Sunday - Tuesday, March 16-18, 2014 (Yuma, AZ)

Sunday

Being a Sunday, we were going to check out a new church in the area.  Rich settled on church called Stone Ridge Church that was only a couple miles away.  As we were getting out of the parking lot, we saw this guy on a motorcycle that was set up as a World War II style military motorcycle including the rifle in a scabbard on the bike pull into the parking lot.  The rider was even dressed in a military coat and boots. We later saw that his license on the bike was from Oregon.  Very interesting set up, we wondered if the rifle was real or not.....Anyway, we enjoyed the church service.

After church, we stopped and got a few groceries and headed back to the 5er.  It was a beautiful afternoon, so we spent time lounging at the pool with our books and swimming in the lap pool.  A very relaxing and peaceful day.

Monday

This morning we got up early and went and checked out the fitness room.  They have some really nice workout machines.  We weren't sure if it would be crowded, but there was only one guy working out when we got there and one that came after we were working out.  We enjoyed having some new equipment to try out.

At 8:00 a.m. they had an exercise class scheduled, so we stopped by to see what that was.  Cool....it was Walking Away the Lbs.  the same as we were doing in Havasu.  They held the class in the ballroom and it was huge, both the room and the class.  In this class the ratio of men was about 50%.  In Havasu it was mostly just Rich and then sometimes one or two other gents, the women definitely outnumbered the guys.

We stayed for the class and boy it was another good workout.  It was a video that we hadn't exercised to in Havasu with a couple new moves that added a new complexity to the workout.  We met a lady in the class from B.C. and we struck up a conversation and she invited us over for drinks at their RV at 4:30 p.m.  

After exercising and going back to the 5er and getting cleaned up, we decided to just hang around the resort today.  The temps were expected to be in the low 90's, so the pool sounded a lot better than doing some site seeing.  It's suppose to cool down after today so we'll go visit the Yuma Territorial Prison later in the week.

So the afternoon was spent lounging by the pool and doing some swimming.  These pools are much cooler than the pool in Havasu, so it is definitely more refreshing.  While we were at the pool we saw a couple and I thought it was the lady, Doreen that we had met at exercise class, but I wasn't 100% sure so I didn't say anything.  At 4:30 we left the pool and headed over to Doreen and her husband Sandy's RV site.  Yep, it was the same couple.  We had a nice chat over some cold drinks and got to hear about the new RV they just purchased as well as their life in Naramata in the Okanagan Valley in B.C.   They have a "suite" that they rent out in the summer months to summer visitors.  They are only a few blocks from the lake and it looks like a beautiful spot to vacation.  We enjoyed our visit with them. 

Tuesday

Our plan today was to go into Algadones, Mexico which is just across the border and get our teeth cleaned and check out an eye doctor.  Rich dropped his glasses awhile back and scratched the lenses pretty bad and needs a new pair and we hear you can get them pretty cheap here. 

We left the 5er a little before 8:00 a.m. and stopped at McDonalds for a quick breakfast sandwich before heading down the road.  It's only about a 20 minute drive from our resort.  Boy was it windy out today, the dust was a flying, good thing we aren't pulling the 5er.

We got to the parking lot and there was already a line waiting to enter the parking lot and it was only just around 8:30.  We heard this was a popular place for people to come and it sure appears that way.  We got parked and walked across the border with everyone else.  It sure is a different world from what we are used too.  The minute you cross the border, there are people trying to get your attention and direct you to whatever medical profession you are looking for.  We already had made appointments with a dentist, so could politely decline the offers being thrown at us from every direction.

We had to stop and take a look at our hand drawn map and try and get our bearings and find the dentist we were suppose to see.  Our appointments weren't until 10:00 a.m. and it wasn't even 9:00 a.m. yet, but we wanted to make sure we knew where we were suppose to be.  We did take up a locals offer on directions and he actually did direct us to the correct spot. 

We went in and checked in and asked if they could take us early.  The answer was yes, so we got the paperwork filled out and only had to wait about 10 minutes.  There was another couple in the small waiting area from Montana and they had been coming to this dentist for years, so that was a good sign.  We chatted until we got called for our appts.  They asked who wanted to go first, and Rich volunteered me, so I went first. 

Now dentists are never really that much fun, and being in Mexico and going to the dentist in another country had me a bit nervous, but I have to say, the dentist did a fine job and I have no complaints.  They did do a few things a bit differently, but I came away with my teeth feeling nice and clean and it only cost $30.00.  Rich had the same experience - no problems and we would definitely go back again.  Now it was off to see the eye dr.

