One Of A Kind Mud Flaps

The things that come to those who wait may be the things left by those who got there first.

Guess what we just purchased? It probably is one-of-a-kind and definitely very unique. We wanted to put mud flaps on the motorhome. And, now on Monday we’ll do just that. Sometimes there is an advantage to having a last name that’s not too unusual. And, sometimes it’s not. This time it was. Originally, we thought about going to Monaco and getting the mud flaps with “Monaco” on them just because they weren't plain. However, why would we want to have Monaco’s name on them when we could have our own name? We really like these and they even light up above the name. I bet you don’t see many that look like this traveling down the road. And, if you do, it’s definitely us! Now don’t ask what they cost … we probably won’t tell you. But, then again, maybe we will.

The breakfast brunch at Terrible’s Casino yesterday morning was a pretty good feed. Actually, their breakfast is advertised to include orange juice and champagne. To me that’s a “mimosa” and the only time I’ve had those were back in my airline days flying first class. It was always a great way to start a trip or even end one. However, this mimosa was one glass of orange juice and one glass of champagne. Does champagne smell like beer? It did to me this morning. I felt awful wasting it but I did. The orange juice was good. So was the breakfast but it was a little early in the day for champagne. I know. I know. I could have poured a little champagne in the orange juice glass but I didn't. And, the restaurant didn't offer any to-go cups.

Why is it RV’ers always seem to meet around food? Well, that’s just what we did for dinner also. This time it was with Linda and Dave. They were part of our group in Quartzsite and we hadn't seen them since the end of January. We stopped by to visit in the afternoon after warning them we were coming. We wanted to take a look at their gorgeous new motorhome. It’s really spiffy and I’m sure they’ll have years and years of enjoyment. They even have lots of empty bays and cabinets … I bet it doesn’t stay that way long.

In the evening it was off to dinner. About the only places in Pahrump that feed you are the casinos or the sports bars. It was a tough decision trying to decide where to go or rather which one to go to. We felt they should make the decision. Then, if we didn’t like it, we could blame them. But, it was great. We went to Wuffy’s Sports Bar. They even picked up the tab!!! We’re certainly getting spoiled out here. I can hardly wait until the Dixons and Lavins arrive and take their turn at spoiling us too!! Then, we’ll track down the Hyders and see if they can join the competition. It’s a game we would certainly like. With Toni heading north we need to find others who like to cook.

After dinner we went back to the Sands’ new coach for a high level competition at cards. First of all we played spades and then “Oh Hell”. What fun! We had an absolute great evening and certainly enjoyed ourselves.

Now it’s another day with more plans. We’ll probably head to Las Vegas. And, no rain in the forecast …. we hope.

P.S. – Bri – what did you say the other day about a tsunami??

Arrival in Nevada

“I can think of nothing less pleasurable than a life devoted to pleasure. “
John D. Rockefeller

Yesterday started out reconnecting with Linda and Ed. We met at the Crossroads Restaurant for breakfast. It was right down the road from the Elks in Parker where we had spent the night. Food always seems to be the common denominator between traveling folks. And, it certainly was then. We have shared some good times with them in the past and are planning on touring Death Valley together this next week.

We discovered that the route our GPS was taking us was not the best route. Linda and Ed had traveled the route before and knew the condition of the roads much better than Magellan did. So, we took their advice. The roads were great all the way. A very obvious difference between Parker, Arizona in the morning and Needles, California later in the day was the price of fuel. It was about one dollar more once we crossed into Needles. A short distance later we crossed into Nevada and the price of fuel dropped about 85 cents.

The town of Pahrump sits in a valley with gorgeous snow capped mountains surrounding it. We followed the on-line directions to the Pair-A-Dice RV park and discovered those directions took us about 10 miles out of our way. You can exit on Manse right off of 160 instead of going into the town and then heading back east to the park. That's much shorter if you're coming in from Las Vegas.

The park has the absolute best dog run we have ever seen. As a matter of fact, it has two dog runs with steps and tires. We didn’t tell Duchess about them yesterday. We decided to show her today. This park has a great club house, large book selection, DVDs and a laundry. The sites are huge and we’re happy … for now. The weather may be another issue.

