A Yuma Winter - Part 1

Hi there, welcome back to our story. Our last chapter concluded on Monday, February 1^st, with our arrival in Yuma, Arizona for a two month stay. We will be here at The Palms RV Resort with four of our RVing friends, the Bullock's, Babcock's, Wilson's and McKay's. We will no doubt be visited during out stay by other friends we have made on the road over the last ten plus years. We are looking forward to a great stay.

On Tuesday we stayed around the coach because we were having a wash service come out to wash and wax the coach and car. They are both very dirty and badly in need of a good cleaning. The wash people showed up about 2:00 and finished the job in a couple of hours. Once they were done I was able to start putting up the outside decorations, including the shade screens. We were not able to get all the lights put out before it was cocktail hour, so those will have to wait for another day. We had cocktails with our gang of ten on our patio, which has been designated as “party central” for this trip. After cocktails a couple of the other folks headed off for dinner at a Chinese place and we had dinner on our own. We would have had dinner with the Bullock's, but Peggy was a bit under the weather.

Wednesday, February 3^rd, we went out after lunch and did some shopping. We then returned back to the coach and finished setting up the outside decorations with lots of lights. We had cocktails with the group at 5:00 and then everyone went back to their own coaches. Peggy and Vernon came over to our place for dinner. Jackie made some chicken enchiladas. After they left we watched TV until bedtime.

Thursday, February 4^th, we left the coach about noon and drove to the Foothills area west of Yuma to have lunch at our favorite taco stand. The Wilson’s followed us in their own car. We have been coming to this taco stand for the last three years and it has great, authentic street tacos. Over this past summer they poured a concrete pad for the place. Prior to this year it was on dirt. The stand is a trailer in a dirt lot with a small dining area surrounded by chain link fence. Very rural looking. The concrete floor makes it a lot cleaner looking now. The tacos were just as good as always.

After lunch we headed out to do some geocaching in the Foothills area. We cached for a couple of hours and got ten new finds and one DNF. We then stopped at a couple of RV stores to see if they had the vent fan kit I need to fix the bathroom vent. They didn't, so I will have to order it online. We then made a stop at Fry's for a few things and then headed back to the coach. I got online and ordered the parts I needed.

We had cocktails with the group at 5:00 and then the Bullock's came over for dinner. We cooked some lamb chops on the BBQ for everyone but me. I had a nice steak I bought at Fry's today. We had a great dinner and talked until almost 9:00, after which we watched TV and then went to bed.

Friday, February 5^th, a big 69^th birthday for me. My last year before fading into my seventies. Yikes, who knew I would live this long and feel this young? We left the coach about 1:30 and drove into town for a late lunch at the Yuma Palace Chinese restaurant. The rest of our group joined us in a birthday celebration, so we had a table of ten. The food was pretty good, as usual, but the service this time was terrible. We got a waitress with a bad attitude who wanted to bring the food before the soup and then got snippy when we said we wanted the food sent back so it would be hot. Once we got that issue resolved the rest of the meal was good.

After lunch we went back to the RV park and I did a few chores around the house. We had happy hour with the group at 5:00 and then at 6:30 we, the Babcock's and the McKay's walked down to the clubhouse for a Motown Tribute show. This RV resort is well known among the Yuma snowbird crowd as having pretty good shows during the winter season at reasonable prices. This show was about $22 a person. They had three “stars” including Barry White, Stevie Wonder, and Smokey Robinson. They were all imitators, of course, some better than others. The Barry White guy was OK, good low voice, but not nearly as smooth as the original and he looked nothing like him. The Stevie Wonder character had the look spot on and the voice was fair on most songs and actually quite good on a couple. The Smokey Robinson guy had the look of the young, 60's Smokey, and a high squeaky voice that was close, but no cigar. He was actually the worst of the three. It was a clunky presentation and they didn't do many of the big hits, mostly “B” side stuff, but it was cheap entertainment. Next week we are going to see a Michael Jackson tribute. We'll see how that one works out. After the show we went back home and watched a little TV until bedtime.

Saturday, February 6^th, we left the coach about 11:00 and walked down to the activities area of the resort for the park's annual car show and burger bash. We stopped first for a hamburger for lunch. They gave a burger and chips, with a beer or glass of wine, for $4, pretty good deal. We sat with the rest of our gang of ten and ate before going out and looking at the classic cars and rods. This show draws a lot of cars, close to 200, and there are a lot of old cars in the Yuma area. It is primarily a hobby for the older, wealthier crowd, and that describes a lot of the snowbirds, and residents, of the Yuma area. We spent about an hour and a half looking at the cars, including a red 1965 Plymouth Barracuda, which was exactly like a car Jackie owned back then.

