Winter in Yuma, Arizona - Part II

Hello again, welcome back to our story. Our last chapter concluded on Wednesday, January 19^th, 2022, while we were at the Sunset Palms RV Park in Yuma, Arizona. Thursday we left the coach about 9:00 and drove West into California and then down into Algodones, Mexico. Regular readers, and anyone who has spent time in Yuma, will know Algodones as the small town in the corner of California and Arizona that has more dentists than most cities in the U.S. There are also lots of pharmacies, optometrists, and restaurants. The vast majority of visitors are older Americans and Canadians who come down for low cost dental and optical care. Since we got new insurance last year that includes dental and optical care, we no longer have to come down here for that, but we still like to come down and shop, have a nice meal and just look around. We stopped at a pharmacy and picked up a couple of medicines that are not readily available in the states, including some Ivermectin for one of our friends in Pahrump. We walked around and shopped for a while, I got a belt and we also picked up a large, metal wall sculpture for our shed in Pahrump. It is similar to a tree of life, but it looks like the wind is blowing it to one side. Very pretty and will look nice on the one wall we have with nothing on it right now. We found a nice cafe that we had not been to before and had breakfast. After eating we walked around a little more, then got in line to come back into the U.S. It took about 40 minutes to get across, which is pretty fast for Algodones. We have waited for more than two hours on occasion. After we got back we drove back to the coach and spent the rest of the day relaxing. I did get a call after we got home from Nye County, back in Nevada, advising me that the Nye County Board of Commissioners, approved my appointment to the Sheriff's Disciplinary Advisory Committee, so I now have a sort of a job, unpaid, of course. It's a four year appointment so it should be interesting to get involved more in the local government.

Friday, January 21^st, my brother Ken and his wife Susan came over to visit. They just recently retired, sold their house in Phoenix and went on the road full time in their 40 foot motor home. They say they are following in our footsteps and see to be doing a good job of it. They have been staying in Tacna, Arizona, a tiny desert community about 40 miles East of Yuma, for a month and will be there until mid March. They came into Yuma to do some shopping and get their car serviced and they stopped by our place after they were done with their errands. We sat and chatted for an hour or so before we headed out to a late lunch at Wheezy's, one of the local Foothills restaurants. We had a nice lunch after which they headed out for some grocery shopping and then back to Tacna. We also went to Fry's for a couple of things, then went back to the coach. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening with the TV.

Saturday, January 22^nd, we went out about noon to our favorite street taco stand for lunch. After lunch we went back to the coach and about 1:30 I started taking my equipment over to the clubhouse and getting set up for the first karaoke of the season for us. We started about 3:00 and initially only had three singers, including me, but after the first couple of rotations we had a fourth. We had a fairly large audience, just not a lot of people willing to sing. None the less, we had a good time, those who were singing were decent singers and we had a lot of duets going on. The session ended at 5:00 and I packed up the stuff and went back to the coach. We had cocktails and then did some big shrimp on the BBQ. We had bought the shrimp in Mexico on Thursday. After dinner we watched TV and then went to bed. Sunday was a stay at home day. We spent the day doing a few light chores and just relaxing and watching some movies on TV. We did a chicken in the Nu Wave oven and it came out pretty good. After dinner we watched TV and went to bed.

