Wednesday, November 17th we got up early and headed down to Algodones, Mexico for our dentist appointments. Algodones is only about 15 minutes from Pilot Knob where we are staying and is probably the only place in Mexico right now where I would feel safe. It is almost exclusively a medical community with dentists and eye doctors and 95% of the tourists are seniors down there getting some kind of medical procedure. I just needed my teeth cleaned, but Jackie has to have some veneers replaced on her front teeth. You may remember she broke one a couple months ago when we in Fallon, Nevada. She had the veneers put on by her dentist in Palm Desert about 9 years ago and they are all cracking and failing. We were a little surprised to find that the bill for replacing all the crowns and bridge work is over $2,000. Oh well, it needs to be done, and it would be three or more times that amount at a dentist in the U.S. After our dental visit we had a nice lunch at one of the local Mexican restaurants, then headed back into the U.S. and home. The line getting back into the States was only about 20 minutes today. We have waited for as long as two hours in visits past. We will have to go down there at least three more times in the next two weeks to get all Jackie’s work done.
Thursday, November 18th, we went into Yuma after lunch to take care of some errands. Our first stop was the local Social Security office so Jackie could file for part of her mother’s death benefit. Jackie was not even aware there was a benefit until she got a call from Dennis, her brother, a few days ago. It is not much, just under $300, but it’s still a little unexpected cash, which is always helpful. After that we headed for a Walmart so Jackie could see if there was a Humana insurance representative on site to talk to about the new Medicare prescription plan that Humana and Walmart are offering. Jackie has a Humana plan now, but with the new Obamacare the premiums are going up and the benefits are going down. She wanted to look into the new plan at Walmart to see if she could save money. The Walmart close to the Social Security office did not have a rep. We got the phone numbers for the other two stores in Yuma and found that there is a rep at the store out East of town, but he (or she) is only there in the mornings. We will have to catch them another day.
We then headed over to the Arizona Market Place, a large outdoor swap meet, to walk around for a couple hours. At 4:00 p.m. they closed the Market Place and we headed over to the Foothills area of Yuma, on the far East end of the valley, to go to dinner at our friends John and Rita Ham. They are also full time motorhome travelers with a Monaco coach, but they have a very nice RV lot out in the Foothills area, where they spend the winters. The lot has a big casita on it and a very nice patio. We met John and Rita through our associations with FMCA and the Monaco International Chapter. They are also big geocachers, so we have a lot in common with them. They had some “house guests”, Gary and Shirley, who had their motorhome parked on the Ham’s lot. Their lot has two full hookup areas for motorhomes. We had met Gary and Shirley last year at a party at the Ham’s house. The dinner was a selection of sausages, all made from the meat of an elk that Gary had bagged this past year. The dinner was very nice and we had a great time visiting with our friends. We also got a look at John and Rita’s brand new Monaco Dynasty coach. It was VERY nice. We left the Ham’s about 8:00 p.m. for the 20 mile drive back West to Pilot Knob.
Friday, November 19th we were up early and out of the coach by 8:45 a.m. Jackie was headed for Algodones to start her dental work. They had told us that this first appointment was going to run at least three hours, so I just drove her to the border crossing and dropped her off. I would come back later to get her. I went back to the coach and did some minor repairs and chores. About noon I drove back down, parked the car, and crossed the border to pick her up. She got done about 12:30 and we crossed back over into the U.S. and went home so she could rest for the day. They had to work on eight of her teeth, preparing them for new crowns, and fitting her with temporary crowns. She was quite sore and the Novocain made her a little dizzy, so we just hung around the coach for the rest of the day.
Saturday Jackie woke up feeling pretty well considering what they did to her mouth the day before. After lunch we headed over to the Arizona Market Place again to finish what we started on Thursday. We got done early there because it was not as big as it was last year. Since we had time, we went to the new indoor swap meet which is inside of what used to be the Mervyn’s store in the old shopping mall area on 32nd street. It was a nice mall, but the prices were very high. There were no bargains to be had that we could see. They must charge the vendors quite a bit for the ambiance of an indoor venue. In between the two swap meets we stopped and did one geocache near the Yuma County fairgrounds. We had sort of looked for this one on Thursday when Jackie saw it on her phone geocaching app, but we didn’t find it. John and Rita gave us a hint when we were there Thursday night, so we went and looked again and found it. Yea! Sunday was a relaxation day since Jackie’s mouth was a little sore from all the work.
