Houston we have a problem!!!!

HE SAID:  Our shuttle tried to jettison from the mother ship today AGAIN!!!. We thought we had this dolly thing above figured out. But after having lunch in Houston, we went back to the car and noticed the driver side tire was almost off the dolly. We have made a decision that we are going to trade our Scion XB in for a flat tow car. It has to be easier then the stupid dolly. It was pouring rain and cold in Houston and was not fun having to put the straps back on the car. 

We stopped in New Mexico Monday night, then just outside San Antonio Tuesday night. We have had three long days of driving. It is nice to be in some wetter states, but the cold sucks, although I know I can't complain. I have now been in three states that I have never been before to add to my bucket list.  

We left very warm and sunny Phoenix on  Monday morning, with the goal to be in New Orleans by Thursday. As of tonight we are just outside Lafayette parked beside a swamp (thank goodness it is February or we would have a camping experience my kids and I know too well that we did in Manitoba next to a mosquito pond. )

Staying in rest stops and Walmart's isn't too bad, but having electricity only with the generator is hard on charging 6 Apple products.  Our first night in New Mexico at a Walmart got us off guard as all the grass around the RV had a ton off burrs..  see below.

The poor dogs were covered in them and it took us most of the night trying to get them out. Libby wouldn't do "her business" until they were all out.  Pat keeps stepping on them on the  carpet. They are hard to see they are so small.

Arizona rest stop

SHE SAID:  

One lesson learned from the burr experience - don't walk around an RV which is lived in with dogs who have walked on dry, burr infested grass - ouch!  I am still feeling the prickles on my thumbs, as well as my feet when they decide to try to hitchhike from the carpet to somewhere else.  I can't imagine the pain the dogs were in as it took us over an hour to get them picked out from their paws and beards.  I think that now, two full days later we are coming to an end of them inside.

It was nice to leave Phoenix to continue our adventure - we had been getting into a routine there.  None of that!!  Day one was still very warm and dry - moving through desert landscape.  In the above picture of John on the rocks (a new drink name, maybe?) was very interesting, as the rocks looked like they were from Lord of the Rings, and would rise out of the ground and start talking and moving.  We drove, arriving in Las Cruces, NM and had the burr fiasco at the Walmart parking lot...note to self...not all grass is alike.

We left pretty early Tuesday and drove to a rest stop near Kerrville, Texas.  It was fairly quiet and very clean, equipped with a dump site for the RV for the inevitable dumping activity - which we took advantage of.   I love the internet, and don't know how people did this without it - must have had a lot more surprises - there's been enough with it!  I can have the location for stopping, with the help of a book we picked up in Yuma, but also a quick search will give reviews and the best area to park in the rest area.  During the day, I did drive on two occasions, mostly to break up some of the monotony.  I was a bit concerned, due to my mono vision and the length of the RV pulling the car.  There were no big cities, so I went with it.  Not hard to drive at all, but when a truck passes, its quite the pull - I guess I'll get used to it.

Today we set off and made it to another rest stop - my googling isn't 100% as this one is 'closed' but there's about 10 rigs and another RV parked along with us.  It rained all day, was cool, and we passed through both San Antonio and Houston - I did not drive today!  I appreciate John will take on that stress, or I guess we'd still be Lethbridge at the Bridge View campground.  

Tomorrow is New Orleans - as we've agreed not to pay for a campground until Florida, I had to work a bit harder for our 'Freebie' as it's almost Mardi Gras.  I have located a casino that allows free overnighting, this one doesn't require a check in or  require gambling - sounds like we will be able to park then take part in the pre- Mardi Gras activities before our Florida time and my run home for a Dr. appointment.  

There she BLOWS!!!!

