Monday, December 10, 2012

It was quite nippy out this morning and not expected to get any better throughout the day.  In fact it’s even supposed to get colder tonight.

Sharon went for her walk this morning right after she dropped off the clothes in the Laundromat.  We didn’t have a whole lot to do this morning but she wanted to catch up on the laundry.

By the time she got back we took off for the Si Señor Restaurant downtown to have lunch.  It’s a usual ritual when we’re here in Deming.  We love their food and we get free Sopapillas for dessert.  It was quite crowded, like it usually is, at the time we arrived, but we got seated immediately with our salsa and chips.  After lunch we came back home and I relaxed in front of the TV while Sharon took off for K-Mart again.  She had picked up a pair of jeans yesterday that she wasn’t real happy with, and decided to take them back today.

While she was gone I think I even took a little siesta after my burrito for lunch.  I don’t remember the nap but it seemed like I may have taken one.  I was rested by the time she got home.

We were camped out in front of the TV tonight.  I realized early this morning that our DVR quit recording today.  There were a couple of shows that I “recorded” last night that didn’t take.  I shut everything down and rebooted the DVR and it seemed to have taken care of the problem, for now.

With the change to Mountain Time our TV shows will end at 9 PM tonight.  So the DVR is convenient to keep us up until 10 at least.  And it certainly worked tonight.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

It was a “road” day today but not before we stopped for LP Gas at the campground office.  We waited for about 10 minutes for the attendant and then decided to move on without.

Our next stop was at the NM/AZ Border to pick up gas.  There was a Flying J and a Pilot and we thought the Pilot would be easier in, easier out so we went there.  Of course, Pilot doesn’t pump LP Gas so we had to go to Flying J anyway.  When we got there the attendant was out to lunch so we had to wait 20 minutes for him to get back and we left again knowing that we could get gas in downtown Benson before we went to our campground.  And it was only two blocks out of our way.  We also got it for 20 cents a gallon cheaper than we would have gotten it in Deming.  What a deal!

We got in to Valley Vista in Benson and settled very quickly but we had a devil of a time trying to get the dish set up.  It took both of us at least 20 minutes to get the thing working.  We never had such a hard time getting it lined up, and there didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason for it.

We spent the rest of the afternoon just relaxing around the tube.

Sharon made Brizza for Supper tonight.  Brizza was  an invention by her to make a pizza made out of bread dough and rolled up like a calzone much like is sold at Pizza Hut, except Sharon “invented” it first.  It turned out very good and we saved half of it for lunch on another day.

American Chopper had its build off final on tonight and after NCIS we were glued to the TV hoping Junior was going to win.  He did, and we were quite happy with the outcome.

Sharon cancelled her ticket at 9 but I hung in there until 10 before I folded up my tent also.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Today was pretty much a “do nothing” day today, but that doesn’t really mean anything to Sharon.  She always manages to find something to slave over anyway.

Over the past couple of days we’re trying to figure a way to revamp our communications problem with our cell phone.  The kids bought us a new Nook for Christmas and we need a way to get it connected cheaply.  For the past few days we’ve been agonizing over buying a new smartphone and using it for a hotspot, or to go a different route.  It may be that buying a MI-Fi device, which is half the price of a smartphone, and using it for the Nook and computer, will be the route we may go.  It seems the only extra expense for that method is for the Mi-Fi.

By the afternoon Sharon found a way to keep busy today.  She took it upon herself to go out and wash down the bottom half of the motorhome.  She never ceases to amaze me.

At Suppertime she threw some steaks on the Barby.  I’m not a big steak eater but I always go along cause she can eat steak anytime.  I thought they were a little tough but it didn’t matter cause when she was done with hers, she ate mine.  It really wasn’t that much to eat since they were about ½" thick.

We camped out in front of the TV for another night with some good programs on tonight.  We watched TV until 10:30 when I got a call from my sister Marge saying that her husband Wally had died tonight.  I talked to her for about a half hour before we hung up.  I decided to wait until morning before I called my sister and brother on the east coast.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

We needed to do some shopping today for a dessert that we’ll take to my Cousin Tom’s tomorrow in Tucson.  They like Sharon’s famous 4-layer chocolate dessert.  So as usual, she’ll slave over the stove like she always does anyway.

We also had to pick up some other stuff at Wal-Mart for next week.  And as long as we were downtown during the lunch hour we decided to stop for lunch along the way.  Because we weren’t familiar with the eating places here, as we drove through town to Wal-Mart we checked out the restaurants on the way.  We spotted a little place that was quite busy and stopped there on the way back.

After lunch we stopped at Ace Hardware to pick up little suction cups to hang our Christmas lights around the windshield in the motorhome.  It seems like nobody has the little ones that we were looking for.

By the time we got home it was starting to cloud up for the rain that they were predicting today.  It looked on a couple of occasions that it might not rain at all until the rain started falling after dark.  The weather here in Benson can be very unpredictable.  They even suggested it may snow tonight.

