Cross Off One More on the Bucket List

We were really fortunate to be here this week and to be able to attend an Antique Car Show at the John Force Racing Complex. Located only a couple of miles from here, the show was from 4 til 7 Saturday afternoon. They use all of the parking area clear around the whole facility for the cars, the museum and shop are open to the public the 3rd Saturday of every month and if there would be special events. Outside of those times it is closed to the public. We went and had a very good time. They even had a food and drink cart and the Gift Shop was open. The weather cooperated and was a beautiful day. A lot of the old cars were a real walk down memory lane for me, some of the models and years I had owned and ridden in, and then some of them were just plain eye candy! I enjoyed the walk through the museum and seeing all of the trophys and awards that John Force and the team has acquired through the years. His

shop is so clean you could eat off the floor! You couldn't guess that they work on Race Cars there. The grounds and parking area are also well groomed. It was a very fun afternoon and was free to boot, which works with my sight seeing budget! He really gives back to the community and his fans. Tomorrow morning we set off for San Diego and the Zoo. Just one more check mark for my bucket list. I need to have my animal fix. At some point this week I want another trip to the beach. Hope it's warm enough to set up a chair and just veg out...then it will be time to move on!

Life in Corona Del Mar is a Wonderful Fantasy

The view from Christy and Glen's windows is like something from a postcard. Driving down the quaint narrow streets reminds me of scenes from a novel. One house that is being built in the next block to the west has a price tag of 37 million dollars. Yes, the work is proceeding, so there's money there. Several other houses have all glass fronts, sparkling glass fences....so much glass and so they should for that view! One of the other NHRA Racers, Kenny Bernstein lives just down the street to the east on the corner. The largest sailboat race in the U.S. started this morning from the bay in front of their house. We have done quite a bit of driving around this week. Up and down the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) and have visited several beaches. When you drive down the street here....you are most of the time surrounded by BMWs, Porsches, Lamborghini's ( I've seen 3 this week in one day!) Bentley's, and surprisingly enough, the traffic on the surface streets is not as cut throat as Phoenix AZ! Granted, the freeway traffic during commuting times is horrid. I can summarize our week which has been so much fun. Monday, we had a hang out day. We drove around a bit, took a ferry ride to Balboa Island in the Hooptie Car with Christy and Brodie J, her Aussie. He's pretty smart and loves plastic bottles. Our 2 furkids haven't warmed up to Brodie like they should. We have been taking them to Petsmart in Tustin. The beach and Fantasy Land is about 30 miles from here. Monday evening we grilled steaks and we got back here about 9. We have to be choosy what times of the day we come and go...I don't like to get in rush hour. Today the 91 was at a standstill when we went to the store....and it was 3:30! Insane. Tuesday the boys went out to Catalina Island for an all day fishing trip in Glen's boat. A 24 ft fiberglass fishing boat. They had a good time even though it was rough coming back and they didn't bring any fish back. Christy and I drove to some beaches. Played on Huntington Beach. Walked to the end of the Pier and had lunch at a Ruby's Diner. We picked up sea shells and then Checked out the Sidewalk Sales in Huntington Beach. We went to Supper in Capistrano on Wed. night and had really good Mexican Food and seated with a view of the ocean. Thursday we went to San Pedro Wharf for lunch and ordered a seasoned shrimp dish, and a whole Halibut and a whole Talapia, which was deep fried, scored and served whole. We thought it was way too much food, but somehow...it all disappeared! Yum.... then on to L.A. and Hollywood. We got out at the Chinese Theater...where the walk of the stars is. DH got a L.A. Fire Dept. shirt in a Souvenir shop. We drove up into Hollywoood Hills, down Rodeo Drive and by the CBS Studios. Stopped in the late afternoon at the famous "Pink's" Hot Dog stand and had a hotdog. We tarried too long in the city, and got right into the mess on the 405 coming home. At least there were 4 of us and we could drive a little faster in the carpool lane! We got to their house about 8 and we had to turn around and drive back north to get the dogs by 9, and we did. Today I got up and did 6 loads of laundry and cleaned house...back to reality once more! Finally this afternoon we ventured out and found a good grocery store in Anaheim. Drove across the river and looked around Yorba Linda a little. I made a hair appt. for 11 in the morning and tomorrow afternoon from 4 to 7 John Force is having a car show at his facility and we're going to that. Christy is coming and she needs to talk to him about some donations for her military project with her racecar.... showing at Ft. Sill for the troops. They are racing at Houston and then going to Oklahoma before racing at Topeka. She's talking pretty hard to get us to go to Topeka...we need to go to Oregon first. Don't know how that will work! Next week I think we will go to Universal Studios. The weather isn't warm enough to play in the water now. Monday it was 100+ and Tues. 85 and it has been downhill ever since. DH and I got some New York Strips, Pork Chops and a marinated Tri Tip Roast. I made 2 big burgers and we grilled all on a charcoal fire tonight.We'll have some good meals anyway. My goodness we did a lot! More to come...I hardly have time to post here....now will go to bed and get ready to go again tomorrow!

