2011 Snowbirding ~ January

We left home on December 27, after enjoying family for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and having a big family get together on December 26 ~ Bill and Janet came down from Cheney; Karla, Toshi and one year old Mae from Seattle; Dennis and family; Paul; and Mom and Bob.

Getting loaded up was a little bit of a problem ~ Dennis came by to tell us "good-bye" and by the time we got loaded, I'm sure he wondered how the two of us old fogeys are able to get anywhere.  There was snow on the ground, which caused a problem when we began hooking up the cargo trailer to the motor home.

We took a couple of travel days to get with friends Randy and Nancy in Orovada NV.  Linda (Tony's cousin) and Mike arrived in Orovada at nearly the same time.  We stayed two nights there ~ unfortunately it snowed so we were in a hurry to continue south.  Picture is of our motorhome and cargo trailer in the snow ~ but what I thought was so cute were the four ATVs sitting in snow ~ belonging to Randy and Nancy's sons from when they were kids to adults.

We got to witness the process of loading hay in the winter time at Randy and Nancy's.

Our first touristy stop was in Death Valley, CA.  Our first full day there we took a tour of Scotty's Castle.  At the end of the tour, the tour guide turned on the automatic playing organ - this controlled a full set of pipes in an adjoining room and it would even remotely play a grand piano in the same room.

Outside we saw what used to be the swimming pool.









We walked a long way up the Mosaic Canyon (picture)and saw the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes.

We went to the Borax flats and saw this 20 Mule Team Borax wagon.  Borax’s history in Death Valley goes back seven million years, to a time when volcanic activity and flash flooding hammered the land surface.  Heavy rains washed large volumes of mud and silt into lakes, forming thick siltstone beds.  Volcanic eruptions blew ash into the lakes; these, too, formed layers on the lake bottom.  Ash deposits continued to build up.  Over time, evaporation concentrated what had been lakes into a salty solution from which Death Valley's borate deposits crystallized.

The next day we went to the lowest point in USA (282 feet below sea level).  Double click on picture to see the sign "sea level" high on the rocky mountain.

We checked out the Badwater Basin (picture),

We went to see Devil's golf course (picture ~ am sure you couldn't find your golf ball in this mess), Artist's Drive, and Zabriewski Point.

The next day we took a trip to Beatty and a ghost town (these statutes of ghosts were everywhere with this one cute ghost getting ready to ride a bike) ~ saw Fimo clay designs by Jon Anderson,  most accomplished polymer artists in the world today...no two are alike ~ this site tells of the process.

The gas station/candy store in Beatty had such unusual brick posts (each one different) ~ so unusual, we just had to take this picture

We left Death Valley and went to Lake Havasu to visit friends ~ Sharon and Gary; Penny and Arnie.

On January 12, we made it to Quartzsite, AZ ~ and hooked up with Jeannie and Dan from CA; Linda and Mike from ID; James and Wanda from CA; Butch and Mary from ID.  In a few days Penny and Arnie and Bill (from WA) joined us in Quartzsite.

Our entertainment while in Quartzsite was shopping at all the vendors and visiting the tent to see new RV products.  Working jigsaw puzzles, playing cards, sitting around the fire also consumed our time.  Tony's 70th birthday was celebrated with most of our friends at the Grubstake Restaurant.  Jamie the female entertainer (picture) sang "Happy Birthday" to Tony every bit as good as Marilyn Monroe sang to JFK years ago.  I think he enjoyed his milestone birthday.

One gift was a Bib Buddy ~ invented by a guy who was selling them in Quartzsite....for the elderly ~ just string with the alligator clips at the ends to clip on a napkin.  Tony used the menu from the restaurant to display the bib buddy.

Nine ATVs took a five hour ride out into the desert ~ it was perfect weather and a great ride.  We had a potluck at our camp for nearly 20 people ~ Butch and Mary had a spaghetti feed at their RV park just before we all started leaving for Yuma.

One day we went to the Blue Water Casino and the Desert Bar with Dan and Jeannie.  This is a picture of one portion of the crowd.

