Back In California Again

Hi there, good to have you back. Our last chapter concluded on Tuesday, May 3^rd when we left Arizona after nearly four months and returned back to our old stomping grounds of Indio, California. On Wednesday we decided it was too hot to do anything outside, so we decided to take in a movie. We went to the new Century Multiplex that opened last year to see Mother's Day. This was a fairly standard romantic comedy, with Jennifer Aniston, Julia Roberts, and Jason Sudeikis among others. The story involved several different families who all interact around Mother's Day. The movie got off to a bit of a slow start, but it came around and was quite funny. We enjoyed it. After the movie we got one nearby geocache, did a Walmart run and then went back to the coach for the rest of the evening.

Thursday, May 5^th, Happy Cinco De Mayo, the day when everyone is Mexican. Most people in Mexico don't even consider it a big holiday, but it is kind of like St. Patrick's when everyone is Irish for a day. In the spirit of the holiday we went out to La Casita, one of our favorite Mexican restaurant's here in the valley, for lunch. We met Shane Ryan, Jackie's Godson, who is now 21 years old. When I moved out here to be with Jackie he wasn't even in school yet. We had a great lunch and caught up on what was going on in his life. After lunch we ran a few errands and Jackie got her hair cut. We also picked up a couple of geocaches. We then headed home and stayed in the rest of the day.

Friday, May 6^th, we went out after lunch to do some geocaching. In a few hours we were able to get a dozen new finds, along with one DNF. We also checked on three of our own caches to be sure that they were still in good shape. After caching we made a quick Walmart stop and then headed home for the rest of the evening.

Saturday we headed out about 10:30 and drove over to Palm Desert to the College of the Desert Street Fair. Even though summer is close and it is getting hot, there were still a lot of people at the fair and a majority of the vendors were still in action. We bought a couple of little things before leaving and going back to Indio for lunch at Cactus Jack's. Regular readers will know that CJ's is one of our oldest and favorite local hangouts. There were very few people there, although as we were eating an old friend of Jackie's, Bert Einum and a lady friend came in for lunch. Jackie met Bert in the 80's here in the Desert and I became acquainted with him mostly through the Elk's travel club when he and his girlfriend would travel with the group. We had not seen Bert for probably eight or nine years. We chatted briefly, but not for long as we had our lunch in front of us. We had a great lunch and then went back to the coach.

We were having some friends over for cocktails, so we spent some time cleaning and getting ready. About 6:00 Rex and Vicki Jennings and Kevin Ray and his partner Ron Caple for happy hour. Rex and Kevin are big geocachers and we met them through the local caching group. Vickie and Ron tolerate the sport and support their significant others. We had cocktails and snacks outside and had a great time catching up. We had not seen these guys since we were here in December of last year. About 7:30 they left, we cleaned up and spent the rest of the evening with the TV.

Sunday, Mary 8^th, Happy Mother's Day. Not a big holiday for us as both of our mother's have passed on and Jackie never had any kids. We spent the morning with the paper and our coffee and morning talk shows. About 1:30 our good friend Barry Cohen came over to spend the afternoon with us. Barry and his wife Colleen were probably our best friends when we lived here in Indio. Colleen died of cancer about three years ago, but Barry still lives in their motor home at the Motorcoach Country Club here in Indio. They actually started living full time in their motor home four years before us, but Barry was still working, so they didn't travel much. Colleen died just right after Barry retired, so they never did get to go on the road. Barry hasn't done too much traveling since either because he doesn't want to travel alone. He is now starting to move on and has a girlfriend and is now making travel plans again.

We talked for a while and then went into the back of the coach to do some karaoke. Barry loves to sing, but will only do it with me in private. I bought my first karaoke machine fifteen years ago, when we still had a house, and Barry went in with me to buy the first set of disks for the machine. We have been singing together ever since. We had a great time, sang for a couple of hours, and shed a few tears. About 6:30 Jackie served a nice meatloaf and mashed potatoes dinner. We had dinner and talked a bit before Barry left about 8:00 or so. It was great seeing our old friend again. We watched TV until bedtime.

Monday, May 9^th, we went out after lunch to do some shopping. We went to Costco, our first stop there since we left the Desert back in early January. Yuma and Casa Grande only had Sam's Clubs, which fulfilled most of our needs, but it was still nice to get back to Costco. I like their in-house Kirkland brand stuff. After Costco we hit a grocery store for a few things and then went home for the rest of the day.

Tuesday, we went out after lunch to drive around and check on our geocaches that we have hidden here in the Coachella Valley. We wanted to make sure that they didn't need maintenance, and also to fix a couple we knew needed some work. We ended up replacing one with an identical container, and replacing another cache with a new cache at the same location. We relaxed at home until about 6:00, when we drove to Cactus Jack's to have dinner with Rex and Vickie, and Ron and Kevin, the same people who came over to the coach on Saturday. We had a great dinner and talked for a couple of hours. We finished dinner and went home, getting back about 8:00 or so. We watched TV the rest of the evening.

Wednesday, May 11^th, we had lunch and then went to our regular doctor's office so that he could take a look at Jackie's left breast. She had a benign lump removed in March when we were in Yuma, and it was still causing a lot of pain for her. She wanted to go to the doctor's to be sure it wasn't a major problem. The doctor talked to her and then told her she needed to get a diagnostic ultrasound of the breast in order to see what was going on inside. She called and was able to get an appointment tomorrow at the Eisenhower Hospital Breast Center in Rancho Mirage. We then ran a couple of errands and headed back to the coach for the rest of the day. It is getting really hot, close to 100 degrees, so it is a little to warm for any serious geocaching. We stayed in the coach the rest of the day and evening.

Thursday, we went to Eisenhower Hospital for Jackie's 11:00 appointment. They took her right in and after the ultrasound she had a consultation with the doctor who advised her that everything looked fine inside and that the pain was normal after an invasive surgery like she had. This made both of us feel a lot better. We then went to Olive Garden for lunch. Jackie had won a $25 gift certificate for Olive Garden at a car show in Yuma, so we went to have a nice big lunch and use that. We had a great lunch and then headed back home. We did stop to get one nearby geocache before leaving the parking lot of Olive Garden. We went back to the coach and relaxed, staying out of the 102 degree temperature. Today was the first day of 2016 with temps over 100 in the Coachella Valley. We stayed in the rest of the evening.

Friday, May 13^th, oooooooow, scary. We left the coach after lunch and drove to Rancho Mirage so I could see the dermatologist about some spots on my body. I had my annual check in December, but there was a small red spot on the inside of my right elbow that wouldn't go away, and then I saw a small black spot on the back of my right ear, in the crease. Since I had my melanoma back in 09 I have used an abundance of caution with spots. When I got in the doctor said the red spot was likely a basal cell carcinoma, the most common type of skin cancer, and easily treatable. I had one removed from my other arm a few years ago. The doctor numbed the skin, cut the spot off and then cauterized the wound. He looked at the black spot, which was the one I was most concerned about, and said he didn't think it was a cancer at all, just a spot. He said just to keep an eye on it and we would check at the end of the year when I do my annual.

After the doctor we stopped at Home Depot for some things I will need for projects I planned to do while we are up in Silent Valley, and then Costco for a couple of things. After that we headed home to get out of the 100+ heat. We stayed in for the rest of the day and evening.

