Finale...almost

Last morning 3.6 mile walk with some of the neighbors, our friends...

Followed by a workshop put on by Marge' and Jerry on making birdbaths/stepping stones/bowls. We piled sand, then plastic wrap, a big large-veined leaf followed by cement. I'm going to be making some of these, when we get home. I'll do a workshop, if anyone is interested. It was great fun! And the neighbor provided cookies for all of us.

Today was the Marine Corp airshow. This is a 'must see' in my book, and I wouldn't leave Yuma before seeing it...and it's free...lol.

The Harrier...my very favorite plane!

A re-fueling demo...followed by re-fueling a pair of Harrier jets. The warthog was an exciting plane to watch also. OMG, it is so maneuverable!! It's the plane we saw on the news gunning down a caravan of Iraqis during Desert Storm.

Here we are with part of the crowd. It's a huge event. We arrived by 9am and couldn't even get close enough to hear the loud speakers. The airshow didn't begin until 11am...The plane (helicopter) behind us is an Osprey (one of Norman's favorites). All of the planes were available for us to look at up close, some we could even go into.

Tomorrow we hit the road...sun...rain...snow...we're heading for home. Well, NO, if it's snow, we'll park for a while.

Catch'en Up

Today is a 'little of this and a little of that'...

Kathy plays trumpet in the community band here and in Idaho. The other night was the Spring concert. Nothing like hearing a live band...makes your heart pump and your toe to tap...ummm, kettle drums and French horns. It was a short concert, so afterwards we had big ol' sundaes at the Dairy Queen...Did I happen to mention everyone is complaining about gaining weight this year?

Picked up a couple more geocaches in rocks yesterday. WE HATE CACHES IN ROCKS! So sometimes after finding one, we mark it for the next person. OR we'll notice a pile of rocks nearby, which is the marker to the cache for the person, who placed it...then we'll add another marker or move his. AND sometimes we just make a pile of rocks for no good reason...lol.

The other day we did our last big quad ride. It was supposed to be 3 maybe 4 couples. But it expanded to seven couples! Snowbirds come from all over...I was reading the license plates on the vehicles, when we got to the unloading place...Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, Arizona.

We did a ride in the KOFA wilderness area (King of Arizona). The plan was to ride to the KOFA mine, but we didn't find it. We stopped for lunch at a Y in the road, and I spyed a fence off in the distance. It turned out to be the old cemetery used by the miners and little towns closeby.

The only remaining headstone that could be read was for 'mi amigo' Roger Garcia,

who died at 21.

On the way back we stopped at this pile of white weather-hardened stuff. We didn't know what it was, but the consensus was maybe gypsum. And it was possibly used by the mines.

But we were incorrect, as we found out, when visiting with a volunteer host in the area. It's a pile of ashes left from all the ironwood trees used to make steam power for a little nearby town back in the very early 1900's. As you can see by this picture...sort of...there are no ironwood trees left in the desert near here.

Kathy and I went into Mexico for the last of our gifts, meds and booze yesterday. We treated ourselves to a yummy post-breakfast roll at the bakery. We were also almost cheated out of $10. The little gal working there tried to short-change us. And we're pretty darn sure she short-changed the woman in front of us. Before we left the counter, everyone in the bakery knew to watch out for her...hee-hee. We had fun...laughed and joked with the vendors...and didn't have to wait long in the line to get back over the border. What a relief that was. I've had to wait almost four hours in that darn line.

Wrapping our minds around going home in a couple days. We're beginning to re-arrange things in the RV and put a few things away. I always get excited for the Marine Corp air show, which is Saturday. So we'll do that, then head out on Sunday.

Looking forward to: clean sheets whenever I want them...long showers...soft towels (I hang dry everything)...not buying water (the tap water is salty)...clean shiny hair (the salt water clings to everything)...new tennies (hate paying the sales tax)

But we'll miss: our many friends here...standing in the middle of the street visiting...walks in the morning sunshine...the quiet nights...the conversations and laughter with friends and strangers from all across the States wherever we might be

Next year's list so far: climbing to the flag on top of the mountain...hamburgers at Martinez Lake...the Q for lunch and a little slot machine play...quad riding in Quartzsite...

