Leaving Utah

Thanksgiving with Rachel, Stacy, Nic, & Ethan

We left Clearfield on Dec 1, concerned about getting a snow storm on the day we left.  But snow was not an issue, Davis county had 105 mph winds that morning.  Kaysville, less than 10 miles from our house, was where they were stopping all high profile vehicles until the winds died down.  So we sat on an off ramp with many semis & RVs, reading our Kindles, having coffee and our own bathroom, until the traffic was allowed to move again.  Traveling down Legacy Parkway, we did see the UPS truck that had blown over - yikes!

Driving south thru Utah, we did see many beautiful snow covered scenes and even hit a smattering of snow between Beaver and Cedar City.  We made it to Mesquite, NV the first night, stayed in the Virgin River Casino parking lot and had their buffet dinner.

When we got to Vidal Junction, CA we decided Fritz needed a run and we needed to look for a geocache.  Here's the one we found and we were the first to find it as it had been placed on Nov 28th.  From there we headed to Parker, AZ where we stopped for lunch.  When we came out to the motor home the transformer above us exploded and live wires fell just on the other side of the telephone pole we were parked next to. 
The wires were so hot they actually burnt into the gravel.  I quickly moved the motor home while Vince went back into the very dark resturant to have them call the fire department.  Hoping that was the last of our brushes with disaster, we pointed the rig down the road to Yuma. 

While were we driving south, we got an email from our Canadian friends Don & Glenda who were staying at the Escapee park in Yuma.  Since we had not decided where we were going to stay until Dec. 6, we went into the KOFA park, and parked in the dry camping area right next to them. 

Love the Saguros!

Don, Vince & Fritz looking for a geocache (didn't find it)



The McPhaul Bridge.  This is now closed to all foot traffic.

Another shot of the bridge





Found this "frog band" at the Yuma Swap Meet.  Good thing we have to room in the motor home!!

On Dec 6 we moved over to the Colorado River Adventure park where we have a membership.   Our friends Tom and Margie are also staying here.  Margie and I met several years ago while beading, and we are having fun attending the bead classes here at the park on Tues and Thurs.  The day before we moved over here we came for a visit and our friend Andy & Diane and Terry & Darlene were here, but leaving the morning we were coming in.  We will be seeing them in Quartzsite!!

The Living Christmas Tree at Yuma Community Christian Church.  This is a 36ft Christmas tree where the choir presents it's Christmas concert every year.  This is the third time we have been able to attend and the show is always great!

This cross is in front of the church and when lit up can be seen for miles.

 

 

 

 

Here we are waiting for the Yuma Christmas Light Parade.  Vince, Don & Glenda are wearing shorts (well Don & Glenda are from Canada so what do you expect); Tom & Margy evidently think they are in Canada.  The weather was actually somewhere in between.

Here are some pics from the parade.

This marching band had the most lights of any group!

And of course, a beautiful desert sunset!

"Hit the Road Jack"

This is how Fritz likes to ride in the motorhome!
 The window has to be open a crack so he gets
the wind in his face.

The house is rented, the motorhome is packed, the snow is falling.  We need to put a few more things in the storage unit, eat some turkey and pumpkin pie and we are on our way.  Our first stop will be the VA in Salt Lake City; Vince has an appointment on Dec. 2, so we will spend our first night on the road there.  Then we plan to go to Cathedral Rocks State Park in Nevada, just west of Cedar City.  From there we are heading to Yuma, AZ, where we plan to spend Christmas parked at Lake Mittry with our Escapee friends.  I am really going to try to keep this blog up so our friends and family can keep up with our adventures! See ya down the road!!

Graduation Fun and Games

Stacy, our son-in-law, graduated from Park University at Hill Air Force Base with his Bachelors on June 11th.  My youngest daughter, Mara, flew in from Napa with her two daughters for the occasion.  Yes, that is an honors cord he is wearing.  We are all proud of him.

Proud family!

Molly lost her first tooth while we were waiting for the ceremony to begin!

Fun with glow in the dark glasses at the graduation party.

I think Ethan looks like Dwight from "The Office" in this pic.

