Back to the "Old" Neighborhood, the Coachella Valley

Hello again. Our last chapter ended on Friday, December 15th, as we ended a month long stay in Pahrump, Nevada. Saturday morning we were packed up and on the road by about 10:30, starting towards Indio, California. We stopped for lunch at the Mad Greek Restaurant in Baker, California, on the I-15 about two hours south of Las Vegas. When we leave Pahrump for the Coachella Valley we always go out the back way, which takes us through Baker. We always stop at the Mad Greek. Today while we were eating we were approached by a guy who told us that they were filming an episode of a TV show for the Travel Network and that we needed to sign a release so they could use our image if we happened to show up in the background. We watched them film just a few booths behind us, so at least the back of my head will be on TV sometime in the future.

After lunch we continued on our journey, stopping at the Hesperia Elks Lodge around 3:30 to spent the night. This is only a stop over, so we didn't even unhook the car. We settled in and relaxed for the rest of the evening. On Sunday morning we were on the road again about 10:30, made a fuel stop and grabbed a quick bite to eat, then headed on to Indio. We arrived at the Indian Waters RV Resort about 2:00 and got settled in for our two week stay. We got set up, went out and got a Sunday paper, and then relaxed in the coach for the rest of the day.

Monday, December 18th, we went out about noon and had lunch at La Casita, one of our old favorites here in the desert. Their taco salads are to die for. After lunch we stopped so Jackie could get a haircut. We then went back to the coach and I finished putting up the Christmas decorations and other outside flags and lights. Around 5:00 we left and did a quick Costco run. Our friend Kevin Ray, who works at Costco, told us that 5:00 on a weekday is the best time to come to the store. He was right. We had some returns and there was no line and when we checked out with our vodka supply and a few other things there were no checkout lines and Kevin was our clerk. Thank you Kevin, it's always nice to “have a guy” to go to and get the real info. We went home, put stuff away and watched TV until bedtime.

Tuesday, December 19th, we had a stay at home day, at least for me. Jackie went out and got a pedi, but I spent the day in the coach doing chores. I got a lot of things done, as did Jackie after she came back. We had dinner and then relaxed with the TV the rest of the evening. Wednesday we left the coach after lunch and did some shopping at Walmart and Winco. We also checked on one of the caches that we have hidden here in the Coachella Valley since it was in the Walmart parking lot. After shopping we headed home and stayed in the rest of the day. For dinner we had some of the homemade Chili Colorado, beef simmered in red chili sauce, that I had been cooking all day. This was my first effort at this dish, which is one of my favorites, and I have to say it turned out great. After dinner we watched TV and then went to bed.

Thursday, December 21st, was a stay at home day. I did some office work, including finishing up my first edition of the Full Timers Chapter newsletter. Last summer I agreed to take over as editor starting with the first quarterly issue of 2018. About 4:00 we went over to Jay and Donna Blumenthal's coach here in the RV park for cocktails. We have known Jay and Donna since we started getting involved in FMCA chapter activities around 2008. Jay was on the FMCA Executive Board as Area President for the International Area. Since at the time all of the chapters we belonged to were in the International Area, we got to know Jay and Donna well. We even helped out with a couple of International Area rallies. They now only travel back and forth between New York and Indio, spending five months here and five months back there, with a month or so of travel each way. We had a nice evening, catching up as we had not seen them since this time last year. About 6:00 we went back to our place, had dinner and relaxed the rest of the evening.

Friday, December 22nd, we left the coach about 12:30 and drove to a fairly new restaurant in Palm Desert called Manhattan in The Desert. They have another location in Palm Springs that has been there a long time, but recently expanded. The new place is right across the street from the Palm Desert Cactus Jacks. We went there to meet our old friend Barry Cohen. Barry and his wife Colleen had been our best friends when we lived here in the desert. Colleen passed away a few years ago but Barry chose to continue to live in the motor home they had lived in since 2003 at the upscale Motor Home Country Club here in Indio. Barry seems to be doing pretty well, working part time at Cactus Jacks just to have something to do and get a little spending money. He has a woman friend, Cathy, that he spends a lot of time with, and even traveled with for three months this past summer. We had a great lunch and spent about an hour and a half talking and catching up. The food at the restaurant, which is primarily a deli type place, was good, but a little on the pricey side for what you get. After lunch we stopped at a couple of thrift stores and even picked up a geocache on our way home. We went back to the coach and stayed in the rest of the night.

Saturday, December 23rd, we left the coach about 10:30 and drove to the College of the Desert in Palm Desert for the weekend Street Fair. The fair was about a third smaller than normal, probably because Christmas is only a couple of days off. It took a couple hours for us to walk the whole fair and the only thing we bought was a bracelet for Jackie. After the street fair we drove towards Cathedral City, stopping at a Goodwill store along the way to look for some things for our parade at the rally in Indio in a couple weeks. Once we got to Cathedral City we stopped at Palm Springs Ford to look at new cars. We are considering getting rid of the Jeep. It is now ten years old and has over a hundred thousand miles and, frankly, has been a bit of a cursed vehicle from the very beginning. We are thinking about something a little smaller too, to lighten the load on the coach when traveling. Ford makes a number of models that are flat towable, which is what we need, but we had never really looked closely at them, or even sat in one. We originally went to check out the Focus, which is a sedan, not an SUV, but is smaller and lighter than the Jeep. They were OK, but then the sales guy showed us the C-Max Energi, which is a plug in hybrid. It was actually roomier and more comfortable than the Focus. We really like this model. The Edge, which is one of Ford's towable SUVs, were nice, but it is as heavy as the Jeep and a little too pricey for us at this time.

After our car shopping experience we headed back towards Palm Desert and stopped at the mall for a little shopping. Around 3:30 we went to Cactus Jack's for a cocktail and early dinner. This past year, while we were traveling back east, our friend George, who owns Cactus Jack's, closed the Indio location for good. He now only has the Palm Desert restaurant. He did move the chef over along with a few of the Indio employees. We were able to say hello to the bartender, Kevin, who is also an old buddy of ours from back when we lived here. George also came in while we were there and we got to talk to him, and, of course, Barry was working tonight as the parking lot greeter, so we got to see him too. We had a couple of drinks and a nice dinner, I had the beef ribs which I can't get anywhere else, and Jackie had a pasta dish. About 6:30 we left and on the way home stopped at Neil's Lounge, another bar that used to be a hang out for us in the old days. It is know owned by some other friends of ours, Jackie and Jim Babington. They were not in, but we had one drink and I sang a couple of songs since they were doing karaoke and didn't have many singers. After we finished our drink we went back to the coach and relaxed the rest of the night.

Sunday, December 24th, we stayed home for the day. I did a few chores and Jackie spent some time cooking sweet potatoes for tonight's Christmas party at the park. About 3:30 we packed up our drinks and food and went down to the clubhouse for the party. There were probably over 150 guests and the ballroom was full. There was tons of really good food and we had a great meal. We sat at a table with some people we didn't know, most of whom were from Canada. We had a great meal and great conversation, and after dinner we even did a little dancing. About 7:00 we went back to the coach and spent the rest of Christmas Eve with the television.

Monday, December 25th, Merry Christmas. In the morning we exchanged Christmas cards, which is the only thing we do for holidays, then relaxed with coffee. After our walk we had lunch and then went out to do some geocaching. It was a great day for caching as there was no traffic and everything was closed, making urban caching a lot easier. We were able to get 14 new finds, with no DNFs, and near the end we hit the 9,000 finds milestone. Yea! About 4:00 we stopped caching and went back to the coach and relaxed the rest of the evening. We did some steaks on the BBQ, along with leftover sweet potatoes from yesterday's dinner. We watched a couple of stupid Christmas themed disaster/horror movies, then went to bed.

Tuesday, December 26th, we left the coach after lunch and drove to Palm Springs Motors and took the Ford C-Max Hybrid car we were looking at on Saturday for a test drive. We really liked the way it drove and rode and we decided to talk deal. We were at the dealership from about 1:30 until about 6:30, but we finally made a deal to lease a 2017 Ford C-Max plug-in Hybrid. We used the Jeep for a trade in, so, as is the way with car dealers, they immediately “seized” the Jeep and took custody of it. I guess that serves the purpose of making it harder to back out of the deal, plus they don't have to worry about the customer wrecking it before the deal is consummated. After we signed the lease papers they gave us a 2017 Ford Explorer SUV as a loaner car. We couldn't take the C-Max because we have to take out of state delivery, so we have to wait until day after tomorrow. They helped us unload all our stuff out of our old Jeep into the Explorer and we headed home after a very long, exhausting day. We went back to the coach and just crashed for the rest of the night.