We re-fashioned the cargo trailer to be a card playing room ~ gives the men an opportunity to take a nap while the gals play cards out of the RVs/

On January 29 we moved to the California desert just a few miles out of Yuma AZ.  The most exciting event so far was when an illegal Mexican walked through the camp ~ the few English words he knew were "hungry" (because he wanted food from us), "Los Angeles" (where he wanted to go) , and "no English" (meaning he couldn't speak English).  Only three of us were in camp at the time (females).  We couldn't get him to leave the camp ~ until I said "We're going to call the cops".....then we realized he knew one more English word ~ "cops".  Linda went back in her RV and called the Border Patrol ~ shortly after the illegal left our camp, all the men came back on their ATVs...and the Border Patrol arrived ~ Arnie and Bill went off on their ATVs while we talked to the Border Patrol ~ then Arnie and Bill began honking their ATV horns...and the Border Patrol drove over to them.  They had found the guy, and just stayed with him until the Border Patrol got there and took the illegal away in handcuffs.  Picture shows Border Patrol employee as he was walking away from our camp.

Caught a pretty good picture of a road runner.

And a cute little three wheel car - Tony said it was an old Isetta.









The weather turned cold this last week so we have been sticking around the camp ~ Now weather report shows an upturn and should be 77 degrees for the next 10 days ~ that's the temperature we like.  Future fun that we will write about in the next blog will be when Mom and Bob fly down to spend a week with us ~ we were amazed that they finally agreed to make the trip.  Possibly Dennis will stop by for a few days the end of February also.

January Adventures with Judy & Larry Mann

Our fun with cousin Judy and Larry continued for three and a half weeks....when they left Quartzsite at 9:30 in the morning on Wednesday, January 20, we took a nap!!!! Below are pictures and web sites showing how we entertained them and how they entertained us.  As always, if you double click on the picture, you will see a larger image.

We went to the Desert Bar and

Blue Water Casino.....I'm almost positive that with all our stops at Casinos from Las Vegas to the California desert, Judy and Larry came out ahead.....they were very lucky on the slot machines. Tony tried taking videos but was reprimanded by a Casino employee. We did manage to get some video and a picture.

We took the ATVs out to friends (Dan and Jeanne and Linda and Mike) for a BBQ. After much trial and error, Judy was successful in getting a picture of a humming bird. Unfortunately, the road runner we saw was too fast for us to get his picture.

Judy and Larry spent one afternoon in our motorhome watching the cattle sale at Platte Valley Livestock in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. We had two video cameras set up to record the sale and had fun watching Judy and Larry's expressions and note taking. Three phone calls from Larry to the sale barn in Scottsbluff insured that the video stream worked better throughout the sale.

They had a vested interest in this sale....we assume the sale was good for them because they took us out to dinner afterward at Tony's favorite Quartzsite restaurant ~ the Grubstake, where you can get fish and chips very similar to how Tony remembers them in UK. We think it is one of Larry's favorites now also.

Going to the vendors in Quartzsite was always entertaining. Most retired RVers have dogs ~ some in baby strollers, some small, some large ~ most are regulation size according to Tony ~ 18 inches long, 12 inches high, 8 inches wide ~ these two poodles are wearing sun glasses and visors. Interesting vendor was the flag store.

Going to Blythe, California, became a favorite of Larry's. He was told about a grocery store there that sold chicken feet....that wasn't all they sold...pig's feet and cow lips were a couple other items that were disgusting to us. Larry bought chicken feet for $2.00 and said he had $10.00 worth of fun with them.

Judy shown eating the chicken feet. Tony wouldn't even try them, and Mary had nightmares about them that night. See the video here to view the entertainment. A private joke quote from Larry ~ "they even make good sammiches"!!!

A couple of evenings were spent around the fire at Butch and Mary's....one time a spaghetti dinner was included (Mary's specialty). Judy left early and came back out in her Nebraska Husker PJs.

One evening we went to the Quartzsite Yacht Club and then back again to see the "Hot Country" group.

Another day was spent in the fields around Blythe, California, and to see the Sandhill Cranes at the Cibola National Wildlife Refuge. Larry (white western hat guy) walked all the way out to the field workers to talk with them. See Tony's video of this event. Larry came back with three free heads of lettuce ~ the lettuce is cut and packaged (complete with bar code) on the site. Then lettuce heads are taken to be refrigerated before sending directly to grocery stores. We found the fresh lettuces lasts a lot longer than those we buy in the grocery stores.

Picture is of Judy in the fields (shows the neat rows). Another trip to fields down near Yuma yielded a sack of leaf lettuce....but before we could go out in the field, we had to put on "helmets" according to the supervisor. "Helmets" ended up being hair nets.