The couple in the dentist office we were chatting with used Algadones Optical and so we decided since the dentist worked out ok, let's try the same eye dr.  Rich signed in and we had to wait about an hour before he could be seen, so we left and did some site seeing and visited some shops.

I'm smiling now that we are done with the dentist

One of the colorful buildings in town

Purses anyone?

Most people walk across but there are still those that drive and the streets have lots of cars parked along side them

After doing some browsing, we went back to the eye dr. to wait.  There was a bakery next door, so I walked over and got two pastries to snack on while we waited...yummy.  Soon Rich's name was called and in he went.  The exam didn't take long and the eye dr. said that instead of buying new frames, they would just put new lenses in Rich's existing glasses.  So even though we didn't have to buy new frames, just the lenses, the glasses cost about $200. We expected them to be cheaper from the stories we had heard, but I guess if you consider those same glasses cost about $600 in the U.S. I guess they are cheaper, now we just have to see about the quality.  We could have waited around 3 hours for the lenses, but because we had Gracie waiting back at the 5er, Rich decided that he'd just come back tomorrow morning and pick them up.  We'll let you know if he likes them or not.  We've heard both good and bad stories about the glasses down here, so we'll see how our story ends up.

After the eye dr. we did a little more browsing and came across this outdoor restaurant and decided to stop and have a little lunch. 

Check out the huge tree trunk in the background, there were two of these huge trees that shaded the whole outdoor seating area. 

Of course, there were vendors wandering through the tables selling their different wares, watches, jewelry, clothing, hats, etc. etc.  I did succumb to a vendor selling rings and ended up with a very pretty blue opal ring.  I think I ended up with a bargain, which I'm sure the vendor/s always want you to leave feeling that way.  =)  It would be interesting to know how much they actually do have to pay for these items and the profit they make, even though they say they don't.  

After lunch we decided we best head back to the 5er before the lines to cross the border back into the states got too long.  

This is the landmark to look for to get back to the border crossing which is just behind the purple pharmacy.  Most people coming across the border also buy some of their prescriptions here because the cost is so much cheaper. 

Looks like we waited a bit too long to get in line.  This shot is looking forward to the line in front of us and

This is the line behind us.  Notice they provide a shade covering which really helps and they have people passing out free bottled water.  The medical facilities paste some advertising on the bottles so that must be how they can hand them out free. 

It only actually took us about 30 minutes from the time we stepped in line until we were through customs and back on U.S. soil.  While in line, we started chatting with the lady in front of us and found out they were staying in the same resort we are.  They are from Illinois and this was their first time to Algadones also.  It felt really safe the whole time we were there, though we did see a couple Mexican soldiers with their guns hanging out on the streets.  We did not take their pictures.  =)  So all in all our experience was really positive.

We were back at the 5er by 2:30.  The wind had died down to a nice breeze, but it was only about 78 degrees today, so we decided to take a break from the pool and just hang out and do some reading.  I did take Gracie for a nice long walk in the green space they have around the perimeter of the park which is about a mile I'm told.  

Another days adventure ends well.  =) 



Saturday, March 15, 2014 (Yuma, AZ)

We woke to blue sky and sunshine and so far no wind.  That's a good start.  We decided to eat breakfast out and decide how to spend the day.  We were headed to IHOP but when we got there we saw people standing out front waiting.....uh oh that's not a good sign.  Yep, there was a 20 minute wait to be seated.....hmmm let's go to plan B which was McDonalds.  There is an airshow today and IHOP was near the airport so we figured any restaurant in the vicinity would most likely be crowded also. 

The airshow was one option we were considering, but we are not big crowd people and weren't sure we were up to dealing with all the traffic.  At the resort today, they were having 3 open houses on some model homes and then they were having what they call a "Burger Bash" with live music at noon.  As we drove back to the resort, we had to go by the airport and already the traffic was heavy and they must have expected even heavier traffic because there were already police cars at several of the intersections.  Yes, I think we'll stick to staying at the resort today, we just weren't in the mood to deal with the big crowds.  Yuma is much bigger than Lake Havasu.

We stopped and visited two model homes and then a lot with two casita's on it.  The first house was pretty cool, it reminded us of our friends Ben & Harriet's house in Baja.  The guest suite had an outdoor staircase up to the second floor where there was also some really nice outdoor living space with a small outdoor kitchen.  Very nicely done, but also well out of our price range.  I think I've mentioned before, I think looking at houses is a hobby of ours, we both like looking.  One positive thing out of the model home tours was that we got two free tickets to the Burger Bash.

