Sunday March the 8th I called my Mom in Idaho. She told me that she had fallen and hit her head. Monday, Roxy & I were walking and she said maybe we should go see her. Next morning we were gone. We stayed for two weeks and had a very nice visit. I also got to see my two sisters Robin and Stephanie. Stephanie and her husband Danny signed up at their church to play Pinochle. They had not played in years and we volunteered to play a few hands to get them back in the groove. Stephanie shows up and after awhile it is apparent she has a cold. So lets sneeze into your hand, shuffle the cards and pass it around. Well SURPRISE! I got it. Thanks Sis.
We hit all the yard sales, had some great food (Prime Rib) and we learned about Redbox. We returned home Monday the 23rd. I have a honey doo list THIS BIG!
Our next trip is going to be for one month and begins at the end of May. See you then.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Lets go to Idaho-ho-ho
Thursday, February 19, 2009
AND THE BEAT GOES ON
Well we finally did it, Snow birding. We left for Quartzsite on Tuesday January 13th. We weren’t sure we were going to get the Montana off the mountain because of ice on the road. We made it! We drove to Hawthorne NV and spent the night at a Love’s truck stop in between all the Semi’s at 20 degrees. Needless to say we froze and got very little sleep. We continued on to Las Vegas to visit Chad, Jen, and Timmy (their Yorkie). We had dinner with Chad and Jen at a Mexican restaurant. That night we stayed at Sam’s Town RV Park. We left for Quartzsite the next morning arriving in the dark but still early evening Thursday January 15th. On Friday we went to a New Christie Minstrels concert.
I guess apologies are in order. When starting this blog I only did it to keep friends and family up to date as we traveled. Roxanne on the other hand believes I have committed to a life long journal. Hmmmmm I'll try but I'm not enthused. I need to be in the mood (I finally get it) I'm going to do my best to get Roxy to write some. Onward. We went to Quartzsite to hang out with the gray hairs. We had a GREAT time. You that really know me accept that I am a hermit. I have been perfectly happy to enjoy my solitude on my mountain for the last 30+ years. Our closest friends have been through our church. So we show up in Quartzsite and there was a circle a thousand feet around with 36 trailer spots. Our next door neighbor had a powered hang glider and he took a picture of the circle.
We met a few of the people last year at our first outing with the trailer. Everyone was new to us and the weekend was short. Everyone was friendly but there was so much to do and so little time to really get to do much more than be just acquainted. At Quartzsite it was totally different. Everyone was relaxed, friendly, and looking for a fun time. A couple of people remembered us. I recognized a couple of faces but didn't remember their names. I'm going to work on that. I'm thinking Scotch every night at the nightly campfire is going to help. Whatever, the chemistry was such that I believe lifetime friendships were made. There is so much experience to draw from. Robbie an official "Boon Docker is a guy that has "everything" down to a science. He has ALL the goodies. From a stand alone ice maker to a freezer to ALL the solar power he needs to run everything including high speed internet just about everywhere he goes. Another fellow, Dave told stories and jokes around the campfire. Activities in Quartzsite included the worlds largest RV show, Craft show, Car show, Rock & Gem show, Flea markets as far as the eye could see. I was in heaven. A new friend Jim took me under his wing and showed me how GeoCaching worked. Roxanne got together with several of the ladies and picked up a new hobby, beading. Posted here is a bracelet called a soup bracelet. One day we went to Los Algodonas Mexico. We bought stained glass windows for our entry door. Don't have a picture of ours but one I admired of a lighthouse is posted here. Many of the folks in "The Circle" had a kind of flagpole with a windsock. I had to have one. A heavy-duty 26-foot fiberglass pole with several windsocks. Picture posted of my trailer with pole and windsock. Each evening we were treated to a breathtaking Arizona sunset. Makes ya wanna cry huh? Well maybe not but if I can pick up a camera and snap a picture like the one posted here you KNOW that being there in person was humbling and so much more! Thank you Jesus!
Even Maddy found a new friend in CC a Chinese Powder Puff. CC's Mom & Dad Dick and Jackie showed us how "Full Timers" live on the road.
This is CC Maddy’s new friend. CC is a Chinese Powder Puff. CC’s Mom & Dad are Dick & Jackie Driver.
Maddy keeping an eye out for intruders or one of her new friends made at Quartzsite.
Tyson Wells is just one of hundreds of Flea Markets in Quartzsite Arizona. They say that if you need something for your RV and you can’t find it in Quartzsite it doesn’t exist!
The “Circle” FAMOUS among the Montana Owners Club. You know you can double click on any of these pictures to get a better view? They say the town of Quartzsite grows from a population of 3500 to over 3 MILLION in January.
This guy took several pictures of our circle from above.. He was a next door neighbor. He is known by our group as a SOB. That stands for “Some Other Brand” of RV other than a Montana 5th Wheel Trailer. Nice guy and we really appreciated him doing us the favor of taking our picture. It sure makes it easier to explain what we mean by “Our Circle”.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
"Honey I'm Home"
I have to say that being gone was something we always wanted to do but being back home isn't so bad. I suspect that we will sometime in the future start get the urge to "Get outta Dodge" but until then we have plenty to keep us occupied. A special thanks to Matthew, Philip and Michelle. We got home and found fresh tire marks on our road. After checking it out I find that they came over and cut down trees. Bucked them up, split the wood and stacked it in my wood shed. WOW! That was huge! We are now cleaning up in preparation for winter. Burning pine needles and doing stuff that needs doing. I hope you enjoyed our travels as much as we did. Please feel free to leave comments or forward emails to us at workerb@citlink.net
We will see you on our next trip.
