P.P.P.P (11-05-17)

Life has been busy at the Porters’ Project and Party Place (more commonly referred to as The PPP because we don’t like projects nearly as much as we like partying!).

A game of music vehicles was first up on the Project side of the equation. Once the trailer was thoroughly cleaned, we wanted to put it in the garage.  Lest you think this would be a simple task, take into consideration this: In addition to pulling out the Teryx trailer, Jet boat, and Jet ski, the truck camper had to come out too. That meant removing everything, including the toolbox and the 160 lb hitch, from the bed of the truck.

Once the camper was outside, the hitch had to be put back in the truck, in order to move the trailer.  Once everything that would fit was in the garage, then we (as in, the royal We) had to take the hitch back out (we left it on the trailer) so we could put the camper back on the truck. And that’s where it will remain, for now. We don’t really need the truck, and sadly, neither the truck nor the camper will fit in our 2000 sq ft garage.




Our next major project was easy-ish. When we built the house, we surrounded the pool with travertine stone, but we have decided to add to 3 sections. The area on the far side of the pool is now large enough for the lounge chairs….

We can also get to the garage now without walking through gravel, and, our dance floor has grown. Speaking of which, our receiver died, so it has been replaced with one we can control with our phones.

The dining area has been enlarged….it now fits the new grill that replaced our 27 year old Weber. The travertine project, although professionally done, still required work from Paul.  He had to move the gravel,  the drip irrigation lines, and the electrical for the planters. While he was at it, he added a couple of electrical outlets on the far side of the pool. He is in the process of burying a pipe so that the water from the two days of rain we get each year will end up far from the house.

I love autumn in Havasu…the weather is still warm enough to eat most meals outside, and the pool gets a lot of use.

There has been no shortage of fun in the last few weeks, that’s for sure.  In addition to car shows and lake fun, our daughter Jess came to visit as soon as we were settled in.

The weather was perfect for a day on the water.  After lunch at a waterfront restaurant,  there was plenty of opportunity for Jess to take the Jet ski out on her own while Paul and I relaxed on the beach.

She and I had a mother-daughter day, and hiked the slot canyon known as Sara’s Crack.  I was very proud of her…this is a 4 mile hike, and it was pretty darn warm outside!

We made it all the way to the lake, and on the way back we shared the trail with a bighorn sheep!

Back at the house it was time for a swim, and some goofing around with my waterproof camera.

After an awesome 3 day visit, it was time for her to head back to L.A., and for us to get back into somewhat of a routine. My daily agenda usually includes a trip to the gym. My timing, one day, was impeccable.  While on the elliptical, I overheard 3 guys talking about taking their Teryx side by sides out for a ride.  That’s the same brand we have, so I promptly interjected myself into their conversation.
After comparing notes about rigs etc., they invited me to join them on their ride. Heck Yeah!

We all met at the edge of the desert, brought lunch, and had a great 4 hour adventure.  Paul and I learned a lot. Like, we need scarves. And, don’t bring anything that you don’t want caked in dust.

We have never been with a group before, so we’ve never had a dust issue. Lesson learned, trust me.

These guys are all newbies, like us, so it was fun comparing notes after ascending or descending a particularly interesting hill.

They are going to try and go out once a week, and we are now on their texting list.  Excellent!

This past weekend Paul and I attended the first annual Hangar 24 Airfest.  There were a decent amount of planes and the show was pretty good for a small town, but since we didn’t want to eat or drink what was offered, next time maybe we’ll sit outside the entrance, and avoid the fee!

Dozer is enjoying autumn too….and is looking forward to all the visitors who will start arriving soon!

Fraternity Brothers (10-5-17)

Whenever possible Paul and I swing by Fresno, CA.  This is where Paul went to college and quite a few of his Sigma Chi fraternity brothers still live in the area. (Thanks for the pic, Serge!)

The day after we arrived was the monthly Sigma Chi  meeting- so while the guys had their fun, the wives got together for a nice dinner out.

Once the weekend arrived, we headed to Kirk and Karen’s cabin in the mountains. The weekend project was the installation of a new sliding glass door. Luckily the weather was conducive to working outside, which made it a lot easier!

It’s never all work and no play with us so after a full day, it was Margaritas on the back deck!

Sometimes the best way for the “non mechanically inclined”  to help, is to not get in the way.  So on Sunday, Karen and I joined Eloise for a 3 mile hike to Indian Pools waterfall.

The weather was perfect for hiking and the companionship was awesome!

Down off the mountain again, Suzy and Kevin hosted dinner before we left town.

Somehow we managed to convince Kevin that the cookies we had for dessert would be ever so much better if they had just a dab of ice cream on them.

