Millers' Time

Monday, February 19: The day dawned sunny and bright. Carl and his family, Trish, Judy and I were going to head out to the Castle Dome Mine Museum. It is what remains of a silver mining town started in 1864 that lasted until 1979.

We left shortly after 10:00 and it was about 35 miles away. Well, we didn’t know that the last 10 miles were going to be on a washboard gravel road. I didn’t get a picture but there was a big white blimp on the ground out there. Judy said it was a border patrol blimp but it must have been too windy to get in the air today. I have never seen one that was totally white and it seemed kind of spooky looking.

The mining town was quite interesting. Lots of preserved buildings and artifacts. It was especially fun seeing it with Waylon and Sydney. Seeing things through a child’s eye is always a good way to view the world. The Castle Dome mining area was established around 1864 and continued until 1979 when separating the silver was more costly than the silver itself.

It is also known as a ‘ghost’ town and I think that is because they have so many manikins dressed in period costumes. Those could be kind of creepy. When we went into the barber shop there was a manikin in one of the chairs and two women sitting at a little table playing chess. At first, we thought they were manikins too but they were real humans.

Carl and Waylon’s favorite. This was behind a curtain in an old travel trailer in the 1970’s portion of the museum.

We then stopped at the tiny church along the road. Reverend Carl and Reverend Waylon held the service.

Bill had suggested we go to Martinez Lake for lunch. Not sure what we were expecting but it certainly wasn’t the place we found. Not sure how to describe it but after clearing away a table full of half empty wine cups (plastic was the order of the day for all drinks, plates, etc.) we ordered lunch. They mostly had burgers, grilled sandwiches, and fried stuff, but they had at least one salad. I had a green Chile burger and it was fair, the burger was kind of crisply overdone. The fries and onion rings were pretty good. Sara tried the salad. It was ‘okay’ but the lettuce looked like a head had been torn into a few large chunks.

It had been windy when we left in the morning but it had picked up even more while we were out. Trish drove her Escalade and the wind was pushing her around on the road. It was even hard to get the door open at one stop because the wind was pushing it back closed. It was also pretty darn cool. It only got to a high of 63 which just seems weird for being in the desert and after the 80 degrees the day before.

When we got back I let Misty out for a few minutes but it was too windy for her so she came back into the camper. The camper was shaking and rattling every vent and loose part around. I lay down and watched the USA women vs China curling. I still just don’t get curling! It was quite boring as the USA was ahead 9-3 but it was a way to just relax and do nothing for an hour.

We were having potato bar for dinner as Trish had bought a big bag of potatoes for something but they didn’t get used. I had some hamburger in the freezer left over from spaghetti sauce so defrosted it in the microwave and put it in the Instant Pot and browned with some onion, garlic, and jalapeños. I also had some dried chilies that I soaked and put in the Bullitt blender with a can of Rotel tomatoes and chilies, then added that and a handful of pinto beans to the Pot. Twenty minutes later I had chili for the not so faint-hearted to add to their potato. See why I love my Instant Pot so much? Thirty minutes and dinner can be done. It took longer to cook the potatoes!

We ate in the Bryant’s place since it was so windy still. Trish had also brought some big Costco hot dogs so I had a chili dog on a half of a potato instead of a bun. Sure was good! Judy had bought Key Lime Pie for Mexican night but forgot about it so we had that for dessert. A good time was had by all.

The wind stopped suddenly around 8:00 or so and was calm all night. Made for much easier sleeping in the camper without all the noise and movement.

Sunday, February 18: Today turned into the warmest, sunny day I have had yet. And I heard it snowed in parts of the Seattle area.

I didn’t plan on doing anything today so was making a leisurely breakfast when I was invaded by little humans! Little humans who love felines. Waylon and Sydney Bryant came for a visit. We had some interesting conversations from reading by Braille to blogging to cancer and death. Misty wasn’t too sure about being picked up and held so much. She is not a cuddly cat but even though she whined a bit she was good and didn’t strike out.

Waylon and Sydney looking at photos. You can just see Misty over Waylon’s shoulder keeping her distance.