We settled in for TV tonight after we finished up our leftover sandwiches from lunchtime.  Sharon had a meatloaf and mine was a Patty Melt.  They were both very good but too big to finish for lunch.

We lasted until 10 tonight before we went to bed.  It seemed a lot later since we watched all the shows we had taped today.  But I guess we’ll have to tape more shows to watch.

Friday, December 14, 2012

We were intending a leisurely start this morning since we were only traveling as far as Marana today, which is just north of Tucson.  We’ll be on the road a little over an hour or so to our destination.

We decided to cook Egg McMuffins for Breakfast this morning before we hit the pavement.  We were still on the road by about 10:30 or so.  We pulled off the highway for a gas station on Ina Road that we’ve had luck before finding cheap fuel.  Today was no exception as the price was $2.91 a gallon and the cheapest that we’ve found on the entire trip.

We had trouble with the pump as usual.  Whenever we found cheap gas on this trip the pump was screwed up.  This is like the third or fourth time this has happened.  Although this time it was the idiot who worked in the gas station.  He cleared the wrong pump when Sharon went inside, because I couldn’t get our credit card to work, because of the way the pump was set up, for cash, credit, rewards, etc.  Man it’s always something.

We got into our campground, Valley of the Sun RV Resort, about 1 PM and set up the motorhome right in front of a tree so we couldn’t get the dish to receive a signal.  In about 5 minutes we were set up in another site with good reception.

We sat around for a couple of hours and watched TV while we waited for 5 o’clock to roll around so we could go visiting.

We left about 4:15 to go to my Cousin Tom and Dawn McKennas for the evening.  We usually stop twice a year to see them while we are in the area.  We look forward to our visits every year.  This time we went to Lil Abner’s for steaks for a change.  We had been there years ago and had a very good time.  Tonight was no exception.

After Dinner we went back to their house and talked for a while and then got ready to leave by about 8:15.  We still had to drive home even though we were much  closer to “home” this year than we have been previously.

By the time we got home we watched a little TV and then headed for the rack.  While it hadn’t been a long day, it sure had been a full one.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Today was going to be another short travel day.  We only had about 40 miles to get to Desert Shadows Resort in Casa Grande.  We’ve been coming here twice a year for the past 10 or so years, but since the change of ownership, they’ve dropped out of our camping network.  We’ll have to wait and see, but this may be the last time we use this park during our travels.

It started to rain again as we left Marana and continued during our entire journey.

We arrived at Casa Grande and got set up quickly and were eating lunch by noon.  We called Mary Milan when we got settled but she was distracted and busy today with some carpet cleaners that did a lousy job in her house.

We sat around watching TV in the rain until it was time for Sharon to go to church.  I told her if they were selling Tamales at the church to pick some up for supper tonight.  If not, she could stop across the street and go to KFC for Chicken Pot Pies.  By the time she got home she was “packin” pot pies.  We sat down to eat and they were just as we remembered them. Very good.

Tonight was a banter night for TV.  NOT!  We decided that we would watch the second episode in the “Jason Bourne Trilogy”.  We’ve had all three on tape for more than a year and never got a chance to watch them yet.  We both watched the original this afternoon before Sharon went to church.  She didn’t get to see the end of it, but I explained to her what happened.  We sat through two episodes of Cops and then took in “The Bourne Ultimatum.”  It was quite good indeed.

By the time the movie ended it was just after 10 and both of us turned off lights at the same time which meant that we were ready for the bed.  We headed out and called it a night.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

We were stying pretty close to home today since our friend Mary Milan was expected to call us to get together.  We had contemplated taking a little trip to Mesa so we could see the Packer/Bear game today, but we thought we should really stay close to home instead.

We waited all day but the call never came.  She had told us yesterday that she had some house problems that she needed to take care of.  Apparently she got tied up in those for the day.

We called our other friend, Jayce Dale to see if she wanted to meet us for Breakfast in the morning, and she didn’t respond with a real definitive answer.  So we’ll go to Golden Corral at 9 tomorrow and hope for the best.  If nothing else, we’ll have a yummy Breakfast.

We watched a couple of different games on TV today trying to catch the score of the Packer game.  They clinched the Division today with a 21-13 win over the Bears.  So we’ll see them at least a couple more times before the end of the season.

We had Sharon’s Special Chicken Leg Recipe for Supper tonight.  It was called Chicken Marbella.  She pulled it out of the freezer and defrosted it from a previous meal that we had.  It’s a recipe that has prunes, green olives, onions, garlic and bunch of other stuff you wouldn’t think would taste good together.

We had a typical “nothing good on TV night” tonight.  So we surfed a couple of programs and then watched a movie we had on tape.  It was the final movie in the Jason Bourne Trilogy.  It was quite good and it kept us up until 10 o’clock.  We went to bed shortly after that when we had nothing left to watch.

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