Late Spring, 2017

Much of our time in April was spent in El Paso. Along with Paul’s brother Tom, we helped their mom settle in to her new apartment at a senior living complex, and put her house on the market. That sentence sounds very simple, but anyone who has gone through this knows that it is a long, stressful process.

Once we could leave for a bit, we bee lined for home, spent one night, and then ran up to Las Vegas to meet up with friends for the Las Vegas Highland Games. Having done our DNA through Ancestry, Paul and I have discovered we are both very “Celtic”.  I am not sure that’s why we enjoy Highland Games, but whatever the reason, enjoy them we do.

Along with the athletic events, there is tons of great music, both bagpipe and non-bagpipe.
One area is set aside for the Clan tents, where you can research your family clan, and buy T-shirts. Paul and I joined the Clan Inebriated Last year, and bought the T shirt this year.  I love their Toast:





Gu Deoch (To Drink)
Gu Cairdean (To Friends)
Gu Spors (to Fun)

Mike and Paul wore their kilts one day, but it was too hot the other day.

A few days later,  the guys moved from Kilts to helmets:

They have now crossed an item off their bucket list.  We spent an afternoon at SpeedVegas, where they took the opportunity to get behind the wheel of a couple of race cars.  They both chose the “American Muscle” package and drove a Shelby Mustang GT and a Corvette.

They don’t just throw you in the car and let you drive, the guys took a short class, learning about the track and also what instructions the coach would be calling out to them so they could make the most of their experience.

It was actually quite fun to watch them out on the track, and I was very glad I wasn’t behind the wheel.

They both topped out at over 150 mph and had a great time. It took a while for the adrenaline to wear off!

May found us at home, for an entire month! As soon as we knew we would be home, we threw out some invitations.

Some of Paul’s fraternity brothers made the trip from

California for a long weekend.

The guys had fun making ice cream, and the women had fun watching them .













The weather has been heating up and we have tried to spend some time on the lake, with both the jet ski, and the newly fixed  jet boat.






















Next up was a surprise visit from our daughter, Jessica.
We had a great, relaxing weekend, although it was too short.










Memorial Day weekend arrived, and so did my cousin Linda and some of her friends.

Memorial Day weekend on the lake is a little dicey. Its very crowded, and there are a lot of boat wakes roughing up the water. The first day out, Paul and I took the Jet ski, but it was so rough, it wasn’t much fun, and then we sucked a hat up into the intake and had to tow it back to the dock.

Luckily Linda and her crew had brought a boat with them so on our second day on the water, we enjoyed sitting back and being passengers, without any responsibility.


















Once June arrived we had one more thing to do before taking off for the summer.  We had a Jeep full of stuff to bring to Paul’s brother in southern California.  We made plans to spend a weekend with them at  their new home. They moved a few months ago, partly to be closer to their grandson, William.



In the morning we watched William play soccer- boy did that bring some  memories from when my kids were young!  He got quite the laugh out of the adults when he wanted to know “ where Uncle Paul’s hair went”.

That evening we went out to dinner with Tom and Sue.  Their new place isn’t too far from the ocean, so after dinner and some dancing, we walked to the beach to watch the sunset.

As a bonus for us, on our way home, we braved the traffic of L.A. to have lunch with  our daughter Jessica and some of her friends.

When this is your forecast, you know its time to get outta Dodge, and once we were home again we wasted no time.

A whirlwind two days was spent putting everything away and prepping the house to be left alone for several months. 
The backyard sure does look empty with everything brought inside!

This year we added another layer of security and some peace of mind for us- cameras.

As soon as we were done packing, and prepping the house, it was Jacks Up and on the road we went!

The Beginning of 2017 (03-30-17)

Once the year-end holidays were done, we said “goodbye see you in a few weeks” to our friends, as we all moved on to new adventures.  It’s really sad that I had to check my Facebook feed to see what we were doing in the early months of 2017.

As an overall statement, I will say that we spent the first half of 2017 going back and forth between our house and Paul’s mom in El Paso.  Sometimes we took the rig (and the cat) and sometimes we didn’t.




We are extremely fortunate enough to have Mike and Julie as our very good friends.

They made themselves available to house sit and cat sit as much as we needed, while we trekked back and forth to Texas.  It would have been so much more stressful without them!

Actually, we have a great group of friends who Paul and I know we can count on, whenever the need should arise.

Our first major event of 2017 was the Havasu Balloon Festival in January.  We have never been in Havasu to see it, but we managed it this year. We were joined by several RV friends, and although the weather wasn’t perfect, we still had a great time getting up at 5 am!










Next up on the agenda was our annual pilgrimage to Quartzsite, AZ, in mid January.
Quartzsite, in January, is a gathering place for RVers who are interested in hanging out in the desert. We have been coming here every year since we bought our first 5th wheel.





Camping in the desert with a bunch of friends, with no RV park, no electricity-no amenities at all…..is an absolute blast.
Campfires are awesome, when the weather is good…

and when the weather is iffy….Farkle in the roomiest RV (sometimes ours) is a fantastic way to pass the time!

In theory, RVers come to Quartzsite for the RV show, but we come mostly to hang out with friends…

 

… and of course eat Silly Al’s Pizza (the best in the world) and have lunch at Beer Belly’s, where, if it isn’t 2:00….

    who cares?