Saturday, May 14^th, we woke up after a noisy night of wind. The wind was still kicking up pretty strong today, making caching less desirable. We stayed in for most of the day, finally leaving a little before five to go over to Rex and Vicki's house for a last get together before we left the valley. Ron and Kevin also came over and the six of us had another great night of cocktails, snacks and stories. Jackie's birthday is tomorrow, so she got cards from both couples and Kevin gave her a gift of two metal ammo boxes. Costco had been recently selling ammo boxes, which are great for geocaches in the desert, but we hadn't got around to getting any. Since Kevin works at Costco, he thought it was a great gift. It was. We visited until a little after 8:00 when we packed up and headed home. After we got home we watched a little television and then headed to bed.

Sunday, May 15^th, Happy Birthday to my lovely wife Jackie, as well as our cat Benji. Benji is four today, Jackie not so much. Today was supposed to be a moving day, with us leaving Indio and driving to Silent Valley, our time share RV Resort in the mountains south of Banning. However, I had been awake half the night listening to the wind howling outside, and the weather forecast called for continuing, and even worsening winds today and tonight. With that we decided that we would just stay an extra night in Indio and go up to Silent Valley on Monday, after the winds died down.

I called the RV park and arranged for the extra day. There was certainly no problem with us staying an extra day as the place is mostly empty anyway. About 1:00 or so we went to Cactus Jack's for a birthday lunch for Jackie. When we arrived we noted that John and Janet Moore were in there eating breakfast. Janet is the sister of Colleen Cohen, Jackie's very close friend who died a few years ago. We had not seen John and Janet for a couple of years, so we talked for a little while before sitting down to eat. We had a great lunch and then went back to the RV and relaxed the rest of the day, watching the wild winds blow.

Monday, May 16^th, as forecast the winds died down in the early morning hours and we packed up the coach to travel. We were on the road about 11:00 and heading west to Banning. Since the whole trip was only about 50 miles, Jackie drove the car rather than hook it up to the coach. We always unhook the car at the base of the hill going up to Silent Valley anyway as that last 11 miles is a steep, winding road. We were a little concerned about finding a decent spot because our friends Ray and Suzie Babcock had brought their coach up on Friday and said that the place was pretty busy. Our other friends, Gary and Ramona Wilson, were also up in Silent Valley, parked right next to the Babcock's. This was a surprise as we thought they were still back east in Ohio somewhere.

After we arrived we were able to find a great spot, nice and long with perfect satellite alignment, the two most important factors. Nearly all the sites here have full hook ups and 50 amps, but there are a lot of trees, so sat reception can become iffy in some areas. We got parked, registered and settled in in the afternoon. About 5:00 we went over to the Babcock's coach, only a hundred yards or so away, and had cocktails with them and the Wilson's. It turns out Gary was having some complications as a result of last year's heart surgery, so they came back to California early so he could see his doctor in Ontario. We had a great time catching up. Although we stay in contact through social media, we hadn't seen the Wilson's or Babcock's since we left Yuma the first of April. After our visit we went back to our coach and had a nice pot roast dinner that had been cooking all day in the crock pot. We watched TV until bedtime. We will be here in Silent Valley for a month, a great time to relax and get make some repairs on the coach.

Tuesday, May 17^th, it was nice to wake up to cool temperatures after a very nice, cool night. After lunch we went to the laundry facility here at Silent Valley to do laundry. We were desperate to refill the underwear drawers after three weeks. After laundry we went back to the coach, arriving just in time for a couple of thunderstorms to move through. We got some hard rain for about ten minutes, a bit of a noise and light show, but then it cleared up. We spent the rest of the day hanging around the coach.

Wednesday was a stay at home day. After lunch I spent three or four hours installing a TV in the bay so we can watch TV on the patio outside. It works great. Jackie did some chores of her own inside while I was working outside. About four we went down to the Babcock's for an early happy hour. They were doing early dinner with the Wilson's, but we joined them for cocktails. A little after five we went back to our coach, ate dinner about 7:00 and then watched TV until bedtime.

Thursday, May 19^th, we picked up Ray and Suzie and the four of us drove down to Banning/Beaumont for lunch, some geocaching and then shopping. We had lunch at La Casita, our favorite Mexican place in the area, and then tried to do some geocaching. Jackie and I were at somewhat of a disadvantage because we come to this area for a month or two every year and we have pretty much cached the place out. There are not many caches left in the urban area that we haven't already gotten. Nonetheless, we hit a couple of caches and struck out the first two times with DNFs. These were caches that had not been found in a while and were probably gone. We did find two, after which we went to Walmart for some supplies. On the way back to Silent Valley we stopped for another cache that was just down the road from the resort. It was a difficulty five cache, meaning the hardest in terms of being able to find it. It proved to be accurate, as none of us were able to spot it. So, two finds, three DNFs for day. After we got back we just stayed in for the rest of the evening.

Friday was a stay at home day. I finished setting up some decorations and lights outside, mostly red, white and blue for Memorial day. I also got a few little things done in the house. We watched a movie in the afternoon and then went for a little walk. On the way back to the coach we stopped and visited with the Babcock's and Wilson's for a while. We then went back to the coach, had dinner and watched TV until bedtime.

Saturday, May 21^st, we had a quiet day on the mountain. It was pretty chilly, low 60's, so we didn't go outside much. Relaxed, watched a movie, did a little house cleaning. Jackie made a big pot of clam chowder and about 4:30 the Wilson's and Babcock's came over to our coach. We had cocktails and talked and about 6:00 dinner was served. It was a good batch of chowder and everyone enjoyed it greatly. About 7:30 everyone left for their own places and we watched TV the rest of the evening.

Sunday was a relax at home day. There is no newspaper delivery up here, so we had to go without a Sunday paper. We watched a recorded movie on TV, went for a walk, did a few little chores. Today was the Babcock's anniversary, so they left the mountain and went home for a couple days. They left their coach up here since they are only going to be away one night. Late in the afternoon Gary and Ramona brought two of their daughters, and one grand daughter, over to meet us. They are up here visiting Gary and Ramona for the day. They didn't stay long and we later had cocktails and dinner and then watched some TV until bedtime.

Monday, May 23^rd, we left the coach about 12:15 and went down the hill, then over to the little town of San Jacinto, about twelve miles south of Beaumont. As the crow flies San Jacinto is only about seven miles southwest of Silent Valley, but there is no road going down that way. It is still only about 25 miles, so it's not a real long trip. We went for a late lunch at a place called Patsy's Country Kitchen in San Jacinto. This was our first time at this one, but there is also one in Beaumont that we have been to several times and really enjoyed. They have great food, big portions, and good service. They are only a lunch and breakfast place, but that is fine with us.

After lunch we got one geocache and then went to the movie theater in San Jancito to see Money Monster, a movie with George Clooney in the starring role and Julia Roberts as the female co-star. It is a combination of Wall Street financial shenanigans mystery coupled with an action movie hostage situation. It probably wasn't an academy award winning movie, but we enjoyed it a lot. After the movie we headed back up to Silent Valley, stopping at the Walmart in Beaumont for some supplies first. We didn't get back to the coach until around 6:00, so we didn't have any group get together tonight. We also didn't have any dinner because we were still full from lunch and the movie popcorn. We watched TV until bedtime.

