Monday, December 26, 2016

We planned on going to Breakfast this morning but until yesterday we didn’t know where to go.  Mary and Dennis steered us onto the Village Inn with a good Breakfast at a reasonable cost.  We had heard about the Village Inn from different people in the past.  Apparently that’s the place where the Yoopers gather for their occasional get-togethers.  So we went there and had a very nice Breakfast with very friendly people.

After we got back home, We had chores to do to get ready to leave here tomorrow.  Sharon vacuumed the hacienda before she took off with the laundry.  I got busy taking down all our Christmas decorations.  I told Sharon I’d take them down for her but I didn’t know which boxes they were supposed to be in when packed away.  She didn’t care as long as I took them down for her.

So by the time she got back from doing the laundry all the stuff was down and sitting on the dining table.  She quickly put it all where it was supposed to be and flung it all under the bed.

It was now time for me to go out and dump the holding tanks and take on some water.  We had used up some of our water the other day when the park broke a water line.  Originally I thought the water was frozen, but looking at the thermometer, it was 47 degrees outside.  When I went out to check the reason for no water, I ran into the neighbor who informed me of the broken water line.

We had leftover Pizza Casserole for Supper tonight.  It’s been frozen since we left home but it was still very good.  Besides Sharon wasn’t in the mood to cook anything anyway.  She had a busy day with all the stuff she had to do.

We settled in front of the TV for the night but Sharon gave it up early again.  About 8:30 she was off to Never-Never Land for the night and I ended up the solitary viewer.  I stayed up til about 10:30 my usual bewitching hour.

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

We were on the road this morning at a leisurely pace headed west.  After we cleared the City we started looking for our usual Cracker Barrel which is west of Phoenix.  We talked about stopping but this was the place I got sick a couple of years ago, not related to Cracker Barrels food at all.  I had contracted another case of Cellulitis which turned into a Flesh Eating Bacteria, and spent 64 days in the hospital before it cleared up.  That was a wonderful year to say the least.

This Breakfast stop went without a hitch, however.  The restaurant was extremely busy and we barely found a place in the parking lot for the motorhome and car.  But as we drove around back we managed to find enough room to park the rig.  We had to wait about 15 minutes to get a table but the wait was well worth it.  There were no empty tables as we walked through to our table.  We had a very nice Breakfast and it was served rather quickly aside from how busy they were.

We were back on the road in about 45 minutes and the traffic all the way to Quartzsite was actually horrendous.  We stayed pretty much in the outside lane while the inside lane was a continuous line of vehicles going by us.  This highway seems to get worse every year.

We arrived at Q at about 2PM and checked into the campground, Tysons Wells, after a quick drive through town.  I like to see what’s here before I get parked.

We just sat around and relaxed after we got hooked up to the utilities.  We took an E/W site because they wanted to charge us $6 a day for sewer.  We’re only going to be here for 3 days and I dumped yesterday so we’ll use our own water and holding tanks.

We had just plain old cheese burgers for Supper tonight.  Sharon didn’t feel like cooking anything elaborate and I didn’t care.  I still wasn’t hungry after the Breakfast we had, but the Burger went down quite good.  We also had Pickles and Doritos to go along with them.

Our evening was taken up with TV and we had a couple of good shows on tonight.  One was “The Curse of Oak Island”.  They’re still looking for the Treasure and not seeming to get any closer than they were a couple of years ago.  They’ve certainly spent a hunk of money trying to get to it, however.  It kept us entertained until it was time to give it all up for the day.  We had made it to 10:30 and were now headed for the slumber shack.  I think we’ll probably be shopping all day tomorrow.

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

We were off this morning for the Main Street Eatery to have Breakfast.  We had eaten there once before and had a fine meal.  Last year, however, the waitress told us that the restaurant would soon be closing, and would be moving further up Main Street permanently.  Apparently the proprietor had run two businesses in town and he/she was closing one.  But the one closest to the main intersection won out and we found it open this morning.  We had a very nice Breakfast with friendly service people.

After Breakfast we went to the Tool Shed at the far end of the Main Event and they had moved.  I thought they had closed until Sharon asked the clerk and she said they had moved next door.  I went over there but it was so disorganized that I couldn’t find what I was looking for.

When we left the Restaurant Sharon picked up some tourist information and after we got home, we started reading it, while watching the tube.  I noticed in the papers there was a town park that had a whole bunch of activities for kids.  All the times we had been through this town and never knew it was there.  We’ll check it out before we leave this time.

We had planned to go to Silly Al’s Pizza for Dinner tonight and I thought we would take a spin past the Town Park “on the way.”  It wasn’t actually on the way but we took a ride over there anyway.  It was quite a park with RC airfield and racetrack, skatepark, 2 retired Air Force jets, playground, picnic pavilion and all laid out in a very generous area.  On our way out of the park I spotted a pick-up truck entering the RC Airfield with a huge plane in the back.  We had to turn around and go back again.

