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.

 

 

 

A New Year Begins

 Hi, welcome back.  Our last episode concluded on Thursday, December 22^nd.  Friday was a chores day.  We went out after lunch and ran a few errands.  We did happy hour with the crew at the clubhouse, then went home for dinner and an evening of TV.

Saturday, December 24^th, Christmas Eve.  We stayed around the park for the day.  At 4:00 we went the clubhouse for happy hour and then stayed for 5:00 Christmas Eve party.  We had pizza and salad provided by the Silver Seekers group and then did some games.  After the games we did the gift exchange.  Gifts got passed around a lot and we finally went home with a bottle of white wine.  After the party we went home and spent the rest of the night with the TV.  Sunday, Merry Christmas!  Today was a stay-at-home day.  We relaxed a bit and put a big breast of turkey in the oven for the Christmas dinner at the clubhouse at 3:00.  At 3:00 we went to the clubhouse with our turkey, stuffing and gravy and joined our table.  This dinner was like Thanksgiving in that individual “sponsored” a table and everyone brought side dishes.  We had 16 people at our table and had a lot of food.  We had a great meal with friends and enjoyed the afternoon.  By 5:00 we were done, cleaned up and back home where we spent the rest of the evening with the TV.

Monday, December 26^th, I had some meetings and work to do in the Co-op offices, so I was down there by about 8:30.  The Board of Directors decided to close the office for the week between Christmas and New Year’s so we could get some work done on cleaning up our files and our accounting system.  I spent most of the morning down at the office, came home for lunch, and then went back for another couple of hours.  I was done about 3:00.  We went to happy hour at the clubhouse, then came home and had leftovers from yesterday for dinner.  We spent the rest of the night with the TV.  Tuesday I was back and forth to the office doing various things with the computers for most of the day.  About 3:30 we left the park and went to Nicco’s Pizza for one of the monthly dine outs with people from the park.  We had about a dozen people, which is average for the dine outs.  We haven’t been to Nicco’s in a number of years and forgot that the food was very good.  I had a wonderful Italian sub sandwich and Jackie had eggplant parm.  After dinner we drove to the Elks Lodge for the monthly meeting.  Two of our friends, Ginny from our RV park, and Phyllis, whom we have known almost since we came here in 2007, were both being initiated tonight.  As always, the initiation ceremony took a long time and we didn’t get out of the meeting until almost 8:00.  We headed back to the coach and spent the rest of the night with the TV.

Wednesday, December 28^th, was a stay at home day.  I was again back and forth between the office and home doing various tasks.  I did have a handyman/carpenter come out at 1:00 to give us an estimate on building a “porch” and steps for our new trailer.  We are using a rickety borrowed metal stair case now.  The price was a little higher than I expected at $1,380, but the price of wood has skyrocketed.  The guy who came out has built stairs and such for several people here at the park and has a good rep.  Jackie played Pokeno at 1:00 and at 4:00 went to happy hour.  After happy hour we had dinner, leftovers from last night, and then spent the rest of the night watching TV.

 Thursday, December 29^th, I went into the office in the morning to do some computer work and meet with some other members of the Board of Directors.  I was back at the trailer in time for a noon Zoom meeting of the Full Timers Chapter of FMCA.  I don’t do the newsletter anymore, but we are still members of the Chapter.  At least for the near future we are going to keep our FMCA membership and a couple of the Chapter memberships in those with which we have been closely associated.  Since our new trailer is still an RV, we are still qualified to remain in FMCA and any of the Chapters.  I went back to the office for a couple of hours after lunch, then came home.  We did happy hour and then spent the rest of the night with the TV.  Friday was more of the same.  I did a few hours in the office in the morning.  In the afternoon we went out and did some errands, Walmart, the mail store, etc.  We renewed our UPS store mailbox, but only for six months as we are transitioning our mailing address to our mailbox here at the Escapees park now that we are here full time.  We had happy hour again and then spent the rest of the night with the TV.

