the QUAD COMMANDOS

We went into the Fortuna Wash...that's the big one near us...and found seven caches today...DNF (did not find) two caches. We may get back to look for them, but, maybe not...

Catch-up VS Ketchup

Parked the pickup down by the gas station yesterday morning. Oh, in the 'geocache' world it's the 'Mini-Walmart'...This was the beginning of our morning walk out into the desert looking for caches and enjoying the sunshine. The desert floor is full of little purple flowers and now the white larger flowers are beginning to pop out. It's turning beautiful... No cactus blooming, but they aren't too far behind.

Along the way we picked up Little 'SUZI' in the 'Boot Hill' cache. Jumped a mile when I removed the top to this one as a little lizard scurried across the bottom...LOL
We don't pick up items out of the caches too often, but she's a cute rollerblader from Hawaii. She's already been to Oregon, so perhaps we'll save her for Las Vegas...Two hours and 5 caches found, one cache not found and we were back at the pickup...whew!

Interesting things I may want to remember:
using the tea kettle instead of the microwave to heat water puts moisture in the dry air
rinsing my hair with the drinking water we buy leaves it feeling soft instead of like straw
when the wind blows from the north it's cold even though the sun is shining
using the oven cooks the vegies/fruits I have sitting on the counter above the oven
eggs freeze on the bottom shelf of the fridge
rum n cokes taste good at 3:30pm
tequila filled chocolates are yummy even though I don't like tequila
there aren't enough chocolates filled with booze in the world to get me through another novel about the Viet Nam war
WARS ARE SAD AFFAIRS!

On a happier note...we're going to the Brown Bag Burgers place for lunch today...YUMMY!

to party OR not to party!

THAT IS THE ONLY QUESTION

Saturday...went to the party NO ONE wanted to go to...does that make sense? It sure does not! And several managed to make the host and hostess angry and did not go. We went...I managed to say about five words before I said "good-bye" about four hours later! That's better than JoAnn; she only said about three. I don't think we'll go again next year. Hmmm...let me re-phrase that...We won't be going next year.

It was a group of people who have retired from China Lake and moved from Ridgecrest, CA. We don't fit either category, but everyone else did. It would have been an interesting time if the chat had been about what they all used to do...What did they do, you ask? Why they did R&D on munitions...BLOWING UP STUFF and making bigger n better bombs was their job. Now wouldn't that have been a great conversation?

The flag...the flag goes up on a front corner of Boo n Ethel's home and everyone shows up for cocktails! NOW THIS IS A REAL PARTY! Yesterday the 'soup kitchen' (Super Bowl leftovers plus) was to open around 5-ish. The flag went up around 3:30p and before the food was laid out about 30 people had gathered. It was a good thing some of us added to those leftovers.

We eat good here in the neighborhood. I have only had to fix a few complete meals for Norman and I, since we arrived. There has been a potluck of some sort or other nearly every night. I've made several lemon merengue pies...many pans of Paula Deem's brownies (everyone asks for them)...really awesome cornbread...and today I'm making an apple pie. Yummy!

Jokes! So many new jokes, I'll never be able to remember them. And lots of kidding about getting older. Funny...none of us consider ourselves "old". Wonder when that will happen?

95?

Mesa story in Pictures

We walk at Marley's pace, wherever Marley wants to go. And when he decides to go home, WE GO HOME!

Notice the difference between how an Arizonan dresses compared to a snowbird...LOL!

Norman tried to teach Lily to use her brakes, but she preferred grabbing my shirt to stop as he chased her all around the tennis court.


Lincoln wanted so badly to toss the ball into the basketball net, but Di just couldn't hold him high enough. So he contented himself with throwing it away from her and giggled as she chased the ball.

We had a SINGLE BYPASS at the HEART ATTACK GRILL on the way home. That's a half pound burger and unlimited fries cooked in lard topped off with a liter each of Classic Coke. You can see the menu behind us...single, double or triple. No diet stuff here, and if you weigh over 350 pounds, you get to eat free!