Oh, our aching leg muscles!

We read the weather reports carefully for over a week hoping for a couple of cool days. The plan was to climb a mountain near I-8 to the crash site of a WW II B-17 bomber. Finally, yesterday was perfect...cloudy...comfortably cool...no wind. We could take the quads to the closest point of the hiking trail. Those who drive a car have to park a ridge or two from where we could park. (And our point was a bit of a challenge to two of the quads. The folks had never gone up such a steep, sandy and rocky hill. They have now!)

Norman and I took the following two pictures from just where we were standing. Here I am...fresh and ready to climb to the top! This is looking back down the hill...already we can't see our quads.

Here are Norman, Kathy, Marge' and Jerry just above me. The four of them really aren't very far apart, just higher than each other. The point we're aiming to climb to is to the left of the peak above Norman. It's a fairly easy climb at this point although already steep. The trail is marked with piled stones along the way. 

We were amazed at the amount of wreckage strewn along the ravine. In all the plane and chopper wrecks we've seen, there is very little to see except for small pieces. The folks at the Marine base usually pick up all the large pieces. We believe the large pieces from this one weren't worth the time and expense to pick up.

This is just a tiny bit of what was up there to take a look at. The engines (turbines?) were in several areas. That's the only wheel we saw near Norman. I said, "photo op"...Kathy said, "rest time"...lol.

The crosses mark the spot where the bodies of the four men on board were found...Not the most glamorous shot of Kathy, but we were literally climbing like monkeys up the hill by the time we had reached this point.

Pretty close to the top here...maybe 200 feet by how the crow flies. By now we were each taking different routes, unable to always find the piled rocks marking the trail. We had passed the point where the advice had been to "take a rock climbing class before attempting the top". We went for "on the job" training...LOL.

Within 100 feet (as the crow flies)  four of us had sat down to rest for the umpteenth time, and we found it almost impossible to get up...exhausted...But Norman...ah, my man...he's the only one to have fallen down going up the hill (thank goodness for the bottled water at his back...it softened his fall)...the only one to send a good-sized rock crashing down on one of us (fortunately it hit her shin and not her head)...and the only one who made it to the top...sign the geocache (a 5/5)...reattach the Marine Corp flag, which was about to fly off...and have his lunch with a magnificent 360 degree view of the area!

There were two flags at the top...a US flag and the Marine flag. They were flying back to back, not quite appropriate, but who cares. Those Marines who made the top, should be proud of what they did. It wasn't easy...

The hike down was actually more difficult. We kept ourselves at least ten feet apart...we were slipping and sliding and falling...sending rocks down hill. We each reached the bottom with at least one bruise, scrape or cut from the rocks.

My hiking boots were the best. They really gripped the rocks going up and down. We did use our walking sticks all of the time. They were a must have. We needed to carry more water and maybe a few more snacks. We learned a lot about climbing on rock falls.

According to the GPS we only climbed 7/10 of a mile from 800 feet to over 2000 feet, but it might as well have been 50 miles for as tired as we were, when we had finished.

Do we regret making the climb?

HECK NO!

Do some of us regret not going for the top?

YOU BET!

Will we do it again?

NOT THIS YEAR!...LOL

Cruisin' n Dancin'

We did a dinner cruise on Martinez Lake along the Colorado River. Lots of fun! Lots of people fishing for bass here and there. We didn't see much wildlife, most of it was on the boat...LOL. Well, our bunch only went through a few bottles of wine. Ya know, it doesn't taste quite the same in plastic glasses from Wally World.

The boat has double paddle wheels, which propel the boat forward, but also turn right and left like rudders. They are side by side...this is a pretty good picture of one of them...

It's a homemade affair with a John Deere motor.