For the past 5 years, Mike and Julie, and Paul and I have hosted a Quesadilla/Margarita party for our friends, in Quartzsite.

We have fed as many as 45 people each year, and dispersed many batches of Margaritas….Always a good time (since no one is driving home!!)

Since Quartzsite is only an hour and a half from our house, we took the rig, and went back for the Jeep and Teryx.  We had a great time exploring the desert.

Soon after Quartzsite, we stopped in Tucson to visit with our good friends who had recently sprouted roots in the town (bought a house).

If we weren’t interested in boating, Tucson would have been our dream town, so we are always happy to visit them here!

Since I am a big New England Patriot’s fan, in early February  there was more fun in store for me!  Who doesn’t enjoy a Super Bowl when their favorite team is losing…..the entire game!?!

After a nail-biting 3 hours, my New England Patriots took home the big prize!

GO PATS!!!

The next major trip we took was to California, in mid February. We packed the cat and the truck camper, and took off for Atwater, with Mike and Julie right behind us.  Lucky for us they were, too. While driving down the highway, a trucker pulled up alongside and tooted at us.  We pulled over, only to discover that our hitch pin had let go and the trailer for the Teryx was swaying across the lanes of the highway, held to us only by a chain.  A very dangerous situation.  Mike pulled up behind us and gave us another pin to hold the trailer together, and we were on our way.

The entire weekend in California was one big party with Paul’s fraternity brothers. starting with dinner in Fresno, and then moving on to Nancy and Bill’s Party barn in Atwater. Bill and Nancy are farmers and have lots of almond trees!

It really is a barn, but not like you’ve ever seen before!
















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The next morning many of us took turns driving a tractor around the yard.

On the way back from Atwater, the 4 of us were excited to make a stop at Death Valley National Park.  We have all been here before, but it is extremely beautiful and we looked forward to exploring it more.

We had brought the Teryx just for this outing, but ran into a snag.  Although we had been told we could use the Teryx in the park, when we got there, we got conflicting information.  After a lot of back and forth with park rangers, we decided not to use the Teryx- so- we towed it all that way for nothing.








So, gee, instead, we spent an awesome few days exploring and hiking.

















The Boys- high up on a hill in Golden Canyon

View of Badwater Basin:

Natural Bridge Canyon Trail:









It’s kind of cool though that Paul and I can now say we are 2 for 2.  Even though Death Valley is a desert, and gets very little rainfall each year….it has rained every time we have been there!

Back home again, we received another visit from Jess.  This time it was a St. Patrick’s Day visit. While bar hopping with her parents, she managed to win a Guinness T-Shirt, but only because she actually WAS drinking Guinness at the time!  Wow. I thought I knew her!

We had quite a relaxing weekend, and the picture she posted on Facebook summed it up.  Lake Havasu’s motto is “no bad days”.  Jess’s post: “No bad nights, either!”

To Be Continued…

Dusting off the Old Blog (12-31-16)

Up until a few weeks ago, I was pretty convinced I was done blogging.  I started my blog in 2009 to write about the interesting and fun things we were seeing while we traveled the country in our trailer.

From Alaska…

…to Newfoundland…










we saw a lot of awesome things, traveling full time.

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But then a couple of things happened.  In 2015, we built a winter home in Lake Havasu City, AZ, and became stationary for several months at a time. Soon thereafter,  2016 happened. 2016 turned out to be a very difficult and stressful year for us.  Dealing with several family issues, we weren’t able to go off and explore as usual, and my desire to blog disappeared.


Don’t get me wrong, we did squeeze in some fun, and got a few things accomplished around the house.


As soon as we returned home in October of 2016, we got to work on the landscaping:

                          

Living in the desert, most of our yard is gravel, and our plants are very drought tolerant, although Paul does have everything on a drip irrigation system.  Since we are Margarita fanatics, I did spurge, and we planted a lime tree in the front yard.






It wasn’t long before our friends started arriving- we love having them around- we always have so much fun and they are always happy to pitch in and give a hand.

Of course, its not just OUR projects that get attention.  Our yard is a convenient place for friends to work on their rigs- especially since the guys are more than happy to offer advice, as well as help, haha.

The weather in Havasu is great for hiking during the cooler months so we took advantage and hiked Sara’s Crack, a slot canyon, and Lizard Peek- one of the highest peaks in the area (although that isn’t saying much).  I have been known to hike these trails by myself, just to get some exercise. And speaking of exercise, Planet Fitness arrived in Havasu and I immediately joined, and try to make it to the gym 4 times a week. There are Planet Fitness gyms all over the country, so I hope to keep it up once we are on the road.


                    

In the early fall the weather is warm enough to use the boat and Jet Ski- although Paul hadn’t had time to fix the boat so we were limited to just the Jet Ski.

Once winter set in, however, we needed a toy to play with off  the water. Once again it was time to call Paul’s brother Tom, and work out a deal on another Kawasaki product- this time a side by side, 4 seater.

One of our first add-ons was some state of the art headphones so that we can have conversations without yelling.

Soon enough, the holidays arrived and we had what we call a “yard full”.

In addition to our friends, our daughter Jessica managed to make it to our house for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Jess is fun to have around and I was glad she got to know our friends over the holidays.

So, from eating at Thanksgiving…














to eating at Christmas….





to drinking for New Years…..





we had an awesome time.


To be continued……