April 10 to 16, 2011 ; Laughlin to Las Vegas, Nevada

Sunday ; Today was sunny and warm. This morning I did some minor maintenance and we did an obedience session with Bo before going to find the Laughlin Post Office. It wasn’t open today but I wanted to find it. I need to pick up a batch of forwarded mail at the Laughlin Post Office within the next few days. We shopped at the Factory Outlet Mall “next door” to our RV park. I bought a pair of Birkenstock sandals. Kind of pricey, n’est-ce-pas ?

We had lunch, I napped with Sully, then we drove across the river to Bullhead City to run some errands. As we crossed the bridge over the Colorado River we saw RV’s in a park along the river. We went to take a look at the very lovely Davis Camp County Park before driving into Bullhead City. We did some shopping at Walgreens. We found the Dodge Dealer.
I will return tomorrow to buy a brake caliper bolt. We did some grocery shopping at Safeway.

We returned across the river to Laughlin and the Riverside Hotel & Casino RV Park. We took Bo for a long walk, and found our RV park’s “dog park”. It wasn’t great ! We gave Bo a bath. We had supper and … WOO-HOO … watched Amazing Race. And Undercover Boss. DARN … I forgot about Celebrity Apprentice !

We are located on the back row of the highest tier of this RV park. We just went for a late night walk to the front row of this upper tier, to see all the lights of the casinos down below on Casino Drive. < blink blink > WOW !

Monday ; Today was sunny and very warm. It was “one of those days” when things did not go so well.

This morning I made pancakes for brunch, then we went to the Laughlin Post Office to pick up the batch of forwarded mail from home. < sigh > It wasn’t there. Every year for the last seven years we have one batch of mail each winter go awry. And every year for a different reason. We returned to the trailer and I got online to attempt to track the XpressPost envelope I was expecting. The tracking information didn’t show much. I phoned the Keremeos Post Office. Yes, yes … < sigh > ... the package of forwarded mail was there, having been returned to the Keremeos Post Office by the Vancouver Post Office … twice ! ! ! Apparently it’s “overweight”. Despite there being no weight limitation specified on XpressPost envelopes … AND … despite never having an XpressPost envelope returned in seven winters of forwarding batches of mail on a monthly basis, so the envelopes have always been approximately the same weight. There’s no point arguing with the Keremeos Post Office. Or any Post Office ! Arguments with the Post Office can not be won ! I told the Keremeos Post Office to hold the XpressPost envelope for me until we return home in three weeks. And I won’t hold my breath waiting for a refund of the $15 cost of the XpressPost envelope / service. “Refund” doesn’t exist in Post Office vocabulary !

In the afternoon we drove across the Colorado River and went to the Dodge dealer in Bullhead City to buy the correct brake caliper bolt. < sigh > They were out of stock. So we went to about half a dozen auto supply stores in Bullhead City and Fort Mohave, the next town over, about 5 or 6 miles down the road. No luck ! I’ll just stop at every Dodge dealer from here to Keremeos until I find one that has the bolt that I need. We shopped at Wal-Mart in Bullhead City. We crossed back over the river at Fort Mohave, which allowed us to see the Avi Casino, which is on Indian land, away from all the other casinos in Laughlin.

When we were in Quartzsite in January we picked up a coupon for a $5 food voucher at The Tropicana here in Laughlin. We went to The Tropicana tonight to have their “bottomless pasta bowl” special for supper. It was excellent ! We joined their player’s club to get our $5 food voucher, so supper cost $7 + $7 - $5 = $9 for both of us. And joining their player’s club earned us $5 each in promotional play / pretend money for casino games play. We played out the $10 in “pretend money” on penny slot machines and ended up with a buck fifty-five in real money. HA HA HA … big spenders in the casino, as always.

Tuesday ; Today was sunny and hot.

I spent the morning and half the afternoon getting caught up on some deferred chores including monthly maintenance and backups of computer files and reconciling last month’s investment statements. Mid-afternoon we went over to see the Riverside Hotel & Casino Resort’s two classic car museums. Well, that explains why the Ford Model A & Edsel Club meets here. Don Laughlin, the owner of the Riverside Hotel & Casino Resort and founder of the city of Laughlin is a collector of antique and classic cars, including some Model A Fords.

Late in the afternoon we headed across the river to Bullhead City again. Joanne wanted to attend the Mohave High School Chili Dinner & School Band Concert. When we arrived at the huge high school, the event had changed … to Pizza Dinner & School Band Concert. We wanted chili, not pizza. We didn’t stay. While still on the Bullhead City side of the river I ran some shopping errands at Lowe’s and Checker Auto Parts. We drove back over to the Laughlin side of the river for “supper plan B”. As with the Tropicana yesterday, while in Quartzsite a couple of months ago we had picked up a $5 food voucher for the River Palms Casino. So we decided to go to the River Palms and try out their buffet restaurant. We had to join their Player’s Club to redeem the $5 food voucher, and joining the Player’s Club resulted in us once again getting $5 each in complimentary play / “pretend money”. The meal in the buffet restaurant was great ! And it cost $8.99 - 10% + $8.99 - 10% - $5 + tax = $12.09 ! We spent a couple of hours blowing off our $10 in “free play” on a variety of penny slot machines, some of which were really fun. And … by the time we had blown off the $10 “pretend money” we had won $9.60 real money. So … HA HA HA … a great buffet diner for two and a couple of hours of playing slot machines had a net cost of $2.49 !

Wednesday ; exploring Oatman and Chloride, Arizona

Today was sunny and very warm. This morning Joanne prepared a picnic lunch and we set off for a day of exploring Oatman and Chloride. We drove across the Colorado River to Bullhead City and found our way to Fastenal near the airport. Fastenal is an industrial fastener supply company and I was still looking for the correct brake caliper mounting bolt. The replacement bolt I bought a few days ago was half an inch shorter than the original. Fastenal had the right length of bolt but it was a lesser strength grade than the original. I bought it and will install it. I will consider it temporary, like the first one, but I would rather have a temporary bolt that is the right length but the wrong strength grade, than one that is too short.

We drove south of Bullhead City on Hwy. 95 to Boundary Cone Road then west across to Historic Route 66. Route 66 wound its way up and over and around, through the mountains to Oatman, an “Old Wild West” mining ghost town, renowned for the wild burros that roam its streets. When the miners abandoned the town they left behind their burros whose descendants now roam the streets of Oatman mooching off the tourists. HA HA HA … it’s pretty cute, especially at this time of year when there are babies. We wandered around town, interacting with burros, taking photos, browsing in the shops, and watching re-enactments of gunfights.

We had a late picnic lunch in Oatman then continued on Historic Route 66 to Kingman, then north on Hwy. 93 to Chloride Road to Chloride, another “Old Wild West” mining ghost town. But unlike Oatman’s rebirth as a tourist attraction, Chloride is just an old ghost town, inhabited by … wingnuts, it looked like. We drove slowly around what was left of the town, sightseeing for awhile, then headed back to Laughlin.

It was a lovely day for an outing and we had a fun day.

Thursday ; Today was sunny, warm, and a bit windy. This morning I removed the first temporary brake caliper bolt, the one that is half an inch too short, and installed the second temporary brake caliper bolt, the one that is a lesser strength grade than the original. And I will still be looking for the exact correct one !

Around noon we headed out for the Avi Casino’s Thursday 2-4-1 buffet lunch special in their Native Harvest Restaurant. While driving south on Hwy. 95 towards Avi Casino we passed Big Bend Of The Colorado State Park. We were interested in seeing their campground as a potential place to stay in the future, but when we approached their entrance gate and asked to drive around the campground to take a look, the Ranger refused to allow us to enter without paying the daily use fee. **** you, pal ! We’ve driven around hundreds of state park campgrounds just to take a really quick look, without ever having to pay an entrance fee if we’re in and out within a few minutes. Today’s experience left a very sour taste in our mouths and strongly influences our willingness to stay in Nevada State Parks … and leave our money behind to pay the salary of an a*****e like that !

To take advantage of the 2-4-1 lunch special we had to join the Avi Casino’s Player’s Club, as we did at the other casinos. And, as before, joining resulted in $5 worth of “free play”. We had a very nice lunch in the Native Harvest Buffet. The dessert was especially noteworthy. It was a prepared to order, fresh fruit flambé served over ice cream. MMMMM ! ! ! After lunch we played slot machines until we blew off the $10 in “free play”. And that resulted in winning $6.73 in real money, bringing the net cost of the afternoon to $1.91 ! HA HA HA HA HA !

There was a classic car show at the Avi, on their manicured grounds alongside the banks of the Colorado River. We walked around in the warm sunshine, and the natural beauty, admiring beautifully restored classic cars, most from the fifties but ranging from the twenties to the seventies. We crossed over the river on the southern bridge near the Avi, to Fort Mohave, Arizona where we shopped at Safeway for a bit of groceries, then drove north a few miles to Bullhead City to refill with diesel before crossing the northern bridge back over to the Nevada side of the Colorado River and return home to Riverside Hotel & Casino Resort RV Park.

I downloaded and processed yesterday’s photos. We took Bo for a long walk. I worked on learning a new magic trick that I bought at the Yuma County Fair a couple of weeks ago. I mastered the essence of the illusion, but it needs a lot of practice and fine tuning. Nevertheless, Joanne was very impressed, and she’s not that easy to impress with magic. And, finally …
< sigh > … I started working on my income tax return. I haven’t yet received all of our income tax information slips … some are in the batch of forwarded mail that’s stuck at the Keremeos Post Office … but I have some of them and have decided to get started on our income tax returns.

Friday ; Today was a lovely, sunny, hot day.

When we checked into the Riverside Hotel & Casino Resort RV Park for a week, we received two vouchers for breakfast in the buffet restaurant. Today we went for breakfast, making the long downhill walk to the casino, but taking the RV park’s shuttle bus back up to our site afterwards. Breakfast was okay. We’re not big breakfast eaters, so a buffet breakfast is somewhat wasted on us. We enjoyed the freshly made to order omelettes.

I spent the rest of the morning doing minor maintenance chores and working on the computer. And after much urging, I “revealed” to Joanne the “magic” in my new magic trick. She remains impressed. Much to Sully’s great delight, I napped with him. He thinks I haven’t been fulfilling my afternoon nap obligations. HA HA HA !

We had a somewhat lazy afternoon. We cleaned the Fantastic Fan in the kitchen. Yuck ! It’s a very effective kitchen fan but it sure gets greasy. Joanne did laundry. I did some online research, looking for Chrysler dealers and Fastenal locations around Las Vegas. We took Bo for a late afternoon leisurely walk, all of us enjoying the “no shirt necessary” weather.