I liked this picture my man took of me...so you get to see it too

Last night we went to one of the hundred or more RV parks around Yuma for a dance. There were lots of single women, AND we sat at the band's table, so had all those women with us. Norman got plenty of exercise...hee-hee

I'm going to include a really short video of the band. Larry, the bass guitar player, is a quad-riding friend from Idaho. He's the one on the right without the hat. The band is called the Old Time Rock n Roll Band. They are really gooooood! Had the dance floored filled from the first dance.

It's a little dark, but works pretty well for my first try...enjoy!

My Tax Dollars...lol

80+ mile quad ride yesterday...whew, that's a long ride. I had stiff legs, when we finally got home. AND it was sooo hot, every time we got off we were all pulling our sweat-soaked jeans and underpants away from our bodies (vinyl or leather, whatever, seats sure don't breathe). We are adding more people to our rides...2 two-up quads, 2 single rider quads and 3 Raz'rs.

Norman is standing in a hole created by another plane that went down. How do you take a picture of a hole?? Sure are lots of them in the bombing range. Good place for them to crash, if they're gonna...lots of my tax dollars crashing.

Not everyone had been to the fence, so we did it again. Notice we're all grabbing a little bit of shade...no trees to speak of. And more of my tax dollars wasted....

A saying my kids taught me, when we were about to do something sorta naughty..."What are they gonna do, yell at cha?"...So he took a stroll on the 'other side'...lol

Few Words...pictures

Yuma...produces about 90% of the salad vegies in the US. Yesterday was the Lettuce Festival. We've always missed it, because we were in Quartzsite...but not this year!

He decorated with vegies...we ate'em!

Three ice sculptors at the same time...They melted almost as fast as the guys carved!

We ate lots of these sweet juicy chocolate-covered strawberries!...And we ate samples everywhere we wandered...yummy, festival!

Whaddaya think of this BIG BOY? Er, the tractor not my man, although he's pretty durn good too...lol

YEE-HAWWWWWWWWWWW!



Visit in Mesa

I had another great visit with my 'baby sis' in Mesa this week. Unlike previous visits, we didn't attend a Spring Training baseball game. I think we both missed that...baseball...hot dogs...beer...next year.

We did go to a nearby riparian park with Marley. He was such a good boy and ignored all the duckies along the shore of the lake...lol. Neat park...lots of birds and birdwatchers. We didn't see anything unusual, but did enjoy the mockingbirds' songs.

I loved the yellow berries on these sticks (the plant looked dead). And the fuzzies on this other picture, I thought they were some kind of nest for eggs like spiders lay. But no, they're the seed pods of the plant.

I lost at cribbage...We only played 3 games this time. Dang that Di, she only needed 6 points to go out the last game to break the tie. So instead of keeping pegging cards, she keeps counters. She counts first and has 16 points! Criminy sakes, she sure wanted to beat me...

Norman and I brought the cacti my parents had back to Arizona for Di. She and one of her sons took a couple of them out to the Superstition Mountains area and planted them. We went out one day to check on them. One dead...one struggling, but it will make it. It's the 'attack' cactus aka Desert Christmas Cactus. It looks pretty sad right now, but coming out of the transplanting.

We found this wonderful huge saquaro and had to have a picture. But to get the best one, we had to go off the trail. Poor Marley...sniffed at a 'jumping' cactus, got it stuck to his nose, swiped at it with a paw, then we had to pick the thorns out of his paw. He's getting pretty elderly and the walks are too much for him. We maybe made 1/4 mile this day...lol. Then he found a shady spot and sat for about 10 minutes, before we could get him going again.

Hey...not the highlight of our day...but a couple old grizzled guys thought we were pretty cute...hee-hee.

I went to the Texas Roadhouse with Di and the nephews. Taught those boys what our family likes to do at that restaurant...throw peanuts at each other.

Omelets in the Desert

We were invited by a neighbor to join a group for breakfast in the desert. This group meets about once a month in the winter. This time they brought up three propane crab cookers.