This marks the end of our first week up here in Silent Valley and a good place to close this chapter of the blog. We still have another three weeks or so up here before moving on to our summer travels. Until the next time, remember that the tragedy of life does not lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy of life lies in having no goal to reach. See ya soon.

A Couple Weeks in the Valley of the Sun

Hello again, welcome back to our story. Our last chapter ended on Friday, April 15th, when we left Casa Grande, Arizona, after a two week stay and headed a little bit north to Apache Junction, Arizona. We will be in Apache Junction for a week and then move to the other side of the Phoenix metro area to Goodyear, Arizona, for another week. After we arrived in Apache Junction, at the Sunrise RV Resort, we got settled in and relaxed for the rest of the day. We had cocktails with Peggy and Vernon, who are parked right behind us, at 5:00, and then Peggy served a great dinner of penne pasta. This is one of my favorite Peggy Bullock dishes. We talked until about 8:00 and then went to our coach for the rest of the evening.

Saturday, April 16th, we left the park about 10:00 with the Bullock's and did some geocaching. We were able to get ten new finds, along with four DNFs, in a few hours. That is the most DNFs we have had in one session in quite a while. We stopped for lunch at a little Greek cafe, just a block from the RV park, for lunch. It was called Chicago's #1 Gyro. The food was quite good, but the place had one cook, the owner, who was a grumpy old fart who was rude to both his employees and his customers. If I lived in the area I would not go back just for that reason.

After lunch we got two more geocaches, for a total of 12 new finds for the day. We did a little bit of exploring Apache Junction before heading back to the RV park. We relaxed the rest of the afternoon, then had cocktails with the Bullock's at happy hour. Dinner was the leftovers from last night, and they were just as good now as they were then. By 8:00 we were back at our place and watched TV until bedtime.

Sunday we had a nice relaxing morning with the newspaper and Sunday TV shows. We left the RV park about 1:00 with Peggy and Vernon and went to lunch in Mesa at one of my favorite, old Phoenix based Mexican chain restaurants, Garcia's. Garcia's got it's start in Phoenix back in the 50's, just like Macayo's did. Macayo's chose to go with more modern, updated and fancy selections, while Garcia's has stuck to the old, traditional Sonoran cooking style. We had a great lunch with great food. The service was a little slow, but the place was packed on an early Sunday afternoon.

After lunch we went out and did some exploring around the west Mesa and Tempe areas, looking at places from my earliest days in the Phoenix area. When my folks moved the family from Wisconsin to Arizona in 1960 our first stop was Tucson, but after a couple of months my dad couldn't find work, so we moved up to Tempe, Arizona. We rented a house there, actually moving once but on the same property, just to a different house. I did my freshman and sophomore years of high school at Tempe High. We found the vacant lot where the old houses we had lived in used to be. It appears to have been recently cleared, but no trace of the houses remained. We drove by the high school and also through the Arizona State University campus, another of my Alma Mater's. Along the way we picked up two new geocaches, and then headed back to the RV park. We had happy hour at 6:00, but no dinner together as we were all still full from the late lunch. By 7:30 we were in our coach watching TV for the rest of the evening.

Monday, April 18th, official tax day for 2016! We had our taxes in early and already spent our refund on tires. We went out after lunch to do some shopping. We hit the mall a few miles away in Mesa so Jackie could find some stuff she needed. We then did a Walmart run before heading back to the RV park. We did happy hour with the Bullock's and then had some baby back ribs for dinner that Vernon did on their BBQ. Jackie made some beans and Peggy some Macaroni salad, and we had a great dinner. By 7:30 or so we were back in our coach and watched TV until bedtime.

Tuesday we went out after lunch with Peggy and Vernon to do some exploring. We visited the Superstition Mountain Museum here in Apache Junction. They had a lot of nice exhibits, a lot of which dealt with the legend of the Lost Dutchman's Gold. The Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine is, according to legend, a rich gold mine generally believed to be hidden in the Superstition Mountains. There have been many stories about how to find the mine, and each year people search for the mine. Some have died on the search. The mine is named after German immigrant Jacob Waltz, who purportedly discovered it in the 19th century and kept its location a secret. The Lost Dutchman's is perhaps the most famous lost mine in American history. Arizona place-name expert Byrd Granger wrote that the Lost Dutchman's story had been printed or cited at least six times more often than two other fairly well-known tales, the story of Captain Kidd's lost treasure, and the story of the Lost Pegleg mine in California. People have been seeking the Lost Dutchman's mine since at least 1892, while according to one estimate, 8,000 people annually made some effort to locate the Lost Dutchman's mine. Former Arizona Attorney General Bob Corbin is among those who have looked for the mine. Some argue that there is little or no evidence for the mine's existence, but others say that the main components of the story have at least some basis in fact.

I grew up hearing about the Lost Dutchman's Mine. My mom and stepfather moved the family out to Arizona from Wisconsin in 1960, but we were preceded by my stepfather's dad, Elmer Disch, and his wife. They moved out here from Wisconsin a year earlier and bought a piece of land at the foot of the Superstition Mountains. They built one of the first houses in the area, which is now covered with scores of very nice custom homes. My grandad raised horses and I spent many hours riding around in the foothills of the Superstitions. After the museum visit we rode around the area and I showed everyone the lot on which my grandparent's place once stood. The “old” house has been torn down and there is a new, big two story place there now. After driving around the foothills for a bit, and getting three geocaches in the process, we ran a couple quick errands and then went back to the coach.

We relaxed for a while and then I spent some time cooking dinner for the four of us. I made stuffed green peppers, which is one of my specialties, and Jackie made a salad. We had a great dinner, eating outside in the very nice weather. After dinner we went back into our coach and watched TV until bedtime.

Wednesday, April 20^th, we went out about 11:00 with Peggy and Vernon in tow and headed for lunch at a Thai restaurant, Thai House, near the Superstition Springs Mall in Gilbert. The food was OK, with some of it really good, some not so much. I had the orange chicken and it was very tasty, but the egg drop soup had zero flavor. The egg rolls were just OK, a little on the small side. Jackie had pad Thai and said it was pretty good too. If we lived in the area I might go back, but then again there are so many choices in this huge metropolitan area I might not waste another trip on a place that was just so-so.

After lunch we went to the mall where Peggy went into Macy's for something she needed, and Jackie went to Bath and Body Works for some things. We were in the mall for a half hour or so before leaving and heading over to the Winco for some groceries. After that we headed back to the RV park for the rest of the afternoon. We had cocktails at Peggy and Vernon's and then Peggy served a great jambalaya for dinner. We ate and talked until almost 8:30 when we went back to our place for the rest of the evening.

Thursday was forecast to be a very hot day, upper 90's, so we decided to take in a movie. We left the coach about 1:00 with Peggy and Vernon, and headed back to the mall to see the movie, The Boss. This film stars Melissa McCarthy, one of our favorite comedy actresses, and is about an orphan girl with an attitude that grows up to be a huge business success. She is a total jerk to everyone around her, so no surprise when she goes to prison for five months for insider trading and everyone ignores her when she gets out. All her assets have been seized and she ends up teaming up with her former assistant and forms a new company selling brownies in competition with a group similar to the Girl Scouts. It was not the best McCarthy movie by a long shot, but we still enjoyed it and laughed a lot.

