Winter in Yuma Arizona - Part 1

Hi there, welcome back. Our last chapter ended on Sunday, January 12^th, when we left Indio, California and arrived in Yuma, Arizona for a three month stay. Monday I spent about three or four hours finishing setting up for our stay here. Since we are in one spot for well over two months, I put out lots of decorations and lights, which take some time to set up. Once I got finished our spot looks pretty inviting.

Tuesday, January 14^th, we went down to the clubhouse about 10:30 for a lunch with the owners of the RV park. This investment group actually owns six RV parks in Yuma, including both of the neighboring parks to the one we are in. They provided free beer, wine and soft drinks, and had a catered luncheon of ribs, beans and cole slaw for all the residents of the park. While we were having drinks before lunch the various owners all walked around, introduced themselves and chatted with the residents. It was all very nice. They are doing this for all of the parks that they own and apparently do it every season. After lunch we went back to the coach, then went out and did a Walmart run. After Walmart we relaxed for the rest of the day and evening.

Wednesday, January 15^th, we met our friends Dick and Millie Duffin at El Cositas, our favorite street taco vendor here in Yuma. Of course, regular readers will remember that Dick and Millie are our good friends from Pahrump, who now have a site in the Escapees park there and were the inspiration for us getting on the list to live there too. They come down to Yuma for three months or so every spring and stay on one of the residential RV lots in the Foothills area. They have a friend who owns the lot. We had a nice lunch and caught up since we last saw them a month ago. After lunch we went to the laundromat to do our laundry. That took a while since we had a lot of clothes and the place was busy. After doing laundry we went back to the coach, put everything away and relaxed for the rest of the evening. Thursday was a stay at home day. I got a lot of office work done, paid some bills and did some travel planning for the summer and Jackie did some cleaning in the coach. We never left the RV park but got a lot of stuff done.

Friday, January 17^th, we left the RV park after lunch and went to the Arizona Market Place, the big semi-permanent street market. It has about a hundred booths selling everything from clothes to RV supplies to most anything. We walked around for a couple of hours and ended up buying a lot of little things. Didn't spent too much money, but filled up our little shopping cart we bought at the rally in Indio. After the market we drove to the shopping mall near downtown to go to Kohl's. Jackie had a coupon that was due to expire in a day or two. Jackie didn't get anything but I got a couple of nice tee shirts for a total of $10 after the coupon discount. After Kohl's we drove back to the RV park and relaxed in the coach for the rest of the night.

Saturday, January 18^th, Dick and Millie came over to our place about noon and then the four of us went in our car down to the Yuma Civic Center and Stadium for what was advertised as German Fest. A few years back we had gone to a Scandinavian festival here and enjoyed the craft booths, food and entertainment. We got to the stadium but found that the German Fest was a bit of a disappointment. They had a couple of food booths serving brats and sauerkraut, and schnitzel, and also, weirdly, a booth serving tacos and burritos. There was, of course a beer booth. There were several other booths serving baked goods, drinks, popcorn, but no crafts at all. The entertainment was a polka band and singer and a dozen or so dancers in lederhosen and German farm girl dresses. We did have lunch, took a few photos and then left. We drove around for a bit looking for the indoor marketplace, a smaller version of the Arizona Marketplace, but we couldn't find it. I have later figured out that it has closed up due to high overhead for the indoor venue. We stopped at the Humane Society just to have something to do. I also had some leftover powdered food that we had bought for Benji so he could get some nutrition. We looked at cats for a half hour, but got out without an animal. We went back to the RV park, the Duffin's went home and we just stayed in for the rest of the day. I did a few chores, but we mostly just relaxed. Did some hamburgers on the grill and watched TV until bedtime.

Sunday, January 19^th, we went out after lunch and went to the nail salon. Jackie got a full pedi and I got my nails trimmed. After the nail salon we did some geocaches, getting six caches pretty quickly with no DNFs, although one of the caches was named Mr. DNF. After caching we went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the day. Monday we left the coach about 11:00 and drove into California and then down into Algodones, Mexico. Most readers will know that Algodones is a small town in Baja California right in the corner where Arizona, California, Baja California and Sonora all come together. It is one Mexican town that is safe, or at least as safe as most U.S. towns. It is primarily dentists, optical stores, pharmacy, liquor stores, and doctors. There are also lots of street vendors, both in booths along the sidewalk and the walking around vendors. And, of course, lots of Mexican restaurants.

