December 19, 2008 Friday

It's been since Monday night that I wrote. We didn't go to the Monday night football party at the bar. We decided he'd watch the game here and I think I watched TV or read my book.

Tuesday morning, still at Emerald Cove RV Resort, I went to line dancing. When I got back to the RV, he had it all ready to go. We were leaving that park for the next one in Ehrenberg, AZ. It was only about 40 miles away so it didn't take long.

We found this park, Colorado River Oasis and found it to be very nice, clean and fun things to do in the clubhouse. That afternoon and evening we just kind of got used to our new surroundings.


Wednesday morning I went to the clubhouse for aerobic walking for an hour. Really nice ladies and a fun hour. After that and lunch, we decided to make a quick trip into Quartzsite, AZ. If you've never heard of Quartzsite, AZ, it's a place where the population changes from 2100 residents to 100,000 RVers starting about now or January till well into March. If you google Quartzsite, you'll see awesome pictures of the thousands of RVs boondocking on BLM land all around Quartzsite. It's amazing. The day was very very rainy so none of the vendors were open. I guess that afternoon and early evening, they got so much rain, the booths were a foot deep in water.

Thursday, yesterday, I went to aerobic walking again for an hour in the morning. When I got back, we went to Q again as the rains had stopped and the sun was actually trying to peek through the clouds. It was way more fun with the vendor booths open. There's got to be hundreds of them. We spent several hours walking through and in and out of all the booths on one side of the street. We found dried fruit and some nuts, local oranges and grapefruit. What a yummy find! It was a very nice day but our feet really hurt and there's still many more vendors to see.

Nothing exciting happened last night.........OH, I went to the clubhouse to play pokeno which is a form of bingo. I think I came home with more money than I left with but not sure. It isn't an excitingly fun game but it wasn't bad.

This morning, Friday, I went to aerobic walking again and afterwards we had another list of things to get from the store so made a trip to Blythe, which is closer than Quartzsite, to find a Christmas decoration. I've been making paper stars but we decided we needed a little more.

This afternoon Chuck washed the RV and I made my paper stars. This evening I'll go to card bingo. At 4:30 is happy hour but Chuck doesn't want to go so we'll probably eat some leftovers here and watch some TV. I finished another book so can start another one. The sun is shining beautifully today and it's not raining!! It's someplace in the upper 50s with no wind! I hope the weather improves a little bit more everyday. We need to get back to Quartzsite to finish the rest of the vendor booths and a sunny day would be nice.

That's about it and I think that catches you up on what we've been doing. Not too exciting!

This is a picture looking down the road from our site inside the resort.

December 15, 2008 Con't

After our trip to the dam and WalMart, we had dinner and a couple beers at the bar. Had a great time with some of the other snowbirds. There's so many nice people here; so friendly.

We took in the little craft sale the resort has every Saturday. We bought a really super nice potato peeler! Yes, a potato peeler! I really needed one badly and this one is a beaut! I should take a picture of it. We went for a roast beef dinner in the clubhouse. You wouldn't believe the huge portions they gave us. We could have and should have split an order. It was only $6 a plate! Had salad, dinner roll, mashed potatoes, green beans, the extremely tender beef and a brownie or carrot cake for dessert.

Sunday, yesterday we went to Lake Havasu City to see the bridge. We had lunch at Taco Bell. I had such a craving for their tacos. Here's some photos of the bridge. It was brought here piece by piece, the pieces numbered so it could be reassembled properly, in 1971. The high bidder was Robert P. McCulloch of the McCulloch Oil Corporation and saws. It spans a manmade channel. His master plan was to develop a community on the Colorado River. He succeeded.

We stopped at the swapmeet or flea market at Lake Havasu city and found a few things for Christmas and a 8 pound bag of navel oranges for $3.00! What a buy. I found some magnets as souveniers and one of the vendors gave me a Santa ornament. It's the only Christmas decoration we have except for a paper star I made! LOL

When we got back, we heard singing up at the bar around 4pm. It was karaoke night; so we went up to watch the fun. After a couple beers, even I sang! I did a Dixie Chick's song....Goodbye Earl. It was very popular and many were signing right a long with me. So fun. I've never done that before and don't know if I ever will again but it sure was a fun evening. The bar always closes around 6pm so we came back home for something to eat and watch some TV. Wish I had pictures of our fun at the bar but don't.