 On Sunday, we went out to Antelope Island to geocache.  This is Mara logging her first find, and it had a Travel Bug in it!  Molly was excited to trade for some swag from the cache.  We had now added some more geocachers to the club, as Mara went back to California and took the rest of the family out caching.  The Travel Bug is now in a cache in Half Moon Bay - wonder where it will go from there.

 We had some great bison and antelope sightings while out on the island.

At Garr Ranch on the island.  Grandpa lassoed some grandkids!

We  also made it down to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point.  This is one of the largest collection of dinosaur bones in the world and is well worth the time for anyone traveling in the area.  The kids had a great time pretending to be scared by this foot.  There are also several hands on exhibits that they enjoyed. .

It was a fun filled, but too short, four days.  The cousins have so much fun when we are all together and we wish we all lived closer.

60th Birthday Party



Here we are on the first day at the Character Breakfast at the Plaza Inn.  This was the best birthday ever!



Lake Havasu

Glenda Wicks and I having rib dinner at the Elks Club in Lake Havasu wih the Boomers.  Yes, the ribs are as great as the rumors say!

The Western Pyrotechnics sets off one of their famous "fire bombs".

Here is the hail on our "lawn" the day of Ed's Birthday Party.

Not even a hail storm can keep Boomers away from a potluck.  After the hail stopped we celebrated in style.

Here are the last of the Havasu pics.  All computer issues have been solved , for the present, so maybe I can keep this blog up-to-date. Maybe!

Geocache Rally

We found our first "Travel Bug" on our friend Sue.

After leaving the Boomer event in Quartzsite, we moved a few miles across the desert to an Escapees Geocache Rally.  We are just newbies in the sport of Geocaching, so it was great to learn from some more experienced cachers.



Vince discovering a cache.



"Saguaro Henge"

Other places that we found caches in and around Quartzsite.  We were excited to find 7 caches in one day, not a lot for experienced cachers but the most we had done.



  These are my friends Darlene and Opal.

After theGeocaache Rally we spent another week in Parker and I went to a Red Hat Lunch.  Kind of silly, but fun, and the stares from other people in the resturant are great.



We saw a group of burros on the side of the road and thought this baby had a hair do like Moe from The Three Stooges.

Well, we made it home to Utah on Tuesdsay.  We left Lake Havasu on Monday morning after a fantastic Bluegrass Festival, beautiful weather, great music!!  A snowstorm -yikes- stopped us Monday afternoon just north of Cedar City, so we spent the night at the Love's Truckstop, waited until the sun had melted most of the snow on the roads and made it home by that afternoon. 

My computer is in the shop so pictures will be coming soon.

Vince, and our son-in-law Stacy, spent yesterday installing a new waterheater in the house.  The old one (20 years old) gave up the ghost the day before we headed south for the winter - great timing!

We are getting ready to finish the kitchen, rent out the house thru Hill AFB and hit the road by the end of the summer!  Yippeeeeee!!

What do we do in Quartzsite??

A beautiful sunset behind the saguaro cacti.

We have been in an area without service for the computer for about a week, so I have been a bit slow getting these posted.  Hope you all enjoy them!

Full moon coming up over the desert.

Cholla cactus, also called Teddy Bear cactus.  We have to be very careful when Fritz is close to these as they stuck on everything that gets near them.

The group in the foreground is the SKP Boomers.  There were 131 rigs out in the desert for 2 weeks.

Potlucks are a common occurance.  These are the judges for our annual chili cook off.

Everyone needs a margarita maker that runs on your cars 12 volt!

Lots of geocaches to be found in Quartzsite.

These are the biggest crystals we have ever seen.

Simba loves to roll around in the warm desert sun.

Four wheel drive excusion, that is Vince 2nd from right.

RV fire safety training.

We also enjoyed a fine dramatic production of "If I Were Not an RV Boomer"!

 

Lots of interesting sights can be found if you know the right dirt road to explore.

Gretchen cooks pancakes better than she wears glasses!

T-shirt braiding.

Wire wrapping and beading are regular activities for the girls.

Wine tasting.

After 2 weeks with the Boomers we moved to another section of Quartzsite for a Geocache Rally.  Learned a lot about geocaching and had some fun caching games.  Then on up to Lake Havasu for the Winter Blast, Western Pyrotechnic Associations firework show.