Monday, January 31, 2011

We were off by 8:30 this morning without even trying to get on the road early.  We were ready and we just took off.  We did, however, leave without the thought of eating Breakfast.  So our first stop was at the Carl’s Jr. in Coachella.  It was the only place that we could think of that would be convenient to stop at and still get back on the road without much fuss.  I had a loaded Breakfast Burrito and Sharon had a Croissanwich.  They were both pretty good.

We were back on the road and looking for a gas station and found the Travel Center in Mecca on highway 111.  We only put in 30 gallons which normally would be enough to get to Yuma where we’ll fill up.

We managed to get about 33 miles from Yuma on I-8 when the engine just died.  We coasted to a stop and after resting the engine for about 10 minutes got going again with everything seemingly normal.  By the time we got it back up to 60 mph, it conked out again.  We did this about 3 more times with the same result.  We called our Emergency Road Service and for the next 3 hours they searched for someone to tow us somewhere. They finally found a service that would tow us back to Brawley, CA  33 miles back in the direction we just came from.  We agreed even though they couldn’t work on it until tomorrow.

While we were unhooking the car Sharon got tangled up in some underbrush and fell.  She didn’t get hurt but sometimes you just don’t know.  I almost went down behind her.

When we got to the service garage they had a spot for us to plug in for the night, and by the time we got to Brawley it was 5 PM.  They lock up their gate at night so we were captured for the night.

We had the two leftover pasties, from last night, for supper tonight.  They were very good.  Another favorite food of mine even though they’re kind of a bother to make in the motorhome.

We had our dish up and running tonight and managed to find all our favorite shows.  Even though we were parked in a lot we had all the comforts of home.  When you’re stranded on the highway, and even in a mechanics parking lot, there is really no better way to do it than in a motorhome.

We watched TV until our usual hour and then hit the rack for the night.  It was relatively quiet here last night except for the traffic going by on the road.  That was quickly blocked out by the miracle of sleep.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

We got up this morning and pulled the slides in and waited for the mechanic.  True to his word, somebody came out at 9 and put the drive shaft back on the motorhome.  It wasn’t long after that, two guys came out and took us for a test ride to see if the engine would conk out along the way.  It never did and when we got back they checked for loose wires under the hood and then finally got to the Fuel Filter.  It was what I told them I suspected when we got here.  Like I know what’s wrong.  Yeah right!  Although we did have the exact same difficulty with out last motorhome on one occasion.  They found that the Filter was quite dirty and probably some of the recent problem.  They changed the filter and we got on our merry way.  It was just about noon when we left the shop.

We arrived in Yuma without any further difficulty and pulled in to Yuma Lakes RV Resort about 2 PM.  As I was unhooking the car I noticed that the retaining nut on the hitch ball was completely gone.  The stem of the ball was broken off and must have happened when we hit bottom leaving Brawley.  Our taillight plug was also disconnected.  We wouldn’t have need the lights if we had lost the car on the way.

We got settled into our site and immediately left to go and get something to eat.  We wanted to try the Tacos Mi Rancho Restaurant recommended by Roy Parent   We were not disappointed.  The ambiance was great and the food was excellent.  We thought it was a bit pricey, but the portion of food allowed us to take half of it home.  So the $28 price tag when divided up among 4 meals was very reasonable.

By the time we got back home it was 6 PM and just in time to camp out in front of the TV for the night.  The wind started blowing quite hardily while we were watching TV but it didn’t bother the dish for live TV.

We went to bed at 10 and realized that the wind was blowing so hard that a tree behind us was scraping on the roof of the coach.  We laid in bed and attempted to go to sleep aside from the noise but it got to be too much for me.  If I couldn’t sleep, I knew Sharon would have more difficulty than me.  We finally got up and moved the motorhome out from under the tree.  It only took about 5 minutes but it was really more bother than anything else.

We’ll have to see if we can either get another site tomorrow or someone to come and trim the tree.  Either one would be fine with me.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

It was quite chilly out this morning when we finally got ready and got into the car to leave.  Luckily we had the heat working.

