Borrego Springs, California

Our cruise will be leaving from the port in Long Beach, California tomorrow. The drive from Yuma is about five hours, so I decided to investigate hotels with park and cruise rates when I booked the trip.

I found a Quality Inn in Long Beach for $140 which included tonight’s stay plus parking for the seven days we’ll be gone and shuttle service to the port. Parking at the port is about $20 a day, so we decided to leave a day early just in case we would encounter any problems on the way.

The hotel is fine, although the first room they gave us had ants crawling on the wall. Our second room is good. The parking lot is not very big, and the spots are quite narrow. We have our full size pickup truck. Kevin did a great job squeezing it into a spot, but I sure hope we don’t come back to find it is all banged up. Hopefully, before we leave tomorrow many of the cars will be gone, and he can find an end spot to park in while we’re gone.

Since we left a day early, I decided we should drive to Long Beach via Borrego Springs. I had read about large metal sculptures in the desert, and I wanted to see them.

Our first stop was the visitor center where a very nice lady gave us a map. She also suggested stopping at the visitor center at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. We saw these fan palm trees. I had no idea they looked so bushy if they aren’t trimmed.

We watched an informative movie about the seasons of the desert. I was excited to hear that the park had 600 big horn sheep. Since we’ve been fulltiming, I’ve been in search of the elusive big horn sheep. A ranger told us that people were reporting seeing them on one of the trails, Unfortunately, it was a three mile hike, and my foot was hurting, plus we didn’t really have the time, so we didn’t do the hike. I did see these guys on display in the museum.

There are over 130 life size metal sculptures in the desert landscape surrounding the city of Borrego Springs. The sculptures were commissioned by Dennis Avery (his family owns the Avery Company that make labels and office supplies) who owns quite a bit of land in the area. The artist is Ricardo Breceda. There are all kinds of mythical and prehistoric creatures.




My favorite was the 350 foot serpent. The two tale sections actually are across the road.

Most of the sculptures were life size including horses, an elephant, camels, turtles and quite a few others. I also liked the dinosaurs. It’s amazing how he made the metal look like scales and fur.

I did see some big horn sheep, but they weren’t exactly the ones I was looking for.

We left Borrego Springs and headed west on a road that went over the mountains with gorgeous views. There are way more mountains and desert in California than I ever imagined.

The closer we got to Long Beach, the worse the traffic got. I’m sure glad we don’t have to deal with the traffic on a regular basis. They must have a law that allows motorcycles to drive between cars in the lanes. The first time a motorcycle came zipping between us and the car in the next lane was quite unnerving.

After checking into the hotel, we headed to the ocean. We took a nice long walk along the beach and watched the sunset.

Supper was at Del Taco, a new fast food restaurant for us. Can’t say I was all that impressed. I doubt we’ll eat there again.

Today was a fun day. We’re looking forward to several more on the upcoming cruise. We’re going to take a break from the internet while we’re gone, so see you when we get back.

After writing this entire post with all the pictures in LiveWriter, it wouldn't post to Blogger. I've been using LiveWriter for years, and really like it. I'll be really bummed if it doesn't work anymore. After redoing the post in Blogger, I remember why I don't like creating posts there. The spacing is off, but I'm done messing with it.


Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Happy Birthday Kevin

Today is Kevin’s birthday, and not just any birthday. I can now call him an old man as he is turning 60. I still have a few years to go before I join him. He is now eligible for more senior discounts, but still has to wait two years for that wonderful national parks senior pass.

We’ll be celebrating by playing some pickleball and hosting an afternoon gathering with friends. Snacks and beverages will be served, and I’m sure we’ll have a great time.

The bigger celebration begins on Saturday when we drive to Long Beach, California. On Sunday we board the Carnival Miracle for a six day cruise that will take us to Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas.

We’ve been keeping quite busy. Here’s a picture of the group we celebrated Thanksgiving with. We had a delicious potluck supper outside on a beautiful sunny day. Brad and Martha are on the left, and John and Janie are on the right. Kevin and I are in the middle.

Last week there was a free pickle ball clinic with a gentleman who is a gold medal winner on the senior circuit. Bet you didn’t know there was such a thing. We learned a lot. Here’s a picture of Wanda, Dick and myself practicing dinking. We are in the back row facing the camera.

We’ve been on two hikes with the hiking group here at the resort. I’m happy to report I survived both hikes without injury. These hikes were rated moderate which means we hiked around in the desert including climbing some hills with loose rocks and gravel. I took my time and was careful to not slip and fall.

On top of some of the hills, people have placed crosses and memorials. Some people have even had their ashes buried up there. This is the marker of one grave where ashes are buried. It’s hard to see, but the dates show that Heath was only 26 years old.

Here we are with Martha, Janie, myself, Kevin and Brad near the end of the first hike.