After the movie we went back to the RV park and relaxed until happy hour. We had cocktails with the Bullock's at our place and then Jackie served some chili relleno casserole for dinner. This is our last day with the Bullock's after nearly four months of traveling together. We miss being with them, but will see them again in July. After Peggy and Vernon left we watched some TV and went to bed.

Friday, April 22^nd, another moving day. We were up and out of the RV park about 10:30, heading to Goodyear, Arizona. The trip was about 58 miles, but it was freeway all the way, right through the middle of Phoenix. We are basically going from the far east side of the Phoenix metro area to the far west side. Traffic wasn't too bad and I only had one dicey experience with a car that decided to cut across in front of me to catch an exit. We arrived at the Cotton Lane RV park a little after noon and quickly got checked into the mostly empty park. It was really hot today, a hundred degrees at one point on our thermometer, so we did the minimal setup for our one week stay. We spent the rest of the day in the coach. Our first time in four months that we weren't parked with friends, so it was kind of quiet.

Saturday, we went out about 11:00 or so to get lunch and do some geocaching. We first stopped at my brother Ken's new house here in Goodyear because they had told us they were doing a garage sale. Ken was working but Susan and her mother Helena, who now lives with them, were working the garage sale. We chatted for a few minutes but didn't stay long because we were coming back for dinner later in the day. We stopped at one restaurant in Goodyear, but there was a long wait, so we went down into Avondale to a place we have been before, Raul and Teresa’s Mexican. This is an old place, nearly 50 years in Avondale, and we have always been happy with the food. We both had machaca and eggs, the breakfast plate, and enjoyed it a lot. After a nice lunch we did some geocaching and were able to get ten new finds, with no DNFs, in a couple of hours. About 3:00 we went back to the coach and relaxed for a while.

About 5:00 we left again and went back over to Ken and Susan's for dinner. This was the first time we have been in their new house. When we were here last April we went through the model of the home they are in, and watched as they poured the slab for their place. They moved into the house in late summer. Susan's mom sold her house and Ken and Susan sold their place and they moved into this very nice multi-generational house together. Helena has a suite downstairs, with her own entrance, garage access, bathroom, and mini-kitchen. The rest of the downstairs is a kitchen-family room open area that is their common area. Ken and Susan have a three bedroom suite upstairs with their own living room and full bath, as well as laundry facilities. The only thing they don't have upstairs is a kitchen. It seems to be working out very well for all parties. Susan made pork chops and mashed potatoes for dinner and Helena joined the four of us. We had a great meal, a tour of the house, and a very pleasant couple of hours visiting with family. We also picked up one more geocache, one that Ken and Susan had hidden in their front yard. About 7:30 we left and headed back to the RV park where we enjoyed the rest of the evening.

Sunday, April 24^th, was a relaxing day. We had our morning paper and coffee and stayed in for the whole day. Monday we went out after lunch to do some geocaching and got five new finds in a fairly short period of time. One of the caches was just outside the fence of the Phoenix-Goodyear Airport, which used to be the Goodyear Naval Air Station when I was a kid.  There are dozens of commercial aircraft stored out there now, awaiting renovation or scrapping.  We then went to Walmart for some supplies and Jackie got a pedi. After that we went back to the coach and relaxed the rest of the day.

Tuesday, April 26^th, we left the coach about 10:30 and drove north to Prescott Valley, Arizona to meet the Bullock's for lunch. When we left Casa Grande last Friday the Bullock's went to Cottonwood for a week. We decided to meet for lunch somewhere in the middle, and Prescott Valley was about the closest we could get. It was about a hundred miles for us and fifty for them. However, it was a nice day and a nice, pretty drive up, so we enjoyed it. We met them at the Canton Dragon, a Chinese place we have eaten at before. We had a great lunch and then after lunch did four geocaches in the area. We then said goodbye again and we drove back down to Goodyear, arriving just in time for happy hour.

About 6:30 I left the coach and drove into Goodyear to attend a meeting of the local Fraternal Order of Police lodge, Lodge 5, which was the lodge I belonged to when I was with the Sheriff's Office here in Phoenix. I have not been to a lodge meeting in over 25 years, but I am a life time member by virtue of my retirement from the Sheriff's Office. I hoped to see a few people I knew and wasn't disappointed. There were about a half dozen people there with whom I had worked with, or around, during my tenure as a deputy. There were none that I was really close friends with, but all were acquaintances at one level or another. I had a good time catching up, as best you can cover 25 years in ten minutes, with some of these old acquaintances and I was glad I went. After the meeting I went back to the coach and we watched TV until bedtime.

Wednesday, April 27^th, I went out about 9:30 and took the Jeep to the local dealer for a routine service. I was finally done around noon and I went back to the coach, picked up Jackie, and we went out and did our laundry in Avondale. Once the laundry was done we did a few caches, getting five new finds, before heading back to the coach for the rest of the evening. Thursday we went out after lunch to do some geocaching. We were able to get eleven new finds, along with three DNFs, in a few hours. After caching we went back to the coach and relaxed the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Friday, April 29^th, we left the coach about 11:00 and went out for some more geocaching. In a few hours we had racked up fifteen new finds, and two DNFs. The last find of the day was number 8,000 for us, another major milestone. Yea us! It is fairly normal in the course of caching to sustain what we call “caching wounds,” minor scrapes and scratches from bushes, trees and the occasional sharp edge. However today I got some really big wounds on my leg. One of the caches was at a location that had been a Prisoner of War camp back in WW-II. It

held German and Italian POWs who were then put to work in the fields around the western part of the county. At that time this location was twenty miles outside of Phoenix. The only thing left on the site is a crumbling block building that used to be a bath house for the camp. I was checking around on the rubble and a piece of concrete I was holding on to for balance broke and I stumbled a bit, dragging my lower legs across some blocks and concrete. The worst was my right lower leg which go some ugly looking road rash on the front. I did find the cache though. Yea! I cleaned it up as best I could with some water and a towel and while it bled for a few minutes it pretty quickly scabbed over and quit bleeding. We continued caching and when we hit our milestone we quit and headed into Goodyear for a late lunch.

We went to a new seafood place called the Angry Crab Shack in Goodyear. This is a fairly new Arizona chain of Cajun seafood shops and the store in Goodyear has only been open a couple months. It is reminiscent of a Joe's Crab Shack in appearance and menu. Very informal setting, in fact the walls are covered with customer graffiti. The menu is primarily southern style bag-boiled seafood or fried seafood baskets. I splurged and had the king crab boil, a pound of crab boiled in a big plastic bag with spices. Jackie had grilled salmon, one of the two grilled items on the menu. We also had some calamari and onion rings. Everything was very good and tasty, but, as you might expect, very messy too. I felt like I needed a shower after I was done eating. I enjoyed the food and the ambiance and the service was excellent too. Of course, I also had to buy the tee shirt.

After lunch we went to Walmart for some supplies and then headed back to the coach. I took a quick shower so I could wash my caching wounds with soap and water and then put some antibiotic cream on them. They look nasty, but don't hurt too much, just sort of a burn. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing around the coach.

Saturday, April 30^th, we had a stay at home day. We hung around the coach, did some cleaning and got a few things done. About 5:00 my brother Ken and his wife Susan, along with Susan's mom Helena, came over for dinner. We sat and talked for a while and then Jackie served a nice dinner of pork country ribs that had been cooking in the crock pot all day. We had a great time and after dinner sat around and talked some more. They left about 9:00 and we watched a little TV before bedtime.

