Cocopah, to KOFA, to Q

The rest of our stay at the Cocopah Casino was fairly uneventful, however, they changed their rules since last year.  Last year you could dry camp there for $5.00 for 3 nights for an indefinite time period, however, so many people took advantage of their generosity, this year you could stay for free until January 5th, then you had to pay $5.00 for three days, but if you wanted to stay after that, you had to cash in 200 points from your casino players card.  I couldnt get anyone to tell me exactly how many dollars worth of play that would take, but I estimated somewhere up close to $1000.00.  Wasnt going to happen for us!

One of the fun things we did before leaving the casino, we went across the street to the Cocopah Speedway to enjoy a night of stock car racing.  There was a huge crowd, and a long line for tickets.

The picture is a little dark, but if you click on it, it should open in another window, and maybe more clear.  I didnt get a lot of good pics, but here is one of the track.

The track was well prepared, and most of the racing was pretty good, however, in the feature race for the IMCA Modifieds, the track got slicker that the drivers could handle, and they seldom got more than a lap ot two without a yellow flag for a crash, consequently, the race was called after only about 12 laps out of a scheduled 30.  It was still a good night of racing!


When it came time to leave the casino, we were fortunate to find an Escapees Park a few miles east and a couple miles south.  KOFA KOOP is a real nice place with a swimming pool, hot tub, new Maytag industrial washing machines, a huge community room, and very nice lots. The lot we stayed on even had cement parking, plus a cement patio.  It was only about six miles to Yuma, but very little noise or traffic.

We originally booked for just one week, while we waited for Ann's glasses to be ready in Algodonnes, but when they were not ready when they said they would be, we decided to stay for another week.  BTW, Ann just talked to the eye clinic(today is January 23), and was told that before they would send the glasses out to have the glare coating, they wanted her to try them on for fit, and accuracy of the prescription.  That is not what they told her at the time!  So now we need to go back to Algodonnes, make sure the glasses are ok, then wait another two weeks for them to get the glare coating on!  Well, I guess you spend your money, and takes your chances.

We didnt do to much exciting while we were the Escapees Park, but we did do some shopping, and I took a day trip to Gilbert, AZ, which is suburb of Phoenix, for a gathering of retired rural carriers.

We decided we needed a new coffee maker, so a trip to Kohls was in order, where we chose a new Mr Coffee.  The feature that we like most about his model is that the carafe is insulated, so after the coffee is made, we can shut off the generator, and the coffee stays hot in the carafe.

Another shopping excursion was necessary when Ann decided that the rocker/recliner that she used was just too hard on her back, so we went to Yuma Furniture and she picked out a new La-Z-Boy recliner that is much more comfortable.

The next problem was what to do with the old recliner.  The lady at the park office suggested that we put a "free" sign on it, and set it in front of our motorhome.  It was gone the second day it was out there.  It was there when we went to bed, but gone in the morning!  We hope someone is getting some use out of it.

On Thursday January 19, I made the approximately 200 mile one way to to Gilbert, AZ for a meeting of the retired rural carriers in the area.  In order to get to the 9:00 AM meeting, I had to be on the road by 5:30.  I havent gotten up that early for quite some time, but it wasnt a problem, and after stopping at the Love's for gas and coffee, I headed east on Interstate 8.



After the sun came up, I took some pics as I traveled.

It was a hazy day, as you can see from this pic.

Here is the M on the mountain near Maricopa, AZ.

The trip was pretty uneventful until I was on I 10 going into the metro area.  Still well south of my scheduled turn off, I saw a traffic jam ahead, but was able to cross three lanes of traffic, and exit the freeway.

The GPS recalculated the route, and wanted me to get on the 101 going north, but as I was about to enter, I could again see the traffic was stopped, and stayed on Price Street which runs parallel to the 101.  The rest of the trip was easy, and I arrived at the Golden Corral with about 15 minutes to spare.

The meeting was a good one with our National Vice President and the head our Rural Carrier Benefit Plan in attendance.  The room held 76 people, and I believe we had 73 attendees.  Iowas was well represented there as somewhere between 15-20 people were from Iowa. I knew most of them, but not all.  As the room was so crowded, I ddint stay for the meal, but headed back to Yuma, but not before stopping at the Volvo dealer and picking up a courtesy light that fits in the bottom of the driver's door mirror, that had fallen out a couple of weeks before.