Saturday I did a couple hours in the morning in the office, then about 3:30 I took all the sound equipment to the clubhouse for the New Year’s Eve party.  I accepted the bid of the handyman we found to build our porch and stairs for the trailer.  We should have some new wood stairs in a week or so.  I helped Jackie make our contribution to the “finger food” pot luck, and about 5:30 we went over for the party.  There were quite a few people there for the pot luck, but by 7:30 all but a dozen or so had left.  The rest of us stayed, listened to music, did some dancing, and generally had a good time with friends.  We watched the ball drop in New York City at 9:00, and the party was over.  We went back home and spent an hour or so with the TV before going to bed.  We were asleep by 11:30 and didn’t really hear any fireworks or anything outside.  Of course, it had started raining right after we got home, a little before 10:00, and it was raining pretty steadily most of the night. 

Sunday, January 1^st, 2023!  Happy New Year.  For the most part today was a stay-at-home day.  I did go into the office briefly, but then spent the rest of the day on some of my own chores at home.  We didn’t go to root beer floats or really leave the house most of the day.  We had another power failure just before dark.  This time the power was out almost two hours and it was starting to get a little chilly in the house before it came back on.  It made me wish for the motorhome, which a big diesel generator we could run when the power went out.  Monday was the actual Federal holiday for New Years.  I had a 10:00 executive board meeting in the office that went a couple of hours.  After that I did a little bit of my Board work in the office and then went home.  We went to happy hour and had dinner, then watched TV until it was time for bed.

Tuesday, January 3^rd, I went in the office early for some Director duties.  I came home for lunch about 11:30 and went back about 1:00 for another couple of hours.  The guy we hired to build the steps came in the morning and made really good progress on our porch and steps.  If the predicted rain doesn’t mess things up he should be done in a day or two.  We went to happy hour and then had dinner and spent the evening with the TV.  Wednesday I went into the office early again, but was back home by about noon.  Jackie went to play Pokeno at 1:00 and I did some chores around the house.  We did happy hour at 4:00 and then came home and made dinner.  After dinner we watched TV.

Thursday, January 5^th, I another early start at the office due some things the Board was doing.  I was finished in the office by about 11:30 and went back home.  About 12:30 we went out to lunch at the Pour House restaurant, meeting our friends Don and Julie Kline there.  We had a very nice lunch and a visit with friends.  After lunch we ran some errands, including the mail store and Walmart.  We went home and put stuff away, then relaxed until 4:00 happy hour.  After happy hour we went back to the house and spent the rest of the evening with the TV.  Friday I went into the office for a little bit in the morning,  Our handyman finished the construction phase of our new porch and steps.  It is now functional, but still needs to be stained once the weather clears for a few days and the wood dries out.  At 3:00 we had a meeting of the group here at the park that is going on the cruise next month.  The main topic of conversation was trying to get a place to stay in Las Vegas the night before we leave for Los Angeles, and the day we come back from Florida.  The Los Angeles flights are all early, and we all get back late after the cruise and don’t want to drive over the hump late at night.  After the meeting we had happy hour, then went home.  I made chili for dinner and then we watched TV.

Saturday, January 7^th, we did a few chores around the house.  At about 1:00 we went out for a late lunch at China A Gogo and then a haircut for Jackie.  We left the house a little before 5:00 and went to the Elks Lodge for karaoke, for the first time in several weeks.  It was a big crowd, but we had a good time.  We got home about 9:30, watched a little TV and went to bed.  Sunday was a stay-at-home day.  We went to root beer floats at the clubhouse at 2:00 and then stayed for the Left-Right-Center game afterwards.  We were back in the coach about 4:00, had some dinner and watched TV the rest of the night.