Today we found the post office. I was needing to send Ethan, my grandson, a Christmas present. The line wasn't too bad for being the busiest PO day of the year. Sent out a few cards but not many this year.

Tonight there's no dinner in the clubhouse but the bar opens for Monday night footbal and will be serving hot dogs, chili dogs, mini pizzas and popcorn! I think the hot dogs are only $1! We may go and we may not. He can watch the game here and I don't need anymore beer!

I have to put a picture of Peachy and Pixie on the blog since Frank has been pictured a few times. The first one is Peachy.

This is Pixie

December 15, 2008 continued

OK,yesterday we went back to Lake Havasu to see the London bridge.

December 15, 2008 Monday

I haven't been able to get Google to upload photos and posts for me over the weekend. I'll try this morning.

A few days ago, the last warm day here, we took the little boat out on the Colorado River. There's several manmade channels with beautiful homes build right up to the water. None had any beach area as you can see in the photos.



About Saturday night we had the most beautiful sunset....


This Emerald Cove is such a huge RV park. There's over 800 sites. Here's a view of part of it from the River.

We have no idea what Frank was doing here? Looking at himself in the mirror maybe?

Here, he fell asleep on the dash.


A couple days ago we went to Parker Dam. The dam created Lake Havasu, which is a huge beautiful lake.

That was a fun day we went to Lake Havasu City and to get there you had to drive on the dam.


Think I'll start another page for the next few days.

We went on a boat ride in the Colorado River.



There were several channels with gorgeous homes built right down on the water.

December 14, 2008 Sunday

I tried to upload some photos last night but Google must have been extremely busy as nothing would work so I'll try again tonight. This'll be mostly photos tonight.

Two days ago we went for a boat ride on the Colorado River.



This is a video:


There were several channels throughout the river with these million dollar homes built on the shore.....sort of.....there's no shore!

December 13, 2008 Saturday

This post will be mostly photos.

Two days ago we took the little boat out on the Colorado River.




Yesterday we didn't do much but the laundry and read. We went up to the bar for dinner and a couple beers in the eveing.


Yesterday we went out on the river in our little blow up boat. There were lots of chanels and beautiful homes all along all the chanels.

December 10, 2008 Wednesday

Wow! I haven't written anything since the 7th! Since Riverside. Well, where do I start? We were still at Wilderness Lakes Resort at that time in Menifee, California. The 8th I went to line dancing in the morning and we just hung around the motorhome during the day. It was a cold and windy day but we went for a long walk around the resort and then went to bed early because we wanted to leave early on Tuesday so we could beat the winds.

Tuesday morning on the 9th, we headed for Earp, California and the Emerald Cove RV Resort on the Colorado River. The Colorado River runs between California and Arizona. When we left Menifee it was still windy! We had heard the Santa Ana winds were coming so we thought we'd try to get ahead of them and stay ahead of them but nope. We were right in the middle of them.

The winds start in the desert and blow down the valley toward the ocean picking up speed as it goes. The photos don't show really well how hard the wind was blowing but believe me, the RV was rocking! It was good to see them capture this wind. There must be hundreds of these windmills through this valley.

The winds were gusting 70 mph and impossible to drive a 34' motorhome with a car in tow! We decided to pull off at a gas station and wait it out. I got on the comuter and found out the Santa Ana winds can last a coupld days! A COUPLE DAYS! If we didn't make it to the next resort, it was only a $10 loss that night but no way were we going to stay there for a couple days! We ate lunch, filled up with gas, read our book, and watched the winds.



After 4 hours of that, we decided to hit the road and see if we could make it at least to the rest stop that was 2 miles down the road. It was right about there that the winds seemed to subside a little so we kept going and the farther we got the better things were. So we kept going. We had over 80 miles to go and it was already starting to get dark. So, yup, we had to finish the last 20 miles or so in the dark not knowing where we were going. The road the resort is on wasn't in our GPS, of course! We had the address and the road wasn't hard to find so we just kept going until we came to Emerald Cove Resort. Only 6 miles out of town.