Each of us brought a couple scrambled eggs in freezer bags with our names on them. We also each brought up something to be added to the eggs or something to go with the omelets. After adding the ingredients to the eggs, the bags are sealed and dropped into boiling water for about 6 minutes. Here's Norman doctoring up his 3-egg cooked omelet and adding other goodies to his plate...

Our neighbors set-up a burner on the tailgate of a pickup and did frybread. Boy, was it ever yummy!! She got up early and made two double batches of bread dough.

I took on the job of holding down the paper towels used for draining and after the cinnamon sugar was added. It was a really, really windy day, so Norman, being the considerate fellow he is, placed rocks on the paper towels to replace me. Then I took over adding the cinnamon sugar. It gave me the chance to meet all those strangers and kid around with the guys, who were eating so many. Well, ALRIGHT, I was flirting with them old codgers...LOL

And here we are enjoying our breakfast...well, I'm just eating fruit and frybread. My omelet was one of the last cooked because of my duties...hee-hee.

Like my Christmas shirt? I forgot my long-sleeved shirts. Picked this one up at a garage sale for a buck.

Any-the-way, the breakfast was a really fun activity, and one Kathy and I think we should do in the neighborhood next year. I'm even thinking it would be fun with the family.

PS: It's getting quieter out here. We went into the desert yesterday and saw no one else. Could it be some are already heading home, because of the rising gas prices? We heard from friends in Havasu, who are staying at their Havasu home this winter instead of touring a bit. Their reason: gas is too high.

Rock crawlin' n formations

We took some friends over the Woodcutter's Pass (aka Dripping Springs Pass) yesterday. I don't know why it has these two names. Woodcutter is the old name. But, let me tell you, there are no dripping springs and no wood to be cut!...About 14 miles of slow going over rocks of all sizes...The Raz'r and our two-up scraped bottom a few times no matter how careful we were. We all even did a bit of rock moving. The Suzuki, which carries two people also, made it over without hitting bottom. But since it's only made for one rider, has the shorter wheelbase. The shocks on our Polaris and the Raz'r also are reeeally squeaky now. I don't know what a person does about that, but it's bothersome.
It was a good ride. We had been over before, but my memories were a lot worse than reality. I think because last time was one of the first we had ever riden a quad. Therefore, I had the fear in me! But I've now advised friends, who aren't so sure of their riding, to go through with us. Old wrecked cars to see (they didn't make it)...old mines...cactus...mountains of rocks...lots of critters (lizards n squirrels...lol).

Then we led the group out over a road we had never been on...a little ridge-running...wash weaving...and powerline racing...under the freeway...under a moving train...straight to Ligurta for wonderful hamburgers. And we told the others...we knew exactly where we were all the time...ha-ha.

Sometime before I toss this camera for a new one, I'll learn the panoramic photo feature. Meantime, we stopped to enjoy (laugh at) a particular rock formation and took this series of photos of one wash...enjoy...

Telegraph Hill Pass

Yesterday 5 of us climbed the Telegraph Hill Pass. Yep, that's a picture of most of the road we followed. Although you can't see the parts just below, where I'm standing. And we traversed, er, hiked over and around several small hills just to get to this road.

The road is somewhat paved for the pickups to get to the top to service the antennae. But it's mainly concrete poured over wire over whatever dirt, sand and rocks which may have been laying there. It was like climbing a "black diamond" complete with moguls. Many of the people we met going up, we also met as they were going down. We were still going up...lol. We met people who climb this every day, some as old as 80. Doesn't say much for the shape we're in...hee-hee.

Brownies at the top, and that's our housing area behind me. We'd be living at the furthest point away. We could see the border fence and the sand dunes beyond it in Mexico. Oh, and the sand dunes just across the line in California.

Yep...caches up here also. And this wasn't it.

Norman found one, and if he'd have slipped on the rocks under his feet...it would have been a long yodel down!

Know wondering "why" it's called Telegraph Hill. Every company that needed one in the area was represented.