A Cruise to the Tropics and a Trip to Texas

Hello again, welcome back to our story.  Our last chapter concluded on Tuesday, January 21^st, while we were at home in Pahrump.  Wednesday we began our long awaited cruise vacation.  About 1:00 we loaded our two big suitcases and our two backpack carry-on bags into the car and headed over the hill to Las Vegas.  As a part of the cruise, Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) set up the airline flights, both from Las Vegas to Los Angeles to board, and Miami to Las Vegas after the cruise.  Of course, they shop the cheapest flights, so we have a flight out of Las Vegas at 6:11 a.m. tomorrow morning.  This means we have to be at the airport around 5:00 a.m.  As a result, we arranged for a hotel room at the Silver Sevens Casino, which is only a mile or so from the airport.  We also made arrangements to park our car in the hotel’s parking garage for the 17 days we will be gone.  We also have a reservation in the same hotel for the day we get off the cruise since our flight from Miami to Las Vegas doesn’t get in until midnight and we don’t want to drive over the hill in the dark while tired and jet lagged.

As we were driving over the Spring Mountain pass to Vegas we were happy that we had set up the overnight as both yesterday and today it was very cold and we were getting snow flurries in Pahrump and the pass on Highway 160, the one we were currently on, was closed overnight because of snow.  The pass is over 5,000 feet elevation.  We had on and off snow all the way into Las Vegas, although it was light and the road over the pass was in good shape.  When we pulled into the hotel to check in, about 3:00 or so, the snow in Las Vegas was coming down hard enough to actually start to accumulate on the ground.  We got checked into the hotel, got the car parked in the garage, and just relaxed.  We got some dinner and gamed for a little while, then went up to the room and went to bed early.

Thursday, February 23^rd, we were up early, about 4:30 a.m. early.  We had arranged for a Lyft ride share car to pick us up at the hotel at 5:00 a.m.  We have never used a ride share before, but he was there on time with a nice car and got us to the Las Vegas airport in just a few minutes for only about $20 plus tip.  We checked our bags and got our boarding passes and joined the rest of our group at the gate.  There are ten people from our park going on this cruise and all but two of them were on the same flight to Los Angeles, and all of us were spending the night in the same downtown hotel.  The plane boarded on time and the flight to Los Angeles was uneventful.  When we got to Los Angeles we were met by a representative of NCL in the baggage claim area who, after we had all claimed our bags, directed us to a bus for transport to the Hilton Checkers Hotel.  The hotel was downtown and with traffic and the rainy weather it took almost an hour to get to the hotel.  Of course, we got there about 10:00 in the morning, way before the hotel’s 4:00 check-in time, but most of us were assigned rooms anyway.  I think only one couple had to wait until late afternoon to get into their room.  The rooms were nice, but small since this is an old hotel that has been renovated.  Most of the our group went out in the rain to walk a couple of blocks to a restaurant for lunch since nothing in the hotel was open.  We had a nice lunch then headed back to the hotel and just hung around in our rooms for the rest of the day. 

Friday, February 24^th, embarkation day.  We had all been told to have all of our bags, except for small carry-ons, down in the lobby of the hotel by 9:00.  Since the hotel was essentially completely full of NCL passengers the small lobby was a complete zoo.  They wanted the bags by 9:00 because NCL was having them loaded on trucks at the hotel and driven to the ship to be loaded.  This was good because it meant we didn’t have to try to move our own big bags around.  The bus to take us to the ship came about 10:30 or so and we all loaded on and headed to the port, another hour drive in the rain.  Once we got to the port and off the bus the whole process went to hell in a hand basket.  The cruise port building is on one end of the port of Los Angeles, but our ship, the Norwegian Joy, was too big for the dock adjacent to the building.  The ship was docked at a pier on the far end of the port, about a mile away.  NCL had originally planned to do all the check in and customs and security checks at the pier by the ship under a big tent.  However, the storms moving through LA the last week or so blew the tent down and they knew that it was going to be pouring rain today and that they couldn’t process 4,000 passengers onto the ship while standing out in the rain.  As a result, they set up to process everyone through the regular cruise port building and then once they were done with check-in, customs and security, bus them to the other end of the port to get on the ship.  Problem was, the Royal Caribbean ship that usually uses the building on Friday for it’s four day coastal cruise was also in port trying to process their 2,500 passengers in the same place at the same time.  It was a disaster.  There were not enough staff to herd people to the right place and things were chaotic as hell.  We ended up going through the security process twice because we missed the first part of the process because we got swept along with a mob of people and thought we were going the right way.  Wrong.  We finally got processed and onto the ship about 1:30 or so.  The only good thing was by the time we got on the ship they had already released the cabins so we could go right to our cabin rather than have to wander around the ship for hours with our carry-on bags.