A trip to the Quartzsite infamous book store resulted in some pictures (one of them cropped)(Judy, Paul, Sharon). Tony didn't even get out of the car. Larry wanted to take the book store owner (Paul) over to the car to meet him but decided against it.

This is a sign outside the book store.

Another humorous sign outside the book store advertising for the main street laundromat.

All four of us took a trip to the Yuma vendors....Judy and Larry covered most of the entire 40 acre area (1000 vendors)....and after four and one-half hours, came back to the car where Tony and I had been able to catch a nap. Next we went to the Imperial Sand Dunes in California, a short side trip to what will be our next camp site in California on Ogilby Road in the California desert. And also a side trip to the Quechan casino and Felicity, the official center of the World.

A trip to Algodones, Mexico was a day full of entertainment. Tony, Judy, and Larry got their shoes polished. Unfortunately Larry's shoes were suede boots ~ they never looked the same after that event! We went to the dentist office and the eye doctor ~ they were in the same small building about ten feet wide and 40 feet deep. We were there on a Mexican holiday ~ January 6th ~ so we were invited to have free bread (made in the shape of a wreath) a couple of times during the day.

This picture shows Larry in a Walmart parking lot in Parker on another excursion ~ Larry is taking off his "suede turned leather" boots to cool off his feet.

While getting the shoes shined in Mexico (right next to the police station) we had a little fun with the local policeman.

He was willing to pretend to arrest Larry for our photo session while Larry's boots were being "shined".

Sharon and Judy with the local policeman during Judy's shoe shine.

We went to the "Chewing Gum Museum" in Quartzsite. None of us knew that this many types of gum even existed.

A little humor at the campsite with Tony's parking sign "Parking for English Only ~ all others will be towed".

This picture caught at the Parker casino parking lot.....sure looked as if this person had traveled a lot of miles in this "cadillac".









 Another weird vehicle seen at the Quartzsite vendors

One of the many motor home sales lots has a free breakfast every morning....all four of us went a few times....and did manage to walk through many of the new RVs there....luckily, so far, Tony hasn't convinced me we need a new motor home, although Larry was certainly trying to help him find one. The picture is of the front of an Allegro motor home used as a reception desk at the "free" breakfast.

We went to about five geocaches while Judy and Larry were here. This is a picture of Tony's first lesson to Judy about handheld GPSs before starting to look for the first geocache. An ATV ride to the Quartzsite golf course was an experience for them....since there is not a blade of grass anywhere on the course.

Cousin Janice and Archie arrived at the Desert Palms RV Park in Salome, Arizona, about the middle of January. All four of us went to visit them for an afternoon and an evening meal cooked by Janice. Picture is of Janice, Judy, and Sharon.

The 27th annual RV Show in the 69,000 square foot big tent full of over 450 vendors opened January 16th. We went there many times. When Janice and Archie came to Quartzsite, Tony and Larry took them to the tent on the ATVs and then came back after Judy and I. Larry and Judy took all six of us to the Grubstake for one last fish and chips meal for him before he left for home. We had a great evening. Janice and Archie headed back and we spent the rest of their last evening in our motor home with Butch and Mary. One of the new things we saw this year was the "Cooldownz"....clever idea. Another is the non-slip mat for GPS, cell phones, etc. And...of course, a better pop can lid than the last one I bought down here!!

Earlier in the week, Larry made so much fun of Butch's brightly colored T-shirt. The next thing he knew, he had one laying on his camper steps. Larry modeled the shirt the next day, but we labelled it "unapproved".

Unfortunately toward the end of Judy and Larry's stay at Quartzsite, their pick-up quit working. Tony towed it back from the local grocery store. It took three days for the very minor repair so they could get on their way home.

While waiting for the pickup repair, we made one more side trip to Parker to the Blue Water Casino, and a non-scenic drive through "Wyatt" Earp, California and Lost Lake Resort before ending up in Blythe to check on the status of the pickup.

This doesn't nearly cover the laughs we had with Judy and Larry....but hopefully I hit all the high spots.

Yesterday was Tony's birthday and he had a lot of attention throughout the day.....emails from many, a skype call, other phone calls, several people over for ice cream and cake, and a few more later in the evening for more ice cream and cake. He really appreciated all the attention. THANKS to everyone. Now, a day later it is raining like crazy and no chance of letting up. This may be our best chance to see a flash flood, but not really wanting to get out in all the rain.

Stay tuned for another episode as we continue the 2010 travel blog.