Back In California Again

Hi there, good to have you back. Our last chapter concluded on Tuesday, May 3^rd when we left Arizona after nearly four months and returned back to our old stomping grounds of Indio, California. On Wednesday we decided it was too hot to do anything outside, so we decided to take in a movie. We went to the new Century Multiplex that opened last year to see Mother's Day. This was a fairly standard romantic comedy, with Jennifer Aniston, Julia Roberts, and Jason Sudeikis among others. The story involved several different families who all interact around Mother's Day. The movie got off to a bit of a slow start, but it came around and was quite funny. We enjoyed it. After the movie we got one nearby geocache, did a Walmart run and then went back to the coach for the rest of the evening.

Thursday, May 5^th, Happy Cinco De Mayo, the day when everyone is Mexican. Most people in Mexico don't even consider it a big holiday, but it is kind of like St. Patrick's when everyone is Irish for a day. In the spirit of the holiday we went out to La Casita, one of our favorite Mexican restaurant's here in the valley, for lunch. We met Shane Ryan, Jackie's Godson, who is now 21 years old. When I moved out here to be with Jackie he wasn't even in school yet. We had a great lunch and caught up on what was going on in his life. After lunch we ran a few errands and Jackie got her hair cut. We also picked up a couple of geocaches. We then headed home and stayed in the rest of the day.

Friday, May 6^th, we went out after lunch to do some geocaching. In a few hours we were able to get a dozen new finds, along with one DNF. We also checked on three of our own caches to be sure that they were still in good shape. After caching we made a quick Walmart stop and then headed home for the rest of the evening.

Saturday we headed out about 10:30 and drove over to Palm Desert to the College of the Desert Street Fair. Even though summer is close and it is getting hot, there were still a lot of people at the fair and a majority of the vendors were still in action. We bought a couple of little things before leaving and going back to Indio for lunch at Cactus Jack's. Regular readers will know that CJ's is one of our oldest and favorite local hangouts. There were very few people there, although as we were eating an old friend of Jackie's, Bert Einum and a lady friend came in for lunch. Jackie met Bert in the 80's here in the Desert and I became acquainted with him mostly through the Elk's travel club when he and his girlfriend would travel with the group. We had not seen Bert for probably eight or nine years. We chatted briefly, but not for long as we had our lunch in front of us. We had a great lunch and then went back to the coach.

We were having some friends over for cocktails, so we spent some time cleaning and getting ready. About 6:00 Rex and Vicki Jennings and Kevin Ray and his partner Ron Caple for happy hour. Rex and Kevin are big geocachers and we met them through the local caching group. Vickie and Ron tolerate the sport and support their significant others. We had cocktails and snacks outside and had a great time catching up. We had not seen these guys since we were here in December of last year. About 7:30 they left, we cleaned up and spent the rest of the evening with the TV.

Sunday, Mary 8^th, Happy Mother's Day. Not a big holiday for us as both of our mother's have passed on and Jackie never had any kids. We spent the morning with the paper and our coffee and morning talk shows. About 1:30 our good friend Barry Cohen came over to spend the afternoon with us. Barry and his wife Colleen were probably our best friends when we lived here in Indio. Colleen died of cancer about three years ago, but Barry still lives in their motor home at the Motorcoach Country Club here in Indio. They actually started living full time in their motor home four years before us, but Barry was still working, so they didn't travel much. Colleen died just right after Barry retired, so they never did get to go on the road. Barry hasn't done too much traveling since either because he doesn't want to travel alone. He is now starting to move on and has a girlfriend and is now making travel plans again.

We talked for a while and then went into the back of the coach to do some karaoke. Barry loves to sing, but will only do it with me in private. I bought my first karaoke machine fifteen years ago, when we still had a house, and Barry went in with me to buy the first set of disks for the machine. We have been singing together ever since. We had a great time, sang for a couple of hours, and shed a few tears. About 6:30 Jackie served a nice meatloaf and mashed potatoes dinner. We had dinner and talked a bit before Barry left about 8:00 or so. It was great seeing our old friend again. We watched TV until bedtime.