When we got to our cabin our bags were also there, so we took some time to unpack and get organized in the cabin.  Our good friend Peggy Bullock and her friend Rita were in the cabin right next to us, which was nice because we could talk back and forth on our balconies.  Most of the rest of our group were on the same deck, deck 15, as us, but they were on the other side of the ship.  One of our ten couples were on deck 10 because they needed a handicap room.  Once we got underway we spent the evening exploring the ship, having some dinner and hanging out in the casino.

Saturday, February 25^th, our first full day on the ship and a day at sea.  The Joy is a huge ship and we spent the day relaxing.  Our favorite places in the ship are the Observation Lounge, which is in the front of the ship on the same deck as our cabin, and the casino.  The Observation lounge is a huge two story room with glass all around with wonderful views and lots of tables and chairs, and a bar, of course.  Our cruise included the beverage package which includes all of our drinks at no extra cost.  We alternated between the cabin, the lounge and the casino most of the day.  For dinner we went to one of the specialty dining rooms, a seafood restaurant called Ocean Blue.  The ship has seven specialty restaurants which are smaller venues with their own kitchen and staff.  Unlike the main dining rooms, the food in the specialty restaurants is ala carte rather than complimentary.  However, another of our “extra” packages included with our cruise was that we had five “free” specialty dining experiences that we could use during the cruise.  In the weeks prior to boarding we had made reservations at five of the restaurants.  We had a very nice meal, I had filet minion and lobster and Jackie had a seafood combo.  The service was excellent and the food quite tasty.  After dinner we did some gaming in the casino before heading to the cabin for bed.

Sunday, February 26^th, we had our first port of call.  We arrived in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, at about 11:00 and anchored off the port as Cabo has no piers big enough for cruise ships.  We had a shore excursion booked so about noon we got on one of the tenders and went ashore.  We had booked a three hour sail on a 50 foot sailing yacht which went out and wandered around in the ocean.  We saw a couple of whales and had a nice sail with a good crew and great drinks.  Two others from our group of twelve were also on the tour, Linda and Joyce.  After the sail was over we walked around the port area of Cabo San Lucas and met up with several other people from our group for lunch.  I bought the requisite tee shirt, we tried for a geocache and then caught a tender back to our ship.  We had dinner in one of the regular dining rooms, then spent some time in the casino after we left port and were back out on the open sea.  All in all, a relaxing day.

Monday, February 27^th, was another day at sea.  We spent the day wandering around the ship, enjoying the different areas and visiting with some of our friends.  For dinner tonight we ate at one of the regular dining rooms and then spent some time in the casino.  We went to the 9:00 show in the comedy club, which was great.  The late show in the comedy club is always a little more edgy than the early show.  Since I am writing this blog about three weeks after the cruise I am a little short on details, but we did have a great day on the ship.  Tuesday was another port call, with us arriving in Acapulco, Mexico at about 8:00 a.m.  We didn’t have any shore excursions booked for here, so we stayed on the ship until about noon when we went ashore with Peggy and Rita for some lunch.  We were tied up at a pier for this port, so we could just walk ashore.  We went to a local restaurant and had a very nice Mexican lunch with the four of us.  We went back to the port and shopped in some of the shops there before getting back onboard the Joy.  For dinner tonight we used another of our specialty dining packages, this time going to Le Bistro, the French restaurant.  Jackie had lamb and I had lobster thermidor, which was pretty good.  We spent some time in the casino and at 9:30 we went to the main theater with Peggy and Rita for a performance of Footloose, a musical stage presentation that was excellent.  After the show we had some drinks and then went to bed.

