Dec 17 through Dec 31st–Yuma Arizona

Once again, I’m playing catch up!  This time I ‘might’ have a good reason :)

We had been looking at motorhomes since Dec 2nd – when we pulled into Yuma, David put the dolphin in park and the gear shift fell off.  We had over 112,000 miles on it.  Because we couldn’t find one, we had to get one made in TN and shipped to us.  Cost – over $1,000 which gave us even more incentive to find something that we could live with and not break the bank.

 

Just to clarify, the Dolphin was 37 foot with a big slide, pantry and underbed storage. 

We bought a 34 foot Beaver Monterey with NO slide, and it is a diesel pusher so NO under bed storage.  For a couple days we looked like carpet baggers, but after some donations to a local church (tablecloths, towels, some kitchen equipment) we did get a few more bins, but got everything packed in the bays that wouldn’t go inside.  Surprisingly enough, most everything fits!  Now that we’ve been in it about 10 days, we really love it!  Here are some pictures ;) 

Can’t find the ‘outside’ pictures but here it is!

 

Christmas Eve David got up with sore throat, and I knew he was coming down with the crud.  We attended a party where 4 people made big Nesco Roasters with soups – chicken noodle (homemade noodles, yum), clam chowder, chili and potato…and we all took a side dish or dessert to share.  I took a loaf of date and nut cake.  We were home by 6 pm, where we had a nice warming toddy and were in bed early.

 

Christmas morning found David pretty ill, so instead of going out to Golden Corral with friends, I put a big ham steak on the grill, made some candied sweet potatoes and peas – that was dinner…and it was delicious.  I had saved our ‘Christmas Box’ that came in the mail from daughter Dawn, Daryl, Devon, Branden and Ariel.  I opened it and there was the Dyson Animal vacumn – YIPPEE, I was so excited.  I really wanted that!  We also received a White house Christmas ornament, and 4 gift cards for Olive Garden.  This was the BEST gift, thank you all so very much! 

 

Dec 26 through 31st, we put stuff in cupboards, rearranged, and did it again.  Between doing that, we visited with Walker and Evelyn Lane, and just enjoyed the warmth.  We did get to Algodones and got some drugs…yippee, good for another year! 

 

Dec 28th thanks to Walker and Evelyn, we had a ‘traditional’ Christmas dinner, with ham, deep fried turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, baked beans, cloud 9, rolls, pumpkin and apple pie.  Also attending was Gertrude & Lynn, Cindy and her hubby, and Gary.  

New Years Eve we went to Texas Roadhouse for a nice dinner and were home and in bed by 10.  January 1 we pulled out of Yuma and drove 178 miles to Casa Grande.  We visited with Cheyenne friends, Bob & Joyce Parker and Shirley Marsh.  We missed Georgia and Roger Shepherd, they were in Pasadena at the Rose Parade. 

 

Today, Jan 2, we drove up to Maricopa and spent about 5 hours visiting with Ray and Sandy Abe at their house, and we went to the AK-Chin Casino for a wonderful buffet.  We had such a great time and look forward to visiting them again this summer in Pennsylvania.  That brings us up to date…tomorrow we’ll head out and stop in Benson for 1 night. 

Dec 17 catching up

Once again I am SO far behind!  We continued our trip, stopping off at Deming, NM at the Dream Catcher and stayed a couple nights, meeting and enjoying some quality time with Fran and Rich Tilgner, including going out to eat at a great pizza place! 

Then we headed out once again and stopped in Benson, AZ at the Saguaro Escapees park where we stayed 6 nights.  Very nicely landscaped park, nice people too!  We didn’t do a lot of sightseeing, but did get into Tucson twice – once to visit with Jim Alley and his wife…the name is simply gone, sorry.  That is what happens when it takes me too long to update!  We also went to Tanque Verde Guest Ranch for a delightful brunch!

Our next stop was 3 miles away at Butterfield RV resort, where we enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner.  We also met Bill Roach and Loretta Perno, facebook friends that we met a little over a year ago.  We shared a table at Thanksgiving and went to a place called WildDogz on black Friday and had a wonderful lunch!  David is a big fan of ‘chicago dogs’ :)

We left Benson and drove to Casa Grande where we stayed at KOFA co-op, yet another Escapee park.  I believe it is the smallest one, but it was nice enough.  Since we were only there 1 night we really didn’t get a good overview, and it was a weekend so no Social hours…maybe next time!

We arrived at ‘our’ lot here in Yuma on Sunday, Dec 1st.  We’ve been having a great time!  On 55th Street in the foothills, they decorate big time – so big that there is a ‘LIGHT UP PARTY’ on Dec 10th.  Then every night thereafter someone ‘hosts’ the street.  They hand out candy to all (Santa is there too most nights) and dog biscuits to anyone with a pooch!  At the ‘host’ site, behind their gate they put out goodies for the people on the street.  Some folks do hot chocolate, hot apple cider, and munchies.  Walkers and Koehlers will be hosting 2 nights, the 18th and the 23rd.  We are going all out, they are making brats w/kraut, Gertrude is doing veggies and dips with other munchies, we are making macaroni salad, fudge, date & nut cake, cheese balls and pretzels…

Here are some pictures of the places lit up!  As always click on the picture to make them larger.  It is wonderful!