HE SAID:One of the problems of having a toilet on board the RV is that you also have to carry around your own septic holding tank.  Unfortunately this holding tank can only hold so much of your "stuff".  For some reasons like Robin Williams above I have had too many "that isn't where that stuff is supposed to go!, having just experienced another mistake in our current RV park. You'd think I would have this figured out by now considering we have been in the motorhome for about 4 months. The issue I have been trying to correct is the "level" panel in the RV doesn't register how full our tank is and we have been using guess work as to when to empty it. I have now bought three devices that where supposed to work to clean out the tank so I could get a proper reading. Each device hasn't worked and resulted in unwanted product all over the ground.  Just bought another one device and I think i better wait till I'm in the middle of nowhere to try again as to not offend my neighbours with any"what just died out there!"

Sedona Arizona

Sedona Arizona

I have been really enjoying life in Phoenix with the exception of getting a Shingles like rash all over my next and face which resulted in two doctor visits.  We have enjoyed visits with Jim and Jean Benson and Vaughan and Sherry Smith. Because of my not feeling all that great we have only done about 1/2 the exploration that we usually do. Had a great drive to Sedona but refused to buy the "healing crystals" for 15 bucks!!! On the way home from that town we stop at Montezuma monument which is an awesome federal park that has ancient Native American housing built right into the side of a mountain...

 In Phoenix we went to the "Hole in the Wall". Talking to our friends, it appears not many have even seen or heard of it. A hole in the side of a hill that the Natives used to tell the seasons. It had a great view of the city. Pat's depth perception didn't want to go through the wall, so I took the dogs through myself. 

Hole in the wall.

Our latest adventure took us to the Museum of Musical Instruments. I know it doesn't sound that exciting, but they have thousands and thousands of musical instruments from all over the world and it is designed in such a way that you can go from country to country to see and hear. We were there for three hours. 

We were planning our next adventure to Tennessee. After looking at the weather they have been having, it was too hard to say good bye to Arizona and there plus 25 C or 75/80 degree days. We will be heading to Florida via furthest south highway to stay as far away from the snow and ice!!. 

She Said:

Not sure where to go with this post!  It really has be a different couple of weeks, due to Johns shingles and cold sores.   Much more just sitting around, TV, reading, walks with the dogs and the odd outing.  One afternoon when John was having his post getting up, pre bedtime snooze I went to a movie alone.  This was a pretty big step for me, haven't done this since I was in my nursing course (I do remember that - movie was Pappillion - 1976 - in Edmonton) but was getting pretty antsy, so rather than committing a crime I went to the nearby theatre.  The movie was Vampire Academy - haven't read any of the books and don't know why I picked it - but me and the other two people there enjoyed the matinee.  Sometimes some space is good for us :) (read Johns first comments- I won't go there).  We really haven't seen much of Pheonix, but now that John doesn't look like he's contagious we will be doing some more exploring this next week!

I've had a lot of time to think about decisions we've made this past year, and so far I feel, for the most part, that hitting the road has been awesome.  We've had lots of time to wind down and really enjoy the moments.  The places we have visited have been beautiful and not having to worry about getting back to work with no time frames enhances the experience.  On occasion some deep breathing has been necessary, but that, I think, is to be expected. (including my no making John delete the pictures of me he chose to pose with this entry)

As John said we decided that going to Tennessee would be a bad choice - it has been around zero  with snow there, so why would we go?  We will be keeping to the warm side (hopefully) and travelling highway 10 all the way to Florida - we will be at New Orleans which has always been on my bucket list.  Once we get to Florida, I will be flying back to Alberta for a Dr appointment while John and the dogs sit at the beach and enjoy the weather.  On the bright side for my quick home trip, Heather and I will be going to an Air Supply concert in Edmonton.  

And to end this post...CANADA ROCKS!!!  KEEP UP THE AWESOME OLYMPIC PERFORMANCE!!

Is that You???

