Monday, March 27, 2017

We awoke this morning to another blustery day.  Not cold, but windy.  And these are not just gentle breezes.  This is by far the worst winter we’ve spent out here in 17 years.  We’ve gone through wind, rain, heat and cold so far this year, without great appreciation.

We ate Breakfast at home this morning cause we were going out for lunch today. 

I ran over to Blair Station this morning, after I dumped the holding tank, to look for safety cables for towing.  The only ones I found were 68 inches long and $79.  I opted to use a second link instead of the cables.  The two links were about $3.50.

We first intended to go to the Hibachi City Grill, for lunch today, with Phil and Joyce, but now we’re going to the Agua Caliente Casino for their special lunch.  The deal is two for $14.95 for a full buffet lunch on Mondays, for Senior Citizens.

We left for lunch at 12:30 which was our first mistake.  By arriving at 1 o’clock the line for the lunch had already formed and it was a beauty.  While Phil and Joyce were already in line, and about 30 people ahead of us, we both had to wait for awhile.  They waited for us and we waited in line.  Actually Sharon waited in line cause I can’t stand up that long.  We finally got in and found them in the Dining Room at a table.

We all had a very good lunch and walked away satisfied for the time being at least.  Sharon and I will do without Supper tonight.  We won’t even be thinking about eating again today.

We said our good-byes to Phil and Joyce since unless something happens, this will be our last time to see each other for this year.  We only spend about four weeks a year with them since they always go to Thousand Trails for the other 4 weeks.

After we got home there was a little nap in order for the both of us.  Sharon retreated to the bedroom and the bed, and I just nodded off in my recliner.

After we got up we had a night of TV ahead of us.  We had regular shows on tonight and a full schedule for the DVR.  One of the show we watch, “24 Legacy” created a plethora of stupidity tonight.  The writing for this show is not up to the quality of the old 24 with Kiefer Sutherland.  I can’t believe they allowed the entrance of a bunch of terrorists into a highly secured building in a truck, to say the least.  I think these writers better smarten up.  And then we watched Scorpion who have been taking liberties with the truth for a whole season.  No wonder I go to bed so tired.

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

We started out this morning headed to the Sunshine Café in Cathedral City to meet Terry and JoAnne for Breakfast.  We got there early for a change and they were ALMOST late.  We were watching the clock because they’re always early and today they ambled in at 9:29.  We had a nice Breakfast and even managed to get out of there by 11.

On the way home we stopped at the dollar store to pick up some fruit and vegetables for this week.  Sharon picked up a fresh Pineapple along with a few other things.  I don’t know what she’s going to do with the Pineapple.  I’ve only eaten it occasionally since I got sick on it when I was young.  It resulted in me having my appendix taken out.  At least that’s what I thought at the time.

After getting home today, Sharon took off with the laundry for the week.  She was gone for about an hour and a half before she finished up and returned.  I was getting things ready to leave when we finally pull out on Saturday.  Although the main thing will have to wait until Friday when we hook up the car and make sure our lights are working.

Sharon grilled up a couple of steaks for Dinner tonight.  Along with the steaks, were Fried Potatoes, Garlic Toast and a Salad.  It was quite good but steak of any kind is not one of my favorite meals.  But it is Sharon’s.  Sometimes I have to take one for the team. 

After Dinner we settled in front of the tube for our entertainment tonight.  Tuesday is one of our favorite nights for TV.  We have a full night of programs and we usually finish it off with Chicago Fire.  Even though Sharon went to bed early tonight with a book, she was still awake by the time I got there at 10:30.

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Today arrived and it was our last Taco Wednesday, and even though we had been invited over to Terry and JoAnne’s for Baby Back Ribs this afternoon, we decided to go to the VFW to say good-bye to everyone.

It was going to be another scorcher of a day today with the temperature rising into the high 90's.  When we got to the VFW they even had the air conditioning working today.  It was nice and cool in there.

