Page 2 - Day 36

I don't understand why this blog won't print how I place it. Pictures got mixed up and never any paragraphs. I don't write it this way!!!

We had supper at yet another unknown casino. As we were leaving we noticed a big sign - NASCAR tickets. Oh yes!!! We are now going to the Los Vegas race on March 1. I am so excited.
we spent the night at John and Betty's. We left early the next morning and headed for Boulder City NV. We seen Lake Mead & toured Hoover Dam. Pretty awesome.
Next stop was Lake Havasu City AZ and seen the London Bridge. From there we went to friends in Big River CA. They have 2 little doggies so Molly got to be with friends too. We went out for dinner with them and then on home.


I could never put in words God's beauty. We traveled Hwy 93 from Kingman AZ south and the mountains and river and even the dessert was just overwhelming.

I am going to add a few pictures and I hope you can pick out which one is what.


Today was pretty quiet. This evening we enjoyed a Gospel Jam at our RV park.
There sure are a lot of good musicians and singers here.

Enough for this time.
Good night and God Bless

Day 36 - M Martin almost won... Sunday he will.

#1 view from McDonalds parking lot in Needles CA
#2 Good friends meet.. A.G., John, & Mel. In Henderson NV


We had such a wonderful trip. Awesome friends, awesome scenic beauty.
Now if my memory works so I can tell you about it.
We met the others where AG had his truck parked. John and Betty Young were our hosts. WE went on to the Fiesta casino near their home for a big buffet lunch.



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...............................................................3. my sea food lunch ( I didn't eat the crayfish!)
4. John & Betty....

AG had to leave to deliver his load and John and Betty took us on a tour of Los Vegas. We first seen a big cactus garden at the Ethel M chocolate factory.
Drove down the Vegas strip and seen all the huge casinos. Went in to the casino and seen a Chinese garden. There must have been 50 variety's of orchids plus many other plants. On to another casino and seen a small inside water show.
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5. Mel and John in cactus garden....
6. Part of the Los Vegas strip....
7. Chinese garden....

I will start part 2 in another page.

Day 33 - Rain rain go away!

Hi, I decided it was a good day to stay in. It rained and rained and blew and blew all day. Gusts of 37 mph
We had a great idea. We rehooked the satalite to the main TV (Mel's TV) and put the park's cable on my tv. Now I can watch 24 and my other favorite shows including the Daytona race on Sunday.
Mel found some wooden steps for the camper. They were for sale just down the street. Much easier to use then the camper steps.
I made a crock pot beef stew for supper.
MN is only 8 degrees colder than we are. hmmmmm??????
Tomorrow we are going to Henderson, NV (near Las Vegas)to visit a friend and to see the Hoover Dam and on the way back will see the London Bridge in Lake Havasu City, AZ. and visit another friend Big River, CA. So I might not be writing for a couple of days. We will be back in time for the race. :-)
God Bless.

Our AZ room

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Day 32 - no rain but cool.

Hello, Welcome to AZ. It was a good day today. We went to church at the club house here in the park. Different but nice. After church we went to the Black Rock Cafe for lunch. They had a baked chicken buffet. Home for the rest of the day. We put our table together and put up some rope lights in our "AZ room". Now it has to warm up so we can enjoy it. I hope the pictures show you want we have.
Mel figured out a way to get the races on TV too. We can disconnect the satalite and use the camps cable. Where there's a will there's a way!!
My favorite driver, Mark Martin, got a sure place in the Daytona 500. :-)
I lost a filling from a tooth yesterday. It doesn't hurt but I hope it will be ok until we get home again.
See you tomorrow..... God Bless

Day 31 - Daytona racing in on!!!

Hello, You will have to forgive my mood tonight as it has been a bad day.
It has been raining all day. Hard too. I didn't know it rained like this in the desert. So we didn't get to enjoy our outside room or put the table together or take pictures.
Worse yet is that I have been so excited that NASCAR racing started today. Been so looking forward to it. We watched the pre-race on the Speed channel then it was time. I changed the channel to where I thought it was on - FOX. But it was the local Fox channel that we don't get on this dumb King Dome thing we paid so much for. I was sooooooo mad!!!! and disapointed. So we will miss all of the Nascar races while we are gone. grrrrrrrrrrrr...
But my good ol computer lets me follow it plus listen to it via radio.
I did laundry this morning. I made cornbeef and cabbage for supper. Not much else got done except for grumbling.
Good night and God Bless
See you in church tomorrow. :-)

Day 30 - (already!)

We worked hard today... fun work. We laid the carpet and got it nailed down. Mel tightened up the awning with straps to the ground. I guess most everything has to be tied down if left here. We will have to anchor the camper too before we go. Of course we won't leave the awning down when we do leave. We also put a sun screen up at the end. Now we have a little room outside.