Wednesday, December 27th, we left the coach about 9:30 and drove to Rancho Mirage for our annual checkup with the dermatologist. Ever since my melanoma scare back in 2009 I have had a skin check every winter with Dr. Milligan, my dermatologist. He found a dozen small places on me to spray with the liquid nitrogen, but there was one spot on my right wrist that he decided looked like a budding basal cell carcinoma, a slow growing skin cancer. That one he numbed and cut off with a razor, then cauterized the wound. That is about the third one of those I have had cut off since 2009. He also checked Jackie over and didn't find any problem areas.

After Dr. Milligan we took a drive over to Palm Springs Ford since it was not too far from his office. We had to take over the title to the Jeep as well as some money for the additional down payment we are making to keep payments low. After our quick visit there we stopped for lunch and then went to our regular doctor for our annual checkups. The doctor was very pleased with my 45 pound weight loss and with my labs, which were outstanding. All of my labs, including the sugar which was what prompted me to get serious about losing weight last visit. Jackie's checkup was also OK, with no major changes since last year. We got our new prescriptions and were done for another year. After the doctor we headed back to the coach and stayed in for the rest of the night.

Thursday, December 28th, we were supposed to meet the people from the dealership at 9:30 so we could drive to Ehrenberg, Arizona to take delivery of our new car. We would drive the Explorer there, the dealer's driver would take the C-Max, we would meet an Arizona notary public in the Wendy's at the Flying J Truck Stop just inside Arizona, sign the papers and take possession of the car. The dealer's driver would then take the Explorer and go back to Palm Springs and we would have a new car. Unfortunately, we got a call from the dealer about 8:30 telling us that they were still working on the credit. It seems that my credit has nothing on it because I haven't had anything financed since my last lease in 1999. It wasn't that my credit was bad, it was just not there. We told them to try Jackie's since our Jeep had been financed with Jackie's name on the credit app. We finally got a call from them about 1:00 that everything was now OK, but that Jackie had to come down and sign one more form to finalize everything. We drove to the Ford dealer, signed the paper and made arrangements for tomorrow again for the car swap. It was too late to drive to Ehrenberg now. After the Ford dealer we headed back to the coach, stopping at Walmart for some shopping first. I spent some time taking down Christmas decorations and then we watched TV until bedtime.

Friday, December 29th, we left the coach about 9:15 and drove to the Denny's restaurant in Indio where we met with Izzy, our salesman from Palm Springs Ford, and a lady who was the driver taking our car to Ehrenberg. We checked some papers with Izzy, gave him a copy of our insurance and he left to go back to the dealership. We got in the Explorer and the lady got in our C-Max and we hit the freeway heading east. About ninety minutes later we pulled into the Wendy's at the Flying J just across the border in Arizona and sat down with the notary. As it turns out, it was the same guy that notarized our paperwork when we bought the motorhome twelve and a half years ago. He said he has been doing this for over 18 years and has a lot of repeat business. About a half hour, spent mostly watching the notary fill out forms, Jackie signed a couple of papers, we traded keys with the lady from the Ford dealership and got back on the freeway in our new car. Yea! Ninety minutes later we were back at the coach.

Around 5:00 we left again and drove over to Rancho Mirage and the Sunrise Country Club to meet with an old friend of Jackie's, Gina Spector, and her husband Randy. Jackie worked with Gina back in the 80's when they both worked for Avco Finance Corporation. This is the first time they have seen each other for probably 20 years or more, although they have been in contact over social media for the last couple years. Gina is retired but Randy still works as a district manager in the finance industry. They have a small condo in Rancho Mirage, but live in the Rancho Cucamonga area full time. We met at their condo, talked for a bit, and then they drove us up to their club for drinks and dinner. We had a nice dinner and a couple of drinks, then went back to their place. About 8:30 we left, drove back home and relaxed the rest of the night.

Saturday, December 30th, we had pretty much a stay at home day. I had a lot of work to do to figure out how to load stuff into the new car, which has quite a bit less storage than our old, big Jeep did. I also had to take down all the outside stuff because we are leaving here tomorrow and driving over to the other side of town to Cathedral City. It took all day, but I finally got everything sorted out, stored and put away. We spent the rest of the evening with the TV. Sunday, December 31st, we had the coach packed up and were on the road by 11:00 for the 45 minute ride over to Cathedral City. Of course, Jackie had to drive the new car since there is no tow bar yet, her first time driving it. We arrived at Cathedral Palms around noon and got settled into our spot. About 1:30 we went out for a quick lunch at La Casita, one of our favorite Mexican places, then did a geocache so we could claim an end of the year souvenir from Groundspeak. We then went back to the coach, finished getting set up and then relaxed for the rest of the night. We watched the ball drop in New York City at 9:00 local time, then went to bed around 10:30. We never heard any thing at midnight, so either it was pretty quiet or we were sound asleep. See ya later 2017.

Monday, January 1st, 2018, Happy New Year! We had a quiet night and left the coach after lunch to go out and do some geocaching. Caching on holiday's is great because there is no traffic and most businesses are closed. In a couple of hours we were able to get ten new finds, and one DNF. We were out for about two and a half hours, stop and go driving in about a four mile or so circle around the RV park and the new car was on electric the entire time. The battery was about dead when we got back to the coach, but the gas engine had not yet started, so we did the entire day on electric only. Yea! Charge it overnight and go again tomorrow. We spent the remainder of the evening in the coach watching TV after dinner.

Tuesday, January 2nd, we left coach after lunch and went out to run some errands. We stopped at Palm Springs Ford for a minute to check on the tire repair kit for the new car. The one they gave us doesn't fit into the little floor compartment that the owner's manual says it should be in. Turns out the other one they had didn't either and was smaller, so we kept the first one they gave us. It turns out, to my surprise, that many new cars don't come with any spare tire anymore, not even the little space saver type. Our car has no spare, just an electric pump with tire repair fluid, OK for a small flat, but not for a blowout. I guess that's why they include roadside service for the warranty period of the car. After the Ford dealership we went to the urgent care near our doctor's office so Jackie could get something for what seems to be another sinus infection. Her ear has been plugged up, and she has been getting constant sinus headaches, for the last week or so. It took two hours to get in, but they cleaned her ear out and prescribed a Z-Pac antibiotic for the infection. Hopefully that will help. By the time we got out of the doctor's it was getting dark, so we just headed back to the coach. We stopped on the way and picked up a pizza for dinner. We had dinner and watched TV until bedtime.

Wednesday, January 3rd, we had a day of errands. We went out after lunch and made a quick stop at a shoe repair place so Jackie could get a cut fixed in her leather purse. Nice guy, didn't even charge for the repair. We stopped at the bank so I could deposit some money for the tow bar we are having put on the new car next week, then stopped at Walmart to return some floor mats that didn't fit right. We then went to Goodwill and dropped off some stuff for them, then made a stop at the Ford Dealer to pick up a little bottle of touch up paint for the new car. After we finished our errands we headed back to the coach and relaxed for a little bit. About 5:30 we went over and picked up our friends John and Suzanne Budovec so we could go to dinner. They arrived in the RV park yesterday. We have known them since back before we went full time when we traveled with the Elks RV club. We don't see them too often, but we have a lot of friends in common among FMCA. We went to Nicolino's Italian restaurant in Cathedral City, a place we used to go to for lunch from time to time when we both worked in Cathedral City. We had a very nice dinner and a couple hours to talk and catch up with John and Suzanne. After dinner we went back to the park, dropped them off, then went home and watched TV until bedtime.

Thursday, January 4th, we left the coach about 12:30 and drove to the Boys Restaurant here in Cathedral City for lunch. I used to eat at Boys at least once a week when I worked in Cathedral City, only a couple miles north. I loved their pastrami sandwich and have tried to get there at least once any time we are in the Coachella Valley. Today things were different though, I don't know if they have changed cooks, or owners or what, but the food wasn't as good or plentiful as it has been in the past. The pastrami sandwich used to be packed thick with lean, chopped on the grill, meat, today it was about half as big and meat was fatty and not chopped at all. Jackie had zucchini with her hamburger and it used to be tender and flavorful, today it had almost a papery texture to the breading and they were pretty much flavorless. Sadly, I think this will be my last visit to Boys.

After lunch we ran a couple of errands, stopping at the Ford dealer to pick up the touch up paint I ordered yesterday, and then stopping at a gold dealer to see what they were offering for some gold that Jackie had to sell. It was still not enough to sell it for, so we left with the gold and headed back to the coach. After we got home I spent an hour or so installing a new water pump in the coach. The old one, which is actually only about four years old, still pumped water but would not shut off when all the spigots were closed. After that repair we just relaxed for the rest of the evening and then went to bed.

