Friday, February 28, 2020 - Cleaning; Visit from Bill and Patsy; Happy Hour with New Friends & Bloggers

Friday, February 28, 2020 - Cleaning; Visit from Bill and Patsy; Happy Hour with New Friends & Bloggers

I managed to get up slightly earlier this morning, at 5.  I worked on yesterday's blog and hoped to get it done and posted, but I ran out of time.  I forgot to charge my phone last night.  That would not be a big problem, except there was an update from Samsung and my pictures from yesterday didn't download to Google photos.  I was able to write most of the blog, but at 7:30 Dean and I were both getting hungry, so I put it aside.

As much as I wanted to finish the blog, I had already decided I was cleaning Bentley today, and I needed to do laundry. My energy level is at its highest in the morning, so I knew I needed to get to it.  After our morning shakes that's exactly what I did.  Dean wanted to find a car wash for the truck, so he headed into Yuma in search of one.  I dusted everything, including wiping the metal sections of all of the windows, where dust seems to collect overnight, wiped down all of the woodwork and cabinets, and cleaned the bathroom.  After having reflectix in the windows for the winter months while we were in Oswego and until we reached Texas, the windows really needed a good cleaning.  

A few days ago, as we were moving from one spot to another, we stopped at a rest area to use the facilities.  When I went inside I noticed one of the lights over the sink was swinging  a bit.  I told Dean about it, so when we got to our next stop (I think it was in Casa Grande), he fixed it.  I'm just glad it didn't drop down like our other one did when it swung over and broke one of the globes.  We also noticed the light in the middle globe needed a new bulb.  It will have to wait until we are somewhere long enough to look for one (I hope we can find one here in nearby Yuma, AZ). 

It was about 11:30 when I finished vacuuming, the last thing on my cleaning list for today.  (I'd still like to wash the inside windows, but that may wait until we return to Oswego.)  We ate a quick lunch of meat/cheese, a few crackers, some pimento cheese dip, followed with fresh pineapple.  

I set down and picked up my phone to see if Bill and Patsy were up to a visit this afternoon.  They are leaving tomorrow and I knew they would probably be busy getting things put away for their move this morning.  I had a message from Patsy asking if now would be a good time for them to stop by.  Great minds think alike...right?  Of course, I told them yes.  It so happens they are in the same row as us - but at the other end.

Bill and Patsy arrived within 10 minutes or less, and there were hugs and handshakes.  We set inside and visited.  It was so nice to meet them and we had a great conversation, exchanging "cards" with each other before they left, and taking pictures to post on our blogs!  It was great to finally meet them in person.

Bill and Patsy - from "Chillin' with Patsy" Blog 

They invited us to happy hour with their friends Ken and Kim, and Doug at 3.  We look forward to meeting them as well.  I've read about them in Patsy's blog and have looked at both of their blogs recently when Patsy mentioned them.  

At 3, we carried our chairs and something to drink just a few sites north of us.  Ken and Kim were hosting today.  They were very welcoming.  Doug arrived a short time later with his dog Yuma.  We had such an enjoyable time.  Bill and Patsy and Ken and Kim are from Ontario, Canada.  Doug is from Illinois.  I mentioned that we have talked about driving through Canada on our way to see Matt in New York before, but so far we had not tried it.  Kim told me it was a shorter route, so we may look at that.  

From left to right:  Ken, Doug and Yuma, Bill, Dean.

From Left to Right (starting with Bill in the orange chair; Dean, Kim, Patsy, Ken, Doug

Those two hours passed quickly.  Again there were goodbyes.  Ken invited us to come for Happy Hour tomorrow.  They are leaving on Sunday.  We enjoyed meeting and visiting with them and Doug.  

Dean and I returned to Bentley.  I started dinner soon afterwards.  It was nice I already had prepped everything the night before when I thought I would be making it the night before. Dinner was ready in about 20-25 minutes and I think it was even better this time.  That might have been because the chicken was in the soy sauce mixture for almost 24 hours versus 15 minutes.  There was enough left for one meal and I'm sure Dean will finish it off tomorrow.

