MARCH 2004

Ron and Anita Wilson stopped by for a visit on their way through Quartzsite. We had a nice visit with them, and took them to Taco Mio for lunch.

During the month, we spent a few days in Phoenix to do shopping and visit friends. Since we no longer have an RV in which to stay, we stayed at my Mother's place in Glendale (she's spending the summer at my brother's place in Idaho). After arriving in Glendale, and unpacking the car, we had lunch at Takamatsu, and then went to Trader Joe's to pick up a case of Charles Shaw wine (Two Buck Chuck). The next morning, we had breakfast at Ollie's Omelet House, shopped at Sam's Club where we bought a 12" LCD TV with DVD, and Pier 1 Imports where we bought wine glasses and a couple of tables -- one for the end of the couch, and one to put by Earl's side of the bed. That evening, we had dinner at the Outback with Buck and Phyllis, and then went to their place afterward to play Mexican Train Dominoes. The following day, we had breakfast at I-Hop, Earl golfed at Falcon Golf Course, and that evening, we had dinner at El Paso BBQ. The morning we left for home, we had breakfast at Cracker Barrel.

George Bruzenak came to spend a few days with us -- he parked his New Horizons next to the house. His dog, McDuff, and Maxx get along well, although they didn't really play together. McDuff really enjoyed roaming around the fenced yard -- something he doesn't get to do a lot of. I fixed a couple of meals while George was here -- a pork roast and the Chicken Mushroom Dijon which Gisela had given me the recipe for when she was here back in January. One night George barbecued lamb for him and me, and a steak for Earl. One morning we hiked to the top of Q Mountain (and I was really, really sore for several days afterward!), and that night we had dinner at Taco Mio. The next night we had dinner at Best Chinese.


View from the top of Q Mountain:












(Note our house with the black Element parked out front and George's New Horizons fifth wheel at the side, near the top of the right-hand picture.)

FEBRUARY 2004

We sold our fifth wheel this month! A nice couple from California, Paul and Joan Schuh, drove over on the 5th, checked out the rig, and bought it. We took them to lunch at Taco Mio, and then, since they have a short bed truck, and a part needed to be installed on the fifth wheel king pin prior to them being able to pull it, we pulled the fifth wheel up to Paul's brother's place in Lake Havasu City. Now we really are stuck here until we get our Lazy Daze! Now that we had the fifth wheel sold, we could concentrate on selling the Chevy.

During the month, we took a day trip into Phoenix to do shopping, stopping at Tomahawk Truck Stop for breakfast. Earl bought shoes at Famous Footwear, we got more Noni juice at Vitamin World, and went shopping at Costco. We also had lunch at Macayos with George Bruzenak (he's spending some time at Cotton Lane RV Resort).

One day we drove out to Palm Canyon, and hiked up into the canyon to see the palm trees that grow there in sheltered canyons. These palm trees are probably remnants from an era when this area was wetter and cooler than at the present time. Though few in number (less than 100), these trees, plus probably one or two other groves around the state, are the only native palms in Arizona. Palm Canyon is part of the larger Kofa National Wildlife Refuge.

Palm Canyon:














Earl also got a cortisone shot in his shoulder which has been hurting him. He'd had one when we spent the 2001/2002 winter in Texas, but I guess it'd worn off.

JANUARY 2004

We started out the month looking at motorhomes. We saw a Rexhall Vision 26' Class A which we liked. We also liked the Bigfoot Class C's, although they were more money than we wanted to spend. We sat down with a salesman to talk price on a Fleetwood Tioga 26-Q, but before making a final decision, decided we'd drive over to Montclair, California to see the Lazy Daze Class C's.

So, on Wednesday, January 7, we hooked up our fifth wheel for the drive over to Montclair. We stopped in Rancho Mirage to have lunch at I-Hop, and then dropped the fifth wheel off at the Elks Club in Ontario prior to going to the "Mothership" (Lazy Daze factory). We wandered through all the models on the floor, and really liked the 23.5' Twin/King model. After talking with Tim Pease, getting a brochure and one of the options price sheets, we went back to the fifth wheel to pour over the information we'd received. That evening, we went to the Elephant Bar for dinner.

The next morning, we had breakfast at Miltie's, and then went back to the Mothership to take another look at all the models. Afterward, we sat down with Tim, and put in an order for the 23.5' Twin/King model. Then we went back to the Elks Club and hooked up our fifth wheel for the trip back home. Before leaving, we stopped to do shopping at Costco, and then stopped in Banning to have lunch at Burger King.