The second hike took us to an abandoned gold mine in the hills. Just a big hole in the ground. Here we are next to the hole.

On Tuesday we went to downtown Yuma for a street market and lunch at the Prison Hill Brewery with John and Janie. Another beautiful day with good food, beer and friendship.

Last night we attended a program at Community Christian Church in Yuma called The Living Christmas Tree. The tree is a huge lit structure which can hold up to 100 choir members, consists of 22,000 lights and takes the church volunteers about a month to set up.

The choir had 39 members and did a good job. I think if there had been more voices, it would have been even better. The pastor said there are only a handful of these living trees in the country. During the program the lights are synchronized to the music and add another dimension to the singing.

Yesterday the resort had an open house with free hot dogs and beverages and entertainment. The park models were open, and if you toured them you got raffle tickets. We toured a few with Dick and Wanda and then went to the drawing. They gave away 25 prizes. One of the names called was Evelyn, but it was a different last name. Not too often I run across another Evelyn. The grand prize was a 40” TV. Our friend Dick was the winner. Way to go, Dick!!

As you can see, we’ve been quite busy enjoying the great weather, golfing, hiking, playing pickle ball and enjoying the company of great friends.

Just a reminder that if you will be doing any holiday shopping on Amazon, please keep in mind that if you click on the “go” button in the Amazon box at the top right of this page, you will be taken to the Amazon site to shop, and we will earn a little credit. We appreciate your support!!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Happy Thanksgiving

Kevin and I would like to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving. We are grateful for each other, our health, our family and our friends. It’s hard to believe we are in our sixth year of the fulltime RV lifestyle. We couldn’t be happier with that decision, and are so thankful we were able to make that choice.

We continue to enjoy our time in Yuma. The weather over the last two weeks has been just about perfect with highs around 80 degrees and sunny, sunny, sunny. We’ve made the most of it enjoying lots of time outside walking, biking, playing golf and pickleball, swimming and enjoying some happy hours.

Last Saturday the resort hosted Thanksgiving dinner for everyone staying here. They provided the turkey and gravy and everyone brought a dish to pass at their table. We had a nice assortment of dishes at our table, and I was stuffed when all was said and done. Here we are with John and Janie after we filled our tummies.

We’ve been golfing once or twice a week. Here’s a picture of our friend Martha and myself last week. It was such a beautiful day.

The other day we played 18 holes with Brad and Martha at a par 3 course run by the City of Yuma. It was fun to practice our short game. We walked all 18 holes and were done in about 2 hours. This roadrunner was on the tee box of one of the holes. It was not at all afraid of us. We were able to get quite close and get a good look at it. Very cool!

Thanks to Brad and Martha for sharing their pictures with me. I managed to forget my camera lots of the time.

I will miss spending Thanksgiving with our kids today. We’ll talk with them on the phone, and that will help. Our son Eric was very lucky to get a ticket to tonight’s Packer game, so we wouldn’t have been seeing him. Brett Favre’s number is being retired at tonight’s game, so that will be very awesome for Eric to experience.

We will be enjoying Thanksgiving with good friends John and Jane and Brad and Martha. We’re having a potluck dinner this afternoon. It has become cooler, so today will only be in the high 60s, but with the sun shining, we should be able to eat outside.

So, enjoy your Thanksgiving with loved ones, don’t eat too much, don’t shop too much tomorrow, and enjoy time off of work!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Having Fun

We’ve been staying busy and really enjoying all the activities offered at Fortuna de Oro and the surrounding area. Our routine is to walk or bike most every morning. We play pickleball with John and Janie a few times a week and have been golfing on Sunday mornings.

On Wednesday we went golfing with a couple we’ve met here named Brad and Martha. They’re originally from northern California, but sold their house, and are now looking to buy a house in Yuma. In the meantime, they are staying a few sites from us in their motorhome. We actually met them here last year on some of the hikes we did with the hiking club.

Las Barrancas Golf Course is just a few miles from the resort. It was a beautiful setting with palm trees, ponds and mountains. They offer an afternoon special for $20 for 18 holes with a cart. I usually only play 9 holes, so I skipped some holes on the back 9. The greens on the course were very large and challenging.

As we got into our cart, I noticed this sign above us. I’ve never been to a course where spitting sunflower seeds is a problem. Who would seriously think it is okay to be spitting anything on the green. Some people!!

Kevin and Brad getting ready to tee off on one of the holes.

Another scenic hole.

The 11th green was up a hill and the entire green was slanted down. A very difficult hole. If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you can see two guys at the bottom right to get a better picture of just how high the green was.

It was a beautiful day for a round of golf, and we had a very enjoyable time. I think the course was a bit too challenging for me, so we’ll probably stick to playing at our resort. It’s fairly easy; just my style.