As per our intention, we ate a light lunch and had a pitcher of beer to hold us over, and said good-bye to our waitress friends.  We couldn’t find Daisy when we left, but we talked to Alice and Sharon on the way out.

We came back home and Sharon cut up a bunch of fruit for a salad to take over to Terry and JoAnne’s.  By the time she got done, we got in the car and left.

The temp over in Cathedral City was stifling to say the least.  There wasn’t even a hint of a breeze to be found.  By the time we sat down to eat I think we actually got used to the heat.  The ribs were quite good indeed.  The recipe and ribs that were produced by Ron, they’re Canadian friend.

We got back home about 7:30 and settled in front of the TV for the rest of the night.  I had taped our programs earlier and just plunked down in front of the tube to catch up on them.

I stayed up until 10:30 tonight while Sharon caved earlier having consumed enough nectar to put her to sleep.  I never did completely catch up on all the programs that were recorded.

Thursday, March 30, 2017

Today was not going to be a good day for me.  Although I woke up in a good mood, it went downhill for most of the day.  The wind started blowing AGAIN, and to be perfectly honest, I am so sick of that shit, I was cursing it most of the day.  This Winter has by far, been the worst one we’ve ever spent here in California.  I’ve sworn to never come back at least a half dozen times today.

You worry about wind all the time to protect the awnings covering the slides.  The main awning is an electric one and you can put it out, and take it in, whenever you want.  But even that we’ve only put out a half dozen times because of the wind.  It gusts here at 40-50 miles and hour and can take an awning over the motorhome if it catches it.

We did go for Breakfast with Terry and JoAnne this morning which was one of the bright spots of the whole day.  We had a great final Breakfast and said our good-byes as we headed for home.

We needed to stop at Von’s Grocery this morning to pick up some things to eat over the next few days.  It didn’t take Sharon long to pick up the few things she needed, and we were on the road and headed home again.

Phil and Joyce were on the road today and headed for home.  I sure didn’t want to be them being on the road in this wind.  I called them this afternoon and Phil said they hardly had any wind at all on the road.  Go figure.

We stayed home and in the coach all day today because of the wind.  Sharon walked over to the office a couple of times, but other than that, we were homebodies all day.

We had Sloppy Joes for Supper tonight along with a Tuna Salad side dish.  Not having had the Tuna Salad in the past, that I can remember, it was a nice touch to a sandwich meal.

We had nothing to do tonight except watch TV and swear at the wind.  It kept right on blowing til after 11 tonight.  I was in bed listening to the wind and not liking it one bit.  Man, it just never gives up.

Friday, March 31, 2017

I was up early this morning, and as I was typing my Journal, JoAnne called and asked if we wanted to do Breakfast this morning.  She called at about 7:30 and Sharon, of course, was still sleeping.  When she got up I informed her that we had a Breakfast invitation this morning at 9:30 at the Cottage Too.

We showered and got ourselves ready and arrived at the restaurant a few minutes early.  The place was not crowded this morning like it has been for the last 3 months.  Even the parking lot was easy to find a space for the car.

After a lovely Breakfast we said dour good-byes AGAIN and headed straight home, except for a quick stop at Von’s grocery.

We had stuff to do today since we were pulling out tomorrow in the morning.  I wanted to dump the holding tanks and disconnect all the hoses and utilities and then move the coach forward so we could hook up the car and see if everything was working.  We had trouble connecting the safety cables, which I knew was going to be a problem, but Sharon figured out how we could do it, to still be legal.  The cables worked out just fine.  The adapter plug that was given to us for the lights worked perfectly and all our lights were working.

We left the two vehicles hooked up and just plugged in our electric cord again so we’d have power until tomorrow.  Now we were truly ready to hit the road for the first time in the new coach.

Since we had nothing left to do today to get ready to go I just st around watching TV while Sharon made applesauce donuts.  They were all ready in about an hour or so and, of course, we had to try them to see if they were any good.

