Quartzsite Arizona

What a wonderful place. Great food (and a ton of it), wonderful people, the desert and the largest flea market ever...what could be better? Well I guess the weather could have been a bit better. According to Mikey and Jan they have never had a bad weather day when they have been here...go figure that we have had I think three days of rain....not just a dribble but real true rain storm. We had winds I think up to 60 miles an hour and we had a tornado warning as well. All very unusual for Quartzsite this time of year. However we preservered.

Mikey grilled the pork loin (adorned with homemade old fashioned german potato salad and german style red cabbage) under his awning while it rained

And we all (14 of us) sat comfortably inside Bonnie and Barry's motorhome to enjoy the meal.

This is the no longer dry desert after one of our rain storms...

We spent a day in the desert behind us exploring. I think Mikey and Jan are comparing their find of precious gems

David and Mikey are prospecting...any gold in them there hills?

And this is Peeko's new best friend, her name is Abby. Abby's owners are Barb and John who live in California and travel with this gentle giant in their motor home. Abby is a Great Dane and is probably three feet plus compared to Peeko's less than 1 foot height. It was great entertainment to watch them run circles around the fire ring.

She is a very pretty dog.
The hills behind us at sunset

Omelets in a bag? Why yes in Quartzsite anything is possible. Here is the process. You need ziplock bags, eggs, every imaginable omelet ingredient and boiling water. You write your name on a bag with a permanent marker, Jan breaks the requested number of eggs into your bag. You travel down the table adding any ingredient that strikes your fancy

You then smush your ingredients around so that they are nicely jumbled

The bags are then put into boiling water for 15 minutes or so.

And wallah the best omelet I have ever tested and perhaps one of the healthiest I have eaten.

It has been a great week. We are waiting to here the secret vote to find out if we will be invited back next year :) Although we decided that we would just come on our own if we have to, park our 5th wheel right on the outside of the circle and sit in our chairs looking forlorn and we kust know that one of these people will take us in.

Humm I have forgotten to even mention the flea market/RV show/junk shopping that we came to Quarzsite for. It is a mecca of vendors selling jewelry, rocks, gems, RV stuff, food, art, crafts, clothing, garden art, etc etc etc. We did our share of shopping and browsing and yes purchasing. Mary you would love it here and so would you Chrissy my two junking friends.

Tomorrow we head for Palm Springs with Mikey and Jan in the lead.

Are those damned Vikings going to win in overtime???? I can barely take the stress of it all.

We Made It 42 Miles And Then....

David looked out the window and said, "We have a problem back there". I wondered what kind of a problem...well he sees smoke coming from the back of the camper. I frantically call Mikey and Jan who say they will look for the next exit. You see we happened to be on a busy busy highway traveled by tons of motor homes and semis and it had construction going on. There was absolutely no place to pull over. We did come to an exit and here we are.

After the guys inspected it all they found that the wheel bearings had gone out. I guess we were lucky that we didn't have to drive any farther as we did because we could have lost the spindle which would have ruined the axle. Now I am certainly not a mechanic but as Jess says, I do know enough to know that axles are a much needed item on a vehicle! Needless to say that our camper is brand spanking new and this should not have happened...but it did. Mikey and David got it all fixed and back on the road we went.

Mikey and Jan took the exit to their campground and we took the road to ours. It was dark and as we turned onto the dirt road leading to our campground it looked to be in the middle of no where and the road was one big washboard. We both were thinking, oh no here we go again out in the middle of no where lost on a bumpy damned road. But it lead us to a very nice campground in the middle of the desert that we really do like. Today the four of us went into Mexico and shopped at Algadones, a border town. The retired folks come here to get their hooch, their glasses and to go to the dentist!

The guys looked thrilled as can be don't they?

The rest of the week was spent exploring the Yuma area. We took a drive into the desert to have lunch at a unique spot. The buildings weren't such a much but the chili fries were quite good.

The bar's walls were covered with dollar bills...seriously.....there was very little wall space that did not have a dollar bill stapled to it. It makes for an interesting chandelier don't you think?

We drove to the sand dunes and watched in awe as folks ran their dune buggies, four wheelers etc up and down the dunes.

The road to the dunes.

And then Mikey and Jan took us to the center of the earth. Yup it sure is...well it is deemed the center of the earth by French law. For some danged reason or another a Frenchmen decided to call this spot the center of the earth. This little church that he had built is not an active church but it is cute as can be. That would be Jan waving down at me.