 

The people just keep walking and driving down the street, even buses!  The candy givers get on the buses and hand out candy, and if there are kids, Santa gets on the bus too!  Last year they had 23 buses in one night!  It is gonna be busy I’m sure, but also a lot of fun!

 

We had a great visit here with our friends from Riverton, WY, Lynn and Joyce Marlatt, they were here for the light up party…here they are

David and Lynn have been friends since 7th grade in school – now that is an enduring friendship!  They have gone several years with little to no contact, but they’ve kept in touch frequently the past couple years.  Joyce and I are getting to know each other pretty well too!  It was a nice visit but TOO SHORT!  You’ll notice we were all bundled up, ‘cause it was COLD after the sun went down!  In the low 50’s and with a desert wind…brrrr.  I guess we were lucky, it was –7 in WY, and sleeting and freezing in Hondo, TX. 

 

We’ve heard from friends Mel and Thelma May, from the Columbine Caravan in Colorado, and we will be getting together with them as well as Ray and Rita Rogers one evening :) 

Nov 18 Oh NO

We left Marfa about 9:30 heading to Las Cruces, NM, about 239 miles.  Well, we got about 5 miles west of Van Horn, TX, so about 80 miles from start and suddenly there was a squeal, and a BANG and we lost power steering and brakes…David got us off the side of the road very quickly…

 

We called Good Sam ERS – they sent out a mobile mechanic who was very good – turns out we lost an idler pulley and another pulley and the serpentine belt!!!  After 3 hours on the side of the road, getting rocked by every truck that went by, and $362 later, we were on our way.

 

We stopped about 30 miles up the road at the town of Sierra Blanco, at a little RV park right on business 10.  The RV park is the usual Texas dirt patch – but the restaurant with it was excellent.  Very friendly, exceptionally clean and good food at a very reasonable price.  We both had country fried steak, mashed potatoes & gravy, carrots, roll and 1 piece of sweet potato pie, and our bill was $17 – nice! 

Hondo to Marfa, TX Nov 15 to 17

Nov 15^th

We left Hondo, TX Lone Star Corral about 10 am – and drove 134 miles to Seminole Canyon State Park. We were tired when we got there (first day is always pretty tiring!), but it is a very pretty park. We had good 30 amp service and water. We finished up leftovers for dinner J

Nov 16^th

We got up and the plan was to keep moving, however David said he liked it there so much he wanted to stay another night. I did not want to unhook the car but the walk to the Ranger Station/visitor center was over a mile, and I sure didn’t want to do that either (I know I know, it would have done me good.). So, I took my chair and sat outside (it was chilly at 60 degrees) and flagged down a ranger when he came by. He immediately volunteered to take me up to the station and let me pay for another night. Since we have the Texas State Parks Pass it was $20 per night – no daily entrance fee :)

When I got back I made lunch, ham and bean soup that was so good! I defrosted it from the freezer and it sure hit the spot! We had good wifi in the park, so we spent most of the afternoon just dinking around on the net, and watching people pull in. I think everyone was hoping to see the Leonid Meteor shower, however it was far too cloudy…

We had a huge pizza craving, and it is pretty much out the window except on very special occasions because it is too high in carbs. However, I had saved a recipe about a month ago for a cauliflower crust pizza, I dug it out – had all the ingredients on hand and so we had pizza. SO yummy!

The reason David wanted to stay was for the sunset…and as you can see it was truly spectacular!

		Sunset at Seminole VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

Nov 17^th

We got up this morning, had a couple fried egg sandwiches, and hit the road. 200 miles later we arrived at Marfa, TX, home of the mystery lights! Do a search on Marfa Mystery lights and you can read all about them!

On our way we stopped in Alpine for a couple groceries and dinner is planned – Baby back BBQ ribs, baked potato and a big salad…maybe some veggies too!

Tomorrow we will travel until we’re tired (usually about noon the wind starts howling out here,) so when that happens we try to get off the road as soon as we find a campground!

A little catch up and going forward…

We had a marvelous time on our trip back to TX in July – stayed at Lone Star Corral for 4 very HOT days…when we packed up the car and headed to Pennsylvania.  It was a 4 day trip, and we got there August 4th – spent the next 2 months just enjoying family, picnics, friends and neighbors.  Oct 3 we headed back out, spending 4 nights with Dawn and family in Annandale, VA, – then 2 nights in Cleveland, TN with friends Ann and Bob Reschenthaler and ex-mother in law Olga Krepelka…what a great time!  We arrived back at LSC about Oct 10th, and have had a wonderful time at LSC, visiting and catching up with friends and neighbors! 

 

We did take a 4 night trip to Rockport, TX where we stayed at Goose Island, a Texas

State Park that we absolutely adore, parked right on the bay, no license needed to fish…aaaahhhh – that’s the life!

 

Today we started our ‘winter’ trip – our friends, Walker and Evelyn Lane invited us to stay with them in Yuma, AZ for the month of December, and since we have never been there, we decided to go! 

 

We are parked at Seminole Canyon State Park – and we’ll be heading to Marfa TX tomorrow, about 200 miles down the road.  I will attempt to keep the blog much more current – it is much easier when we are actually MOVING :)