...the 'pitfalls' of travel

So, yesterday (Sunday) we're heading south to Tucson Mountain Park to a favorite stop, Gilbert Ray Campground. While traveling through the little burg of Marana, there's a lot of activity on the side of the road and I spot a mexican gentlemen selling homemade tamales. I holler to Les to stop the coach, and I run back and buy 4 fresh tamales. Yum... We saved them until this afternoon, when I reheated them for lunch with some green enchilada sauce that I keep in the coach. I discover that there's a green olive in mine and I warn Les and he finds one in his too. By the time we get to our second tamal, he's apparently forgotten about the olive and proceeds to bite down on the pit, breaking out a filling in his tooth! Tomorrow we'll be searching out a local dentist to help repair the damage!

This was our sunset tonight as we drove back into the campground. Click on it for a full screen view.

Quartzsite and beyond

When we checked into the KOA in Blythe, they let me spin the ‘wheel of fortune’ and I won a fishing pole set! I’m going to hang on to it until Kyle comes out to visit.

On Monday morning, we hooked up with some friends, Mike & Rosalie, who we had met at the Monaco Rally in Lancaster last year. They were heading out into the Quartzsite desert to join some other Monaco Coach owners and we tagged along. We hung out there for a few days, going to the RV show in town and getting to know some fun new people. (Huggy Bob & Marlene, Rob & Jean, Jim & Peg, et. al. this is you! ~ Peg & Jim produce a web page you RVer’s and wannabe RVer’s might enjoy. http://www.americanrver.com/)

The weather has been so great that we’re hesitant to leave the Arizona area yet. High’s in the 70’s and lows in the 40’s and 50’s. On Friday, we made our way northeast to Wickenburg and are staying at an RV park called Horspitality RV Resort and Boarding Stable. That isn’t a typo. This is definitely a cowboy town and the hats and boots are not just for show! Today Les had a great day riding his off-road motorcycle. He did have one brief encounter with a Bull on the same trail that he was riding, but Les was able to give him a wide enough berth to not antagonize the big guy! This is a picture of the stables area behind the rv area.

While Les was out riding, I spent a bit of time going through the Desert Caballeros Western Museum in town. It was a very nice museum with a lot of the local history. Wickenburg is considered the Dude Ranch capital of the world, which started back in the 1920’s. Many still operate today and some have become medical treatment facilities. (Remuda has been converted into the nation's largest eating disorder treatment facility.) I had my first senior moment while visiting the museum; when I went to pay for my ticket, the lovely gray haired lady (old enough to be my grandmother) charged my credit card the senior price! I didn't know whether to be offended or appreciate the $1.50 savings!

Bola ties are reputed to have been invented here. Silversmith Victor Cedarstaff claims to have invented the bola tie in the late 1940s, and later patented his slide design. There were several examples in the museum and they’re quite attractive.

Tomorrow, we’re off to Tucson.

The next great adventure...

We’re hoping our first week back on the road is an indication of the trip to come. We started out on Sunday the 11th, stopping in Nipomo to have a wonderful dinner with friends. On day two, we spent the night in San Bernardino so that Les could go to Chaparral. For the uninitiated, Chaparral is like FAO Schwartz for the grown man whose passion is off-road. (Actually, they have road bikes and stuff, too). You could spend hours in there and still be overwhelmed with all the choices.

This is just the motorcycle area!

Finally, we pulled into Ocotillo Wells State Recreation Area, near the Salton Sea. Les got to ride for a couple of days with our buddy Sterling, and then he and I took a couple of days to test the off-road capabilities of our Tacoma. The weather has been awesome. Upper 70's during the day and mid 40's at night. It doesn't get much better than this in January.



There was some interesting points of interest in the desert, including gas domes and this Artesian Well, left over from some old mining operation. It still bubbles water out of the ground. We suspect the palms were planted, creating the illusion of an "oasis"!


This is our lunch spot...



And our view.

















Home away from home ~ in the middle of the desert.













Les also got to spend some time playing with his Christmas toy.





You should really check out the video, too.

Tonight, we’re in Blythe and plan to spend a couple of days exploring the crazy area called Quartzsite. There are thousands of RV parked all over the desert. They all come here during the month of January for a giant flee market and gem show.

Until next time...

2008 Recap

I'm finally getting a posting that will bring this up to date! Actually, I stole this off my Christmas letter, so it may be old news by now.

This was the year of ‘home maintenance’ for us! After spending so much time traveling, it was time to stay home and tackle some projects that we’ve been putting off. We finally selected a new front door and Les installed new windows on the front of half of the house. We also had the house painted and everything looks great.

I also broke down and had the sinus surgery to help cure that chronic infection that I had been fighting. I had a great Doctor, Jason Van Tassel, and he tried everything before we resorted to surgery. It's taken quite a while for me to feel like everything's normal again.

We still love our new motor home, although we haven’t gotten out in it quite as much as last year. We do plan to head out in January on an extended road trip. Les has been wanting to explore the New Mexico and Texas area and I want to venture down into Florida and some of the southern states. We expect we’ll be gone at least 4 months.

