Pg 2 - My Blog - Updates on our travels and adventures

  December 17- In Yuma, Arizona

We were told by the office in this RV park that wireless internet was $50 per month.
We called the provider and found that to get hooked up to wireless, we would have
to pay a hook up fee of $50, then have to sign up for a minimum of three months,
then pay $50 for my one month service. So I guess we will not be online as often
as we had hoped, which means of course that our web site will not be updated as
often as we would like.
So here we are, in Yuma for a month, till January 15. There seems to be a lot to
do here so it should be a good visit. The average temp here is 65 to 75 during
Dec to the end of Feb. All the brochures say that they are the sunniest city in the US
but guess what? It was raining this morning LOL. Anyway, apparently this is not the norm
and as I type this, it is beginning to get sunny.
So that's about it for now, we will try to keep y'all current as often as possible,
and I will still upload pics when we go to the local library to access the web.

December 21 2008

We went exploring today and found a date farm. I have added two new pictures of a date orchard, (not sure what they are called), orchards, groves or whatever. If you ever wondered where your lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, swiss chard etc., comes from in the winter, well, this is the place. This area is a valley surrounded by very high mountains and it is very fertile. On our drive today, they were harvesting all over the place. I also visited the local radio control club and there were a couple of jets flying. Very impressive. I'll take a couple of pictures of this park and upload them soon. It's a very nice park.

December 22 2008

We spent the day sitting at a ford dealer today. I noticed several days ago that every once in awhile, my truck would have a puddle of antifreeze unser it. Well, I went to the local ford dealer and was told that it would take 2.5 days to diagnose the problem. Well, needless to say I wasn't very happy with that response. I called Ford USA and explained the situation and they put me on hold for a few minutes, when the lady came back on she said that the local ford dealer would be calling me. They did call shortly after and told me to bring the truck in and lo ad behold it was repaired today. Isn't it funny what happens when you know how to shake the right tree. Anyway, it's fine now and life is good. They're calling for the possibility of rain for the next couple of days so we might stay close to home. Yuma has already had a years supply of rain within the last couple of weeks and this is just a bonus for them. Since this wireless connection is so bad/slow, I'm not correcting any speling errors. It just takes so long to move around on the screen that it just drives you crazy. Just to type this note took about 30 minutes. Have fun for the holidays, stay well, and Merry Christmas

December 23, 2008

We went to Mexico today. I can't even begin to spell the name but as usual with all border towns, they,re hawking everything from baubles, to "real" gold chains.  This guy hung chains on my hand and swore up and down that they were real 14 carat gold. In his effort to sell me on them, as I was walking away, he hollered /"4 chains $20". WOW what a deal. At another stall, also "real" gold, the guy picked one up and it was all tarnished on the underside, gold doesn't tarnish. One young guy was really getting in my face and I finally had to tell him he was beginning to piss me off and tat he better back up. All I would have to do is start yelling and the Mexican ploice would be right there. The police are everywhere to protect the tourists.

I've added 10 new pics. The mountain range is East of Yuma and we have to cross it to get to the city (Yuma). If you will notice one picture shows the valley I talked about earlier. This valley is about 5 miles wide and at least 50 miles long. All if it is planted and growing your fresh veggies that you buy in the winter.  That's about it for now, I'll take a few pics of the RV park we're in and add them tomorrow.  Take care all

December 24, 2008 - 2PM 63deg. F

A few new pics added today. One is a panorama of the park we're in and it only shows a very small portion of the park. The other of course is our rig displaying the large sized sites.

