In Yuma, Arizona with Friends

Hello again. Our last episode ended on Tuesday, January 31^st, while we were in Yuma, Arizona spending a couple of months with RVing friends. On Wednesday we went out after lunch and ran a couple of errands. We needed to refill our drinking water jugs and get a couple of things at Walmart. The water in the Yuma area is very alkaline, so most people use bottled water for drinking. There are “water stations” all around the area where you can refill the bottles for usually about 25 cents a gallon. In the afternoon we got our carpet cleaned by a local contractor. The same guy did ours, the Babcock's and the Bullock's all in one afternoon. We also had another of our RV friends join our little group, Clark and Judy McKay came in this afternoon and parked along our row. About 5:30 the eight of us came together on our patio for cocktails. About 7:00 I brought out a big pot of chili I had been cooking all afternoon and Peggy made some cornbread and we all had a chili feast. We were done around 8:00 and everyone went back to their own coaches for the rest of the night.

Thursday, February 2^nd, we left the coach about 11:30 and the eight of us in our group all went to a Mexican restaurant in town called Mi Rancho. We have eaten there before and always thought the food was very good. Today the food was OK, but was not the quality we had come to expect. All of the dishes were very bland. It seems that they have made the food less traditional, which we enjoyed, and tried to make it more palatable to the Gringos. We may not go back to this place as there are too many other choices in Mexican in this area. After lunch Jackie and I went out and did a little caching, getting five new finds before Jackie said she had enough and her leg was starting to hurt. We stopped at Home Depot for some new blocks for under the motorhome jacks, then went back to the coach. We spent the rest of the afternoon at the coach. We had cocktails with the group at 5:30 and about 7:00 everyone went back to their own places for dinner. We watched TV until bedtime.

Friday, February 3^rd, we stayed in until a little before 2:00 when we drove to the physical therapy office for Jackie's appointment. Although her appointment was supposed to be an hour, it lasted until about 3:30 because it was her first visit. After PT we made a quick stop at the coach so Jackie could change clothes and then we drove to the Escapee's RV park down in the south part of town to visit with some friends. We have known Ken and Bonnie Weopke since just after we started full timing in 2005. We met them at an RV park and have then crossed paths with them quite a bit in our travels. We also have a lot of mutual RVing friends. They used to be full timers, but a few years back they got a spot in the Escapee's Coop park in Casa Grande, Arizona. A couple of years ago they changed to the Escapee's park in Yuma. Also visiting Ken and Bonnie was Pat Ruese, another old RVing friend. Pat was President of the 100 Percenters Chapter of FMCA in 2007 when we met her and her husband Ed. She and some other members got me to be Vice President of the Chapter and later the President. Ed died about six years ago at an FMCA rally in Wisconsin and Pat moved into a house in Cottonwood, Arizona, the same town my brother Dennis lives in. She doesn't have an RV anymore, but she still maintains contact with many of her RVing friends and even comes to rallies from time to time, bunking with someone else in their coach. We had a nice visit with everyone and left about 6:00 and went back to the RV park. We still had time to sit outside with the group for a cocktail. Troy and Makayla were also visiting, so we had a good happy hour. About 7:30 we were back in the coach for the rest of the evening.

Saturday, February 4^th, we left the coach about 11:00 and drove to the Arizona Market Place to try and do another couple rows of the swap meet. We did two rows before Jackie decided she needed to rest her hurt knee. We then went to Arby's for lunch. I had gotten a coupon by email for a free milk shake for my birthday and Jackie had gotten one for a free meal upgrade for their fish sandwich. After lunch we ran a couple of errands and stopped at Walmart before heading back to the coach. We stayed in the rest of the afternoon. At 5:30 we had cocktails with the group outside. About 6:30 we left and walked down to the clubhouse for a show. The entertainer was Kelly Hughes, who was a one man show, doing mostly country music. He was very entertaining and it was also a dance, so we got to dance a few songs. Peggy and Vernon went to the show with us. Ray and Suzie had tickets, but decided not to go because they are leaving Sunday to go back to their house in Menifee for a few days. Ray is having surgery to remove a skin cancer under his eye on Tuesday and I think he is a little worried. He said he wasn't feeling well and didn't want to stay up too late, so they skipped the show. After the show we went back to the coach and went to bed.

