We Made It With No Problem

 Still watching the weather, we got up yesterday morning in Tonopah and decided to go all the way home and try and beat the storm.  We discussed parking in a parking lot, on the street around the corner from the house, where ever we could safely park it.  I got to thinking about cancellations as I, again, cancelled reservations I had made for Fernley.  I called the Sparks Marina RV Park and they had a cancellation and were able to put us in a spot where we didn't have to move for the three nights.  It all worked out well.  

We hit light rain just north of Walker Lake and had rain all the way home - about 120 miles.  Nothing heavy, just rain.  No wind.  We got in around 3pm and set up the RV, grabbed some clean underwear and our toothbrushes along with some milk and eggs.  We figured we would be back today for some stuff and then tomorrow Mike and Erica will be helping us with all the heavy lifting of clothes and food.  

Everything at home looked good except for a couple of plants in the yard that looked as if they had been frozen.  Our neighbor had the yard clean of leaves (the trees hadn't dropped when we left) and the mail was on the dining room table.  It's being forwarded already from Arizona, so everything looked good.

Maggie walked in the front door and then took off like a shot about 50 mph.  She ran up and down the stairs, around the dining room, around the living room, and kept at it for a good 15 minutes.  I opened the back door and she ran out and checked her yard even though it was raining.  (She hates going out in the rain.)  Last night, though, she wanted out when we sat down to watch the movie and an hour later we remembered she was out there.  She was sitting at the back door just waiting for someone to let her in.  During the night she woke Roger up three times so she could go check out her yard.  Hopefully, that will stop.   She's very happy to be home.  And we are very happy not to have to leash her up so she can go outside.

We had scrambled eggs and toast for dinner and watched a movie once Rog got the wifi and roku hooked back up.  It was a relaxing evening after three days on the road while worrying about beating the storm home.  

This morning I made some oatmeal and went to the fridge to get the milk.  It was warm.  I had turned the fridge back up yesterday after having set it on low while we were gone.  Rog tried his best to figure out what was wrong, took the back off, vacuumed out the dust, checked everything he could think of.  I called repair people - they are booked out a week.  Well, we can't be without for that long, so down to Lowe's we went this morning.  In the meantime we are leaving the food in the RV! 

It's a real bummer shopping for a major appliance when you need it delivered the next day.  We told the lady who was helping us the issue, and she went to the computer to pull up the models she could sell us and deliver tomorrow.  Not much choice at all.  (Because Lowe's gives us a 10% military discount and because our future grandson works for them, we try to spend our money there.)  As we were trying to decide between models we didn't really care for, Rog walked around the display again and spotted a floor model that had been dented and was on sale.  It's got two dents on the front - very small.  It could be delivered tomorrow.  So, we got a top of the line fancy fridge at a drastically reduced price plus got the 10% discount.  Except for the inconvenience and spending money we hadn't planned on right now, it all worked out.

Today I'm washing bed clothes and towels from the RV to return tomorrow along with the dirty clothes we had in the hamper.  I'm catching up on mail.  I got my desktop computer back up and running with latest updates.    Rog has the car out of the garage and is airing the tires.  He'll probably start putting his shop back together now.  

We are all glad to be home.  It was a fun winter and we got lots accomplished, but we were more than ready to change venues!  

No more postings now for a while.  We aren't sure when we will be out roaming the country again this summer.  We do have a date in Boise the first weekend in May for our grandson's college graduation but otherwise no plans for the summer.  

I'll close now and get the winter adventures printed out into a book for future reading when we are bored or want to remember what we did and when we did it!

Day 2 - Closer To Home

It started out being a good day but this afternoon we got a little stressed out.  We learned a couple of lessons, too!

We left Kingman at our usual 9am departure time and headed northwest on US93 towards Las Vegas.  We crossed into Nevada at Hoover Dam and because Arizona doesn't change times, we didn't have to either.  

