February 20,2009

Friday 20~~~ Today was a quiet day around our Suite, Kent was on the phone quite a bit ordering some parts and light bulbs off the Internet. Some of these lights have bulbs that are hard to find, even at Camping World. We went to the movies again at the Casino this afternoon. That is sometimes cheaper than gambling. LOL We went to the movie "Millionaire Slum Dog". At first it was sort of sad with the little boys in India stealing and being chased by the law for survival and I wasn't sure I could watch it. Then it really got interesting and we liked it a lot. I can see why it is up for so many awards. We never go to movies at the theatre, we rent them when they come out at the video stores. We are way ahead of the game this year, and we plan to go to some more in Vegas when we get there. We are leaving for Vegas in the morning, we are on our way to Mesquite and stopping in Vegas for a few days on the way. We like "Sam's Town" RV Park to stay in. I am posting a picture of Pepsi (our cat) to show you what he does when ever I try to write or do anything, he lays down right on top of my work. LOL
Saturday 21~~~ We arrived here early stopping in Henderson on the way at the camping store. It is nice and warm here and Pepsi is just loving the space we are in, there are pigeons all over and he loves to watch them, he switches his tail so hard his butt just wiggles. After Mass tonight we went out for dinner at the "Metro Pizza Ria", We ordered a stuffed pizza with 3 kinds of meat. It is a regular pizza with no sauce, just lots of cheese and it had a second crust on top. They gave you a spaghetti sauce with meat on the side to pour over the pizza at the table. We ordered a salad and a small stuffed pizza and we came home with one of the 4 pieces. It was so good, we are going back there again before we head South to Arizona.
Sunday 22~~~Today is hair coloring day for Sharon, I tried something new today as I see a lot of this down here, I might be redoing it tomorrow if I don't like it. I woke up at 5:15 this morning when someone was starting their truck and shutting it off and restarting it, 3 times, then he left and someone else started pounding on something. Needless to say, I got up and the noise stopped. So I stayed up and I caught up the blog for Christmas. I will never get that far behind when I am home again. So check out the blog for the Christmas pictures it is under 12/01/08-1/01/09. The ones of Sharon's family are blurred and not too good. I am not sure who took them, as I was using Jeff's camera and I didn't get the pictures I took. It was fun though I remember!!!

February 17 and 18, 2009

Tuesday 17~~~~~The weather today is sunny and warm, we went to the post office to pick up our mail and a package from Thresa, Bodie and Blaize. They sent us a box of Valentine cookies that they had baked and decorated for us and some kisses from Oregon! (candy) Tress makes the best frosted sugar cookies ever. We always made them together before we became full time travelers. She made three batches of these cookies, so that was a lot of work for our surprise and all the other recipients who received them. Thank you again Tress!!! We also went to "Safeway" where they had a great meat sale, we filled our small freezer and then some. This afternoon we went to the "Clint Eastwood's" movie "GRAND TORINO" at the casino theatre, it was a little slow starting, but very entertaining if you don't mind some of the language they had to use to make it realistic, because it was about two rival gangs fighting and such. We found ourselves laughing out loud with the rest of the audience in the theatre. Tonight was chili-dogs for dinner, one of Kent's favorite bachelor meals he used to make a lot, now it is a favorite of both of ours. We finished off the day watching television before bed time.
Wednesday 18~~~Another warm day in sunny Nevada, we walked to the Edgewater Casino for a buffet breakfast that was $3.00 apiece. After breakfast we went into the casino and played the slots, see Sharon concentrating on a win.(picture) Kent turned in is Keno ticket from yesterday and he was a $97 winner, maybe he should teach Sharon how to play, as it pays more than her slots seem to. LOL We did the river walk (picture) which was very nice in the sunshine finishing up with our walk home again to get our exercise, we don't use the shuttles here. We were mixed up on what day it was, we thought today was Ash Wednesday, so we hurried home to go to the church near here. We found out it is next week!!! Sharon read Sundays bulletin wrong, oh well, we got a better work out that way.