December 24 8:20PM  63deg.F in Yuma, AZ

Added some pics of the decorated RV sites in our park

December 25 - 9PM 63deg F in Yuma Arizona

Wow, what a day. Today, we went into California to a place called The Imperial Sand Dunes. This is natural desert sand dunes with the finest sand I have ever felt. The locals from CA and AZ go there in droves on their ATV's, dune buggeys etc. and just have a ball driving over these dunes. I've uploaded some pics of them also. You will see some dune buggys and the silver one with the white covers over the four lights is worth two hundred and fourty thousand bucks. /you need a permit to drive in these areas because there is also some protected areas for wildlife etc. in the desert. The pic of the mountain was taken on our way out of the dune area. Also, I've uploaded a couple pics of the farmland. In one of them you will see a huge stack of straw. I believe they use this straw to keep the soil loose for planting and growing. It appears that the soil in areas where they are not farming, is very very hard, ad I think the straw keeps it soft. Anyway, that was our day and we had fun. I think we might rent a ATV for a day while we're here just to experience the dunes. The new pics are on page 19 and page 4

Take care everybody and have a nice holiday 

January 1 2009 - 1:30PM 68deg F in Yuma Arizona

Happy New Year everyone. Tomorrow, we're off to Dan Diego for three days. I put in a bid on a hotel there and they accepted my price so we're off. We'll decide what we want to see and do after we get there. We're in the old section of the city which the web says is very nice, easy walking, lots of small shops, and close to the ocean. I'll take lots of pics and upload when we return. That reminds me, my web site can only hold twenty pages so I'll have to delete some of the older pages/pictures and add new pages with the new pics. When I add the pics, I'll tell you what page(s) they are on. Take care everyone.

JJanuary 2 2009 in San Diego

The drive today was no less than beautiful. i've never seen so many miles of planted fields. Everything you can imagine for veggies. The only thing I didn't see was tomatoes, but they grow those in Southern florida. The trip over the 4000 ft. mountain, (I think the southern end of the rockies), was breathtaking. Ii'll get some pics on the way back. It just looks like God dumped millions upon millions of boulders in this one place. Some as big as houses. We lucked in as far as this hotel is concerned.  We are in what is called Old Town, the oldest section in the city and what a stroke of luck. There are so many shops here, we'll never get throygh them all. We took a trolly tour of the city and there is so much to do here, we'll have to be very selective about what we want to visit. Stay tuned.

January 17 2009 - 5PM 78F in Yuma Arizona

I know, I know, it's been awhile. We've been so busy. I have lots of pics but it just takes so long to upload them, that I'm looking for some other way to allow y'all to see them. After getting back from San Diego, we rested a few days then started again. We now have another couple from home here. It's Dave and Yolande Dollemont. They spent Xmas in Orlando with their family, then came west to hook up with us. Tex and Barb are now in Quartzite and might come here when they leave there. We've taken Dave and Yolande to the local flea market, and to a place called Castle Dome museum. It is a 1864 mining town that somebody is completely restoring and we spent almost a whole day there. What a neat place with neat history. The unusual thing is that you can "touch" things. There are many old items, relics etc. lying around and you can pick them up. I have many pics from there that I hope to show you. Next Wednesday, a bunch of us are going to a small Mexican fishing village on a bus tour. We're told to bring a cooler because we will be able to buy some very large shrimp at a very reasonable price. Soon we'll be going to a place in California called Calexico, where there is a huge flea market, the largest in this area. We're also thinking of taking a jet boat ride up the Colorado River. Anyway, we're busy busy busy, so sorry for not updating more often. When night arrives, we're in bed early so we can go go go the next day.

ps - forgot to mention that today, Dave and I went to a tractor pull in the local town, lots and lorts of prople and stuff for families. Also, we're told that when we see them harvesting the local veggie fields, we just have to stop and ask, and they will give you some. I understand that just west of here are hundreds and hundreds of acres of carrots. Didn't know those were grown here. Finally, if you would like to see the planted fields, just install google earth, then go to Yuma, and zoom in just a little north of town and it will amaze you. Those fields go for miles and miles both ways.

