Time With Family and Friends In California

Hello again, welcome back. Our last chapter concluded on Saturday, June 29^th, a few days after we arrived in Santa Maria, California for a two week stay visiting family in the area. Sunday we enjoyed the paper with our coffee, then after lunch we went out to do some geocaching. Having spent a great deal of time in Pahrump this year, where there are very few geocaches which are both accessible to us and which we haven't already found. As a result, we haven't done much geocaching. It was good to get out and spend a few hours really caching. We were able to get nine new finds, and three DNFs in the course of about two and a half hours. After caching we went back to the coach and just relaxed for the rest of the day.

Monday, July 1^st, the middle of the year. We left the Elks about 11:30 and drove to the town of Arroyo Grande, about 15 miles north, to go to the movies. We saw the movie Yesterday, which was an interesting and entertaining romantic comedy. It was about an aspiring singer/song writer who was not having much luck until an odd, and mostly unexplained, glitch in the time/space continuum occurred. All the power everywhere in the world went out for 12 seconds and when it came back on there were a number of things which had never occurred, including cigarettes, Coca Cola, and The Beatles. However, at the exact moment of the blackout our hero singer got hit by a bus and knocked unconscious. His memory was not affected, so he remembered all these things that no one else did. He started doing what he thought were covers of Beatles songs, but to everyone else in the world they had no memories of them. He ended up wildly popular and famous for “writing” and performing all the songs by the Beatles. At the end he got a conscience, admitted his fraud, released all the songs online for free, then, of course, got the girl in the end. An unusual premise that could have been handled better, but the story was fun and the music was great. If you like the Beatles and romantic comedy, then this is a good movie for you, even if you have to suspend belief to “get it.” After the movie we drove up to Pismo Beach and met Donna's grandson Corey in Scotty's, one of the local bars. He had a caretaker for Donna for the day. We had a couple of drinks, then drove up to the house for an hour or so and spent some time with Donna. About 6:00 we left and on the way back to Santa Maria we stopped at a Mexican restaurant in Nipomo for dinner. Las Conzuelas was very good and we had a great dinner. We then drove to the coach, watched some TV and went to bed.

Tuesday, July 2^nd, we had a stay at home day. I got a lot of chores done including installing a new TV in the bedroom. About four years ago I updated the TV in the bedroom, removing the old, heavy tube type TV and putting in a small, 22 inch LED. This also opened up a big storage compartment for Jackie. That little TV quit working a couple weeks ago and I found a replacement on Amazon which I had shipped to Donna's house. It was delivered yesterday. The TV took a couple of hours and I also did a few hours of office work and some household chores. It was a very quiet, but productive day. Wednesday we left the coach after lunch, about 1:00 or so, and did some more geocaching, this time to the North of Santa Maria. In the course of a few hours we were able to get another nine new finds, with no DNFs today. Yea! As a matter of fact, one of the caches we found was a DNF for us a year or so ago. After caching we stopped at a grocery store for a couple things, then met Corey at Scotty's bar again. We had a couple of drinks, then drove up to Donna's and spent another 90 minutes visiting with her. We left about 6:30 and drove back to the coach, had dinner and watched TV until bedtime.

Thursday, July 4^th, Happy Birthday America! We stayed around the coach until about 5:00 when we left to drove up to Donna's house for the fireworks show. As I have said before, her house overlooks the public pier in Pismo Beach and each year they do the city's fireworks show off the pier. This makes Donna's house the ideal place to watch the show. Back in the early 2000's, before we sold the house and went full time in the coach we used to drive up here from Indio to spend the Fourth of July with Donna and her late husband Barky. We were up here at least three different years, however, after wewent out in the coach we were never in this part of California during the summer, so we haven't seen a show from Donna's house since before 2005. The show doesn't start until 9:00 p.m., so we talked, had some cocktails and ate pizza for dinner. Corey had picked up some pizza at a local Italian place. At 9:00 the fireworks started and it was a great show. There were thousands of people on the beach as far as you could see and, because fireworks are legal in the Coastal counties over the Fourth, there were lots of private “shows” all over the area, but the main show off the pier was wonderful. As soon as the show ended we quickly got in the car and headed for the freeway because if we delayed too much all the people on the beach would have time to walk to their cars and the traffic would come to a standstill. We were able to get down off the hill and on to the freeway in less than 10 minutes and were home within a half hour. When we got back to the Elks lodge we felt that we were in a war zone. There were fireworks going up all over the neighborhood surrounding the Elks Lodge. We watched a little TV and went to bed listening to the bangs.

Friday, July 5^th, we had another stay at home day until about 4:00 when we left to drive to Nipomo, about five miles north, for dinner at Jocko's, our favorite steak house. We always go to Jocko's at least once anytime we visit this area, and today we were also celebrating Corey's birthday. Corey and Pia met us for dinner and the four of us had a wonderful dinner. I had the big, 20 oz rib eye, or Spencer as they call it here. Jackie and Pia had lamb and Corey had halibut. Everything was great except that Corey had to send the halibut back because it was overcooked. The second one was not too much better, still a little overdone, but he ate it anyway. We all took leftovers home. Donna didn't come tonight because she no longer does well in noisy, crowded places, so Corey took some food home to her. After dinner we drove back home, relaxed with the TV for a while. Our relaxation was interrupted about 8:15 while we were watching a movie on the TV. All of a sudden the coach was rocking back and forth and the shaking went on for about 20 seconds. Not real severe, but definitely detectable. Both of us said “earthquake” and decided that it was either a small one close by or a big one a way's off. Turned out to be a 7.1 quake about 150 miles northeast in the Mohave Desert near the town of Ridgecrest. They had experienced a 6.4 on the Fourth, which was the largest Southern California quake in over 10 years, but because it is a small, rural city there were no deaths or major injuries and only moderate property damage. They have had thousands of smaller after shocks from yesterday, but this new 7.1 becomes the main shock and even the 6.4 is now considered a “foreshock.” As soon as we felt the quake we switched to the Los Angeles network and within five minutes they had cut away from regular programming with news about the big quake. We watched that coverage until bedtime, but no more shaking for us.

Saturday, July 6^th, we went out after lunch and did some more geocaching in the southern area of Santa Maria and the small town of Orcutt. We got five new finds and three DNFs for our trouble. After caching we went back to the coach and just relaxed for the rest of the day and evening. Sunday we had our usual relaxing morning with the Sunday paper and morning TV shows. About 2:30 we left the RV park and drove to Grover Beach, a small community south of Pismo Beach, to visit Jackie's cousin Pia's house. We have seen Pia a couple of times since we have been here, but we wanted to see her new cat, Pickles. Pickles was a stray that they picked up near Bakersfield a couple months ago. Although in feral conditions, it clearly was not a lifetime feral cat as it quickly adapted to living with Pia and her significant other Wil. Pickles is a smallish female, about the size of Benji, who has some tabby markings and some calico coloring. A very pretty cat, and quite friendly. After visiting with Pia for a while we went on to Pismo Beach and spent a couple hours with Corey and Donna. About 6:30 we headed back to Santa Maria, did some burgers on the BBQ for dinner, and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Monday, July 8^th, was laundry day. We left the coach after lunch and went to a nearby laundry. The one we use is only a mile from the Elks, very big and fairly new, so the equipment is in good condition. They also have staff cleaning the place all day, so it is nice and clean, although there was a bit of a funky smell, probably a clogged drain somewhere. After laundry we did a Walmart run, then went back to the coach to put everything away. We had dinner, then watched TV until bedtime. Tuesday was our last full day here in Santa Maria. I did a little cleanup outside, took down the screens and got ready to travel tomorrow. About 2:30 we left and drove up to Pismo Beach and Donna's house. We spent a few hours with Corey and Donna. Pia was also supposed to be there, but she had to take her cat to the vet and got hung up there. About 6:00 we left Donna's, went back to the coach and relaxed the rest of the night.

Wednesday, July 10^th, a travel day. We were packed up, hooked up and on the road about 10:45. Today's leg is about 132 miles to an RV park outside of the town of Coalinga, just off of Interstate 5. We got into the RV park about 1:30 and hooked up the utilities. Since we are only here for one night we didn't unhook the car, just set up the minimal stuff inside and relaxed for the rest of the day. This was the first time in two weeks we had to run the A/Cs. We went from a nice 75 to a toasty 95. Thursday was also a travel day, this time heading north on I-5 160 miles to Lodi. It was freeway all the way although we did make a fuel stop about 100 miles into the trip. We arrived at the Flag City RV park about 1:30 and got parked and set up. We are going to be here for three nights, so we have time to do some shopping, chores and geocaching. After we got set up we just relaxed in the coach for the rest of the day and evening.