We spent the evening watching TV. We had an opportunity to watch the Celebrity Apprentice episode that we missed last Sunday.

Saturday ; Laughlin to Las Vegas, Nevada

Today was sunny and hot, temperature in the 90’s. Welcome to Vegas, Baby !

This morning when I was checking the fluid level in the truck batteries I had some sulphuric acid splash up into my face. Good thing I wear glasses. Good thing I have a beard ! It took a minute or two for the acid to get through my beard and start burning the skin underneath. OUCH !

We departed Riverside Hotel & Casino Resort RV Park and headed west out of Laughlin on Hwy. 163 to Hwy. 95, then north on Hwy. 95 all the way to Las Vegas. I think many movies, TV shows, and commercials have been filmed on this stretch of Hwy. 95 south of Las Vegas. Very scenic, very lovely drive through the desert, on a “straight as an arrow” road that very slowly dips then very slowly rises, so the road ahead is visible for many, many, many miles.

We arrived in Las Vegas and found our way to Arizona Charlie’s Casino & RV Resort on Boulder Highway. A few months ago in Quartzsite we had picked up a discount coupon for Arizona Charlie’s. Very nice resort ! We checked in, got set up in a site, had lunch, and I napped briefly with Sully. The afternoon was hot so we went to cool off in the swimming pool. Afterwards we went into Arizona Charlie’s Casino to join their Player’s Club and check out the restaurants. We decided to return later to have one their advertised specials for dinner.

I went into the clubhouse attached to the RV park’s office to use their Wi-Fi. It was very slow. Tomorrow I’ll use my ReadyBroadband USB modem. It will probably provide a faster Internet connection than the RV park‘s Wi-Fi. Back at the trailer I worked on our income tax returns for awhile. I’m trying to work half an hour to an hour per day on our income tax returns.

Early in the evening as the sun was setting we took Bo for a long, leisurely walk around the large RV park then went into the casino to have supper at Sourdough Café.

DSK

April 3 to 9, 2011 ; San Carlos Apache Reservation, Arizona to Laughlin, Nevada

Sunday ; Boyce Thompson Arboretum

Today was sunny and hot, temperature in the mid-80’s. This morning, before heading out to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum, we went over to the rodeo grounds and stadium on the other side of the casino to watch more of the Arizona state high school rodeo competitions. What I particularly wanted to see was girls’ pole bending ( weave poles ). WOW … that’s an even better event than barrel racing. We watched about half an hour of that outdoors then went inside the stadium to watch junior boys’ calf wrestling and senior boys’ steer riding for about another half hour. Junior boys’ calf wrestling … HA HA HA HA HA ! Irresistible force meets immoveable object ! ! ! It’s a real toss up as to who’s more stubborn, barely teenaged boys or young bulls. HA HA HA !

We have been wanting to visit Boyce Thompson Arboretum almost since we began full time RV’ing almost 7 years ago. We’ve actually been to it twice but did not go in because both times that we were there it was pouring rain upon our arrival. Well, not so today ! It was a great day to visit Boyce Thompson Arboretum !

We drove west on Hwy. 70 to Globe, then west on Hwy. 60 to Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park near Superior, about an hour or so from Apache Gold Casino & RV Resort. Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park is 100 acres of desert botanical gardens. And visiting it today was especially exciting for us as we spent the entire visit dreaming and planning the cactus garden we intend to create on our lot 52 at Kofa Ko-op.

Joanne had prepared a picnic lunch for us. Around lunch time we retrieved our picnic bag from the truck in the parking lot and headed over to the park’s picnic area where a special event was to take place at 1 PM. A musical performance by a duo. “New age” relaxation music ! Her on piano, him on a variety of flutes. A guy who took himself way too seriously. She just wanted to perform music. He wanted everyone in the audience to transcend to a special place with him. Get a real job, fella ! The pied piper you’re not !

After our picnic lunch and as much of the beret wearing flute player as I could tolerate we wandered around the grounds until we were exhausted, about 4 PM, in awe of the blooming desert flowers and trees, cacti and succulents, planning our own cactus garden. What a great time of the year to be visiting Boyce Thompson ! What a great place to learn about desert gardens !

When we left Boyce Thompson we went to visit historic old downtown Globe ! Well … not really ! Old downtown Globe is a ghost town ! Beautiful old Mexican / Spanish architecture buildings, abandoned and boarded up. We drove to Superior, bought a few groceries at Safeway, then went to explore historic old downtown Superior. Unlike Globe, where the local economy seems to have collapsed, the gold and copper mines around Superior are still active, so Superior is still a thriving community. Their historic old downtown is … old and historic and alive and well ! We drove to the site of the Besh-Ba-Gowah Archeological Park, the ruins of a 700 year old Indian pueblo. It was close to closing time, and we were very tired from our long day of walking around Boyce Thompson. We could see enough of the site from the parking lot to determine that it was similar to the Casa Grande ruins we visited a few years ago. Not worth a visit at this time / on this trip.

Monday ; Apache Trail

Today was sunny and very warm, temperature about 80 degrees. Joanne wanted to explore the Apache Trail today. Since one end of it is near Phoenix and the other end is near Globe, she suggested we drive to Phoenix to take care of some shopping errands without having the burden of towing the trailer through the city, then explore the length of the Apache Trail.

We headed west on Hwy. 70 then Hwy. 60 to Phoenix. We found a PetsMart and returned a pet bed Joanne bought a few days ago in Yuma. Neither Sully nor Bo liked it. We found our way to Camping World and bought a sheet set and a new shower head I wanted. We found our way to another RV dealer to buy a coiled breakaway switch cable. All of these shopping stops were within the eastern suburb of Mesa. We drove to the edge of the city and had our picnic lunch in a shopping mall parking lot before heading out to find and explore the Apache Trail.

The Apache Trail is about an 80 mile long route up, around, through, and down the Superstition Mountains. It’s extremely scenic ( and at this time of year, lush ) high desert. The road winds and curves and goes up and down. About a third of it is little more than a rough gravel trail. By the time we finished the Apache Trail near Globe it was after 5 PM. We stopped at Fry’s in Globe to refill with diesel and buy some groceries before heading home to Apache Gold Casino & RV Resort. I was somewhat surprised to find that we had driven over 300 km. / 200 miles today. After only four, but busy and activity filled, days of travel … I’m already feeling tired !

Tuesday ; San Carlos Apache Reservation to Camp Verde, Arizona

Today was sunny and very warm.

This morning before preparing for departure from the Apache Gold Casino & RV Resort I had to take care of some maintenance chores that couldn’t wait. First I removed the new shower head we purchased yesterday at Camping World so that we could return it today. We didn’t like it ! Next I had to replace a burnt out taillight bulb on the truck. Changing vehicle bulbs is not as simple as it used to be. Joanne walked over to the casino’s hotel to send a fax.
I installed a new breakaway safety switch cable on the trailer. And … I crawled underneath the truck to take a look at the driver’s side front brake assembly. I reinstalled the shower head mounting bracket that had come loose a few days ago. Since we were planning to buy a new shower head I had postponed reinstalling the loose mounting bracket because I didn’t know if the new shower head would fit it.

There’s something loose or broken in the driver’s side front brake. The trip to Picacho SRA about a week and a half ago made it worse. And the trip along the Apache Trail yesterday made it worse. And I can’t find / see it ! I’m planning to have a brake inspection in Laughlin, Nevada next Monday.

We headed west on Hwy. 60 and then Hwy. 70 to Phoenix. We returned the shower head to Camping World in Mesa. We struggled through and around Phoenix and all its adjacent suburbs, large cities in their own rights, until we were at Interstate 17. We stopped to have lunch in a shopping mall parking lot then headed north on I-17. Joanne drove for awhile to give me a much needed rest.

At the town of Camp Verde on the Yavapai Apache Reservation we got off the Interstate and pulled in to Distant Drums RV Resort. We had a bit of a dispute at the registration over the Passport America rate / terms. It was easily resolved. Give me the terms published in the Passport America directory or … we’re outta here ! We got set up in a site, rested a bit, then drove over to the nearby Cliff Castle Casino. We wandered around the casino, then drove around exploring the nearby area. Back at Distant Drums RV Resort we took Bo for a walk before preparing dinner and settling in for an evening of watching TV. WOO-HOO … first time we’ve had English language TV since Christmas Eve.

Wednesday ; Red Rock State Park, Sedona, and Oak Creek Canyon Scenic Road

This morning was sunny and warm. This afternoon was cloudy and cool, with some light rain late in the afternoon.

This morning we headed over to Cliff Castle Casino for breakfast. Every Wednesday morning breakfast is free for seniors ( over 55 ). After breakfast we headed north on I-17 and Hwy. 179 to Sedona. WOW … amazing “red rocks” … red mountains ! Sedona is a very pretty tourist town. We drove through Sedona then southeast on Hwy. 89A to Red Rock State Park. We viewed some exhibits in the Visitor Center and watched a few minutes of a video in their theater. We spent some time in their Hummingbird Room where hummingbirds at a feeder can be viewed through a “one way glass” window. We went for a hike on Smoke Trail alongside Oak Creek. We had our picnic lunch at a picnic table under a ramada near the parking lot. We went for another hike on Bunkhouse Trail.

By the end of Bunkhouse Trail I was feeling … ill. Very tired and weak. Perhaps a bit of a relapse of the flu illness I had recently ? Or a side effect of an antihistamine I took this morning ? Joanne went to watch a video on hummingbirds and I went to nap in the truck.

At the Visitor Center we saw on a 3D model of the topography of the area that the Sedona airport is located on the top of a nearby mesa. We drove from Red Rock State Park back to Sedona then up to the airport. WOW ! ! ! What a vista !

We drove back down to Sedona, through town, and out to the east, still on Hwy. 89A, now the Oak Creek Canyon Scenic Road. We drove the scenic road up, up, and still more up ! We arrived at Slide Rock State Park too close to closing time to make a visit worthwhile. Too bad. Oak Creek cascades down over the flat rocks like a natural water slide. I had brought a swimming suit, but … maybe another time. We continued on Hwy. 89A until it reached Interstate 17 at Flagstaff. The elevation was about 7000 feet and the temperature was 39 degrees, more than 30 degrees colder than “home” / Camp Verde.

We drove back to Camp Verde on I-17. Before returning to Distant Drums RV Park we went into town to refill a water jug, buy some groceries at Bashas’ and refill with diesel at Maverik. When we arrived back at the trailer I discovered that the shower head mounting bracket that I reinstalled yesterday had fallen off the shower stall wall. HMPH … guess double sided Eternabond wasn’t right for the job !