Wednesday, March 1^st, another at sea day.  We spent the day relaxing at different spaces on the ship for the entire day.  We had dinner at one of the regular dining rooms and then went to another show in the main theater at 9:00.  This one was Lord Nil, a magician and escape artist.  The show was OK, not great but still interesting.  We had seen this guy on Americas Got Talent a couple years back.  After the show we headed off to bed.  Thursday we arrived in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala about 8:00.  We had bought a shore excursion for today, a bus tour of central Guatemala and were supposed to leave about 9:00, but Jackie woke up not feeling well at all, so we didn’t go on the tour.  Around 1:00 or so I went ashore for a little while.  We were again docked, so it was quick and easy to go on and off the ship.  I did some shopping at the port, getting a tee shirt, and had some lunch.  I also got a geocache so we now have a new country on our caching stats.  I spent the rest of the day and evening in different places on the ship by myself mostly.

Friday, March 3^rd, another sea day.  Jackie was still sick.  I spent the day around the ship.  I spent some time in the hot tub and also took a drive on the go cart track located on the back of the ship.  They have a two level track and electric go carts that are pretty fast.  I had a great time and did the race with another member of our group, Dale.  It was a lot of fun, but the little carts are a bitch to get in and out of, so it will be my last ride.  I had dinner with several of our friends since Jackie was still feeling yucky.  At 7:00 I went to another comedy show with Peggy and Rita, then spent a little time in the casino before heading to bed.  Saturday was mostly another day at sea, however we did arrive in Panama City, Panama at about 6:00 in the evening and docked for an overnight stay.  Jackie was still sick and spent the day in the cabin.  Several other members of our group were also sick and in their cabins.  I spent the day wandering around and enjoying the ship.

Sunday, March 5^th, we woke up still in Panama City.  We had scheduled another shore excursion here for today, a train ride to the other side of the isthmus, but I had turned those tickets in yesterday for a refund because I was pretty sure Jackie wasn’t going to want to be on a train all day.  She was feeling better today, but I was still glad I turned in the tickets, which were almost $500 for the two of us.  She did feel well enough that the two of us and Peggy and Rita left the ship and went into town for lunch.  We had a really nice dinner at a fancy seafood restaurant in Panama City.  We went back to the ship, which pulled out of port about 7:00 at night to go out to sea and get in line to go through the Panama Canal tomorrow.  We went to the late night comedy show again and had a good time.  Jackie was feeling better and we spent some time in the casino before going to bed.

Monday, March 6^th, the big highlight of the cruise, our full transit of the Panama Canal was today.  We first entered the canal about 7:30 and it took about nine hours to go completely across.  We went through the newer, larger locks as our ship would not fit in the old, original locks.  It was three locks to raise us to the level of the big lake in the middle of Panama, and then later three locks to lower us back down to sea level to go out into the Atlantic Ocean.  We spent most of the trip watching from our balcony, but we did go to the Observation Lounge towards the end of the trip.  It was a dream of a lifetime to go through the canal and it was very interesting.  They had someone from the canal authority doing a narration on the ships PA system all day and he had all kinds of good information.  For dinner tonight we went to one of the specialty places called Food Republic.  This was an Asian themed place and we went with Peggy and Rita.  The menu was mostly small plates and we were each able to get five small plates as part of the dinner.  We had lots of really good and interesting food.  After dinner we wandered the ship enjoying the evening until bed time. 

Tuesday, March 7^th, we arrived in Cartagena, Columbia about 10:00 and docked.  We got off the ship fairly early as we had a shore excursion booked.  It was mostly a bus ride around town and the suburbs, with some stops at various tourist places, including a high end emerald jewelry store.  We were with Peggy and Rita on this tour.  We did get a couple of geocaches, making another country for our stats.  After the tour we got back on the ship and spent the evening relaxing.  We had dinner with most of our group in the main dining room tonight.  After dinner we gamed a little in the casino then went to bed.  Wednesday was another day at sea.  Nothing exciting during the day, just relaxing at various places on the ship.  We had dinner in the dining room then at 9:00 went to the second major production show in the main theater with Peggy and Rita.  This show was called Elements, and was kind of a variety show with acrobats and dancers all tied into a kind of fantasy story that I, frankly, didn’t understand.  However it was still a nice production and I enjoyed it.  After the show we finally made the 10:30 karaoke, which turned out to be a dud.  There was almost no one there and they had a VERY limited selection of songs.  I did do a couple of tunes, but we didn’t stay very long.  We left that and went to bed.