Monday, January 9^th, we left the coach about 10:00 and drove to one of the local medical centers so Jackie could do a consultation appointment with the doctor who is going to do her colonoscopy later in the month.  The appointment only took a half hour or so, after which we went to the Lucky Rollers monthly luncheon.  The lunch was at place called Living Free, which is a non-profit restaurant supporting addition programs in Nye County.  After lunch we ran some errands and then went home.  We had happy hour at 4:00, then went home and spent the rest of the night with the TV.  Tuesday I went into the office for a while to do some work and then we had a meeting over some financial stuff for the Co-op.  After the meeting I went home, then went to the Town Hall meeting in the clubhouse.  After that meeting I went home, did a few chores and relaxed.  We went to happy hour then spent the rest of the night with the TV.

Wednesday, January 11^th, I left the house about 9:00 and drove to the local DMV office to try and register the new trailer, as well as transfer the registration on the car from our Montana LLC to regular Nevada registration.  Since we no longer own the motor home, and are not full time travelers any more, we no longer need the LLC and will let it go dormant.  I got served pretty fast and learned that I needed some additional paperwork, like a VIN check on the trailer, which I knew I needed, and proof of Nevada insurance on the car.  Right now, the insurance papers show Montana.  I went home and called the Sheriff’s Office to see if someone could come out to the VIN check.  They told me a deputy would call me later.  I then called our insurance agent and got the insurance transferred to Nevada.  Jackie went to Pokeno at 1:00.  After Pokeno we left the house to go to Walmart, but before we even got to the store I got a call from a Sheriff’s Deputy that he was on his way to the RV park for the VIN check.  We quickly turned around and headed back home again.  We didn’t want to miss the deputy because when the Sheriff’s Office does the VIN check it is free, when you have to call a licensed tow company to do it they charge like $75.  We got home and the deputy, one of the motor cycle officers, came by, did the VIN check and gave me the form.  We did happy hour at 4:00, then had dinner and watched TV.  Thursday I had 9:00 Board meeting, which was the workshop session for next week’s open BOD meeting.  That meeting went until about noon.  I went home and had lunch, then went back to the clubhouse for the Silver Seekers meeting.  This is the group that operates the clubhouse.  After that meeting we went home until happy hour.  After happy hour we had dinner and spent the rest of the evening with the TV.

Friday, January 13^th, we went out after lunch to do the Walmart run that got cancelled on Wednesday.  At 3:00 we went to another meeting of the five couples going on the Panama Canal Cruise next month. After the cruise meeting we went to happy hour, then home for dinner.  We spent the rest of the night watching TV.  Saturday was a stay-at-home day.  It was predicted that we would have rain by early afternoon and it showed up right on time.  The rain was steady until early evening when became more on and off.  By bedtime the rain had cleared up, only to return on Monday according to the weatherman.  We had dinner and watched TV for the rest of the night.  Sunday the skies cleared, at least for a few days.  We had another relaxing, stay at home day.  We went to the afternoon social at 2:00, then stayed for the LCR game at 2:30.  We had a good time playing with friends for an hour or so.  After the games we went home and relaxed for the rest of the day.

Monday, January 16^th, was MLK day.  Jackie had a nail appointment at 2:00.  I dropped her off and ran a few errands.  After she was done we did a Walmart run.  After we got home we went to happy hour, then came home for dinner.  After dinner we watched TV.  Tuesday we left the park about 10:30 and started over the hill to Las Vegas to do a Costco run.  As we drove over the Spring Mountain pass we saw lots of snow on the sides of the road from the last round of rain.  The pass is close to 5,000 feet, so it tends to get snow when it rains in the valleys.  We had lunch at a place in Summerlin called Hash House A GoGo.  It is a breakfast and lunch place that we have never tried before.  The food was really good and very plentiful.  After lunch we went to Costco and spent a bunch of money.  After Costco we headed back over the hill, getting home in time to unload everything and still make it to happy hour.  After happy hour we went home and spent the rest of the evening with the TV.