Once home, I put ads on several Internet sites -- RV Trader, RV Trader Online, etc. We also took the fifth wheel over to RV Lifestyles for servicing -- repack the wheel bearings, fix the window in the door which had come loose, and put in new batteries and a new inverter (which we'd fried on an earlier occasion).

Lloyd arrived in town to host the WIN's (Wandering Individuals Network) gathering out on Plomosa Road. We drove out to where he was parked to see his new New Horizons -- he'd gone from a 28' fifth wheel down to a 24' fifth wheel.

We had the fence across the front of our property put in, with one 16' gate plus a walk-in gate. Once that was done, we got more 12" square red tiles to make a walk from the front steps to the walk-in gate. Now all we need are some plants, but that'll have to wait until at least this Fall.

We walked over to the RV Show a couple of times -- fortunately, we're only about a quarter mile from the Big Tent, so we don't have to worry about finding a place to park! We finally broke down and bought satellite radio -- Sirius. It'll be nice when we're out in the middle of nowhere to be able to listen to the radio!

We saw several friends during the month who had come for the big RV Show: Ken & Debbie Toth came by for a visit (they're the couple who had purchased our New Horizons and Freightliner last year), and we went out to dinner at Taco Mio; Bill and Gisela came over for dinner one night; David and Sandi White (Arctic Fox owners who live in Glendale) came by for a visit; and Meg and Mel Rich (New Horizons owners) also came by for a visit toward the end of the month.

Handlebar Jim made another dinner this year, so we drove out to "Boomerville" to have dinner with more friends. We also went out one more time to have dinner at Bill and Gisela's rig.

On the 26th, we hitched up the fifth wheel and drove to Cotton Lane RV Park where we spent the next couple of days. Once we arrived and set up, we had lunch at Chili's, and visited some auto dealers: we checked out the Chevy Tracker, the Jeep Wrangler, and the Suzuki Vitara. The next day, we had breakfast at Cracker Barrel, and then drove up to the Honda dealer on Bell Road to look at the Honda Element, which we ended up buying. Mom met us at the dealership, and from there, we went to the Elephant Bar for lunch. That night, Earl and I had dinner at JB's.

On Wednesday, prior to leaving, we parked the fifth wheel and the Element in front of our storage room, and proceeded to empty it. Between both vehicles, we were able to get everything out of the room! Sure saves on paying to rent a truck, and then trying to find someplace to return it! That evening, after unloading everything from the fifth wheel and the Element, we had dinner at Taco Mio.

DECEMBER 2003

On the 1st, we took the fifth wheel and drove over to Phoenix to stay at Cotton Lane RV park for four nights so that we could do Christmas shopping and visit friends.

While in Phoenix, Earl golfed at Falcon Golf Club with friends, and we had dinner at one of his golfing buddy's homes, Rich and Ann, together with Buck and Phyllis.

Mom drove over to Quartzsite and spent the night one night before Christmas. We had a nice visit, and the next day, we had lunch at the Cactus Cafe, and then drove out to see the 47-armed Saguaro. Boy, was that a disappointment! The thing was dead -- or, if not completely dead, it sure was close to it!

We had new gravel delivered for our yard -- red rock, and we also bought some 12" square red stepping stones put down from the back steps to the shed.

Kirk and Gen Griffith came to visit for a couple of days after Christmas. We took them out to dinner at Taco Mio, and the next day we drove them around Quartzsite showing them the sites (such as they are!), stopping to have pizza at Silly Al's (MUCH better pizza that the local Pizza Hut!). We had a really nice visit with them, and they said that they might rearrange their time in Mexico next year, so that they could be here in January when all the big shows are on.

NOVEMBER 2003

One of the first things we did once we arrived home, was to take a trip over to Blythe (California), and order a washer and dryer (front loader with a gas dryer). About a week later, the washer and dryer were delivered, and two young men assembled the pedestals on which both sit, and installed them (the pedestals bring the washer and dryer up higher, so that we don't have to stoop down so far to get into the machines.

We bought a tripod so that we could put up the dish that we'd received when we bought the new satellite receivers earlier in the year. Then we found out that one of the receivers was bad, so Dish Network sent us a new one. As it turned out, the second one we'd purchased earlier in the year also went bad, so in the space of a month, we had two brand new receivers! The other portable satellite dish that we had with us in the RV, was set up so that I could watch TV from my office in the fifth wheel.

We took a couple of trips over to Phoenix where we ordered a shed from Lowes which was delivered and built in one day by a single person! Once it was assembled, Earl painted the outside to match the house, and we put up insulation and wall board inside. On one of our trips to Phoenix, we also stopped by our storage room at Cotton Lane RV Park to pick up boxes of things we wanted to take back. We also had lunch with Mom on both of our trips: at On The Border the first trip, and at P.F. Chang's on the second (this second lunch as an early birthday lunch for my Mom).