Get your Kicks on Route 66

We took a ride around the area yesterday and stopped in the Old Town of Victorville at the Califoria Route 66 Museum. KayCee was plenty content to stay home and watch the lizards she found that play on the tree outside the door! There were lots of exhibits, town history and a nice gift area. There is a lot of documented history and stories from the origination to the demise of the complete "Route 66." It is the most famous stretch of road in the world. California has 286 miles of it. A true adventure into America's past. The complete route was in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and Illinois. Several of the original buildings along the route in town are still standing, but recreated into other businesses. We did drive by the New Corral Motel, which still operates today. The town of Victorville, Population is listed at 102,000, was originally Victor but changed due to Postal Conflict with Victor Colorado! The town grew up around a railroad telegraph station, and still looks as a busy Southern Pacific Route today. We traveled into the town of Apple Valley for lunch. Apple Valley was the home to Roy Rogers and Dale Evans and they are buried there. Their museum was moved to Branson Mo. in 2000, so we will not be able to visit that. They are buried there however, and we may go visit the cemetary today if I can find it. I only took a couple of pictures of the outside of the museum. DH had to have a Route 66 cap and I got a tapestry hands free bag and some postcards. We'll be busy today, getting ready to hit the road in the morning. I'm getting excited! I haven't really got acquainted with the area, the traffic is somewhat heavy and built on some hills. Here in this little campground we're in a low spot and it's protected and really shady! Thus the name "Shady Oasis!" DH busy exercising his fingers with the remote between golf, softball and fishing. Thank god for the new satellite! He's happy now! I went up to set by the pool..and it isn't open! Got the laundry done and now we'll look at goin for a ride.

Beautiful Sunny California. I'm still seeing mostly desert, but at least we have some trees in this campground. We arrived here in Victorville Shady Oasis Kampground about 3 yesterday afternoon. We would have been here sooner, but we stopped for a while at a 50s diner at Calico California. Right out of the 50s...a lot of authentic pictures and memoribilia. We had already stopped for sandwiches along the side of the road, so we opted just to have a Malt. DH proved he was a genius while we were waiting, by ending up with just one peg! This stop was a lot more interesting than any McDonalds or Jack in the Box that I've seen! We are less than 100 miles from the CA coast and the Pacific Ocean! Woo Hoo!!!! After we got situated here, I fixed a pasta and salad supper. I really like this little park! Theres grass and trees here. Not city asphalt! No wind to speak of. Yea! Tired of that. The dogs seem to like it too....a refreshing change. I made Scalloped Potatoes and Ham and will make a Pasta Salad tomorrow. We will move on Sunday about 66 miles to our destination park for two or three weeks while we tour the southern and central areas of California. We have friends that will help to guide us, which will make it so much more fun! They live right on Newport Beach, and I can't wait to get my toes in the sand! That has been one of the focus's for this life of ours! Today we are going to tour a little Route 66 museum here in Victorville. Just mess around for a bit and then I have some major cleaning to do on the outside of this house on wheels! We heard that Colorado is getting pounded with snow and Nebraska with rain... I'm sorry. KayCee just spotted the two resident lizards out on our tree..and now all she wants to do is go look for them!

All good things come to an end!