As it turned out, it was a Father and Son from British Columbia who fly their plane here all the time.  The plane, I estimated had a wingspan of around 9 feet.  It was huge to say the least.  I had never seen an RC plane that big before.  We had to stick around until they flew it.  It took them about 15 minutes to get it all assembled and checked out to fly.  It took off in about 50 feet of runway.  We watched him maneuver that thing for about 15 minutes and then we left.  It was quite the spectacle.

We arrived at Silly Al’s Pizza about 5:30 and the place was packed to the gills.  We managed to find a parking place right in front of the door which was very nice, and I think we got the last open table in the room.  The waitresses were scurrying around the room as fast as they could.  We had our pizza and it was very good and then we left for home.

The rest of the night was spent gazing at the tube.  We watched a movie from the DVR called “Mission to Mars”.  It played like an old Star Trek episode.  I think they stole a few of the ideas from Gene Roddenberry.  That movie took us to our bewitching hour and we agreeably went to bed.  It was 10:30.

Thursday, December 29, 2016

Today was going to be our shopping day.  We had the whole day figured out, and where we were going to go to pick up a few things.

We ate our Breakfast at home today with a plan to go out for lunch.

We started out today at Prospector’s Panorama where the tool sheds are usually located.  There are some spots in the campground at Tysons Wells also but I couldn’t find a thing I couldn’t live without.

From there we went to lunch at Carl’s Jr.  We didn’t want to spend $12 on a burger and fries so we opted for fast food.  It looked like there was a lot of people with the same idea since the place was full.  We managed to find a table and sat down and ate our lunch.

Upon leaving the restaurant we noticed, the back of the parking lot, about 15 Tesla Charging Stations for electric cars.  These were the first charging stations we had ever seen.  It’s not that they aren’t out there, we just haven’t seen them before.

We went past the Desert Gardens on our way to Rice Ranch.  Desert Gardens are mostly rock sellers and we really have no interest in that.  We took a ride through Rice Ranch only stopping where Sharon wanted to find something, but she came up empty each volley into the fray.  Rice Ranch is pretty barren at this early date, it will really get going during the shows, toward the end of January.

A quick trip down the east end of Main Street found us at the Reader’s Oasis Book Store where Sharon was looking for a couple of specific books. She found the Looney Tune who runs the store walking around in his jock strap.  Although he’s so old and wrinkled now, he looked like he was wearing Khaki pants.  Go figure.

We finished up the trip through the town with the west end of Main Street and the Main Event.  The Main Event, at this time of the year is quite empty, but it used to be crowded with vendors, even at this time.

Not having found a single thing to buy we went home with our tail between our legs and dejected.  I guess we really don’t buy anything anymore unless we really need it, which is not a bad thing.

We got home and we had nothing to do to leave tomorrow.  We hadn’t paid for sewer so we weren’t dumping today.  I hadn’t bothered to hook up the water either, choosing to use the water in our tank for the last 3 days.  We have a dump station just across the border into California, but we probably won’t stop there either.

We spent the rest of the night being entertained by the idiot box.  We didn’t have a movie that we wanted to watch so we just stuck with the network channels.  As luck would have it, we were content to just watch the re-runs for the night.  At 10:30 we just drifted off to slumberland.

Friday, December 30, 2016

We had trouble this morning before we even got hooked up and ready to go.  The wire connection for the lights, between motorhome and car, had a broken pin on it and had to be rewired for it to work.  The jacks of course were another story in themselves.  The two of them came up a lot easier but still didn’t come up by themselves.

Our ride to Desert Hot Springs was uneventful and we made a stop at Carl’s Jr. In Coachella on the way.  We were about 20 miles from our campground but we always stop at this restaurant on the way in.  We usually stop at it on the way out also but last here we headed north on the way home.  And besides w always seem to get here around lunchtime since we gain an hour crossing the California border.

About an hour later we were settled in to the campground after an argument with the management about where to park.  We’ve always parked in the lower section and they wanted us to go up above because of our length. After some discussion they agreed to let us in the lower section.  It’s always something when we come here.  This year we’re paying $3 more per night, and if we went to the upper campground it would be an additional $5 per day.

We settled into a handicap site just across from the pool.  We can’t use the pool or the lower clubhouse because they’re doing extensive remodeling but at least we settled into a site that was $5 less a day. I suppose we’ll have the same argument when we come back after our week out.

As soon as we got settled I called Phil and Joyce Bach, friends of ours from the San Francisco Bay area, to give them a construction update.  It won’t be done, even though they say it will, by the end of January when they head back home.  It might be done when they come back in March.

