The Spring 2015 Rally Circuit Begins

Greetings readers. Our last chapter concluded on Tuesday, March 10^th, when we left Menifee, California and drove a long fifteen miles to Hemet for a rally put on by three of our FMCA Chapters, the Full Timers, the Military Veteran's and Elks International. Wednesday, the second day of the rally I actually got dressed and went over for the 7:30 breakfast that was provided. Jackie decided to stay in bed. There wasn't much going on with the rally during the day, so about 11:30 we left with the Bullock's in our car and went to lunch.

We had lunch at a Chinese place right across the street from the RV park. It was an OK place, called Hong Kong. It was inexpensive and clean, but the food was average at best. After lunch we did some local geocaching and were able to get a dozen new finds, along with a couple of DNFs, in a couple hours. We then went back to the RV park and relaxed until cocktail hour.

At 5:00 we went over to the clubhouse and had cocktails with the group on the patio. They then served the catered dinner, which was lasagna and salad tonight. The food was very good and everyone seemed to enjoy the dinner. We were having dinner outside because the clubhouse was being used for a concert by a Bee Gee's tribute group. The show was sold out when we got here yesterday, but we were right outside the big club room, so when the show started we heard the music very clear.

After dinner we had “horse races” where you race stick horses based on a throw of the dice a certain number of spaces on a grid. You can bet a quarter on one or more of the six horses to win and that horse comes in first you get a payout. I actually made a couple bucks during the night winning two races. I was also one of the “jockeys” moving the stick horse around the grid. It was actually a lot of fun and we finally finished about 9:00. After that we were back in the coach with the TV until bedtime.

Thursday, March 12^th, we went to lunch with Peggy and Vernon to a place called Big Daddy's which served subs and specialized in Philly Cheesesteaks. They had great Yelp reviews, and they were justified. We all had Philly's and they were outstanding. We chatted with the owner for a while before leaving. After lunch we did a couple of caches, getting four new finds and one DNF, before heading back to the RV park. About 5:00 we went to the clubhouse for cocktails and dinner. Dinner tonight was corn beef and cabbage and it was excellent. After dinner Sonny Gillespie, the “Sheriff” for the rally, got up and gave his report of offenses for the rally, collecting a quarter for each one. An example of an offense is not having your name badge on, or any other silly thing Sonny can think up. He does this at every Full Timers rally he comes to and it is usually pretty funny. We then went back to the coach and sat out with Peggy and Vernon and Rob and Joyce for an hour or so before going into our coach for the night.

Friday, March 13^th, Happy Birthday to my son Roy Jr. Today was a travel day. We only had about 75 miles to go from Hemet to Hesperia, so we didn't leave until close to 11:00. We were trying to let the wind, which had been blowing for a couple days, go down. As it turned out the wind was not too much of a factor and we arrived at the Hesperia Elks Lodge about 12:30 or so. We met Rob and Joyce Mackay, Bev and Jerry King, and Ray and Suzie Babcock who were already parked there. We are all going to Pahrump for the Monaco International Rally tomorrow. Peggy and Vernon were scheduled to go, but canceled so they could get home and get ready for their big trip to Australia.

About 5:00 all of us went into the Elks Lodge for cocktails and dinner. Tonight was the lodge's St. Patrick's Day celebration and they had corn beef and cabbage. We had a couple drinks and dinner which was very good. The King's know one of the Past Exalted Rulers from the lodge and he sat with our group. After dinner we went back to the coach and watched TV until bedtime.

Saturday, March 14^th, we were headed out of the Hesperia Lodge about 9:00 and on the road north to Pahrump. The four coaches were all in a loose caravan and we all stopped at lunchtime in Baker, California at the Mad Greek restaurant. Regular readers will know that we always stop at the Mad Greek whenever we come out of Pahrump through he “back” way, which means not east through Las Vegas. We had a great lunch with the whole group and then covered the last 85 miles to Pahrump, arriving about 2:00. The parking crew got us parked pretty quickly and we relaxed the rest of the day. We had cocktails with the group at 5:00 and talked until about 7:00 when everyone headed into their own coaches.

Sunday, March 15^th, I was up and out of the coach at 8:00 to work on the parking crew. I had volunteered to help with parking and I was outfitted with my orange vest and official radio. I worked with a couple of other guys and we helped park about 30 or 35 coaches throughout the day. They did feed us lunch and bring water and snacks, but it was still hot outside. Jackie went out with the Babcocks for lunch and then a little geocaching while I was busy. The Kings took the bus tour to Death Valley and were gone all day.

I got off at 4:00 and we met with our little gang of eight at 5:00 for cocktails. We chatted until about 7:00 when we went into our coach for dinner and then watched TV until bedtime. I have two more days of parking duty before I can relax and enjoy the rally.

Monday, March 16^th, I didn't have to start my parking duties until noon because they were expecting a light day of arrivals, only a dozen or so were scheduled. I ran a few errands, picked up our mail and so forth, in the morning. At noon I started helping park and by about 3:00 we were pretty much done for the day, a very slow day for parkers. We again had cocktails with the group and afterward Jackie and I went off to a local Mexican place, El Jefe, for dinner. We went with just the two of us, kind of a “date night” because we hadn't seen much of each other for the last few days.

Tuesday, March 17^th, I started the day by taking the car into the local Jeep dealer to have the air conditioning looked at. It quit working yesterday while Jackie was driving around in the afternoon. I dropped the car off at 7:30 and Ray brought me back to the park so I could do my parking duties. We had a really busy parking day, again doing about 25 coaches over the course of the day. I got a call midday from the dealer that the A/C on the car had a leak in one of the hoses but that they couldn't get the part in time to have it fixed by the time we are scheduled to leave Pahrump, at the end of the week. After I got off work I went to get the car and we will try to get it fixed when we get to Phoenix in a couple weeks. Fortunately, it is not too hot yet. The problem is also a new one, not the same old leaking condenser that we have been plagued with since we bought the car.

After work we relaxed for a little while then went down to the casino where the rally has coaches on display. The sponsoring dealer held a party with food and beer and wine for the rally participants. We ate and looked at coaches for a while. Jackie and Ray had played in a free slot tournament in the Nugget casino and we had to wait until 7:00 for results. Ray missed the first place prize of $500 by less than a thousand points, but still got a $100 slot play credit for a prize. After that we headed back to the coach and relaxed until bedtime.

Wednesday, March 18^th, the first day of the rally. I didn't have to work as a parker, but Jackie and I were both up early anyway because we had volunteered to be mentors for some first time rally attendees. We had an 8:30 meeting for mentors, then had to go to the 9:00 first timers meeting and meet the two couples we are mentoring. We had two very friendly couples this time, both from California. After the first timers meeting I had a chance to visit the vendors for the first time while Jackie went to a Monaco International Board of Directors meeting. Once she got out of the meeting we went to the laundry to do our clothes. We had some hamburgers while the clothes washed and got done about 2:30 or so. After we went home and put things away we went down to the Nugget for a seminar, or more precisly a talk, by a retired brothel madam. She had written a book and was working to sell them, but the hour long talk was very interesting.