After looking at the cars we took a drive to run a few errands. We stopped at a couple of stores, picked up two geocaches near the downtown area, and dropped off some stuff at the Salvation Army store. We also looked around the store for a bit and I found a very nice yellow polo shirt that had “Bean Bandits” with a cute logo and had “Ray” embroidered on the front too. I knew I had to get this for Ray Babcock because he likes to fix baked beans for our potlucks. As it turns out, the Bean Bandits are a car club in San Diego, so it was appropriate for the day of the car show. We also got a phone call while we were out that Jackie had won one of the raffle drawings at the car show. We won the booze cart.

We hurried back to the park and got there as the car show was closing up. We won a new Coleman cooler with wheels and it was full of booze, including a lot of tequilas and bourbons. One of the items with it was a big, glass bottle shaped like a rifle that was filled with tequila. When we arrived to claim the prize there was a woman there who was frantic to buy the rifle bottle for her son in Canada. We really didn't need it and had no where to put it anyway, so we sold it to her for $30. We got some money and she got a bargain as they sell in the store for much more.

We had cocktails with the group at 5:00 and showed off our prizes to everyone, as well as giving Ray his “new” shirt. The Bullock's grandson Troy and his wife Makayla came for a visit and sat with us during cocktails. Troy is the young Marine stationed here in Yuma. After cocktails everyone went their separate ways for the evening. We had leftovers for dinner and watched TV until time to head for bed.

Sunday, February 7^th, our 12^th Wedding Anniversary. Yea us! We left the coach about 11:00 and drove to the Arizona Marketplace, the large outdoor swap meet here in Yuma. We shopped for about an hour or so and decided to go to lunch with Peggy and Vernon, who had also driven to the Marketplace. We went to a Mexican place called Mi Rancho, which is one of our favorites. It must be because we noticed later in the day that Facebook showed we had eaten there last year on our anniversary too. We had a great meal and afterward Peggy and Vernon went off to run some errands and we went out and did a few nearby geocaches.

We were able to get five new finds, and one DNF, in about an hour. One of the caches had a lot of travel bugs in it that we were able to swap out. After caching we headed back to the coach and relaxed for a little bit. After the Super Bowl started we went over to the McKay's coach and watched the game. Ray Babcock was there for a while and Peggy and Vernon came over to watch the second half. We were all Denver fans, so things worked out well for us. We also did a little quarter a square pool for the group and Jackie and I won the square for final score, getting ten bucks. Yea! After the game we went back home and relaxed the rest of the evening.

Monday, February 8^th, another anniversary date for us. 2/8/98 was the day that I got back in touch with Jackie after having not seen her for over 22 years. We call it our “Reunion Anniversary” and celebrate it every year. Today we celebrated by going out and doing our laundry. LOL While the laundry was working Jackie went next door and got a pedicure. That was pretty much it for the day. After laundry we headed back to the park and put stuff away. We had cocktails with the group at 5:00 and after that everyone headed back to their own places for dinner. We had dinner and watched TV until bedtime.

Tuesday we left the coach about 11:00 and drove to the Yuma Palms Mall for lunch and a movie. The Bullock's and the Wilson's also followed in their own cars since we all had various errands to run after the movie. We had lunch at a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant next door to the movie theater. Most people had wings, I had a sandwich because I didn't want to fool around with messy wings. The food was pretty good and everyone seemed to enjoy their meal.

After lunch the six of us saw Dirty Grandpa, a comedy movie with Robert DeNiro as a recently widowed grandfather who is obsessed with having sex with younger women. He gets his soon to be married grandson, played by Zak Efron, to drive him from Atlanta to Florida. They stop in Daytona Beach during spring break and the fun ensues. The movie was very raunchy, both language and content, maybe even a little over the top, but it was very funny. After the movie we stopped at Sam's Club for a few things and ran a couple of other errands before returning home. We had cocktails with the group at happy hour and then dinner with the Bullock's. Peggy made a new recipe of mu shew pork. It seemed like a lot of work, but it tasted very good. After dinner we went back to the coach and watched a little TV before bed.

Wednesday, February 10^th, we left the coach about 11:30 and drove to a restaurant in the Foothills area called The Copper Miner. We had never eaten here, but our friend Ray Babcock, told us that the food was good. We met a couple that we were on our 49 day Alaska trip back in 2009. Linda and Ernie Ellis. We cross paths with Linda and Ernie once or twice a year, usually at FMCA rallies. They are also square dancers and come to Yuma for a regional square dancing event every February. We came and watched them dance for a while last February. We had a nice lunch and caught up with what the Ellis' have been doing since we last saw them.

