December 7, 2021
Here we go again! We departed the storage unit just after 9:00 for another trip to warm, sunny Yuma. Mom and Dad are joining us on this 3+ month adventure after spending four wonderful days visiting with the family in Mukilteo. This included a “Thanksgivakkah” celebration when we had a full Thanksgiving turkey dinner followed with Hanukkah candle-lighting as well as our traditional clues and searching for Hanukkah gifts. Evie was the center of attention though, providing endless adorable entertainment. We all had a blast – lots of laughter, smiles, and hugs. Our late start today was due to it being a weekday. There was a little bit of traffic at the start but then our travels were uneventful. Most of the day had us driving through varying degrees of fog. At times it got drizzly but we did have a short patch of sunshine in Oregon. Our only stops were a quick quiche and muffin lunch, and gassing up at the Seven Feathers Truck Stop. We arrived at Seven Feathers RV Park about 5-5:30 in darkness. In order to save almost $40 Laurie took the park shuttle over to the casino to renew his Player’s Club card. We then settled in, enjoyed a spaghetti dinner, visited for a while, then turned in early after a long day.
December 8, 2021
Everyone was up before 6:00 without a problem after going to bed early. We fueled up with coffee and biscochos and were on the road ahead of schedule just before 7:00 while it was still dark. The Siskiyou Mountains straddling the Oregon-California border were foggy and misty but the roads were fine to drive on. The rest of the drive included more fog, drizzle, and gloomy overcast skies. We took a quick break about 11:30 at a rest stop for another lunch of quiche and muffins. We arrived at Flag City RV Resort in Lodi, CA, about 3:00. It was nice to arrive before dark. However, we had an issue with the front drivers slide. After putting it out the hydraulic pump motor wouldn’t stop running. The only way to stop the motor was to disconnect the coach house batteries. None of the RV service places Laurie contacted could come out until morning and all were expensive. He ended up spending a couple hours researching the problem online, and eventually went to bed thinking of the best solution.
December 9, 2021
This morning Laurie did a work-around by crawling under the front of the RV and disconnecting the solenoid output cable. This allowed us to reconnect the house batteries. He’ll have to keep connecting and disconnecting the cable each time we need to extend or retract the slides until we get to Yuma where he can do a permanent fix. Not too bad as problems go, though. Forty minutes behind schedule we were back on the road at 7:40. The morning was overcast but it was dry with no fog to start, but returned to that misty gloom as we approached the Bakersfield area. All was good until we hit the Los Angeles area traffic which took us about 3 hours to slog our way through. We arrived at Banning Stagecoach KOA towards 6:00 in the cold, rainy dark. The park had confusing afterhours instructions, and it had very poor lighting so it was extremely hard to find our way to a spot. The spot we chose (68) that looked okay was really too short for us as our front was right up at the street and the back end of the tow car stuck out slightly into the street behind us, but it was too dark and nasty to try to find a different spot. Miraculously the solenoid started working properly again after Laurie hooked up the disconnected wire under the front of the RV! We had a quick, easy dinner of sandwiches and chips, relaxed a bit, then turned in around 9:00.
December 10, 2021
A sunny morning for a change! We had our coffee and biscochos, and were travelling once again by 7:15. The temperature progressively got warmer as we got closer to our destination. With very little traffic we arrived at Sun Vista RV Resort before noon local time (which is an hour later than WA). We spent a short time hooking up and putting out the slides then had our usual quiche and muffins. Laurie and Dad went to the office to check-in for both of our sites, stopping at their park model to drop off their suitcases before returning to the RV to gather up Pat and Mom and a few remaining supplies. Another quick trip to the park model to drop them and their stuff off, leaving them for the afternoon to unpack and settle in. We did more of our own settling in with Laurie mainly working outside and Pat inside. It warmed up to almost 70 with partly cloudy skies which was wonderful after all of the chilly, rainy, foggy weather we drove through. M&D came over for dinner then returned to their place shortly after dinner as everyone was a bit tired.
December 11, 2021
Another sunny day, with many more to follow. After checking in at the mailroom to get keys, our day was spent in the RV with Laurie tweaking the internet and Pat cleaning, going through recipes, and reading. M&D joined us for dinner (manicotti) and a visit. We don’t have TV yet as the cable box broke, and we are waiting for a cable box to come on Tuesday so our evenings are spent doing odds and ends.