Friday, July 12^th, we had a chores day in Lodi. We first went to a place in town called Fiori's Butcher Shoppe. Peggy had called Jackie and asked if, since we were in Lodi, could we go by Fiori's and pick up some of their special spice mix, salt, pepper, and a variety of other stuff. Apparently everyone in the Bullock family uses this stuff and they were running low. At Peggy's request we bought ten 16oz bottles to bring up with us next week when we go to Mineral. Fiori's also has a great deli, so we had lunch there. Jackie had a nice, big salad and I had an Italian hero type sandwich. The food was pretty good and the place was very busy. After lunch we went to a Great Clips and both got haircuts. Jackie does hers once a month or so, I go about five months between haircuts. We then went to the nail salon in the nearby Walmart to get our toes done. I just get a clip, Jackie gets a full pedi. Once that was done we did our grocery shopping, then headed back to the RV park. We got everything put away and stayed in for the rest of the day.

Saturday, July 13^th, we had a free day. About noon we left the coach and drove east about 45 miles to the town of Fairfield, a distant suburb of the Oakland/San Francisco metro area. We went to visit the Jelly Belly Candy Company and take the factory tour. For the one person out there who doesn't know what a Jelly Belly is, it's a small, gourmet jelly bean and they make a couple hundred different flavors. Those that have eaten them will attest that they pretty much taste like whatever they say it is. A good example is buttered popcorn. You put this little white jelly bean in your mouth, bite it and you taste buttered popcorn. They have every type of flavor you could want. The factory tour is very similar to what you get at the Tillamok Cheese factory. You go upstairs and then walk around the entire factory on a balcony that has windows looking down at the production floor. Unfortunately, we were there during the three week maintenance shutdown, so none of the machines were running and the only people on the floor were a couple of maintenance guys working on stuff. It was still very interesting as they have a bunch of short videos and a lot of displays to look at. We also got free samples for taking the tour. Yea! Of course, after the tour we went into the gift shop and I got a great tee shirt and a little stuffed animal jelly belly mascot for the dashboard of the coach. After the tour we did a couple of geocaches in Fairfield, then drove back to Lodi and did a couple more around the area where the RV park is. We ended up with seven new finds and one DNF. We went back to the coach and relaxed for a while, then about 6:00 we went to the Denny's across the highway for dinner. After dinner we went back to the coach, watched TV and relaxed for the rest of the night.

Sunday, July 14^th, another travel day. We packed up and were on the road a little after 10:00, heading north on I-5 to the city of Red Bluff. We arrived at the Red Bluff Elks Lodge about 1:30 and found an RV spot to park in. It was not difficult as we were the only one's there. They have 17 spots with 30 amp and water, with a dump station on site. We are here for two nights, so we set up and then went into Red Bluff to a Mexican restaurant called La Corona. Peggy had told Jackie that they had the best chili colorado in the area and we had to try it. We called and determined that they were closed tomorrow, so we decided to go for a late lunch. The food was very good as was the service. We had a great lunch, I did have the chili colorado and it was quite tasty. After lunch we went back to the coach and tried to stay cool by not moving around much. In 95 degree weather it is tough for the coach to stay cool inside with only the one air conditioner that you can run on 30 amps. We had a quiet rest of the day and evening.

Monday, July 15^th, we went out after lunch to Walmart to get some supplies, did two geocaches in the area, and went back to the coach. About 6:00 we walked over to the Elks Lodge, had a cocktail and then took in their weekly Monday steak sandwich. For $12 you got a good sized steak on a bun, fries or onion rings, and a salad bar. Not a bad deal. After dinner we went back to the coach and relaxed with the TV the rest of the night.

Tuesday, July 16^th, another moving day. Or so we thought until our world turned upside down. This morning we were going to leave Red Bluff and drive up the hill to Mineral, California where Peggy and Vernon have their “cabin” which they have added onto to the point where it is a huge house. We were going up there for the sixth annual 50^th Anniversary party. Back in 2013 they had a huge party for their 50^th, and it was so much fun and so many people came that they continued to have it every July. We missed a couple because of our travels, but this would be our fourth party. However, at 7:30 a.m. my phone rang (Jackie was still in bed) and it was a tearful Peggy telling me that her husband Vernon had died overnight! She said he fell, hit his head and died before she found him. You could have knocked me over with a straw. I woke Jackie up and told her the news and we had a good cry together. For the first few hours we were completely unsure as to what to do, but after talking to a couple of the other RVing couples we knew were supposed to come we decided to cancel our reservations in Mineral and find a place to stay down here in the valley, so we could be close but not right on top of the family. We were working on that prospect when Larry Bullock, one of their four children called and said that the family had decided to go ahead with the party this weekend, but now make it a celebration of life for Vernon. He is going to be cremated and there will be no funeral or service in accordance with his wishes. We decided to make a new reservation and go up on Thursday and stay until Monday.

Regular readers will know that we first met Peggy and Vernon in July of 2009 when we began our Alaska Caravan. They were parked right next door to us at the campground in Dawson Creek, B.C. and we immediately hit it off. We have been best friend's since and have traveled together at least four months of every year, gone to a lot of rallies together and partied a lot together. Vernon could be a grumpy old fart, but he had a big heart and was always there to help if you needed it. I think a lot of his grumpiness was because his health was poor. He had a bad heart, one heart attack under his belt already and his heart only worked about 40 percent. I think he was pissed off because he couldn't do physically what he wanted to do, was always tired and hurting. We had some great times together and we will miss him dearly. After we figured out what we were going to do, we spent the rest of the day inside just quietly mourning the loss of a great friend. RIP Vernon.

Wednesday, July 17^th, we left the coach about 12:30 and drove to the movie theater to see Stuber. Stuber is a silly, shoot em' up where a rough and tumble undercover cop undergoes laser surgery on his eyes to fix bad eyesight, and then gets a tip that an international drug trafficker he has been chasing for ten years is back in town. The drug king pin shot and killed our hero's partner ten years ago, so he has to go, but can't see, so he calls an Uber. Stu, a mild mannered East Indian gets the pickup and mayhem ensues. Lots of shooting, dying and running, car crashes and explosions, and, of course, a happy ending. Not Oscar material, but good escape-ism and funny. After the movie we stopped at Walmart for a couple things we forgot yesterday, then went back to the coach where we stayed in the rest of the day.

Thursday, July 18^th, we left Red Bluff about 10:00 and started the 42 mile trip up to Mineral and Peggy and Vernon's house. Jackie followed in the car, both because it was a short trip and because in the 42 miles the elevation changes from under 300 to over 5,000 feet. The last time we tried it towing the Jeep the coach overheated, so I decided to not take any chances this time. We made it in about an hour with the coach only getting a little hot a couple of times. We checked into the Mineral Lodge RV park, which is about a half mile from Peggy's place and got parked and set up. We are in the middle of a pine forest so there is no satellite at all, although I tried for several hours to get a signal. About 4:30 we drove to the house and had a nice get together with the Bullock family and a bunch of friends, most of whom we know well or at least have met at previous parties up here. We talked, reminisced about Vernon, and had some drinks, then a great pot luck dinner with lots of food. We left about 8:30, went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the night.

Friday, July 19^th we spent the morning in the coach and about 3:00 drove down to the house for the evening's party. I packed in the karaoke gear as there are several people in our circle of friends that like to sing. After I got the equipment set up we relaxed with some cocktails and chatted with friends. Tonight was just a whole bunch of different appetizers and snacks. About 6:00 I started the karaoke and was surprised that we had about six people in the group who liked to sing, and most of them were pretty good. We went until it got dark about 9:00 when the party pretty much broke up. I stored the gear until morning since it was on Peggy's back deck and it was pretty unlikely that anyone was going to come in to steal it. We went back to the coach, relaxed for an hour or so with our mobile devices, since we have no TV, and then went to bed. Another great evening.

Saturday, July 20^th, we went down to the house about 9:00 a.m. for Larry's famous breakfast burritos and bloody Mary's. We stayed for a couple hours, then went back to the coach, got cleaned up and relaxed for most of the day. About 3:30 we went back down to the house for dinner. There are still at least two dozen people hanging out, most of them either in the RV park where we are or the motel next door. Tonight was the big dinner with Peggy's son Larry making baby back ribs, and her daughter Katie making chicken. This was accompanied by a bunch of other food brought by guests. The food was excellent and after dinner everyone sat around a great big campfire in the back yard and told stories. About 9:00 the party broke up, we went back to the coach, read for a while and then went to bed.