Norman enjoyed the 'buns'...on the girls, that is!

Then a quick stop at the BLM campground with all the petroglyphs along I-8. Nothing we hadn't seen before, but just not in this quantity.

100 Miles of Bad Road...but fun!

We headed out into the bombing range yesterday morning to go for a little ride. First stop was the location of the Fortuna Mine Town. It's one of those 'must sees' that everyone going onto the range has to see and then doesn't go back. Afterall...if you've seen one old mining ghost town you've pretty much seen them all. We were surprised the first time, because the park rangers manage the area. They have put up a kiosk with pictures and information plus informative signs along the trails.

Then off we rode through the Gila (pronounced with an H) Mountains along the Dripping Springs Trail. I think the 'springs' that drip are from vehicles. This is just one of the wrecked vehicles we saw along the trail. It was a fairly easy, but rocky, ride for us. I would love to have been able to watch the jeeps go through a couple areas. We went over pebbles, rocks and boulders for miles and miles!

Finallllllllllllyyyyyyyy...we made it to the other side and the flat sandy desert. Oh, my aching legs.

Here is Bob playing Rommel in Africa on one of the many tanks. They are always a fun stop. We can climb all over inside and out, even turn the turrets and move the guns up and down.

I wonder what Bob thought of the wrecked Army jeep and the unexploded ordances we saw here and there throughout the range...made me a little nervous the first time we went out...I think the Marines had a good Super Bowl holiday, because no jets came out to check on us this time.

Norman, our fearless leader, skirted the Copper Mountains until he found the old turquoise mine. The shafts are straight up and down, so a person would have to have special equipment to get in. But there are bits and pieces all over the ground. Bob dug around in the trailings and found some pretty nice pieces to put in his tumbler. Me? Well, I brought home some too...grandkid gifts...LOL

We had gone about 40 miles by now on our 50 to 60 mile limit with each of us carrying an extra gallon of gas. We finally decided we needed to get into the nearest town for fuel before attempting to go home. So off to Wellton...

Our trip home was pretty boring...we rode along side the American Canal to Yuma. No scenery...just the walls of the road. It was like riding along a dirt freeway. BORING! We came out within a mile or so of Bob's campground...lucky him. But Norman and I had to get across the canal, under the railroad tracks, sneak around the cement plant and over some hills before we finally found the wash that would take us close to home...right around 100 miles for the day...and we are tired...

Superbowl XLIII

GREAT GAME...didn't think the Steelers were going to pull it off...well, actually...we were hoping they would lose. They've had plenty of glory; it was the Cardinals time for the trophy.

We had a good party at one of the neighbors, lots of people we didn't know. Funny...the two groups didn't mix real well...neighbors and friends. Hmmmm...

Lots of good food...lots of cheers n boos during the game...I created the boos by cheering on the Steelers (the only one doing it...hee-hee). It was fun!

Polamalu didn't get to do his stuff much, because the coach kept the safeties in the backfield. That was disappointing. We enjoy watching him...Fitzgerald was pretty quiet the first three quarters, but then finally got to 'show his stuff'. We think he's really great!

These are the shirts I painted for the party. They turned out pretty well and didn't cost much to make. Good 'knock around the house' shirts, doncha think?

Fresh picked & YUMMY!

WHAT DO YOU DO

WHEN A STRANGER GIVES YOU A BAG OF FRESH FROM THE TREE LEMONS?

YUM!

Is it Meds or Drugs?

Oh...did I say drugs?...WELL...seems to me some people call Margarita Grandes and Cuba Libres drugs, but we don't. CHEERS TO ALL OF YOU IN THE COLD, FOGGY, SNOW & ICE COUNTRY...we feel sorta sorry for you...NOT! You old folks make your choices, and you must love the weather. And you young'uns, we hope you all get your turn.

