Life Bustles On

As low key as life is here at The Palms,things have a way of bustling on. We spent the morning at the Acute Care Clinic so DH could get some meds. Amazingly enough, he was diagnosed with bronchitis too! Is it any wonder? For him who calls me a "hypochondriac", now he knows how a hypochondriac feels! She who kept on going day to day, and he who is as we speak spending the afternoon in bed! I have not felt as good today however Hope this gets kicked in the butt soon. I'm seriously missing out on a bunch of stuff to do before we leave. Tried to ignore it and went walking around at the big Arizona Marketplace "swap meet" grounds just down the street yesterday. Bought some rolled window insulation and new sunglasses.
It's the last weekend for that until next winter. I'm sure we'll enjoy it more then when there's more vendors. Lots of booths with tools, gadgets and trinkets...all kinds of stuff to make RVing more fun. Neighbors got back from San Diego this morning. They went to a Spring Baseball game. We are supposed to meet them for "Happy Hour" this afternoon, but none to happy here, so doubt if we go today. Hard to believe it's another weekend already.
It won't be long before our little girl dog will need to go play in the dog park. It is a beautiful day, and hopefully it will be nice again this evening to sit out on the patio. It was so nice when the sun went down. I sat outside and took pictures of the lots by us. It is a nice night. No wind. Too bad I have a sick man and a sick dog. Oh well, hope all is better tomorrow.
I ordered the rest of our shocks for the coach and they arrived today. One more "to do" out of the way. Now will stop in Liberal, KS and get them put on. Another excuse to spend the night at the park 5 miles west of there.

Western Arizona

It's a different world out here! We are taking care of a lot of boring details before DH goes to the Baja Rally.
Last night we spent time at the hot tub with a couple of our neighbors from the Bozeman area in Montana. Hopefully we will get the chance to stop in and see them this summer while we are completing our tour of that state. We have already visited the southern part of Montana, and this summer we will complete the tour of the Northern half. It's always nice to visit with someone from the area and get pointers on the best things to see and do, a local opinion usually produces good tips for great experiences.
Mundane tasks today, oil change and tires rotated on suburban and lunch at a recommended mexican cafe. Asada lunch plate was awesome. That's one of those "locals" recommendations from the guys down the street at Midas that were doing the work on the car. I've decided to save all the exploration of the area, and touring for next winter. I'm still not feeling quite to par.
Went to clinic and got medicine yesterday. I have had sinus headaches and bronchitis for about 2 weeks and finally got tired enough to deal with it. Now I'm just wishing the meds would kick in and make me feel better!
I made a salad last night and put the knife in the dish water, which I never do (hardly ever) and when I went to do the dishes I found the knife! Tried to cut my ring finger to the bone!
There are advantages to that...now I can't do dishes~! I will share some more of the pictures that I took around here yesterday of the facilities.
They're great!