On Thanksgiving, Patti Hellman came over for dinner. Don was still in Montana, so he was not able to join us.

During the month, we ate a few times at our favorite Mexican food restaurant, Taco Mio, and at Best Chinese. One night, we were feeling lazy, and ordered pizza to be delivered from the local Pizza Hut -- never again! Usually, we like Pizza Hut pizza, but the place here in Quartzsite makes terrible pizzas...mainly because they don't actually make them, they're "premade!" On a couple of Wednesdays, we also had breakfast at the Stagecoach Restaurant with other Escapees.

OCTOBER 2003

On Wednesday, October 1, we left the Joy-O RV Park in Denmark, Tennessee, and drove a little over 200 miles to the Holland Bottoms Wildlife Management Area near Jacksonville, Arkansas (free), stopping along the way to fuel up with diesel.

The next day, we drove 177 miles to stay overnight at the Clear Springs Campground on Wright Patman Lake, a Corps of Engineers campground near Texarkana, Texas ($8 per night with the Golden Age Passport). We stopped at the Cookery (Flying J) to have lunch, and did grocery shopping before arriving at the campground.

Friday night saw us at the Elks Club in Tyler, Texas. We stopped at a Cracker Barrel for lunch.

On Saturday, October 4, we arrived at our home Coast to Coast park in Whitney, Texas, Suncountry RV Resort (which has now been renamed Lake Whitney Resort & Golf), where we spent nine nights.

While in Whitney, we did laundry and grocery shopping, and ate dinner a couple of nights at Tres Hermanos, a very good Mexican food restaurant in town. We also took a couple of trips into Waco to shop at Sam's Club and PetsMart, and went by the Verizon store to get my phone fixed. They ended up giving me a new phone of the same type; however, that one quickly stopped working, too, so, since my two-year contract was just about up, I ordered a brand new phone from Verizon. Earl golfed at Lake Whitney Golf Club (the course that is part of our home park) a couple of times.

We left Whitney on Monday, October 13, and drove 140 miles to Camp Bowie Memorial City Park in Brownwood, Texas (free). This was a difficult place to find, mainly because the directions in Don Wright's Guide to Free Campgrounds were wrong.

The next day, we drove 114 miles to Twin Buttes City Park in San Angelo, Texas (another free park). We stopped in Brownwood, Texas, to fill up with diesel.

On Wednesday, we spent the night at Parkview RV Park in Fort Stockton, Texas. This was one of our Good Neighbor parks (associated with Coast to Coast), and costs $11 per night. We had dinner that night at the Steakhouse Restaurant.

The next day, we drove 121 miles to the El Campo RV Park in Van Horn, Texas. We stay at this RV park every time we stop for the night in Van Horn. The woman always recognizes us, even though the last time we were here was in 2001, when we were on our way to Alaska -- she even remembered we were going to Alaska the last time she saw us! We had lunch at Papa's Pantry, and picked up our mail.

On Friday, we had breakfast across the street from the RV park at LaCasita, and then got diesel at Love's. We drove 66 miles to Guadalupe Mountains National Park. The "campground" for RV's is nothing more than a paved parking lot, but it's convenient to the sites in the park. We walked down to the Visitor's Center in the evening to hear the Ranger talk about McKittrick Canyon, one of the popular hikes in the park. The following evening, another Ranger talked about lizards and snakes, particularly those found in the park.

View from our rig of the Guadalupe Mountains:











We left Guadalupe Mountains National Park on Sunday, October 19, and drove 209 miles to the Dreamcatcher RV Park (one of our Escapees parks) in Deming, New Mexico, where we spent eight nights. Along the way, we stopped in Anthony, Texas to have lunch at the Cookery, and then had dinner at the LaFonda in Deming. While in Deming, we did laundry and grocery shopping, and Earl golfed a couple of times at the Rio Mimbres golf course. We also took a trip down to Palomas, Mexico, where we had lunch at The Pink Store.

On Monday, October 27, we left Deming and drove 140 miles to the Elks Club in Willcox, Arizona. The lodge had just finished putting in about 20 more RV sites -- all pull throughs with water and electric. We went inside to have drinks in the evening.

The next day, we drove 105 miles to the Gilbert Ray Campground in Tucson Mountain Park near Tucson, Arizona. The last time we were at this park (when we still had our truck camper), this park cost about $12 per night. However, the price is now $20 per night. It's a beautiful park, but with only electrical hookups, at $20 per night, we probably won't stay here again.