We left this morning headed for the Golden Corral for their Buffet Breakfast.  On the way out of the park we stopped at registration and pleaded our case.  They suggested since the guy next to us was leaving we take his site.  That was just fine with us.

We left and headed for  Breakfast, unfortunately the Golden Corral was not on the same wavelength as us. (Me) They apparently only serve the buffet on weekends.  We actually observed a woman squatting by the door eating something.  We don’t know what it was, nor did we care.

We drove off and went across the street to IHP and we had a great Breakfast over there, but it was quite a bit pricier than what Golden Corral would have been.  I had an omelette and a short stack and Sharon had French Toast with bananas and strawberries.  It was all quite yummy.

After Breakfast we headed back home to move the motorhome over one space.  The new space was without a weeping willow tree.  It will be a lot quieter tonight if the wind doesn’t quit blowing.  And as a matter of fact, even if it does.

It was really too cold out today to do any of our sightseeing that we had planned.  The wind continued to blow and it had a nip in the air.  That’s really unusual for Yuma this time of the year.

The wind was also playing a number on the dish this afternoon so I sat and worked on the Newsletter until it was finished today.  About 5 o’clock the wind died down enough for us to be able to watch TV in peace.

For the rest of the night we sat in front of the tube and just watched TV.  It had been a trying day since we’ll only be here for 5 more days and we’re waiting for the weather to give us a break.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better and we’ll be able to go to a couple of things during the day.

We closed up the store at 10 tonight and headed off to the sleep chamber for the night.  I was asleep almost before I hit the bed.;

Thursday, February 3, 2011

We had some of our day planned today with a visit to the Yuma Proving Ground about 20 miles up the road toward Quartzsite.  Ever since we’ve been coming out this way we had intended to go there and we just haven’t.  Today was going to be the day.

We had Breakfast and left the campground about 10 for the trip up the road.  Not knowing where to go on the base we just drove up the entrance road until we drove right through it into the Imperial Dam area.  We had gotten glimpse of a sign covered by bushes that instructed us that we were through it.  We turned around and drove back about a half mile to the sign, and realized our error.  Driving back further we found the gate to the Proving Ground Offices.  The Guard at the gate asked us for Identification, our registration and Proof of Insurance for the vehicle.  We had it all except for the Proof of Insurance.  We searched and searched and no POI.  “Sorry Sir but I can’t let you pass.”  This was more of a joke than a disappointment.  In any event, we were getting in today either.

On the way over we spotted a tiny church which was built on a farm that we stopped at on the way back.  The church can hold 12 people and was built in honor of the gentleman’s wife who had passed away.  We stayed long enough to take a couple of pictures and then got back on our way to Yuma.

We decided we would save the day by going out for lunch and discussed where to go.  Lute’s Casino won out since we wanted to visit a Military Park in downtown Yuma before we returned back home anyway.  As it turned out the Park was across the street from Lute’s and we decided to visit after we ate lunch.

Lute’s is always fun, since every time you visit you notice something “new” either on the walls or hanging from the ceiling.  Their “especial” is a grilled cheeseburger with a grilled hot dog on top.  It’s really quite tasty even though Sharon doesn’t like it.

We ate our lunch and then went across the street to the Military Park.  It’s a memorial built for those who have and will sacrifice in our wars.  It was pretty plain but it was very nice.

We went home and after a while Sharon wanted to take a ride and see if we could find another recliner.  I was game since it was a chance to find another ball for our hitch that we destroyed the other day on the way here.

We couldn’t find the furniture store but we stopped at O’Reilly Auto Parts in the Foothills and picked up a new ball for the hitch.  I’ll get I on over the next couple of days.

By the time we got home we just decided to relax for the rest of the night.  We weren’t having any luck with things we had to do anyway.

We camped in front of the TV watching some favorite shows tonight.  It seems like original programming is back for awhile.  We were glued to our seats until 10 since we weren’t hungry for supper after a late lunch anyway.