Friday, January 5th, we left the coach after lunch and went out to do some grocery shopping. We went to Rancho Mirage and went to Sam's Club, Walmart, and Costco, which are all conveniently located within a few blocks of each other. After our shopping we went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the day. Saturday we left the coach about 12:00 and drove to Ciro's Italian Restaurant in Indio to have lunch with a group of FMCA friends. The lunch had been arranged by Steve and Judy Czarsty with whom we have been friends for about ten years. Judy had been the National President of FMCA about eight years ago or so, having been elevated from Senior Vice President when the the National President had to resign for health reasons. She and Steve have been active in FMCA for many years and are full timers. They are not as active now, having “been there and done that,” and have gotten a smaller motor home. They had flown out to the West Coast to visit family and go to the Rose Bowl, and they knew that a lot of their old friends were in the Indio area. Jay and Donna Blumenthal, and John and Suzanne Budovec were also there, as well as five or six other folks we didn't know who had been active in FMCA for many years. We had a great lunch and it was nice to catch up with Steve and Judy. We last saw them in Indianapolis last summer at the FMCA rally. Before lunch we spent some time checking on some of our geocaches that we have hidden in the Indio area. After lunch we went back to the coach and I spent the remaining daylight getting ready for our departure from Cathedral City in the morning. We spent the evening with the TV and went to bed.

Sunday, January 7th, we were up early, about 6:00 a.m., and we had the coach packed up and on the road by 8:30. We were heading back to Indio, to the Fairgrounds for the FMCA Western Area Rally. We were going in early with some of the other members of the Overland Trailblazers West Chapter, a group we joined a couple of years ago that always has a big group at the Western Area rally and has really good parking. We were invited to come in with the early group because I am doing music and karaoke for a Chapter party tonight and need the time to get set up. By 11:00 we were parked at the rally and had the coach pretty much set up. After lunch I packed up the music gear and went over to the room where the party is being held and set everything up.

At 4:30 we went over to the party room and helped with the final preparations for the 5:00 dinner. Our friend Gloria Baron and her husband Bob are rally masters for the Trailblazers Chapter and she had set up a great Mexican themed dinner. I played Mexican music before and during the dinner, which was great. They had margaritas and beer and lots of nice appetizers like mini tacos and taquitos, as well as chips and salsa. The dinner was a “walking taco” which is a small bag of Doritos, which you crush up, then put meat, cheese, lettuce, salsa, and what ever else you want, into the bag and eat it with a fork. No plate, no mess. After dinner we did karaoke, but it was a dull group. Only two other people other than me sang, and one of those only did one song. The lady that did sing several songs, including a couple of duets with me, is new to the group and she was really great, professional quality as a matter of fact. The party only went until about 7:30, after which I packed everything back in the car and we went back to the coach for the rest of the night.

Monday, January 8th, was, for the most part, a free day. The actual rally doesn't start until Wednesday and the Trailblazers Chapter didn't have anything scheduled until tonight. We left the coach after lunch and drove over to Eisenhower Hospital in Rancho Mirage so Jackie could get her annual mammogram. After she was done we headed back to the Fairgrounds, stopping at Costco on the way to put fuel in the car. This was the first time we have put gas in the car since we got it eleven days ago. Yea! It only has a 14 gallon tank and took less than ten gallons to fill today. This is also the first time in ten years we have been able to buy gas at Costco. Our old Jeep was a diesel and very few Costco's carried diesel fuel. After we got back to the fairgrounds we visited with some of the Trailblazers for a while, then went back to the coach and got ready to go out to dinner.

We were invited to go to dinner with an FMCA Chapter called the Eastern Gourmands. This is basically a “fine dining” chapter that goes out for a dinner at an upscale local restaurant at various FMCA events, Area Rallies and Conventions. The group today was going to the Chop House at Jackalope Ranch here in Indio. We have been to Jackalope Ranch a number of times over the years, but the Chop House is the upscale steakhouse part of the restaurant that they just put in a few years ago. We went there at 5:30 and had a cocktail in the bar, and then at 6:00 joined the group in the Chop House. There were two couples in attendance that we were already friends with, Pat and Jim Goetzinger, who we know from the Full Timers Chapter, and Don and Norma Preston, who we know from the Monaco International Chapter. Either Jackie or I have held various offices in these chapter over the years. Also in attendance were Jon Walker, the National President of FMCA and his wife Sondra, Christine Cross, the wife of Lon Cross, the President of the Western Area, and Rett Porter, the National Senior Vice President and his wife Claire. The tables were set up for four people, so we sat with the Preston's, whom we last saw in Indiana last summer. Don and Norma are not at the rally here, but they have a spot at an ownership RV park in Indio and are currently parked there.

We had a great dinner, albeit expensive. I had seared Ahi that was wonderful, along with French onion soup, and Jackie had rack of lamb and salad, which she said was also wonderful. The service was great and we had a good time. We look forward to joining this group this summer again at the the FMCA rally in Gillette, Wyoming. After dinner we headed back to the fairgrounds and spent the rest of the evening in the coach.

Tuesday, January 9th, we left the fairgrounds about noon and drove over to the TKB Deli in Indio for lunch. It had rained on and off all night, so everything was wet, but the rain had stopped in the morning. This place is not fancy but has wonderful deli sandwiches. As a matter of fact, it has been rated in the top five nationally by Yelp for three years running. After lunch we went back to the fairgrounds and took care of some small chores around the coach. There are still no rally activities today, although there is some stuff going on with the Trailblazers chapter. At 3:00 we went over to one of the buildings for the Trailblazers chapter business meeting. The rain was coming back this afternoon and evening, so they moved the meeting indoors. After the business meeting we went back to the coach and just stayed in the rest of the evening.

Wednesday, January 10th, we woke up to clear skies. The rain quit yesterday afternoon, it was really windy for a few hours, then it settled down. Today was the first actual rally day, but the activities today were minimal. Around noon Jackie went to the auditorium to spend the afternoon at a table signing up people for her craft classes on Thursday. She is doing the pop tab lanyards craft class again. About 1:30 I came to the auditorium for the Chapter Fair. This is where any FMCA Chapter can set up a table to advertise it's chapter and sign up new members. I was floating between the Military, Elks and Full Timers Chapter's tables, helping out where needed. Everything was done around 3:00 and Jackie and

I went back to the coach.

 Our friends Peggy and Vernon Bullock arrived this afternoon and ended up parked right across the road from us. At 4:00 we went down to the area next to where the Overland Trailblazers group is parked for the annual BBQ. This is a tradition for this Chapter, the Chapter provides ribs and chicken, smoked and BBQed, and then the members bring all the side dishes. They fed almost 150 people and there was still food left over. A great meal and great company. About 6:30 we were done and back in the coach. We had a cocktail with the Bullocks, then spent the rest of the night watching TV.

Thursday, January 11th, I was up and out about 9:00 and went down to the auditorium to set with the craft sign up sheet for Jackie's later class. No more people showed up. Jackie went down to one of the other buildings at 9:30 and did her first class for the lanyards. At 11:00 I was back at the coach when the mobile oil change guy I use every year came to change the oil, oil filter and fuel filters on the coach. This is an annual maintenance thing that we have to do every year. This year I also had the oil and filter changed on the generator. That is every two years. About the time the mobile guy was done, Jackie was finishing up her class, so we left the fairgrounds and went to In-N-Out for lunch.

After lunch we went back to the fairgrounds and hung around the coach for an hour or so, then started getting dressed for the big parade. Regular readers may remember that the Western Area Rally always has a big parade on Thursday which is in line with the theme for the year. The theme this year was “Viva Las Vegas” and our Chapter had a big contingent walking and riding in the parade. We had a pickup truck with a wedding arch mounted in the back, a male AND female Elvis riding in the back of the truck, and an amplifier playing Viva Las Vegas and Going to the Chapel. I was providing the music via my phone and a bluetooth connection. Jackie was dressed as the trashy,

pregnant bride, with torn jeans and a big, man's shirt, and a big baby bump. I was dressed in black and leather and was the disgruntled biker dude who knocked her up. I had an old, beat up suitcase with a sign that had a picture of a Harley on it and said, “Bike for sale, need money for diapers.” Jackie had a small, rolling suitcase with a sign that said, “Going to Vegas, Baby?” There were also two replica Model T cars, which were actually big, specially made golf cars. The parade was about a half mile long and we walked the entire way. After the parade we had cocktails with the Bullocks, and when they left about 6:30 we just got in our jammies and rested, watched some TV and went to bed. It was a busy day.

Friday, January 12th, I was up early and drove the new car to one of the local RV repair places where they were supposed to install the equipment on the car so we can tow it behind the motor home. I got there and the guy told me that he couldn't do it today because he had a job from yesterday that he wasn't done with and he just wasn't going to be able to help me. I ended up buying the base plate that they had ordered, the part that installs on the car, in hopes that we would be able to find someone else to do the work. I finally talked to Roadmaster, the company that makes the equipment and has a booth here at the rally. They are going to be in Quartzsite and will do the job there next Friday.