Monday, May 9^th, we went out after lunch to do some shopping. We went to Costco, our first stop there since we left the Desert back in early January. Yuma and Casa Grande only had Sam's Clubs, which fulfilled most of our needs, but it was still nice to get back to Costco. I like their in-house Kirkland brand stuff. After Costco we hit a grocery store for a few things and then went home for the rest of the day.

Tuesday, we went out after lunch to drive around and check on our geocaches that we have hidden here in the Coachella Valley. We wanted to make sure that they didn't need maintenance, and also to fix a couple we knew needed some work. We ended up replacing one with an identical container, and replacing another cache with a new cache at the same location. We relaxed at home until about 6:00, when we drove to Cactus Jack's to have dinner with Rex and Vickie, and Ron and Kevin, the same people who came over to the coach on Saturday. We had a great dinner and talked for a couple of hours. We finished dinner and went home, getting back about 8:00 or so. We watched TV the rest of the evening.

Wednesday, May 11^th, we had lunch and then went to our regular doctor's office so that he could take a look at Jackie's left breast. She had a benign lump removed in March when we were in Yuma, and it was still causing a lot of pain for her. She wanted to go to the doctor's to be sure it wasn't a major problem. The doctor talked to her and then told her she needed to get a diagnostic ultrasound of the breast in order to see what was going on inside. She called and was able to get an appointment tomorrow at the Eisenhower Hospital Breast Center in Rancho Mirage. We then ran a couple of errands and headed back to the coach for the rest of the day. It is getting really hot, close to 100 degrees, so it is a little to warm for any serious geocaching. We stayed in the coach the rest of the day and evening.

Thursday, we went to Eisenhower Hospital for Jackie's 11:00 appointment. They took her right in and after the ultrasound she had a consultation with the doctor who advised her that everything looked fine inside and that the pain was normal after an invasive surgery like she had. This made both of us feel a lot better. We then went to Olive Garden for lunch. Jackie had won a $25 gift certificate for Olive Garden at a car show in Yuma, so we went to have a nice big lunch and use that. We had a great lunch and then headed back home. We did stop to get one nearby geocache before leaving the parking lot of Olive Garden. We went back to the coach and relaxed, staying out of the 102 degree temperature. Today was the first day of 2016 with temps over 100 in the Coachella Valley. We stayed in the rest of the evening.

Friday, May 13^th, oooooooow, scary. We left the coach after lunch and drove to Rancho Mirage so I could see the dermatologist about some spots on my body. I had my annual check in December, but there was a small red spot on the inside of my right elbow that wouldn't go away, and then I saw a small black spot on the back of my right ear, in the crease. Since I had my melanoma back in 09 I have used an abundance of caution with spots. When I got in the doctor said the red spot was likely a basal cell carcinoma, the most common type of skin cancer, and easily treatable. I had one removed from my other arm a few years ago. The doctor numbed the skin, cut the spot off and then cauterized the wound. He looked at the black spot, which was the one I was most concerned about, and said he didn't think it was a cancer at all, just a spot. He said just to keep an eye on it and we would check at the end of the year when I do my annual.

After the doctor we stopped at Home Depot for some things I will need for projects I planned to do while we are up in Silent Valley, and then Costco for a couple of things. After that we headed home to get out of the 100+ heat. We stayed in for the rest of the day and evening.

Saturday, May 14^th, we woke up after a noisy night of wind. The wind was still kicking up pretty strong today, making caching less desirable. We stayed in for most of the day, finally leaving a little before five to go over to Rex and Vicki's house for a last get together before we left the valley. Ron and Kevin also came over and the six of us had another great night of cocktails, snacks and stories. Jackie's birthday is tomorrow, so she got cards from both couples and Kevin gave her a gift of two metal ammo boxes. Costco had been recently selling ammo boxes, which are great for geocaches in the desert, but we hadn't got around to getting any. Since Kevin works at Costco, he thought it was a great gift. It was. We visited until a little after 8:00 when we packed up and headed home. After we got home we watched a little television and then headed to bed.