So, he got out the melon baller….Perfect!

The time always flies when we are in Fresno, and soon enough it was time to leave.

So, after about 3 months on the road, we have returned to Lake Havasu.

The summer didn’t go as we planned- we left later and returned earlier than we planned, we couldn’t travel where we wanted to go (mostly because of the wildfires) and we both had slight injuries along the way, so we weren’t able to hike as much as we would have liked.

For the first time, we had several issues with RV Spots.  In one park, we tried to add a night and were told it was no problem but we would have to move spots. There was someone in the spot we were moving to, so all we had to do was wait for them to leave in the morning.  Except they didn’t. At 2:00 they were still there (they thought they had one more night). So we wasted the whole day waiting. Then we found out the people coming into our spot were only coming for one night. Say What?? They could have just put them in the other spot!!  Ugh. We weren’t too happy.

A week later, at another park- we get a knock on our door at 2 pm.  Its a fellow camper who wants to know what time we would be leaving.  Um, we weren’t.  The camp host had messed up and told those people they could have our spot when we left.  They got it all worked out, but I knew how they felt, waiting all day for us to move!

When we got to the Fresno Elks, they only had one night available in their small park. The host was nice enough to let us park next to the building, and use an extension cord- but Paul had to do a fair amount of tree trimming in order for us to fit under the trees.

Oh well.

Still, all in all, we had a good summer.

I really should have written this days ago but we have been in a flurry of activity ever since we got home. Between cleaning and setting up the house, and cleaning the trailer, the days have been very busy…..  for some of us….

We have just settled in and now we are leaving for El Paso.  Paul’s mom has an offer on the house and we are headed there for the closing next week.  This time, we will leave the trailer and the cat at home.

On a side note- Google Maps has found us! The new picture was definitely from this summer, with all our outdoor furniture stored away.

Now that we are back for the winter,  I won’t do as much blogging- just some occasional updates- unless we take a trip or do something particularly fun.

More Little “Adventures” (09-20-17)

We left off in Bend Oregon. We have almost a week until the alignment so there was no rush to leave Bend.

We hiked for a few miles along the Deschutes River in nearby Newberry National Volcanic Monument.










We could have hiked up Lava Butte, but we drove, instead. Since there is limited parking, they give you  a timed ticket and you can only stay for a half hour. That was plenty of time.  You can still see the smoke in the air.









Lava, Lava, everywhere.

 This particular lava flow is a little unique. It contains over 70% silica, which means much of its content is glass. It’s very sharp and there are warnings about not letting dogs on the trail.

How sharp it it?  Obsidian blades can be sharpened at the molecular level, making them sharper than a steel scalpel.

More lava- in the shape of a tube, this time:

Lava River Cave is about a mile long and huge inside. It felt like a tunnel and it even goes under the highway.

Its quite cold, so you need to wear a fairly heavy coat to be comfortable. You also have to certify that none of your clothing or equipment has been in a cave in the last 10 years. White Nose Syndrome is killing millions of bats and can be carried on clothing from one cave to another.

It’s also very dark and they recommend you bring two sources of light. 

It wasn’t all that fun to explore, and frankly was a little boring, so we didn’t walk the whole mile.

Feeling done with lava, we moved from Bend down to Emigrant Lake, near Ashland Oregon.

Paul has been to Ashland many times. They are known for their Shakespearian plays, and on any given day, there will be 3-4 options of plays to see. Except on Mondays. I guess they are all closed on Monday.  So we arrived in time to see a play on Sunday.

We chose to see Shakespeare in Love, which wasn’t written by Shakespeare, but is about his life. It was fun. Before the play we meandered along the creek front, checking out all the stores and restaurants.

The whole downtown area is very walkable, with many restaurants and a huge park.  There are several water fountains that are always flowing- they contain Lithia water, which is very high in mineral content.  So high, in fact, that the water tastes disgusting.

We were both very happy with the change in the weather. It went from shorts weather to soup weather in a matter of days.  We were thrilled to finally be able to have a campfire!

We left the Ashland area last Tuesday, headed for Grants Pass, OR where we were supposed to get the axles aligned.  Yep, supposed to…..

Having arrived a day early, Paul met with the technicians who were going to do the alignment.  We got bad news and good news.  The bad news was that they didn’t have the equipment to align our axles properly.  The good news was that after looking at pictures of the old tires, showing the (lack of) wear, they said we couldn’t ask for much better, and we didn’t need an alignment. 

 Saved us a few hundred bucks and allowed us to move on early to our next adventure- Fresno, CA, home to Paul’s fraternity brothers.

Here birdie birdie!