We left the coach again about 11:00 and went down to one of the buildings to help the Full Timer's Chapter with the Full Timing Seminar that the Chapter presents at many of the rallies. I was one of the panelists and Jackie helped with the membership booth and selling shirts. The seminar was well attended, as they usually are, and went pretty well. When it was over we went down to the vendor area to walk around. After about an hour we met up with Ray and Suzie Babcock, our RVing friends from Menefee. They did not come to the rally this year with their coach, but they did come down today so Ray

could go see his skin doctor. After the doctor they came to the rally and came in on a day pass. We also met up with some other friends, Rex and Vickie Jennings, who live here in the desert, and also came in on a day pass. We all sat and talked for an hour or so. We met lots of other people we knew who were in the area too, including Eddie and Darlanne Buenidia, some very old friends of Jackie's who used to live in the Coachella Valley and also went full time in an RV a few years back. We had not seen them for several years, although we stay in contact through social media.

We went back to the coach with the Babcock's and Bullock's and we all sat around and talked until about 5:00 when we all drove to the China Bistro restaurant in Indio, just around the corner from the fairgrounds. This is our favorite Chinese place in this area and Ray had made reservations for us. We had one of the family style dinners with six different entree's and all the other side dishes. We ate the majority of it, and all six of us were stuffed. After a very nice dinner Ray and Suzie left to drive home, about an hour and a half away, and we went back to the fairgrounds. We went in the coach and just relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Saturday, January 13th, the last full day of the rally. We had no scheduled activities today, so were able to walk down to the vendor area about 10:30 and walk around without being in a hurry. About 12:30 we met Peggy and Vernon at Macario's Mexican Grill for lunch. This is a Mexican place that has been in Indio for many years, but for some reason we never went to it. The food was OK, typical Sonoran cooking, tasty buy not outstanding. The service left a little to be desired. After lunch we went out and checked on the last three of our own geocaches in the Indio area to be sure that they were OK. We then went to Walmart for some supplies before returning to the Fairgrounds. We sat with some of the Trailblazers group for cocktails until the sun went down and it got chilly. We then went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Sunday, January 14th, another travel day. We were packed up and on the road about 10:30, heading east towards Quartzsite, Arizona. Jackie had to follow in the new car since we don't have the tow bar set up yet. Fortunately, it was only about 120 miles and we arrived in Quartzsite about 1:00, or 2:00 Arizona time. We got settled into the Crawford RV park in the middle of Quartzsite for our six night stay. It was nice to have full hookups again. Jackie made chili relleno casserole for dinner for us and the Bullocks and we spent several hours talking after dinner. They left about 8:30 and we watched a little TV before going to bed.

Our departure from Indio marks another month of travel and is a good place to close this chapter and get it published. Until we talk again, ponder the words of Maria Robinson. “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” See ya soon.

A Whole Month at "Home"

Hi there, glad to see you back. Our last episode concluded on Thursday, November 16^th, when we arrived back in Pahrump, Nevada. As most readers know Pahrump is our legal domicile, although we only have a mail service here. We almost always stay at the Wine Ridge RV Resort, which used to be one of our Western Horizon's membership parks before the company went out of business. The park is now a public resort, but it is still the nicest place in Pahrump to stay. No map for this blog since it starts and ends here in Pahrump.

Friday, November 17^th, we spent the morning doing chores around the coach. I did take the car down to the local body shop to get an estimate on the damage we got while towing in Texas. I was a bit shocked when the repair estimate came in at nearly $4,500! Just the replacement cost for the hood is over $1,200. The shop manager told me that she had seen damage like this before caused by a piece of steel re-bar that got kicked up off the road. That would explain the severity of the damage despite the fact that we didn't hear or feel any major bump in the road and there was no damage to the coach. The piece of steel would have been kicked up by the rock guard on the coach without ever hitting anything else on the coach.

We went out for a late lunch at the Chinese place in town, China Wok, and had a great lunch. We then stopped at a nail place so Jackie could get a pedi. After the pedi we went back to the coach. About 5:45 we walked down to the clubhouse for a social hour and then karaoke. It was a nice crowd for karaoke, but there were only about eight singers, so I got to do at least five songs for the night. Most of the singers were pretty good, so it was an entertaining night. Karaoke ended at 9:00, we went back to the coach for the rest of the evening and watched TV.

Saturday, November 18^th, we stayed at home and did chores for most of the day. About 10:30 one of the local car wash companies showed up to give the coach a much needed wash and wax. It hasn't been waxed since this time last year and hadn't been washed since we took off in April. The crew was around for most of the day. We did go out briefly in the afternoon when they were done to go the grocery store to get a couple of things we needed. The coach sure looks a lot nicer, and they washed the car too. After we got home Jackie made a chili relleno casserole for dinner and we watched TV until bedtime.

Sunday, November 19^th, I went out and got our Sunday paper so we could relax in the morning with the paper and coffee. After lunch I spent some time outside doing a little decorating. I put up a couple of strings of ground lights, some flags and signs. For the last six months we have been constantly on the move and never got to put out any decorations to make a spot “our own” so to speak. About 3:00 we left the coach and drove down to see Len and Debbie Forrest's new home. Len and Debbie were full timers for about ten years and we met them early on in their journey as we were both members of Western Horizon's campground membership group. We would cross paths with them several times a year, sometimes for a week or so, sometimes for a month. They both love karaoke and Len is a guitar player, so we have a lot in common. Last year they decided to build a house here in Pahrump, so they bought a lot in a subdivision a couple miles west of the RV park and had a house built. It is a nice, mid-size, three bedroom home on a big lot. We went down there with six other people from the campground, all of whom are regulars here and know Len and Debbie. We had some margaritas, some snacks and some of Jackie's key lime pie which she made for the occasion. We also supplied the tequila for the drinks thanks to our stock from our liquor basket raffle win two years ago. We sat around the campfire in the backyard until about 5:30 when it started getting too chilly. We then headed back to the coach and spent the rest of the evening watching TV.

Tuesday, November 20^th, we had another stay at home and do chores day. I did a few repairs around the coach. I spent a couple hours working on one of the slides that we are having issues with. This is the large, front passenger slide. The internal brake on the motor has broken, which means that unless I put a pair of lock grip pliers on the mechanism when we travel the slide creeps out, not a good thing when going down the road. Even though I worked on the thing for a couple hours I didn't make much progress. I will have to take another crack at it at a later time. After dinner we went down to the clubhouse for Texas Hold'em. We haven't played since last year at this time. We had a good time, I ended the night nine dollars up, Jackie only lost a couple dollars. After cards we went back to the coach, watched a little TV and went to bed.

Wednesday, November 21^st, we left the coach about 11:00 and headed over the hill to Las Vegas to take Jackie to the orthopedic doctor. She is still having a lot of problems and pain with the knee that she hurt over a year ago and had surgery on this past January. It was 45 miles from the RV park to the medical center in Vegas, but there are no orthopedists in Pahrump. Before we went to the doctor we stopped for lunch at a place called Amazing Thai 2, which was just down the street from the doctor's office. The food was wonderful, among the best Thai food we have had. The service was also good and the bill was less than $20 for a complete lunch, soup, salad, egg roll, rice and entree for each of us. I had the orange chicken and Jackie had chicken curry. After lunch we stopped and picked up a nearby geocache, then killed some more time in a TJ Max/Home Goods store right next to the medical center.

By 1:30 we were in the doctor's office. Jackie's doctor at this place was much more personable and seemed much more interested than did her surgeon in Palm Desert. They took some x-rays, did a history workup, and talked to us for quite a while. He finally concluded that there was evidence of some early arthritis, but that in general the knee was sound and she wouldn't be needing any replacement any time soon. He gave her another cortisone shot and an order for some physical therapy. After the doctor visit we stopped at a nearby Costco for a few things, then started back over the hill, arriving back at the RV park just before 5:00. We had dinner and then watched TV until bedtime.

Wednesday, November 22^nd, the anniversary of the assassination of John Kennedy in Dallas. I did not see or hear one mention in the news yesterday about the date. I guess today we are too concerned with what celebrity or politician has shown their wiener to what woman at any point in their life. We did some chores around the house and after lunch we went out and ran some errands. We picked up our mail, Jackie dropped a ring off for repairs at our local jeweler, and we did a Walmart run. We also stopped at four of our own geocaches to check them and be sure that they were in good shape. One had disappeared, so we replaced it. After our errands we went back to the coach and relaxed for a while. After dinner we went down to the clubhouse for another round of Texas Hold'em. Jackie lost seven dollars, but I ended up winning five. After cards we went back to the coach, watched a little TV and then went to bed.