John & Roxanne
Las Vegas -- AGAIN
We left Arizona headed for home. My new Fedora hat is really handy in this sunny part of the world. Chad is at school and Jen is showing us the city. Jen took us to the Bellagio Casino. Everything there is over the top. There are two pictures of white and dark chocolate dripping from top to bottom. Afterward Jen took us by Chad's dental school. Timmy and Maddy have made friends. Timmy thinks Maddy would make a fine momma for his puppies. Timmy tried and tried and you could almost hear Maddy laughing and saying what do you think you are going to do with THAT!!! Needless to say Maddy was going to have no part of THAT and after awhile they agreed to be "Just Friends" Heard that before. We decided to stay till morning and we went to just one yard sale. That turned into several and before you know it we didn't leave Las Vegas till 1PM. Next stop HOME.
Hackberry Arizona on Route 66
We left Roswell New Mexico this morning headed for home. We are taking side trips along the way to check out Route 66. We found Hackberry Arizona. This place is awesome. Everything is in the open and you can walk up to it and pick it up. In the back was an automotive garage. All tools and test gear is in place. It is dusty but otherwise in pristine shape. It's as if "Aliens" snatched up the owner 50 years ago and left everything as-is. What is so impressive is that it is obvious that this shop wasn't created from parts imported from all over. This is the real deal. Roxanne bought the sweatshirt. The two pinkish pictures are of a Indian trading post a few miles before Hackberry. Next stop Las Vegas Nevada.
Roswell New Mexico
Roswell New Mexico is famous for the alleged crash landing of a flying saucer in the desert nearby. The locals take advantage of the tourists and we seem to like it. Even the Wal-Mart is decorated with alien pictures. Inside the store is a complete store within the store dedicated to Roswell and alien souvenirs. After arriving in Roswell we took in a tour at the Roswell UFO Museum. VERY informative. We checked out several UFO stores in the area. We decided to spend the night in the parking lot of Wal-Mart in Roswell. I wanted to sleep on the roof of the camper in hopes that I might be abducted but Roxanne would have no part of it. Needless to say I bought the T-Shirt. After leaving Roswell we plan to take a few side trips off the main highway and check out the old Route 66.
Carlsbad Caverns New Mexico
Having by-passed Carlsbad Caverns on two occasions I was determined to see them this trip. I'm glad we did. Roxanne and I really enjoy exploring caves. Carlsbad is the biggest we've seen to date. We took two tours. The first was with a Park Ranger and took about an hour and a half. When we got done with that we took a self guided tour where you listen to a playback device. The kind where you come to a sign with a number on it. You punch in the number and you hear a recording describing what you are looking at. This tour lasted about two hours. The biggest cavern in the cave is 16 football fields long and 200 feet to the ceiling. Nice and cool inside the caverns. We used the park dog kennels and left Maddy while we explored the caves for about 3 or 4 hours. We left the caverns and spent the night at Wal-Mart in the town of Carlsbad. Next stop Roswell New Mexico.
River Walk San Antonio
Another attraction not to be missed if in San Antonio is the River Walk. about a block away from the Alamo on foot. You walk down stairs and the river runs under the city. There are shops and restaurants on both sides of the river. There are gondola type boats giving tours of the River walk. We had a nice lunch at a Mexican restaurant. It's getting near dark and we still have to catch the bus to get back to the KOA campground. We can't find the bus stop! We really don't want to be here after dark. We finally find our bus stop and there are 4 gangster looking youths waiting there also. Great! They are talking and cussing up a storm. Another black man approaches and he is dressed nice and the gangster guys start making comments about him. The bus arrives and we get on but the gangster guys stay there. We are relieved. After about 5 minutes I get up and walk up to the bus driver to ask him to let us know when we need to get off at the campground. Before I can get a word out he says KOA right? I say yep and he responds "You got the look"
Sheeze! I'll sure be glad to leave San Antonio. Next stop Carlsbad Caverns New Mexico.
Remember the Alamo!
Located in San Antonio we stayed at a KOA and traveled by public transit bus to downtown where the Alamo is.
Almost more interesting than the Alamo was our trip to and from the Alamo. We were sitting on the bench waiting for the bus when a pickup pulls up to the bus stop and a black man gets out and approaches us. He started talking to us and was using some pretty foul language and drinking beer or ale that was concealed in a bag. He looks like a drug addict. He asks where we are going and we tell him the Alamo. The bus pulls up and we all get on. He continues trying to have a conversation with us. He begins making calls on his cell phone and each time he seems to be talking in a different language. Finally he is laying down in his seat and whispering so low we can't hear him. He gets off the phone and says he is getting off at the same spot as us. He says he'll tell us when to get off. I get up and walk to thee front of the bus and explain to the driver we are not familiar with the area and want to go to the Alamo. I ask him to tell us when to get off. He agrees. Awhile later our drug addict friend tells us this is where we need to get off. I stand up and we all walk to the front of the bus and the drug addict gets off expecting me to follow. I ask the driver if this is it and he says no, we get off at the next stop. The door closes and the drug addict is standing on the sidewalk looking disappointed that we didn't get off with him. We were thinking that he was calling his friends to meet us and rob us ..... OR WORSE...to have their way with ME!! Not this time scary, black, drug addict, guy!! Needless to say we kept looking over our shoulder for the bad guys. Kind of put a damper on our visit to the Alamo. Next stop is the Riverwalk.