We got the new table so that will be our job tomorrow. Putting that together.
I will take more pictures after we get the table up.

Good night and God Bless

Day 29 - Windy

Hi, It has been really windy here today. Our awning is just a squeaking.
I washed rugs and bedding today. The laundry room worked just fine. I brought the rugs back to the camper and hung them over the lawn chairs. Then took the bedding down. I hung the bedspread on the cloths line and the sheets in the dryer. The big spread dried just as fast as the sheets. When I got back to the camper the rugs were almost dry too. This dry air and the little wind this afternoon sure was good for that. We went to Quartzsite and found a lawn carpet. Could only find green though. I am not fond of green!! Maybe it will seem like grass!! We will put it down tomorrow. We had supper at the Black Rock Cafe, just down the road from us. Mel had chicken and I had a shrimp basket. It was good.

Good night & God Bless

Day 28 - Moving day

Hi there,

We got moved. We are now in a place called Brenda AZ. Not a town but a RV community. We spend all afternoon getting packed up, traveling, and unpacking and hooking up. We put down our awning for the first time. Mel put up the sun screen netting and now we have a little outside room. I do need more flowers though. I don't know if I will be able to use the sheppards hook for flower baskets as the ground is as hard as rock. Mel even bent a spike nail trying to anker the net. But he got the job done. I think we will like it here. Tomorrow we will look for an out door carpet. No grass here so need something on the ground. I will take some pictures too. It is much warmer here as we don't have the river to cool it off. I love it hot.
Good night and God Bless

Day 27 - Just around Blythe

...............................Hi there,

It stayed pretty chilly this morning but this afternoon was great. About 78 or so.
We went for a short ride in this area. Just enjoying the scenery.
We did a bit of shopping and found the picnic table we want. small square with a glass top, umbrella, 4 padded chairs. Then the grocery store and got quite a bit there. Should last us for a couple of weeks.
We move tomorrow so will see you in AZ tomorrow night.
I see the cold is back at home so I am sending some flowers so you can think spring.
They are from my garden last summer.

Good night and God Bless....

Day 26 - photo problems

Hello, Come on in.

I thought I better get some pictures off my camera card so went to find a place to edit and copy to CD. They were so different then those at home and I had quite the time getting the job done. Then to find out that I couldn't edit them if I didn't print the pictures. So they are all on a CD but not looking good. I will have to do that job at home I guess. Not even sure if they got them all on the CD. I know some of the pictures from yesterday didn't get copied.

We have been trying to find a table for outside. You would think there would be all kinds of them around here but not much to pick from. Not even the Wal Mart in Yuma. There is several at 500 & $600 but nothing cheap.

I spent the morning doing truck business again. I will be so glad when that job is done. Is about nothing serious but frustrating.

I did a bit of shopping at the dollar store. I got some new dish cloths & a couple of small serving bowls. Then we went out for supper.

Home and relaxed. I missed my show again tonight. "24". I hope to find out why we can't get some channels on this dish we got. Another job for me when we get moved. I hope they sell the series on CD later.

Good night & God Bless

Day 25 - Ride to Yuma

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.......Big guns at the Yuma Proving Grounds

Mel locked me up then went drinkin...so I had him locked up................. in the old cell block .

Howdy,

We had a fun day. We went to Yuma (about 100 miles south) via the back roads. I thought we were lost but I should know Mel never gets lost!! It was a beautiful trip. Lots of mountains and desert and produce fields. Molly found a little lizard or Camellia..(what ever its called) at one of her stops.

WE visited an old Territory prison built in the 1800's. So interesting. We spent about 3 hrs there.

There was a museum and the actual cells were there. We could go in the "Dark cell" where some were put in for extreme discipline. No light at all. Inside the cave was a 5 foot high cell box that one or more were kept in. Pretty creepy. They said it was kept very clean... Cleaned at least once every 3 months. Lots of history there.

The Arizona Market was next (flea market). Mel and Molly went for a ride and just dropped me off there. I only had an hour before they closed so had to hurry. I had so much fun spending my Christmas gift cards. I got a great chase lounge, some lawn ornaments, and flower baskets... artificial but really pretty. All to decorate our new yard.

We were going to visit some friends but found out they were watching the Super bowl so we stopped at a Wal Mart instead. I got 2 sheppard hooks for my flower baskets.

Headed for home from there. Going by the Yuma Proving Grounds we stopped to check out the big guns at the entry.

We only had a hot dog since breakfast so stopped at a fast food in Quartzsite and wished we didn't. I think they gave us yesterdays burgers.

We were all happy to get back to the camper.