Thursday, November 23^rd, Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We had a stay at home day. Spent the morning doing some office work and small chores while Jackie cooked sweet potatoes for tonight's pot luck dinner in the clubhouse. About 4:00 we went down to the clubhouse for the Thanksgiving feast. The park provided the turkey's and ice cream for dessert. All the side dishes were provided by the guests. There were about 50 people there, so there was plenty of food, good food. The park also provided wine, which is only fitting since the Charleston Peak Winery attached to the clubhouse and the park is called Wine Ridge. We had a great dinner, sitting with some people that we have spent time with in this park for the last four or five years. After dinner we went back to the coach and watched TV for the rest of the evening.

Friday, November 24^th, the always crazy Black Friday. Unless, of course, you don't go out shopping. Then it's just Friday. We went out after lunch to do our laundry. When we were finished with laundry we ran a few errands, going to some of the thrift shops in town looking for parts for our costumes for January. The FMCA rally in Indio always has a themed parade, put on by the various Western Area chapters, and the theme for this year is “Viva Las Vegas.” Our Chapter, the Overland Trailblazers are doing a Las Vegas Wedding theme. Jackie and I did the pregnant bride thing about six years ago at a Monaco rally and we are going to do that again. We needed some old, beat up suitcases and Jackie needed a big man's shirt so she could put a pillow under it. We got a couple of suitcases, and a shirt, all for about five dollars. We are well on our way to having our costumes. After we got done with our “shopping” we headed back to the coach for cocktails and dinner. We spent the rest of the night with the TV. Saturday was another stay at home day. I did some chores around the coach, the biggest of which was to take everything out from under the bed so I could check and do maintenance on the slide-out mechanism. I didn't find anything wrong with the mechanical s, lubed everything up and put stuff back. We did get rid of a bunch of stuff we were not using anymore that was just adding weight. About 5:00 we went down to the clubhouse for a Thanksgiving leftovers party. We had all the leftovers from Thursday for dinner. There were about 50 people there, and after dinner they started karaoke, which ran until 9:00. After karaoke we went back to the coach and relaxed the rest of the night.

Sunday, November 26^th, I left the coach about 8:30 to go out and meet with one of the local weapons trainers to get the qualification paperwork I needed to renew my Federal concealed handgun permit. This is a nice benefit for honorably retired law enforcement personnel that basically exempts us from the provision of any State or local concealed weapons law, even in very restrictive states like California and New York. The downside is that it has to be renewed every year. After my qualification I went back to the coach, read the paper and relaxed. After lunch we went out and did maintenance on the remaining six of our own geocache hides here in Pahrump. We also scouted a few locations for new hides. Once we were done we stopped at the Pahrump Nugget casino to game for a while. We spent about an hour there. I lost four dollars, and Jackie lost fifteen. But, we had fun. We then went back to the coach and sat outside with our friends Dick and Millie and Marge and Jerry, having cocktails and snacks. About 6:00 it got cold, so went back inside and watched TV until bedtime.

Monday, November 27^th, I went out around 11:00 and went to the Sheriff's Office to turn in my paperwork and get my renewed CCW permit. I then went to the Salvation Army to drop off a bunch of stuff we cleaned out the other day. I went back to the coach and spent the rest of the afternoon working on some chores in the coach, as did Jackie. We also did some cyber Monday online shopping. Jackie got a new food processor to replace the small, cheap one we had. I bought some LED decorative lights for the outside of the coach. About 6:30 we went down to the clubhouse to play cards. Unlike last week when I had two good nights, I couldn't win for nothing tonight, although I did come back a little and only ended up down two dollars. Jackie had a bad night too, down about six. After cards we went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the night. Tuesday we went out after lunch and hid three new geocaches. All three were hidden near places that we had previously put caches, but had to archive the caches, delete them, for different reasons. After hiding the caches we went to Jackie's physical therapy appointment. After Jackie's PT we went to Mom's Cafe, a great local restaurant, and one of our favorites, for dinner. I had liver and onions, which was wonderful and Jackie had an corn beef hash omelet which Jackie said was OK, but not fabulous. After dinner we went to the Elks Lodge for the lodge meeting. Since this is our “home” lodge we always try to go to at least one meeting whenever we are in Pahrump. We got there early enough to have a couple of drinks at the bar and play some nickle slots. The meeting was an initiation, so we were there until almost 9:30, after which we went home, watched a little TV and then went to bed.

Wednesday, November 29^th, I spent some time in the morning doing the work to create the new geocaches that we hid yesterday. You have to get on to the website and create the cache, then submit it for approval. In the afternoon we went out and ran some errands, picking up our mail, which included our new food processor. At 4:30 we went down to the clubhouse for the Wednesday night wine dinner. The RV park's clubhouse is physically attached to the Symphony Restaurant and Winery, which is owned by a member of the same family that used to own the RV park when it was a Western Horizon's membership park. When Western Horizon's sold off all their properties the RV park was sold to someone new, but the Winery is a separate entity, just on the same piece of property. The winery also has a very high end restaurant called Symphony and there is a cooperative agreement that the restaurant caters a nice dinner on Wednesday night for guests of the RV park. They are $15 a person and include three glasses of wine, salad, entree and dessert. Tonight's entree was orange chicken. We have had better dinners in the past, but it was still pretty good and certainly worth the cost. After dinner we played Texas Hold'em and my bad luck continued, ending up down about five dollars. Jackie did OK, up a few dollars. After cards we went back to the coach, watched a little TV and went to bed.

Thursday, November 30^th, we had a stay at home day for the most part. Jackie went out after lunch for her 1:00 PT appointment and I stayed home and did chores. I did a couple of small repairs, put up the new LED decorative lights outside and then did some Christmas decorating. We will not be here for Christmas, but we are here up until the week before, so we figured we would get into the spirit and put up the tree and a few outside decorations. After Jackie got home we ran a couple of errands, then stayed in for the rest of the evening.

Friday, December 1^st, happy last month of 2017. We went out about 12:30 and ran a few errands, then stopped for a late lunch at one of the newer restaurants in Pahrump, the China Gogo. It is in the same shopping complex as our mail box service and opened last year, but we didn't go then. They have a fairly typical Chinese menu, along with some Korean BBQ offerings. Jackie had Kung Pao combo with chicken, shrimp and beef, which she said was OK, but a little lacking in spice. I had a fried shrimp and fish combo which was also OK, but not outstanding. Oddly, it came with both rice and a mac salad, unusual for a Chinese place. All in all, for the same price you can get better, more tasty, food at the China Wok buffet and get as much as you want. After our errands we went back to the coach so that we would be there when the repair guy came out. We are having someone come out to replace our front slide motor so that the slide won't creep out when we drive. The motor works OK, but the brake is shot. The fix it guy got under the slide, checked everything out and left, saying that he would do some research to try and find the right motor. About 5:30 we went down to the clubhouse for happy hour and then karaoke. All the usual singers were there, including our friends Len and Debbie. I got to do about five songs and by 9:30 we were back home to watch a little TV and then go to bed.

Saturday, December 2^nd, we left the coach about 11:00 and headed over the hump to Las Vegas. We are going over there to do a little shopping and then have lunch with my brother Russ. Russ, who is the number three of the five boys, has lived in Las Vegas since the mid-eighties and is a pit supervisor in the craps area of the Golden Nugget Casino downtown. We first stopped at Costco to pick up a few things, then went out and got one geocache for the day. We then drove to Casa Don Juan Mexican Restaurant and met Russ for lunch. The food was pretty good, and fairly authentic, but a little pricey. We did have a great visit with Russ, having last seen him this time last year. We stayed and talked for a couple of hours. After our visit with Russ we stopped at Ross for a couple of things, then headed back over the hill to Pahrump. We got home just after dark, around 5:30, and stayed in for the rest of the night.

Sunday, December 3^rd, we had a relaxing Sunday morning with the newspaper and coffee. We ran a couple of errands after lunch, but spent most of the day around the coach. I unloaded stuff our of the Jeep that we might need sometime in the next couple weeks as we are taking it into the body shop tomorrow morning to get the road damage we incurred in Texas repaired. At 3:00 we went down a couple of sites to the Duffin's coach for one of Millie's “Dilly Muffin” club meetings. It is basically a happy hour, but Millie likes to make a big deal out of her weekly get togethers. Tonight we did a revolving gift exchange with stuff Millie got at the Dollar store. Everyone drew numbers, picked a bag, then the next number gets either a choice of an existing gift, or a new bag. It was fun and I ended up with a cute little stuffed snowman for under our tree. Jackie got a tiny wind up train. About 5:00 it was dark and cold, so everyone left and we went into the coach where we spent the rest of the night.