I am going to post this now, as we are going to dinner.  Hopefully, I will finish the update later, but I am afraid to just leave it, as it may disapear.

I am back.  It is now Tuesday January 24th.

The trip back to Yuma was uneventful.  Even the road construction by Gila Bend was not a problem for the GPS as it was on the way to Gilbert in the morning.

I stopped in Gila Bend for gas the the Love's, but was not impressed with the price!

Once back on the interstate I encountered these two trucks and their rolling road block.  I know that truck drivers and RV drivers sometimes complain about how inconsiderate drivers of "four wheelers" can be, but when you have one truck only going about one mph faster than another, and driving well below the speed limit, drivers of "four wheelers" believe that this is inconsiderate as well.

 

I arrived back at the motorhome at  KOFA KOOP  about 5:00PM after a great day of driving and meeting!

Friday afternoon we headed over to Arizona Market Place which is a huge place that sells all kinds of stuff some of it RV related, to see if they had anything we couldnt live without, and wouldnt you know it, we did find a few things, including some pony tail holders, a new grill brush, a headlight for Ann to use while riding her bike, some new reusable ice cubes, some driving glasses for me, a new kitchen faucet adapter, a mini speaker and ear buds for Ann's Droid Charge, a valve core tool, and a new case for my Droid Global.  Who knew we needed all that stuff!

On Saturday January 21st we decided to check out and travel on up to Quartzsite, AZ, as the optical office in Algodonnes is not open so we could get the glasses Ann was waiting on, even thought we were paid through Saturday night.  After getting everything together, stopping at Applebee's for lunch, Barney's Flying J to top off with gas we headed north on state highway 95.



Yuma Proving Grounds is just north of Yuma and one of the displays along the highway is a couple of pretty big artillery pieces.

Another interesting item we saw on the Yuma Proving Grounds was this blimp like balloon of which we had seen earlier on our journey that I posted about in this blog post.

The picture is not all that clear as Ann had the camera on full zoom as the blimp was at least a mile away from the highway.  After going past this one, we saw several more in the next few miles.  I should do some research to see what they are used for.

The state roads in Arizona are interesting as they follow the lay of the land, which I guess is to reduce damage to roads when there is flooding, but it makes for an interesting ride, especially when you come across dips in the road like these.

They are not as severe as the look in the pictures, but looking at the second one, and the skid marks, it appears someone had a problem with this one.

Ann took some "scenery" pics along the way to show some the the terrain.

One of the required stops on Highway 95 is the border patrol station.  These are usually formalities for most American Citizens, and evidently there is no smuggling on this road this time of day as the station was closed.

Another interesting place along the way is Stone Cabin.  I dont know the significance of it, but it was good for a picture, anyway.

You know you are getting close to Quartzsite, when you start to see this many rvs parked out in the desert.

We had no trouble in finding our group because we have been here before, and before leaving Yuma, Ann had programmed the satellite coordinates provided by Bob Buchanan of our group on this page into our GPS.  Also, here is a link of current activities at this years RV Forum Rally.

By time we arrived on Saturday the weather had turned very windy, with gusts up to 30 mph, and there was so much dust in the air we could not see the nearby mountains.  As the result the 4:00PM Happy Hour was cancelled, but later in the evening our neighbors across the road had built a fire, and invited us over.  They were first timers at the rally and are fun people.  One couple is from Texas, and the other is from Oklahoma.  For snacks they took saltine crackers, added a combination dry Ranch Dressing Mix, some canola oil, and red pepper flakes in a one gallon saver bag.  You turn the bag regularly until the mixture is absorbed into the crackers.  Really delicious and easy snack!

By 8:00 PM is was time to call it a day.

On Sunday we went to the "Big Tent" which is about 55,000 square feet of mostly RV related products, and some of the usual stuff you would see at a fair or a flea market.  One of the products we had been looking was an Oxygenics Body Spa shower head to replace our old one that has become plugged with so much lime that even CLR wont clean it.  Others on the forum had recommended it, so we got one.  It is really nice, and some friends liked theirs so much, they got another for their house.

Also, we had been looking at LED lights to save some amp hours on our 12 volt electrical system.  We bought one for the reading light behind Ann's recliner to see if we would like them before we would consider buying any more of them.  There are not cheap, as the one we got was $20.00, but they take about 1/12 of a regular bulb, and hopefully, last pretty much forever.  We shall see.

