Coming and going

First info: if we have to be reached at sea, we are on the Island Princess which leaves San Pedro at 4 pm January 26. The number to call would be 900-329-ship (1-900-329-7447)
The cost however is $8.95 a minute with a credit card required to make the call so we don't expect calls! We will probably be in cabin A-409. Also traveling with us are my sister and husband, Jane and Les DeWald from Fulton, SD and Les's brother and wife, Jim and Joyce DeWald from Milbank SD.
We enjoyed showing Erv and Danny Pat around Bakersfield last evening though our evening meal search was interesting. First we took them to a great sounding menu place, Bruce's Scotchman Restaurant. When we got inside what was a truck stop, I was about to comment we really brought them to country Bakersfield when I thought "Buck Owens Crystal Palace" so we headed up to it but it was closed. Today I learned they are still open, even though Buck died, so they must just have Mondays off. Then we headed for a steak house which we never found and learned the Basque and Irish restaurants were both closed Mondays. Finally found a Sizzler which is in a unique building--an old ice house where they used to store ice before refrigerator days. It really has ambience, including stained glass windows and looks like it should be an Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant.
A quick trip to Fresno today for a dr. followup and to use our entertainment book coupon to try out a cafe from a culinary school. Our waitress was also the instructor so we had excellent service and food.
Trying to get our Arizona washing done and repacked for the cruise, leaving instructions for our friends from Oregon, the Schniepps, on the quirks of the house for their stay during part of the time we are gone, and making reservations to rent a car to drop off at boat have made the day fly fast.
We will probably not have access to blog on computer for the next 15 days on the Hawaii cruise but will come back to Bakersfield with Jane and Les the 10th and then go to Disneyland the 13th, then to Palm Springs the 16th and home the 21st. This should be a fun way to really make my 70th birthday party stretch out!--by Anita

Yesterday we left Yuma about noon. Eight hours later we were at Bakersfield (8:30 pm). It was good to be home again, though we had a great time with Ervin and Danny Pat, who had joined us for about three weeks at Palm Springs and several other campgrounds. Today we spent getting things organized around here after having been gone for three weeks. Tonight Evin and Danny Pat will catch up with us. They had stayed at Yuma another day. Tonight they will check into a campground at Bakersfield. We will meet them at their campground, take them out to dinner and show them around a bit. They leave for home tomorrow morning. Rit by Harry.
For those who have tried to add comments to this blog, sorry but we are not computer-literate enough to make that possible. Just e-mail your comments, I guess.
We did have a moderate headwind for our first half of drive yesterday, but by alternating driving found it was simpler to go the 440 miles from Yuma to Bakersfield than to park in the mountains overnight. The temperature here was 53 when we arrived, and it has been a warm day today. The orange tree (from which we had removed and given away all oranges) has frozen leaves, but it looks like the grapefruit tree with its about 300 remaining fruit may be OK. We have given about 200 grapefruit away already. However, the beautiful lavender flowering plant in our atrium appears to have frozen. Fortunately no pipes froze even though we had turned all heat off, never expecting it to get down to 28 degrees here several nights.--by Anita

