Monday, February 18, 2008

No place to go and nothing to do today, at least for me.  Except for dumping the holding tanks I would be on  vacation again.  After her shower, we got right to dumping the holding tanks.  We had some trouble trying to figure out if the Black Water tank was empty or not.  By all indications it seemed empty, but I always wait for a gurgle in the tank that never happened today.  So we'll just have to wait a couple of days to see if it really emptied.

Sharon started cleaning our digs as soon as we got done with the tanks.  After about 2 hours she had the whole place spotless.  She sat down to take a break and picked up her book.  She decided to go outside and read for awhile as long as she was done with her "chores."

I stayed inside and wrote while she was gone.  I enjoy writing and if I can find something of the least little interest I can make a paragraph out of it.  Maybe someday the book I started, will come to fruition.

We surfed the Internet today since we had a ton of minutes left on our telephone.  We had a couple of things that we wanted to find out and for the most part we did find the things we wanted.

We had leftover Manwich for supper tonight.  Sharon whipped up some Tator Tots to go with them, and for a throw together meal, It turned out pretty good.

The "last" episode of Prison Break was on tonight.  And we found out that it was not going to be the last episode.  It looks like next season will be the hunt for Gretchen, that miserable b----.  It should be quite exciting.  We watched other shows for the rest of the night, and then when it was the right time, we caved immediately.  The sleep fairy threw a handful of dust in our eyes.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

We were off this morning to another experience in morning buffets.  We had eaten at the Cocopah Casino Buffet once before at suppertime with Bob and Bonnie Barr.  It was a fine meal and we enjoyed the company very much.  We had read on the Cocopah website that they have a $5 Breakfast Buffet every morning Monday-Sunday.  We had to try this one.

It took us about a half hour to get there because it's located on the southwest side of Yuma and our campground is on the northeast side.  And the trip there to avoid the traffic is a little roundabout.  The trouble was absolutely worth it.  They had a very nice selection of food and we walked out of there very satisfied with ourselves.

Next stop would be Wal-Mart to pick up a few necessities.  We had some incidental shopping to do and got it done very quickly.  I waited in the car so as not to hold Sharon up.  Besides I listened to the radio and was entertained while she was gone.

After Wal-Mart we had to stop at the post Office to pick up our usual packet of mail for the week.  It was there which is a miracle in itself.  Yuma is one of those places that is not good for getting our mail on time.  But this week it had an extra day because of the Holiday yesterday.

We also had to make a quick stop at the Auto Supply to pick up some Rear View Mirror glue.  When we cam out of the Marketplace on Saturday our mirror was just hanging from the electric light wire.

After all that we headed for home.  Clay and Jerie Nye would be coming over tonight for Dinner.  Sharon had decided that she would make a pan of Lasagna and Jerie offered to make Salad and Garlic Bread to finish things off.  They came over about 4 and we sat and had a few drinks and a lot of conversation before we sat down to eat.  The Lasagna and fixin's turned out very good and Sharon had picked up some Strawberry Cream Cheese Pound Cake for the Strawberries and Whipped Cream that finished off the eating portion of the night.

We had a couple of Bailey's Irish Creams that I didn't even know we had.  Sharon was apparently holding out on me.  She had gotten sick on it several years ago so she didn't have any, but Clay, Jerie and I enjoyed it.

Clay and Jerie went home about 8:30 after we had a wonderful night of visiting.  We always enjoy our time with them.  Probably because Clay and I have so much in common, including our sense of humor.

After Sharon cleaned up the kitchen she headed immediately for bed.  I stayed up until about 10:30 before I finally caved in also.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

We seemed to have gotten a "Desert Hot Springs" wind this morning.  You didn't put anything on the ground if you wanted to keep it.

We got a leisurely start this morning really having nowhere to be, or having nothing to do.  By the time we got our news fix and heard more than we wanted to hear about the election, it was time to do a couple of repairs that have been waiting for me.  It's funny about those things in that they never give up and just go away.

The first thing on my agenda was to fix the hanging rear-view mirror in the car.  When we came out of the flea market last Saturday it was just hanging off the electric wire that runs the mirror-lights.  It wasn't tough to fix but it was a pain in the rear end, and another one of those things that falls apart when you're in the desert heat.  It took about 30 minutes to get the job done cause I had to wait for a while for the glue to set.  Hopefully it'll be good for another 60,000 miles.