Monday, December 4^th, we were up early and at the Enterprise Rental agency in Pahrump by a little after 8:00. We were picking up a rental car because today is the day the Jeep goes in the body shop for repairs. We got a little bit of an upgrade and drove off in a 2017 Hyundai Elantra sedan. It is a nice little car, but so different from the Jeep. We feel like we are sitting on the ground. We did a few chores around the coach for the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon. Mid afternoon we went out for a little while, putting out another new geocache in town and then doing a Walmart run. About 6:30 we went down to the clubhouse for poker night. Tonight I was on fire, ending up $17 ahead from my initial stake, and also winning the high hand of the night with a straight flush. That netted me another $23, for a total of $40 up, not bad for nickle poker. We went back to the coach, watched a little TV and then went to bed.

Tuesday, December 5^th, Jackie went out after lunch for her PT appointment. I stayed home and did some chores. When Jackie got home we went out for a while, getting one new geocache find. We have gotten most of the urban caches in the Pahrump area, and the rental car we have is not suitable for going out on the trails after some of the caches we haven't found yet. We also hid another geocache down on the south end of town, right across the street from the Chicken Ranch, one of the brothels in the area. On the way back to the coach we stopped at the Lakeside Casino and gamed for an hour or so. I broke even and Jackie lost $20. We went back to the coach and stayed in for the rest of the night. Wednesday we stayed at home and did chores for most of the day. At 4:30 we went down to the clubhouse for another of the catered wine dinners offered by the Symphony Restaurant. Tonight's meal was sliced sirloin with potatoes and veggies. It was quite good, with a nice mushroom gravy. They gave us quite a pile of meat tonight, so we left very satisfied. After dinner we played Texas Hold'em again. I didn't have a great night, but only lost a dollar, but Jackie had a great night, winning the high hand pool as well as ending up $5 up in regular wagers, winning a total of $23. After cards we went back to the coach, watched a little TV and went to bed.

Thursday, December 7^th, the 76^th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack. When I was stationed at Kaneohe Bay Marine Corps Air Station in Hawaii in 1967 the huge concrete aircraft hanger I first worked in still had bullet holes in the exterior from the attack in 1941. At that time it was Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay and was a seaplane base. The attack at Kaneohe actually started nine minutes before they hit Pearl Harbor because K-Bay was on the way to Pearl from where the Japanese carriers were cruising. We left the coach about 12:30 and went to lunch with a group from the RV park on one of the weekly lunch tag-alongs. There were 16 people who went to the Red Sky BBQ. We have been here before and enjoyed the food. Both Jackie and I had the half rack of baby back ribs and they were excellent. We had a good time eating and visiting with friends. After lunch we did a couple of errands then Jackie went to her PT. After PT we went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Friday, December 8^th was a stay at home day. I spent several hours working on the Full Timers Newsletter for the first quarter of next year. Last summer I agreed to take over the editor duties and this will be my first edition. I have to learn Microsoft Publisher as I go along, but it seems to be coming along OK. About 5:00 we went down to the clubhouse for the Pizza Pajama Party and karaoke. Both of us dressed in pajama type wear and there were quite a number of people at the party who participated and dressed in jammies of one kind or another. The food was good and all of our Pahrump friends were there. About 6:00 the karaoke started and I got to do about five songs, including the show opener and a very fun closer that included all of the night's singers, as well as many of the non-singers in the audience. After the party we went back to the coach and watched a little TV, then went to bed.

Saturday, December 9^th, we left the coach about 11:30 and headed out to check out some of the local flea markets and sales. Our first stop was a place that had a big sign on the main road near the RV park that said “Big Ass Sale” and gave a location a mile or south. The sign had intrigued us and we decided to check it out. It turned out to be a private home on a big lot with a couple of garages and out buildings in the back. The whole back yard, and all of the buildings in back, were fulled with used stuff. The guy who was watching over the stuff said that the owners bid on auctioned storage units all over Southern Nevada and then brought the stuff up here to sell. We spent a half hour looking around and ended up buying a big blue and silver Christmas wreath for Millie, our neighbor at the RV park, because her coach decorations are all blue and silver. Cost a whole $2. We left that sale and went down to the VFW post a little further south and checked out their weekend sale. The next stop was the casino another mile south where they had a craft sale. I bought some rubber lizards to use as cache containers at that one.

After our shopping spree we stopped at a local Mexican Restaurant called Johnny's for lunch. Although neither of us had a clear recollection, we did figure out that we had been here once before a few years back. The food was good and inexpensive. Pretty basic, typical Sonoran cooking. After lunch we stopped at the nearby Gold Town Casino for some gaming. We played an hour or so, both of us finally losing our $20 stakes. On the way back to the RV park we stopped one last place, a new antique mall that was having it's soft opening today. It is located in a building on the corner of the main road, Highway 160, and Winery Road, the road that goes up to the RV park. The building is a large, white structure that looks a bit like a castle. Years back it had been the Kingdom Gentleman's Club, a strip bar, but it closed about three or four years ago and has been for sale or lease since. We had seen an article in the paper a few days back that said it had been bought and was going to be opened as an antique mall and museum. We thought that whoever bought it would clean the place out and turn it into a big open space with booths for sellers. To our surprise, we walked in and everything from it's days as a strip club were still there. The bar, bar stools, stages, even the stripper pole! They just had shelves along the walls where the sellers put their stuff. Very odd. After that we went back to the coach and spent the rest of the evening relaxing.

Sunday, December 10^th, we had a stay at home day. I did go out first thing and got a Sunday paper. We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon doing some chores. About 2:30 we went down to the clubhouse for a potluck party put on by Millie and her husband. There were about 18 people there and we played some games and all sat around and talked. The food was very good and everyone had a good time. The party broke up about 5:30 and we went back to the coach and watched TV the rest of the evening. Monday we went out after lunch and did some geocaching. We found two of the few remaining urban caches here in Pahrump, and then we drove around to different locations and hid three more new caches. We are now up to 18 active hides here in Pahrump. We also stopped at the Lakeside Casino and gamed for a bit, both of us losing a little, but we still had a good time. After driving around for a while headed back to the coach for dinner. About 6:30 we went down to the clubhouse for poker. I finished about two dollars up and Jackie was about four dollars down. After cards we went back to the coach, watched a little TV and went to bed.

Tuesday, December 12^th, we left the coach after lunch, about 11:30 or so, and went to the laundromat to wash clothes. We got the clothes in the washers and I took Jackie to her PT appointment. The PT place is only a couple blocks from the laundry. After Jackie was done she walked back to the laundry, we folded the clothes and were done by 2:30. After laundry we went to the Terrible's Roadhouse Casino and gamed for a bit. We both lost our $20 but it took about an hour. We then went back to the coach, put our clothes away, had dinner and watched TV until bedtime. Wednesday we left the coach about noon and went to Jack in the Box for lunch. We had gotten a buy one, get one, coupon for their new steak sandwich, so we thought we would try it. It was OK, but I will stick to the good old Jumbo Jack or Ultimate Cheeseburger in the future. After lunch we did a Walmart run and had a quick stop at Smith's for some stuff Wally World didn't have. We then went back to the coach until 4:30 when we went down to the clubhouse for this week's wine dinner. Tonight was chicken Tuscany, which was pretty good. After dinner we stayed for Texas Hold'em. Jackie was down a couple dollars, but I had a good night, ending up $12 to the good, not bad for nickles. We then went back to the coach, watched a little TV and went to bed.

Thursday, December 14^th, we left the coach about 10:30 and headed over the hill to Las Vegas and Jackie's orthopedic appointment. We stopped at a BJ's restaurant for lunch, then went to the doctor's office. The doctor did a quick exam and said that he thought Jackie was doing OK. He said that she could call and come back any time she started having problems, but that there was no need for a new appointment right now. After her appointment we started back towards Pahrump. Since the doctor's office for this appointment was on the far northwest part of Las Vegas, we decided to go home the back way, north on Highway 95, then south to Pahrump, rather than go back 25 miles through town. The distance was about 18 miles more, but it turned out to be faster by a couple of minutes, plus there was no traffic frustration, just nice, wide clear roads all the way. After we got home we had our friends Millie and Dick over for cocktails. We sat and talked until about 8:30, when they went home. We then watched some TV, and went to bed.

Friday, December 15^th, our last day here in Pahrump. I spent some time in the morning getting things taken down and put away in preparation for our departure tomorrow. We also went out and did some errands in the afternoon, picking up mail and doing a grocery run. About 3:30 we got a call from the body shop that we could pick up our car. We went down there and got it. It looks pretty good except that there are two chrome trim pieces on the passenger side doors that are missing. They had not gotten them in yet, although they were on order. Since that was the only thing they hadn't finished, and it was just cosmetic, we paid the bill and took the car with the promise that they would put the strips on when we came back up here in late January. We then turned in the rental car and went back to the coach where we relaxed the rest of the evening.

The end of this last full day in Pahrump, after a month, marks a good point to put this episode to bed and get it online. We are headed to the Coachella Valley for four weeks, then a week in Quartzsite, then back up here to Pahrump. Until next time, remember that a friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you just the way you are. See you soon.