Shortly after I finished breakfast, we all gathered around the pool. It was warm and sunny and the kids were having fun in the pool. Frank and Trish came over to visit and swim. Carl, Judy, Sara and the kids decided to go to the historic prison. I decided I needed to save something for my next visit so stayed by the pool.

Tom and Garth (he and his wife, Lois, are the ones who did the Canada breakfast last week) was laying tile on the bar that Tom and Bill built. Bill was putting a CB in his side-by-side. Frank and Trish left after their swim. So I decided to start prepping for Mexican dinner.

The bar is getting closer to being finished

I cooked the pinto beans in the Instant Pot, browned and added the meat, and pressure cooked for 10 minutes, then just let is stay on warm until close to dinner time when I would add the eggs. No jalapeños, green or dried chiles went in since a couple people are spicy adverse. I did chop up some jalapeños and had purchased ‘Hot’ salsa to go on as people wanted.

Marianne was fixing carne asada and a divided dish with olives, sliced sweet peppers, sour cream, guacamole, and other things to go with the dinner. Trish brought chips and chocolate covered strawberries and Judy gathered all the chairs and tables together for seating and provided drinks including BSB – brown sugar bourbon.

After fixing the burrito filling I had time to sew. I think I am liking this bag much better than other rejected one. I even tried to give the little one to Sydney but she didn’t seem interested. Smart girl.

What with the cooking and 80 degree temperature it got fairly warm in the camper. At one point I decided to try the air conditioner. I had never turned it on before. It cooled things down fairly well but was really noisy and I was trying to watch Olympics while sewing so I turned it off and opened all the windows again. The air conditioner has a fan only function but it also was pretty noisy. But there are times when just a fan blowing will probably be enough to keep things comfortable.

Garth had been diligently working away all afternoon and Lois came over to find him so they were invited to join in the dinner. She wondered if there would be enough. She doesn’t know that I can’t seem to cook for anything less than a club sized crowd. Lol.

It was a good dinner with good company. A few shots of tequila and BSB were had by some Then it was time to sit around the fire pit. The wind had started picking up early afternoon and by this time is was blowing really hard. Bill and Carl put up a Husky tarp or something on the south end of the canopy to try to block some of the wind, but it could only do so much. The forecast actually called for it to be windy on Monday but I wonder if it came early.

The party broke up fairly early. On my part because I was tired of the wind. I finished cleaning up the dishes and went to bed to watch the Olympics.

There was not as brilliant of a sunset as the night before but the sliver moon looked cool in the clear sky.

Saturday, February 17: Very cool overnight so I had to turn on the furnace and warm up the place before showering. But, as soon as the sun starts hitting the camper it warms up quickly.

I was just getting ready for the day when I got a call from Trish – there was going to be a parade! We thought maybe it was a parade for President’s Day but it was Hank’s Day Parade. Hank Schechert was a local developer who purchased 3,000 acres of desert in the 1960’s. It was called Hank’s Folly because no one thought anyone would want to live out in the desert. Look at it now!

Trish came by and we drove to the end of the street, took out a couple of chairs, and lined up with the rest of the people along the parade route. There weren’t really very many people where we were but you could see more to the north closer to the area with stores and things. We weren’t sure if we were going to be at the beginning or end. Luckily, we were at the beginning.

There were a lot of classic cars, Harleys, elected officials, Red Hat ladies, Doggie Divas, dinosaurs, Shriner’s on tiny scooters, a bagpiper – but no marching bands. Turns out Tim McQuade had his car in the parade with passengers, Glenda, Tom, and Marianne.

Tim McQuade’s Bel Air with Tom, Marianne and Glenda along for the ride.

After the parade, Trish and I went to the 99 cent store and Fry’s to pick up a few things. When I got back, I decided to pull out the sewing machine and do some sewing. I had forgotten that the belt needed replacing on it. I had purchased a new belt shortly after I got it from mom, but had a bit of a struggle getting it on. It is quite different from my Pfaff but sewing memory came back and I remembered how to wind thread on the bobbin, load the bobbin and thread the machine!