At Suppertime today we fended for ourselves and I had leftover Shrimp Creole and Sharon had leftover Tuna Salad.  We had a few mini-donuts smeared with chocolate pudding for dessert.  It was all quite good.

We settled in viewing distance of the Telly tonight to take us the distance until quitting time.  It seemed like we were up for a long time tonight before we folded up.

Saturday, April 1, 2017

We got a mediocre start this morning as we were on the road today by 9 AM.  Our first stop was at Carl’s Jr. In Coachella at the end of the valley.  It seems we can’t get by there without stopping.  Their Biscuit Sandwiches are very good and I can hear them calling for me to stop.  And now we actually fit in their parking spaces.

When we left the restaurant we headed for the Chiriaco Summit and toward Arizona.  We have to climb a hill to get out of the valley.  I set the cruise on 60 and the engine only shifted down once and kept us going at 60.  I don’t normally care how fast we get to the top, but today I wanted to test the power of the new rig.  It passed with flying colors.

Our next stop was Quartzsite in Arizona.  When we arrived it looked like it had been abandoned.  We got set up with an electric only site since I had dumped and refilled in Desert Hot Springs, we didn’t need anything else.

We also got outside and washed the front of the motorhome to clean all the dead bugs from the trip.  Because of the rain we experienced this year in California there was a hatch of the bugs on top of the Summit.  We don’t usually have to worry about the bugs because of the lack of rain.

After we cleaned the bugs we disconnected the car and took a ride through town.  It was then that we realized that Quartzsite is closed for the year.  I don’t think we’ve ever seen everything so vacant.  We only saw about 3 places open in the town where the Main Event is always open, and we drove from one end of the town to the other.  All the RV Dealers, except one, have left for more profitable areas.  And that one is the Independent RV Dealer whom I’ve never heard of.  He is located at the far east end of town.  There was a motorhome on his lot that had been completely consumed by a fire.

We came back home and left the car unattached since we may go to Silly Al’s for pizza tonight.  We really haven’t decided what we’re doing for Dinner.

When Suppertime came around we both decided that we could be just fine eating leftovers for tonight.

After Dinner we settled in front of the TV even though it was Saturday and not a good night for TV.  Although we did watch a lot of Dr. Jeff: Rocky Mountain Vet, Lockup and Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives most of the night.  We both held out until 10:30 before we settled into bed for the night.

Sunday, April 2, 2017

I got to watch my Sunday morning new shows this morning before we left for Casa Grande.  There was nothing exciting happening and my good friend Martha Raddatz was hosting This Week so I turned that off immediately.

Upon leaving Quartzsite this morning our troubles started.  First of all our lights on the car were not working, and then I noticed that our long slide didn’t come in correctly.  We ran it in, and back out again, but it settled in the same way.  It was about 3 inches unretracted.  It didn’t seem like it was cause any problems so we took off with it like that.  There was a Rest Area a few miles up the road and I decided to stop there and fix the lights.  But by the time we got there, Sharon suggested we separate the two vehicles and drive them separately.  That seemed to be a better idea since we’ll be on a tight schedule for the next couple of days.

We disconnected the car at the Rest Area and for the next couple of hours we were in our separate vehicles.  We used our phones to communicate with each other.  We pulled over a couple of times so we could get our information straight.

We arrived in Casa Grande about noon and went immediately to our campground to settle in.  The office was closed today so we just went and picked a site.  Sharon called Mary Milan, an old friend that we didn’t see on our way out this year.  She was having surgery back in Michigan when we came through.  We always make it a point to stop and see her on our trips west.  She and Jerry had always been good friends before his passing a few years ago.  We still keep in touch with Mary and enjoy seeing her every year.

We settled into our usual positions in front of the tube for the night although we’d be watching taped programs tonight since the ACM Awards are on tonight.  I’m not much for those award shows.  There are just too many of them.  Most of them are just Liberals patting themselves on the back.  The only breath of fresh air are the ACMs.  We stayed in place until 10:30 before we both got up and headed for the padded room.