Time to Move On, New "Room" with a View

Tuesday, Feb. 28^th was our day to move, so without any argument, we moved. We packed up the rest of our stuff, had breakfast, Bill showered and I finished dusting the Suite.

I missed the sunrise this morning but I was awake 3 or 4 times before actually getting up out of bed. Once at 5:15, then 6:15, 6:30 and finally arose at 7. Part of that time, I must have dozed off but the other part was my mind wandering. Some of the best or better ideas come from our semi-slumber, right?

I grabbed the camera and the garbage and went out to snap the sun anyway. I was amazed at how many puddles were around the park, it didn’t seem to have rained that heavily yesterday. I met George out for one of his early walks.

 I took a couple of books back to the library and picked up another of J.A. Jances’, even though I haven’t read any of hers yet. They come on high recommendation. I have 3 to work through now. George and Suzie pulled out ahead of us so we said goodbye to the last of our Pilot Knob friends. So, with our friends gone, a cooler day and cleaner teeth, we have no reason to stick around any longer.

George directing Suzie with hand gestures

Nice and easy, Suzie

We were pulling out at 10:15 (AZ) with an approximate 3 ½ hr. drive ahead of us. 

All ready to go

Bon  Voyage from Pilot Knob RV Resort

We took Hwy 8 towards Yuma turning off to catch I-95 on which we stayed until we reached our destination of Lake Havasu. We were blown away by more desert scenery, now covered with lush green foliage.

Last time through here, the desert was dry and brown

 I believe this to be Castle Dome Rock Mountain?

The cacti disappear for a short time and then we see teddy bear cholla, then saguaro and another of our favourite, ocotillo. 

Teddy bear cholla making footprints on this hillside and ocotillo in front left corner

Driving through Quartzsite for the last time this winter put us in a melancholy frame of mind
Lots of great friends here and good times

Goodbye Quartzsite

Bill was blown away by this empty lot at La Mesa RV
where did all the rv's go?

Now, the area we are in, there aren’t many cacti of any kind in sight. The climate and elevation make all the difference in the world as to what we see out our rv windows.

Clemson settles in with my sweater, can't wait to see where we're going now

Lorne and Sue of A Place Called Away recommended this BLM spot at mile marker 195. Once we got to Parker, the scenery became even more beautiful. Definitely a must see.

We found Lake Havasu to be even more breathtaking than ever and can’t wait to drive back into town to explore in the next few days. 

Buttercups on the rocky cliffside?

Bill Williams River at Lake Havasu

Okay, so we drove past mile marker 194 but also unknowingly drove past the driveway into the free area. Woops! the turn off is between 194 and 195, we should have went by Lorne's coordinates.

saguaro cacti standing proud and tall, we've missed these

We got as far as m.m. 197 before we were able to pull in and turn around and then we easily turned in and found a spot facing the mountains and overlooking the highway, way down there. Some of these mountain ranges are so craggy and sharp, I can’t help but wonder if they have changed over the years or always been this way.

We have a nice spot for sure and happily have our Verizon connection BUT we are not happy that we do not have cell phone service AGAIN! This plays havoc with our plans and instead of staying here for 6 nights, we might stick around for a couple of days to sightsee and move on. Having a connection with home only be email is not a good feeling. I like my texting capabilities at least to keep in touch.

Such a beautiful home in Lake Havasu

Once we got set up, I set a timer to open Facebook so I can call my son on video chat and talk to the birthday boy. Nathan isn’t much of a talker but at least I hope to see him face to face. I just needed to remember to call two hours ahead of the time we set up.

My son, Patrick and grandson, Nathan

 The sun is shining, it is 68F as I type this and 4:25 pm. So, no other complaints other than the phone service. Bill reminded me of the time to call home before the timer went off so I had a nice little face to face chat with Patrick and Nathan. I can't express how wonderful it was to see their faces scrunched in on that screen on Patrick's phone. It made my day. 

Mountains to the southeast of us

Sunset tonight

 If any of you have 7 year old grand sons, you know how short their attention span is for talking on the phone. They have better things to do! So, this was perfect. Nate saw who he was talking to and actually stayed on the phone for a few minutes, sometimes making those award winning funny faces with Grandma. I miss them.

I had planned on having leftover chicken in a salad for supper and making Bill his chicken in a sandwich. Then I got a reminder on Facebook that it is Shrove Tuesday and since I had mini breakfast sausages in the fridge, we had pancakes and sausage instead! Yay!

Let's eat!

Now we’re full, I caught the sun going down out here in the middle of nowhere and Bill and I tried to see the International Space Station but the sky was too blue that we couldn’t see it. I hope to get another email tomorrow telling us where and when.