My mom, being the organized type A that she is, still had everything that goes with the machine like the tiny little instruction manual as well as several attachments along with their manuals. I had used the machine in my first years after moving out but got a Kenmore around 35 years ago. Then mom wanted it back but never ended up using it. So, it has been sitting in it’s little case for all these years but ran just like it always has.

Not exactly the best set up for sewing, but it works.

I had found a free pattern for a bag online and used it to make a bag but it was tiny and I didn’t like the way it was designed. So, it was just the trial run for the machine. Sunday, I am going to try one that is more of a quilted bag.

Marianne and Lois came by for a while so we all sat around the Bryant’s for happy hour. They were going to the Eagles Lodge for a concert but the rest of us decided to stay home and wait for Carl and family to arrive. Everyone was on their own for dinner. Then while watching the Olympics, I heard a door slam and went out thinking it was Carl but it was Bill. I went back to the TV and a while later I went out to see if they had arrived and all the Bryants and Keenans were sitting around the fire pit talking. I hadn’t heard a thing and the windows are so dark on my camper they thought I was asleep.

No Misty misadventures yesterday but I did get her a new Cat Habitat. My friend, Karen Hazzard, had emailed me a link and said she had friends who had one for their cats and loved it. This will work well when I am back on the road. Misty has gotten used to being on the leash around here and is friendly with everyone again. But I can put her in the tent and not have to worry about her escaping if I am in the camper.

Best sunset I have seen yet.

Friday, February 16: Misty decided it was calisthenics time at about 5:00 AM. She went running back and forth around the trailer using me as a jumping board every time. She finally settled down and I was able to get back to sleep. Crazy Cat!

Today the girls, Judy, Trish, Marianne, and I were going to go to the Arizona Market Place. Before that I cleaned the bathroom and vacuumed the floors after doing my blog post. We left a little after 11:00 and it takes maybe 20 minutes to get there.

It is a big open area with large covers like carports with tents under for stalls. There is a lot of everything there from RV parts to socks. We walked up and down the aisles stopping in some stores and just looking in others. I found some outdoor carpet anchors like Bill and Judy have. I also got a cribbage board for the camper and a cell phone holder for when I am driving. Need to be able to see the map sometimes and there isn’t a good place to put the phone.

Then we came to the mobile quilt shop. Lots of fabric and quite a few notions. I got some inexpensive fabric to use for lining bags that I am going to make with the Southwest themed fabric I got the other day. I also got some thread and batting. Thread was $1 – $3 depending on the size and fabric was $5/yard. May have to get out the sewing machine on Saturday. I brought my mom’s 1951 Singer Featherweight.

I had seen a sign for The Peanut Patch which was close to the market place so asked if we could go there. None of the others had been there but Trish’s neighbor had told her they had good hard ice cream. So, off we went.

The Peanut Patch

It had a lot of candies, various nuts, date products, olives, fudge, ice cream, and date and peanut butter shakes. I picked up some peanuts in the shell, almond stuffed olives, smoked almonds, and roasted pumpkins seeds. Then we all got a small shake. Trish got peanut butter and the rest of us got the date shake. I had seen signs all the way from Palm Springs to Yuma for date shakes so had to try one. Very good, but very rich!

As they say, life is short, eat dessert first. We then went to Wheezy’s for lunch! It is a nice place not too far from their homes. By this time it was almost 3:00 so it was a very late lunch. I had talked about going with Marianne to a place called Mickey B’s because Mickey himself was going to be playing piano and singing from 4:00 – 6:00. I guess he has arthritis so bad that he rarely plays anymore but was today. Well, after the date shake and vegetarian pita for lunch, I was sleepy so decided to stay home and let Misty out for a while.

Bill, Tom, and Garth were putting tile on Tom’s bar so I walked over there after putting Misty on her leash. I was only gone a few minutes and came back and found an empty harness again. This was the new harness, too! I heard her meowing and found her on the other side of Bryants place in the corner of the lot. I put it back on and tightened it up a bit. It hadn’t been but a few minutes and Judy came out and said, “She’s escaped again!” This time she was just a few feet away under their trailer.