After that class we had an hour to kill, so we went into the casino and gamed for a bit. At 5:00 or so they opened the big tent and we went in for cocktails. This first night we were supposed to sit with the first timers we are mentoring. We were assigned two couples. At dinner one couple came but only the husband of the second couple came to dinner because the wife was not feeling well. We had a great time during cocktails talking to our first timers. Dinner was very good, prepared by the banquet staff at the casino. Tonight they had a chicken dish and beef tips and noodles, one of my favorites. After dinner we had the first night of entertainment, a trio called “56” that did fifties

rock and roll. They are from Phoenix and they put on a fantastic show, one of the best we have seen at a rally. We stayed for the entire show, until about 9:00, although it seemed that most of the people left earlier than that. We then went back to our coach, watched a little TV and then went to bed.

Thursday, March 19^th, we were able to sleep in a little this morning. I spent part of the morning getting ready for our Geocaching seminar that we are doing this afternoon for the rally. Jackie had a ladies luncheon at noon, I had lunch at home. When I picked her up at 1:15 we went over to the seminar room at the Nugget casino to drop off the stuff we needed for our seminar. The seminar wasn't until 3:00, but we are using a computer and power point, so I wanted to be sure all the audio-visual stuff was ready. It wasn't, but we got a hold of the AV guy who came over and set up the projector for us. We still had an hour before the seminar, so we gamed a little while we waited.

A little before 3:00 we went into our room, which was very small, and waited for our audience. We ended up filling the room, about 20 people, roughly half of which were experienced cachers, and the half just there for the introduction. Jackie and I put on our little talk and we were well received. I don't know if we “created” any new cachers, but everyone seemed to be happy with the seminar. We packed up our stuff in the car and went over to the tent for the evening's activities.

We caught the second half of the wine tasting seminar, which was no big deal because we aren't big wine people anyway. Then it was cocktail hour. We sat with our group tonight, the Kings, the Babcocks, and the Mackay's. Dinner was chicken alfredo and pork loin, with potatoes and stuffing. As with last night, the food was very good. After dinner we had the evening entertainment. Tonight was a stand up comic, Mark Cordes, who bills himself as the Spouse Whisperer. He was VERY funny, telling jokes and stories that revolved around relationships. He involved a lot of the audience and was very engaging. Unlike last night, no one left early. He finished about 8:30 and we went back to our coach and watched TV until bedtime.

Friday, March 20^th, we didn't have any responsibilities, but I was “on duty” as the on-call parking staff, just in case someone came in. This was not very likely, but I had my radio with me just in case. I went for a 10:30 presentation by the CEO of Monaco Coach where he talked about upcoming models, plans and ideas for the company. There was nothing remarkable for me in it since we are not likely to be buying a new coach any time soon. At the seminar the head of parking, John Ham, told me not to worry about parking and had me turn in my radio and florescent vest. I am now officially relived of duty.

After my seminar Jackie joined me and we went to the Monaco's In Motion business meeting and luncheon. This is one of the Chapters we belong to, a chapter that does caravan's for members and by members of the Chapter. We have been members for a while and not yet been on one of their caravans, but it has mostly been a matter of timing. We are still hoping they will have one we want in a time and place that will work for us. After the lunch we went into the casino and gamed for a while. Didn't win anything, but had fun.

At 5:00 it was back to the tent for cocktails and then dinner. We sat with our group and had a very nice dinner with ham and turkey as the main courses. The entertainment tonight was a very good group called One of These Nights. That is the name of an Eagles tune, and they were an Eagles tribute group. As it turned out they were also very good. We stayed about two thirds of the way through because we were tired and wanted to go home. The entertainment for this rally has been excellent. We went back to the coach and relaxed with the TV until bedtime.

Saturday, March 21^st, we were up and out of the coach early for a 9:00 business meeting of Monaco International in the tent. We got there early enough to be able to catch the tail end of breakfast. They serve breakfast every morning at the Monaco rallies, but we rarely get up to go. After the general meeting Jackie had a meeting of Officers. She is one of the regional directors. While she was at her meeting I did a little gaming and managed to hit a $400 jackpot. I immediately cashed out and quit gambling. That put us up a couple hundred for the trip and that was good enough for me. After Jackie got out of her meeting we went for lunch and ran a couple of errands since we had nothing going on in the afternoon.

At 5:00 it was cocktails in the tent again and then dinner. They had prime rib tonight, which was pretty good. There was not entertainment tonight, so after dinner everyone filtered out after saying their goodbyes to friends. We went back to the coach and watched TV.

Sunday, March 22^nd, another travel day. We got out about 10:00. The King's left early, around 7:00, the Mackay's left yesterday and the Babcock's were staying at the park for an extra night before going home. We drove the 180 miles or so to Hesperia, after stopping for lunch at the Mad Greek in Hesperia of course. Instead of staying at the Elks like we usually do, we elected to go to an RV park in Hesperia so we could be sure that we dumped our waste tanks and filled our fresh water before going down to Pomona on Monday. We will be dry camping at the FMCA rally, so water handling is critical. The RV park we went to, Willow Oaks, was very busy as they had a couple of small rallies going on, but the lady gave us a couple choices. We found that neither of them would work because they were too small or had low trees. We finally found an empty spot that would work for us and she assigned it to us. It had been reserved, but the person that did so canceled, so we lucked out. For some reason our front door step is acting up, not going in and out properly and making really bad noises. We were also hearing some odd noises from one of the bedroom slide. It's always something. The step and slide can wait until Pomona when I can get parts or a repair person to come out to the coach.

After we got setup we went out to Walmart for some supplies and then back to the coach for the rest of the night. Jackie did a bunch of cooking, doing both a meatloaf and a pan of chili relleno so that we would have some meals in Pomona and would not have to clean pots and pans.

Monday, March 23^rd, another travel day. This day really started out with a scare. We had most everything packed up and ready to go for our last 50 mile jaunt down to Pomona. I started the coach to bring the air up. Our coach has air brakes as well as an air bag suspension. When you park at night you let the air out of the air bags, which lowers the coach and makes it easier to level it for parking. In the morning you have to start the engine, which has an air compressor on it to fill the air system back up. Unless the the air is up you can't move the coach. I started the engine and the air came up about 20 pounds or so and then wouldn't go any higher. The suspension was not coming up and the alarm for the brake system was sounding that the air was low. I tried a couple of times, turning the engine on and off and walking around outside trying to find an air leak. It was odd, because the system usually only goes down to about 60 psi when you let the air out of the suspension and that air was not leaking out. It just wouldn't go up to 140 psi you need to be able to drive the coach.

This was very worrisome to me because I knew that we couldn't move without the air coming up. My mind immediately jumped to worrying that I had blown out an air bag, which is a very expensive fix and would require us to be towed to a service facility. I called the Monaco Tech help line and talked to a tech for a while. We were able to exclude a few things, including a blown air bag. He said that all the air in the system would leak out if a bag or even an air line was blown. We also eliminated the pump since it would go from 60 psi up to about 85 psi. Other than that we couldn't narrow it down any further, but suggested I do some trouble shooting before calling a tow truck. He also gave me the names and numbers of two Monaco authorized service centers nearby in San Bernardino.