Sunday, July 21^st, we again were down at the house around 9:00 for breakfast, today it was biscuits and gravy. Yum. We were there for a couple hours, then went back to the coach and cleaned up for the day.  We took a drive to the little town of Chester which is on Lake Almanor, about  30 miles Northeast of Mineral.  We drove around, got a few geocaches and had some ice cream before driving back to Mineral.  We went back to the house about 3:00 and the group was significantly smaller. By the time we had dinner at 6:00, leftovers from yesterday, it was Jackie and I, Peggy, and her daughter Katie. Everyone else had left to go home. We stayed until about 9:00, then went back to the coach and relaxed. Monday was our last day in Mineral. We went to the little cafe at the Mineral Lodge for lunch, then went to Peggy's house. Now it was just her and the dog, Belle. We helped her do some cleaning and packing around the house and about 4:00 she left to drive to Redding to spend a couple of nights with her son Matt. She has some doctor's appointments and some stuff to do take care of with Vernon and the estate. We went back to the coach and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening relaxing. Although we didn't have any live TV we were able to watch one of the movies we had on the DVR.

Tuesday, July 23^rd, we were packed up, hooked up and on the road by 10:00. We were only going a little over 70 miles to the Redding Elks Lodge. We arrived at the lodge around 11:30, got parked and did the basic setup. We have 50 amp, so we can run both air conditioners, and we need to because it is hot. We also now have TV again! Yea! After we got the basics done we drove to a nearby Thai restaurant and met Peggy for lunch. We had a nice lunch, then went back to the coach and finished setting everything up. We are staying here for three nights. Wednesday was a errands day. About 10:00 Peggy brought Belle over to the coach for us to dog sit for an hour or so while she ran some errands. She had spent the last couple nights with her son Matt, but was going back up to Mineral today. Peggy picked up the dog and we left the coach after lunch and first took a drive in the residential area near the Elks Lodge. Many of the homes in this area were burned in the Carr Fire, which devastated Redding and the surrounding communities almost exactly a year ago. All of the burned homes have been cleared, but most of the lots are still empty. We did see a couple of new homes and a couple more under construction, but last year was such a bad year for California and wildfires that there are just not enough construction workers for rebuilding the thousands of homes that were lost statewide.

After our little tour we drove to Costco for a few supplies. Mostly we needed to stock up on vodka since we are going into Oregon for a month and liquor is much more expensive up there because of their restrictive laws on liquor sales. After Costco we went the Walmart across the street for a few things. We then drove to Anderson, a small town about ten miles south of Redding, to pick up our mail at the UPS store After the UPS store we stopped at Camping World and browsed for a bit, then drove back to the coach. We spent the rest of the day and evening in the coach.

Thursday, July 25^th, we left the coach about 10:00 and drove back up to Mineral and Peggy's house. It took a lot less time in the car than going up in the coach. We went up there because Peggy's grandson Troy, his wife Makayla and their new baby Brooks, came in yesterday for a visit. They live in the Boise, Idaho area and couldn't make here in time for the celebration of life for Vernon. Matt had also brought up Troy's sister, Trinity, who is 14, and lives in Redding. We wanted to go back up to Mineral since we had not seen the family since last year, and at that time Makayla was still pregnant. We had lunch and spent about five hours visiting with the family. We left about 3:00 and drove back to the Elks, then spent the rest of the evening in the coach.

Friday, July 26^th, was a travel day. We are going about 165 miles north to Gold Hill, Oregon, finally getting out of California for a while. We left early, about 9:00 to try and avoid some of the heat. There are a lot of hills and mountain passes on the route north and I was worried about overheating. We made it to the Valley of the Rogue State Park without any problems, getting in about 1:00. We made it to our reserved space and got parked and settled in for our two week stay. We were quite disappointed to see that there was a great deal of smoke hanging over the Rogue River valley and the visibility was very bad. There is a large forest fire about 50 miles north of the State Park and the smoke is blowing down from that. It reminded us of what Redding was like this time last year when we were there during a big fire nearby.

We are now over three weeks since we published, so it is time to get this episode online. We are here in Gold Hill, in Southern Oregon, for two weeks, then we move to Northern Oregon for another two week stay. Until next time, remember that the secret of success is to go from mistake to mistake without losing your enthusiasm. See ya soon.

The Last Two Weeks in Pahrump then Finally Starting Summer Travels

Hi, glad you're back. Our last episode concluded on Saturday, June 8^th, with us still at the Wine Ridge RV Resort in Pahrump, Nevada, our legal home of record. Sunday was a quiet day, I went out in the morning and got the newspaper but other than that we stayed in and just relaxed for the day.

Monday, June 10^th, we decided we needed a day out, so we left the coach about 10:30 and drove into Las Vegas to see a movie. The movie theater we went to is located inside of the South Pointe Casino and Resort, which is the southernmost casino on Las Vegas Boulevard, the Vegas Strip. We saw the movie Rocketman, which is a musical bio-pic about the life of Elton John. It was really a great movie, lots of song and dance numbers, all to the sounds of Elton John music. There was a lot of stuff that went on in his life that I was not aware of. The movie was very cleverly written, starting out with a fully costumed John arriving to a group session in a treatment facility. The rest of the movie is out of stories he is telling to the group, starting with his early childhood. The acting and singing were good and the music was outstanding. Great movie. After the movie we stopped in the casino, we had to walk thorough it to get to the garage, and gamed for an hour or so. Jackie lost her $20, I ended being up $7. We then drove back to Pahrump, getting back to the coach about 4:30. We had cocktails and did hamburgers on the grill for dinner, then went to the clubhouse for poker night. Jackie was up about $5 and I broke even again. After cards we watched a little TV and went to bed.

Tuesday, June 11^th, we mostly had a stay at home day. We left the coach about 3:30, went out and got one new geocache that had recently been placed on the southwest side of town. We were the second to find on the cache. After that we went to the medical center for Jackie's appointment with her cardiologist. We waited quite a while for the doctor to come in, the perils of being given a late day appointment, but once he came in he was very pleasant and unhurried. He went over Jackie's perception of the angiogram, then discussed the results and gave Jackie a copy of the report. He talked to her again about symptoms and basically said that she needs to lose weight, exercise, watch her diet and probably take some meds to reduce the blockages and blood pressure. He confirmed her being on the low dose aspirin, but said he needed more data to decide on blood pressure meds. We will have to regularly take her blood pressure and come back to see him in October when we come back. The best thing he said was that she was at low risk of a heart attack or other cardiac event. Yea! After the doctor we went back to the coach and stayed in the rest of the evening.

Wednesday, June 12^th, we left the coach about 1:00 and went to the China Wok for lunch, then went and picked up mail and did a Walmart run. After Walmart we went back to the coach and we stayed in for the rest of the afternoon. Summer has finally hit Pahrump, with temps in the 100's for the next few days at least. About 6:30 we left again and drove down to the VFW hall for karaoke. The Duffins, as well as some of our other friends, were there. The rotation was short, only 7 singers at the most, so I got to do a lot of songs. We had a good time and sang until about 9:30 when we left and went back to the coach. We watched a little TV and went to bed. Thursday we were up and out of the coach by 10:00, heading to the dermatologist's office. After a pretty long wait we got in to see the doctor, actually the Nurse Practitioner, for our appointment. Jackie talked to him about a couple of cysts she has, but when he told her that he could take them out, but it would require at least one followup appointment, she decided to wait until October. The doctor told her he didn't see any problem with that as they seemed small and did not appear to be infected or irritated. He looked at the three places on me where he cut off some lesions a couple weeks ago and found they were pretty much healed up. He also told me that the labs came back negative on all three samples, good news too. After the doctor we went home and spent the rest of the day in the coach. I had a nice batch of Chili Colorado cooking, which we had for dinner. About 6:30 we went down to the clubhouse for poker. We had a good night, I ended up $9 to the good, and Jackie was up $3. Yea! We went back to the coach, watched a little TV and went to bed.

Friday, June 14^th, we had a quiet day at home. Got a few things done, but never left the coach except to do our walk in the morning. Saturday we left the coach about 12:30 and drove 25 miles to the Mountain Springs Saloon for lunch. The saloon is located in the little community of Mountain Springs, which sets at the summit of the pass through the Spring Mountains between Las Vegas and Pahrump on Highway 160. In the 12 years we have been Pahrump “residents” we

have talked about checking out the saloon when we drive over the pass. You can't see the saloon from the road, but they have a big sign. Today we decided to finally check it out. It is actually a complex of small, old wooden buildings just off the highway in the woods. The saloon is small, dark and has dollar bills tacked up on every surface. There is an attached game room, although it is at a different level, uphill from the bar. The restaurant, actually a BBQ cook shack, is separate and further up the hill. Most of the seating is outside, except for a few stools at the bar inside. Definitely a kitschy, dive bar, with a reputation as a biker hangout. Not too many bikers around today, in fact, there were only a dozen or so people in the area. We ordered food, Jackie had the “burnt ends” plate, which is the end pieces of ribs and briskets that are smoked. She said they were very good. I had a Zombie burger, which was a big, half pound burger with everything on it. The food was actually quite good and filling. It was also cooler up at the 6000 foot level and we had a nice lunch outside. We also had a drink with lunch. After lunch we drove back down to Pahrump, then stayed in for the rest of the day.