So, I got out the original one, cut off the broken plastic clasp and zip tied it again. So far, so good. She hasn’t escaped again and I ordered another one from Amazon so I have it before I leave.

I got out the Bryant’s Atlas and my Western United States maps and started plotting my next moves. I think I will leave here on Tuesday. I want to go to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. They actually have one RV park there with hookups and the park has a shuttle system like Yosemite so I can get around to the various sites. I was thinking of staying for 3 days. Then I will go back a little south and west to meet up with Garry and Marilee Wamsley by Bullhead City. From there I might go up through Nevada. That is still up in the air because you just never know, do you?

Since the girls had eaten so late, the Keenan’s, Bryant’s and I all just hung out at our own places for the night. I watched a lot of the Olympics and polished my nails. Big Friday night – just like home, ha, ha.

Another Misty misadventure: The camper has a slide out where the dinette is. There is a small opening under one end where there is obviously a space. As I said before, if there is an opening or cubby anywhere, Misty wants in. She crawled into this place, which I can’t see into because it is just a few inches from the back wall, and decided to stay. I managed to get a photo so I could kind of see if there was anything she could get into trouble with but it just looks like a spot made for her. It would probably squish her if I brought the slide in, but I always put her in the front of the truck before bringing the slide in.

Arrow marks the opening

Misty’s hidey hole

Thursday, February 15: Woke up early today and got ready to go to Los Algodones, right across the border into Mexico. Los Algodones means The Cottons or Cotton Buds in Spanish. It is believed to be derived from the name of the tribe that lived there, Halchidomas. It realized its first big growth boom during prohibition when people from the US went there to drink and party. Now it is booming from people going to get cheaper prescription drugs and dental work, and also to drink and party.

The Keenans, Bryants and I loaded up into Bill’s truck and took off around 9:00. It is kind of funny because there is a parking area run by the tribe where they charge $6 to park. Some people are too cheap and will park along the road just outside the parking area and walk. Then you just walk straight into Mexico. No customs, immigration or anything except an X-ray machine for bags which was new. Just like any tourist place in Mexico, there were men lining the walkways trying to sell you something, but instead of time shares or tours, it was drugs or dentists. Then there was a warren of stalls selling all the regular Mexican stuff like blankets, jewelry, metal wall pieces, metal yard pieces, ceramics, you name it.

Judy went to get her hair cut and Bill wanted to price some metal lawn art. He found some that he liked but wanted to check out the place close to here in Yuma to see what the price difference was. They are so close to Los Algodones that it isn’t a big deal to go back if need be to get what he wants. Their new yard has been cleaned up and rock delivered and spread and is starting to look real nice. He doesn’t want any real plants besides the 5 palm trees already there, hence the reason for looking for other things to add interest.

We then went to the El Paraiso restaurant and bar to wait for Judy with Margaritas or cervezas. Funny thing was they didn’t start selling them until 11:00, which I have never heard of in Mexico. The waitress said something like it was the law in California, and I said Baja California? And she replied, yes.

By noon the place was packed and a two man band was playing loudly right next to us. There was a turtle that wandered through a couple of times and one of the waiters gave it some strawberries. It was funny to see it in the middle of the bar eating them with everyone taking pictures.

We ended up leaving and going to the casino a short distance back over the border for lunch. They had a nice salad bar with two soups. It was really nice salad bar with lots of variety. After lunch, the guys played a little blackjack and Judy a slot machine. Trish and I went to the bar and had a drink. It was kind of funny because when the bartender put down my drink I heard her say $25! I thought, OMG, guess I won’t have more than one. I pulled out 2 twenties and handed them to her. She handed one back and I said, “I thought you said $25?!” She said, “no, $4.25” and we both laughed. I played $4 worth of video poker with a $1.50 return when the guys came back to leave. The most I have spent gambling in years!