Monday, November 22nd, we went into Yuma for lunch with our friend’s Charlie and Sharon Anderson. We met them several years ago at a Monaco International rally and have crossed paths with them many times over the years. They are from Illinois and still have a farm back there that their kids run, however, they have a home here in Yuma too where they spend their winters. We met them at Chretins, a Mexican restaurant that used to be top notch when it was in an old building down in the barrio in South Yuma. A couple years ago they built a new place up near the new shopping just off of the freeway and the quality of the food starting going downhill. Today we found that they had changed the menu again. They don’t have any lunch menu or specials, except for a buffet, and they don’t have any Mexican combo meals (the staple of every Mexican restaurant) on the menu. They used to have the best red chilli I every ate. Now it is not even on the menu. This may be the last time we eat there and I will no longer recommend it to anyone. And to think I even bought their tee shirt!
After lunch we went out and did some geocaching. We were able to find six caches in a couple of hours. One of the caches was one that we had to DNF last December when we couldn’t find it. Today we found it! Yea! We hate DNF’s and really enjoy it when we are able to “fix” one. After caching we headed home for the rest of the day.
Tuesday, November 23rd, we once again went out after lunch to do some geocaching. We concentrated on a couple of series sets located in the desert, just South of I-8 in the Eastern part of the valley. Series caches are groups of caches with a similar theme, placed by a single cacher, and usually in a specific area. We had a total of about 15 caches from two different cachers, all within a one square mile area of desert. Because they were all fairly close together, and relatively easy to find, we were able to do 17 caches in a couple of hours. The desert area we were in was mostly sand with some creosote bushes scattered around. The caches were all hidden under the bushes because there really wasn’t anywhere else to hide them. The sand ranged from pretty hard to very soft, and the entire area was riddled with ground squirrel or prairie dog, or whatever the local desert rodent is, holes and dens. At one point we were walking across the desert to a cache and kept falling into collapsing dens. Once Jackie put both feet through the surface and I thought she was going to disappear into the ground. Reminded me of the old campy sci fi movie, “Tremors” where the giant worms were digging around the desert chasing people. After caching we did some quick shopping and then headed home.
Wednesday, November 24th we headed back into Algodones, Mexico before lunch for another of Jackie’s dental appointments. Today’s work was checking the fit of the new crowns before they finished them by putting on the porcelin covering. She was only in the office for about an hour this time. After the dental work we walked around Algodones for a little while, then headed back to the coach by early afternoon, where we spent the rest of the day.
Thursday, November 25th, Happy Thanksgiving! About 2:00 p.m. we headed over to the clubhouse here at Pilot Knob RV Resort for dinner. The park provided the basics, Turkey, dressing, potatoes, and veggies for $7.50 a person, and then each couple had to provide either a salad or dessert. Jackie made some Wasabi coleslaw, which was really good. We sat with some very nice folks we had never met before, who were from Minnesota. The meal was excellent and despite no seconds I went away satisfied. Later on that evening we went back to the clubhouse to play some Texas Hold’em. We have not played at this park before, but it was a very similar format - $5 buy-in for nickle chips. They played for three hours and we didn’t do too well, losing all but $2.25 of our $10 stake. We did have fun though, it was a good group.
Friday, November 26th - Black Friday. We originally were going to avoid the stores and the insanity, but Jackie got an email from Penny’s and found that they had a pair of boots on sale that she wanted. After lunch we drove into Yuma and the
mall. What a madhouse! Way too many people in the parking lot and the stores. We only went to Penny’s and Best Buy, that was enough for me. We then headed back to the RV park and did our laundry while the rest of the world shopped. The picture is an old golf cart at the RV park that they use to advertise their speed limit in the park. Larry the speed cop. Saturday we left the park after lunch and went to the swap meet on the South side of Yuma. We had already been to the other two big swap meets in town. We spent several hours there wandering around, but only ended up buying a couple small things, including some tools for geocaching. After shopping we decided to stop on the way home and pick up a pizza since Yuma has a Roundtable Pizza store, our favorite national chain. We also picked up one geocache which was near the pizza place. We went back to the coach, had some pizza, and then went down to the clubhouse in the evening for some more Texas Hold’em. I had another tough night, losing my five bucks in the two hours. Actually, I was two hands short of the end, but didn’t want to buy more chips for just a couple of hands. Bummer! Jackie did alright, only a couple bucks down.
Sunday, November 28th, we didn’t do much until late afternoon when we went over to visit our friends Doug and Linda Stoudt, who had just come into Pilot Knob yesterday. We first met Doug and Linda on our Alaska trip back in 2009.