We got back in time for the 4:00 PM Happy Hour where everyone is required to wear their name tags.  Our group has three rules:

1)  Wear your name tags when you are at Happy Hour and other events.

2)  Wear your damn name tags when you are at Happy Hour and other events!

3) No animals at food events.

Everyone introduces themselves and tells what ever they want about themselves.  It is amazing at the diversity of back grounds of the people here who despite their diverse backgrounds have one thing in common; that is the love of rving!  After introductions and announcements, everyone just mingles and chats for as long as they wish.  We usually have morning coffee for those that want to participate about 7:00 AM, but since the guy who usually does coffee isnt here yet, I volunteered to do the coffee.  The group owns a large coffee pot, so I brought it back to our RV and set it up to do morning coffee.  Here is a pic of part of the morning coffee group on Monday morning.

Eventually we had about a dozen people show up, and about the same number on Tuesday morning.

Each morning about 10:00 AM those of us who feel like go on a walk.  Bob Buchanan has measured a two mile course.  Everyone goes at their own pace. I do the two miles in about 35 minutes. A nice way to start the day!

After Ann worked all day Monday, and I started on a blog update, and after Happy Hour, we went to Silly Al's Pizza in Quartzsite for some food and fun.  The place was crowded, and it took over an hour to get seated and served.  By that time karaoke started, so we stayed and Ann got to sing three songs before we headed home about 9:00 PM.  A nice end to another great day on the road!

Today, Tuesday January 24 started with us both getting up about 5:00 AM.  I started the coffee earlier today that yesterday, as it wasnt quite ready when the coffee drinkers showed up on Monday.  Today it was ready on time, and although it was a cool 36 degrees this morning, the air was clean and crisp from the rain we had last night.  It is really nice to be up early enough to see the sun rise!

After coffee, it was time for a snack before the 10:00 AM walk.  Then some lunch upon returning, and then back to updating the blog.

Tomorrow we are going back to check on Ann's glasses, and see if they can change the bifocals in mine to lengthen the focal distance, so I can use them to see the laptop, and to see the gauges in the vehicles I drive.

Let's hope so!


Thus ends another blog post, on Our Third Year of Snowbirding!

Paul

Christmas, Anniversary, Football, New Years, and New Glasses

While at Catalina State Park we had our mail forwarded to General Delivery at the Main Post in Tucson.  Great service again by the USPS!  I know the stress postal employees are under these days, and all we have dealt with have been super friendly, and helpful!  In our mail we have several Christmas cards.  Even though they were mailed before Christmas, we hadnt got our mail sent to us since a week or so before Christmas.  Thanks to all who sent cards, especially Paul and Kathy Miller, and Kathy Ingle!  Camping World always has things Rvers need, and if you looked at our travel expense report in the last post, additional funds for buying gas is always great!

After the post office, it was off to Camping World in Tucson for some post Christmas shopping.  We always have a shopping list for Camping World in the back of our minds, so it was a pretty quick trip.  Here is a pic of our purchases, which included a ladder mounted bike rack that will hold two bikes, a couple of roll up sun shades for the side windows when traveling, valve stem extenders to make it easier to check the air pressure in the outer rear tires, an indoor outdoor thermometer, a silicone mat to put on the rotating plate in the microwave, a "wingman" attachment for our crank up TV antenna, which is supposed to help with digital TV signals, and a new filter for our on board water system.

Here is a pic of the "wingman" installed.

While I was on the roof, I took a few more pics of the campground, and this one of our friends Ray and Liza's rig.  As part of their setting up, they mount this tall pole to the rear ladder.  On the top of the pole are lights that change colors.  That makes it easier for them to find their motothome in an unfamiliar campground in the dark, or for other such reasons finding your RV may be a problem.

Thursday December 29 was our 10th anniversary. Ann had another busy day at work.  Everyone congratulated us at Happy Hour.  Our friends Randy and Debby Sherow took us out to great dinner at Red Lobster which is only a few minutes away from Catalina State Park.  The reason for choosing Red Lobster is that on our first date on New Years Eve in 1997 we ate at the Red Lobster in West Des Moines, Ia.

Friday December 30 was a pretty long day.  We left the campground about 11:30 and headed up to Tempe, AZ. to watch the Iowa Hawkeyes play against the Oklahoma Sooners in the Insight Bowl on the campus of the Arizona State University.