Today we spent in Algodones, Mexico. The main reasons for going are cheap meds for friends and family, cheap booze and Margaritas for lunch. Before our lunch...it wasn't all liquid...but some of us did giggle as we walked away...lol. OH YEAH, before our lunch we picked up hundreds of dollars in inexpensive meds. It's really difficult to understand why we have to pay so much at home. Maybe it's the overhead that the drugstores and pharmaceutical companies have. There certainly are no neon flashing lights or fancy floors down here. They aren't selling as much meds as they used to, because all of us on medicare have prescription coverage or buy the generics at Wally World.

After lunch we all bought pretties. Those dang Margaritas somehow loosen our wallets. Then the last stop before heading back to the border are the purple front stores. I don't know the name of the stores; they're just painted bright purple and sell booze and chocolate liquor-filled candies.

Here's most of our group waiting in line to get back across the border. We did laugh a lot, but they posed for this picture.

But after waiting over two hours the booze had worn off and this is more how we looked...notice all the purple bags?...It's one bottle per person per month...lol

Today we waited longer than we ever have...almost three hours...sigh...We arrived back at the coach about 6:30pm, exhausted. It was peanut butter sandwiches for dinner.

Pictures to catch up...

We rode the quad around the desert by ourselves sometimes. Tried following our GPS to various geocaches...got lost more than once...always got back on track...always found the caches...although sometimes we went up, down and around hills more than once to find them.

Yep..."Oh Shit Run" is a very accurate name...and what I would call this NANO cache Norman is holding. It took two trips to find this one. It wasn't where it was supposed to be. We finally found the cache by sifting through the dirt all around the sign! Then we put the cache where it belonged for Piscatore and his Lady.

We didn't ride all the way up the Oh Shit Trail. About halfway to the top we came upon boulders we weren't too sure of attempting. So, parked the quad, took off the helmets, put on sunhats, grabbed some water, and walked to the top. The view was truly "Oz-some" as the sign next to me says! We are so glad we did the walk. But...we will be adding some cheap collapsible walking sticks to our quad pack very soon. Yes, that is a Lays potato chip tube in my hand. It's the cache at the top.
Our last day in the area we drove into the KOFA Wildlife Refuge to Palm Canyon. We were prepared for a long hike to see the naturally growing palms with hats, walking sticks, water and snacks. But, not necessary...We ended up having a little picnic in the back of the pickup just before heading back into Quartzsite.

It turned out our planned on hike was only about 1/2 mile long. The palms are growing high up a cut in the canyon walls. We did watch as one couple began their climb up to the palms, but it's certainly not a hike my knees will take anymore...sigh...They were a pretty sight...and the palms definitely prove that at one time this area was much more tropical.

Our ROCK Group

Here we are...the desert ROCK group...hmmm, maybe we need a name. Ben, the guy in the black t-shirt was our leader this day. We went north of I-10 through some of the La Paz Valley over hills, through gullies and washes and racing across the flats. The following picture I took while racing across the flats following Harv n Carol. Can you see them? Look real close...Carol has red on her helmet...LOL...They're that ball of dust right in the middle of the picture. Oh, in case you're wondering, the black on the side is Norman's helmet. Pretty nice picture for the bumpy ride we were on...Harv n Carol and Norman n I are the only ones in the group riding double on our quads. And we take turns being the drivers, because both Carol and I like to be in control...hee-hee

The dust...omigosh...the dust is awful. My sunglasses and the mouthpiece part of my helmet really keeps the dust out of my eyes and mouth pretty good. But a lot of the dust from our quad goes right up my back. My sweatshirt and helmet are desert brown shortly after beginning a ride. I just shook my clothes out each day, rolled them up and stuffed them in a corner til the next time. No use in putting on clean clothes before they begin to smell...