February 15, 2009

Sunday 15~~~~We woke up this morning to a soft rain coming down on the roof, it was warm and cozy inside, so we drank our coffee and watched a couple of movies before we got dressed for the day. Are we lazy or what????? Sharon has a rash (Looks like she scalded her hand) on her right hand and arm that goes from one inch below the knuckles on her finger to her wrist and then it changes to about one inch wide to her elbow. It is a spotted rash that looks like blood under the skin the size if pin pricks. She had the same exact rash in SD 2 years ago and it went away in a day. If we were close to a Dr. we would have it checked, so we are still waiting for it to go away. We drove to CVS Pharmacy and asked to pharmacist if he knew what it was and he said he had never seen anything like that before and if he had it he would go to a DR. If it comes back again, we will find a doctor. Tonight we had a good pasta dinner at home and watched TV. Sharon's sister in Nebraska called and we are trying to get them to join us in Vegas in a couple of weeks.
Monday 16~~~~ This morning we walked over to the Riverside Casino and enjoyed a free breakfast buffet finishing it off with a dish of the best soft ice cream I ever ate, along with a plate of cantaloupe to make it healthy. I am on a diet you know!!!! We played the slots for about 3 hours and did we have fun, especially Sharon, she kept winning and then gave it back and then won again, ending the day with just $5.00 ahead after all that work and fun. Kent has fun just watching everyone and Sharon gamble. He is a Keno man and spends his small allowance on Keno. ha He usually wins so that is good. It was sprinkling when we walked back to our home on wheels, so Kent took the shuttle. Sharon finished the walk home and then some by getting lost in this huge campground, Kent came and drove her home. (1/2 block around a curve). ha ha

February 13, 14 , 2009

Friday 13~~~After we had coffee and donuts this morning, we three couples said our goodbyes and we headed off in our different directions. Cyndi and Howie to Yuma, John and Linda to Tucson and we Mosher's to Laughlin, Nevada. We sure do have fun when we get together on the road, its truly is a small world. The traffic was very slow moving on our highway, so we stopped and spent the night at Wikiup, AZ in a small campground that had a restaurant beside it where we ate dinner before retiring for the night. There were those big old cactus's all over in the campground (pictures). Small birds go in those holes you see in the pictures. They are very large as you can tell by the picture of Sharon and the Cactus. The evenings sure get chilly here at night, so we have to run the heat pump, we will be in Laughlin, NV early tomorrow, I hope it is warmer there.
Saturday 14~~~We arrived in Laughlin about noon and it is so warm here, we set up out patio and Sharon went outside to read in the sun, she fell asleep while Kent dozed inside. What a couple of bums we are turning into. ha Kent went to do the laundry about 4 o'clock and he found out Mass was at 4:30 over at the Casino's dinner theatre. He hurried home to take Sharon over there while some nice lady watched our laundry. We went out for "Chicken Dinner " at KFC tonight, it was sooooooo good, it has been years since we ate there.