At noon on our walk to the clubhouse/pool area where the Burger Bash was being held, we stopped at another model home.  This one was really very nice and again way out of our price range but of the three we toured, we liked the first one the best. 

Wow, there was a lot of people at this "Burger Bash" and they were not all from the resort, apparently the public is invited to these parties too.  They serve burgers and chips with free soda or you can buy beer and wine if you choose.  We met a nice couple from Kent, WA who have been in the resort since November.  We asked a lot of questions about the activities and apparently a lot of them are winding down and by the end of the month they will all be finished.  We are hoping to check out a couple of the exercise classes on Monday, so hopefully they will still be going.  Here are some pics of the event, but they don't really show you how many people were there.  The realtor that gave us the free tickets said they were expecting 1,000 people.  

Lap pool with band on stage in background.  At one point, the pool had quite a few people swimming in it while listening to the music. 

Behind Rich, under the clubhouse roof, was where most of the people were sitting eating and listening to the band

After we ate our burgers, we went and changed into our swim suits and listened to the band from the pool lounge chairs

A few brave souls dancing, it was pretty hot outside around 88 degrees.  We danced a couple of slow songs and it got pretty warm.  Made the pool feel pretty nice.

The other pool with more swimmers enjoying the water while listening to the music

 
The band played from noon until 3:00 p.m.  They had a bit of a break because the resort lost power for a little while - not sure if it was because of the wind which had definitely picked up as the day went on, or some other reason.  It was a very pleasant and relaxing way to spend the afternoon. 

We took Gracie for a walk after dinner and caught this beautiful sunset and then the full moon. 

Sunset

Full moon. The bright light to the left is a lamp post.  The pretty yellow bushes in the foreground are yellow trumpet type flowers which smell really good.

Friday, March 14, 2014 (Yuma, AZ)

We woke up at 5:30 a.m. to get started on our travel day.  Our target to be on the road was 8:00 a.m.  Boy we haven't had to get up to an alarm clock in a long time.....I can tell you I didn't like it too much.  =)

We got our showers and had a quick breakfast and started packing up inside and out.  Boy, we haven't moved the 5er since December 1st, so we felt a little rusty on our pack up procedures.  We hit the road a little after 8:30 a.m. a little behind our target, but still pretty good.  We wanted to arrive in Yuma before noon, it's a 3 hour, 160 mile drive and we should make that just fine.  It was a nice sunny day and no wind yet. 

The desert is starting to bloom which makes it very pretty in it's own unique way.  The Ocotillo are blooming, they are the plants that look like dead skinny sticks with thorns but when they bloom, they bloom at the tips with a bright orange flower.  I tried to get a picture of them as we were driving by, but none of them turned out....rats.  I did manage to get a picture of the mesquite trees which are also blooming now.



In the middle foreground is a bush that has a yellow haze around it which are actually the blossoms.  In the background against the skyline are ocotillo bushes



Mesquite tree with the yellow blossoms.  There are also creosote bushes which are the darker green shorter bushes which are also blooming now but you can't really see the blossoms in this photo - they are pretty small.

Just before we got to Yuma the scenery changed to farm land.  It was amazing how quickly it changed and what a bit of water can do. 

Not sure what this field of green was, but it was sure pretty

This field was just starting to sprout, so again not sure what it was, but the soil here is pretty sandy

A field of cauliflower that was being picked

Growing up in the Willamette Valley, it was a familiar site, to see fields of crops, the only thing different was seeing the palm trees.  =)

We arrived at The Palms RV resort by noon and were escorted to our site.  They are nice big sites and the park is huge.  This is a deeded lot park like our resort in Lake Havasu and we are excited to check it out.  One notable difference, is that there are alot more flowers around and some actual live green grass in the common areas.  Gracie hasn't been on grass for months now and they have two doggy parks here, one for large dogs and one for small dogs and they are nice green grass.

Site 284

After we got set up and had some lunch, we did a little exploring around the resort.  It's very nice and it has a few more amenities than Lake Havasu, like tennis courts, pickleball courts and outdoor shuffleboard courts.  They also have a billiards room and a big craft area where they do ceramics, jewelry, stained glass, etc etc.  They have two salt water pools which are very nice and we spent some time enjoying the water.  So far so good.....we'll see what tomorrow brings.  