This particular ride we did almost 50 miles. We went from mine to mine and took a look see or picked up rocks. Carol and I came back with some pretty ones...natch...Norman and Harv think we need to pack a bag along just for our rocks, so they don't mess up the quad bags. Gees...Men!

This is a memorial to an old miner who lived south of our campsite for almost sixty years. I think they need a pink toilet, don't you, Earl? The old miner had tunneled all over the area. He reached them through a hole in his cabin floor. I'm sure he would have been a great character to know. (In case you can't recognise me, I'm the one in the black pants.)

We didn't go as far this ride, but did see the 'magic footprint' in the rock wash. Hmmmm, not so sure it's a footprint or just the way the rock eroded...lol. We took a couple pictures, but it doesn't show.

For you geocachers: There was a group of about 20 geocachers on quads at this spot, all newbies. They learned a little trick at the next cache. We found the 'magic footprint' cache, because we had the directions printed out. They didn't, because the coordinates pointed only to the footprint.

Q aka Quartzsite, AZ

Getting out of Yuma, well, Boo's backyard took a while the morning we left for Quartzsite. Fred n Joanne were parked in the driveway behind us, therefore two of us had to disconnect our RVs. Here's a pic of their RV going back into the driveway. Lucky for them we left. Now they have all the hook-ups. They had been a week without dumping their tanks. A couple has to be real stingy with their water usage, including flushing the toilet, in order to make it for a week.

I guess everyone got tired of saying the whole name of this little town...now it's 'Q'. We were the first to arrive in our spot in the desert. The couple who is always 'first' couldn't make it down from Eugene this year...sad ;-( AND they didn't send us a blueprint of circling the RVs. Norman and I had coach in half a dozen different places before settling down. Then as each couple arrived we had to hear, "You're too close to the road". Well, everyone just laughed about it AND the party got into gear.

Not near as many people arrived in the area this year. They missed some very, VERY nice weather. We didn't even have to put on heavy jackets to sit around the campfire each evening...GOOD FIRES...SKY FULL OF STARS ABOVE...GOOD FRIENDS...what could be better.

We didn't do much shopping this year...thank goodness. Laughed over some of the bargains(?) we found. Norman tried very hard to buy some stuff, but only managed a 'free' repair of our tow bar. I tried to dance with the Geico gecko, but he was tied down.

More on the Q trip later....

Bingo...the desert...geocaching

Catching up a little bit...Norman did have to help put in the wiring, drop ceiling and lights in the sunroom of Boo n Ethel's. But we're headed to Quartzsite in the morning to camp in the desert with Eugene friends for a week or so. By the time we get back, the sunroom should be completed...yippee!

I've been heading to Margo's park to play bingo and learn some line dancing. The bingo?...well not winning...sigh. The line dancing class (only took one) was a basic beginner and lots of fun, but don't know if I'll follow through, when we come back to Yuma. I'll see then...

We've found about 12 geocaches around here mostly in the desert. I thought you'd like to see the "micro" kind. The fellow who hid this one did several at benchmarks (the bronze plaque near Norman) in the bombing range south of us. All of them are cleverly hidden. Here he took a lid and glued it to a rock, put a rolled up paper inside the bottle for finders to sign and buried the jar up to the rock. We've also found small capsules hanging in bushes or slid inside hollow spots in trees. It's been a lot of fun trying to find them.

We did some climbing around on the rocks of that far mountain looking for a camoflaged ammo box. Then as we headed back to the RV, Norman noticed how neat our long shadow was on the desert floor. So we stopped for a moment and took this picture.We've really had a lot of fun riding the quad and using our GPS to find the caches. If anyone wants to know more about this sport, you can look at geocaching.com ...

That's it for tonight. We're headed over to Applebees for dinner...thanks to Todd, Corri and Derian for the Christmas gift!