Thursday, March 9^th, we arrived at George Town, Cayman Islands and anchored off the port.  We had a shore excursion scheduled along with Peggy and Rita to take a bus tour of the island, so we took an early tender ashore.  The tour was about three and a half hours and really didn’t amount to much.  We visited an old colonial fort, then drove to a shopping and dining area in town where the bus dropped us off for 40 minutes.  Unfortunately, nothing was open because it was a Sunday morning.  We just sat around and looked at the ocean.  Then we went to a place called Hell, which is really just a small area of limestone formations.  We then stopped at the beach.  I did get to take my shoes off and wade in the Caribbean sea.  After the tour we stopped at a café in the port and had lunch, then went back aboard ship.  We did a geocache and a tee shirt for our troubles.  We had dinner with Peggy and Rita and played in the casino for a while, then went to bed.  Friday was our last day at sea.  We spent the day in various places on the ship and we had dinner with our Pahrump group in the main dining room, kind of a farewell dinner.  We played in the casino for a while, then went to bed.

Saturday, March 11^th, we arrived at the Port of Miami about 6:00 in the morning and got docked.  They cleared the ship and started letting people off about 8:00.  We had to be out of our cabin by 8:00 and spent the next three hours just hanging out in one of the public areas.  We were one of the last off the ship because NCL had booked us on a flight out of Ft. Lauderdale airport to Las Vegas and the flight didn’t leave until 7:30 in the evening.  We were the only one’s of our Pahrump group that was not flying out of Miami airport.  We were also the only ones without a direct flight, we had to change planes in Dallas.  We finally got off the ship and on the bus to the airport.  After we got to the airport and checked in for our flight.  This was now early afternoon and I started getting messages that our flight was delayed.  First it was just 30 minutes, then it gradually got extended until it was so delayed that we were going to miss our connection in Dallas for the final leg to Las Vegas.  I checked in at the American Airlines counter and they rebooked us for a another flight to Vegas, this one a non-stop, but it was out of Miami!  Because the delay on our flight was caused by maintenance issues with the plane, they gave us voucher for a cab ride from Ft. Lauderdale airport to Miami Airport.  We took the cab, which was a 45 minute ride and noted the fare was almost a hundred dollars.  We checked in for our flight, which left a little later than our original, but got into Vegas earlier because it was a non-stop.  Our flight left on time and we had a fairly good flight back home.  We got into Las Vegas just before midnight and by the time we got our bags and took a cab back to the hotel it was about 1:00 a.m.  We got to the hotel and went to bed.  Sunday we slept in and checked out of the hotel about noon, picked up our car from the garage, and drove back to Pahrump.  We got in mid afternoon and spent the rest of the day unpacking and relaxing from a very long but fun journey.

Monday, March 13^th, my son Roy’s birthday.  We had dine out with the Lucky Rollers, our park’s RV club, at 11:30.  After we got home in the afternoon we set about catching up on mail and chores we needed to do.  We also started the process of washing all our dirty clothes from the cruise.  It sure is handy to have a washer and dryer in the house and not have to go out.  We had happy hour with our group, most of whom were on the cruise with us.  We had dinner and watched TV until bedtime.  Tuesday was a chores day for the most part.  Jackie had an appointment with a PA at the health center at 2:30 to see what they could do for her cough and stuffy head.  The PA was useless, didn’t seem to really work to diagnose her and told her that she thought Jackie’s stuffy head was really just that she couldn’t hear and needed hearing aides.  Jackie was floored.  She has always had pretty good hearing and couldn’t believe that was the best the PA could come up with.  We went home, went to happy hour, had dinner and watched TV until it was time for bed.