We made a quick stop at Wal-Mart and drove by a couple of the casinos. We wanted to check the town out but were actually too beat to do much more. Pahrump has several casinos. They also have several places to advance cash to those who feel lucky.

This place is the Dollar Loan Center --->

In the same shopping center, two more places to loan money. And, they’ll even give you cash for a car title -------->

Today we’ll do something. It’s not a big town but there are lots of casinos. A whole week might be a real long time. We may be too far north too soon. The time zone is getting me too. We’ve been going back and forth with no time to adjust so I’m back to getting up before 6:00 AM.

On the Move North Towards Pahrump

“Idleness is not doing nothing. Idleness is being free to do anything.”
Floyd Dell

Yesterday morning our add-a-room installer showed up on time. He punched a few little holes in our motorhome, showed Terry how to put it up and a bunch of bucks later, he left. Well, it wasn’t quite that simple. Putting these things up aren’t as easy as they make it seem when you’re talking to the salesperson. Also, the “easier” upgrade isn’t as easy as the standard version but it costs more. The installer kept insuring us that after we put it up a few times, it would become simple. I hope he’s right but that seems far-fetched to me. We’ll probably do a lot of practicing over the next few weeks. I’m sure by the time we get to Washington State, we’ll have it all figured out and be happy we have it. Let’s hope.

With that monumental task behind us (yes, it was monumental), we looked around at all the RVs that were pulling into the Elks in Yuma. It was actually filling up. The sites for the RVs were just about big enough for one RV with two slides … one on each side. The Elks was sponsoring a yard sale this weekend and that’s what was bringing in all the people. The lodge was fantastic. They have a full menu, lots of nice people, activities and great desserts. We know and we’ll be back this fall.

After we got the add-a-room business taken care of, It was still fairly early. So, we discussed pulling out. And, that’s just what we did. This was our first real step starting our trip north. Our plans were to move slow. And, to say we moved slow was actually an understatement. There was construction on about half of highway 95 from Yuma north. Flaggers closed down lanes in each direction. Much of the time the speed limit was down to 45 so it was a very slow trip.

It was interesting to check Quartzsite out. It had changed a lot since January. Most of the traffic was missing and the majority of the vendors were gone. However, there were still a lot of RVs parking on the BLM land. Been there. Done that.

When we pulled out of Yuma we weren’t quite sure whether we’d head for the Elks in Parker or the Blue Water Casino. The Elks offered hookups and the casino did not. Guess where we ended up? We’re at the Elks. It’s really a nice lodge. For the first time in a long time we’re not parked on dirt or gravel. We have asphalt underneath our motorhome and we like that. We also weren’t sure how long we’d stay … one night or three nights. We’re now thinking as long as we’re heading north, we might as well go just a bit farther.

Duchess sometimes decides she doesn’t want to get out of the car. I think she’s spoiled! ------->

In the evening we went to the Blue Water Casino. We were going try out the buffet. When we got there we weren’t able to get our Player’s Card. The person had a “Be back in 15 minutes” sign. Huh? We had never seen that before in a casino. So, we visited the buffet instead. On a scale of 1 to 10 for the buffet, we would rate it a 3. It is very rare that we don’t care for a casino’s buffet. Normally they are fantastic. This was Mexican night. And, that’s all they had .. no potatoes, no vegetables. I love Mexican food but the choices were ridiculous. Even the salad bar lacked. Would I recommend this? No. When we did get our Player’s Card we were told the $10 new member credit would be added to our card in about two hours. That was weird. Oh well, maybe we’ll go back this morning … and maybe we won’t.

We also checked out the RV parking at the casino and were glad we chose to stay at the Elks. The parking lot at the casino is on a slight hill. Without ramps for the wheels it would be difficult to level.

This morning we plan on going to breakfast with the Lavins before we take off. We have to wait until they get out of bed first. Who knows where we’ll end up tonight. We don’t even know that. It’ll be someplace north. We want to get settled before the rain starts on Saturday.