Our first stop was Meyer Optical, one of the many but one we have used for a couple of years now. We both had eye exams and Jackie had a big prescription change, so she had to get new glasses. My vision didn't change at all from last year, so I get to keep my glasses. Because we are past customers, I didn't even get charged for the exam. After the eye exam we did a little shopping, then went to the Alamo restaurant, one of our favorites. We both had shrimp, grilled in garlic and butter, with rice and fresh veggies. It was a great meal, plus you get one free margarita. After lunch we had the biggie reason we came to Mexico. Last year my dentist here in Algodones recommended a bunch of work. I have worn partial dentures for many years, and the partials over the years have worn through some of the “anchor” teeth and caused decay. Several have also been loosened and need to be extracted. I decided last year to put it off because nothing was bothering me. However, halfway through the year I started getting toothaches in the problem areas and they have been getting worse. When I called my old dentist office a couple of weeks ago to make an appointment they told me the dentist I had been seeing since 2006 has left the practice. I decided this was a good time to change dentists, so I called Dr. Erika Medina's office and made an appointment. Dr. Medina was recommended by our good friend Ray Babcock and Peggy had also used her last year for a cleaning.

The appointment went well. It was a very nice dentist's office, with up to date equipment. They did an exam and a bunch of Xrays and then Dr. Medina gave me a treatment plan. It is quite extensive, which I expected, three root canals, seven crowns, one of which is a four tooth bridge that I had done in 1970. They also have to take out two teeth and rebuild my partials. All of this work is right at $3,000, which sounds like a lot, but it would be $10K or $12K at a dentist in the U.S. and we don't have any insurance for dental. After the exam she gave me a prescription for antibiotics for the infections I have around the loose teeth and I made an appointment to come back in a week to have the teeth pulled. They don't like to pull teeth when there is infection present. After the dentist we went to get in line to go home, but the line was really long so we went to a restaurant right on the street where the line to go back into the U.S. is, and had a couple of drinks. The line finally got fairly short and we were back in the U.S. by 6:00. We drove home and relaxed in the coach for the rest of the night.

Tuesday, January 21^st, I was up early as the car wash company arrived at 7:30 to wash and wax the coach and the car. They did a really good job and were finished by about noon. After they left I had to put all the decorations back in their proper places. We did some other chores but stayed in for the rest of the day. Wednesday was mostly a stay at home day. We did go out briefly after lunch and did a grocery run at the nearby Fry's. I also stopped at a Foothills insurance agency to inquire about getting Mexico travel insurance on the car for a couple of months. Even for two months the amount was almost $400, which is just too much in my opinion for the convenience of sitting in the car in line instead of standing. Peggy arrived from Quartzsite about 4:00, got checked in and parked in her site which is just behind ours. She was running late because she had to have some work done on her coach in Quartzsite before she left and it took forever. She got the basics set up then came over to our coach for cocktails. Jackie made the traditional “welcome Peggy” chili relleno casserole for dinner and we had a nice dinner. Peggy was really beat, so she didn't stay long after dinner. We watched TV for the rest of the evening and went to bed.

Thursday, January 23^rd, we had planned to go with Peggy to the taco stand for lunch today, but Peggy called me early in the morning and said that she was sick. We took in her little dog Belle and did a stay at home and do chores day. I had the time to clean out the two main storage bays under the coach. Just like in a house, full time Rvers tend to collect stuff. I found stuff in bins that I had forgot about five years ago, the last time I did a full clean out of the bays. I threw away a lot of outdated and unneeded stuff and did some reorganizing. Jackie did some cleaning in the house as well. We spent the evening in the house watching TV. The dog ended up spending the night with us. She has known us since they first got her, so she is pretty comfortable with us. Friday we went out about noon and had lunch at a local restaurant called Icons. It is fairly new, having taken the place of a small steakhouse that closed up. It was basic cafe food, although there is some emphasis on steaks and several things have cajon influences according to the menu. Jackie had what was billed as a prime rib Cajun Philly steak sandwich. The meat was clearly not prime rib and was overcooked. She also said it was not at all spicy. I tasted it and it didn't taste any different than any other Philly steak I have had. I had a fish sandwich. It was good sized and the fish was good, but it was a little under dressed. It could have used some spicy tarter sauce and some cole slaw on the plate. The service was average as was the food. Not a bad meal, but probably not somewhere we would be in a hurry to go back to. After lunch we went to one of the local hardware/variety stores, which is really big, and just looked around for a half hour or so. We then went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the day. Peggy had taken Belle back, but she was still not up to cocktails or company.