We also called Henry and Arlene LeDuc, friends from Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, Canada.  They’re at a campground just 2 blocks down the road.  We asked them if they wanted some company for awhile, and we went over there for a visit.  We stayed until almost dark before we came back home and just relaxed for the night.

Sharon stayed up til about 9 before the change of time hit her like a hammer.  We got through this every year when we get here.  I like to joke about it, but the only thing I notice is my shows come on the TV another hour earlier.  I was still watching when 10:30 rolled around and I headed off to bed.  Sharon had been zzzzing for awhile by then.

Saturday, December 31, 2016NEW YEAR’S EVE

We got up this morning with nothing to do except shop for our New Year’s Eve Dinner today.  With that in mind I decided that I would make myself a Big Breakfast today of pancakes and sausage.  I never make enough to include Sharon cause she usually opts out of my Breakfasts whether they’re Pancakes and Sausage, or Eggs, Bacon, Hash Brown and Toast.

By the time I got done with Breakfast and my shower it was time to head to town to do some shopping for tonight.  We needed some groceries if we were going to have the Steak Dinner that we had planned for the last couple of days.  I couldn’t care less for a Steak Dinner but Sharon likes hunks of meat to eat so I just go along sometimes.

We were surprised to find the parking lot at Stater Bros. to be overflowingto say the least.  I dropped Sharon off at the door and was going to pick her up when she was  done with the shopping.  I drove around looking for a parking place but there wasn’t ANY available.  I finally found a spot in the back of the lot but I couldn’t see the door anymore.  In the meantime I had stopped at the Chinese Bakery to pick up some Apple Fritters, but they were out.  They did have some huge Apple Bear Claws that I latched onto.  I was back out into the parking lot driving around again still looking for a parking place.  I finally found one close to the door where I could watch for her coming out to pick her up.

As expected, when she came out she told me it was horrendous in there shopping. I expected as much by the shape of the parking lot.  If you can’t find a parking space you can bet it won’t be any fun in the store.

I worked on the Newsletter for the first time this year.  I was having some trouble remembering how to work the program.  It always happens in the first Letter but this time it was different.  I had difficulty selecting the font to use.  It seemed like the program was not letting me do what I wanted to.  After about 2 hours I finally got it working again and wrote my first story.

Just before dark Sharon wanted to get Dinner rolling and we had to grill the steaks  .I was in charge of that while Sharon baked potatoes, made a salad and got the Hollandaise with Crab Sauce ready.  She whipped up a couple of Old Fashioneds to wash it all down and we were ready to go.  We had a lovely New Years Dinner and we wee more than content to sit and finish out the night in front of the tube.  Sharon caved early and I wasn’t far behind.  We haven’t made it to New Years in a very long time.

Sunday, January 1, 2017HAPPY NEW YEAR

Sharon was up and off to church this morning as I settled   in to watch my Sunday News Shows.  Because we only have the East networks this year, I can’t record all three of them in the morning anymore.  I’m going to be less informed on what the enemy is doing this winter.

We had planned on going to the “new” Catalina Brunch that would be held for the first time today at 11 this morning in the Upper Clubhouse.  We weren’t expecting much so we wouldn’t be too disappointed if it didn’t work out.

Just before 11 we left for the Upper Clubhouse and arrived right at 11.  Sharon waited in the pay line with everybody else until 11:15 when they opened the kitchen window.  Now it was time to pay and order your food.  There were 3 entrees on the menu.  Although the food was good, there wasn’t enough of it for a brunch.  The side items were Scrambled Eggs, Fried-Like Potatoes, Sliced Fruit and Day-old sweet rolls sliced in quarters.  We waited until 11:30 for our food, and as I said it was good, but the organization of the entire thing was in shambles.  I don’t think we’ll be attending again very soon.

We came back home, and the wind was blowing in the wrong direction apparently, so we had trouble with the satellite TV.  Luckily this park has cable TV so we’ll still be able to get the Packer game tonight.  But the cable is nowhere near as good as our satellite reception, but it will do for the Packer game.

Sharon was about to settle in for a nap when Henry and Arlene LeDuc called and were coming over for a visit.  Drat, foiled again.  They came over for a couple of hours and then left just after the Packer game started at 5:30.

The game was a very pleasant surprise with the Packers winning in the end, by a narrow margin, but winning never-the-less.  They won the Division with the victory, and stole it away from Detroit.  They both will be in the Playoffs, however.

We surfed for enough to watch tonight even though we were on cable.  There’s no TV Guide Channel so you really do have to surf for something to watch.  Sharon caved early again tonight but I hung in there until the last dog was hung.  It was about 10:30.