Wednesday, March 15^th, Jackie had her Pokeno in the afternoon and I stayed around the house and did chores.  Late in the day I got a call from my brother Ken asking for help.  Ken is my youngest brother, 20 years younger, and about a year ago he and his wife Susan retired, sold their house and hit the road with a diesel pusher motorhome much the same way we did in 2005.  He told me they were in east Texas, near Tyler, Texas, and that he had a medical problem.  He had not been feeling well for a while and went to the doctor who found a mass in his chest cavity.  The doctors there said it was something that needed to be taken care of as soon as possible and they recommended that they return to wherever Ken’s primary physician was to seek treatment.  They also recommended that he not take on strenuous activity.  Ken told me that he did not feel up to driving their motorhome over a thousand miles from Texas back to Goodyear, Arizona, where they were originally from.  Part of it was the stress, the other was they had him on some meds that might affect his driving abilities.  Susan does not know how to drive the coach.  Ken told me they had SkyMed, a travel insurance similar to our MASA, which would pay to have someone come out and drive their coach back to Arizona, or they would pay for someone Ken wanted to come out and do it.  He asked me to fly out to Texas and help them get the motorhome back to Arizona.  Of course, family comes first, so I said yes.  The next day I had reservations, made by SkyMed, to fly out of Las Vegas to Dallas, Texas, on Friday afternoon. 

Thursday, March 16^th, I spent most of the day getting ready to leave tomorrow for Texas.  We went out and did some shopping in the afternoon.  Friday we left the house about 9:30 or so and started over the hill to the Las Vegas Airport.  Jackie really didn’t want to drive back from Vegas alone, so our friend Charlene volunteered to drive us down there and drop me off.  That way Jackie didn’t have to drive.  They dropped me off at the airport just in time for me to get through security and to the gate to catch my 1:30 flight on Sprit Airlines to Dallas.  The flight was about three hours and was pretty smooth after an on-time takeoff.  After I landed I contacted my brother who said that they were parked at the car rental center, which is almost off the airport grounds.  The Dallas/Ft Worth airport is huge and they didn’t want to try and navigate the roads inside.  All of the rental car companies are located in a single large building with free shuttles from all of the terminals.  I caught the bus and went to the center and they were there waiting for me when I got off the bus. 

The trip back to the RV park they were staying in outside of Tyler, Texas, took about two hours in heavy traffic.  When we got to the RV park I put my stuff in their motorhome and the three of us walked down to the park’s clubhouse.  Today was St. Patrick’s day and they were having a party.  The clubhouse also had a small kitchen serving hamburgers and snacks as well as a full bar, so we had hamburgers for dinner.  I even got to sing one karaoke song since they were doing karaoke and having trouble getting singers.  We took our food back to the motorhome and ate there.  Ken and Susan have a very nice 43 foot Newmar Ventana coach which is only a year old.  We sat and talked for a while, then went to bed after a long day.  They have a pullout couch with an air mattress, which was my bed.

Saturday, March 18^th, we had their coach packed up and ready to travel about 10:30 or so and were on the road heading west.  Today’s trip was about 240 miles to Abilene, Texas, to the West of the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.  Ken was OK to drive the first 80 miles or so before his meds kicked in and he needed to be relieved.  I drove the rest of the way.  It wasn’t a bad trip except for the 40 miles through the Dallas metro area.  The coach drove very nicely.  It has only been four months since the last time I drove our coach, so it didn’t take me long to get back in the swing of driving.  We made a fuel stop and got into Abilene in the late afternoon.  We relaxed for the rest of the evening.  Sunday we were up and on the road again about 11:00, this time heading a little over 200 miles to a little town called Monahans, Texas, about 40 miles west of Odessa.  We got settled into another RV park and had pizza for dinner, which we had delivered from a nearby Pizza Hut.  We were not unhooking their truck and were only hooking up the electric service for our one night stays.  We played some cards in the evening and went to bed.

