Verde Valley, Cottonwood AZ 4/12/2012 - 4/16/2012

We finally made it out of Lazydays RV Park.  It was so fun to drive in the Journey and I am so glad that Shay came and got the Hippo so I could ride with Terry.  It drove just fine--in fact, Terry thought it was a little boring because there were no gears to shift or exhaust brake to keep turning on!

 By the time we got to Verde Valley, our next Thousand Trail park, Elaine and Larry had already been there for a week and a half. They had gone and seen a lot of sites, most of which we had done in the past years.  But we got to visit with them.  We actually hit a craft sale so we even did Scentsy while we were there for the rest of the week.

 One place we did go with Larry and Elaine was the Tootszigoot National Monument.  We had been there before, but it was still fascinating to me. 

 I think it would be amazing to live back in the days of these people who had such a simple, but industrious life.  They figured there were about 250 people who lived in these dwellings at one time.  Most of the rooms were built in tiers on this mountain and got into them by ladders coming in from the ceilings.

 There were some ancient rock corn grinders in one of the rooms, so Elaine and I played "ancient women grinding corn!"

 There was an add in the clubhouse for a car dolly for sale, we went and looked at it.  It was in good shape and the price was right, so we bought it.  Our neighbors kind of laughed at us after we mounted our bike rack on it!  They told us to expect some funny looks from people.  We did--the ranger at the gate coming into Lake Powell the next day said "I think you may have lost your car!"  Terry told him to look a little closer and told him that the closest thing to an automobile we had were bicycles.  The Ranger said, "Well then, I guess I can officially tell you to go park and ride!"

When we left Verde Valley, we also parted ways with Elaine and Larry.  They left to head towards Oregon and we left to go towards Utah and Idaho.  We had a really good time traveling with them, and also with Elaine's sister, Fron, for a while.  They are fun to travel with and were always ready and willing to do anything we suggested.  They hauled us around in their nice little car and Elaine even put up with Terry giving her a bad time once in a while!  We will look forward to seeing them again this July at McCormick Park on the Snake River in Hells Canyon.

Life is a "Journey" 3/31/02 - 4/12/02

We had been kind of looking at motorhomes.  Terry really wanted one.  They are so easy to set up and get around in.  We have been living in a 5th wheel for 5 years and maybe it is just time for a change!  You only live once, right?

So, we moved to the "transition lot" at Lazydays RV where they bring your new RV right beside you with the doors across from each other.  We knew that everything in our Condo would not fit, and that we couldn't tow our Hippo behind because it is too heavy.  So, we flew Shay down from Utah (he was there with his family going to General Conference) so we could load some stuff into the Hippo and he could drive it back to Sarah's house in Grantsville.  That way I could ride in the motorhome with Terry (I think he didn't want me driving the Hippo through Phoenix!)

After we went to pick up Shay at the Phoenix airport, we stopped and saw Travis and family, ate dinner with them, and headed back to Tuscon.  About 10 miles from Travis' house, the Hippo quit on us.  We ended up having it towed to a garage and spent the night at Travis'.  The next day they put a new water pump in the it!

We made it back to Tuscon that day and spent all afternoon and evening loading the Hippo with all of our excess "stuff"--seven totes full, three chairs, golf clubs, Christmas tree, dehydrator, popcorn popper, printer, black garbage bag full of clothes (all Susan's), generator, air compressor, and more!  I can't believe we had so much "stuff."

 Our little Winnebago is a 2001, 32", Journey.  It is a diesel, which Terry is very happy about, and the previous owner, plus a couple of other people we have talked to with one, say that it is supposed to get at least 10 mph!  That is way more than we hoped for.  We will see!

 It has two slides that only go out about 2 feet.  Not quite half the width of the dinette booth and the fridge slides out, and the closets in the bedroom slide out.  That gives us enough room to make it fairly comfortable to get around inside.  (A little different from the Condo, but it works!)