Saturday, January 25^th, we left the coach about 11:00 and drove to The Eatery, another Foothills restaurant to meet a number of our friends from the Overland Trailblazers Chapter that we spent so much time with in Indio. A lot of the members come to Yuma early in the year, and several even have winter homes here. There probably 20 people there and we had a great lunch. The food was good and the service was excellent even for a large group of people. After lunch we went to the Verizon store because Jackie had dropped her phone and cracked the protective screen. The phone itself was OK, but the protective screen cover cracked and popped off. They didn't have any for her model, so we will have to go to Best Buy to get one. About 2:00 we drove over to Millie and Dick Duffin's place for a small party.

They have some friends here in Yuma with an RV lot that they use every winter for two or three months. As when we are in Pahrump she periodically puts on little parties she calls “Dilly Muffin Group” get-togethers. Today was really small, the only other people there were the folks in the park model on the lot and our friends Len and Debbie Forrest, also from Pahrump but spending four months in an RV park right next door to where we are. We sat and talked, had some light pot luck food and played some games. Around 5:00 the party broke up and we went back home. Peggy was feeling good enough to have cocktails on the patio, so we sat our and talked until dark when she and the dog went home. We went in and watched TV until bedtime.

Sunday, January 26^th, was a stay at home day. Got a few chores done, but mostly just relaxed. Monday Peggy said she was feeling better, so we left the coach about 11:30 and drove into town to another of our favorite places to eat, the El Ranchito Mexican restaurant. The food was really good and we had a good time until at the end of the meal Peggy really started feeling bad. She was sweating and saying she felt like she was going to pass out. We got some cold cloths on her and she started feeling a little better, however, we talked her into going to the urgent care. We drove to an urgent care in central Yuma and got her checked in. They told us it would be at least an hour or more, so we left her there and drove to the mall and the Best Buy. Jackie got a new protective cover on her phone screen so she is good again. We did a little more window shopping, then drove back to the Urgent care just in time to pick Peggy up. They did a bunch of tests and a breathing treatment, but decided it was not pneumonia but was bronchitis. She had a bunch of prescriptions so we took her back to her coach, then went to Walgreens for her and picked up her meds. We spent the rest of the day and evening in the coach.

Tuesday, January 28^th, we left the coach about 11:30 and drove back to Algodones, Mexico, so I could get the first of my dental work done. The appointment wasn't until 3:00, but we had arranged to meet some friends of ours from Sacramento, Curt and Sharon Minard, for lunch in Mexico. We met Curt and Sharon through the Bullocks about ten years ago and we have stayed friends. We met at the Alamo restaurant and had a great meal. We sat and talked and caught up since we had not seen them in person in a couple of years. We do follow them on social media though. After lunch we did a little shopping and I bought a new ring from The Mine, a really good jewelry store in Algodones. At 3:00 I went to the dentist. Jackie went in first and got her teeth cleaned and then I went in and had two teeth pulled from my bottom jaw. They were both very loose and could not be saved. They shot me up pretty good with Novocaine so I didn't really feel much, but I couldn't talk either because everything around my bottom lip was numb. After the procedure we got in line to go back to the States. It was about an hour and a half and by then the Novocaine was wearing off and I was hurting a little. I had a bunch of prescriptions from Mexico, took my pills and just relaxed for the rest of the night. By the time I went to bed the numb had worn off and the pain was greatly subsided. I actually had a pretty good night's sleep.