Sunday, June 16^th, my oldest daughter Tye's birthday, and also Father's Day this year. We had a stay at home day for most of the day. We did leave about 6:30 in the evening and drove over to the Escapee's RV park for another of Millie Duffin's little get togethers. There were a dozen people there, most of whom we know, or at least have met in the past. We had some snacks, played some games and just had great conversations. We left about 8:30, went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the night.

Monday, June 17^th, we left the RV park about 10:00 a.m. and drove into Vegas to go to the movies again. This time we saw The Secret Life of Pets II, which is an animated film. We had seen the first one in the theater a couple years ago, and just watched it again on TV a couple days ago. It is a cute movie, made for kids but with plenty of laughs and “inside” jokes for adults. We really enjoyed the film. The Cinemark Theater located in the South Pointe Casino has $8 senior tickets on Mondays, and they take another $4 off each ticket if you have a casino players card, so it only cost $8 for both of us. After the movie we went to Costco for gas and a few things in the store, then stopped so Jackie could get a haircut. After our errands we headed back over the hill to Pahrump. At 6:30 we went down to the clubhouse for poker. As good as I did on Thursday, I did just as badly tonight. I didn't win a single hand until the last half hour of play and ended up down $6. Jackie was down $2. After cards we went back to the coach, watched a little TV and went to bed.

Tuesday, June 18^th, was laundry day. We left after lunch, did our laundry, then picked up our mail. After that we went home, put everything away, made the bed and just relaxed for the rest of the afternoon and evening. Wednesday we went out about 1:30 and went to the nail salon so Jackie could get a pedi and I could get my toenails trimmed. After the nail salon we did a Walmart run, then went back to the coach for a while. After dinner, about 6:30, we left again and went to the VFW hall for karaoke. We had a good group tonight, a dozen friends, about half of whom were singers. It was most of the group of friends who come to the Friday night karaoke at the RV park. We had a really good time and listened to some good singers and songs. We left around 9:30, went back to the coach, watched a little TV and went to bed.

Thursday, June 20^th, the last day of Spring. We left the coach about 12:30 and drove to the Red Sky BBQ restaurant for lunch. We met our friends Richard and Regina Rubinstien there. We had a wonderful lunch, with both Jackie and I ordering full racks of ribs. Their ribs are great and relatively inexpensive, and we wanted to be able to take leftovers home. After lunch we did a Walmart run and then went over to the Escapee's RV park to check where we are on the list to get in. We are now number 26, so maybe 18 months if we are fortunate. We then went home and relaxed for a while. We went down to the clubhouse for Texas Hold'em at 6:30, our last poker night until October when we get back here. I ended up down $5, after being down, then up and then down again. Jackie lost a dollar. We went back to the coach, watched a little TV and went to bed. Friday was a quiet day for the most part. I spent an hour or so cleaning up some of the outside decorations in preparation for our departure (finally) from Pahrump on Monday. Our friends Linda and CJ, who used to stay in Wine Ridge, but recently got into the Escapee's RV park, came over to talk. Linda is a karaoke junkie, and is an excellent singer, and she wants to get into doing karaoke gigs when the opportunity arises. She wanted to talk about equipment requirements, getting song files, and karaoke software. There were here an hour or so. After they left we just relaxed and spent the rest of the day in the coach and out of the wind.  Today a group of three vintage travel trailers, towed by classic vehicles, pulled into the park for the weekend.  The one that parked right next to us was an early 60's 18 foot travel trailer pulled by a nice, restored 1956 Chevy station wagon.  The wagon was painted purple and cream and the trailer had purple highlights on it.  The other two were also vintage trailers, one pulled by a late 60's Chevy stepside pickup, the other by a 68 Chevy El Camino.  Very nice looking neighbors.

Saturday, June 22^nd, we left the coach about 12:30 and drove to the Lakeside Casino for lunch. They have a great cafe and because the casino is a little ways out of town it is rarely too busy. We had a wonderful lunch and then stayed and gamed for about an hour. Both of us lost $40, but this will likely be our last casino stop until we get back to Pahrump in mid-October. After gaming we went back to the coach and relaxed for a while. About 4:30 we left again and drove to the Elks Lodge for karaoke. We had just learned that within the last month or so they had started having karaoke on Saturday nights at the Lodge. Even though we are members of this lodge we didn't know about it because they never put anything in the monthly bulletin. We learned about from our friends Len and Debbie Forrest. After we got to the lodge all of our karaoke “group” of friends arrived as well. At one point we had as many as 12 singers in the rotation, but the singing went until 9:00 so we had time for five rounds. With a few exceptions all of the singers were great and we had a really fun time. I wish we had known about it weeks ago. After karaoke we went back to the coach, watched a little TV and went to bed.

Sunday, June 23^rd, our last full day in Pahrump. After lunch I spent a couple of hours doing some outside cleanup, getting ready to leave tomorrow. About 5:30 we left and drove to the Duffin's place at the Escapee's RV park for another party. This was a smaller group of friends, only a dozen or so, but we had a good time. We played some games and had some great conversations. The weather was really nice so we sat outside and talked until almost 9:30, after which we packed up and went back to the coach. We watched a little TV and went to bed.

Monday, June 24^th, the first of three travel days. We left the Wine Ridge RV resort about 10:15 and started our trek West towards our ultimate destination of Santa Maria, California on the Pacific coast. We stopped at the Smith's store in Pahrump to fuel up the coach, then headed out. Our first day was about 145 miles to Dagget, California, a little town outside of Barstow. On the way we stopped at the Mad Greek restaurant in Baker, California, a regular stop for us when passing through the area. We arrived at the Desert Springs RV park about 2:30. This was a one night stay, so we didn't unhook the car and did minimal setup. After we got set up we just relaxed. Tuesday we were up and out early to avoid the heat, leaving the park about 9:15. We continued West, passing through Barstow and then up and over the Tehachapai pass. We got an early enough start that we avoided overheating on the climb up the pass. We arrived at the Shady Haven RV park about 12:30, got checked in and parked. Again we left the car hooked up and just relaxed for the remainder of the day.

Wednesday, June 26^th, we were again on the road by 9:15, continuing West. We arrived in Santa Maria and the Elks Lodge about 12:30 and were pleased that instead of 105 it was 75 degrees. Yea! We had a little snafu when we arrived in that after we checked in at the office we found that there were no empty spots in their RV park. I checked with the office and the girl finally determined that they had mistakenly put one of their volunteer people in the full hook up area even though they had reservations for all the spots. They called this person and told him he had to move back to the partial hookup area. We finally got into our spot about 2:00 and got everything set up for our two week stay here. We are primarily here so Jackie can visit her family that lives in Pismo Beach, about 20 miles north of here. Her Aunt Donna, who turns 94 this week, and Donna's grandson Cory have a nice house on the hill overlooking the beach. Since we were tired and didn't finish setting up until late afternoon, we just stayed in for the rest of the day and evening.

Thursday, June 27^th, we left the Elks about 2:30 and drove north to Pismo Beach and Jackie's Aunt Donna's house. Donna's grandson Cory greeted us along with Donna and Pia, Jackie's cousin who lives nearby in Grover Beach, was also there. We had a great family reunion and sat around and visited for several hours. Sadly, Aunt Donna does not appear to be doing well since the last time we saw her, back in September of last year. Her health is deteriorating as well as her mental state. She still recognized Jackie, which is good. We left Donna's about 5:30 and drove back to the Elks. We cooked some chicken on the BBQ for dinner and then watched TV until bedtime. Friday was a shopping day. We left the coach about 1:00 and went to In N' Out for lunch. We then

went to Best Buy to check on TVs. The small, 22 inch TV in the bedroom has quit working and we are looking for a replacement. We then went to Walmart. Because the Central Coast will not allow Super Walmart's, they have a regular Walmart and then a Walmart Neighborhood Market almost next to each other in the same shopping area. After visiting both Walmart's we went to Costco and spent a pile of money replenishing our freezer stock of meats. After our shopping we headed back to the coach and spent another hour putting everything away. We had dinner, then watched TV until bedtime.

Saturday, June 29^th, we left the coach about 2:30, stopped at KFC for a big bucket of chicken, then headed back to Pismo Beach. Today is Donna's 94^th birthday and we were going to have a little family celebration. It was us, Cory, and Pia, but we sang happy birthday, ate dinner and then had some ice cream cake. It was a good celebration and Donna was a little more chipper today than she had been the other day when we were here. We left about 7:00, drove back to Santa Maria and then just stayed in for the rest of the evening.

We are going to be here in Santa Maria for another ten days before moving to Northern California, and this marks three weeks since we published. With all that, it seems to be a good time to close this episode and get it published. Until next time, remember to go through life like a duck. Majestic on top, kicking like hell underneath. See ya next time.