I got to spend the month of June in Redding, helping out in Lance’s office. Les drove the RV up there for me and I stayed in it, coming back home on weekends. I actually had to drive the RV across town by myself to a different park after the first week, my first solo driving of this coach! Working in the medical field is quite a departure from my own background in construction. I really enjoyed it and it was great getting to see how much Lance’s patients trust and respect him. He and Sue have done a great job building his practice. I also got to help him design the build-out for his new offices and that was so much fun.

One of my most treasured memories of the year was taking the two oldest granddaughters, Lauren & Hannah, on a 12 day trip to Thailand. We had the most amazing experience; one that none of us will ever forget. We joined an ‘all-women’ tour group and were really fortunate to have 6 fabulous and accomplished women on the tour with us. (Five of them came from Texas and I hope to get to see some of them again as we travel through there this winter).

Les is still riding his motorcycles and playing tennis 3 days a week when we’re home. Lately, he’s taken up small radio controlled airplanes and is looking at RC cars, too.

Hawaii

The whole family spent Thanksgiving together on Maui. Les & I hadn’t been back to Hawaii since 1983. We even got to have dinner one night at the same restaurant we ate at on our honeymoon. Most of the family took surfing lessons one morning! Of course, they’re all very coordinated, caught on right away and had a great time. Lance’s wife, Sue, her mom Donna and I, chose to sit out on this particular activity. It was my observation that everyone in the water actually had the Lollar bloodline!

Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season and a happy, healthy 2009.

Life in Fremont

Ahhh, life in Fremont. After getting back from Oregon for warranty work on the Coach, we're hanging out around here for awhile so we can do a bit of delayed maintenance. We're picking out new double-paned windows for the front of the house (the rear has all been done) and a new front door, then it's time for a new exterior paint job. We've lived here for 21 years and have only painted once. The house was dark brown when we bought it, and now we're thinking a gold color will be nice. The yard has gotten overgrown and we'll be working on that too.





One of the best things about this time of year is the first bloom on the roses. Yummy.

So, most of my blog followers will remember that back in August I had quite a run-in with a sinus infection. Well... it hasn't gone away yet. It's now called Chronic Sinusitis and I'm seeing an ENT who had me get a CT scan and told me I was full of it! He's recommending surgery and I'm opting for another serious go-round with antibiotics and steroids. We'll give that a try for a week and then see what happens. If this doesn't kick it, it'll be sinus surgery for me. Ughhh... not looking forward to that. However, if I have to do that, better sooner then later, since I've already booked my trip to Thailand in August/September with the 2 oldest granddaughters. I need to be well by then. Keep a happy thought!

Why?

After leaving Yuma, we headed a bit farther south in Arizona to the little towns of Ajo and Why, just north of the Mexico border. Ajo is a town of about 3,700 people and Why is just a dust spot along the road with an Indian Casino. It really does beg the question Why? Next time we're in that part of the country, we'll venture across the border to check out Puerto Penasco.

I know it's hard to read, but the sign says "Ajo Country Club" And this is what it looks like!

We got to spend a couple of days in Phoenix catching up with old friends. We had dinner with Dan & Linda Olmo one night. It was just like old times as we reminisced and polished off a bottle of wine. Dinner with Jeff & Reggie Vincent at the Barrio Cafe is always a highlight.

Les's annual President's weekend riding trip went off without any mishaps this year. Yeah! No broken bones to recover from. The weather was pretty nasty the first 2 days with the wind blowing about 50 mph, but then it cleared for the weekend and we had a couple of fabulous days of sunshine.

We're now in Lancaster at our 2nd Monaco Rally. We've met a couple of really neat people and are having a good time regardless of the rainy weather.

We'll be heading for home tomorrow and are getting anxious to see our kids & grandkids. Our times on the road are fun but it's also good to be home!

Snowbirds?

Can we be called snowbirds if we’re not running away from the snow? We headed south on the 11th of January, spending a couple of days in Pismo Beach catching up with all our dear friends down there. Christine & Randy hosted a dinner on Saturday for 12 of us and I ended up the weekend making biscuits and gravy in the BAM (big-ass motorhome) for that same 12 people on Sunday morning! Too much fun! How is it that the kids get older but we don't? Hmmm?

We loved seeing Karyn’s new Aussie puppy, Kaci. It brings back so many memories of our Kala.

We’re currently in Yuma and are having a really fun time with our neighbors. We’ve been invited to the Moose Lodge twice for food, cocktails and dancing. Woo-hoo! That was fun!

We spent one afternoon in Los Algodones, Mexico. Love the food across the border! It’s getting a lot more difficult to cross the border. As of tomorrow you will have to have a passport. Many of the snowbirds here cross the border for their dental, optical and pharmacy needs. Some of this group wouldn’t go when we went because the day before it was taking people over 2 hours in line to get back across the border. We solved that by staying until dark and then we were across in about 30 minutes.

I bought myself a new bike last week and I love it. It’s easy to ride and get on/off. It’s called a comfort bike! Is that a nice way of calling it an old person’s bike?

The second time I got to ride it I got a flat! Ugh!