The trip was uneventful and our Garmin 1450 gps lead us right to the Best Western Hotel that is just about a half mile north of the stadium.  After checking in, we walked over the bridge to the stadium to look for some Iowa gear, and some food.  Having been to the Insight Bowl two years ago when the Iowa State Cyclones defeated the Minnesota Golden Gophers, we were somewhat familiar with the area.  We found our way to Mill Street where most of the action is before the game.  We didnt find any Iowa gear, but we did find a great Greek restaurant, and had a nice meal.  Then it was back toward the stadium where we found a couple of stands selling Iowa shirts and hats.  I bought a hat at one and a long sleeved shirt at another.  Here I am, ready for the game!

We still had quite a wait before they opened the gates to let spectators in, but besides not having any place to sit, it wasnt bad, as the weather was just beautiful!  About 65 degrees at kick off!  Once inside we found our seats.  They were great seats.  About the 40 yard line toward the Oklahoma end zone, and the second row in the upper tier. Even though we brought binoculars, we didnt need then with such an awesome view of the field!  Here is a pic from our seats as the teams were warming up.

The game was somewhat interesting.  Iowa played it's usual game of looking real good sometimes, and not so good at other times.  I was surprised that Oklahoma didnt play better.  Even though the score doesnt show it, the game was fairly close until the last few minutes.

The big excitement during the game was when a cable for the "flying camera" broke sending it to the playing field and almost hitting Marvin McNutt and outstanding wide receiver for the Iowa Hawkeyes!  He did sustain a minor injury when he got caught up in the broken cable, but it could have been a lot worse had the 25 pound camera actually hit him.

Here is a couple of pics of the camera.

After missing McNutt the most dangerous part of the camera fiasco was when they tried to real in the excess cable from the other attaching points in the stadium.  Since the camera was on the ground, the remaining cables were a lot lower, and drug across the crowd as they finally got the camera off the field.  The cable came real close to us, and I got some pics of it. The first one is of Ann taking a picture of the cable, while I am taking a picture of it with my cell phone.

The cable posed no real threat as it was not that heavy, and moved across the crowd slowly.  With only a few minutes left in the game, a couple of Arizona's finest held the cable the rest of the game, and as the spectators left the stadium.

After the game we headed back to the hotel, it was about midnight when we got there.  A lot of walking today, and tomorrow is New Years Eve, so no after game celebrating.

We left Tempe about 9:30 and headed back to Catalina State Park, where the RVForum group had decided to have a 1:00PM soup pot luck.  Ann's job was to bring Styrofoam cups for the soup.  So we stopped at local Target and got a couple of packages of the them, and got back to the campground with time to spare.  The soup potluck was great with a variety of soups, breads, salads and deserts, and of course beautiful weather, and fun company.

Hear is a couple of pics of the potluck.  Ann and I are in the second pic in the checkered chairs with our back to the camera.  Thanks Ken for the pics.  Hope it is ok to share them on our blog.

After the meal it was back to the RV for a nap, and to get rested up for the New Years Eve party.  With so many people coming this year, about 40 I believe, the decision was made to have a rotating party amongst three coaches.  Everyone brings some kind of a snack for the event. Ann chose cream cheese covered with a mango jalapeno jelly with crackers.  Really delicious, and goes well with Jim Beam, Captain Morgan, or champagne, and perhaps other adult beverages.

Here is a pic of Ann and I at Ray and Liza's rig.  Thanks Betty for taking the pic.

The way the group celebrates New Years is a bit different than most New Years celebrations in that they start celebrating the News Years in New York at 10:00PM Arizona time, after which some of the party goes head back to their coaches.  Then those that are left celebrate New Years in Chicago, and again some call it a night, and the rest of us hardier folks, or just plain foolish folks stayed up and celebrated the actual New Years Arizona time.  Although we did stay up to see in the New Year in Arizona we didnt party too hard, as we knew we would be leaving the park by noon the next day.

We had originally planned on going on a hike on New Years day with a some others in our group, but we cancelled as I knew it would not be easy to have enough energy to pack things away a get ready to leave by noon.  So we had a leisurely morning getting ready to go, and Ann made eggs Benedict for breakfast before we began putting things away for the trip to Cocopah Casino just south of Yuma, AZ.

As I had forgot to put gas in Ann's car upon our return to Tucson from Tempe, We said our goodbyes to those who hadnt gone on the hike, and while I dumped the tanks on the motorhome, Ann went to the nearby Safeway to fill up up. We then loaded up the car and headed for Yuma.