I had purchased a big chuck roast on sale the day before and had the little yellow potatoes from the farmers market so had said I would make pot roast. Not something I normally would have made in the desert but the weather has been fairly cool in the evenings (in fact, it had rained quite a bit overnight) and everyone always likes pot roast.

I decided to use the Instant Pot. Even though it has a sauté function, I browned the meat on the stove top. I don’t think the sauté function gets quite hot enough for a good sear. Every time I do anything at a high temperature in the oven or stove top the damn smoke alarm goes off. So, I finally took a paper towel and covered the thing up.

Dinner was outside around the fire pit since it stayed fairly warm. I had cooked the meat for an hour in the pressure cooker before putting in the vegetables for another half hour. I had carrots and Marianne had a few more carrots and a little cauliflower. The vegetables were a little too done so next time I would add them for maybe 10 minutes. I had sautéed some mushrooms in the skillet I used for browning the meat and made a mushroom gravy from the juices from cooking the roast. It all tasted good if a little mushy.

Misty spent a lot of the time after I got back from Mexico outside. She just loves rolling around on the gravel and cement. It is probably fairly warm when the sun comes out. She also isn’t so skittish now that we have been here a few days and is getting to be more of her friendly self. She isn’t going to like going back on the road, I don’t think.

February 14: Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone.

Today was kind of a lazy day around here – for me anyway. Lazed around after getting up for a while then Judy asked if I wanted to go with her to Home Depot and Fry’s.

She needed to get some Preen for the new house since the yard guys were coming today to clean it up and they don’t want more weeds growing. And they also wanted some bug bombs to set off to make sure there were no creepy crawlies around. I got another little folding stool to make it easier to get up into my bed.

Next was a quick visit to Fry’s for a few things. I was amazed at how many people were there on a Wednesday morning. It was like going to Costco on a Saturday! The parking lot was jammed full of cars and the store was wall to wall shopping carts.

After we got back I let Misty out and was putting things away. Then I went over to watch the yard guys go up the palm trees to trim off the dead leaves. Judy and I then went inside to pull the bedding off and get ready to set off the bombs. Some of the bedding was falling apart as it had been in there for 4 long years of hot weather.

I came back and saw Misty’s leash going into the camper – I always leave the screen open so she can jump in if something frightens her. When I looked in the door all I saw was the leash with an empty pink harness lying on the floor! I must have said something like, “oh, shit” because Judy came to see what was wrong. Well, Misty was sitting right there on the seat looking back at me. She must have gone to the end of the leash and then backed right out of the harness. Whew! I put the other one on her and hope it won’t allow her to do that again. Trish thought the pink one looked like a bikini bottom anyway.

Uh, Oh! Where’s Misty?!

I had some fresh beets and greens that I needed to cook up so I put the beets in the oven and roasted them. Then I cooked the greens with some garlic and let that cool. I cut up some cherry tomatoes and a little onion and mixed it all together with some Sherry wine vinegar and olive oil, added feta and called it beet salad. I had some for lunch and will take the rest for dinner tonight.

I also had those poblano chiles that needed roasting and frozen for future Chile rellenos so I did that too. The broil function doesn’t work real well on this little oven so I ended up putting them on a cookie sheet and right on top of the ‘bottom’ of the oven over the gas flame. That seemed to work fairly well. So those are now in the freezer.

The day has been pretty cloudy and we have had a few short rain showers. It probably got up to around 70 or so during the warmest part of the day but was pretty cool this morning. I lay down for a while during the afternoon and listened to my book but couldn’t quite take a nap.

The Painted Desert

The Bryants and I went over to the Keenan’s place for dinner tonight. We had chicken from Chicken on the Run along with breaded and deep fried corn, a new one for all of us. I took the rest of the beet salad and some shrimp for an appetizer. Trish had a pasta salad and some asparagus. Great dinner!

It is now raining pretty good and looks to stay cloudy through Friday. The rain really helps keep the dust down and I certainly don’t mind it not being too hot! Early night tonight as we are heading to Mexico tomorrow morning.