Whole Lotta Shakin' Pictures

It's been a long 4 days! We have traveled a long ways and made a retreat backwards in the end! We are now in Yuma at The Palms RV Resort.
I have found my "Oasis" in the desert after a hard winter! Finally. Our experience at the Rio Bend Resort and El Centro California wasn't the best. They boast a "State of the Art" Fitness Center. Well, it's gonna stay "State ofthe Art" because they won't let anybody use it! Very limited hours and the time has to be supervised! I've never heard of such hogwash! Their winter price
for the ammenities is way too high. Especially for that area. Nice country area, close to Mexico and the stench of the sewers permiated the area when the wind was from the south. DH said the price was too high for the 9 hole course.This road is right in front of the Rio Bend.
Lots of Earthquake damage all around the park and inside.
The road damage, if worsened could have isolated the park and with only one way in and one way out, I decided I wasn't ready to risk not being able to get the coach out of there!
I really wanted to be there close to where the Baja Rally Teams stages for take off in Mexicali, but after a couple of days, decided I wouldn't be comfortable to stay there alone. Lots of businesses in nearby El Centro were damaged and not open. Everyone talked about the aftershocks being bad and Sat. morning we woke up at 2:13 from a sound sleep and it was....no....not aftershocks, but another earth quake...this time a 5.3! The blinds in the bathroom were banging against the window, we were really rockin and rollin!A lot more than the one Easter Sunday. It was really close to us! That was the icing on the cake, so I looked up Resorts this morning in Yuma, it's about an hour and a half from Mexicali...it's close enough, and I feel secure here. Mission accomplished. I never went back to sleep and got up at 5:30 and drove up past the Los Angeles to the San Gabriel Mountains to the Mile High Ranch for a Baja Rally Party and get together. It was an opportunity to meet the other members of the team and find out more about the actual trip.
It is going to be a real experience for Danny.They had a course set up and had some strategy runs.We had a wonderful BBQ. All with a Mexican Theme. Awesome guacamole/fresh salsa, Carne asada and marinated chicken, veggies tortillas and home made beans.
A converted VW Bug/pick up bed can be used for more than hauling parts, it can double as a bar. The dogs had a very good day and KayCee got to romp with some friends. This next week we will spend getting aquainted with this area. I plan to be here for a month.
The next move will be to the Grand Canyon Area and beyond.

Movin' Out, Movin On, Passin' Through

Today started with movin' out of good old Site #45 at Desert Valley RV Resort in Eloy Arizona. We got everything wrapped up and on the road about 10 a.m.
Saying goodby to our friends is the hardest part of the day when we leave. I will miss everybody and look forward to seeing them all next year.
We stopped to fill up the tank with diesel and found that we had used 72 gal. for heating and hot water in 3 months. Pretty good average. Heading east on I 8 towards Yuma, the traffic was a piece of cake. No wind and plenty of sunshine, we passed through the desert with its blooming yellow Brittlebush and stately Saguaro. The coach hummed right down the road, and right up through the hills. We passed through the city of Yuma, by the Imperial Sand Dunes once more, and after just one
rest stop and a couple of checkpoints, we arrived at Rio Bend Golf and RV Resort 8 miles west of El Centro California about 3:30 this afternoon. They have quite a bit of Earthquake damage here and I will follow up with some pictures of that when I get out and take them. Some park models are down on the ground, quite a bit of damage on the golf course, the activities center and cafe had lots of shelved items and books get thrown around. Drew Road, the access to this place, in both directions has damage and is closed beyond here.
They said they had an aftershock this morning that registered a 5.0.so that is pretty stiff. I haven't felt anymore. We went into El Centro...7 miles to the east and they have hundreds of millions of dollars of damage. The Farmer Boys Restaurant where we ate supper, a brand new building had cracks all the way across the ceiling and a sewer pipe had broken somewhere close as there was water running down the street and smell was pretty bad. For the most part things look pretty normal from the street though. They have a nice new WalMart Super Center and it was open. We will be here for a while now, getting acquainted to the area and getting the Mr. ready for his big adventure into Mexico.

Ready to Get the Show on the Road!

I finished up a bunch more laundry and errands. The sunshades and tire covers are off and put away. The air in the tires is good and the car is cleaned out. We had the last gathering in the clubhouse tonight with all that are left.
These three fabulous Weimeriners and their pet parents left this morning. I have really enjoyed getting to know them the last couple of years.
KayCee is sad because her boyfriend left. Strider is an awesome dog, in spite of his mom thinkin' he's thick headed! She is a dog trainer/dog show judge. They are going home to Arkansas, but on the way will stop over in Tulsa Oklahoma for a big dog show.
She spends countless hours with all three of these lucky dogs, working on obedience and agility. KayCee sat in their car patiently thinking she could just go with them! Wrong answer!
I don't know what I'd do without the traveling nut case. She sits real quiet until you actually start the vehicle and then gets crazy. We'll miss seeing those dogs until next year. DH going to Gilbert to shoot sporting clays early in the morning, and I will start packing things up. We need to go into town one more time. I decided to take quite a bit of bottled water besides my full tank, in case there's issues with the water from the earthquake. I searched the RV Resorts north of El Centro today and up by Palm Springs in case we decide to move farther away from the border.