They were part of the Fantasy RV Tours staff for our caravan and were the “tail gunners”, the staff who leave last on each day to ensure no one gets left behind. We have crossed paths with them a couple of times since the caravan and enjoy spending time with them. They are going to be here at Pilot Knob for about six weeks as the representatives for Fantasy RV Tours. We went over to their coach, which is the same model as ours, just a year newer, about 4:00 p.m. for cocktails and conversation. Linda had gastric bypass surgery this past year and lost a lot of weight - she really looked slim, and completely different.After an hour or so of catching up the four of us drove over to the nearby Quechuan Casino for dinner. They have a great buffet there. Jackie and I ate way too much, but I got my money’s worth! We then went back to the RV park and headed over to the clubhouse for some more Texas Hold’em. Doug and Linda were tired and didn’t want to play, so they just went back to their coach. For the first time at this RV park we didn’t lose our shirts at poker. Between the two of us we lost sixty-five cents over a two hour period. At one time we were both up a couple of bucks. Finally had some good hands to play.
Monday, November 29th we left the coach early, about 8:30 a.m., and went back down to Algodones, Mexico, so Jackie could get her final crowns put in. She was in there for about an hour and the new crowns on her front teeth look great. Afterwards we shopped for a little while, then headed back across the border. This time we had no wait to get back into the U.S. When we got back to the coach I did some preparation for our departure from Pilot Knob tomorrow. About 4:30 Doug and Linda came over to our coach for dinner. We had cocktails first and chatted for a while and then had one of Jackie’s great chili rellenos casseroles. After dinner we sat around and talked until they left about 8:00 p.m.
Tuesday, November 30th we left Pilot Knob about 10:00 a.m. and drove West on I-8 towards San Diego, about 170 miles. Although the wind was blowing pretty hard for most of the trip, everything went well and we checked into the Sante Fe RV Resort by early afternoon. We will be here for a week exploring San Diego and visiting with Jackie’s brother, Dennis, who lives here. We have been to this resort several times before. It is very centrally located just off Interstate 5, just North of Mission Bay. Downtown San Diego is only a ten minute drive. After getting set up at the park we rested for the remainder of the day and evening.
Wednesday, December 1st. Happy Hanukkah to our Hebrew friends. Early afternoon Dennis, Jackie’s brother, came over to the coach to visit. Although they talk frequently, we had not seen Dennis since April at Jackie’s mom’s memorial
celebration. We had a nice visit and caught up on a lot of family and friends stuff. Dennis left about 6:00 p.m. and we just relaxed the rest of the night.Thursday we left the coach mid-morning and drove to a nearby Walmart. Jackie is in the Medicare open enrollment period and is considering changing her prescription drug program. Walmart is advertising that they have teamed up with Humana insurance to offer a relatively inexpensive program for prescriptions. Problem is, the information on the web site and the literature is confusing and doesn’t answer all of her questions. The ads also state that Humana representatives are in “selected” Walmart stores for in-person consultation. While in the Yuma area the only representative was in a store 25 miles from our park, and only available in the morning, so we were not able to get there. When we got to San Diego Jackie contacted the closest Walmart and learned that the representative was supposed to be there from 9:00 to 1:00 on Thursdays, among other times, so we headed over there. When we got there we found the booth, but no person. Bummer. There were some business cards there so Jackie called and left a voice mail for the representative.
Following our Walmart experience we drove around for a while looking for a lunch place. We ended up at Hob Nob Hill, a restaurant near the retirement home where Jackie’s mother lived for a number of years. It is up on the hill East of the airport, between the harbor and Balboa Park. We have been to this place a number of times and the food is always great. Although it is a little more expensive than the average lunch place, you get a lot of food. It also happens to be one of the “Triple D” places that we like to frequent, restaurants that have been featured on the Food Channel’s “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” show. We were actually familiar with, and had eaten at, this place before we started watching Triple D.
After lunch we met Jackie’s brother at the Whole Foods grocery store in the Hillcrest area of San Diego. Dennis is a vegetarian so Whole Foods, which is a national chain, is one of his favorite places to shop. We had told Dennis the day before that we would take him out for a little geocaching to let him know what the hobby is all about. I had mapped out a few caches right in the Hillcrest area. Wouldn’t you know it, the first one we went to was a DNF! We couldn’t figure out how to get where the GPS was telling us the cache was supposed to be. After that we were able to find four caches, which was enough to let Dennis know how we did it. We then dropped Dennis off and did a quick shopping trip at Costco before heading home for the rest of the evening.
Friday, December 3rd, we hit the road after lunch for some local geocaching. We were able to log ten finds in a couple of hours before heading back home. All of the caches we found were within a few miles of our RV park, despite the fact that we have cached in this area a couple times over the past couple of year. The biggest problem was finding parking at a lot of the caches in residential areas. San Diego has major parking issues in some areas of town. We noticed it yesterday in the Hillcrest area when we were caching with Dennis. Miles of residential streets just lined with cars and no open spaces.