Monday, January 24^th, we went out after lunch to do some geocaching. Because we have gotten the bulk of caches within the urban area of Yuma, and don't have a vehicle capable of going out into the desert, we have to drive to the west and south outskirts of town to find caches we haven't already gotten. We were able to get six new finds and two DNFs in a couple of hours. After caching we headed home, had cocktails and dinner and then watched TV until bedtime. Tuesday we went out about noon and drove to the Love's Truck Stop near downtown to visit Chester's Chicken which has the best chicken livers anywhere. We both had an order of livers and had an excellent lunch. After lunch we did some geocaching, getting another five new finds, along with one DNF. That gives us a dozen for the last two days. After caching we went back home and stayed in for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Wednesday, January 26^th, was a stay at home day. I went to the jam session in the early afternoon. It was a smallish group, but still a lot of fun. After the jam we did some chores around the house and just relaxed for the rest of the afternoon and evening. Thursday was also a stay at home day. We did our laundry here at the park. They just installed all new washers and dryers and the laundry room is right across the street, so easy peasy. I cooked up a big batch of chili colorado which we had for dinner, then we watched TV until it was time for bed. Friday we left the coach around noon and went to the local Dairy Queen for lunch. We don't normally go to Dairy Queen, I would guess it has been 20 years since I was in one. However, last October we were at a small rally with the RV group from the Escapees Park and one of the door prizes I won was a $15 gift card, so we thought we would use it. They don't have a lot of food on the menu, chili dogs, chicken sandwiches, fry's and onion rings was about it. But we did manage to get a good size meal including drinks for about $5. After lunch we did some geocaching in the Foothills area, picking up a dozen caches, with no DNFs, in a couple of hours. After caching we went back home and relaxed for the rest of the day. We had leftovers for dinner, then watched TV until it was time for bed.

Saturday, January 29^th, was a relaxing day. We went out after lunch to do a Walmart run, but other than that we were home all day. After Walmart we went back and put everything away. We had cocktails at 5:00 and then dinner after which we watched some TV until bedtime. Sunday we left the coach about 12:30 and drove to the Carefree Village RV Resort, which is in the Foothills, a couple miles west of our park. We had stayed at this park for several years right after they opened, about five years ago. We stayed there for a couple of winters until the park got more popular, and more expensive, at which time we moved over to where we are now. We went over there for another jam session. At least one couple that participates in our Wednesday jam sessions at our park has started a Sunday jam at Carefree. This last Wednesday they invited anyone who plays in our park to come over to their jam. At least a half dozen of our jam folks showed up this afternoon. It was a pretty big group, so in two hours each person only got to perform solo twice, but it was still a lot of fun. After the jam we went back home and stayed in for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Monday, January 31^st, we went out about 2:00 just to run some errands and get out of the house. We stopped at a liquidation center that had recently opened here in the Foothills in what had been a large hardware store. There was tons of stuff, a great deal of it contractor type materials and tools, but there were no bargains. Everything seemed to be way overpriced for liquidation stock, and there a couple of things that I knew the price of, and their price was nearly the same as what I had paid new. Would not go back and would not recommend Yuma Liquidation Center to anyone for anything. After that shopping we drove around and checked some areas north of the freeway looking for a friend's lot, but we didn't find it. We got back home about 3:30 and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening at home. Tuesday we went out about 12:30 to have lunch at a place called Ricks Kitchen here in the Foothills. It is a fairly new restaurant in a building that previously held a chicken place. Ricks is just a breakfast and lunch place and has a smallish menu, but it gets good ratings. The food and service were both good, not outstanding, but good. I had a Philly sandwich and Jackie had an omelet and there was plenty of food. After lunch we did an hour of geocaching, getting another four finds. We then went back to the coach and relaxed. About 4:30 our friends Clark and Judi McKay came over for cocktails and we sat outside in the patio. They just arrived here in Yuma a few days ago for a couple of months in the sun. Clark and Judi were part of what was started about ten years ago as a ten person traveling show, with five RVing couples spending a lot of time together at various places, like Yuma and FMCA and Monaco International rallies. It started with us, the Bullocks, the Babcocks, the McKays, and the Kings. Bev and Jerry King dropped out first as they were the oldest of the group and quit traveling early. Jerry died about six or seven years ago. Vernon Bullock died three years ago and Peggy kept traveling for a while, but is now selling her motor home. Ray Babcock died about a year and a half ago and Suzi sold their motor home right away. Time moves on, but it's sad. We did have a good visit with Clark and Judi and will probably see more of them. They left about 6:00 and we spent the rest of the evening with the TV.