Sunday, May 1^st, Mayday! Today was another travel day. We were packed up and ready to go about 11:00. Just before we left Ken and Susan came by to say goodbye, as we are leaving the area and will probably not see them again this year. We got on the I-10 and headed west to Ehrenberg and the Arizona Oasis RV Resort. This is a place that used to be one of our Western Horizon's resorts, but has now been sold to a private party. We still get good discount rates though. We are only going to be here for two days before moving on to Indio for a while.

After we got parked and the utilities hooked up we drove across the river to Blythe and one of our favorite Mexican restaurant's, Garcia's, for lunch. We had a great lunch, ate way too much but it was good. After lunch we went back to the coach and finished getting set up. We then just relaxed in the coach the rest of the day and evening.

Monday was a stay at home and relax day. It was pretty hot outside and there were no caches in the area that we have not already found. We are only staying here today because we wanted to give the RV park in Indio some time to recover from three weeks of chaos. Over the last three weekends there have been massive music festivals in Indio, the first two being Coachella, a Rock and Alternative festival that has become “the” place for the rich and famous to go, and this last weekend being Stagecoach, a Country music festival. During these festival weeks all of the hotels, motels and RV parks in the Coachella Valley swell to overflowing. The last festival day was Sunday, so figured by the end of Monday they should be cleared out.

Tuesday, May 3^rd, we packed up and left Ehrenberg about 11:00 and continued west on I-10 towards Indio, California. We arrived at the Indian Waters RV resort about 12:45 and quickly got settled into our site. As we hoped, the park was nearly empty. There were still a number of rental RVs parked on sites around the park, but very few people and occupied rigs. Since it was really hot, in the high 90's, we got set up and then just stayed in and stayed cool for the rest of the day.

It has now been a bit over two weeks since we last published, and we have now concluded our nearly four month tour of Arizona, it is a good time to close this chapter and get it published. We will be about two weeks here in Indio and then on to Silent Valley, our resort in the mountains south of Banning, California. Until the next time, remember that no matter how smart you are, you can never convince someone stupid that they are stupid. Have fun, see ya soon.

Two Great Weeks in Casa Grande

Hi, glad to see you back. Our last chapter concluded on Friday, April 1^st, as we arrived in Casa Grande, Arizona after finishing our two month stay in Yuma, Arizona with friends. Two of the couples we were with headed off in their own directions. The Babcock's heading for home in Murrieta, California after a few days stopover in Indio, and the Wilson's heading for Cottonwood, Arizona and then points east and south. The Bullock's are sticking with us for another three weeks and came up here to Casa Grande with us.

Saturday, April 2^nd, we left the RV park with Peggy and Vernon in our car and went to do some geocaching. We had a good few hours, getting eleven new finds, and one DNF, in the course of a couple hours. We then stopped at a small Chinese restaurant called Big Wa, which is a favorite of ours when here in Casa Grande. We had a great lunch and then went out and ran a few errands before heading back to the RV park. We hung around the coach for the remainder of the afternoon and had cocktails with Peggy and Vernon at 5:00. Tonight we did some hamburgers on the grill and had some of Peggy's macaroni salad to go with them. We ate and talked until about 8:00, when the Bullock's went home and we watched TV until bedtime.

Sunday we stayed at home for most of the day. We did the Sunday papers, both the Phoenix paper and the Casa Grande paper. I did a few chores around the house and then we just relaxed for a while. About 5:30 we drove over to the old Western Horizon's park, where we used to stay when we came to Casa Grande, to see my brother Ken and his wife Susan. They came down today with their camp trailer for a week's vacation. We sat and had our cocktails with them and talked until about 7:30 when we left and went back to our place. We watched TV until bedtime.

Monday, April 4^th, we left the coach about 10:00 and drove over to the RV park where my brother and his wife are staying. We then loaded up in our car and went out to do some geocaching. We got them involved in geocaching not too long after we started in 2008 and they have become big fans. We were able to get 14 new finds, at least for us, and two DNFs in a few hours. Some of the caches we found they had already gotten on previous trips, but they were new to us. After caching we went back to the Big Wa restaurant for lunch. Ken and Susan had seen the post of us eating there on Saturday and thought they would like to try the place too. We had another great lunch. We did another hour or so of caching and then dropped Ken and Susan off at their RV and we went home and relaxed for a while. About 5:00 they came over to our place and we sat outside and talked until about 7:30 when they headed back to their place. We went inside and relaxed the rest of the night.

Tuesday we left the coach after lunch and went over to the mall on the other side of town to go to a movie. We saw “Hello, My Name is Doris,” staring Sally Fields. It was a sort of romantic comedy, but with a little bit of a twist. Fields played an older lady named Doris who had lived with her mother her entire life. Her mother, who was a hoarder, died and left Doris a bit unhinged. She fantasized herself into a “relationship” with a much younger co-worker, and, as they say, hilarity ensued. I thought it was a funny, touching movie and I enjoyed it very much. After the movie we did a couple of caches and stopped at a couple of stores to do some shopping. We then headed back to the coach and spent the rest of the evening in. A nice, pleasant day with just to two of us.

Wednesday, April 6^th, we went out after lunch and did some shopping. We stopped at Kohl's to take a couple of shirts Jackie didn't like after she got them home. We then went to Sam's Club for a few supplies. We then headed home, put away our stuff and relaxed for a while. We left the coach about 5:00 and drove into town to meet Ken and Susan for dinner at the Macayo's Mexican place. Macayo's is an old name in Arizona. The original restaurant was in west Phoenix, only a few blocks from where I went to high school in the early 60's. I have eaten at their restaurants many, many times over the years. However, they have gotten too fancy with their cooking lately and I was not very satisfied with the food. It was OK, but not the old style Mexican cooking I remember. I probably won't go back to Macayo's anytime soon. After dinner we went home and watched TV until bedtime.

Thursday, April 7^th, we left the coach about 10:00 and drove over to pick up Ken and Susan for another day of geocaching. Today we went to the town of Maricopa, about 20 miles northwest of Casa Grande. Maricopa used to be just a small farming community on the edge of the Ak Chin Indian Reservation. Maricopa was just a small farming community and former railroad stop on the line between Phoenix and Tucson, until the Harrah's gaming corporation partnered with the Ak Chin tribe in 1994 to open a casino. This was the first and only Indian casino in Arizona with an outside, corporate sponsor. The relationship has worked out as the casino remains a very successful hotel and casino operation and still is operated by Harrah's. In 2000 Maricopa had just over a thousand residents. The city incorporated in 2003 and has bloomed to a population of nearly 50,000 as it has become a bedroom community for the Phoenix metro area.

We decided to go caching in Maricopa because both we and Ken and Susan have cached a lot in Casa Grande and between us have exhausted most of the caches in and around the city. It was becoming very difficult for us to come up with caches to look for that one or both of our teams had not already gotten. We cached once in Maricopa about four years ago and Ken and Susan have never cached there. Since there are close to 500 caches in a ten mile radius of town it was an ideal “virgin” territory in which to cache. We geocached for about three hours, then stopped for a quick lunch, then cached for another hour or so. By the time we were done we had 30 new finds, with one DNF, a pretty good day of caching.