Thursday ; exploring Prescott to Sedona

Today was sunny and warm, but very windy late in the afternoon. This morning before heading out for a day of exploring I reinstalled the shower head mounting bracket onto the shower stall wall. Yesterday I received an
e-mail from Riverside RV Park Resort advising me that the Keremeos Post Office was trying to reach me. I phoned them this morning. There was a problem with the batch of forwarded mail that our neighbour had mailed a few days ago. I hope the problem is now solved. With the Post Office … who can tell ? ! ?

We wanted to explore from Prescott to Sedona, including the mining ghost town of Jerome. We made a large “loop” of about 225 km. / 140 miles today. We left Distant Drums RV Park and headed south on Interstate 17, then west on Hwy. 169 and Hwy. 69 to Prescott. In the suburb of Prescott Valley I saw a Meineke Car Care Center and stopped to discuss the bad sound in the truck’s front end. We can get to where we want to go tomorrow by driving through Prescott Valley so I made an appointment for a brake and front end inspection at 11 AM tomorrow morning.

We drove north on Hwy. 89 then east on Hwy. 89A towards Jerome. We stopped on the side of the road to eat our picnic lunch. After lunch we drove up and over Mingus Mountain … 158 curves in 12 miles … to Jerome. Jerome is a mining ghost town built on the side of a steep sloped mountain. The mine has been closed for many years, but the town has reinvented itself as an artist enclave and tourist town. We parked the truck and wandered around the town sightseeing and browsing. At a shop that sells Dirt Shirts … shirts that are “dyed” with the local red dirt … I bought a Dirt Shirt that reads “I survived the Historic Hwy. 89A Mingus Mountain Road … 158 curves in 12 miles” HA HA HA … been there, done that, got the t-shirt ! ! !

From Jerome we continued east on Hwy. 89A to and through Cottonwood and on to Sedona. We spent a couple of hours in Sedona browsing through arts and crafts malls. Sedona is a very “high rent” retail area ! We drove back to Camp Verde down Hwy. 179 and Interstate 17. We refilled with diesel before returning “home” to Distant Drums.

Friday ; Camp Verde to Kingman, Arizona

Today was cloudy and cold. Between Seligman and Peach Springs, in a desert snow blizzard, the temperature got as low as 29 degrees !

We departed Distant Drums RV Resort this morning, drove south on Interstate 17 and west on Hwy. 169 and Hwy. 69 to Prescott Valley. At Meineke Car Care Center we unhitched Lanoire from Harvey and I took Lanoire in to have the bad noise in the driver’s side front brake diagnosed. Well … it didn’t take them very long to find that one of the two front brake caliper mounting bolts was missing ! I’m embarrassed that I didn’t find that myself. Evidently, the idiot who did the brake job on the truck about a year ago neglected to apply ThreadLocker to the caliper mounting bolts when reinstalling them, so one of them vibrated loose and eventually fell out ! ! ! And that idiot would be … me ! ThreadLocker on the caliper mounting bolts ? ? ? Who knew ? ! ? Meineke called a local supplier to supply a replacement bolt. The local supplier was … unsatisfactory ! Not only were they not able to supply a matching replacement bolt, their process of sending a driver down to Meineke to pick up one of the other caliper mounting bolts to use as a sample, return to their shop to look for a match, then return to Meineke took … an hour and a half ! I was really pissed off ! However, Meineke did an excellent job ! I told them not to bother calling another supplier. Just put the truck back together and I’ll be on my way. Yes, yes, with one caliper bolt missing. We pass Dodge dealers and automotive parts suppliers frequently. I’ll find a replacement bolt myself and install it myself. Under those circumstances, the charge at Meineke was … zero ! How nice ! I was quite impressed with Meineke Car Care Center and will use them again when I need vehicle maintenance services.

We left Prescott Valley and headed north on Hwy. 89. At the next town, Chino Valley, I stopped at an auto parts dealer. They didn’t have the exact right bolt, but I bought one that is a ¼ inch shorter than the original, and installed it as a temporary fix. Two dollars and thirty-four cents ! When I next see a Dodge dealer I’ll go in and buy an exact correct replacement bolt. It was a great relief to have the brake noise problem identified and fixed. Especially with the weather that we encountered later in the day.

When Hwy. 89 reached Interstate 40 we turned west for a few miles to Ash Fork, then got off the Interstate and onto historic Route 66. Joanne wanted to travel historic Route 66 from Ash Fork to Seligman, then have lunch ( an extremely late one ! ) at the famous Delgadillo’s Snow Cap Drive-In. Well … we didn’t have lunch at the Snow Cap … it’s just a take out window ! We ate our lunch in the trailer. MMMMM … one of their famous Red Chile Burgers, one of their famous Green Chile Burgers, an order of onion rings, and an order of fries. Great food !

After lunch at Seligman Joanne wanted to return to Interstate 40. I had been amused by the sequential signage by Burma Shave along Route 66 and wanted to stay on it all the way to Kingman. As we continued west on Route 66 from Seligman it began to rain and the temperature kept falling until the rain turned into light snowfall, then heavy snowfall by the time we reached Peach Springs. A desert blizzard ! ! ! I stopped to take some photos of desert plants covered in snow. The rain on the road froze, turning into black ice under blowing snow ! I shifted to 4WD and we drove very slowly. WHEW … guess we “got our kicks on Route 66” !

Shortly before reaching Kingman the snow stopped and the temperature climbed. We refilled a propane tank on the outskirts of Kingman. We found our way to Flying J to check out their diesel price and suitability for overnight boondocking. Then we drove 6 miles east on the Interstate to Love’s to do the same thing. Flying J had the better diesel price and the better parking area for boondocking RV’s, so we returned to Flying J where we spent the night.

In the last week … all in Arizona … we’ve experienced temperatures from 29 to 102 degrees !

Saturday ; Kingman, Arizona to Laughlin, Nevada

The weather today changed frequently, from sunny and warm to cold and raining, back and forth.

Last night when we pulled into the Flying J I decided I would refill with diesel in the morning before departing. Last night the price of diesel at Flying J was $4.079. This morning it was $4.119. DAMN DAMN DAMN ! ! ! I refilled with diesel and we departed, passing a number of fuel stations within the first few miles with a diesel price of $3.999. DAMN DAMN DAMN ! ! ! We travelled a few miles west on Interstate 40, a few miles north on Hwy. 93, then west on Hwy. 68 to Bullhead City on one side of the Colorado River and Laughlin, Nevada on the other side of the river. We arrived at the Riverside Hotel & Casino Resort at 10 AM. We had a coupon for a week in their RV park for $89 ! They wouldn’t let us check in to the RV park until 1 PM so we parked in the casino’s RV boondocking lot and … HUH ? ? ? We were parked right beside a … competition of some sort involving … HUH ? ? ? Model A Fords ? ! ? There was a convention at the hotel / casino of the Ford Model A & Edsel club ! The model A’s were having a … “agility” competition. HA HA HA ! They were driving their magnificently restored Model A’s onto a “balance beam”. And driving over a series of pieces of lumber, simulating an old, rough road, with a glass of water perched on their running boards. And having a wooden arrow hung on their front bumper, then driving to a dart board on the pavement about 20 feet away, and having the distance from the point of the arrow to the center of the dart board measured. HA HA HA ! We watched some of the competition, then wandered around admiring the beautifully restored Model A Fords. Two door coupes, four door sedans, and … trucks. Didn’t know there were Model A trucks !

And then … oh, my goodness … there were the Edsels. Many, many Edsels. I’ve always admired Edsels. I don’t understand why they were a flop. There were a few 57’s, quite a few 58’s and 59’s, and only two 1960 models, both of them convertibles. WOW … they were stupendous ! And two very lovely Edsel station wagons. I want an Edsel station wagon ! While we were admiring the one Edsel station wagon that was for sale … for $29,500 … it was purchased by a Canadian Snowbird returning home. HMPH … I wanted it. Joanne, on the other hand, was infatuated with the restored 1958 Ford one ton flat bed truck that the Edsel station wagon was on. The flat bed was also for sale.

And … while all this was going on, we were also watching … HUH ? ! ? A series of six World War II “War Birds” flying in formation, back and forth along the Colorado River … very, very close to the tall casino buildings all along the riverbank. They were part of the second annual Legends Over The Colorado air show today and tomorrow. Very cool ! ! !

We went into the huge casino complex and explored. Big, interesting place ! We returned to the trailer in the parking lot, had lunch, then drove across the street, back to the RV park, to check in. The RV park is huge, 742 sites, on tiered sections on the side of a mountain. We got a huge site up on the top row. As we backed into our site, the temperature plummeted, the wind began to blow, and rain began to fell. I didn’t feel like getting set up in cold rain, so I went to nap with Sully. An hour later the weather had improved … again … and we got set up in our site.

We spent the afternoon slowly getting caught up on some chores. Joanne did laundry. We planned our week in Laughlin. While in the casino before lunch we had picked up information on what’s happening in town this week, and information on meal specials at the variety of restaurants in the many casinos. Laughlin is sort of a “junior” Las Vegas, similar but smaller. And certainly a lot more RV friendly. The Riverside and the Avi both have huge RV parks. And the Riverside has a huge RV boondocking parking lot. Maybe some of the other casinos do as well.

DSK

March 27 to April 2, 2011 ; Yuma to San Carlos Apache Reservation, Arizona

Sunday ; Today was sunny and warm, a lovely day.

Yesterday we received a phone call from Crissi Rae at Bedrock Artworks, the artist that we commissioned to paint a BC / AZ scene on our trailer spare tire cover. She was almost finished our painting and it would be ready for us to pick up if we were still going to be in Yuma for a few more days. YES ! This morning we headed to Yuma Park N Swap to see if she had our painted spare tire cover in her stall at the flea market. She did. It still needs to be clear coated on Monday and then will be available for us to pick up on Tuesday. But … the scene painting is finished.

It’s gorgeous ! But … not exactly what either Joanne or I had envisioned. Crissi Rae is a “Southern Belle”, born and raised somewhere in West Virginia and now living here in the Desert Southwest. The spare tire cover was to be painted with the top half representing British Columbia and the bottom half representing Arizona. Our northern home and our southern home. Crissi Rae’s “interpretation” of what BC looks like is a bit more “wintery” than we would have liked. On the other hand, people coming into her stall and seeing the scene, which she has had on display in her shop for a few days, immediately recognize it as a scene of “Canada” and Arizona. I guess … everyone down here thinks Canada is … “snowy”. HA HA HA ! Not when we’re there !

While at the flea market we bought a case of Awesome cleaner. From Yuma Park N Swap we headed to CVS Pharmacy for a cell phone top-up and then to Fry’s for some groceries. We had lunch at Rally’s then drove to Kofa
Ko-op for another view of lot 52. We were able to gain access to see the interior of the casita / Arizona room and the storage shed / workshop.