December 12, 2021
We’ve continued to do things to set up the RV as our home for the next 3 months, as well as doing some relaxing. We enjoy our early mornings when it’s still dark so we get to see the sunrise over the mountains out the front window. Mom and Dad joined us for dinner and a visit in the late afternoon. In the evenings we started watching the comedy series Sch*tt’s Creek which is pretty entertaining (Nicole’s recommendation.)
December 13, 2021
This morning started with a large Walmart pickup for both us and M&D. Laurie’s incision looks like it needs more silver nitrate treatments so after checking around we visited Nextcare Urgent Care where they provided prescriptions for that as well as an antibiotic. We’re back into our old routine of Mom fixing dinner on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays with Pat covering the other days. While eating at M&D’s we use their washer and dryer to wash larger items that are too big/heavy for the RV washer combo.
December 14-15, 2021
These two days were mostly spent trying to get Laurie’s prescriptions ordered and find which places have the best prices on it. Late afternoon Tuesday and through early morning we had very windy weather. So much so that Laurie picked up M&D to bring them over for dinner and returned them home afterwards. Today was the annual parade of holiday decorated golf carts at sundown. There were quite a few and it was fun to watch them all drive by the RV. Later in the evening there was also a brief, wind-driven downpour which always sounds nice on the RV roof. Wednesday Mom made her outstanding meatballs which we always enjoy. More Sch_tt’s Creek in the evenings.
December 16, 2021
We were out early to get the car washed and gassed up for the hour-long trip to Costco in El Centro, CA. We picked up M&D just before 9:00, arriving at Costco at 9:00 local time (time change from AZ to CA) which is the start of senior hour. We both filled our carts with necessities and some things that weren’t quite so necessary but yummy! It was a nice day for a drive. We had jazzed up leftover ramen noodles with chicken and vegetables from Tuesday night so it was an easy dinner.
December 17-18, 2021
We had a couple of repetitive days of just doing our own thing during the day. Mom made a delicious salmon dinner on Friday, then Saturday ate up leftovers (Salmon from Friday and meatballs from Wednesday). Everything tasted even better the second time around!
December 19, 2021
Today was our 7-hour roundtrip trek to Tucson to pick up Nicole at the airport. We’re so happy to have her here for an 11 night stay on the RV! She had a smooth, on-time flight on Alaska Air arriving about 3:30. A “picnic” dinner of sandwiches while driving back provided our meal for the evening. It was after 7:00 and dark when we returned to the RV where Nicole settled in, and we visited and watched a little TV. Towards 8:30 Nicole was beat from her long day so we all turned in for the night.
December 20, 2021
We had coffee and watched news in our bedroom until Nicole awoke (about 7:00). We relaxed inside for a part of the morning, then moved out to the patio while Laurie checked and filled the tires on the bikes, RV, and car. Then it was time for a tour of the pak for Nicole! After stopping by M&D’s/G&G’s to have a short visit and pick them up, we toured most of the amenities of Sun Vista. Since we ended at the shuffleboard courts it seemed appropriate to initiate Nicole to the game. Laurie served as referee/scorekeeper while Nicole and Dad teamed up against Pat and Mom. Nicole and Dad ended up winning, and for her first time ever playing shuffleboard Nicole had earned the most points of anyone! We think she’s hooked! The Fun Park is the only area in the park that remains to be explored – we’ll save that for another day. We had a short rest at the RV then it was time to go back to M&D’s. Mom magically transformed a Costco chicken into mouthwatering, lemony, garlicy Greek chicken. Yum! Our evening was ended with more Sch*tt’s Creek and retiring early again.
December 21, 2021
After many phone calls throughout the week we finally picked up two of the prescriptions that were prescribed for Laurie a week ago when he visited the urgent care place. Let the healing begin! It was an overcast day but around 70 degrees so a good day for Laurie to grill some yummy chicken and zucchini to go with baked potatoes. We’re still making our way through Sch*tt’s Creek in the evenings.
December 22, 2021
Today we completed Nicole’s park tour by taking her to the Fun Park. Activities here include bocce ball, horseshoes, miniature golf, golf driving practice, a batting cage, pickleball courts, and a large remote-control car racing track. Laurie and Nicole tried out the bocce ball then all of us played a 9-hole round of mini golf. Laurie was the winner. The weather was mostly sunny and in the mid-70’s so it was great to be outdoors and get a little sun. Mom/Grandma made her wonderful chicken with soup, cheese and croutons. It’s a dish everyone always looks forward to.