Friday, February 4, 2011

We had planned to go to the Yuma Marketplace today and we took off as soon as we got ready.  We had heard that it is quite a bit smaller now than it was last year.  And we found it to be exactly that.  Most of the rows had been shortened and the number of vendors was greatly reduced.  We managed to find a few things to pick up and I took myself away from the remote controlled helicopters before I bought one.

When we left the marketplace we headed for Mimi’s Café for lunch.  Our service today was quite slow even though the restaurant was empty.  The food however, was very good.  Sharon had a grilled cheese wrap and I had a Mediterranean fish wrap.  We each managed to save half to take home so we decided to have a dessert while we were there.  It was a 3-piece dessert of Apple Cobbler, Bread Pudding and Triple Chocolate Cake.  The cake and Cobbler had Ice Cream on top and the Pudding had Whipped Cream.  It was all quite good indeed.

After lunch we headed back home and checked e-mail and found a message from my cousin Tom McKenna from Tucson.  He was going to be in town for a meeting and wondered if we were here or not.  We sent him a quick message affirming our location and he called us about 10 minutes later.  We talked for a few minutes and he suggested that he come over so I explained to him how to get to our campground.  He arrived about a half hour later and we sat and talked for about an hour and a half before he had to leave to get to his Dinner that night. 

We planted ourselves in front of the TV for the rest of the night.  Since we ate a late lunch we weren’t hungry for supper.  We just snacked until we went to bed later.

The programming on the Telly was pretty good tonight and we had enough to watch until our bedtime.  It seemed like bedtime came up pretty fast.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

We had planned on going to Golden Corral for Breakfast this morning and we took off as soon as we got ready.  Not much in a hurry but we were hungry by the time we left.  We always enjoy going to Golden Corral and today was no different.  The food was good and we got plenty of it.  But the price was a dollar more than it is in Casa Grande and they only have the buffet on weekends.  But we enjoyed it anyway.

By the time we got home Sharon took off with the laundry and I had a couple of odd jobs to get done.  I needed to replace the hitch ball that almost fell off the day we arrived, and I also needed to dump the Black Water tank and get ready to leave on Monday.

After Sharon got back today we just sat around and relaxed for the rest of the day.  Later on in the afternoon Sharon went top church and took the GPS with her so she could stop at KFC and pick up chicken for supper tonight.  She had a whole story to tell when she got back about buying the chicken tonight.  Apparently she left her purse at home, only too $20 and our usual order came to more than that.  She had to negotiate with them to get our supper.

After Dinner we just settled in front of the tube and watched TV all night.  There wasn’t much on because it was a usual Saturday with poor programming, but we managed to surf all night and find enough to watch.  There was a new show on Discovery tonight called “Cops and Coyotes.”  We watched a couple of hours of that before we hit the feathers.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Today was the day we’ve been waiting for the last 3 weeks.  Since Green Bay went on a tear through the Playoffs and ripped a new one for everybody they played, today was Super Bowl Sunday.

Sharon was off to church early and on the way she would pick up our free codpiece of muffins from Mimi’s Café.  She had to answer a questionnaire on the phone to qualify for the muffins and she took care of that before she left.

There were 6 hours of hype on today before the start of the game and I was hoping that I wasn’t watching it in vain.  There were a couple of shows from NFL Films that I found very entertaining, but 6 hours is a little much no matter if your team is in the game or not.

Sharon got home long before anything significant about the game was on and we sat and watched it together except for lunch that we sat and ate.  We were planning on doing leftovers for most of the day today anyway.  Actually Sharon decided to clean out the fridge and throw out the old stuff away before we ate.

After lunch we settled in front of the tube until 4 when the game started.

The game started off kind of slow until the Packers scored 14 quick points.  After that we relaxed a bit until the Steelers started coming back.  In the last 2 minutes of the 4th quarter we were really worried that the Defense was going to let them into the end zone.  But the Defense stiffened and ended the game on a very high note.  We were so happy I started making phone calls and even received one of congratulations.  I was talking to people from all over the States.

For the rest of the night it didn’t matter if we had anything decent to watch on the tube or not.  We finally went to bed knowing hat we were the Super Bowl Champions and were meant to be there.  Go Packers!!!!!