Good night and God Bless

Day 24 = Race day

Hi there,

We went to the local race track tonight. It was a black top 3/8 mile track. We enjoyed it but would rather go to a dirt track race. Such young drivers here. The Legend car race was almost won by a 13 year old. But he blew the engine with 2 laps to go. Another category was called Bandoleros. These were tiny cars. The roof was only as high as the hood of a regular car. Several were girls. One of the drivers was only 8 years old. How about that Aidan?

Tomorrow we go to Yuma. I will tell you about it tomorrow night.

So good to see warmer temps at home.

Enjoy the Super Bowl. I hope your team wins.

Good night & God Bless.

Day 23 - A great afternoon

My cousin and his wife, Virgil & Darlene Qualle, spent the afternoon with us. They are from Cannon Falls, MN and on their way to Palm Springs. We enjoyed the sunshine and had a nice visit at our camp sight and then went to town for supper.

There is an owl nesting in a tree near our camper. She sits on the nest and the daddy owl brings her food and spends the night near by. I hope you can see her in the picture. She really blends in with the tree. If you click on the picture it will enlarge.

Our friendly gopher made a bigger hole in the dirt pile. I still haven't see the gopher.

Mel smoothed it out today so we wouldn't trip on it. Maybe there will be another pile tomorrow. I get to go to my favorite place tomorrow.......the laundromat. :-(

Good night & God Bless

Day 22 - Windy again

Windy but warm. Another quiet day. We decided to move to Brenda next Wed. Let me know if you want our address.

We have a new pet. A gopher decided to make a pile of dirt right in the middle of our little area.

Haven't actually seen the critter but the dirt pile is sure a nuisance.

We are having company tomorrow so we picked up a few snacks to serve. Molly got a bath. She is white again.

Have you noticed how close the moon is to the planet Venus? Pretty cool.

That is about it for today.

The picture is of our little yard.

Day 21 - nice day

I thought I was back in MN this morning. It was only 36 degrees out and we were out of LP for the furnace. Good thing we had an electric mattress pad. Mel changed tanks and it warmed up in here real fast. By noon it was warm outside too. It was about 72 this afternoon. :-)
I squeezed some more oranges for juice. mmmmm.
Mel fixed the bottom step on the camper and I got a start reading a book... "The Shack" We went for a short ride then. No place special. Ate out for supper then home again.

Good night and God Bless

Day 20 - Cold day in CA!!

Yes, it was cold all day. It didn't get over 65. I bet you all feel sorry for me too. But it was cold. And very very windy! The river was moving so fast I almost got sea sick looking out the window. ha! We went into Blythe for a while but didn't stay long. Just came back and turned the furnace on. All you MN people must be blowing the cold down here.
I made a meat loaf supper and that's about all the work I did.
This morning I had to do some truck business. I thought I was on vacation but the unexpected does happen. Thank goodness for email and fax machines.
Molly said she wanted some popcorn. It does sound pretty good. I guess I will make some.

Good night & God Bless

Day 19 - lazy day

We didn't go anyplace today. To tired after the weekend. I did catch up with my checkbook and bill pay. Made a good supper and otherwise just sat around.
I got a phone call from my cousin who is coming from MN and will visit us the first of the week.

Now we are all rested up so we can be on the go again tomorrow.
I hope it warms up for tomorrow. It only got to 65 today!! ;-)

Good night and God Bless

Day 18 - Yuma

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1. my favorite plant, Bougainvillea 2. at flea market 3. Sandy and Ralph...................

We left for Yuma at 9:30 this morning.......or was it 10:30, maybe 8:30. This time change is really playing with my head!! We go just a couple of miles and it is a different time zone. We are in Pacific time zone, 2 hrs behind home. AZ is one hour behind home. Oh well....... We move to AZ soon then I just have one hour to worry about. We log home time but if we have to meet someone at their time then ??????

We had a nice ride to Yuma this morning and went right to Sandy and Ralph's RV Park.

Sandy is sister to Mel's brother in law, Kit. We had a nice visit and then went to lunch. It has been several years since our last meeting.

From there we went to the Arizona Market. This was a pleasant surprise as I didn't know it was a flea market. We went to get a sun screen net for the awning. But had to look at it all. many many many rows of vendors. I found so many things I wanted but going to wait until we move to see just what we want there. I did get some weaved baskets and a cart to carry my laundry to the laundromat. Many things are on my list for next time. :-) I have a new yard to decorate!!!

We went on to the Golden Coral and met friends Pat & Leroy. They are leaving this week for TX so we won't see them again until summer when they are back in Minnesota.

Yuma is about a 100 miles from here and we got home about 7:30... or was it 9:30????

Thank you Sandy, Ralph, Pat, & Leroy for a wonderful day.