Sunday, February 5^th, happy birthday to me, the big seven-oh today. Oh, and they are throwing a huge party for me in Houston this afternoon, but we won't be able to make it there. We went out with Peggy and Vernon about 11:30 and went to lunch at a place called Daybreakers. It's a truck stop restaurant here in the Foothills that has great food. Peggy and I had liver and onions and it was great. Jackie and Vernon had breakfast. After lunch we went back home and did a little cleaning and preparation for the Super Bowl. The Babcock's left for home about 9:00 or so. Around 4:00 the Bullock's and McKays came over to watch the big game. The weather was perfect and we now have the big outside TV, so we set up chairs and watched the game. Everyone brought heavy snacks and we ended up with dinner. Jackie made some frog legs, my first time with them. I guess they taste like stringy chicken. Not my cup of tea, however. The game was great, probably the best football game I have seen in a long, long time. Even though I was rooting for the Falcon's I have to give the Pat's credit for a hell of a comeback. After the game we cleaned up and watched a little TV until bedtime. Monday, we had a stay at home day. Did a couple of chores, played some cards, and watched TV. We did cocktails with the Bullock's and McKay's at 5:30. Later we and the Bullock's did some carne on the BBQ and had a nice Mexican dinner together. After Peggy and Vernon left we watched TV until bedtime.

Tuesday, February 7^th, our 13^th wedding anniversary. At about 11:00 I took Jackie to her PT appointment. Today she did some walking on a treadmill in the pool, as well as a bunch of other exercises. She said it was tiring, but still felt good. After PT we went back to the coach, had lunch and then watched some movies on TV. We had cocktails with the group at 5:00 and were joined by Mike and Darlene Neighbours, some other RV friends of ours, who came into the park this afternoon for a weeks stay. Mike is the current President of the Full Timers Chapter of FMCA and they have been full timing for about 7 years now. About 6:00 we left and drove to Julieanna's, a very nice restaurant here in Yuma, for an anniversary dinner. We had a very nice, romantic dinner, with prime rib for me and a rack of lamb for Jackie. The waiter was very nice and we each got a free glass of wine and then a free dessert to share. After dinner we drove back to the coach and relaxed the rest of the evening.

Wednesday, February 8^th, another of our several “anniversaries,” this one the 19^th anniversary of our reunion after not having seen each other for over 20 years. We went out for lunch at the taco stand with Peggy and Vernon after which Jackie and I went out and did our laundry. After the clothes were done we did a quick Walmart run and then went back to the coach. We had cocktails with the group at 5:30 and later did some hamburgers on the BBQ with Peggy and Vernon. After dinner we went back to our place and watched TV until bedtime. Thursday morning I left about 8:00 and took the car to the local Jeep dealer for service. I had the oil changed and the transmission serviced. Vernon picked me up after an hour or so when he got done with his PT for his shoulder. After I got back to the coach Peggy drove Jackie to her PT and I stayed at home. Around noon I got a call from the dealer that the car was done, so Vernon took me back and I brought the car back home. We stayed home the rest of the afternoon. About 5:30 we had cocktails with the group, then later had dinner at the Bullock's. Peggy made one of my favorites, her penne pasta dish. Yum. About 8:00 we went back home and watched TV until bedtime.

Friday, February 10^th, we went out after lunch to the Arizona Market Place for a while. We needed to exchange something we bought last weekend and we were also able to do the last two rows of the market. After that we relaxed at home for a while before heading out to the Foothills desert about 3:00 for the Howling at the Moon event. Although we have been coming here to Yuma every Spring for the last five years, we had never heard of this event. From November through March there is a big gathering in the desert here in the Foothills on the night of the full moon. We first heard of it from Kelly Hughes, the singer that entertained here at the park last weekend. He was apparently one of the “founders” of the event
when he and some friends had a small gathering in the desert on the full moon, so they could howl when the moon came up. The event has grown and Hughes plays music at it whenever he is in town during the full moon. It has now grown to the where there were close to 2,000 people there tonight. It is in a flat piece of desert near the mountains, just off of the last paved road in the Foothills. Everyone comes out with a lawn chair and food and drink and sits around enjoying the evening. Hughes was playing tonight, so there was a concert as well, with lots of people dancing. Had we known about this in the past, we would have attended many of the earlier events. Unfortunately, there was too much cloud cover for us to see the moon come up tonight, but it was still a lot of fun. We left about 7:00 and went back to the RV park, where we sat out with the Bullock's for cocktails until about 8:30 or so.

Saturday, February 11^th, we left the park with the Bullock's in our car about 10:00 and did some geocaching. We were participating in one of the events surrounding this weekend's big Geocaching Mega Event. It was a challenge to drive to 20 different locations around Yuma and gather clues to questions. Some of the locations were actual geocaches, some were more like virtual caches where we had to find a code word. It was a lot of fun, and for doing the challenge we would get a free trackable geocoin. Vernon needed to rest, so we dropped him off about 2:00, and then Jackie, Peggy and I finished the challenge. We got done right at 4:00, the deadline for the challenge, but it was too late to get our coin tonight. We will be able to get it at the actual event on Sunday. We did get nine geocache finds for the afternoon. After caching we went back to the coach and had cocktails with some of the group before going back into the coach and relaxing the rest of the evening.