Sunday, May 15^th, Happy Birthday to my lovely wife Jackie, as well as our cat Benji. Benji is four today, Jackie not so much. Today was supposed to be a moving day, with us leaving Indio and driving to Silent Valley, our time share RV Resort in the mountains south of Banning. However, I had been awake half the night listening to the wind howling outside, and the weather forecast called for continuing, and even worsening winds today and tonight. With that we decided that we would just stay an extra night in Indio and go up to Silent Valley on Monday, after the winds died down.

I called the RV park and arranged for the extra day. There was certainly no problem with us staying an extra day as the place is mostly empty anyway. About 1:00 or so we went to Cactus Jack's for a birthday lunch for Jackie. When we arrived we noted that John and Janet Moore were in there eating breakfast. Janet is the sister of Colleen Cohen, Jackie's very close friend who died a few years ago. We had not seen John and Janet for a couple of years, so we talked for a little while before sitting down to eat. We had a great lunch and then went back to the RV and relaxed the rest of the day, watching the wild winds blow.

Monday, May 16^th, as forecast the winds died down in the early morning hours and we packed up the coach to travel. We were on the road about 11:00 and heading west to Banning. Since the whole trip was only about 50 miles, Jackie drove the car rather than hook it up to the coach. We always unhook the car at the base of the hill going up to Silent Valley anyway as that last 11 miles is a steep, winding road. We were a little concerned about finding a decent spot because our friends Ray and Suzie Babcock had brought their coach up on Friday and said that the place was pretty busy. Our other friends, Gary and Ramona Wilson, were also up in Silent Valley, parked right next to the Babcock's. This was a surprise as we thought they were still back east in Ohio somewhere.

After we arrived we were able to find a great spot, nice and long with perfect satellite alignment, the two most important factors. Nearly all the sites here have full hook ups and 50 amps, but there are a lot of trees, so sat reception can become iffy in some areas. We got parked, registered and settled in in the afternoon. About 5:00 we went over to the Babcock's coach, only a hundred yards or so away, and had cocktails with them and the Wilson's. It turns out Gary was having some complications as a result of last year's heart surgery, so they came back to California early so he could see his doctor in Ontario. We had a great time catching up. Although we stay in contact through social media, we hadn't seen the Wilson's or Babcock's since we left Yuma the first of April. After our visit we went back to our coach and had a nice pot roast dinner that had been cooking all day in the crock pot. We watched TV until bedtime. We will be here in Silent Valley for a month, a great time to relax and get make some repairs on the coach.

Tuesday, May 17^th, it was nice to wake up to cool temperatures after a very nice, cool night. After lunch we went to the laundry facility here at Silent Valley to do laundry. We were desperate to refill the underwear drawers after three weeks. After laundry we went back to the coach, arriving just in time for a couple of thunderstorms to move through. We got some hard rain for about ten minutes, a bit of a noise and light show, but then it cleared up. We spent the rest of the day hanging around the coach.

Wednesday was a stay at home day. After lunch I spent three or four hours installing a TV in the bay so we can watch TV on the patio outside. It works great. Jackie did some chores of her own inside while I was working outside. About four we went down to the Babcock's for an early happy hour. They were doing early dinner with the Wilson's, but we joined them for cocktails. A little after five we went back to our coach, ate dinner about 7:00 and then watched TV until bedtime.

Thursday, May 19^th, we picked up Ray and Suzie and the four of us drove down to Banning/Beaumont for lunch, some geocaching and then shopping. We had lunch at La Casita, our favorite Mexican place in the area, and then tried to do some geocaching. Jackie and I were at somewhat of a disadvantage because we come to this area for a month or two every year and we have pretty much cached the place out. There are not many caches left in the urban area that we haven't already gotten. Nonetheless, we hit a couple of caches and struck out the first two times with DNFs. These were caches that had not been found in a while and were probably gone. We did find two, after which we went to Walmart for some supplies. On the way back to Silent Valley we stopped for another cache that was just down the road from the resort. It was a difficulty five cache, meaning the hardest in terms of being able to find it. It proved to be accurate, as none of us were able to spot it. So, two finds, three DNFs for day. After we got back we just stayed in for the rest of the evening.