February 13: The day started off cloudy and cool after last night’s rain. It also started with a breakfast party at Lois and Garth’s place. They are from Kelowna, Canada so it was also a celebration of Canada and Valentine’s Day and (almost) everyone wore red and/ white. They have a nice place with a permanent ‘park’ model RV and a building that has a kitchen and living area that they use for everything but sleeping.

There were mimosas, a Bloody Mary bar, jello shooters, coffee with Baileys and that was only the booze! They made fry bread with add your own toppings of jam, powdered sugar, etc. Then a couple of different egg casseroles, sausages, fruit bowl, chocolate dipped strawberries and much more. It was really fun. Bill and Judy had to go sign their papers for the new place they bought so we left after about an hour or so.

Fry Bread

My power had gone out a couple of times yesterday during the wind and I would go out and turn the plug a bit and it would come back on. So, I thought the plug just wasn’t tightened well enough. Then it went out during the night. I got it going again in the morning and was able to make my coffee but it went out shortly after and I couldn’t get it going no matter what I tried. After messing with it and reviewing the issues I kind of thought it was the cord.

When Bill got back I told him what was going on so he got out his electrical testing thing-a-ma-jig. The battery in it was dead and neither of us had a replacement. Trish, Judy, and I had planned on going to the farmers market and the old downtown area so I said I would get another one.

The girls took off and went to downtown Yuma. The ‘farmers’ market was like most these days, mostly booths with non-farmer things. It was fun to see all the stuff and I did buy some small yellow potatoes at the only produce market there. Then we walked along and looked into the stores of the old town Main Street.

‘Downtown Historic Yuma and the Farmers Market

Judy and I dropped Trish off and came home. The guys didn’t seem to be around and then I looked at the table outside the RVs and saw my cord’s plug sitting there by itself and the electrical cord laying on the ground looking beheaded. I was right, it had been the cord. He obviously had found a new battery.

Shortly after that Bill and Frank came back and Bill had bought a new plug for the cord. I said I would have probably just bought a whole new cord and he said, the plug alone was $55 and the whole thing probably would have been $200. Thank goodness I was here when this happened! I probably would have had to find an RV repair place and who knows what that would have cost. Or just headed home using propane and battery power.

Well, the plug was getting juice through it once he repaired it but no electricity was making it through to the camper. It seems it shorted something out (Bill called it something else, but you get the gist) and he managed to fix it but said I needed a new plug into the camper so I didn’t have more problems with it. That will happen tomorrow but I have power tonight.

As this was going on, Courtney called me and said the furnace at my house wasn’t working! He was going to try to get the pilot going again but I told him to get a repair person out to fix it if that didn’t work.

All I could say was if I didn’t have bad luck I wouldn’t have any luck at all? Geez. What else might happen?

And while Bill was working on the electrical issues, I was making spaghetti sauce for dinner. I browned all the meat, veggies, then put it all with the crushed tomatoes and other stuff into the Instant Pot. Since I didn’t have power inside, Frank set up a power cord plugged into Bill’s place and we put the pot on the table outside.

We ended up eating inside the Bryant’s since it was getting cool outside. A nice meal with the spaghetti, Marianne made a nice salad (yay! Green stuff again!), and Trish brought some wonderful chocolate dipped strawberries. Bill even did most of the dishes. What a guy!

Yumm! I was hungry!

Misty finally decided she would go outside. She spent a good 2 hours outside after all the activity around the electrical repairs was done. She rolled in the gravel and dirt, did a lot of sniffing, allowed herself to be petted by Judy, and generally enjoyed herself. Then she went back into the camper and crashed for the night.

Aside from the electrical and furnace issues, it was a good day. And, as I was finishing up the dinner there was a beautiful sunset going on outside. I grabbed a quick photo, then a few minutes later it was even better but my phone was elsewhere. Oh, well, still not bad.

Not a very good photo, but . . .

February 12: The night was so quiet compared to many of the places I have stayed and pretty dark for being in a housing area. Plus, since most people around are probably retired there weren’t a lot of cars going by in the early morning. It is also an hour different here in Arizona so I didn’t wake up until almost 8:00.