We learned about the Arizona Market while at Happy Hour, so Dean wants to drive into Yuma tomorrow to check it out.  There are several other places we want to visit while we are here.  Sunday we are meeting Sharon and Larry for lunch.  We'll meet at their house, then go somewhere for lunch.  That means we have Monday-Wednesday to explore here.  We will move to Borrego Springs, CA on Thursday and Logan will join us Friday evening.  

Sunset out our door this evening.

I'm thankful for the opportunity to meet new friends on the road.  I'm thankful we get to see our grandson very soon, as well as exploring new and interesting sights in our travels.  

Feb 27, 2019 - Moving Day to Winterhaven, CA

Feb 27, 2019 - Moving Day to Winterhaven, CA

The alarm on my exercise bracelet woke me at 5:30.  These time changes have messed with my sleeping habits.  I really prefer getting up between 4:30-5, to enjoy the quiet of the morning.

My goal was to get the blog posted before we leave this morning, so we did not rush.  It is 161 miles to our next stop.  We left RoVer's Roost in Casa Grande at 9:45am.  It was an easy drive today.  I think we are both ready to stop in one spot for awhile and that is what we will be doing at Winterhaven, for an entire week.  I believe it will fly by though since we have several things we want to do.

Our perfect travel plan would be to stay at least 4 days and up to a week or more at most stops, trying to pick a central area where we can explore and also have at least one full day of downtime.  I've been working on our travels to New York this summer and the route to take on our way back.  Our plan is to leave June 18th and be gone for approximately four months.  

I didn't take too many pictures on our drive today but here are a few:


There were many "wildflowers",  or maybe weeds? along the road today, blue, yellow and orange.  They were so pretty.  I failed to get any of the orange ones.  It was mostly flat except for a few mountain areas that made a pretty backdrop on our drive.  

We saw this huge solar field on the north side of the road, just east of a large plant.  We assume it must be providing their power.  It covered several acres.  We've seen a number of these solar fields before but I believe this is the largest one to date. 

As we drew nearer to the western edge of Arizona we drove into foothills outside of the community Fortuna Foothills.  I was interested in what mountain range this might be but all I could find were names of certain peaks.  There is an area called Telegraph Pass that has a trail of the same name.  The first part doesn't sound too bad from what I've read, but as you begin the hike up it gets much harder.  I doubt we'll be doing that since Dean's knee has been bothering him occasionally.  The article also said the stars are amazing there at night.  

As we drove through Fortuna Foothills, I don't think I've ever seen so many RV's in one area.  It is definitely a retiree community with both RV's and park models in the many, many RV parks along the Interstate.  

Lots of agricultural land in the area - many vegetables.

Yuma Water Towers

Another neat bridge decoration

El Centro - 58 miles (I can't believe we are this close to Logan)

Welcome to California

More fields

Nearby, outside of our park, several RV's boondocking - no hookups.  There are two areas near us, one is on land you pay $40 for 2 weeks, the other is BLM (Bureau of Land Management) and it is free.  

We finally arrived at our home for the next week, Pilot Knob RV Resort.  It is just off I-8 on the south side of the road.  It is only 5.5 miles to Algodones, MX.  Sue, at the registration desk,  told us it was the best Mexican community to visit.   We do plan to make a trip there one day this week.  We enjoyed visiting with Sue while she gathered our information.  She gave us site 90 for the week.  Once we arrived, and we had backed in, we were very unlevel, so we called back to see if we could move over one site to 91 and she said that would be fine.  This site was perfectly level.  Site 90 was right on the roadway, and I think we will prefer being one over from the road.  Unfortunately, the water was leaking here, but Dean was able to fix it.  From the time we drove in to getting set up had taken us about 40-45 minutes.  

What a beautiful, gorgeous day though.  It was a nice warm upper 70, low 80 day and it felt great to be outside with short sleeves and no jackets.  I may even be able to wear my flip flops here.  It was about 6 or so, when we had to close a few of the windows as it began to cool down, but that was okay.

We had some trash we needed to dispose of so we took advantage of walking to the front of the park to drop our trash off, then we walked around the park.  Along the way, I took this picture of this beautiful bougainvillea bush.