Stay tuned.

Center of the World and Yuma Elks

I've learned that it takes years to build up trust, and it only takes suspicion, not proof, to destroy it.

We sadly watched as Toni and Doug pulled out next to us yesterday morning. Even gliders came out of the sky to buzz their disapproval of them leaving the area. They weren’t just waving goodbye .. it was boo hoo. Both of the dogs were scared of the gliders. Parker wanted to hide and Duchess just wanted to chase them and shake with fear. Toni and I were hoping they’d ask if we wanted a ride! After they left, we were the only ones that were going to be left out of our group. Oh, there were other folks around but just not from our own group. We were being deserted but not totally deserted.

With everyone gone there was no time for sitting around. We had lots of things to take care of and other things we wanted to do. First of all, our “check engine” light had come on in the car. We stopped at Jiffy Lube hoping they could tell us what was malfunctioning. They couldn’t so referred us to Auto Zone who referred us to a mechanic because their electronic reader wasn’t reading. Well, we didn’t look for a mechanic but Terry noticed our gas cap was loose so that was tightened and the battery reconnected. Now there’s no “check engine” light. Hopefully, that was it. Then, our turn signals on the motorhome stopped functioning. Terry had to track down the fuse and replace it. He was sure it happened when he was installing the remote front shades. Whee! Both of these “issues” were finally taken care of without a huge bill. Large bills usually follow when items aren’t working properly.

Off to Yuma again for another visit with my cousin and his wife. We basked in the lovely sunshine as talked about what a great time we were having. Well, they were having a better time than we were. They had electricity and all their friends hadn’t left them. And, they were going to a crab feed in the afternoon. I was having to cook our dinner. Well, they did invite us but we were thinking we might move into town and wanted to get it done before dark.

By midday we had decided as long as everyone else had moved, we might as well move too. There was no reason to stick around. We weren’t quite sure where we wanted to go. We had to stay in the Yuma area because we have an appointment scheduled for sometime today. First of all we thought we’d check out the Quechan Casino just down the road. It’s a brand new casino that just opened about a year ago. The RV parking area was packed. It’s one of the busiest RV lots at a casino we had ever seen.

Our next stop was the Elks in Yuma. The Elks offered dry camping only but they also had a dump and fresh water. We knew we’d need to flush when we pulled out so why not move where we could have all-in-one. And, we did just that. We even have a few neighbors now and we like that.

We made one more stop and that was at Felicity, California where they have the Center of the World. Others had visited this so we thought we’d check it out. We did just that. The earth is round so where in the world on this planet would the center be? Any place you want it to be. And, that’s exactly what this was about. Check out the stairway to nowhere. The stairway is a metal 25-ft. spiral staircase salvaged from the Eiffel Tower. The granite mountain is in the shape of a pyramid. Inside the pyramid is a bronze plaque you can step on and be officially at the Center of the World. The major bought thousands of acres in one of the hottest and driest areas on earth. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do with all the land. However, he had the town incorporated and named after his wife. It is the only town in America known to be named after a Chinese woman. Trucks brought in 150,000 tons of dirt to build the church on. He felt if you were going to have a church it should be on a hill. It is now on the Hill of Prayer. This church was modeled after one that he liked in Brittany -- the one crowning Mont St. Michel. Donation requested was $5.

What a beautiful sunset over Yuma yesterday evening. Arizona and Texas have that in common. They both have beautiful sunsets.

Back to the Pilot Knob BLM

Tell me what you need, and I'll tell you how to get along without it.

Yesterday was moving day and that’s just what we intended to do. We’d only been at the park for two nights. Since I’ve already expressed an opinion of it in yesterday’s post, there’s no need to repeat it. I think everyone knows what we thought. The problem we had now was how to get out of the box we had been squeezed into. I do believe membership parks like this are the reason they all get a bad name. Spaces were small, tight and dusty. There was no space for the tow vehicle on the site along with the RV. Only place to put it was hanging out in the roadway. Even prospective new members are invited in and also have to use a shoe horn to fit neatly into one of the smallest sites available. Something’s wrong with that picture. Wouldn’t you think they would put them in the bigger and nicer spots? I wonder who is in charge of marketing for this park.