Wednesday, January 18^th, I had an 11:00 meeting of one of my committees which went until about 12:30.  Jackie went to play Pokeno while I did some chores around the house.  At 4:00 we went over for happy hour and then stayed for the 5:00 pot luck dinner.  There was lots of good food and talk with friends.  About 7:00 we were back home and relaxing with the TV.  Thursday I had the open meeting of the Board of Directors at 9:00.  The meeting went pretty well and lasted for about two hours.  After the meeting we had lunch and spent the rest of the day doing chores and working on projects.  Friday I got a call in the morning from the President of the Board asking if I would look into an incident involving an alleged assault on one of the members of the park by an employee.  I spent most of the rest of the day talking to the parties involved and trying to review surveillance video that may have caught some of the incident.  Jackie had a 2:00 appointment at the medical center with a Nurse Practitioner regarding some aches she has in her legs that she thinks may be related to her medications.  The NP just put her on a new blood pressure med.  At 5:30 we went over to the clubhouse for bingo.  Jackie won one of the games, but had to split the pot.  She still made a couple bucks.  I got close but didn’t win anything.  After bingo we went home and watched TV until bedtime.

Saturday, January 21^st, I spent most of the day doing chores and projects.  We did go out about 1:30 to the Roadhouse Casino for a late lunch.  We both had liver and onions and it was great.  At 5:00 we went to the Elks Lodge for karaoke.  It has been a few weeks since we went.  Our friends Tom and Phyliss where there as well as a lot of other acquaintances.  We had a good time, I sang and listened to others sing, Jackie tried to win on the slots in the bar.  After karaoke we went home and relaxed with the TV the rest of the evening.  Sunday, we had a stay-at-home day.  I spent the biggest part of the day working on the report regarding the investigation I was doing on the employee.  I finally got that finished by late afternoon.  We had dinner spent the remainder of the evening watching TV.

We are now a month into this episode of the blog and will close it out to get it online.  I realize that what was a travel blog has become more of a daily diary that is probably not of much interest to anyone else, but we find it a useful resource to look back and see what were doing on any given day.  Until next time, be kind, be helpful, but be you.  See ya.

The Weeks Between the Holidays

Hello again.  Our last chapter concluded on Saturday, November 26^th, while we were in the process of changing our entire lifestyle.  About three weeks ago we sold our motor home, in which we traveled the country for 17 years, and bought a destination trailer, basically a large travel trailer intended for long term stays.  In our case, we will be living in it, without it ever moving, at the Escapees Co-op park in Pahrump.  It has taken all of the three weeks for us to finally get everything moved back into the trailer and put away.  When we unpacked the motor home before trading it we unloaded all of our possessions into our storage shed here at the park. 

Sunday, November 27^th, we went out after lunch and ran a few errands.  Other than that we stayed around the house and did chores.  Monday I had a 10:00 meeting of one of the committees I attend here at the park.  I say attend because I used to be a member of this committee, the By Laws and Standing Rules Committee.  However, when I was elected to the Board I can only come to the committee meetings as an observer and advisor.  Board members are not allowed to be members of any of the standing committees of the Co-op.  While I was in the meeting our golf cart was returned by the golf cart shop here in Pahrump.  They had to pick it up late last week because it quit running.  I thought it was something in the control system, but it turned out it needed new batteries.  Since it has 7 deep cycle lead acid batteries it was not cheap, about $1,400 worth of not cheap.  I knew the batteries were old and not well maintained when I bought the cart, but I had hoped they would last a little longer.  However, when I went to use the cart in the afternoon I found that the left rear tire was flat.  Crap, still don’t have a cart.  I don’t know how to take the wheels off of the thing, so I am having to wait until the cart guys can come back out and take a look.  Jackie had a mani appointment in the afternoon and I did some more work around the lot, mostly now cleaning up the shed and patio.  We went to 4:00 happy hour, then had dinner and watched TV the rest of the night.