What a place; 800 sites, large clubhouse, with yummy breakfasts, lunches and dinners, card games, line dancing, golf tournaments across the street, poker, cribbage, jigsaw puzzles, pool tables, shuffle board, two pools and two jacuzis with a bar between the two pools, basketball court and pickle ball! It's an awesome place! We went for a walk tonight and walked for an hour without ever leaving the resort and didn't even get all the roads covered.


When we pulled in last night in the dark we parked too close to a palm tree so we had a little trouble putting out the slide-out. We ate a little supper, watched a little TV and just went to bed. We would have to move the RV and reset-up in the morning. It's not easy in the dark to do that. The car battery was dead from sitting for 4 hours waiting for the wind to die down.......the brake buddy in the car uses the battery. So all we could do was leave it till morning. He charged the battery and things were back on track and things got done properly first thing this morning.

I HAD to walk up to the clubhouse and check things out. I helped a lady work a jigsaw puzzle while we exchanged our travel stories. I went back to the RV and we had some lunch and then went to check out the town. We never found Earp but did find Parker, which is over the river and in AZ not CA. There's a Safeway grocery store there so picked up some bread and milk and then drove around a little to check out the little town. We stopped for a DQ cone. The DQ was NOT being run by teenagers. It's an ice cream only DQ and run by two little elderly ladies; hand written and drawn signs and all. So cute. Beats being a greeter at WalMart! LOL They really were enjoying their jobs. Who knows maybe they were the owners!

After dinner tonight; dinner was spaghetti and salad, we went for our hour long walk. Now we're watching a movie........I'm supposed to be watching......The Manchurian Candidate. I think he's sleep! LOL

More tomorrow.

December 7, 2008 Sunday

Yesterday, the 6th, we went to Riverside, CA. It was only about 30 miles away! We parked so we could walk around the old part of town; the part we remembered we walked 44 years ago. Boy, has it changed but the old buildings are still there and so are the beautiful arches. We got engaged in Sunny Meade just a hop skip and a jump from Riverside and we celebrated with a nice dinner in Riverside so it is a special place to us.

We stopped for a latte in a little shop, took photos, walked around and had a fun time.

We took lots of photos. Here's the arches we remembered. We were so happy they were still there. They happen to be part of an old beautiful historical hotel. They had lots of beautiful Christmas decorations up.



We went into a historical museum and learned a lot about Riverside. Seems arches were very popular way back when.



Then we decided to go find a park and have our picnic lunch. I had made some sandwiches and brought some chips, pop, cheese, etc. We bought some hummus and very fresh wonderful pita bread in town at one of the booths set up in the center of market place. There was lots of fresh fruits and vegetables being sold.

We had to drive quite ahwile to find a nice shaded park. We wanted to go to the park on Mount Rubadoux but you can no longer drive up there and the hike up didn't appeal to us in the heat. We found the park after driving around for awhile but the only picnic table there had someone sleeping on it!





Here's a picture of the train depot I came in at back in 1964. It's no longer used as a train depot and has offices there now.



Today, the 7th, we didn't do much. We woke up so some tiny little visitors......little red ants! Marching around the sink and all over the counter. We cleaned them up and then had our coffee, read the newspaper and listened to Elvis' Christian music CDs. Breakfast was black forest ham, eggs easy over and toast. Football was on so he watched that while I played around on the laptop. Later in the day we went to Albertsons for some ant spray and some beer and pretzels.

Supper was popcorn and more football but later Amazing Race and Brothers and Sisters comes on. I caught up on all my shows by watching the episodes I missed on the laptop.

That catches me up. I'll be back in a day or two. We'll still be here tomorrow and we leave Tuesday. I have line dancing again tomorrow.

December 5, 2008 Friday

I didn't get any photos posted yesterday so here's some of the resort we're at.




Last night we sat around a camp fire with the neighbors. We didn't get to bed as early as usual so were a little tired today. The plan was to take a ride to Riverside but decided to stay around and just relax and maybe catch up on some sleep. Since were going to be around, I went ahead and went to line dancing. When I came back to the RV, Chuck thought it would be fun to go to the beach and see the ocean. We took the route that took us through San Juan Capistrano which looked really interesting so decided to stop for lunch and take in the tour of the mission. Very interesting and educational and we really enjoyed it.