Friday was a stay at home day. I finished setting up some decorations and lights outside, mostly red, white and blue for Memorial day. I also got a few little things done in the house. We watched a movie in the afternoon and then went for a little walk. On the way back to the coach we stopped and visited with the Babcock's and Wilson's for a while. We then went back to the coach, had dinner and watched TV until bedtime.

Saturday, May 21^st, we had a quiet day on the mountain. It was pretty chilly, low 60's, so we didn't go outside much. Relaxed, watched a movie, did a little house cleaning. Jackie made a big pot of clam chowder and about 4:30 the Wilson's and Babcock's came over to our coach. We had cocktails and talked and about 6:00 dinner was served. It was a good batch of chowder and everyone enjoyed it greatly. About 7:30 everyone left for their own places and we watched TV the rest of the evening.

Sunday was a relax at home day. There is no newspaper delivery up here, so we had to go without a Sunday paper. We watched a recorded movie on TV, went for a walk, did a few little chores. Today was the Babcock's anniversary, so they left the mountain and went home for a couple days. They left their coach up here since they are only going to be away one night. Late in the afternoon Gary and Ramona brought two of their daughters, and one grand daughter, over to meet us. They are up here visiting Gary and Ramona for the day. They didn't stay long and we later had cocktails and dinner and then watched some TV until bedtime.

Monday, May 23^rd, we left the coach about 12:15 and went down the hill, then over to the little town of San Jacinto, about twelve miles south of Beaumont. As the crow flies San Jacinto is only about seven miles southwest of Silent Valley, but there is no road going down that way. It is still only about 25 miles, so it's not a real long trip. We went for a late lunch at a place called Patsy's Country Kitchen in San Jacinto. This was our first time at this one, but there is also one in Beaumont that we have been to several times and really enjoyed. They have great food, big portions, and good service. They are only a lunch and breakfast place, but that is fine with us.

After lunch we got one geocache and then went to the movie theater in San Jancito to see Money Monster, a movie with George Clooney in the starring role and Julia Roberts as the female co-star. It is a combination of Wall Street financial shenanigans mystery coupled with an action movie hostage situation. It probably wasn't an academy award winning movie, but we enjoyed it a lot. After the movie we headed back up to Silent Valley, stopping at the Walmart in Beaumont for some supplies first. We didn't get back to the coach until around 6:00, so we didn't have any group get together tonight. We also didn't have any dinner because we were still full from lunch and the movie popcorn. We watched TV until bedtime.

This marks the end of our first week up here in Silent Valley and a good place to close this chapter of the blog. We still have another three weeks or so up here before moving on to our summer travels. Until the next time, remember that the tragedy of life does not lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy of life lies in having no goal to reach. See ya soon.

A Couple Weeks in the Valley of the Sun

Hello again, welcome back to our story. Our last chapter ended on Friday, April 15th, when we left Casa Grande, Arizona, after a two week stay and headed a little bit north to Apache Junction, Arizona. We will be in Apache Junction for a week and then move to the other side of the Phoenix metro area to Goodyear, Arizona, for another week. After we arrived in Apache Junction, at the Sunrise RV Resort, we got settled in and relaxed for the rest of the day. We had cocktails with Peggy and Vernon, who are parked right behind us, at 5:00, and then Peggy served a great dinner of penne pasta. This is one of my favorite Peggy Bullock dishes. We talked until about 8:00 and then went to our coach for the rest of the evening.