We found a parking area for a hiking trail just south of Boulder City and pulled in for lunch.  We were a little early for lunch, but wanted to eat and use the facilities before hitting Las Vegas traffic.  It had a nice view of Lake Mead (well, it would be without the high tension electrical wires coming from the dam).  We parked and started to put out our chairs and this guy pulled up and asked what we were doing.  He lived in the neighborhood that overlooks the parking lot.  We told him we had just stopped for lunch and he said that was fine.  He apparently is from the neighborhood watch and they want RVs parking there overnight or dumping their grey water.  After a nice conversation he said we could stay.  It was a good thing we did, though, because the spare tire which is stored under the RV had worked it's way loose and was dangling.  Rog got it cranked back up tightly and now that is another thing we need to check on regularly.

Las Vegas traffic wasn't too awful, but there was construction and congestion at the intersection of 215 and 15.  A real mess! 

We realized that we were going to get into Beatty really early today and thought maybe we should go further.  We started talking about weather and Saturday's storm and stops, etc.  We stopped in Aramagosa Valley for fuel so we could make it to Tonopah for the night.

While we were at the pump a young man came up to Roger and I thought he was looking for a handout but it turns out he was asking for advice.  He was hauling a big 5th wheel for the first time and asked Roger about the engine brake and going up and down inclines.  He'd never done it before and so figured Rog might know.  Nice young man from Texas headed to Reno.    We also met a couple from Oregon who wintered in Arizona and were hauling the same model RV as ours and stopped to chat.   

We got back on the road and we decided to cancel our reservations in Beatty and go further.  This would result in having to cancel Hawthorne, as well.  The plan was to try to get to Sparks on Friday before the storm.  No prob.  Just call Sparks RV park and move reservations back one day. So, I called Beatty and Hawthorne and cancelled.  Then I called Sparks to change dates.  Problem.  Nothing available on Friday.  Lesson learned - make the calls in the opposite order!!  

New plan - stop in Tonopah and then Fallon at the Navy base.  No room in Fallon.  Now we have reservations in Fernley for Friday night.  It's so close to home - only 30 miles - so the question will be whether the wind will be so bad in the Truckee River Canyon between Fernley and home that we can't go in on Saturday?  If so, we just stay there and go on Sunday - hoping to be able to shift our two night stay the opposite way.  If not, we forfeit a night there.  It'll all work out and we will have a nice day Sunday with help from Mike and Erica to move out of the RV and into home.   

So, we are in an RV park on the side of the road in Tonopah.  It's basically a gravel parking lot in front of some modular housing for temporary workers.  Definitely not one of the nicest places we've stayed, but all hookups.  Cable tv but no wifi. (no photos tonight)  I had called to hold a site - it's a good thing I did.  We got the last one open and when I took the dog out after dinner I saw three motorhomes parked in the driveway area dry camping.  There's just not many places to stay between Las Vegas and Reno and the snowbird traffic is filling up the few that are fast.  

We did see wild horses outside of Goldfield and wind burros outside of Beatty today.  No desert blooms yet this far north.  Tonopah is at 6,100 feet so it's cool tonight.  We are back to long pants and sweatshirts!  

In all the craziness of being on the phone and checking weather and rv parks, I knocked Maggie's water dish over into her bed.  She didn't like it one bit, jumped in Roger's lap with wet feet and wet butt.  He shoed her off and she leaped over her bed and into my lap.  She stayed there until her bed got dry enough that I could coax her into it with a cookie.  She's been a good dog so far this trip and settles right down once we get going.  She just doesn't like a wet bed!

Day 1 Heading Home

We left around 9am today after goodbyes from the neighbors.  Our route took us north to Mesa and then on the ring roads around Phoenix and Scottsdale.  We headed west to Wickenberg and then northwest to I-40 and Kingman.  The drive was not bad.  I was very disappointed that there were no wildflowers.  Last year when we went this way in April the desert was ablaze with them.  Not enough rain this year, I guess.

Getting ready to go after sitting for five months was a little crazy.  You would think we had never hooked up before or didn't have a routine.  Rog ended up raising the stabilizers manually because he couldn't remember how to do the auto level.  Little things like that in the routine had to be dredged from the memory banks.