I told Jackie to sit in the drivers seat and showed her the air gauge to watch and I was telling her that I would have her start the engine and I would go outside and listen for air leaks. Then I would have her turn off the engine and I would do the same. While I was explaining the process to her she said, “is this thing supposed to under the air dump switch?” On the side counsel there is a rocker switch that controls the valve that releases the air from the suspension. The switch has a spring return, so you have to hold it until the air releases, which takes about two minutes. I have a little tiny remote control that came with my backup camera that I use to put under the rocker switch to hold it until the air all releases. Last night when we parked, in all the frustration of moving from space to space, I forgot to take the little thing out from under the rocker. The engine was pumping air into the system and the switch was just happily letting it back out again. Needless to say, I felt very dumb and was very happy that my observant and curious wife saw something that didn't look right and said something. As soon as we let the switch go to the normal position that air came right up. Yea, no tow truck! Although I felt very stupid, I still called the Monaco Tech back and told him the story, since much of what tech helpers like that know comes from experience. This was right up there with the computer tech guy that asks “is it plugged in.” Sounds dumb, but sometimes it is that easy.

We finally got on the road an hour later than we wanted, but we arrived at the fairgrounds in Pomona around 1:00. Since the temperatures were going to be hotter than we expected, we upgraded from generator parking, where we run our own generator for power, to electric, where they provide us with 30 amp electric. It cost a bit more, but now we can run the A/C all day for the kitties. Once we got our upgrade settled out they parked us and we are now all setup and ready for another rally. The rally doesn't actually start until Wednesday and goes through Sunday. We have a couple things to do tomorrow, but we will have a couple light days to relax before we start rally duties again.

Since we are almost at the two week mark, and starting another rally, this is a good place to close this chapter of the blog and get it published. Until the next time, enjoy this very apropos quote from TV producer and comedian Garry Marshall. “It's always helpful to learn from your mistakes because then your mistakes seem worthwhile.” See ya soon.

Back to California for a While

Hello again, welcome back to our story. Our last chapter concluded on Wednesday, February 25^th, when we left Yuma, Arizona and headed west to El Cajon, California, near San Diego. On Thursday we headed out of the RV park at about 10:00 a.m. with the Bullocks in our car and drove to downtown San Diego and the Sea Port Village shopping area. This area is right on San Diego Bay with great views of the water and Balboa Island and the naval base. We walked around for a little while and did some window shopping. We then went to the San Diego Pier seafood restaurant for lunch. I really like this place because it is built out over the water so you get great views. I had a fish panini that was wonderful. Jackie and Vernon had fish and chips and Peggy had a seafood mix. Everyone enjoyed their food and our waiter Ryan was very nice too.

After lunch we spent another hour or so walking around shopping and getting a couple of geocaches that were hidden in the area. We got three new finds. About 2:00 or so we got back in the car and went back to the RV park. We rested for a while and had cocktails at 5:00 with the Bullock's. Jackie's brother came by about 5:30 for a visit after work and we talked before heading into our coach for dinner. Jackie made an oriental chicken casserole for dinner and everyone enjoyed it, including Dennis. Everyone headed home around 8:00 and we watched TV until bedtime.

Friday, February 27^th, we again left the coach about 10:00 with Peggy and Vernon and headed out for another day of being San Diego tourists. We drove to downtown and then over the Coronado Bridge to Coronado Island. This is a very upscale area between the Pacific Ocean and San Diego Bay. The north end of the island holds North Island Naval Air Station which is also the home port for two aircraft carriers, the USS Ronald Reagan and the USS Carl Vinson. The Reagan was in port and tied up at the base. We drove through Coronado and stopped at the Beach south of the Navy Amphibious Base on the Silver Strand. This base is where the Navy Seals are trained. Peggy wanted to walk on the beach and put her toes in the ocean. She did that, but the rest of us watched.

We then drove down to the bottom of the bay to Imperial Beach, the last town before Mexico, and then back up to San Diego and into Old Town. We had lunch at the Casa De Reyes restaurant in Old Town, a very nice place on an outdoor patio. It was a little cool, but the food was good and we had some heaters near by. After lunch we walked around the shops for an hour or so before heading back to the RV park. We had cocktails with the Bullocks at 5:00, but by 6:00 we were back in our coach. No one wanted dinner because of the big lunch. We watched TV until bedtime.

Saturday, February 28^th, Happy Birthday to my brother Russ who lives in Las Vegas. Today was another travel day for us, we had to leave El Cajon and drive about 80 miles northwest to the little town of Menifee and the Wilderness Lakes RV Resort. The weather gurus had been talking about a rainy weekend for the last few days, and they were right. We woke up to wet ground and spotty showers. We managed to get packed up and hooked up without getting too wet and were on the road about 10:00 or so. We arrived at Wilderness Lakes just before noon and got settled into a spot right next to the Bullocks, who also came up here. The trip was uneventful with only the occasional light shower.

Since the rain was supposed to keep up on and off until Monday, we decided to just veg the rest of the day. At 5:00 we had cocktails at the Bullock's, and then Peggy served a wonderful meatloaf dinner with potatoes and gravy. We all ate our fill and had a great time. We left around 8:00 and went back to our coach for the rest of the night.

Sunday, March 1^st, it rained most of the night and the forecast was for off and on rain all day. We had a stay at home day. I did go out first thing in the morning and get a Sunday paper. I got some work done around the coach as did Jackie. Peggy and Vernon came over to our place about 4:30 and we watched couple of TV shows that we had saved on our DVR for them to see. One was a funny stand up comic and the other was a documentary on the desert. We had cocktails and then Jackie served chili relleno for dinner. We had a great time and after the Bullock's left we watched TV until bedtime.

Monday, March 2^nd, we on and off rain for most of the night, and it was supposed be the same for most of today. This is also supposed to be the last day for the current storm. We went out after lunch to do some grocery shopping. It was cold, but the rain held off. After shopping we went back to the coach for the remainder of the afternoon. We went over to Peggy and Vernon's for cocktails and dinner later. Peggy made mac and cheese that was VERY good. We chatted for a while and then about 7:30 went back to our coach for the rest of the night.

Tuesday, March 3^rd, we went out to have lunch and do our laundry. We stopped first at a Five Guys hamburger place that was not too far from the RV park. We have heard a lot of good things about Five Guys, but had never tried one. The burger was huge and, to me, very tasty and good. Jackie and Peggy thought it was tasteless. They also thought the fries were soggy and bland, while I liked them. About the only thing we agreed on was that they were playing the rock music too loud for the size of the restaurant. Jackie complained to the manager, but was told that this was the way it was at all the stores. I enjoyed the meal.

After lunch we went to a laundromat and both the Bullock's and us got all our laundry done. Once the laundry was done we went home for the rest of the evening. The lunch was big, so we didn't do any dinner, but we did have cocktails with Peggy and Vernon.

Wednesday, March 4^th, we left the coach about 12:30 and drove to the other side of the freeway to Ray and Suzie Babcock's house. We have been to this house, which is only a couple miles from the RV park, but Peggy and Vernon hadn't. We visited for a half hour or so and then we all drove to a nearby Mexican restaurant, Carnita's, for lunch. I had the chili colorado, which was very good, although it could have used a little more spice. We had way too much food and left quite full.

After lunch we drove to the next town north to pick up our mail at the UPS center, then drove to the Walmart in Hemet because we needed some things. Peggy and Vernon were riding with us and they needed to go to Walmart too. After shopping we went home and later had cocktails with Peggy and Vernon, but again no dinner because of the large, late lunch.