Just as I wish this crappy weather would come to an end! I haven't got to swim at all while we've been here. Seems like the last couple of weeks are just a blur. Also seems like yesterday we were in the desert valley of Arizona. Today I've been busy trying to tie up all loose ends and gather up all the things that we're out of to get ready to move on down the road. Yesterday we spent the day cruising around Las Vegas. We visited and gambled in 5 different casinos and drove around looking at more. The morning started out at the Luxor Hotel & Casino on the South end of the Strip. It looks like a pyramid and the hotel rooms are along the outside walls all the way up on the inside walls. It's pretty cool. They have an awesome pool area, and there were quite a few braving the cool winds yesterday swimming, but they must have been really wanting to swim, 'cause it was cold! Before we left here the weather forcast told us to pull the slides in and stow the new satellite dish! It was a good thing we did that. The gusts were ferocious all day, and there was a dirt haze hanging everywhere. Today I have been sneezing and hacking around. On the way downtown we stopped off at the Flamingo Casino and right next door to that is Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. We decided it was "Five oclock somewhere!" and had Cheeseburgers in Paradise, DH had a Margarita and I had a fruitful Daquiri! That place is has a great fun atmosphere and pretty good food. After a long walk back to the parking garage, we made our way on down Las Vegas Blvd. past The Mirage, Trump Towers and the new Wynn Casino. We didn't stop to go in there. DH came away from the strip with a little change and he wanted to go into the Union Plaza downtown, where they hold some of the Poker Tourneys you see on TV. After looking around there, we walked down Fremont Street under the canopy, popped into one of the little places that advertised Frozen Chocolate Bananas and Nathans Hot Dogs for 99 cents. Yes we had a snack! I almost panicked when we got ready to go and I couldn't remember exactly which garage we parked in! Then we retraced the steps and found it! Whew! That's a bad feeling. We headed back out to Henderson and the Sunset Station Casino for a Buffet Supper before picking up the fur kids about 8:30...I was exhausted! We didn't leave too much money around, but we didn't win big either! We ended up leaving the slides in all night and the wind howled most of it. It didn't take long for me to be out like a light! Tonight I opted to stay in and take a shower and get ready to go in the morning and DH chose to go back to the Boulder City Railroad Station and play some Texas Holdem. We will come back here again sometime, but for now it's time to count this visit and move on. We have really enjoyed staying here at the Boulder Oaks RV Resort. It is very quiet and I have felt safe the whole time. Nice facilities and very good location. We will head south west tomorrow to Victorville California and explore a little of the old Route 66 highway and museum. We have reservations on Sunday at a Park in Orange County but until then we will look around the area and I have some cooking to do.....

Great Easter Weekend!

The weather wasn't the greatest in the world, but it wasn't white flakes and freezing temps! We spent most of the weekend at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway watching the Sportsman Class Drag Racing with our friends. Some of the Pros were there too. The Force crew had two girls racing Top Fuel Dragsters. Our Mallard Racing Team jumped one more hurdle and made it to the Third round on Sunday. They had so many rain and weather delays on Fri. and Sat. that they had a lot to finish on Easter. We helped set up for an Easter Egg hunt for all the racers kids that were spending the weekend far from home and wouldn't get to hunt eggs. They had lots of good stuff and snacks. A good time was had by all. It was equally fun for me to sample and see all the different foods and snacks available. I decided that if we go bust and I have to go back to work, I could always fire up a catering wagon. Anything gooey, greasy or on a stick sells! We didn't go back for finals on Sunday. After two days up at 5:30 and all day in the outdoors we were exhausted! Don't be fooled, being drag race groupies is very hard work! Went to Easter Buffet at the Railroad Station Casino not far from here. All week we have passed that place and they advertised a wonderful sounding lunch...so that's where we went! It was very good. Played their penny and nickel slots for about 45 minutes before lunch and the whole lunch ended up costing us about $9.00! The temps are starting to climb up into the 80s. I spent last night looking at maps and books to plan our departure on Thursday. We're heading to the coast when we leave here, but will make a stop midway at Victorville CA. and spend a day or two. The Mallard Racing Team will be racing again this weekend at Fontana California...... so will wait for them and they can guide us on into Newport Beach. The clouds are supposed to come in today, ofcourse. Think we may drive down to Lake Mead today. Tomorrow we will pound the streets of Las Vegas, both on the strip and downtown. I'm gonna start taking Tylonol now, because it's gonna be painful! Afterall, you can't come to Las Vegas and not see the sights!

Time Out in Las Vegas

We are having a time out! The wind blew yesterday and all night. It has calmed down a little more this afternoon. Clouds are coming in and floating by, but by all means it is no storm! Yesterday and today we have cleaned house and done laundry. I unloaded the cabinet under our bedroom tv and relocated everything in it today, getting ready to have a satellite installed on the roof and our DVR from home will ride back there. We will unhook the Coach in the morning and take it to Camping World for the day so that can be done. I took a walk around here this morning and took some pictures of some rose bushes across the street and the Club House, pool and hot tub at the end of our block. It really is pleasing to the eye here. A little pricey, but I feel real safe and relaxed and that's the point. We decided to stay another week, because with the races and the time outs we haven't got to do much of anything here. There's so much construction out to Hoover Dam that I don't really even want to go out there. Guess it takes an hour or two just to get across. We drove that way and saw the traffic back up and that was still with 9 miles to go, so have a feeling that's a project we won't see this time. There's a lot of entertainment advertised and some shows I'd like to see...however....they either aren't here until next week or the tickets are over $100 each and I'm not into paying that much for a little over an hour's show. We may go walking around on the strip and downtown one day next week. We'll have to wait and see. I'm pretty sure we're going to head west from here towards Barstow California and I have a route in mind that will end in Anaheim....that's another wait and see thing, but for now it's just time out!