Three More Weeks in Beautiful Pahrump

Hello again, welcome back to our story. Our last chapter concluded on Saturday, May 18th, while we were still in Pahrump, Nevada, our legal home of record. We were originally going to stay here for a month, leaving last Tuesday, the 14th. However, when Jackie went to the doctor for her shortness of breath he ordered some tests that seem to indicate she has some sort of issue with her heart and he referred her to a cardiologist who recommended an angiogram. With all of that going on we extended our stay here at Wine Ridge RV Resort for another month. Jackie is scheduled to go into Las Vegas on Monday for her angiogram, and possibly other procedures.

Sunday, May 19th, we had a stay at home day again. I went down to the store for the Sunday paper, but other than that we just stayed at home and did some chores and relaxed. Monday we were up at 6:00 a.m. getting ready to head down to Las Vegas so Jackie could have here angiogram performed. She had to be at the hospital by 8:30. We were literally getting ready to walk out the door at 7:00 when her phone rang. The call said “Restricted” and she almost didn't answer, but she did and it was the doctor that was going to be doing the angiogram. He was calling to tell Jackie that the hospital's only board certified cardiac surgeon was on vacation. He said he could do the catheter and the diagnostic portion of the procedure, the actual angiogram, but that if she needed a stent or even surgical intervention, they couldn't do it because hospital policy required a cardiac surgeon be available on site. We thought about it briefly and decided to cancel and reschedule. At least as far as we know Jackie's issues are not critical, just concerning, and we didn't want her to have to go through the catheterization process twice, not to mention that even the catheterization has some risks and we didn't want to have to worry. So, end of planned trip to Las Vegas. We ended up staying in the rest of the day, getting a few things done and just relaxing. Towards the end of the day the nurse called and said Jackie was rescheduled for two weeks from today.

Tuesday, May 21st, we had a fairly quiet day. We went out after lunch and spent some time at the Escapee's RV park, surveying the various sites. Regular readers will remember that last fall we put our name on the list to get one of the nearly 200 spots at the park. The park is a co-op where you basically lease your lot for as long as you want to stay there. To get in you pay a base rate, around $8,000 plus the value of any improvements. When you give up your lease you get all the up front money back. There is also a modest co-op monthly fee of less than $100. There are a number of Escapee parks around the country and the waiting list varies for each. We have heard the waiting time here is about two to three years. When someone gives up a lot they offer it first to any existing residents who may want to move, then to the next person up on the active list. You can take it or pass it, but you are only allowed three passes before you go back to the bottom of the list. Our goal today was to go through the park and list all of the sites which would be a hard no if it was offered. This was mostly a matter of the lots that had trees which might block our satellite. We ended up with about a dozen of the lots that would not be suitable. After our work at the RV park we did a Walmart run, picked up our mail and then came home. We spent the rest of the evening in the coach.

Wednesday, May 22nd, our plan was to go out and do a little geocaching today, but just as we finished lunch rain clouds moved off the mountains and into the valley and we got rain. It was fairly light, but it went on for a couple of hours. In addition it was cool, only in the low 60's. Later in the evening the local weather guy was commenting that Las Vegas and the surrounding area, meaning us, were experiencing record low daily high temperatures. Apparently the weather gods are angry at Nevada. As a result we stayed in for most of the day. We did go out after dinner, about 6:30, and went to the VFW hall for karaoke. They have remodeled the inside of the VFW and it is a lot more appealing, and less smokey, than it used to be. Dick and Millie Duffin were there, even though they don't sing they like to support their friends. However, it was raining lightly when we left the coach and I think the weather kept all our other friends away. It did make for a short rotation of only six or seven singers, so I did get to do a half dozen songs. And, Jackie got to play some slots because they have gambling in the VFW. About 9:00 we left and went back to the coach, watched a little TV and went to bed.

Thursday, May 23rd, the weather cleared a bit. It was still cool and cloudy, but didn't look like it was going to rain. We left the coach after lunch and drove about 20 miles northwest of town to do some geocaching. All of the caches in and around town we have either already found, or they are out in the desert on some of the ATV trails that we can't go on with the car. We worked a series that runs alongside of a decent gravel road. There are 47 caches in this series, most of them only a tenth of a mile apart. They are also pretty easy, just pill bottles under a pile of rocks just off the road a few feet. Not a lot of challenge, but we are tired of not being able to cache, so we figured we would just go out today for the numbers. In a couple of hours we had 21 new finds and are closing in on the 9,500 finds milestone. After caching we stopped and picked up mail, then headed back to the coach. About 6:30 we went down for poker. I had a decent night, only loosing two dollars in regular play, however I won the high hand for night with four sevens, so I won the fifteen dollars in the kitty for that. Each player puts one dollar in the kitty when the games start which goes to the high hand of the night. It's been a while since I won high hand. Jackie was down about four dollars. After cards we went home and watched a little TV before bed.

Friday, May 24th, we were out early, about 10:30, heading into Las Vegas again. One of the things that Pahrump does not have is a movie theater. We keep hearing that they are planning to put one in the Spring Mountain Resort complex, but nothing has come of those plans yet. We like going to movies and decided that we wanted to see a movie even if it meant driving 50 miles into Vegas. We went to see A Dog's Journey, which is a sequel to A Dog's Purpose, which we saw about a year ago. Like the first movie, this one follows a dog's “spirit” as it moves forward in time by being reincarnated as another dog each time it dies. There is a narrator that voices the dog's thoughts and both of the movies are entertaining, funny and heartwarming. This is a five tissue movie, but very enjoyable. The dog's purpose in the first movie was to continue to be in the life of his first owner, from when he was a pre-teen to adulthood. In the sequel the dog's journey is to find and then continue to be in the life of the original owner's granddaughter. While we were in Vegas we stopped at Costco to get some gas in the car and pick up another case of vodka. God forbid we run out of vodka somewhere where there is no Costco and we have to pay retail. We were on the road back to Pahrump by 3:00 and after we got back we just stayed in the rest of the evening.

Saturday, May 25th, we left the coach about 11:00 and drove to the southwest part of Pahrump to a new housing development that was having an open house. We have no plans, or even desire, to have a house, but it has been a while to see what new houses have for features and price. The company was Lenar, which is a major builder in the Western United States, and which has two or three developments already in Pahrump. They only had two models to look at, a large, 2,600+ square foot three bedroom unit with huge rooms, and their version of a multi-generational house with three bedrooms in the main unit and an adjoining “apartment” with a bedroom, living room and bath. Although it had more bedrooms this house was smaller at just under 2,300 square feet. The big house started at $355K and the smaller one started at $339K. We didn't really care for the layout of either house.

After touring the new houses we stopped at the nearby Lakeside Casino for lunch, then went back to the coach for a while. About 4:00 we left again and drove down to the Escapee's RV Park for another Millie Duffin party. Dick and Millie have been delayed going back to their home base in Utah by the weird late winter weather, so Millie wanted to have one more party. Since they moved into the SKP park last summer they now have access to the Clubhouse at the park, so Millie got permission to put on a big party with karaoke as the center piece. She asked me to do the karaoke and I said OK. We got there early and got everything set up and working and at 5:00 the party started with heavy snacks. Millie had invited the usual batch of friends, many of whom are karaoke fans and regularly sing at the Wine Ridge Resort. However, we also had a large number of SKP residents because the rules of the park state that any event in the clubhouse has to be open to any Escapee member. We also had some friends from town, including an old friend of ours, Phyllis, who used to be the manager of the Wine Ridge Resort and still lives in Pahrump. She and her late husband Don were also big karaoke fans. Her new husband doesn't sing, but he did come to the party. At 6:00 we started singing and we had six singers in the rotation, all of whom were regulars with our group. We did a couple of other audience members to come up and do one or two songs, but most of the singing was our little group. We sang until 9:00 when we packed everything up and headed home. Everyone seemed to enjoy the party, even the residents that were not with our group, which is good because if we get into the park in the next couple years as we want to, we will have to be around these people a lot. It's good to know that at least some of them like to party. After we got home we watched a little TV and then went to bed.

Sunday, May 26th, we had the Sunday paper in the morning and then after lunch we went out and visited a couple of the second hand stores in town. I was specifically looking for a small side table for next to my chair, somewhere I can put the TV remotes and a drink. We didn't find anything suitable, but it was fun looking at all the stuff. On the way home we stopped and did a Walmart run, then went back to the coach and spent the rest of the day inside. Monday, Memorial Day. We had a stay at home day, just relaxing and doing a few light chores. About 6:30 we went down to the clubhouse for poker. I broke even and Jackie lost a dollar. Not a bad night and we had a good time.