We have seen fields of cabbage, lettuce, broccoli...pretty amazing. And Mary here is the promised picture. Harvesting lettuce. Harvesting, shrink wrap and boxing it to sell, all while in the field. The work looks to be pretty labor intensive. The lettuce head is cut of the stalk with what appears to be machetes, they then throw it up to the folks in the truck who seem to take off the outer layers. It is then passed back to the people that shrink wrap it. Then put in boxes and loaded onto the truck ready to go to the store. The gal in red is making the boxes as they are needed. We were amazed at how quickly everyone works. Unbelievable.

Tomorrow we head out for Quartzite. While there we will be dry camping so I will probably not blog until we move elsewhere. We will spend the next week with no electricity (unless we fire up the generator). We will have only the water that is in our tanks to bath, wash dishes, use the toilet etc... It is going to be interesting.

Tuscon Arizon

We are here and it is lovely. We have been at the Catalina State Park and this is our view...gorgeous huh? Our 5th wheel on the left and Mikey and Jan's home on the right.

And here we are, the four of us who have planned and waited for this journey for 8 long years....here we are. We all wondered from time to time if our long talked about dream was going to happen...well here it is and we are so going to enjoy ourseves.
An early morning walk on one of the hiking trails this morning was not only refreshing (oh the air here is wonderful) but was full of picturesque cactus. Now Jan was telling me the names of each but do ya think I can remember...not.

A bird found this one a good nesting place.

And let me see if I can get this straight. These guys typically have a 'mother tree' that surrounds the cactus. The poor old mother tree eventually dies off.

Just a nice picture

We were hiking as the sun rose and it gave this cactus an iridescent glow.

Speaking of glowing, see the light that we throw when we kiss....or perhaps it is the sun.....

Tomorrow morning we take off (with Mikey and Jan in the lead) for Yuma. There will be stories to tell I am sure.

Texas

Is a big state which goes without saying I know but we drove all day yesterday and we are still in Texas! It seems like you could drive for days and never get out of this state. We did meet a full timer who has been full timing for the past 7 years and is from Texas. When he and his wife started traveling their goal was to live for at least a month in every state. They have and he says their favorite state is still Texas because.....you can drive 300 miles and be in hill country or another 400 miles and be at the ocean etc and never leave the state of Texas. Well I guess that is the positive way to look at it. We just always feel like it takes so long to get anywhere else when traveling through this state! By early this afternoon we should be out of Texas.
We pulled out of Ryan's yesterday morning after a few grandma tears were shed. Those darned grand babies just steal your heart and we miss Abs already! Our trip was without incident even though Tackla's 'knock her out' pill didn't knock her out and Peeko trounced on the laptop a few times (the old laptop Len-the old one)....we had no snow and icy roads nor did we find ourselves on some muddy, rutty road somewhere. This is a good thing.
So Mikey and Jan...
Get ready cuz here we come...we are on our way.

Our Time Here Is Nearing The End

Tomorrow morning we pack up and hit the road again. Our next destination is Yuma Arizona to meet up with Mikey and Jan. Jan the travel guide has lots planned for our 4-5 day stay...it will be fun and we are so excited to see them.

While we have been at Ry and Jen's we really haven't done much 'touring'. The weather just has not been cooperative but it has been nice to get to know our grand daughter and to spend time with her parents.
Believe it or not, because it got so cold here last night David and Ryan drained Ry's water pipes so that they would not freeze up. And it was warmer in our camper than it was in their house so they spent some time here thawing out their feet. It has been an interesting couple of days.

We did accomplish some things....
David and Ryan put a new tub in Ry's bathroom. Looks pretty nice too.

I sewed curtains for their living room.

And last night Ry and Jen went to a hockey game, David headed to a local bar to get into a game of hold-em and Abs and I stayed home. She is cutting a tooth so was happy to sit in Grandma's lap and rock until she went to bed. Goodness knows Grandma was happy to have snuggle up as well.

Tonight Ry and David have their last hurrah. They are going to try to get into a game of hold em uptown. I should note that when David went down last night the guys wouldn't tell him how they play...it turns out that they thought he was a cop going to bust them for gambling. Way too funny. It may be interesting to see what tonight brings.