Thursday, March 5^th, we left the coach about 11:00 with Peggy and Vernon and drove down to Temecula, about 15 miles south, to have lunch with Tammy Kight. Tammy and her husband Pat are old friends of Peggy and Vernon whom we have met several times. They spent a couple weeks with our group in Yuma before we came out this way. They have a house in Temecula. Pat was playing baseball today, but Tammy wanted to have lunch with us. We met at PF Chang's and had a great lunch. The food was wonderful, although the service was a little spotty. We spent about 90 minutes at lunch before Tammy left to go home and we headed out for some shopping.

We did a Costco run because the Costco was just around the corner from the restaurant and we needed some things. After Costco we went back home and stayed around home until cocktail hour. Peggy and Vernon came over and we had drinks and then a light dinner of appetizers. Peggy made some pate and some tuna spread and Jackie did some escargot. I don't eat the snails, but I like the garlic butter to dip bread into. We had a great dinner and, after Peggy and Vernon went home, watched TV for the remainder of the evening.

Friday, March 6^th, we left the coach about 12:30 and drove the couple of miles to Ray and Suzie's house for lunch. We were having a get together of some of our motor homing friends at their house. Gary and Ramona Wilson, Jerry and Bev King, and Peggy and Vernon were all there. We sat around and talked for a while and then Suzie served pizza and lasagna for everyone. It was a great get together and we sat and talked and drank a little until almost 5:00, when everyone headed out for home. We had cocktails with Peggy and Vernon later at the RV park, but no dinner because everyone was still full from the late lunch.

Saturday, March 7^th, we left the RV park about 10:00 with Peggy and Vernon and drove to a nearby restaurant, The Breakfast Club of Menifee, for breakfast. We had a half hour wait, but it was worth it since the food was very good. I had some homemade corn beef hash that was very good. After breakfast the four of us did a couple hours of geocaching and were able to get 14 new finds and no DNFs in that period. It was good to get our caching again.

After caching we went back to the RV park and relaxed for a few hours. About 4:30 we left again, with Peggy and Vernon, and drove to Temecula for dinner with Pat and Tammy. We had some drinks and talked for a while and then they served a nice dinner with tri tip and the fixings. The food was very good and we had a nice visit. A little after 9:00 we decided we probably needed to head on home, where we settled in for the night.

Sunday, March 8^th, Spring Forward day, change the clocks again. We had a relaxing morning with the paper and a quiet early afternoon. About 4:30 we went to another area of the RV park to visit with Pat and Jim Goetzinger, some friends of ours with the Full Timers Chapter. We have known Jim and Pat since we first got involved with FMCA chapters and we cross paths with them from time to time.

Pat had a batch of her brother's Louisiana style gumbo and she invited us, the Bullock's and another couple in the RV park that they knew for dinner. We sat and chatted for a while and then dinner was served. The gumbo was outstanding and Jackie and Peggy were both asking for the recipe. The other friend of Pat's had also made stuffed mushrooms, and everyone wanted that recipe too. We had a great time and hung around until after dark when it started to get cool. We went back to the coach and watched TV the rest of the night. Jim and Pat are also going to the various rallies we are over the next three weeks, so we will be seeing more of them.

Monday, March 9^th, our last full day here at Wilderness Lakes. After lunch Jackie and I went into town so she could get a pedi and then we went to the grocery store. After we got back to the coach we relaxed for a while. About 5:00 Pat and Tammy Kight came over to the Bullock's coach and we went out and had cocktails. A little later Jackie made up a big batch of risotto with shrimp for the whole gang. We had dinner in Peggy and Vernon's coach and talked until about 8:30. After Pat and Tammy left we went back to our coach and watched TV until bedtime.

Tuesday, March 10^th, another moving day. Today we are moving from Menifee to the Three Chapter Rally in Hemet, a distance of only about 13 miles. Because it was so close we didn't need to be in a hurry to leave and didn't get out until about 11:00 or so. We arrived in Hemet at the Golden Palms Village RV Resort before noon. We are here for a rally put on by the Full Timers, Veteran's and Elk's Chapters of FMCA. Although they had sites for 30 attendees, they were only able to get 19 rigs to sign up. We have been to this resort a number of times in the past, many from back before we went full time. The Southern California Elks Association used to hold their annual rally here and we would come with our Elks group.

After we got setup we relaxed for most of the afternoon. At 4:00 we went to the clubhouse for happy hour with the rally group. We know all but a handful of the people who are here and had a great time visiting with some of those we haven't seen in a while. The Babcock's are signed up for the rally, but they didn't bring their rig since they only live about 15 miles away. They bought the meal package, so they were here for happy hour.

After happy hour they served a catered dinner from a local company that was quite good. They had tri tip BBQ, potato salad, cole slaw and rolls and it tasted great. After dinner they were going to have card bingo, but Jackie and I didn't feel like playing, so we went back to the coach and sat outside with the Bullock's and Babcocks for a while. Around 8:00 we went inside and watched TV for the rest of the evening.

We have now reached the two week point as well as the beginning of this spring's rally season, so it's a good time to get this chapter posted. We will be here in Hemet for three days, then on to Pahrump for a week long Monaco rally, then back to Pomona for the big FMCA bash. Until the next time, remember that being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect. It means that you've decided to look beyond the imperfections. See ya soon.

Winter 2015 in Yuma - Part 2

Hi there, welcome back. Our last chapter concluded on Sunday, February 8^th, about halfway through our month long stay in Yuma, Arizona.

Monday, February 9^th, we had a fairly relaxing day, going out after lunch to do some shopping. About 5:00 two couples from the Full Timers Chapter of FMCA that are in Yuma for a few days, Mike and Darlene Neighbours and Patty and Billy Cantarini, came over for a pot luck dinner. Almost all of our group here knew Patty and Billy because we were all at the Full Timer's Chapter rally in Oregon last summer. Most of the group also knew Mike and Darlene. We had cocktails and talked for a while and then everyone brought out the food. Jackie made taquito casserole and Peggy made lasagna. The rest of the group had other dishes and we had a great dinner. The night was very pleasant and we ended up sitting outside and chatting until after 9:00 when the two visiting couples left to go back to their own RV parks.

Tuesday, February 10^th, we were up and out of the coach about 10:00, with Peggy in the car too, and headed for Algodones, Mexico for a day of shopping and teeth cleanings. Algodones was very crowded today since the weather was great, with lots of old folks down there. I think on many winter days the retired people outnumber the Mexicans in town by two to one. After all three of us got our teeth cleaned we went to one of the restaurants for lunch. We were supposed to meet the rest of our group at the restaurant at 1:00, but we never found them. You can't use U.S. phones down there because of the cost, so we just had lunch with the three of us.

After lunch we spent some time shopping and finally got in line to come back across the border around 3:30 or so. While the girls waited in line I went out and got two geocaches which had recently been placed in Algodones. It took a little over an hour to get across, which is about normal, and we were back home by a little after 5:00. We had cocktails with the group and by 6:30 we were relaxing in our coach watching TV.

