Monday, April 4, 2011

Sharon was off to Curves this morning and on her way back home she stopped at the Post Office to pick up mail and check and see if my pills were there.  We had mail, but no pills.

We had a couple of plans to execute today and one was to drive over to the Desert Valley Auto Parts yard and take a picture near the sign that’s become famous on TV.  The yard is located about a mile from our campground here in Casa Grande.  But when we got there it was just another junkyard.  The sign was absent and there was nothing special looking about the place.  There are two “yards” and the other is in Phoenix and even though we were headed there this afternoon, we won’t be looking for it.

Our other plan was to drive to Mesa this afternoon and see Dennis and Mary’s new house.  They purchased it in December and we haven’t seen it yet.  We also intend to go to the Heart Attack Grill in Chandler this afternoon for Supper.

We left home around noon and got to Mesa in a round about fashion about 1:30.  It hadn’t taken us lo0ng to just drive past Desert Valley Auto Parts and fill up with gas for the trip to Mesa.

We got the nickel tour through the house and then we just sat outside by the pool and talked for the next couple of hours.

We left for the Heart Attack Grill about 4:30 and expected the traffic to be horrendous.  It was horrendous but on the other side of the highway.  We had to drive almost all the way back to I-10 to get to the restaurant.  As we entered, the whole restaurant looked like an institution with a giant white cross counter in the center of the building.  The counter had chairs all around it, probably about 50 of them.  The waitresses were dressed like nurses and the cooks were in surgical greens.  We all had bypass burgers since that was all that was on the menu.  The fries were all you could eat and fried in lard, and very good.  The burgers were also quite tasty.

We left the restaurant and came directly home.  We actually decided to go over and visit Jerry and Mary Milan tonight for awhile before we call it a day.  We haven’t seen them yet since we got back to town.  They weren’t doing anything special tonight when we called so we took a quick trip over there.  We just sat around and talked for about an hour and then made some plans for Wednesday night.  We’d meet them at the Elks at 5 for Dinner.

We came back home and settled in front of the TV for the rest of the night.  I had had a busy 3 days with all that driving.  It wasn’t an exceptionally long way to drive but we had activities at the end of each journey.  After awhile you just get weary.  I took a couple of short naps before I actually went to bed for the big sleep.  It just seemed like a practical thing to do.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

We both slept late today and I know the reason I did was because I was exhausted from the 3 days before.  Two trips to Mesa and another to Tucson was quite tiring.

We were going to have another scorcher of a day today and it would be quite warm to do anything outside.  The forecast didn’t disappoint and it quickly warmed up and we had the air on early this morning.

Sharon was off to Curves this morning and came home with a sore foot again.  Exercise is so good for her that I can’t understand how she doesn’t see that.  I guess she’ll keep it up until she actually breaks that foot.

She stopped on the way home again this morning to see if my pills had arrived at the Post Office, and they hadn’t.  That means that I had to call Medco again because now they would never arrive in time.  I was absolutely livid when I spoke to them this morning.  The last clown there promised that I’d receive them cause he was going to expedite the shipping.  I told them how mad I was and where they could shove those pills.

By lunchtime Sharon was getting ready to take off with the laundry for the day.  It takes her a little longer here because of the availability of the machines.  They have a bunch of them but only let you use two at a time.

I attempted to wash the old windshield while she was gone but it was still quite warm outside even though there was a breeze blowing.  I gave up on it after I had cleaned it with water but I’ll have to do it again tomorrow with Windex.

We had some leftover Chicken Breasts that Sharon made into Chicken Salad for sandwiches for Supper tonight.  Neither of us felt like we wanted anything more than that.  It was just too warm even though the air was still on.

About the only thing that was comfortable today was watching TV and I made the best of that situation.  Although there wasn’t much new on tonight, I managed to find repeats of Deadliest Catch on Discovery tonight.  The were playing the “Best of” shows.  By 10 however, it was time to end the night and catch up on some shuteye.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Sharon was off to Curves this morning while I had some stuff to do to facilitate our move to Deming tomorrow. We had at least one windshield to clean since we only got one changed.  There were dead bugs on the passenger side that I made quick work of.  Yesterday but I needed to clean it with windex today.  I also had to dump the holding tank and fill the fresh water so we’d be ready to hit the road running.

We found gas cheaper on the Internet thanks to a website from Phil Bach that he gave me before we left Desert Hot Springs.  We’ll have to get down to Marana to get to the station however, and there’s some question as to whether or not we have enough gas in the tank right now.  We may have to stop on the way down there and pick up a few gallons.

Later on this afternoon it started to rain just enough to mess up both windshields so I have to wash them again tomorrow morning before we leave.  Perfect!

Since we’ve been here last Thursday we haven’t had any time to get together with Jerry and Mary Milan.  We had made a date to get together tonight and go to the Elks and Drink some beer and have dinner together.  We met them at the Elks Club at 5.  We were supposed to meet some of their friends here also and they were already here when we came inside.

We were at the Elks until about 7:30 when we left and said our good-byes to Jerry and Mary and then came back home.  We stayed up until 10:30 tonight watching our shows that I had taped tonight.  We were both tired enough to drop right off when we got into the bed.  We were going to have a long day tomorrow and getting to sleep tonight would be helpful.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

I was up early to9day mostly because I knew I had a few things to do today before we got on the road.  The first was to grab my windex and go out and re-clean the windshields that I’ve already done twice so far.  W also had to pick up all our connections to power, water and sewer.  I don’t usually like saving all that stuff til the last minute but this time I really had no choice.

Sharon had a brilliant idea this morning for us to go to McDonald’s up the street and have Breakfast before we hit the road.  I didn’t really want to get on the road too early cause we had to stop in Tucson to get gas and I was hoping the traffic would clear in order to do that.  The station we need to get in to is a pretty tight fit.