Shortly after leaving Florence we got into some heavy duty stop and go RV traffic.  Fortunately not for long, as the turn off for  Country Thunder Music Festival was a few miles outside of town.  But, the traffic coming south was simply amazing.  It was over six miles before we didn't see any more RVs. We were so happy we were going in the opposite direction! And the concert doesn't start until tomorrow!

We stopped on the side of the road for lunch in a truck area just after we left I-17.  We've stopped in uglier places, but not by much.  We just put out the awning and got out our chairs and watched the traffic go by.

In a little town called Wikiup, just before we reached I-40, there is a place called Luchia's.  According to the billboards, it specializes in Indian jewelry and homemade pie!  We made a pit stop there and bought a slice of pie each for tonight's dessert.  It was pretty good.  I was a bit leary - the last time I stopped for homemade pie was in Montana and I wanted huckleberry pie.  The crust was awful and inedible.  This pie today, however, was good.  Rog even went to the little store in the campground and got some vanilla ice cream to top it with.  (Diets commence when we get home - all three of us!)

We are about 16 miles east of Kingman at about 4,250 ft in altitude - close to what we are at home.  Having climbed from about 1,500 ft, we forgot about the pressure changes and when Roger opened his ranch dressing tonight he got a lot more than he wanted!  It just kept coming out of the bottle.  

The inside of the RV took a little beating on the rough roads today.  I opened the pantry door and a can of tuna fell on my foot.  A few things fell out of the fridge when I opened the door. The pole lamp had fallen against the kitchen island but didn't break.  The lid for my tea mug came from out of somewhere and smashed on the floor.  Rog has it superglued together but I'm guessing once the hot steam from the tea hits it the glue will let go.  No major disasters, though.  

We are in Blake Ranch RV Park and Horse Motel.  It's a nice park for an overnighter.  Paved roads, pea gravel sites, fairly large pull-thru sites.  We have no one on our door side, so that makes it nice. There's a big dog run, but it is dirt and gravel, too.  We do have a little traffic noise as we aren't very far off the interstate.  Rog didn't have far to go for fuel as there is a Petro station at the exit.  We will stay here again, I'm sure.  Staff is friendly.  When Rog got the ice cream he told them that the cable hookup wire was stripped so they came right out and fixed it.  Didn't help much - still a lousy signal.  It'll be a no tv night.  Wifi not strong enough for streaming. One thing we don't miss at Desert Gardens - screaming little ones chasing each other around after a long day on the road.  It'll be dark soon and maybe they will go inside.  

I didn't get a chance to edit the photos of the park.  I just pulled them from my phone because the wifi is a little iffy tonight.  

 



We are going to Beatty, NV tomorrow.  Still watching the weather closer to home, though.  We may be delayed a day if the storm that is predicted actually happens.  Not making any decisions on that quite yet.  

Now I'm going to try to load some photos.  

Last Arizona Sunset For a While

We have some incredible sunsets at home, but not every night like here.  We will miss them.  

We are all packed up - all the outside stuff is in the shed - with room to spare.  I've deep cleaned inside and am ready to go.  

Maggie, of course, knows something is happening and has been a velcro dog all day.  We went out for dinner and when we got back she went nuts.  She apparently had a bit of separation anxiety.  She didn't even want to go for a walk after her dinner.  She wanted both of us with her.

Our friends, Lert and Lona, took us out for supper as they say in Minnesota.  We had a very nice Chinese meal and brought home leftovers for a meal on the road.   Maggie and I will miss our walks with Lona in the morning and evening.  I told her I was going to text her when Maggie and I walked so she could go walking, too!!  

Our destination tomorrow is  Blake Ranch RV Park just east of Kingman, AZ.   We are watching the weather and it looks like we may have to delay our arrival by a day due to rain and high winds  We are thinking we might try to stay at Nellis AFB while we wait for the storm to pass.  I'll have to get on the phone tomorrow and move reservations around.   Stay tuned to see what happens.  