We have now visited Algodones, Mexico on Thursday and yesterday took a drive on the California-Arizona border on state highway 24. It wound through all the produce fields that are grown in the Yuma area. Before we started the drive, we went to the lettuce festival in Old Town Yuma. We found parking in spite of the many retirees who came to it on a Friday. They had a large, well-done display of the crops grown in this area. They produce more lettuce than any other area so heads of cauliflower and lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, celery, lemons and tangelos were all on display. We don't know yet how bad the freeze hurt these crops. However, standing in the line to pass through US Customs coming back out of Algodones, we spotted frozen bouganvilla leaves and flowers and yesterday we saw some orange or tangelo trees with frozen leaves.
The lettuce festival also had musicians at all four ends of the festival and we really enjoyed the fellow from Grace, Idaho who could play his accordion while using his mouth to simulate a mouth trombone and yodel--all at once! He also played the zimba and zither while singing very well. First United Methodist Church was selling baked goods at a booth to raise money for Habitat for Humanity so we enjoyed their baking and also bought donated excess produce from the Community Food Bank which is turning the money back into food for others.
There were at least four blocks of crafts and booths and Danny Pat found many useful items and I succumbed to a long plexiglass hanging for our atrium. It is blue with dolphins on it.
On our drive through the S-24 we mailed postcards from Bard, CA and I think Harry and Ervin left the young clerk puzzled. Their sense of humor is lots of fun, but a bit puzzling to strangers. She is probably still wondering why they said "we'll be back for lunch next time."
We also stopped and had date shakes at the Imperial Garden date stand and drove through the Yuma Proving Grounds. Unfortunately, the wind was a bit strong so the paratroopers were not showing their skill on landing on a white x. After touring a private RV park and park model rentals next to the Imperial Dam, we headed home and enjoyed our second home-cooked supper in a row.
As we drove into campground, brakes started squealing so this morn we were at Chevy garage and now have new front brake pads plus a new fuel filter. This is our last day to prowl Yuma and then we turn towards Bakersfield after church tomorrow.-by Anita (more from Harry next week)

Yesterday, we waved goodbye to Diana and McCrackens and Erv and Danny Pat and we headed south to Yuma. We stopped at BLM land to unhook our car so Harry and Danny Pat could go back to the game store in Quartzsite while Erv and I kicked back for 20 minutes and then drove through Quartzsite with the RVs to nearest pull offs. Quartzsite's RV show does not begin till this week-end and although Gem and Mineral show is going all month, the parking BLM land is not full. It is quite a site to see these miles and miles of RVs parked on desert land having a good time catching up with their friends while supposedly spending the winter out of the cold north. They operate with solar panels and generators and run to town to get water back in their tanks and to dump the holding tanks.
After checking in to Cactus Gardens RV park, we drove to Old Town Yuma and walked the main street and drove the 3 others, then enjoyed supper at Applebee's on our way back to camp where DP and Erv watched American Idol and Harry and I played 3 games, including the new Spinner game that Joan and Jim gave me as an early birthday gift. It is warming up today but we saw ice on ground at Quartzsite this week. Now we head to Algadones, Mexico for the day and head with the RV back to Bakersfield Sun and Mon. rit by A

Life beside the Colorado River

We came to Emerald Cove Campground Sunday and are parked by the deep turquoise waters of the Colorado River. We are on the California side but go by Arizona time which is the nearest town. Even our verizon phones moved automatically to AZ time so must know the nearest cell tower is in AZ.
Of our four rigs, I was first to open curtains at about 9:30 am so our whole group needed to sleep in. Diana was captain to register everyone from the 1500 rigs in CA and Jim and Joan were captains of the greeters so those three probably put in 50 hrs each from Saturday through Thursday so rest was welcome.
It was also the day to wash clothes and as I walked into campground laundry, five or six gals or guys were looking in their washing machines and saying "there's no water coming in". We discovered that someone trying to back their boat beside their RV hit the water tank or spigot so the whole camp was out of water. After we ate at Burger King in town, about a hour and half later same washer guys and gals were just finishing the loads they had started so I was glad I hadn't waited for water repair.
We celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr day by having all four of us gals cook something for our supper and as usual, it was delicious, then Harry played the MLK video of "I have a dream" which he taped two years ago from a TV program and we had a lively discussion. The evening was concluded with Jim and Joan introducing us to a new dominoes game, "Spinner" which was fast moving and fun. All of us play more games with our grandchildren because the grands all seem to take to our RV board games.
Tomorrow we head to Quartzsite to the giant swap meet in the desert and then Wednesday Ervin and Danny Pat and we head to Yuma while Diana and McCrackens stay here. We head home to Bakersfield Sunday probably taking 2 days to make the 440 miles while Ervin and Danny Pat start homeward on Monday. by Anita