After lunch we went out and ran some errands. We stopped at a couple of local swap meets and also the post office. After our errands we headed back home. I spent an hour or so working on repairing the vent fan in the bathroom. After about six or seven years it quit working, so I had to order the parts to rebuild the insides. The biggest issue was cleaning the gunk off of the blades and the rest of the fan housing. We finally got it all cleaned up and I had most of the repair work done, but happy hour called, so I quit for the day.

We had happy hour with the group and then went to the Bullock's again for dinner. Their grandson Troy and his wife were supposed to come, but he got hung up at the base and they couldn't come. That's the life of an active duty Marine, duty calls, everything else waits. We still had a nice pork dinner with the four of us and chatted until almost 9:00 before we headed back to our coach. We watched a little TV and headed off to bed.

Thursday we left the coach about 10:00 and drove to the Mexican town of Algodones. We had Peggy with us and were going down primarily to get our teeth cleaned. Regular readers will know that we go to this small border town every year for dental work and eyeglasses, as well as the occasional shopping trip. The three of us were done with our cleanings by a little after 11:00, so we shopped for a little while then stopped at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants down there, El Rancherito, for lunch. Lunch was great and the line going back into the states wasn't too bad. It was about a half hour wait, which is pretty short. It usually takes an hour or longer if you wait until late afternoon.

After we got back in the U.S. we drove back to the coach. I finished the work on the bathroom vent fan and did a few other administrative things. We had cocktails with the group, which tonight included another couple, Pat and Tammy Kight. Pat and Tammy are good friends of the Bullock's, but most of the rest of the group have met them at various RV gatherings or the parties at the Bullock's house. They are only down here for a week before moving on to their next destination. After happy hour we had dinner at the Bullock's, although Jackie cooked the main course, a Chinese casserole. Dinner was us, the Bullock's and the Kight's. We stayed and talked after dinner until about 7:30 when we went back to our coach and relaxed the rest of the night.

Friday, February 12^th, we had a stay at home day. I got a few chores done around the coach, as did Jackie. We had planned a big pot luck dinner for the group tonight and everyone got together at 5:00 for cocktails. We had our original five couples, plus the Kight's and tonight we were also joined by Troy and Makayla. A little after six everyone brought out their dishes and we had a great Mexican themed pot luck. I had made some frozen margaritas, Jackie made some nice chicken enchiladas, and we had way more food than the group could eat. The weather was perfect, no wind and nice and warm until way after 8:00. Several of us stayed out talking even after most everything was cleaned up. We had a great time and everyone ate too much.

Saturday we went out after lunch to do some geocaching. We were able to get six new finds, along with one DNF. On the other hand, we were able to find the cache we couldn't a couple of days ago, fixing that DNF. The cache we found was rated a 5 difficulty, the highest rating. Yea! One of our other caches was a four and a half difficulty. After caching we went home and relaxed for a while. We had cocktails at 5:00 and also put out the leftovers from yesterday's pot luck. Everyone else brought their leftovers and we had an early dinner.

We were eating early because a little before seven the entire group, all six couples, walked down to the event area for a Micheal Jackson tribute concert. Since we were disappointed by the performance of the Motown group last week, we were hoping for a good show. It was better than good, it was great! The performer had a strong resemblance to MJ and was a great dancer. He also had too really good backup dancers and a fairly strong band behind him. The show was ninety minutes and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Some of the other couples were not big MJ fans to begin with, but no one really hated the show. After the show we went back to the coach and a few of us stayed outside for a half hour or so with a night cap. It was a beautiful evening, with temps in the 70's. We then went in, watched a little TV and went to bed.

Sunday, February 14^th, Happy Valentine's Day and Happy Birthday to my granddaughter Courtney. We left the coach about 1:00 and drove to the Arizona Market Place to finish the aisles we had not gotten to last Sunday. We bought a few little things and were done in about an hour. We did a couple of geocaches on the way back to the RV park and also stopped and checked on a new RV park with thoughts of maybe going there next year. Without the bargain certificate we got on this place this year we can't afford to stay here next year.

After we got back to the coach we relaxed for a while. The happy hour group was short the Babcock's and McKay's who went out for an early Valentine's dinner. The Wilson's went back to their coach after cocktails and we, the Bullock's and the McKays did some meat on the BBQ and had another nice outdoor dinner. We finally finished up about 8:00 and watched a movie until bedtime.