Monday - Thursday, March 10-13, 2014 (Lake Havasu City, AZ)

The count down has begun.....we are finally getting ready to pull up stakes from Lake Havasu City and meander on down the road on Saturday.  We had a few things that we wanted to get accomplished before we left so that's how we spent our last few days.

We went to the bookstore and got stocked up on some good reading material.  Rich has really been enjoying the western author - Max Brand and this book store has a nice selection of his books.  I've been reading Dee Henderson and really enjoying her books, I was in the middle of reading a six part series and was ready for book 4 and decided I'd best buy all 3 in case I can't find the last two in our travels.  I think we are set with reading material for awhile.

We also had to have lunch at the local In N Out burger place one last time.  We both really enjoy the burgers they serve at that restaurant and the prices are so reasonable.

What else.....besides our last week of line dancing and walk away the lbs exercise class and afternoons at the pool.....oh we also wanted to wash the dust off the truck and the 5er before we left.  We thought we would have two days to accomplish this project but in looking at the weather on Wednesday it was suppose to be breezy on Saturday with gusts up to 30 mph, yikes, that's not good as that was the day we were scheduled to pull out of our resort.  We decided it made sense to leave on Friday to beat the wind, so that only left us with Thursday to get everything washed and shined up.  Of course with all the activity on our lot, folks we knew would stop by and chat and ask about our travel plans.  Even with all the interruptions, we managed to get everything washed and shined up ready to leave bright and early on Friday morning.  It's getting that time of year where a lot of folks are getting ready to pack up and head to their summer homes with a lot of folks starting to leave now and into the first part of April.  There are a few folks who stay until May, but they are far and few.

Oh, I did find a home for my tomato plants, one of our neighbors is one of those who stays until mid May and she volunteered to take them on.   They were just starting to produce fruit, so I didn't want to have to throw them away.  I also found a home for my bouganvilla vine.  I thought about dragging it along with us, but decided it was too tall and would get beat up pretty badly since I would have to lay it down on it's side when we traveled.  It too was getting set for another round of blossoms.  They are one of my favorite flowers down here, they are so vibrant.   The rest of my little garden we have room for in the back seat of the truck so it gets to come along for the ride which makes me happy.  =)

We've really enjoyed our stay at Lake Havasu but are looking forward to seeing some new country.  Our next post will be from Yuma, AZ......

Sunday, March 9, 2014 (Lake Havasu City, AZ)

Today was the last time we will be attending Hilltop Community Church here in Havasu.  We've really enjoyed the sermons.  Today after the sermon, they had some of the children from their Learning Center School come in and sing a couple songs.  Little kids are so cute, some are so shy and don't like the attention and others are very animated and love the attention.  It was a very cute way to end our last visit for the season.

After lunch and a phone call from my mom, we decided to take a drive north of town and check out some of the boondocking or dry camping spots that we've seen from the road.  In Arizona you can camp on BLM land for up to 14 days with no camping fees, of course there are no facilities or water.  This spot can be seen from the highway and still had a fair amount of campers.

Boondocking north of Havasu - this was pretty much like a big dry gravel parking lot, not really our cup of tea.

Another angle of the many boondocking campers.  Some of the rigs are pretty large but we wouldn't want to bring our rig out on these rough roads....

When we were driving back to our resort, I noticed another gravel road that looked interesting so we decided to check it out.  It was another boondocking spot but the camping was 1 mile up the road.  The road looked pretty smooth so we decided to explore.  This area was much nicer and we even tossed the possibility of bringing the tent out and spending a night under the stars, not sure we'll get to it before we leave at the end of the week.  Here are some pics of the "Craggy Wash" boondocking camping area north of Lake Havasu.

These hills had some real pretty colors

Some real interesting rock formations

More interesting rock formations

And another....bet the stars are incredible out here at night away from the city lights

A big group of campers, notice they almost all have solar panels on their roofs. 

It really was a pretty place and I can see why people would camp out here, of the two places, we would choose this last boondocking spot.  The pic above shows a group of campers, but there were lots of places up the road where you could pull off the side of the road and be all by yourself. 

Earlier in the day we saw this plane flying over the resort and throughout the afternoon we could see it flying over and around  the lake.  Lake Havasu City is one of the top Spring break locations in the country and Saturday when we were down by the London Bridge we could see a lot more young people hanging out in boats along the channel.  At one point we saw a boat that had over a dozen kids on board.  The sheriff patrol actually pulled them over and we could see them checking for life jackets and apparently they satisfied the sheriff because pretty soon they pulled away and headed out to the open water with all the kids aboard.  Apparently for the next 3 weeks it gets pretty crazy down by the water, the locals all know to stay away from the water and the restaurants.   We've never seen this type of banner flying around Lake Havasu City so assumed it must be a message for all the spring break kids......

the small print reads "real good sex"....Have you ever seen anything like this before?  Yikes.....