Kofa Ko-op has a set of waiting list “rules” for people waiting for an RV ready “bare lot” and a different set of rules for people waiting for a lot with a park model / manufactured home on it. We’re on the “bare lot” waiting list. Occasionally an anomaly like lot 52 happens. It’s neither a bare lot nor does it have a manufactured home / park model on it. What it does have is a fully enclosed casita / Arizona room with an attached roof covered front patio. The casita has solid lower walls to about knee high and then screened to the roof. The Kofa Ko-op lot transfer committee is a bit perplexed about whether to apply the “bare lot” rules or the “park model” rules in determining whom to make the lot available to. It might become a bit of a negotiated compromise. We will discuss the matter further with a member of the lot transfer committee on Tuesday afternoon. After viewing the lot and what’s on it more thoroughly today we remain very interested in it. But … while Kofa Ko-op has the price established for the “bare lot”, including RV utility hookups, concrete pad, storage shed, brick fencing, pave stone patio, etc., the price of the casita / Arizona room must be separately negotiated with the current lot owner.

After returning home I did some minor truck maintenance work. I reinstalled the “Genie Carrier” propane tank and water jug carrier in the bed of the truck. It had been a victim of Friday’s back road / off road adventure. I touched up the deep, ugly scratches Joanne made on the top of the truck door when she opened it this morning and hit it against the front awning of the park model next door. I’m not pleased ! I torqued the lug nuts and reinstalled the wheel liner and hub cap on the wheel I removed from the truck to inspect the brakes yesterday. I still think there’s a new “clunk” underneath the truck on the front driver’s side that’s got me a tad concerned, but I can’t find any loose brake or suspension components.

Tonight’s movie was Dragon Heart with Dennis Quaid and dragon voice by Sean Connery. It was okay, I guess, for an adventure flick that I think was targeted at teens.

Monday ; Today was sunny and hot, and should stay that way for our remaining four days in Yuma.

Late this morning we headed out to run a couple of errands before going to Pizza Hut in The Foothills for lunch. We refilled the small propane tank for the barbecue at Fruit Growers Supply, then went to refill our two water jugs. We went to Pizza Hut for their buffet lunch. Not surprisingly, we had a discount coupon ! Lunch was … mediocre at best. But … most importantly, we had an incident ( or two ) that will result in us never returning to a Pizza Hut, anytime, anywhere. As I finished drinking my glass of Diet Pepsi, I noticed … HUH ? … a “foreign object” embedded in a piece of melting ice in my glass. It appeared to be … a tiny piece of bacon and some tomato sauce … or … some flesh and blood from somebody’s scraped knuckle ? ! ?

But that’s not really the problem. Shit happens ! I walked up to the counter and quietly and politely brought the matter to the attention of our waitress and a young man standing nearby that I assumed was the manager on duty. He completely “flubbed” the handling of the situation. He was concerned, no doubt about that, but his response was … in the parlance of Newfoundlanders … “stunned as me arse” ! He mumbled about “employees never even put their hands inside the ice machine” and “have to get a service man to clean the ice machine” as he walked away with the ice cube on a spoon. I returned to our table expecting that an apology would be forthcoming and / or perhaps a compensatory offer of “let us treat you to lunch … no charge”, but … NOOOOO ! ! ! And … to add insult to injury, when I walked up to the counter and asked for a small glass of water, no ice, and a spoon, for my medication, the young lady gave me a small glass of water, picked up a spoon, looked at it, frowned, wiped it off with her bare thumb, then handed it to me with a smile. YOU MORONIC BIMBO ! ! !

Bonsoir la visite, Pizza Hut ! ! !

Back at home I did some work on the trailer’s spare tire cover retaining ring to reduce the likelihood of it scratching the beautifully painted spare tire cover we will be picking up tomorrow. I lubricated the weatherstripping around the trailer’s slides with silicone lubricant spray in preparation for travel. The rubber was very dry and coated with an almost invisible layer of very fine desert sand dust. Joanne went Wal-Martin’.

One of the two refilled water jugs had fallen over and was leaning against the back door of the truck. When Joanne opened the door the water jug fell out ! And exploded like a bomb on the driveway. Joanne was not pleased !

Tonight’s movie was Independence Day. Oh … < tongue in cheek & rolling eyes > … Brilliant ! The President of the United States and the drunken crop duster pilot take to the skies in fighter jets to defeat the aliens and save the world ! What can I say ? ! ?

Tuesday ; This morning we headed over to Mesa Verde RV Park to pick up our painted spare tire cover at the home of Crissi Rae, the artist. It’s really nice ! From there we headed to Sears where I needed to exchange a broken screwdriver for a new one. Sears Craftsman tools are guaranteed for life.

Around lunch time we headed for the home of our friends Lynn and Micha in The Foothills community on the east side of Yuma. They treated us to a lovely home made lunch, then we spent the rest of the afternoon chatting. We chatted a lot about Canada’s universal health care system, a topic of interest to many Americans during this time of ObamaCare health care reform. The essence of Canada’s universal health care system is not well understood by most Americans. Bo and Gypsy enjoyed visiting as well.

Late in the afternoon we left Lynn’s and Micha’s and drove over to Kofa
Ko-op for a brief meeting with a member of the lot transfer committee. The lot transfer committee had their last meeting of this winter season today. And we had asked them to clarify whether or not lot 52 would be “processed” as a “bare lot” or not, and consequently are we eligible to acquire lot 52 or not. To make a long, complicated story short, we have been given permission by the lot transfer committee to enter into negotiations with the current owner of lot 52 over his asking price for the Arizona room structure on the lot. If we can reach a deal with him on the price of the Arizona room, we can purchase lot 52 ! YIPPEE ! ! ! I am confident that we will be able to negotiate a deal ! And so … we would conclude the transaction and become the owners of lot 52 when the lot transfer committee resumes their work next November. We spent an hour or so taking measurements on lot 52.

Tonight’s movie was Thirteen Days, a dramatization of the story of the October 1962 Cuban missile crisis. Very interesting.

Wednesday ; WHEW … long, hot day at the fair today, temperature well into the 90’s !

This morning we installed the newly painted tire cover on the trailer’s spare tire. It looks great ! I did the 162,000 km. inspection on Lanoire. Well done, old girl ! I went to the Rancho Bonitos office and paid our electricity bill. I cleaned the barbecue in preparation for travel. Yuck !

After an early lunch we headed to Kofa Ko-op to pick up our friend Eilene and head for the Yuma County Fair. We’ve never been to the Yuma County Fair before. And we were quite surprised at how large it was. I thought we’d arrive about 1:30 PM ( we did ) and be home by supper time ( we weren’t ). The Yuma County Fair was every bit as large … and interesting … as the Riverside County Fair / Indio Date Festival in Palm Springs a couple of months ago. Around 6 PM we had seen most of what we wanted to see and had to decide whether to leave … or stay for the 7 PM Demolition Derby. HA HA HA … the Demolition Derby won ! We had not seen a Demolition Derby since the Navan Fair when we lived near Ottawa.

The Demolition Derby was preceded by an unusual “warm up” act. A local crane company used one of their large cranes to lift an old Cadillac high up into the air … with a company executive in the driver’s seat … and then dropped it onto an old Class A motorhome. HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA ! Joanne and Eilene didn’t “get it”. HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA … of course not, it’s a guy thing ! ! ! HA HA HA HA HA !

By the time the Demolition Derby was over and we left the fair grounds it was after 8 PM. We went to KFC for a late dinner, drove Eilene home to Kofa Ko-op, then returned home around 9:30 PM to an unhappy Bo and Sully. We hadn’t expected to be gone that long … AND … we didn’t leave any lights on for them. Sorry, fellas !

Thursday ; Today’s temperature was 99 degrees ! ! ! Time to head north, n’est-ce-pas ?

This morning I discovered that the trailer’s fifth wheel hitch Teflon lube plate was missing. DARN ! When and how did that happen ? After lunch I took Bo for a drivey and headed out to RV Connection to buy a new hitch Teflon lube plate. While I was out I refilled Lanoire with diesel at Barney’s.

After I returned home Joanne took the truck and went shopping. I did some online work. When she returned home we went to the swimming pool for the rest of the hot afternoon. AHHHHH ! As the sun set we took Bo for his daily long walk.

During our three months here at Rancho Bonitos we have only been able to receive some Spanish language TV stations on the trailer’s “free over the air” antenna. So … we have watched many movies from the park’s library, probably three or four per week. The park’s rather extensive library of VCR tapes all seem to be 15 or more years old. And almost all are crappy ! Finally, on our last night here, we selected a movie that turned out to be pretty good. Three Kings. !999. George Clooney. A bittersweet comedy drama about the end of the Desert Storm Gulf War, the U.S. war with Iraq in Kuwait in 1991.

Friday ; Yuma to Eloy, Arizona

102 degrees ! ! !

We bought Kofa Ko-op lot 52 ! ! !

Whew ! Still hot at 8 PM in the Flying J parking lot at Eloy.

This morning we prepared for departure from Rancho Bonitos, and headed over to Kofa Ko-op to see how our trailer fit on lot 52. Perfect ! We phoned the current owner, who wasn’t home ( in Washington, near Seattle ), and left a message. Darn !

We left Kofa Ko-op and Yuma, heading east on Interstate 8. As we pulled out of Yuma around 11:30 AM the temperature was 95 degrees. About an hour and a half later … WOO-HOO … we arrived at Dateland, Arizona ! ! ! We ate lunch in the trailer then went into Dateland Travel Center to buy dates and date shakes. We had the date shakes for dessert as we drove.
WOO-HOO, WOO-HOO, WOO-HOO. The only thing that Bo loves more than date shakes is date shakes and drivey at the same time ! HA HA HA ! Pulling out of Dateland around 2 PM the temperature was 101 degrees and as we drove east towards Casa Grande it briefly reached 102.

The Kofa Ko-op lot 52 current owner returned our phone call as we were driving. We told him we would call him back as soon as we reached the next roadside rest area. At the next rest area I phoned him, we negotiated for 20 minutes, and … a deal was struck ! Congratulations, Daniel … well done ! ! ! We are very excited about buying this lot !

We continued eastbound on I-8, being indecisive about where to stop for the night. We finally decided on the Flying J on Interstate 10 at Eloy just after Interstate 8 merged with Interstate 10. We pulled into the Flying J, filled up with diesel ( almost 4 bucks a gallon ! ! ! ), then went over and parked at the far end of the parking lot beside another RV. In the other RV was a couple from Saskatchewan and we ended up chatting with them for quite awhile before going inside our trailer to have supper. It was cool ( literally and figuratively ) visiting with them in the rear of their “toy hauler” rig with the drop down tailgate lowered.

