First Week of 2014

I left off the the last update with us being late for Happy Hour where decisions would be made regarding New Years Eve festivities. First, regarding the cost of the 3:00PM chicken dinner on New Years Eve was set at $7.00 person.  Everyone agreed to bring a side dish to go with the chicken.  I decided to make brussels sprouts from a recipe we got from a fellow RVer at a Christmas potluck in at the American Campground in Del Rio, Texas

Here is the recipe:

'IOWA BEEFS"

Fine Brussels Sprouts Recipe

Ingredients

     30 Brussels Sprouts
      5 Strips of Bacon
      4 T. Butter
      1/4 C. Red Wine or Balsamic Vinegar
      2 T. Brown Sugar
      1/2 Large Red Onion, Diced
      1 C. Dried or Fresh Cranberries or Gold Raisons

Directions
     Trim and Split Brussels Sprouts
     Fry Bacon until very crisp
     Remove to paper towel and crumble
     Place sprouts cut side down with 2 T. butter and fry until browned
     Turn sprouts over, add diced onion and fry 4-5 minutes
     Add red wine or vinegar, brown sugar and other 2 T. butter
     Cook to reduce liquid slightly
     Stir in bacon and cranberries or raisons
     Cook until sprouts are tender
     Salt and pepper to taste

Also, at the December 30 Happy Hour we all agreed that it would work best if we had three coaches for the New Years Eves parties.  Ken and Sheila, Ray and Liza, and Russ were gracious enough to volunteer their coaches for the evening.  Everyone is to bring hors d'oeuvres  to the first coach they visit, and during the evening everyone rotates between the coaches.

For dinner, I went and got us take out of burgers and shakes at the In and Out Burger across the street from the park entrance.  If you have never been to In and Out burger they have a very limited menu;  hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fries, shakes and drinks.  On the way back a skunk ran across the road in front of me.  I dont think I had seen a skunk in an RV park for quite some time.

The rest of the evening was spent watching football.  First the Texas vs Oregon game, and even though I didnt have a dog in the fight, I would have like to have seen Mack Brown go out at Texas with a win.  The same was true in the Arizona State vs Texas Tech game, no dog in the fight, but when in Rome, so I would have liked to have seen Arizona State win.

On Tuesday December 31(New Years Eve), I started watching football at 10:30, and once again when in Rome, so I was happy to see Arizona win.  About 1:00 I started preparing the brussels sprouts for our 3:00PM potluck.

Here is the "chef" at work.

Here is the nearly finished product.

Her is a pic of Sheila, the unofficial person in charge of planning the chicken dinner at this unofficial rally.  Of course, there were lots of unofficial helpers as well.
 

 And here are some pics of the preparations for the dinner.

And here someone said; "Time to eat!"

 We hung around and visited with the group till about 5:00PM, when it was time to head back to the RV to rest and prepare for the evenings festivities.  Ann made a delicious buffalo chicken dip, but instead of chicken, she used turkey, but nobody noticed just like one of my of favorite comedians, Steven Wright, who had a coffee table in his apartment, if was decaf, but no one noticed that either.  :)

We started the evening by stopping by Ray and Liza's coach for a while, then it was off to Russ's, where we had some champagne, and I got this pic of Ann with a dragon, which is a character from a science fiction book of Russ's(Russ is a great fan of science fiction).

And her is a pic of Richard and myself at Russ's.

 And here is a pic of Jenifer, Dan,  Russ and Richard.

 And a pic of Richard's wife Linda.

And Laurie and Chet.

 Then it was off to Ken and Sheila's.  I didnt get any pics but it was definitely a fun crowd, which  seems to happen as the evening goes along.  Then it was back to Ray and Liza's to finish off the evening.  We did see the ball drop in New York City, and we did see the New Years come to Chicago, but we were home before Midnight Arizona time.

Hope Everyone had a happy new year!

New Years Day started off with some going to breakfast at Claire's, a neat little restaurant and art gallery that Ann and I had eaten at a few days before.  Then there was a lunch at noon of leftover chicken and sides from the dinner the day before.

We passed on both to watch more college football.  First Georgia vs Nebraska, where I cheered for Nebraska.  At 11:00 I switched over to the Iowa vs LSU game, and was disappointed to see Iowa lose, but they did have a better season than I expected.