After McDonald’s, and returning to the campground, it took us about 5 minutes to get rolling and be on the road.

About 15 miles from the gas station, I thought it best that we stop before our scheduled stop, and pick up 10 gallons of gas, so we could make it to the cheap station.

At our scheduled stop we put in $200 worth of gas along with the $36 worth we had stopped for previously.  This trip home is going to get expensive.

We arrived at our campground about 3 o’clock (we lost an hour on the way) and got settled in very quickly.  After stopping we realized that the wind was blowing just like it was predicted.  We didn’t notice it on the road cause it was apparently blowing at our backs.

It was just a relief to actually knock out a 300 mile section of our trip back home.  Sometimes it just feels good to make any kind of a move toward the Northeast.  We still won’t be anywhere close to home for another two weeks but it has to start with a small part of the whole trip.

We were here early enough for all our usual shows to tape tonight. 

We had Sloppy Joe’s and Potato Salad for Supper tonight.  It was very good and afterwards we just sat and relaxed in front of the tube for the night.  Neither of us made it past the regular cave-in time, and we were just glad to give it up.

Friday, April 8, 2011

We never encountered the wind that was forecast for yesterday but maybe it’s just different here than in Desert Hot Springs.

We started off this morning with a couple of things to do today.  First and foremost was a trip to the Si Señor Restaurant downtown to have lunch.  We found it last year by accident and the food is fabulous.

We also needed to check out the gas station that we would be filling up at on Sunday.  The price of fuel went up 6 cents from yesterday to today, so we’re just crossing our fingers and hoping for the best.  The check at the station confirmed that we would be able to get in and out without too much fuss.

We stopped finally for lunch and the restaurant wasn’t as crowded as it was last time.  It was probably because we went a little after lunchtime today.  But  just like always, the food was excellent.  I had Chicken Enchiladas and Sharon had Chicken Chalupas.  We also like it when they bring the free Sopapillas at the end of the meal.  They’re a very nice touch when the meal is over.

On the way home we stopped at K-Mart to pick up some steel wool for a little job I needed to do.  We were having trouble getting the lights to work on the car while towing.  They work, but not as well as they should.  So we picked up some steel wool to work on the plug between the two vehicles.  I’ve been squirting “contact cleaner” into both sides of the plug for two days and I think all the corrosion is gone out of it.  But now I need to clean up the contacts.  I got to the contacts after my siesta this afternoon.

Neither of us was hungry for supper so we’ll just be taking care of ourselves tonight.  It’ll probably just be snacks later on tonight while we watch TV.

Tonight was going to be a good night for TV.  We didn’t have a single repeat to watch tonight and even had a couple of our regular shows to watch.  Having lost an hour on Thursday coming here, the TV will also run up to 9 PM so we’ll only have one taped show to watch tonight.  Sunday we’ll cross into Texas and lose another hour and be back to our regular time again.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Today started out as a pretty normal day before it started going downhill fast.  Sharon was out for her walk and I was out dumping our gray water this morning.  The wind that was predicted started blowing before she got back to the motorhome.

As the day wore on today the wind got worse and worse.  At one point we decided to put our bedroom slide back in so that we didn’t rip the new awning.

This was going to be a day that nothing productive would get done.  Except for the wind it was a pretty decent day outside, but he wind just made it impossible.  By lunchtime even the TV was being affected by the gusts of wind that were present.

After lunch and later on this afternoon I went out and tried to plug in the cable but my cord wouldn’t go into the fitting.  We just fired up the DVD and watched Seinfeld episodes for the afternoon.

Sharon heated up some leftover Lasagna for supper tonight.  It was still very good along with a salad and Garlic Bread.  After Dinner we settled in for the night’s TV.

There wasn’t much on tonight and our satellite was screwed up by the wind so we just watched a little Seinfeld on DVD for the night.  Later on the wind let up a little but by that time we were both ready for the sack.  We still didn’t know if we’d be leaving tomorrow morning or not for parts northeast.  If the wind is persisting we’ll cancel our plans to make the trip to Amarillo.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

We got up this morning with nary a breeze blowing.  We decided very quickly that we would hit the road even knowing that later on today the wind would pick up and start blowing.  The forecast was for possible 60 MPH gusts later this afternoon.  They would be coming out of the west however, and that would be at our back after we make the turn east in Santa Rosa, New Mexico, probably around 1 PM.

We left the campground about 8:30 and Sharon headed to McDonald’s for Breakfast and I took off for the gas station.  She was going to pick up a couple of Breakfast sandwiches that we could eat on the road.  She met me at the gas station just as I finished filling up.  We hooked up the car and we were off.

We had no problems with the wind until we got about 20 miles from Santa Rosa, and the large trucks that were passing us from the opposite direction were creating tremendous suction as they went by.  We were on 2-lane highway so the effects were multiplied.

After we made the turn east the wind and suction were not a problem anymore, so I turned the wheel over to Sharon for the remainder of the trip into Amarillo.  We were still about 160 miles from our destination at Oasis RV Resort.

We finally pulled in to the campground in Amarillo about 5 o’clock, having lost another hour on the clock during the day.  We are now finally in the Central Time Zone where we’ll be for the rest of the trip home.

After arriving we cracked open a couple of beers and Sharon threw a frozen pizza into the oven for Supper.  We watched TV for awhile on the cable since the wind was blowing too hard for the dish.  We had no TV guide for the night so we just watched whatever we found on the cable.  Sunday is not generally a good night for any TV anyway.  By 10 o’clock we programmed the dish and got that set up to record Fox and Friends in the morning.

By this time we had had a long day and both of us were ready to call it quits for the night.  Besides it was 10 o’clock and time to fold up the tents anyway.  We’ll take it up again early tomorrow.