I took a shower and then decided to put the new mattress pad and sheets on the bed. What a major ordeal! I would get a corner or two of the pad on then one or both would pop off again. After struggling with it for 10 minutes or so I stopped to cool off and drink a cup of coffee. I ended up doing it in 3 stages – pad, bottom sheet, top sheet and quilt.

Judy came over and asked if I wanted to go to the grocery store with her so we took off and went to Fry’s – Arizona’s version of Fred Meyer. I had a few things on my list and ended up with a lot more than that! I had asked if everyone got together for dinner each night or what. She said things just sort of happen. Hmm, not helpful, lol! So, I bought stuff to make a pot of spaghetti sauce for one night and Mexican for another. I know at least two of them are not into spicy Mexican though, so will have to have the spicy on the side.

We came back and I got things put away. Then I vacuumed again. I read through some Yuma tourist information to see if there was anything I wanted to do. They have a few things planned for the week already but I would like to walk through the historic ‘old’ town and also go to a ghost town and mine tour. Other than that, I am fine with taking it easy.

Misty taking it easy

In the afternoon, Judy and I went out again to an RV store for toilet paper then to a quilt store for me to take a look at fabrics and stuff. I had planned on stopping at quilt stores all the way but kind of forgot since Oregon. This one had a lot of nice batik fabric and some southwest themed fabrics. I bought some fat quarters of the SW themed.

Look at the difference. The one on the left is some I bought for the boat in Seattle, the right is what I got today.

We also stopped at a Grocery Outlet and checked it out. Judy hadn’t been there before. I got a few avocados and some poblano chiles (5 for a $1!) Then we drove around the area a bit and did some RV park cruising and checked out some cool houses with awesome landscaping.

Tonight was wing night at the Moose lodge. They were talking about The Moose last night and I kind of figured it was a restaurant/bar but it is a lodge that you have to join. I had heard of the Elks, VFW, and Eagles, but have never heard of the Moose!

The wings were pretty good and larger than I have seen before. Must be some pumped up chickens they get their wings from. There was also no one there under at least 60 (I felt quite young, hee hee) with karaoke, shuffle board, and pool tables. All of which were used on a regular basis.

The Moose LodgeCame back fairly early and I retired to watch the Olympics. And, once again, I couldn’t get the FireTV to work. I fiddled around with a bunch of things, then finally realized I had unplugged the extension cord when I made the bed that morning. Duh! Worked well once it was plugged back in.

It had been windy and kind of cloudy all day. Shortly after starting the Olympics I heard the pitter patter of rain drops on the roof. It was a bit intermittent to begin with but I think it must have rained pretty good through the night because my bathroom vent was open and the rug was a bit damp. I must have brought the rain with me. I looked at the weather forecast and the next 3 days look cloudy but I didn’t see any rain.

Misty hearing the rain and wondering what the heck is going on.

Put on Misty’s new harness today. Not sure either of us likes it. I think it makes here look like a ‘tuff’ in sleeveless muscle shirt. She hasn’t wanted to go out much and seems to try backing out of it sometimes. There was one at the RV store (well, it was much more than just an RV store) that is similar to her old one so I may have to try it.

Tuff Misty

February 11: Last night at a little after midnight I was woken by a some rattling and the camper shaking a bit. It was the wind! I got up and rolled in the canopy to make sure it didn’t rip or something. But a couple hours later there was no wind.

Decided to do some laundry before leaving the park this morning. As it was running I sat outside with Misty for a while, then went in to eat some breakfast. As I was doing the dishes, Trish Keenan called. I went outside to see where Misty was and she had gotten into the back of the truck under the camper! After hanging up with Trish, I tried pulling on the leash to drag her out but the leash seemed to be hooked up on something. The space was tiny and I couldn’t see her. So I used the camper jacks to lift the back of the camper off the truck thinking I might be able to see her better. Just as I was getting ready to crawl under she came out. Dirty and scared looking. Back into the camper for her! Can’t leave her alone for a minute, just like a kid.