At least the move is now behind us and we’re back out on the Pilot Knob BLM again with Toni and Doug. It’s a great area for Duchess and Parker. They love the wide open space. The only difference I think I would make next time would be to stay at the LTVA end of it. Granted you would pay $40 for two weeks or $180 for six months but you would eliminate the 1.6 mile drive down the sand covered bumpy road every day. I don’t think there would be quite as much sand blowing there either .. maybe a little less.

We went to the best restaurant in town last night. Wow! It was just the 5th wheel parked next to us. Toni is one heck of a cook. Best of all, she actually enjoys cooking for others. We volunteered to be the “others” and boy did she fix one heck of a meal. Everything was so delicious and then she topped it off with home made apple pie ala mode! No need to watch the Food Network with Toni around! Check the picture out. What a great evening we had and the time passed way too fast.

This morning we’re going to Cracker Barrel for breakfast and then Toni and Doug are off for Salton City. We’ll be left by ourselves as everyone has headed either east or west. We’d be on our way too except that we have an appointment tomorrow for installation scheduled from ShadePro.

We may stick around for another day or two or maybe we’ll head north a tad …. depending on the weather, of course. Right now we’re thinking we may slip into the parking lot at the Blue Water Casino in Parker for a night or two and then work our way up to Pahrump, NV to tour Death Valley National Park. I’ve had a photographer’s guide to the area for about seven years. It’s probably time I dust off the cobwebs and actually use it. And, even though we’ve worn out our welcome with the six friends we’ve been with here in the Yuma area, there are four more waiting up there for us to wear out our welcome with too. I bet none of them offer to cook us Yorkshire pudding, make homemade gravy and cook up the spread that Toni has!! She’s a hard act to follow!

Good times. Good friends.

Not Goodbye but See Ya

“But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement the greater part of life is sunshine.” - Thomas Jefferson

Yesterday morning we went back to the BLM to say “See ya” to our friends. We agreed this isn’t “Goodbye” because we won’t let it be even though the wagons started rolling out. Only Toni and Doug will be left there this evening. However, we’re moving back today for a couple more nights. One at a time everyone is getting ready to head to their next destination and usually it’s to move just a little closer to their summer place … wherever that might be.

I would say It’s been a wonderful winter but I can’t say that. My daughter-in-law reminded me yesterday that it couldn’t have been wonderful and here’s a quote from her … “Let me refresh your memory - you had a tornado, flood, snow, storms, ice on the roads and hurricane force winds – and that’s just what Mother Nature threw at you, That’s not even touching on the car and RV issues either…..did I leave anything out? I think the only thing you missed was a tsunami.” And, she’s right! So, I’ll say that the memories of this winter will stay with us forever. Well, that’s a lie too. They may not stay with us forever. If we get Alzheimer's Disease, we won’t be able to remember anything but then who will care? We’ll get to play with our kiddie friends and be happy making new memories that we won’t remember. I’m sure you get the drift of what I would say. I wanted it to be nice about all the people we’ve been with but there were a few hiccups.

This summer we may even decide to visit some of the folks we’ve spent the winter with. After all, we definitely need a “vacation” and we’ll even have a dog sitter! Look out you just might see us sooner than you think!

We’re already looking forward to dinner this evening. Toni said she was fixing it again! What a lady … we’ll follow her every where.

We’ll be tickled to leave this park and also thankful it’s only a two night stay. You cannot believe the size of the RVs that they put into these sites. If the spacing isn’t just perfect, slides won’t open, awnings definitely could not be used and bins wouldn’t open without nudging the neighbors. Spaces are so short that the vehicles have to park sideways. We’ll be lucky to get out of here without getting hit. It’s kind of like the young girls who you swear were poured into their clothes. It certainly looks like the spaces may have been built around the RVs. And, some folks have a membership in this park. However, I think they park the members in the back where the spaces are long and wide. They put the folks they are trying to sell the memberships to in the front … I think. They also put us visitor’s there too.