Saturday, April 16th, we left the park about 10:00 with the Bullock's and did some geocaching. We were able to get ten new finds, along with four DNFs, in a few hours. That is the most DNFs we have had in one session in quite a while. We stopped for lunch at a little Greek cafe, just a block from the RV park, for lunch. It was called Chicago's #1 Gyro. The food was quite good, but the place had one cook, the owner, who was a grumpy old fart who was rude to both his employees and his customers. If I lived in the area I would not go back just for that reason.

After lunch we got two more geocaches, for a total of 12 new finds for the day. We did a little bit of exploring Apache Junction before heading back to the RV park. We relaxed the rest of the afternoon, then had cocktails with the Bullock's at happy hour. Dinner was the leftovers from last night, and they were just as good now as they were then. By 8:00 we were back at our place and watched TV until bedtime.

Sunday we had a nice relaxing morning with the newspaper and Sunday TV shows. We left the RV park about 1:00 with Peggy and Vernon and went to lunch in Mesa at one of my favorite, old Phoenix based Mexican chain restaurants, Garcia's. Garcia's got it's start in Phoenix back in the 50's, just like Macayo's did. Macayo's chose to go with more modern, updated and fancy selections, while Garcia's has stuck to the old, traditional Sonoran cooking style. We had a great lunch with great food. The service was a little slow, but the place was packed on an early Sunday afternoon.

After lunch we went out and did some exploring around the west Mesa and Tempe areas, looking at places from my earliest days in the Phoenix area. When my folks moved the family from Wisconsin to Arizona in 1960 our first stop was Tucson, but after a couple of months my dad couldn't find work, so we moved up to Tempe, Arizona. We rented a house there, actually moving once but on the same property, just to a different house. I did my freshman and sophomore years of high school at Tempe High. We found the vacant lot where the old houses we had lived in used to be. It appears to have been recently cleared, but no trace of the houses remained. We drove by the high school and also through the Arizona State University campus, another of my Alma Mater's. Along the way we picked up two new geocaches, and then headed back to the RV park. We had happy hour at 6:00, but no dinner together as we were all still full from the late lunch. By 7:30 we were in our coach watching TV for the rest of the evening.

Monday, April 18th, official tax day for 2016! We had our taxes in early and already spent our refund on tires. We went out after lunch to do some shopping. We hit the mall a few miles away in Mesa so Jackie could find some stuff she needed. We then did a Walmart run before heading back to the RV park. We did happy hour with the Bullock's and then had some baby back ribs for dinner that Vernon did on their BBQ. Jackie made some beans and Peggy some Macaroni salad, and we had a great dinner. By 7:30 or so we were back in our coach and watched TV until bedtime.

Tuesday we went out after lunch with Peggy and Vernon to do some exploring. We visited the Superstition Mountain Museum here in Apache Junction. They had a lot of nice exhibits, a lot of which dealt with the legend of the Lost Dutchman's Gold. The Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine is, according to legend, a rich gold mine generally believed to be hidden in the Superstition Mountains. There have been many stories about how to find the mine, and each year people search for the mine. Some have died on the search. The mine is named after German immigrant Jacob Waltz, who purportedly discovered it in the 19th century and kept its location a secret. The Lost Dutchman's is perhaps the most famous lost mine in American history. Arizona place-name expert Byrd Granger wrote that the Lost Dutchman's story had been printed or cited at least six times more often than two other fairly well-known tales, the story of Captain Kidd's lost treasure, and the story of the Lost Pegleg mine in California. People have been seeking the Lost Dutchman's mine since at least 1892, while according to one estimate, 8,000 people annually made some effort to locate the Lost Dutchman's mine. Former Arizona Attorney General Bob Corbin is among those who have looked for the mine. Some argue that there is little or no evidence for the mine's existence, but others say that the main components of the story have at least some basis in fact.