This is the chapel.......just beautiful!



There was an earthquake in the 1800s that destroyed the church. I took a few pictures of what remains.







It got a little late so we didn't make it to the ocean beaches. We'll try again another day.

December 5, 2008 Friday

Ok, no pictures yesterday so I'll add some here and might go back and add some there.
Wilderness Lakes RV Resort




Don't know where I left off yesterday but what we did was sit next to a great campfire with the neighbors. We were out there from 7pm till almost midnight. Meeting people is a small part of it but definitely a part of it.

Here's Chuck relaxing before sitting by the fire.


Ok, this morning we got up a little later and had decided to not do anything today but stick around and relax; maybe catch up on our sleep. I went ahead and went to line dancing at 10 and got back here about 11:30. A lady had brought in cookies so I sat around and chatted for a few minutes while the advanced class continued. I decided there's no need to torture and frustrate myself and try to learn the advanced dances since I won't be here much longer anyway and will only get in about two more classes. I'm not sure there's line dancing at the resorts we're planning on visiting in the next 5 weeks.

Around noon, Chuck decided it would be fun to go see the ocean and beaches. We're only about 100 miles away, if that. So we took the easiest route and headed west. We went through San Juan Capistrano and saw the mission so decided to visit that and have a little lunch. We had some authentic Mexican which we both liked a lot. Anyway, the mission was a self-guided audio tour. We held a little speaker thing to our ear, we each had our own and went through the mission and saw the original church that was destroyed by an earthquake back in the 1800s.





We really really enjoyed the tour but spent too much time in San Juan Capistrano so didn't make it to the ocean. We have three places yet we want to see and that's the ocean,Riverside and Mount Rubedu, not sure that's how it's spelled but we were engaged outside of Riverside in Sunny Meade back in 1964 and we enjoyed a day in Riverside and Mount Rubedu. Kind of nostalgic for us/

Day Six December 2, 2008

I decided I needed the date on each post.

We were up early again this morning and took our time leaving the Palm View Resort. We trusted the GPS to get us just 18 miles down the road but one little road was changed and took a little jog that GPS (here's Chuck trying to figure out where we were)didn't know about so we had to turn on the laptop and use Rand McNally to help us out. We found the place around noon and chose our site on one of the canals. There's over 500 sites here! Two club houses, one family and one adult only, two pools, one family and one adults only, mini golf, horse shoes, pool tables, crafts, line dancing, live music, water aerobics and the list goes on. I may try the line dancing in the morning at 9:30. always wanted to do that.

We took a ride into Menifee looking for folding lawn chairs but didn't find any. We ate supper at Panda Express and got the car washed. We're back in the motorhome and resting. We feel so tired tonight. I think I'll come back tomorrow and download some photos of our day but at least you know we're here and safe.


You'll have to go back to the day I put the geese video on the blog. This time it worked but it's the longer one. I thought I was downloading the shorter one so you don't have to watch the whole boring thing. It's about 2:41 minutes.

Heading out now to go line dancing!

December 4, 2008

Switching to the date instead of the day. Easier that way.

Yesterday, I did get to the linedance class and did well in the beginner portion the first hour but pretty much sat out during the advanced. Today I'll go back for the first hour only.

After line dancing yesterday, we went to WalMart and found some chairs. Not the kind we wanted but at least we can sit outside now and enjoy the outdoors. I hate staying inside so much. We had Zatarans with sausage for supper and then we sat outside till it got dark. Not much on TV so I played around on the laptop and it was beddy by time around 10pm.

Now, today, December 4th, we were up early and I'm making cornbread pancakes. I'll need to take a shower and get to linedancing in about two hours. While I'm dancing my toes off! Chuck is running to get some kind of cable so we can get local channels with our antenna. What a guy, huh? I'll try to download more photos but don't think the gals in the linedancing class would like me taking pictures there.

Back later with some pictures.....might start adding to the blog everyother day. Not much interesting happening the next few days. When we get back on the road, thing'll get more interesting.

Day Eight

December 4, 2008

Did I miss day seven? So busy and so much to do!