After caching we drove back down to Casa Grande and dropped Ken and Susan off at their RV park. We then went back to our park and relaxed for a bit. When we arrived we saw that Peggy and Vernon Bullock had returned from their trip to Tucson and were now parked in the spot right next door. I spent some time in the hot tub and did some office work before we met with Peggy and Vernon for happy hour. We weren't outside very long before a dust storm loomed up and we headed inside. Peggy made dinner, a sort of tamale pie casserole, that was very tasty. By 8:30 we were back in our coach watching TV.

Friday, April 8^th, we had a stay at home day for the most part. We had some rain come through last night and everything got pretty wet. The weather for the next few days is supposed to be some what unsettled. About 5:00 Ken and Susan came over and we sat for happy hour with Peggy and Vernon, inside of our coach because it was quite cool and windy outside. Later we had a nice BBQ, steaks and pork chops, and ate a nice dinner with the six of us. Ken and Susan know Peggy and Vernon from a number of other visits with us. Everyone left and headed home about 7:30 and we watched TV until bedtime. Ken and Susan are heading back home tomorrow, but we will be in their town, Goodyear, in a couple of weeks, so we will see them again soon.

Saturday we left about 10:30 and started towards Tucson, about 60 miles southeast of Casa Grande. We are headed down there to visit with my oldest granddaughter Crystal and her baby, Zoey. They are li

ving in Tucson with Crystal's dad and her boyfriend. We saw Zoey last year about this time when she was six months old. Now she is 18 months, walking and being very animated. She was a little shy at first, but she warmed up after a little while. She was still more comfortable with Jackie than me, but I am the big scary man and Jackie looks like a mommy. We visited with Crystal and Zoey, as well as James, Crystal's dad.

After our visit we headed back home, getting in just after 5:00. We had cocktails with Peggy and Vernon and then a nice spaghetti dinner that Peggy made for us. We had a great visit in Tucson and really enjoyed our day. After dinner we went home and relaxed with the TV before heading off to bed.

Sunday, April 10th, we relaxed in the morning with the Sunday papers. It was another unsettled day with a lot of wind and on and off rain. We ran a couple of errands in the afternoon, but mostly just stayed at home and did a few small chores and relaxed. We had cocktails and dinner with the Bullock's again. Tonight Jackie did some simple taco salads for everyone and we had a great dinner. Afterward we watched TV and then went to bed. Monday we left the coach after lunch and went out to do our laundry. It has been almost three weeks, so it was time. After that we stopped at Walmart and then headed home. We had cocktails with the Bullocks and then dinner in the coach on our own. We watched a little TV and then went to bed.

Tuesday, April 12th, we left the coach about 10:00 with Peggy and Vernon and drove back up to Maricopa to do some geocaching with them. When we got into Maricopa we stopped at a little place called Sunrise Cafe and had breakfast. After that we cached and were able to get a dozen new finds, along with a DNF, in a few hours. We then headed back to the coach and relaxed for a while. Peggy and Vernon came over for cocktails and then we had dinner at our place. Jackie fixed a big pot of her risotto, with shrimp, mushrooms and asparagus. It was wonderful and we had a great meal. We talked for a while and the Bullock's went home around 7:30. We watched TV until bedtime.

Wednesday, we again left the coach about 10:00 to do some local geocaching with Peggy and Vernon. We were able to get five new finds in a couple of hours, one of which was a cache we had DNFed last week when we

were caching with Ken and Susan. We then took a lunch break and returned to the Big Wa Chinese place. We had another great, inexpensive lunch. We then went to the mall where Peggy and Jackie got haircuts while Vernon and I waited in the shade. We stopped on the way back home to get some groceries, and also got two more geocaches, bringing our total for the day to seven. We had cocktails with the Bullock's and then the four of us did some hamburgers on the BBQ for dinner. They stayed until about 8:00, after which we relaxed for the rest of the night.

Thursday, April 14th, our last full day in Casa Grande. It was very hot and humid today, so we had a lazy, stay at home day. Didn't go anywhere, and didn't do much around the coach. We had cocktails with the Bullock's at 5:00 and then did some pork chops on the BBQ. Peggy and Vernon had a steak and we had dinner in their coach. About 8:00 we were home and watched TV until bedtime.

Friday, April 15th, Happy Birthday to our old cat Smokey, 16 years old today. He is hanging in there despite being mostly blind and deaf. Today was a travel day. We were packed up and out of the Casa Grande park about 10:00, headed north towards Apache Junction, Arizona. The trip was only a little over 50 miles, but a good part of it was through the metro area east of Phoenix, consisting of Mesa, Chandler and Gilbert. We arrived at the Sunrise RV Resort about 11:30 and by 12:30 we were parked and mostly set up for our one week stay. We are staying here for seven days at no cost thanks to a coupon we picked up at the rally in Indio in January. The Bullock's are parked right behind us and will be here with us for the week. After that we go our separate ways until July when we show up at their home in northern California.

It has been two weeks now since our last posting, so a good time to put this episode to bed. Until next time, remember that life may not be the we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance. Have fun and see ya soon.

A Yuma Winter - Part 3

Hello, welcome back to our story. Our last episode concluded on Saturday, March 12^th with us having been in Yuma, Arizona for about six weeks, with a little under three weeks to go. 

Sunday, March 13^th, is my son Roy Jr's birthday. Happy Birthday son. Sunday was pretty much a stay at home day. We read the paper in the morning and did few chores in the after-

noon. We had an early cocktail hour today, starting at 4:00, because we were having a group dinner. Half of our group are early eaters, the other half late eaters. We accommodated the early eaters tonight. Around 5:00 Ray brought over all the fixings for his “famous” taco salad, a meal that all of us have had on numerous other occasions when we are traveling together. The meal was great and accompanied by bottomless margaritas. We had all kinds of tequila in the coach and needed to get rid of some, so we provided the drink for tonight. Around 7:30 everyone went back to their own places for the rest of the evening.

Monday, March 14^th, official “Pi” day. We were up, showered and out of the house by 6:15, yes a.m., and headed to the Yuma Regional Medical Center for Jackie's outpatient surgery to remove the benign lump that was found in her left breast back in January. We arrived at the hospital at 6:30 and by 9:30 we were in the car and headed back home. They overdid Jackie's anesthesia, despite the fact that she tells them to be careful because she is very sensitive to it. As a result, she was on the couch in and out of sleep all day. She napped and recovered and I did a few chores and played on the computer all day.

At 5:00 we had happy hour, although Jackie didn't join the group. Everyone then brought out the leftovers from Thursday's lamb feast and yesterday's taco salad feast and we all had leftovers for dinner. Everything was just as good as the original and everyone was happy. I did take Jackie a meal of lamb and salad and she ate that before going back to napping. We watched TV until bedtime.

Tuesday, March 15^th, we had a stay at home day so Jackie could continue to recover from her surgery. She was still quite groggy in the morning, but as the day went on she gained some strength. She said her incision is sore and sensitive, but does not hurt in a constant, throbbing sort of way. She got to take a shower this morning and take off the big dressing. All she has now is a few steristrips on the incision.

We had cocktails with Peggy and Vernon at 5:00. The Wilson's and Babcock's went to an early dinner at Olive Garden. They joined us for a short while just before 6:00. After cocktails we went to the Bullock's for dinner. Peggy made some chicken Parmesan that was very good. We talked and visited until about 8:30 when we went back to our place, watched some TV and went to bed.