Monday, February 15^th, Happy Birthday Mr. Presidents. We had a stay at home day. I got some chores done, including doing our taxes for last year. We are getting a decent refund to help pay for our new tires for the coach. Yea! We had cocktails with the group, including Judy and Darrel Holm, a couple that are friends with Peggy and Vernon. Judy was a college classmate of Peggy's back in the 60's. They live in Wisconsin, but come down to Yuma every winter. After cocktails we did some burgers on the grill and most of the group sat outside and had dinner again. Another great winter night in Yuma. After dinner we watched TV for a while and went to bed.

Tuesday we went out to the taco stand with the Bullock's and the Holm's for lunch. After lunch we went out on our own and did some geocaching, getting ten new finds in a couple of hours. One of the finds fixed a DNF from a couple days ago. After caching we went back to the coach in time for happy hour with the group. Tammy and Pat hosted dinner for us, the Bullock's and the Holm's tonight. This is their last day here, so they wanted to do dinner for those who fed them over the last week. We had a great dinner and visited until about 9:00, after which we went back to the coach and watched a little TV before bed.

Wednesday, February 17^th, we, the Wilson's and the Bullock's all went to a place in the foothills called Chicken on the Run for lunch. Jackie likes to go there because they have chicken livers and gizzards. I had the fried chicken, which was good. Not the best I ever had, but OK. Jackie, of course, had “lizards”, which is a mix of gizzards and livers. After lunch the Wilson's went off on their own to run errands. We had the Bullock's in our car and stopped at one of the farmer's markets for a while before doing some geocaching. We got six new finds in an hour or so. We then headed back to the coach for the rest of the day. We had cocktails with the group, but Suzie was sick and didn't come out. After cocktails everyone was on their own for dinner, so we went in and watched TV until bedtime.

Thursday we had lunch in the coach and then went to the movies. Judi McKay went with us and the Wilson's followed in their own car. We went to see Hail Caeser, starring George Clooney. I am a big fan of Clooney, as well as the producers of the movie, the Coen Brothers. They are famous for making quirky films with odd plot lines and great, subtle comedy. This movie did not disappoint me. I thought it was a great film with a constant flow of homages to movies, stars and movie themes of the late 40's and early 50's, the time period the movie is set in. Everyone else thought the movie was just OK, but I would encourage anyone who likes subtle comedy and has some knowledge of the film industries history, to go see the movie. After the movie we stopped at Walmart and then headed home for the day. We had cocktails with the group, which is now down both Suzi and Clark, with some kind of flu-like sickness. Everyone was on their own for dinner again and we had a light dinner and watched TV.

Friday, February 19^th, we went out after lunch to do some geocaching. The Wilson's were with us in their own car. We did some caching in the southern part of county, getting ten new finds with no DNFs. We actually got within a few miles of the Mexican border we were so far south. After caching we went to Fry's for fuel and some groceries before heading back to the coach.

We had cocktails with most of the group, including the Holm's who came over for happy hour. Suzie was still down, but Clark was feeling better and joined the group again. After happy hour we had the Bullock's over for dinner. Jackie made a meat loaf and we had a great dinner with the four of us. We visited until a little after eight when they went home and we finished the evening with some TV shows.

Saturday, February 20^th, we left the coach about 10:30 and drove into Yuma to the Civic Center to check out the Norway Fest celebration. The local chapter of the Son's of Norway put on this event. We like to attend cultural festivals, Scottish, Irish, whatever, and thought this might be fun. They had a few vendors, some art on display, and there were musicians playing Scandinavian music. It was interesting, but it didn't take long to look at everything. After an hour we were ready to leave. The Bullock's and Holm's were there, as were the Wilson's. We and the Bullock's left to go find some tacos for lunch, but to our surprise, we found that all of the taco stands we wanted to go to in the area were closed until after 5:00. I guess no one in downtown Yuma eats tacos before happy hour. Who knew? The Bullock's finally gave up and they and the Holm's went to Sam's Club for a hot dog. Jackie and I went to In and Out, had a great burger and I got the new 2016 tee shirt.

After lunch we spent an hour or so doing a few caches. We ended up with six new finds. One of them was a great four and a half out of five difficulty. A cacher had hollowed out compartment in a big palm tree in front of his house and installed a steel door. The trick was to figure out how to get the door open without prying on it. They gave some vague instructions in the description of the cache, but we figured out the trick after about ten minutes of looking. A very clever cache. After caching we ran a couple of errands, then headed back to the RV park for a while.