Tuesday, November 29^th, we both had our semi-annual physicals with our primary care doctor, Dr. Wiggins, at 11:00.  We are both in reasonable health given our ages, but we had a chance to catch up Dr. Wiggins on the specialists that we both have been seeing.  Other than that, we are in good shape.  Jackie had physical therapy in the afternoon and I did some chores around the coach.  Wednesday Jackie had her regular Pokeno game in the clubhouse at 1:00 and I did more work around the lot.  At 4:00 we drove to the Japanese Steak House, Ohjah, here in Pahrump for the monthly dine out with other people from our park.  We had about 18 people in the hibachi grill and had a great meal and a great time.  After the dinner we went back to the park and spent the rest of the night with the TV.

Thursday, December 1^st, we left the park about 10:30, picking up our friends Millie and Charlene, and headed to the China Wok Buffet for another MASA meeting.  Regular readers know that MASA is a sort of insurance for ambulance bills, ground and air, and many of the members at the Co-op are also MASA members.  They invite their members to come to the sales presentations and we get a free lunch for just listening to the pitch for the hundredth time.  We had a nice lunch and then went back to the park.  Jackie had physical therapy at 2:00 and I stayed home and caught up on a bunch of administrative work I have gotten behind on.  At 4:00 we went to happy hour at the clubhouse and then came home and had leftovers from last night’s dinner for tonight.  We then spent the rest of the night with the TV.

Friday, December 2^nd, the local cart guy came by first thing in the morning and picked up our golf cart again.  When they returned it Monday after replacing the batteries I found that it had a flat tire.  As it turns out, it appears that all of the valve stems have deteriorated from age and are leaking, some worse than others.  All four tires have to be taken off and taken to the tire store to be repaired.  So, off to the shop it goes, again.  I did some more chores around the place, finally getting the patio and lanai cleaned and ready for use again.  Most of the work in the shed is done and we are pretty much finished moving into the new trailer.  We still have to hang some pictures and do some other minor work, but we are close.  We went to happy hour at 4:00 and stayed at 5:00 for the park’s first “Spam-o-Rama” contest.  One of the members, Scott, dreamed up a spam cook off contest and, surprisingly, there were almost a dozen contestants.  There were all kinds of dishes made which incorporated spam, including a couple of chilis, some stuffed mushrooms (which won), bacon wrapped spam, and many more.  There was so much sampling to be had that we didn’t even have to make dinner after we went home.  It was a great idea and a lot of fun.  After we got home we watched TV until bedtime.

Saturday, December 3^rd, we left the coach about 1:30 and I dropped Jackie off to get her nails worked on.  While she was doing that I ran some errands, picked up mail, dropped off some donations at the thrift store and went to Walmart for some supplies.  After my errands I picked up Jackie and we went back home.  We were about to leave to go to happy hour when our friend Charlene came by and asked if I would go with her to the local Jeep/Dodge dealership to look at a Jeep.  She was in an accident in Las Vegas a month or so ago and they totaled her old Jeep.  She has a rental car and has someone at the Jeep dealership searching for a replacement Jeep.  She told me they had just called that took a Jeep in on trade today and wanted her to look at it.  Her husband died about a year ago and she didn’t want to go alone.  I told her I would go.  We drove to the dealership and they showed her a very nice, low milage 2015 Jeep Wrangler 4dr in white.  It was the Sahara model, which is an upgrade, and it was really a good looking car.  We took it for a quick test drive and it seemed be in very good condition.  Of course, the sales guy took inside and tried to make a deal tonight.  Charlene is on a limited fixed income and she knew exactly how much she could afford to put down, and how much she could afford in payments.  The sales guy tried everything to get her to fall in love with the car and come off of her financial requirements, but in the end, after an hour of haggling, they just weren’t able to make the deal work.  It was a little too much car, cost wise, for her budget.  We drove home and Charlene came in and had dinner with us.  Jackie had made a chili relleno casserole and we had a nice dinner.  After she left we watched TV and then went to bed.