Earthquakes, Aftershocks and Wind!

We felt the 7.2 earthquake centered in northern Mexico yesterday afternoon. Coincidentally the RV Resort that we are headed to this week is only a very few miles from Calexico and Mexicali Mexico.
The big Baja Race that DH is going to be a part of, starts at Mexicali. It isn't until the end of April, so hopefully things will be back to normal and we won't have any more. I didn't know what I was feeling at the time of the earthquake,the palm trees were doin a dance and I bet the pool was sloshing about. Shortly afterwards we got a phone call from our friends in Newport Beach and they informed that's what was going on. Meanwhile, I haven't felt any of the aftershocks today and I am continuing on getting ready to depart the desert valley after being here for the past 3 months. The next couple of days will be packed with cleaning up and packing up. The wind is blowing a gale this afternoon, but it's 83 degrees. The rest of the week looks to be sun filled, and that's a good thing. DH plays has his final tee time in the morning and goes shooting with the guy from Phoenix Wednesday. We are going out for Supper tonight with Bunky, whos been busy getting ready for the big Country Music Stampede that he's playing in Florence next week. This morning he said the tickets to get into the VIP Lounge are $600.00. I said "I love ya, but not that much!"lol I hope they at least get a meal for that price! I just get to hear what happened after the fact! I'm looking forward to exploring the Southeastern part of California in the next month, and starting to plan our time at the Grand Canyon after that.

Happy Easter!

Greetings and Happy Easter to all from Eloy, Arizona! The sky diving capital of the world. True. The planes are busy dropping jumpers again today and the Hot Air Balloons were busy this morning. It's hard to believe we're into April already. Spring is most definitely here in the valley, and almost 3 months have passed since we arrived here. We will be working to button things up around here and get ready to head out on Thursday the 8th. We are heading west from here down I8, through Yuma and across into California. Next weekend the prep begins for the great Baja Rally, down through the Baja penninsula of Mexico. DH and a friend are taking a 1966 Volkswagon for a 1000 mile ride.

Yesterday was another interesting day in the city. We started out on Hwy 60, checking out a couple of RV Golf Resorts in the Gold Canyon area on the east side of Phoenix. I'm still not very impressed although I like the area and what it has to offer. Very pretty surroundings, and I like the rich feel of the ammenities, but there's no room and the rigs are squished in like sardines amongst the park models. We went to our friend's place in Gilbert. DH has had lots of fun getting to know this Nebraska native better. They went golfing yesterday while KayCee and I hung out at his place by the pool. The dog wasn't convinced she wanted to stay however,and I had a rather difficult afternoon with her! She spent about an hour by the pool watching birds and golfers on the nearby golf course, and then she tired of that game. We had to made numerous trips around the house looking over all of animal and bird mounts. He has a new "Musk Ox" in the formal living/dining room and moved the brown bear to the corner of the family room by the patio door!
She walked cautiously around inspecting all of the mounts and then that was it, she headed for the foyer and was ready to go to the car! Nothing I did would convince her that we were o.k. and needed to stay there. I stubbornly sat down to watch a movie and she tried to bury her head underneath me. I think something about those big, still animals was very unsettling to her.
When the sun went down and it cooled off a bit, I put her in her kennel in the car and she was happy then. The guys showed back up after dark and we headed to a very good Italian Restaurant for supper. We finally made it back home after 10. I got up early, made devilled eggs and green bean casserole for our Easter dinner this afternoon at the clubhouse. It will be our last gathering I suppose. Most all are gone now until next year. It is a sunny warm day and if all goes well, I may make one last outing to the pool this afternoon. Time will tell.