About 5:00 we left, with the Wilson's in our car, and drove to the Elks Lodge here in Yuma for dinner. The Bullock's picked up the Holm's and they also went. The original plan was for the whole group to go, but Suzie is still sick, as are both Clark and Judi McKay, so two couples were out. We got to the lodge and were able to get a table for eight right away. The Yuma Elks moved from their old lodge to this new building last year. The old lodge was across the street from the Yuma Medical Center and the hospital was expanding, so they bought out the Elks. The new building is very pretty inside, but is much smaller than the old one. The meal was quite good and we had a good time and a couple of drinks. The dining room was not as busy as we remembered the old lodge being, but the food was just as good. After dinner we drove home and had a nightcap outside with Peggy and Vernon. We then relaxed the rest of the evening.

Sunday was a stay at home day. I got a few chores done, but for the most part I just relaxed and watched the first NASCAR race of the season, the Daytona 500. We had cocktails with the group at 5:00 and everyone was back in the rotation, at least for a little while. Suzie was still not 100 percent, but she did come out for a while. After cocktails we went back in the coach and watched TV after dinner.

This marks three weeks since our arrival here in Yuma and a good spot to close this episode and get it published. We are here until the end of March, so lots yet to follow in our Yuma adventures. Until the next time, remember that friends are people who know you really well and like you anyway. See ya soon.

The Arizona Desert Adventures

Greetings readers and friends, welcome back. Our last chapter concluded on Saturday, January 16^th, while we were in Ehrenberg, Arizona. Sunday we left the coach after lunch, about 12:30 or so, with the Bullock's and headed towards Quartzsite to do some geocaching. We hit one trail along a gas pipeline road that was based on frontier outlaws. Each cache was named after an outlaw and the description gave a little history on the individual. It was interesting and each cache was unique in it's hiding, so there was a level of interest you don't get in a power trail of one film canister under a rock after another. We were able to

get 17 new finds with no DNFs. One of the finds was number 2,500 for the Bullock's. Yea!

After caching we stopped by to visit with our friends Clark and Judy Mckay, who are staying in the desert with some friends, not too far from where we were caching. We talked to Clark, but Judy was not feeling well and stayed in her coach. We will be with them in a few weeks when they come to Yuma to be with the group. We then headed home and relaxed for a bit. About 5:00 we went to Gary and Ramona's coach for cocktails and then a nice meatloaf dinner prepared by them. Dinner was great and we sat and talked after eating until about 7:30 when everyone headed back to their own places for the rest of the night.

Monday, January 18^th, we left the coach about 11:30 and drove into Blythe with the rest of the group to have lunch at one of our favorite little home town Mexican restaurants, Garcia's. We have been coming to this place for years and we try to get here at least once or twice on every trip to the Blythe-Ehrenberg area. As always, the food was great and we had a wonderful lunch, eating probably way too much. After lunch we went to Albertson's for a few things before heading back home. We stayed in the rest of the day, doing a few chores and relaxing.

About 5:00 the group came over to our coach for happy hour. After happy hour we did a BBQ with steaks that everyone brought. Jackie had a lamb chop. We also did some potatoes in the oven and a few people had a salad. The meal was great and the six of us talked until about 7:30 when everyone went back to their own coaches for the evening.

Tuesday, January 19^th, we left the coach after lunch, about 11:30, and drove to the Quartzsite area for some more geocaching. We had Gary and Ramona in our car because Gary had developed a bad driveline in his Jeep the other day and didn't want to drive it until he could get it fixed. Peggy and Vernon followed us in their Jeep. We managed to get 19 finds and one DNF in a few hours, a good afternoon of caching. After caching we took a drive to one of the BLM desert camping areas to see some friends of ours that are staying up there, the Minard brothers, Ray and his wife Del, and Curt and his wife Sharon. We found their campsite, but no one was around. We will see Curt and Sharon in a couple days as they are going to be in the same Quartzsite campground as us starting on Thursday.

We then headed back to the RV park and had cocktails at 5:00 with the group at Peggy and Vernon's place. The Wilson's went back to their coach for a dinner of leftovers, the other four of us put some pork chops on the BBQ and had dinner at the Bullock's. We had a great meal and were back in our coach by 8:00 where we watched TV until bedtime.

Wednesday, January 20^th, we left the coach after lunch and drove into Blythe to do some laundry and shopping. Starting tomorrow we will be in Quartzsite for eleven days before moving on to Yuma. Any laundries in Quartzsite would probably be crowded, so we did laundry today so we wouldn't have to again until we were in Yuma. After our laundry was finished we went back to the coach and I started making a big batch of chili. We had cocktails with the group in our coach and then served chili for dinner. Vernon made some corn bread and we had a great meal. We visited until everyone left around 7:30.