If she sees a place she has to investigate. I had the little cupboard in the bathroom open and had taken out my makeup and mirrors so there was a little cubbie calling her name. She jumped up into it, didn’t fit but she didn’t want to come out either, hanging on with her claws as I pulled her down.

It was an easy drive of about 3 hours to Yuma. I stopped in El Centro and got a new harness for Misty as one of the plastic clips on the other one broke. I had zip tied it together but it made a place that looked like it might be uncomfortable. I got a different type but it might be just a bit small. She seems fine with it so far, but I may have to order another of the original kind from Amazon.

I arrived around 2:00 in Yuma. I wasn’t sure what to expect as far as parking the camper but there is a full hook up for me right in front of Bill and Judy Bryant. They are in the RV parking area next to their friends, Tom and Marianne, who I have met a few times in Seattle. They have a place with a pool and Bill is helping do some work at their place. There is a room between the carport and the pool that they put a sliding door to open it up to the pool and now are building a bar outside of that.

RV parking areaPool and new door and bar area

It is an interesting area they all live in called the Foothills. All of the lots are surrounded by brick walls making for some fairly tight maneuvering through the gates into the parking spaces. Bill and Judy bought the place on the other side of Tom and Marianne. They are going to use it for their RV parking but rent the place out during the season. It is fairly large and has two bedrooms. It has sat empty for 4 years and is quite dated inside but Bill is going to paint and recarpet and it will be a nice place for someone to stay. It also has a utility room at the end of the carport where Bill can keep his off road vehicle and tools, etc.

Everyone has been very welcoming. Frank and Trish are staying about 2 miles away, but Frank showed up minutes after I did on his Razor. Pretty soon, there was a large group of people sitting around the propane fire pit having cocktails and eating pizza. I guess you never know who will show up. It was a fun evening.

Fire Pit area

Arizona Night Skies viewing area

February 10: I spent the morning cleaning the camper on the inside. It is amazing how dusty and dirty it can get even with the windows closed most of the time except for the past two days. I vacuum almost every day but the floor gets stuff tracked in every time I go in or out. And with Misty rolling in the dirt she has added to the mess. I just hope she doesn’t pick up any fleas. That has been the nice thing about an indoor cat, no cooties.

I walked around the park this morning. It is pretty full, mostly with people staying longer than a night or two. You can tell by all the stuff around their RVs. The one next to me is from Florida. I thought that it was kind of funny that someone from there would come out here but maybe they like the dry air. I guess they started RVing ful-time about 8 months ago.

There is an egret that has been fishing the pond all morning. This afternoon there were a group of kids and a dad or two fishing. Didn’t notice if they caught anything, though.

Simon and Yvonne cam by about 2:00. They hadn’t seen the camper before so I gave them the grand tour, ha ha. Then we left for a late lunch down the road at the Rancho 86 Restaurant and Bar. I got a lengua, al pastor, and fish taco. Yvonne got fish tacos, and Simon got enchiladas. The food was all pretty good.

It was just a few blocks from the Salton Sea, so after lunch we did a little drive around the area. You could see where there had been piers in small canals at one time but only rotten wood posts were left. There was definitely two sides of the track, so to speak. One area was just short of being homeless, as Simon said. Then there was another area a few blocks away that had much nicer homes.

After they dropped me off, Misty and I sat outside for a time. Misty scrambled back into the camper when the neighbor came out suddenly. I stayed out until it got too cool. It was a bit overcast today so definitely cooler than yesterday.

Here are some pictures of the camper.

Kitchen area. 3 burner stove, oven, microwave, small double sink.

Slide out dinette

Messy bed. Hard to make and keep tucked in. I am going to buy a mattress cover today as the mattress is slippery material and the sheets slide all over

Bathroom with a ‘dry’ shower which is really nice even though small. It keeps everything from getting all wet like in my boat.

Outside with slide out.

And here is one of Misty and I watching the Olympics last night. I finally got the FireTV and TV working together again. Have no idea how!

After the late lunch, I wasn’t really hungry until about 8:00 so made some popcorn and sliced up some apple for a snack while watching.

Off to Yuma today to visit friends.