December 23, 2021
Another sunny, mid-70’s day! Although it was perfect weather outside, Nicole and Pat went swimming in the indoor pool which they had to themselves. (The outdoor pool/hot tub area was busy with others enjoying the nice day but not being very covid safe.) They had fun in the pool playing with pool noodles and a beach ball, and finished up with a soak in the hot tub. Back at the RV it was very pleasant to sit out on the patio for a while before clouds moved in. Laurie grilled some of his delicious cheeseburgers which we had along with oven fries and coleslaw. It was a very tasty, satisfying meal. After M&D headed back to their place, we continued our Sch*tt’s Creek watching.
December 24, 2021
Rain! It started raining overnight and continued until late morning with the wind picking up as the rain faded. (Yuma averages only 2.7 days of rain in December, 15.2 days in the year.) It’s a chance to get the dust washed off everything – at least temporarily. We went out early to pick-up a Fry’s order to try to get some of the items that Walmart was missing, but it was just as bad as Walmart. As always we’ll just have to make do with what we have. Nicole spent a big part of the day making frosted, star-shaped sugar cookies. M&D provided some yummy leftovers for dinner and we watched our series in the evening.
December 25-27, 2021
We mostly spent time relaxing. We did take a nice, long walk around the perimeter of the park. In the Fun Park the RC Club was racing several cars around the track. These are large cars about 15 inches long. It was a blast to watch them flying around the dirt course, flipping, crashing, and mostly staying upright. We finished up our walk which took just over 3,000 steps according to Nicole’s watch. Another day we hit the shuffleboard courts with the “Guys” (Laurie/Dad) pitted against the “Dolls” (Nicole/Mom). Pat kept score and the Guys ended up winning. It’s been a little bit on the cooler, cloudier side but still a lot better than the snow and upper-teen temperatures back home! Mom and Pat made some delicious dinners and in the evening we continued watching Sch*tt’s Creek.
December 28, 2021
Today was mostly sunny but still slightly cool and breezy – a good time to go hiking! Mid-morning we headed out, stopping first in the Yuma Proving Grounds to look at their display of tanks and rocket launchers. It was kind of eerie to imagine the destruction these monstrous machines were capable of in their prime. Then it was on to the Imperial Wildlife Refuge which is about 45 minutes from Sun Vista. The visitor’s center was closed so we continued on to the Painted Desert Trail which was our destination. The hike was 1.3 miles long with a few ups and downs. Parts of it were over the varied colored hills (thus the name) which provided expansive views from the top, and part of it was through washes with rock walls on either side. The first part of the hike had some numbered features which were described on a paper provided at the start of the hike. It was interesting to learn about what we were looking at. We were the only ones there at the start but upon our return there was another car parked next to us with two women inside. It turned out that not only were they from Washington, but they are also staying at Sun Vista! Our evening was the usual – M&D joining us for dinner followed by several episodes of Sch*tt’s Creek.
December 29, 2021
Nicole’s last day here so it was her choice of what to do for the day. For the morning she just wanted to relax on the RV and pack. In the afternoon we picked up M&D as we walked to the Fun Park for a rousing game of miniature golf. It was a lot of fun and everyone did pretty well. The day was mostly sunny so it was a beautiful day to be outside. Afterwards we returned to M&D’s since Mom was cooking dinner. We had a nice visit before returning to the RV for more show watching.
December 30, 2021
Today was spent getting Nicole back to Mukilteo. The drive to the Tucson airport was about 3 ½ hours. We stopped close to Tucson for a picnic lunch in the car next to an orchard with a pretty view of mountains. We kept watching Nicole’s flight which kept getting delayed from it’s original departure time of 4:00 to 5:38 because of flight delays due to snowy weather in Washington. We sat in the cell phone lot at the airport until we had confirmation that the airplane for her flight was departing for Tucson from Everett, then we dropped her at the terminal where she waited. We made the long drive back arriving just after 5:30 which was just about the rime that Nicole’s flight finally took off for the return trip to Everett. We ran into a bit of rain on the way back which produced a magnificent rainbow where we could see the entire arch in the open landscape. Daniel was tracking Nicole’s flight (everyone was!) from home and picked her up at Paine Field after the flight landed at 8:00. It was a long day which we ended by watching the last of Sch*tt’s Creek. Time to find a new series!
December 31, 2021
A rainy start to the day which saw us head out for a 7:00 am Walmart pickup. Did some laundry, prepped for Mom’s birthday tomorrow, spent some time gaming, and had dinner at M&D’s. We took a break before we start watching a new series in the evenings and opted for computer time.