Thursday, January 21^st, moving day. We packed up the coach and left Ehrenberg about 10:30. I made a stop at the Flying J truck stop for propane then headed east 20 miles to Quartzsite, Arizona. Quartzsite is a small desert town with a full time population of less than 4,000, however in the Spring, mostly January and February, it is host to upwards of 300,000 recreational vehicle enthusiasts who come for the mild winter and the various RV, rock and gem shows that are held, along with acres of swap meets. Many stay in RV parks in town, but the majority dry camp on the relatively flat desert, most of which is Federal Bureau of Land Management land, surrounding the town.

We have dry camped for brief periods on the BLM land, but this year we opted for an RV park in town. We don't like to go more than a week or so, while many of the visitors here will stay a month or more in the desert. We, the Bullock's and the Wilson's moved from Ehrenberg to Crawford's RV park today. We are parked next to our friends Ray and Suzie Babcock, who came here a couple of days ago from Indio. Some other friends, Curt and Sharon Minard, also came here today from the desert north of town and are parked behind us. We should have a fun time for the eleven days we are here.

After we got set up and relaxed a bit, we did walk around one of the gem and rock swap meets that is right next door to the RV park. It was interesting for a while, but soon all the rocks looked alike. We went back to the coach and waited for cocktail hour when the whole group got together outside. The group has grown to large to have everyone inside, so it is now time to come to happy hour dressed for the cool of evening. We visited until about 7:00 when everyone went back to their own places for the rest of the night.

Friday, January 22^nd, we left the coach about 10:30 and drove over to the “Big Tent” to wander around. The Big Tent is the headquarters for the Quartzsite RV Show and is a huge, circus like tent, probably a quarter mile long and a hundred yards wide, full of vendor booths selling mostly RV related items. We walked half the tent and then stopped for a lunch at one of the carnival style food booths scattered around the outside of the tent. We ran into Peggy and Vernon there and had lunch with them. After lunch we finished the other half of the inside of the tent and then had to walk around the outside perimeter because it is all vendors also. We finally finished about 2:30 or so and made a stop on the way home to pick up some fresh veggies at the local market for dinner tomorrow.

After we got back to the coach we relaxed for a couple of hours. Clark and Judy McKay came in from the desert to visit with everyone for a hour or so. They will not be camping with us until we get to Yuma in a couple of weeks. About 5:00 we had happy hour with the group. Another couple joined us tonight, our friends Sally and Jim Calzada. They have camped with us in Yuma before and are good friends with Ray and Suzie. They were actually here for the last few days, but had to drive home yesterday to take care of some family issues, so they were not here when we got into the RV park.

After cocktails with the ever expanding group everyone went to their own coaches for dinner. Peggy and Vernon came over to our coach and we put together a quick dinner of pulled pork sandwiches, cole slaw and beans. We had a great dinner and visited until about 8:00 when they went back to their coach and we watched TV until bedtime.

Saturday we left the coach after lunch and went for an hour or so of geocaching. There are so many caches in the Quartzsite area that it is easy to get to an area with a lot of caches pretty quickly. We got eight new finds with no DNFs in less than an hour. We then went back to the coach and started getting ready for the big pot luck the group is doing tonight. We had early cocktails, about 4:00, and Mike and Darlene Neighbours stopped by to visit. They are staying in a county park near Blythe, but were in Quartzsite shopping. They stayed for an hour or so visiting. They were acquainted with most of the group. They didn't stay for the pot luck, but some friends of the Minard's and the Bullock's did come in from the desert to dine. We wanted to get everyone together tonight because Jim and Sally and Curt and Sharon are both leaving tomorrow to continue their travels and we won't see either of them for a while.

We had a great dinner. Jackie made taquito casserole and Ramona made chicken enchiladas. We also had rice and beans and a couple of other Mexican flavored dishes, along with some salads. Everyone visited and talked until it got too chilly around 7:00. We cleaned up, went back to the coach and watched TV until bedtime.

Sunday, January 24^th, we left the coach after lunch, about 12:30, and drove to the area near the Big Tent that is known as Tyson's Well. This is a huge swap meet/vendor area that is always set up in conjunction with the RV show and the gem and mineral show in January. Since today is the last day of the RV show we knew that many, if not most, of the vendors will be packing up today and tomorrow. We enjoy Tyson's Well because it has a lot of the little items that you need for the RV from time to time, stuff like bungee cords, clamps, and also some geocaching containers at pretty good prices.