Our maple syrup from back home, made just down the road from our place on The Ridge

Inside now watching the 2^nd night of The Voice. Lots of excitement and laughter in our house tonight. When the hour is up, we’ll turn it off and read our books.

I hope you enjoy some of the travelling pictures today and had a great day.

Our view to the south

Thank you for reading today’s story and feel free to comment anytime.

Cloudy Day, Mexico for Teeth Cleaning, Banana Bread, Some Rain Showers, Laundry and a Special Birthday Back in St. Thomas

Monday, Feb. 27^th will be our last full day at Pilot Knob RV Resort for this winter. It is sad to leave it as we aren’t sure if it will offer us the services we want for next year. Although it is completely cloudy, it feels warm at 57F. Good day to sit tight if the rain is coming.

Thought I would catch the sunrise, but this is as far as it got before clouds moved in
also, because these leaves are closest, things are out of focus. 

Before I go any further, the special thing about today is that it is my youngest grandson, Nathan’s 7^th birthday. I thought the little gapher was turning 8 but was soon corrected! Happy Birthday Nate!

Tried to reach him today but couldn't connect 

This morning we had plans to head to Los Algodones for teeth cleaning so I was up before 7 and in the shower. We had a bowl of oatmeal and cream and left Clemmy in charge again for a few hours. Nice to know that Suzie is close if we were delayed for any reason, she would look after the little bum.

We were at the border within 15 minutes, paid the $6 parking rate and into Mexico. Today I made sure I wore running shoes so I didn’t get the offer to shine my shoes. We walked at a good pace through the first vendors. “No thank you, no thanks, got one, don’t need it”.

On 2^nd Street and Ave A we asked directions to 4^th and Ave B. Once we knew our destination it was easy to zip in and out without too many questions. We were headed to Dr. Eva Urena’s office. We had about a 20 min. wait and by 10:30 we were both done. We got the Traditional Cleaning for $35 which was great and we were happy with the results.

Always thing we don't need

I wanted to pick up a couple more gifts for back home so haggled with a young vendor until we both agreed on a price. I’m getting better at it now that I know how they work. Just tell them you’ll check others out and the price suddenly drops!

We didn't visit the Purple Store

It only took about 10 minutes to get through the line and back to our truck. When we got home it was starting to spit but Bill took a load of darks up to the laundromat and I started making some banana bread. I’ve got bananas to use up and Bill won’t eat them fresh.

Tomorrow we are moving so the Suite needs to be vacuumed and dusted before we close it up. On a rainy day we don’t regret the time it takes inside doing this stuff. We also have the hitch itch and are anxious to move on now that the decision has been made.

For some reason, maybe the rainy day, we were tired enough to crawl up on the bed for a snooze. Bill can usually drop off any afternoon but not me. It didn’t take me long and I was out like a light for about an hour. I guess I needed it. When I got up, it was still spitting a bit but mild so I headed up to the library to work on the puzzle again.

Supper tonight was leftover ribs from last night. I will reheat them in the microwave/convection whichever it uses for that. The banana bread turned out as far as I can tell, it looks and smells good at least! I’m sure Bill was taste test it for me tonight before bed.

I hope you’ve had a good day, whether you got rain, sun or wind. Every day our feet touch the floor is a good day. 

Thank you for reading today. Your comments are always welcome.

Plans Jiggle, Puzzle Time, Saying Goodbye, Smaller Happy Hour Group

Sunday, Feb. 26^th at Pilot Knob RV Resort bought blue skies and the winds are back. Not too keen on the windy day but sure can’t complain about the weather. At 12:00 we are already at 67F, that is 19.9C for those of you back home on the metric system.

Funny how we grew up with Fahrenheit and then were ‘forced’ to change in 1971, we swore we’d never catch on to this new-fangled way of things. Now, after being in the U.S. for 4 months I’m falling back into Imperial measure again, just in time for the return home!

No sunrise today but I wanted to share this picture of Clemson 'begging' for Bill's cone the other night
He couldn't sit any better if he tried!

I slept in this morning until 7:15 am and was happy that the odor that was overwhelming to me late yesterday afternoon and evening had dissipated. My nose must be really sensitive as Bill didn’t smell it as much as I did and it disturbed me quite a bit. It is as if something changed when he was working on the valve yesterday but we’re not sure what. The tanks were empty so what was the smell? Right now it is gone, thank goodness.

Bill was ahead of me with his coffee and his reading but I soon caught up. We knew our two friends were leaving today as well as the park neighbours to the north of us. Since we didn’t eat a big supper last night, I felt hungry earlier today and cooked up bacon and eggs inside around 9:30.