Bowlin', haulin' & dust storm

The Girls wanted to do something for my birthday and gave me the choice. They really were thinking facial or pedicure or shopping, but that's just not my idea of fun. Last year my choice was to do a 5K walk. And Norman and I really enjoyed it, especially the stopover for steak lunch at the casino...Pondering thoughtfully for a day and a night, I decided to go bowling. It was great fun! Everyone really enjoyed it, and all plan to do it again this season. Our scores really ranged, all the way from 133 to 9. Yep, one of our group got one gutter ball after another, but she plans to go again...lol...

LIKE MY FORM? I WAS TRYING A LITTLE HIP SWIVEL TO HELP MY BALL

Boo and Ethel added a nice sunroom to their place. Here are Norman and Boo unloading their first load of tiles, grout and thin set for the floor. They could only do half at a time, because it is all our pickup could haul. Fortunately, Boo has hired a guy to do the interior, and Norman will only have to watch...bonus!

We got up this morning to beautiful blue sky and no wind. I got the RV dusted and vacumned and two loads of white wash on the line. Then the wind began to pick up...soon it had gone beyond blustery to downright blowing...took in my now dusty wash...put up the awnings...and will dust and vacumn again tomorrow... ;-(

The left picture is the sheriff with his warning lights already on heading to the corner of the desert near us. I believe he was going to stop anyone from crossing it. We definitely could not see more than a few feet into the desert...The right picture is taken from the same spot just showing the traffic up our way and the dust....

Geocaching

Our new obsession...geocacheing...we use our new GPS and follow coordinates to hidden boxes full of silly treasures. They're hidden all over the world...hundreds here in Yuma. So far we've only looked for a couple that are along our morning walk. But in the next day or so we'll be going out into the desert to find some. That will be a lot of fun.

Here is a picture of me putting Anabear in a cache here in the Foothills. Our granddaughter, Hannah, picked her up out of a cache near Frog Lake on Mt. Hood Labor Day weekend. She's got a dogtag with numbers so the person putting her in the first cache can keep track of where she travels toooooooo....

From SNOW to SUNSHINE in 3 days!

The kids and grandkids joined us for dinner, gifts and laughter Christmas Day after the snow melted. During that time our tree came down and out of the house. The next day we finished packing the RV, completed any further tasks to leave the house on its own for a while and took down all the outside lights...whew, what a task that was!

Two days after Christmas the weatherman (trusted?...lol) said the snow level would be above 5000 feet, so we hopped in the RV and headed south. This is a pic of the summit of the Siskiyous as we went over. No snow on the road...happy, happy...joy, joy!

The first night is ALWAYS spent at a casino, so Marie (me) can play a few slots. Surprise of surprises, friends from Eugene pulled in right behind us. We compared trip notes and met up for breakfasts and dinners for the trip south...and lots of phone calls during the days.

We arrived in the Yuma Foothills after dark and found both Boo n Ethel's and Donzella n Bill's places full. Fortunately Ethel saw us pull by and called. So instead of another night in the desert, we parked at their place.

The next half day was spent in cleaning the vehicles. The RV is easy because the carwash does a really nice job on RVs. But my pickup had to be handwashed. Then it was steaked with salts from the water. I had to keep it wet as I dried it with the wet n dry wax. It looks pretty good now, and I can take it to the carwash regular from now on. Last year it took 3 times through before it was clean. All the vehicles coming from the north are really filthy. Everyone can tell who has just arrived.

Then it was off to the parties...we had definitely arrived at PARTY CENTRAL! First was the neighbors n friends after-Christmas "naughty Santa" party. The next night was the friends get together dinner for New Year's Eve. The next morning we joined a bunch of old friends in Ron n Margo's park for the 'bloody Mary' party. And we've had a couple get-togethers for games. Right now we're tied...women 1/men 1....

We brought Tom n Cheryl their new computer laptop. Cheryl and I have spent a couple of good sessions at The Grocery Store (yep, that's its name) going wi-fi for the cost of a drink getting it up and running. She's really smart at this stuff...Cheryl has already set-up home pages on their dialup and added all their e-mail addresses. Today we're just getting all the updates. Can you believe over 60 just from Windows on a brand new computer?...Seems kind of crazy...