We spent about three hours wandering around the swap meet, buying a few odds and ends, but not too much. After the swap meet we stopped to pick up a nearby geocache and then headed back to the coach. The four remaining couples of our group gathered at 5:00 for happy hour and then we did a hamburger BBQ. We all ate in Ray and Suzie's coach because it was a little too cold to eat outside after the sun went down. We talked and had a good time and about 8:00 everyone headed back to their own coaches for the rest of the evening.

Monday, January 25^th, we hung around the coach until after lunch when we took the Bullock's and drove to one of the other swap meets in town, one that dealt mostly with rocks and gems. The girls were looking for a specific “stone” called Fordolite to use for some earrings. Sharon Minard had showed them earlier this weekend some of the Fordolite that she bought. The story behind this material is that someone a few years back got the bright idea to go into the Ford auto plant and scrape all the years of built up paint from the walls and fixtures of the paint booths. Over the years several inches of paint layers had built up and when you cut the material you can see all the different colors in lines and swirls. It is really a quite interesting looking material. It is also very light, which makes it ideal for earrings.

We found the booth and the girls spent quite a bit of time talking to the dealer and picking out the pieces that they wanted made into earrings. Vernon and I mostly sat around and watched other people looking at rocks. They finally settled on the right piece and we have to come back tomorrow for the final product. After that adventure we headed back to the coach. We had cocktails with the group and then we, the Babcock's and Wilson's left to go have dinner at Silly Al's, the pizza parlor in town.

Silly Al's is a very popular place this time of year and we had to wait about 20 minutes for a table. We finally got a nice table where we all could sit around it and see each other and at least talk a little. We all had salads and pizza and were there for a couple of hours. They started karaoke about 7:00 and I got signed up early so I was able to do one song before the food came. The rotation

was so long my name didn't come up again before we were finished eating and leaving to go home. After pizza we went back to the coach and watched TV until bedtime.

Tuesday, January 26^th, we went out after lunch with Peggy and Vernon and went to the rock show to pick up their earrings. We then went to a couple of stores for groceries and a part for our coach. The toilet is leaking and I have to install a new seal. We then went out and did a couple of hours of geocaching, getting another 14 finds to our credit.

We came back to the coach and relaxed for a while before we had cocktails with the group. After happy hour we went to the Bullock's coach for dinner. We did some steaks on the BBQ. While we were there one of the water supply pipes in the park let go and we had a huge fountain behind our coach until the park owners came over and shut off the water supply. Even though it was dark they had the pipe repaired in less than an hour and the water back on. After dinner we went back to our coach and watched TV until bedtime.

Wednesday, January 27^th, we were up and out of the coach by 10:30, yes A.M., and headed with the Bullock's and the Wilson's to breakfast, yes, Breakfast. Hard to believe, I know. We went to a place called Bad Boy's where most of the rest of our group has been at least once for what they say is an excellent breakfast. The place is true Quartzsite in nature. It is a large sheet metal and pipe garage that has been converted into a restaurant. They put it on a painted cement slab and installed walnut paneling on the side walls, then put in a bunch of tables and chairs. The kitchen is in an add-on section in the back. You order and pay at the counter then they deliver the food. I will say the food was very good. Jackie had a very nice looking and large spinach omelet and I had corn beef hash and eggs. The food came out pretty quickly, despite the fact the place was very busy. It was hot and tasty. Although we are not generally breakfast people, we might go back and try their pretty extensive lunch menu sometime before we leave.

After breakfast the six of us drove south of town to one of the BLM desert parking areas to visit with the Escapee's Geocaching BOF encampment. (BOF means Birds of a Feather, and is the Escapee's version of a Chapter in FMCA) We are members of the Geocaching BOF and know a few of the members from other caching events. They have a couple hundred RVs parked in the desert. Their encampment started on Monday and goes to Friday. We went today because today they are having an actual published event that we can attend and get credit for a geocache find. We got to the encampment just as they group was breaking for lunch. We signed the log for the event and talked for a bit to a few of the people there that we knew. We were also going to go with the group on a caravan to a historical site at 1:00, so we had an hour or so to kill. The six of us went out and did a few geocaches before returning to the encampment area and lining up with a couple dozen other vehicles.

The organizers of the Escapee's group had arranged for a docent from the Quartzsite History Museum to come out and take the group to a place called Picture Rock, an 800 year old Native American habitat site. It was only about five miles from the encampment on a series of reasonably easy desert 4X4 trails. There was a large wash with a rock cliff at the edge and you could clearly see a lot of very old petroglyphs on the rock faces. The docent spent a half hour or so talking about the Native Americans who lived in this area 800 years ago. There were also some caves on the other side of the wash where they lived. They had a little scavenger hunt, looking for some numbers that the organizers had hidden around the area. Vernon found one and got a nice painted rock as a prize. I looked, but didn't find one. We also did a couple of geocaches that were hidden in the immediate area. It really wasn't so much a search because there were 50 geocachers running around finding the caches. We mostly just got the log from whomever found it and signed in.

