January 22 through 29, 2012

Sunday 22~~~~We drove back to Needles, California today to spend the night as we have to leave the campground in Lake Havasu and can't get into Laughlin until tomorrow, the camp ground there is full. It is only a few miles out of our way, and we like the Elk's Club where we stay in Needles, the people are so friendly and they always have something at the lodge going on. Today is football Sunday, they have a table of hordevors and you put tip money in the jar and help yourself. Today's games were the Patriots and the 49er's and New York and Baltimore. I bet Kent $5.oo that New York would win, so we had fun watching the games and visiting with everyone. I won the bet!!!! YEA Monday 23~~~~Today we headed for Laughlin, Nevada, the weather is warm but very windy. We are on level 5 of the park where we can see the whole strip from our big window. The casino lights are so pretty at night, we can leave the curtains open with out anyone being able to see in and enjoy the view. Kent is anxious to set up our new flag pole with the bright light on the top of the pole that is so bright, people will see our trailer from anywhere down below on the strip. I fixed us a nice dinner and we watched TV, we didn't feel like going to the Casino's, as we will be here a week and it is cold and windy. Tuesday 24~~~~ Oh my goodness how the wind can blow in the desert, Kent has been outside for 2 hours setting up his new flag pole. The wind is about ripping the flags out of his hands. I really like our American and Oregon flags we got, they really look good above our trailer. We went over to the Riverside Casino for awhile this afternoon, we didn't win anything, but it was fun. Wednesday 25~~~~Today is Tress's birthday, I sent her a few emails and I will call her tonight. I am so anxious to see if she received her birthday present on time. I usually shop for the December, January birthday presents while I Christmas shop and then I wrap them up real pretty and leave them on my dining room table and they pick it up when they check on the house. This year I restored my old family cook book with all the recipes from my mom, sister, aunts, friends and grandmothers for Tress. I didn't have it completed when we left, so I finished it on the road and mailed it to her. Kent and I went to the movie "War Horse" at the casino this afternoon. I put my phone on vibrate and in the middle of the movie, Tress called to tell me she received her package. She was so happy over it, she was crying and could hardly talk. That made me feel so happy that something that old and beat up could please her so. All the kids said that Tress should get the cook book and she asked for it many years ago, so that is what I did. I copied all the recipes I wanted into a new cook book for me and when Tress was over baking with me one day, she asked about where the old book was and I told her it was in such bad shape I made a new one and got rid of it!! That is why she was so over joyed when she received it. The movie was very good, real sad at times, but I would recommend you see it. We are going to go to the Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullet movie when we get to Vegas, it looks very good too.
Thursday 26~~~~Today we drove over to the Avi Casino a few miles from here for their wonderful breakfast buffet. The wind is still blowing so hard, we both got in the truck in a hurry at the same time and the wind about blew everything out my door. Tomorrow is William's birthday, such a busy month for birthdays. Floyd and Opal our friends we made in Oregon working at Fisherman's Bend Park who live in California are here in Laughlin and we spent the day at the Casino having fun with them today visiting and catching up. Saturday 28, We met Floyd and Opal for breakfast this morning and it was nice and quiet, we ate a lot of food and and had a good visit before going to the slot machines. Sunday 29~~~~Today is Pammy's 50th Birthday, how can I have such old children when I feel so young?????? I called her and we had a great visit, she reminded me of the big party they gave me on my big 50!!!! After several beers and more shots of tequila, I decided I didn't like being 50 and that is all I am going to say about it. I am sure Pammy's birthday was a lot quieter than mine was. LOL We spent the afternoon with Floyd and Opal at the casino and it was fun sitting together playing the slots. None of won any money!!! Tomorrow morning we leave for Mesquite, Nevada to visit our friend Gary.

January 7 through 9, 2012

Saturday 7~~~~~We are in San Francisco where the streets are so steep and the cable cars are loaded with people riding them, inside the cars and best of all sitting or standing and hanging on to the sides as it travels the street through all that traffic. One night last year I saw a young girl leaning out real far as she was standing on the side step being silly and she almost got hit by a mirror of a SUV. I prefer to sit on the outside seat with the people hanging onto the bar in front. We had a lot of fun just sight seeing today. Monday 9~~~~~We drive our truck to the Bart and park it in the parking garage and ride the Bart into town. We buy an all day pass and we rode Bart down on the water front, we toured the Maritine Museum and we rode the trolley all over again and just had fun. It was getting dark when we returned to our truck to drive home. We sure do get a work out every time we come to Frisco. This time we didn't go to the big Macy's store, we spent more time being tourists!! LOL We are leaving tomorrow for Modesto, California.