On Wednesday, when we left the Gilbert Ray Campground, we stopped at the Cracker Barrel for breakfast, and then Costco to do shopping. We then continued on to the Jim Korsten West Pinal County Park west of Casa Grande, Arizona, off I-8 (free). We spent two nights at this park, going into Casa Grande on Thursday to do grocery shopping and laundry.

On the last day of the month, we reached HOME! After unpacking the fifth wheel (well, at least partially), we had dinner out at the Palo Verde Cafe.

SEPTEMBER 2003

Yup, he's at it again -- he's a professional!











We left North Vernon on Wednesday, September 3, and drove to Liberty, Indiana, where we stayed at another Coast to Coast park, Heritage Hills. The next day, Earl went golfing at the Bruce H. Gregory Golf Course.

On Friday, we drove to Auburn where we stayed at the Elks Club. The Elks RV Guide said that this lodge had 20 sites with electric and water. WRONG! There is a water bib at the southwest corner of the building, but the bartender couldn't find the handle for it, so we had to use a pair of pliers to turn it on! For electricity, an extension cord had to be put through a window of the garage to which we backed up. Not only that, but the map in the guide had the lodge located in the wrong place. Oh well, we did finally find it!

The next day, we visited the Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg Museum. The Museum is located in the building where these beautiful automobiles were made. In addition to these 3 models, the museum also had automobiles from other manufacturers, many of which were produced in Indiana! It seems that the Depression did in many of these manufacturers. We highly recommend a visit to this museum to anyone in the area.

Monday, September 8, we left Auburn and drove to the Coast to Coast park, Grand View Bend, in Howe, Indiana. While there, we took a trip to Shipshewana, an Amish village. We were going to have lunch there at a popular restaurant, but there was a very long line, so we bought some BIG cookies instead!

On Saturday, we moved to the Elkhart Campground in Elkhart. We had lunch at Bennigans, and then, in the evening, we went to dinner at the Texas Roadhouse with other fellow Boomers, including Bill and Gisela Pollock, and Ron and Donna Monroe.

Sunday morning, we formed a caravan with other Boomers who were going to park at the Escapade in the generator area, for the trip down to the fairgrounds in Goshen. People who were driving motorhomes pulling toads were required to disconnect the toad before arriving at the fairgrounds, so I drove Chris Christiansen's car since she is a solo. We got parked in short order, and walked down to the registration center to pick up our packages with all the information in them for the scheduling of classes and entertainment. We had lunch at the fairgrounds after picking up our registration packets.

The next four days were spent going to classes, visiting with friends, checking out the various vendors, and eating! We made a trip to the Das Dutchman Essenhaus Restaurant, where we'd eaten the last time we'd attended the Fall Escapade in Goshen. This restaurant has GREAT food! On the last night of the Escapade, we had a Boomer Pizza Party.

On Friday, we went back to the Grand View Bend RV park in Howe. We did grocery shopping, laundry, and, of course, dumped our tanks.

Sunday, we drove to the American Campground in Kalamazoo, Michigan, one of our Coast to Coast parks. We spent six nights at this campground, where it rained almost every day! And, of course, it was our luck to have chosen a spot where, when it rained, it became a lake!

While we were in Kalamazoo, we had dinner a couple of times at Fricanos of Alamo, a place with very good Italian food. We went back the second time because we'd seen people eating pizza which looked very good -- very thin crusts, which we like. And it was good! We also took our Yamaha generator in for repair -- it had stopped working while we were at the Escapade. Since the generator was still under warranty, the repairs were done without charge to us...the place where the repairs were done didn't even charge us for the oil change!

We originally were planning on heading north from Kalamazoo, going through the UP of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North and South Dakota, with a stop in Sioux Falls so we could register to vote, before heading south toward Quartzsite. However, the weather reports said that this areas was going to be cold -- high's in the 40's -- so we decided to head south instead. So, on Saturday, September 27, we left Kalamazoo, headed south, and spent the night at the Driftwood Camp RV Park in Edinburgh, Indiana. We had dinner that night at the Cracker Barrel.
On Monday, we headed for Mammoth Cave National Park. We were planning on staying at a Coast to Coast park near there, but they said they were full -- which I didn't believe, but the campground at the National Park was nice. We didn't take the time to explore the Cave, so we'll have to come back and do that another time.

Tuesday saw us at the Joy-O RV Park near Denmark, Tennessee. We'd stopped and had lunch at Subway, and to fuel the truck.