Tuesday, May 28th, we went out after lunch to do a little more geocaching out in the desert. We went out to the same area northwest of town and continued on the same series of caches that we did last week. Within a couple of hours we had another 20 new finds, and we also finally hit another milestone, 9,500 finds. Yea us. The weather started to get a little iffy and we were five miles out in the desert on a dirt road, so about 3:00 we quit and headed back out. We got a few rain drizzles on the way back home, but nothing came to the RV park. After we got back we just relaxed for the rest of the day. Wednesday was a quiet day. We went out after lunch and did a Walmart run, then spent the rest of the day in the coach.

Thursday, May 30th, we left the coach about 10:15 and drove to Pahrump Dermatology for an appointment I had to look at a suspicious spot on my shoulder. Ever since I had a melanoma removed in late 2008 I have been very conscientious about watching for any signs of skin cancers. I had a good dermatologist in Rancho Mirage that I went to at least once a year for a skin check and he was always freezing or cutting off minor stuff, basil cell or squamis cell cancers, but nothing more serious. A few days ago I noticed a spot on my shoulder that was black and bumpy and just didn't look good. Since I couldn't go to my old dermatologist 400 miles away, and because we are getting new doctors up here in Pahrump anyway, I made an appointment with one of the local dermatologists. We got in and saw the nurse-practitioner, a very nice young guy, who looked at the spot I saw and decided to cut it off, along with a couple of other spots he didn't like. One was on my other shoulder, the other on my upper back. He also froze a few things on my face. We made a followup appointment for two weeks and will see what the biopsies show. He didn't give any indication he was too worried about them. After the doctor we went to lunch at the Terrible's Roadhouse and then played video poker there for an hour or so. Both of us lost our $20, but had fun. We then went back to the coach and we stayed in for the rest of the afternoon. At 6:30 we went down to Texas Hold'em at the clubhouse. Jackie had a good night, ending up $10 in regular games and also winning the best hand of the night with four kings. She walked out $24 ahead. I lost about $7, not such a good night. We got back to the coach, watched a little TV and went to bed.

Friday, May 31st, we went out after lunch to do our laundry. We played our usual game of Skip-bo while the clothes were washing and drying, but Jackie also spent a good deal of time on the phone. As I wrote earlier, Jackie had been scheduled to have an angiogram in Las Vegas almost two weeks ago, but on the morning of the procedure it was canceled because the cardiac surgeon at the hospital was on vacation. They rescheduled it for this coming Monday, but at a different hospital, this one in Southeast Las Vegas. This morning Jackie got a call from yet another hospital, this one in central Las Vegas, saying that she was scheduled for an angiogram and hadn't yet done the preregistration. She had already done the preregistration for the hospital she had been told was going to be where she went. She had to make several other calls, finally getting through to the office of the doctor who is supposed to do the procedure, only to learn that, in fact, it had been moved to Sunrise Hospital. Everyone she talked to said they thought someone else had made the notification to Jackie. She finally confirmed her appointment at Sunrise and did the preregistration there. Hopefully this will be the last confusion about this thing. After the clothes were done we went back to the coach and stayed in for the rest of the day.

Saturday, June 1st, official “calendar summer” is here! We had a quiet, stay in day. We cooked a big rack of pork spare ribs in the crock pot and just hung out all day. We did spend a couple of hours in the afternoon watching the movie Forrest Gump that we had recorded on the DVR. I was surprised at how little of the movie I actually remembered after 25 years. A few of the more famous scenes, but most of the movie was almost like brand new. Sunday we had our usual beginnings of the Sunday paper, Sunday Morning on CBS, and our coffee. After lunch we went out and did a few errands. We visited briefly with Millie and Dick Duffin to see how Millie was doing. Last week she had to go in for emergency surgery to correct a spontaneous detachment of the retina in her left eye. She is doing better, but has to keep her head face down for a month! We then visited with Dick and Regina Rubinstein, who moved on Saturday from Wine Ridge RV Resort, where we are, to another RV park close to the Escapees park. The picture is of Regina singing at the party last weekend. After our visits we went to Walmart for a few supplies, then went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the day.

Monday, June 3rd, we were up and out of the coach by 7:30, heading south to Las Vegas and Sunrise Hospital for Jackie's angiogram. We got there about a half hour early, despite running into heavy morning rush our traffic. Jackie got registered and by 9:30 she was in the pre-op area getting prepped for the procedure. They wheeled her out about 11:00 to go to the cath lab, which left me with an hour or so to wait, so I had lunch at the Subway in the hospital. After an hour or so the doctor came and talked to me and said that the procedure went well and Jackie was fine. He said that the test showed no significant blockages in the arteries of her heart, so they didn't have to put in any stents nor does she need any other heart surgery. He said the cardiologist would likely recommend medications to reduce the small blockages they did see, as well as dietary and weight loss suggestions. I got to see Jackie briefly in the recovery room when she woke up from the light anesthesia, but then had to leave and Jackie had to say in recovery, lying down flat, for four hours to ensure that the femoral artery which they opened up to use for the catheter was sufficiently sealed to prevent bleeding. At 4:20 she was done, they wheeled her out to the car and we were on our way back over the hill. We got back home at about 6:00, had some KFC for dinner and then watched TV until bedtime. The picture was taken on the drive back and is the new football stadium being built just off the Vegas Strip for what will be the Las Vegas Raiders once they move here from Oakland.

Tuesday, June 4th, the 14th anniversary of the day we moved out of our house in the Coachella Valley and moved into our new motor home. This 40 foot box has been our home now for 14 years, wow! The picture was taken the day we picked up the coach.  We had a quiet day because Jackie was supposed to take it easy for at least a day to give the incision in her groin, where they went in with the catheter, time to heal. After all, you don't want the plug in your femoral artery to suddenly let loose. I did a few errands and chores, but we basically had an easy day. Wednesday we went out after lunch to run a couple of errands. After shopping we stopped at the Pahrump Nugget and gamed for about a while. We both lost our $20 after an hour or so. After the casino we went back to the coach and stayed in the rest of the night.

Thursday, June 6th, the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. We had a stay at home day and got a few chores done. We watched a movie we had recorded on the DVR, The Shape of Water. We had seen this a couple years ago when it was an Oscar contender, and thought it was a good movie, but a little “out there” for us. Watching it again cleared up a few things, but it is still a very deep movie with a lot of symbolism and messages. After dinner we went down to the clubhouse for Texas Hold'em. We had a decent night, I broke even, won a few, lost a few, and Jackie ended up about $2 ahead. We went back to the coach after cards, watched a little TV and went to bed. Friday was also a quiet day. We ran a couple of errands after lunch, then relaxed at home for the rest of the afternoon.

Saturday, June 8th, my brother Dennis' birthday. He is number 2 in the family of five boys, 8 years younger than me, which now makes him officially old! We had another quiet day. We went out briefly in the afternoon for a quick Walmart run, but mostly just stayed in the coach, relaxed and did a few light chores. It has been about three weeks since our last posting, so I think it is time to close this chapter and get it published. The original plan was for us to leave Pahrump on the 14th, towards the end of this week. However, we have decided to extend our stay another 10 days to be sure that we have all our medical stuff covered. That puts us here until the 24th, when we leave and head to Santa Maria, California on the coast, where we hope to be a little cooler. Until next time remember, you are only young once, but you can be immature forever. See ya soon.

Still at Home in Pahrump, Nevada

Hi there, welcome back. Our last chapter concluded on Sunday, April 28^th while we were in the middle of our month long stay at Wine Ridge RV Resort in Pahrump, Nevada, our “official” home of record. Monday was a stay at home day as about 8:30 in the morning intermittent thunderstorms started rolling though Pahrump. We didn't have a lot of rain, but it rained on and off all day and it got cold and windy. The temperature was 20 degrees cooler than just yesterday. We got a few chores done, but mostly just relaxed. We had cocktails with the Bullocks about 5:30, in the coach this time, and then I served dinner. I had made a big pot of chili, great for a cold and rainy day, and we had a nice meal. About 7:30 Peggy and Vernon went back to their coach and we just watched TV until bedtime.

Tuesday, April 30^th, Jackie and I had lunch in the coach and then about 1:30 left and drove to our doctor's office for some appointments. I had the appointment to just have a routine checkup and get my prescriptions renewed for the year. Jackie had made an appointment just so she could talk to the doctor about a few things that she was worried about and to inform the doctor about the falls she took in January and then a few weeks ago. I had my blood work done last week and the results were great. My cholesterol was very good, my blood sugar was acceptable and all the other factors were fine. When the nurse took my vitals my blood pressure was actually on the low side and everything else was good. By loosing about 40 pounds and keeping up my hour a day walking I seem to be holding steady and helping my health without any particular, hard to keep, diet. I got my scripts renewed and I was done.