Wednesday, February 2^nd, we had a stay at home day for the most part. I went to the jam session in the clubhouse after lunch. We had a pretty big group and only got to do two solos, but it was a good time. After the jam we went out for a few minutes to get a couple of geocaches. We thought we needed to get some caches for a virtual souvenir because it was 2/2/22, but I had misread the email from geocaching.com and the souvenir was actually for 2/22/22. Anyway we got a quick two caches. The winds were really howling today, the weather had predicted up to 45 mph gusts and it seemed they were a reality. Our canopy set up on the patio was safely secured from flying away, but I didn't take into consideration that the actual material on the canopy would tear, and I noticed that it had started to tear in one spot. I quickly removed and stored the canopy and side curtains to prevent any further damage. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in the coach listening to the winds howl.

Thursday, February 3^rd, we went out after lunch to the Verizon store here in the Foothills so Jackie could get a new phone. We also needed to get a new MiFi JetPack because our old one keeps dropping the connections. I am happy with my phone, so I wasn't looking for anything. Jackie ended up changing to a new Motorola 5G phone that was comparable to the new Samsung, which is the brand we both now have, but quite a bit less expensive. It is still an Android phone. With her new phone activated and the new MiFi we went back to the coach. I got the MiFi connected to the various devices in the house and Jackie played with her phone, still working on getting familiar with it. Although the operating system is the same, some details are different from brand to brand so it will take some time to get used to it. She has had Samsung phones for close to ten years now. At about 4:00 we left and drove downtown to Da Boyz pizza restaurant to meet with a group of friends from the SKP in Pahrump. They had been in Quartzsite for the RV show and came to Yuma for a week prior to heading back home. We got there early and had a drink at the bar first. Around 5:00 Max and Nancy Schmidt, Jim and Linda Sullivan, Don and Julie Klien, and Charlene Darling came in and we went in the back to a small, private room. We had a very nice dinner with lots of food, and great conversations. We actually keep in contact with most of these folks even while we are gone, but it was still nice to have face to face conversations. We finished eating and visiting about 7:00 and headed back to our coach, while they all went back to their various RV parks. I think some of them be coming to karaoke at our park on Saturday. After we got home we relaxed with the TV until bedtime.

Friday, February 4^th, we had a quiet morning, including spending some time working on Jackie's new phone to try to get it set up the way she wants it. At 3:00 we went over to the patio of the clubhouse for another concert, this one by Kelly Hughes, a well know local country singer. I say local, he is actually from Idaho and spends his summers up there. He used to own a county western bar and concert venue, but retired after 21 years in 2004 and started coming down to Yuma in the late fall to spend the winter and early spring. He is not a nationally known star, but is very well know in Yuma and plays a lot of RV parks, fairs and the monthly Howl at the Moon parties, which he started back in 2004. We have seen him perform a half dozen times now and the show is usually pretty much the same, but he is friendly, outgoing and entertaining, so we try to go when we get the chance. He put on a two hour show, after which we went back to the coach for a bit, changed clothes and left a little before 6:00 to go out for a celebration dinner, my 75^th birthday is tomorrow and our 18^th wedding anniversary is Monday. We had to go out tonight because we are busy the rest of the weekend with geocaching stuff, events and gatherings here and in Mexico. We went to a place called JT's Prime, which is advertised as a “Pop up” restaurant, which is guess is all the rage now. They take a commercial space and make a temporary restaurant, although this one has been around for over a year now. The owner and chef is Alex Trujillo, who is a Yuma native and fairly well know Southwestern Chef. He is also the chef at one of the Yuma Country Clubs, The Hills. The space was very small, and very dark with lots of black curtains and dark colors. You almost felt you were going into a haunted house attraction. The dining room was small, maybe 25 by 50, maybe seating 75 max. The menu was small, but interesting and the food was expensive, but excellent, as was the service. It was the perfect place for a romantic, date night celebration dinner. We finished about 7:30 and headed home where we spent the rest of the night watching TV.

Saturday, February 5^th, happy birthday to me. I finally reached Diamond status, 75 years. Today was a stay at home day. I went over to the clubhouse about 2:00 and got everything set up for karaoke, which ran from 3 to 5. We had the same four singers, including me, that we had last week, but we had a bunch of friends in the audience. Our friends Clark and Judi, who are staying at a park down the street, came, as did five friends from our park in Pahrump who are just down here for the week. These are some of the same folks we had dinner with on Thursday. After karaoke was over the whole gang came over to our place and we sat out on the patio for a couple of hours visiting. After everyone left we went inside and spent the rest of the evening with the TV. 