Gilbert Temple - Open house

He Said:We had a great visit with our niece Emily and Rocky and kids in Nogales. We went to church with them. It was different as they ran one meeting in both Spanish and English. Too bad I am only on lesson three of my Rosetta Stone Spanish lessons.  After visiting them in their home we headed off to Phoenix. We thought it was too close to Tucson, so kept driving. Ended up in Casino Arizona’s parking lot for free. We were actually turned away from Wal-Mart…go figure. Anyway. We are now in Desert Shadows RV Park in North Phoenix. It has all the bells and whistles, which is awesome. Who’d thunk that you can still get TV with an antenna?   Made contact with my first missionary companion Kent Lee. He is a Lawyer here and we had a visit in our motor home and at their house. It was great catching up.  Here is our picture taken at the LTM (the previous MTC). And here is us today.  Thus the name of our blog. I think I have changed the most. Kent’s wife Jeannie couldn’t believe it was me.

Before and after 38 years

Besides lots of shopping we did make it to the Gilbert Arizona Temple opening. What a beautiful temple….I was just sad they didn’t have cookies like the BC and Calgary temple openings.  Oh well.

We are going to be here in Phoenix for the next few weeks. Haven’t even begun to see the sights here.  More people to visit here too!

Outside the Gilbert Az Temple

She said:

Formatting this blog after John has written his part is perhaps become one of my biggest challenges!  It will come, I am sure.  Last Sunday was a very pleasant day, meeting with my niece Emily for the first time in many, many years and meeting her husband and children.  I thoroughly enjoyed it, I must say.  Emily has 5 children, two teenagers whom she adopted when they were younger and three - a set of twins who are around three, and a 10 month old baby.  Lacey, one of the twins, has cystic fibrosis - she is very sweet - it truly warmed my heart when she was in her dads arms, and whenever there was music, she got a beautiful smile on her face - she also responded whenever he or her mom whispered in her ear (we were at church).  Her brother Logan is a little power house - very active and full of energy, a typical 3 year old guy - he got into our RV and was ready to hit the road with us - he sat in the passenger seat, looked at Emily and said his goodbyes to her.  I do love that age group :)  Lacey is the baby, and is a beautifully baby, very well behaved while we were there.  The teenagers were typical teenagers, said their hellos, and went to their games :)   They live in Nogales, Az, which is right on the Mexican Boarder - Rocky teaches at the elementary school there.  It was interesting that when leaving Yuma people warned us how dangerous the Nogales boarder is; and in Nogales were was asked what was it like being in Yuma where the boarder was dangerous.  I will have to research that one!  

On leaving Nogales, we thought we would drive partway to Phoenix, but ended up driving it all, arriving around 9.  It is the latest we have driven.  After being told there was no room at the Walmart, we did go to a nearby Casino - I think I liked being there better as there was all night security driving around on golf carts.  We arrived at this RV park, about our 3rd choice as some of the less costly places were fully booked.  WHO KNEW???  I think perhaps we will have to learn to plan better than we have been so far.  It is a lovely park, with lots of grapefruit and orange trees, in full fruit everywhere.  We have picked from some of the trees that are on vacant lots - yum!  The people here are extremely friendly, from all over Canada and the US.  The scotties have certainly made us memorable to the local residents.  There are bunnies around the areas, which put them both in to full Terrier alert - ears and tails up, almost dancing in their effort to get at them.  We will be here for another 2 weeks before moving on.

As John said, we have met with his old mission companion and his wife - the Lee's.  they are very nice people and were kind enough to have us over for dinner.  We met a couple of their daughters, who were lovely!  We also made the trip to Jim and Jean Bensons place - they are in a phenomenal site, surrounded by a golf course, lots of green and grass!  We went for dinner and did some catching up.  For the next week we are going to get more focused(?) on seeing some of the Phoenix sights.  If anyone has a favourite place here, please let us know - open for suggestions!