Jackie talked to the doctor about the headaches she has been getting since she fell on her head in January and the doctor said that this was not unusual and could last for months. He did prescribe a course of steroids which he said could help. Jackie talked to him about her problems breathing and they gave her a quick test which indicated she likely did not have COPD, but might have some other issues. He scheduled her for a stress test just to be sure it was not some undiscovered heart issue. She will take that next week. After we were done at the doctors we a quick Walmart run. It was still cold and cloudy, so we didn't do anything after we got back other than relax in the coach. Peggy told us that she and Vernon had decided to leave tomorrow instead of waiting to leave in two weeks when we do. She has not been feeling well at all since she got sick in Las Vegas and she decided that she needed to head back to Redding, California, near their house, so she could see her regular doctor. Their original plans were to leave here and drive to Idaho to see their grandson Troy and their new great grandson, but health concerns made them change their plans. We had cocktails with them at 5:30 and then did some hamburgers on the BBQ for dinner. After dinner they went back to their coach and we relaxed with the TV for the rest of the evening.

Wednesday, May 1^st, May Day, May Day! About 9:00 Peggy and Vernon pulled out, headed back to Northern California so Peggy can see her own doctors about her breathing and other health issues that are worrying her. They should be back in three or four days. There were at least a dozen other RVs that left today, being the first of the month, and the RV park is beginning to look a little empty. We went out after lunch to run some errands, stopping at what was once one of our favorite second hand, actually more “junk”, stores. We were a little disappointed because since our last visit their stock has gone down and their prices have gone up. Probably won't be going back to it any more. We stopped and got mail and then stopped at Walmart for a couple of things we forgot yesterday and to pick up Jackie's medications. We went back home and then Jackie cooked a taquito casserole to take to the Dilly Muffin party we are going to this afternoon. We left the coach about 4:00 and drove to the Escapee's RV park where Dick and Millie Duffin live. There were about a dozen people at the party and we all sat around and talked and played games for a couple of hours. Everyone brought food, so after the visiting we had a nice pot luck dinner that was great. Everyone packed up and left around 7:00 when it started getting sundown. After we got back to the coach we just relaxed with the TV the rest of the evening.

Thursday, May 2^nd, we left the coach after lunch and went out to do our laundry. After a couple of hours our clothes were all clean and folded and we went back to the coach. We put everything away and made the bed, then just rested and played for a while. About 6:30 we walked down to the clubhouse to play Texas Hold'em. Neither of us did much good, with both of us losing about $5. However, it is a good group and we had a fun time anyway. After cards, about 9:00, we went back to the coach, watched some TV and went to bed. Friday we left the coach about 10:30 and drove to the Chinese buffet, China Wok, for lunch. This was a free lunch for attending a sales presentation by the local representative from the Medical Air Services Association (MASA). MASA is a group that provides insurance to cover medical transportation, including ground ambulances, helicopters and fixed wing planes, as well as relocation services for your coach, car, pets and other property if you become seriously ill or die away from home. We bought a lifetime membership in MASA back in 2007, not long after we started traveling. It was less than $4,000 then and is a one-time purchase. We haven't had to use it, but when you consider that a single helicopter trip from Pahrump to Las Vegas is close to $50,000, it gives us good piece of mind to know we have it. They also encourage their existing members to come to the sales presentations and enjoy a free lunch afterwards. We have done it a number of times. We met Dick and Millie at the restaurant as they are also members. After the presentation we enjoyed a nice Chinese lunch. After lunch we went out to the west end of town and checked on one of our geocaches, which had been reported as damaged. We replaced the container and all is good. We then stopped at the Gold Town Casino to game for an hour or so. We both lost our $20, but had fun. We then headed back to the coach and spent the rest of the day and evening relaxing in the coach. Most of the activities at the park have stopped for the summer, so there was no karaoke tonight.

Saturday, May 4^th, Star Wars Day. “May the 4^th be with you.” We had a quiet day, leaving the park after lunch to run a couple of errands. We went to the UPS store and picked up our mail, then went to a consignment store that was new to us called the Nye Emporium. Kind of a cross between a consignment store, an antique store and a junk shop. We stopped at the cemetery where one of our caches was because it was reported missing. Turns out the pile of stone and debris in an unused back area of the cemetery where the cache was hidden has been removed. It looks like they may be cleaning it up to use for burials. Cache is gone and so is the hiding place, so we just archived it, putting it out of commission. We made a quick stop at Smith's to pick up a couple things we can't get at Walmart, then went back to the coach where we just relaxed the rest of the day.

Sunday, May 5^th, Cinco de Mayo! This was a stay at home day. I did go down to the corner in the morning to pick up a newspaper but we stayed in the coach for most of the day. Got a few chores done and relaxed for a while. About 4:30 we went down to the clubhouse for the park's Cinco de Mayo party. They had tacos, beans, rice, enchiladas, chips and salsa, all for $15 a person and it included two drinks, beer or margaritas. There were only about 30 people at the party and towards the end they didn't much enforce the two drink limit any more. The food was good and they had plenty for seconds for anyone who wanted them (think me) and some of our friends were there. The only bad thing was they had it out on the lawn by the pool and the sun was hot. It was only in the low 80's, but there was no shade. By 7:30 the party was over and we went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Monday, May 6^th, we left the coach about 9:30 and headed southeast on Highway 160 towards Las Vegas. We were headed to the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area which is in the Spring Mountains just west of the Las Vegas valley. From Pahrump you have to go over the pass at Mountain Springs and then about half way down the hill towards Las Vegas to Nevada Highway 159. This nice, two lane road loops north and then east and ends up in Summerlin, a suburb of Las Vegas, after about 15 miles. The Red Rock Canyon park is off this road. It is about 45 miles from Pahrump. We entered the park with our Golden Age card, so it was free. Normally they charge $15 a car. Our first stop was the visitors center, which appeared to be relatively new, although I couldn't find anything that tells me when it was built. The visitors center was very nice, and very big with lots of informational displays, and of course, a gift shop. After touring the visitors center we drove the 13 mile loop road that goes through the park. It is a nice, wide paved road that is all one way, so you can take your time and people who are in a hurry can pass you without problems. There are a dozen turn outs for scenic areas and/or parking areas for the many hiking trails in the park. There is even a Jeep trail that goes back into the actual Red Rock Canyon. Unfortunately, we no longer have a high clearance vehicle, so we couldn't go that route.

After touring the park we continued in Summerlin and stopped at a BJ's Brewhouse for lunch. Lunch was good, I had fish and chips and Jackie had a very interesting salad that was made with zucchini noodles. After lunch we went to the nearby Costco for a few supplies. Once we were done at Costco we headed back over the hump to Pahrump. We got home about 3:30, put away our stuff and relaxed for a while. About 6:30 we went down to the clubhouse for Texas Hold'em. Jackie had a good night, ending up about $5, I lost $3, but we had a good time. Our table was mostly friends that we have made here in Pahrump and we enjoyed the two hours. After cards we went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the night.

Tuesday, May 7^th, we were up and out of the coach by 7:30 a.m., as shocking as that may sound to those who know us well. Jackie had to go into the doctor's office this morning for a stress test to check out her heart functions. Last week when we were at the doctor's she mentioned her increasing shortness of breath and the doctor set her up for a stress test just to see if anything was going on with her heart. The test was two hours long and while Jackie was in the lab I went my walk and then came back and waited for her to be finished. After the test she said it wasn't what she expected. They didn't have her on a treadmill, as we had been led to believe, but rather just hooked her up to an IV and an EKG and gave her various drugs to stimulate her heart, some drugs to show the vascular system on their imaging equipment and then just alternated stuff for two hours.

After she was done we went back to the coach so she could shower and clean up, then about 12:30 we left and drove to the Red Sky BBQ restaurant for lunch. We love Red Sky for their baby backs and Jackie likes their lamb. We met Millie and Dick Duffin there and had a nice lunch. I had ribs, with lots leftover for tomorrow, and Jackie had lamb, also with leftovers. The lunch was great but just as we were finishing Jackie got a call from her doctor telling her that he had looked at the test results from this morning and had some concerns, no further information, and wanted her to see the cardiologist in the practice. About ten minutes later the cardiologist's office called and scheduled her to come in Friday morning. Now we are worried, although some blocked arteries would certainly explain why she had been having breathing problems for the last year or so. We are hopeful it will be something that can be treated with medications, or at least only involve relatively minor procedures like a stent or two. We won't know until Friday and will, of course, worry until then. After lunch we stopped and picked up our mail and then did a Walmart run. I got a new quadcopter drone that I ordered from Amazon and spent the afternoon reading up on it's operation and assembling it. Hopefully tomorrow we can take it for a test flight, without crashing it. We spent the rest of the day and evening in the coach.

Wednesday, May 8^th, we have some weather moving through the area, threat of rain and some winds, so the first flight of the new drone will have to be postponed. After lunch we left the coach and drove to Desert View Hospital here in Pahrump so Jackie could get her annual mammogram. This is the first time in many years that she did not get it at the hospital in Rancho Mirage back in the Coachella Valley. However, when we were there for a few weeks over the new year they were unable to schedule her in, so she got a referral from out new doctor here and had it done here. They did request all her previous records, so everything should be OK. After the mammogram we went to the nail salon so Jackie could get a pedi and I could get my toenails trimmed. After that we went back to the coach and we stayed in for the rest of the day.