 They went through the Journey and checked everything out.  It needed one new front tire (we bought a matching one for the other side), it needed new awnings over the slides, a new microwave, and a new windshield on the drivers' side.  Well, they only got windshields in on Wednesday, so we had to wait for that.  Then when they put it in, the other side broke (it had a crack in one corner) so they had to order another one--which wouldn't be delivered until the next Wednesday!  So, they put us up in their RV park that is part of the same property as the sales and service.  It was very nice, but we were there in Tuscon for a total of 12 days!

 We ended up taking a driving class because we had the time and they gave it right there at Lazydays.  It was really good.  Now I just have to convince Terry to let me try driving!

 Another nice thing is that they replaced the old broken microwave with a nice new convection microwave.  I had told them that I couldn't live without a convection oven and I wanted to swap out the one in the Condo.  Well, they ended up giving us a new one.  I told our service man that I would make him cookies, which I did!  These pictures are all taken before we moved in, so it looks really nice and "empty."  Believe me, it does not look that way now!

 It is different having a bathroom that you can have total privacy taking a shower and brushing your teeth (which is important to me).  In the Condo, the shower and sink were just part of the bedroom.

Terry is testing out the bed.  He decided it was fine after we got our memory foam mattress on it.  There is almost as much closet room as we had in the Condo, but not as many drawers.

Well, you have had the grand tour of our new home, the little Journey.  We are excited and happy with our change.  Terry has promised that we will take it back East this fall, which is a trip I have been wanting to make.  All we have to do now is find a little tote car to pull along behind us and we will be set to go.  Who knew that life was going to take us on this Journey!

Brother David's, Hereford AZ, St David RV Park, St David AZ 3/23/02 - 4/02/02

We left Yuma and headed to my brother, David's, home in Herford AZ, next to Sierra Vista.  We have been going there every year in March and parking our RV in their driveway.  They are so good to let us do this.  Most years we have brought company along with us, and they don't seem to mind.  David always cleans the bathroom in his shop, plugs us in, and helps us with any projects we need done.  Terry changed the oil in the P-up this year (even though David was gone that day.)

 Larry and Elaine had brought some walnuts with them so we spent one afternoon cracking them.

I haven't done a very good job of taking pictures lately, and then I am always sorry I didn't.  It was fun seeing Dave, Kari, and Blake.  Blake has really grown.  He is almost 17 now and is as tall as his dad.  Hopefully they will make it to McCormick Park this summer and Blake can get re-acquainted with some of his Howard cousins.  Thanks, again, to them for all their hospitality!

I can't believe I only have one picture of our next park.  We went to St. David, which is in St. David AZ.  It used to be called Twin Lakes RV Park and has two little artisan lakes.  We had a really good spot and could actually see the lakes out our big back window. 

A couple of days after we got to St. David, Lazydays RV Sales had what they call a "donut run."  They bring several RVs to the park, give a little welcome talk, feed us donuts, and have a door prize drawing.  We actually won a couple of free meal tickets at their RV park restaurant in Tuscon.  One of the salesmen told us about a little motorhome just the size we have been kind of thinking about.  He said the people were just moving out that day and the price was right!   Well, we decided to run to Tuscon, have a free lunch, and check things out.

The people moving out of their old motorhome into their new one were kind enough to let us walk through their old one.  It was the one!  We put money down to hold it and said we would be back the next day to take a test drive.  It was a good thing, because there were several people who were waiting in line for it if we had not put money down.

We spent another couple of days at St. David.  We did a Scentsy craft show.  It happened to be on my birthday and Elaine and Fron surprised me with a banana nut bread cake with a candle and everyone at the craft sale sang Happy Birthday to me!  We left St. David that afternoon to buy a motorhome for my birthday!  Larry, Elaine, and Fron left a few days later and went through Phoenix, where Fron caught a plane home, and Larry and Elaine went on to Verde Valley, where we planned to catch up in a few days.