I grew up hearing about the Lost Dutchman's Mine. My mom and stepfather moved the family out to Arizona from Wisconsin in 1960, but we were preceded by my stepfather's dad, Elmer Disch, and his wife. They moved out here from Wisconsin a year earlier and bought a piece of land at the foot of the Superstition Mountains. They built one of the first houses in the area, which is now covered with scores of very nice custom homes. My grandad raised horses and I spent many hours riding around in the foothills of the Superstitions. After the museum visit we rode around the area and I showed everyone the lot on which my grandparent's place once stood. The “old” house has been torn down and there is a new, big two story place there now. After driving around the foothills for a bit, and getting three geocaches in the process, we ran a couple quick errands and then went back to the coach.

We relaxed for a while and then I spent some time cooking dinner for the four of us. I made stuffed green peppers, which is one of my specialties, and Jackie made a salad. We had a great dinner, eating outside in the very nice weather. After dinner we went back into our coach and watched TV until bedtime.

Wednesday, April 20^th, we went out about 11:00 with Peggy and Vernon in tow and headed for lunch at a Thai restaurant, Thai House, near the Superstition Springs Mall in Gilbert. The food was OK, with some of it really good, some not so much. I had the orange chicken and it was very tasty, but the egg drop soup had zero flavor. The egg rolls were just OK, a little on the small side. Jackie had pad Thai and said it was pretty good too. If we lived in the area I might go back, but then again there are so many choices in this huge metropolitan area I might not waste another trip on a place that was just so-so.

After lunch we went to the mall where Peggy went into Macy's for something she needed, and Jackie went to Bath and Body Works for some things. We were in the mall for a half hour or so before leaving and heading over to the Winco for some groceries. After that we headed back to the RV park for the rest of the afternoon. We had cocktails at Peggy and Vernon's and then Peggy served a great jambalaya for dinner. We ate and talked until almost 8:30 when we went back to our place for the rest of the evening.

Thursday was forecast to be a very hot day, upper 90's, so we decided to take in a movie. We left the coach about 1:00 with Peggy and Vernon, and headed back to the mall to see the movie, The Boss. This film stars Melissa McCarthy, one of our favorite comedy actresses, and is about an orphan girl with an attitude that grows up to be a huge business success. She is a total jerk to everyone around her, so no surprise when she goes to prison for five months for insider trading and everyone ignores her when she gets out. All her assets have been seized and she ends up teaming up with her former assistant and forms a new company selling brownies in competition with a group similar to the Girl Scouts. It was not the best McCarthy movie by a long shot, but we still enjoyed it and laughed a lot.

After the movie we went back to the RV park and relaxed until happy hour. We had cocktails with the Bullock's at our place and then Jackie served some chili relleno casserole for dinner. This is our last day with the Bullock's after nearly four months of traveling together. We miss being with them, but will see them again in July. After Peggy and Vernon left we watched some TV and went to bed.

Friday, April 22^nd, another moving day. We were up and out of the RV park about 10:30, heading to Goodyear, Arizona. The trip was about 58 miles, but it was freeway all the way, right through the middle of Phoenix. We are basically going from the far east side of the Phoenix metro area to the far west side. Traffic wasn't too bad and I only had one dicey experience with a car that decided to cut across in front of me to catch an exit. We arrived at the Cotton Lane RV park a little after noon and quickly got checked into the mostly empty park. It was really hot today, a hundred degrees at one point on our thermometer, so we did the minimal setup for our one week stay. We spent the rest of the day in the coach. Our first time in four months that we weren't parked with friends, so it was kind of quiet.

Saturday, we went out about 11:00 or so to get lunch and do some geocaching. We first stopped at my brother Ken's new house here in Goodyear because they had told us they were doing a garage sale. Ken was working but Susan and her mother Helena, who now lives with them, were working the garage sale. We chatted for a few minutes but didn't stay long because we were coming back for dinner later in the day. We stopped at one restaurant in Goodyear, but there was a long wait, so we went down into Avondale to a place we have been before, Raul and Teresa’s Mexican. This is an old place, nearly 50 years in Avondale, and we have always been happy with the food. We both had machaca and eggs, the breakfast plate, and enjoyed it a lot. After a nice lunch we did some geocaching and were able to get ten new finds, with no DNFs, in a couple of hours. About 3:00 we went back to the coach and relaxed for a while.