Bougainvillea

I mentioned in the blog yesterday we would be meeting a fellow blogger, Patsy and her husband Bill, while we are here.  I sent her a text to let her know we had arrived.  I knew from reading her blog they planned to be gone part of the day.  Around 5:30 she sent me a note she had not checked her emails until now and was sorry they had missed us.  We were getting ready to eat dinner, so we will meet up tomorrow.  I am really looking forward to it.

We enjoyed the stir fry chicken so much, and since I still had left over vegetables for it, that needed to be used, I decided to make it for dinner again.  Before I began to saute the veggies, I went to the pantry to get rice.  Oh no, I forgot I used all of the rice last time and failed to get it on my grocery list, and I also needed soy sauce.  Well, I put everything in containers and set them the refrigerator.  It will all keep until tomorrow evening.

We were going to go in to Yuma to find something to eat, but I remembered we had the frozen tamales I bought at Delia's in Texas, so we heated up a few of those instead.  However, since I want to clean tomorrow, I did not want to spend the morning driving in to Yuma and wasting my cleaning time, so we ran to Walmart this evening.  I think we are set for the remainder of our week here.

Crescent moon looks like it's round in the picture I took with my phone, but to the bottom right I learned this morning it is Venus.  Thanks Shelley Hornung King for posting a great picture with an explanation of what looked like a "big bright star".

We were both tired by the time we returned, and finally gave it up as we both continued to doze off.  

We are thankful for our safe journey to California, the opportunity to see our grandson Logan soon and to meet one of my blogger friends tomorrow!  

February 26, 2020 - Happy 26th Anniversary to Us; Breakfast at Big House Cafe; Quiet Afternoon; Dinner at China Buffet

February 26, 2020 - Happy 26th Anniversary to Us; Breakfast at Big House Cafe; Quiet Afternoon; Dinner at China Buffet

It was around 5 when I woke up this morning.  I turned the coffee on and set down with my phone.  When I opened Facebook a message popped up wishing Dean and I a Happy Anniversary.  It was a display of various pictures of us over the past several years that have been posted on Facebook.  So I forwarded it to Dean to wish him Happy Anniversary. 

Wow, so much has happened in the past 26 years but it's been wonderful.  I'm so thankful for my husband.  He is the best.  There isn't anything he wouldn't do for me if it is possible.  I'm very grateful for that.  We have between us six wonderful kids, five wonderful daughter-in-laws, and 15 grandchildren with the 16th on the way.  We never would have imagined our life would be this full 26 years later.  I pray God gives us many more years together.  

When Dean got up, I told him...I think you got a message on your phone this morning.  Of course it went through Facebook Messenger, and he could not get it to open.  It kept asking him for his password.  He tried that several times and finally gave up.  So I tried to open it on my phone, but it would not open there either.  It was a neat little picturegram, but not worth spending this much time on.

I suggested we go to breakfast this morning - since it is Dean's favorite meal of the day!  I told him to pick a place he thought sounded good while I got ready.  He chose Big House Cafe in downtown Casa Grande.

My sister's friend Sharon and her husband Larry spend their winters in Yuma, AZ.  I sent her a text this morning to let her know when we would be in their area.  After a few text messages back and forth we decided we would meet up Sunday, March 1.  We haven't set a time yet, as I want to visit with Dean, so I'll get back to her on that.  It will be fun to visit with them.  She reads our blog.  She commented in our text messages that even though we have not met, she felt like she knew me.  Crystal and Sharon met at County Treasurer meetings many years ago and have remained good friends even after Sharon retired several years ago.

Big House Cafe was a good choice.  We had to wait about 15 minutes to be seated, however we took that it as a good sign it would hold up to the testaments on Facebook.  People were still showing up and a few were waiting outside when we left.  The staff had tables cleaned, and new customers seated within a few minutes of customers leaving.  The food was very good.  I ordered two egg/potato/cheese tacos, with salsa on the side.  Delicious!  I had to bring one home they were so big.  I'll warm it up tomorrow morning.  Dean was very happy with his meal as well, so we recommend this restaurant if you are ever in the area.

Standing outside of the restaurant waiting to be seated.

My breakfast tacos.

While we were waiting for our breakfast, Dean was still trying to get the message from Facebook to come up, when he realized he had shut Facebook Messenger off.  When he reactivated it, sure enough there it was!  