Monday, March 20^th, we were off in the morning again, this time heading a little over 200 miles to Las Cruces, New Mexico.  The good part of this trip, which was pretty uneventful, was that we gained an hour when we crossed out of Texas.  We had a rough night because after we had dinner Susan discovered that she couldn’t find one of her cats.  I haven’t mentioned that they travel with three yellow cats, and older male called Ranger, and a brother and sister who are about two years old, named Bailly and Kalua.  Kalua, the female, could not be found anywhere.  We searched all over the inside and, thinking she may have gotten out accidently, all over outside area.  Susan and Ken were beside themselves with worry.  We even had half the park looking for the cat.  We ended up going to bed about 10:00 without finding the cat.  Tuesday morning we got up and Susan called the local animal shelter without any luck and made some posters to put in the park office.  Since Ken really needed to get back to his doctor ASAP, they felt they had no choice but to leave even if they didn’t find the cat.  Susan used to work for Southwest Airlines and could fly back to Texas at little or no cost if the cat did show up.  While we were getting ready to leave we pulled in the slides and low and behold, the missing cat was sitting in the coach looking at us.  Seems that she had gotten into a spot under the bed in the back of the coach, a spot which, when the slides were put out, became sealed off so she couldn’t get out.  For some reason she never called out or made noise, just stayed in there all night until they pulled the slide in and opened up the hole again.  We got back on the road and drove about 220 miles west to Wilcox, Arizona, gaining another hour in the process since Arizona is on Pacific time in the summer.  We settled into a KOA park there and went to the onsite restaurant for dinner.  After dinner we played cards and went to bed.

Wednesday, March 22^nd, our last day of travel with the motorhome.  We pulled in the slides, making sure we knew were all the cats were first, then hit the road for another 200 miles or so to Gila Bend, Arizona.  Gila Bend is about 40 miles south of the Phoenix suburb of Goodyear where Ken and Susan used to live.  They like the park out there in Gila Bend better than any that were closer into town.  Once we got in and settled Susan contacted SkyMed and had them book a flight for tomorrow out of Phoenix to take me back to Las Vegas.  I was booked on a flight leaving about 1:30 in the afternoon.  We played some cards again and settled in for the night.  Thursday we left the resort around 9:30 and left to take me to the Phoenix airport to go back home.  I wanted to go early so I could take my time and get some lunch before boarding the plane.  After they dropped me off they headed back to Gila Bend.  I grabbed lunch and waited for my plane.  It was delayed about an hour, but I finally got off the ground and an hour later I was in Las Vegas.  Jackie didn’t want to drive down to the airport and we had no friends who happened to be in Las Vegas today, so as soon as I landed I called an Uber and headed for home.  I got home about 5:30 or so, unpacked had a cocktail and some dinner and went to bed.  Now I just have to wait and see how things turn out for Ken.

Well, it’s time to close this long episode out and put it online.  No more quotes or words of wisdom as the blog is now more for our own use to jog our memories rather than letting friends and family know where we are and have been.  See ya in another month.

A Month of Celebrations

Hi there, welcome back.  Our last chapter concluded on Sunday, January 22^nd, while we were on our home lot in Pahrump.  Monday would have been my dad’s 102^nd birthday.  Although he was my step-dad, he raised me from about age 11, so I always think of him as dad.  Today was sunny and dry, but very cold and very windy.  Although I have a lot of outside chores to try to do, it was way too cold.  I did a few inside chores and after lunch we went out and ran some errands.  Went to Walmart and a couple of other stores and picked up mail.  Our mail at the UPS store is dwindling as we make address changes to our mailbox at the RV park.  After our errands we went back home, put stuff away and went to happy hour in the clubhouse.  After happy hour we went home and had dinner, then spent the night with the TV.

Tuesday, January 24^th was a stay at home day.  I did some chores around the house and had a fairly relaxing day.  The weather finally cleared up, although it was still pretty chilly.  We had happy hour with the group in the clubhouse, then came home and had dinner, then watched TV until it was time for bed.  Wednesday, we had another stay at home day.  I was supposed to go into Las Vegas to the Urologist for another “flow test” but there was a mix up on times and by the time I Realized it I wouldn’t have been able to get there in time.  I rescheduled the appointment for early next month.  Jackie had her Pokeno group at 1:00 and I had an executive meeting of the Board of Directors in the Co-op office.  That meeting went until about 3:30.  We went to 4:00 happy hour, then came home and had dinner.  I had my first night of security duty this month.  After I finished, about 9:00, we relaxed with the TV the rest of the night.