Sunday, February 6th, we left the coach about 9:30 and drove to the Wetlands city park, just south of downtown Yuma, to attend the South West Arizona Geocachers (SWAG) Mega Geocaching Event. We have been coming to the annual SWAG events since 2011, although they were much smaller until 2013 when they grew to Mega status, which is over 1,000 attendees. Since 2011 we have only missed one year, 2018 when we didn't go down to Yuma early enough. My brother Ken and his wife Susan drove in for the event from Tacna, about 40 miles East of Yuma, where they are staying. We got them into geocaching six or seven years ago. We met a lot of other geocaching acquaintances at the event and had a good time. We left about 2:00 and stopped at Ninja Sushi, one of Jackie's favorite places, for a late lunch. After lunch we headed back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the day and evening. We were pretty wiped out from being up early, so we were couch potatoes for the rest of the day.

Monday, February 7^th, our 18^th wedding anniversary. We were again up and out of the house at 9:30, this time headed for Algodones, Mexico for another geocaching event. The SWAG group always has a lunch in Algodones on the Monday after the Mega event. We really didn't have anything else to do down there, but had a nice lunch with a couple hundred other geocachers. Unfortunately, the line to get back into the U.S. was HUGE today and it took us three hours to get back, which was longer than we were actually in Mexico walking around. This will probably be the last time we go down during this Yuma stay since we no longer have to get dental or optical stuff down there. We now have insurance for that stuff. After we got home we just relaxed with the TV for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Tuesday we went over to the clubhouse about 11:30 for a presentation by Sky Med, a private air ambulance insurance type program. We already have MASA, one of their major competitors, but they put on the presentation and give you a lunch, so we had some sub sandwiches for lunch on Sky Med. About 2:00 we went to the nail salon so Jackie could get a pedi and I got my toenails trimmed. After that we went back to the coach and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening relaxing in the coach.

Wednesday, February 9^th, I had a Zoom meeting with one of my committees in Pahrump at 11:00, then about 12:15 I went over to the clubhouse for the weekly jam session. It was a pretty big crowd today and I was the designated host because both of the regulars who host were out sick. The session went well and we were done by a little after 3:00. After the jam session we did a quick run to Fry's for some supplies, then went back to the coach and stayed in the rest of the afternoon and evening. Thursday was a stay at home day, but we still managed to stay busy. My brother Ken and his wife Susan, who are new full time Rvers, have been staying East of Yuma in Tacna for the last several months. Every couple of weeks they come into Yuma and were getting new tires for their car this morning. About 11:00 they came by the coach for a visit before they headed back to Tacna. They stayed about an hour and a half and we had a nice visit. We had lunch and then the service guy from Shade Pro came by to work on a couple of our interior window shades. We had all the shades inside the coach replaced two years ago by Shade Pro, a big San Diego based company that deals in awnings, slide toppers, and window shades in the Southwest. One small one in the bedroom unraveled, likely due to a broken spring, and we had one other small one that needed adjustment. He had to send the broken one to San Diego for repair, although it is still under warranty. He adjusted the other. The service guy, Steve, has been working on our coach for well over 12 years as a representative of Shade Pro. He has replaced and or repaired every awning on the coach, except the main patio awning, which we rarely use. At 2:00 we had a Zoom meeting with the Silver Seekers Board at the SKP park in Pahrump. They are the group that is responsible for operating the clubhouse and all the social activities at the park. Our park is now doing Zoom for almost all of the various boards and committees. After the Zoom meeting was over we did our laundry, which was easy because it is right across the road from us here in the park. By 4:30 all our work was done and we relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. We did some burgers on the BBQ and watched TV until bedtime.

We are now a little over three weeks into this episode, so it is time to close it and get it online. We still have about a month left here in Yuma before do a little traveling to other parts of Arizona in March. Until next time, ponder the words of comic Jim Hayes. “A good friend will help you move. But a best friend will help you move a dead body.“ See ya soon.