On Thursday we participated in a round robin pickleball event. Thirty-two people participated. You played six games with different people each time, and your score was recorded after each game. The top four men and women played a championship game. If there had been a booby prize, I would have been the winner. Oh well. It was still fun, and we got to see some really good players.

After all that pickleball in the morning, we needed to attend happy hour for some relaxation in the afternoon. Every weekday the resort sponsors happy hour at the pool from 3 to 5 pm. There is live entertainment and beers are only $2. One of the bands is called Wild Ride, and we really enjoy listening to them. The lady is a great singer. I swam for about half an hour, while Kevin, John and Janie enjoyed the sun, music and beer. I still had plenty of time to enjoy some happy hour as well.

Yesterday we attended a hiking club meeting. The hikes will begin at the end of this month when it is cooler and the snakes are hibernating. We plan to do some of the hikes, but not the mountain climbing ones. I don’t want a repeat of last year where I sprained my ankle.

After the meeting, we played shuffleboard with Brad and Martha and Janie and John. Janie and John had not played before, but caught on very quickly. Here are the guys taking it very seriously. Not really; we had aiming fluid with us, which made it much more fun!

As you can see, it was another gorgeous day. The weather has been a bit cooler at times this year than last, but we’ve had some fantastic days in between.

I’ve found a little bit of time to do some quilting. My latest completed project is a baby quilt. It’s the first time I’ve worked with flannel which was a little different than regular cotton quilting fabric. I’m happy with the finished result. This one will either go to Cathryn to give to friends who are having a baby or to the quilt auction at Korey’s camp.

This afternoon is the turkey dinner sponsored by the resort. There were sign up sheets at the activity office for tables of 20 people. The resort supplies the turkey and gravy and everyone else at the table brings a dish to pass. I think there are 25 tables. It should be a good time with plenty of delicious food.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Enjoying Yuma

We’ve been in Yuma two weeks already, and have been thoroughly enjoying ourselves.

We’ve been golfing, playing pickle ball, enjoying time with friends, and enjoying the sunshine.

I think El Nino has had an impact on the weather. I’m not complaining, but it has been cooler than it was last year at this time. When the winds are strong from the north, there is a definite chill in the air. Temps are in the low 70s, but the wind is cold. The sun continues to shine, and if you find a spot in the sun out of the wind, it is very pleasant.

We have spent a little time at the pool, but not as much as last year due to the north winds. We’ve just had to entertain ourselves in other ways such as happy hour :)

Yesterday we went to Mexico with friends and enjoyed some good margaritas, Mexican food and a little shopping. I did a little investigating, and I think I will be buying some glasses in Mexico before we leave Yuma.

I have a small hummingbird feeder that attaches to the window next to my chair. Every morning my hummingbird friend comes to visit me. What a cutie.

This other small bird has been trying very hard to get some of the nectar, but he’s having a tough time.

We took our remaining tires to Big O Tires in Yuma to have them checked. Every one of the tires had ply separation after only 5,000 miles. The Towmax tire company is sending us a check for 70% of the max value of $120 per tire as the measurements show there was 30% tread wear on the tires.

There’s not much we can do about it, but we certainly feel there was something wrong with the tires for all of them to have ply separation. We will definitely be checking into getting better, stronger tires.

The Jayco rep told me they are now offering an option to have heavier duty tires put on the fifth wheels. That makes me think the standard tires that come on the units are not good enough. We’ve been very satisfied with our Jaycos over the years, but this tire issue seems to be a problem with many fifth wheel manufactures.

Our fifth wheel came with a Dyson rechargeable stick vacuum. I really liked how powerful it was, and how well it cleaned. It stopped working just before we left Wisconsin. We have a two year warranty from Jayco, and they sent me a brand new vacuum in Yuma. Works great!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Those Darn Tires

We left Loveland, Colorado last Sunday. Normally, Kevin does not like to travel on Sundays because if there is a problem, we’re less likely to find repair places open. However, we had to drive through Denver, so he felt Sunday would be the best day to avoid heavy traffic.

We had an uneventful drive through the city. Traffic was not too bad. As we continued south, the Rocky Mountains were on our right for many miles. The combination of the snowcapped mountains and the colored leaves was amazing. I took this picture through the truck window, but you get the idea.

Just a few miles before the New Mexico border, a car came up next to us honking its horn. The nice lady shouted that one of our tires had pieces flapping off of it. Kevin pulled over and slowly made his way a short ways to the next exit. We never heard, felt or saw anything indicating there was a problem.

One of our tires was completely shredded, but luckily we had no other damage. Kevin was able to change the tire himself, and we were back on the road. We made it to our intended stop in Rotan, New Mexico and asked the campground owner if she could recommend a tire shop. She gave us two names, and we had to wait until Monday morning to call.