A Productive Day All Around

At 8:30 this morning it was 
already warming up.  What was noticeable, though, was the relative humidity - 1%.  Now that's dry heat for sure!  Nasal passages are noticing it, too.  We topped out today at 87 degrees and the last I looked it was 5% humidity.  Needless to say, we ran the AC again this afternoon.  

Roger started prepping the RV.  He dumped the fresh water tank which no longer had fresh water in it.  He aired the tires, lubed the wheels, and torqued down the lug nuts.  He started organizing the basement for the items we have to take back.  This is the first time we have wintered that we don't have to haul everything home - just stuff it in the shed!  

Nothing from the landscapers.  The only negative today. 

I went to the post office again, but got a different clerk and had better luck.  The box was closed as it should have been since I started the forwarding order for last Saturday.  I was able to pay for the PO Box, as well!  Apparently it showed up in the computer today that the fee was due. Amazing. The post office trip was a success.

While Rog was doing all the outside prep work, I did the laundry.  While I was there I called the storage place in Reno where we had parked the RV last summer.  Not only did they have a place for us, they are giving us the same spot.  That worked out well.   

Tomorrow I clean inside the RV and we put away the lawn furniture on the patio and start putting stuff in the truck.  Doesn't that sound like fun?    

Our dusty, dirty dog got a bath today. I wanted to get her bath done while we were here and it was warm instead of waiting until we got home.  She wasn't happy about it but didn't fight us at all. Her look of tolerance, though, is a heartbreaker.  Her favorite part of bath time is afterwards when I brush her.  She loves it and would let me do it for hours!  It's so nice - she doesn't smell like dust and dirt from our trail walks.  Of course her beds do, but they will have to wait until we get home to be washed.

I washed my hair today and can't do a thing with it! 

Mixed Feelings With Two Days To Go

Happy Bunny Day!
(My friend, Lona, does beautiful crochet work!)

Another  week has passed since I posted last.  We have been having very warm weather and lots of wind, so we haven't been able to be outside a whole lot.  This has made us more anxious to move on and is helping us motivate our thoughts toward home.  We do like it down here, but we are ready for a change of scenery.  

We had lunch on Tuesday with our friends, the Morlans, in Casa Grande and then Roger patiently waited in the truck while I searched the Kohl's clearance racks with 30% off coupon in hand.  As I suspected they had winter stuff on clearance, which is what I as looking for.  Found a pair of jeans and two long sleeved shirts for when we get home.

Thursday we went out for pizza lunch with Lona and Lert.  This time we actually got some good pizza.  The last place we tried was awful.  

Today was groceries - got just enough to get us home - and the bill still was over $100.  I just shake my head every time we go.  How do families afford to feed their kids?  Granted we are buying fresh produce and mostly organic stuff, but still.  I was a bit upset today, though - no berries.  I'm a berry freak.  I looked at melons, but they didn't look very ripe yet.  I can never pick good ones anyway.  I settled for bananas, grapes, and canned peaches for breakfast fruit.  As always, apples and oranges for lunch fruit.   

We are seeing more and more flowers and signs of spring, but when we get home we will get to experience it all over again!  Unfortunately none of the blooms are on our plants, but they do seem to be doing OK and maybe next year they will be old enough to flower.  Still no word from the landscaper as to an install date.  Lert and Lona will be putting their rig on our site when we leave so that they can get a cement pad poured for theirs for next year.  They will be here another week after we leave, so they have agreed to water the plants for us if the landscaper dude doesn't show up.  

Maggie even helps look for 
flowers.  She just doesn't seem to understand that those things are prickly!   She is still stuffing her nose down holes everywhere.  Today she encountered a spider web and it startled her.  She must have jumped back a foot and then slowly creeped back up to the hole.  I keep telling her she is going to be in for a surprise one of these times - and maybe not a pleasant one.  I do try to keep her on the path and away from them, but I do have a tendency to be running my mouth in conversation and not pay attention to what she is doing.  

