the casino to wander and explore. We decided we wanted to have a late lunch at the buffet restaurant. I did a bit of online work in the casino's Business Centre, where computers were available for use.
After a leisurely lunch in the Cedar Plank Buffet we returned to our camper and took Bo for a long walk and play session before we all went for a long nap. Joanne napped much longer than me and Bo. While she continued napping Bo and I went for another walk, then I puttered around with more computer work, doing some travel planning, reconciling month end bank statements and financial statements, etc.
Geeeeez, it was dark at 6 PM. And tomorrow night the clocks fall back, so on Sunday it will be dark at 5 PM !
Saturday ; Grand Ronde to Tillamook & return
RAINING ! ! ! Note to selves ; no more travel to Oregon coast in November !
This morning we dumped our waste holding tanks and refilled our freshwater tank then left Spirit Mountain Casino heading west on Hwy. 22 towards the Pacific Ocean coast. About 50 km. / 30 miles west we reached Hwy. 101 at the coast and turned north ... yes, yes, the wrong direction ... to travel about another 50 km. / 30 miles or so to the small city of Tillamook, and our goal for today ; Tillamook Cheese Factory. Long way to go for a grilled cheese sandwich. HA HA HA !
Tillamook Cheese Factory was crowded today. Must be a popular outing on a rainy weekend in November for the Portland crowd. Mind you ... this is the Oregon coast. Aren't all weekends in November rainy ? ! ? We decided against standing in the extraordinarily long line-up for the cheese sampling bar and went straight to the retail shop. We bought a large selection of cheeses, including freshly made, squeaky curds. MMMMMM ! ! ! After paying for our cheese selections we had lunch in their café ; their world famous “Tillamooker” grilled cheese sandwiches, with bowls of creamy tomato soup. Again ... MMMMMM ! ! !
After lunch we drove an alternate but equally scenic route back to Spirit Mountain Casino. Very tough driving on those wet, curving roads. There were fishermen in the streams by the roads. BRRRRR ... what miserably cold, rainy conditions in which to be fishing ! I don’t know if they were fishing for trout or salmon. By the time we arrived back “home” at Spirit Mountain Casino I was ready for a long afternoon nap.
After a late, light supper I went to the casino to use their free Wi-Fi in the Business Center for a couple of hours before returning home to set the clocks back before bedtime.
DSK
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