The second fix-it job involved a hangar that holds my storage drawers in a compartment in the motorhome.  A couple of weeks ago while Sharon was getting something out of a drawer the hangar let loose and everything dropped including two drawers.  The hangar is common to two different drawers.  The fix was a lot simpler than I expected it to be.  I just moved the hangar a half inch or so and screwed it back up, put the drawers back in and that was that.

In about an hour I was done with my jobs and ready for a rest in my new chair.

Lunch was on the agenda in the not too soon future and I had leftover Ribs and Sharon had a "Big" salad.  She slays me with those things.  She gets tired of chewing long before the salad is done.

After lunch we just sat around like retired people.  She started a new book and I just gazed into the magic TV Tube.

Tacos were going to be on the menu for supper tonight.  The last time we had tacos about a week ago Sharon had bought these small floured tortillas that were just plain lousy.  They were so flimsy that they just broke apart when you got your Taco made.  She fried them up tonight for chips and had large floured tortillas for the Tacos.  They turned out really good.  They were so big that we only had two apiece.

The wind was still blowing tonight and playing hell with the dish.  We listened to about half of two shows before we switched it over to antenna.  We had to watch the same shows over again, but what the hell, we weren't going any where anyway.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Our plan for today was to go back to the Arizona Marketplace to the Liquidation Tent so I could check for tools and other stuff.  Admission was free on Thursdays so at least it wouldn't cost us to get in.  The weather looked like it was going to be very cooperative today, and the sun was out, without the wind, when we left.  We wanted to go early before the crowd showed up so it would be easier for me to get around.  It only took about an hour or so and we were back out again.

We called Clay and Jerie and asked if they wanted to go to the Brown Bag Burger on 32nd street  for lunch.  It was still a little early and they suggested that we come over to their place and wait until noon.  We did and by the time we got to the BBB it was quite busy.  We managed to find a table from 3 guys who were sitting down and looking like they felt sorry for me on crutches.  It works for me.  The Hamburgers were huge and very good.  Before we left the restaurant we made tentative plans to go to the Cocopah Casino for Breakfast tomorrow.  We've just got to hit the $5 Breakfast one more time before we leave.

We came home and it was pre-determined that we wouldn't be eating another meal for today.  We pretty much just came home and enjoyed the sun for the rest of the afternoon.  That and some afternoon TV.  Sharon got around to stitching later on.

By suppertime we were both wondering what we were going to eat for the night.  I had opted for a bag of popcorn but I didn't know if that was going to hold me or not.  It actually did but Sharon opted for a Peanut Butter and Banana sandwich.  To each his own, I guess.

We sat in front of the tube watching repeats tonight.  Actually we surfed and watched an episode of American Chopper during the process.  We didn't last any longer than 10 o'clock when we opted for the feathers and the horizontal position.

Friday, February 22, 2008

We were off for Breakfast again this morning to the Cocopah Casino.  It takes us about 30 minutes to get there but it's kind of deceiving because it takes almost 10 minutes to get out of our campground.  We were meeting Clay and Jerie there this morning.  We arrived right at 9:30 and waited for about 5 minutes before the Nye's arrived.  We managed to finagle a handicapped table right in the front row by the buffet.  The food was as good as it was last time and I think that our trips to Yuma will now be enhanced by this additional eating experience as long as it lasts.  The casinos have a tendency to stop these good deals after a while.  Sommerton, where the casino is located, is hardly even a town except for the casino.

Since everybody was planning on losing some money in the slots I went outside and listened to the radio in the car.  Rush was on.

We left after Sharon lost the money she was willing to lose.  I can't see getting a good deal on a buffet and then turning around and losing it, and more, in a slot machine. Casinos were not built for people like me.  We came directly home after Breakfast so we could sit and digest our food.

There wasn't going to be any lunch served anytime soon so I watched TV and played on the computer for the rest of the afternoon.  By suppertime Sharon had started Shrimp Etouffee and Garlic Bread for our dining pleasure.  We also had wine to gently slosh it down.  The Etouffee was delicious and had been some time since we've had it.