Sunday, December 4^th, was a stay at home day.  I was fighting a cold, so I did a few small chores around the house, as did Jackie.  Monday I was up early for an 8:30 meeting at the Nye County Administration building.  I had been called in for my first review of a citizen’s complaint made on a Nye County Deputy Sheriff.  It was an interesting experience, being briefed on the complaint and the investigation by internal affairs, and the proposed outcome.  The Undersheriff did the briefing and then myself and two other members of the Advisory Board discussed the issues and made our report.  Everything is confidential, so I can’t go into details, but it kind of took me back to my days at the Maricopa County Sheriffs Office when I was a Lieutenant in command of the Internal Affairs unit.  The whole process took a couple of hours.  At 1:00 I had another meeting in the clubhouse with the Board of Directors.  We were able to go to happy hour at 4:00, then went home and had steaks and scallops for dinner.  Yum.

Tuesday, December 6^th, I had a 9:00 dental appointment, which didn’t take too long.  I am having a new clasp put on one of my partial plates and they needed to take some impressions.  After the dentist I picked up mail then went back to the park.  I had an 11:00 meeting in the clubhouse with the Treasurer of the Co-op, which lasted about a half hour.  I went back to the house and had lunch.  At 1:00 Jackie and I both went to the clubhouse for the Townhall Meeting.  There were not too many people there and very few people had anything to say, so the meeting was pretty short.  After that meeting I spent another hour or so doing some work on the clubhouse sound system.  Jackie had left to go to her PT appointment.  We went to the 4:00 happy hour and then came home and had scampi for dinner, then spent the rest of the night watching TV.

Wednesday, December 7^th, Pearl Harbor Day.  Jackie woke up feeling the effects of having caught my cold.  She was supposed to have gone to play Pokeno this afternoon, but she decided not to go so as not to spread germs.  I spent most of the day doing chores.  About 3:30 I started setting up for our howl at the moon gathering in the patio area of the clubhouse.  I took our portable firepit to go along with the park’s firepit because it was supposed to be cold.  We started gathering about 4:00.  I had my guitar and our friend Scott had is ukulele and we were providing a little entertainment.  The moon came up about 4:40 and we all howled.  It was not a huge gathering, maybe a dozen or so, but it was very cold.  We hope to make it a monthly thing, weather permitting.  We broke up about 5:30 or so and we went back to the house, had some dinner and watched TV until bedtime.  Thursday I had 10:00 meeting with the new audit committee members, turning over the books and records.  At 1:00 I went to the Silver Seekers meeting.  Jackie spent the entire day on the couch nursing her cold.  We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in the house with the TV.

Friday, December 9^th, I had a committee meeting in the clubhouse at 10:00.  About 2:00 I went to the dentist to get my newly repaired lower partial.  It didn’t take too long to do the fitting and I walked out with lower teeth again.  Yea, steak time again.  We did 4:00 happy hour at the clubhouse, then came home and had dinner.  We spent the rest of the night with the TV.  Saturday was a chores day.  Jackie had a 1:00 manicure appointment and after I dropped her off I ran some errands, including doing a Walmart run.  After I picked her up we went back home and stayed in for the rest of the afternoon and evening.  We are both trying to recover from colds and cold weather is not making it easy.  We are not so much sick as just uncomfortable with runny noses and an occasional cough.

Sunday, December 11^th, we stayed home and relaxed for most of the day.  About 2:00 we left, along with our friend Millie, and drove to the Saddle West Casino for the annual Christmas Show put on by the Silver Tappers group.  The Silver Tappers are all local women, over the age of 50, who dance and entertain locally.  Our friend Debbie is a member of the group.  The show was a little under an hour and was very entertaining and enjoyable.  After the show we headed back to the park, had dinner and spent the rest of the night with the TV.  Monday we were up and out of the house by about 10:00, headed to Las Vegas for lunch at the Olive Garden with the park’s RV group, the Lucky Rollers.  Normally the Lucky Rollers do their monthly dine outs in Pahrump, but we do have a number of members who live in Las Vegas, so at least once a year they try to do a lunch in Vegas.  We had almost 30 people and it was a great lunch.  Olive Garden did a wonderful job taking care of such a large group and we all enjoyed our meal.  After lunch we went to the nearby Costco for some needed supplies.  After Costco we headed home, getting back before dark.  We spent the rest of the evening with the TV.