Our first stop was at the Iron Skillet Restaurant on Interstate 10 just south of the junction with Interstate 8.  It was one of the better buffets we have found, and we would recommend it to others.

Then the quick exit to Interstate 8 west toward Yuma.

Since we have traveled this route a couple times before we didnt get any pics.  We arrived in Yuma about 4:30, and after filling up with fuel at Barney's Flying J, we headed to the casino.  The parking lot was almost empty compared to last year, so we had the pick of several spots.  Once we got set up, and the car unloaded it was time for a trip to Dairy Queen.  I quickly found a few on my phone, and we picked one, put the address in the gps even though we are some what familiar with this area, and headed out.  The DQ we picked was very small, but my banana split as well as Ann's hot fudge sundae with peanuts, also know as a small peanut buster parfait, filled the need for ice cream.  Then it was back to the motorhome to get settled in, and since Monday was a holiday for Ann, we planned on going over to Mexico that day, to get some cheap prescription drugs and some eyeglasses.

Our day trip to Algodonnes, Mexico started about 10:30 as we both had eye doctor appointments at Noon 

Here are a couple of pics Ann took on the way over.  The first is some dry campers on the California side of the border.  The second is, what I believe is what is left of the Colorado River before it continues on south before emptying into the gulf.

We parked, walked across the border, and were at Algodonnes Optical in plenty of time for our appointments.  Although we both had our eyes checked in October, the eye exam is free with the glasses.  After our exams, we ordered glasses. I ordered one pair with correction and bi-focals, and the same in a pair of sunglasses.  Ann ordered one pair with corrections in sunglasses, and one pair of regular glasses with anti glare.  All but Ann's pair with the anti-glare will be done in a few hours, and her other pair wont be done for a couple of weeks.  They will call her when they are ready, and they will either send them to her, or we can go back and pick them up.

While waiting for the glasses, we went to a local open air restaurant and had a couple of drinks, with chips and salsa.  It is great that most everyone in Algodonnes speaks pretty good English.  That makes doing business there a whole lot easier.  After finishing our drinks, and being accosted by several locals selling all kinds of jewelery and trinkets, we headed back to Algodonnes Optical.  The one pair of Ann's glasses were ready but mine were not.  So to speed up the process of getting back into the USA, An went and got in line while I waited for my glasses.  After about 2:00PM the line to get back into the USA takes about an hour and 15 minutes to get through.  Finally just about 4:00PM my glasses were ready, so I joined Ann in line.

Going through customs is relatively easy.  You need a passport, and they just ask you what you purchased in Algodonnes.  You tell them, and they usually look in your sack of stuff to verify, and you are back in the USA!

  I wore my new glasses on the way back.  The correction in my left eye was great, but the focal distance for the bifocals is not correct, as I use them mostly for looking at the gauges while driving, and using the computer. The focal distance is too short.  I am not sure if that is a problem that can be fixed, but I am going to take my glasses back to see what they can do.  I may have to go back to a 1.75 bifocal as opposed to the 2.00 that is in my new glasses.  By the way the total cost for the four pair of glasses was $380.

On the way back Ann got some pics of a couple of truck loads of fresh produce.

And one of the dole processing facility.

Here is a couple of pics of the green fields and orange groves that cover this area.

The last couple of days have been real busy for Ann at work, and we havent ventured out to far, but we did make a trip to the local Albertsons the other night for groceries, and distilled water to add to the batteries.


We were a little hesitant to go there as out last experience with them in Blythe, CA was not good, as prices were way high, but I believe that was mostly due to the huge crowd at Quartzsite, AZ that goes to Blythe thinking that prices will be cheaper there, but they are not.

One last note.  In RVing there is a saying that there are two lists.  One of dumb things you have done, and one of dumb things you will do.  I can add one more thing to the list of dumb things done, as I evidently didnt get the filler cap on the generator on tight when I changed the oil and filter before we left Iowa, and the first day we ran the generator here, it only ran for about a half an hour and quit.  Not good!  I went out and checked, and there was oil on the ground, another not good thing!  Sure enough the cap was lose, and had blown out enough oil to have the low oil sensor shut down the generator.  Thank God for the low oil sensor, or it, no doubt, would have ruined the generator!

After a quick trip to the local convenience store which had the correct oil, and some cat litter, the generator was soon back in business, and the mess pretty much cleaned up.


Until next time.

Paul