About 5:00 we left again and went back over to Ken and Susan's for dinner. This was the first time we have been in their new house. When we were here last April we went through the model of the home they are in, and watched as they poured the slab for their place. They moved into the house in late summer. Susan's mom sold her house and Ken and Susan sold their place and they moved into this very nice multi-generational house together. Helena has a suite downstairs, with her own entrance, garage access, bathroom, and mini-kitchen. The rest of the downstairs is a kitchen-family room open area that is their common area. Ken and Susan have a three bedroom suite upstairs with their own living room and full bath, as well as laundry facilities. The only thing they don't have upstairs is a kitchen. It seems to be working out very well for all parties. Susan made pork chops and mashed potatoes for dinner and Helena joined the four of us. We had a great meal, a tour of the house, and a very pleasant couple of hours visiting with family. We also picked up one more geocache, one that Ken and Susan had hidden in their front yard. About 7:30 we left and headed back to the RV park where we enjoyed the rest of the evening.

Sunday, April 24^th, was a relaxing day. We had our morning paper and coffee and stayed in for the whole day. Monday we went out after lunch to do some geocaching and got five new finds in a fairly short period of time. One of the caches was just outside the fence of the Phoenix-Goodyear Airport, which used to be the Goodyear Naval Air Station when I was a kid.  There are dozens of commercial aircraft stored out there now, awaiting renovation or scrapping.  We then went to Walmart for some supplies and Jackie got a pedi. After that we went back to the coach and relaxed the rest of the day.

Tuesday, April 26^th, we left the coach about 10:30 and drove north to Prescott Valley, Arizona to meet the Bullock's for lunch. When we left Casa Grande last Friday the Bullock's went to Cottonwood for a week. We decided to meet for lunch somewhere in the middle, and Prescott Valley was about the closest we could get. It was about a hundred miles for us and fifty for them. However, it was a nice day and a nice, pretty drive up, so we enjoyed it. We met them at the Canton Dragon, a Chinese place we have eaten at before. We had a great lunch and then after lunch did four geocaches in the area. We then said goodbye again and we drove back down to Goodyear, arriving just in time for happy hour.

About 6:30 I left the coach and drove into Goodyear to attend a meeting of the local Fraternal Order of Police lodge, Lodge 5, which was the lodge I belonged to when I was with the Sheriff's Office here in Phoenix. I have not been to a lodge meeting in over 25 years, but I am a life time member by virtue of my retirement from the Sheriff's Office. I hoped to see a few people I knew and wasn't disappointed. There were about a half dozen people there with whom I had worked with, or around, during my tenure as a deputy. There were none that I was really close friends with, but all were acquaintances at one level or another. I had a good time catching up, as best you can cover 25 years in ten minutes, with some of these old acquaintances and I was glad I went. After the meeting I went back to the coach and we watched TV until bedtime.

Wednesday, April 27^th, I went out about 9:30 and took the Jeep to the local dealer for a routine service. I was finally done around noon and I went back to the coach, picked up Jackie, and we went out and did our laundry in Avondale. Once the laundry was done we did a few caches, getting five new finds, before heading back to the coach for the rest of the evening. Thursday we went out after lunch to do some geocaching. We were able to get eleven new finds, along with three DNFs, in a few hours. After caching we went back to the coach and relaxed the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Friday, April 29^th, we left the coach about 11:00 and went out for some more geocaching. In a few hours we had racked up fifteen new finds, and two DNFs. The last find of the day was number 8,000 for us, another major milestone. Yea us! It is fairly normal in the course of caching to sustain what we call “caching wounds,” minor scrapes and scratches from bushes, trees and the occasional sharp edge. However today I got some really big wounds on my leg. One of the caches was at a location that had been a Prisoner of War camp back in WW-II. It

held German and Italian POWs who were then put to work in the fields around the western part of the county. At that time this location was twenty miles outside of Phoenix. The only thing left on the site is a crumbling block building that used to be a bath house for the camp. I was checking around on the rubble and a piece of concrete I was holding on to for balance broke and I stumbled a bit, dragging my lower legs across some blocks and concrete. The worst was my right lower leg which go some ugly looking road rash on the front. I did find the cache though. Yea! I cleaned it up as best I could with some water and a towel and while it bled for a few minutes it pretty quickly scabbed over and quit bleeding. We continued caching and when we hit our milestone we quit and headed into Goodyear for a late lunch.