January 1, 2022
Happy New Year and Happy Birthday Mom! A breezy, cool day. M&D joined us in the afternoon for a Birthday-Happy-Hour followed by a dinner of Bang Bang Shrimp and snap peas. Then we watched a movie called “Baraka” which was a documentary film with no narrative or voice-over. It explored themes via a compilation of natural events, life, human activities and technological phenomena shot in 24 countries on six continents over a 14-month period. It was interesting and had some great scenes in it. However, it would have been nice if it had captions indicating where the shots were filmed. We perked up afterwards when we had Mom’s birthday cake – a dessert with layers of pecan shortbread, Cool Whip mixed with cream cheese, lemon pudding, Cool Whip, and chopped pecans. Yum! Nothing like a little sugar to end the day!
January 2-7, 2022
Days have started to resemble one another. The weather has been sunny or partly-sunny with the temperature getting a degree or two warmer each day to finally put us in the low 70’s most days. We’ve done some walks and bike rides, and sat out on the patio soaking up the warmth of the sun. We continue alternating who cooks dinner, and Mom did a wonderful brunch one day with all the lox and bagel fixings. We started watching Game of Thrones (GOT) and have already made it to season 2. Despite Pat’s misgivings, we both are enjoying the series.
January 8, 2022
Pat’s birthday! The day started with a gorgeous, intensely-colored sunrise. M&D also sent an early morning birthday greeting along with an email Amazon gift card. Most of the day was spent lazing around, both inside and outside. We did venture out early afternoon to redeem Pat’s free birthday drink at a Starbucks in the foothills. Pat’s drink of choice (to share) was a venti Pistachio Coffee Frappuccino. It was very good but tasted more like caramel than pistachio. Throughout the day the kids were in touch by various means and we talked to them later in the afternoon. They also had arranged birthday cards and gifts (computer games and hummingbird feeders) which Pat opened in the afternoon. Mom made a delicious birthday dinner starting with fruit-loaded sangria and ending with a candle topped cheesecake. As usual, everything she made was very flavorful. The evening ended with a couple more episodes of GOT.
January 9 – February 14, 2022
Life has been fairly routine so we haven’t had much to add to the blog. On our own we’ve done some bike riding, relaxed in the sun on the patio, relaxed in the RV (computer time/games, cross-stitch, reading, etc.), finished watching “Game of Thrones”, started watching “24”, and did our weekly Walmart grocery pickups. We continue to take turns fixing dinners with mom & dad, made a Costco run to El Centro (about an hour away), and went swimming in the indoor pool/hot tub when the weather warmed up. We had the indoor pool and hot tub all to ourselves as everyone else was at the outdoor pool/hot tub! Mom had an issue with a loose tooth so we got her in to see a dentist (Gila Ridge Dental, Dr. Thor Thorson). The first step was to have the tooth removed. They took care of that during the visit and it came out quickly and painlessly with Novocain. She’s very happy with the dentist and we will schedule another visit in a couple weeks to see if her gum is healed and if she wants to proceed with a “false tooth” to fill the gap. During some of our daily 4:00-6:00 dinner gatherings Laurie has started filming M&D talking about theirs life experiences (separately and together) for the current family and future generations to enjoy.
The weather was slightly cool and somewhat breezy for a while which kept us from playing shuffleboard. Then all of a sudden we had a blast of heat with mid-80 degree temperatures for several days in a row. Starting tomorrow it’s supposed to be back in the 70’s which is more the norm for this time of year. There’s been absolutely no rain and very few clouds. We continue to enjoy our stay but we also very much miss the family across the country.
February 15 – March 16, 2022
Our unexciting, but very relaxing, time in Yuma continues. We did get in a little more swimming and shuffleboard. The temperature has ranged from 70 on up to 90 degrees with no rain. There almost always seems to be varying degrees of a breeze from very little to very gusty with wind and blowing dust advisories. Our alternating dinners continued with an eye towards using up what we have on hand to lessen our load for the trip home. We spent sunny time on the patio as well as enjoying time conversing with Mom and Dad. The last couple days before departing were spent cleaning inside, preparing “road food”, washing the outside window coverings, preparing the water softener for storage, and generally getting organized for departure on the 17th.
