Hello again. Our last episode ended on
Tuesday, January 31st, 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 2nd, 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 3rd, 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 4th, 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 5th, 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 7th, our
13th 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 8th,
another of our several “anniversaries,” this one the 19th
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 10th, 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 11th, 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 12th, we
again left the coach at 10:00 and drove to near downtown Yuma for the
14th 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.
Monday, February 13th, 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 14th,
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 15th, 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.