Tuesday, December 13 I had a Board of Directors planning meeting at 9:00 that went most of the morning.  After the meeting we both just stayed in because we still weren’t feeling a hundred percent.  I did some office work, but we mostly just relaxed.  Wednesday Jackie went to play Pokeno at 1:00 and I spent the afternoon catching up on office work, mostly related to the Board of Directors.  We did happy hour at 4:00, then came home for dinner.  We spent the rest of the night watching the TV.

Thursday, December 15^th, I had the regular open Board of Directors meeting at 9:00.  The meeting was pretty much uneventful and went for about 90 minutes.  After lunch I had to back to the clubhouse for an Executive session meeting with the Board.  That meeting ran until almost 4:00.  I just stayed in the clubhouse after the meeting and Jackie came over with our happy hour cocktails and we sat with the happy hour crew and chatted.  After happy hour we went home and fixed a nice pork loin for dinner then watched TV until bedtime. Friday we went out about 1:00 for a late lunch at Romero’s, one of our favorite Mexican places.  After lunch we ran some errands, including a Walmart visit.  After we got home and relaxed for a bit we went over to the clubhouse a little after 5:00 for the monthly Bingo game.  Jackie won one game, which she had to split.  I didn’t get anything.  We were back home by about 8:30, watched some TV and went to bed.

Saturday, December 17^th, was a stay at home day.  I got some things done around the lot.  We had an early dinner and went over to the clubhouse about 5:30 or so for Trivia Night.  We had done this in the late summer and had a really good time.  Our friend Scott was the MC again and asked the questions.  We had six people on our team and had a really good showing in the first half, but sort of fell behind in the second half, finishing second overall for the night.  It was a lot of fun and we look forward to the next one.  After trivia we went home and watched TV until bedtime.  Sunday was another stay at home day.  We did a few chores, but mostly were just lazy today.  About 4:00 I went over to the clubhouse with my audio equipment and set up for karaoke.  At 5:00 we had a pot luck in the clubhouse and at 6:00 we did karaoke.  We didn’t have too many singers, or too many people who stayed after dinner.  However, those that did participated and we had a really good time for about 90 minutes.  Everything was over about 8:30, after which we sat and watched TV before going to bed.

Monday, December 19^th, we went out after lunch to run some errands.  We stopped at the Dollar Store for some Christmas decorations for the golf cart and some wrapping materials for the gift exchange.  We then picked up mail and did a quick Walmart run for some we needed.  After that we headed back home.  We went to 4:00 happy hour, then came home and had dinner.  After dinner we watched TV until bedtime.  Tuesday was a stay at home day.  Got a lot done around the house.  We got some pictures hung and some other chores completed.  Wednesday was also a stay at home day.  Jackie went to the clubhouse for Pokeno at 1:00 and I stayed home and did chores.  The biggest one was replacing four of the roller shades inside the trailer.  When we got the trailer we noticed that some of the shades had grey or silver markings that didn’t match the other shades in the coach.  A couple weeks ago we received new shades from the Forrest River factory in Indiana.  I got all four shades changed out this afternoon.  We went to happy hour at 4:00 and then went home and had dinner.  We had country ribs cooking in the crock pot all day.  After dinner we watched TV and went to bed.

Thursday, December 22^nd, we didn’t have anything on our schedule until 1:00 when we participated in the park’s Christmas golf cart parade.  We had our cart well decorated and even had Christmas carols playing.  We had about seven carts in the parade and drove around the entire park.  We were pleased that a number of the residents had come outside and were sitting waiting for the parade to go by.  After the parade we had hot chocolate and snacks in the clubhouse.  We were back in the clubhouse at 4:00 for happy hour.  After happy hour we went home, had dinner and watched TV until bedtime.

We are now a month into this episode and it is time to close it out.  Until next time, ponder the words of writer Alexandre Dumas, “Friendship consists in forgetting what one gives and remembering what one receives.”  See ya soon.