Kent and Jeannie Lee

A week in the Boonies

Outside Yuma ArizonaH

HE SAID:

Well we finally did it!!!!  Thanks to the wonderful help of Dave and Twila we learned an amazing amount about "dry camping/boon docking/living off the grid...etc etc..." In other words RVing without electricity, water or sewer. We did have internet all day, but no satellite TV (sat dish in picture...lol) except for about an hour a day when the generator was on. Thanks to Dave and Twila who have an awesome RV (below) they have an amazing Solar power system, that gives them power all day long...I was so jealous!!. What was cool is that they were able to record the three part show "Klondike" which Fred Hillyer, who is married to our neice Peggy, was in. We hung out in their RV at night watching the series and having great treats.   I won't lie, I did miss the full service sites, but paying only 40dollars for two weeks was dirt cheap. I am officially ready for Walmart camping

 

Twila and Dave were patient with us and they were great hosts showing us around Yuma  . I couldn't believe all the great produce that was in the area. Getting veggies from the roadside markets in the middle of January was amazing. They also took us over to Mexico...You actually walk across the border after paying 6 bucks for parking which just about everyone does. So many people do, that it took us 90 minutes to get back to the USA. 

We also met up with Bas and Jean Visser (our son in law Patrick's parents). They have a place in Wellton just outside of Yuma. There was a place just down the street from them for sale and Pat and I are still discussing if we should bite the bullet and have a place for every winter without having to drive a 30 ft motorhome! 

We are now on our way to our niece Emily's place south of Tucson Arizona. We are in a full service site tonight with the net and cable but one night is the price we paid for two weeks in Yuma!!! Argh!!! 

SHE SAID:

Yuma was a great experience. It reminded me of camping with my parents, but in a much nice place to sleep, as in the trailers they had, I was usually relegated to the bed that was made from the dinette. We were camped in 'Coyote Flats'.  In the first 1/2 hour a fellow came over and told us that the coyotes would basically eat the scotties, that we would be bitten by either rattlesnakes or scorpions, and that burros would tromp through the campsite over night.  I shared with him that Lethbridge also had coyotes and rattlesnakes, and that we would most likely survive - I must admit I was a bit worried about the dogs, but after the 2nd night, not even hearing any howling, I figured that all was well.  As John said - Twila and David were great in helping us figuring out some of the finer details of  boon docking - I really did enjoy it, and having space and less people around was a nice break.  It was a beautiful desert area, lots of dirt, and cactus, but beautiful sunsets...I am sure the sunrises were nice, but slept in through those.

During the week we were motivated to get even more baskets and get better organized than we were - this was time well spent, as during our drive today, we had less rattling in the back as we drove.   I think that Mexico was the highlight of the week for me - I saw the optometrists, advertising cheap glasses - I went into a store, asked about the costs, and came out with a pair of progressive lens, new frames, for $120 - that also included a vision check.  I did just get a pair of computer/reading glasses at home (cost a lot more that that), but they are hard to wear in stores as they were not 'walk around' glasses.  I was asking about the dental there, and have heard the dentists are fantastic, and again, very inexpensive - tempting to go for that as an options, rather than Bank benefits. I probably will continue with my Canadian dentists, however anyone that knows me, knows I am totally motivated by a great deal.  I also negotiated for a new chain, but will have to slow down on that as we are now RETIRED.  

That is now starting to feel more real - no work for a month now. and we still aren't heading home!

BORDER TO MEXICO

Done with Vegas!

Vegas Chocolate Factory

Yummmmm Chocolate right from the Factory!!!

 HE SAID:We continued our efforts to do Vegas on a budget using Groupon and Restaurants.com. We also tried to find some cheap entertainment  like visiting the chocolate factory in Vegas. The only thing missing was Lucy and Vivian working on the assembly line stuffing their faces with chocolate....funny thing was the assembly line above was dropping chocolates on the floor and they were just sitting there...What a waste.

We got a great price on visiting the Atomic Testing Museum and found it very interesting. Both Pat and I were amazed at how long they continued testing atomic bombs long after World War II. Of course they did most of the testing in and around Vegas.

Drop Cover and kiss your ......goodbye!!

We wish our suite  had a kitchen, but we did our best eating as cheap as possible. Some of the places were sketchy. This sign was from a  pizza place we ate at.... they spelled Sauce wrong all three times....BTW the pizza was really great here, but when the cook starting smoking in the back at an open door, it was time to go (we were just finishing thank goodness).

Last picture after Pat's comments reminded us of "Danger Will Robinson".