We didn't spend much time in town but headed to Bentley shortly before 10.  I wanted to get the blog posts caught up, and wash a couple loads of laundry.  Dean enjoyed watching TV.  It was a very low key afternoon.

When the welcome committee gentleman stopped by yesterday, he gave us a mapped area indicating areas where restaurants were located.  He mentioned they had a fairly new Chinese restaurant.  On our way to Casa Grande we actually talked about trying to find a Chinese restaurant.  At approximately 4:15 we headed into town, where we easily found China Buffet.  Our opinion, Big House Cafe was much better.  Reviews were pretty good, but we were disappointed with the choices.  I chose the Mongolian bar.  Overall it was pretty good, with a decent choice of meats and veggies; however the sauce was bland compared to others I've had.  I tried a few bites of their orange chicken (it was kind of spicy - not like any I've had before) and the spicy chicken was bland.  I think they got the chickens mixed up.  Lol!  It was not the Anniversary dinner we hoped for, but it was okay....and more importantly, we were together.  That's what matters most AND I didn't have to cook.  Sometimes you just have to look at the good in the situation and move on.  

We needed to get a couple of things at Walmart for the RV and Truck, plus Dean wanted to fill up with diesel before we leave tomorrow morning. 

Before leaving town, I wanted to see The Neon Sign Park in downtown Casa Grande.  It was a cute little area with old neon signs.  My pictures didn't come out quite as good as I hoped even though I used the Night mode.

On the way back to the park, I took a few pictures of the sun glow as it settled for the night.  The first one was taken as we passed a nice park downtown, and the next two were taken as we moved south of town.  I couldn't believe the number of planes in the sky all around us.  A busy traffic path.

As we drove by the downtown park.  It had beautiful trees.

 Pretty skies as we headed back to Bentley.

I wanted to include a couple of pictures I took Tuesday afternoon that for some reason didn't show up in my Googles Photo until this morning.  In the picture you can see the black dog in the background.  His owner is sitting on the steps of their RV/park model.  Evidently the owner was throwing dog food/treats in the air and this dog would jump up to get it.  I've never seen a dog jump so high and straight up in the air from all four legs as this dog did.  I tried several times to get a picture of him in the air, but this is the best I could get before he stopped.  His feet were about even with the slide in the picture when he was in the air.  It was really an amazing sight!  He was coming down in this photo and I'm not sure the one back leg is on the ground yet.

We both agreed it was a great day, and most importantly we were together.  It's been a fantastic 26 years!

Tuesday, February 25, 2020 - Moving to Casa Grande, AZ

Tuesday, February 25, 2020 - Moving to Casa Grande, AZ 

Today was a long, long drive, even though the miles traveled were very similar to yesterday's, at only 10 miles farther.  The wind was probably the strongest we've experienced on this trip, however it could have been worse.  We just took it at a slower pace so the trip seemed to drag on.

Taken this morning before we left Mountain View RV Park

This gal says "Let's get on the road".

 These next two pictures were taken outside of Wilcox, AZ.  Click on the one below to see the beautiful artwork on this bridge.

We did not take time to stop and see "The Thing".  There were billboards for several miles advertising and encouraging everyone to stop.

About 20 miles east of Benson we stopped at the Texas Canyon Rest Area.  As we neared it I remembered stopping here almost three years ago as we were making our way to Tucson to attend our first Escapees Escapade.  

Closeup - don't you think that looks like the head of a dog?  Dean gets a kick out of what I see in cloud formations, rocks, etc.

This really is a beautiful area.

This picture was taken as we approached Benson, AZ.  We stayed at an Escapee Park here on our way home from the Escapade 3 years ago to visit with friends Glenn & Marcia, and fellow Kansans.

 North of Tuscon I took these pictures of the beautiful artwork on the bridges and entrance/exits to the Interstate.

This flag was beautiful waving in the wind, but you can see how strong the winds were from the east.  We never saw it drop - it was straight winds.  

A short distance down the road I almost missed this Nickerson Restaurant sign alongside a portion of the former building.  I can remember going to Nickerson's Restaurants with my grandparents (Merle & Lucille Blackledge) when I was a child.

