Snowbirds Going Home

The ladder to put up the pickle ball court lights came just in time.  Chuck put the lights up and we made sure they worked that night, on Thursday.  We left Rio Bend on March 28th, Friday, around 9am.  It had been extremely windy but was pretty much a thing of the past by Friday.  It was a beautiful 75 degrees and sunny on Friday.

We took Hwy 78 on the which turned out to be very hilly which made Frank a little car sick.  We stopped for lunch in Vidal about noon and I made grilled cheese sandwiches and we had the rest of the potato salad.  We pulled into Mesquite, NV at the Oasis RV park which is affiliated with the Casa Blanca Casino.  What a mess.  We were to go to the Casino hotel to register, which really wasn't really for big rigs 40' long towing a car.  They told us to drive right up to the front door.......you know where they have bell boys and where you load and unload? !!  HA  We wouldn't have fit and they would have be furious with us.  So we parked in a near parking lot.  I walked over to the hotel to check in and find out where the Oasis RV Park is.  I'll write up a park review later.  After finally getting security to help us find the park, we arrived early enough to have dinner and relax before bed.

We found out they gave us an rv site already given to someone but we couldn't do anything about it so just stayed put.  It was also very hard to get into the rv park because we couldn't make a left-hand turn so had to go up and turn around and then come back.......those that drive a 40' motor home towing, understand the problem of just "turning around".  U-turns are impossible.

We decided to go out for dinner so found a Jack in the Box.  Tummies full and parked for the night, we watched a little TV and got to bed early.  Early for sure, we had a time change so it was an hour later than normal for us.

March 29th we travel from Mesquite, NV to Nephi, UT where we stayed at a really nice RV park that looked like a former KOA.  Mind you, we are now at 5100+' in elevation.  We arrived around 3:15 so decided to eat leftovers in our frig and not go anyplace.  There really wasn't any place to go.  It was cold, 56 decrees, and windy.

Sunday morning, the 30th, we lingered around the park for a little while as we only had a little more than 100 miles to do.  We watched our favorite Sunday morning TV show, had our coffee and tea and breakfast.  On the road about 9:30 with the wind at our back this time, yay!

I did a little napping and worked a puzzle.  We found our destination, Charlies Service, in Sunset, UT, where we are getting another air conditioner (not changing out the one we have but getting another one), installed on the roof.  We pulled into their parking lot and plugged in and will wait to talk to them in the morning.  Hopefully, they will get the work done in a couple days, however, every day we sit here is rent free.

It's not warm here.......we left So. Cal. on a 75 degree day and arrived here on a 37 degree day and it's snowing!  It snowed even more than this photo shows.

Sunset, UT Charlies parking lot

Tonight will be the Amazing Race for me and he's still glued to the basketball tournament which I assume is on yet tonight.

I'll post another soon.

On The Road Again

Tomorrow morning we will be heading home to Washington state.  Bright and early in the morning we'll head north through Utah and just north of Salt Lake City, we'll be getting a new airconditioner (a second one) installed on top of the motor home.  The one we have just doesn't cut it for the hot days we've encountered over the last few years.

It's time.  The temps are getting higher and our work is done.  The park is emptying out fast now and I've taught my last Zumba class this week.  Chuck is done with all his assignments, too.  The last was to put lights up on the pickle ball courts so they can play at night when it isn't quite so hot.  

I'll try to keep you posted on our travels as we move along.  The temps will probably drop a lot for us so I"ll have to dig out my jeans and long sleeve shirts.

More to come........

Rio Bend RV Park El Centro, CA

Well, things cooled down and we decided to go back to Rio Bend RV Park.

We arrived back early February and got right back into the routines we had before except with Steve's permission, Chuck got to work basically alone.  The problems he encountered made us miserable the first time here.  And my Zumba class resumed.  The ladies begged Steve, the manager, to get me back.  They missed the class so much.

So in February, there was the Valentine's Dinner which was fun and lots of the usual activities like ping pong, pickle ball, shuffleboard, exercise class in the pool, just to mention a few.

March has been a hoot!  Starting with Mardis Gras and the parade, which the Zumba class and I participated in.  There's pub night with music almost every Saturday night and every Friday is the fish fry.  The 15th was the NAF Air Show with the Blue Angels flying over the park, the 16th a fabulous pool party under the new portico.  A good time spent with many of our dear friends that we met this year.  Of course, the St. Patty's Day dinner was great again.  The corned beef being awesome!  Yesterday we had a farewell dinner and luau at the Ramada where we were allowed to BYOB.  It was free and they came out in droves!  Many didn't get any food as they ran out.  Not a good thing but Julia did her best to estimate how many would participate.  When you say FREE to a senior, they'll be there!  Bet there were close to 200 people.

This next week will be my last Zumba fitness class on Tuesday.  There'll be a last park update meeting on Monday, last fish fry on Friday.  We hope to leave on Thursday.

On the street where we lived

Our motor home middle left beyond the parkmodel home

Our football Sunday with friends

Football Sunday with friends Rich and Bren

Bren and Chuck

one of the beautiful sunsets here in El Centro.  Across the way, those mountains is Mexico

These last few days, I've been busy making jewelry, learning some new techniques and getting that done since I can't bead on the road.  I did put together a 750 piece puzzle called Impossibles; which it seemed to be but I accomplished it.  It had no border pieces, extra pieces thrown in and little fish all the same but different sizes swimming every which way.  A puzzle of 750 can usually be done in a few hours for me but this one took 10 days!  Glad that's done.

Chuck has been working on lighting for the pickle ball courts and is hoping he can finish it all up before we leave.  From here we head north up through Utah stopping near Salt Lake City, to get a new AC unit put on the roof.  It's expensive but much needed.  From there, we'll be heading to the Seattle area.

This year, I have my usual follow-up appointments with my family practitioner, oncologist and mammograms.  Chuck is having a hip replacement we hoping sometime in May and not much later.  We hear it's a fairly easy surgery to recuperate from having had.  We sure hope so.  After seeing the kids and grandkids, we hope to spend some time at the ocean this summer where it's a bit cooler.

So this should bring you up-to-date.