28 degrees and wind

With 33 other rigs from the Sierra Ramblers club, we spent a week at the Indio Date Festival Fairgrounds with a total of 1702 rigs in attendance (180 of whom were rigs that dealers were selling). Entertainment for 3 nights included The Marlins (4 brothers from Indiana) who played a multitude of instruments and made a good barbership quartet, a Canadian entertainer who honored hall of famer country singers & had videos of the original singers which made it interesting when they synchronized their own singing with the silent movies of the originals, and finally the Mills brothers which included the grandson of the original brother.
Food was in abundance so we have both put on some pounds. Our club was responsible for being on street corners waving to incoming motorhomes and making sure they turned at the right corner. Because our usual route in to Indio is torn up, police chose two other routes which meant instead of manning 5 corners, we manned 10 so everyone in the club was good about doing extra stints. Normally, we each do 6 hrs on street but this year we ranged from 15 to 20 for each person. Fortunately no wind and not too cold or hot Sun, Mon, Tues, & Weds when we were doing the waving, but it turned colder and windy later in week so we never got to wear our shorts and capris!
The club served coffee and donuts every morning and gave us a hot dog supper Monday and pizza Wednesday and the organizationFMCA gave its 970 volunteers supper on Tuesday so we have spent lots of time visiting as well as having 8 to 12 people over for coffee and ice cream every night. Diana's nephew by marriage from Australia was a vender selling stuffed kangaroos and other Aussie items so we all gave him a real education on what fun senior citizens can have! by Anita
D0n't you wish you were with us, because we are going to town for a BURGER KING!! And,...wind or no wind, cold or warm, we are having a good time. Tonight we are hosting our group (McCrackens, Erv and Danny Pat, and Diana to a ham dinner. And then I am proposing that we watch our Martin Luther King video "I Have A Dream." It's Martin Luther King holiday. Got to get ready to go to town. Rit by Harry.

Palm Springs

Ervin and Danny Pat arrived yesterday a Catalina Spa in time for spaghetti dinner provided by the campground ($5.00 per person). This morning we went to the clubhouse,had breakfast and visited the swapmeet. rit by Harry. Here's Anita.
It was fun sleeping in while E,DP, & H went for their walk and then discovered breakfast up the hill. A drive through Palm Springs today showed E & DP the sights, plus we took them through the Eisenhower Hospital complex which includes the Betty Ford center, the Bob Hope Center and the Dolores Hope Outpatient clinic. Palm Springs is blessed with about 120,000 visitors, many are international, this week who have come for the International Film Festival, but most of them must have been in watching the films for the streets and sidewalks were not mobbed. On our way up winding highway 74, we passed St Margarita Episcopal Church where Gerald Ford's service was a week ago. Then we drove to a vista sight which overlooked the whole Palm Springs valley area and where, as DP and E remembered from 10 years ago, there were Native Americans displaying their beautiful vases and bead work. They were from Arizona and since the vases were made by Navajo, I believe the sellers were Navajo also. The necklaces were very attractive. DP chose a double strand with a newer stone called "rodeoite" which picks up the colors of the clothes it is worn with and they presented me with my coming 70th birthday present, my choice of a double strand with a teal stone and silver feather.
Highway 74 is very winding and steep and is surrounded by cliffs of rock so it looks very barren so it is amazing to look down and see the green of Palm Springs and its many golf courses.
It was a beautiful day again but the previous 24 hours were so windy we could not see the surrounding mountains and DP & E had quite a drive from Bakersfield with the other 5 rigs which are members of our Sierra Ramblers club. Tomorrow we move to Indio to volunteer at the Family Motor Coach Western Region rally.
Once in a while, an opportunity comes your way where you know you must say, this one is for me. Tonight the phone call came that the 13 year old girl has been fitted with her contact lens and is so thrilled and getting used to wearing them. This came about in a very unusual way through Renee offhandedly mentioning that the girl whose name they had taken to buy a Christmas gift had told her mother--don't buy me any gifts for birthday or Christmas, just save all your money until you can get me contact lens, because all the kids are teasing me about my thick lens. There seemed no way that she could be helped because no one knew for sure her name or community (a very underprivileged one) but sometimes a door opens and we get a chance to help out anonymously. When I think about all the people who have helped us out in so many ways in so many settings, what a thrill to be able to pay back or "pay forward".