The last two pictures are just a few pictures of Saguaro cactus's I saw along the highway.  They are so amazing!

We were both tired when we arrived at RoVer's Roost, an Escapees Park, in Casa Grande, AZ.  We pulled in between 12:15-12:30.  Another RV was parked in front of us, so we assumed he was already inside to pay.  We walked around the building, to find out the office was closed during the noon hour.  I called this morning a little after 10, as they suggested after I spoke with them a few days ago, to make sure they still had sites available.  They told me there were two sites available.  I told him we were about 2.5 hours or less away.  He said you won't have any problem, so on we went.  What he didn't tell me, was the office is closed from 12-1pm.  While the office was closed, the clubhouse was open so we walked in and found the restrooms, then returned to the RV to wait.  The guy in front of us saw us, and walked back to visit.  He asked us where we were going.  Dean told him Winterhaven, Ca.  He had just come from there, and he actually stayed at Pilot Knob RV Resort.  I asked him if there were spaces available and he said yes, quite a few.  That's good to know.  Once we were parked, and set up I will call the main office.  A short time later another RV pulled in behind us.  There was no room left for anymore RV's to enter the park. 

I guess of the two spots they had when I called, one had already been booked by someone that arrived before us, and the guy in front of us took the last one.  They advised they had dry camping but we declined it.  I was ready to leave at this point.  However, the lady in the back was so NICE, and between her and the young man working the counter, they found a place we could stay for two nights.  The owner of that lot is gone and won't be returning before we leave.  Can you believe this?  The day before we arrived they removed a tree at that site which would have prevented us from parking on this lot.  Thank you Lord for providing for us!  I truly believe he does!  Fortunately, the couple that arrived behind us were set up for boondocking so they didn't mind being in a site without hookups.   

It was 1:42 before we were in our site and unhooked.  We opened the slides, and a few other things before we just set down in our chairs to relax.  After a short rest, I called the 800# for Pilot Knob.  I explained to the lady that answered the phone I had tried to make an online reservation over the weekend, but I wasn't sure it had worked.  I explained I had not received a confirmation by email, however I wanted to check that it wasn't hung up in the system somewhere since I had input my credit card information.  She could not find anything, so she made the reservation for me, but told me to wait and pay when we arrived, just in case something showed up in the meantime.  I was thankful to know we have a place to stay for a week.  

It was about 3:15 or so, and there was a loud knock at our door and someone said "Cheri Rae".  There are very few people who ever say that, and even less who know my middle name.  My first thought was, is there someone here I might know?  Well, I still don't sure how he knew my middle name, but it was not anyone I knew.  It was a member of the Welcome Committee inviting us to their afternoon get together in the clubhouse at 3:45.  I was in the middle of fixing us something to eat for an early dinner when he arrived so we didn't go, but it was a very nice gesture.  At another time we might have done that, but tomorrow is our anniversary, so again we will pass as we are going out to eat.  

From that point on we literally just set, watched TV, looked at our phones and rested the remainder of the day!  Sometimes we just need that!  But tomorrow is a new day!

We are so thankful we were able to stay in this park, and did not have to look for somewhere else to go when we were tired.  God is so good!  

Monday, February 24, 2020 - An overnight stopover in Bowie, Arizona

Monday, February 24, 2020 - An overnight stopover in Bowie, Arizona

It was such a treat not to be in a hurry this morning.  After our long 6-7 hour travel days, we are so thankful we are now slowing down.  

We left Coachlight RV Park at 9:38AM Mountain Time.  It was a nice drive.  As we passed these Wide Load trucks alongside the road, Dean watched them pull onto the road behind us.  He commented, he was glad we were not following them.

These were some BIG wide load truck loads.

About 40 minutes later it was time for a break.  Lordsburg offered a nice travel plaza for us to stop.  While Dean was inside, then doing a check of tires, etc. I walked around the RV a couple of times, then took a few pictures.

Enlarge this to see the "L" on the hillside.

Cacti plants beginning to bloom.  I hope we get to see a lot of desert flowers as we travel further west.

It wasn't long and we entered Arizona, The Grand Canyon State.