February 9, 10, 11, 2009

Monday 9~~~ Today was the official check in day for the RV'ers and since we did it yesterday, we rode into town and did some valentine day shopping. Tuesday 10~~~Kent went to a class on "traveling the back roads" while Sharon stayed home and wrote valentines to our grandchildren and cleaned house again. With Pepsi, we can vacuum almost daily to keep it clean. We played cards this evening and ate the frosted brownies with some real good soft ice cream from Sonic drive inn. Kent grilled us a delicious steak dinner before the card party. Wednesday 11~~~ Sharon went to donuts and coffee before attending a digital photography class this morning. They have coffee and donuts for all the RV'ers every morning from 7 till 9 AM. From there you go to the class of your choice or go back home to bed or whatever. The class was very interesting, and Sharon is very excited about buying the program to get our pictures organized on our computer, Kent isn't so sure we need the program or will use it. This evening was the big pizza feed in the big hall, we three couples had volunteered to be servers, it was a lot of fun serving all that pizza, there were 15 of us doing it and we really got it out fast while it was hot. I couldn't get a picture of us serving the pizza, but I did get a picture of the boxes we emptied and of us eating out pizza we held back to eat. (picture) (picture of Kent and Sharon) There is a drawing 3 nights of the rally and they had enough prizes for every couple to win something. Would you believe our ticket was finally drawn on the last night with about 6 tickets left in the jar. We got a carbon monoxide alarm for the RV. We already have one built into our rig, but I am sure someone will use it. After the drawing they had a "Desert Cactus Queen~~~ Cross Dresser" contest. They had 6 men who dressed up and the crowd clapped the loudest for the winner.(picture of 3 of them) Our friend Howie was one of the lovely ladies!!! It was a lot of fun and those men really did a great job of playing the part of a lady. (picture of Howie and Cyndi his wife. ) We played cards again tonight, all 6 of us in our trailer. What fun!!!!!! Thursday 12~~~ Today is the last day of the rally, Kent went to a very informative class on fires in RV's and fire extinguishers, how to use them and what kind to use. He discovered that the extinguisher that most of us have in our rigs are the type of chemical that will destroy your trailer if it is used. The chemical in the extinguisher is highly toxic and is almost impossible to clean up, that type is a B C and filled with magnesium aluminum silicate. We bought a new one and it cost only $20. We got a foam one that puts out class A (ash) and B (liquid) fires. Sharon made a yummy desert for us card players tonight from one of the clients at the beauty salon "Lemon Lush" from Jan Moch. (Nancy be sure and tell her hello and thanks again for the recipe)

February 8

Sunday 8~~~The drive to Casa Grande was beautiful with the sky dark with rain clouds and so many of those beautiful cactus's all over. (Can you tell Sharon likes the desert?) We arrived at the Casa Grande Fair grounds where our Gypsy Journal Rally is held this year, after we set up camp with our friends John and Linda and Howie and Cyndy, we all registered for the activities starting tomorrow. There was quite a bit of confusion because of all the mud from the rain and the campers that were there taking up two spaces instead of one and not leaving room for anyone else to pull in with their rigs. It took awhile, but we made it OK, while Kent was hooking up the water, electricity and satellite it gave Sharon time to bake a pan of frosted brownies for dessert after dinner tonight for everyone. Next we registered, signed up to be pizza servers for Wednesday Pizza night and got all our information of all the classes and times to attend during the rally. The 6 of us decided to drive into town for dinner at the "Olive Garden", which turned out to be another long ordeal to deal with after an already long day. They seated us almost immediately, but forgot to come back and take our orders. After sitting there for 45 minutes watching people who came in after us, already eating salad and bread sticks, we requested a server, we got one who took our drink order, left and never came back. We again went up front and questioned where our drinks were and could we please order. They sent us a different server who who brought the drinks, opened the wrong bottle of wine, left with it and never came back. By now it was about and hour and fifteen minutes into our dinner and we were getting a little unhappy, we went up front again and they sent us waiter # 3 who brought us our drinks and the right bottle of wine for Cyndi and Howie, took our orders and left. We waited 10 minutes, we got no salad or bread sticks, so back to the front to see a manager who came to our table and said this mix up should not have happened and our dinner would be free. Kent and John said no we don't want it free, we just want to eat, the manager then said she would give us all free dessert when we finished and left. Still no salad and bread~~~ then someone across the way knocked a wine glass off a table and it flew through the air to our table, breaking and hitting the floor. We didn't know what the heck was going on at that point, when a waitress came over and picked up the big pieces and asked Cyndi and Sharon what we were doing!!!! We were so mad, the glass came flying across the room, hit our table and we were blamed???? Finally our salad and bread came for us six starving people (waiter 4)~~~ would you believe they gave us one bowl of salad and bread sticks for one apiece? Yes that is what he did, we requested more salad and bread and before it came here was our dinner. We were back to waiter #2 now, it was now just exactly 2 hours since they seated us in the room. We finished our meal and waited for them to take our dessert order, 15 minutes later the waiter left our tickets by our plates with no mention of how was your dinner??? or are you ready for dessert??? We changed our minds at that point and opted to go for the free meal the manager had offered, they didn't even argue, they gave it to us along with a $60 gift certificate and said they hoped to see us again. With us having 4 servers and some of them twice, they said they don't know who dropped the ball as they stated. What a long frustrating evening, we were too tired to even play cards that night. Are we going back there???? I DON'T THINK SOOOOOOOOO. But we do like the Olive Garden and will go back to other places where we travel.