Pilot Knob, Winterhaven CA & Yuma Lakes, Yuma AZ 3/13/02 - 3/23/02

When we left Wilderness Lakes, we went into Pilot Knob, which is in Winterhaven CA--just about 1/2 mile from the Arizona border.  We couldn't get Elaine and Larry in with us because we couldn't use our RPI coupons for them.  So, they had to boon dock at the casino just up the road for a few days.

We have been to Pilot Knob before, but it is hard to get into because it is very close to the Mexican boarder and is handy to visit Los Algodonas.

Travis' family had been to San Diego for their Spring Break and stopped on their way back home and had dinner with us.  Larry and Elaine came over at ate with us, too.  Here is Terry, Travis, Elaine, Larry, and Nate. 

 Everyone seemed to enjoy the chicken and noodles, or they were just very hungry when they got there.  Nate and Nic are chowing down!

 We had to swipe the picnic table from across the road, since there was not one at every site, and ours happened to not have one.  Josh, Spencer, and Travis are sitting at it.  Elaine brought the boys a big container of red licorice.  She has done this twice for them now.  It has almost become a tradition!

 Shannon is getting a bowl of noodles.  It was fun having them and the boys stop by.

 In the middle of the park is this little booth.  There is a stuffed bear in it, ready to dial an old telephone to help anyone who needs it!

 The sunsets are still a beautiful site in Arizona.  I almost waited too long to get a picture of the sun going down.  Once it gets to this point, it seems to disappear quickly.

 The next park we went to was in Yuma AZ--about 10 miles from the one we just left in California.  It is called Yuma Lakes and we went in under our RPI program so we could get Larry and Elaine in with us.  It is a fun park and also one that is kind of hard to get into.  It is a Colorado River Adventures membership park and they only allow so may RPI people in.

 It was so fun while we were there because Elaine's sister, Fron, flew into Yuma to travel with them for a couple of weeks.  Here they are sun bathing in front of their rig.  Elaine has her hand up protecting herself from a spray of water that her neighbor (namely, Terry) sneaked up and shot at them!  We were parked right next to each other, with a big grassy area behind us--very nice!

 We made our yearly trek into Mexico for medications (you don't want to call them drugs!) and vanilla.  It was fun having Elaine, Fron, and Larry with us.

 As you can see, we all went to the "purple pharmacy."  I used to save all of the purple bags because they were a novelty, but I just ended throwing them away, so I don't save them any more.

 Terry is just getting ready to go through customs to get back into the USA, with his purple bags in tow!

 Yuma Lakes park has quite a few ornamental things around it.  It also has a little lake that you can fish in--with an Arizona fishing license.  Terry fished in it the first time we stayed here, but he didn't have a license this time.

Something new they added to the park since we were here are all of these statues made out of dried tree branches.  Most of them were horses.  It was amazing to see what they could do with these branches.  Of course, they all had names.  This one happens to be "Hoss."

It was fun staying in Yuma and going to the big flea market where all of us found at least one thing we couldn't live without!  They were in the middle of their lettuce harvesting in the Yuma area and it was fun seeing all of the green fields.

Wilderness Lakes, Menifee CA 2/21/12- 3/13/2012

We traveled together with Larry & Elaine to Wilderness Lakes, our next Thousand Trails campground.  We have been there several times and really like the park.  Larry & Elaine put their motorhome right into storage there and spent the night with us.  They went to Wikieup and spent a week with my brother, Bill, at my mom's house in the desert.  They were excited and we were excited for them to be able to finally go there.  They had a really good time and thought Mom's house was great.

The first week we were at Wilderness Lakes, Terry and I went to a manager,s meeting.  As a couple walked out they said "hi" and said that they were so glad to see us again!  We exchanged site numbers and said we would see them later.  Well, we had no idea who these people were, so after the meeting we rode our bikes past their site to see if we could find out their names.  Well, we got caught because they were sitting outside.  So, we had to confess that we had no idea who they were.  Well, we were not the people they thought we were, either, but after visiting and finding out that they loved to play pinochle and other games, we ended up finding new friends, Steve and Sandi.  We had a good time playing games and sharing meals.  They got to meet Larry and Elaine before they left for another park.  What a great life we have!