After supper I drafted a “sale and purchase agreement” document for lot 52.

Saturday ; Eloy to San Carlos Apache Reservation, Arizona

Today was sunny and hot, but much less so than in the last few days, temperature in the high 80’s.

We didn’t get much sleep last night. The Flying J in Eloy was busy and noisy, especially since we had all the windows open. All of us, animals included, were tired today. Before departing the Flying J this morning I made some phone calls regarding the purchase of lot 52. We left the Flying J and headed north on Hwy. 87 to Coolidge, then east on Hwy. 287 to Florence, north on Hwy. 79 to Florence Junction, east on Hwy. 60 to Globe, and finally east on Hwy. 70 to Apache Gold Casino & RV Resort on the San Carlos Apache Reservation. We had started so early that we arrived by noon.

After an early lunch I napped with Sully. He was very happy. He seems to be of the opinion that I have not been having afternoon naps with him frequently enough lately. Afterwards I did some minor maintenance, an almost daily
by-product of travelling. I did quite a bit of online work. I downloaded and processed the photos I took over the last couple of days. When Bo thought it was time for his daily long walk, we walked over towards the rodeo grounds on the other side of the casino. We found that there was a high school rodeo going on today and tomorrow. We took Bo back to the trailer in the RV park, then Joanne and I went back to the rodeo stadium to watch junior high and senior high school girls’ barrel racing. Best barrel racing time was 16.65 ! ! ! WOW … fast little cowgirls ! High 17’s, sometimes even low 18’s wins it at the Keremeos Rodeo. I’d like to return tomorrow morning before we go to Boyce Thompson Arboretum to see the “weave pole” competition. There’s some other rodeo name for “weave poles” which is a dog agility term, but I can’t remember the rodeo name for it.

One of the main reasons we wanted to stay here was that after we stayed here last year they sent us a voucher for two free dinners in the buffet restaurant. We wanted to celebrate our lot 52 purchase with a nice dinner tonight. They refused to honour the voucher, claiming that it was an expired promotion, despite there being no expiry date on the voucher. Refusing to honour the voucher was a really stupid and short term mentality decision for the casino to make. We ate our celebratory dinner in the Wickiup Buffet nevertheless. I hope they cherish the twenty-two bucks they got out of my wallet because it’s the last time they’ll see any of my money !

DSK

March 20 to 26, 2011

Sunday ; Today was overcast, warm, but windy. Because of the wind we decided to postpone our outing planned for today to the local camel farm. We’d rather go on a day with nicer weather. Plus … I was feeling quite ill for most of today with a colitis fare up that began yesterday. I spent most of the afternoon in bed cuddled with Sully. Sully would be most happy if someone was available to cuddle with him in bed 24 hours a day.


Late in the afternoon while Joanne baked cookies I watched a movie. An action adventure flick … < rolling eyes > … Passenger 57. In the evening we watched Three Men and a Baby. Hey … Joanne’s choice, not mine !

Monday ; WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ? ! ? I was horribly sick overnight ! And it wasn’t simply an ulcerative colitis flare up as I first thought. Nor was it a food poisoning illness.

I think it’s a flu type illness that has been making the rounds here. At Kofa
Ko-op so many people were stricken with this flu in the past month or so that they named it the Kofa Krud. And many people here at Rancho Bonitos have been ill recently also.

I had been feeling unwell for two days already. At bedtime last night I was stricken with dizziness and nausea that made it impossible to continue reading a book in bed. So … I put the book down and tried to go to sleep. The dizziness became worse. A lot worse. I couldn’t move. Moving caused severe vertigo. And nausea. I fell asleep and woke up frequently because of the dizziness and nausea. Finally, my stomach began to heave. Fortunately Joanne had brought me a pail and left it at the foot of the bed.. I have never had such violent retching. And it went on and on and on. And that process repeated itself five times throughout the night ! ! ! The dizziness was blinding. And the vomiting and retching injured my throat and larynx. I have a sore throat and laryngitis today.

The violent vomiting and retching ended around 5 AM. I fell asleep and slept very fitfully for about 11 hours. Every time I moved I woke up with dizziness and nausea. At 4 PM Joanne decided she couldn’t sit around and babysit me anymore, she had to go run some errands. I decided to try to get up and get cleaned up a bit. I was able to achieve that, but I could only move slowly. My stomach was still very queasy, and moving at a pace faster than “slow motion” caused dizziness. It’s now 6 PM, Joanne has just returned home, I’m feeling worse and I’m returning to bed.

Goodnight !

Tuesday ; Well, I slept from 6 PM last night until noon today, got up, ate a soft boiled egg, and went back to sleep for the afternoon. It’s now 6 PM and I’m not feeling much better yet ! I still have frequent and sometimes severe bouts of dizziness. My stomach is still queasy, particularly when I’m dizzy. My stomach muscles are sore from the retching of two nights ago. I’m tired, I’m weak … I’m sick !

Joanne phoned our friends Lynn and Micha to cancel our planned lunch together tomorrow.

Determined to stop succumbing to this illness, I vowed to stay up for the evening. I ate a bit of pasta and we watched a movie. SEABISCUIT. Good movie. Made me dizzy. HA HA HA !

Wednesday ; Well … I don’t think “feeling better” is exactly the right term. Maybe more like “less sick” ! I spent less time in bed today. I joined Joanne and Bo on a very slow walk. It was a perfect “June 18” weather type of day. And the scent of lemon blossoms is in the air. AHHHHH … how fragrant. One of the nicest things about Yuma is the scent of lemon blossoms in the spring.

Tonight’s movie was Stage Door Canteen. 1943. Black and white. Jingoism at its finest !

Thursday ; Well … I’m still sick, although less so, I guess. Today was sunny and warm. This morning I puttered around outdoors hoping that some fresh air and sunlight would hasten me feeling better. I suppose it did.

After lunch I wanted to go to Bark Park, so … off we went. We stopped at Liquidation World to check their price on Awesome cleaner … we want to buy a case before we leave Yuma in a week … refilled with diesel at Barney’s, then went to Bark Park. We wandered around the park for awhile, Joanne and me enjoying sunshine and fresh air, Bo enjoying romping with other dogs. I was able to watch some World War II “War Birds” approach and land at Yuma Airport. They’re coming in for the air show this weekend. After Bark Park we went to Albertsons for some groceries, then over to Kofa Ko-op to check our position on the lot waiting list.

We are still number 10 on the list, unchanged from a couple of weeks ago. But … there is a lot available that we think might become available to us even though we’re still that high on the list. The lot has a screened room structure on it that makes it unsuitable for any rig with a slide on the passenger side. Many newer rigs have slides on both sides. Our older trailer only has slides on the driver’s side, so would fit on that lot. We viewed the lot briefly and decided that if it were to be offered to us we would take it. We actually quite liked it ! And we suppose it is remotely possible that numbers 1 through 9 on the waiting list would decline to accept the lot. In any case, since no lot transfers take place from April 1 to November 1, it wouldn’t happen until next fall, but … better to be ready than not !

1972. Paul Newman. Lee Marvin. Pocket Money. Crappy movie !

By the end of the day, I could say … yes, yes, I was feeling better !

Friday ; Today was sunny and warm, but windy. And yes, I woke up feeling healthy for the first time in about a week. A little weak, perhaps, but healthy.

This morning we went to Arizona Market Place looking for bargains. This will be the last weekend for some vendors, and the second last weekend for most vendors. In previous years most vendors marked their merchandise down by 50% on the last weekend. But … apparently not this year. We think most vendors have been hurt by new admission fees charged to the shoppers and increases in rent imposed by the new landlord. So there were no bargains to be had today. We still need a case of Awesome.

We returned home, packed a picnic lunch and headed off for a “back roads adventure” in Picacho State Recreation Area. Picacho SRA is about 25 miles northwest of Yuma, on the banks of the Colorado River, on the
west / California side of the river. The entrance road is 18 miles of very rough gravel, pretty much a four wheel drive trail through the desert. The scenery is rough, rugged, “cowboy movie” terrain. The Ocotillo and Prickly Pear are in bloom. We drove to the end of the road, had a picnic lunch at the park’s boat launch on the Colorado River, drove around the campground to take a look, then headed back … for date shakes. On our way to Picacho SRA, when we had turned off the highway, Bo recognized where we were and thought we were headed to Bard, California. WOO-HOO … DATE SHAKES ! HA HA HA … what a funny little dog. He became confused when we didn’t follow our regular date shake route to Sun Gardens Date Farm. That was because … Bo … we were going to have date shakes after Picacho SRA. WOO-HOO ! ! ! We think date shakes are his favourite treat.

After date shakes we returned home to Rancho Bonitos. I needed a nap. I’m feeling a bit run down after being so sick. Joanne ‘California Duster’ed the truck exterior and did some laundry while I napped, then we took Bo for his daily long walk. That really tired me out !

Tonight’s movie was G.I.Jane with Demi Moore. It was okay. I remain unimpressed with the … I typed it, read it, then decided to censor myself in the interests of international diplomacy.

Saturday ; Today was sunny and warm. Our plans for today included attending the Marine Corps Air Station annual air show. Those plans changed.

This morning we headed out to the Goodwill Thrift Shop. Today was a 50% off everything sale. And the store was very crowded and busy today. When we were there browsing a week ago there were some clothing items I was interested in and was hoping to get them today but they were gone. But … I did find a brand new shirt with a $50 price tag on it that fit and interested me. I bought it … for $2.50 !

From there we were going to head to the air show but … the line up of cars waiting for entry to the Marine air base grounds was miles long ! I didn’t want to see an air show badly enough to tolerate being in a vehicle line up for an hour or two to gain entrance. So … we headed to Kofa Ko-op to take another look at lot 52. It’s growing on us, and we’re slightly hopeful that it might be turned down by the people on the wait list ahead of us.

As were driving around today I thought I detected a new sound in the driver’s side front wheel. I was worried that yesterday’s back road / off road adventure may have knocked a brake component loose … or something.
I wanted to remove the front wheel and inspect the brake assembly. When we got back home to Rancho Bonitos that’s what I did. What a tough and filthy job it was to remove the front wheel and inspect the brake assembly and components. I couldn’t find anything wrong. Perhaps the new sound is wheel bearing wear and tear ?

We found out yesterday that Canada’s federal government has been defeated by the opposition and so an election is required. Today I went online to do some research on obtaining jobs on election day, as we did for the BC provincial election in 2009. But … when I went online I discovered that the election has been called for May 2 ! We thought that the election would be much later than that, perhaps even in June. We discussed whether or not we wanted to return home earlier than planned so that we could get election day jobs. We decided … NO !