Wednesday, February 11^th, we spent most of the day around the coach. We left about 2:30 and drove to the Escapee's RV park on the south side of Yuma to visit with some friends. We first met Bonnie and and Ken Weopke a couple years after we started full timing and for a lot of years would cross paths with them at rallies and RV parks. A few years back they got a lot at the Escapee's park in Casa Grande and, although they still lived full time in their RV, they didn't travel as much. Last year they moved to the Escapee's park in Yuma and got a park model, so they no longer live in their RV, although they do plan to travel some. They also had some friends there, John and Suzanne Budovec. Although they are members of the Full Timer's Chapter, we don't know them from there. We remember them from our travels with the Palm Springs RV club way back before we sold our house. We had a lot of mutual friends and spent several hours catching up and chatting. About 5:00 we left and headed back to the RV park for cocktails and dinner with our group.

Thursday, February 12th, we left the coach after lunch and made another visit to the Arizona Marketplace to walk around and do some shopping. We bought a couple little things, but mostly just enjoyed the nice weather and checked out the merchandise. After the Marketplace we stopped at a new farm and ranch store, Cal Ranch, that just opened in Yuma. They have a little bit of everything from guns to chickens to clothes. We then stopped so Jackie could get her hair cut before heading back to the coach. We had cocktails with the group and then did a little Mexican fiesta with the whole gang. Jackie made chili relleno and Peggy made enchiladas. After dinner we watched TV.

Friday, February 13^th, we left the coach about 10:00 and drove down to Algodones again, mostly just to have lunch with some of the group. The Babcocks were already down there getting some medical treatment and Peggy and Vernon took their granddaughter in law Makayla for her first trip to Mexico. We shopped for a little while and then all met for lunch at one of the nicer restaurants down there. After lunch we shopped a little more but were back in line to go home by 1:15 or so. Because we left early the line out was very short, it only took us a few minutes to get out and back to our car.

We stopped at Sam's Club on the way home for some supplies and then joined the group for cocktails at 5:00. A little later we had a BBQ with all of the group except Clark and Judi who went out to the movies and dinner. Most of the group had lamb but I had a steak. Jackie made some asparagus that we had bought in Mexico and Ray made a pot of mashed potatoes. We had a great meal and stayed out until about 8:00 when everyone wandered back to their own coaches.

Saturday, February 14^th, Happy Valentine's Day! Happy birthday to my granddaughter Courtney who is 26 today. She is living in Arkansas and expecting a baby in a few months. Our current plans will have us visiting in Arkansas towards the end of summer so we will get to see my newest great grand baby.

We left the coach after lunch and drove into Yuma to the civic center where the annual Yuma Square and Round Dance Festival is going on. We have some friends, Linda and Ernie Ellis who are BIG square dance aficionados and are in town for the festival. We met Linda and Ernie on our Alaska trip back in 2009 and cross paths with them a couple times a year at rallies and in RV parks. We spent about 90 minutes watching the dancing and visiting with Linda and Ernie during the breaks in the action.

After the square dancing we drove to the nearby Yuma Elks Lodge to see their new place. The old lodge, which we have visited on many occasions, was located on 24^th Street across the street from the big medical center and hospital. A couple years ago the hospital announced plans for a major expansion and bought the land the Elks lodge was on. Over the last summer the lodge moved into it's new building on 32^nd Street and this was our first visit to the new place. They did a great job with the renovation and it appears they have as much room as they did in their old building. They have a great bar with an outdoor wing, a big dining room and a dedicated lodge room that is very pretty. Everything in the place is new, furniture, fixtures, the works, so I would guess they got a pretty penny for their old property. They do share the building with the YMCA, but there is still plenty of parking for the Elks.

We had one cocktail and then headed back to the RV park. We had cocktails with most of the group at 5:00 and then did another group dinner with most of us doing chicken on the BBQ. The meal and conversation was great and about 7:30 we went back to our coach for the rest of the night.

Sunday, February 15^th, we had an easy day at home. I did our income taxes for last year, did some filing and shredding of last year's stuff, and got a few other chores done. We had cocktails at 5:00 with the group. The Babcock's, McKay's and Calzada's all went out to eat while the rest of us had a hamburger BBQ. We had a great meal and conversation but were back in our coach by 7:30.

Monday, February 16^th, Happy Presidents Day. We went to our favorite taco stand for lunch with the Bullock's, Peggy, Vernon, Troy and Makayla. Troy had the day off from the base because of the holiday. After lunch they went out to do some sightseeing and we went across the street to do our laundry. We later had cocktails with the group and then went back to our coach for a quiet evening.

Tuesday we woke up about 5:00 and noticed that the shore power to the coach was off. We had lost power last week and the park thought they had it fixed, but now it was off again. We ran the generator for a while to heat the water and make coffee and charge the batteries. After everything was charged up we left the coach about 10:30 or so and headed out for some shopping and lunch.

We stopped at a shoe store in the Foothills area that was having a big sale. Jackie got a couple pairs of shoes she liked and I got myself a new tee shirt. We then headed to downtown Yuma for the Tuesday farmer's market on Main Street. When we got there we met up with Peggy and Vernon and Pat and Tammy, as well as Makayla, who all gone down for the market too. We first went into Lute's Casino, a restaurant on Main Street, for lunch. The food was only fair at best, but the atmosphere is kind of fun and unique. After lunch we walked around the fair for a bit and then headed home to check on the power situation. The power was back on, so we left again to do some geocaching in the Foothills area. We were able to get eight new finds and one new DNF. After caching we headed back to the RV park and had cocktails with most of the group at 5:00. After happy hour we went back to our coach for the rest of the night.

Wednesday, February 18^th, we left the coach about 10:30 and drove to a couple of the big churches here in the Foothills area that have Wednesday morning farmer's markets. Between the two places we spent about an hour and a half looking around and buying a couple of little things. We then met Peggy and Vernon for lunch at a place near the RV park called Da Boyz Pizza. It is mostly pizza and sandwiches, but is pretty highly rated. I had an Italian sub that was very good. Jackie had a chicken parm sandwich which she said was a little bland, but OK. The Bullock's had pizza and the first one they brought was not cut very well and it fell off the elevated stand and got a bit mangled when Peggy tried to get a piece loose. Although the pizza was fine to eat the waitress put in an order for another and they got a new whole pizza to take home.

After lunch Jackie and I went out to do some more geocaching and we were able to get 14 new finds and one DNF in a few hours. We went back to the coach and then had cocktails with the gang, a little smaller gang since Pat and Tammy and Jim and Sally had all left to go home. Since we had such a big lunch we didn't have any dinner and just watched TV until bed.

Thursday, February 19^th, we left the coach after lunch and drove to the mall to see the movie American Sniper. Vernon went with us because he wanted to see the movie but Peggy wasn't interested. We met Ray at the theater where he went after he got back from his medical work in Mexico. The four of us got our popcorn and went in to see the movie. This movie has gotten a lot of buzz and I can see why. It is based on a true story and is able to be both a good action war movie that portrays what our troops are running up against in the Middle East, but also an outstanding portrayal of the toll war and killing takes on those who have to do it. I am eternally grateful that I was able to serve my country and my community as a “hired gun” for seven years as a Marine and 28 years as a Sheriff's Deputy and never had to be in a position to have to take a life. If this movie and it's star, Bradly Cooper, are shunned by the Oscars this weekend I will be very disappointed.