Sunday, February 12^th, we again left the coach at 10:00 and drove to near downtown Yuma for the 14^th annual Yuma Geocaching Event. This event is put on by a group called the South West Arizona Geo- cachers, or SWAG. The last four, including this year, have been big enough (more than 500 participants) to be called Mega Events by Groundspeak, the company that sort of controls geocaching. We missed last year's event because of timing of our travels, but have been to five previous events. Today the weather was cold and windy, and there was a threat of rain, so the attendance was not as great as it has been in the past.

We did run into a lot of geocaching friends from the Coachella Valley who came down for the event. However, most of them had come early and left shortly after we got to the event. We still had a good time and stayed until about 2:00 when things shut down. We did a couple of geocaches on the way home and then had cocktails with the group at 5:30. We then went in and watched TV until bedtime.

Monday, February 13^th, we went out after lunch and did a Walmart run. After we got home we did a few chores and Jackie cooked up a big pot of clam chowder. One chore I finished was replacing our porch light with one that had a motion sensor on it. That way we don't have to leave the light on all the time. We had all twelve people in our little group on the patio at 5:00 for cocktails and then around 6:30 we had clam chowder, fruit salad and bread for dinner. It was a beautiful evening, good company and a fun time. The food was excellent also. After everyone left we cleaned up and relaxed the rest of the night.

Tuesday, February 14^th, Happy Valentine's day and happy birthday to my grand- daughter Courtney. We left the coach a little before 10:00 so Jackie could go to her PT. After PT we met with Peggy and Vernon and Pat and Tammy at the taco stand for lunch. After lunch Jackie and I did the last six of the special caches put out for the caching event this past weekend. We then went back to the coach and relaxed for a while. About 5:30 we had cocktails with the group. About 6:30 we, the Bullock's and the Kights had dinner. The Babcock's and McKay's went out for dinner. Tammy made some chicken cordon bleu and rice, Jackie made bread and Peggy provided a veggie. We ate outside at party central and had a great meal. We had the fire pit going and sat outside until after 8:30 when everyone went back to their own RVs for the rest of the night.

Wednesday, February 15^th, I headed out early, about 10:00, and took the car to Sam's Club to get new tires. I had the last set put on here in Yuma three years ago, almost exactly. In that time we put 25 thousand miles on the Jeep and another 18 thousand on the coach, towing the Jeep, so the tires had over 40 thousand and were ready for replacement. After getting the tires on I went back to the coach and spent the rest of the afternoon doing some other chores around the coach, including getting our taxes filed. Yea, money! We had cocktails with group around 5:00 and then around 6:30 or so we had another great dinner outside. Vernon cooked some flank steak on the BBQ and Peggy did some sweet potatoes. We had dinner with the Bullock's and the Kight's. The McKay's had gone to the clubhouse for bingo. We again sat outside chatting until about 8:30 when we went in and watched TV until bedtime.

This entry puts us a little over two weeks since we posted. We are here in Yuma for another couple weeks before we move on to the Phoenix area. Until the next time, remember that life isn't measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the number of moments that take your breath away. Go out and have a moment. Bye for now.

Back in Southwest Arizona

Welcome back friends. Our last chapter concluded on Sunday, January 15^th when we arrived in Yuma, Arizona after a month long stay in our old home, Indio, California. We are staying in Yuma at the Carefree Village RV Resort, a fairly new resort in the Foothills area. We will be here almost two months. On Monday I spent some time getting some decorations out in our patio area. We are currently here with our friends Ray and Suzie Babcock, but in a couple weeks there will be two other couples arriving, Peggy and Vernon Bullock, and Clark and Judy McKay. I always set up what we refer to as “party central” in our patio area. We also did a Walmart run in the afternoon. About 5:30 we went over to the Babcock's coach for cocktails and then dinner. Ray made a batch of shrimp curry over rice, along with a nice green salad. It was a great meal. We stayed until about 7:30 when we went back to our coach and watched TV until bedtime.