January 2 through 6, 2012

Monday 2~~~~It is so foggy and damp outside, all we see out the windows are RV's pulling out heading south for the winter. The park was so full yesterday when we got here, we couldn't get our favorite spot because so many people pull in here to spend New Years Eve at the casino, they have a lot of entertainment there and nice restaurants to eat in. We spent the day watching movies and relaxing in our cozy home on the road. Tuesday 3~~~~We went over to the spa today, stopping at the office on the way for a big cup of the best coffee ever with all the different coffee creamers to choose from on our way to the pool. We had our books to read, our cell phones and our noodles to float around the pool. No one is at the pool but Kent and I. It is so beautiful, the pool is 18 feet by 36 feet, the water is sooooooooooooooo warm and the hot tub is so nice to relax in after playing in the water. They have all kinds of lounges to relax on and drink your coffee while reading your book or nook!! We spent 3 hours there before heading home for lunch. After lunch we drove back to Roseburg (20 miles) to go to the post office and bank. The sun was so bright, it just blinds me, Kent just loves the bright sun and I grumble how it hurts my eyes. It will take a couple of weeks for me to adjust and get used to being outside and in the sun.
Wednesday 4~~~~~We drove all day from the Casino to Willows, California, my eyes hurt so bad with the sunshine so bright, I wore my darkest sun glasses and I covered my eyes with a pillow. No playing games or reading my nook today. The sun doesn't bother Kent's eyes thank goodness. We stopped at Les Schwab to have a valve stem fixed on a tire, it was so nice and shady there, I could read my book. It was 5:30 when we arrived at the Elk's Club in Willows. Kent set up the dish while I fixed dinner. We watched our soap (The Young and the Restless) and a movie and called it a day. Thursday 5~~~~We are on the road today about 10 AM, it is so nice to take our time and have no dead line or commitments. We only have 169 miles to drive to our next stop, one of my favorite Cities, San Francisco! Friday 6~~~~We are in San Francisco, Oh how lazy we have become. We slept until 8:00 and watched TV in bed until after 10:00. After lunch we drove to Richmond, California (just north of Oakland) to see "Rosie The Riveter" National Historic Park.It was built honoring the women who worked the ship yards welding and building ships for World War II. Their husbands were off fighting the war and these housewives did the work of men with the skills they learned by welding. They were a lot smaller than men, so they actually could get in a lot of small places better than a man trying to do the same job. We felt the park could have been done a lot better job building the park, but the pictures and stories they had all over the park of the women doing this work made it very interesting.

January 1, 2012

Sunday 1st.~~~~~New Years Day!!! Tress came to pick up Bodie and Blaize around 9AM this morning. Kent made his famous pancakes for breakfast for all of us. Blaize always asks for "Kent's
Pancakes" when they spend the night with "Nonnies blueberry syrup" on them. So we all had breakfast together before they had to say their final good byes. It is always hard saying goodbye each time we leave for the winter. They had so much fun staying with us last night while mommy and daddy celebrated the New Year with their friends. Tress brought over a bottle of sparkling cider for the kids to toast in the New Year. Kent went to bed about 10:45 and Nonnie got to stay up and watch the ball drop with the kids. YEA!!! Blaize was all excited over it as she had never stayed up for this before. Bodie had fun telling her all about what was going on and all the people standing for so long to cheer in the New Year. We looked all over to see if we could find any Honey Bucket potties and we didn't see any. there was a lot of fire crackers going off in my neighborhood to add to the excitement. Bodie opened the sparkling cider and Blaize and I popped a big bowl of buttered popcorn just before they dropped the ball. The best part of watching it all was watching how fast the clean up crews came in and cleaned up the mess. I had never watched that before and I was shocked how much trash they removed, they used big blowers to clear it away. People must have packed a lot of food and drinks in there from all the trash on the ground. The city was back to normal operation so fast, you would never think that many people could exit the area and have it all clean so fast. I went to bed at 12:30 AM and Bodie and Blaize were in their sleeping bags watching TV a little longer before falling asleep.
I let them sleep in this morning while Kent and I did a few last minute things before Tress came to pick them up and eat breakfast. We drove as far as Canyonviille, Oregon today to our favorite campground and casino (Seven Feathers). I fixed us a steak dinner tonight and we relaxed watching television, our first night of many, on the road again!!!!!