Tonight’s movie was CREATOR. 1985. Peter O’Toole. Mariel Hemingway.
I never have been a fan of Peter O’Toole, nor of Mariel Hemingway’s eyebrows. HA HA HA !

DSK

March 13 to 19, 2011

Sunday ; WHEW … hot ! How the hell do people survive summer in Yuma ? ! ?

This morning we headed out to Yuma Park N Swap / Dog Track Flea Market / Swap Meet Los Perros. Joanne bought some produce, but not specifically what we were looking for. It should be artichoke season by now, but none of the produce vendors have artichokes. They’re available in the grocery stores, but they’re not great, and they’re expensive. DARN ! Last year at this time we were buying enormous fresh artichokes for a buck apiece. I bought some socks, and checked the price of Awesome cleaner by the case. We’re going to buy a case of 12 bottles before we leave here, and use it next summer to clean the exterior of the trailer.

From Park N Swap we headed over to Lettuce Days … again. Today was the final day and Joanne wanted to have lunch at “The World’s Longest Salad Bar”. Well … that’s how they billed it in the past, although they didn’t call it that this year. We each had an enormous salad for lunch, then wandered around viewing some exhibits that weren’t there on Friday. Today there were some ice sculptors, a chocolatière decorating chocolate coated strawberries … then passing them out to the crowd to sample … MMMMM, they were good … and a chef carving extremely artistic decorative fruit and vegetable displays. We bought more produce at the on site farmer’s market. We got more freebies from Dole and Tanimura & Antle.

From Lettuce Days we went to Fry’s for some groceries, Wally’s World to buy a particular size and type of bungee cord we need and order two new batteries for the truck, Barney’s to refill with diesel ( YIKES ! ), and finally, refill a water jug before heading home.

I did a minor maintenance project on the stained glass window in the door of the trailer. We headed for the swimming pool. AHHHHH ! ! ! We took Bo for his daily long walk. I sat outside and read the Sunday newspaper while I barbecued pollo asado for supper.

Tonight’s movie was Deuce Bigelow Male Gigolo. It was okay … we thought the last few minutes were quite funny.

Monday ; Today was sunny and hot again.

The hot weather is causing us to have some waste holding tank odour problems. That’s an uncommon problem for us. And because it is, I rarely use RV waste holding tank deodorizer products. But … I need to use some now. I deodorized both of our grey waste holding tanks this morning. We took Bo for an obedience session. A short one due to the hot weather.

I went to run some nearby errands this morning. I took Bo along so he could have a “drivey”. And … since Joanne wasn’t along … < whispering > … you know …a “hangey drivey” … head out the window ! HA HA HA ! I drove to Kofa Ko-op so I could drop some unwanted articles on the bargain table and check the lot waiting list. WOO-HOO … we moved three positions and are now number 10 ! From Kofa Ko-op I drove to Peanut Patch to stock up on peanut butter for the summer. They were sold out of what I wanted … dry roasted, salted, in two pound tubs … but had me wait ten minutes while they ground six pounds fresh for me. MMMMM ! ! !

This afternoon we went for another drivey … Joanne included … to Wally’s World to pick up the two new batteries for the truck that I ordered yesterday. Very expensive batteries ! While at Wally’s World I picked up a BOGO coupon for date shakes at a farm we had not been to before, and decided on impulse to go for date shakes. WOO-HOO … no objections from either Joanne or Bo. HA HA HA ! We drove east then north on Hwy. 95 a few miles out of the city to a farm market called From Farm & Afar. Their date shakes were good. Then again … I guess I’ve never met a date shake I didn’t like. HA HA HA ! From Farm & Afar had just received, about an hour earlier, a box of fresh artichokes. WOO-HOO … finally, artichokes are arriving. We bought one.

From “From Farm & Afar” we drove down some dusty trails into the desert to see a nearby large, abandoned bridge. I think it was a railway bridge. We drove under it … in the dry arroyo that it crossed … and drove across the desert for a few miles just exploring. I looped around and eventually got back to Hwy. 95 where … I had difficulty getting back onto the highway. The traffic coming from the left / north was bumper to bumper. HUH ? ? ? Must have been just past quitting time at Yuma Proving Grounds 14 miles to the north. Didn’t know there was a “rush hour” on Hwy. 95 coming back into Yuma between 4:30 and 5 PM. Must be a similar rush hour in the morning going out of the city. We detoured again on another little adventure to go see Yuma Lakes, an RV park beside the Colorado River about six miles out of the city where friends of ours recently bought a lot. We toured and viewed Yuma Lakes then returned home to Rancho Bonitos.

Tonight’s movie was Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Well … I suppose we’ve seen worse movies than that !

Tuesday ; Another sunny hot day ! I spent most of the morning removing the two old batteries from the truck and replacing them with the two new batteries I bought yesterday. Might be the first and last time I change the truck’s batteries since the factory original batteries lasted almost six years and the new ones I just bought have a seven year warranty, so they should be expected to last that long. Good thing, ‘cause changing Lanoire’s batteries ain’t that easy !

This afternoon Joanne went out to run errands. I inventoried all of my ( and Sully’s ) medications to determine if I need to buy any in Mexico before we leave here in a couple of weeks. Tomorrow might be our last trip into Mexico this winter season. Get the permanent crown installed, get a $3 haircut, buy some Nugs Crujientes, then Hasta La Vista, Los Algodones !

We’ve been spending more time each day at the pool since the weather has become hot. After floating around and cooling off this afternoon we took Bo for his daily long walk. Then we picked some grapefruits for me to squeeze for fresh juice. The citrus fruit season is almost over. There’s not very much good fruit left on the trees, so I might as well take advantage of what there is.

Last Wednesday I initiated some Canadian dollar investment trades for U.S. dollar investments. Those trades “settled” ( were completed ) today, at last Thursday’s Canadian dollar to U.S. Dollar exchange rate, which is already very favourable because of what the problems of the last few days in Japan have done to the stock markets.

After supper we watched the last of our collection of VCR tapes of all four seasons of the BBC comedy series Blackadder. Very funny … very British. I’m a big fan of Rowan Atkinson. I squeezed a quart of fresh grapefruit juice. HMMMMM … I must be getting better. It only took me seven grapefruits to make a quart.

Wednesday ; WHEW … 93 degrees ! Way too hot to be standing in line for an hour at the border ! ! !

Today was my eighth and final trip to the dentist this winter season. I’ve never required that much dental work in one season before. I’m really glad that it’s finally over. This morning we got up early to head to Mexico for my appointment to have a temporary crown removed and replaced with a permanent one. The permanent crown didn’t seem to fit perfectly right off, and Dr. Camacho fussed and fiddled with it until it fit perfectly and comfortably before cementing / gluing it permanently into place. I was in the dental chair for 50 minutes today. My total expenditures on dental and periodontal work this winter were $1055 for work that would have cost in excess of $6000 in Canada or the United States.

After finishing at the dentist I went for a haircut and beard trim. Excellent work, three dollars ! While I was getting my haircut Joanne went to buy some vanilla and found …. Mennen hypoallergenic anti-perspirant / deodorant for men. Until recently I had been using a Mennen “sensitive skin” anti-perspirant / deodorant. It’s been discontinued and there’s no reasonable substitute. Until Joanne found this similar product … manufactured by Colgate Palmolive for the Mexico and Central America markets. Great … now I have to add deodorant to my “must buy in Mexico” shopping list.

We went for lunch to El Paraiso, one of the nicer restaurants in Los Algodones, and for many years our favourite “real” restaurant in Los Algodones. As opposed to the little “Mom & Pop” taco stand type of place we’ve become quite fond of over the last few years. We had a very nice lunch at El Paraiso, as always. And … I had a coupon for a free margarita ! The line up to cross back into the United States was the longest we’ve experienced this winter. But what was a three hour long line up in past years was only an hour long today.

On the way home we stopped at PetsMart to stock up on Glucosamine treats for Sully. Back at home I napped briefly before we headed for the swimming pool where we spent the rest of the hot afternoon. AHHHHH ! ! ! After it cooled down a bit we took Bo for his daily long walk.

Tonight’s movie was Rounders with Matt Damon. It was good.

Thursday ; St. Patrick's Day ; Today was sunny and hot, but less so than yesterday. Temperature in the mid-80’s. It’s forecast to cool down over the next week or so.

This morning, before it got too hot, Joanne defrosted the fridge, the first time she’s defrosted our three month old fridge. And it needed hardly any defrosting. It has a self-defrost feature whereby it turns itself off for 15 minutes every 23 hours, or 25 hours, or something like that. I returned the truck’s old batteries … the “cores” … to the dealer where I bought the new batteries a few days ago. Bo enjoyed going for a drivey.

Like most of our afternoons lately, we spent time in the swimming pool cooling off before taking Bo for his daily long walk. We had the pool to ourselves. Everybody else was at the park’s St. Patrick’s Day dinner. Joanne made us a corned beef dinner for St. Patrick’s Day.

Tonight’s movie was The Life Of David Gale with Kevin Spacey and Kate Winslet. WOW … pretty powerful stuff !

Friday ; Today was sunny and hot, but cooler than the past few days. We had a very lazy day today. Joanne wasn’t feeling well. She spent half the afternoon sitting outside and half the afternoon napping. She seemed to feel a bit better after that. I did some online work and read and napped. We walked the dog. We went out for supper to Famous Dave’s Barbecue. We had a coupon for a free appetizer and another one for a free dessert. OOOOO … a shared appetizer, an entrée apiece, and a shared dessert is too much ! Other than feeling bloated, supper was great, as it always is at Famous Dave’s.

Saturday ; Today was sunny and very warm. I did not feel well all day today. Something about last night’s supper did not agree with me !

This afternoon we went thrift store browsing, then grocery shopping. Bo was very excited to go drivey today. And became especially excited when we drove alongside friends of ours / his from Kofa Ko-op. After returning home Joanne did some housecleaning while I removed and replaced the pinstriping from one of the truck’s doors.

Tonight’s movie was A Night At The Roxbury. I’m not a fan of Will Ferrell but this movie was amusing.

DSK

March 6 to 12, 2011

Sunday ; Today was sunny and very warm.