Just a pretty rock formation along the road.

This Amtrak train was sitting on the track outside of Bowie.  A crew was making repairs on the rail line.  I hope they didn't have to wait too long.

Snow covered mountain top - with a little cloud to the left.

 We arrived at Mountain View RV Park in Bowie, Texas shortly before 1.  What a neat little spot on I-10.  The guy who owns this is quite the entrepreneur.  Beside the RV Park, there is a gas station and propane bottle operation onsite. He also operates Dwayne's Fresh Jerky.  Inside there are several types of jerky, pecan products, various jarred olives, honey, jams, jellies, etc.  While there is a train track behind the park, however, there is no crossing so no whistle sounds as they pass by.  We hardly noticed it while we were here.

After checking in, we had a light lunch, before we headed to the Fort Bowie National Historic Site.  

As we were driving along the road, I was looking around, when Dean let up on the gas and began to slow down.  I looked up just as he stopped the truck.  In the ditch was this cow.  He just looked at us.  Dean backed up, and as soon as he did it walked right in front of us, as if to sa: I'm glad you realized that is what I wanted!  It was truly entertaining.  

In just a short distance we started noticing these trees.  At a distance we suspected it was more pecan trees but as we got closer we were pretty sure it was something else.  On our way back we slowed and noticed signs indicating it was pistachio trees.  We always see and learn interesting things on our travels.

Not far from the Historic Ft. Bowie site I asked Dean to slow down so I could take a picture of this vegetation seen below.  We saw quite a bit of this in Big Bend.  I wanted to see if I could find out what it is.  Recently I learned how to use Google Lens on Google Photos (it can only be used on your phone) with a tutorial by Geeks on Tour.  When I checked Google Lens it identified it as Agave Palmeri, a large member of the genus Agave, native to Southern Arizona, Southwestern New Mexico, Sonora and Chichuahua.  

When we arrived at the site, we were surprised to find out it was a 1.5 mile hike to Fort Bowie, and then back.  We thought about at least walking part of it, but we really didn't come prepared for a hike.  It was getting warm, we did not bring any water and it was nearing time for the site to close.  If we come this way again, we will definitely be more prepared and will make the walk.  

A couple was walking up the hill on their return from the trail as we were standing there.  We asked them about the hike.  They had actually walked the trail twice today.  They said other than the portion going downhill leaving the parking area it wasn't a bad hike at all.  We visited for awhile and discovered we were both staying at Mountain View RV Park.  They told us to be sure to go to the office and taste the samples of the many products they sell.  We visited with each other for a little while, before we headed back to the park.  As we pulled in and drove by our site, we noticed there was a small travel trailer next to us and it was from the same state where they lived.  Only a short time later, they pulled in and backed up to it.  What a coincidence!   We were just getting ready to step out of the RV to head to the office to check on those samples when they walked out and headed that way.  After tasting several things, Dean chose some jerky and I purchased a small container of cinnamon sugar pecans.  Their blue cheese stuffed olives were wonderful, but they were in a good sized jar.  I knew I would probably never eat them all and Dean was not interested in them at all.  I purchased a few more postcards to send to the grandkids.  I've already mailed 6 out.  Each stop I hope to pick up a few more so that everyone receives one before we return to Oswego.

As we walked up to the office, I noticed a truck backed up to the back of the store, with the name of the restaurant on it that I had seen on our way in earlier.  I asked the girl at the counter if the restaurant was open today.  When she said no, I asked her if they served breakfast, and again, she said no just lunch and dinner.  The owner of the RV Park is also owner of the restaurant.  They offered pecan pies for sale.  As much as we would have loved to have a piece, we did not need an entire pie, so we had to pass.  Had we been able to visit the restaurant, we might have shared a piece.  They looked delicious!

 We took a short drive around Bowie.  This Saguaro has been growing for quite awhile.

I loved the sign on "The Corner Store".  

What a cool house this would have been in the day!  

As we returned to the park, another RV'er pulled in for the night.

There are several sites with full hookups.  This is another Passport America Park.  It was $16 a night.  

We are thankful for the wonderful people we meet on the road, and those who follow our journey through our blog.  We are truly blessed by each one.