The Final Push Towards Home

Hello, welcome back to our story. Our last chapter ended on Sunday, October 30^th, when we arrived in Port Arthur, Texas, just across the line from Louisiana. Port Arthur is a medium sized industrial city of about 55,000 which is in the bayou country of East Texas, on the Gulf of Mexico. It is primarily an oil city and is home to the largest oil refinery in the United States. Much of the oil pumped by off shore rigs from under the eastern part of the Gulf of Mexico is piped into Port Arthur. On Monday we went out to do some exploring and geocaching. This area was hit very hard back in September when Hurricane Harvey came through. On one day there was 26 inches of rain at the regional airport. That is more rain than our old home of Indio, California gets in five years. Everywhere we drove there were abandoned homes and businesses and huge piles of trash on the streets where people are trying to rehab flooded buildings. A local shop keeper we talked to said that in some parts of the city the water was over the roofs of homes. The damage was all from floods, very little wind or storm surge damage. We had some problems with geocaching as a lot of the caches had been lost to flooding. We were able to get six new finds, as well as two DNFs. After caching we drove north to Beaumont, Texas and the Elks Lodge there. It was a nice lodge with about 250 members. There were not a lot of people there, but the one's that were greeted us and were friendly. We had a drink and got a lodge pin then headed back to the coach for the rest of the evening.

Tuesday, October 31^st, Happy Halloween. Today was a travel day. We left Port Arthur about 10:00 and headed west 165 miles to Columbus, Texas. We arrived at the Thousand Trails Colorado River RV park about 2:00. It was a stressful trip as about 50 miles was through Houston, Texas and it's suburbs, with all the traffic that you get in a big city. We also ran into some on and off light rain. We found a nice spot in the RV park and got set up. We were last here in 2012 and wanted to come back. This is a rural park with a very large herd of white tail deer that roams the park and wanders around the RVs. We didn't go anywhere after we got set up, just relaxed in the light rain moving through the area. No kids around, so no trick or treat tonight.

Wednesday, November 1^st, we went out after lunch for a couple hours of exploring Columbus and geocaching. We were able to get five new finds and one DNF for the afternoon. Like much of Central Texas, Columbus was badly flooded in the late summer when Hurricane Harvey came ashore and just sat, dumping feet of rain. Much of the town was flooded, some areas with over four feet of water. Just outside of town was a large farm field filled with thousands of cars which were damaged by flood waters and totaled by insurance companies. Just about any degree of immersion will cause a car to be ruined. There are several of these large fields of cars around the Houston and outlying areas that were flooded. There were a lot of trucks loading up cars to take them away. I can only hope that they were going to salvage yards to be used for parts, not out of state to be fraudulently sold to unsuspecting buyers as frequently happens in these kinds of disasters. After our caching and exploring we stopped at a grocery store for a few supplies, then headed back to the RV park for the rest of the night.

Thursday, November 2^nd, another travel day. We left Columbus about 10:30, continuing west about 130 miles to San Antonio, Texas. About 20 miles into the trip the odometer on the coach hit 100,000 miles! Yea! Just getting broke in. Since the coach had just over 2,000 mile on it when we took delivery, we have to go about 2,100 miles before we ourselves have 100,000 miles of travel. We made a lunch stop and a fuel stop, arriving at the Braunig Lake RV Resort just south of San Antonio about 2:00. We had stayed in this park back in 2012 then we came through here. It is a nice park with full hookup sites for Passport America rates. We got settled into our site and set up, then relaxed for the rest of the day. Friday we left the coach about 11:30 and drove into San Antonio to spend the day. We parked in a parking garage downtown, inside of the perimeter of the River Walk. We went down to the river level and spent an hour or so walking along the river, checking out the views. The river walk is very beautiful and a great place to spend the day. About 1:00 we went up to the street level and walked a couple of blocks north of the primary tourist area to a restaurant called Lula's Mexican Cafe, which had very good yelp reviews. It is mostly a locals place but we were there after the lunch rush, so we got seated quickly and got our chips and salsa. Our waiter was very nice and friendly. I ordered the Texas plate, which had two cheese enchiladas, rice and beans, and a half serving of what they called Carne Guiesada, which is a South Texas version of what we in the Southwest call Chili Colorado. Chunks of beef, onion, and peppers in a spicy brown gravy (guiesada means gravy) that is less spicy, and less red than the red chili sauce in Chili Colorado. It was outstanding. I also got a “puffy taco” which is the specialty of the house. It is a corn tortilla deep fried so it bubbles up and gets puffy, then stuffed with taco fixings. It was OK, a little oily, but not that much better than a crunchy or soft taco. Jackie got the green chicken enchilada plate and she said they were very good too. It was, by far, the best Mexican food we have had in months, since we left New Mexico back in May.

After lunch we went back down to the river walk and finished walking around the entire loop. We went back up to street level near the Alamo, then walked over to the mall and spent an hour in there walking around. We have been to San Antonio numerous times, so we didn't need to spend a lot of time in any of the tourist attractions. We did some geocaching too, getting three finds for the day. After the mall we were tired of walking so we went back to the car, drove back to the RV park and spent the rest of the evening relaxing with the TV.

Saturday, November 4^th, we left the coach about 11:30 and drove to the northeast side of San Antonio for lunch at one of our favorites, In N Out Burger! This California favorite, going back to 1948 has slowly expanded from a handful of stores in the Los Angeles basin, to over 300 stores in California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Utah and most recently Oregon. Jackie and I both recently read the book that detailed the story of this family owned chain and found it very interesting. I thought we were going to have to wait until Tucson in a week or so, but when I looked at their website I found they had five stores in the San Antonio area. We have not had an In-N-Out since April in Santa Maria, California. It was wonderful, and I got the Texas version of their company shirt. I have about a dozen of the shirts because they have a new design every year and each state has it's own version.

After In-N-Out we drove into town to the Market Square shopping plaza, a large indoor and outdoor market with dozens of booths selling mostly Mexican goods, everything from blankets to pottery to jewelry. Inside it looks a lot like Algodones, Mexico, outside of Yuma, Arizona where we go every winter. We spent a couple hours walking around the market, not buying much, but enjoying the atmosphere. After we were done at the market we did a Costco run, our first Costco in a couple of months. We didn't have to buy any vodka, our four case supply we put on board when we started this trip in the spring still has two bottles left, enough to get us back to Nevada. After Costco we headed back to the RV park and relaxed the rest of the night.

Sunday, November 5^th, another travel day. We had the coach packed up and were on the road about 10:00, heading west to the little town of Junction, Texas, about 135 miles. We have 580 miles of Texas left to travel and there isn't much between San Antonio and El Paso. Junction is only an overnight stop. We arrived at the Junction North RV Park about 1:00 and got a pull through site so we didn't have to unhook the car for our one night stay. We did the minimal set up then just stayed in the rest of the day, doing a few chores and relaxing. Monday was another travel day with another one night stand. We left Junction about 9:30 heading west to Fort Stockton, Texas, 198 miles away. We arrived at the Roadrunner RV Park about 2:00 after a lunch stop and fuel stop. This is a Passport America park we have stayed in before. It is nothing fancy, in fact it is kind of dumpy, but they are full hookup, 50 amp, free wifi and all for $15. Kind of hard to pass that up. We again didn't unhook the car, just stayed in and relaxed for the night.

Some time after we got set up I walked back out to the car to get some bottled water for the coach. That was when I noticed that there was damage to the right front of the Jeep. The plastic headlight housing was all broken and there was a large, two inch by one inch gouge in the front edge of the hood just above the headlight. The metal was pushed back leaving a big, jagged notch. I also found a half inch deep and quarter inch around dent in the roof, just above the top edge of the front passenger door. It was almost punched through the sheet metal of the roof. There was also a big dent on a piece of chrome molding under the rear quarter panel window and the molding was bent up. Clearly something was kicked up by the coach on the drive between the rest area where we had lunch and the truck stop in town where we stopped for fuel. The car was OK when I walked around it at the rest area and after we got fuel we were driving slowly on city streets to the RV park. Whatever got kicked up was solid and heavy, came up and hit the headlight, bounced up and off the roof and then off the side near the back of the car, hitting the chrome piece. It missed the windshield and the glass sunroof, but sure put some dings in the car. I took a bunch of pictures and called the insurance company to start a claim. We won't get it fixed until we get to Pahrump in a week or so. The headlight still works, although I suspect it would not be good to drive it in the rain as the bulb is exposed to the elements and probably wouldn't last long.

