Monday, February 6, 2012

After Breakfast this morning we drove off headed to the Yuma Proving Ground.  We had tried to get in last year but didn’t have the Proof of Insurance for the car and were turned away.  Today, armed with the correct documents we were confident that we would be able to get in.  We were wrong and they turned us away again.  This time because the things we wanted to see were closed, and they don’t admit people to just drive around in there.  This place is getting harder to get in to than the Pentagon.

We left with our tail between our legs and continued on with our day.  We decided on our way back to Yuma to try and find the Foothills Furniture store.  We managed to drive right to it now that we knew where it was at.  We checked out some new furniture for the motorhome but couldn’t really find anything that we were impressed with. 

By the time we left there, it was well after noon, and we were contemplating a place to eat lunch.  We suggested a couple of places to each other and then finally settled on the Mi Rancho Restaurant on 4th Avenue.  We had been there last year and the food is excellent.  It was suggested to us by Roy Parent back at Catalina.  In any event the parking lot was full and the street around was full of cars.  We expected a full house when we got inside, but didn’t realize how big the restaurant was on the inside.  Apparently only the parking lot is small.  The food was excellent as “usual” and we only had the lunch special.  It was two Enchiladas with Guacamole, Rice and Refried Beans.  Sharon had the same thing.

After lunch we decided to look again for the Indoor Flea Market which was just up the street.  We found it immediately which made us wonder why we had trouble when we looked the other day.  It’s open Thurs-Sun and we’ll probably go this week after having been so disappointed with the Arizona Marketplace.

We left to come back home and Sharon took off with the Laundry as soon as we got back.  I guarded the hacienda while she was gone.

Neither of us was hungry for Supper tonight after having eaten a late lunch after our running around this morning.

We camped out in front of the TV tonight to watch our usual fare for the evening.  Monday is always pretty good when the repeats are over with.  And now the new show Alcatraz is on Mondays.  We managed to get to 10:30 tonight before we both gathered our thoughts and our stuff and headed for some sleep.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

After Breakfast this morning we were off to the Post Office to retrieve our mail.  Unfortunately it wasn’t there yet.  We gave it an extra day because Yuma is notoriously bad for getting our mail on time.  We’ll have to try another day to make sure we get it.

We also thought we would stop at the Farmer’s Market downtown before we headed back home.  The market was really a collection of vendors selling all kinds of stuff including cooked food.  Neither of us was hungry so we didn’t buy any food but we did spring for some vegetables.

On the way home we stopped at Family Dollar and Sharon picked up a few things, and the we tried to find Jo-Ann Fabrics.  We didn’t have any luck with Jo-Ann’s.

By the time we got home it was just after noon so we rustled up something to eat.  We were still working on leftovers but they’re pretty well cleaned up after today.

We sat around watching TV for the afternoon until I came up with a brilliant idea.  There were a couple of good movies on at the theater that we could go and see.  It took a while to decide what to do but we finally agreed to go to the flick this afternoon.

At 3:45 we got in the car and headed for town.  The movie we wanted to see, “Red Tails” was on at 4:20 and it would take us almost that long to get into town.  When we got to the theater we found that they printed the wrong time in the paper.  Instead of 4:20 it was on at 3:20 and 6:20.  The only other movie I wanted to see, was “Contraband” with Mark Wahlberg, and it was on at 4:30.  So we quickly adjusted our preference and went to see it.  It was an absolutely fabulous action movie as are all Mark Wahlberg’s movies.

We thought we might stop and have something to eat after the movie but we ate so much popcorn that neither of us was hungry for anything.  We bought one big bag instead of two small ones.  We never did finish the “big bag”.  The damn thing was the size of North Dakota.  It didn’t look that big on the picture.

By the time we got back home we knew we would be watching tapes all night.  We got back just after normal programming began and we would be playing catch-up all night.  It didn’t matter cause we had all our normal shows taped.  They actually kept us up past our usual bedtime but we toughed it out.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

We headed out this morning headed for Jack-in-the-Box to try out their Grilled Breakfast Sandwich.  We had heard it was good and we always like to judge for ourselves.  It was like a Toasted Ham and Cheese Sandwich, but nothing Special.  For a change-of-pace I still vote for the Steak, Egg and Cheese on Flatbread from Subway.

Our next stop would be to Walgreen’s to pick up a couple of sale items that Sharon had seen in the paper.  We were actually making a round robin with the next stop at Fry’s Grocery Store and the next at the Post Office to get our mail.  We were hoping we’d have better luck with the mail today than we did yesterday, and we did.  Even though there wasn’t much there at least it came in.

Our last stop was at Jo-Ann’s Fabrics in the mall to see if Sharon could pick up some flannel for pajamas when she gets home.  She’s still got a couple of little ones who are still wearing her pajamas.

After our busy morning, we headed toward home to relax for a couple of hours.

We had several places that we wanted to eat at while we were here, that we don’t have in the Palm Springs area.  After we relaxed for about a couple of hours I suggested that we go to Red Lobster tonight for Dinner.  Sharon agreed it was a good idea so the plan was on.

About 5 we drove out of the campground headed for the Red Lobster Restaurant.  We both ordered the Shrimp and Lobster Bake, which was a collection of Lobster Tails, Shrimp, Mussels and Scallops with Linguini in a Garlic Butter Sauce.  Sharon substituted her Shrimp for extra Mussels and Scallops.  The meal was absolutely fabulous and our waiter Armando was exceptional.  By the time we left there we were both walking a little bit heavier, but more satisfied than ever.