That's it for today...maybe........

to the Ozark Mountains and back

Mountains?...Well, to those of us in the west, they're hills! But the Ozarks are nothing but rock covered with a thin layer of soil that supports scrub oaks and other decidious trees and shrubs. I guess because they're mostly rock that makes them mountains. And the Ozarks are old mountains well eroded by time.

With Marian n Earl, our good-time traveling pals, we recently got back from a fun trip to Branson, MO. We had a good flight with just one connection both ways out of Eugene, well, except for our seats on one plane too close to the bathroom...sheesh, stinky!

We kept busy the whole time we were there...so many shows...so little time...going from morning to night. The Irish Tenors were good, but I really would have liked to have heard a little more of the lilting melodies of Ireland. Although the blonde kid 'really from Ireland' was easy to watch...SIX was the biggest kick in the pants! They had no band backing up their singing, but made all the music (sounds) with their voices...Andy Williams was the smooth, elegant veteran we expected...Shoji Tabuchi's show was full of high energy. What a great violinist he is! We also really enjoyed the presentation by the Chinese drums (worth close to $1 million, by the way)...No Dolly Parton at her Dixie Stampede. But the North won the Civil War again thanks to the pigs and ostriches that raced. The stampede by the long horn cattle was funny; they didn't, stampede that is...lol...then before leaving town for the Springfield airport, we took in the Red Skelton Tribute show. The fellow wasn't as good as the original, but we still got plenty of belly laughs.

So, what else did we do? Oh, LOTS!...The Titannic Museum was packed with artifacts from the ship and passengers and lots of original stories from survivors. We had our pictures taken in front of the rendition of the Grand Staircase. We each received a boarding pass for a different person and discovered just before leaving the museum whether we had survived or not...We attended an IMAX movie "Ozarks, Legends and Legacy" telling the stories of the area. Thought we would be the only ones in the theater, but a few other tourists joined us just before the show began...I loved the Five & Dime at Branson Landing. It had all kinds of joke gifts, popguns, whoopee cushions, candy, mugs and cheap t-shirts. It didn't take any of us long to go through the Bass Pro Shop. Well, truthfully, Marian and I barely made it in the door. But lunch along the waterfront in the sunshine during a lazer light, fire & water fountain show to the National Anthem was spectacular!

Marian and I spent some time at an outlet mall. We found a few good buys and a lot of empty shops. Hmmm, economy is suffering everywhere....Meanwhile, Norman and Earl did a little drive around the countryside of northern Arkansas. They really enjoyed seeing the beautiful green farmlands.

We spent some time at Silver Dollar City including attending the old time show at the saloon. It was Fall Harvest time and the decorations were beautiful. There were many, many craftspeople throughout the complex, but not enough time to see everything...darn. Norman and I did take a 2 minutes 16 seconds ride on the Wildfire roller coaster that drops 15 stories, travels at up to 66 mph through a half-loop/half-roll, a full loop, a cobra roll with 2 back-to-back inversions, a corkscrew and a high-speed spiral. FUN!!!

The fun slowed down as we headed to Springfield airport with a lunchstop at Lambert's Cafe in Ozark, MO, "the home of the throwed rolls". Yep, rolls come sailing across the room to your table, whenever you want one, and the kid has good aim. We ordered what we thought was plenty to eat (each dinner arrived in a frying pan), but then we discovered people going around the room dishing out macaroni & tomatoes, fried okra and fried potatoes to anyone wanting them. We were so full after lunch we rolled out the door.

Our conclusion about Branson? A fun place to visit, especially during the off season...it's not cheap...sort of a mini-Las Vegas without the lights, liquor and gambling. But we did it up in style, and we probably won't go back. After all...TOO MANY MORE PLACES TO SEE IN THIS UNITED STATES!