Wilderness Lakes has a great miniature golf course--that is when you don't have to share it with the ducks and all the little piles they leave behind!

This is just one of Elaine's several holes-in-one. I think Larry even got one.

In the end, we were all winners because we had a good time!  Terry, Susan, Elaine, and Larry, posing with our clubs!

 There are still lots of ducks and geese hanging out at Wilderness Lakes.  We warned Larry and Elaine to not feed them, at least to not feed them near their rig!

Did Larry listen?  No! 

We spent three Saturdays in a row selling Scentsy at the craft sales at the park.  Each week we did a little better and ended up selling almost $1,000 worth of Scentsy!!  That is the best we have ever done at one our parks.  There were even some people who remembered when we were at Wilderness before, or at another park.  It was fun, but I really don't want this to become a job!

Terry and I took time one day to ride our bikes around Diamond Lake.  We did this several years ago.  The lake is man-made and furnishes a lot of the domestic water for Los Angeles.  The trail around it is about 22 miles long.  The bad thing was, the wind was blowing so hard going one way that we couldn't ride faster than about 5 mph.  At least it was the first half of the ride--the second half was much better.  I took a few pictures, but they got lost in the computer.  If I ever find them, I will add them to this post!

Desert Pools, Desert Hot Springs CA 2/14/2012- 2/21/2012

We could only stay at Palm Springs Park for two weeks and we had already been there for a week when Larry and Elaine got there, so we had to go to another park while they stayed at Palm Springs for their second week.

 We ended up going to Desert Pools in Desert Hot Springs, about 15 miles from the Palm Springs Park.  It is a Western Horizon Park and we were able to get into it under our ROD program.  We had visited our friends, Russ and Louise, when they camped there, but we had never stayed before.

 It is really famous for its natural hot springs pool.

It has three natural hot springs hot tubs.  Each one is a little higher temperature.  When we got in, we thought the coolest one was just right for us.  The other two were too hot!  Some people are convinced that they act as a "fountain of youth."  So, maybe we got a week younger while we were there!

 It is a nice park, with nice facilities.

 

 The miniature golf course looked fun, but we never took the time to play it.  We were parked in the very back of the park and most of the facilities were at the other end.

 As you leave the Park, there is a check-off list that all RVers need to follow before they leave a park--antenna down?, steps up?, vents closed?, hoses ok?, sewer cap on?, spouse, kids,  pets aboard?  We usually don't have to worry about the kids or pets, but the spouse is the most important thing to remember!  It is amazing how ofter people forget some of the other things.

 One day we went back to Palm Springs to go on an outing with Larry and Elaine.  To get there went on the "roller coaster" road.  For about five miles you practically loose your stomach at every dip!

 We went with Larry and Elaine to the Coachella Valley Preserve.  It is kind of an oasis out in the middle of the desert.  These oasises happen when there is water that comes up from springs in the ground and then palm trees grow naturally.

They just grow naturally and are not trimmed back like most of the palm trees in the area.  They are really big and shaggy.

 Some of the trees had been cut down to make trails for the public to follow.  It was the first time we had seen the inside of a palm tree.  The wood is very porous and soft until it drys, when it becomes very hard and is heavy

.This house was built years ago out of some of the palm trees.  They now use it as a museum/info center.

 Terry and Elaine are standing by this young fan palm tree.  It is really pretty, but the leaves have quite sharp spines on them.

Along the trail to the little lake formed by the underground springs, we find some rock piles.  We have seen these along a lot of the trails we have walked in the desert.  It must be a hobby of some of the hikers.  Elaine decided to add some rocks of her own!

The little lake was really pretty--a true oasis in the dry desert.  You could see little bubbles in the bottom where the water was coming up.

 Terry, Me, Larry, and Elaine took a little sit-down time before we headed back.  A nice couple from South Africa took our picture after I took pictures for them.  It was fun listening to them with their accents.  I asked them if we had an accent to them and they said "yes."