Since we had been planning to attend Midnight At The Oasis yesterday but went to the Strong Hearts PowWow instead, it was our plan to go to Midnight At The Oasis today to view the exhibition of hundreds of classic cars. But … we didn’t go. I discovered that the bottom of the pass through storage compartment of the trailer was wet. Uh-oh … a leak somewhere. And finding a leak in an RV plumbing system is usually not all that easy ! Joanne emptied out the storage compartment, in itself a difficult job. The wetness seemed to be fresh water, not waste water. Okay … first clue. I checked as much of the fresh water supply plumbing lines as I could, and didn’t find any leaks. I removed a small section of panel to peek into a hidden compartment where the fresh water tank is located. No leak was obvious. < sigh > Okay … this is obviously going to be a tough one to find, let alone solve. We keep the fresh water tank full, so I felt that the first step would be to empty the fresh water holding tank, and see if the wetness in the storage compartment dries out within a few days. If so, the fresh water tank is the source of the leak, although that still leaves a lot of different possibilities. I drained the fresh water tank.

Joanne went shopping. I downloaded and processed photos I took yesterday at the Strong Hearts PowWow. I did a lot of online work. When Joanne returned we went to the swimming pool and hot tub, then took Bo for a long walk. Joanne may have found a clue to lead me to the source of the leak !

Monday ; Today was sunny, very warm and very windy.

This morning we headed for Bark Park where we were to meet our friends Lynn and Micha and their dog Gypsy. We spent about an hour wandering around Bark Park chatting with Lynn and Micha while Bo and Gypsy romped and played, by themselves and with many other dogs.

This afternoon I continued working on trying to identify the source of the water leak in the pass through storage compartment. Today I was able to ascertain that the two plumbing lines between the black tank flusher inlet and the ( sewage waste holding ) black tank were not the source of the problem. HMPH ! That’s where I expected to find the problem ! Tomorrow I will refill the fresh water holding tank and attempt to determine if that’s where the problem is. I did some online work. I reviewed the rules, regulations, and bylaws documents of Kofa Ko-op. We are now “low” enough on the waiting list that these documents were recently made available to us for review. There was nothing in those documents that surprised or concerned me. We are eager to become “lot owners” at Kofa Ko-op. We expect that will happen before the end of 2011.

In the evening I did monthly computer maintenance ; scans and backups. We watched VCR tape 1 of a 2 tape movie ; Casino. Okay so far !

Tuesday ; MARDI GRAS ; Today was sunny, very warm, and a bit windy.

After lunch Joanne went grocery shopping. I continued to work on identifying the source of the water leak in the pass through storage compartment. I still could not find it. I refilled the fresh water holding tank. No leak was immediately obvious. Maybe tomorrow ! It’s remotely possible, I suppose, that the “leak” was simply a “bleeding” of excess pressure inside an overfilled fresh water tank. It wasn’t overfilled when I filled it a couple of months ago, but as the weather warmed up, perhaps the water inside the extremely full tank expanded until it found some way to leak out a bit ? I am reluctant to accept that explanation, but if I can’t find any other … ? ? ?
I won’t give up looking just yet.

In the batch of mail forwarded from home that we received last week was the last of my investment year end statements. This afternoon I finished reconciling and analyzing them, and did some long term financial planning. After Joanne returned from shopping we took Bo for a long walk, then I took Sully for a short walk. He likes going outside every day or two when the weather is nice, which down here is pretty much all the time.

Tonight we watched the rest of the movie “Casino”. It was okay … a bit violent.

Wednesday ; Today was sunny and hot. And forecast to get hotter over the next few days. Okay by me !

Once again we were up early this morning to head to Mexico for another dental appointment for me, my second last trip to the dentist for this winter season …we hope ! The plan for today was for Dr. Camacho to remove an old crown from a lower back molar, and replace it with a temporary crown. Next week that will be replaced with a new permanent crown. Today’s work became considerably more complicated than either Dr. Camacho or I had expected, and it took 2¼ hours ! About 21 years ago I broke a tooth while skiing in Switzerland. I had a crown put on that broken tooth. It has recently contributed to my gum problems and so it needed to be removed and replaced. Removing a well installed crown is … well … difficult. It took a lot of cutting and grinding for Dr. Camacho to be able to get it off. And underneath it, in the broken tooth stump, he discovered … a silver filling … about 50 years old. He immediately wanted that removed. As I recall, silver fillings pose some manner of mercury poisoning risk. While drilling that old silver filling out … PEEEEEUUUUUWWWWW ! A horrible stench arose. Underneath the old silver filling was … a lot of decay. Years’ worth ? Decades’ worth ? ! ? So … a lot more drilling, until all the old silver filling and all the old decay were gone. It was very close to requiring a root canal, but Dr. Camacho felt that, while a root canal could be done if I wanted, it wasn’t absolutely necessary. He felt that he had “saved the tooth”, and the broken tooth stump, now with a lot of drilling in it, could be filled in preparation for installing a new crown over it. Okay … let’s go ! Lots of filling, and other preparation, then the installation of a temporary crown. While I was having my dental work done Joanne went shopping for some of our “must buy before leaving Mexico” items.

The line up at the border to cross back into the U.S. was the longest yet this season. Many other “winter visitors” are preparing to return home soon, so like us they’re down in Los Algodones doing their “must buy before leaving Mexico” shopping. But even a very long line up is only an hour long this year, as opposed to 2½ hours in previous years. By the time we got back across the border the anaesthetic / freezing was coming out and my mouth hurt ! On the way home we stopped at Burger King for a very late lunch. When we got home I took a couple of painkillers and napped briefly.

We spent the late part of the afternoon in the swimming pool. We took Bo for a walk. I took Sully for a walk. I wasn’t able to eat supper as Joanne prepared it. Darn … my ability to eat normally is impaired again … for at least the next week while I have this temporary crown < sigh >.

Thursday ; WHEW … today was hot !

This afternoon while Joanne went to run some errands I polished shoes. Then I did more work on year end investments analysis and long term planning. I decided yesterday that I should immediately buy about another $10,000 worth of U.S. dollar investments given the very favourable Canadian dollar to U.S. dollar exchange rate. When Joanne got home we went to the swimming pool. AHHHHH ! Intense desert sun, temperature in the high 80’s ! After relaxing in the pool we took Bo for his daily long walk. After supper, after it had cooled down a bit, we gave him a bath.

Tonight’s movie was “Nutty Professor II The Klumps”. It was okay. I’m not really a big fan of Eddie Murphy. Joanne thought it was a bit heavy on toilet humour.

Friday ; WHEW … another sunny, hot day, temperature high in the 80’s.

Today was the first day of the “new and improved” version of Yuma’s annual Lettuce Days festival. New venue, new program of events, and reintroduction of the very popular “farm tours”. We have previously attended Lettuce Days, and were eager to once again be able to go on one of the “farm tours”. As in previous years, the farm tours were to be conducted on an hourly basis throughout the day, today and tomorrow, but not on Sunday, the last day of Lettuce Days. The one hour “farm tours” are conducted by local agricultural students, on chartered buses driving around the Yuma farming area. We are not able to attend tomorrow, so today was our only opportunity. We arrived right at noon, the “gate opening” time. HUH ? The place was packed with hundreds and hundreds of people ! Some were already leaving ! HUH ? ! ? How early did they open the gates if people are already leaving at gate opening time ? We headed straight for the event tent to sign up for one of today’s three bus tours ; 12:30, 1:30, 2:30 PM. We arrived at the event tent at 12:05 PM, five minutes after the official gate opening time, to discover that all three of today’s farm tours by bus were sold out ! We, and a lot of other people, were really pissed off ! Because of the “hot weather”, the gates were opened early because people were lined up outside the gates, and by the official opening time, the farm tours were all sold out ! ! !

We wandered around the various exhibits. We got a free sample of “artisan lettuce” by one of the local large farm exhibitors. It’s a large package of the multi-coloured lettuce we saw growing in some local fields recently. It’s very … pretty … colourful ! We went to the small farmer’s market and bought some lovely fresh produce ; Baby Spinach, brussel sprouts, asparagus tips, strawberries. Back at the exhibitors’ displays we bought some freshly made specialty pastas. We attended one of the large cooking exhibitions. The chef was from the Quechan Casino. He prepared a fresh citrus vinaigrette dressing and candied pecans, then a salad with fresh baby greens, feta cheese, strawberries, the candied pecans, and his fresh vinaigrette dressing. When he was done we were able to get a small bowl of it to sample. MMMMM … very good. Joanne wants to try making her own fresh vinaigrette dressing. One of the largest producers in the Yuma area is Dole. At their booth we got some samples of their products, and we were in the right place at the right time to receive a couple of small “free gifts”. HMMM … nice manicure kits with the Dole name imprinted on the case. Thank you, Dole.

We were hungry, and it was just about time for a very late lunch. The price of foods at the various food vendors seemed a bit outrageous, so we left, and headed to Burger King for a very late lunch before heading home.

Today and tomorrow were the Rancho Bonitos “yard sale” days. Today from 2 PM to 4 PM for park residents, and tomorrow open to the public. We decided to go the “yard sale” as soon as we arrived home. We arrived at the clubhouse at 3:25 PM. They were just “closing”. It was “too hot” to stay open any longer, and if we wanted anything, we could come back tomorrow at 7 AM ! Well … not ****ing likely ! ! ! And that kind of b******t has been typical throughout our three month stay in this park. And is a large part of why we don’t like this park ! And so … as if to add insult to injury, we changed into swim suits and headed for the swimming pool … only to discover that it had just been “closed for maintenance” by some of the same people that had closed the yard sale early and now they had some time to do some minor maintenance on the pool ! ! ! On the hottest afternoon of the year so far ! We’re looking forward to leaving this park in three weeks and not looking back !

After it cooled down a bit we took Bo for his daily long walk. One of the farm fields adjacent to this RV park had been prepared today for sheep to be grazed on it. The field is … timothy, I think. Some kind of grazing crop ! And … as we have seen on other nearby fields, it had been entirely encircled with temporary electric fencing to contain the sheep within the field. That seems like such a labour intensive chore … stringing up temporary electric fencing around a field that is a quarter mile by a quarter mile. Hey, Bo, you’re likely going to have a BIG surprise tomorrow.

Joanne prepared a salad for supper just like today’s cooking demonstration. Great taste ! Great appearance / presentation ! WOW … what lovely strawberries !

Tonight’s movie was Tequila Sunrise. 1988, Mel Gibson, Michelle Pfeiffer, Kurt Russell. What …was that movie the inspiration for Miami Vice ? Or vice versa ?

Saturday ; Today was sunny and hot again.

HEY … BO … SHEEP ! He was too stunned to even bark at them. He just stared, wide eyed, when he stepped outside the park gate and saw the field full of sheep.

This morning I “finished” my “leak” project. Quite unsatisfactorily, for someone as OCD as me. I could not identify … nor could I “duplicate” … the leak. Very reluctantly I conceded that the water in the overfilled fresh water tank heated and expanded, and some found a way out. Where it found its way out remains a mystery. But … since there’s no more leaking … I guess the problem is solved. I hate “unsolved mysteries” like that !