Tuesday, January 17^th, was another stay at home day. I spent a couple of hours finishing up the outside decorations, mostly ground lights, and a few other chores. About 5:30 Ray and Suzie came over to our place for cocktails and then dinner. Tonight Jackie did a nice meatloaf with mashed potatoes and broccoli. It was really good. We ate and the sat and talked until about 7:30 when they went back to their place and we relaxed the rest of the evening. Wednesday we went out about 11:30 and headed to our favorite taco stand in the foothills for lunch. The tacos were great as always and Ray and Suzie met us there to eat. After lunch we ran some errands, checked out one of the swap meets and did a Walmart run. After we got back to the coach I did a few chores and relaxed. We had cocktails with Ray and Suzie but did dinner on our own. We had leftover meatloaf for dinner. We watched TV until bedtime.

Wednesday, January 19^th, we were up and out of the coach about 8:00, headed back to the Coachella Valley so Jackie could have her arthroscopic surgery on her knee. Her appointment was at 10:30 and it is 170 mile trip back to Rancho Mirage. We arrived with time to spare, however, the surgeries were running late and Jackie didn't get into the operating room until 12:30, two hours late. The surgery only took about 45 minutes, but it was a while before she was awake enough to get into the car to start for home. Because of the wrap they had on her leg, and the fact that she had to keep the leg elevated to reduce swelling, she had to ride lying down in the back seat. We did a quick stop at Jack in the Box for some food and then were on the road again. Although we had a lot of rain going up in the morning, the weather on the trip back to Yuma was clear. We finally got back to the coach at about 7:00 and got Jackie settled on the couch. She is uncomfortable and in some pain, but we hope it will get better. We watched a little TV, but went to bed early.

Friday, January 20^th, Jackie is supposed to spend at least 48 hours with her leg elevated for most of the time, so she is relegated to the couch for the next two days. She is not feeling too bad, in some pain, but managing OK. We just stayed home, with her on the couch and me in the Man Cave doing some work and play on the computer. No visitors today and no cocktails for Jackie because she is taking a narcotic pain reliever and can't have alcohol. Saturday we stayed in again. Jackie spent most of the day on the couch with her leg up and ice on her knee. She did get up and walk around a little bit. Ray called and said he was going to Arby's to get some lunch, so he picked up some stuff for us too. Although I did go out for a little walk, we spent most of the day inside because it was cold and very windy still.

Sunday, January 22^nd, we continued to stay in so Jackie could recuperate. She is getting incrementally better each day. Today she took a shower and washed her hair, which made her feel a lot better. I did a few chores, the biggest of which took a couple of hours. I installed a new surge protector for the coach. For those who are not RV owners, one of the most important things you can do to protect your RV is have a surge protector on the shore power line that provides 120 volt electric to your RV. The good ones protect against high and low voltage, surges, and open neutrals, which in a 50 amp coach like ours can result in 240 volts going through the coach. Not good for electronics. The first one we bought was an external model that plugged into the power pedestal and then the coach shore power cord plugged into it. We bought that a couple months after we bought the coach and it lasted ten years. It finally gave up a couple years ago and we replaced it with another external one of the same brand. This one lasted less than two years before leaking in the recent rains, allowing water inside and ruining it. This time I ordered a new one from a different manufacturer and got the kind you wire directly into the coach, inside the compartment out of the weather. We are now protected again and I feel much better. Hopefully Jackie will continue to mend and we can get out of the house a little bit.

Monday, January 23^rd, we took off the wrapping from Jackie's leg and just put a couple of waterproof bandages over the two small incisions on her knee. She was able to take a shower, get dressed and we were out of the house for the first time since Thursday. We went to lunch with Ray and Suzie at the Copper Miner, one of our local favorites. The food was great, the service a little slow, but we still had a great lunch. After lunch we stopped for fuel and then went back to the coach for the rest of the day. Ray and Suzie came over at 5:30 and we had cocktails together, again for the first time in five days. Yea! After they left we watched TV until bedtime.

Tuesday, January 24^th we again got out of house, at least briefly. We left about noon and drove to a nice Asian restaurant for lunch along with Ray and Suzie. I said Asian because it had Chinese, Japanese and Thai items on the menu. Also, it's called Asian Star. The food was very good, the service not so much. After lunch we ran a couple of errands. I needed to go to Sprauges, a local sporting goods store, which is mainly a gun shop, to get another magazine for my new Beretta handgun, along with a couple other things. After our errands we went back to the coach and stayed in the rest of the day. Jackie didn't make much progress today, still says she is in a lot of pain.

Wednesday, January 25^th, another stay at home day. I went down to the laundry here at the park after lunch and did our laundry. After I got done I came back home and did a couple of chores. Our friends Peggy and Vernon Bullock, who went to Quartzsite for a week after the Indio rally instead of coming here, arrived and parked next to us. We had cocktails with the Babcock's and Bullock's at our coach at 5:30 and about 7:00 Jackie served a great dinner of chili relleno with rice and beans for the six of us. We had a great meal and about 8:00 everyone went back to their own coaches and we watched TV the rest of the night.