At 12:30 Ann went to talk to Jerry and Ardra to learn what she could about the Motosat automatic Directv dish that they might sell.  Then at 1:00 Ann and others went on the traditional New Years Day Hike.  It was a great hike in a beautiful park!  Here are some pics.

After Ann returning from the hike, and me watching the Hawkeyes get beat, we went over to Happy Hour in hopes of talking to Jerry and Ardra about the Motosat,, but they had passed on Happy Hour.  About 4:30 Ann and I were hungry, and not wanting leftover turkey, we went to The Keg, a steakhouse in the shopping center across from the entrance to the park, where we both had great prime rib and the fixings.  Afterwards it was off to Fry's to fill our water jugs.  We buy water for drinking and coffee.  When we got home, we watched the end of the Rose Bowl, and then a couple of episodes of an RV show, then it was time for bed.

Thursday January 2nd, it was back to work for Ann, and being the day after New Year, it was a pretty quiet day at work.  A lot of our group left today, some of them heading to Yuma, on their way to the FNCA Rally in Indio California next week. It was another beautiful day, with the high about 70, glad we are here and not back in Iowa!  After work we went to Kohls, as Ann thought we needed a new blanket, and shopping is always fun.  It didnt take us long to find what we wanted, and we headed back, to watch yet more colloege football, this time it was Alabama vs Oklahoma, and I was glad Oklahoma won, as their coach played his college football at the University of Iowa.  And the second day of the new year was over.

Friday January 3rd  Ann was once again hard at work.  I went back to Kohls to exchange the blanket we had purchased the day before, as when we opened the packaging it was in, it had a black smudge on it, and it smelled like diesel fuel.  At first I went to customer service to exchange it, but they said that if I just wanted to exchange it, I should just get another, and take them both to any check out counter, but on the way to the blanket section, I saw this sale on electric blankets, and decided I should get one of those. So I took it and the one to exchange to the check out, but was told, I could  buy the new one here, but had to take the old back to customer service.  Glad I wasnt in a hurry!  After completing that transaction, and being about lunch time, I stopped at In and Out Burger to get us some lunch.  After lunch, I headed up north to a small post office to mail an outfit Ann had purchased for her grandson, and on the way back I stopped at a Basha's to pick up a couple of things we needed.

It looks like we are down to only three of us from our group still here.  We went over to visit with Ray and Liza, and they told us about their long day at Sabino Canyon.  Lots of hiking and sunshine, and they were plenty tired, but still very good company.  Then it was time for good by hugs, and the "see ya down the roads".  We will catch up with them again in Quartzsite.

Saturday January 4th started for us about 8:00AM preparing for our trip to the Fortuna d'Oro RV Park in Yuma. We got on the road about 9:15 and made good to to Gila Bend where we stopped at the Space Age restaurant for lunch.  It was quite the retro place.  The story is that the guy who built the place used to work for NASA, and like rockets and space travel and such.

Here are some pics of the place.

Then it on westward to Yuma, and except for a jerk that wouldnt yield as he entered the freeway, it was a pretty uneventful trip.  I usually move to the left lane when someone is entering the freeway, but there was an SUV to my left, and I couldnt.  So there was some hard braking and cussing, but no real danger.

Here are a few pics Ann took along the way. A really large solar array, near Dateland.

A bunch of antennas on a mountain top just east of Yuma.

Coming down the mountain east of Yuma, where the Interstate crosses over, and oncoming traffic is on the left.

A cute little dune buggy that was in front of us when we exited the Interstate.

 We got to the RV Park about 2:00 PM, but couldnt see a designated place to park to register, so I just pulled in and into the car parking lot.  We found the office and registered, and were assigned a site next to our forum friends.  Because the water in Yuma has so many minerals in it, it was difficult to hook up the water hose because of the minerals from the the water had solidified on the threads.

Our site in the park.

After getting set up, and a quick shower, it was off to Terry and Betty's, who have house in Yuma, and invited the RVForum group that was in Yuma to their house for tacos.  I believe that there was about twenty of us there. Lots of good food and friendship.  We left about 5:00 so we could get back to the RV in time for Ann to do laundry,and for me to watch more football.  After all the great food at Terry and Betty's we didnt feel hungry enough for a real dinner, so we just had some popcorn before calling it a day.