Tuesday, November 7^th, another travel day. We left Fort Stockton about 10:00, heading west again 230 miles to El Paso, Texas. This is one of the longer legs of our travels, but there isn't much between El Paso and Fort Stockton. We arrived at the Mission RV park just south of El Paso off the Interstate about 1:30. We gained an hour back when we entered El Paso County as this little section of Texas sets below New Mexico and observes Mountain Time. We got our spot and got set up for a two night stay. We actually unhooked the car and went out to do a Walmart run. After we got back we relaxed, had dinner and watched TV until bedtime. Wednesday was a chores day, we left the coach after lunch and went out to do our laundry. After laundry we stopped so Jackie could get a haircut, then we did one geocache in the area. After the haircut we went back to the coach, put everything away and relaxed for the remainder of the afternoon and evening.

Thursday, November 9^th, another travel day. We left El Paso around 10:30 and continued west on Interstate 10 about 150 miles to Deming, New Mexico. Finally finished with the 880 miles of Texas, yea! We got settled into the Roadrunner RV Park in Deming, got set up for our one night stay, then unhooked the car and drove to Irma's Mexican Restaurant for a late lunch. Normally we don't unhook the car for a one night stay unless we have to go into a back in spot. However, we wanted to go to Irma's because we have been there at least three other times and it is great, authentic Mexican cooking. It is really the main reason we stop in Deming whenever we take the I-10 route across the country. We had a wonderful lunch, ate way too much but enjoyed it greatly. After lunch we drove to the Deming Elks Lodge for a cocktail. We have been to the Deming lodge before, but they have moved from their old downtown location, a building they shared with the DAV, into another building they owned south of the airport. They are still in the process of improving this new property. We had a cocktail and got a lodge pin, although it turns out we already had the same pin. After the lodge visit we did a Walmart run, then went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the night.

Friday, November 10^th, Happy 242^nd Birthday to the United States Marine Corps. I put on my Marine shirt today, which was another travel day. We left Deming about 10:00 and headed west, another 145 miles to Willcox, Arizona. We arrived at the Fort Willcox RV park around 1:00, got parked in our spot and set up for another one night stay. This time we left the car hooked up and just relaxed and did a few chores around the coach.

Saturday, November 11^th, Happy Veteran's Day. Today was a travel day. We left Willcox about 10:00 and continued west, going about 90 miles to South Tucson. We arrived at the Mission View RV Park a little before noon and got settled into a spot for our two night stay. We were at this part back in March with the Bullock's, so we knew it was a nice park. After we got set up we had a quick lunch and then drove over to my granddaughter Crystal's house, which is only a few miles from where we are parked. We were also here in March and my great granddaughter Zoey, who is three, didn't want anything to do with Jackie or I. She buried her head in the couch, refused to even acknowledge us. Today she was a little better. She didn't want to stop playing to come out and be with us, but at least she did acknowledge us and gave both Jackie and I hugs. Crystal's boyfriend Orlando and his son Noah were also there at the house. We were even able to get a couple of pictures of Zoey, yea! We spent a couple of hours talking to Crystal, catching up, and had an enjoyable visit. About 4:30 we left and headed back to the RV park, picking up a geocache along the way. We spent the rest of the night in the coach.

Sunday, November 12^th, I went out and got a paper in the morning and we had a quiet morning with coffee and the paper. After lunch we went out to Costco for a few things. One thing we bought, now that we are back in Arizona where the liquor laws are more liberal, is another case of Vodka. When we left in late April to go on this summer trip we were in California. There are only a handful of states where the liquor laws don't require State run liquor stores, and/or allow spirits, vodka, rum, bourbon, etc., to be sold in grocery stores. In our experience only California, Arizona and Nevada and New Mexico allow any liquor to be sold in grocery and drug stores without any restrictions. Because we knew that we were going to be traveling for six months through states with restricted liquor laws, meaning high prices, we bought three cases (six bottles each) of the Costco house brand American Vodka before we left Santa Maria, California. When we were in Albuquerque we decided to buy one more case, giving us 24 1.15 liter bottles of vodka for the trip. When we arrived back in New Mexico a few days ago we opened the last of those 24 bottles. Pretty good planning on our part. After the Costco run we went back to the coach and put everything away and relaxed for a while. About 6:00 we left and drove over to Crystal's place so we could say goodbye. She had to work today and didn't get off until about 5:30. We had another nice visit for about 90 minutes and while we were there Crystal's dad James came home from work, so we got to see him too. Crystal is living with James for the time being. After our visit we drove back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the night.

Monday, November 13, another travel day. We left Tucson about 10:00 and continued west and north to the town of Buckeye, Arizona, a trip of about 140 miles. Buckeye is about 20 miles west of Phoenix and is one of the many suburbs of the Phoenix metro area. We arrived at the Leaf Verde RV park about 1:30 and got settled into a spot for our one night stay. After we got set up we left and drove over to my brother Ken's house to meet him and his wife Susan. They live in Goodyear, another suburb which is the next town to the east of Buckeye. They had also just gotten home from a camping trip down to Casa Grande, Arizona. After we met Ken and Susan at their house we all drove over to a nearby storage lot so we could see their new travel trailer. They just upgraded from a 22 foot trailer to a 30 foot trailer and we wanted to see their new rig. The trip to Casa Grande this weekend was their shake down cruise with the new unit. It is a very nice unit with a big slide out, so it has way more room than their old trailer. After looking at the trailer we went to the Texas Roadhouse near their home and had dinner. Susan's mom Helene was also with them. Ken and Susan bought a new “multi-generational” home a couple years ago and Helene lives with them in the apartment portion of the house. We had a great dinner and had a chance to catch up since we last saw them this past winter. After dinner we said goodbye and went back to the coach for the rest of the night.

Tuesday, November 14^th, another travel day. We left Buckeye and went west 120 miles to Ehrenberg, Arizona, right on the Colorado River across from Blythe, California. We checked into the Arizona Oasis RV park, where we have stayed many times before, and got set up. We are only here one night, but we still unhooked the car so we could drive into Blythe to have a late lunch at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, Garcia's. It is a small place in downtown Blythe, but they have great food. They were out of my favorite, chili colorado, today, but I still had a great meal. We both had the combo plate with a taco, enchilada and chili relleno. Way too much food, but really good. After lunch we went back to the coach and relaxed for the remainder of the day. Wednesday, another travel day. We left Ehrenberg about 10:30 and drove into California, then north on Highway 95, heading for Las Vegas and then home in Pahrump. We stopped about 12:30 in a little town called Cal Nev Ari, Nevada, about 10 miles into Nevada on Highway 95. It is really just a wide spot in the road, but they have an RV park that is a Passport America park, so we can get a full hookup, pull through spot for $11, not a bad deal. This will be the last stop before we finally get to Pahrump and mark the end our summer travels. From here to Pahrump is about 120 miles, through Las Vegas and then up over the hill. After we got set up we walked out to a nearby geocache, then went across the highway to the local casino, which also has the only restaurant and bar in town, and also houses the post office and a motor vehicle office. The place had a few dozen slot machines, so old that most of them actually still used coins! When Jackie cashed out at the end of her playing we heard the sound of quarters falling into a metal bin. Haven't heard that in a long, long time. I lost twenty bucks, Jackie lost ten, but we had fun. We then went back to the coach and stayed in the rest of the evening.

Thursday, November 16^th, we were packed up and on the road by about 9:30, starting the last 120 miles of our summer travels. It was about 40 miles to Las Vegas, then 30 miles through the middle of town, and then the last 50 miles up over the 5,000 foot pass and into the Pahrump Valley and home, at least in the legal sense. Traffic through town was heavy and stressful, even though it was all freeway. The climb up the pass was also stressful as it is a steep climb. Even though the temperature was in the high 60's the coach got hot. It didn't overheat, but by the time we got to the top it was close. We arrived at the Wine Ridge RV Resort about noon and got checked in. This used to be a Western Horizons park and we stay here any time we come to Pahrump. We got parked in a spot just a few down from a good friend of ours, Millie Duffin. Millie is the host of a weekly Saterday night happy hour and is kind of the unofficial social organizer of Wine Ridge.

After we got set up we went down to the UPS Store that serves as our mailbox and picked up our mail in person for the first time in a year. I stopped at the Sheriff's Office and picked up the paperwork I needed to renew my concealed carry permit and then we went back to the coach. I did a little more work setting up, then we just relaxed for the rest of the night. Our arrival here in Pahrump marks the official end of our 2017 summer travels. I mark our start as being when we left Santa Maria, California on April 30^th after visiting with Jackie's family in the area. In our travels we drove the coach 8,621 miles, through 26 states, making 66 stops for total of 199 nights. It was a great trip, with only a few minor glitches along the way, but I am now looking forward to some month long stays during the winter.


This ending of our summer travels is also the perfect time to close this chapter and get it published. We will be here in Pahrump for a month, so look for the next chapter to be published then. Until next time I leave you with an slightly updated version of a well known Ralph Waldo Emerson quote. “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and put a post on Facebook showing where you were last seen alive” See ya soon.