After the movie we went back to the RV park and chilled for a while before having cocktails with the three other couples that our left of our group. We again skipped dinner and just had some snacks while watching TV. This time it was mostly the giant box of popcorn we ate at the movies.

Friday, February 20^th, we had a stay at home and do chores day. I got a pretty big job finished today, finally. Two years ago we had our coach remodeled inside, which included new carpeting in part of the front area and on either side of the stairwell. Later that year we got our new cat, Benji, who was six months old. He decided that the sides of the stairwell made a great scratching post and he pretty much shredded the carpet on the sides of the stairs. Late last year we got our hands on some of the extra carpeting from our remodel. Peggy and Vernon went up to Oregon for some work on their coach and stopped at the shop where we got the work done and picked it up for us. I finally got around to replacing the bad carpet. Jackie did some cleaning and we made a quick run to Walmart for supplies.

At 5:00 we had cocktails with the group. The happy hour included a "Changing of the Flower" ceremony.  The "flower" is this odd looking bead flower that was given to Jackie by a friend in the Coachella Valley just about the ti

me we went full time.  We carried it around for a while and then Jackie got the idea that it should pass from woman to woman in our extended group.  Peggy has had it, Suzie has had it, Ramona has had it and most recently Judi had it.  It has been about a year so it was time to pass it back and Jackie was the proud recipient this time.  You can see her excitement.   The McKays and Babcocks went out to eat and we had dinner at the park with the Bullock's, including Makayla and Troy. I made some chili colorado and Peggy made rice and beans. Jackie did some guacamole and we had a great Mexican dinner. After dinner, when the McKays and Babcock's got back to the park, we all had some key lime pie that Jackie made. After that we talked for a while and then went back to the coach for the rest of the evening.

Saturday, February 21^st, we left the coach after lunch and picked up the Bullock's to go down to the Hank Days celebration. The Foothills area always celebrates Hank Days in February in honor of the man who originally owned most of the land which is now the Foothills residential area. They advertised a parade, car show and farmers market area. When we got to the venue we saw that the car show never came off, there were no cars to see. Since we were in the area we spent about an hour and a half driving around the Foothills area looking for signs regarding RV lots for rent. We are looking to try and get one of the RV lots, which have two full hookups, for next year when we come down here. We are getting tired of Caravan Oasis, the park in which we have stayed the last three years. We wrote down a lot of numbers on a lot of possibilities. We then headed back to the coach and relaxed until cocktail time.

We had cocktails with Peggy and Vernon at 5:00 and then we had a rib BBQ. We had bought some ribs at Frys a couple weeks ago and we cooked up a couple racks tonight. Vernon is an excellent pork rib BBQ guy, so he got to cook the slabs. We had ribs with cole slaw and beans and had a wonderful meal. We sat and talked until about 8:30 when we headed back to our coach and watched TV until bedtime.

Sunday, February 22^nd, we were up and out of the coach about 9:15 and headed out for a day of desert geocaching with Peggy and Vernon. We went out in their new Jeep Wrangler, a “real” Jeep, and headed for the desert northeast of the Yuma valley. There is an area of old mines and abandoned towns called Castle Dome and there are a lot of geocaches. We packed a lunch and took the dog so we wouldn't have to worry about hurrying back to the RV park.

We geocached our way into the area on a gravel road and stopped for lunch at a “ghost” town called Castle Dome City. It is a private area that the guy runs as a museum. He wanted ten dollars a person to tour, so we skipped that. We had our lunch at a little picnic area and then headed back out of the area, picking up a few more geocaches along the way. We ended up with 29 new finds for the day, a very good day of caching. One of them was another milestone, 6,800 finds. Yea! We were back home about 3:00. We had cocktails with Peggy and Vernon, but went back to our coach around six because everyone was beat from the day's activities. We watched the Oscars and then went to bed.

Monday, February 23^rd, we left the coach around noon with a couple who were parked across the street from us. Dan and Roxie are vendors with a booth out at the Arizona Marketplace. They stay at Caravan Oasis for the season and sell on the weekends. They are a very friendly couple and have joined our group several times for cocktails. They had expressed an interest in geocaching, so we told them we would take them out, introduce them to the sport, give a few hints, and see how they liked it. Our first stop was lunch at the taco stand. Unfortunately, our regular stand was closed for an emergency of some kind, according to the sign. We went to one of the other stands in the same parking lot and got tacos. They were OK, but not nearly as good as the one's at our regular place.

After lunch we set out to do some geocaching in the Foothills area. We got Dan signed up on Geocaching.com and got a geocaching app downloaded on his phone. We spent a couple hours out caching and we were able to get ten finds and Dan and Roxie got their first finds. I must say they seemed to really enjoy the hobby and were very enthusiastic. We will monitor their progress and see if we have new converts. We had cocktails with Peggy and Vernon and Troy and Makayla, and Dan and Roxie came over for a little while too. We then had dinner with the Bullocks. Peggy made her penne pasta recipe, which is one of my favorites. We stayed and talked until about 8:00 when we left and went back to our coach for the rest of the night.

Tuesday, February 24^th, our last day in Yuma. I spent some time in the morning taking down outside decorations and getting ready for our departure tomorrow. About noon we drove to the Asian Star restaurant, near the Marine Corps Base, for lunch with the Bullocks. This was our first time at this restaurant and the food was good. The soup was bland, but the orange chicken was very spicy. It is not a buffet, but the lunch portions are very big and we left quite full. After lunch Peggy and Vernon went off to run some errands and so did we. We stopped at a couple of stores and then fueled the car before heading for the RV park. Fuel is quite a bit cheaper in Arizona than it is in California, so we wanted to make sure the car was full before we left Yuma in the morning. After we got back to the coach we relaxed for the rest of the night. Peggy and Vernon went to spent the last night with the grandkids at the base, so we were all by ourselves.

Wednesday, February 25^th, time to move on. We were packed up and ready to travel by 10:00. After a quick stop for fuel we were on the I-8, headed west to El Cajon, California, a suburb of San Diego. The trip was about 165 miles and went pretty smoothly. We arrived in El Cajon at the Vacationer RV Park about 1:30 our time, but now 12:30 local because of the change in time zone. Of course, this will only last until Sunday when daylight savings kicks in again and California goes ahead an hour, even with Arizona again.

We are only here for three days, so we didn't set anything up outside except for the sun shades. The park is nothing to rave about, lots of permanent residents who have some unkempt spaces, but it is close to town and only for three days. We relaxed for the afternoon and at 6:00 we took Peggy and Vernon and went out for some dinner. We went to an Italian place called Verona Italian Bistro just a mile or so from the RV park. The place had great reviews, but when we got there only one other table had people. However, one of the guys at the table told us not to worry, the place had the best food in town. The food was very good. Vernon and I both had beef stroganof and both the girls had a lemon chicken special. We also had some calamari and some bread sticks. I also had a bowl of Italian onion soup that was nothing like French onion, but very good nonetheless. We left full, happy and with some leftovers.

After dinner we drove about six miles to the next town over, La Mesa, to visit Jackie's brother Dennis at his apartment. He lives in a very large high rise apartment complex, and complex is the word of the day. After we got parked in the underground garage Dennis had to come down and guide us up to his apartment. We probably could have found it, but it was a very circuitous route from the parking area. His apartment is a one bedroom and is small, but not tiny, certainly big enough for a single guy. Nicely equipped kitchen and washer and dryer in the apartment. He has it decorated nicely and it looked very comfortable. The four of us sat and chatted with Dennis for about 45 minutes before leaving and driving back to the RV park.