Good night & God Bless

Day 17 - lunch with new friends

Howdy, We met some new friends for lunch today. They are from Adams, MN and wintering in Big River, CA. Sharon and Art Osmunson. We had so much to talk about that I forgot to take their picture. We have mutual friends in Dexter. They also know our son Tom and praised him for his paramedic work in Adams. I hope we can visit with them again soon.

We found out that our new space is now available at Brenda so we took a ride over there to check out the site again. Seems to be real nice. I will even have a little cactus garden. But it really needs more. So I will just have to spend some time at a garden center. Hard work but someone has to do it!!!!!! :-) ...

We spoke to a few folks there and they really made us feel welcome. We will move there next week.

We stopped at Quartzsite on the way home but soooo many people there. I think we will wait a few weeks before we spend any time there.

Sharon and Art gave us a basket full of oranges and grapefruit. Tonight we made some orange juice. mmmmm Fresh juice for breakfast.

Good night and God Bless

Day 16....Ride to Parker, AZ

Hi, We were busy all day. I washed cloths this morning. (Oh but I hate laundromats!!) Then picked up a couple of things at the grocery store. We went to a restaurant for breakfast and had biscuits and gravy. They weren't good. After I got all cloths and groceries put away we went for a ride. We stopped to see some Arizona Petroglyphs...These we seen are Blythe Intaglios. These are geometric figures on the ground surface. They are unsolved mysteries of how they got there. We had to go on a graded dirt bumpy rocky road way into the desert. Fun. (pictures above). You can read about them on line at http://elaineseavey.wordpress.com/2008/03/02/petroglyphs-indian-camps-in-the-southwest/ From there we went up 95, a nice blacktop road but was like a roller coaster, up and down - up and down, on the CA side and crossed over to Parker AZ. We got fuel and a Big Mac then down the AZ side & back to Blythe. Beautiful scenery. Camper neighbors had a big bon fire going and invited us over so visited a while and we came home. We got home just in time before it started to rain again.

Looks like the cold is back in MN. I hope it don't last long.

Put another log on the fire.......

hugs and God Bless

Day 15 - Picnic

Another beautiful day. We never left our camp. Just enjoyed the day and watched the water go by. Mel fired up the grill and we had burgers, fried taters, mushrooms and onions. Sure was good. I made some salsa this morning. Didn't turn out to bad I guess. Had some on the burgers.

I tried out my new metal detector today. I found a quarter first thing. I got all excited. But nothing after that.

Molly met a new friend. But she didn't want to play like Molly did.
Molly has never seen so many doggies. I think every camper here has a couple of them.
But Molly doesn't think they should go by ours so she barks and barks. The squirt bottle is really getting a workout.

Washing cloths tomorrow then for a ride...... someplace. Will let you know tomorrow.

NASCAR at Daytona is getting closer... ;-)

Good night, God Bless

Day 14

Hi, What a lovely day. Close to 80. I wish I had my swimming pool along!!
Another quiet day. Mel polished the pickup. I cleaned house a bit.
We went for a short ride then stopped at K-mart in Blythe. I wanted to check out
picnic tables but they didn't have any in yet. Home for supper and that's about it.
I hope to meet some friends tomorrow for lunch. Won't know for sure until morning.

Good night & God Bless

Day 13, Mountain view

Welcome back. I hope your enjoying our journey.

It was a quiet day today. I think we both have 'jet lag'. 2 hours difference in

time is so weired. We did watch the inauguration. Glad I wasn't there in that crowd.

I bet everyone is really tired.

Mel finished rewebbing the lawn chairs. Then we went to a produce farm and got a few fresh veggies and fruit. We hope to make some salsa tomorrow.

There was a pretty view of the mountains along the way.

We had supper at a Chinese place. I sure ordered wrong. I got a plate half full of almost raw broccoli and celery. Those who know me know I don't do veggies. The meat, soup, and noodles were good.

I think early to bed tonight

Hugs and Blessings to all

Day 12 - Day of change

Hi, We found our next RV Park. It will be in a tiny town of Brenda AZ. On AZ Hwy 60. Only a couple of stores and lots of RV's. We decided to find a park where we can leave our 5th wheeler all year. It can stay on the lot for as long as we want. So we won't be bringing it home. It won't have as pretty a view but the folks seemed to be so friendly. We will move in a couple of weeks. Or the first week of Feb. It is about 35 miles from here. They have activities there, church services, crafting, bingo, live music jams. There is even a dog groomer for Molly. I hope we made the right choice. I think so.

We thought we would eat at the Flying J but what a buffet they had. No meat of any kind. There could have been fish but I couldn't identify. There were 3 kinds of onions, some zucchini, tamales, and more kinds of strange veggies. It cost $8.99 plus the drink. Soda was $2. So we left without. We came home and ate.

It was so nice out so we just sat outside for a while.
No pictures today.....
Thank you for your comments. Keep them coming.

Good night, God Bless