Thursday, January 26^th, the Babcock's left early, about 8:00, and drove to Quartzsite for the day. Jackie didn't feel like going anywhere because her leg still hurt, so we just stayed home. I had to take the Babcock's dog, Casey, for a couple of walks, and I did a few chores, but mostly we just relaxed. At 5:30 we had cocktails with the Bullock's at our coach. Ray and Suzie were tired from their trip, so they didn't come over. After cocktails we cooked some burgers on the BBQ and had dinner at our place. Peggy and Vernon left about 8:00 and we watched TV until bedtime.

Friday, January 27^th, we left the coach about 9:00, once again headed 170 miles back to the Coachella Valley for the follow up appointment with the orthopedic center regarding Jackie's surgery. No rain on the trip today, so it was pretty routine. Today Jackie saw the doctor's PA, who is much more personable and helpful than the doctor was. He read the doctor's surgical report and explained to Jackie that the reason she was having more pain, and taking longer to heal than other people who has talked to is that her surgery was more complex than normal. It seems that in addition to having a larger than expected tear, her meniscus was also folded under and had some other defects due to arthritis. This resulted in the surgery requiring more moving the knee around and just generally more trauma than normal. He suggested exercise, gave her a prescription for a different pain medication, and also gave her an order for physical therapy. We will get that done in Yuma. After the doctor we stopped for lunch and then Jackie got a haircut. We still were able to get back to the coach before 6:00. We didn't have any company as we were beat, but we had a cocktail and relaxed with the TV the rest of the night.

Saturday, January 28^th, we went out after lunch and ran a few errands, including a trip to Walmart. Jackie did pretty well walking around Walmart, although it did start hurting towards the end. After we got home we relaxed a bit and then went over to the Bullock's about 5:30 for cocktails and dinner. Peggy made a pot of spaghetti sauce and we had a great spaghetti meal. We stayed and talked until about 8:00 when we all went back to our own coaches for the rest of the evening. Sunday morning we had our usual coffee and Sunday paper. We had lunch in the coach then left to drive to the Arizona Market Place, a big weekend swap meet here in Yuma. We wanted to get Jackie to get some exercise on her leg, but not enough to cause real pain. She was able to walk two of the isles before she decided she had had enough. We will do the others next weekend. After the Market place we did a quick run to Fry's for a couple of things, then headed back to the coach. On the way back we came across a flock of sheep that had been moved to field alongside the main highway, not an uncommon sight in winter here in Yuma.  About 5:30 we went over to Peggy and Vernon's for cocktails and to say hi to their Marine grandson Troy and his wife Makayla. He is a sergeant stationed at the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma. We visited for a half hour or so before leaving and going back home to BBQ some chicken for dinner. After dinner we watched TV until bedtime.

Monday, January 30^th, we went out after lunch to visit a physical therapy center here in the Foothills area to set up an appointment for Jackie. Last Friday the doctor gave her an order for six weeks of PT. After our visit there we did two geocaches, our first caches in several weeks. Yea! We then headed back to the coach and spent the rest of the day home. I did a number of small chores around the coach and Jackie did a few things inside. At 5:30 we had cocktails with the Bullock's and Babcock's outside for the first time since we got here. It has finally warmed up a bit and the wind died down, making it possible to sit outside. Yea again! After cocktails everyone went back and had dinner on their own and spent the rest of the evening at home.

Tuesday, January 31^st, I was out early, about 8:30, to pick up Vernon, who had to drop his Jeep off at the dealer for some work. Jackie and I left again about 11:30, with the Bullock's, to go to lunch at another of our Yuma eating spots, Chicken on the Run. As the name would imply, they specialized in chicken. We mostly go there because a number of our group love chicken livers and gizzards, which this place has in abundance. The Babcock's met us there and the six of us had a good lunch. The food has been slowly going downhill for the last few years and for the most part, it wasn't much better today. Vernon liked his fried chicken, and my Reuben sandwich was good, but the livers and gizzards everyone else had were overcooked and not so good. This may be the last time we go to this place. After lunch the guys went back to the coaches for the afternoon and the girls went out for pedi's. I did a couple of chores until the girl's got back. We had cocktails outside with the group at 5:30 and then had dinner on our own again. We then watched some TV until bedtime.

The end of January marks a good spot to close out this chapter and get it published. We will be here in Yuma until the first week of March, so we will publish again in about three weeks. Until next time, I leave you with this suggestion. At the end of the day shouldn't life ask us "Are you sure you want to save the changes?” See ya soon.