Thursday, January 26^th, Jackie had a ladies luncheon with some of the women from the park at 11:30.  I did a few chores around the house  After she got home from the lunch we went out and ran some errands.  We went to happy hour and then spent the rest of the evening relaxing.  Friday I went to the park office about 10:30 for a meeting and then spent a couple of hours working on some projects up there.  Jackie had another doctor’s appointment at 2:00, after which we ran some errands.  We were home for happy hour and then dinner.

Saturday, January 28^th, we went out for a late lunch at 5280 Mexican Grub, a local restaurant on the North end of town.  They have really good Mexican food.  After lunch we stopped at the mail store, then headed back to the park.  A little before 5:00 we left to go to the Elks for karaoke.  There was a real crowd there tonight with 29 singers, so I only got two songs in all night.  We may have to explore some of the other karaoke venues in town to see if we can find one with smaller groups.  After karaoke we went home, watched an hour of TV then went to bed.  Sunday was a stay-at-home day.  We went to the root beer floats get together in the clubhouse at 2:00, but there were no games afterwards, so we came back to the house.  We spent the rest of the day relaxing.

Monday, January 29^th, I went down to the Co-op office after lunch to do some things related to the Board of Directors.  After I got home did a few chores in the house.  Today was very cloudy and cold, a really gloomy day.  We were supposed to get rain, but we didn’t.  However, parts of Las Vegas got about an inch of snow, which was the big deal on the news.  We had dinner and then watched TV until bedtime.  Tuesday we went out after lunch to run some local errands.  At 4:00 we went to Johnny’s Mexican restaurant for another of the park’s monthly dine-outs.  There are usually two a month, one sponsored by the Lucky Rollers travel club, the other by the silver Seekers clubhouse group.  This was the Silver Seekers one.  We had a nice meal with a dozen or so other members of the park.  After dinner we went home and watched TV until bedtime.

Wednesday, February 1^st, Happy February.  Today was a stay-at-home day.  Jackie went to Pokeno at 1:00 and I went into the office to do some Co-op work.  We had dinner and spent the night with the TV.  Thursday I had a 10:00 meeting in the Clubhouse with one of the committees of the park.  A little before 2:00 we left and took Jackie to the eye doctor, the same office where she had her cataracts fixed.  She had a sore in her right eye, said it felt like something was in it, although I couldn’t see anything.  She was in there a while and afterwards said the doctor pulled some little thing out of the eye, probably an eye lash or something, and told her she still had dry eye.  She had been using medicine for that but quit a while back.  The doctor this time prescribed an over the counter product.  After the eye doctor we ran a couple of errands, then went back to the house.  We had dinner and watched TV.

Friday, February 3^rd, I had some work to do in the Co-op office in the early afternoon.  At 2:00 I took Jackie to her manicure appointment and ran a couple of errands.  After the mani we did a Walmart run, then headed back to the house for happy hour.  After happy hour we stayed for Bingo.  Jackie won one of the pots, I didn’t get anything.  After Bingo we went home and watched some TV before heading to bed.  Saturday was another stay-at-home day.  I spent an hour or so in the morning in the office, then did some chores around the house.  Karaoke at the Elks was cancelled, so we spent the entire evening with the TV.  Saturday was pretty much a stay-at-home day.  I did go into the office for a little work in the early afternoon.

Sunday, February 5^th, Happy Birthday to me.  We had a fun day, went to the root beer floats social in the clubhouse in the afternoon, then stayed for a few games of left-right-center.  After that we went back to the house and relaxed.  We left the park around 4:30 and drove to the Pahrump Nugget casino where we gamed for a little while before going into Stockman’s Steakhouse for our birthday/anniversary dinner.  Our anniversary is Tuesday, but the steakhouse is closed Mondays and Tuesdays.  We had a wonderful meal, steak for me, rack of lamb for Jackie.  After dinner we went back home and relaxed for the rest of the evening.  Monday I had to go in the office early for some Co-op work.  We are hiring a couple of new office people so I had some interviews too.  Other than that it was a stay at home day.