Our departure from Arizona marks a good point to close this chapter and get it published. We will be in El Cajon for three days and then about 50 miles north in Menifee for another 11 days. Then the rallies start. Until the next time, remember the words of Will Rogers. “Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.” See ya soon.

Winter 2015 in Yuma - Part 1

Hello again, welcome back to our story. Our last chapter ended on Sunday, January 25^th, with our departure from the Quartzsite area and our arrival in Yuma, Arizona at the Caravan Oasis RV Resort. This will make the third year in a row we have spent a month here in Yuma in the late winter.

Monday, January 26^th, the predicted rain started around 5:00 a.m. and continued on and off for most of the day. It was also quite cool, in the low 50's, so most everyone, including us, stayed inside for the day. Jackie is still down pretty much, but I went and had cocktails with the group in the Babcock's coach about 5:00. Peggy and Vernon's grandson Troy and his wife Makayla were also visiting. Troy is a Marine stationed at the Yuma Marine Corps Air Station. Ray had made bean soup for everyone, but he delivered ours to our coach knowing the Jackie was probably not going to come out in public yet. After cocktails I went home and we had dinner and watched TV the rest of the evening. Tuesday Jackie was still sick. We stayed home for the day.

Wednesday, January 28^th, Jackie was feeling a little better. We went out after lunch to do some grocery shopping and went to Walmart and Fry's to pick up supplies. Jackie joined the rest of the group for cocktails at the Babcock's coach. We went back to our place for dinner while much of the rest of the group went out for Chinese. We had a nice dinner and watched TV the rest of the evening.

Thursday, January 29^th, Jackie had a bit of a relapse and stayed in for most of the day. I did some work outside, setting out a few decorations and such. I went to the hardware store and got some supplies for a couple of small chores around the house and accomplished several of them. The big thing was that I think, the operative word being “think,” that I finally found the elusive leak in the kitchen slide. We have had a persistent leak there for a couple of years. It does not leak when the slide is retracted, which tells me that the problem was in the top of the slide, not the outside wall.

Ray came over and we spent some time talking about various plans to narrow down the leak. I was up on a step stool looking at the inside edge of the top of the slide after we pulled it in a little ways, and FINALLY! I spotted a small area on the inside edge where the caulking was pulled up from the bottom of a piece of angle. Any water flowing into this open area would be channeled right into the inside of the slide. Ray looked at it and agreed we may have found the culprit. I cleaned the area up and put a good dose of silicon sealant on the area and hope that it will take care of the problem. We will find out soon because they are predicting on and off rain for the next two days. Fingers crossed. I had cocktails with the group because Jackie was still down, but we had dinner at our place and watched TV.

Friday, January 30^th, Jackie finally had a good night. She slept the entire night, in the bed, without coughing. She felt good enough that we were able to get out of the coach about 11:00 and go to the Arizona Marketplace, the big outdoor “swap meet” in Yuma. The rest of the gang went as well. We bought a couple of new outside chairs to replace the one's we have now which are about four years old and falling apart. We also bought a few other little things. After the Marketplace we went to Applebee's for lunch and then stopped at Michael's before heading back to the coach.

We were able to go out for cocktails with the group and stayed out until about 6:30. We then went back to our place for the rest of the night. We didn't have dinner because we had such a late lunch. By the way, the leak in the slide still hasn't reappeared, so I am feeling like I may have finally fixed it.

Saturday, January 31^st, we decided to stay at home today to help Jackie's recovery. I did some chores around the house, and took a quick trip to Walmart to buy a new DVD player. Several years ago the RCA DVD player that came with the coach quit. Since it was also the surround sound provider for the coach we had to replace it with another surround sound DVD system. We put in a Sony DVD home theater system that worked fine until recently. The last couple of times we have tried to play a DVD the player has acted up and won't work. The surround sound works fine, so I didn't want to spend a couple hundred bucks for a new system. I bought a Samsung DVD player for $60 and plugged the sound into the existing Sony and now we have a complete system again.

We spent most of the afternoon watching the movie Boyhood. This is the film that was made over a 12 year period with the same cast so that as time went by the main character grew from an six year old boy into an 18 year old. It was a good movie, a good character study, and the unique way is was made gave it a special twist. However, in my opinion, there was no outstanding acting or strong story lines that would rise to the level of award winning. If you didn't know the back story of the film it would just be a nice, enjoyable movie. Jackie disagrees with me and thought the movie was excellent and very worthy of the hype it has received. I guess there is a movie for everyone.

I had cocktails with the Babcocks and the McKays before dinner. Peggy and Vernon were over at their grandson's house on base for dinner and Jim and Sally were out taking care of some details of their new motor home purchase. They are here in a 26 foot class C, but while here they went shopping and are buying a used 38 foot diesel pusher. They won't get it for a couple weeks because it needs some repairs done, but we are anxious to see it. After cocktails I BBQed some pork chops and we had dinner on our own.

Sunday, February 1^st, the first month of the new year now officially gone. We went for lunch with Peggy and Vernon to a place we like here in Yuma called Chicken on the Run. Jackie likes it because they have fried chicken livers and gizzards. That's what Peggy and Jackie had. Vernon had fried chicken and I had corn beef hash and eggs for breakfast. We really enjoyed the meal and after a few quick errands we headed back to the coach to get ready for Super Bowl. We also got one geocache that happened to be right next door to the restaurant.

Mid-afternoon I cooked a big, double batch of chili for halftime dinner. We set up all the chairs for our group outside Ray and Suzie's coach and Ray setup his outside television for the big game. By kickoff time the ten of us staying here at the park were ready for the big game, as well as the Bullock grandkids, Troy and Makayla. I did a pool and had everyone buy in so we would have some gambling going on. Most of the rest of group brought nibbles and we settled in for the first half.

At halftime we served up the chili and fixings and Vernon brought some homemade corn bread. Everyone ate and enjoyed the meal and then we settled in for the second half of the big game. Everyone was astounded at how the game ended. Seattle basically gave away a sure win in the last 30 seconds. Too bad. Troy won the first quarter of the pool, but Ray and Suzie won the rest of the money between them. Lucky, lucky. After the game was over we cleaned up the area and settled in for the rest of the night in our coach.

Monday, February 2^nd, we had the coach washed and waxed, as well as the car. The crew showed up about 10:00 or so and by early afternoon we had nice shiny vehicles. We had lunch and then went out to do our laundry. We were finished with laundry about 4:00 and headed back to the coach. We had cocktails with the group around 5:00 and then everyone had pulled pork sandwiches prepared by Judi. Dinner was great and we all stayed out until about 7:30 when it started getting chilly. We went back to our coach and watched TV until bedtime.