The rest of the night was reserved for "repeat TV" and lounging around.  There was nothing original on tonight, but since we don't regularly watch 'House' it was like new TV.  Sometimes you just have to take what comes along.  We lasted until our usual bedtime before we took the walk south to the bedroom.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

We had nothing planned for today and we would mostly sit around and relax.  It will,  however, be a "get ready to go" day today since we'll be leaving tomorrow for parts north and west.  So normally we'll be dumping the holding tanks today in preparation for the trip.

Th last time we dumped the Black Water tank I broke the clear fitting that we had that hooks directly to the evacuation pipe.  We didn't think we got a good dump and it may have even plugged the opening before we quit.  But we picked up another clear fitting at the marketplace on Thursday so we were back in business again for today.

When dumped later this morning we found that it wasn't plugged and that we got a nice clean dump.  I really didn't to have to mess with a plugged holding tank but sometimes you have no options.  In any event we got done with the tanks in only a few minutes.

After lunch Sharon went out and cleaned up the chairs and put the grill back into it's compartment.  I still can't do those things very easily and it's just faster for Sharon to do them.  Although I am starting to walk a few steps without the crutches and even a few steps without the boot.  I really don't want to push it too far or fast though until I see my doctor next week.  But it does feel minimally painful to walk on it.

Sharon left for church later on this afternoon and had planned on picking up Fried Chicken and Potato Logs at Fry's Grocery store, on the way home, for supper.  The chicken turned to be very good but not quite as good as Wal-Mart's.  It's funny how you can compare almost anything to the quality you get at Wal-Mart.  Everybody hates Wal-Mart, but everybody shops there.  Go figure.

We planted ourselves in front of the TV for the night but this would be a Discovery/History Channel night.  I think it goes without saying that normal TV sucks for the night, and we need something to keep us occupied.  We hung in there until 10 although it was a tough sell tonight.  We'll be making a pseudo early rising tomorrow to get on the road.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

We were ready to go this morning by 9:30, 8:30 California Time and we would gain an hour on our way north today.  It started out as a beautiful day for traveling with the sun shining and nary a cloud in the sky.

We took the wrong road at Brawley, CA and ended up backtracking 10 miles to get on the right side of the Salton Sea.  Somebody wasn't paying attention to the map and he was rubbernecking instead.  We got turned around and by noon we made it to Borrego Springs, our intended destination.  We weren't all that impressed with what we found, so we drove around a while, and then decided to head north again since we were only about 60 or so miles from Indio at this point.  We stopped at Henderson Canyon Road which was the location of the Peg Leg Smith Monument.  There were about 15 RVers camped around the monument.  It escaped us what the attraction was but there they were.  We paused long enough to take our pictures and then we were on our way again.  The trip back out to highway 86 was a very pretty one.  We drove through Badlands and the Salton Sea was always in the background.  The road we were traveling was all downhill til we got to highway 86.

As we got closer to Indio the wind started blowing and it was hard to keep the motorhome traveling in a straight line.  When we drove down Mountain View Rd which is close to our campground the awing over the slide (Brand New 4 weeks ago) started unrolling and snapping back.  We stopped briefly to let the gusts subside but that was counter-productive unless we planned on staying on the side of Mountain View for the night.  As we started going again it seemed that the wind did die a little bit.  At least enough to let us get to Corkill Road.  We would be stying here for the next 2 nights since we didn't have a campground reservation.  We had intended to stay near Borrego Springs on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land, but we changed our minds when we got there. So now we'll be camped on Corkill Road for 2 nights.  Not a problem since our campground and swimming pool are just 2 blocks down the road.

We called Corky and Deb Zimmermann to let them know that we were back, and ask if they had anything planned for tonight.  They didn't so we dropped in on them for the night.  We sat around talking and sipping nectar til around 9:30 or so and then came home.  All the while we were at Corky and Deb's the wind was "howling like a banshee".  The gusts must have been at least 40-50 miles per hour.

The wind must have died down just after we got home because I didn't hear for the rest of the night.  Of course it doesn't mean much what I hear and don't hear when I'm sleeping.  It just seemed pretty quiet for the rest of the night.