Tent Show with Friends,Few More Deals, Two Happy Hours, Pictures from The Ridge and ISS

On Friday, Jan. 26^th Bill was up shortly after 6:30 and into the shower. Clemson and I lazed in bed until closer to 7. We had our coffee and tea and a bowl of Special K before giving Clemson his treat. We were on our way out the door by 7:45. Our second day at the Big Tent was about to begin.

The way we like all our days to start

I grabbed my laptop to finish reading in the truck and we pulled into the parking lot by the big yellow elephant water tanks at 5 minutes to 8.

Ken and Nancy drove in within 5 minutes. Our friends have never been here so this will be a treat, showing them what brings so many people here AND why it was so tough for them to get a campground in this area.

Nancy brought us a breakfast snack
Okay, so I had a bit of bread today, I couldn't say no

We were sitting waiting when we noticed Ken and Shirley pull up too. Their plan was to climb the Q mountain but decided to jiggle the jello and stop in for a quick walk through the show first. 

the water towers at the parking entrance

What a difference when we walked in today than last Saturday! There were no line ups anywhere and you could almost roll a bowling ball down the aisle at 9 am. Almost.

We walked slow, kind of letting them take the lead to stop and look at what they wanted. We chatted with a couple of vendors, they are all in good moods, anxious I’m sure for the end of tomorrow. 9 days is a long stretch to be standing on your feet greeting and selling. I hope they find it worthwhile so they come back next year to help keep the RV Show going.

A Dodge on the left, Ken's Chev on the right
Bill calls this picture "the rose between two thorns"

When we finished walking the tent, we checked out vendors on the outer sides. It was 11:30 and we decided to blow the budget and grab a bite to eat on the grounds instead of driving out in the rat race known as Kuehn to save a few bucks. It filled our tummies and we wandered into a couple of other tents to see what they had. I’m happy, I found what I wanted plus grabbed a few free pens again.

Last Saturday at the same time this grill was filled with chicken grilling

Ken and Nancy found some things they didn’t expect to find so left with a good experience and new rv stuff too. They followed us out and back to our site here in the desert. We wanted to show them how the ‘poor people live’. Ha ha. We may make a boondocker out of Nancy yet! They had left Molly at home so pulled out just after 2 to head back to their Ehrenberg campground. We had a fun day.

I got a kick out of this sign
They had signs that said Back Pain, Leg Pain, Neck Pain and then this

Bill doesn't appear to be impressed with the arms crossed
but what this pretty lady was trying to sell him
really was kind of cool

Nancy, on the other hand, was loving the leg massage

Bill and I for some reason felt pooped. Maybe because we got up earlier than normal or maybe just because having a wonderful time wears us out. No matter, we sat ourselves in our theatre seating chairs and reclined. In no time, we were out like a light. When I opened my eyes it was 3:03! Oh my, we’re missing Happy Hour! So, we got up, I made a specialty coffee, Bill poured a Coke and we took our chairs over to Tom and Deb’s.

Bridgette, if this tee wasn't so pricey, I would have brought it back for you
:) 

The conversation flowed, as usual, and things discussed today were food, beer, shopping, border crossing and the International Space Station. Never a lack of things to talk about. We try to take turns so no one dominates the chatter and that seems to work out very well for this group. It was around 5 or soon after that we eventually gathered our chairs and empty mugs and headed home. Such a long walk, don’tcha know!

Happy Hour One with Nancy and Ken

Clemson doing what he does better than anyone

Back home, neither of us felt too hungry, still feeling kind of full from lunch. No problem, we will eat when we’re ready. So, we fiddled around on our laptops and Bill with his new little camera/mock go pro/dash cam. At the right time, I warmed up the last of the chicken noodle soup on the stove for me and Bill made himself a peanut butter and cheese on a toasted bun. This worked just fine.

Happy Hour Two

Bill's flags are stately in the wind

George bought a bag of oranges and gave each couple one to taste

At 6:30 we had dishes cleaned up and ready to go outside to watch for the ISS (International Space Station). We had told our friends about a viewing tonight at 6:35 so they could see it as well. Why does it excite us so much? I don’t know but Bill and I enjoying watching it from beginning to end, whether it be visible for 2 minutes or the full 6 minutes. Tonight, we joined Deb and Tom to see if we could capture it on ‘film’.

Tom and Deb outside waiting for the ISS

This is what I got on my camera phone and I need to thank Deb (Celebrating the Dance) for her tip on how to do a collage. Yay! I love it! 

tonight's show

There were a few wispy clouds still in the sky so the ISS was not as bright as we’ve seen it, however, it was quite obvious what it was as it zipped across the night sky. A few tidbits for you:

Length is 72.8 m (239 ft), Width is 108.5 m (356 ft), Height is 20m (66 ft)

6 crew are on board right now and it is travelling at an orbital speed of 27,600 km/h/17,200 mph. It makes 15.54 orbits per day and it takes 92.65 minutes to orbit once

You can read more about it if you wish to Google it but that is a brief summary.

We start with a few soft strokes of a brush

We said goodnight and came inside for the evening. Bill plans on finishing his Tami Hoag book, Night Sins and I plan on getting a few more chapters read. 

And the day ends with this (no enhancements necessary)

This has been another wonderful day in paradise. I’m feeling so grateful today that we can live this life, sharing time with new and old friends in this warm winter weather. No complaints here! I hope you are enjoying your day as well. I'm going to leave this post with a few pictures my sister, Donna, sent from our summer place back in Ontario.

the gate entry

looking up the drive from the corner of the corral

The garden and bunky

the gravel parking area and Goose the Spruce under the green tent

Looking down the driveway to the county road
Hey, there is gravel showing!

Thank you for reading. I’d love to hear from you if you have the ti

me.