SHE SAID:

Am I getting too old for Vegas??? No yearning for the night life with us on this trip - other times we have stayed out late, walking the strip - on this trip we walked the strip once, stayed pretty close to the hotel, other than our venturing out for museums, food, etc.  Oh, right, etc = shopping, and that we really reigned ourselves in on this trip. We did do the outlet malls, and Fashion Show malls, along with Burlington and Ross/TJ Maxx.  No awesome buys, as we are so limited with space!  

I did really enjoy the Atomic Museum - I had no idea the testing went into the 1990's.  My memories consist of my young childhood, with school teaching the 'stop, drop and cover' scenario'...just in case, and...'don't look at the light!  Brought back a 'gone era' - hope so, anyway!  Leaving Las Vegas became a longer experience than anticipated as we had to get the dogs, drive to Pahrump to pick up the RV (it was about 1/10 cost of Vegas to leave for the week) and then to head to Yuma - which took us right back through Vegas.  

We drove until about 4 and decided to call it a day, leaving us near Needles, Ca - which is right at the Arizona boarder. We filled up with gas at $4.19/gallon - only to drive another three miles across the Arizona side and gas was $3.19/gallon - an expensive lesson - good thing we were nowhere near empty for that one!  We parked, set things up, with a few glitches in getting the SATTELLITE TV running - caveman John came out again, placing the receiver on the roof, allowing RECEPTION! I am not even sure that he watched TV last night - it was the comfort of knowing it was there, I guess. I won't even get into the lack of WIFI :)  

Today we hit the road around ten - the time keeps jumping around - it felt like 9.  On our continuing journey to Yuma, we passed through Quartzsite where there is a giant RV show going on - it seemed more like a trade show to me, surrounded by RV sales.  During our run around the perimeter of the show, we actually bumped into Jeanne and Bas Visser (Beths in laws)  We had talked a few weeks ago and planned on getting together sometime while we were in the area, but certainly did expect to just bump into them - small world, that's for sure!   We are hoping to see them in the next few days.  After a quick stop for our lookeyloo,  we pressed on to Yuma.   Tonight we pulled into a very crowded RV park in Yuma, not the nicest place we've stayed - the sites are very close together and the garbage was a mile walk to get to.   We have made plans to meet up with Twila and David (Dianas in laws) for a Boon-Docking Boot Camp.  They have been full time RVing for over a year now, and have promised to share some tips with us - looking forward to an education.  We do need some help, but we are having fun!

Vegas Boneyard!!!

HE SAID:

Got to Las Vegas last Saturday and staying in the Grand Chateau Marriot. Just a block off the strip across the street from Planet Hollywood. A nice place, but not the nicest time share that we've stayed at. Room is small with no stove or dishwasher or washing machine. Bed is nice though. Anyway so what to do in Vegas on a retirement budget. Can't believe the price of shows and even eating out when you don't get a pay check every two weeks. Even playing the penny slots still feels like throwing money out the door. Anyway Pat found this gem of a place called the Neon Light boneyard. Where many neon signs from Vegas's past have come to rest. We took the one hour tour and it was really interesting. I recommend doing the tour after dark to get the full "lighted" version. Some of the signs go back to when Vegas first got its first lit sign. The Stardust sign below....their original one.

This one on the right is a sign from the outside of Vegas on the way to Los Angeles. Gamblers used to leave $20 bucks with the attendant so they had money to get home on.  As well, when leaving the place provided free aspiring for the trip home and the amount of aspirin they gave away was huge.










SHE SAID:
And to think I told John I didn't have much to comment on - he really put me to shame on his short thoughts. We arrived in Vegas on Saturday, dropping the dogs off at a 'doggy daycare' place, which is run by a guy who owns 2 condos - one for dogs - one for himself.  We can watch the girls on a camera whenever we want to and I am amazed at how often I tend to check in to see my dogs sleeping - wow, the excitement in Vegas is not ending for us this week!