Wednesday, January 29^th, the pain was pretty much gone. One tooth had been a little more difficult to remove, so the gums around where it had been was slightly swollen and sensitive to the touch. As the day wore on, this too subsided. I had some soup for lunch and then we did our laundry. We did it at the park's laundry, which was located quite close to the coach. After a couple of hours the laundry was done and we were relaxing. About 7:00 we decided to go to dinner at the Day Breakers restaurant just on the other side of the freeway. Peggy was feeling much better and went with us and we had a nice dinner. I had hash and eggs, which were easy to eat even though I have to be careful not to dislodge the protective clots where my teeth came out. After dinner we went back to the RV park, dropped Peggy off and we spent the evening with the TV. Thursday we left, along with Peggy, about 2:00 and drove over to another RV park in the Foothills to have a happy hour with our friends Curt and Sharon Minard. We sat in their RV, which is the same make and model as ours, just a year newer, and talked. We had a very nice visit, some light snacks and a had a good time. They are leaving tomorrow as they were only down here for a week. We left about 6:00, went back to the coach and relaxed with the TV for the rest of the night.

Friday, January 31^st, we went out about 11:30 and went to the taco stand for lunch. Our second time there, but Peggy's first this year. After a great lunch we dropped Peggy off at her coach and we went to Walmart for some supplies. After Walmart we went home and put everything away. I spent an hour or so installing a new sound bar for the television in the front of the coach. Our built in surround sound system has been gradually failing over the years and we decided to upgrade the sound. For dinner Peggy made a pot of Southwest chicken tortilla soup, without the tortillas because of my tender gums. The soup was very good and we had a nice meal. After dinner we went back to our coach and watched TV until bedtime. Saturday morning a guy from the Shade Pro company came over to the house to measure for new shades in our coach. He had been over at Peggy's to repair one of her slide toppers. We have been talking about putting in windshield shades inside the coach for a while now. The sun screens I have been using are nearly 15 years old and are getting worn out. The guy did all the measuring and we ordered the shades for the windshield and all the windows in the front of the coach. We decided to leave the old shades in the bedroom for the time being. They will be back next week to install everything.

After lunch we, with Peggy along, went out and did a little geocaching, getting five new finds and one DNF. After caching we went back to the coach and relaxed for a while. At 4:00 I went over the RV park next door, which is identical in layout to ours and owned by the same people, for karaoke. I have been unsuccessful in getting the park we are in to talk to me about karaoke, but I saw a sign for the other park advertising karaoke today. I went over to see what was what. Turns out their activity director like karaoke and bought a cheap CD based karaoke machine with a tiny black and white monitor and was using it for karaoke. Fortunately, the clubhouse had a good sound system with multiple wireless mikes so the sound was good even if the optics weren't. They also only had a dozen or so karaoke CDs so the dozen or so people there were delighted when I showed up with my case with over a hundred discs. The activities director was also happy to learn that I was willing to do karaoke a couple times a month and I was meditatively booked for three nights, every other Saturday until we leave to go to Tucson. We had a great time singing and most of the group were actually pretty decent singers. The show was over at 6:00 and I went back to the coach. We had leftover soup for dinner and then relaxed with the TV until bedtime.

Sunday, February 2^nd, Super Bowl Sunday! Neither of us are big football fans. I don't watch football on TV and don't really follow any teams. What little I know I get from the sports segment on the news shows. However, we generally do watch the Super Bowl every year. The last few years Jackie was rooting for the Patriots, mostly because our friend Helen back in Massachusetts was a huge fan. We even went to Las Vegas last year for the game because Helen gets comped at the Mandalay Bay for the big Super Bowl party. This year I don't have any interest in either team, but rooted for the Kansas City Chiefs only because they weren't a California team. As it turned out, I made the right choice. We didn't go anywhere today and spent the evening watching the game. After the game we watched some more TV and then went to bed.

It has now been three weeks since published, so I will close this out for now. We still have a couple months here in Yuma and will get new stuff online every three weeks or so. Until next time, remember to go through life like a duck: Majestic on top, kicking like hell underneath. See ya soon.