And, here’s one you certainly won’t get a picture of. We both fell off the ladder yesterday .. well, I kind of did. Terry really did. My Wilson antenna was loose and Terry was going to fix it. The ladder wasn’t quite long enough so my job was to hold it. Have you ever been asked to hold a ladder? What do you do if the person starts to fall? I now can answer that question. You hold on and go down on the bottom of the pile while the person on top falls on top of you. Needless to say, your body twists in unusual positions. Ouch! I knew I would hurt more today than yesterday and I do. No report from Terry yet. He’s still doing zzz’s.

Full Service RV Park vs. BLM

“Kind words are short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless”. - Mother Teresa

We moved down the road last night. We’re no longer sitting on the BLM land but at the Pilot Knob RV park. No longer do we have to run our generator if we want to watch TV, run the microwave or charge a battery. We actually have electricity. We don’t have to conserve with water or use our propane to heat. After all, we’re now in a full service RV park. Are we happier than we were before we moved here? That was when we didn’t have any “modern” conveniences except what we created ourselves. Absolutely not. Our friends are just down the road and we’re not. However, we originally had reservations at this park for a full week and have slowly changed our move-in date one day at time just so we could spend time with them. When we originally made the reservations, we didn’t realize they would be here. Actually they didn’t realize it either. So, which is better? The one with the friends, of course.

We put our departure off as late as possible but we didn’t want to move in after dark. We like the location but that’s just about it. Sites are small, close together, roads aren’t paved but they have full service so we can “dump” and take on fresh water. The camp host wasn’t extremely friendly when we moved in. He didn’t realize we had checked in earlier and didn’t ask. Then, kind of chopped our heads off when we came through the secured gate. Well, he has a job to do but ……

Our plans yesterday started with breakfast at Cracker Barrel. However, as usual, very few plans are written in stone. We actually ended up at Home Town Buffet instead because Cracker Barrel appeared packed. It usually is. With eight of us it was much easier to eat at a buffet than go elsewhere. The breakfast was good and had we stayed longer we figured we could have grazed through lunch and even dinner.

Off again to the Arizona Market Place. Carefree Awnings had a booth we had visited the day before. They had surplus pull-down sunscreens and automatic shades we were interested in at great prices. We ended up with a full front remote visor (retail: $1000 for $188). Now we have to figure out how to install it. They also were selling add-on rooms (screen room plus privacy pull-downs) . If we can get one ordered and received before we leave, we want one. It would be perfect for us and for our grandkids.

That’s about the extent of our day. Freddy & Delcie and Jerry & Janice will be taking off this morning. We’re going to swing by before they leave. We’ll certainly miss them. Then, tomorrow we’re moving back to the BLM with Toni and Doug for a few more days before we start our slow route north for the summer. And, one more outing with my cousin, Wally. We’ll try to catch him this time playing his barrel.

Last winter was fabulous but this year has certainly topped it with many more people and many more places. We’ve had an absolutely fabulous time. And, we have even more plans already in place so we’re not done yet! Does each year just get better? Who could ask for more …. north in the summer … south in the winter and lots of great folks along the way. We have the best of all worlds and we love it.

Let the Good Times Roll

“Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience.”

The party just doesn’t stop. And, as long as we have Toni and Doug with us neither does the food. Wow … can that lady put on a spread of food. She’s fixed us everything from steak dinners to brownies, to cookies and now last night we had fondue!! We’ve discovered she likes to cook and all of us like to eat. So, I guess it works out pretty well. In addition to the fondue she also fixed apple cobbler and banana cream pie …. yummy!

Toni and Doug are Canadians. They live just across the Washington border outside of Vancouver, Canada. We’ve discovered that being from Canada the folks there can still be snowbirds in the southern U.S. The only catch is that they must be back across the border after 6 months out. Then, after remaining there for another six months, they can head south again. It works pretty well because they can stay north during the summer where it’s cool and head south in the winter where it’s warm. Toni and Doug will be starting their trek north on Monday as they pull out of the Yuma area and slowly head in that direction. We'll miss them.