Saturday we spent the early part of the day at the coach relaxing. Late in the afternoon we drove to Lemon Grove, a suburb of San Diego, East of downtown, to a party at the house where Jackie’s brother Dennis lives. Dennis, who is single, rents a room in a home owned by a lady named Helen, who Dennis had described as delightful, if slightly eccentric. We arrived and found a house in an older neighborhood that, although
not appearing to be isolated, was on a large wooded lot that gave one a sense of isolation once you entered the yard. The front yard was configured as a large patio area and the house appeared to have been added on to a number of times. There were about a dozen other guests at the party when we arrived, most of them in the large living room dancing, or watching dancing and talking. Taking in the entire scene, the house, the decor, and the people present, the effect was distinctly Bohemian. Dennis had told us that Helen was a dancer and many of her friends were also dancers at the various dance clubs around San Diego. The people who were on the dance floor when we arrived were certainly excellent dancers. Dennis showed us around the house, including his very large, comfortable bedroom. He certainly has everything he would need in his living area. Since he is a vegetarian with a very strict dietary regimen, he says he rarely uses the kitchen facilities at the house. We wandered around the party, meeting the other guests and chatting. We very much enjoyed the atmosphere and enjoyed watching the dancers. At one point one of the guests, who had told us he was 70 and had been dancing all his
life, did a routine from the musical “Chicago” with one of the other older ladies and it was spectacular. I found myself thoroughly enjoying sitting in this quirky, eclectic old house, surrounded by a group of folks who were somewhat quirky and eclectic in dress and lifestyle. At one point I told Jackie that I felt as if I had drifted into a Federico Fellini movie, and that I found the whole experience entertaining and interesting. At one point later in the evening I even found myself dancing to a 40's swing tune with our hostess Helen. We stayed until about 8:00 p.m. and left when the party broke up. We had a wonderful time, enjoyed seeing where Dennis lived and meeting some of his friends and acquaintances.Sunday, December 5th we left the park late morning and went down to the weekend swap meet near the sports arena. This part of San Diego is adjacent to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot where I spent the longest 13 weeks of my life back in 1966 and driving along the road, looking into the base, never fails to bring back memories. The swap meet was in the parking lot of the arena and it was huge. About half and half between new stuff and old junk. I bought a couple of little things, a hat and a new wallet, but most of the stuff was the same crap they sell at the swap meets in Yuma. While we were walking around Dennis joined us for a little while. He quickly tired of the shopping experience and left while we finished the aisles.
When we parked we had noticed a place called “Phil’s BBQ” in the parking lot next to the swap meet area, and while shopping we had been smelling this great BBQ. When we were done shopping we decided to head over and try Phil’s. We found a huge line, going out the door and almost around the building. We have never been here, but the window was covered with stickers from various “City Best” type contests showing that they had a good rep. Once we got in we ordered full dinners which would serve as lunch and dinner for us. I had the beef ribs and Jackie had the pork ribs. Both were excellent - they deserved the awards. The portions were huge, including the onion rings and fries. We ate our fill and took enough out in containers to serve as a full meal at a later time. We can highly recommend Phil’s BBQ on Sports Arena Drive in San Diego.
After our great lunch we did a little caching right in the same area. It was getting kind of late in the afternoon by the time we started, so we only got five finds, along with one DNF. Still had a good time though and increased our numbers. We are within twenty finds of breaking the two thousand finds mark. Once we were through caching we headed back to the coach for the rest of the day. Monday was a stay at home day. Dennis came over late in the afternoon for a last visit before we leave San Diego. After Dennis left I did a few chores in preparation for tomorrow’s departure.
Tuesday, December 7th - a day that shall live in infamy. Pearl Harbor day, well before my time, but still a date most every American remembers. We left San Diego about 10:00 for the 140 mile drive Northeast to Desert Hot Springs, California. The drive was uneventful and we arrived at the Western Horizons park, Desert Pools, about 12:45. We got checked into a nice spot right near the recreation center and I spent the next few hours getting everything set up for our two week stay. We are now pretty much “home” in as much as we are only 25 miles from where we lived before we bought the coach and left to travel full time. We are looking forward to visiting all our friends in the Coachella Valley. We will be here at Desert Pools for two weeks and then another four weeks at Indian Waters in Indio, only a few blocks from our old house.
With our arrival here I will close this episode. I will publish again sometime just before the holidays. Until then, don’t worry, be happy!