Weather Advisory

So I am pretty much over being bummed because the weather just has not been as nice as we think it should be. I am now finding it way too funny listening to the weather advisories on TV. It may get down to 20 degrees here tomorrow night and a high in the 40s (if we are lucky) the rest of the week. The news is constantly warning people to prepare your animals, bundle them up.... do not let them outdoors for long periods of time, be aware of their paws getting frost bit. People are scurrying to put insulation around their water pipes and oh they are so worried about their plants. I just now heard that the schools are going to KEEP THEIR HEATERS ON all night long tonight so that the schools will be warm when the BIG FREEZE hits. OK I am really laughing now! Too frigging funny. Yesterday it was oh 50 or so out, the sun was shinning and it was only a tad breezy. We decided to wash the camper. This means you get a bucket full of soapy water and a long handled brush and you use a hose to rinse the suds off. I was dressed in my flip flops, jeans and a sweatshirt. Two fellas walked by and said to us, "We wondered how you can be doing that in this weather and now we see, ya'll are from Minnesota"! What more can I say.
We have left our very nice state park and have moved to our full service site and the Woelpern campgrounds. We are so lucky to have these full service, free sites. This one )much like the Leonard campgrounds) has a nice level lot, electricity (sewer if David needs to hook up to it to dump:) and a washer and dryer as well as home made suppers! Not bad.
As we were leaving San Felipe I had to take a few photos of some interesting barns n things.
A great rusted out water thingy (like my technical terms) sitting in a fallen down rusted out farm yard.


The barn and house of that farm yard

A cool looking barn along the way
And we spotted this train coming into town (nope it is not Ryan) and we had to wonder if the horse was going to stay put or wander onto the tracks. Thanks goodness he did not go on the tracks.
All righty then. I am going to bundle up and wait for the big freeze!

Drum Roll Please

As was posted on her facebook page my daughter in law says.....

Kelly Schafer Leonard Julia is going to be a big sister! We are due at the end of July. Ultrasound looked good today and all is well except for the constant nausea but it shall soon pass well at least that is what I keep telling myself.

And Grandma and Grandpa say yet another little baby to spoil! It doesn't get much better than that!

Speaking of spoiling, we have gotten to spoil our little Abigail Rose this past week. Today her and her mom and dad came for a visit and oh Abs is just a snuggle bug! Pictures? Why certainly! We don't get to see this little lady very often during the year so we have to get our time in when we can!
Walking away

Texas Hold'Em...at this young age...really Ry! But momma says that it is OK because it teaches math skills...too funny!

We Moved

Our state park in Edna Texas (Lake Texana State Park) just was not what we hoped it would be. First, the only thing in that area to do is a great little place to eat called the Pinto Bean. It is a wonderful little dive type Mexican restaurant that serves food much tastier and less expensive than our little island (Isla Mujeres) off of Cancun. Breakfast tacos filled with whatever you choose are a whoppin $1.25 for a small one, and small is all that I can eat to be sure. Great food great prices but as I said it really is the only thing good about the area. The campground had lots of hiking trails but due to the recent and constant rain they were nothing but mud. The terrain in that area is just blah, muddy, brown blah. The campground is on Lake Texana but it is just water, nothing special. Our site was muddy and so full of trees that we could not put our awning out. We were able to enjoy the alligator and the many armadillos but nope I do not recommend this state park.
So yesterday we decided to dump our tanks and head for Stephen Austin State Park which is much closer to Ry and his family. This morning Peeko and I woke up to 6 deer grazing right outside of our camper and yesterday we took a nice long hike along one of the many well groomed and dry trails. We have our awning open and gee I don't see a mud puddle anywhere:) Yup we are much happier here. I am sure that you all are happy as can be that we are happy as can be...yes?
That's all, no pictures no substance just wanted to say that we are happy.

Our 2009 Christmas

You know it is so nice to have adult children...well it was nice to have young ones as well but when they become adults it is another nice phase in parenthood. Like.... they take their turns hosting holidays :) Not only did Len and Kel have this year's Thanksgiving but our early Christmas as well and then we come to Texas and Ry and Jen make sure that we have a very nice day on December 25th. You know we are in Texas and instead of turkey or ham, Jen brewed up a great batch of chicken jalapeno chili. It was so yummy and a very nice day. Not only was the food and company good but we then watched Abs open her presents. Pictures? Of course there are pictures:)
A few of the many faces of Abigail Woelpern
Oooooooooo
You think so huh?

Aint I the best present ever?
Auntie Kelly...your gift was a hit here too. Abs loved the train...good job all around Auntie!Ya gotta wonder....what the heck? Daddy and Gramps (and Peeko too of course) trying to convince Abs that this thing really isn't scary to crawl into....maybe it was who was in it that created the bit of fear in her?