Wednesday Jackie was feeling better, a little sore but not hurting too badly. We went out after lunch to a couple of stores. It was too hot for caching in the afternoon, so we just went shopping. We had cocktails with the group at 5:00 and then afterward the Bullock's came over to our place for dinner. Jackie made a new dish she got out of a food magazine, rigatoni with chicken and peppers. It was OK, but if she makes it again it needs some spices or other ingredients to kick it up a bit, it was a little bland. After dinner Peggy and Vernon went home and we watched TV until bedtime.

Thursday, March 17^th, Happy St. Patrick's Day! We had a stay at home day. Got a few things done, but mostly just relaxed and took it easy. I had a big corn beef cooking in the crock pot all day and later in the afternoon I did up the p

otatoes, carrots and cabbage. We had cocktails with the group at 5:00 and about 6:00 we brought out the corn beef and cabbage for a great St. Patty's day celebration. Ray cooked pretty much the same thing I did, so we had plenty of food for the group. We had a great time and by 7:30 we had cleaned up and were in the house watching TV.

Friday, we were up early, showered, coffee drank, paper read, and out the door by about 8:45. We decided that the only way we were going to get any caching done was to start early. The high's for the area are now in the high 80's and low 90's, so it is just too hot for our normal afternoon routine. We went out caching with the Bullock's in our car and the Wilson's following along behind us. Ray went to Mexico for some treatments, so the Babcock's were not able to go caching. We had a good morning, getting a dozen new finds, and no DNFs, by about 11:30. The six of us then went to a place in the Foothills area called Mr. Fish. They have great fish and chips, so we all had a big lunch. Fish, chips, cole slaw and a bowl of clam chowder. We were very satisfied. After lunch we all headed back home and stayed in the rest of the afternoon. We had cocktails at 5:00 and were supposed to have cabbage soup and corn beef rubens for dinner, but no one was hungry after the big lunch. We all took our share of the leftovers for our own refrigerators for use as lunch one day. After cocktails we went in the coach and watched TV until bedtime.

Saturday we repeated the pattern from yesterday, getting ready and out of the coach by about 9:00. Ray and Gary had gone to an early breakfast and Peggy and Vernon were not ready to go out, so we were on our own for the day. We went out and did some more caching in the Foothills, getting another ten new finds, before we decided to stop for lunch. We went to our favorite street taco stand in the Foothills and had a fun lunch. After lunch we went over to the Arizona Marketplace for one last stroll through the shops. The Marketplace is only open on the weekends and next weekend, our last here in Yuma this Spring, is Easter weekend. We bought a few things, a hat and a couple shirts, that were on sale. A lot of the vendors had tables of clearance merchandise set up trying to get rid of stuff before the end of season.

After shopping we went back to the coach and spent the rest of the hot afternoon in the coach relaxing. We had cocktails with the group, including Peggy's grandson Troy and his wife Makayla, who joined us for happy hour and dinner. About 6:30 or so we BBQed some hamburgers along with some beans Ray made, some cole slaw from Peggy and a macaroni salad from Jackie. We had a great meal and stayed out until almost 9:00, enjoying the great weather and good friends. We then spent some time with the TV before heading off to bed.

Sunday, March 20^th, Welcome Spring 2016! We had a stay at home day, coffee, the morning paper and Sunday shows and the NASCAR race for me in the afternoon. It was just us and the Bullock's for cocktails as the Wilson's and Babcock's went out for an early dinner. After cocktails Peggy made Reuben sandwiches with the leftover corn beef from St. Patrick's Day and we had the rest of the leftovers from last nights BBQ. After a great meal we headed back to our coach for the rest of the night.

Monday, March 21^st, we left the coach a little before noon and went to our favorite Mexican place, Mi Rancho, for lunch. Ray and Suzie met us there and we had a great lunch. After lunch we went to the surgeon's office for a follow up on Jackie's surgery. The doctor checked the incision and found that there was quite a bit of pus in the pocket left by taking out the lump. He cleaned that out and said other than that the incision looked to be healing nicely. He said to use some antibiotic cream and some gauze bandages for a while until it fully closed. After the doctor's appointment we headed back to the coach. We had cocktails with the group, but no shared dinner tonight. After cocktails we went in the coach and watched some TV until bedtime.

Tuesday morning we were up early and went out to do some geocaching with Ray and Suzie. Ray drove and we were able to get fifteen new finds, and one DNF, in a couple of hours. After caching we stopped for lunch at the Day Breakers cafe, near the RV park we had stayed in the last couple of years. We then went to Walmart for a few things and headed back to the coach. We spent the afternoon getting a few chores done around the house.

We had cocktails with the group at 5:00 and about 6:30 we had dinner. We had bought a bunch of beef and chicken carne when we were in Indio over the holidays, with the intention of doing a carne night with the group in Yuma. Tonight was the night. Carne is Spanish for meat, but it is also used as a term for BBQ and that's how we meant it tonight. I cooked the chicken and beef on the BBQ and we had rice from Peggy, Beans from Ray, and tortillas from Gary. It was cool and pretty windy tonight, so we ate inside our coach. I cooked everything on the BBQ outside, but then brought it inside. We had a great group dinner as we can get eight in our coach without too much problem. You don't move around a lot, but we get it done. By 8:00 or so everyone left to go home and we watched TV after cleaning up. Another great day with friends.

Wednesday, March 23^rd, we were up and out early again, about 9:00, had headed down to Mexico with the group. We decided to all go down one last time before our time here is over. We walked around and shopped for a while and then all met up about 11:30 or so at one of the restaurant's down there for lunch. We had a great lunch and then got into a very short line to go back to the U.S. We were back home by 1:00 and relaxed at home the rest of the afternoon. We had cocktails with the group at 5:00 and talked until about 6:30. No one was hungry for a full dinner, so everyone went back to their own coaches for the rest of the night.

Thursday we left the coach after lunch and went out to do our laundry. After the laundry was done we made a quick stop at Walmart and then headed home. We did some chores around the coach in the afternoon and at 5:00 it was happy hour with the group. The Wilson’s and Babcock's left right after happy hour to go out and have dinner. We went into our coach with the Bullock's and had leftovers from the carne BBQ the other night. We had a nice dinner and Peggy and Vernon went back to their place about 7:30 or so and we watched TV the rest of the night.

Friday, March 25^th, Good Friday for Christians. We went out to lunch with the group. We were going to go to the taco truck, but it was closed. I would guess that the Mexican family that runs it probably took Easter weekend off. We ended up at the Copper Miner, another cafe we have been to several times during our stay this year. We all had a great meal and a good time. After lunch went back to the coach and did some spring cleaning. We cleaned up some of our storage areas in the bedroom.

About 5:00 we had cocktails with the group and about 6:30 we had a dinner with the group of shrimp and grits, Southern style. The Wilson's and the Bullock's were on an RV caravan a couple years ago that started in Maine and ended in Florida. At one point as they were passing through the Carolina's or Georgia, they ate this dish at a restaurant. They got the recipe and were recreating it tonight. Gary cooked up the vegies and shrimp with sauce, while Peggy made the buttery, cheesy grits. The meal turned out great. Jackie made some bread and Suzie brought a salad, for an entire meal. The weather was perfect again for eating outside. Another great meal with our friends. After dinner we went to our own coaches for the rest of the night.