After spending an our or so with the group the six of us left to do some more geocaching on our own. We cached until about 3:30 and ended up with 14 finds for the afternoon, not too bad. One of the finds was the Wilson's 1,000 find. Yea, Gary and Ramona! We then headed back to the RV park. We had cocktails with the group at 5:00, but everyone went their own way for dinner. The Babcock's and Wilson's went out for dinner, we and the Bullock's had dinner in our own coaches. A very busy but fun day.

Thursday, January 28^th, we had a stay at home day. After lunch I spent about three hours rebuilding the toilet in the coach. I had to take it apart and replace the seals since it had started leaking a few days ago. It was a messy job, but I got it done. We had cocktails with the group at 5:00 and later got together in Peggy and Vernon's coach for dinner. Peggy spent the day making a tortellini soup that was out of this world. We had that with a lot of garlic bread and a salad. Soup and salad dinner, yum. We later went back to our coach and watched TV until we went to bed.

Friday, January 29^th, we went out after lunch to do some shopping in parts of town we haven't yet been in. We bought a few things, but mostly just walked around and looked. At the last store we were in I bought a shirt that was on sale. We left there and went to the grocery store for a couple of things and I noticed that the cards I usually carry in my money clip were not there. It was my debit card, one credit card, and my Costco and Sam's Club membership card. I was pretty sure they fell out when I took the money clip out at the last store, so we hurried back there, but it was closed. There was no phone number or anything, so we just went home. Just to be safe I called and canceled the debit and credit cards and ordered new ones. I will go back to the store in the morning to see if the cards are there. At least if they are I won't have to get new membership cards from the big box stores.

We went back to the coach and had cocktails with the group. After that everyone was on their own for dinner. We had Peggy and Vernon over to our place for dinner. Jackie made a chili relleno casserole with rice and beans. We had a great dinner, although it ended up being a bit later than usual. After the Bullock's left we watched TV until bedtime.

Saturday, January 30^th, we left the coach about 11:00 and went to Bad Boys, the same place we had breakfast a couple days ago, for lunch with the group. Lunch was as good as breakfast. After lunch the eight of us, in two cars, went out to do some geocaching. We only went out for a couple of hours as it was actually warm outside and the sun was getting to some people. Nonetheless, we were able to get 17 new caches, and no DNFs, in just a couple of hours. One of the caches was number 7,700 for us. Yea!

After caching we went back to the coach and relaxed for a while. We had cocktails with the group and then went to the Bullock's for leftover soup, which was just as good as the first time. Jackie stayed home as she was not feeling well. After dinner I went back to the coach and we watched TV until bedtime.

Sunday, January 31^st, our last day here in Quartzsite. The weather folks predicted unsettled weather for the next couple of days and they were right on. The wind started blowing in the morning and we have 30 MPH sustained now with gusts even higher. I spent a little time in the morning putting away what little we had outside in preparation for leaving tomorrow. We spent the rest of the day inside listening to the wind blow. We also got a little rain, but barely enough to call rain. We didn't even get with the group for cocktails, just stayed in and had leftovers for dinner.

Monday, February 1^st, the first month of the new year gone. The wind was still blowing some, but not nearly what it was yesterday, and the skies were mostly clear. We were packed up and on the road about 10:30, headed south to Yuma, Arizona, about 80 miles or so. The wind on the road was on and off, making it a little hairy at times since it is a two lane road, but we made it safely. We stopped for fuel and then checked into The Palms Resort. This is a different place from where we have been for the last three years and this year we are staying two months instead of just one. This is a very nice resort with a mix of stick homes, park models and RV sites. Our group of five are parked close together, but we have one odd outsider between us and the Babcock's. The Bullock's are right next door and the Wilson's and McKay's are across the street. By the time we got the basics set up it was almost 2:00, so we went out and had a quick lunch and then did a badly needed Walmart run. By the time we got back and finished setting up the inside of the coach it was cocktail hour, but we were pretty beat, so we elected to just stay in for the night.

Our arrival here in Yuma for two months marks the perfect place to close this episode. Until the next time, remember the words of Oscar Wilde. "There are only two kinds of people who are really fascinating: people who know absolutely everything and people who know absolutely nothing." See ya soon.