While Jen cleaned up the kitchen and I washed a load of clothes the guys had their usual game of hold'em. Once again David ended up with all of the chips. BTW Jen did let us know that she too beat Ry in what he THINKS is his game!
Thanks again Jen and Ry for a very nice day...more to come in the next couple of weeks I am sure. Whatchya cooking up next Jen?

Where Is The Chimney?

Happy holidays everyone.

Into The Jaws Of......

An alligator ?
Since David has been to three different places to purchase fishing 'stuff' he thought he would try his luck today. There is a spot at our park that the park rangers recommended he try. It is on one of the bridges fishing on a culvert. Before David threw in his line he saw some interesting ducks on the water and began walking on the culvert to see them better. He says that he heard one hell of a hiss, looked down and not three feet away was a 7-8 foot alligator enjoying the sun laying on the culvert! David says he backed up as quickly as the alligator backed into the water. He was able to get a couple of good pictures.
Here he is right off of the culvert

And a good close up of his head,eye and snout....phewww. BTW Mikey, he did not catch any fish.

The Minnesota Roads Were Not The Last Of The Bad Roads

We spent two days with Ryan and his family. Two very nice days so lets talk about the good stuff first.
Wednesday we pulled into a State Park near Bellville Texas where Ryan lives. Bellville is a nice little town where you can walk the town square (and the town) in no time....so we did. I snapped a few pictures along the way.
I liked how the peak of this house looked through the trees.

And this brick house made for an interesting shot

The downtown was decorated for Christmas

We ran into this blacksmith's shop that has been here, and running, since the 1800's.

The current owner has been here for 6years. He graciously gave us a tour of both the building and his work. He still uses the original brick forge that you see in the picture as well as the purge that is used to keep the fire hot. This was the highlight of the day, a very interesting find. We hope to stop by when he has the forge fired up and is working on something.

The next day Ry and Ab joined us for some breakfast and then off for some golf. Well Ry played golf, he and David drove the 9 hole course in a cart and I pushed Abs in her stroller.

Here she is looking at Gramps and Daddy in the cart and I am sure that she is wondering.. what the heck how fair is this?

Grandpa did take a turn pushing Abs....so did Daddy.

And just a cute picture of Abigail. This little lady is a thinker, you can almost hear her wheels turning as she quietly ponders something.

When you live in Texas you really have to know how to drive a big Texas truck even if you are a girl. When daddy was taking the golf cart back Grandpa and I thought we'd give Abs an early start on it. Not to worry Ry and Jen, Grandpa was right there out of camera shot holding on to her.

Oh the wonderful things that we could teach our girls if we had them for only a week:) It was nice to get my grandma time in and we hope to get much more in in the upcoming few weeks. PS Len and Kel, it must be a grandma thing because Abs reached her arms out for me and completely stood her daddy up!

OK so here is the sad but true story. We left Bellville Friday afternoon for what should have been a short 1 1/2 hour drive to our next destination, Lake Texana State Park. Ryan gave us directions and we plugged it into our GPS. We really should have realized that something was amiss when we hit our first muddy rutty country road. But we just kept following the GPS bumping and bouncing along the muddiest damned road ever towing our 34 foot camper. Cows, we saw loads of cows and a shit load of mud. I wasn't concerned about getting stuck (foolishly) I was concerned about how the inside of our camper was going to look after being bounced for miles down the road. After about 6 miles we decided that this was too stupid and braved turning this long ass camper and truck around on the narrow mud and rut infested road that was 10 feet wide max. Had it not been for four wheel drive(and David's braveness) we would have sunk into the mud to be sure.

This is the view of the road right before sunset. That was another thing thing, the sun was setting and we were lost on that god awful country road.

We did make it to the park and are damned glad that we can sit and relax for a few weeks. You know Mikey I can just here you saying, "Only my good friend David".

Anyway it is a nice park with lots of hiking trails and wildlife galore.

These deer seem to know how to cross the bridge safely. Yup David is happy as there are lots of deer here. As well as the all too familiar-watch for poisonous snakes-signs....eeeewwwww I so do not like snakes.

The park promised alligators and by golly yes they do live here. In fact they bask in the sun on the shores of the campground anywhere they please. We will be watching the dogs closely.

We will be here until Jan 3rd and then off to perhap's Ryan's campground for a week. We are then off to Quartzite Arizona to meet up with Mikey and Jan for the rest of our trip.