On Sunday January 5th we were once again up and around by 8:00 AM to prepare to move over to Cocopah Casino where we plan on staying for a few days.  Before leaving we said "See you down the road" to Henry and Margaret, Larry and Loretta, and Frank and Barb.

Here is a pic of Henry and Margaret ready to take off.

And here is Larry and Loretta getting ready to go.

And here is Larry getting ready to load their Nissan Murano onto their car dolly that also carries their motorcycle.

Since it was only sixteen miles to the casino, we didnt bother to load the car on the dolly, Ann just followed behind me.  It was  wind on the way, and moved the motorhome around some of the freeway.  When we pulled into the casino parking lot, there was plenty of room, and we ended up in this spot.

After setting up and registering; $10.00 for three days, we headed toward Algodonnes, Mexico to get some medications that are way cheaper there than in the USA.  As a matter of fact, most of Algodonnes is made up of pharmacies, liquor stores, dentists offices, and optometrist offices, and general merchandise stores.

Before leaving Yuma, we stopped at Bubba's BBQ and Breakfast, a place my brother Jim and I ate at last year when we were here.  We had the same waitress as we did last year, which was good, as she is one of the best waitresses we have ever seen.

Once inAlgodonnes, we immediately noticed how few people there were there, compared to others times.  Since we knew where we were going, we walked directly to the pharmacy with the biggest selection, and best prices.  Ann bought some medications that she wanted, and I bough fifteen asthma inhalers.  These fifteen inhalers cost $19.96 USD in Mexico, but in the USA these fifteen inhalers would cost around $600.00 for those without prescription coverage.

With our purchases in hand, we headed back to the USA, and were once again amazed at how few Americans and Canadians there were in Algodonnes.  Some times when we have been there, we have had to stand in line for almost two hour to get back across.  This there was no line at all!  Not sure why.

Once back in the RV, I tried to tune in local channels on the tv, but despite getting several locals at the RV park we stayed in the night before, and only moving sixteen miles, we could not get any of the network stations.  Oh, well I probably watch too much tv anyway.

In the evening we went over to the casino to make a donation.  With that not taking too long, we didnt stay long, and then back to the RV for the evening.

On Monday January 6th it was back to work for Ann.  While she worked I got online to check on some financial things.  Good to see it was all hunky dory.  Then it was off to Somerton for some errands.  First it was a stop at the post office to mail some things, and sign up for general delivery.  The clerk handed me a form to fill out and a pen to use.  I declined the pen, and there was a line behind me, so I went to nearby counter to fill out the form, but alas, no pen!  After picking up a couple of Priority Mail boxes the USPS provides to customers, I went back out to the car to fill out the form, surely there is a pen in the car, and to pack the things I was going to mail, but alas, no pen in the car either, so I went across the street to a Dollar General to buy a couple of pens, and then filled out the form and packed one of the boxes, but the other stuff we wanted to send wouldnt fit in the box I had got for it, so it was back into the post office to get the proper packaging.  Then with the form filled out, and both packages ready, I went back into the post office, and completed my tasks!

Then it was off to the grocery store to get a couple of things, they had paper plates, but no hand sanitizer, so then I wen to the Dollar Store to get hand sanitizer, and then it was back to the RV.  Life can be tough out here on the road!

In the afternoon, I set up our portable satellite dish, so I could watch the BCS Championship game in the evening.  The setup was very easy aided by the new tripod we purchased from friends at Catalina State Park.

Before turning on the tv to watch the game, I turned on our 1000 watt Xantrex inverter, but for some reason, it kept kicking out despite the fact that we were not using any where near 1000 watts.  Not wanting to mess with in tonight, I simply turned on the generator in order to watch the game.  It was a very interesting and exciting game, even though I would have liked to have seen Auburn win, I wasnt too disappointed they didnt.  Florida State has a great team, and congratulations to them!

During the game, I tried started on a blog update, but ended up stopping, as I wasnt concentrating on either.  After the game I resumed the blog post, but it got too late and I was too tired to finish.  So here it is now Tuesday as I a finishing this post.

More later,

Paul