We came home and planted ourselves in front of the Telly for the rest of the night.  We had pretty good shows on tonight so we got to the bewitching hour without much problem.  We were both ready for the sack about 10:30.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

We had a plan that was going to encompass the whole day today.  We were to drive to Holtville, Arizona and go on the Smart Farm Agriculture Tour.

Holtville is located approximately 65 miles west of our campground and would take us at least an hour to get there.  It was however, all Interstate on the way.  When we arrived we were surprised to see at least 30 cars in the parking lot.  And more surprised to see over a hundred people in attendance.  Apparently many of the people were carpooling.

The cost of the tour is $15 per person so we knew all these people are not just here for the “free” vegetables.  In any event we started at 10:30 in the morning walking through the greenhouses and ending up in the Granary.  We spent the next hour or so hearing about the top 10 crops in the area and how they’re harvested.  We sat down for a vegetable Salad for lunch around 12:30 and in the afternoon actually took a ride on a people mover pulled by a 1953 Massey-Harris Tractor through the fields.  We made several stops in order to pick crops along the way, and filling bags that were provided by the tour management.  The entire day was an absolute hoot, and didn’t get done until 3:30 in the afternoon.

At 3:30 I dragged myself back to the car relishing the hour drive back to the campground.

I planted myself in my recliner, and remained there all night, except to move to the table to eat a leftover pasty for supper.

We certainly had enough to watch tonight before we dragged our spent bodies into bed.  At least one of us, (me) was spent.  Sharon is much more resilient.

Friday, February 10, 2012

We had nothing special planned for today, so we stayed pretty close to home all day. I was still recovering from our day on the farm yesterday.

I worked on the new Newsletter this morning and Sharon was busy blanching vegetables.  She was working on the two bags she picked yesterday before they started to deteriorate.

By this afternoon she was done and she pulled out a jigsaw puzzle, and was working on it on the picnic table.  After a while, when I finished up what I was doing, I went outside and helped with the puzzle.  I like to work on the easy pieces.  It actually got warm sitting there doing that puzzle even though it was in the shade.

By the time we came inside, it was quite warm in the motorhome, so we turned on the air conditioning.  It didn’t take long to cool it off to a more comfortable level.

For Supper tonight we had a Tator Tot Casserole along with Swiss Chard that Sharon had cooked up.  We had never had those greens before and they were quite good.  After dishes we settled in front of the TV for the night.

We had a couple of our regular shows on tonight and original programming.  So we were mesmerized by the flashing lights and the moving pictures until 11 o’clock rolled around and our eyelids started slipping.  We gave in to the bed peacefully.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

We were off this morning to seek out the indoor Flea Market in the old Merwyn’s building.  Because the Arizona Marketplace was so disappointing, we decided to try another market.  You could almost tell by the number of cars in the lot that this was not going to be a solution to the problem.  The market was clean and “okay” but quite small with very few vendors.  We were there for about an hour but we did purchase some socks for me and a purse for Sharon.  We’ve had a hard time finding my socks this year, and Sharon managed to spot them today.

After the market we headed over to the Mi Rancho Restaurant again to eat lunch.  This was our second visit this year.  The food is so good that we decided the other day that if we had time we would come back again.  And we weren’t disappointed.

We needed to stop at Fry’s grocery to pick up some lunch stuff for the next week.  Fry’s was almost across the street from Mi Rancho so it was right on our way.  I also wanted to stop at Harbor Freight to see if I could pick up a single running light that had been broken for a couple of weeks.  We hardly ever drive at night if I can help it, so we never use it, so it’s taken me awhile to replace it.  In any event I didn’t find a single light but a package of twelve.  No purchase here.

We got back home and Sharon got back on her jigsaw puzzle still on the picnic table outside.  She worked on it for a couple of hours before she finally finished it up and tore it back down.  Just in time for her to take off for church this afternoon.

While she was gone, I got out a bucket of water and Simple Green and wiped down the plum paint on the bottom of the motorhome.  It had gotten quite dusty over the past couple of weeks since we had the motorhome washed.  It looked quite good after I finished it up.

We were still quite satisfied with food since our lunch at Mi Rancho.  It wouldn’t be until later on that we both sat down and ate our leftovers from the restaurant.  And in fact, they were still very good.

We settled into our “theater chairs” for the night even though we had to surf to find something to watch.  But we made it to our usual bedtime after a fashion.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

It was a pseudo “get ready to go day” today and although our holding tanks didn’t need dumping, I dumped them anyway.  We still had a full tank of water to carry us through the single day e would spend overnight in Quartzsite.

We had planned to spend our last day here with Clay and Linda at Burgers and Beer for lunch.  We had already satisfied ourselves at the rest of the eating places that we wanted to frequent while we were here.

We took off about 12:30 to make a 1 Pm lunch date downtown Yuma and made it there at exactly 1 PM.  Clay and Linda were already there and seated when we walked in.  The restaurant was very crowded and it has always been crowded every time we’ve been here, which is usually once a year.  We had a very nice lunch and spent at least an hour and a half at the restaurant just talking when we were done eating.  Just as we were about to leave Clay invited us over to his house for a couple of post-lunch drinks before we head back home.  We were there for at least a couple of hours before Sharon’s designated driver took her home.  A couple of Clay’s neighbors had stopped over and spent some time before we left.

When we got back home Sharon took off with the laundry and I cleaned up outside and washed the windshield for the trip north.  By the time Sharon got back she was ready for a nap while I watched TV for the night.  The Grammys were on tonight and I wasn’t interested, so it was another surfing night tonight.  Luckily we didn’t get home til later tonight so it didn’t take much surfing to get through till our usual bedtime.