Delcie and Freddy are from Texas – Paducah, Texas to be exact. Well, Delcie isn’t from Texas. She definitely has a British accent and is from England. They’re also going to be pulling out of here on Monday but they’ll be heading slowly east instead. Once they get to Texas Freddy will go to work back on his ranch branding cattle for about two weeks before they start heading north towards Durango, Colorado. They have a summer job in the park service as a camp host. We have thoroughly enjoyed these folks. They are such nice people. Hopefully, we'll get a chance to reconnect with them next winter.

Then, there’s Jerry and Janice. We’ve been with them almost 6 weeks so far from Quartzsite to Salton Sea to Palm Springs and now in Yuma. They will also be heading out on Monday heading towards Los Angeles to have work done on their motorhome. After that they’ll head east towards Tennessee. They’re still trying to sell their house and Jerry has a job to get back to …. He’s retired … but, he’s not quite if that makes sense.We know they'll be back in Arizona when it starts getting cold again.

In other words, everyone will be heading out of here on Monday. Well, kind of everyone. Everyone but us that is. We’re actually pulling out of the BLM today (Sunday) but just going down the road one mile to the RPI park at Pilot Knob. Originally we had reservations for seven days but have cancelled a day here and a day there and finally have it down to just the two days. It was much more fun to stay with this group than go into a park by ourselves. We probably won’t leave the Yuma area until Thursday and then we’re going to head north towards Bullhead City.

What a great group of people we’ve been with. We’ve had so much fun and enjoyed being with all of them. And, as everyone pulls out and heads in different directions, we’ll keep in touch and look forward to meeting them again … down the road.

But, the party hasn’t quite stopped yet. It’s off to Cracker Barrel this morning for more food.

Still having fun.

Algodonas, Mexico

“If 4 out of 5 people suffer from diarrhea... does that mean that one in five enjoys it?”

What a day yesterday was. It started off with our trip to Algodonas, Mexico. It wasn’t that we were after so many things. We had a few items in mind but mainly we just wanted to go and we did. Jerry and Janice went with us so it was a very fun day. And, as you might guess, we made our share of purchases.

Terry negotiated with the vendors for a few items including a money clip, iTouch leather case and a case for his phone. I’m the one that blew the budget with prescription sunglasses, a purse and Retin-A (of course). Having just purchased new glasses in Palm Springs I was curious about the price in Mexico. Not only was the service great so was the price. There were lots of choices in frames and the price was much lower than what it would have been in the States. The cost -- $65 for the frames and $65 for the lenses – tinted, no-line progressives. I was definitely pleased. This time I purchased the upgraded version of Retin-A. I discovered that the generic brand I bought last year was only half as strong(.05%) as the brand prescription (.1%). No wonder I didn’t notice any difference (of course, I hear you have to use it often too.).

Lunch was at the festive plaza with our buddies while we waited for the glasses to be finished and thought about other items we absolutely needed. This was just another great outing with the Hyders. Getting back across the border called for standing in line for a little over an hour. By the time we finally were able to sit down in the car, our feet were killing us. However, will we do it again? Certainly. We’re going back on Monday.

Our feet were still killing us and we had yet another hour-plus long line to stand in. Our line for dinner was just that … another long wait. It was my cousin’s birthday (Wally) and he decided he wanted to eat at the seafood buffet at the casino. So, that’s just what we did. I have never seen such a long line for a buffet dinner. What a great seafood buffet it was – one of the best ever! They had just about everything including, snow crab, king crab, frog legs, mussels, calamari, butter clams, shrimp, salmon, cod, sushi, raw oysters … did I miss anything? Oh yeah .. they had all the regular stuff too. The food was fabulous.

It was just another great day and my feet still hurt. Now we’re at camp and I have to move our reservations back again at the next park we were going to. I think Toni is making fondue for us today. Then, we just have to go into the other place on Sunday but if folks are still here, we might just come back out for another few days before we start heading towards the Vegas area.

I don’t think I have to tell you …. we’re still having the time of our life!