Tuesday we went out for lunch to the local taco stand, only a half mile or so from the RV park. We discovered this place the first time we were here two years ago and we go back often. It is a real “street taco” place with beef, fish, shrimp tacos and a few other things. Everything tastes very authentic Mexican. We had a great lunch and then did some geocaching around the area, finding nine caches in a couple of hours. We went back to the coach and rested for a bit before going out for cocktails with the group. After cocktails we went out with Ray and Suzie to the nearby truck stop restaurant, which is excellent, for dinner. Three of us had the special, which was beef tips and noodles, and Jackie had a steak. Everyone was very pleased with the food and we enjoyed the company. After dinner we headed back to the coach for the rest of the night.

Wednesday, February 4^th, we left the coach a little before noon and headed down to a local restaurant called Parrish's for lunch. Peggy and Vernon came with us and we were meeting another couple from our Full Timers Chapter of FMCA, Mike and Darlene Neighbours. Mike is currently the Vice President of the Chapter and will take over as President later this year. In addition, the two of them are the newsletter editors. We haven't seen them for about a year, but stay in contact with them through email and social media. They are here in Yuma for a week or so and wanted to get together for lunch. We had a great lunch and spent an hour an a half talking and catching up. We will getting together with them and some other friends on Monday as well.

After lunch we dropped Peggy and Vernon off at the RV park and we went to Walmart for some shopping. We later had cocktails with the group at 5:00 and then everyone grilled burgers for dinner. Jackie made some wasabi coleslaw, Peggy made some pasta salad and Vernon made a veggie frittata.
We had a great meal and stayed outside until about 7:30 when it started to cool off.

Thursday, February 5^th, Happy 68^th to me! Jackie and I went out after lunch to pick up some special geocaches that were put out as part of this coming weekend's big caching event here in Yuma. They are called Lab Caches and are temporary caches put out solely as part of an event. There were six of them that were located from the far east part of the metro area to the park near downtown where the big event is being held on Sunday. Several of the caches were out in the desert and took a while to get to, and all of them were very clever and innovative. We had a great time and it took over three hours to get all six caches.

After caching we headed home for cocktails with the group. I had originally planned to go to a restaurant for dinner tonight for my birthday, but I decided that having ten or twelve people trying to eat in a restaurant was too much of a pain. So, I decided we were just going to have a pizza party at the RV park. Our group ordered a bunch of pizzas from the nearby Pizza Hut, had them delivered, and then we just had a great time visiting and eating pizzas. It was a much more enjoyable way to celebrate. About 7:30 everyone drifted off to their own coaches and we watched TV until bedtime.

Friday, February 6^th, we left the coach about 11:00 and met Peggy and Vernon, and their granddaughter in law Makayla, at the taco stand for lunch. Although Makayla and Troy live here, they live on the base over in town and don't get out this way. Peggy wanted her to try these tacos to compare with the one's she gets over in central Yuma. After lunch Peggy and Makayla went to get pedicures, Vernon went back to the coach and we made a quick stop at the coach for a bathroom break and then went out to do some geocaching.

We ended up getting eleven new finds, and one DNF, in a few hours of caching. About 4:30 or so we drove to the Yuma mall for a caching event. We were early for the 5:30 event so we walked around Penny's for a while. After that we walked over to the part of the mall near the movie theaters and waited as several hundred other geocachers gathered on the sidewalks. At 5:30 everyone's phone alarm sounded and the geocaching flash mob event for this year began. For this flash mob everyone was supposed to bring a banana and set a phone alarm for 5:30. When the alarms sounded everyone took out their banana and held it up like a phone and started shouting “can you hear me now?” at the top of their lungs. Someone then fired up a boom box with the song Shout going and we all walked out into the traffic circle and danced and sang. There were a couple of hundred participants and it was great fun. After a couple minutes the music shut off and everyone walked away from the area.

After the flash mob we went to another event, a meet and greet, at a bar and grill nearby called the Landing Zone. They have a bunch of old military helicopter parts scattered around the property and a bunch of military memorabilia inside. It was very crowded and very loud, so we only stayed for one drink, but we did sit with five people that we know from the Coachella Valley caching group that came to Yuma for the weekend's events. About 6:30 we left and headed back to the coach for dinner and an evening in front of the TV.

Saturday, February 7^th, Happy wedding Anniversary to us, eleven wonderful years. We stayed around the coach for most of the day, but left about 4:30 to drive to yet another caching event. This one was in old town Yuma at a restaurant called Lute's Casino. It's not really a casino, but was during the frontier days of Yuma. Today's event was another meet and greet. We got there early enough to get a seat at a table with some friends of ours from the Coachella Valley, Roy and Darcy, and a couple other Coachella cachers. There were a couple hundred people in the restaurant and we talked to a number of other cachers that we have met along the caching trail.

We had a couple of drinks, but it was way too crowded to try and get food, and I'm not that crazy about their menu anyway. We left about 6:30 and drove to another place in Yuma called El Rancho for some great Mexican food. We have eaten here before and never been disappointed. We had a great anniversary dinner and then drove back to the coach for the rest of the evening.

Sunday, February 8^th, another of our many anniversary dates. Today marks the 17^th anniversary of Jackie and I getting together. We were up and out of the coach by 8:30, headed to a park along the Colorado River just west of downtown Yuma. This is the location for the 12^th annual Southwest Arizona Geocachers (SWAG) geocaching event. This is also the third year that the event has grown large enough for Groundspeak, the company that supervises the geocaching hobby, to consider it to be a “mega event.” The requirement if for over 500 attendees. We have been to all three mega events and were at a couple of the SWAG events prior to them being classified as megas.

We arrived at the park a little after 9:00 and hooked up with our friends from the Coachella Valley in a shady area of the park. We had brought chairs and coolers with food and drink and we were ready for the day. We participated in a couple of contests early in the event, an X marks the spot contest and a poker run. In X marks the spot they give the team a small flag, like the one's landscapers use to mark sprinklers, and a set of coordinates. You then have to plant your flag as close to the coordinates as your GPS device will let you. It is a contest because every GPS device reads and interprets the signal a little differently. Even a it's best a GPS is only good for about a ten or fifteen foot radius. In the end, I was about ten or twelve feet off the mark.

The poker run has each team find five caches hidden in the park. Each cache has a bunch of small envelopes with a playing card in it. You gather one envelope from each of the five caches and then go back and they open the envelopes to see what kind of five card poker hand you get. We had an ace high hand, no where near enough to win anything. After the contests we walked around and checked out different booths, exchanged travel bugs, and visited with people that we know from caching. There were a couple dozen people at the event that we have met somewhere along the line since 2008.

We had some lunch and enjoyed the event until everything shut down at 2:00.

We headed back to the coach and relaxed for a little while. About 4:30 some of our Coachella Valley caching friends came over for a BBQ. Roy and Darcy, Kevin, and Rex and Vicki all came over for the party. We all partied with our regular group here at the park, and a couple of other people came over from other sites as well. We ended up with about 20 people sitting around talking and drinking. We BBQed some hamburgers and had some side dishes and everyone had a great time. The Coachella group left about 7:30 and headed back to where they were staying in Yuma. They are headed back to the Coachella Valley tomorrow. We relaxed with the TV for the remainder of the evening.

Today marks two weeks since we arrived here in Yuma, so it is a good place to close out this chapter and get it published. We are here in Yuma for another two weeks yet, so expect another episode of Yuma adventures in a couple weeks. Until the next time, remember that laughter is like a windshield wiper, it doesn't stop the rain but allows us to keep going. See ya next time.