People to the north of us pulled out as well

That done and out of the way, we read our books after dishes until we saw Rob and Pat about ready to pull out. They are heading to Yuma Lakes, so not far at all, and we won’t see them until April back home. So, we moseyed over to say goodbye with hugs and wished Pat a happy birthday. Two hugs!

Rob doing the last minute chores

See you guys in Ontario if not before!

After they pulled out we said goodbye also to George and Rose Anne as they were ready to head off as well. The park is beginning to look empty! 

Many people are preparing for their journeys home, just like us.

George and Rose ready to go 

Bill wanted to finish his book so I went up to the library to work on the puzzle. Nothing had been done since I left it last night but I made great strides in adding to it.

 About an hour and a half later I headed home and Bill was ready to go for a drive.

Just us two left, us on the left and George and Suzie on the right

We were scheduled to leave tomorrow, since tonight is our last ‘free’ night with ROD so we took a drive back to the free camping BLM area behind Pilot Knob. There is a really nice wide open space back there that would suffice for a couple of nights and we’d have NO neighbours at all.

Another option would be to drive down the highway 2 miles to the Quechan casino and camp overnight in their back lot. We drove around but unless we were just staying for one night I wouldn’t be interested. On the RV side they are packed in like sardines so we would go to the truck side. Thinking about one night brought up a new jello configuration.

The idea of sticking around this area rather than moving on to our next destination was so we could go to Los Algodones, Mexico once more. Bill and I both want to get our teeth cleaned before heading home. Here, we are only about 5 miles from the border.

Before we got back to the park we thought it made more sense to pay for one more night here at Pilot Knob and get up early tomorrow and nip across the border. Get that out of the way and one more trip into Yuma to stock up on any groceries we’ll need for the week and we can head right up to Lake Havasu on Tuesday.

We stopped at the office on the way in to pay for a night

That planned the rest of the day was more relaxing, reading and walking. Until we get to Bullhead City it will be my last chance to swim but today the weather is not conducive to swimming. Bill settled in with his laptop and Google maps and between us planned our route after Ridgeview, the ROD park we’ll stay in for two weeks.

Yes, planning the trip home. It has a certain melancholy sound to it. We both know when we start that trek on Mar. 21 that once we reach Canada, we will feel an urgency to reach our home base. We’ve been told it will be the social life that is missed the most because we have been around more friends here on a regular basis than we ever do at home. We never thought we’d connect with so many new friends.

Strange how this cactus grows

At 1:30 I went for a short walk around the park, gearing up for the Ice Cream Social at 2. We joined up with George and Suzie and had our choice of one or two scoops of Vanilla, Chocolate or Strawberry and an optional cherry, nuts, sauce and/or whipped cream. All for $1 or $2.

My one scoop vanilla with strawberry and butterscotch sauce, nuts and a cherry
I took a banana up and made a split out of it. Yum!

Bill's 2 scoops chocolate with sauce and nuts. I think he ate the cherry already.
It is really creamy ice cream.

 I grabbed another book of Lee Childs from the clubhouse library shelves and we walked back just about in time for Happy Hour. A smaller one today with just the four of us. Sad but happy at the same time. Our friends have left us behind so we’ll carry on in their absence.

Happy Hour to the stragglers at Pilot Knob

George read my post from yesterday and handed me a small can of sauerkraut for our ribs tonight. Thanks George! He was cooking up two chickens on his Weber and the smell was drifting across to my nose, making me hungry. It smelled great! We just need to heat and brown our ribs on the Weber tonight with sauerkraut and a baked potato.

We had a great time chatting about plans, phones, internet and the friends we’ve made until it was time to say goodnight. The wind kept the air on the cool side and once the sun went behind clouds I knew I had to come home to warm up.

These folk are from Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

After supper (the ribs turned out really good by the way so thanks Donna) we took a walk with Clemson. 

There are some awesome toys out there

The boys returned home while I went on to the library. I have a puzzle to work on. Tonight, I was the only one there, no interruptions probably because there was karaoke going on in the other building.

got a lot done tonight

After about an hour and a half I buzzed Bill on the walkie to let him know I’m on my way. It’s dark out there after 7 and this park needs to replace a lot of their little street lights on the sites. I’m glad he has the blue outside lights on so I could find my way home.

I walked in and was hit once more by the odor from last night, can’t figure it out for the life of me. Garbage maybe? I opened a window and sat down to finish this post. No interesting tv tonight since the Oscars are on. Missing Madam Secretary again this week!

Across the road at the museum I noticed all the flags, including our Maple Leaf

So, the night is passing and I have enough life left in me today to read a few chapters of my book. Catherine Coulter’s Blind Side this time. Another page turner.

another pretty shot to the east tonight

Thank you for following us on this journey. I’m happy to read your comments, thank you.