We’ve certainly had our share of problems with tires. Our last fifth wheel had two blowouts, both of which caused damage to the RV. Those were LT tires. Now, we have ST tires, and another blowout. I wish RV manufactures did a better job of putting proper tires on fifth wheels.

Kevin went to Mesa Tire in Raton on Monday morning and was happy to learn they had the correct replacement tire for us. He had noticed one of the other tires looked suspicious, so they told him to bring over the fifth wheel, and they would check it out. Sure enough, a tire on the opposite side of the blowout, was bulging, and needed to be replaced. They were super efficient, and had both tires replaced within 30 minutes. They also put the spare back under the RV.

I’ve begun the tedious process of dealing with the tire manufacturer for warranty coverage. I have to deal with two different people; one for the tires and one for the damaged rim. We have to take the tires to a local tire dealer, and then we’ll see what happens. They want us to bring in all four tires, as they want to make sure the other tires aren’t bad. When we arrived in Yuma, Kevin noticed a third tire looked suspicious, so we’re glad they’re checking all of them. We’ll see what happens.

We’ve heard pros and cons on tire pressure monitoring systems. Does anyone have any input on whether those systems are worth buying and reliable?

We had two more travel days ahead of us. We spent Monday night in Albuquerque at Enchanted Trails RV Park. This is a Passport America park, and we’ve stayed here several times. The first site they sent us to had a tree with branches that were too low, We were not risking damage to our roof, so back to the office to get a better site. We’ve run into this a few times at campgrounds. You’d think they would know which sites have low hanging branches.

Enchanted Trails has some vintage campers near the entrance. I think they can be rented. I thought this was a very cool combination.

Tuesday night we stayed at Distant Drums RV Resort in Camp Verde, Arizona. We normally stay at Krazy K, but they were fully booked. Distant Drums had a couple of rallies going on, so we were lucky to get a site there. It’s a very nicely maintained park with paved roads and concrete pads at the sites. However, being as full as they were, it was quite tight getting down the roads. Most of the sites are back in. We  had one of ten pull-throughs at the end of a road. It was too short to park the truck on our site, but there was a parking spot nearby.

Wednesday we arrived at Fortuna de Oro in Yuma. We’ll be staying here for four months. Last year when we were here, we picked out an area we thought would be good for us. We like the site we chose. We were treated to a beautiful sunset our first night.

Yesterday we ran some errands, and got everything set up to our liking. Today Papi is coming to wash the RV, awning and truck for the fantastic price of $45. Our friends Janie and John will be arriving today. We look forward to seeing them again. Tonight there is a free Halloween dance at the clubhouse. We have a tee time for golf on Saturday morning, and are looking forward to playing pickle ball again.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Boulder, Colorado

Yesterday we spent the day with Kevin’s cousin Mark and his wife Dolly, who have lived in the Denver area for 28 years. They were gracious enough to act as tour guides in the Boulder area.

On our way, I couldn’t stop staring at the beautiful snow capped Rocky Mountains. The scenery makes me feel so peaceful and serene.

We started out by meeting them at Anderson Farms for Fall Fest. What an awesome place, especially for kids. They had many different activities including a 30 acre corn maze, wagon rides, pumpkin picking, pony rides and lots of other fun stuff.

We looked at everything and then spent an hour or so wandering around in the corn maze. It was a beautiful, sunny fall morning to be enjoying this fun place. They had a huge fake pumpkin on top of the silo. It looked quite real. The walking and fresh air made us hungry, so the next stop was lunch.

 

Lunch was at the Avery Brewing Company in Boulder. Some excellent beers were tasted along with delicious lunch entrees. We had plenty to talk about as we caught up with each other’s lives and reminisced about the past.

The next stop was the Celestial Seasonings factory tour and tasting room. What a great place to visit. The tour was free and quite interesting. Before the tour we were able to sample several hot and cold teas. The company was started in 1969 by four hippies who picked herbs and berries in the hillsides surrounding Boulder and started experimenting with different tea blends.

The company has always been located in Boulder and now employs about 400 people, selling tea worldwide. They also work with farmers around the globe to purchase the various teas and herbs they put into their products. We bought some boxes of tea in the gift shop and were ready to move on. I would definitely recommend this tour if anyone is visiting the Boulder area. 

Our next stop was the Bald Mountain Scenic Area for a 1.5 mile hike. There were some beautiful views at the summit of the trail. That’s Denver in the hazy background.

More snow capped mountains.

We saw some magnificent homes nestled in the valley below us. A remote but gorgeous setting. I’m sure you need a few dollars to live in those mansions. We also saw many burnt trees. A human caused forest fire burnt over 6,000 acres in this valley in 2010. A stark reminder of the devastation careless people can cause.

Our last stop of the day was at Upslope Brewing Company for a little happy hour. More tasty brews were consumed.

Thanks to Mark and Dolly for the excellent suggestions of places to see and the great company!!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!