Thursday, May 9^th, we had a quiet day. We went out about 1:00 and had a late lunch at Johnny's, one of the local Mexican restaurants. After lunch we stopped at the Terrible's Roadhouse casino and gamed for about an hour, then headed back to the coach for the rest of the afternoon. The weather called for rain and sure enough, by 4:00 it was raining pretty good. About 6:30 we went down to the clubhouse for poker night. I only lost a dollar and I think Jackie was down two, so not a bad night and a lot of fun. After poker we walked home in the rain and sent the rest of the evening with the TV.

Friday, May 10^th, we were again up early and out of the coach by 7:45 heading to an appointment with a cardiologist, Dr. Arik. Dr. Arik is with Pahrump Cardiology and their practice is a part of the Health Care Partners group, the same group our regular MD belongs to. This is a great health care group with general practitioners, specialists, lab, imaging, pharmacy and urgent care all under the same roof and only minutes from our RV park. We both went in to talk to Dr. Arik who was a very pleasant guy who had no problem spending time with us and explaining everything very well. He did a general interview with Jackie about her issues and what had been done so far. Then he looked at the report from the imaging center regarding the stress test and told us that it didn't seem to make sense to him, coming to two different conclusions. He then left and walked over to the imaging department to look at the images from the test himself.

When he came back he told Jackie that the tests did indicate she was having some sort of cardiac issue and more tests were warranted. He was not scary in that he didn't say it was serious, just that it could be and we needed to find out more. He told Jackie he was going to schedule her for an angiogram, which is a major test which needs to be done in a hospital. He is going to try to get her in early next week at a hospital in Las Vegas. He doesn't use the local Pahrump hospital for major procedures. The angiogram requires the insertion of a catheter into an artery which is then sent up to the heart. They use dye to take pictures of the heart and it's blood system to look for blockages or other problems. They can also use the same catheter to insert one or more stents, little wire cages that open up clogged arteries, if they are deemed necessary. Before we left he also had his staff put a portable cardiac monitor on Jackie to wear for 24 hours to give a long term look at her heart's electrical activity. We were very impressed with the doctor as well as with the speed things are moving forward. We are so glad we don't have to deal with an HMO and all the pre-approval processes. After the doctor's visit we went back to the coach and spent the rest of the day there. With Jackie hooked up to her little machine we couldn't really go anywhere. Because of the fact that we have tests and more appointments for next week, as well as the possibility of even more in the near future, we decided to just extend our stay for another month. We were originally going to be leaving next Tuesday. We were only going to Silent Valley, which means we had no reservations or deposits to worry about. Now we will just work to get Jackie better.

Saturday, May 11^th, we went out after lunch to run a few errands. Jackie was able to take off her heart monitor as the 24 hours was up. We have to return it on Monday. We first went back to the Nye Emporium, the second hand store we went to last week. There was a local author there, Jake Claypool, who had written a book about the Vietnam War. We had heard last week he would be here today. I bought one of his books, signed of course, and then talked to some of the people in the store about buying, or at least consigning, the old Colt 1903 .32 auto I have. I don't use it anymore and figured I might as well sell it. Depending on what someone is willing to pay, it could be worth between $700 and $1,200. None of the guys there wanted to buy it and the owner, who is the one who can make the consignment decision, wasn't there. I will have to come back another time. After the store visit we went to Chatthai, a Thai restaurant we like, and had a nice lunch. After lunch we stopped at the Elks Lodge to gamble a little and so Jackie could get her free birthday drink, but they were going to start a mini slot tournament, so we couldn't use the machines. We then left, picked up our mail and went to Walmart for some supplies.

After Walmart we went back to the coach. I had some time to take the new drone out for it's first flight. I was a little nervous beause I don't have a lot of experience with radio control aircraft, however, I found it very easy to set up and calibrate and then very easy to fly. It is responsive without being twitchy, once you get it up in the air it is very stable. It auto-hovers at whatever altitude you take it to and doesn't move until you hit the controls. The flight time is about 20 minutes and I used up all the battery just doing basic practice moves. Very fun. We spent the rest of the day and evening in the coach.

Sunday, May 12^th, Happy Mother's Day. We had a quiet day and other than going down to the corner store for a Sunday paper we didn't go anywhere. Had a nice, relaxing day at home. Monday we left the coach after lunch and drove over to the medical center to return the heart monitor. They said they would review the results and get back with her if there were any major problems. After that we headed home to wait for someone in Las Vegas to call regarding Jackie's pending angiogram. Late in the afternoon the nurse did call, got a bunch of information and said she would find an opening and call back, but we didn't hear from her any more today. About 6:30 we went down to the clubhouse for poker night. I had the first good night since we got here a month ago, ending up four dollars ahead. Jackie lost two dollars, also not too bad. After cards we went back to the coach, watched a little TV and went to bed.

Tuesday, May 14^th, we left the coach after lunch to run a few errands. We stopped and got mail and stopped at a couple of second hand stores looking for a small side table for next to my chair. We didn't find anything that would work. We also stopped at the Elks Lodge so Jackie could get her free birthday drink. We also did a little gaming, both of us losing our $20 investment. After the Elks we went back to the coach and spent the rest of the day relaxing.

Wednesday, May 15^th, Happy Birthday to my wonderful wife Jackie. Today is also the 7^th birthday of our furkid, Benji. We again went out after lunch for some errands. Jackie stopped at the medical center to drop off some paperwork and get a new appointment with her cardiologist. She was supposed to see him tomorrow, but we couldn't get the angiogram scheduled until next Monday, so there would be nothing to talk about tomorrow. We then went to the local medical lab so Jackie could get her pre-op blood test done for next Monday. After that we went back to the coach and spent the rest of the day inside.

Thursday, May 16^th, we left the coach early, about 9:00, and headed down towards Las Vegas to take care of a few things. The first stop was a 10:30 appointment at the Ford dealership to have Maxie, as we call our little car, serviced. We have had this car for over sixteen months and it now just turned over 14,000 miles. This is the first service it has required. Since our C-Max is a plugin hybrid it runs a lot on just the electric motors. Most of the time in Pahrump our trips are short enough that we never use the gas engine. It does kick in on trips to Las Vegas, but even then, in hybrid mode, the gas engine doesn't run that much. Therefore, unlike regular cars where you are told to get your oil changed every 3,000 miles, I have no way of knowing how much the gas engine has run, what it's “mileage” is. Therefore, the owner's manual tells us that the car's computer will figure out when the oil needs to be changed and let us know. It finally did last week with a message “oil change required” being displayed when I start the car. We went to Friendly Ford here in Las Vegas and I was very impressed. The service manager was very helpful and we were in and out in 90 minutes. Very different from the experiences I had with our Jeep at Jeep dealerships where oil changes could take half the day. After the car was serviced we went to a nearby Greek restaurant called Yousef's Grill for lunch. Jackie had a gyro plate and I had a steak pita. Both were quite good. After lunch we went to Costco for a few things, then stopped so Jackie could get a haircut. By 3:00 we were on our way back to Pahrump with all our errands done. We ran into a pretty good rain shower going back through Red Rock Canyon.  After we got home we relaxed for a bit and then about 6:30 went down to the clubhouse for poker. I did good, ending up a few dollars and Jackie was down a couple. After cards we went back to the coach and watched a little TV before heading to bed.

Friday, May 17^th, was a fairly quiet day. We went out after lunch and ran some errands around town, a couple stores and then back to the coach for the rest of the day. One of the places we stopped was the Nye Emporium where I was able to put my old Colt auto on consignment. We will leave it there for a few months and see what happens. Saturday was much the same as Friday, we left the coach after lunch and went out to run a few errands. After we got back to the coach one of our local friends, Regina, came over and visited with Jackie for about an hour. We learned it was Regina and Richards anniversary and they asked if we wanted to go with them to dinner. We said OK and about 6:00 left and drove to the Terrible's Roadhouse casino for dinner. They have a very nice restaurant there which Regina said had great food. Being Saturday night, it took about a half hour to get seated, but after we got in we had a great meal. I had a small, porterhouse steak that was cooked perfectly, along with sides and the soup and salad bar, Jackie ordered the prime rib special, which was two dinners for $19. She got one to eat and one packaged to take home. Her prime rib was huge and also cooked just as she liked it. I also had a beer and the total bill was $43. Hard to beat for good food. After dinner we drove back to the coach, watched some TV and went to bed.

We are now at the three week mark since we last published, so it is a good time to get this episode online. We are here in Pahrump another three weeks, so be sure to come back. Until next time, remember that life always offers you a second chance. It's called tomorrow! See ya soon.