Tuesday, February 7^th, our 19^th wedding anniversary.  I spent some time in the morning doing our taxes and we had a Town Hall meeting at 1:00 in the clubhouse.  After that meeting I went to the office for an Executive meeting of the Board to talk about employees.  After that meeting we went out and ran some errands.  We spent the rest of the evening in the house with the TV.  Wednesday Jackie had her Pokeno group and I went to the office again to do some work.  After that we had dinner and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Thursday, February 9^th I had an planning meeting for the Board of Directors at 9:00.  The meeting was pretty quiet and only ran about two hours.  After the meeting we went out and did some shopping.  We had dinner and relaxed with the TV the rest of the night.  Friday we left the park about 1:00 and drove into Las Vegas so I could make what I hope is the last appointment with my Urologist.  This was another flow test.  After that we did some shopping before heading back over the hill.  After that we had dinner and watched TV until bedtime.

 Saturday, February 11^th, I was feeling pretty icky, so we had a stay at home day.  DayQuil and Nyquil are keeping the symptoms tolerable, but I didn’t want to be around anyone so I skipped happy hour.  Jackie went to let everyone know that we finally got our confirmed reservations on Delta Airlines from Las Vegas to Los Angeles.  We had a real runaround between NCL and Delta over the flight.  We just spent the rest of the night relaxing  Sunday was Super Bowl Sunday.  We learned that some of the people on the Board that I have had off and on contact with all week have covid.  So we decided to isolate ourselves and stay in.  We didn’t go to the root beer floats or the super bowl party in the clubhouse.  We did watch the game and enjoyed what was a pretty exciting game.  Didn’t win anything in the pool though.  After the Superbowl we had dinner, then watched some TV and went to bed.

 Monday, February 13^th, I woke up feeling a little better and Jackie woke up feeling much worse.  She stayed in bed most of the day.  This is usually what happens with us, she follows me by about four days.  We spent the day just nursing our illness and staying isolated with the TV.  Tuesday was more of the same.  I am still doing OK and Jackie is still in the worst part with cough, headache and runny nose.  We spent the whole day with the TV.  Wednesday was pretty much a repeat of Tuesday.  Jackie didn’t go to Pokeno.  I went out and did a quick supply run to Walmart.  Getting better, but slowly.

 Thursday, February 16^th I had a Board meeting at 9:00.  Although I am feeling much better, I still didn’t want to be in a large group, so I called in on the phone and watched on Zoom.  That way I was a part of the meeting without being around people.  It was a pretty quiet meeting that went a little over an hour.  We spent the rest of the day doing a few chores, some packing, laundry and other stuff.  Other than that it was a stay at home day.  Friday was also a stay-at-home day.  Jackie seems to have turned the corner and is on the mend also.  Yea looks like we will be all well for our cruise next week.

 Saturday, February 18^th, we actually went out about 1:00 and had lunch at one of our favorite places, El Jefe Mexican restaurant.  We met our friends Don and Julie, who live in our park and are also going on the cruise this week.  We had a very nice lunch.  After lunch we ran some errands before heading back home.  We had a Pokeno game in the clubhouse at 6:00 that was set up at the last minute because a couple who belong to the Lucky Rollers RV club came in for a one night stay and wanted to play,  They are Escapees, but don’t have a spot in our park.  The live in Las Vegas but usually come up for the various dine outs and outings of the Lucky Rollers.  We had a fun two hours, after which we went home and watched TV the rest of the evening.

 Sunday, February 19^th, we went to the ice cream social in the clubhouse in the afternoon, then came back home and relaxed for the rest of the day.  Monday, Presidents Day, we went out to do some last-minute shopping at Walmart and spent the rest of the day in the house, working on getting ready to leave for our cruise.

 Tuesday, February 21^st, I dropped Jackie off for her mani and pedi about 1:00.  I also got my toenails trimmed, but it only took a few minutes.  While she was busy I ran some errands.  After we got home we completed most of our packing for the trip.  Tomorrow, we leave for our overnight in Las Vegas and the beginning of our cruise vacation.  Since tomorrow starts our 17 day vacation period, this is a good time to close this episode out and get it posted.  The next episode will be posted after we get back from the cruise.  Until next time, remember to enjoy life, you only get one trip.  See ya soon.