We've done a bit of shopping along with a lot of walking around the strip. One thing that there is no shortage of in this city is the walking that can be accomplished just by looking around.  As John said, the room here is small compared to what we have been spoiled by through RCI - I am surprised by the Marriott, but how much can I complain when I consider how little this cost us - 'white whine' at its finest, I guess!  I have been trying to use Restaurant.com certificates that I have had for ages, as well as a few Groupons that John picked up to make our dollars stretch a bit further - seems to be working.

Last night, after the Neon tour, t we went to an Italian place at another Marriott, using a certificate from Restaurant.com - I have used them before and never had an issue. At this restaurant, the waiter had 'a thing' about it - I hope that was the cause, as we had terrible service.  Food was good, but everything we asked for was basically tossed in front of us, and no water refills - even the cheque was wrong, we pointed it out and it came back correct, but tossed onto the table in front of us.  WOW - we were either being judged harshly and found lacking or we had truly the worst waiter in Vegas - either way, he could have gotten a better tip out of us, than what he received.

I am really having a great time - starting to get too relaxed, if that's possible, and the 'I never nap' attitude has started to change slowly.  Heading out tonight to a show, and using a coupon for a two for one dinner - you certainly can call me a cheapskate, as well :)

Nothing but Sand and Brothels!!!

HE SAID:In our many travels around Pahrump, especially today as we toured a ghost town called Rhyolite Nevada, we keep on seeing lots and lots of sand and Brothels. Not sure of the correlation. Most of the Brothels are in the middle of nowhere.  Nothing like being able to hide that you are visiting a sex house in the desert. 

In the last few days we visited Red Rock Canyon. It was a beautiful park and thanks to our National Park pass from Death Valley we got in free. Pat and I couldn't believe how many rock climbers there were. I was hoping that they all had sharp knives just in case they got there hand stuck in a crevasse.  (can't forget that movie. ). As well met lots of Canadians today in that park. All of us enjoying the warm Nevada air.

Red Rock Canyon

 Back to today, this was
our Pit Stop. Was a great
way to get us to stop (was
right beside the Brothel.)
Area 51 was not even near hear.

Rhyolite Nevada - a Ghost town

This was a cool place. Back in the early 1900's this used to be a gold mine town with up to 10 thousand people and now of course no one. 

This last picture is so out of place. Someone in Holland wanted this displayed in Death Valley but they wouldn't let him, so they put it right beside the Ghost town. This is a display of the "Last Supper" ...Pat is in the place of Jesus.  The statues are like cast plasters with humans as the model.



SHE SAID:
Well, live and learn...I seriously thought the white statues were ghosts, symbolizing the ghost town - I don't think I would have jumped into the shot inside one of the forms, had I realized it was the Last Supper - guess I should read the signs more.  I didn't have a clue what John meant when he said I was in front of Jesus - I thought I was just visiting the middle 'ghost' for a fun picture!    The ghost town was interesting - it was in existence for only 12 years - was touted as the West Chicago, with it's own stock exchange - dies because the gold mine promised, wasn't producing as promised - seems to be a trend in turn of the century Nevada.  On the way back, we stopped in Beatty, at the Subway. Just as we pulled in a School Bus pulled up with a load of students - John moved pretty fast, but we still had to wait for our sandwich to get made.

As John mentioned, there was a number Brothels in our travels today -started me thinking about the women who work there - are they there by choice, or are stories seen on TV real, and there are some very sad situations inside.  I think they all are pretty sad situations, but is anyone there kidnapped or from another country seeking a better life?   Then my mind wandered to Mob connections - all not very happy thoughts!  Not at all the kind of ranches we are familiar with in Alberta.

On a happier note - at Red Rock Canyon yesterday I did speak with someone from Orangeville, Ontario, my mothers home town.  I was fun to talk about the area, though he's been there only about 15 years, so doesn't know anyone in her side of the family.

Getting ready to pack it up for Pahrump as we leave for Las Vegas tomorrow. We are dropping the dogs off at a place with on line cameras so we can watch them anytime we want, while we are exploring (shopping most likely) the city.   No real plans for next week while in Vegas - time will tell and I look forward to what will unfold!