What happens in Vegas......

Makes ya tired! We had an uneventful ride on up here to the Boulder Oaks RV Resort in Boulder City Nevada, about 23 miles south of Las Vegas. We got parked here on Thursday and hooked up and the wind hit with a fury! We were thankful that we made it with an hour to spare! Friday morning at 7 a.m. we dropped the dogs at the Pet Hotel in Henderson NV and made our way north up I 15 to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Las Vegas National Drag Races. We had an absolutely horrid day. Christy lost her race in the morning right off the bat. The wind blew 60+ in the afternoon and it blew up a slight rain. The competition finally got cancelled in the afternoon because the track conditions got so bad. We went with our friends from the Mallard Racing Team to a Barbeque place for lunch and went to the Cannary hotel and Casino where we left some money. Christy finally taught me how to play penny video slots. We had fun. It was cheap entertainment. (DH just informed me that he wants to go walk around the strip and have a meal at Jimmy Buffetts Margaritavile. So we will do that too one of these days.) When we returned to the track, the conditions were still yukky, so we left and returned to the coach and went to bed so we could get up at 5:30 and do it all over again. Saturday arrived and we headed north once more. The weather was lots better, just a slight breeze and crisp temps. We were invited to the Crew Catering Trailer and area to feast and hang out and watch the races from the finish line. We were right under the left score board. It was great....fantastic....and every other good word you can say. I had to provide the entertainment for a while however, by heading out of the living quarters of the car trailer, stepped down on the side of a wooden step and felt myself goin'. The step flipped up and hit the inside of my right knee, I knew I was going to meet pavement, so I tucked and rolled out into the circle of people, like the gymnast that I used to be! LOL>>>> OMG...I didn't break any bones, I didn't break the camera that I threw under the trailer! Some thought I would get up and say "Ta Da!!!!" No, I was hurt! I cut a half moon in my thumb, and they had to give me first aid! I did get out of bed this morning, and with the help of a little Tylenol I am making it through the day, however, I'm really sore! I laugh everytime I replay it. I could have done it when it was just us girls, but no....I had to do it when there was a bunch of people there! DH was on walkabout and missed it. We went back to the Cannery in the afternoon where I decided it was a good day to leave a bunch more pennies. I don't think it's my month for slots so will probably steer clear....at least until next weekend. We have been summoned by the pit crew of the Mallard Racing Team, the Randell Racing Team and the rest of the crews that will be back for another Divisional meet this next week. So you know, when the groupies are needed...they will arrive! Yesterday I met Teri Cannavo, the wife of Carl who drives a Super Comp Dragster. She has a son that went to Iraq the same time that my son did, so we have that in common. We had a real good visit and they are from South Dakota. I feel really lucky that we have met all these nice people and it is awesome that we now have some great new friends! I'm a racing junky for sure! As I sit here and watch the Pro Finals on TV..I'm getting the view of some of the things that we missed throughout the qualifying rounds. It's all good! Napa Funny Car won..... go Napa!

It's Snowing in Desert Valley!

April Fools! Hard to believe that it's April 1st. We left our friends at Desert Valley RV Resort this morning around 10:00 a.m., headed west on I 8 to Gila Bend Arizona. (I drove from our site to the front gate! Not ready to go out of the road however!) The traffic was light and we avoided Phoenix madness all together! Nice.... Not a bad road at all. There were very light breezes and only one wind related issue came up on the trip. We headed North on State Hwy 85 out of Gila Bend and it was some two lane and other 4 lane road. The "Up Antenna" light came on and as we continued on I 10 west at Buckeye, we stopped at a rest area, where DH climbed up on top and discovered that the bungee cord that had held the antenna in place had broken, and it was actually up quite a bit! I wonder how many folks saw that and wanted to stop and tell us! No damage or problem....we spotted a bent hanger on the ground and I threw it up to him and he really fastened it down this time...now I get a pause to walk to the river here at the River Breeze resort in Ehrenberg...where we pulled in about 2 p.m. Back later. OK I'm back now....nice walk to the river. They gave me a sack of goldfish crackers to feed a Duck with a topknot named Elvis. About 5 ducks came for treats...it was kinda fun. Checked out the route we will take with the Coach in the morning. It's paved here...but really narrow little roads down by the river. Will be an adventure leaving I'm sure! I had an impulse yesterday...cut my hair really short, got a new style and added blonde highlights! It's time for an easy summer cut.... really like it so far. Now I have to get busy and tan my ears and neck.! Pretty white. Time for me to fix supper, I will share some photos with you from today! We only have a little under 200 miles tomorrow. Most up a road by the Colorado River....should be an easy trip....