January 24 2009 - 8PM 79deg F in Yuma

On Wednesday we went on a bus tour into a small Mexican fishing village El Golfo, on the Sea of Corte. That is the Western coast of Mexico. If you look over the water, 20 miles across the water is the Baja Peninsula, California. It is a 2 hour drive south into Mexico and we've never seen such poverty. All the way down, people are living in board shacks covered in anything they can find, even cardboard. This village has a beautiful beach, but there is just no pride, or money, to maintain anything and the whole place is littered in trash. They just drive anywhere they want, even the beaches, and drop their trash everywhere. BUT, WOW, what large shrimp they have. We bought shrimp about 6 inches long, and that's after the head has been removed. The price, $13.00 a kilo, what a deal. The best deal, however, was the 2Kg of halibut for $5.00 We wish we had bought more than we did. The fillets are about an inch thick and delicious. It was a lond day but well worth the $35.00 each for the bus trip. We had a full bus and had a ball on the way down and some of us slept on the way back. Also, a few days ago, Dave Dollemont and I, climbed a local mountain here and that was an experience. Today, Maggie and I went a mle down the road to a guy who sells vegetables every Saturday, along the road. I bought a bag (about 2 dozen), of tangellos (I think that's how you spell it), for 2 bucks. A head of Cauliflower, broccoli, a buck each, a large bunch of esparagus, 2 bucks, 3 green peppers for 1 buck, and all kinds of other veggies for a great price. By the way, if you ever get the chance to try a date shake, go for it. They're sold here and are they ever good. The dates are grown here at the Imperial Date Farm.  We had rain yesterday, just a few sprinkles and they're glad to get it.

January 29 2009 - 10:30PM 65deg F in Yuma

Hi all, things great here and the weather just getting better and better.  Even thought it might be 75 degrees here, there is zero humidity and I can wash the truck or work on the rig and not break a sweat, I love it. A bunch of us went to a California town near the Mexican border the other da. The town is Calexico, and yes it might as well be in Mexico because it is all Spanish and all Mexicans. It is a huge flea market with the biggest pile of junk you can imagine. They did, however, have a lot of fruit and vegetables. I bought some oranges bigger than a softball and wow are they ever delicious. I wish I had bought several dozen. The price was 5 for a buck. The veggies were also dirt cheap because they're grown right there. I have uploaded some pictures to MSN. Some have asked how to see them. I have given access to everybody in my address list and all you have to do is load your windows internet explorer and click on the IMAGES option on the web page that comes up. That will show you my picture albums. soon, I'll be going exclusively to that site to upload all my pictures. The reason is that the site I've been using, only allows me to upload one picture at a time, wheras the MSN site will allow me to do all I want in one shot. the only drawback is that it will only show you the most recent 200 pictures, but that should be enough. Pleas let me know if you have trouble seeing them.Take care everyone 

February 8 2009 - 3:40PM 63deg F in Yuma

Well, not a whole lot new to say. A few days ago, a friend and I climbed another mountain, and wow what a climb. I have added another album to windowslive.com  it's called another mountain climbed. What a view, it was the hardest climb I've ever done. The actual elevation was only 1500 ft., but it was all zig zag because it was so steep.  I've stitched some of the pics into a panoramic view, I hope you enjoy them. I've also added the option of being able to leave comments on the pics. We had rain here yesterday. Some of the folks who have been coming here year after year have said it was the hardest and longest rain they've seen in years. All the dry "washes" in the desert were raging with water, now I understand how people get stuck in them and drown. Also, the pass through the mountain into town had some major rock falls during the storm. apparently some cars were hit and damaged quite severly, although no one was injured. Those rock walls are straight up and you wouldn't even see a rock coming. We're still eating veggies like crazy, lots of stir frys, and lots of fruit. just an example, 8lbs. of california navels, $2.50, 8lbs. of grapefruit $2.00, 3 green peppers for $1.00, a head of lettuce, brocolli, or cauliflower, $1.00, a bunch of esparagus, $2.00, 3 tomatoes for $1.00 and on and on. I could live here every winter very easily exceot for the fact that it cost me $1700.00 in fuel to get here. Diesel now is $2.00 and gas is almost the same as diesel, although they expect it to go up again soon. Take care all,  we miss you, (but not the weather).