Friday - Saturday, March 7 & 8, 2014 (Lake Havasu City, AZ)

Today we did our normal morning routine and then did some grocery shopping in preparation for my nephew Taylor and his little boy Jayden's overnight visit.

Taylor and Jayden arrived a little after 4:00 p.m. from the Phoenix area, it's a long drive that he's made several times since we've been down here.  It sure was good to see them.

We BBQ'd steak for dinner and had homemade potato salad.  I was disappointed in the potato salad, the onion I used was pretty strong and I only used half of it though the recipe called for a whole one.  It was pretty windy outside today, so eating outside was kind of like eating in a wind tunnel but we managed. 

After dinner we took a walk through the park with little Jayden riding on his tricycle.  He loved going down the hills but wasn't able to peddle back up so his dad pushed him.  Little Jayden is pretty good with his letters and numbers and he's not quite 3 yet.  At every spot on the road where they had SLOW or STOP we had to stop and Jayden had to say the letters with his dad, it was very cute.  I think little Jayden got wore out because when it was time for bed, he went down without a fuss and was asleep within minutes.  Taylor says our hide a bed is pretty comfortable.

Saturday we woke up and had a relaxing breakfast.  Rich ran to a donut shop here in town that we'd been wanting to try out and got an assortment of donuts to go with our scrambled eggs.  After that nutritious breakfast we hung around and visited for awhile before it was time to make up our picnic lunch.  The plan today was to take Taylor & Jayden on the ferry across the lake and then go hang out at Rotary Park and have a picnic and play on the water and swings.  Here are some pics from our beautiful day.

On the ferry waiting to start off from the dock at the London Bridge which is in the background

A happy little boy

At Rotary park getting ready to eat our sandwiches

Taylor & Jayden playing in the water

Rotary Park, they actually have green grass, it's a huge park and very well maintained

Playing in the water

Don't you love that "rock skipping" form....not.  Rich was the champion with the most skips.  Poor Taylor at one point, one of my rocks went astray and actually hit him in the arm, lucky for him I don't have much power behind my throws.....=)

We had a very fun afternoon and I think we wore little Jayden out, he fell asleep in the truck right before we got back to the 5er.  I think he'll sleep good for Taylor on the drive home.  Thanks Taylor for taking the time and the drive to come and visit.  We hope we see you again soon.

Thursday, March 6, 2014 (Lake Havasu City, AZ)

With the temps in the low 80's and Rich feeling better, we decided that it was time to spend some time out on the lake.  We have been discussing purchasing an inflatable kayak and decided that we better try renting a kayak and make sure we were comfortable before investing in an inflatable one.

Today was the day, after our exercise routine, we got cleaned up, packed a picnic lunch and headed to the rental store.  Apparently, this is the tail end of the rental season for kayaks and the start of the wet bike/boat rentals so they had to dig the kayak out of the back.  We got it loaded up and headed for our launch site called Mesquite Bay. They have a little park along the lake just for kayak launching and it's free.....sweet.  We hauled the kayak down to the water and ate our picnic lunch before we headed out. 

We were only on the water for a couple of hours before the wind came up but we had a good time and got a good feel of how a kayak would paddle.  Well mostly it was a one person doing the paddling.  I was holding Gracie so couldn't really paddle too well, oh rats.....=)  After a bit she settled down and seemed to enjoy being out on the water also.  Here are some pics from our trip.

Getting ready to launch

Nice fishing dock we passed while paddling, someone actually caught a fish while we were floating by

It's a big lake out there.......look mom, yes we wore life jackets, even Gracie who you can't see because she's on my lap.  I wasn't comfortable turning completely around for the pic since it made the kayak feel tippy.....


After a couple of hours, the wind came up so we decided we'd had enough and headed back.  Boy once we got off the water, it was definitely hot out, it was nice being out on the water. 
We got back to the resort and headed to the pool.  The pool is really nice and I'm not complaining, but the water is really warm, practically like bath water, so it's not like jumping into brisk and refreshing water that takes your breath away, it's like sliding into a tepid bath but it still feels really nice and again....I'm not complaining.  =)