This afternoon we went to the winter home of our friends Dave and Joy for an afternoon of socializing followed by a barbecue dinner. They had invited us, and other neighbours from Riverside RV Park Resort back home that are also here in Yuma for the winter, and some of their neighbours in their park down here, Mountain Cactus Ranch. We ended up in a corner of their patio, a bit surrounded by their local Yuma / Mountain Cactus Ranch neighbours, listening to them “diss” other neighbours and the park’s management and administration personnel. And at the same time trying to “sell” us on how wonderful the park is. HA HA HA HA HA ! Have another glass of wine !

So … whether it’s Mountain Cactus Ranch … or here at Rancho Bonitos … or back home at Riverside RV Park Resort in Keremeos … I guess people are all basically the same !

We had an “interesting” afternoon and evening, and enjoyable dinner. Thank you, Dave and Joy.

DSK

February 27 to March 5, 2011

February 27 to March 5, 2011


Sunday ; Today was sunny and mild. Yesterday proved once again that rain in Yuma is a one day only event.

I had a lazy day. Well, all my days are lazy. This one was lazier than most. This afternoon Joanne went shopping to Yuma Park N Swap, then Food City, Fry’s and Albertsons for advertised grocery specials. I uploaded my weekly journal entry to my blog. I worked on planning our travel for the month of April. I read and napped.

Tonight’s movie was a documentary on Rodgers & Hammerstein’s musicals. Good music !

Monday ; Today was sunny and warm.

Just before noon we headed to Kofa Ko-op for the Roadrunner / Chapter 7’s luncheon. Before eating there was a presentation on guide dogs for the blind by a Yuma based group of guide dog puppy raisers. There were five puppy raisers and their young dogs. Their presentation was touching and well received. The “hat was passed” and they raised a significant donation. Lunch was good. Socializing with our Escapees “family” was good.

Back home at Rancho Bonitos we took Bo for an obedience session. Well done, Bo, good dog !

Tonight’s movie was … < sigh > … well ! ! ! The tape case said the movie was Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I inserted it into the VCR player and … Pride and Prejudice had been taped over with a “boy meets girl” movie starring Jennifer Anniston entitled Management. Actually, it wasn’t half bad !

Tuesday ; Today was sunny and warm.

Joanne went to do some grocery shopping. I did some month end financial reconciliation work. We spent some time in the swimming pool and hot tub. I took the dog for a long walk.

Tonight’s movie was The Mask. I’m not a fan of Jim Carrey, but this movie was okay.

Wednesday ; Today was sunny and very warm.

Today was Rancho Bonitos big Carnival Day. Based on the number of grammar / spelling errors evident around the park [ Bonitos ( a plural adjective for a singular noun ), Manderin Street ], I suspect that what they meant was Carnaval Day … the Latino term for Mardi Gras / Fat Tuesday. And if so … they’re six days early ! We didn’t participate. We have ceased being involved with any of this park’s activities.

I spent the morning doing online work. Around noon we headed out to run errands and have lunch. We went to RV Connection … they didn’t have what we were looking for. Next was Fruit Growers Supply to refill a propane tank. Then Barney’s to refill with diesel. What the hell happened to fuel prices ? ! ? Unrest in Libya ? ! ? What a load of crap ! Then Walgreens for a ReadyBroadband top-up card and some advertised specials. And CVS Pharmacy for more advertised specials. Finally … Hometown Buffet for an ETYS lunch. After lunch, on the way home, we stopped at Dollar Tree for a few items.

Back at home we had the swimming pool and hot tub area all to ourselves. All the other park residents were at their Carnival Day dinner. We took Bo for a long walk. We picked grapefruits ( for me to squeeze for juice ) and lemons ( for Joanne to make meringue pie ). The citrus trees are … “dying”. All the leaves have dried and are falling off. And all the fruit is drying out and falling off as well. I don’t think we’ve ever been in Yuma near the end of February before to see this. We have been here later in March, when the citrus trees are in blossom. What a wonderful smell ! But I suppose before the citrus trees can have “spring” they have to have “fall” first, don’t they ?

I spent the evening updating my investment spreadsheets.

Thursday ; Today was sunny and hot.

This morning we went to Arizona Market Place, the local flea market. We have not shopped there as often this year as in years past because this year they instituted an admission fee every day, instead of an admission fee only on Saturdays and Sundays as in previous years. Today we finally found a vendor who had stock of RV / Short Queen sheet sets, although only in black. Joanne bought a set, figuring that $15 for black at the flea market was better than $60 for some other colour at an RV dealer. We bought Bo a new harness, made with wide webbing instead of narrow straps which bruise his trachea when he pulls. Joanne thinks he looks very “sporty” in his new GoobyDog harness. I think he still looks like the Alabama redneck that he is. HA HA HA !

In the afternoon I made fresh grapefruit juice from the grapefruits I picked yesterday. MMMMM … it’s good ! Nine grapefruits produced a little more than a quart of fresh juice. I strained out the pulp, Joanne froze some, and mixed some in plain yogurt. MMMMM ! ! !

Tonight we went to a drive in movie. I kid you not ! A double feature ! Four and a half hours of watching movies ! Tonight was the first of four days of Midnight At The Oasis, the annual Classic Car Show & Nostalgia Festival in Yuma. The kick off event was a drive in movie, held at Desert Sun Stadium, on a baseball field, with an inflatable drive in movie screen. A hundred and fifty vehicles admitted. We lined up an hour in advance to ensure we got in. Joanne wanted to bring Bo and Sully, but I didn’t because I didn’t know whether we would be in the first 150 vehicles, even though we arrived an hour early, when the gates opened. Joanne prepared a wonderful picnic supper. The weather was wonderful. After we parked, before the movies started, I wandered around looking at the many classic cars that were there. The first movie was The Great Race with Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon. It was terrible ! And lasted longer than 2½ hours ! Second movie was American Graffiti. We first saw that movie in … < thinking > … 1973 … when we were dating … at a drive in ! It was a good movie then, and still is !

Friday ; Today was sunny, very warm, and a bit windy.

When a Post Office lady pulled up in her truck to deliver us an XpressPost envelope with our mail forwarded from home, she was fascinated by our “vanity” map on the side of the trailer showing where we’ve been. She chatted with us for quite awhile about our travelling lifestyle. Your postal dollars at work !

Joanne went grocery shopping. I did some online accounting work and paid our MasterCard bill. I downloaded and processed some photos I took yesterday. We spent some time in the swimming pool and hot tub, then took Bo for a long walk before going out for dinner.

We met our Riverside RV Park Resort neighbours from back home Dave & Joy at Ranch House BBQ Restaurant. We treated them to dinner as a gesture of appreciation. Dave referred us to RV Days in Penticton last summer which resulted in us obtaining a great summer job delivering RV’s. And he came with me to Penticton … twice ! … last fall when I took my Endorsement 51 road test. I only had an Endorsement 51 learner’s permit and needed an Endorsement 51 licensed driver to accompany me. Dinner at Ranch House BBQ Restaurant was … okay. Certainly not worth a return visit. After dinner Dave and Joy came over to our place and we socialized for the rest of the evening.

Saturday ; Today was sunny and hot.

We were up early to head to Mexico for my early morning dental appointment. I was supposed to have a periodontal examination by Dra. Estolano, and a dental examination by Dr. Camacho at the same time. Dra. Estolano wanted to examine my two recent periodontal gum surgeries now that both surgical sites have healed, and then the three of us were going to discuss a few other dental issues. Well, Dr. Camacho was a bit late this morning, so Dra. Estolano completed her periodontal examination and left just as Dr. Camacho arrived. Dra. Estolano was very pleased with the results of the two periodontal surgeries she did on my gums. She liked the reshaping and she liked the colour. Dr. Camacho and I discussed and agreed that a filling done 14 months ago was cosmetically unsatisfactory and should be redone. We agreed, along with Dra Estolano, that an old crown that I have needs to be replaced, particularly in light of the recent gum surgery near the crowned tooth. And another dental examination and x-rays clarified whether or not another tooth in question does or does not need a filling. It doesn’t.

Dr. Camacho offered to replace the unsatisfactory filling right then and there. I said “okay”. He removed the cosmetically unsatisfactory filling, then turned the job over to his “filling specialist”. He has a young woman who does only fillings, nothing else. I don’t know if she is a recent dental graduate / intern, or a specially trained technician, or … ? ? ? She was the one who did the filling 14 months ago that was being removed today. Dr. Camacho gave her a lot of instructions ( in Spanish ) and then returned to the room every ten minutes or so to check on her progress. It was a difficult challenge because the filling was on the edge of a slightly crooked tooth, on the edge slightly behind another tooth She fussed and fiddled for about an hour, then … Dr. Camacho came in for a final inspection. He was dissatisfied with the result. So was I ! He instructed her to do it again, then he proceeded to drill / grind off the new filling. She did it again ! Took about another hour. But … now it looks good ! And when all was said and done … there was no charge for any of today’s work. That kind of integrity is why we keep going back to Dr. Camacho !

We bought a bottle of Rompope, a Mexican specialty liquor and a tub of Cremino chocolates before heading back to the border crossing. It was almost 1 PM by the time we crossed back into the United States. We were going to have lunch then head over to Midnight At The Oasis to see the large display of classic cars. But … we realized our timing was perfect to arrive at the Strong Hearts PowWow just in time for today’s Grand Entry. Attending the PowWow was our plan for tomorrow, but we decided to go today. This was the 31st Annual Strong Hearts PowWow hosted by the local Quechan Indian Tribe on the grounds of their high school on the Fort Yuma Reservation in California across the Colorado River from Yuma, Arizona. We drive across their “rez” every time we go to the little nearby town of Bard for date shakes.

It was sunny and hot at the PowWow. And undoubtedly a lot hotter for the Native competitive dancers in their costumes than for the rest of us. We’ve attended many PowWows and always have enjoyed them. Today was no exception. We watched the Grand Entry, then wandered around the food vendors outside the dance area / “arena” until we made a lunch selection. We both had Indian Fry Bread dishes for lunch. Joanne’s had shredded beef and hot green chiles, mine had beans and cheese. After a leisurely lunch in the shade of an umbrella over a picnic table we wandered around looking at the many vendors’ booths selling Native arts and crafts. We went back into the dance arena to watch some dancing before we left.

On our way home we stopped at Food City to buy an advertised special. An entire barbecued chicken for … wait for it … $3.99 ! ! ! By the time we got home it was almost 6 PM. Poor Bo … we had left him home alone ( well, with Sully ) for much longer than we had intended. But he’s a good dog, aren’t you, Bo ?

DSK