Saturday, March 26^th, we left the coach about 10:00 and drove downtown for the Third Annual Music on Main festival. Main street in old town Yuma was closed off for a street fair and several stages were set up for musical acts. We got there fairly early and there were not a lot of people in attendance. They did have a couple of jazz bands performing, but we walked the vendor booths as we listened. There were not very many booths set up, I think it is a little late in the season and too hot for a lot of people. After going through the booths we visited a number of the stores on main street. A little before noon we stopped for lunch at Da Boyz pizza place on main. I had a sub sandwich that was outstanding, Jackie had a calzone, which she said was good as well.

After lunch we headed back to the RV park for the rest of the afternoon. Jackie made another big batch of mincemeat cookies for the Easter dinner tomorrow.  We had cocktails with the group at 5:00 and talked until about 6:30. After that everyone headed back to their own coaches for the rest of the evening. We watched TV until it started acting up again. A couple days ago we noticed that the TV would start to randomly turn off, then turn on for a second or two, then turn off again. This cycle seemed to go on forever. I disconnected everything from the TV and then we went out, leaving the TV unplugged for a few hours. When I reconnected the power and the Satellite box it seemed to be working fine, until tonight. Before we went to bed I unplugged everything again. We'll see in the morning. We did buy the extended warranty when we bought the TV at Costco about two and a half years ago. On Monday, if it is still not working right, we will see how good it is.

Sunday, March 27^th, Happy Easter. We had a stay at home day. The paper was pretty small today as there were no ads because most people don't shop on Easter. Jackie made another batch of mincemeat cookies in the afternoon. We had cocktails at 5:00 and then a little after six we had a nice Easter dinner for the entire group, including Troy and Makayla, who came over for dinner. Peggy made a big ham, Ray did scalloped potatoes, Gary did candied yams, Suzie did a salad and Jackie did a green bean casserole. We also opened the bottle of champagne that we got when we won the booze cart at the car show a couple weeks back. We had a nice toast to friends and our good times in Yuma. After dinner we chatted until almost 8:00 and then went in the coach and watched TV until bedtime.

Monday, we went out around noon and had lunch at Famous Dave's BBQ at the mall. We then shopped for a new TV for the front of the coach. The old one was still acting up last night and the warranty company had some hoops we had to jump through before they would do anything, so we decided to just go ahead and get a new TV since they were not that expensive. We shopped both Best Buy and Sam's Club and settled on a new 32 inch Vizio form Best Buy. It is almost exactly the same size as the one we are replacing, so it shouldn't be a big problem. After we got home I spent a couple of hours getting the new TV installed. Putting it in and getting it hooked up wasn't too big a challenge, but getting it to work properly with the surround sound system took a while. I finally got it done by happy hour. We had happy hour with the group and then went into Peggy and Vernon's coach for a dinner of leftovers from Sunday. We were back in our place by 8:00 and watched TV until bedtime.

Tuesday, March 29^th, Jackie went with Peggy to get pedicures in the morning and I spent the time getting all of the lights and decorations taken down and put away. When the girl's were done with pedi's they called and Vernon and I drove over to meet them at the taco truck for lunch. We had a good lunch and then went home so I could finish up my cleaning up project, as well as do the finishing touches on the TV install. I was done by late afternoon and we relaxed the rest of the day. We had happy hour with the group, but didn't stay outside too long as it had turned cool and breezy today and when the sun went down it got too chilly. We went in and spent the night watching TV.

Wednesday morning we were up early and out of the house before 9:00 to meet some friends of ours who happened to be in town. Yesterday Jackie heard from Bob and Diana Beatty and learned that they had arrived in Yuma for a Fleetwood Coach rally at Fortuna Del Sol, one of the RV resorts in the Foothills area. Bob and Diana are full timers and members of the Full Timers Chapter. It has been over a year since we saw them. We had breakfast at the Copper Miner and had a great time talking and catching up on their travels. They are going to Alaska this year, so we spent quite a bit of time talking about RVing up there. They had to leave a little after 10:00 to go back to their rally activities, but we had a great breakfast with them. 

After breakfast we drove over to the Yuma County Fair, which just started yesterday.  We enjoy going to fairs, mostly just to get to see all the animals.  We spent a couple of hours walking around the fair, looking at the exhibits, the vendors, and the animals.  We like the rabbits and guinea pigs, and also the lambs and goats.  It was not a really big fair, but it was fun for a few hours.  We had happy hour with Peggy and Vernon because the Wilson's and Babcock's had gone out for an early dinner. After cocktails we went in and watched TV until bedtime.

Thursday, March 31^st, our last full day in Yuma. We hung around the coach all day, doing a few odds and ends getting ready to travel tomorrow. We have to be up and out really early tomorrow because we are having new tires put on the coach around 7:00 before we start towards our next destination, Casa Grande, Arizona. Early in the afternoon we were visited by Bob and Gloria Baron, some friends of ours from our pre-full timing days in Indio. It turns out they are also at Fortuna Del Oro with the Fleetwood Coach rally. The sat and talked with us for an hour or so before returning to their rally. We had last saw them in December when we went to a Christmas party at their house in Indio.

We had cocktails with the group at 5:00 and about 6:30 we had a last supper of sorts with the whole group. Peggy made a pot of ham and bean soup with the bone and leftovers from Easter. Gary made some cornbread to go with it and we had a great meal. Everyone leaves Yuma tomorrow. Peggy and Vernon are going to Casa Grande with us tomorrow, but the Babcock's are going to Indio and then on to home, and the Wilson's are heading to Cottonwood, Arizona. After dinner we went into the coach and watched TV until bedtime.

Friday, April 1^st, we were up at 5:00 a.m. and had the coach packed up and headed out of the RV park just after 7:00. We drove a few miles down the road to Redburn Tire company where they mounted up four new Michelin tires on the back of the coach. We had put on two new steer tires in January at the rally in Indio, so we now have all six tires new and good for another six or seven years. The problem with RV tires is that they age out at seven years max, but still have a lot of tread. However, you don't want a blowout on an RV so, you buck up and get rid of tires that look perfectly good. Boo!

It took the guys about 90 minutes to do the tires and we were on the road about 9:30 or so, headed east from Yuma towards Casa Grande, Arizona, about 170 miles. We stopped for lunch in Gila Bend and arrived at the Sundance RV Resort in Casa Grande about 1:30. This is our first time staying at this resort. We normally stay at the old Western Horizon's resort, but we picked up an offer of two weeks for the price of one at the rally in Indio, so we thought we would try it out. It seems to be a very nice park. We got parked and setup in a couple of hours.

The Bullock's are a few sites down from us and are also here for the two weeks, although they are going out for a few days to Tucson to visit friends. They came down for cocktails at 5:00 and then we had dinner in our coach. Jackie made a chili relleno casserole and we had a great meal. They went back to their place about 8:00 and we watched a little TV until bedtime.

This marks the end of our two month Yuma stay and also a good place to close out this chapter of the blog. We will post again when we leave Casa Grande in a couple weeks. Until next time, remember that an intelligent person learns from his mistakes, a wise one learns from the mistakes of others. Have fun and stay safe. Bye for now.