Saturday, March 31, 2007

Time to catch up

Wow I haven't had email in so long. Well lets see, we stayed in Apache Junction for a week and while we really liked the area and all of the hiking we were not impressed with the RV Park. We stayed in a really nice, new park, but, this was the first time we met unfriendly folks. Jack called the people - Post Toastees, I think he is showing his age. He said there use to be a cereal commercial for Post Toastees stating they were just a little bit better. Well I don't know about the commercial but they sure fit the description. Our "neighbors" offered us names of several OTHER parks we might want to go to next time. It appears that most of them rent by the year and are looking to get all the spots filled by full timers. Anyway, it was not a fun stay.
From there we went to check out Quartzite's. They had just finished their season and had over 4 millions RVer's in town over the winter. Many of the folks dry camp, no electricity, water or sewer hookups. Again, not our cup of tea.
My cousin had told me that his dad and stepmother go to Yuma AZ and if we headed that way I should call him. Well I did and long story short they sponsored us to stay at the Yuma Proving Ground Army Post. We had a great time. They stayed for 2 days with us and showed us around. We had such a good time and owe a great big thanks to Herb and Mary for showing us so much fun. The folks in the RV Park at the Proving Grounds were really nice. We really liked the Yuma area and plan to go back next year. Hopefully, we will get to spend some time with Herb and Mary again.
From there we headed to Yucaipa CA to see Jack's brother and his wife. We stayed at Eddie and Sue's about 1 1/2 weeks. We had a great time. Sue's daughter, Kristine, is a school teacher and had just moved in with them for the summer as she is due with her 1st child. She is taking the summer off to be with her new baby. He was born on Wed. March 28th, Jayden Zachery, 9 lbs. 2 oz.. Congrats to Kris and to new grandma Sue.
We are now in Pleasanton CA. we will go to see Cathy, Scott and boys tomorrow. We will be here around 2 weeks.
Well that is a quick run down of what has been going on, I will add pictures soon.
Starting to get HOME SICK about 5-7 weeks to go until we get home.

Andrea and Dave had a fire and were extremely lucky that no one and nothing was hurt. It started in the trash can in the garage. Fire Dept. said it was a combustible rag they had thrown away, teak oil used to clean the patio furniture. How lucky they were to have smelled the smoke and gotten out of the house and called 911. The garage was full of smoke and all of the neighbors were coming out to find out where the smell was coming from. The man 2 doors down took Hailey to his back yard and then helped Dave back the cars out of the garage in case it flamed up before firefighters arrived. All is well although I think they had a sleepless night thinking of what might have happened. Make sure you soak rags in water that may be combustible.

Thursday, March 1, 2007

Just arrived in Apache Junction AZ




Well lets see the last time we visited we were on our way to Big Bend Park after the flat tire ordeal. Well the weather continued to be cold and rainy so we made an executive decision to pass Big Bend and go straight to Jack's sisters in Cochise AZ. We were driving along minding our own business when an 18 wheeler passed us hauling used cars. Just as he pulled into our lane a windshield off of one of the cars shattered and pelted us with broken glass. It only took a couple of hours to see that both windshields on the RV were broken. We were able to get them fixed while we visited Sandy and Carl.
Our stay with them was a good one. They are preparing to move to Arkansas and we helped them ready the house for sale and load some heavy horse corals as they are headed to Arkansas next week to build the corals. Jack's brother Eddie and his wife Sue came for several days and we had a really good time. They had just gotten another horse, one that was once used in rodeo, and he was really well trained. Jack and I both rode Doc, see the pictures I added. Also, Sophi was reunited with Little Bit. Little Bit is an Appaloosa colt, 2years old, she and Sophi have been always gotten along. They seemed to remember each other and were always checking each other out. I never knew that horses could be so spoiled. If you walked out side they always looked to see who it was, if you walked toward the coral they came right over and they nuzzle you to scratch their heads.
While in Cochise I met a cousin that I don't remember seeing since I have been grown. He is actually a 2nd cousin. Many of you remember my Aunt Garnet, she lived in AZ and was very active. I would visit her when in Phoenix on business or when we traveled to see Sandy and Carl. Well she passed away last summer at 97 and the cousin I met up with was her son Don. We had such a good visit and I met his wife Avis and went by his new Real Estate Business. He reminded me so much of my aunt.

Friday, February 9, 2007

On the Road Again

Well we are on the move again. We stayed in Harlingen one extra night to go see (Branson's) Country Artist Barbara Fairchild. She is a good friend of mom's and we saw she was coming to town. The show was great, it was a sell out of 400 tickets. It was held at a nearby Retirement Park. We took another couple with us and ended up at IHOP with Barbara and her husband Roy and 2 of their friends after the show. If was a great time.
We left Thurs. 2/8 and soon started having engine problems. We were sputtering and putting down the highway. We got about 30 miles down the road and found an RV repair shop and they couldn't get to us until this morning (Friday). They had full hookups in the parking lot so we spent the night in their parking lot and we were fixed and on our way by 10:30 a.m.. Well all was going well and the new plugs and wires had the RV rolling along better than ever when someone passed us waving their hands and making some kind of gestures. Jack decided he best stop and make sure we had no problems, well one flat tire change later we were on our way again. Luckily it was on the car and not the RV. So the 3rd day is the charm, right! We are going to get 4 new tires on the car in the morning and then be off again. We are headed to Big Bend Park in TX. I will try to post pictures of the park. Not sure when we will have Internet again.
Happy Trails :)

Monday, January 29, 2007

Harlingen, TX


Harlingen, TX

Well we are in Harlingen TX and wouldn't you know it they are about to set a record for rain and cold temperatures. We have had a few sunny days with the temps around 80. Harlingen is located in the Rio Grand Valley and is approx. 25 miles from Brownsville, South Padre and Nuevo Progresso, Mexico. We are staying in the oldest park in the Valley and it is full of huge palm trees and lush vegetation. This is an active park full of nice people. The park has a rec. room, exercise room, ceramic shop, wood shop, library, mail room and 2 laundries. They have card and game nights, weekly pot lucks, Tues. morning is free pancake breakfast, Sat. night dances, golf outings and the list goes on and on. And yes Andrea they have Shuffleboard tournaments.
We went to So. Padre and it was nice but I am spoiled by the beauty of Gulf Shores. We have gone over to Mexico a few times and it is the nicest border town we have been to. Several of the folks her eat in the restaurants and we are going to try that yet. We have picked up some of our prescriptions over there. With our change of insurance it is much cheaper to pick them up across the border. I also went to the dentist over there. On recommendation from overs here, I had my teeth cleaned and a checkup, both by the dentist himself, for a whopping $25..
The picture I attached is front he back of the RV looking out. The park is a mix of RVs and Mobile homes. Note the fruit on the table, there are roadside stands everywhere and boy is it good.
Sorry it took so long to get this updated. I had to wait for the rain to let up for the picture and our Internet connection is very weak.

Wednesday, January 3, 2007

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone


Mt. Rushmore