February 5, through the 7, 2009

Thursday 5~~~~ We had breakfast with Mel and Linda this morning before heading to Yuma. We had a great time together and will meet again on the road. We stopped at the Escapes Campground to see our friends Cyndi and Howie before going to where we are staying at the Shangri-la camp ground in Yuma. We went out for dinner that night to the same restaurant we ate with our S.D. relatives, it is the best Mexican food ever. Friday 6~~~ The campground had a patio sale this morning, anyone who had something to sell or give away put it out on a table in front of their RV. Sharon managed to find a few things to buy and Kent bought a neat steak hook turner. We continued walking around the campground stopping at the shuffleboard area where there was a large group of people playing shuffle board. Most of them were Canadians, they sure play good and have a lot of fun. This evening we went with our friends and a large group of people from their campground, to a taco feed at the home of a Hispanic family out in the country in a rustic tent with a dirt floor. This group from the campground go there every Friday night for dinner. It started out with 19 people the first night and there were 129 this time, it keeps growing from word of mouth. They have enlarged the menu but it is still done with one couple doing the cooking and their daughter waiting tables with her one month old baby sitting on the bar in the kitchen area. You bring your own drinks and some people brought their own chips and salsa I noticed. The price was so inexpensive and it was a great-fun experience for us to do. That baby never made a peep the whole time we were their, he just looked at everyone who was peeking in at him.
Saturday 7~~~~ It rained all day and I mean rained, we stayed inside watching movies and playing games, Sharon loved the day with the rain, she says these are nesting days and that is what she does. After Mass this evening, we stopped to see our friends and we went over to the clubhouse and played cards until 10 PM We are leaving for Casa Grande, AZ in the morning.

February 2,3, 4, 2009

Monday 2~~~We said our goodbyes to the Baldwins this morning taking off for ElCentro, California with Mel and Linda. We decided to stop and go into Los Algodones, Mexico for lunch on our way. They make the most delicious fried shrimp tacos ever there, so it is a must to stop there whenever we are close. We walked around and did a little shopping before getting in the line to go back to the states, Linda and Sharon bought cute dresses for $10 each, what fun!!!! The line was very long, but it only took us an hour and 15 minutes to cross. You meet a lot of fun people in the line and the time goes pretty fast. We got to our campground about 5 PM and after we ate dinner, Kent went and did the laundry and Sharon cleaned house.
Tuesday3~~~We all went into El Centro to pick up the mail and have lunch at Costco. After picking up the mail Mel wanted to go to up the West side of Salton Sea (235 feet below sea level) to a RV Park they had stayed at about 5 years ago. When we arrived Mel went into the office and found a trailer that was about 30 years old with 30 years of sun and wear and tear for only $5,000 that was for sale. When we went up to look at the trailer a sun beaten, half dressed, stocking foot guy asked us if we wanted to see inside. We looked and decided it wasn't worth the 5 grand and maybe on a good day it would be worth $200.00. The annual rent is $2500.00 so we were afraid to offer any amount if we did want it because they might take it. Wednesday 4th
Linda did their laundry this morning while Sharon did her laps in the beautiful heated pool, we had lunch at our place because we have a nice patio set to eat on and this park doesn't furnish picnic tables. Sharon gave haircuts to Mel, Linda and Kent before we went for a long walk stopping for hot fudge sundaes at the park restaurant first. Somewhere in the palm tree picture is a dove that coos just like a owl hoots. The trees are full of them and they are so neat. The water is the small pond that is in the park and there ae a lot of ducks on it. There is one mean old duck that likes to chase and snap at you when you go by too close. Everyone gives him the right away.