We have been getting out to walk before it gets too hot and then we wait until just before sunset for our evening walk.  Today will be two days with the AC on in the afternoon - set at 80 - to make it bearable to make dinner.  It really isn't fun in the heat, so I guess it is time to pack up. 

Of course the post office is being annoying as usual.  I put in a change of address and we haven't received confirmation yet.  We paid for our PO box in March last year, so I have been trying for the last two weeks to pay for the next year.  They won't take my money because it isn't showing up in the computer yet that it's due.  "You'll get a notice in your mailbox."  But my mail is being forwarded.  "Have you gotten a confirmation on that?"  No.   "Just wait until you get a notice."  Why can't I do it on line?  I've done that in the past with my PO box at home.  The system won't let me link this box to my account.  "I don't know - I don't use that system."   So, tomorrow, hopefully, we will show up in their computer and we can pay for the stupid box before we leave.   

There is talk by the co-op board of directors here of installing mailboxes at the front of the park but the Phoenix PO hasn't approved it and the membership still has to vote on it as it will entail a special assessment to pay for the cluster boxes.  Only about 3/4 of the membership want mail delivered here - the others don't care.  So, we shall see.  

I've made reservations for our overnights on the way home, Rog fueled up the truck this morning, so we are prepping.  We still need to put away all the outside furniture and do a good cleaning job inside.  Maggie needs a bath while it is warm, so we will be busy the next couple of days.  








In the meantime, Maggie says, "hi."
She can't wait to get home and get that harness off.   

A Woman Possessed

After five months of whining about the inconvenience of where the pots/pans and lids are stored I finally did something about it today.  They have been in a small bottom cupboard next to the stove.  Sounds convenient, but they have been hard to get in and out being down so far.  It's a big empty space and we have just tossed the pans in there - no semblance of order. My back doesn't like retrieving things from that low.  I'm not supposed to bend over to get them out, but if I squat or kneel, then I can't get back up easily.  Well, this morning I had to dig something out of there and that was the tipping point.  So, like a woman possessed, I sat down on the floor and pulled them all out.  Now, where to put them???  I started shifting stuff in drawers and cupboards.  The domino effect takes place once you remove something from one and have to find a place to put things.  Somehow I even ended up in the bottom of the bedroom closet rearranging stuff - oh, yes, there was a little shelf down there I thought would fit in the former pan space, but didn't. But that put everything in the bottom of the closet was out of kilter because I pulled out the shelf.  The rearranging kept me busy for an hour or so!  

One of our rebate checks for the phones showed up today!!  Yay!!  Fingers crossed the other isn't far behind.  It's been eight weeks since we submitted the forms - which is when they are supposed to arrive.  Our mail will be stopped here at the end of the week to begin forwarding to home, and knowing the post office, it could end up anywhere. 

Maggie's been "working" on her right rear paw this evening.  We couldn't find anything wrong, but her toenails are getting quite long.  Maybe she was just chewing them.  We do have a vet appointment soon after we get home and nail clipping is on the agenda.

I got an email today from someone in Germany who wants to connect regarding geneology.  I replied that we would be home in a few weeks and I'll be back on my websites and will get back with him.  He's mentioned a name in an ancestor line of mine that I have hit a brick wall on. I sure hope he has some info for me so I can move on.   Usually when someone contacts me I'm the one giving the info instead of getting it.  I hope this time it's reversed.

I have a couple of photos of cactus in bloom to post but can't seem to get them to come in from my phone.  I'll work on it and see if I can get them pulled in tomorrow.  The desert is really looking like spring time.   Today it was a high of 70 and we had high winds again.  Sun was in and out.  

Tomorrow we go into Casa Grande to have lunch with our friends the Morlans.  I've got a 30% off coupon for Kohls and they are having their winter clearance.  I'm going to need to stop and check if there's anything I need for when I get home and it's still chilly.

The sun is setting and we are having another gorgeous Arizona sunset.