Computer class and future plans

Would you believe we three (actually four) had so much fun holding passports and moved so quickly thru this line that we are going to do it again--January 26th out of LA to Hawaii?

Computer class this afternoon is helping us learn about disk clean-up (which we had never done for any computer tho we did defrag) and more about blogging. If you want firefox, that may be another site to use. Last night we went back for a performance by Susie and Randy whose music and comedy were memories of Patsy Kline and Patti Page with old favorites. This morn we headed to hot tub and I also did my walking exercises in pool and tried out "noodle" which was cut in thirds. It worked well for water resistance with using my arms to push the noodles down. Amazingly, my hips had no pain during the night while my back pain was very slight; it makes me wonder if the hot mineral waters or the desert heat may actually be working for me.

Sunshine and hot tubing

A gorgeous day at Catalina. We've gone to the hot tub both nights and I went back to do my water exercises this morn. Pool was too cold so exercise by previous group and by me was in the hot tub--that means walking backwards, forwards and sideways. Meantime visits all 3 times with others there has been most revealing. I have certainly used my Raggedy Ann training, and have come away amazed at the strength of the human spirit. It made me wonder when I visited with one who is carrying too big a load, how many of our churches would really provide emotional and spiritual support if she walked in, complete with her dad with Alzheimer who has always put down his kids and told them they were nothing, and with her adopted son with mental illness. I wanted to inquire if she had a church family (I did ask if she had a support group for herself and she replied that she used to when she was working). But then I wondered--what if the church she entered also made her feel she was unimportant? In my life, I have been a participant in 3 different churches where EVERYONE, no matter how different or troubled was thoroughly welcomed. However, I have heard from too many people who were ignored, if not rejected, by individuals within churches. It is heart-wounding to meet so many people who need real friends and caring and find that they are left to struggle through life facing many loads alone. by A
Anita is right,but she has said it all and so well, soooo---what have I to say. We are having a wonderful relaxing time. Tonight we are going out for a potluck. They are always fun. We meet so many people from so many places. It does seem though that the potlucks are attended in greater numbers by the new comers. People who come here for the whole winter apparently find that the novelty of weekly Wednesday night potlucks wears thin. But our experience is that they are well attended and it is fun to hear the introductions and find out who the people are and from where they come.
This afternoon a swapmeet of sorts. People put up tables in front of their rig and put out the stuff they had for sale . Anita and I got on our bikes and made the rounds. We bought a very nice porcelain food strainer and a stapler. We put up our old aluminum strainer and some grapefruit for a few minutes and then took it down to go to town for some groceries. So we did not make any sales!!!(rit by Harry)

Happy New Year

Wow! I just realized and told Harry that we have been married 50 years AND 4 months. Where did those four months go? Perhaps, they disappeared while we were continuing hosting at El Cap through Sept and October. Or was it while I was enjoying watching Brittany play her high school tennis games (my first high school contacts since 1993)? Or was it as we planned to become part-timers and got the phone call from our excellent renters for the past 23 years telling us that water was dripping from the kitchen ceiling? Or was it while we were making trips carrying our belongings out of Renee and J Paul's attic going back to meet workers to get water damage fixed and eventually to repipe the house? Or was it while we left El Cap stopping at Renee and J Paul's and they and Brooke (who had day off from school) managed to get all our stuff (including some extras like their old table and chairs and TV set) into the RV and trailing car to finish move to Bakersfield? Or was it while Kevin and Sara and boys came down and helped move things from our friends' house and our shed into our house? Or was it as we were exhaulting over getting all four children and families back home for Thanksgiving? Or was it while we entertained 14 retired clergy/spouses for a holiday pot-luck? Or was it when we took the train to enjoy a Christmas party at Don's house that he and Karla put on for 80 friends? Or was it when we took the train to go back up to enjoy Christmas with Kevin,Sara and 2 excited boys? by A
I think at least part of it disappeared while I was sitting in my lounge chair soaking up the warmth and sunshine of Catalina Spa today by Palm Springs. by H




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