February 1, 2009

Sunday 1st~~~~ Sharon was being a real "Suzy Home Maker" making food for the Super Bowl party we are having today. She had a pasta salad made and had her famous carrot cake frosted before we left for the huge Flea Market they have here about 10 miles from where we are staying. We sure had fun shopping at the market. Sharona and Linda each bought some cool sun glasses 2 for $5, a small purse for $5 and a sling to use when we are sitting a lot, or at ball games, for their backs to stop the back pain. We sure had fun putting them on when we got home with all the straps and such. Thank goodness for Kent, he knew how to hook us up until we learn how. I told my cousin Carol on the phone that we looked like a couple of lineman ready to climb a pole and go to work LOL (picture) One 0f our friends said the picture looks like we are parachute jumpers ready to jump. ha When we got home from the Flea Market, we hurried up and baked our Buffalo wings for the Super Bowl party, all that shopping made us very hungry for all the good food we have fixed. Everyone is for the Cardinals here because of it being Arizona, Kent and I don't say much about if we want the Steeler's to win or not. After we ate our pre party food, Kent and Mel set up a second TV on the patio so half of the people could watch the game out there plus it was closer to the food for more snacking. We had a total score pool for the game with all of us putting in one $ . Kent and I also had 10 tickets for the party the kids had at home. Pepsi (our cat) almost won that one. ha Sharon picked the closest number for our game and won the pot, so that made the game even more fun with all of us wanting the score to go higher which it did at the end of the game. After the game, we fixed steaks on the grill and we all went home with full tummies and no carrot cake, it was all consumed!!!!! Yea!! We don't need anymore of those calories at our house. We sure had another fun day!!

Janiuary 29 and 30, 31, 2009

Thursday 29~~~~Today is Pammy's birthday, the weather here is sure different than that day in 1962 when she was born. We are in Yuma Arizona, the weather is in the 70's with a little wind. Sharon's cousin Linda and Mel Kessler from Murdo, SD are camping here at the home of another cousin of both of us. They have a lovely home with an RV pad with hookups for them to park on and their neighbor has one that we are staying on. This cousin is one of Sharon's, Grandmother Thresa Baldwin Enright's cousin, 85 years old and he and his wife are delightful. They and the Kessler's fixed a delicious chicken dinner for us for dinner and we spent the evening learning things about our Grandmother Tress's life. Friday 30~~~~ This morning the 6 of us drove all over the countryside in their six seated van sight seeing, stopping for pizza that we took home and baked for our dinner before going out dancing that evening at a lovely club house. We sure had fun practicing our dancing skills and watching the other dancers. Kent and I sure danced a lot of dances, we were on a roll!!! LOL Saturday 30~~~~The cousins called early this morning to see if we wanted to go shopping at a second hand shop, of course we said yes. Sharon was real busy making food for the Super Bowl party we are having tomorrow. She made a pasta salad and had her famous carrot cake all baked before we left. The woman sure had fun shopping and the men found some chairs and sat there visiting. Next we drove around and looked at the lettuce fields being harvested with the workers walking behind the machine cutting and trimming and bagging them all in one process. We learned the difference between date and palm trees, stopping at a roadside store where they made the most delicious date shakes ever.l Sharon and Kent shared one, thinking we wouldn't like them, that was a big mistake!! This evening we went to a Mexican restaurant that had very good food. this was another day with a lot of fun and good food. The diet can start tomorrow!!!!