March 17, 2022
We were loaded up, including M&D, and on the road by 7:00 on another cloudless morning. After gassing up the RV at Love’s in Yuma we officially hit the road about 7:45. Our travels took us through desert, Joshua Trees, rock formations, views of distant snow-capped mountains, and green rolling hills. Our brunch stop today was a little past Palm Springs and consisted of broccoli quiche and poppyseed muffins. We arrived at Orange Grove RV Park in Bakersfield, CA, about 3:15 and settled in amongst the orange trees. Unfortunately, although there were still some oranges on the trees, we couldn’t pick them because the blossoms of the next crop were already on the trees. A funny thing happened when one of our RV neighbors started to come into our RV by mistake. He had an armful of snacks but sadly for us they were for his grandkids. A little later he stopped by and gave us some oranges he picked up at a fruit stand as an apology. Happy hour consisted of some good conversation following by leftover “Loaded Baked Potato Soup” and cornbread. In the evening Laurie tutored Dad on some techniques for completing sudoku puzzles while Mom and Pat chatted and did their own thing. We also made a call to Gloria in Sydney as it was her birthday and had a nice chat. We hope to see her when we cruise from Australia in Spring 2023.
March 18, 2022
Once again we were able to start our travels at 7:00 after having some coffee and biscochos. It was a chilly 49 degrees but bright and sunny when we departed. The drive was pretty uneventful. We took Route 99 instead of I5 and there weren’t any rest stops so we ate while Laurie drove with him munching on biscochos. With no stops for brunch or gas we made it to Rolling Hills Casino RV Park a little after 2:00. The park road to get into our site (29) had a short stretch just before the site that looked like it had been bombed. Even going really slow the RV rocked from side-to-side like crazy with stuff in the cabinets banging and the passenger slide moving in and out at the top. Have to remember not to pick sites in that row again! Once we were in the spot it was very nice with trees just outside the windows that were just starting to get leaves and lots of little song birds and mourning doves singing or cooing to us. The sky started to slowly haze up with clouds which was an indicator of what was to come. We had another enjoyable Happy Hour following by yummy meatloaf that Mom had made back in Yuma and froze accompanied by mashed potatoes and leftover soup. The evening was spent watching part of a Beatles documentary until we were all too tired to continue.
March 19, 2022
Even though today was a little bit shorter drive, we still pulled out about 7:00 after coffee and biscochos. On the way out we stopped at the Rolling Hills gas station to get a little bit of fuel (40 gallons) to get us to Seven Feathers in Oregon where gas is cheaper. The pump was EXTREMELY slow and then turned off after about 20 gallons. Laurie tried to start it again to add more but his credit card was declined. He ended up going back and forth to the travel center numerous times to try to buy more gas but decided to give up after much wasted time with no results. (Also, this was the truck area and all the window cleaning tools were short and would not reach our window! Not good planning on the station’s part. A short drive down the highway we got the rest of the gas at Love’s, but that ended up being a bit of a pain and time consuming as well. Finally, we were on our way with today being the day we went through mountains. It was a mixed bag of weather with various degrees of rain, fog, and even a bit of sun. At least there wasn’t any snow! We pulled into Seven Feathers RV Resort before 2:00. It had the most sites filled that we’ve ever seen but we were lucky enough to get the second to last pull-thru spot. Next time we’ll make a reservation just to be safe. We relaxed during the afternoon, had another delicious meatloaf and mashed potato dinner, and watched some more of the Beatles’ documentary.
March 20, 2022
A very cold (32 degree) start to the day. We fortified ourselves with coffee and biscochos before starting our last day on the road just after 7:00. The first part of the drive was foggy and frosty which made for some pretty scenery. The sun made a quick appearance before clouds took over and we had off and on rain showers. We stopped for another quick quiche and muffin brunch at a rest stop in southern Washington. Then it was time for the final leg of our journey home! There were a few pockets of traffic but we made it to our RV’s cozy storage unit about 2:30. After unhooking the car and backing the RV into unit, we loaded everything we could into the car, including M&D! We’ll got the rest the next morning after we make a grocery pickup at Fred Meyer. At last we arrived home about 3:15 to the waiting smiles of Daniel and Nicole! It was so wonderful to see them and exchange hugs. They did a great job of taking care of the house while we were away. After putting stuff away and visiting for a bit, Nicole made a delicious Mexican Picadillo dinner with cornbread which really hit the spot after a long day on the road. A little more visiting after dinner and then the “travelers” turned in early to rest up for time together over the next week. Our trip to Yuma may be over but we still have time together and plans for the future. Next adventure: Vision of the Seas cruise at the end of April!