We went to a new seafood place called the Angry Crab Shack in Goodyear. This is a fairly new Arizona chain of Cajun seafood shops and the store in Goodyear has only been open a couple months. It is reminiscent of a Joe's Crab Shack in appearance and menu. Very informal setting, in fact the walls are covered with customer graffiti. The menu is primarily southern style bag-boiled seafood or fried seafood baskets. I splurged and had the king crab boil, a pound of crab boiled in a big plastic bag with spices. Jackie had grilled salmon, one of the two grilled items on the menu. We also had some calamari and onion rings. Everything was very good and tasty, but, as you might expect, very messy too. I felt like I needed a shower after I was done eating. I enjoyed the food and the ambiance and the service was excellent too. Of course, I also had to buy the tee shirt.

After lunch we went to Walmart for some supplies and then headed back to the coach. I took a quick shower so I could wash my caching wounds with soap and water and then put some antibiotic cream on them. They look nasty, but don't hurt too much, just sort of a burn. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing around the coach.

Saturday, April 30^th, we had a stay at home day. We hung around the coach, did some cleaning and got a few things done. About 5:00 my brother Ken and his wife Susan, along with Susan's mom Helena, came over for dinner. We sat and talked for a while and then Jackie served a nice dinner of pork country ribs that had been cooking in the crock pot all day. We had a great time and after dinner sat around and talked some more. They left about 9:00 and we watched a little TV before bedtime.

Sunday, May 1^st, Mayday! Today was another travel day. We were packed up and ready to go about 11:00. Just before we left Ken and Susan came by to say goodbye, as we are leaving the area and will probably not see them again this year. We got on the I-10 and headed west to Ehrenberg and the Arizona Oasis RV Resort. This is a place that used to be one of our Western Horizon's resorts, but has now been sold to a private party. We still get good discount rates though. We are only going to be here for two days before moving on to Indio for a while.

After we got parked and the utilities hooked up we drove across the river to Blythe and one of our favorite Mexican restaurant's, Garcia's, for lunch. We had a great lunch, ate way too much but it was good. After lunch we went back to the coach and finished getting set up. We then just relaxed in the coach the rest of the day and evening.

Monday was a stay at home and relax day. It was pretty hot outside and there were no caches in the area that we have not already found. We are only staying here today because we wanted to give the RV park in Indio some time to recover from three weeks of chaos. Over the last three weekends there have been massive music festivals in Indio, the first two being Coachella, a Rock and Alternative festival that has become “the” place for the rich and famous to go, and this last weekend being Stagecoach, a Country music festival. During these festival weeks all of the hotels, motels and RV parks in the Coachella Valley swell to overflowing. The last festival day was Sunday, so figured by the end of Monday they should be cleared out.

Tuesday, May 3^rd, we packed up and left Ehrenberg about 11:00 and continued west on I-10 towards Indio, California. We arrived at the Indian Waters RV resort about 12:45 and quickly got settled into our site. As we hoped, the park was nearly empty. There were still a number of rental RVs parked on sites around the park, but very few people and occupied rigs. Since it was really hot, in the high 90's, we got set up and then just stayed in and stayed cool for the rest of the day.

It has now been a bit over two weeks since we last published, and we have now concluded our nearly four month tour of Arizona, it is a good time to close this chapter and get it published. We will be about two weeks here in Indio and then on to Silent Valley, our resort in the mountains south of Banning, California. Until the next time, remember that no matter how smart you are, you can never convince someone stupid that they are stupid. Have fun, see ya soon.